Sunday, December 14, 2014

Song for Sunday


The War on Drugs – Under the Pressure

I know, almost nine minutes and it takes a while to get going, but trust me stick with it and they get into a ferocious groove about four and half minutes in which would melt the coldest heart. The three minute fade-out is pretty special too.

Band/artist of the week: The War on Drugs
Song of the week: Mogwai – Teenage Exorcists

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Song for Sunday


Mogwai – Teenage Exorcists

Did I mention that I have tickets to see Mogwai in Melbourne on 1 March 2015 ...

Band/artist of the week: Mogwai
Song of the week: Owl John – Los Angeles, Be Kind

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Monday, November 3, 2014

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Song for Sunday


Prolapse – Autocade

Finding this made me very happy. The video is a bit hazy, but this has to be one of my all time favourite songs ... Prolapse were always criminally underrated in my opinion and are now forever lost in the mists of the 1990s, but thanks to the internet, this clip recorded off MTV (how did it ever get played on MTV!) is around to remind me of just how good they were.

Band/artist of the week: For a Minor Reflection
Song of the week: For a Minor Reflection – Hástef

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Song for Sunday


The Delgados – No Danger

Song for Sunday this week dedicated to Glasgow (and Dundee, North Lanarkshire and West Dumbartonshire).

Band/artist of the week: British Sea Power
Song of the week: King Creosote – Favourite Girl

Monday, September 15, 2014

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Song for Sunday


Mogwai – Simon Ferocious

Band/artist of the week: Mogwai
Song of the week: Mogwai – Remurdered

Definitely time for another Mogwai number. Wish I could have been in Richmond Park in Glasgow yesterday for the Last Big Weekend, but as you will see above I had to make do with subjecting the kids to wall-to-wall Mogwai for the last few days. It's one way to get them to tidy their bedrooms ...

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Song for Sunday


Phantogram – Fall in Love

Band/artist of the week: Emilíana Torrini
Song of the week: The Blue Aeroplanes – My Hurricane

Also been watching a lot of videos from last weekend's Glastonbury. Although here in the colonies you can only get single songs on the BBCs YouTube channel ... Loved Mogwai, Lykke Li was great, CHVRCHES were amazing, but highlight was London Grammar and you can see their whole set here.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Tour de France 2014

It is Chris Froome's race to lose. And I think he might. No matter what he says he definitely doesn't look like he is at quite the same level as last year. Certainly not on the evidence up to this point in the year. Also, Sky don't seem quite the team they were. Whatever happens, I think it is going to be a lot closer this year and expect the challenges to be a lot greater.

The big question though is who is most likely to beat him? Contador looks much better than last year and seems to be on great form at the moment. His team is strong and astute, and I think they will put Froome under a lot of pressure.

Nibali has under-performed until recently this year, but looks like he has timed his peak to perfection. He will undoubtably animate the race, but I can't see him actually challenging for the yellow jersey. I think Valverde could give Contador and Froome a good run and the course looks suited to him, but I'm picking Kwiatkowski for third place.

It looks like the green jersey is going to be a cracking competition this year, with almost half the stages possible sprint finishes. Cavendish has flagged his intentions and is clearly psyched up massively for the first stage into Harrogate, his sprint train is back up to full strength and with Renshaw leading him out he should nab a few stage wins. Unfortunately, I think Kittel and Giant-Shimano boys will have the edge and with his consistency Peter Sagan will probably also finish in front of Cav.

It doesn't look like a Tour course for the pure climbers, so I think Pierre Rolland will improve on his third place last year to take the maillot a pois, with Contador and Riblon following.

Yellow
1 Alberto Contador
2 Chris Froome
3 Michal Kwiatkowski
4 Alejandro Valverde
5 Vincenzo Nibali

Green
1 Marcel Kittel
2 Peter Sagan
3 Mark Cavendish

Mountains
1 Pierre Rolland
2 Alberto Contador
3 Christophe Riblon

Monday, June 30, 2014

Song for Sunday


Okkervil River – Down Down the Deep River

Sorry, late this week. Forgot totally last night. Too many other things going on ...

Band/artist of the week: Bob Mould
Song of the week: HAERTS – Wings

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Song for Sunday


Bob Mould – I Don't Know You Anymore

Bob's back! New album is only 36 minutes long and doesn't push any boundaries, but that's okay for me. I just like having an excuse to send a few more dollars his way every few years. Also, its good to see him looking so happy and healthy and having a bit of fun.

Song of the week: Bruce Springsteen – Dream Baby Dream
Band/artist of the week: Lana Del Ray

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Song for Sunday


Lykke Li – Never Gonna Love Again

Absolutely heartbreaking. The full session is also quite wonderful and well worth 21 minutes of anyone's time.

Band/artist of the week: Mogwai
Song of the week: Bruce Springsteen – The Ghost of Tom Joad

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Song for Sunday


Lowtide – Blue Movie

Don't worry this one isn't actually very blue at all and completely SFW. Just lots of arty, out-of-focus shots of Melbourne. It is a rather lovely tune though.

Band/artist of the week: Lykke Li
Song of the week: Lykke Li – I Never Learn

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Song for Sunday


Tinariwen – chaghaybou

Almost the end of Sunday here, but have been watching the Eurovision Song Contest. Sadly, you won't see anything like this on Eurovision, although I did like the The Netherlands' entry and was quite pleasantly surprised to see it get quite so many votes. Always hard though when you are up against a bearded Shirley Bassey. Now what's happening in the Giro ...

Band/artist of the week: Lykke Li
Song of the week: Lykke Li – I Never Learn

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Song for Sunday


Tove Lo – Habits (Stay High)

Video is a bit risqué this week, probably a bit NSFW too depending on how alert your IT department are, but I absolutely love this and can't get it out of my head. Great live version here as well and the Hippie Sabotage remix is pretty special too.

Song of the week: Tove Lo – Habits (Stay High)
Band/artist of the week: Tove Lo

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Song for Sunday


The Afghan Whigs – Algiers

Apologies about the whipping for those with a nervous disposition, but this is a great song ...

Band/artist of the week: Bruce Springsteen
Song of the week: The Afghan Whigs – Algiers

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Song for Sunday


James – Born of Frustration

Band/artist of the week: Mogwai
Song of the week: Bruce Springsteen – Ghost of Tom Joad

I never like James all that much, but this is a great song. Video is very early 90s. The director obviously wanted to be Anton Corbijn (now I'll probably find out it actually was Anton Corbijn), but sadly it doesn't look like the record company had enough money. Nice owl though.

Oh, and this looks pretty good too ...

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Song for Sunday


Bruce Springsteen – Dream Baby Dream

Last year when Bruce Springsteen toured Australia I took son number one to see him. Number two son was a bit upset, but I managed to cheer him up by promising that the next time Bruce was back in Australia I would get the best tickets we could and take him; confidently assuming that it would be at least another five years before Bruce made it back.

That plan back-fired when he announced later last year that he would be back for some stadium shows in February of this year. No way I was getting out of this one, but at least this time we managed to get tickets without any problems. And last night was the big night. I think it was probably all a bit much to take in for an almost-seven-year-old and he didn't quite make it all the way to the end of the encores, but he had the guitar out this morning and was telling everyone all about it.
Unfortunately, we didn't get any more guitar picks, shaken hands or lines to sing this time and my shoulders are a bit sorer, but it was another amazing show. Kicking off with a cover of AC/DCs Highway to Hell and including a full run through of Born in the USA the set covered every era from The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle through to the recent High Hopes. It also featured Finn's favourite song Hungry Heart and three tracks off my favourite album Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Luckily son number three is still too young to really understand what all the fuss was about, so I got away without making any more rash promises this time, but Bruce if you're reading don't let that stop you coming back to Australia again next year!
Band/artist of the week: Bruce Springsteen
Song of the week: Mogwai – Remurdered

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Sunday, January 19, 2014