There's a gaming blog post on The Age website today about the way Sony revolutionised video game advertising.
Moving away from game footage, Sony successfully delivered the message that PlayStation was an experience that shouldn't be missed. With brilliant campaigns like Double Life and Fun, Anyone?, their ads stirred emotion and showed that games were part of a cool lifestyle.
It goes on to describe the David Lynch Third Place campaign as a misstep but (as a self confessed Lynch fan) I think it's brilliant.
David Lynch hates talking about his work (he never does commentary tracks on his dvds) and prefers to let the work do the talking, so it's fair to say that no-one entirely knows what it's all about but there's nothing wrong with that.
The way I see it, he's a proud standard bearer of Surrealism, mixed up with stylish dollop of 50s Americana. It's very much about a dreamlike place, which crosses over often enough into reality to demand your attention but which at the same time is like nothing on earth.
In this ad, being necessarily shorter, he just dives right on in and dishes up a true surreal experience. We are the man in the suit, navigating an unfamiliar place that just gets stranger and stranger. This represents the trip into the unexplored depths of your mind that the PS2 offers, letting you see and experience things that you never have before.
Walking after midnightCowboy Junkies 6:02 The trinity sessions
Languid bluesy cover of a great Patsy Cline song
Spaceball RicochetMarc Bolan 4:42 Acoustic Warrior
Better known for his glam-rock with T.Rex in the early 70s, Marc Bolan put out a great album of acoustic tracks
World On A String Neil Young 2:25 Tonight's The Night
A lesser-known Neil Young track from one of his sadder, more personal albums.
Central Reservation (Spiritual Life - Ibadan Edit)Beth Orton 4:04 Central Reservation
A lively remix that doesn't overwhelm the beauty of the original song
Promise What You WillIron & Wine 2:24 The Creek Drank The Cradle
Moving back to something a little more low-key, sweet gentle voices work well with slightly rough-hewn guitar
Woman Of IrelandWeddings Parties Anything 2:47 Trophy Night
A good Weddos party song, with a pacey beat, rockin' accordion (now that's something you don't get to say often) and Michael Thomas' passionate vocals
I'll Fly AwayAlison Krauss & Gillian Welch 3:57 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Old-time bluegrass gospel sung by a couple of angels
Labour Of LoveFrente! 3:10 Whirled
One of my favourite lo-fi acoustic songs of the 90s, I remember playing this over and over at times. Check the recorder solo.
LiarRandall Blair And The Wedded Bliss 4:57 Tattoos And Taillights
The more I hear from this local outfit, the more hopeful I become about the Canberra music scene - can't really compare them to anyone but listen and enjoy.
No Reason To CryThe Go-Betweens 3:53 Oceans Apart
One of the best Oz bands ever, everything in this song (from their last proper album) just works - I noticed there is a tribute album to the Go-Betweens out now (Write your adventures down) which I will chase up.
You turn me on I'm a radioJoni Mitchell 2:39 Hits
One for the Pussycat but it's quickly becoming a personal fave as well. Joni's sassy and smooth :)
AmnesiaMachine Translations 3:33 Happy
It's a mystery how Machine Translations has flown below the radar for so long, everything they do is so special and unique. (J Walker has played with a band in recent years after doing the whole thing solo for a long time)
Martha vents a few issues and everyone gets to enjoy it.
Warren's WaltzDirty Three 7:06 Sad & Dangerous
Another fantastic but under-rated Oz outfit, the Dirty 3 play some amazingly emotional tunes with just a violin, guitar and drums. Here's an early one.
Harry Was A Bad BuggerTex, Don & Charlie 5:19 All Is Forgiven
Fantastic story telling in a nearly spoken song from some music greats, playing together because they enjoy it.
Just TwistedPenelope Swales 5:57 Justifying Your Longings To The Doctor
Bouncy, acoustic tunes from a strong woman with a bunch of talent.
Casimir Pulaski Day Sufjan Stevens 5:53 Illinois
This guy just writes some amazing songs - he's working on a project apparently to write an album about each American state, this is from the second - Illinois. (Michigan was first)
Helplessk.d. lang 4:15 Hymns Of The 49th Parallel
One Canuck pays tribute to another - kd lang sings Neil Young and it sounds great.
ThirteenElliott Smith 2:43 New Moon
Another great cover from a sorely missed acoustic maestro - this time of a Big Star track.
There's something about the way Phillip Adams writes that often rubs me up the wrong way - he's clearly highly intelligent but possibly just a little self-satisfied. (My friend Buj assures me he is a fantastic presenter and interviewer on the radio though.)
On occasion though, he absolutely drills it and his piece in The Australian (a generally repugnant right wing Murdoch rag in which he plays token lefty) on the weekend was an absolute pearler.
It beautifully makes light of the increasingly shrill and desperate smear and fear campaign that John Howard is bringing forth about the possibility of a Rudd Labor Government by dramatically exposing Kevin Rudd's secret plans for the country.
Here it is in it's full glory:
"We're facing annihilation," John Howard told his weekly meeting with Coalition MPs, referring to his Government. As a consequence, so are we. We being us - 20 million Australians. For make no mistake: if Howard goes, we're all stuffed.
A secret report, prepared in the Prime Minister’s office, has been leaked to trusted journalists. But I got one anyway.
First of all, under a Rudd government, homosexuality will be compulsory. The confetti from gay marriages will blow blizzard-like through our churches and fall like heavy snow on the footpaths outside registry offices. Subsuming all other festivals, the Mardi Gras will shove Anzac Day aside, forcing veterans to march in the side streets. The traditional Aussie salute, employed to brush away the blowies, will become limp-wristed and Kevin Rudd will stack the High Court with drag queens who’ll also take over as weather girls, nuns, nurses and Qantas hosties.
From coast to coast, deviance and decadence will destroy the last skerricks of decency. Family values will be irrevocably trashed. Unprotected by Howard and his ministers, the bathrooms of the nation will cease to play a role in personal hygiene and will be used instead to produce hydroponic marijuana. The lounge rooms of Australia will reek from reefers. You’ll have to protect your pets from outbreaks of bestiality.
Cannibalistic trade unionists will eat employers. Others will prowl places of business, forcing workers into socialist slavery. Entrepreneurs, merchant bankers and other producers of wealth will be dragged through the streets in ACTU tumbrels to the guillotines erected in Frank Lowy’s shopping malls. The decapitated noggins of Macbank millionaires will be displayed on pikes in Sydney’s Martin Place. The stock market will collapse and real estate values will follow family values down the toilet. Hyperinflation will force families to sell their children into prostitution or for medical experiments. Within weeks it will cost millions for a loaf of bread and shoppers will use their trolleys to lug devalued currency to the checkouts.
As Rudd’s megalomania grows he’ll become the Robert Mugabe of the South Pacific; Opposition politicians will be subject to the Pacific Solution, with Philip Ruddock spending future Christmases on Christmas Island. Even worse, the English will refuse to play cricket with us.
Robert Manne will become Australia’s first President. Ric Birch, the Busby Berkeley of great public occasions, will synchronise vast crowds in North Korean-style celebrations of Kev Il-Sung, our glorious leader. The ABC, chaired by Phillip Adams with Bob Ellis as managing director, will be simulcast on all radio stations and TV channels. The erstwhile commercial networks will still be used for mind-control experiments, but the emphasis will change from US and corporate propaganda to ACTU/ALP indoctrination, previously limited to the ABC.
The “coalition of the willing” will be abandoned, our alliance with the US immediately cancelled and Movie World closed on the Gold Coast. Posh private schools will be bulldozed. All right wings will be removed from Qantas aircraft, as will millions of magnets from Australian fridges. Terrorism will be actively encouraged via grants from the Australia Council.
In a radical attempt to control global warming, all exports of coal will be rounded up for return to Australia and reburial in the Hunter Valley, but not until the harbourfront mansions of Liberal-voting billionaires have drowned beneath rising sea levels. Only Kirribilli will be saved for Kev Il-Sung, our glorious leader.
The show trials of Howard, Costello, Downer and Abbott, judged guilty in advance, will be screened by the ABC. Robbed of the object of their passionate detestation, Howard Haters will be given grief counselling. Covered by Medicare.
Private patients will be dragged from their hospital beds, Advance Australia Fair replaced by The Internationale, lobotomies performed on Quadrant readers and anyone who cannot recite at least half the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Abu Ghraib experts imported to extract confessions from Liberal voters, electoral laws modified (one unionist, two votes), ASIO replaced by the Fabian Society, and Gough Whitlam’s self-beatification officially endorsed by the new head of the Catholic Church in Australia, Cardinal Keating.
Millions of Muslim refugees will arrive on luxury liners run by government-subsidised people smugglers, to be granted immediate vacant possession of Liberal-owned homes. Aborigines will make land claims on your barbecue area. In line with Kev Il-Sung’s language preferences, Mandarin will be mandatory in kindergartens.
Well, that’s the first chapter in the leaked document, prepared by ASIO, ASIS and the ONA. The PM’s office has denied there’ll be a fear campaign in the run-up to the federal election.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen is a new project for Damon (Blur, Gorillaz) Albarn, Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti).
As a new sound, this takes a little more listening to than some. It's very multilayered, a bit like swimming in a sea of sounds and ideas - the more I listen to the more I'm reminded of the spirit of OK Computer - which isn't to say that it's derivative, more like a worthy successor.
As a whole, it could be seen as something of a snapshot of modern unease in the West in the wake of the Bush years and a shift to darker times but it still manages to hold on to a sense of hope at the end that we can drag ourselves out of this mess.
A very rich sound that will take a number of listens to explore and each one will be worthwhile. Not necessarily an easy one to process though and the bleak vibe suggests picking your time/mood to listen to it.
82%
History Song (3.06) - Interesting opener - looped acoustic guitar riffs beneath bouncy beats, organ and an almost Radioheadlike downbeat vocal. Hints of reggae in there as well as a bit of noodling away on piano
'80's life (3.28) - Bit like a 50s rock ballad underwater with a pounding piano (I think) and plenty of ooooohs, counterpointed by a Britpop vocal style.
Northern Whale (3.54) - Farty and clangy electro beats that hark back to Gorillaz a little, again the tapping piano, there's something about the vocal that makes you wonder what the song might be like sung by someone else but which at the same time works well with the sounds to create a distinct almost slightly wistful mood
Kingdom of Doom (2.42) - Back to a more conventional intro with a plainly strummed guitar and wanting to be heard bassline - shifts to piano from the chorus and the sound gets progressively thicker. Another less than chirpy song - I get the feeling Damon isn't too happy about the state of the world
Herculean (3.59) - Driving piano and a working mishmash of beats and sounds underscore some distant vocals (that at times sound sung down the phone line) - sense of a dischordant society (again)
Behind the sun (2.38) - Sounds like a cold, wet night in a lonely city - sirens howl in the background as Albarn sings of bleak existence but suddenly lifts to a sense of hope which brightens the song no end
The Bunting Song (3.47) - A persistent yet gentle and sometimes happy tune underlined with a sadness in the background, more Brit-bleakness in the lyrics, which feel political without being explicitly so
Nature Springs (3.10) - Gentler and more hopeful in sound but still low-key - nice acoustic guitar work (including the squeaks and squeals from changing chords), some blips and bleeps, again with the fragmentary echoes of OK Computer (a compliment, don't get me wrong). Oh and whistling - who doesn't love a bit of whistling in a tune. A soldiers tale (2.30) - Another lighter song, gentle guitar and strings underneath happier sounding vocals, again with the OK Computeresque lyrics which are slightly crytic but feel meaningful. More whistling.
Three changes (4.15) - A more passionate and energetic track, slightly downbeat vocals, layers and layers of sounds giving it a Gorillaz vibe, catchy buzzy hook, slightly dystopic view of England in the 21st century, interesting shift at the end to a slightly reggae beat. In my top two for this album.
Green Fields (2.26) - A gentle acoustic reflection on the changes in life in the last few years, which picks up the pace to bring it home
The Good, The Bad and The Queen (7.00) - Bit of a rocking epic, quickly dispensing with the more hopeful lyrical part of the song and launching into a buzzing, rushing, relentless emotional frenzy of clashing drums, grungy guitar and almost whistling synth and slowly fading out.
(Well, two posts today - I think I'm going quite mad :)
The annual Film and Television (FAT) awards for CIT (Canberra Institute of Technology) are on tonight at the National Museum in Canberra.
Roll up for a night of diverse short films by CIT media production students.
I haven't seen any of them yet but I'd like to make a few predictions (having made and been to my fair share of student film screenings)
Some will be dark and showcase the extraordinary inner angst through a series of moody images of people gazing sadly into the distance and walking slowly.
Some will be great stories well told.
Some will completely abuse the digital tools available in the editing software and apply filters and transitions all over the shop.
At least one character will die for every two films (and possibly more).
There will be at least two fairly funny Tropfest style one joke films.
Some of the films will appear to have been much more fun to make than to watch.
Some will be far more fun to watch than they were to make.
Small pockets of the audience will cheer, laugh and applaud disproportionately when certain films begin (and at key points within the film)
Hopefully all the film makers (I was going to quibble about whether digital video counts as film but given it's widespread use in the industry, meh, whatever) will:
A) Get a massive buzz from seeing their work with an audience B) Learn something from their work and that of their colleagues which makes the next one even better.
Going to see short films is always something of a raffle but it's generally always worth it.
Soaring, varied, I like it but there's a bit of a sense that nothing much has happened in the world of music in the last 15 years and you're not listening to a contemporary album. Does this matter when it's done so well? You could argue that this is like saying Mozart would be better with some drum loops - maybe it's just irrelevant and I should enjoy it for what it is.
My knowledge of Dinosaur Jr is a little superficial but I saw Mascis (solo) supporting Sonic Youth a couple of years ago and he mopped the floor with them.
Nice article in The Age yesterday if you'd like to be brought up to speed
Update: Ok so I've been giving this album a good third listen while installing Firewire cards in a bunch of our lab machines and I think the penny dropped or something clicked but this really is a great album. I was a little concerned that a few of the tracks sounded the same as a few others but when you dig down and find the differences (and the increasingly impressive guitar solo noodling), it just gets better and better.
85%
Track by track:
Almost Ready (3.08) - Lively starter, wall of guitar, it's either as though we slipped back to the early 90s or Dinosaur Jr never went away
Crumble (4.04) - Reminds me of "Out There" from Where you been. A more low key song than the others and leaving a vague sense of beautiful sadness
Pick me up (6.32) - Returns to more conventional DJr ground but brings in some outthere whistly synth at points (I think) to keep the freshness up. Loving the guitar in this one, it's gold and has put the song up into my top 2 for this album.
Back to your heart (4.31) - The sound that a hundred mediocre commercial rock bands strive for and just fall short of - nothing wrong with it, just drags a little for my taste - although the solos lift it up a rung or two
This is all I came to do (5.21) - Lighter slightly poppier rock track, still great but perhaps a bit samey.
Been there all the time (3.40) - There's just something about J Mascis' voice that works, it seems like it was made to complement soaring, buzzing electric guitars
It's me (5.14) - Back to their old-skool electric sound - possibly a tiny bit buzzier than before - great solid DJr rock, best track so far on the album to my mind
We're not alone (4.35) - Another sad one, with a relative pop-rock jangle and another great soaring solo which puts this into my top 3 for the album
I got lost (4.37) - Shift to moody acoustic - what was I saying about Mascis' voice complementing electric guitars? I think I meant guitar in general (and evidently cello). Thinner sounding song but kept from starlet anorexia by a well balanced mix of sounds
Lightning bulb (3.45) - Moody, crashing rocker with a real sense of something looming over you and some eery/haunting guitar in the middle. I like it
What if I knew (4.01) - Ooh, moody - might have a new favourite track on this album, song of confused romantic angst and regret. Loving that guitar and the underlying riff.
Made to be listened to Loud with a capital L, Icky Thump is a welcome addition to the White Stripes body of work. It mostly sticks to their winning formula but adds a few shifts in pace and style to keep it interesting.
There is a reasonable amount of variety in the album, so if one track doesn't do it for you, the next probably will. (And the one after that)
85%
Track by track
Icky Thump (4.13)
A good rockin' teaser for the album and a great track in the White Stripes canon. (YouTube clip at the bottom)
You Don't know what love is (You just do as you're told) (3:51)
Great angsty song of love
300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues 5:28
Cruel Sea vibe/riffs - very nice.
Conquest 2:48
Metal mixed with mariachi
Bone Broke 3:14
Ok rock track which any mainstream rock band would be proud to call their own but in this context it's slightly more filler than killer
Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn 3:05
Dainty rock - country fiddles, contagious melody, driving drums, some kind of bagpipe?, it's all happening here.
St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air) 1:47
Meg sings, hyperbeat, more fiddles and bagpipe, fascinated by this, a little mindblown
Little Cream Soda 3:42
More metalesque guitar but a great sound nonetheless, song of regret Rag & Bone 3:45
Great dirty southern rock song and lyricism
I'm Slowly Turning Into You 4:28
Jaggerish tint to vocals, slinky rock, layered voices,
A Martyr For My Love For You 4:16
And into a ballad - noice, stylish use of soft loud soft, Catch Hell Blues 4:14
Ry Cooder slide, another rootsy, Texas blues sound for a while, mutates into some kind of screechy butterfly
Effect & Cause 2:57
"Darlin' it hurts" (Paul Kelly) vibe in there so obviously a great song - stripped back acoustic bluesy number
Ok, so I'm moving these posts which previously lived on the Monday Sunset blog over here now - and I'll try to jazz them up a little with reasons why as often as I can (or remember :)
These are the tunes I'll be playing on Monday Sunset, my radio slot on 2XXfm (98.3) between 4 and 6pm. Tune in for the chance to win a car*)
(* Car might be imaginary)
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me Violent Femmes Why Do Birds Sing? 4:50
I love covers and this is a classic - Gordon Gano's nasal whine tones suit this perfectly
Thirteen Elliott Smith New Moon 2:43
While we're in cover land, this is a beautiful version of a Big Star song from New Moon, the new 2CD compilation of songs recorded by Elliot Smith between 94 and 97.
What If Lucinda Williams West 5:41
I'm a bit of a sucker for the sigh of a country slide guitar and the abstract poetry of Lucinda Williams lyrics in this track just put it over the top.
I've been listening to this Lucinda Williams album for a little while now (thanks to Jerry from Lost Highway)
Reckless [Australian Crawl] Paul Kelly Used And Recovered By 4:01
Oh dear - another cover, I'm going a little mad for them today :) Classic Oz song covered by another Oz legend.
300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues The White Stripes Icky Thump 5:28 Effect & Cause The White Stripes Icky Thump 2:57
Two of my faves from the new White Stripes album (aside from the title track, which I've been thrashing a little in recent weeks) - the first has echoes of The Cruel Sea, the second reminds me in structure of Darlin' It Hurts (Paul Kelly) but they're both absolute gems and showcase the variety of this album (which is reviewed above)
You Gotta Move The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers 2:34
I've been a latecomer to the Stones camp - something to do with Jagger looking old and creepy perhaps at times but once you get past that, you'll see that he and Keef are rock legends.
Under the Milky Way The Church El Momento Descuidado 4:51
Low key version of an all time Church fave - this song never gets tired.
Superfish Los Capitanes No Butts! 2:14
Lively party-rock/ska/reggae from deservedly popular local funsters Los Caps.
Critical Beat Dubba Rukki Island State 3:45
Smooth funk/dub from local (to the best of my knowledge they still are) outfit with a punny name.
Revenge Of The Number Portishead The Rebirth Of Cool Phive 3:22
A Portishead song from 95 without the characteristic wail but still a great song.
Back to Your Heart Dinosaur Jr Beyond 4:31
From the new album and in fine form - coming to Canberra in early July.
Weeds The Negotiators Apples and Oranges 3:59
Good old school rock from the Yarram delta. You will believe in Weeds (and guns)
La La Love You Pixies Doolittle 2:43
Lesser known Pixies track with whistling and almost Cure like moments among the jangly guitar you expect from the Pixies
All I can say is I wished I could make an acoustic guitar sound so good (and have a fraction of this talent)
Northern Whale The Good, The Bad And The Queen The Good, The Bad And The Queen 3:54
Damon (Blur/Gorillaz) Albarn keeps the interesting treats coming
Hold On, Hold On Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings The Flood 2:46
Another recommendation from Jerry Lost Highway, it brings the twang and I'm loving that voice.
Brother Murder By Death Now Hear This! - February 2007 3:50
Yes, I read the UK music mags from time to time - the tightarse in me likes the cd selections you get with them of stuff that often hasn't been widely played here yet. Driving and clangy alt.country
Boner Grand National Kicking The National Habit 4:20
Mmmm, trumpets kicking off ska beat rocker
Love In A Trashcan The Raveonettes Pretty In Black 2:51
Sexy 50s style girl trash rock - this band always seems to get it right
I wanna sleep in your arms The Modern Lovers The Modern Lovers 2:32
Johnathon Richman's vocal are like no other and the tunes are a what happened when someone had punk sensibilities but not the punk sound.
