Album Review: Dead Can Dance.

DEAD CAN DANCE

ANASTASIS

2012, [PIAS] Records

This review was originally published on ToneDeaf.com.

It’s been 16 years since Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, better known to their legions of fans as Dead Can Dance, released their last album,1996’s Spiritchaser.

After spending their post-DCD days focusing on solo albums, raising families and scoring films (Gerrard famously for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator), the gothic, exotic trance duo have returned to fine form with Anastasis, their ninth and arguably best studio album to date.

Glorious and poetically grand, Anastasis churns with an intensity woven throughout its eight tracks, with stories of rebirth, isolation, stoicism and identity. Dead Can Dance have always been a thinking person’s band, and this album is a virtual feast for the ears and the mind.

Opener “Children Of The Sun” is a psychedelic and cinematic paean to reincarnation, punched up by jazzy drums, sweeping strings and brassy horns.

“Agape” pays homage to Middle Eastern themes as Perry and Gerrard unhurriedly lure the listener through the darkened passageways and market stalls of a mysterious Persian city. Gerrard’s keening voice is like the vocal equivalent of “The Dance Of The Seven Veils” as every pinnacle and valley of her singing shine with unbridled strength.

“Opium”, the album’s darkest star, features Perry’s deep baritone accompanied by majestic synthesizers, dulcimers and tom-tom drums; “Return Of The She-King” begins life as an Irish sea shanty, but soon metamorphoses into a lush and epic theme of heroes and legends – reminding one, perhaps, of Basil Poledouris’s Orgy theme from Conan: The Barbarian.

“You taught me patience was a virtue,” Perry intones solemnly on Anastasis’s closer, the appropriately titled “All In Good Time”: “So I took my time/let Nature take her course/all was revealed/all in good time.”

Truer words could not be sung. Anastasis is a damn revelation, and well worth the lengthy wait!

Here, for your general amazement, is the absolutely fabulous track, "Return Of The She-King". Enjoy!

Gig Review: Fabulous Diamonds

FABULOUS DIAMONDS

WHITE HEX / PEOPLE PERSON

2 SEPTEMBER 2012

CURTIN BANDROOM, CARLTON, VICTORIA

Melbourne hypno-groove duo Fabulous Diamonds spent three days in June 2011 recording their third LP, the tongue-in-cheekily titled Commercial Music, in the upstairs bandroom of the John Curtin Hotel in Carlton. How fitting it was, then, for them to return to the scene of the crime three months later to launch that very album. And really, this evening was to be a stunner, for joining them were two very engaging local duos, White Hex and People Person.

White Hex kicked off the proceedings with aplomb, delivering a mesmerising half-hour set of splintery, spidery gothic post-punk tunes in the vein of Cocteau Twins, Crime And The City Solution and Faith-era The Cure. These two “tropical goth” musos – Tara Green on bass and Jimi Kritzler on guitar – were absolutely brilliant, proving to this scribe that it pays to arrive at gigs early.

People Person were up next, another boy/girl duo. Standing side by side in front of a pair of tabletop sequencers and mixing boards, Nathan Gray and Julie Burleigh created a pastiche of post-experimentalist ambient electronica with the beating heart of an 8-bit video game. Riveting and hypnotic, it sounded a bit like Aphex Twin having been commissioned to perform the soundtrack to Castlevania.

When Fabulous Diamonds made their way to the stage, the Curtin’s bandroom was nearly packed. Nisa Venerosa perched behind her drum-kit, and Jarrod Zlatic sat behind a large and rather archaic looking synthesizer and then they were off. There are many adjectives to describe the music of Fabulous Diamonds – tribal, forceful, assertive and enigmatic certainly come to mind. Venerosa and Zlatic set the tone of their set right off the bat with Commercial Music’s strange, ethereal opening track, "Inverted Vamp".

A veritable wall of noise was created in which one could lose one’s self. With Venerosa’s commanding voice dissected by distortion into a crescendo of discombobulated syllables and her thundering tom-heavy drums layered over Zlatic’s icy synths and vintage electronic sounds, Fabulous Diamonds’ new material came across as supremely textured and fully realised statements of sheer sonic hooliganism. Closing out their set with an epic and gleefully deranged song called "Downhill", Fabulous Diamonds proved tonight that not only are they a bloody force of nature, they’ve also released one of the most captivating albums I’ve heard in quite some time. Summed up as a whole, this gig stands out as one of the best of the year.

Please find below a track selected from the new album Commercial Music - the haunting and beguiling "Lothario". Cheers, kids!

Gig Review: Gary Numan.

GARY NUMAN

14 MAY 2011

FORUM THEATRE

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

If anybody out there had any doubt whatsoever that without Gary Numan the electronic music landscape would be unrecognizable today – then all that nameless person would have to do to be irrevokably convinced would be to have headed towards and gained entry to Gary Numan his own bad-ass self performing his seminal 1979 album The Pleasure Principle in its entirety; authentically re-constructed, to boot. This is the show I saw on the 14th of May – a soggy autumn Saturday evening, and the excitement level of my fellow attendees was cranked to eleven and beyond.

Opening band Severed Heads, one of the founders of the Australian electronic music scene, came out of self-imposed retirement for the express purpose of supporting this tour. Basically two blokes (one of whom was main man Tom Ellard) on keyboards and a loop machine with a projection screen behind them (on which grotesque computer-generated images seemingly created in the early days of digital graphics played), Severed Heads' sound was all spidery and jittery synths married with a disco drumbeat and bizarre sound effects and vocal distortions. The techno-flavoured music filled the ornately decorated expanse of the Forum Theatre, which was only half-filled with punters, who seemed only slowly to be getting into it. Sadly, it wasn't until their last song that Ellard said, "Well, here it is. The song you've been waiting for us to play," before launching into their best-known track, 1984's "Dead Eyes Opened." Suddenly, everybody on the dance floor began dancing, and the energy level spiked.

At 10.15, Gary Numan came out to play. The Forum was filled to capacity, and as soon as the opening notes of "Airlane" hit the crowd went fucking bonkers. True to promise, not only did he play the entire Pleasure Principle album in its entirety, it was played authentically, meaning there were no "improvements" (as if that's possible) or updated means of playing the music, or "re-mixes" or "re-imaginings." There was Gary and four other blokes on the stage. Four synthesizers. A set of drums. And the euphoria that can only be described by hearing Mr Numan and company play live one of the most important albums in existence period.


I'm telling you: the music was positively alive there in the expanses of the old Forum Theatre. The synths were crisp and exact, the drumming was dynamic and lively, and Numan's voice pierced the darkness with an immediacy and verve; it still resounded and sounded as fresh as it did when the needle first met the grooves of the vinyl way back when I got the album in 1985 as a fourteen-year-old scrawny brat.

The crowd lapped it up, looking as happy and contented as I've ever seen an audience be. There was the general feeling that this was more an event than merely a show; the euphoria was quite infectious and addictive and palpable! Punters held their bottles aloft as they sang along to such infectious classics such as "Conversation" ("WE ARE NOT GODS / AND WE ARE NOT MEN …") and "M.e.," which, being my favourite track off the album, was just freaking brilliant. What's that? Did the crowd go crazy when "Cars" played? You bet your sweet ass they did! And thus did Set #1 come to a close.


Set #2 was selections from the old (namely, 1978's Replicas) and the new (Jagged and Pure mostly). Kicking things off with the chilly and oddly spooky "Down In The Park," the second set of the evening allowed Gary Numan and his merry band of men to express the rockier and more industrial side of Numan's oeuvre. Chunky-ass guitars, heavy beats, and throbbing bass exemplified a rather meta-moment in Numan's show – Numan taking and perfecting a genre of music that owed its very existence to Numan's music in the first place. As my wife C. said to me during "Haunted": "Nine Inch Nails was inspired by him, no?" And we all know the answer to that. 2300 die-hard Numan fans with love and respect in their eyes and movements collectively lost their shit when Numan, bearing a mischievous grin, broke into "Are 'Friends' Electric?"


Damn right, Gary. The world of electronic pop music wouldn't be recognizable today without your prescience and forward-minded assault on the senses we know now as The Pleasure Principle. An absolutely enchanting evening.

setlist

-----

airlane

metal

m.e.

tracks

observer

conversation

engineers

complex

films

cars

-----

down in the park

the fall

when the sky bleeds

pure

haunted

everything comes down to this

are 'friends' electric?

-----

halo

a prayer for the unborn

i die: you die

The Dead Will Dance Again.

On the 12th of May this year, one Mr Brendan Perry wrote on his forum wall:

"Hi all,

I have been talking with Lisa Gerrard this past week with regard to recording a new DCD album this coming winter. We hope to complete the album by the summer of 2012 and then embark on an extensive two month world tour in late 2012. I will be posting updates from time to time with regard to our progress ... and remember ... you heard it here first and yes it is official!

Brendan."

All I can say is: WOW. This is great news. The last time Dead Can Dance had performed onstage was in 2005; me and a few of my mates were lucky enough to have seen them at the wondrous Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California. I mean, these are the folks who unleashed Spleen & Ideal on the world, had enchanted an untold number of people with the stoic mysteriousness of The Serpent's Egg and its enigmatic "In The Kingdom of the Blind, the One-Eyed Are Kings," had brought back from the grave the musical stylings and instrumentation of civilizations that had been long vanished from the popular culture (thus, of course, their name), and had mystified with their vocal prowess – Perry's deep and assured resonating timbre, alongside the lovely Gerrard's spookily breathy falsetto – and the deep imaginings of fables, incantations, rituals, and heretofore forgotten myths that the music aided in awakening. And let's not forget their mastery of the almighty hammered dulcimer. No, let's not forget that. 


So let us rejoice that after nearly seven years (thirteen years, if you count the last song they actually recorded, "The Lotus Eaters," which appeared on their best-of compilation, Wake, in 2003), DCD is once again going (fingers crossed) to grace us with the mysticism and wonder of their musical trappings. Excited!


Here, from 1993's most excellent Into The Labyrinth, is the remarkable and hypnotic "The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove." Goddamn, what a great song this is.





And here's "Rakim," from Toward The Within, their 1994 live-recording of their 1993 sold-out world tour. Listen to that hammered dulcimer playing!

Gig Review: Cut Copy.

CUT COPY

5 MAY 2011

PALACE THEATRE

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Cut Copy brought their shimmering white-light disco stylings back home to Melbourne on a beautiful and crisp Thursday evening at the stately Palace Theatre in the CBD, and my wife and I were there to breathe in the intoxicating fumes of one of the more reliably consistent live acts I've had the pleasure of seeing multiple times. But this was the first time I've seen them as a quartet as opposed to a trio, and funnily enough my wife C. and I were standing next to a nice looking couple near the mixing booth at the beginning of the show (we'd missed, sadly, the opening band, The Holidays) when the gentleman leaned over and told us that he was the bassist's brother-in-law. He pointed at his partner. "That's his sister," he muttered, sounding as if he'd had a few beers. Her brother, of course, would have been Ben Browning, who was brought into Cut Copy's fold for the recording and touring of their third full-length album Zonoscope. Browning's sister looked rather embarrassed, and then they moved on to another location; I'd reckon she probably said something like this to him later: I'd really appreciate it if you didn't say that to strangers again. Who knows; C and I found it funny and rather charming. I'd probably tell people if I was related to a member of Cut Copy.

But I digress. At 10 sharp, the lights went down and the lilting notes of the instrumental "Visions," from In Ghost Colours, began streaming from the speakers. Segueing perfectly into "Nobody Lost, Nobody Found," the 90-minute set sparked into life, bathing the sold-out environs of the Palace in a delectable feast of sparkling guitar-based synth-pop that not only reminded one of the halcyon days of the best of the '80s, but also revealed a bopping '60s mentality that wouldn't have been out of place on a Beach Boys record. Of particular notice were the tracks off the new album, which – man, oh man – they positively shone, they were so damn tight and achingly beautiful. "Need You Now," the slow-burning and powerful first single off Zonoscope, practically soared through the ceiling with Dan Whitford's angelic vocals and Erasure-reminiscent synth loops. "Take Me Over" never ceased to delight, what with its impossible-to-shake-from-one's-head catchiness – as I said before, a great driving song. A shimmering surf-rock feeling washes over the sunny "Where I'm Going," and the chants and droid-dance quirkiness of "Pharaohs & Pyramids" gave the audience a taste of the influence Kraftwerk has had on their musical palates. But, I was most curious about, what was "Sun God," that 15-minute behemoth of majestic synths, boisterous percussion, squalling guitars, and dreamy rhythms, going to sound like in a live setting? Fucking awesome, is the answer. I'm telling you: It was simply crazy. Say what you will about the Cut Copy live experience – "Sun God" was different. They just went batshit. Crazy feedback, an extra drummer, a video screen in the centre of the stage displaying objects blowing up in slow motion in a desert somewhere, aggressive lighting, and, simply put, four dudes on stage grinning like idiots and having the time of their lives made this a bloody standout. 


Oh, Cut Copy: your live shows are turning into events. And that's a great thing. After two encores, they finished with the gorgeous "Feel The Love." I think the crowd filing out of the Palace Theatre felt that way about Cut Copy's music. It was amazing, and I for one cannot wait to see what they do next.


Here's 28 seconds of "Sun God" I filmed on my iPhone:

setlist

visions

nobody lost, nobody found

where i'm going

so haunted

corner of the sky

lights and music

take me over

saturdays

pharaohs & pyramids

hearts on fire

sun god

-----

need you now

out there on the ice

-----

feel the love

Oh, and here's Cut Copy performing "Saturdays" live for NYC's Fearless Music.

Album Review: Cut Copy. "Zonoscope"

CUT COPY

ZONOSCOPE

©2011 Modular Recordings

One knows, as soon as Cut Copy's third full-length album Zonoscope begins with opening track "Need You Now" and its delightfully delicate marriage of crystalline synths and dreamy guitars, that this Melbourne band's trajectory is true. 


On the 27th January this year, when Cut Copy first released "Need You Now," I'd written:

"Dan Whitford's vocals are as emotive as ever, and the rhythms put forward by Tim Hoey and Mitchell Scott, while tinged with a delicacy and deliberation that bring to mind the best of '80s New Wave, still contain a contemporary edge guaranteed to get asses out there on that fucking dance floor." 

Well! Now that the album's been out for a couple of months, and Cut Copy is poised to return home for their homecoming Australian tour in a week's time, I feel the need to squawk a bit from my little box and declare just how fucking awesome Zonoscope is. A great rollicking song that's perfect for driving can be found in the wonderful "Take Me Over." "Alisa" brings together '60s harmonies with a surf-rock sensibility. The rather surreal "Blink and You'll Miss A Revolution," one of the album's denser tracks, brings to mind some of the house epics that were popular on dance floors back in the early '90s and positively soars at moments. And then there's the experimental "Pharoahs & Pyramids," that's abuzz with cool sound effects, vocal distortions, and a nice bass-y synth line that bumbles merrily along its way. 


BUT – nothing on this great blue Earth could have prepared me for the joyous awesome power of the closing track, "Sun God." Holy crap, it's ... shit, it's just fucking amazing. Fifteen minutes and five seconds of just pure, incredible, and game-changing pop, "Sun God" WILL stop you in your tracks and cause you to say to yourself, "Wait – what? What the hell was that?" And then you'll play it a second time and let its lush brilliance wash over you again. A hypnotic piece of ever-shifting musical ideas, "Sun God" as a whole is made up of several distinct genres, constantly evolving and becoming something else as it charges along on a crazy, wonderful ride. Hyperbole on the part of this blogger? I doubt it. When I listen to it, I can't help but wonder if the boys have been listening to a lot of Kraut Rock; there's a distinct Tangerine Dream feel to the whole affair, with some Can-style percussions thrown in here and there and was that a ghost of Kraftwerk I heard in there at 9:19? Check out the cowbells that kick in at the three-minute mark! Oh, I just love this track; it's worth the price of admission alone. Here – listen to it yourself and see.


 Cut Copy - Sun God by modularpeople 


And here's the video for the first single, "Need You Now."





Cheers, friends, and have a great day!

New Music: Cut Copy.

Zonoscope, Cut Copy's eagerly awaited third album, will be released 4 February this year. I, for one, am tremendously excited; Cut Copy has always been a riveting band, delivering music that is breathtaking in its delirious futuristic beauty. The quartet from my adopted city Melbourne, Australia (they used to be a trio, but they've recently brought on their fourth member, Ben Browning, on bass), through their first two albums – Bright Like Neon Love (2004) and In Ghost Colours (2008) – have exhibited a singular grace and elegance that is unmatched by their contemporaries. Dan Whitford's vocals are as emotive as ever, and the rhythms put forward by Tim Hoey and Mitchell Scott, while tinged with a delicacy and deliberation that bring to mind the best of '80s New Wave, still contain a contemporary edge guaranteed to get asses out there on that fucking dance floor.


So it is with great pleasure that I share with you today the first single off of Zonoscope, "Need You Now." Give it a listen. Then give it another. And another. My God, it's gorgeous. Cheers, friends. And enjoy.

Cut Copy - Need You Now by cutcopymusic

Happy Australia Day!

Well, today is Australia Day – and my first one, at that! I've got to give props to my adopted country; everybody has been incredibly warm and inviting for the first four months of my stay. True, the paperwork hasn't gone through all the channels yet, but patience, I'm told, is a virtue. But still – I'm really enjoying it here, and I have been made to feel at home.


That being said, I'd like to showcase some music from the 1986 Richard Lowenstein film Dogs In Space. Set in Richmond, Victoria (an outer suburb of Melbourne), this examination of the 1978 Melbourne punk scene – starring Michael Hutchence of INXS in his first leading role – doesn't, unfortunately, hold much water in the story-telling department. Chockfull of wooden performances, stilted dialogue, and a whole lot of nothing happening throughout its 103 minutes. BUT – and this is a huge 'but' – the music! My gosh, the music gracing the soundtrack, put together by Lowenstein and Ollie Olsen (who was part of the scene back in those days; a member of the post-punk band Whirlywind), is pretty much playing nonstop; so it more than makes up for Hutchence's "acting" (which pretty much amounts to rolling around on the floor in a heroin stupor 75% of the time, all the while "speaking" in hardly anything but barks and grunts). Hutchence: brilliant singer, crap actor. But I digress.

Featuring pulse-quickening tracks by late-'70s acts such as Iggy Pop, Thrush and the Cunts, Primitive Calculators, Ollie Olsen, Gang of Four, Brian Eno, and Boys Next Door (Nick Cave's band before it transmogrified into The Birthday Party), the soundtrack to Dogs In Space is fucking fantastic. And if one is interested in knowing more about the scene personified in the film, one can check out an ABC 1 documentary entitled We're Living On Dog Food, which takes its name from the Iggy Pop track that opens Dogs In Space. So without any further ado, here are some of my favourite tracks from this well-meaning film. 

First up is "Win/Lose" from Ollie Olsen. I love the bit in the film where he sings it in the main house's living room, backed up only by a tape machine!

Here is "Pumping Ugly Muscle" by Fitzroy-based Primitive Calculators. Some brilliant anger going on in this track, with a lot of cathartic screaming and wailing!

What can one say about a band called Thrush and the Cunts? Great hooks, interesting name. Here is their seminal track from the so-called "little band scene", "Diseases." 

Here's "Shivers" by Boys Next Door, which would then become The Birthday Party. Goddamn, look how young Nick Cave is! And dammit, he makes this song fucking ache.

During the closing moments of the film, where Michael Hutchence's character's girlfriend has been buried (she died of a heroin overdose), we're treated to "Rooms For The Memory," a track written and performed by Ollie Olsen, and sung by Hutchence. This collaboration would result in a short-lived side-project called Max Q – which almost broke up INXS, seeing as Hutchence did the recording behind his band's back.

And last but not least, here's "Endless Sea" by Iggy Pop. Now, I know he's not Australian. However, that being said, this song – which plays in the background while Saskia Post's character has her fatal overdose – so completely works in the movie, I just had to include it. And there you go, as I leave you with Iggy. Have a fantastic Australia Day, people.

Gig Review: Grinderman.

GRINDERMAN

17 JANUARY 2011

PALACE THEATRE

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Sure, sure, sure ... this is an electronica blog, you might say. And yes, you're right. BUT, this is Nick Cave we're talking about here, and goddamn it, I'm going to review his show I had the honour of witnessing when he dropped down in his hometown (of sorts) of Melbourne, Victoria. So there.

Longtime Bad Seed Conway Savage (1990 to present) was the opening act, sitting at an electric piano and accompanied by a guitarist. He was a quiet and graceful presence; subtlety and a glass of red wine perched atop his instrument were his constant friends -- alongside those audience members closest to the stage who could actually hear him over the din of the talkers and shouters in the back of the house, who were constantly on the cusp of completely drowning out Savage's bluesy concoctions. I had to leave my wife in the back for a spell so I could get closer to hear some of his intoxicating melodies. I really had never listened to his solo stuff before, but from what I could discern, his music would be a lovely companion to a night drinking out – I was reminded of Tom Waits, to be honest. I'm looking forward to picking up his most recent release, 2009's Live In Ireland. With a quiet "Thank you," and a nod to the crowd, Savage left the stage.


At around 10.00, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis (guitar, violin, percussion), Martyn P Casey (bass), and Jim Sclavunos (drums, percussion) took to their instruments and basically just brought the fucking house down right then and there, ripping wholeheartedly into "Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man" off their second album, the deliciously dirty and demented Grinderman 2. "And he sucked her, and he sucked her, and he sucked her DRY," bellowed Cave, delivering karate kicks into the air and following up with his Big Bad Wolf howl, "AWOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!" I swear, the intensity present in the room as he and his cohorts let loose on the first date of their Australian tour was buzzing, man. In fact, there were moments where old Cave – circa The Birthday Party – seemed to have come out to play, it was filled with so much giddily recounted mayhem and chaos. Grinderman has always been the id of a sweaty, hairy, sex-obsessed nasty man; Sclavunos's and Ellis's mountain-man beards certainly did nothing to dispel that particular aspect of their music. How was it that Sclavunos explained their new album to NME last year? Oh yeah – "No I'm not going to tell you anything about any of the songs. But they're great, and they cover a variety of topics from bloodshed to hairy animals to young girls masturbating in bathtubs ... on the first album you felt the weight of distended testicles swaying in the breeze of a mid-life crisis, whereas this one is a magic carpet ride floating over the rich spectrum of life," is what he said. Nice! And correct. This show displayed not a single flat note, glitch, or boring moment. It was the aural equivalent of a rampant locomotive with no breaks, steamrolling through anything and everything that gets in its way. "Get It On," with its chorus of "GET IT ON / GET IT ON / ON THE DAY THAT YOU WERE BORN" was simply fucking explosive. "No Pussy Blues," a treatise on a woman who just won't put out, no matter what one does for her, was fluid in its frustration.

The scathing "Honeybee (Let's Fly To Mars)" was fantastic in its punk-rock fervour, and "Worm Tamer," a rollicking track with one of the funnier lines to ever be sung ("Well my baby calls me the Loch Ness Monster / Two great big humps and then I'm gone") nearly hypnotised with its grungy dirty-ass blues. Fittingly, Cave and company closed things down with the first Grinderman's self-titled track, "Grinderman." "Yes I'm the Grinderman / In the silver rain / In the pale moonlight / I am open late / Yes I'm the Grinderman / Yes I am / Any way I can."


Damn right, Nick. Yes, you are.

setlist

mickey mouse and the goodbye man

worm tamer

get it on

heathen child

evil!

when my baby comes

what i know

honeybee (let's fly to mars)

kitchenette

no pussy blues

bellringer blues

-----

palaces of montezuma

man in the moon

when my love comes down

love bomb

grinderman

Here for your viewing pleasure is Grinderman's "Heathen Child," directed by John Hillcoat, director of fantastic films The Proposition (which was scripted by Nick Cave) and The Road, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy (which featured music written by Cave and Ellis). It's NSFW, just so you know – featuring nudity, violence, and grown men prancing around in Roman Centurion costumes.

Grinderman - "Heathen Child"
Uploaded by naivepromo. - Watch more music videos, in HD! 

Three Australian 80's Hits.

Well! I've now been in the land down under for just under a month, and it's been absolutely spectacular. Things are going great with my girlfriend, I'm getting some healthy color, and I've lost two and a half kilos (probably from all the fresh and organic food I've been eating) -- so all in all at this moment, I'm pretty tops. Still need to quit smoking, but I'm now under a pack a day, so we'll see where I'm at in another month, shall we?


So today I was thinking: How's about I put together a nifty little package of early 80's Australian music for you, my faithful readers, this weekend? Sounds like a plan, thinks I. So with no further ado, here's some 80's treasures that will, today, be on my humble blog!

From 1983, QED were a Sydney band featuring Jenny Morris, a Kiwi from discontinued band The Crocodiles. Wrapping up the rest of the group was Rex Goh (ex guitarist for Air Supply!) and Ian Belton on bass guitar. Featuring Amanda Vincent on keyboards (though for the life of me I don't know who's doing them in this video), QED evoked a sound that to this day evokes in me a tremendous feeling of nostalgia (because, really, what is this site but a musical nostalgia choo-choo train?). They only released one album, Animal Magic, before disbanding (Jenny Morris went on to great acclaim as a solo artist) -- and "Everywhere I Go" was their first single. And here it is. Love Morris' purple coat!

qed

"everywhere i go"

animal magic

Yeah, yeah -- I know everybody on the planet knows who Men At Work are, and can probably sing "Down Under" line for line at the drop of a dime. But I don't care. I'd like to think of today's post as a bit of comfort food, if you will, and since I've started with the year 1983, I figured I'd stick with it. Think of it as something of a theme. So. Men At Work. From the southern Melbourne suburb of St Kilda (love that 'hood), they only released three albums: 1981's Business As Usual, 1983's Cargo, and 1985's Two Hearts. Today's track comes from Cargo, and personally I find it to be quite an effective anti-war song that still holds water. I'm speaking of course of "It's A Mistake," and here it is for your listening pleasure.

men at work

"it's a mistake"

cargo

Though best known for their (rather crappy) 1986 cover of Lipps Inc.'s "Funky Town," Melbourne's Pseudo Echo back in the day composed music that was extraordinarily similar to the output of fellow 80's stalwarts Ultravox. Their debut record, 1984's Autumnal Park featured many high points in early 80's synth-pop, but none rose so high as their hit single "Listening." I remember back in 1985 when I first bought the album (entitled Pseudo Echo in the United States) -- I probably bugged the shit out of my parents by having kept lifting the needle and going back to start this track over and over and over again. It's a great tune; I haven't heard it in a long time, but it's great to go back to a priceless pop gem. Here's "Listening" for your listening pleasure on this gorgeous and sunny Saturday afternoon. Cheers!

pseudo echo

"listening"

autumnal park

R.I.P. James Freud.

It is with great sadness today that I have to report that James Freud, the troubled lead vocalist of Australian band Models, has killed himself after losing his battle with drinking. He was 51 years old. Second Drawer Up extends its deepest condolences to surviving friends and family. It's only been one week since Models were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame; Mr Freud declined to attend the ceremony, citing "other commitments."

Based out of Melbourne, Models began in the late 70's, pushing forward an interesting hybrid of post-punk laced new wave music, with a touch of glam and a propensity for lyrics that veered towards the macabre. Then, in 1982, James Freud took over lead vocals from Sean Kelly, and with the release of 1983's The Pleasure of Your Company, the band began to experiment with more straightforward electronic impulses. Mr Freud stayed on until the band's hiatus in 1988; rejoining them for a brief spell in the early naughts, then in 2006 and, for the final time, in 2008. He'd always had a weakness for the bottle, and sadly the bottle has finally won out.


So R.I.P. dear James Freud. You've left a lasting contribution to the world of modern music, and you will be sorely missed.

models

"i hear motion"

the pleasure of your company

Just Feel Like Some Kylie.

While I won't go so far as to call Kylie Minogue a guilty pleasure or anything that resembles in part a back-handed complement (really, what is a "guilty pleasure" anyway? If it makes you feel good, then just go out and fucking enjoy it without feeling guilty, already), I've got to admit that as far as music that's just flat-out fun goes, you really can't go wrong with Kylie. The pint-sized pop star is the perfect package for tunes that you really can't listen to without sporting a grin on your face. Her songs are catchy, perky, classy, cheerful, and are chockfull of an absolutely hummable energy -- it will get your ass out on the dance floor in a quick, and get you moving!


Last year, I had the opportunity to catch this glimmering princess on her first ever tour of the United States at the stately Fox Theatre in Oakland with my friends Lynn, Kimon, Andrei, and Summer. Imagine my surprise at the very beginning of the show when Kylie, descending on the stage perched on a gigantic mirrored skull, was accompanied by the ethereal countdown of my favourite Kylie track of all time, "Light Years" -- "Ten, nine, eight, seven ..." -- and the crowd went absolutely fucking apeshit. And for good reason. There's everything to love about this Australian chanteuse, and I will never forget the vibe in that theatre last year whilst Kylie and her dancers cavorted on stage in a flurry of fuzzy lasers, amazing technological effects, and a stage design that the handlers of wannabes such as Lady Gaga and Madonna can only dream of. And she's beautiful, on top of all that.


She's Kylie. And she's awesome.


Here she is in 2002 during her Fever2002 Tour in Melbourne, Australia. Nice splice of "Light Years" and "I Feel Love," that's for sure. Enjoy!

Second Drawer Up ...

... has moved from beautiful San Francisco, California to beautiful Melbourne, Australia! But never you worry, the site will still remain focused on what it likes to focus on - news, reviews, and breakout videos from some of the best names in electronic music.

Let's face it; you readers rock. I am powerless to resist you!

You are, in fact, "My People."

presets

"my people"

apocalypso

Stay real, kids. Talk to you soon!

Electro Classic Jukebox: Real Life.

Like a brief and sadly short-lived flare, Melbourne, Australia's Real Life did their damnedest to stake out a claim for awesome Australian synth-pop in the heady year of 1983. Unfortunately, their foray didn't work out so well - only two singles sprung from their debut album Heartland. But in the land of '80s synthesizer music, sometimes it only took a singular stab at genius to make a piece of art stick into the heart of the public's subconsciousness. Thus I introduce unto you their singular master track, "Send Me An Angel".

Ladies and gentlemen; if you haven't heard this track before, then please close your eyes and let this lovely song wash over you. If you have (and I'm pretty sure you have), then listen to it afresh. It's a great fucking song; with a whistling synth, a reedy voice, and a catchy-as-hell chorus.

The Beauty And The Beast - style video doesn't hurt things, either. You gotta love the mist-smothered forests, of which I'm positive Melbourne is swarming with! Here's Real Life with their career-defining single, "Send Me An Angel".