Fourth NaBloPoMo

Today is my 30th daily post in a row, completing NaBloPoMo for the fourth year in a row.

Of course I had 11 gigs to write about, so that helped a lot! And my now regular Top 5 pieces on albums of the year, play counts, and gigs of the year, have also been helpful prompts. But this year I did utilise the schedule function, which may be cheating a bit, but given my busy schedule, was necessary! I also managed to post on days where I had no real inspiration by finding my storage strategy of my travel pictures of the time based in London. This process, of blogging a few of these photos, also allowed me to revisit some of my travels and weekend trips of that time, and really appreciate how great having this blog is - I can look back on so many trips, events and places of mention, and random times, and recollect the where, what and my thoughts at the time. Love it! All those memories recorded!

jouljet has been going steadily since last year's NaBloPoMo kick start back into regular posting, and this is my 753rd post since starting blogging back in January of 2005, about to set off on that overseas adventure.

The most exciting part of blogging this month has been the traffic numbers. Blogger has an internal stats page now, which means it's more accessible than checking another site (which I still do for more detailed stats about searches leading to jouljet and traffic paths). Posts about the They Will Have Their Way gig, and the Straight To You show have reached over 70 hits since being published. And then the Harvest and my Top 5 Favourite Albums for this year have now reached more than 140 hits. The latter in just 3 days, thanks to it being picked up and mentioned by Largehearted Boy's Online Music List.

NaBloPoMo is also a time where I read more random blogs, through the challenge site usually, and this year through Twitter shares of those I am following. The sense of community in reading others doing the same challenge, but also of jumping through other blogger's posts and thoughts and lives, and leaving comments, is something I have really enjoyed over the last couple of years of this challenge. It also means my Google Reader list is ever growing!

Heavenly Sounds

Last night, discovering a late heat change in Melbourne when I arrived into town, I met Jane on the steps of St Michael's Church for our evening. Being ushered in, and being handed a leaflet for the night, we took our seats at the next available pews, as the room filled. Deceptive from the outside, this space is round inside, with the curved seating facing the gigantic church organ, with the stage set up in front of the alter for our night of secular music.

First for the night was the hilarious Henry Wagons, who gave us his country folk songs, which channeled a little Nick Cave on vocals and delivery. With Save Me, Love Me Like I Love You, a song about staying away from his sister dedicated to all the men in the room, his take on The Gambler with crowd number selection participation, and Willie Nelson, he entertained and had the room laughing through the heat.

Opening with the Bring Me Back, the girls of Seeker Lover Keeper then took to the stage, and filled this holy place with their harmonies right from the start. Exactly what a space like this is for!

After the second song, with Sarah Blasko and Sally Seltmann on keys together, Sarah talked about how shocked they were at the heat. Holly Throsby, on the other side of the stage mentioned that she had been just fine, which started the banter for the rest of the night. Reaching for water, then Sarah remembered that the audience was advised not to bring drinks, etc, given the venue, and expressed her guilt. She placed her bottle on the stage edge in case any of us needed it!

Tracks from the album such as Everytime and Theme I were lovely. Holly then joked about them not being sure whether to play the next track, a cover....Sinner, from the They Will Have Their Way compilation was gorgeous.

In the middle of the set the girls did a song from each of their solo back catalogs, with a SLK flavour to it, with Sarah's Bird On A Wire, Holly's amazing What I Thought Of You, and Sally's Emotional Champ, being a tribute to the emotion sharing of these friends over the journey of this supergroup this year.

Other album highlights for the night included Rely On Me and Going To Sleep. Rest Your Head On My Shoulder, being introduced as the first SLK song, penned by Sally, is one of my favourites. Along with No Regrets, which was fairly early in the set.

The encore was their Stevie Nick's tribute, a cover of her Wild Heart, which is just gorgeous, before finishing with the amazing Even Though I'm A Woman. What an amazing night, given the novelty of the venue, topped off by the performances of these three amazing Aussie singer-songwriters. Such a beautiful, uplifting and heart warming gig.

Australian Idle

After a day in Melbourne on Saturday, I crossed town in the rain and met Melissa in Richmond for dinner. We had a rather unexpected and inadvertent fine dining experience at Union Dining, which was pretty good.

We then ducked back down Swan Street to get to The Corner, and arrived into the band room as Heath Cullen was playing his opening set. The room was set up with tables of couples, with candles, all set around the edge of the dance floor. A strange setting for the front man of The Whitlams!

Second on the bill was Gossling, who delivered her piano and unusual Julia-Stone-like voice with charm. Among her own tracks, her and her band also gave us the cover she did for Triple J's Like A Version, I Just Dance The Way I Feel, which is awesome.

The room filled further, although not to capacity, for Tim Freedman to deliver his solo release album launch. Having listened to the new album once, and also reading some of the reviews from the album and the show, I was not sure what to expect. But Tim, being the ultimate Aussie musical showman, delivered. Even with this 70s pop inspired direction! He also had a couple of female musicians in his band on stage, which felt completely new.

Playing most of the new album, with stand out tracks like Old Man, Peter Brown and Misty, this collection of songs are all third person, but about a person. Tim introduced Girlfriend Heaven as the conversation you have with your 5 year old daughter to explain the disappearance of a girl from her life. My, he has become a grown up!

Heckled by one of the people up the front who had been standing stage side all night, Tim was sharp with his wit and puns, and his tirade on the TV show Spicks And Specks. A few random rants, and he was alternating white wine and water while playing....he also talked about having a birthday the day before.

He slipped The Whitlam's Beauty In Me in the middle of the set, but filled his double encore with the tracks the faithful gathered longed to hear - Fall For You, Keep The Light On, and You Sound Like Louis Burdett. Leaving us with Blow Up The Pokies, it was always going to be hard not to play such tracks. But the live version of his new songs has me returning for further listens to the album.

Top 5: Favourite Albums of '11

What an amazing year for album releases this year! So much great music set free for our listening pleasure. I have had a playlist on the go, adding to with each release, and that is now 23.4 hours of listening joy!

Of course, that's obviously not every musical album release of 2011 worldwide, so I am taking this annual post while watching the ARIA Awards this year, as my "Favourite" rather than best. I mean, there are loads of albums I haven't heard, or ones that didn't grab me enough to purchase. But still, I think these 5 are pretty amazing and rate at the best for me!

Gotye's Making Mirrors is by far my favourite album of the year, and the one I rave about the most. The journey through these 12 songs, from the highs of new love, to the hurt and confusion of lost love, to the depths of depression and finding your way out. And then right in the middle is the ode to music of today, with State Of The Art, ha! It's brilliant, and Wally is reaping in all the accolades that he deserves, with surely more to come in the next year with this album.

The first album purchased this year, from The Decemberists, was always going to rate high, even at first listen. The King Is Dead takes their indie folk rock sounds to new levels with their rustic sounds and storytelling. It's brilliant.

Moonfire. Boy & Bear. Need I say more? Ha! Scooping 5 ARIAs tonight, this album follow up to that amazing 5-track EP is just a dream of indie rock. Coming from Triple J's Unearthed process, and then emerging with their Crowded House cover last year, the album this year has raised them into the consciousness of most Aussie - and surely most Aussie's now after tonight's awards!

Aussie female supergroup Seeker Lover Keeper's self-titled album is a collaboration of harmonic joy of the talent in this country right now, in terms of singer/songwriters, and musicians. Seeker Lover Keeper has come to life in the gigs I have been to of these lovely ladies this year, and it a real thing of beauty.

The Great Impression, being the sophomore album for Sparkadia has been one of my most listened to albums of the year, and one that I love. AB's pop songs round out this count for me.

Missing from this list are albums from Oh Mercy, Architecture In Helsinki, The Dears, Feist, the second albums for Florence + The Machine, and of course Adele. Just too many for a list of 5!

A very Aussie view of albums for me really, with a host of amazing live performances bringing many of the these albums to life for me. Again, there has been so much talent unleashed this year!

Moonfire

Last night I went along to the sold out Boy & Bear show at The Palace. Having been ditched by my gig buddy for another gig, I ended up going on my Pat Malone, and arrived towards the start of the opening act.

Paper Kites were up first, and whilst a match musically for the night, nothing really stood out about them. Bell Park Music were next, to the filling cavernous venue, and had a lot of people singing and dancing along with them.

To the packed house, Boy & Bear arrived on stage, and opened with their debut album opener Lordy May. Right from the start the sound of this indie rock band with their harmonies filled the venue, and it was clear that they have become a much loved band with the crowd. Tracks like Golden Jubilee and Blood To Gold were huge, and the lovely My Only One and Big Man were beautiful.

The biggest sing-a-long for the night was their cover of Fall at Your Feet, but it was clear that their album has been purchased and loved by most of the packed room, with good reactions for Milk & Sticks and my favourite Part Time Believer.

EP track Rabbit Song was massive, with the whole theater joining them. The band admitted that songs like this have grown an entity of itself with fans after them playing it for the past year, and that it has now become so well known that they had messed up a bit of it last night, but that the crowd knew the right arrangement and verse.

Ending with Feeding Line, after explaining that they haven't ever and won't do an encore, the crowd did not leave disappointed. They were so amazing, and deserve the recognition for the work they have put in this year, at the ARIAs on the weekend.

Live Music Safari for Melbourne Music Week

Yesterday I spent the day taking in some events as part of
Melbourne Music Week. I drove down and arrived at Thousand £ Bend in time to have lunch in the cafe at the front, before the music started. The reincarnation of St Jerome's, this hole-in-the-wall venue is actually a vast warehouse space, with a cinema room upstairs.

Moving into the light filled warehouse space, I first took in half of the photography exhibit around the walls, being Kane Hibberd's stills of bands in situ and set up shots. Some pretty impressive frames here. I then took a seat for the beginning of the day of Live Music Safari, which was Geoffrey O'Connor.

The sound was not great for this set, with vocals totally overpowered, so much of the lyrical detail was lost, however halfway through the set Geoffrey stepped down off stage and wandered up and down the centre of the crowd, and then sat up on the bar at the back, all without skipping a word.

Next up with the Q&A between Spiral Stairs and Gotye. We were directed upstairs to the cinema, where we found Wally beaming at us from the big screen, through Skype. Spiral Stairs explained that Wally was "very ill" and couldn't be present, and then told us of his discovery of Gotye's music, leading up to Wally being in the band for his wedding.

The questions put to Wally were really ad hoc, and often spoke over Wally trying to answer, given the internet delay at times. And then it dropped out about three times during Wally answers, questions which frustratingly were not repeated! But I think Wally was actually more candid than he may have been in person, and spoke freely of playing his new album live, the US tour he has just returned from, and interestingly how he has learnt through working these tracks with the 10-piece orchestra that developing tracks in isolation may not be the way forward for him, or that he will include a workshop-phase of finalising a song, given the life other instrumentalists have given his work over the last few months.

Through audience questions, he talked about his training leading to the music he produces, which has been drum lessons only. He says that the sampling and technology side of things has really been self taught. He also mentioned that he is about to take some voice coaching, as he has been disappointed that he has been unable to take tracks live where he wanted them to go. Ever the self critic!

Wally also provided an answer about starting out a band, and the importance of ensuring roles are agreed upon from the early days, to an audience question, and then also talked about his nerves about his pending ARIA performance on the weekend. Given that he is sick, he has not traveled to Sydney as planned, and that the track and performance with sculpture is a new concept, and will only have a few rehearsals now.

Such an interesting, intelligent and talented speaker, it was awesome to hear him speak so openly.

Back downstairs, I attended the panel discussion about Media in the Industry, which was a discussion about media and social media outlets were being used at present to promote music. Panel members included people from RRR radio, Inpress Magazine, Mess + Noise, Faster Louder and Three Thousand websites, and Arts Victoria.

Changing venues for the evening, I had a standard pub meal at John Curtain, where Nicole joined me. We then went upstairs to their band room, certainly an innovation since old uni days of very cheap beer here!

The room filled, and The Harpoons started their set. A band we have followed for some time, they have recently returned to live shows, with news of a pending debut album.

Playing quite a few new tracks, which sounded amazing, the tracks we recognised were You're The One I Love, and the always disarming Faith, with Bec's vocals quietening the noisy crowd a little. Reworked since last listens, it's clear this young band have been developing their sound and arrangements. The set finished with their new track Keep You Around, which is so lovely.

KUBIK Melbourne

It's weeks like this, being Melbourne Music Week, that I really, really miss living in Melbourne. So much going on!

After Dolly on Tuesday night, we walked back to the car with a little detour to Birrarung Marr, to have a look at KUBIK Melbourne. Standing up on one of the bridges, we could take in the view of the open-air installation venue, with the backdrop of the city.


The lit up water tanks change colour with the music, with the band and people on the dance floor inside. As we watched, we took in the sounds of French DJ Wax Tailor, with his full ensemble band. Impressive!