Karnivool, 05/07/2012 @ Hi Fi Bar and Ballroom

When a band I love as much as Karnivool announces a tour, it's usually a very celebratory occasion, with tickets being purchased immediately, and since last year, usually to multiple shows. This year was no different, and just to add to the awesomeness, they decided to call it the "Melodias Frescas" tour. What does that mean, you ask? NEW SONGS! And continuing their history of (almost always) picking great and interesting support bands, we had Sydney post-rock favourites sleepmakeswaves, and Melbourne stoner rockers Redcoats joining in for the festivities. This was set to be a great night right from the word go, and I'm happy to say it lived up to expectations.

I was a little disappointed that sleepmakeswaves were only given a 30 minute opening slot, considering they have more released material, and longer songs, than Redcoats. Nevertheless, seeing sleepmakeswaves a sixth time (and fourth for the year), I was hardly complaining. They were awesome as they always are. Bassist Alex Wilson has written an extremely entertaining and detailed blog of the tour, and it sounds like it could not have gone better for them. Not only did they get to play opener for an extremely popular band, but the people that were watching them actually enjoyed it and they made loads of new fans on the tour, by the sounds of things. As for this actual set, this was definitely the biggest rooom I've ever seen them play in and it sounded amazing. Cannot say enough good things about these dudes.
SETLIST:
to you they are birds, to me they are voices in the forest
in limbs and joints
we sing the body electric
(hello) cloud mountain
a gaze as blank and pitiless as the sun
(recording to follow)

Redcoats were up next, and I was looking forward to them quite a bit, after impulse buying their EP a few months ago and really enjoying it. Guess it's fair to say I'm a big fan of the stoner/psych rock sound, and they fit nicely under that. However, for some reason they just didn't do it for me as much as I thought they would on the night. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed them. But I think they just lack a little something when it comes to performing live. Hopefully I'll enoy them a bit more next time. Anyway, they played a whole lot of new songs from their upcoming debut album, so that's why a majority of these don't have titles. I am looking forward to hearing the album too.
(Working) SETLIST:
Kaytrucker
Giants

House of Luna
Evergreen

Raven
Dreamshaker
(recording to follow)

And then, the mighty Karnivool. What an absolute belter this was. I was excited in the lead-up to the show, but there was also a part of me that thought, "Oh well, it's not the BEST gig I'll see, they tour every year, they're only an Australian band". Then I remembered, "Hang on, these guys are actually one of, probably THE, best live act in Australia". Right from the word go, this show just ruled. And true to their word (and the name of the tour), they played NEW songs. Four in total, or three if you want to exclude The Refusal as it was played last year. All of them quite different to each other, all of them awesome. But yeah, it was the old favourites that got the biggest response, quite a lot of singing and moshing going on on this particular evening. My only complaint was about those old songs, actually - they were almost exactly the same as what was played last year. It would have been great to see something from Themata make it in that they hadn't played for a while. Or even The Caudal Lure. But yeah, other than that, this show was a perfect 10/10. Actually, it was still 10/10. Some of the songs are affected by movement, I was encouraged by a friend to get right in the front, and although I won't deny I had an absolute blast, it means the recording isn't so good. Sorry about that.

SETLIST:
(Intro on recording)
The Refusal
Goliath
Simple Boy
C.O.T.E.
We Are
All I Know
Deadman
Umbra
A.M. War
Set Fire to the Hive (with amusing false start)
Roquefort
----Encore----
Aeons
Themata
New Day
DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

Dirty Three, 28/07/2012 @ Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay

So I have a few recordings from the awesome (and muddy) weekend that was Splendour in the Grass, but I haven't listened back to any of the others yet and I have a feeling that some of them might not sound all that great. Plus the Dirty Three are always an absolute joy to watch, and I just wanted to get this up as soon as possible, so here it is. Mick Turner, Jim White, Warren fucking Ellis. In the GW McLennan Stage tent on a cold, muddy Saturday night, they brought pure brilliance to those who wanted something other than Bloc Party. I got a barrier spot for two sets over the weekend, this being one of them, and wow. I think it speaks volumes of how awesome this band is when, at least 27 minutes before they were scheduled to begin, there was a massive cheer from the crowd simply because Warren came out drinking coffee and checking a few technical bits and pieces. But yeah. It's hard to be the highlight of a festival where At the Drive-In are playing, but I have to say, this came damn close. I will never get tired of listening to Warren's stories - which, this time around, just happened to cover such topics as bears on ketamine, varicose veins in Gina Reinhart's arse, Justin Bieber and dead comedians. Not necessarily in that order. Oh yeah, unfortunately towards the end of the set there's some serious crackling in my microphones. I've been noticing it in some recent recordings (which I haven't posted yet) and my only conclusion is that my mics might be on the way out, which saddens me. It's not too bad if I stand completely still, and being Dirty Three I was doing that for most of the show, but toward the end of the set I was having to move around a bit to keep warm and yeah, you can definitely notice it. Sorry about that.

SETLIST:
Intro on recording
Rain Song
Furnace Skies
Sometimes I Forget You've Gone
The Pier
Some Summers They Drop Like Flies
Everything's Fucked
The Restless Waves
The Zither Player
Ashen Snow / Ends of the Earth
Sue's Last Ride 

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

Explosions In The Sky @ The Glass House (2012-04-18)

Wow! I walked away from this show utterly speechless. Completely blew away all my expectations. I'd seen Explosions do a headlining show back in 2008 and then again at Meredith a few months earlier but this was something else. That coupled with a near perfect setlist (in my eyes) made this a show I'll be sure to listen to again and again. I can't believe they played Tired Eyes and Six Days! Fantastic!!
Come back to Australia more often please.

This one was recorded towards the left side of the venue in line with the speaker stack. I was about halfway back on the floor and the sound was incredible. Really happy with how this turned out.

 

Setlist:
1. Memorial
2. Catastrophe and The Cure
3. Last Known Surroundings
4. Six Days At The Bottom of The Ocean
5. The Birth and Death of The Day
6. Human Qualities
7. With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept
8. Let Me Back In
9. The Only Moment We Were Alone

Length: 1:29:17

Sound Quality: A-

Download Here

The Butterfly Effect, 08/06/2012 @ Hi Fi Bar and Ballroom (final show with Clint Boge)

So, it's the end of an era. After seeing The Butterfly Effect on their ten year anniversary tour last year, I couldn't help but feeling that something wasn't right within the band, and I was definitely not surprised with the announcement earlier this year that vocalist Clint Boge was leaving after all this time. Thankfully, the boys gave the fans a chance to say goodbye and announced one last tour with Boge. So despite the fact that I didn't enjoy them all that much at the last show, I knew I'd regret it if I missed this chance, so I bought myself a ticket to the Palace show - and then this show at the Hi Fi was announced. I thought I'd probably give it a miss, as there was another gig I wanted to attend and I thought the setlist would probably be much the same; eventually the gig sold out so I didn't have much choice in the matter. However, on the night I decided I wanted to give my recording gear to a friend for this show, because you know, it was The Butterfly Effect's LAST SHOW with their singer of ten years and I thought it'd be good to have it captured, as the other gig I was planning to attend all involved bands who are still very much active. So I was on the train on my way to the Hi Fi to drop off the magic box before going elsewhere, when my friend messaged me saying that Hi Fi had put some tickets on the door, and I instantly knew that I would be going there instead. And I am so very glad I made that decision. There WERE two extra songs added to the set, it has to be said that the support bands were so much better than those at the Palace show, and well, who would really want to miss such a special evening? I won't deny it, there were tears in my eyes at the end of it.

The first of those aforementioned awesome support bands were Perth's The Siren Tower, a newish band formed by former Heavy Weight Champ frontman Grant McCulloch. I'd never really got around to checking out HWC but I had heard very good things about them, and from what I'd heard, The Siren Tower were also a band worth giving a listen. Suffice to say, I had high expectations of them before going into the gig! I wasn't really sure what to make of them as the set was happening on the night, but once it was over, I realised I had really enjoyed them and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where they go next. Also, on their Facebook during the day, they posted a photo of them on the plane on the way over, and I was quite surprised to see former Birds of Tokyo bassist Anthony Jackson! And yep, turns out he's the live bassist with the band at the moment. So it was great to see him back in action. But as for the band as a unit, I think, after preordering the album the next day and going to see them at the Espy on that night, that it's safe to say I'm a new fan!

SETLIST:
The Banishing of William McGuiness
Letter from the Edge of the Earth
City of Light
I Could Tell You Things That Would Break Your Heart
Floods
Last Apple in the Big Man's Orchard

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

So it's been a little while since I've seen The Khyber Belt, and I'm happy to report that they are still pretty damn awesome. I was a little bit sleep-deprived on this particular evening but I knew that as soon as I saw Forbes McKail onstage being his usual bouncy self, that it'd give me the boost I needed, and thankfully I was right. It took me a little while to warm to these guys since their first shows last year, but the EP is a solid listen and they're a pretty rockin' live act. After The Siren Tower's chilled out start to the evening, it was good to have this act pick up the pace a bit in anticipation of TBE. Great set; loved the two newies too.
SETLIST:
Sun
We The People
(Unknown new song)
(Another unknown new song; the same one they played at Creepshow though)
Don't Look to the Sky
London

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

And then, it was time for the big one. The tour had come to an end, but it was the end of far more than that. The shows on this tour have clearly shown the band at their best (in contrast to last year, as I mentioned), and really, what better way is there to go out? Can't really fault the setlist for this tour either, though it's been identical in each city until tonight. When Clint came on for the second encore and announced "this is the last three songs you're gonna see", my friend and I looked at each other with the biggest smiles on our faces, because though we were hopeful that there would be some extra/different songs, we weren't really expecting it to happen. There's not much else to say. Hope everyone really enjoys this as much as I did; it's only the third time I've seen them, and this is definitely the way I wanted to remember them. So, this is it. If The Butterfly Effect are hanging up the axes after this, then they went out on top. But I'm still curious to see if they will replace Clint.

SETLIST:
Beautiful Mine (Clint solo with piano backing track)
Window and the Watcher
A Slow Descent
Phoenix
Perception Twin
Final Conversation
Aisles of White
Crave
Wilma's Rainbow (Helmet cover)
Room Without a View
Reach
Consequence
Everybody Runs (acoustic)
One Second of Insanity
Worlds on Fire
----Encore 1----
Gone (acoustic)
The Cell
The End
----Encore 2----
Sweet & Low
Take It Away
Always
Goodbye (I thought it would be better if I put Clint's last words as a separate track to do them proper justice.)

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

Explosions In The Sky @ Coachella Festival (2012-04-20)

Explosions In The Sky
Loved this set. Absolutely loved it!!
After the disappointment of The Rapture this was exactly what I needed to turn my mood around. Arriving just as they started we took a spot pretty far back on the field and sat down to watch. About 20 minutes later we moved to the right and much much closer to the stage. There my girlfriend and I took the chance to lay down and appreciate the band. Well, I did.... Tab doesn't like post-rock so I think she was trying to sleep through it. So while she tried to fall asleep I used her as a pillow to watch the band. And quite frankly, it was one of the best times I had that weekend. It's amazing how much I enjoy watching this band and it just felt so nice to relax and watch them after the heat we had to endure earlier in the day.
You may here some sound bleed from The Black Keys in this one because they were on mainstage and stupidly loud and boring. Other than that though it's a pretty good recording.

I recorded this from pretty far back towards the right side. Microphones were actually on the ground resting on a hat facing the stacks. At the beginning of Your Hand In Mine I moved much closer to the stage but kept the same microphone configuration. Sorry but I was tired and just wanted to lay down and relax.



Setlist:
1. The Birth and Death of The Day
2. Catastrophe and The Cure
3. Your Hand In Mine
4. Let Me Back In
5. The Only Moment We Were Alone

Length: 45:55

Sound Quality:

Download Here

Boy & Bear @ Forum Theatre, 16/05/2012

It really doesn't seem like that long ago that I was seeing some little-known Sydney folk quintet opening for Mumford & Sons at the Palace Theatre in 2010, but here we are two years later and Boy & Bear are pretty much, in Australia at least, on a level playing field with that band. Their debut EP With Emperor Antarctica was a huge success, no doubt due to the unbelievably catchy pair of tunes Mexican Mavis and Rabbit Song, and the songs that followed it, and the Moonfire album in 2011, have earned Boy & Bear plenty of love from the musical community in this country. After a successful run of shows in 2011, both prior to and following the Moonfire release, and a well-received slot at this year's Big Day Out, the Sydney gents evidently thought, "Another tour? Why not!", and are currently trekking across the country on their Remembering the Mexican tour, in homage to that song that helped to make them so damn popular. And damn popular they are; tonight was the first of three sold-out shows at the Forum. So anyway, what a gig! Shows at the Forum are always awesome, and this was no exception. I would have liked to see another song or two from With Emperor Antarctica make it in, but all in all it was a solid setlist; I had no idea prior to the gig they were putting new songs in the set too, so that was awesome to hear. My only other (very minor) complaint was that I'm not sure if such a large venue is suited to this kind of music; with a lot of very slow and chilled out songs, it seemed a bit weird to see so many people standing around doing absolutely nothing. They had the same problem at Big Day Out too. But they got the crowd moving with the "big hits" and on the whole, it was just a great show from a great band. Can't wait for album number two!

SETLIST:
Rabbit Song
Lordy May
Milk & Sticks
My Only One
Three Headed Woman
Fall at Your Feet (Crowded House cover; with additional snippet of Neil Young - Heart of Gold)
Part Time Believer
(Unknown; new song)
Beach
Feeding Line
Big Man
Mexican Mavis
Golden Jubilee

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

Helm (and other awesomeness), 11/05/2012 @ the Espy

So, Gold Coast proggy/post-rockers Helm made the journey south, in support of their newest single Bullets (which features a pretty awesome guest drummer). I really enjoyed their set supporting The Butterfly Effect last year (more so than The Butterfly Effect as it were), and I've been really getting into their two albums in the past few months, so I was more than keen to check them out this time. Especially with dat support bill, and the venue being walking distance :)

So first up, we have the never-failing-to-be-awesome Ezekiel Ox, doing his thing with just a microphone and his guitar. Obviously I'm a bit biased being a fan of his previous (and current) work, but in some respects his solo (and Fury) shows are some of the sets I've enjoyed the most from him over the years. I really appreciate how deeply personal some of the songs are to him; you get to see another side of him rather than the usual in-your-face ranting punk rocker (although I do enjoy that side of him too). So anyway. A nice cruisy set to kick the evening off; I guess most of these tunes are going to be appear on the next Fury album, if and when that ever gets released. I hope it does.
SETLIST:
Poison in Crisis (the lyrics clearly say "venom". I'm confused.)
Sick and Tired
Don't Let It Grow
(Unknown)
(Unknown)
(Unknown)
Fire to Sun

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

Up next was an absolute belter from stoner/riff-heavy rockers Dive Into Ruin, who for the uninitiated feature Craig (bass/vox in this band) and Trent (drums) from Mushroom Giant - although they couldn't sound less like Mushroom Giant if they tried. I don't think I saw these guys at all in 2011, so I was really looking forward to this one because they were one of the first bands out of this underground scene that I got into when I moved to Melbourne. I'm happy to report they still sound awesome, although I couldn't remember a lot of the songs being played. And there were quite a few newies in there too. The setlist I grabbed doesn't exactly match what Craig introduced some of the songs as, so I've just had to wing it a little bit. Plus the titles are in shortened setlist form. But yeah, these guys are great. Hope to see a bit more of them this year.

(download to follow)

Ennis fucking Tola. When did I see these guys for the first time? I can't remember, I think it was the Floating Me gig at the East Brunswick (RIP) last year, and they made an immediate impression on me that night. There's just nobody around at the moment that sounds quite like them, and with their recent run of reasonably frequent gigs, they're looking more and more at home on a live stage. Whether it was because it was their last show for a while (they're now going to get stuck into making their second album), or maybe it's just because they're awesome, they had a very respectable-sized, and very appreciative crowd on this night. What a good set this was. They played plenty of old tunes and some solid newies from that eagerly-anticipated upcoming album and like I said, their stage presence is improving significantly. The friend I was with has been a bit harsh on them for being a boring live band in the past (I never agreed with him though), but he enthusiastically declared at the end of their set that he was very impressed with their progress. So yay for them having another fan, they deserve it. Anyway. Great set!

(download to follow)

Unfortunately that set was so awesome that lots of people decided to leave before Helm (it was also getting pretty late), which was a real shame because these poor dudes travelled a long way and I think people really should have stayed at least for a few songs to give them a bit of support. Frontman Lucas Stone understandably commented on the sparse crowd at the front of the room; he did it in a jocular manner but it was obvious he was a little disappointed. Neverthless, the show must go on as they say, and go on it did, in great form. The small crowd didn't seem to bother them; they played really enthusiastically, especially during their heavy bits. It's a bit cliche, but the "whole group headbang" always looks pretty awesome. Anyway, yeah, good set, it was a fucking late one but worth sticking it out for! More people need to appreciate this band!

(download to follow)

The Mountain Goats @ The Toff in Town (09-05-2012)

Supported by Catherine Traicos

Of the five or six times I've seen the Mountain Goats this show ranks up there with the best. In probably the longest set I've seen them play, they performed 25 songs spanning the last 10 years of their discography. Difficult to pick a highlight, new songs like "Night Light" from their upcoming album Transcendental Youth I enjoyed just as much as older favourites like "Palmcorder Yajna" and "You or Your Memory".

Setlist:

1. For Charles Bronson
2. Old College Try
3. Birth Of Serpents
4. Damn These Vampires
5. Jeff Davis County Blues
6. Counterfeit Florida Plates
7. Hast Thou Considered The Tetrapod
8. Hawaiian Feelings
9. Fall of the Star High School Running Back
10. Woke Up New
11. You Were Cool
12. Transcendental Youth
13. The Diaz Brothers
14. White Ceder
15. Palmcorder Yajna
16. International Small Arms Traffic Blues
17. Night Light
18. Pigs That Ran Straightway Into The Water, Triumph Of
19. Love Love Love
20. Game Shows Touch Our Lives
21. You or Your Memory
22. This Year

23. 1 Samuel 15:23
24. Quito
25. The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton


Length: 1:38:10

Download:
mp3 (150MB)
flac (527MB)

Scott & Charlene's Wedding @ The Tote, Melbourne, 06-04-2012

Supported by Peak Twins and The School of Radiant Living

Peak Twins
First time I got to see these guys from Adelaide, hope they come back soon cause they were excellent.

Setlist:
1. Gentleman Of Fortune
2. Waiting Room
3. Sylvia's
4. Your Love
5. Rainin'
6. Only Sun

Length: 21:34
Download MP3

Scott & Charlene's Wedding
The best S&CW set I've seen. Recording came out great too. "Where Did My Records Go" as Craig mentions, was written the day before the gig, so I made up the title... subject to change.

1. Where Did My Records Go
2. Rejected
3. My World
4. Gammy Leg
5. Wiseman At The Station
6. Two Weeks
7. Hazy Morning
8. Footscray Station
9. Epping Line
10. Every Detail

Length: 45:00
Download MP3

My Disco, 14/04/2012 @ the Toff in Town

Wow. So it's been almost a year since My Disco played in this exact same spot, and in that year it's fair to say they haven't done a lot. But one thing they did do was create their first ever music video, for the song Turn; apparently the video was actually shot at the Toff. The video itself is a pretty simple concept - a ballerina dances, Robin Fox provides lasers. Easy. There was a little bit of a hint earlier on that this gig was going to pay tribute to that clip, when during the band's set-up time, a laser beam escaped through the gap in the curtain and lit up the room briefly. However, I don't think anyone expected them to take it to the extreme that they did - as the curtain pulled back, they blasted the room with the smoke machine and continued doing so the whole gig, the laser fired up, and yeah, for the entire gig the room was covered in fog, the laser was on and there was some pretty cool synched up lighting going on as well. Basically, what this meant was that for the full duration of the gig, you could barely even see the band unless you were right up the front - which I wasn't. The whole atmosphere they created was really cool, but in retrospect I would have liked to actually watch the awesome musicians onstage, especially Rohan Rebeiro. Fuck that guy can play drums, the drum solo outro to Young was ridiculous. Other than the whole invisible band thing, it was a fucking awesome gig. Wasn't expecting them to play the two (or three, not sure whether that first one's a newie?) older songs either. Liam also talked a lot more than usual (well, he said "thank you" at times other than the end of the set haha), which I think is good. Recording turned out pretty good too, apart from a bit of chatter here and there. As I guess I can understand, people tend to get a bit restless at My Disco gigs. I removed one particularly obnoxious comment one guy in front of me made to his friend during Young, but funnily enough you can't really tell there's a few seconds of the song missing when I listened back to it. Also, there was a bit of PA crackle during some songs (most noticeable during With Age); just thought I'd mention that was not my microphones' fault. Anyway. Download. Enjoy.

SETLIST:
(Unknown) (they played this one at the gig last year too; I'm not sure if it's new or not as I still don't have Cancer and up until last night, I didn't have Paradise either. Any help here would be much appreciated.)
Young/Drum Solo
Turn
A Turreted Berg
Closer
You Came to Me Like a Cancer Lain Dormant Until it Blossomed Like a Rose
With Age
Perfect Protection

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

By the way, the support band was No Zu, and I have to say they were pretty interesting. However, my iRiver was running a bit low on battery so I thought I'd better save it for the main event; hence, no recording of No Zu.