David's Top Ten (or thereabouts)

[saintrik]

TOP TENNERS
December 28, 2009
By David Bridie

A feast of music from the My Friend The Chocolate Cake frontman and Melbourne supporter...

MY BEST LIVE MUSIC PERFORMANCES OF 2009...
1. I went to Fest Napuan in Port Vila in November, one of the great music festivals in our region set on the parkland opposite the Vanuatu Kultural Centre. It runs over five nights. There you are drinking kava on a balmy evening overlooking the picturesque Port Vila harbour, I would seriously recommend it as a must do thing. The flights from Brisbane to Vila are damn cheap. A family friendly environment, 6000 people mingling in a hassle free environment... stringband music, island reggae, kustom singsing, rock bands.... the best bands of Melanesia... the three highlight performances for me were...

A. SHAKURA STRINGBAND from Pentikos island...Vanuatu stringband is different from PNG stringband in that the bands have a box bass and they sound more steel string due to their solid bodied ukuleles.... and the beat is different... it is ridiculously catchy and danceable... SHAKURA are quite idiosyncratic, melodic hook lines in abundance, youthful energy and they nailed the festival stage with three front guys dancing around, harmonies, conga rhythms, very appealing.

B. THE SPACIFEX. This band originally from NZ and now living in Brisbane are the quintessential festival band... amazing musicians and entertainers... three Samoan singers demand your attention with their high energy performance, they have a touch of the Freddy Mercury’s about them... kind of bent rock ragamuffin cabaret, but not in any way naff, great arrangements, larger than life...this band will succeed...it is different, very Pacific, tres entertaining, energetic, fresh.

C. JOSEPHINE, a band from New Caledonia, playing Kanek beat... Again Kanek beat is a great festival sound, driving, upbeat grooves with melodies you could hang your coat on and very idiosyncratic, cool brass section, very tight, Nicky Bomba had been working with them and joined them for the set (I have to admit I much prefer Nicky as a band member than a front man... he tends to be a bit of a “festival club show tunes guy” which I think undersells his amazing talent)... having also seen Ceylenod at the Auckland festival and Edou, The Kanek beat sound from New Caledonia is a great Melanesian genre as is stringband and should be a major feature of WOMADELAIDE because it is “world music from our region...is world class, it drives, puts a smile on your face, identifies the people who make it and has great appeal. A debut performance from Emmanuel Mailau, winner of the Pacific Beat competition for new Pacific bands run by Radio Australia from the settlements in Port Moresby, PNG was also very good.

2. DAN SULTAN at Queenscliff Music Festival, on Rock Kwiz and in Bran Nue Dae ... there is a buzz about Dan. Whether he is rocking out or singing back slow sparse toons a la Johnny Cash, Dan has the x factor. He is a wonderful musician and singer, is overall aspects of his craft. The Jimmy Chi compositions he sings in Bran Nue Dae are something to hold out for when that film is released in the cinemas on 14 January... Nyul Nyul Girl, Black Girl, Seeds That You May Sow and Bran Nue Dae are highlights of the film. His new album Get out while you can cracks. Hopefully he can blow off the black Elvis tag...slightly unfortunate that one, mind you when he sings Black Girl in BND it does have a Love Me Tender stripped back quality to it.

3. JARVIS COCKER @ The Forum and Meredith. Ex Pulp singer, his first solo album Jarvis is a cracker. Love his lyrics, delivery and the production. Cocker is an intelligent, witty, pointed, edgy lyricist and this album Jarvis contains half a dozen crackin’ toons that he played at these shows... songs such as I Will Kill Again, Fat Children, Quantum Theory and (Cunts are still) Running the World are some of the best songs I have come across in quite a while. Google the you tube clip of Running the World... you will not regret it.

4. GULAAN from New Caledonia played at the Bowen Sing Sing. Last year he played at the Spiegeltent at the Australasia World Music Expo. He is one of the most astoundingly beautiful singers with a rich soulful voice and as an acoustic guitar playing singer songwriter, his chord selection and touch show a finesse and subtlety that you could listen to for days. Like Gurrumul he could sing the telephone directory and make it sound good... he is a more complex writer than Gurrumul (whose career rises exponentially). Gulaan will play at Womadelaide 2011.If you can hunt down a CD of his from Noumea do so...his CDs will be released in Australia later in 2010. He is a tall well-built Melanesian man who on stage has a commanding presence.

5. BLACKEYED SUSANS AND LULUC at the Thornbury Theatre. Ron Snarski also could sing the phone book...no one croons like him but he ain’t some classless twit like Michael Buble. Singing songs penned by David McComb or Phil Kakulas or by himself eg Jimmy off the Dan Luscombe/Rob Snarski side project CD, Snarski should be massively successful...but not in good ol' Australia where it’s the Bubles and David Campbells of the world who are successful. Regardless, The Susans have always been a favourite band of mine...brushes, double bass, piano and guitars make it easy for them to play this wonderfully laid back feel music but they can still kick out on tracks like Smoking Johnny Cash as fine as any attitude rock band or punk outfit. On this night at the Thornbury, MCed by Judith Lucy no less, The Susans were supported by Luluc on their last show before heading to New York to see if they can make it work. They should. Zoe has a gorgeous voice they have lined up a Lucinda Williams tour and have their Dear Hamblyn CD about to be released. It is a great record in my opinion, with Little Suitcase and The Wealthiest Queen being standout tracks. This was inner northern suburbs indie Melbourne music at its absolute finest.

6. THE ANIMAL COLLECTIVE @ The Forum. One of those nights where your realise the generational gap between your daughter and yourself is not that great as she takes you along to see one of her favourite bands and just like it was when she made me listen to Arcade Fire, I absolutely loved it, and loved her even more for it.

7. NARASIRATO PAN PIPE BAND @ the Recital Centre. This bamboo band from Malaita in the Solomon Islands played the most extraordinary gig I have ever seen and makes my passion for Melanesian music grow even stronger. This gig worked on so many levels. Their stage craft and presence was captivating... nine traditionally dressed Solomon Islanders belting the living daylights out of tuned bamboo pipes with rubber thongs or blowing them with their mouths creating a sound that sometimes felt like the grooviest boogie band in the world and at other times like these haunting atmospheric brass arrangements. Their haunting melodies and pulsating rhythms and costume and the slightly shy but humorous patter from the lead singer and I guess the fact that we had never heard anything like this before led to a spontaneous standing ovation. This is an act that could play at 10pm at either the Big Day Out, Womadelaide or Byron Bay Blues and Roots and totally hold the audience in their hands. It is entertaining, driving, fascinating, musical...everything you could want and it is music from our region, our part of the world, our closest neighbours... Gig of the year by a long shot...and the Jarvis Cocker show was really bloody good.


SOME ALBUM RELEASE HIGHLIGHTS OF 2009

THE ANTLERS – HOSPICE has a touch of the Bon Ivers about it, dream-like choir arrangements, layered atmospheres, and sparse piano. Love it.

LAURA BARRETT – VICTORY GARDEN Laura used to play in Toronto gay pop big band (now there’s a genre!!) Hidden Cameras. This album is playful though stripped back largely to kalimba and vocal though it also has a modern classical feel to it.

CAMERA OBSCURA – MY MAUDLIN CAREER. I love this CD, sumptuous strings and the fine song writing skills of main writer Tracyanne Campbell.

THE BLACKEYED SUSANS – BOX SET REVEAL YOURSELF 1989-2009. One of this country’s finest bands, an indictment on this nation that they aren’t huger. This box set is a great collection. Contains some b-sides that could quite easily fit on the main album.

FINE BLUE THREAD – RED MOUNTAIN new outfit featuring my long time collaborator in the Cake Helen Mountfort on cello together with Sam Evans on Table and Ria Soemardjo on vocals. A sublime world music release with atmosphere to lose yourself in. Classy

MEMORY TAPES – SEEK MAGIC on Acephale label. I love this. A bit Boards of Canada ish ... washed out, sad, nostalgia, summer music, lo-fi electronica, subtle artwork.

THE XX – XX. On 4AD.... very London. Sometimes reminiscent of the brilliant This Mortal Coil It’ll End In Tears CD... reverberant guitar, unique soulful vocals.

MUMFORD AND SONS – SIGH NO MORE. Kinda bluegrass indi folk album contains the cracking tune Little Lion Man... thoroughly recommended. Can’t stop playing it.

I tried to fit Enya’s new CD in to my list, but I really hate it and everything it stands for... corporate cash flow new age sentiments.

If you want a depressing appraisal of the world music scene look at Billboard’s top 200 albums as it stands... dreadful mix of Christmas albums (did Bob Dylan really put out a CD called Christmas In The Heart!!!!), X Factor, Idol, re-packaged pathetic record company efforts of super groups or dead ones... Michael Jackson, Beatles etc etc...

[maartenj]

Nice list- love The Antlers-album very much too. The Dan Sultan-CD's been getting a lot of play here too.

NB- The XX is not on 4AD...sorry. Camera Obscura is...pretty good album but I prefer the Atlas Sound-album Logos which is really nice.
And how good is that This Mortal Coil-album? One of the most defininf albums I ever listened to- put me onto the path of both 4AD's exquisite delights as to the originals the artists were covering- Tim Buckley, Big Star, Emmylou Harris, Gene Clark/The Byrds, Mary Margaret O'Hara...(am still looking out for the Portland-album by Bill Lamb and Gary Ogan btw...)

Fave gigs....haven't gone to too many but top of the list was undoubtedly Pure Scenius aka Brian Eno, the Necks, Jon Hopkins and other luminaries in a 3-session, 6-hour marathon veering between industrial laptop-noise to breathtaking piano-ambient interludes.
Jon Hassell the night before was magnificent too.

My top ten this year:

1. nosound- A Sense Of Loss
2. Jon Hassell- Last Night The Moon Came And Dropped Its Clothes In The Street
3. Noah & The Whale- First Days Of Spring
4. The Necks- Silverwater
5. Porcupine Tree- The Incident
6. Cluster- Qua
7. Fever Ray- Fever Ray
8. The Church- #23
9. Fuck Buttons- Tarot Sport
10. Brock Van Wey- White Clouds Drift On And On

Have a great New Year!