The Australian Index - Music Blogs

In a sad follow up to our regular series on guitarists worth a dam begun by Silky with his revealing post on Django (does one need further reason to see Woody Allen's rare late era gem Sweet and Lowdown?), I would like to mention the passing of Jeff Healy.
The poor bugger developed retinoblastoma at age 1 which theived his eyesight. Jeff reckoned because of this he was drawn to music and guitar pl

When first the land was ours we thought
that things would never change
- there'd always be the same green hills,
clear rivers and rich range,
and east of us the sparkling beach,
the mangroves, forests tall
- in our innocence we though
we'd always have them all ... We cleared the land and ploughed it
and wind and flood-rains came
and stripped away the living skin
and left the bony frame.
W

To the dickhead who decided to cut me off on Flagstaff Hill Road & then flicked me the bird, here's something to ponder - When you rebadge a Holden Commodore to be a Chevrolet, you're still left with a Holden.... & that's not a good thing.

Congratulations!

Vote for me?

So I take a few photos here and there...
I may plug them shamelessly here but hey - Whaddayawant?sharing is caring...

Micheal Kenna explores a meditative and silent world in black and white. His pictures are absent humanity but contain the urban, suburban and industrial components of human society. The landscapes are very contemplative in what are often very crowded areas. Kenna's work is in contrast to Alexey Titarenko's which are filled with layer upon layer of human movement in a public space. Kenna's work is

These are my five favourite tracks for the month of June. Apologies for the slight delay.

1. Anoraak - Nightdrive With You (GRUM's New Wave Remix) *
2. Frankmusik - Three Little Words (Damage Remix Radio Edit) *
3. Ladyhawke - Paris Is Burning (Cut Copy Remix) *
4. MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix)
5. Busy P - To Protect and Entertain (Crookers Remix)

* = Highly Recommend

Enjoy.

"As she felt herself blend into the scene it struck her that she hadn't changed a great deal either. She was drinking what she always drank, and sitting where she always sat, at the end of the bench that ran along the wall from the back corner to the fireplace. She was wearing the same brown jumper and walking boots she had habitually worn to the pub the year before, and although her jeans were te

Turnpike are fucking great band. They've consistently been my favourite local band since about the 3rd time I saw them. Their energy in a live setting can't be beaten, and they have a synergy between band members that can't be duplicated without having played together as a unit for a decade. Throw in some quality (if sporadic) releases over the course of their existence and you have something trul

There's a fair bit on this weekend, which is good news. Unfortunately, most of it seems to be on Friday night so you're going to have to make some choices.

Friday 4th:
Picasso Up Late: An Horse, Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side @ Gallery of Modern Art - for the regular price of entry to the exhibition you can also see these two great local bands.
Mary Trembles (Album Launch), Grand Fatal (NSW)

Fleet Foxes have been getting plenty of hype of late. They've had Pitchfork reviews, a widely featured album and just about every type of positive press a band could hope for. Well it's taken me a while to work out why. As I played through their self-titled album, I certainly heard potential, but nothing that would incite such universal loving. That was, of course, until I sat down with the song b

This is what happens when you buy camera stuff from Hong Kong. You end up with crappy power adaptors because their plugs are different to ours. Everytime I plug my camera battery charger in, I hear the crackly noise of ionising air, a tell tale sign of poorly made electrical equipment.I borrowed the awesome Yorri k's 10-22 lens for the week and I just couldn't resist doing this. I've been plannin

i'm finally over her.i just wish my best friend were around to see this.and now, for my next trick: relentless optimism.just you watch.

It has finally happened! Much to the joy from his management, agent, fans and personal entourage, Luke Steele has confirmed his first ever national solo tour. The enigmatic frontman of The Sleepy Jackson will be ditching the gadgets and leaving his band at the side of the road. The Luke Steele Roadshow will take in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and places in between throughout August. This ru

Information technology students at universities are outsourcing assignments to cheap code cutters in places like India.Typically, assignments are put out to tender on the internet sites and coders bid to complete them.Students can pay anywhere from under $100 to several hundred dollars, depending on the amount of work required.Universities are finding it hard to combat the practice. Part of the pr

I recently dusted off my laptop and switched on my laptop for the first time in over a year I normally use my desktop at home and work laptop if away with work. Whilst looking through the drives to remember what I had stored on their I re-discovered some of the photos I took on my 3 month drive around Australia in 2005.I did a warm-up for the main part of the road trip in early January 2005

Today I went with a gorgeous friend to see the Art Deco exhibition at the Gallery. It was great. There are some really great peices and we spent a couple of very pleasant hours strolling around and taking them in. If you are interested and can't get to Melbourne to see it, there is a Victorian regional festival and a series of events that may be more accessible.I was aware of this design type, y

Anyone looking to get some vinyl pressed? Cause Jason from Blood Duster is now managing a vinyl pressing plant.He's flogging off "quality Australian made records", with good prices and a guarantee that no cash will go overseas (it's all in-house).If you have any vinyl pressing needs get in touch with the guys at their website here or phone 03 9429 4389.Blood Duster also have some new v

With a jumper knitted by Abuela

Overall, I think this tour was among the best, most productive and I learnt a lot from the interactions with people. If I were to sum it all in one word, it would be restoring. Restoration of old relationships and forging some new ones. Here are the highlights of the trip;6th Singapore RR [...]

I went to New Editions bookshop yesterday in order to buy a book BigSquib is supposed to read for school over the holidays. New Editions is like the West Australian equivalent of Readings. IE You would not under any circumstances ask them if they've got anything by Dan Brown in the same way that you would not go to La Tour d'Argent in Paris ask, 'Avez-vous un Repas Heureux ?''Have you

I never meant to take so long to write about San Francisco. If my hotel hadn't had the World's Worst Wireless I might have written more while I was there, but it was all I could do just to check my email and the weather. Anyway, here goes.On Lucia

That should actually read "On Natalie" because you and I know, that's what all this was about. Natalie's Lucia was the single, solitary

A colonial-style fishing village on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, San Juan Del Sur is becoming a popular tourist location but has remained largely unspoiled by the tourist dollar. The spectacular harbour still has many fishing boats dotted amongst the vessels of vacationers, and the road to get here from the Costa Rican border barely resembles a road at all. It's got that undeveloped charm that

Mission Control - 'Chariots of Fire'These four guys from Melbourne describe themselves as "electro jams, psych guitars and sci-fi atmospherics", and quite rightly so. After touring with Mercy Arms, Damn Arms, scoring a V Festival slot with Presets and CSS, they now give us the first single 'Chariots of Fire' off their upcoming album out through local label Etcetc.www.myspac

If there ever were a metal super group to end all metal super groups, it would have to be Louisiana's Down. They first hit the scene 17 years ago, featuring members from some of metal's premiere bands (Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar and EyeHateGod). This is chemistry. This is the solution. This is the band people will lie about and say that they were into from the beginning. Down is a b

so i watched the movie cabaret today, the really old one set in nazi germany. it's really good and i highly recommend it. anywho, liza minnelli who plays sally bowles in the movie is my new style inspiration.r god i loved her clothes, they were major, all sequins and furs. fabulous! you should have seen some of the things she wore! sequined boleros with psychedelic caftans*, hobo style patch-work

TODAY from 2pm drop by for a nice cup of tea and a gas bag about all things Big Brother. I'm sure people will want...

In his Towards a Philosophy of Photography Vil m Flusser describes a world fundamentally changed by the invention of the "technical image" and the mechanisms that support and define industrialized modern culture. For him, two major events divide history: the first was the invention of writing (supplanting images); the second was the invention of photography (supplanting or beginning the process

Dan Friel toes the line of studied degradation on Ghost Towns. As though a sort of aural equivalent of the Dadaist's 'word salad', his first full-length contains obscenities and extravagances of most every imaginable waste product of sound in its relentless destruction and reconstruction of its aura. For better or worse, these noisette [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Dan Friel - Ghost To

These days Port O'Brien are making quite a name for themselves. They have just arrived with a new album and it is quite good. Actually, very good. It would seem that this band from California, sometimes Alaska, is new on the scene and in someways they are. Well, "All We Could Was Sing" could be seen as a fresh beginning. This is their first studio recorded album and their first to get major distri