Faust, Bono & Benedict Cumberbatch

Wake me when all the bad nows have turned to good nows. Listening to Faust's Faust on my ipod reminded me 'Did I need to get that Can triple cd I think it was called the lost tapes maybe....It's probably awesome....must get that tomorrow I think...That'll have some good nows and some good thens.

'We've arrived in the 70s again man.'

Reading about Scratch Acid yesterday on the interweb on a man without shame reminded me that The Drones sometimes remind me of them along with a band I barely recall The Laughing Hyenas, am I right? Who the fuck knows? Tried to watch 2001 the other day on the digital telly thinkin yeah this'll be great. Half an hour in I wanted to smash in the screen. Watched the new HBO show VEEP and thought it was just tryin to be an American The Thick Of It. Watched The Newsroom as well. It was so cheesie i almost liked it. Jack whitehall does Bono have to apologise to you personally for tryin to make the world a better place? It's a fucked up world that belittles people trying to abolish poverty! Am I like CJ from Eggheads? He likes all the same stuff as me. Five shirts arrived from London yesterday and I haven't even opened them all.....CJ would probably like them. I've lost the new Umberto album. 2013 seems like the least yeary year in my life. Are the 2010s the 2010s or the tens or has everyone given up on decades. I loved decades but they must have been a 20th century thing. What about female popes? When are we gonna have one of them? Can I become an Ecclesiastical Tailor? That's an impressive job title! Dug out Just Keep Eating pretty funny....Hey man without shame! Rapeman were a top band.... Is Game of Thrones good or a pile o shite? I like the sex and violence but I'm not so sure about the supernatural stuff and well c'mon dragons... I'm not 5.  Do I need to be more of a geek? Hey I've watched the first two seasons though. Where is dvd of season 5 part 1 of Breaking Bad mofos?? m b v turned up on my doorstep tonight. What shall I do with it? It's just sittin there mocking me saying "Gee that's $42 well spent." I was nearly over it and it turns up on a Friday nite! Benedict Cumberbatch ....

Bambino Melbourne Music Mafia

I was gonna go on an all Aussie trip with the bassists and there did seem to be a particular Australian style but the youtube's  annoying me. Maybe another time. Sorry Grant McLennen, Chris Walsh, Ian Rilen, Mark Lock, Mark Ferrie & Brian Hooper.  Geez how's that for a list. They will all eventually be members entered into my Aussie bassplayer phonebox of fame

A few years ago now I don't remember the exact year (2008?) but it seemed like Melbourne rock was really goin' great guns with top records by Beaches, Eddy Current, Ooga Boogas, Witch Hats, The Drones, Fabulous Diamonds all in the same year. Not forgetting the old garde Mr Cave & Mr Graney as well, who delivered the goods too. It seemed like it was gonna go through the roof in the following years but it didn't. Anyway no need to dwell on such ideas. Looking forward to new records from Ooga Boogas and Beaches if they still exist
.

Anyway it seems like there is a bambino Melbourne music mafia now. Twerps, Toatal Conrol, Eddy Current, Dick Diver, UV Race etc. You know they're all playing on one anothers records or producing them. Like the old Melbourne Music Mafia. The bambini have their own scene/quasi sylee/monopoly of cool/uncool now. Anyway I'm also even enjoying a Lost Animal track at the moment. The UV Race have become my favourite post Eddy Current Suppression Ring Band and I mean that as a compliment. Maybe the Melbourne scene will eventually go bananas like the old days, I hope so there seems to be some great talent about. The Bambini Rock (well some of em do).

The UV Race of the Bambino Melbourne music mafia with country connections.

                                                           

Talkin Shit

* Is it just me or does every 2nd Drones song sound eventually like it's going to break out into Cortez The Killer?

*RE: Grr... Would Dead Can Dance have qualified to be in that book.  I mean they are a Melbourne band right?  What about Olivia Newton John's Xanadu? We claim all the other British born people and New Zealanders too. We're not claiming Livvy ? As far as pop goes that could be in the top 3 or 4.  What too much Jeff Lynne ? Not enough Jeff Lynne as far as I can see.

*The title of this post has made me remember this scenario -I was at a pub a couple of years ago with my wife and met some new people.  Anyway they asked what I did and I told them finishing with of 'Jack of all trades.  Master of none.' One of the guys possibly 10 years my junior replied 'Don't say that you never know who's listening.'  This struck me as very odd.  I thought that sounds like something an American might say.  I thought whatever happened to the great Australian National pastime of self deprecation.  God as far as self deprecation goes it was quite soft as it contained a positive statement along with the negative.  Did this guy think there was someone lurking around the corner about to give me a million dollar contract.   Now I was no longer going to get the job for being down on myself.  Anyway I thought fuck where is this dudes sense of humour? What? Are  they being brought up so confident they couldn't possibly dare to not take themselves too seriously even when they are at the bloody pub.  What would happen if I said something negative to this guy about him?
Would he be able to cope or would he be a delicate snowflake and be crushed.  What a turd!  Just for him I say 'What a load of bollocks this paragraph has been.  Not worth the electricity it used up! or the time it took me to type it and you to read it!'

Miserable/Funny Songwriters

I was going to bang on about New Zealand music and why the 80s to about 91-92 were a golden era etc. and not just the popular Flying Nun bands but the weirder ones plus xpressway etc.  Another time perhaps or maybe look elsewhere on the net for such information.  I remember a pretty good article on Flying Nun at the Stylus Website. There is also a good doco on the youtubes about Flying Nun Records.  Popwatch fanzine once had a terrific piece on the xpressway label. 

I was thinkin' about funny singers and songwriters.  It used to be, people would say 'Nick Cave was a bit dour.' and not see the funny side in the 80s into 90s, but now he's almost a fully fledged comedian so people are comin' round to the idea.  There also used to be "How can you listen to The Smiths? They just moan!" Of course as soon as anyone said this you knew that they hadn't truly listened to the band.  Morrissey was fucking hilarious!  Those Smiths albums still make me laugh.  Leonard Cohen too, what a laugh he was. Then there was the more obvious funny dudes like Robert Forster, Mark E Smith and Dave Graney. As well as hardcore like Flipper and Angry Samoans.

I had another category as well where it all seemed so serious surely they were havin' a laugh.  Maybe they were, maybe they weren't.  It didn't matter to me I thought they were a laugh a minute.  First example being Swans.  The darkness, the impotence, the serious delivery, the sickness etc. what a hoot!  Michael Gira possibly the funniest man on the planet.  Jarboe a bit funny too.  Joy Division were funny.  Add in Ian Curtis's dancing you got yourself a good time.  Primitive Calculators were great fun to me and my little sister when I was in my early teens.  Still one of the good time bands for me.  It turns out in recent interviews that indeed they had great senses of humour.  Einsturzende Neubauten with their crumbling architecture, wanting the world to end, the harshness, the screaming the mental illness etc. all good comedy fare.  Liabach, pretty funny as well.  Rollins too but I had to love the music as well so I don't know if he counts.

Funny songwriter or just a funny guy?

Anyway the whole reason I was thinkin' about this was because I was listening to The Drones for the first time in years and wondering where Gareth Liddiard fitted into this.  Sure on the telly he's a funny guy (RockQuiz a couple of times) but do I find his songs funny? I'm still not sure.  Steve Kilbey a recently hilarious dude was something nobody saw coming, well not from The Church's music anyway.  He might have always been a private card but I like the idea of him flowering late with his comedic prowess.  Gettin' loose in his old age.

Maybe all of this says more about me than anything else. Who knows?  Any thoughts out there ?


**That's a great painting of Gareth Liddiard (from The Drones)  from last years Archibald Prize Exhibition, which I managed to catch in The Yarra Valley.  That painting was also one of the strongest in the competition.