Heavy Heavy Low Low farewell tour

Heavy Heavy Low Low are an American thrash/mathcore band. I'll be honest, I had never really heard of them until a few weeks ago. Mainly because with a name like that, I will tend to ignore you. But then in one day my mate asked me if I was going and I saw this kick ass poster hanging off the walls at the Jubilee.

So I checked them out. And realised they are everything I like about that style of music. They combine all of the different heavy genres I adore: grindcore, thrash, mathcore and hardcore. Luckily I got on the band wagon with enough time to spare, literally a few days.

Because they are breaking up. This is their first and last tour ever down under. They'll be playing the Jubilee on December 16th (18+) and Burst City on December 17th (AA).

They are supported by NSW crazy grindcore guys Totally Unicorn.

MySpace

Eddie Vedder

Do you know the name Eddie Vedder? If not, let me give you some help. Pearl Jam. He's the lead singer. He's got a good voice, and he does solo stuff. Including the soundtrack for the movie Into the Wild.

But when I think of Eddie going solo, I can't help but think of this song (written and performed by one of Australia's all time great songwriters, Mark Seymour):

I'm trying my best not to make a Holy Grail joke right now... I really am.

Anyway, Eddie is coming out by his lonesome and playing two Brisbane dates.
March 10 & 12, QPac.

Jimmy Eat World

For any of us that grew up in the "emo" world of the the last decade, Jimmy Eat World was one of those big bands that we all listened to religiously. And who of us can't remember when we first saw this video with all the scanitly clad beautiful people?

Earlier in the year we were all blessed to have them come out and play a great selection of new and old tunes at the Soundwave festival. To me, the outdoor stage and mixed crowd really let the performance down and I left feeling slightly disenchanted with Jimmy.

But now, with a new album under their collective belts, they are coming out to do a club tour, which will hopefully redeem the Soundwave performance.

Catch them April 9 at the Tivoli. 18+.

MySpace

Rumours are abound that other emo heroes, and Soundwave alumni, The Get Up Kids will be supporting. That could make it very interesting, given my love for all thing James Dewees. On my old blog I had a huge rant about his awesomeness, but I lost it in some copyright issues. Too bad. He's the man.

Tegan and Sara headline shows

The Canadian sisters are out here supporting Jack Johnson in December, playing the Riverstage on December 13th. As an early Christmas gift to us, they've decided to do a few headlining shows as well.

I was lucky enough to see them about a decade ago, when they opened for Ben Folds, in one of my first concert experiences. Their indie-pop music is beautiful, despite whatever NOFX says about them.

Catch them the day after their Jack Johnson show, playing the Tivoli. December 14.

MySpace

Belle and Sebastian

When I got this news today at work, I actually emitted a little scream in excitement. The last time Belle and Sebastian came around was over 5 years ago and at that time I thought they were just a little two piece band with the names of Sebastian and Belle. Oh how times have changed.

My current obsession with the 7 piece Glaswegian juggernaut that is Belle and Sebastian knows no bounds. Their legendary catalogue of twee and baroque indie pop just has me spellbound. I am trying to collect all of their vinyl and one of their CDs is generally always in my car. And this song is always stuck in my head. And their new CD, Write About Love is amazing.

They announced a southern states festival show a few weeks back, and I just kept my fingers crossed and my prayers directed towards a show in Brisbane. And it turns out my prayers have been answered. And at what is probably the best venue for them in Brisbane, the Tivoli.

March 7. Tivoli. Tickets on sale 2nd December.
Website

*squee!* I'm now going to get my nerd on and relocate to the couch to relisten to my If You're Feeling Sinister vinyl on 180 grams.

One sentence album reviews (#5)

My reviews have slowed down a bit, mainly because I'm now dedicating a huge chunk of my day to listening and watching the cricket. But since that ended in a draw today, here's some reviews!

Lantlôs - .neon (2010): German black metal that swings between crushing heaviness and soft ambience 3.5/5

Mark Ronson - Record Collection (2010): Amazing, if not downright unusual, collaborations of random artists makes for a great pop album. 4/5

Outkast - Whatubeenwaitin4 (2010): Is it an album or bootleg? Is it B-sides? All I know is it's the best Outkast release in a decade. 4/5

Neil Young - Le Noise (2010): Neil stripped back to a distorted guitar and his wavering voice. Haunting and beautiful. 5/5

Of Montreal - False Priest (2010): this album sees them get even funkier and the vocals get even more falsetto, but nicer to the ears 3.5/5

Ooga Boogas - Romance And Adventure (2008): an excellent noisy mix of Australian surf and garage rock 4/5

Russian Circles - Stations (2008): I'm waiting for the day when you can tell the difference between post-rock bands. This sounds generic. 2/5

Sea of Bones - The Harvest (2007): 3 songs, 53 minutes of such bleak doom metal that makes me want to go to Norway and burn churches 2.5/5

Phantoms - As Above, So Below (2010): Excellent hardcore-punk album release from one of my current favourite Australian bands. 4/5

My Disco - Little Joy (2010) - Minimalist band gets even more minimalistic with an album of almost pure rhythmic music. 4/5

Marnie Stern - ST (2010): Female singer/songwriter with a twist, she does math-rock: fast guitars and female vocals = yes. 4/5

The Measure [sa] - Notes (2010): reminds me of the Epoxies, but without the synthesisers and a splash more punk 3/5

All the news in one

I've been neglecting my blog most of this week as life has been busy (as it always is in pre-Christmas/party/cricket season). So here's the condensed news I've been meaning to post here:

Toro Y Moi
... is generally one man making electronic/lofi/chillwave music. He's put together a small band and is coming down under for his first tour, playing Woodland on February 24.

MySpace

Helmet
Page Hamilton of hardcore masters Helmet have said they are coming out here in April/May. I am looking forward to this, Meantime is one of the best albums ever made that started the whole hardcore genre.

That was probably my first introduction to hardcore, late one night as I was watching it on Rage. About the same time I saw a Toe to Toe video actually.

Jason Collett
The name is probably not familiar, but he's one of the guys in the Canadian indie powerhouse that is Broken Social Scene. He does a lot of solo work too, and he'll be coming down under to play that (and I'm hoping a few BSS songs).

January 13, the Zoo. 18+.

MySpace

(hed) P.E.
These guys were one of the early bands about a decade ago, in the rap-rock movement. And they had a few good songs (Bartender still gets played by me a lot). They've just released a new album, which I've queued up but yet to listen to, and are doing a run of tour dates.

HiFi, January 28. 18+

MySpace

Cam/Mikey (Cola Wars/Bodyjar) Acoustic Tour
These two are the main drive behind the Australian punk bands Cola Wars and Bodyjar. They've jumped on the "old punk bands' lead singers doing acoustic tour" bandwagon and are heading out to play all of their classic Cola Wars and Bodyjar songs on acoustic guitar.

Boys & Girls (X&Y), December 16, 18+

ZZ Top added to Bluesfest
There's really nothing else to say here. It keeps getting better.

And girls go crazy about a sharp dressed man.

The Like
The all-girls garage rock band the Like, fresh from supporting the Strokes on their last tour (which missed Brisbane, bastards), are coming back for a solo show.

February 18, the Zoo. 18+

MySpace

Thank God It's Monday
Carlton Dry are sponsoring Monday night shows all around the country. First up for Brisbane will be local boys Hungry Kids of Hungary, fresh from playing the sold out Triple J Aus Music Month a few weeks back.

December 13, Birdee Num Num, 18+

MySpace

I Exist/Phantoms Wet n Wild Split
It's not really news, but I like it. One of my favourite gigs of 2010 so far has been the little basement show in West End featuring Phantoms and I Exist. Apparently they enjoyed that tour so much, especially their side trip to Wet n Wild, that they are currently recording a split EP with songs based and named after the rides. Awesome.

(Thanks JHat for the photo. He goes to a lot of gigs (some I'm at) and takes way better photos than I can ever hope for. http://www.jhatphoto.com/. Although I think he cheats with his careful placing of flashes, and knowing the bands).

I Exist
Phantoms

Kings of Leon

It's official: these guys have gone big/sold out. I still remember the first time I saw them, playing very early in the day at Big Day Out, with very few people in the crowd caring.


I did. I loved their dirty and obscene southern blues rock. But their last 3 albums drifted horrendously away from it, trying to be some sort of shoe gaze weirdness, which made me sad. But apparently everyone else loved it as evidence by their next tour: a stadium tour.

They'll be playing the Queensland Sports and Athletic Centre on March 6th.

Shihad

The most excellent Kiwi boys Shihad are having a busy last half of the year. They recently sold out their run of dates, they are about to come back as supports for KoRn and now they're announcing yet another run of shows.

As seen on the drum kit above, they were also known as Pacifier for a while, to try and avoid conflict with the term "jihad". I still consider their album the General Electric one of the finest rock albums to be ever made in the Australasia region. Big call, I know, but I love it.

Come January, we'll have 3 shows in our area:
6th - Beer Gardens, Surfers Paradise [18+]
7th - Villa Noosa, Sunshine Coast [18+]
8th - The Zoo, Brisbane [18+]

Make sure you catch them, they're still writing and producing excellent music after all these years.

MySpace

The Getaway Plan are back

The Getaway Plan are one of those Australian bands that I just used to see everywhere. No matter who was touring, they generally opened for them. In fact, the last times the Ashes was in Brisbane, I saw them for the first time, opening for From Autumn to Ashes and the Bled.

They became quite popular as a band playing a mix of emo and alternative rock stylings. Then a while back, they broke up. They got back together for a charity gig at the start of the year and it seems that they liked it so much that they are back as a band.

They'll be playing two shows on this tour, in quite big venues. Which is odd for me, because the biggest venue I ever saw them play before they broke up was Rosies as part of the Boomtown tour.

February 12, HiFi, 18+
February 13, HiFi, Under 18 Afternoon show

Check out their MySpace. It has my favourite song of theirs on it, If The Suspense Doesn't Kill Us, Something Else Will.