Another Live Webcast from the Invisible Cities This Thursday August 13th

(Picture by Pelmel @ Flickr.com)

So if you missed the first live webcast, here's your chance to catch Sadie and Han performing live on webcam again at their site - www.theinvisiblecities.com. Here's a cut and paste from an email I got regarding what they have in store for us.

We had a great time doing our last webcast with you all, and we're playing for you again this Thursday at 8pm PT. We're lucky to have special guest Tim Bulkley playing percussion with us this time around. We'll be Sadie, Han, Tim, and Goh this time, with largely minimal arrangements. Come to theinvisiblecities.com and join the chatroom -- we read the chats (in between songs), so you really can say Hi and make song requests and stuff. Oh! And there's a new tune we'll probably do... about um, frogs. and zoetropes. and bars. and stargazing.

Date: Thursday, August 13
Time: 8pm Pacific Time
Place: theinvisiblecities.com (our home page will have the video feed and chat room)

If you miss the show, we'll post highlights to youtube.com/theinvisiblecities within a couple days after the show -- there are currently a few clips from the last webcast up there, so you can get a sense of how it all goes. (If we can swing it, we will loop the feed within a day or two after the show so you can catch it at your convenience, but no promises on that one...)

making staying at home more fun than ever,
The Invisible Cities

For those who haven't had a chance to download the last album, it's still available free from www.theinvisiblecities.com. Check it out for some classy mellow sounds.

James Blunt - My Triangle

Not usually a big fan of James Blunt but I thought this re-working for Sesame Street was too good not to share.

Gregorian - So Sad

Way back in 1991, So Sad was a pop song that mixed Gregorian chants with pop sounds and vocals in the vein of Enigma(the man behind the band, Frank Peterson, was previously a member of Enigma). Enigma's Sadeness part 1 and the songs that followed are memorable for 2 things - the Gregorian chanting and also they were some of the first successful pop tracks that were written on DAWs - digital audio workshops - software for arranging loops and samples on a computer. Novelty back in the early nineties, DAWs have become the standard for music production in the millennium.

Ever wonder what the latin chanters are saying? Well here is a transcript -

Gloria in Excelsis Deo x3

Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis
Qui tollis peccata mundi,
suscipe deprecationem nostram

Qui sedes ad dexteram patris, miserere nobis
Gratias agimus tibi,
propter magnum gloriam tuum

Jesu Christu... Amen x3

The Pixies and music videos

The best pop band in the world that never was. The Pixies are huge full stop. Their influence has been acknowledged by many far and wide. Why is it then that hardly anybody knows their name let alone their music?

Personally I believe it's because the Pixies have never wanted mainstream success. Where other bands bent over backwards to get a chance at hitting it big, the Pixies thumbed their noses at the music distribution industry and kept on walking. One example of band's incredible moxy that always sticks in my mind is their refusal to play along with MTV. Just like that artist that gave the big finger to Google, the Pixies gave the big finger to MTV by refusing to lip-sync to one of their songs in order to make a music video. To this day, you'll be hard pressed to find a music video to a Pixie's song.


At one point, the Pixie's song "Velouria" was finding success on the UK pop charts and upon breaking into the top 40, the band was offered some air time on Top of the Pops but a stipulation for bands playing live on the show from the BBC was that they must have a video to include with their track. The Pixies threw together a 23 second video of them running down a quarry towards a video camera with the clip ending just as the band members reached the camera. The video was then stretched to fit the length of the song producing a slow motion clip that went for over 3 minutes.

To me, this is some of the charm that keeps Pixies songs on constant rotation on my ipod. Rare enough to find a band with the scope and calibre of the Pixies but also one with a similar degree of heart and sense of humour? Death to the Pixies!

Let's sign this post off with one of the Pixies better known songs - "Where is my Mind?"

Big Country - In a Big Country

"In a big country" is the song Scottish New Wave band Big Country has been best remembered for. Pretty unique for a pop song in that the band famously emulated bagpipes and other traditional Scottish sounds with electric guitars and the help of certain effects pedals (specifically the M-129 Pitch Transposer made by MXR). This track came off the album "The Crossing", Big Country's first studio album. The single was released in 1983 and soon became a hit in the UK, crossing the Atlantic later that year and becoming a hit in North America too.

An interesting point about the album "The Crossing" which may be of interest to vinyl hunters is that it came in a range of three colours - Red, Green and Blue. I'm not quite sure what the significance of the colours are but I do know that the track listings for the three different versions are exactly the same.

The Invisible Cities Streaming live this Wednesday 15th of July

Perennial Indie Pop favourites, The Invisible Cities will be streaming video and audio of a live performance from their website - www.theinvisiblecities.com starting at 8pm Pacific Time. The performance can be caught at the above site as the webcast will be kept on a loop for those people who can't watch the performance live. Swing by the site and check it out!

Sour - 日々の音色(Hibinoneiro)

I've never heard of this band before now but this clip is an awesome piece of eye candy that's too good to pass up sharing on the blog. Apparently it's all been put together from a bunch of fan submitted webcam videos. The result is a fantastic trip through various peoples' bedrooms and personalities.

Check it out!

Hop over to Sour's official site here.

Lily Allen - The Fear

I've been putting off listening to Lily Allen for so long, all the airplay she was getting on commercial radio stations immediately painted her with a big red X. Now that the hype is over and I'm listening to her tracks from a neutral viewpoint again, I find I'm liking it and it's not half bad. There's nothing here earth shatteringly innovative and her casual use of the F word is just a tad bit pretentious but overall "The Fear" is a track that I can groove to. I find the acoustic guitar segueing into some gentle beats and lush eighties synths on "the Fear" a nice introduction to a fun and not so serious song. I think Lily comfortably straddles the line between acoustic and analogue and does a good job repackaging it for the digital generation. Now, if only commercial radio stations didn't hammer the same songs until people start bleeding from the ears every time they hear a Lily Allen song, there would be an actual chance that somebody over the age of 14 might like it. Shame though, but it's not half a bad song if you give it a chance.

Check out more of Lily's tracks at her Myspace page.

July Link Round Up

Here's another bunch of links I didn't have the time nor inclination to do a full write up about but were too interesting not to put on the blog. So here they are.

First up is an article from the Sydney Morning Herald about the resurgence of vinyl. Click here to read it.

Next is an article about the top 20 most collectible LPs according to Record Collector. Click here to read it.

Here is EMI's Youtube channel with a lot of their 80s backlog of music videos online and available for viewing with high quality sound. Click here to watch some.

And here are the best and worst covers according to the music section of The Independent. Click here to read the list. And yes, Avril Lavigne is on the worst covers ever list but not for the cover I posted about earlier this month.

Moonman - Galaxia

Who would have thought just 4 chords would sound so good. Apart from the warmth of those synth pads, it's really the progression of this trance classic that holds this track together. The first time this track got wide recognition was when it was included as the last track of Nick Warren's Global Underground 3 - Live in Prague, it wasn't long after that it became a much sought after track and a trance classic. Moonman, is of course Dutch Trance legend Ferry Corsten better known by some as System F and one half of Gouryella.

The Beatles - Yesterday and Today

Not your typical Beatles album cover huh? If you think the image of the fab four wearing butcher's overalls and covered in raw meat and baby doll parts is disturbing now, think of the effect it had when it was released by Capitol Records in June 1966. The Beatles had been darlings of both the media and public since their inception and this record cover marked the first time the band faced real criticism.

Capitol Records were appalled by the avalanche of negative press and swiftly recalled all the records. Initially the records became landfill but when Capitol realised the extent of money to be lost, they changed their minds and printed off a sticker featuring some hastily put together album art to be placed over the original album cover. The demand for this record in it's original state soared and is still highly coveted today. How in demand are these? Perfect copies are valued at 40,000 US dollars and up.

In the end, the album ended up being the only Beatles record to lose money for Capitol rather thank make it. George Harrison had this to say about the album cover "Sometimes we all did stupid things thinking it was cool and hip when it was naive and dumb; and that was one of them".

Read more about this album over at Wikipedia.

Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye

This single isn't from their 2nd album "Swoon" which has been hammered on Triple J for the last 3 months and which I've only got around to writing about on this blog today. I chose this song for this write up because it evokes a band I've loved since I was in 1st year Uni - everything in this clip from the teen angst angle to the female bassist, chords, licks and singing style just screams Smashing Pumpkins, the similarities being both obvious and intentional. It's also good to see an asian guy on drums, I don't think I've seen an asian drummer since Air Supply. Incidentally, that drummer, Rex Goh, is a distant uncle from my grandmother's side although I've never met the guy.

Check out Silversun Pickups' official site here.

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Version Part 2

Simon Owens over at his blog Bloggasm was nice enough to let me know that he has actually interviewed David Scott, the creator of Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Version. David shares some tidbits about his inspiration and the making of the Youtube video which has now had over 2 million hits. He also writes about the next 80's music video to be getting the literal version treatment.

Head over to Bloggasm to read more!

Worst Cover Song Ever

So bad it hurts! See how long you can last to Avril's absolute hack job of System of a Down's Chop Suey.

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Version

Things have come a long way since the first "literal Version" music clip A-ha's Take on Me became the template for the internet meme of re-writing the lyrics of 80's music videos with a jaded generation Y outlook.

This one of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart is, in my opinion, the best one to date. Big props to Persephone Maewyn (Cool name btw) and Dascottjr for putting it all together.

Click here to read part 2 and get an insight into the mind behind this literal version clip.

BT - Flaming June

What can I say about Brian Transeau that hasn't already been said? Genius? check. Ground breaking? check. Roller coaster ride of a life? check. Maturing like a fine wine? check that one too. BT's sound has settled down a bit since his trance days but it's lost none of that professionalism and polished sheen that he's so loved for. As time goes by, I feel BT hasn't faded off the scene like so many other trance artists instead, he has kept his name alive in our minds by re-inventing himself with several forays into different scenes like pop(yes, he really did go there!), movie soundtracks, video game soundtracks and now his latest, epic ambient album "This Binary Universe."

Long considered one of BT's numerous exquisitely good tracks by those on the trance scene, "Flaming June" still sounds good even now. Give it a whirl!

The Sugarcubes - Birthday

Here's a blast from the past. John Peel in his day introduced so much music to everyday radio listeners that would go on to be hugely succesful. The Sugarcubes from Iceland were one of these bands. I actually did own their debut album "Life's Too Good" but alas, it was one of the many CDs in the hands of my ex and never to come back to me. Anyway, Have a listen to a great track, rightly recognised as such at the time (1987) and you'll probably recognise the lead vocalist Björk before her hook up with Goldie and her move away from rock bands and into triphop/electronica.

Tori Amos - Like a Prayer

I was thinking about Madonna's clip for Like a Prayer today and in my fruitless travels through Youtube I found this excellent cover by Tori Amos. There's another youtube recording of her playing the same cover except someone, ahem, farts loudly in the middle of it. This clip is the one minus the fart.

The Invisible Cities - Houses Shine like Teeth - First Impressions

Something that is often said to me about independent artists is that their music is more pure because they're artists not doing it for anything else other than the love of the art. I don't know true this is and I have pretty neutral feelings towards both sides of the argument but if this idea was ever to become a court case, Han and Sadie's new album would definitely be exhibit number one in favour of the above idea.

5 years in the making, from the first track to the last you can feel the sweat, tears and sheer passion that has gone into the project. Perfection just oozes out in the mellow, smooth feel that the album captures, no mean feat because as we all know, it's much easier to catch people's attention by being loud than it is by being subtle. "Houses" neatly sidesteps this trap that a lot of commercial pop seems to fall into these days with it's unpretentious melodies and uncomplicated, laid back rhythms.

Sadie's vocals are as always infallible, meshing neatly with the other elements of the album's tracks. Never trying hard to vy for our attention, they sit nicely and complement the tunes in a laid back subtle manner that leaves Sadie's haunting voice echoing in your head, long after you've already put the headphones down and started on the commute to work or school. Another nice surprise has been Han's duties as lead vocalist. I know it's not Han's first outing behind the mike but as the driving force behind the Cities' lead guitar, it slips one's mind that he really is this versatile. Check out the album's lucky 13th track "Nowt" and hear for yourself. Personally it brings to mind those few Smashing Pumpkins B-sides when James Iha got to showcase his vocals instead of Billy Corgan's. Just like James, you would never have thought Han could sing quite so beautifully.

There's a few more electronic elements than there were on "Watertown" this time round and I think it's a good thing. It's my opinion that it's pretty hard to use electronic instruments and not have them overpower the acoustic ones but "Houses" is an album where a lot of thought has been done about integrating the disparate pieces and producing an end result where all the bits - electronic, acoustic and electric - come together in a planned and intricate harmony. Simply bliss to listen to.

So, that's how I feel about the new album after listening to it about 5 times. There's just so many tracks tailor made for listening on a warm afternoon, I'm sure "Houses" will be one of those albums that I will be finding myself reaching for again and again.

"Houses shine like Teeth" is available now from www.theinvisiblecities.com.

NIN live with Dillinger Escape Plan - Wish

NIN: Wish live with The Dillinger Escape Plan - Perth, 3.02.09 [HD] from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.

Just working through my list of links I've been hoarding up for the past few months since I've let the blog go in favour of taking university seriously this time. Anyway, NIN came down to Australia for the Soundwave Festival. I had been planning to catch them in Sydney but the date clashed with the start of my course so I didn't end up going. Anyway, here's a clip of their last performance at Soundwave Perth where Trent ended the night with an impromptu collaboration on "Wish"

Amazing how little this song has aged since it came out on "Broken" more than 15 years ago.

Jean Shin - Everyday Moments

No, not a song but an art exhibition. You may remember Jean Shin from the post I made about her last exhibition. Jean is a sculptor (sculptress?) who re-uses everyday items that have been generally passed over and forgotten with the passage of time. Her sculpture that really caught my eye was "Sound Wave" - a mass of old vinyl records re-made into a statement about the obsolescence of old music formats. It really got me thinking especially since I still cling to my vinyl like crazy.

Anyway, her new exhibition is about the everyday Joe, using trophies to celebrate the people who struggle everyday unrecognized for their efforts, an idea I'm pretty in tune with.

Check the exhibition out at the Smithsonian (it's running until the end of July) or read more by clicking here.

Check out Jean's home on the internet here.

The Invisible Cities' New Album has been released!

The Invisible Cities' second album "Houses Shine like Teeth" has just been released! It's been a while in the making but it's finally here and band, being the nice people they are, are promoting the album by giving it away free to the first 500 people who go to www.theinvisiblecities.com. Be quick!

I haven't listened to the album yet (it's downloading as I type this!) but man, am I stoked it. If you miss out on the download, the album is still available as physical CD (or maybe you just prefer it that way) from the band's site.

First single "Happy Up Here" from Röyksopp's new album just uploaded to Vimeo 4 hours ago

Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

I know a lot of people are pumped for Röyksopp's new album due to come out soon. Here's the first single that's been put up on Röyksopp's Vimeo site just 4 hours ago. Enjoy!

Metric - Help I'm Alive

Beautiful deep synth chords come together with husky female vocals in Metric's "Help I'm Alive" to produce an eclectic piece that gets stuck in your brain. Metric is a indy/electro band and has been around in Toronto, Canada since 1998 but it wasn't until 2007 that their first album was released due to some legal wrangles. Fortunately there's no such long wait with their next album "Fantasies" due to be released this coming April of which "Help I'm alive" is the first single.

Download an acoustic version of "Help I'm alive" here.

Check out Metric's Myspace page.

A Flow Chart of Heavy Metal band names

Found this over at Comic vs. Audience. Behold it's awesomeness!

January Music News Round-up

Just a collection of news articles related to music I read this month.

First up is this article from the Sydney Morning Herald about the resurgence of vinyl. I've talked a few times about vinyl on this blog and I think it's no surprise to all the other vinyl hoarders like myself that the attraction of it far outweigh it's minuses.

This second article is about the best viral music videos of 2008 including, you guessed it, ANJ's Gorbachev tribute. There's a few more surprising finds in there, definitely worth a look at.

Third is an article from the New York Times about the state of Hip Hop in China. Why is it that almost always, the best and most meaningful Hip Hop is born in situations of adversity?

Marina & The Diamonds - Obsession

Marina & The Diamonds, "Obsessions" from Neon Gold Records on Vimeo.

Marina & The Diamond's first single "Obsessions" is being released this February (Valentine's Day to be exact) on Neon Gold records. The first 50 people who order one will get one that's signed by Marina herself! I'm feeling this pop single, it's a bit like Tori Amos and Kate Bush redone for the the millennium and Marina's luscious husky voice is oh so sexy.

Click here to go Neon Gold's online store.

The Wangcaster

We all knew guitars were a bit of a phallic symbol but big props to Doug Rowell for bringing brutal honesty to this hand carved guitar body and headstock. This guitar has balls! I love it.

First seen over at Disgrasian.

Goh Nakamura and Big Phony playing Live this January 30th

Just a shout out to the blog readers in the San Fran area, Goh Nakamura and Big Phony who I have talked about in past entries (here and here) will be playing a 2 live sets back to back - one with a band and another unplugged and acoustic. Check out the flyer for more details or visit Goh's or Bigphony's homepage.

Click here to go to Goh Nakamura's homepage.

Click here to go to Bigphony's Myspace page.

Hikaru Utada - Come Back to Me

If you don't happen to know who Hikaru is, she's a Japanese pop singer who was raised in New York. She was a popstar in Japan with a huge following who tried a few years ago to cross over to the States but, unfortunately for her, her first English language album was largely overlooked and quickly forgotten. Perhaps it was the somewhat nonsensical lyrics (and not in a Pixies cool nonsensical way) such as " You're easy-breezy, I'm Japanesy" that really killed it. Seriously, what the hell was she thinking? Anyway, Hikaru's made a new English language album and it's set to be released soon. The first single "Come back to me" is available for previewing at her Myspace page.

Click here to go to Hikaru's Myspace page.

My thoughts on it are that I'm not too impressed. It sounds alot like Akon's "Sorry, Blame it on me". Maybe because the chords are similar. In any event, I think Akon did it first and did it better.

Connections part 3 Chris Isaak and His Infernal Majesty

Chris Isaak first hit it big when songs from his first album were featured in David Lynch's Blue Velvet but "Wicked Game" is by far his most memorable music legacy (incidentally, also featured in another David Lynch production albeit as an instrumental). The clip too, shot in black and white and featuring Chris and supermodel Helena Christensen rolling around on a beach was an instant classic too, later being voted number 1 in MTV's Sexiest Video Ever countdown. This was all back in 1991.



Seven years later, Finnish tongue in cheek love metal band, His Infernal Majesty widely known both for the heartagram logo as well as their acronym HIM, recorded their palm muted metal inspired tribute by listening to a tape copy of David Lynch's "Wild at Heart" soundtrack and thus this new version was born. I'm pretty impressed with HIM's vocalist Ville Valo's vocals (sorry, I just had to write that). Just like there being no good covers of Morrisey songs, Chris Isaak's emotionally charged vocals are nigh impossible to recreate with the same amount of intensity and feeling but I feel Ville did a great job of getting close. Great vocals and a great metal intepretation of the original make for a great cover. It doesn't surpass the original but instead adds a new twist on an old favourite.

Welcome to 2009

I'm slowly recovering from New Year's eve and I hope everybody else's head is feeling a bit better now that it's evening on the first day of the new year here in Perth, Western Australia.

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I'm going back to University for a post graduate course. The bad news is that, while writing a blog entry everyday for 3 months was a fun and educational experience, I don't think I'll be able to devote quite so much time to the blog this year as study will be my main focus. Anyway, hope everybody is enjoying themselves while the year is still fresh. Take it easy and don't drink too much.