Upcoming Releases 2012

It's only been one month in and there's a whole slew of releases set for release in 2012. 
Good news for us music fans!




Most excited about:
Spritualized     Sweet Heart Sweet Light
The Flaming Lips     TBA (Collaboration galore)
The Magnetic Fields     Love at the Bottom of the Sea
The Shins     Port of Morrow
The xx     TBA
Simian Mobile Disco    TBA
Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It



Medium excited about:
Lambchop     Mr. M
Andrew Bird     Break It Yourself
M. Ward     A Wasteland Companion
Damien Jurado     Maraqopa
Delta Spirit     Delta Spirit
Dr. Dog     Be the Void
Madonna     MDNA
Jack White     Blunderbuss
Bruce Springsteen     Wrecking Ball
MGMT     TBA
Garbage     Not Your Kind of People
U2    Songs of Ascent (U2's Chinese Democracy)
The Dandy Warhols     This Machine
The Killers     TBA  (Back to your day job, Brandon)
Outkast     TBA
Mumford & Sons     TBA (About time!)
Franz Ferdinand     TBA
Culture Club     TBA
Orbital     Wonky
Bear in Heaven    I Love You, It’s Cool
M.I.A.     TBA (Despite Bad Girl finger flip)


Less excited about:
The Ting Tings     Sounds from Nowheresville
Sleigh Bells    Reign of Terror
Santigold     Master of My Make Believe
ZZ Top     TBA
Aerosmith     TBA
Van Halen     A Different Kind of Truth



Already released:
Air - Le Voyage dans la Lune
Mark Lanegan Band - Blues Funeral
Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas
Lana Del Rey - Born to Die
of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks
Cate Le Bon - Cyrk
Chairlift - Something
The Big Pink - Future This

Stay tuned.

Live Review: Portugal. The Man & Givers @ The Metro 7/2/2012

Can they play?  Check.

Is the band tight?  Double check.

Do they rock?  You betcha.

Have they great songs?

Just check their CDs or my review here.

Did they do great covers?

A bulldozing rendition of The Beatles' Helter Skelter and a

rollicking version of David Bowie's All The Young Dudes.

Were they loud?

Fact is, the band was great and most songs were beefed up, given a terrific boost live; so much so, vocals (Both frontman John Gourley's and the band's backing) should have been twice as high in the mix.

I was expecting sweet psychedelic pop/rock but was surprisingly (& pleasantly) served muscular, steroided rock bordering on Metal!  Only unfortunate casualty of the night was John's sometimes soulful and funky croon which was largely drowned by a band in top form.

A much better mix on French TV:

  7.8

Special mention must go to Sydney support band Guineafowl who held their own with a great selection of indie songs and Louisiana-based Givers who shared the bill with their take on alternate Calypso-Ragga rock.  They had a track which featured flutes and was almost Canton-flavoured.  Tiffany Lamson (on percussion duties) was especially impressive as she banged on those poor drums (in unison with Kirby Campbell, drums) within an inch of their lives...

Live Review: The Horrors @ Metro Theatre 2/2/2012

Standing at 6' 5'' tall, Faris Badwan of The Horrors cuts a commanding figure.


Their heady mix of 80's synth-psychedelic-goth were equal parts Bowie, Bauhaus and Joy Division.


Playing hits from their last three albums, they had their fans jumping and singing along.





While Rhys Webb displayed some cool holding his bass upright, guitarist Joshua Hayward went apeshit during a feedback session and knocked an amp off...


After having been to so many concerts, I believe this was my first "mosh" experience. Note to self - Invest in some steel-capped boots!!

My #28 of 2011

 8.0