Various Artists - RooArt Youngblood 3

Australian radio station Triple J used to (and may still) have a competition for unsigned bands. The winning bands would receive a live radio session, be featured on the Youngblood compilation series on released by Australian label RooArt, and also potentially win a recording contract with RooArt.

This post features the third installment of this series. This LP is notable for two reasons: it features the first releases of two bands who have previously graced the hallowed (virtual) pages of this here blog (The Underground Lovers and hometown (Adelaide) band The Mandelbrot Set); it also features a few other bands that had some success (The Sharp, Custard, Ripe, Caligula, The Fauves) on the Australian music scene. Which says a fair bit about the judgment of the people who put this album together.

As far as these albums go it's pretty good. But since I wanted to feature The Underground Lovers and The Mandelbrot Set (especially since the latter's post has generated the most comments on this blog), I've included their tracks as separate downloads in addition to the entire album.

Various Artists - RooArt Youngblood 3

1. Rainyard – Technicolour Blind
2. The Underground Lovers – Ripe (FLAC, MP3)
3. The Welcome Mat – Stationary Blur
4. The Mandelbrot Set – Dream So Hard (FLAC, MP3)
5.  Ripe – Gaze
6. The Fauves – Wilding
7. Circle – World´s Delight
8. Sex Industrie – Jailbreak
9. The Lab – Heaven
10. Caligula – Wardrum
11. Custard – Rockfish Anna
12. The Sharp – I Know You
13. Glide – Fade
14. Snow Leopards – Coco Pops

FLAC: Pt1, Pt2, Pt3, Pt4
MP3

Grinderman - Primavera Sound 2011

As far as I can tell, all my old Mega Upload links have been replaced with Media Fire links. Let's hope Media Fire doesn't go the way of the dodo!!

Anyhow, to celebrate, here's a new post!

I know the jury is divided regarding the merits of Grinderman, but I love them! PC, what's PC?

Here we have a radio capture of Grinderman performing at Primavera Sound on May 26 last year. The musics great, but the interviews better- the band minus Nick Cave, but still a great example of the Australian sense of humour!

Grinderman - 2011-05-26 -  Primavera Sound, Parc Del Forum, Barcelona, Spain (FM)

01. Interview
02. Mickey Mouse
03. Worm Tamer
04. Get It On

FLAC: Pt1, Pt2, Pt3
MP3

Wilco - The Holy Grail

Dave from the excellent Quality Bootz recently posted Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot demos.

This is the holy grail for Wilco fans - some unreleased tracks, and some YHF tracks in vastly different forms and/or with vastly different mixes.

These demos also include Not for the Season, the track Jeff Tweedy brought with him to Loose Fur after being dissatisfied with Wilco's attempts at recording. This track was later released on the debut Loose Fur album as Laminated Cat.

Also included in the download are some Mermaid Avenue outtakes.

If you are a Wilco fan and haven't heard these, drop everything you are doing and head over to QB immediately!

More Mary My Hope

Ironically, "pulling the plug" on this blog has rejuvenated my interest in posting - but not enough to actually want to post anything. Maybe in a few months....

So please don't consider this post a return to blogging. Regard it more as a "haunting" - a "dead" blogger returning to relive past glories! Or regard it as unfinished business - something I intended to post but didn't get around to posting.

Here is a collection of Mary My Hope tracks I have collated from various interweb sites. I figure it's better to have it all in one place than across multiple sites. Nevertheless, thanks to the original posters of this material - I wished I'd bookmarked your sites and could give credit where it's due, but so be it.

I've now re-upped about 10% of the Mega Upload links with Media Fire links. Again, if there are any dead links you want reposted don't hesitate to ask. I've already fulfilled a few requests, and it's no problemo.

Mary My Hope - Various

01 - One Cigarette
02 - Chains
03 - Goodnight (Demo)
04 - Grind (Live)
05 - Hourglass - She Will (Live)
06 - Wildman Childman (Live)
07 - Suicide King (Live)
08 - Swords (Live)
09 - All The Young Dudes (Live)

MP3

Re-uploads

I may have pulled the plug on posting new music on this blog, but I'm not prepared to let this blog go the way of the dinosaur (jr) - I've put in far too much work to let that happen!

So over the next few weeks (months? years?) I'll start replacing all the dead Mega Upload links with new Rapid Share links.

If there is anything anyone specifically wants me to repost, please comment, and I'll make that a priority.

UPDATE 02/02/2012 - Been having trouble with Rapid Share, so I'm going to try Media Fire for the re-uploads!

Time to pull the plug!

I've been looking for an excuse to pull the plug on this blog for a while.

I've lost motivation, run out of ideas, and run out of reasons to keep it going.

The Mega Upload fiasco has only confirmed that this is the right decision.

But hey, let's concentrate on the positives:

• I finally got around to starting a blog! Five years of thinking about it, one year of experiencing the highs and lows of actually doing it!
• I stuck it out for a year! If you had told me that would happen when I started the blog I would have laughed in you!
• I made a century - with this post! That of course excludes the two posts that were removed from the blog (one by Google Blogger, one on request by a band's representative) - those two posts being the afforementioned lows.
• I introduced some people to some great new music they hadn't heard before!

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my posts. Those comments are the reason I stuck at it as long as I did.

I'm gonna pull the plug on the Ralph Dodger alias as well. That was a bastardization of a nickname I never particularly liked anyhow, so I'm happy to ditch it! So if you see someone with an unfamiliar alias making crass comments on other peoples blogs it's probably me!!

I'll leave you to the strains of the best song ever written.....

Beck - Beercan (Live - First TV appearance?)

Beck performing Beercan live on Australian TV show Denton in 1994.

I believe this was Beck's first TV performance. Presenter Andrew Denton asks Beck whether this is the case and Beck appears to confirm this.

Denton also featured a segment where the musical guests selected a random song from a barrel. The bands then had 30 minutes or so to learn the song before performing it at the show's conclusion.

I won't spoil the surprise regrading which 80s schlock pop hit Beck got lumped with....

Not the best quality, but worth it for the historical significance.

For those outside Australia, Andrew Denton is the only true maverick on Australian TV. Among his many career highlights was the the show Blah Blah Blah, which featured legendary Australian band Lubricated Goat performing In The Raw nude! But that's a post for another day....