Kimbra is currently on tour in Australia opening for David Byrne, but decided to do two intimate shows in Melbourne tonight at The Gasometer Hotel to celebrate the released of her new EP Songs from Primal Heart: Reimagined. I attended the second sold out show for the evening, and it was a very stripped back and jazzy sounding set with just Kimbra on the microphone accompanied by a bass player and keyboard player.
Kimbra spoke about the origins of many of the songs that were played before launching into each track. The four songs off the new EP were featured with "The Good War," "Everybody Knows," "Hi Def Distance Romance" and "Black Sky." She also played some deep cuts from throughout her catalogue, including "Past Love" off Primal Heart, "Rescue Him" and "Waltz Me To The Grave" off The Golden Echo, and "Plain Gold Ring," "Withdraw," "Old Flame" and my favorite "Cameo Lover" off of Vows. For an encore she did a heartfelt rendition of "Version Of Me" to finish the evening. It was very special to get to hear these reworked versions of her songs, and her voice shined strongly throughout the night (even though it was the second show). This tour now heads to the US in December and Europe in March 2019 so if Kimbra is coming to your city make sure you go to see her.
Tonight was Kimbra's sold out show at the Corner Hotel in support of her latest album Primal Heart. Opening the evening was Sydney electronic pop artist Exhibitionist (aka Kirsty Tickle). She and her band did a short set of songs, including one written with Sally Seltmann.
Kimbra's band members Spencer Zahn and Timon Martin came out on stage first before she joined them to launch into "Version Of Me." The set featured many songs off of Primal Heart, including "The Good War," 'Everybody Knows," "Human," "Like They Do On The TV," "Lightyears" and "Past Love," which she played on electric guitar as an homage to her early Melbourne days. For visuals they used many of the 3D computer animations from last year's Audio Electric show, which were projected onto the screens at each side of the stage.
Kimbra was so excited to be back in Melbourne and had lots of friends in the crowd. She played a few reworked versions of her older tracks during the evening with "Settle Down" (including a verse and chorus of "Somebody That I Used To Know") and "Two Way Street" off of Vows and "Love In High Places" off of The Golden Echo. She finished the main set with a fantastic version of "Top Of The World," and then for an encore came out solo and closed with "Real Life." It was great to be able to see Kimbra live again, and she promised she'll be back sooner rather than later.
The Supersense Festival is on at the Arts Centre Melbourne this weekend, and tonight Kimbra performed at the Playhouse, doing her show Audio Electric for the first time in Australia. Kimbra came out onto the stage wearing a neon yellow dress that glowed under the lights along with some black lace up platform boots. Joined by musicians Spencer Zahn and Timon Martin, this unique audio-visual performance featured mainly new songs along with some amazing 3D computer animations projected onto the screen at the back of the stage. The new material was more electronic and beats focused, with Kimbra's voice sounding as strong as ever.
Kimbra was so excited to be back in Melbourne for the first time in years and was very appreciative of the love from the sold out crowd. Besides the new songs, we were also treated to reworked versions of older tracks throughout the hour long set with "Settle Down" and "Two Way Street" off the album Vows as well as The Golden Echo's "Love In High Places" and a beautiful rendition of "As You Are." To finish off the night she played the recent single "Sweet Relief." Despite some technical glitches at the start the show was an immersive experience and I look forward to the release of her new album.
Another year is coming to a close which can only mean one thing- time for all those end of year top ten lists. Not to be left out, here are my top ten favorite songs for 2011 (aka songs that make me want to hit repeat after having just listened to them).
10. Slow Dancer "Leave It To Me" Slow Dancer is the solo project of Simon Okely from Oh Mercy. "Leave It To Me" is the first song he has put up online and I really love the laid back feel to Simon's music as well as his excellent guitar playing. Definitely one to watch for 2012.
9. The Good China "No More Maps, No More Roads"
2011 saw the return of The Good China to the Melbourne live scene after nearly a year's hiatus. The single "No More Maps, No More Roads" was a live favorite and has all the great hallmarks of a Good China track, including lots of hand claps.
8. Boy & Bear "Feeding Line"
It has been a monster year for Sydney's Boy & Bear, having won 5 ARIA awards for their debut album Moonfire. "Feeding Line" was the first single off the album, and signaled a new musical direction for the band from their previous EP.
7. The Harpoons "Keep You Around"
Another favorite band of mine that reemerged this year was The Harpoons. "Keep You Around" showcases Bec Rigby's soulful voice in this song about love with the great lyric "when you smiled at me I was a hopeless case." I am definitely looking forward to their debut album coming out in 2012.
6. Liam Finn "Don't Even Know Your Name"
This song was not a single but it's my favorite track off Liam Finn's latest album FOMO. "Don't Even Know Your Name" has a driving beat and an optimistic energy to it, and I absolutely love the chorus (which for some reason reminds me of "Panic" by The Smiths). Here's a live version of song, but do seek out the album track.
5. Brous "Streamers"
The first single off of Brous' self-titled debut EP, "Streamers" sounds like a song from a 1960s James Bond film. Sophia Brous' voice is quite amazing and I love how the first verse of this song keeps speeding up. There is a definite cinematic quality to her music and it will be interesting to see what she produces next.
4. Seeker Lover Keeper "Even Though I'm A Woman" Seeker Lover Keeper is the female Australian supergroup made up of Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby. One of the initial singles off of their self-titled debut album, "Even Though I'm A Woman" is a song about long distance love sung by Holly and written by Sally with some biting lyrics such as "I love you more when I'm missing you, it's why I'm always away." The song is a bit of an anthem for female independence.
3. Kimbra "Cameo Lover" Kimbra is originally from New Zealand but has been living in Melbourne the past few years. "Cameo Lover" come off of her debut album Vows and won her the 2011 Vanda and Young Songwriting Competition as well as an ARIA award for best female artist. I love the contrast between the verses and chorus of this song as well as its fantastic video.
2. Gotye "State Of The Art"
You may have thought that I would pick Gotye's biggest hit to date, but no, my favorite song off of his latest album Making Mirrors is "State Of The Art." Only Wally would write a song about his beloved Lowrey Cotillion organ. My favorite part of the song is when the bossa nova rhythm kicks in to the lyric "start the bossa nova beat and limbo from the living to the kitchen." The video animation by Rubber House is also exceptional.
1. Oh Mercy "Stay Please Stay"
My most played song of the year is Oh Mercy's "Stay Please Stay," the first single off their second album Great Barrier Grief. I absolutely adore the chorus of this song, especially Thomas Savage's beautiful jangly guitar. It also has a great closing lyric by Alexander with "what can I do with a love that gathers dust in a busy room?" An indie pop classic.
The main reason for our trip to Sydney was to see the animated album launch of Gotye's Making Mirrors at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, which was part of the Graphic Festival. We had pretty incredible seats in the fourth row with a great view of the stage and screens. The show started with Shaun Tan's Oscar winning animated short film The Lost Thing with a small group of musicians playing a live score.
After the stage was rearranged Gotye and his 10 piece mini-orchestra came out. They were lucky to make it after also getting caught up in the flight delays/cancellations in Melbourne this morning due to the fog. The set started with "Making Mirrors" and then launched into "Eyes Wide Open." Wally played nearly all of Making Mirrors and many of the songs had animations to accompany them. It made it hard to know where to look because you would get absorbed in the animations but also want to watch these songs being created live on stage by the musicians.
"State Of The Art" was my favorite clip of the show, directed and animated by Greg Sharp and Ivan Dixon at Rubber House.
Another great clip was for the song "Bronte," which was directed and animated by Ari Gibson at Mechanical Apple with background art by Jason Pamment.
The biggest reaction of the night was for the current number 1 single in Australia, "Somebody That I Used To Know." As the song reached the verse that is sung by Kimbra, we wondered if she would be there to sing it and she was! There were huge cheers when she walked on stage. The video for this song has become a huge viral hit worldwide.
Besides the songs from Making Mirrors, we also got a couple of classics from Like Drawing Blood: the haunting "Hearts A Mess" and "Learnalilgivinanlovin," which was the last song of the night. This show was amazing, and we are so happy for all the success that Wally is having at the moment. I'm sure the album is going to debut at number 1, and all his Australian shows for the tour have sold out in record time.
Last night I went to the Forum Theatre to see the sold out first night of Little Red's Midnight Remember tour. The opening act for the evening was New Zealand native Kimbra, who I saw a couple years ago when she first moved to Melbourne. She has gone from a singer/songwriter to more of a jazz-soul chanteuse, looking much more glamorous these days. Although she has a full band now, she still does samples of her vocals and loops them into the songs. Besides playing her own material she also did a cover of Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover" in her set.
Next up was Sydney band Sparkadia, who I missed seeing on their last album tour and have been wanting to catch live for a couple years now. They have been on a bit of hiatus, but are now back and about to release a new album. Their set consisted of songs from Postcards as well as a few new ones. It was so great to hear "Too Much To Do," "Morning Light," and "Animals." The new songs are pretty amazing as well, with the audience singing along to the chorus of "Mary" and their new single "Talking Like I'm Falling Downstairs." They closed the set with "Jealousy."
It continues to amaze me how popular Little Red have become. Each time they play in Melbourne they are in a bigger venue and selling it out. They opened the night with one of my favorites, "Lazy Boy." For these shows at the Forum they had a horn section along, which really adds so much to the songs. Dom, Quang and Tom alternated lead vocal duties throughout the night, playing songs from both Listen to Little Red and Midnight Remember. Taka added his usual flair by wearing a fantastic white suit and standing up on his drum kit to get the audience to clap along. Highlights of the night were "Get a Life," "Slow Motion," "Forget About Your Man," "Witchdoctor," "Jackie Cooper," "She's Not The Only One" and "It's Alright."
The crowd for the show was interesting to watch, because they really did not seem to know any of the album songs except ones that were singles. I wonder if the success of "Rock It" is what brought most people to the gig as that was one of the few songs to get a massive reaction. It's a bit of a shift from previous shows where everyone in the crowd has been singing and dancing along to every number. For the encore they started slowly with "Follow You There" and then picked it up to another level with "Coca Cola." The last song of the night was my other favorite, the fabulous "Misty, I."
Here's the video for the latest single, "Slow Motion"
Last night I headed over to The Evelyn Hotel for a benefit show for Oh Mercy. Their musical equipment was stolen a couple months ago in Sydney while on tour, so this was an attempt to raise some money to buy new gear. The evening opened up with Kimbra, a singer-songwriter originally from New Zealand. I thought her set was good- she used looping pedals for vocal and rhythm effects and did covers of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and Gotye's "Hearts A Mess."
Next up was my favorite Japanese pop band The Hondas. Taka was once again a comedic shining light as he introduced a song by telling a story about a girl who left her watch in his room. He took it to Cash Convertors and bought a harmonica, which he proceeded to play on the next song. Funny stuff! Their set was a mix of old favorites and new songs they are recording for a new album, which will be out soon. Very exciting.
After The Hondas was Little Red's other side project band The Greasers. How lucky for me to have both groups on the same bill. I still have not managed to get a copy of The Greasers album, but they played a good set, including my favorite of theirs "Metamorphosis." Once they finished it was already late, and since I didn't have much time before I would have to leave for the tram I decided to head for home. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to miss Oh Mercy's set. However I'm hoping to catch them when they play down the road at the Brunswick Hotel in August.
