The Boroughs

Yesterday Tash and I attended The Boroughs, which organisers said would be "a celebration of the culture, street art and music of New York." Originally scheduled to be at a warehouse on La Trobe Street, the venue was changed to Shed 4 in Docklands. Wilfred Jackal was finishing up their set when we arrived. Both Tash and I were a bit confused as we walked in. First problem was that they were only using part of the Shed, which didn't really make much sense. Their attempt at making it "New York" was to have some opened shipping containers around the floor, graffiti artists painting a wall (they were amateurs compared to a lot of the graffiti you see around Melbourne), some really bad attempts at performance art, and a small skate ramp for the skaters. It was a total fail.

Music-wise the bands really had nothing to do with New York either, but there was a good mix of different styles. The sound in the Shed was horrendous though, which was really apparent for the bands we have seen live before. I wouldn't mind hearing The Hello Morning in an intimate venue as their alt-country sound was so muddy in the venue. The Frowning Clouds played with a lot of energy and had a group of people dancing at the front of the stage. Bachelor of Arts was probably the closest to a New York sounding band, and Hot Little Hands played a good set of indie rock.

Miami Horror had everyone dancing and their single "Sometimes" got a big reaction from the crowd. Up next was Yves Klein Blue, who were fantastic as always. It was great to hear "Getting Wise," "Polka," and "Digital Love." The final act of the evening was Bertie Blackman, who was dressed in a monk's robe for most of the night. In her hour-long set she played the one song I know of hers, "Byrds of Prey," as well as covers of Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" and a Fleetwood Mac song. The funniest part of her set though was watching the Frowning Clouds boys with supersoakers running around side of stage and spraying the audience.

Musical Interlude: Indie Australia

Here are some of the best indie bands in Australia at the moment:

Little Red: "Coca Cola"


Gotye: "Learnalilgivinanlovin"

Gotye- Learnalilgivinanlovin from Gotye on Vimeo.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring: "Which Way To Go"


Hungry Kids of Hungary: "Old Money"


Oh Mercy: "Get You Back"


The Basics: "Like A Brother"


Yves Klein Blue: "Getting Wise"

Yves Klein Blue Album Tour

Last night I met up with Tash and Daniel at the Northcote Social Club for the sold out album launch for Yves Klein Blue. We got there for the last few songs of opening band Hoshi In The Clouds and got to hear their single "Panda Express." Next up was an entertaining set by Sydney's Philadelphia Grand Jury. They have an indie rock sound and a dedicated person was doing commentary and intros in between songs. "Going to the Casino" got a good crowd response and they finished their last song by handing their instruments to people in the crowd to play- guitar, bass, cymbal and keyboard! It was a unique ending.

It was great to see Yves Klein Blue again and I think they were really excited and touched to be playing to a sold out venue. They played songs from their debut album "Ragged & Ecstatic" including new single "Make Up Your Mind," "Getting Wise," "Summer Sheets," "Dinosaur," and "Queeny." We even got to hear "Blasphemy" from their first EP. The encore began with lead singer Michael Tomlinson solo on acoustic guitar for "About the Future" and then the rest of the band came back on and played a fantastic cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." The last song of the night was "Polka" which had the crowd singing and clapping along.

Yves Klein Blue

Tonight I met up with Tash and her work colleague Daniel at The Toff in Town for an album preview gig by Brisbane band Yves Klein Blue. It has been over a year since I last saw them play and it's exciting that they finally have a debut album coming out after the success of their EP "Draw Attention to Themselves." The majority of the set contained songs from the upcoming album, including their new single "Getting Wise," as well as some old favorites like "Silence is Distance" and "Polka." The highlight of the evening was when frontman Michael Tomlinson played one of the new songs on acoustic guitar in the middle of the crowd. All in all it was a good although short show since there were no opening acts. Spotted in the audience were Alex and Thom from Oh Mercy and the red Wiggle, Murray Cook!

The Longnecks

I had a very special birthday evening last night because I got to see The Longnecks, otherwise known as The Living End, play a sold out show at the Ding Dong Lounge in the CBD. Ruth and Danny joined me for the evening. This was our first time in the Ding Dong Lounge, and it's a nice room. They have tables where you can play 80's video games, which I thought was cool. We enjoyed the second opening act, Yves Klein Blue, a band from Brisbane with a diverse number of great little songs.

The Longnecks came out to a roar from the audience. We were safely positioned by the soundboard off the main floor in order to avoid the mosh pit. The band played a very similar set to the St. Kilda Festival with some more new songs added to the set list since they didn't have a time limit:
- Raise The Alarm
- Hey Hey Disbeliever
- Loaded Gun
- Kid
- How Do We Know
- New Frontier
- Waiting For The Silence
- Faith
- Moment In Sun
- November
- Rats
- Suzy
- 21st Century
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- E-Boogie
- What's On Your Radio?
- West End Riot

A majority of the new songs have a much heavier rock sound than their previous efforts. There was some diversity though and some songs are more polished than others. I'm really curious to see what will make the album and what the final versions will sound like. For the encore they played officially as The Living End, and the energy in the room just went to another level. These guys are amazing musicians and so fun to watch live.