“Melody Day” and “Odessa” are easily two of the best singles of the last five, maybe ten, years. Both are penned by Daniel Snaith a.k.a. Caribou, and while recognisable as coming from the same artist, Snaith’s androgynous vocal sees to that, they are very different in feel. “Melody Day” combines an euphoric melody with whip sharp snare drumming that masks the disillusionment of the narrator’s relationship while “Odessa” is more musically paranoid, with disturbing animal like electronic screeches tempered by the soothing “She can say, she can say, she can say/Who knows what she’s gonna say” of the chorus. Not an artist prone to repeating himself “Melody Day” comes from Caribou’s second album 2007′s Andorra which took ’60s psychedelic pop and merged it with complex rhythm patterns, the latter from his LP from last year Swim, which saw Snaith heading into a denser electronic direction while still retaining a fair amount of pop smarts.

Caribou with long time friend Kieran Hebden better known as Four Tet will soon be the Antipodes for a series of shows but late last year Chris Berkley caught up with Snaith whilst on the never ending Swim tour where Dan took time out to talk about the art of Caribou live versus recording, his electric friends, how some people perceive Swim to be a dark album and thoughts on how not to win over the doom metal crowd.

Did you ever envisage Caribou as this non-stop traveling circus like it’s become, Dan?

It’s happened kind of gradually. After the last album we toured a lot and every time we have so much fun and there’s fun things to do so we say yes to them.

But it must feel like it’s working live as well.

It’s working really well this time actually. It’s by far the show that I’m most happy with since we’ve started. All of the newer more electronic elements are fitting together really nicely.

I don’t know if you’d call it a gradual thing but it seems like you’ve really developed into this live act and it almost seems like there’s a different edge to you how you now make the records. Does it feel like a separate thing to make a Caribou album and then take it out on tour?

Yeah it really does. It feels like two totally different things especially because it’s just me making the records for the most part. But it’s not like when we go on tour and it’s me and some hired musicians. We’re a real cohesive unit, we put the show together all four of us equally. The songs have taken on lives of their own, they’ve totally developed a lot since the versions that are on the record.

So how conscious do you have to be of doing that when you’re making a Caribou album? I thought after the Andorra tour when you did feel like a real live band to watch and you all had the yellow Thunderbird cravats on and that sort of thing, you’d actually take those people in the studio to make an album, but you kind of drew a line in the sand for the latest Caribou record and still went back in on your own.

Somehow I think that will always work best for me. The way I make a record is I spend a year by myself working at home constantly, just sifting through ideas rather than an intense period in a recording studio. I like that slow pace of me just doing things on my own schedule and I co-ordinate things. There are collaborations on this record but they are me planning it out in advance and then working together for a couple of days rather than always being involved with people throughout the whole process.

You must yearn for a bit of human contact here and there, because I know Luke from Born Ruffians did vocals on one of the tracks on the album.

That came about from we just did this ATP New York show last year, there was a fifteen piece band and he was part of that, and Luke is a friend. We toured with Born Ruffians a fair bit, and just hearing him sing when we were rehearsing for that big show just made me think. There was a song that I had recorded a vocal for that I wasn’t happy with I was thinking who should sing that song, I asked Luke and he was up for it.

Do you ever get those grand visions if you’re making a record on your own, are you that guy that sits there and thinks “Oh I should try and get in touch with Bryan Ferry” or someone more legendary or are you happy to keep it local?

Yeah, I’m kind of wary of.  I’m always more worried about trying to collaborate with somebody like Cluster or whatever, heroes of mine.

They say your heroes let you down Dan.

Well that’s exactly the thing that I’m afraid of, but then Marshall Allen, leader of Sun Ra’s Arkestra, played with us at this ATP show that we did last year and that was so the opposite, he was so affirming and inspiring , the best experience of meeting one of your idols that I could imagine.

Was he aware of the Caribou back catalogue then or is he still not completely up to what you’d done?

He had never heard a second of Caribou music before he stepped on stage at the show, and he was incredible! If he can do that, more power to him.

I guess in tandem with taking the band on the road these days and having those kind of shows, does it feel like it’s become more of a joyous experience, the kind of records your making as Caribou anyway? I guess the earlier stuff, the Manitoba material was a bit more introspective, do you feel like even with the Swim you are making things that are more joyous and meant to be played out, for people to hear out?

It’s funny because people have said exactly the opposite to me! That this is the kind of dark sounding record.

People think this is dark? It’s a joyous album!

From my perspective they all are because they’re all the process of making music which is such a joyous celebratory thing for me, I always get a thrill out of it. I like music that has a culmination of some kind of melancholy next to some kind of euphoric feelings, so that’s my perspective on it but people always hilariously tell me polar opposites of how they respond to music.

What kind of nights in are people having if they think it’s a dark album?

I don’t know, maybe they just listen to Abba or something the rest of the time.

There seems to be a great camaraderie as well, this year especially, almost like this holy triangle where you have done some Four Tet remixes you’ve done some Hot Chip, you guys all seem to be bouncing off each other. Do you feel like when you get out on the road there is some kindred spirits around as well Dan?

Definitely, but not because a musical alliance or something but because those are friends of mine. Kieran’s Four Tet is the guy who got my music released in the first place now we’re close friends and Hot Chip we saw them at Electric Picnic at Ireland last night and Jeremy from Junior Boys mixed part of the record. Fuck Buttons and Born Ruffians, I guess we’ve just ended up touring with and becoming friends with. I’ve always been kind of wary of being part of a scene or too closely associated with any particular sound, but they’re just this growing family of musical friends that has developed over the years. It’s really nice.

I guess everybody has been pretty consistent as well in terms of making interesting records and keeping on keeping on.

I won’t just have anybody as a friend!

(Laughs). How are you with the Doom Metal community? Have they embraced you yet?

We’ll see, I like some of those records. This jacket that I’m wearing is a rainbow gradient! I don’t think that would go over so well with the Doom Metal fraternity.

It’s a definite festival jacket though, it’s easy to find you in something like that. It’s good to see you’re teaming up with Four Tet to come to Australia. You’re not doing shows together it’s strictly you’re doing your thing and he’s doing his, right?

As far as I know we won’t be on stage together but the shows are together.

I think you should be planning your stage invasions during Kieran’s set right now!

I’ve always thought he needs a couple more drum kits as part of his show.

Caribou and Four Tet Australian/NZ Tour 2011

12 Feb, Splore-City, Auckland
15 Feb, The Zoo, Brisbane
16 Feb, The HiFi, Melbourne
16 Feb, The HiFi, Melbourne (Midnight Special)
17 Feb, The Metro, Sydney
18 Feb, Playground Weekender, Wisemans Ferry, NSW

For more details/tickets visit Feel Presents

Interview broadcast on Static on 28/10/10. Static can be heard on Sydney’s 2SER (107.3 FM) and via the Internet (www.2ser.com) every Thursday evening (AEST).

Chris: Joining us on Static this evening it's a great pleasure to have tracked down, in a field in England, Dan from Caribou! Welcome along sir!

Dan: Thanks for having me.

Chris: How is your festival season going and how are you holding up?

Dan: We're holding up OK, I think we're like thirty-five festivals in.

Chris: Already?

Dan: Yeah we've got one more weekend and then it's back to North America for more touring touring.

Chris: Also I just noticed there is a seventy date tour or something lined up between now and the end of the year for Caribou, you're an absolute force!

Dan: Yeah, we're crazy. Looking at that list of dates has made us all feel a bit nauseous! I think it's should be fun.

Chris: Did you ever envisage Caribou as this non-stop travelling circus like it's become, Dan?

Dan: It's happened kind of gradually. After the last album we toured a lot and it's just every time we have so much fun and there's fun things to do so we say yes to them.

Chris: But it must feel like it's working live as well.

Dan: It's working really really well this time actually. It's by far the show that I'm most happy with that we've done. All of the new more electronic elements integrated into it just feels like everything is fitting together really nicely.

Chris: 'Gelled' as they say in some circles.

Dan: That's the word!

Chris: It seems like, I don't know if you'd call it a gradual thing but it seems like you've really developed into this live act and it almost seems like a different edge to you now the way that you make the records as well. Does it feel like a separate thing to make a Caribou album and then take it out on tour?

Dan: Yeah it really does. It feels like two totally different things especially because it's just me making the records for the most part, but it's not like when we go on tour it's me and some hired musicians. It's like we're a real cohesive unit, we put the show together all four of us equally. The songs have taken on lives of their own, they've totally developed a lot since the versions that are on the record.

Chris: So how conscious do you have to be of doing that when you're making a Caribou album because I kind of thought after the Andorra tour when you did fell like a real live band to watch and you all had the yellow Thunderbird cravats on and that sort of thing, I thought you'd actually take those people in the studio to make an album, but you kind of drew a line in the sand for the latest Caribou record and still went back in on your own.

Dan: Somehow I think that will always work best for me. If there are collaborations on the record it's going to be probably I'll work with people for a period but the way I make a record is a year of me working at home constantly, just sifting through ideas rather than an intense period in a recording studio. I like that slow pace of me just doing things on my own schedule and I co-ordinate things. There are collaborations on this record but they are me planning it out in advance and then working together for a couple of days rather than always being involved with people throughout the whole process.

Chris: You must yearn for a bit of human contact here and there, because I know Luke from Born Ruffians did vocals on one of the tracks on the album.

Dan: That came about from we just did this ATP New York show last year, there was a fifteen piece band and he was part of that, and Luke is a friend, we toured with Born Ruffians a fair bit, and just hearing him sing when we were rehearsing for that big show just made me think. There was a song that I had recorded a vocal for that I wasn't happy with I was thinking who should sing this song, I asked Luke and he was up for it.

Chris: Do you get ever those grand visions if you're making a record on your own, are you that guy that sits there and thinks 'Oh I should try and get in touch with Brian Ferry' or someone more legendary or are you happy to keep it local? Especially to get a Canadian band on the record, Dan?

Dan: Yeah, I'm kind of wary of, I'm never had any of that. I'm always more worried about trying to collaborate with somebody like Cluster or whatever, heroes of mine.

Chris: They say your heroes let you down Dan.

Dan: Well that's exactly the thing that I'm afraid of, but then Marshall Allen, leader of the Sun Ra's Arkestra, played with us at this ATP show that we did last year and that was so the opposite, he was so affirming and inspiring , the best experience of meeting one of your idols that I could imagine.

Chris: Was he across the whole Caribou back catalogue then or is he still not completely up to what you had done?

Dan: He had never heard a second of Caribou music before he stepped on stage at the show, and he was incredible! If he can do that, more power to him.

Chris: I guess in tandem with taking the band on the road these days and having those kind of shows, does it feel like it's become more of a joyous experience, the kind of records your making as Caribou anyway? I guess the earlier stuff, the Manitoba material was a bit more introspective, do you feel like even with the latest Caribou album you are making things that are more joyous and meant to be played out and for people to hear out?

Dan: It's funny because people have said exactly the opposite to me! That this is the kind of dark sounding record.

Chris: People think this is dark? It's a joyous album!

Dan: From my perspective they all are because they're all the process of making music is such a joyous celebratory thing for me always, I always get a thrill out of it. I like music that has a culmination of some kind of melancholy next to some kind of euphoric feelings, so that's my perspective on it but people always hilariously tell me polar opposites of how they respond to music.

Chris: What kind of nights in are people having if they think it's a dark album?

Dan: I don't know, maybe they just listen to Abba or something the rest of the time.

Chris:There seems to be a great camaraderie as well, this year especially, almost like this holy triangle where you have done some Four Tet remixes you've done some Hot Chip, you guys all seem to be bouncing off each other , are you kind of aware of other bands that are on the road and making in the same kind of music as you do you feel like when you get out on the road there is some kindred spirits around as well Dan?

Dan: Definitely, but not because a musical alliance or something but because those are friends of mine. Kieran's Four Tet is the guy who got my music released in the first place now we're closest friends and Hot Chip we saw them at Electric Picnic at Ireland last night and Jeremy from Junior Boys mixed part of the record and Fuck Buttons and Born Ruffians, I guess we've just ended up touring with and becoming friends with. I really like that, it's not a sense of, I've always been kind of wary of being part of a scene or too closely associated with some particular sound, but they're just this growing family of musical friends that has developed over the years is really nice.

Chris: I guess everybody has been pretty consistent as well in terms of making interesting records and keeping on keeping on.

Dan: I won't just have anybody as a friend!

Chris: (Laughs). How are you with the Doom Meal community have they embraced you yet?

Dan: We'll see, I like some of those bands records. This jacket that I'm wearing which since this is audio interview, is a rainbow gradient! I don't think that would go over so well with the Doom Metal fraternity.

Chris: It's a definite festival jacket though, it's easy to find you in something like that! It's good to see you as well now you're teaming up with Four Tet to come to Australia next time around.

Dan: That's right, it's an unconfirmed rumour but I can't tell you any specifics.

Chris: Come on, can you not confirm or deny?

Dan: We're coming, yeah.

Chris: And are you not doing shows together it's strictly you're doing your thing and he's doing his, right?

Dan: As far as I know we won't be on stage together but the shows are together.

Chris: I think you should be planning your stage invasions during Kieran's set right now!

Dan: He needs a couple more drum kits as part of his show, I've always thought!

Chris: Never enough! We might have a listen now to some one else who has had a go at one of Caribou's songs, we'll have a listen to the Jack Tennis remix of “Sun”. Is this one of the unsolicited remixes that you got thousands sent to you or is this the actual solictied one?

Dan: No, this was unsolicited. This is the amazing thing about that competition, we had a remix competition for the song “Sun” that got hundreds of responses, but not only that but people who didn't even submit they're still turning up! They didn't even submit to the contest but have just been playing around with the parts and it surfaces online somewhere and people are like tell me they've heard it at some club or something, it's really amazing.

Chris: Have you been out in a club somewhere and been like 'Oh this is a really great song' and then realised it's your song?

Dan: No, I've only been out, since this album came out, at our concerts pretty much every single night since then!

Chris: Well there's a lot between Australia and now so wish you luck for the next few months and let's have a listen to this Jack Tennis remix on Static thanks for the talk Dan.

Chris: Joining us on Static this evening it's a great pleasure to have tracked down, in a field in England, Dan from Caribou! Welcome along sir!

Dan: Thanks for having me.

Chris: How is your festival season going and how are you holding up?

Dan: We're holding up OK, I think we're like thirty-five festivals in.

Chris: Already?

Dan: Yeah we've got one more weekend and then it's back to North America for more touring touring.

Chris: Also I just noticed there is a seventy date tour or something lined up between now and the end of the year for Caribou, you're an absolute force!

Dan: Yeah, we're crazy. Looking at that list of dates has made us all feel a bit nauseous! I think it's should be fun.

Chris: Did you ever envisage Caribou as this non-stop travelling circus like it's become, Dan?

Dan: It's happened kind of gradually. After the last album we toured a lot and it's just every time we have so much fun and there's fun things to do so we say yes to them.

Chris: But it must feel like it's working live as well.

Dan: It's working really really well this time actually. It's by far the show that I'm most happy with that we've done. All of the new more electronic elements integrated into it just feels like everything is fitting together really nicely.

Chris: 'Gelled' as they say in some circles.

Dan: That's the word!

Chris: It seems like, I don't know if you'd call it a gradual thing but it seems like you've really developed into this live act and it almost seems like a different edge to you now the way that you make the records as well. Does it feel like a separate thing to make a Caribou album and then take it out on tour?

Dan: Yeah it really does. It feels like two totally different things especially because it's just me making the records for the most part, but it's not like when we go on tour it's me and some hired musicians. It's like we're a real cohesive unit, we put the show together all four of us equally. The songs have taken on lives of their own, they've totally developed a lot since the versions that are on the record.

Chris: So how conscious do you have to be of doing that when you're making a Caribou album because I kind of thought after the Andorra tour when you did fell like a real live band to watch and you all had the yellow Thunderbird cravats on and that sort of thing, I thought you'd actually take those people in the studio to make an album, but you kind of drew a line in the sand for the latest Caribou record and still went back in on your own.

Dan: Somehow I think that will always work best for me. If there are collaborations on the record it's going to be probably I'll work with people for a period but the way I make a record is a year of me working at home constantly, just sifting through ideas rather than an intense period in a recording studio. I like that slow pace of me just doing things on my own schedule and I co-ordinate things. There are collaborations on this record but they are me planning it out in advance and then working together for a couple of days rather than always being involved with people throughout the whole process.

Chris: You must yearn for a bit of human contact here and there, because I know Luke from Born Ruffians did vocals on one of the tracks on the album.

Dan: That came about from we just did this ATP New York show last year, there was a fifteen piece band and he was part of that, and Luke is a friend, we toured with Born Ruffians a fair bit, and just hearing him sing when we were rehearsing for that big show just made me think. There was a song that I had recorded a vocal for that I wasn't happy with I was thinking who should sing this song, I asked Luke and he was up for it.

Chris: Do you get ever those grand visions if you're making a record on your own, are you that guy that sits there and thinks 'Oh I should try and get in touch with Brian Ferry' or someone more legendary or are you happy to keep it local? Especially to get a Canadian band on the record, Dan?

Dan: Yeah, I'm kind of wary of, I'm never had any of that. I'm always more worried about trying to collaborate with somebody like Cluster or whatever, heroes of mine.

Chris: They say your heroes let you down Dan.

Dan: Well that's exactly the thing that I'm afraid of, but then Marshall Allen, leader of the Sun Ra's Arkestra, played with us at this ATP show that we did last year and that was so the opposite, he was so affirming and inspiring , the best experience of meeting one of your idols that I could imagine.

Chris: Was he across the whole Caribou back catalogue then or is he still not completely up to what you had done?

Dan: He had never heard a second of Caribou music before he stepped on stage at the show, and he was incredible! If he can do that, more power to him.

Chris: I guess in tandem with taking the band on the road these days and having those kind of shows, does it feel like it's become more of a joyous experience, the kind of records your making as Caribou anyway? I guess the earlier stuff, the Manitoba material was a bit more introspective, do you feel like even with the latest Caribou album you are making things that are more joyous and meant to be played out and for people to hear out?

Dan: It's funny because people have said exactly the opposite to me! That this is the kind of dark sounding record.

Chris: People think this is dark? It's a joyous album!

Dan: From my perspective they all are because they're all the process of making music is such a joyous celebratory thing for me always, I always get a thrill out of it. I like music that has a culmination of some kind of melancholy next to some kind of euphoric feelings, so that's my perspective on it but people always hilariously tell me polar opposites of how they respond to music.

Chris: What kind of nights in are people having if they think it's a dark album?

Dan: I don't know, maybe they just listen to Abba or something the rest of the time.

Chris:There seems to be a great camaraderie as well, this year especially, almost like this holy triangle where you have done some Four Tet remixes you've done some Hot Chip, you guys all seem to be bouncing off each other , are you kind of aware of other bands that are on the road and making in the same kind of music as you do you feel like when you get out on the road there is some kindred spirits around as well Dan?

Dan: Definitely, but not because a musical alliance or something but because those are friends of mine. Kieran's Four Tet is the guy who got my music released in the first place now we're closest friends and Hot Chip we saw them at Electric Picnic at Ireland last night and Jeremy from Junior Boys mixed part of the record and Fuck Buttons and Born Ruffians, I guess we've just ended up touring with and becoming friends with. I really like that, it's not a sense of, I've always been kind of wary of being part of a scene or too closely associated with some particular sound, but they're just this growing family of musical friends that has developed over the years is really nice.

Chris: I guess everybody has been pretty consistent as well in terms of making interesting records and keeping on keeping on.

Dan: I won't just have anybody as a friend!

Chris: (Laughs). How are you with the Doom Meal community have they embraced you yet?

Dan: We'll see, I like some of those bands records. This jacket that I'm wearing which since this is audio interview, is a rainbow gradient! I don't think that would go over so well with the Doom Metal fraternity.

Chris: It's a definite festival jacket though, it's easy to find you in something like that! It's good to see you as well now you're teaming up with Four Tet to come to Australia next time around.

Dan: That's right, it's an unconfirmed rumour but I can't tell you any specifics.

Chris: Come on, can you not confirm or deny?

Dan: We're coming, yeah.

Chris: And are you not doing shows together it's strictly you're doing your thing and he's doing his, right?

Dan: As far as I know we won't be on stage together but the shows are together.

Chris: I think you should be planning your stage invasions during Kieran's set right now!

Dan: He needs a couple more drum kits as part of his show, I've always thought!

Chris: Never enough! We might have a listen now to some one else who has had a go at one of Caribou's songs, we'll have a listen to the Jack Tennis remix of “Sun”. Is this one of the unsolicited remixes that you got thousands sent to you or is this the actual solictied one?

Dan: No, this was unsolicited. This is the amazing thing about that competition, we had a remix competition for the song “Sun” that got hundreds of responses, but not only that but people who didn't even submit they're still turning up! They didn't even submit to the contest but have just been playing around with the parts and it surfaces online somewhere and people are like tell me they've heard it at some club or something, it's really amazing.

Chris: Have you been out in a club somewhere and been like 'Oh this is a really great song' and then realised it's your song?

Dan: No, I've only been out, since this album came out, at our concerts pretty much every single night since then!

Chris: Well there's a lot between Australia and now so wish you luck for the next few months and let's have a listen to this Jack Tennis remix on Static thanks for the talk Dan.

Dan: Cool and see you in a bit!

Dan: Cool and see you in a bit!

New Years Eve’s are traditionally unplanned, last minute events, involving clubs or house parties especially in laissez-faire Brisbane. This year was different. An independent music festival at the Powerhouse, brazenly named No Years! had tempted me and many others with its bill: twenty-one bands in total, comprised of fourteen local , five interstate and two international acts at a lovely New Farm location. Could they pull it off or would it be another New Years fizzer?

The party has already been going for four hours by the time we make it to the Powerhouse. Seriously a 2pm start? That’s brutal for what is often the longest night of the year. As soon as tickets are picked up I’m confronted with the choice of two stages. I go down the left rabbit hole and emerge in the surprisingly capricious Powerhouse theatre and am assaulted by the Detroit meets Gold Coast rock city garage of young duo The Bleeding Knees Club. The drummer sings lines as basic as the chords: “I was so proud/I was so high/I was so loud/I could die”. Maybe if I was 20 years old and had never heard of The Stooges, or even say The White Stripes, I’d be more excited but instead I exit before I become a member of the bleeding ears club.

Sydney’s Parades are on the main Turbine Platform which affords patrons three levels and three sides of access. This complexity of viewing makes perfect sense for Parades’ abstract pop music. They remind me of a more vocally harmonic Foals, for both their use of percussion, colourful guitar lines and epic peaks. The sonic waterfall effect of their debut Foreign Objects is largely successful but the mellifluous female vocals which are large part of the attraction of their tribal dream-pop on that record are absent in this four piece incarnation.

I missed Love Connection when they played the Hangar in May and reports then were mixed. Tonight they play their psychedelic, hazy shoegaze well enough but I’m drawn to the spectacle more than the music. Like a low rent Flaming Lips their shtick sticks. The drummer is garbed in a safari hat and Hawaiian shirt, streamers and bubbles are strewn into the crowd, the singer/guitarist wears a wicker basket on head for one song and most ingeniously fires a home made smoke cannon made out of a garbage bin. If they can create music as inventive as their set props they’ll be onto something.

Modular man of the moment Jonathan Boulet released a beautifully crafted DIY dream folk album in 2009. Stepping out from the drum kit with Parades its full rock out with your docs out for the Boulet live experience with six band members and not an acoustic guitar to be seen. The Boulet Band shares some similarities with Parades particularly rhythmically, they have a standing drummer/keyboardist as well as traditional drummer, but some of the subtly of the record is lost. Whether this is Boulet’s, who resembles a young Courtney Taylor-Taylor, new direction or just his usual live experience, time will tell. He closes with the masterstroke single “A Community Service Announcement”, which combines one of the best riffs of the decade with heavenly harmonies and “Here we are we are/Are we on top?” refrain. Yes, for one song at least, you are Jonathan.

I miss Brisbane synth siren Seja and Sydney electronic act Seekae as I take food and liquid refreshment then head back to the main stage for The John Steel Singers. Despite being Brisbane’s next big thing for the last three years or so I’ve willfully avoided the band. With recently released debut album Tangalooma produced by no other than Robert Forster getting plaudits it was well and truly time to acquaint myself with the act. Tonight the multi-instrumental five piece are augmented with Little Scout’s Melissa Tickle which makes for three sets of keyboards, enriching their already expansive sound. “Overpass” and “Evoloution” use brass to create classic rock/pop in the tradition of the Kinks circa Preservation Act 1. Tim Morrissey is the defacto lead singer but vocals are also shared with guitarist Luke McDonald and guitarist/keyboardist/trumpeter Scott Bromiley. There is an astounding amount of multi-skilling in not only The Steel Singers but all of the bands today. Keyboardists play violin and percussion, guitarists swap their six string for keyboards, drummers step out from behind the stool and become front men and everybody, barring the odd bassist or drummer, sings, either in a lead or supporting capacity. Mono-skilled musicians of the world your days are numbered. It’s already a feel good set when they unveil a raucous cover of The Saints’ “Know Your Product” which as Tim points out is a standard for rock bands with a horn section, before the chugging, falsetto chorused single “Rainbow Kraut” sends everybody into histrionics. Mr Steel your singers have done you proud.

It’s a testament to the faith in the talent that the promoters have in local band Oh Ye Denver Birds who have only released a series of singles, the latest being the lushly crafted “Your Sacrifice”, to their name that they’re the penultimate act before the two headliners. The Birds craft dense soundscapes incorporating syncopated percussion, violins, and computer loops set around the vocal harmonies of singer/guitarist Dom Stephens and keyboardist/violinist Kat Gough for a Caribou meets Couteau Twins/Dead Can Dance experience. That is until the last song when a local rapper comes onstage to get down with the “niggarz” in the audience – that would be the predominately middle class, white, Gen Y audience – for an ODB cover. It’s a bizarre event, which we’ll put down to a bit of New Year “let’s fuck this shit up” novelty.

It’s edging closer to “the countdown”, the time you either love or dread on NYE, and I’m torn between the two headliners who will both see in the New Year. In the blue corner we have Shout Out Louds, Stockholm’s indie pop kings, here on their final leg of their Work album tour. In the red corner we have newcomers, psych-electronic Texan’s Neon Indian whose debut album Psychic Chasms has been a late find but consistently on the stereo this week. Inspired by the musicians on stage I plan to do both and start with the Swedes who I last saw in 2007 at The Zoo. Any doubts that they won’t be able to top The John Steel Singers have evaporated by the second song when Adam Olenius climbs onto the thin steel barrier balanced only by an arm from a fan for half the song. It’s not exactly Bono at Suncorp Stadium but it’s gutsy and typifies the passion Adam and his companions put into the set. After four songs, there’s a slight lull with “Paper Moon” and I look at my watch, see it’s ten to twelve, so make double time find to my friends in the red room.

While Neon Indian are surprisingly easy to get into venue-wise, getting into their music proves more difficult. Too far back? Too much expectation for the midnight countdown? No chemicals, hallucinogens or alcohol in my bloodstream? Well yes, probably all of the above. They seem to be doing a good job of recreating the lo-fi electronica meets ’70s soft rock/’80s synth of their record but I’m an indie popster at heart so after the clock strikes midnight, which it does with a distinct lack of fanfare (a few streamers handed out does not make a NYE midnight make), I return to my Swedish sweethearts.

So what makes Shout Out Louds so damn perfect? Well they have beautifully rendered songs of nostalgia in “1999” and “Parents Living Room”. Falling out of love songs “Impossible” (“I don’t want to wake up knowing I don’t have a future” gets to me every time) and falling in love songs such as “Fall Hard”. All of these have choruses to die for. Some have cowbells and rolling toms. Most have great synth or organ lines played by a keyboardist who is aloof or shy and looks like she came straight out of a Bergman movie. I adore, nay, love the Shout Out Louds. Seeing them once every three years isn’t enough. I want to hide in one of their guitar cases and hitch a ride back to Stockholm where we can all live together in a government subsidised apartment, sip red wine to ward ourselves against the cold while listening to them play songs and regal me with stories old and new. After a surprise encore the fantasy ends and as foreshadowed earlier in the set by “Candle Burned Out” the band leave us with a hearty “Gott Nytt År!”.

And a Happy New Year it was too. While milling about outside scrapping over the last hot dogs on offer I realise what a well organised and well behaved festival/NYE it has been. Apart from inevitable bar queues it was remarkable easy to move around the stages, the crowd were respectful, happy and surprisingly lucid. I saw no fights or people passed out and broken bottles were largely avoided. That in itself was a small miracle. As I walked across New Farm park with my friends I was excited by the prospect of another festival next, er I mean, this year, although dismayed that I’ll have to wait another 364 days for it.

More Photos at facebook (Photos by Caleb Rudd)

Two years ago at a pub to celebrate a friend’s birthday one of his mates started talking to me about a surge of new American garage rock bands and promptly wedged an iPod earphone into my ear cavity to prove his point. He played two bands, one was the Vivian Girls whose rise has been covered in these pages, the other was a band called The Muslims. It was rough and raw rock, a little too raw for my tastes but he was enthused, the band was enthused so I made a mental note. Nearly a year later The Muslims both had a less volatile name, The Soft Pack, and a more polished repertoire as heard on their self titled debut. Songs like “C’mon”, “Down on Loving” were equal parts Strokes, Shout Out Louds and West Coast surf pop. The highlight of the album was “Answer to Yourself” with its horizontal guitar riff and laconic vocals that resembled classic Australian indie icons The Screaming Tribesmen. It was an album that made you feel like doing air guitar moves, whether in public or at home, damn the consequences.

Comprised of Matt Lamkin on vocals and guitar, Matty McLoughlin on lead guitar, David Lantman on bass and Brian Hill on drums The Soft Pack are presently in Australia for The Falls, Southbound and Sunset Sounds festivals. When they were last here Dave and Brian had some quality time with Static’s Chris Berkley who got to the beginnings of how the band formed, that name change, the San Diego and LA rock scenes, surfing, the prestigious honour of being covered by Nada Surf and the possibility of covering some Australian indie classics.

Dave you were in Australia with The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower were any of you other guys in The Soft Pack band veterans before this outfit came together?

David: No, this is my first band and I think it was Matty and Matt’s first band too. Other than some college side projects I think. Matt was in a band called Progressive Orthopaedics (laughs)

It sounds fantastic. Were they a prog band?

Brian: Yeah they played one show.

David: I think they were politically progressive!

So you don’t have any dark band names in your history then Dave?

David: No. I would jam a lot, I would sit in a lot. I have been playing guitar for a long time but my first band is this one.

Well it’s actually not the first band name for The Soft Pack either because you ran through a different name, The Muslims, I mean how serious were you when The Soft Pack began? Was it a committed thing?

Brian: The band had been around for about a year before I was even in it and we were still The Muslims back then. There was one band I would have joined at that point that was from San Diego and it was that band.

Is that because Rocket from the Crypt had finished by then?

Brian: Yeah, I was really really hoping but then I couldn’t compete with Mario, their drummer is amazing, even though they’re not around anymore.

The outfits would get to you in the end, much better to be smart casual than dressed up so much.

Brian: (laughs) Yeah, no embroidery! But I liked their deal, it was good.

I’m wondering, because the band’s name was originally The Muslims did you think it wouldn’t get very far David or was that just not something well thought out by you guys?

David: Matt came up with the name at a time when they booked two shows and they didn’t really expect anything to happen. Then it started to become a little bit more of an issue and more press got involved and people just misinterpreted it in lame ways, we decided we just wanted to move on from it.

It must have been really frustrating when that was sort of the sticking point about getting your band over a few hurdles.

David: It as kind of disappointing you know people were pretty immature about it. They would make racist comments. Just stuff you wouldn’t expect you know? None of us really thought it was that big of a deal or even that controversial a name.

I guess amongst your friends it’s fine but once it gets into the greater world….

Brian: You just take it for granted that people understand what you mean and they know that you’re not making fun of something. But when you’re playing for strangers they don’t know.

And Progressive Orthopedics didn’t stick like The Soft Pack did! So did you all relocate to Los Angeles?

David: We’re based in Los Angeles, the band started in San Diego. Me and Brian joined around the same time and then shortly after that we all moved up to Los Angeles. Mainly just a change of pace, we grew up in San Diego, I think all of us were ready to move. Matt actually had some job opportunities back then.

Is it hard to move a whole band?

Brian: We kind of trickled up there though, like I was the last one to move up. It took me eight months after them to actually move up.

Did you get in trouble for missing rehearsals and stuff like that when you were in San Diego?

Brian: There was one particular thing where I didn’t even remember that there was a show going on at a friend of ours house and I had to take a train up immediately to make it in time, so that was frustrating. At that point it was kind of like “Alright, I better commit to this enough where I’m going to move or figure out some better situation”. So luckily these guys helped me move up.

How much do you think geography plays into something like that, I mean do you think The Soft Pack sounds like a typical San Diego band or an LA band or as if you could some from anywhere?

Brian: I think there’s just us growing up and all the San Diego bands we grew up listening to that it’s just in there, there’s some of that in the guitar playing. of my favourite drummers were San Diego drummers from various punk bands and I think it comes out. I don’t know if we sound like an LA band but I don’t really know what bands sound like regionally or what they’re supposed to sound like anymore. Everybody is kind of all over the place now.

Is San Diego a bit more protectionist or a bit more proud of the bands that have come from there?

Brian: People are pretty aware and I think everyone is proud of bands that come out of there, but when you leave initially I think there is kind of an abandonment thing where people are a little bit bummed out on you for leaving, because they’re like “Oh great, so we’re not good enough?”, but people tend to not worry about it so much after a while.

Compared to a lot of bands from San Diego The Soft Pack sound like a pop band.

David: I like pop music

Brian: Yeah we love it, pop hooks.

There’s also a hint of San Diego surf in songs like “More or Less” or “Mexican”, was that the sort of stuff you were saying you think trickles into the band’s sound, Brian?

Brian: Yeah, I didn’t grow up surfing but Dave, you used to right?

David: Yeah I grew up surfing.

Brian: It’s kind of in there, I don’t know it’s kind of a relaxed vibe that comes out of being in San Diego, it’s a really mellow city, it’s a nice place.

David: I guess naturally we’re all from Southern California basically so I guess we have that Southern California feel naturally, maybe.

That’s what people are tapping into. Were you expecting the band to become as popular as it has done? Can you put a marker on when it went a little bit crazy?

Brian: I definitely wasn’t expecting much.

David: Neither was I.

Brian: I was just happy to play in a band that I really liked the songs that they already had and I liked going to see the band before I was in it so I was just happy to join the band. I didn’t really know what would happen I was like ‘This is going to be fun’ you know? It’s going to be a new bunch of people that I haven’t played with before and will be just kind of exciting.

I think you’ve helped the rep Brian, a few people have said to me there’s a standing drummer, and it’s a selling point!

Brian: Well I’m also a gimmick guy, I need something!

The other three of you are going to have to kneel down on album number two or something Dave, or face the back of the room when you’re playing!

Brian: Get these big hamster wheels and just run!

David: It would be cool to play on a stool.

There’s plenty of time for that in the future, when Soft Pack go acoustic!

Brian: That could be on the cards, we don’t know. We might get adult contemporary and Dave might get a twelve string fretless bass.

David: That’s my dream.

It’s all part of the zeitgeist that Soft Pack seem to be coming more and more entrenched in now. I mean, you’ve had a song covered by Nada Surf.

David: Yeah that was a huge surprise! That was really cool actually. We didn’t really know about it and we met the singer, I think his name is Matthew, and he came to our show in New York and he said “Oh, my band does a cover of your song ‘Bright Side’” and I’m like “Oh cool”, and I didn’t know who he was yet. I’m like “What band are you in?” and he said “Nada Surf” and I was just speechless! I remember in high school they had a pretty big song on the radio.

How were you guys with their cover of it? Did they do a good job?

David: I heard it, I liked it yeah. Definitely didn’t sound like us but that was really cool, and was just a total trip hearing them do it! It was awesome.

Well now you guys know how Phoenix felt as well because you have done a cover of their song so did they give you much feed back?

Brian: Yeah they’ve been incredibly cool to us. They really liked the cover and as a result of that they keep asking us to play with them which we’re always up for. They’ve been really, really, cool to us.

So what Australian covers have you got ready for your tour here?

David: They used to do a Saints cover I guess, before we were in the band.

Brian: If they remembered it I would totally be willing to do it, I love The Saints.

I think that needs to be put out there.

Brian: Some Go Betweens maybe?

Interview broadcast on Static on 08/08/10. Static can be heard on Sydney’s 2SER (107.3 FM) and via the Internet (www.2ser.com) every Thursday evening (AEST).

So that was 2010. What does Webcuts remember most about it? It’s hard to say, really. The landscapes shift, the memories flickr and 365 days blur into one long unending soundtrack. Webcuts lived vicariously through 2010, almost surprisingly so for a bunch of mid-30′s burn-outs, but hey, from Brisbane to London to Barcelona to Gothenburg to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, we were there, chasing those who chased their rock n’ roll dream.

The selection of tracks chosen appeared like one night stands that lingered a little longer than usual, almost all of them attached to a singular memory of the song being performed, either from a distance or elbows resting on the stage in mute admiration, or maybe just there emanating from a speaker aimed direct into our inner consciousness, refusing to budge. Tracks 20 to 11 are discussed here, and the countdown reaches its thrilling conclusion (envelope, please) below.

The song a reawakened Arcade Fire would open their 2010 shows, “Ready To Start” rolled into town like a dazzling carnival, drumming up intent (“Businessmen drink my blood/like the kids in art school said they would”) and setting the scene to follow. For a band only three albums into their career, it would be unkind to call The Suburbs their ‘comeback album’, but it dipped into a shared nostalgia of adolescence and ideals, succeeding in their goal where Neon Bible had failed. The Suburbs was an album to be proud of with far too many highlights to choose, so we went with one Arcade Fire chose too. (CS)

Fans’ poor reception and misunderstanding of MGMT’s new album lead a lot of people to simply ignore it altogether, which was a shame, because it boasted some gorgeous art rock. “Siberian Breaks” was the eleven minute middle of the record and nicely summed up the album’s penchant for musical journeying. From the melancholy acoustic open to the angular dreamy transitions and the mechanical spewing of the ending, MGMT’s weird ambitions shattered the indie pop ceiling of their debut. (JL)

One of the stand out tracks from The Morning Benders sophomore release Big Echo. “All Day, Day Light” crackled with electricity and smacked of effortless cool. As hand-claps slapped against the stab of guitar chords, vocalist Christopher Chu handed out alliteratively perfect lines like “someone somewhere sails the ocean/someone somewhere selling the seas”. The Morning Benders appeared out of nowhere with this near-perfect album, unburdened by pre-release hype and fanfare, hitting their marks as surely as a needle hits its groove. (CS)

Over fifteen years Les Savy Fav have been steadily forging a career based on angular art-rock ala The Fall/Pavement blended with post-hardcore topped with a pop sensibility. Root to Ruin showed age hadn’t mellowed their musical assault or dulled Tim Harrington’s acerbic tongue. Predominately a balls out mix of upbeat rock, covering sex, rebellion and, well more sex, Root to Ruin reaped the most rewards when the pace was slowed, painting the hip LA neighbourhood of Silverlake as a nightmarish place of vicious youths tied to mobile phones with tanned breasts and bleached teeth set over shimmering guitars and a bottom end as solid as Harrington’s own. (CR)

It was impossible to expect Deerhunter to topple 2008’s flawless Microcastle, but there were many moments in Halcyon Digest for fans to thrill to, and none as more perfectly crafted as guitarist Lockett Pundt’s contributions. His “Desire Lines”, strengthened the ‘pop core’ of Halcyon Digest with a meditation on age and disenchantment and a descending guitar line that gently pushed the song into 6 minutes plus of sighing serenity. (CS)

“Groove Me” was good enough to be another TV on the Radio song rather than a side project. The thumping bassline and stray hip-hop elements lent itself nicely to the new wave skeleton and disco guitars. It’s a huge plus whenever a well-constructed song is also infinitely catchy, and this had it in spades. Despite the Maximum Balloon album’s inconsistencies, when it was on, it was ON, and Sitek shined outside of his usual TVOTR role and provided some outstanding, funky diversions. (JL)

“1268” was undoubtedly one of the more aggressively danceable and musically intriguing debut singles released in 2010. North Wale’s We//Are//Animal blew in from outer nowhere (apologies to the Welsh), sounding like a feral Super Furry Animals. Little was known about them until “1268” arrived on our desk addressing the band as some kind of outdoor recording purists. What drives We//Are//Animal to make the music they do is still a mystery, but goddamn it‘s a good one. Their Blair With Project video in the Welsh countryside had us sold in seconds. Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the summer. (CS)

Whether their swansong or merely a bookend This Is Happening was LCD Soundsystem’s most realised vision to date. A fusion of vintage synths, complex percussion and ‘70s guitar riffs complemented with wry, bitter lyrics, which could only be written by a 40 year old who’d been through the music business, and life, blender and come out a little wiser and a little damaged. James Murphy knows damn well that after the party there is the inevitable comedown and after the sex the loneliness when you return home, alone. (CR)

The luminous disco swoon of Twin Sister‘s “All Around And Away We Go” would’ve found a perfect home in Studio 54, but instead had to make do as a regular staple on the Webcuts turntable. Pulled in by the part-breathy, part-kooky vocals of Andrea Estella, “All Around And Away We Go” glided in on a hypnotic rush that would’ve sounded incredible, coming up or coming down. The video clip for the song was just as off the wall, complete with a dance routine, a splash of psychedelia and some sweet stop-motion animation. Taken from the paired release of two EPs from earlier this year, we can‘t wait to hear a full album from them in 2011. (CS)

It’s almost embarrassing to admit that Wild Nothing’s debut album Gemini went largely unnoticed until months after it came out, and thus was never reviewed by Webcuts. Inexcusable and regrettable, but hey, shit happens. Word of mouth would drift from different corners of the globe and it became obvious that many people were beginning to take Jack Tatum’s music to heart. It wrestled with a kind of distant melancholia and of a pining for love, happiness, etc that always seemed never closer than an arms length away. “Live in Dreams” encapsulated such a mood perfectly and had two of the best opening lines of 2010 — “Sitting on the cigarette butt front porch/I could ask you “are you dead like me?“. Listening to Gemini was like standing in a roomful of diamonds, each track glistened and shone, the dreamiest of dream-pop gems. It seemed only fitting that it would sneak up on you and then refuse to leave. (CS)

Chosen by senior Webcuts contributors, Craig Smith (CS), Caleb Rudd (CR), and Jonathan Langer (JL).

So that was 2010. What does Webcuts remember most about it? It’s hard to say, really. The landscapes shift, the memories flickr and 365 days blur into one long unending soundtrack. Webcuts lived vicariously through 2010, almost surprisingly so for a bunch of mid-30′s burn-outs, but hey, from Brisbane to London to Barcelona to Gothenburg to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, we were there, chasing those who chased their rock n’ roll dream.

The selection of tracks chosen appeared like one night stands that lingered a little longer than usual, almost all of them attached to a singular memory of the song being performed, either from a distance or elbows resting on the stage in mute admiration, or maybe just there emanating from a speaker aimed direct into our inner consciousness, refusing to budge. We begin the countdown below, with tracks 20 to 11, concluding with tracks 10 to 1 on New Years Day.

The enfants terribles of independent Brisbane label lofly recordings, Re:Enactment had one hell of a year: an eventful southern tour on the back of their Talent for Retail which garnered healthy radio support, an exhausting amount local shows, before wrapping the year up in sweaty, outlandish fashion garbed in neon Tron-like costumes at the final Hangar. “Problematic” was a faithful encapsulation of their thrilling electro-punk energy while fellow EP track “Nintendogs” revealed a more polished, soulful side to the band with a restrained vocal by Jacob Hicks that hints at an surprisingly eclectic debut album by the band in 2011. (CR)

Civil Civic made for great driver-less car crash pop. Careening guitars, uncomplicated beats, explosive word-less choruses with no cosseted front person spoiling the mixture. A handy recipe, but still, only good for a few servings. For their second 7″ single release for 2010, “Lights On A Leash” eased on the accelerator and pulled off a neat trick, sounding like Ben and Aaron (le Civil Civic) had spent the night in some art fag dive on Kingsland Road listening to The Cure. Let’s hope they can turn more late night tricks like this. (CS)

The whole Mighty EP could have been included in this list, but “The Stranger” stands out for me. Lush, heartfelt folk disguised in layers of tropical ambiance. Think of Lord Huron’s sound, particularly in “The Stranger” as Animal Collective lite. This is the noisy tenor-folk stripped of its noise, the tribal layers of vocals and electronically-reproduced sound effects without the effects. In fact, the simple melodies are almost boring upon overanalyzation, but the lush accompaniments make them worth listening to again and again. Can’t wait for LH’s full length in 2011. (JL)

California girls. Beach Boys praised them, Katy Perry revived them, but Los Angeles’ Dum Dum Girls, weren’t the kind of girls that either Brian Wilson or Katy Perry had in mind, looking as they do more like Josie and The Pussycats meets Tim Burton than a sun-tanned Runaways. Finding their perfect foil in the form of Richard Gottehrer, writer of 60’s classics like “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “I Want Candy”, Dum Dum Girls released their Gottehrer-produced, 60′s garage-inspired debut album I Will Be earlier this year. From it, “Jail La La” was a fast action sugar-pop garage-rock delight. (CS)

Rebelling, or maybe just repositioning themselves from the baroque indie pop of their previous album Stars instead opted for an album of electronics, distortion and synths as frosty as the  Montreal winters the band are no doubt accustomed to. While not every track was successful, especially those featuring the anodyne singing of Torquil Campbell, it still had enough to hold your interest especially when Amy Milan came to the fore. When she did and the band plugged the guitars in, as well as synths, they made an almost perfect modern take on shoegaze in the failed relationship drama of “Fixed” complete with breathtaking rapid-cut video. (CR)

The darker, less whispy side of Alex Ebert, or Edward Sharpe as he’s now known to the kids, was on full display throughout Ima Robot’s new album, and is a lot more fascinating to me than the lighter. Somewhere in between the bars of “Sail With Me”, Ebert balances an almost-progressive rock xylophone open with a Bowie-sized voice and a flair for emboldened music. The shrieking “sail with me!” a minute and a half towards the end and just after the instrumental breakdown really seals the song; as the song suggests lyrically, it feels like the music is constantly moving forward even as it fades away. (JL)

The not-so-big question of 2010 is what happened to Canadian electro-anarchists Crystal Castles? The follow-up to their self-titled debut was one of 2010’s anticipated releases but fell short of delivering the same sensory assault. First single “Celestica” was a neat bait and switch that showed they could mainstream it while giving hyperactive, speaker-stack ascending singer, Alice Glass a chance to play out her X-factor. But it was the unexpected release of a reworked version of “Not In Love“ featuring the vocals of Robert Smith of The Cure that set the blogospheres buzzing and rightly so. (CS)

Of all the tracks on Foals‘ near perfect sophomore album Total Life Forever to encapsulate singer Yannis Philippakis’ description that the LP would “sound like the dream of an eagle dying”, “Spanish Sahara” was it. Several other songs would would achieve the similar ambition of melding melancholy and killer hooks, while others would deliver an upbeat sleek mix of indie and funk. It was “Sahara” though, which started with a fragile guitar line, ambient noise and crackling vocals and built to an otherworldly, heart in chest pounding finish which gave you hope that the eagle made it after all. (CR)

Accompanying an album filled with so many other memorable songs, but that sometimes didn’t stick out individually when listening to them in order. Note the percussion on “Martha”, the way it gradually expands throughout; admittedly, sometimes I get lost just listening to the drums and by the end of the song, I’m amazed I haven’t heard the rest of the song. It was this tonal depth that made the rest of Suckers’ debut so marvellous, and the clever balancing act of indie folk, rock and other world music elements that shone specifically on “Martha”. (JL)

Sounding something like a monochrome, multi-vocaled Luscious Jackson, the Los Angeles’ ladies of Warpaint left a noticeable impression with music fans with the release of their Exquisite Corpse EP in 2009. A year later came their debut album, The Fool, full of loose, layered harmonies and subdued dub rhythms, that cast an enigmatic yet relaxing spell. Warpaint’s overall effect was much like that of the fabled Sirens, who’s voices washed over you in waves and lured you to your demise, which in “Undertow” was something they clearly excelled in. (CS)

Chosen by senior Webcuts contributors, Craig Smith (CS), Caleb Rudd (CR), and Jonathan Langer (JL).

Webcuts rarely needs an excuse to post a picture of PJ Harvey, in fact we’d happily do it as often as possible, though it makes more sense to do so when the lady herself has something to promote. Fans should be well aware that Miss Harvey has a new album (her 8th) in the wings, daringly titled Let England Shake due for release in the UK on February 14. That date sounds familiar to me… not sure why. Going for a rustic, English feel, the album was recorded in a 19th Century church in Dorset with long time collaborator Flood, with assistance from John Parish and Mick Harvey.

In the lead-up to the album, a series of short films directed by award-winning photographer Seamus Murphy have begun appearing on http://www.pjharvey.net, accompanying all 12 songs from Let England Shake. The first of these, “The Last Living Rose” can be viewed below.

Inspired and developed from themes in Harvey’s new album, the films were made in the manner of classic photographic reportage – recording real & spontaneous situations. They make up a visual diary of Murphy’s journey, travelling light and alone, and his attempt to document England and the English.

Murphy has mixed his observations on England with images from his work in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East – places Polly refers to in her depiction of England. The film soundtrack, the studio recording of the album Let England Shake, is mixed at times with footage and audio Murphy captured of Harvey in rehearsal and in performance. In addition some of the album lyrics were given a voice by people he encountered on his journey.

‘The Words That Maketh Murder’ will be the first single to be released from Let England Shake. Available for digital download on January 17, the single will also be available on 7” vinyl from February 7. The 7” will feature an exclusive B-side – ‘The Guns Called Me Back Again’ – which was recorded during the album sessions.

The full tracklisting for Let England Shake is as follows:

1. Let England Shake
2. The Last Living Rose
3. The Glorious Land
4. The Words That Maketh Murder
5. All And Everyone
6. On Battleship Hill
7. England
8. In The Dark Places
9. Bitter Branches
10. Hanging In The Wire
11. Written On The Forehead
12. The Colour of The Earth

I first glimpsed Lion Island by accident, walking back from a weekend Uni exam, not exactly in the best of spirits, where they were playing a free show in Brisbane’s King George Square. Their ability to fill a large stage with eight members and the cavernous square full of wondrous music bolstered my mood and had casual passerby’s on their way to the train, stop and listen. When seen again three months later at The Hi-Fi Bar my admiration for the band was affirmed and proved that Lion Island are one of Brisbane’s most ambitious and talented acts.

Here are a band capable of solo singer-songwriter mode, resembling a Brisbane Beirut by adding brass and violin to the acoustic guitar and drums to finally expanding for epic orchestral rock, as if Finn Andrews was fronting The National. Emotive and soaring, delicate and full of warmth its music based around the songwriting prowess and considered lyrics of Matthew Vale. While Matthew has already released the solo album Long Drive Lion Island have only one EP to their name. This should be joined by a long player in 2011 that hopefully manages to capture the elegance of Vale’s songs while incorporating the richness that the poly-instrumental band brings to their live shows.

01. Who are you?

Matthew Vale, lead singer and songwriter for Lion Island. I also write songs for my solo project under my own name.

02. What do you sound like?

When I approach writing songs for Lion Island, the instrumentation is a big influence to how the song turns out. We have trumpet, violin, electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass and drums, so more often than not the Lion Island sound is big and complex but it revolves around simple catchy grooves. We sound like Neil Young meets Jeff Buckley covered by Delta Spirit sung by Paul Simon.

03. What do friends say you sound like?

Friends used to say that we sounded like Beirut, then they said we sounded more indie, like Arcade Fire, and a reviewer recently suggested that I must have the The Veils on repeat.. (I had never heard of them).

[I think we're more like Cold War Kids or even a bit of Coldplay with a pinch of folk. But honestly I think if there's a way to get the essence of all these bands and mix them all together, then that's what we are.]

04. Full-time musicians or wage slaves?

A bit of both! We work full time at our music every week, but rather than divvying up the proceeds to pay the rent, we’re putting the cash towards bigger and better things like recording our next album.

05. Current band highlight?

Probably playing the song “Black Cab” with Jens Lekman when he came to Brisbane. I remember playing covers of that song 2 or 3 years ago, and then I was privileged to play it with the man himself on stage.

06. Favourite decade for music?

Hmmm… that’s a tough one. I really dig the 1920s for rhythm and blues. And I’m also heavily influenced by the ’60s when bands like The Beatles and The Stones and The Doors were coming into the light. But then the ’80s had stuff like The Cure’s Disintegration and Paul Simon’s Graceland and The Smiths. I think right now in my life I’d have to say (surprisingly) the ’80s.

07. Should music be free?

I think it should absolutely be free to listen to music. I think it there should absolutely be a fee to keep music.

08. Which 3 musicians would you invite round for dinner?

Robert Smith, Jeff Buckley and Chris Martin

09. Preferred tour reading?

Anything fantasy. Sean Williams Books of the Cataclysm or Terry Brooks.

10. Best mood for songwriting?

Hmmm… either deep melancholy or over-the-top Happiness.

11. Last record you bought?

The Best of Van Morrison

12. Five favourite albums?

The Cure – Disintegration
Paul Simon – Graceland
Van Morrison – Best of Van Morrison
Delta Spirit – Ode to Sunshine
Jeff Buckley – Grace

(not in any particular order)

13. Your biggest rock and roll fantasy?

To play at Japan’s Saitama Super Arena for like a million billion people.

14. Goals for the next 12 months?

Release our first full length album. Do an East Coast tour, write some golden new material. Have a cuppa coffee.

15. First time listeners, where should they start?

Start by coming to see us at our February residency at the Brisbane Powerhouse!

http://www.myspace.com/lionisland

Astute music fans have probably heard of the genre known as chillwave – a blend of 80s synths, psychedelic rock with liberal amounts of distortion – a label bestowed upon acts like Memory Tapes, Toro Y Moi and Nite Jewel. The band most closely associated with that term though is Neon Indian whose debut Psychic Chasms, genre defining or not, is an LP of considerable merit. True the vocals are barely audible, bathed as they are in bleeps, blips and distortion but the disc has also a knack for melody and solid song structures dipping its toes into 70s rock and disco,  80s new wave with healthy sampling of Todd Rundgren to boot. In short it would be great soundtrack for a techno porn film. Tron does Texas perhaps?

Neon Indian main man Alan Palomo, who also goes solo using the VEGA moniker had a chat to Chris Berkley recently in London about the c-word, the beginnings of the Psychic Chasms, Yacht remixes, his collaborations with Australian dance merchants Miami Horror, he forthcoming Australian tour for the Texan group and basically how he loves to mess with people’s heads.

Are you a bit road weary by now with Neon Indian or are you taking it all in your stride?

I think stride is definitely one word for it! I think the fact that we’ve all performed the songs so much, literally there’s a point where at least the recording of “Deadbeat Summer” has kind of become like a white noise to me. Might as well be elevator music.

Do you do that thing sometimes where you can’t remember singing some songs in a set now?

Yeah, or just literally it’s almost in order to keep it interesting for me my brain tricks me into thinking that I might not know the lyrics. It’s so funny, we reach this point at some certain show or peak where it was kind of like we knew the material well enough so that we could start trying to deviate from it in fun and interesting ways

The sound of Neon Indian must have changed, performing them out, especially from the way they initially existed on Psychic Chasms. That record is almost a year old now and I presume that, when you are making those songs, it was pretty much on your own in your bedroom with no concept of ever having to play them live; is that the way the album was created?

Absolutely. It’s funny that particular place in time I think the least thing I had any expectation in my life was Neon Indian. It was kind of more of this creative outburst and it definitely felt like the most honest and transparent thing because of that. I wasn’t trying to tap into some kind of community that was already there.

Were you that kid that grew up making home recordings? Is that how you got into doing music, were you whiling away in your bedroom making music you didn’t necessarily know other people were going to hear?

A little bit, yeah. I think that eventually happened in high school, but before that I always tried to do a little tangible, a staple of creativity for that particular month or year or whatever. I was always trying to create something but it was very interesting because Psychic Chasms was the first real fully actualised concept that was full enough to be able to actually perform or to really be like a statement or a narrative that somebody could follow. Anything before that was just little three and a half minute instances or ideas.

As these songs have sort of taken on a life of their own as you’ve been doing them live were you ever kind of worried that the low-fi or cassette quality nature of some of the songs on Psychic Chasms might have been part of its charm or identity. Were you worried that the songs would lose something the more you performed them out live and the way that they kept evolving?

Well, I almost kind of felt that the approach would be to try to detach myself as much from the recordings as possible just so that it could be a new and completely palatable experience for someone who might have never even heard the recordings. I could have gone up there and tried to replicate all these tape sounds but it would just sound really shitty for lack of a better word. You know, coming out of PA speakers at a festival somewhere,

Does that mean you have backing tapes of tape hiss just waiting to play?

(laughs) That was one of the first ideas. I actually I remember Ariel Pink the first time I caught him he was just performing with a cassette player and a microphone which definitely has it’s charms as well, but I was looking for more of an experience because either way, what are people really looking for when they think about a cassette recording? It’s always associated with a certain time and a place and for me I’d rather create that time and a place in a real actual environment for someone and create that intimate experience that they can look back on as that sort of muddled, degraded experience through memory.

If you’re playing at some of these festivals, a lot of your fans are going to be in a muddled state anyway so they’re not going to remember.

Absolutely and that’s kind of been the other aspect of it, is to bombard them with as much psychedelics as humanly possible! (laughs)

Was a lot of that stuff on the album deliberate? I mean the distortions on the track like “Mind Drips”’, were you conscious of putting that on the record? Or was that just the way as a happy accident they turned out?

I was definitely conscious of the medium to a certain extent, but a lot of the little eccentricities and “happy accidents” for lack of a better expression were definitely just a result of being able to tinker with something. It was more the fact that I’d already had all these failed attempts to execute these ideas in projects like VEGA or Ghosthustler and it was just like “man, this is way too weird”. I mean it would not make sense in the context of the song and I guess seeing as how I’d tried to execute them so many times before it almost seemed natural for it to just occur. And literally whatever would happen would be the results that I wanted anyway, you know? I kind of wanted to be surprised a little bit at what I was capable of in that sort of environment.

So inversely what you’re saying is that the harder you tried to not make it commercial has been the biggest successful commercial things you’ve ever done.

Ironically enough, yes!

Strangely enough as well, with that kind of success that I guess has been the burden of apparently inadvertently creating a genre which is the dreaded c-word, not that c-word but the chillwave word. Have you found that much of an albatross the last twelve months to have people band that phrase around?

I think initially. When I was first trying to very consciously create an aesthetic, a fully actualised one for people with visuals and other things that they could associate outside of just the recordings, it might have seemed maybe mildly threatening at first because it wasn’t something that I had a hand in. I mean it’s such a cheesy word! At least these days it’s really hard for me to really dwell on it, especially now that I already have a lot of recordings for the next album and how it’s not necessarily full departure from low-fi recordings but definitely has a little bit more dynamic. I don’t know, at the end of the day it’s just a two syllable statement that some snarky blogger put together.

Because it seems like some of your contemporaries like Toro Y Moi, the new stuff he’s done is more band type recordings. So are you conscious of moving on from it ?

I think that wanting to make a statement that would be a complete reaction against it would be just as childish as continuing it for the sake of being chillwave. I think as far as chillwave is concerned I’ve never seen a genre that has been approached with so much apprehension but at the same time wanting to expose it as much as possible. It’s like I’ve never seen so many articles that kind of use it in scare quotes yet try to inform you about it, it’s odd. It’s like it never really found its footing but that’s why people are referencing it so much. We’ll see, maybe more ‘coldwave’ than ‘chillwave’, or ‘frostwave’!

Well you’re breaking down some other genre barriers as well, especially in Australia because since you’ve been there the Miami Horror album has just come out, and you were all over this thing; three tracks that you’ve done. So tell us about this secret history that you had with Ben, which has finally been revealed down there.

Totally, well you know what’s funny is that I remember the final last little touches of Psychic Chasms, in fact the title track “Psychic Chasms” which was the last thing I had to do to finish the record were finished at Ben’s place. Back then VEGA was more of my focus and I was really just waiting to see what would happen with Neon Indian and I went to Melbourne and I spent a while month there in June of last summer and we pretty much just hashed out a couple of ideas that he had already sort of made instrumentals for and I lent my vocals and “Soft Light” was the only one that was a little bit more of a collaborative type track as far as the arrangements and the vocals, but it was pretty fascinating that it’s barely coming out now, and within this time the VEGA EP has come out, Psychic Chasms has come out….

We work slow in Australia, it’s pretty laid back. It almost makes you look opportunistic when in actual fact you guys were buddies from so long ago.

Absolutely, I’m just glad that those tracks have finally seen the light of day. It kind of reminds people that there was content before chillwave and maybe it already starts putting people in that mind frame of what’s to come with the VEGA record and with the next Neon Indian record as well.

Well you also are, I guess, re-contextualising a lot of the songs off Psychic Chasms because you just had a whole load of remixes done, including the Yacht reworking of “Terminally Chill”.

I finally got a chance to meet them in Copenhagen just a few days ago and it’s funny how, you’ll notice in the song that they kind of reinvent the lyrics in their own sort of strange ways and hearing about how they recorded it was like “Yeah it was a sick day, we were somewhere in….”, in fact I think it might have been in London in a hotel room. So it was kind of cool knowing the back story that this was like their chicken soup, covering “Terminally Chill”!

Interview broadcast on Static on 14/10/10. Static can be heard on Sydney’s 2SER (107.3 FM) and via the Internet (www.2ser.com) every Thursday evening (AEST).

Photo: Lisa Hallquist (at Popaganda festival in Sweden, August 2010)

It would be very un-Christmas-like of Webcuts to not get in the spirit (something we’ve been on occasion accused of…) and post something acknowledging the fact that Christmas is almost here, and we have much to be thankful for. So, without further ado, we give you this Christmas classic from The Ramones, and while we’re at it, we’d like to thank all the bands we’ve spoken to and been entertained by this year, all the record companies who’ve given us much to listen to and write about, the distant friends and family who’ve lent us their couches, patience and time in our endless pursuit of good music and good times, and all the people who’ve supported the website by regularly tuning in and offering kind (and not so kind, but we love it all the same) words. Webcuts will be back in 2011, have no fear. Happy Holidays!

That’s it, kids. 2010 is almost over. Was it a great one? Was it an ok one? Was it pretty average? At Webcuts it was a mix of all three with a healthy dose of ‘don’t look back’. But what is worth looking back on are the songs that made 2010. Rest assured this list will be tackled, but for now, Domino Records have provided us with a timely reminder of their most memorable moments for 2010, neatly wrapped up and slipped under our digital Christmas tree. Domino Rewind 2010 is a free 14 track compilation featuring recent tracks by Clinic, Tricky, Villagers, These New Puritans,  The Fall, Four Tet and an oldie from Orange Juice. No need to wait for Christmas, you can go and get your Domino Rewind 2010 right now. In your face, Santa!