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).

In directly opposite fashion of Oracular Spectacular, the sure-to-be-oft-compared debut album from MGMT, Congratulations is, at many points, a challenging listen.  From the very beginning surf-rock guitar progressions of “It’s Working”, the album presents us with a doppelganger of sorts.  Gone are the radio-friendly electro-pop tunes, and in its place are succinctly played, somewhat fractured nuggets of quirky psych-rock.

This isn’t uncommon for the major sophomore release to take an entirely different path than its predecessor, and in many instances its encouraged for the group to not simply create a vague facsimile of the original.  But since much of the band’s fan base comes from enjoying their specific brand of music, there are definitely risks inherent to producing a strange new record.

I almost couldn’t believe I was listening to the same “Time To Pretend” and “Kids” MGMT of a couple years ago until the end of the third track, “Someone’s Missing”, when the familiar falsettos and funky guitars finished off an otherwise minimally-accompanied two minutes of song. Clearly, MGMT understand the risks involved, as Ben Goldwasser even apologized for the less-than-favorable public reaction to “Flash Delirium”, a free mp3 from the album that was released early by the band.  However polite an apology may be, the music speaks for itself, making the “sorry-we’re-trying-something-new” entirely unnecessary.

And no matter how different the material is, it still smacks of brilliance.  Tracks like “Song For Dan Treacy”, with its abrupt key-changes, organ-led hooks and the way it’s all nicely threaded together in the end, demonstrate the consummate mastery that MGMT has over their compositions.  This is translated to an even more epic scale on “Siberian Breaks”, the 12-minute opus of the record that smashes together an almost spaghetti-western-style acoustic riff and a colorful burst of electronic music in between ethereal, multi-layered choruses with psychedelic instrumental breaks, enough to make Gruff Rhys a very jealous man.  Then there’s the instrumental “Lady Dada’s Nightmare”, a song (described in a tongue-in-cheek manner by the band) about sex with Lady Gaga.  And really, who cares what the song’s about, it’s just another cool piece of a bizarre and wonderful puzzle.

No one wants to make a disappointing, bland second album, the same way no one wants to make a clichéd album about their sudden fame as a band.  MGMT have tackled both of these head-on, and with the same clever sense of humor they employed from the beginning.  On this note, they end their record with, “You pay attention for me/As strange as it seems/I’d rather dissolve than have you ignore me”, a proverbial wink and a nod to their fans and critics.  The irony in their lyrics reaches farther than this album, as these are the sort of records that will keep the people coming back for more, whether MGMT expect it or not.

Faced with a dead spot in the timetable we eventually decide to have a look at what Kram from Spiderbait has been up to during the band’s hiatus. Mistake. From where we were it looked as though he has gone all Neil Young on us. Standing alone on the main stage with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, Kram was playing a fairly woeful take on folk crossed with country to a rather disinterested crowd when we arrived. The final straw came when he launched into an acoustic cover of The Ramone’s “Blitzkrieg Bop” in the same unlistenable style. I felt like someone had raped my ears, so immediately head over to the GW stage to see what Jack Ladder is all about. As we walk away it sounds like a full band is joining him but there’s no way I’m going back after the earlier atrocities.

Looking a tad uncomfortable guest fronting You Am I the previous day, Jack Ladder is far more in his element on the more modest McLennan stage. Possessing quite a remarkable and unique baritone Jack (real name Tim Rogers) serenades the crowd with his tales of heartbreak and loss. Ladder has a disaffected rock swagger and style that comes from a long gone era of music which draws heavily from folk, ‘80s indie and classic rock and blues, often all at the same time. Thank god for Spunk Records for continuing to bring us some of the most interesting names in Australian indie rock. Expect to hear a lot more in the future about Mr Ladder. (SD)

Constantly drawing comparisons in their native London to either Editors or Interpol, depending on which side of the fence you sit, must be hard for White Lies. To be fair we can see why after this set. It’s nothing mind blowing but the huge early Sunday crowd don’t seem to care. “Death” though shakes the last remnants of last night’s hangover from us and for that we’ll be grateful for the rest of today. (GT)

Jebadiah never really did it for me back in the day. The combination of their teenybopper fans and how irritating I found their single “Leaving Home” caused me to never give them much of a chance. Vocalist Kevin Mitchell, almost as if for my benefit alone, fooled me into listening to him by performing under the pseudonym Bob Evans. No one was more pleasantly surprised than I that he has dropped the nasally whine and started churning out Beatlesque pop gems. Live, Bob and his backing band have a much fuller and warmer sound than I was expecting. While the crowd assembled is by no means the size that his former band commanded in their heyday, he has a great pop sensibility, a fine singing voice and I wager a much better shot at not having to get a day job in the near future. Jebadiah are apparently returning with a new album soon, one can only hope that these new sensibilities and maturity carry over to them. (SD)

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Doves live round these parts and they don’t fail to disappoint. As festival veterans they know how to pitch their set perfectly, mixing just the right amount of new songs in amongst the old favourites. Opener “Jetstream” kicks them off and for the next hour they are absolutely faultless. There’s not much chatter from the boys but they soon let us know that they’ve just flown in from Japan so we’ll forgive them. The double salvo of “Black and White Town” and “Cedar Room” have us thinking this could be band of the weekend and when they round things off with “There Goes The Fear” there’s more than a few Cheshire-like grins near us — and why not? — the boys have played a blinder.

Quickly hot footing it across the site to catch some of The Gutter Twins we’re left a little under-awed by the size of the crowd. Maybe it’s the vast numbers waiting around elsewhere for the impending Grinspoon set but secretly we’re not going to complain at seeing musical luminaries like Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan at such close quarters. Lanegan’s voice sounds as whisky soaked as ever resembling a drone bass that perfectly underpins Dulli’s soulful tones. They don’t disappoint from the songs that we see and when they pull out Afghan Whigs’ “Summers Kiss” the sparse crowd is in raptures. (GT)

So, on the main stage tonight we have the privilege to be entertained by The Doves, MGMT, The Flaming Lips and Grinspoon. Did something sound wrong with that sentence? Let’s check that again. We have three bands who give a critically acclaimed widescreen take on modern rock and then we have Grinspoon. When was the last time a friend, whom you respected the musical taste of, turned to you and said that they don’t mind the latest Grinners album? Probably never I’m guessing. It is a little more than embarrassing, hell, let’s go one step further and call it a travesty that this is the best Australia can dish up to mix it up on the main stage with our international visitors. Same could be said for The Living End (we all know ARIA’s are worthless guys) and Birds of Tokyo.

Grinspoon, at best, are a limp, sub standard neanderthal take on nu-metal. In any other country in the world they wouldn’t even be allowed to roadie for any of the international acts playing. I know I am breaking the first rule golden of Oz music writing in outright lambasting a local band instead of writing an indifferent or moderate review, but someone has to make a stand about this. I realise that we should give our local talent a leg up and occasionally look the other way to get them to a level where they can compete with the big boys, but this is affirmative action gone mad. (SD)

Possibly the most hyped band of the weekend, MGMT really were never going to live up to their billing. It’s a shame for the band that they have to play to a crowd expecting a full on party live show, and what they get is a duck’s ass tight band simply playing great tunes. “Time to Pretend” almost tears the roof off the tent but until they reel out the rest of their singles everyone again falls kind of flat. From where we’re standing though it sounds pretty damn good and if only the expectations were a little less, then the crowd would be a little less disappointed. Not in recent memory (and we checked with a few folks on the way home) has a band been such a crossover hit and not ended up sounding blander than three day old rice. “Electric Eel” and “Kids” sound as great as you would expect but ironically it’s actually the album tracks that standout for us tonight. On record “Weekend Wars” and “The Youth” may not be distinct but here they are as strong live as anything we’ve heard flogged to death over the last year. Personally we’re hoping that this is the step to something much bigger for these guys but we can only think that with their next release they won’t be playing to anywhere near this size of an audience. (GT)

The Flaming Lips are pretty much the perfect festival band. They are a spectacle to behold and have the songs to match. Talking to random strangers this weekend it seems they are the must see band on every other person’s list. I’m not sure how many dead beats were watching the Hilltop Hoods play but it seemed like everyone was trying to squeeze into the tent as the Lips were gearing up to come on stage. If I was an 18 year old with little idea of who they were, I am pretty sure I would have found my next favourite band after this show. After a lead in tape of a psychedelic soundscape from their Christmas on Mars soundtrack the band emerge from the centre of a large screen on stage from a naked green female being’s vagina (yes you read that correctly), followed by Wayne Coyne crowd surfing over the crowd in an orb. Okay it was a transparent inflatable beach ball, but still.

Opening with perennial favourite “Race for the Prize” the sky fills with confetti and large coloured balloons which are thrust continually back into the air by the celebratory crowd. Any spare stage space is now occupied with dancers (in a very loose sense of the term) dressed as frogs and kittens. After a few minutes of vocal microphone hiccups the band are in full flight. Following up with new song “Silver Trembling Hands”, which is a total psychedelic freak out that bodes well for their soon to be released double album Embryonic.

Continuing with a handful of songs from At War With the Mystics including “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” and “The W.A.N.D.”, they also play a stripped back “Fight Test” and dust off “Mountain Side” from 1990’s Priest Driven Ambulance. Closing with “Do You Realise?” mountains of confetti again fills the air and the whole place seems to turn into a hippy lovein.

The only gripe we have is the length. Limited to an hour, once you take away intro tape, inflatable ball, bugle solo and all the other trimmings that the set came with, you are left with only forty minutes or so of Lips’ music. Splendour organisers could probably take a leaf out of the Big Day Out’s timetable and allow headliners to perform ninety minute sets to accommodate this.

Or better yet allow Brisbane to have some sideshows. I read the explanation in the interview on this site but for the life of me between the size of the crowd watching them, the amount of people who travelled to Sydney and Melbourne to see them and those I know who wished that they could have seen them, I can’t fathom how a Flaming Lips show at the River Stage/Tivoli/wherever could have possibly lost money. When your run of tickets sells out in less than two hours every year before the full line up is announced it is pretty much impossible to cannibalise your ticket sales. This notion of festival exclusivity in Brisbane has to stop. Sydney and Melbourne resident’s have always had the option of seeing their favourite bands in a more intimate setting.

What hurts the most here is that the festival (at least initially) was started on the huge profits that came with Brisbane band Powderfinger’s success and is organised by locals, yet we are treated with the same contempt that we are shown by southern promoters every year. I urge you to stop passing us over on sideshows every year. You have a great festival going on here, in a lovely location, with a much friendlier crowd that is ten times more enjoyable to be at than the Big Day Out, it just needs a little tweaking to keep some of the Brisbane fans happy.(SD)

Splendour in the Grass (Day One) – Saturday 25 July 2009

Text: Garry Thomson (GT) and Scott Daniels (SD)
Photos: Marc Grimwade (Splendour in the Grass)

Seventy-seven minutes. Shorter than your average movie and about the length of a typical rock concert. That was all the time it took to sell out seventeen and a half thousand tickets to this year’s Splendour in the Grass festival. Now in its ninth year, Splendour held at Belongil Fields in New South Wales’ ever popular Byron Bay, is for many the poster child for a dream festival. While acquiring its fair share of detractors it is an event with few equals in this country, a cross between the lifestyle and community aspects of Woodford folk festival, more traditional Aus rock showcases like The Big Day Out and V and England’s legendary Glastonbury festival. Every year sees thousands of new and returning fans, many of whom travel across Australia, eager to tap into the magic of Splendour.

We chat to Splendour promoter Jess Ducrou about the tremendous success of the festival, the process for picking the line-up and this year’s bands, future expansion of the site and the improvements in ticketing technology.

Congratulations on Splendour selling out in record time. Does it still surprise you that Splendour sells out so easily?

I guess not so much surprise, given it’s in its ninth year, and it has sold out since the first event but the amount of people that want to buy tickets seems to grow every year and I think that’s surprising.

Do you know how many people applied for tickets this year?

Well our database has almost 50,000 entries and we have 17,500 tickets. We actually don’t promote or market the event that much. Our advertising is quite minimal. To have that amount of people interested no matter how feverishly we market it or don’t market it is pretty amazing.

It sounds like a promoter’s dream really.

Yes it is. It’s an awesome problem to have.

Splendour seems to go beyond just being a music festival; it’s seen as an institution that many people go to regardless of who’s on the bill.

It’s had a real life of its own from the beginning. We had people come to us with ideas for things that they thought would be good to do at Splendour and we embraced those ideas. People that went had an amazing amount of ownership of the event and wanted to contribute. I think it’s something that you can only hope for, I don’t think you can create it, it just happens.

Over the years we’ve recognised that and embraced people’s ideas and tried to develop them. As the producer I’ve been mindful that I want the experience to be more than the music. Sure I want the music to be interesting, challenging and incredible — but I also want people to go to the event and not just go and see the bands. Go and spend the weekend in the tepee forest, or get involved in some of the performance workshops, or hang out in the Guzman Y Gomez bar which was a new destination for us last year. We try to make that as important as the music.

When you were first establishing Splendour were there other festivals you went to and researched?

Absolutely. With Splendour I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted it to be, so I was developing ideas and avenues and then coincidently travelled to the UK and visited Glastonbury and it was like Splendour twenty years down the track. That was really interesting; I didn’t even know I was heading down this path until I saw that event. I was aware of Glastonbury, but until you go you don’t get a real idea of what it’s like. It’s definitely rougher than Splendour but it’s got a charm and an organic nature which appealed to me.

What’s the process in creating a typical Splendour bill?

My Splendour business partner; Paul (Piticco, and Dew Process founder) and I have a wish list of stuff that we want to see and every year we manage to tick off a band or two which has been on the list since the beginning. Then other promoters or agents come to us with ideas and we also travel overseas to London and California, but generally London is where you buy most of the talent for Australia. We go over there and meet with various agents and hear what they’ve got to suggest and also check out some of those bands while we’re there.

There are some bands on this year’s bill that have played Splendour previously e.g. Grinspoon, Bloc Party, Sarah Blasko, Decoder Ring. Are some bands an automatic decision to re-book?

Yes. Bands that we might like; bands that have played and received an awesome reaction and have defined their festival career by Splendour, which I think Bloc Party are definitely one of; and then just populist favourites that we know people will want to see. I mean Grinspoon are a bit of an Australian staple diet and they’ve proven themselves over time that they can put on a great show and that’s what we look for when we’re choosing acts.

People seem to rave about Decoder Ring’s Splendour shows.

We love those guys. It’s also a bit of an indulgence from our perspective.

Are there any acts you’re particulary looking forward to this year?

I’m a huge fan of The Flaming Lips and Bloc Party. We’ve toured Bloc Party outside of Splendour and I’ve been so chuffed watching their career develop here. MGMT I really like. I saw them at SXSW last year and they were amazing. Jane’s Addiction who I saw many years ago, they’re such an awesome live band. Friendly Fires I think will be great. The Middle East, an Australian band I think are incredible and have a bright future. There are a good dozen acts that I’d like to see and probably won’t get to.

A few of my friends are gutted that The Flaming Lips aren’t doing a Brisbane show. What is the reasoning behind Brisbane getting very few Splendour sideshows?

I guess primarily fifty percent of the people that go to Splendour are from Brisbane and its surrounds so to go and put a show in that market you kind of cannibalise your ticket sales. That said, when the festival has sold out and we’ve put shows on in Brisbane, and we’ve done over a dozen shows over the years, none of them work and we lose money. It’s the same reason why the Big Day Out, based on the Gold Coast, rarely put shows on in Brisbane — they don’t really work. You get crowds but just not enough, compared to Sydney or Melbourne, and you end up losing a bunch of money.

The demand to supply ratio for tickets is about 4:1 or greater and camping is even greater still (only 1,500 camping tickets are available). There’s also a strain on accommodation in Byron Bay and the surrounding area. Are there any plans to expand either at Byron or to extend to other states?

About three years ago we bought some land about twenty minutes north of the Byron Township preciously for the reason of growing the event, primarily on a creative front, because we’ve maxed out the physical space. We’d love to have more stages, love to have more bands and allow the festival to grow. So we’re going through a process of approval to get that site up and working. It’s still a work in progress. In regards to moving to other states, I would prefer to develop one show properly rather than diluting our focus and trying to do it in other cities or areas.

What would the capacity of the new festival site be?

I think we’d take every year as it comes. The land we’ve purchased is over 650 acres, it’s huge. We’re on 47 acres at present. We’re very mindful that people like the intimacy of Splendour, so as we develop it we’d want to keep that. Interestingly at Glastonbury, while it has 175,000 people (literally ten times Splendour) and when you’re at the main stage you can see thousands of people for miles, if you get away from the main stages and head off into certain areas it actually feels quite intimate. Not that we ever want to get to that amount of people, there’s not a market in Australia for that many, but if we were to grow it we would try to maintain its intimacy and sense of community.

You’ve had some well publicised ticketing problems in past but this year seemed to go fairly smoothly.

Yes it was an absolute victory this year. We’re all stoked. It’s been pretty traumatic for people buying tickets but also for those of us that work on it. We’ve wanted to a present a system where we’re protecting the ticket value for people through anti-scalping measures and there just hasn’t been anything in Australia that has existed. So it’s been really difficult. The demand for tickets is so high, which is why people want to scalp the tickets, and the pressure on existing technology was just too much. So big thumbs up to Qjump who managed to come up with something that worked this year.

You also implemented a pre-sales and re-sale system this year.

We tried to stagger the tickets so those in the Byron community, Splendour members/VIP club and those who had bought tickets last year were given the opportunity to buy tickets first. But we held some back, so there were still well over fifty percent available for the general public. No one in Australia had implemented a re-sale process before. A lot of time and effort went into it. I think it’s fair. Hopefully people can time it so they can put their ticket on sale and their friend can buy it at the same moment.

Last question. Due to the logistics of being a promoter how many bands do you actually get to see over the festival weekend?

It depends, some years I see more than others. Last year I didn’t see very much at all. I saw Sigur Ros who were amazing and snippets of a few other acts. The year before I think I saw between six and a dozen bands. It really depends what’s going on apart from the music. A relaxed show with everything running smoothly with good weather is very different than if there’s complications with bad weather or one of the act’s gear hasn’t made it and there’s delay in the playing times.

I was dying to see Band of Horses last year, they were the first act we booked and I didn’t get to see them. I was bummed and that happens quite a lot. Then there are other acts, like Ryan Adams, who I desperately wanted to play Splendour because I was such as huge fan. I was so excited and went along and it was an absolutely terrible show. So you get a bit of everything.

Photos by Marc Grimwade

Splendour in the Grass festival 2009 review

The second in what we’re sure will be a long running series, Future Pop 2.0’s premise is to capture what’s hot in pop (did I just say that) and electronica and compile these with a few remixes in a capture all two disc set.

All the big hitters are here and the playlist runs like a who’s who of popular music: Empire of the Sun, The Presets, MGMT, Cut Copy, Pnau, Santogold, CSS… you get the idea. The first disc starts out safe enough, how can you not like The Tings Tings? (answers on a postcard to the usual address). But a couple of tracks in and not for the last time we do our first Scooby double take — Cindy Lauper! Hardly cutting edge but fair enough everything is cyclical and all that, so she’s probably due her next flogging, figuratively of course.

It’s all a bit too saccharine sweet though. We can imagine our kid sister going mad over this, and she can certainly keep Sam Sparro, but this is definitely top heavy on the pop. Even the inclusion The Cardigan’s “Erase/Rewind” has been given the commercial remix treatment. Maybe we’re listening to the music in the wrong format, the girls on the bus this morning seemed to think that it sounds better out of the speakers on their phones, so possibly we’re missing the point.

Disc two is like the cooler older brother kicking off with a bit of Luke Steel’s craziness with Empire of the Sun’s “Walking on a Dream”. There’s not much to fault here and the inclusion of both Neon Neon’s “Left Her On Alderaan” and Ladyton’s “Ghosts” is inspired and certainly cleans the palette after some of the earlier tracks.

Future Pop 2.0 is never going to be a world beater, it does play to the middle ground mostly, but it is a pretty solid compilation if this is your type of thing. Basically if you’re after some advice — keep disc two and give disc one to your kid sister.

Garry Thomson

Win copies of futurePOP 2.0

The only thing wrong with this album is that there is nothing wrong with this album.
[ Full Review ]   1. Jacob Golden – Revenge Songs
(Independent/Sawtooth)        

It has been a long time between drinks, but Jacob Golden’s second album was worth every minute of its five year gestation.
[ Full Review ] 2. Sloan- Never Hear The End Of It
(Yep Roc)              

The albums ironic title reflects the intense musical content of 30 songs squeezed into one cd, and while the thought does come to mind from time to time, when you start to get sick of one song, it’s already out the door and another has started. Amongst these 30 songs are some of the classic Sloan gems you’ve come to expect, with a freshness that belies album number 8 from these pop genius Nova Scotians.   2. Interpol - Our Love to Admire
(Capitol/EMI)              

“Mammoth”, “Pioneer to the Falls”, “Pace is the Trick”, “Wrecking Ball” — the titles on the sleeve were not so subtle hints to the nature of the tracks within. These are huge, epic songs built around the best rhythm section in the business, incredible dual chiming guitar assaults, moody synth and piano coupled with Paul Banks singular voice and obtuse lyrics.       3. Ted Leo and The Pharmacists - Living With The Living
(Touch & Go)              

For heart on the sleeve roots rock reggae with a finger pointing political pounce, Ted Leo never fails to disappoint. Sometimes a little
too earnest for his own good, his intentions can’t be faulted and his enthusiasm is unbounded. Living With The Living is the sound of one man still kicking against the pricks.   3. Tegan and Sara - The Con
(Vapor/Sire)              

Another long awaited disc, the fifth from Sara and Tegan Quinn, was filled with more hooks than a fishing tackle box, juxtaposed by tales of growing pains and dysfunctional relationships. [ Full Review ]      

At first listen, The Stage Names left me unimpressed, and in as much as I was probably wanting Black Sheep Boy Part 2, this was never going to be the case. From sullen strums to dancehall stomps, repeated listenings were to bear fruit, and as Will Sheff sang “what gives this mess some grace unless it kicks, man” it’s a sentiment that holds true from start to glorious sea-shanty finish.  

Yes Shout Our Loud’s sophomore release borrows heavily from the holy trifecta of ’80s UK alternative bands (i.e. those beginning with C, N and S) but it’s also informed by the rich history of Swedish indie music, adding lush orchestration and layered percussion (credit must be given to Björn Yttling’s excellent production), resulting in one of the years finest pop records.      

The experimental approach to songwriting was the key to the success of this album. Where a band could’ve easily recreated the sounds that had brought them to the level of popularity they now enjoyed, The Shins decided to throw all that aside and take a chance, that when viewed from the other side, still sounds undeniably like The Shins, and undeniably a perfect pop record.  

The debut album from the former Jack and Jacques lead singer (with help from friends such as Dot Allison, Vashti Bunyan and Colin Wilson) is a plush affair of sweeping ballads replete with piano, beautiful strings and reverb drenched guitar. Odes to life in rural England, (“Country Girl”, “A Quiet Life”), childhood (“The Disappointed”) and breaking up, (“Song of Leaving”) are among its treasures.       6. Faker - Be The Twilight
(EMI)              

Faker’s LA album was less a distraction and more a distillation of the ground covered and material written since their debut. There’s no filler or wasted moments. Nathan Hudson chooses his words carefully, the self-proclaimed ‘addicted romantic’ now finding himself on the rails, looking for the positive amongst the negative and channelling it into a captivating listen.   6. The Concretes - Hey Trouble
(Licking Fingers)              

I know I’m in the minority but I actually preferred Hey Trouble to Taken by Trees’s Open Field (Victoria Bergsman’s, The Concrete’s ex-lead singer solo project). Lisa Milberg takes over lead vocal duties with aplomb and the shift from twee 60′s folk to a more new wave, rockier direction pays off.       7. PJ Harvey - White Chalk
(Island)              

PJ Harvey has reinvented herself so many times now that you’re never sure what you’re going to get one album to the next. White Chalk is her piano album, and it’s at times a bleak, meditative listen. The simple instrumentation finding an uneasy balance with Polly’s forceful, haunting voice. Lyrically, it’s more dark introspection that you’ve come to expect with a more pastoral, Victorian edge.   7. Feist - The Reminder
(Polydor)              

iPod and eBay ad overexposure aside: “1234″ is still a brilliant pop song. What’s more it’s joined on The Reminder by a dozen others. True they don’t all reach the heights of that bittersweet number, but they do demonstrate how much of a musical chameleon Leslie Feist is. Pop, jazz, folk, country and rock are all handled with adroitness, and sung with her amazing sultry voice.       8. The Scare - Chivalry
(OK! Relax/Below Par)              

One wonders what this album could’ve sounded if the band hadn’t been so laced with whisky, but even if Chivalry was to lose half it soused charm, it still would sound 10 times better than any other punk rock band out there.   8. The Honeys - Star Baby
(Origin/MGM)              

It’s been 19 long years since Perth/Sydney siders The Honey’s 1988 debut Goddess (disregarding the splendid Ultimo compilation) and 16 since they originally called it quits, but it may’ve well have been yesterday for the freshness of the songs here. Star Baby fused folk, rock and country with Andrea Croft’s angelic voice and tales of heartbreak.       9. John Doe - A Year In The Wilderness
(Yep Roc)              

Ex-X frontman, turned alt-country troubadour, John Doe finesses another slice of weary Americana fused with a little spit and spite that you’d come to expect from this well-journeyed songwriter. With help from the likes of Aimee Mann and Jill Sobule, A Year in the Wilderness sounds a more appealing prospect than you initially thought.   9. The National - Boxer
(Beggars Banquet)              

Sitting somewhere between the despondency of Joy Division and the late night melancholy of The Tindersticks, Boxer is the fourth and most accomplished album from Brooklyn’s The National. Matt Berninger’s gravelly baritone and his often inscrutable lyrics provide a mesmerising focal point against a backdrop of opulent orchestral rock.       10. Grinderman - Grinderman
(Mute)              

Taken from the perspective of four guys sitting in a room, trying to make the antithesis of the record they normally would, Grinderman is a success. A shift to a more abrasive sound permeates, but the lapse in character, when the men stop trying to be boys, is where the rewards here lie. It’s a mixed bag, but an enjoyable listen all the same.   10. Damn Arms - The Live Artex
(Unikron)              

Melbourne’s Damn Arms are damn hard to categorise. Rock or dance? Punk or post-punk? New wave or synth-pop? In the end the point is moot because with The Live Artex they released one of the best albums of the year regardless of genre. A bass heavy mix of rock and electronica that’s so sleazy you’ll be heading for the shower by the album’s end.      

The unexpected return of one of the most dynamic bands of the 80s (a reformation only eclipsed by that of the legendary Led Zeppelin), set the scene for one of most amazing live performances this year. Their tour may have generated the most cash for any live artist this year but it was also the one that set aside any doubt they were doing it just for the money. Like proud parents going through old photo albums, The Police tore through their greatest hits while we stood and applauded, the songs sounding as fresh and vibrant as they did in the 80
s.

Sloan
40 Watt Club, Athens, GA
(15.05.2007)
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Brixton Academy, London
(07.09.07)   Faker
The Tivoli, Brisbane
(29.11.07)              

The highlight came near the end of Faker’s firery indie rock set: mid-way through hit “Hurricane”, after nearly an hour of stalking and running around the stage singer Nathan Hudson climbed one of the three metre high speaker stacks before jumping off, much to the behest of the security. That, ladies and gentlemen, is entertainment.

Ben Kweller
The Zoo, Brisbane
(23.10.07)
Shout Out Louds
The Zoo, Brisbane
(29.09.07)       ]]> http://www.webcutsmusic.com/reviews/album-reviews/2008/webcuts-top-20-albums-of-2007/feed/ 0