Radio Dingbat

French Rockets - ‘1×1′ (2010 redux) from French Rockets on Vimeo.

French Rockets - ‘1×1′ (2010 redux) from French Rockets on Vimeo.

The first of our aforementioned videos that we recently released.

C+P 2009 - French Rockets

Directed by Dominic Pearce
Director of Photography Jeremy Stewart / Sam Winzar
Assistant Director Steven Hughes
Edited by Steven Hughes / Dominic Pearce
Post Production Special Effects directed by Rob Woods
Lighting provided by John Ardley
Thanks to Stephen Lloyd, Adrian Higgins, HD Rentals,
Location Equipment, Beds Plus, Edith Cowan University

Starring
Con Ortheli as TV Host
Andrew Ewing as “Der Pandit”
and French Rockets

Musik Kultur Unterhaltung Zeit’ theme song
composed by Rob Woods

myspace.com/frenchrockets
frenchrocketsmusic.com

myspace.com/heartlessrobotproductions

Hello there, it has been a while, huh?

To those of you who are wandering back into our blog: a very warm welcome and sincere apology for our lack of updates. I thought it would be worth the time to give an update of whats been happening.

Things for the Dingbat crew took an unexpected but very amazing turn later last year, just as we were collecting material for our fourth season. We took some time out in around July to help produce the clip for beloved Perth act, Sugar Army’s ‘Tounges in Cheeks’ which some of you might have caught floating on the airwaves. Since the successful release of that video, the key Dingbat writers were whisked away on a whirlwind of video production which has seen us complete four more videos in just as many months.

Annoyingly, time is a precious commodity which we simply do not have enough of, and our cherished blog fell by the wayside and episodes ceased to be made, even ones that were in production got lost in a sea of clip producing data…

However, making the leap from filming shows into crafting band visual showpieces has been an eventful one, and having just finished post-production work on a bunch of new videos, the first batch is about to make their impact on the world this Saturday:

Two of these videos, ‘1×1′ by French Rockets and ‘IDDQD’ by Injured Ninja, local upcoming Perth acts, are some of our most creative and expansive works yet and will be premiered at this very special and exclusive event.

“1×1 / IDDQD”- Split 12 inch Vinyl / DVD Music Video Launch

A French Rockets / Injured Ninja collaboration.
Released through Heartless Robot Records.

Saturday Jan 16th 2010 @ The Chapel Space, 117 Angove St, North Perth.

8pm-12am. $15 entry.

$25 for limited edition 12” Single / DVD Package - available at the show.

Performances by:
FRENCH ROCKETS
INJURED NINJA
and special guests
BONE

The videos will be screened before and after the performing acts and will be available on DVD as part of the 12″ split single package. Hope to see you there.

The videos shall make their debut on the web later this month, we will post them up here as soon as they arrive. In the meantime, thanks for sticking around - and who knows, maybe we’ll be back with more juicy live clips and interviews in the future … but first we must get some sleep.

That geeky rock and roll nightmare The Thermals have announced that they will soon begin work on their follow-up to Now We Can See, which was released in only April this year. Don’t get too excited or overwhelmed by their apparent enthusiasm, though. Their yet-untitled fifth album is not due for release until September 7th 2010. Cough.

Now this raises a few questions; is this, finally, going to be the earth-conquering Thermals album we’ve waited for, the one that will turn the music world upside down? Are the band foreseeing problems and/or long-drawn out disputes with indie-rock’s producer to the stars, Chris Walla? Are they simply gonna chill on the beach until the album drops and the tour begins? Does Portland even have beaches? So many questions, one answer: find out in September.

Some time ago, Radio Dingbat teased an interview with Memphis garage-rocker Jay Reatard. A truly independent artist, Reatard’s latest album Watch Me Fall continues his recent evolution from thrasher to popstar, and was recorded alone in his homemade studio. Scheduled though we were, various outside sources prevented us from getting in contact with the enigmatic man himself. In one instance, Reatard broke a rib 8 hours prior to our interview. At one point we did manage to leave an uncharacteristically professional message on his hilariously unprofessional voicemail. Unfortunately, it was never meant to be.

Never to be deterred, we Dingbats have switched our focus. Who needs Jay Reatard? Enjoy, if you will, our interview with A Retard.

So it’s safe to assume that at some point during the recording of Attack & Release, the Black Keys made off with Danger Mouse’s black book. How else could these Ohio bred blues rockers pull together enough cred to set up a rapid fire recording session with 11 of the world’s best MC’s? I don’t figure that Patrick Carney and Raekwon hang out at the same clubs.

Regardless of how it happened, it’s happened. Coming November 27 is Blakroc, a musical experiment in which the Black Keys continue to evolve from their primordial roots. Those roots were pretty rockin’ though. Sad to see ‘em go. But it’s a tantalising prospect; featured artists include Mos Def, the RZA, Q-Tip, Pharoahe Monch and Jim Jones. Projects like this are often meet with mixed emotion, so take a gander for yourself. Weekly studio updates can be viewed here, while you can hear the first taste of Blakroc here.

In related news, tickets seem to still be available for Pharoahe Monch’s upcoming show at Villa Nightclub on Friday the 4th of December. Given the crappy reception we gave Ghostface, it would be wise to snatch up a relatively cheap $39 ticket and enjoy what promises to be a memorable gig. Do that herre, or at the usual outlets that aren’t your computer.

It was on a rare occasion that I found myself watching Channel V the other night, stumbling across the “Old School Hip-Hop Countdown” close to it’s finale. #3 in this prestigious list was Nelly’s funny-to-pronounce-that-first-time urban hit “Hot In Herre”. A quick revision of the station’s hip-hop filter is advised. Clearly Death Row Records have hatched a scheme to eliminate all knowledge of hip-hop’s funky and fun-filled origins, so that future generations may enjoy the real gangsta shit.  Luckily for mankind, People Under The Stairs are maintaining the love and keeping the party spirit alive. Carried Away is the seventh LP from duo Thes One (rhymes) and Double K (rhymes and beats), and they continue to explore the same themes they always have; getting drunk, getting high and not making any money.

After a majestic debut in Perth earlier this year, many of us hoped our collective efforts in making the Laneway Festival an awesome day would not go unloved. We partied with the Hold Steady, we rocked with No Age, we fed Buraka Sound Sistema with our gyrations, we even kept giving Girl Talk a chance, despite the “total Baltimore show”. Indeed, the promoters faith has been vindicated, and St Jerome’s shall cross the Nullabor again in 2010. March 6th, to be precise. Of course, now that the festival has gone national, it’s time to put aside petty squabbles about Western Australia always getting shafted. Especially since this time around, it’s Adelaide getting shafted, with a few announced artists already not scheduled for the City of Churches. Ah well, more for us.

Mwahaha. Mwahahaha. Hahahahahahaha!

2010’s lineup, while not as tasty as last year (for now), is still jam-packed with diverse and exciting bands new to our shores. Headlining? Echo & The Fucking Bunnymen. Their new album is soon to hit Australian shores, and they’ll probably pad their set with new shit, but their new shit hasn’t been that bad, so it’s win-win, because their back catalogue boasts the prime material created amongst the post-punk landscape. It’s going to get very emotional in that crowd.

Another legendary artist perched atop the lineup is cult folk-hero Daniel Johnston. Yes, the guy from that documentary. This set could be anything from strange to gnarly.  Two London darlings shall manage to escape from the evil hype machine and prove that they actually have talent this time; the soulful The xx and the band doomed to spend their entire tour yelling “We’re not Fleet Foxes!”, Mumford & Sons. On a side note, their album’s actually quite good. Other major names include the drunken garage rock of Eddy Current Suppression Ring and the stoned garage rock of Atlanta’s Black Lips, the party hip-hop duo N.A.S.A. and the Afrobeat group who ACTUALLY HAVE an African member, The Very Best. And they’re bringing their producer, Radioclit!

That’s what we’re excited about anyway. For the full first announcement, continue!

As the sun begins to break through the clouds and the temperature starts to rise, shirts are shed, elaborate costumes are assembled and endless days off work are booked. That’s right baby, it’s festival season! Last week, while the true season to be jolly kicked off with a bang with a highly enjoyable rendition of Parklife, more announcements were made regarding other high profile musical extravaganzas; no profile (or spectators) higher than the annual Big Day Out.

After years of complaints of a sparse summer palette, the BDO (or my own preferential abbreviation, “Biggers”) now has more competition than ever. Soundwave, Stereosonic, Good Vibrations, Southbound to name a few, all boasting top international talent. For years, Biggers has set the benchmark, bringing the best to Australia, often for the first time to a national stage. All of a sudden, we punters are spoilt for choice. It used to be easy. December would roll around, you’d be asked “Hey, you going to Biggers?” “Fuck yeah”, you’d invariably respond. It was the standard. Of course, not five years ago, admission to the Big Day Out was under $100. Today, admission to the 2010 event costs $140. Plus booking fee. Always interesting that in times of financial instability, people tend to up their prices. Anyway, it’s not like the going price sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the entire festival season. $130 is slowing becoming the median price, so adjust your budgets fittingly.

As I pointed out, festival goers have so many options now that Biggers cannot fall back on its legacy anymore. Last year, they surprised us; they got Neil freakin’ Young. There is a persistent rumour that David Fucking Bowie is part of the upcoming second announcement. If true, you can lock me down for a ticket right now. I’ll be there in a skin-tight Aladdin Sane one-piece with flaming red hair. So clearly, the promoters are trying. However, in my mind, they’re not trying hard enough. Sure, put Neil Young or David Bowie on top of the bill, and watch the crowds flock. This year, it seems, the positive steps the Big Day Out had been taking have been forgotten. The 2010 lineup is thus far something of a high school reunion. Rather than bringing new and exciting acts to fill the midcard, the BDO has gone for the road most travelled, booking a swarm of artists very familiar to Biggers regulars.

We here at Radio Dingbat are big fans of Eric Wareheim- he has an amazing knack for getting strange looking people to do bizarre, awkward and slightly unsettling things generally involving close bodily contact on camera and make it awesomely entertaining. Case in point, the Dance Floor Dale and Pon De Floor videos.

Mr. Wareheim is back already with a clip for the latest song from synth-pop stalwarts Depeche Mode. Hole To Feed sees Wareheim stepping away from the green screen and into an actual set with a big cast (and a considerable budget increase). But, for all of its lavishness, it’s still got that tongue-slapping flavor of his all over it.

See for yourself below. As for the track, it’s very much in keeping with the sexy-somber Depeche Mode tradition. Hole To Feed is from the band’s new album Sounds Of The Universe.

Depeche Mode - Hole To Feed

Another week, another re-release. Perhaps record companies have finally realised the public are far more willing to spend their cash on pop music from the past, as opposed to the codswallop offered these days. Earlier this month, the entire Beatles back catalogue was released, remastered, repackaged and retailed. Of course, limited edition box sets promptly sold out across not just our country, but all countries. I doubt Nigeria even received the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. EMI seem to have underestimated the selling power of the greatest band of all time, as AUD$370 (for the Mono box set) seemed no deterrent to collectors. After all, how much more Beatles could you get for $370? Well, you might get fewer tracks, but you’ll certainly find more immersion for about $20 cheaper. Rather than buying the same songs again and again, with marginal audio improvements each time, I propose that more appreciation can be found by attempting to become the band behind those songs, and now hardcore fans have been given this option.

Yes, be afraid. We’re going to talk about Beatles: Rock Band.