Radio Dingbat

Tame Impala - Half Full Glass Of Wine from Modular People on Vimeo.

A suitable head-trip of a video clip for these psychedelic recent-modular signees from Perth. Much above and beyond any Dee Dee Dumming they’ve done in the past, the video blends between drug-induced freakout and 60’s homage, much like their music I suppose.

You can catch the band playing just about EVERYWHERE this summer.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tameimpala

Supplier of one of the most tweaked out dance records of the year, ‘London Zoo,’ The BUG is taking his dubbed out dancehall melding grooves to Australia in late January playing dates in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

The Bug cuts up pounding bass, driving rhythms and dancehall beats with stunning vocals. Collaborators on the London Zoo include long time Kode9 contributor Tippa Irie, Rick Ranking, best known for his work with Roots Manuva, Flowdan from Roll Deep and the dynamic Warrior Queen, who provided the vocals for one of the stand out Dubstep tracks of 2008 Poison Dart.

Australian Tour. January 2009.

Saturday 24th
SYDNEY.  Sydney Festival. Becks Festival Bar
Tickets from Sydney Festival, Ticketek and Moshtix

Friday 23rd
PERTH.  The Bakery. Artrage Complex
Tickets from Artrage

Sunday 25th
MELBOURNE.  The Laundry. 50 Johnston St, Fitzroy
Tickets from The Laundry

‘London Zoo’ is out on Ninja Tune.

Music with a good story is one of the most appealing things to music nerds and one of the best music stories is that of the ‘lost classic,’ an album that sold nothing upon release and has recently been rediscovered as an unjustly overlooked artefact of a bygone era.

Rodriguez’s Cold Fact is one of those albums. It comes from a time when everyone wanted to be Bob Dylan, even Jesus. But as it turns out this Jesus was actually Sixto, who only used his brother’s name for tax purposes. In the late 60s Sixto Rodriguez was working a day job in Detroit while playing his music at night. “You would never find Rodriguez at a normal club it was hooker bars, inner city dives, and biker bars.” He was eventually discovered playing in a bar called the Sewer by Dennis Coffey, the session guitarist who played on psychedelic Temptations songs like Cloud Nine and Ball of Confusion. At the time Rodriguez would sing facing the wall, his back to the audience, hoping to help them concentrate on listening to his Dylan inspired street lyrics.

“The things that he was talking about man, were just un-fucking believable” said Coffey, who promptly signed him to Sussex records, the same label Bill Withers was on. While Bill was having hits with Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean On Me, Rodriguez released two albums that sunk without a trace. His label dropped him and he disappeared from public view, sowing the seeds for a common ‘classic album’ story.

Rodriguez’s story, however, is a bit more complex.

Recent Radio Dingbat featuree’s and well renowed alchemists of psychedelic sound and twisted visions that most bands can only conjure up in their minds - French Rockets are invading the dear city of Melbourne later this month with a series of shows featuring awesome talent such as Baseball, Pikelet and The Smallgoods.

Thursday November 27:
Baseball, French Rockets, Zond, Extreme Wheeze - East Brunswick Club -  8:30pm

Friday November 28
The Smallgoods, French Rockets, The Sun Blindness, Das Butcher - The Birmingham - 8:30PM

Sunday November 30
Pikelet, French Rockets, Lehman Smith - The Northcote Social Club - 7:30PM

Yes, the full lighting setup will be touring with them. Exclusive tour editions of their previous album ‘555′ will be available at all shows.

To watch the dingbat episode and get the full lowdown click here.

To see our hosted French Rockets video for 1×1 click here.

Myspace: www.myspace.com/frenchrockets
Webiste: www.frenchrocketsmusic.com

Tickets for the 2009 installment of the Music Box went on sale today, and early reports indicate that the majority of the acts covered in Part 1 last Thursday are selling fast; Jose Gonzalez and of Montreal are said to be close to sellout. But that’s why we warned you. So now it’s time to take a look at the acts who will not attract the same feverish attention and are more likely to be this year’s hidden gems.

Veteran MC Ice Cube, a progenitor of gangster rap, returns with his eighth full-length solo studio album, Raw Footage. Here to once again herald the hearts and minds of the streets, Cube continues his long career of fusing scathing social commentary on the America and the world around him with his, in what I guess would be a trademark, pyroclastic flow.

Ever since his rapid decent to notoriety among conservative America with his fierce lyrical work on N.W.A.’s legendary debut full-length Straight Outta Compton, and throughout an extensive solo career, Ice Cube has long used his music as a soap box for cultural distaste and political commentary.  He remains one of the few artists to make the cross over from underground rap to mainstream markets while retaining credibility and respect among fans. Yes, even during Are We There Yet.

Raw Footage is Cube’s most confrontational work in several years, the entirety of the record dedicated to the glory and heritage of gangster rap and taking swings at politicians, rival MC’s, black people, white people, government bodies…anyone really. He critiques, but constructively. He calls upon people to use their strength, and with him, question the political and social climate of modern America with the same conviction he did on AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. He challenges fake MC’s with the same bite and arrogance he did throughout the worst of Death Row’s hazing.

Really? Does he need to? Does that message carry the same impact this many years on?

While it might not have been a hit of crazy proportions like their earlier LP, Gnarls Barkley have been keeping busy this year churning out singles and consistently awesome videos for their sophomore album ‘The Odd Couple.’ The newest serving comes off their forthcoming ‘Who’s Gonna Save My Soul?‘ EP and features some wickedly animated cyclops superman action and sees Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse rooftop groovin’ in two dimensions before getting decimated by evil word monsters…

Mystery Man has a incredibly laid back antique feel for the Gnarls, with typical soulful goodness courtesy of Cee-Lo’s ever potent vocal work before dipping into some trip-hop for the second half of the song.

You can download the majority of the EP at their website here including remixes and videos - up until the 11th of November, so get clicking.

Website: http://www.gnarlsbarkley.com/

Myspace: myspace.com/gnarlsbarkley

The ever evolving and transmogrifying tweaked out twee kids Architecture in Helsinki have launched their new single online at http://thatbeep.com/

The site also includes link to the video and Radioclit remix. ‘That Beep’ will be available on itunes in Australia on November 22nd. Aih have a new LP coming out named ‘Vision Revision’, and whether this single will appear on it remains to be seen. You can catch them live on the festival circuit this summer as they hit up Meredith, Falls Festival, Southbound and last but not least, Jeromes Laneway Festival.

Myspace: http://myspace.com/aihmusic

Killer indie label Matador have decided that you need to listen to more Matador music!  Don’t worry, they’ve made it really simple by giving away a full album featuring tracks from their current and upcoming releases.  With artists such as Mogwai, Fucked Up, Jay Reatard, A.C. Newman, Belle and Sebastian and more it’s well worth a listen.  So go on!  Check it out.

Matador Records Intended Play - Fall 2008

And incase you missed it you might want to check out their their previous sampler which includes tracks from artists such as Matmos, Cat Power, and The New Pornographers.  We really do need more no bull labels like Matador.

Matador Records Intended Play - Spring 2008

There seems to be a great history of noise rock bands, those that would debut as atonal irritating acts of art more than music eventually pumping out pop albums or at least, catchier, audience seeking tunes that still bathe in a little too much distortion. Maybe the bands learn how to turn their amp down, or just earn enough cash to buy guitars that stay in tune? Sonic Youth took a solid few albums of no-wave nonsense to get this far. Even Japanese stalwarts Boris started out as feedback burners long before they decimated the stoner rock. They’re two examples that come of the top of my head here … but there’s some patterns dude! Deerhunter have somehow eclipsed that entire theory in the space of one album as far as I’m concerned. Last year’s Cryptograms was a gripping mix of ambient noise and punk rock riff work, although a very messy one at that. The quick follow up EP, however, Fluorescent Grey, showed that when more concentrated, the band proved itself capable of some challenging but catchy song craft showing a shift away from scatterbrain musical mirages and into more actual concrete ‘music.’

Although its been “out” (ahem…) for a while now, Microcastle and its accompanying disc Weird Era cont. is extremely removed from the confusion that was at the heart of their previous album. Aside from a brief mid-album ‘interlude’ (‘suite’ as the band would have it), the songs here are uplifting, spirited rock songs with only the sharpest hints of obscene guitar feedback. Gone are the tunnels of noise and spaced acidic echo and in its place much tighter, cleaner songs that only threaten to go off the rail ever so rarely.

Centerpiece of the album ‘Nothing Ever Happened’ rides along happily on a steadfast beat and bassline, with some clean ass chords, ends up being just about the catchiest thing Deerhunter has ever written. Frontman Bradford Cox still creeps me out ever so slightly, but his vocals and lyics are sweet all over this disc and here they play fluidly off the bouncy duelling guitar lines. Don’t get me wrong though, the band hasn’t exactly become pop, the still very proudly show off their ‘ambient punk’ tag with plenty of tripped out moments. The songs often grow at their creeping pace, eventually flowering with bright guitars and cymbal crashes ascending and falling with each tune – when they need to let loose with loudness and crank the volume knob, the band deploys it well.