Kimbra - Cameo Lover

While it is amazing to see our old pal Gotye killing it in the UK (we been raving about him for years), we were a little surprised to learn that quite a few people in Blighty still don't know too much about his partner on Somebody That I Used to Know. So we thought we'd post the above clip with the recommendation to get on board with the insanely talented human-being, Kimbra, right away. 

We've seen her perform on her own headline tour and at pretty much every Australian Festival over the summer and can confirm that this Melbourne-based New Zealander has got quite the set of pipes on her. Her self-produced debut album, Vows, is a fantastic coming-together of disco, soul, pop and dance via funk and jazz. When we reviewed Vows last year, we described it as an "ingenious melding of a whole host of genres and consequently the creation of something new and electrifying, helped in no small part by being tied together by some seriously bone-shaking beats. If the brilliant disco belter Cameo Lover (above) doesn't make you want to dance, there is clearly something wrong with you. Vows is a soulful, textured, vibrant triumph of a debut which immediately establishes Kimbra as a unique and genuinely exciting new artist. Bravo." So there you go. Open up your heart to Kimbra. She's great.

Field Day

Bobbysix.com's Editor headed to Field Day at Sydney's Domain on New Year's Day. Here's what he thought:

Right, let's make one thing clear before we start. If you're expecting a snobbish rant about the people who attend Australian music festivals, a la my Homebake diatribe last month, you're gonna be disappointed. Sorry.

Sure, there were the shirtless wonders in attendance, flexing their sizeable muscles, and there were girls with their arses falling out of the bottom of their tiny shorts, but the vibe of Sydney's Field Day was refreshingly chilled and the aggression that you will often experience at other one-dayers was joyful in its absence. Admittedly, many of the crowd looked like they belonged at that awful outdoor gym at Bondi Beach, but they were friendly enough to have come straight from an episode of Father Ted.  

Maybe everyone was hungover/on pills/both but, regardless, as I wandered the sun-drenched festival site (ruing my decision to wear jeans and astounded by the fact that I had just paid $6 for a bottle of water), people were notably smiley and chatty. I actually made a few new friends. And anyone who knows me will tell you, I generally dislike people.

And so, amid a lovely atmosphere, a bunch of worldwide musical talent set about starting 2012 with a bang. Cloud Control were an early highlight, with their lovely-as-ever indie-pop. What a fine band they are. Soon after, Gotye - seemingly making his 2,467th festival appearance of the summer - played to a huge crowd. Despite its familiarity, Somebody That I Used To Know remains a brilliant song, and the crowd filling in for Kimbra made for one of those really special festival moments. The overall sound in his set (aside from a glitch at the end) was a zillion times better than at Homebake too. The best performance of the afternoon, though, certainly came from Metronomy (pictured below). With their infectious electro/guitar pop and their charming demeanour, they are surely the perfect band for a sunny afternoon. Radio Ladio, with its singalong chorus of "R-A. D-I. OHHHHHHHHH," is a belting way to end a set too. 

As the sun set, the massively overrated Crystal Castles were typically uninspiring. Sleigh Bells are hardly the best band in the world, but, for my money, they piss all over this too-cool-for-school duo. Still, there was always excellent DJ Anna Lunoe to enjoy on one of the other stages instead. 

Headliners Justice ended the festival. Bobbysix.com is reviewing their Melbourne sideshow later this week so I won't go into too much detail here, but let's just say that their light show was hugely impressive and, no matter how many times they play it, D.A.N.C.E. sounds fucking brilliant. 

And so, as the night sky smothered The Domain and the temperature dropped considerably, even the most chiselled of blokes pulled on their singlets (I was now pretty happy to be wearing long pants) and boogied to some French electro. What an excellent way to ring in the New Year.

Review by Bobby Townsend.

Bobbysix.com's End of Year Review 2011 - Celeste Macdonald

Having split her year between the UK, The States, Europe and Australia, Celeste Macdonald is well-placed to give her opinion on what's been the best of 2011. Check back on New Year's Day for the overall winners of best album, song, film and gig, as voted for by you:

Top 10 albums

1. El Camino – THE BLACK KEYS
2. Making Mirrors – GOTYE
3. Prisoner – THE JEZABELS
4. To The Horses – LANIE LANE
5. Come On Board – JEFFREY LEWIS
6. Bad As Me – TOM WAITS
7. Let England Shake – PJ HARVEY
8. Bon Iver – BON IVER
9. Rain On A Humming Wire – THE PANICS
10. I Want That You Are Always Happy – THE MIDDLE EAST

Top 10 songs

1. Video Games – LANA DEL REY




2. Lay It Down – THE RUBENS
3. Run Right Back – THE BLACK KEYS
4. What Do I Do – LANIE LANE
5. Somebody That I Used To Know (featuring Kimbra) – GOTYE
6. Golden Revolver – SAN CISCO
7. I Follow Rivers – LYKKE LI
8. Brother – MATT CORBY
9. Second Chance – PETER, BJORN AND JOHN
10. Tongue Tied – GROUPLOVE

Top 5 Gigs

1. JEFFREY LEWIS - Sticky Mike's Frog Bar, Brighton
2. DARK HORSES - Concorde2, Brighton
3. THREE TRAPPED TIGERS - Sticky Mike's Frog Bar, Brighton
4. PURITY RING - The Green Door Store, Brighton
5. CARL BARAT - The Prince Albert, Brighton

Highlight of the year
Having the privilege of spending nearly nine months of 2011 traveling around Europe and the United States, I stumbled upon maybe the greatest place on earth, Budapest. Added to its greatness, I had the pleasure of being there with Bobbysix himself.

2011 in words
Fantastically amazing year for music, incredibly disappointing year for Hollywood.

Prediction for 2012
After 2011 came out with the highest number of Hollywood sequels ever, (yes, EVER) Hollywood decides to stop making sequels and instead take a chance on original, independent and thought-provoking cinema...fingers crossed.

Celeste Macdonald - Contributor

Celeste likes to travel to world. She knows her stuff about music, movies and TV. She is deadly with a pool cue.

Homebake Festival 2011

Bobbysix.com's Editor went to Homebake Festival in Sydney and realised that he is a grumpy old man. Here's why: 

It started with a vomiting pumpkin...

Australian festivals are a strange thing. Considering the wonderful weather in this country, there aren't very many camping events, meaning that often festivals are staged in a single day. Therefore, punters take the opportunity to get as fucked up as possible, as quickly as possible. No time to waste. It's like watching three days of Reading footage on fast-forward. And so, in that context, we return to the pumpkin. As I entered the site, I saw two girls dressed as pumpkins, walking side by side. One stopped dead in her tracks and proceeded to projectile puke pretty much everywhere. It was like something out of The Exorcist, had The Exorcist been set in Sydney's Domain on a beautifully sunny summer's afternoon. She wiped her mouth, laughed and carried on with her day. It was 1.50pm. The tone, rather perfectly, had been set.

As the awful 360 proved just how awful Aussie hip-hop can be, I took a wander round the site and remembered that men who wear thongs (flip-flops - English Translation Ed) to festivals annoy the shit out of me almost as much as girls who wear those high-waisted denim cut-offs from which 40 percent of their arse hangs out. It's not a good look, ladies. Not a good look.

Anyway, to the music. Well, The Vines played but no-one really cared because it's no longer 2004. Meanwhile Unknown Mortal Orchestra (good name, by the way) rocked the Rowland S Howard Stage and were followed by the equally excellent Big Scary and  Noah Taylor & The Sloppy Boys.

 

Next up, technical difficulties meant that Kimbra (above) started 20 minutes late on the Dome Stage. Looking A-fucking-MAY-ZING in red she played a very short set which ended with the brilliant Cameo Lover. Her vocal was perhaps a little low in the mix and the fact that the sound was bleeding - or, in fact, hemorrhaging - from the main stage was pretty annoying. No-one wants to hear Drapht (more fucking Aussie hip-hop) at the best of times, let alone when they're trying to enjoy the soul/disco/pop of Kimbra.

There were irritating sound issues throughout the day. PNAU could be heard over The Triffids, even when standing about ten foot from the stage on which The Triffids were playing, while Gotye's eclectic, imaginative set was somewhat spoilt by horrible, bassy, muddy sound. Still, by that time, many of the crowd were too mashed to care. The girl in front of me at Gotye was the most gurnful individual I have ever seen. Goodness knows how many drugs she had taken but I suspect the answer to have been "lots of drugs." She was gurning so hard that, at one stage, she seemed in danger of swallowing her own head.

Mashed punters and bad sound aside, there were some outstanding moments at Homebake 2011. The Jezabels proved why they have become so popular, so quickly, with a stunning performance. Brilliantly named singer Hayley Mary has something of the Kate Bush about her in terms of her vocal and the band's pop songs were powerful and engaging. Elsewhere, Papa vs Pretty were great, our old mate Ladyhawke played to a full tent, after which Cut Copy had the crowd going mental with their tightly wound indie/dance stuff that let loose at all the right moments. A bit Icehouse, a bit New Order, a lot brilliant, they were the festival's late highlight and certainly worth missing the start of Grinderman for.

Ah, Grinderman. How I should love thee. Nick Cave. Tick. Warren Ellis. Tick. Dirty as fuck songs dripping in sex and grubbiness. Tick. So, why then, when watching them close Homebake 2011 under a clear purple sky, was I constantly thinking "I wish I were watching Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds."? I guess because I wished I were watching Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. A certain female vocalist who shall remain nameless told Bobbysix.com in the safety of the VIP area that she wasn't staying for their set because it is "mid-life crisis music." Which is actually a brutally fair assessment. Still, mid-life crisis or not, it was still awesome to see Cave hacking at a guitar and Ellis utilising more pedals than you could shake a stick at. But, as a band, they seem to equal less than the sum of their parts. Put it this way, I've never wanted to hear Stagger Lee more in my life than I did at 10.45pm on Saturday.

So, a mixed bag then. Some great performances, some bad sound, some beautiful weather and a vomiting pumpkin. A pretty fair representation of your typical Australian one-day festival.

Review and shitty iPhone pics by Bobby Townsend

The 2011 ARIA Awards

 Bobbysix.com's Bobby Townsend and Heidi Pett went to the 2011 ARIA Awards in Sydney today. They behaved like consummate professionals. Here's Bobby's review:

As you would expect from any Australian award ceremony, the 2011 ARIA's were a mix of fun, disappointment, excitement, happiness, booze and moderate embarrassment. Team Bobbysix arrived in the searing heat in time to see the crowd go apeshit as Hall of Fame recipient, Kylie Minogue, trod the red carpet. She looked small. And pretty. Taking our seats just in time to see Western Australian MC, Drapht, ably demonstrate how incredibly average Aussie hip-hop can be (and often is), it became pretty clear that the only way to enjoy such an occasion was drunk (after all, I have always been keen to reprise my performance at the 2007(?) MTV Awards when I shouted alcohol-fuelled abuse at Nicole Ritchie and those bellends out of Good Charlotte). So, we got our fucking arses to the bar. 

Maybe it was simply the booze, but the whole thing seemed a very surreal experience: the country's PM gushing over Kylie (not literally), Guy Sebastian seemingly dressed as a human disco ball and, later, crowd-surfing, The Living End winning Favourite Live Act and then putting on a fairly shit live performance, Art vs Science's song being enough to make me want to rip my ears off. Oh, and some dude THAT WE'VE NEVER HEARD OF who apparently won X Factor, swaggering around the stage like a wannabe Pete Doherty and going on an anti-corporate rant during his Best-Selling-Something-Or-Other speech. Irony alert. As Heidi tweeted: "You're from X FACTOR, for fuck's sake."

It wasn't all weird/bad though. Indeed, there were great performances from Gotye and Kimbra and Boy & Bear, while Hamish & Andy or whatever their names are even managed to be moderately funny when presenting an award. We were also happy to see The Wiggles get inducted into the Hall Of Fame. Indie snobbery aside, these guys are unquestionably one of Australia's most important exports.

Just when things seemed to be taking a turn for the better though... hold on, it's those fucking dudes from Good Charlotte again. I swear they have been at every award ceremony I have ever attended. Why? For the love of God, why? Anyway, I suppose them presenting a couple of awards gave us a chance to swear loudly in the direction of the stage for few minutes. Which was fun. By the time Pink (I refuse to spell her name with the ! for an i) undeservedly won Best Something To Do With Not Being From Australia (can you tell we were paying attention?) ahead of Adele, I'd gotten bored and went off to buy ice-creams (which would result in Heidi getting chocolate stains on her lovely white dress - we're nothing if not classy and cool at Bobbysix.com). 

Oh yeah, the winners. Well, we were really pleased for Boy & Bear, who basically cleaned up, winning BEST ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM, BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST - SINGLE, BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST - ALBUM, BEST GROUP and the coveted ALBUM OF THE YEAR.

Meanwhile, Bobbysix.com fave Gotye won SINGLE OF THE YEAR, BEST POP RELEASE and BEST MALE ARTIST to add to PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, BEST VIDEO and ENGINEER OF THE YEAR already bestowed at the ARIA Awards Nominations Event in early October, all for the hit single, Somebody That I Used to Know (feat. Kimbra). Kimbra won BEST FEMALE ARTIST while the legendary BILLY THORPE posthumously won an ARIA AWARD for his final masterpiece, Tangier.  

There were loads of other winners too but, Jeez, we were too busy drinking and loudly singing John Farnham songs (and generally annoying the hell out of the people in front of us who, presumably, had forked out hard-earned cash for tickets) to notice. You'll be delighted to know we'll be back next year for more quality journalism and breathtaking commentary.

Review (in the broadest sense of the word) and shitty iphone picture by Bobby Townsend.

Gotye adds third and final Perth date.

Whenever we post a story about Wally de Backer - or Gotye to you and me - Bobbysix.com almost goes into meltdown with the traffic we receive. You guys just can't get enough of him, so it seems. Therefore the Western Australians amongst you will be pleased to know that he has announced a third show at the Belvoir Theatre, Perth on Monday 12 December. It will feature his ten-piece orchestra and be the last date announced on his acclaimed, sold-out string of Aussie dates this year. Rising Melbourne outfit Husky will be the support on all three Perth dates.

Having performed at CMJ, Gotye is currently playing sold-out shows across in the UK and Europe. You might have to beg for a ticket, sneak in, buy one off a shifty bloke in a shellsuit top and Reebok Classics or get your ebay on, but, if you can get access to the venues, Gotye will be doing his thing in these places:

Monday October 31 – Communion, London UK (SOLD OUT)
Tuesday November 1 - Kings College, London UK (SOLD OUT)
Friday November 4 – Melkweg, Amsterdam Holland (SOLD OUT)
Saturday November 5 – Franzz Club, Berlin Germany (SOLD OUT)
Sunday November 6 – Gebaude 9, Cologne Germany (SOLD OUT)
Tuesday November 8 - La Maroquinerie, Paris France

Saturday 26th November – Foreshore Festival Canberra (Tickets onsale now)
Saturday, 3rd December – Homebake Festival, The Domain, Sydney
Friday, 9th December – Belvoir Theatre, Perth (SOLD OUT)
Saturday, 10th December – Belvoir Theatre, Perth (SOLD OUT)
Monday, 12th December – Belvoir Theatre, Perth (NEW SHOW ) (Tickets on sale Friday 4th November from Ticketmaster)
Sunday, 18th December - Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (Tickets onsale now)


Full ticketing information at www.gotye.com

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (featuring Kimbra)

We love a bit of Gotye at Bobbysix.com, so when his new video leaked all over the web yesterday like sexy wee wee, we got very excited indeed. Gotye - or Wally De Backer to give him his real name - said of his new clip: "I hope you enjoy the video. It was the most lengthy and intense shoot I've ever been part of- two days of shooting, the second day stretching out to 36 hours! Anyone who's ever done full body painting and stop-time animation will know the way time can crawl, especially when you're trying to stand dead-still for hours." Still it was worth the effort, in our opinion.

The female vocal you can hear, belongs to Kimbra.

Gotye returns with new single

A few years back, songwriter, producer and all-round one-man band Gotye, otherwise known as Wally De Backer, came up with an album that really struck a chord. His beautifully crafted Like Drawing Blood was highly placed in BobbySix.com's 2006 end of year top ten, was voted Triple J listeners' favourite album of 2006 and iTunes UK's Album Of The Year in 2008. In 2007, he won the ARIA Award as Australia's Best Male Artist.

It seems like forever since Like Drawing Blood was released so - considering it was on constant rotation at Bobby Six Towers for a long time - it is to some excitement that news arrives of a forthcoming release. Yes, in early 2011 there will finally be a new Gotye long-player and, to whet our appetites, single Eyes Wide Open is available for a limited time as a free download from his website.

Written, performed, recorded and produced by the multi-talented multi-tasker, this single combines pedal steel guitar, cello moans, bass tones sampled from the Winton Musical Fence in outback Queensland and sounds created in the home studio built by his father. The result proves that, while remaining boundary-pushing and inventive, Gotye sure as hell knows how to pen a catchy tune.

Download it here for free. Don't delay though, it won't be available forever.

Laneway Festival Announces 2011 line-up

Since its inception in Melbourne in 2004, and through its continued spread to other cities, St Jerome's Laneway Festival has always been about bringing great music to people who really appreciate it, in a nice environment. You won't find gangs of shirtless wonders off their chops at Laneway, that's for sure, but rather you'll be surrounded by polite beardy men in cardigans and girls in geek glasses, which leads to a much better atmosphere. Anyway, the music-lover's music festival today announced its bill for next year, and it's a good one. Here goes:

!!! (Chk Chk Chk)
THE ANTLERS
ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI
BEACH HOUSE
BEAR IN HEAVEN
BLONDE REDHEAD
CLOUD CONTROL
CUT COPY
DEERHUNTER
FOALS
GOTYE
THE HOLIDAYS
HOLY FUCK
JENNY & JOHNNY
LES SAVY FAV
LOCAL NATIVES
MENOMENA
PVT
RAT vs POSSUM (excluding Perth)
STORNOWAY
TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB
VIOLENT SOHO
WARPAINT
WORLD’S END PRESS
YEASAYER

St Jerome's Laneway Festival takes place in Brisbane (Alexandria St off St Paul’s Terrace, Fortitude Valley) on Friday the 4th February, in Melbourne (Footscray Community Arts Centre) on Saturday 5th February, in Sydney (Sydney College of the Arts) on Sunday the 6th February, in Adelaide (Fowler’s Live, North Terrace) on Friday 11th February and in Perth (Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge) on Saturday 12th February.

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday 20th October at 9am from the Laneway website or by calling 1300 369 882. They are sure to sell like hot cakes, so get online or on the phone at nine. If you snooze, you lose.