Justice at Festival Hall, Melbourne

French electro duo Justice filled the Melbourne Festival Hall with lights and sound last Friday night, at a sold-out, all ages show. Jess O'Callaghan was there for Bobbysix.com:

The evening got off to a good start thanks to a solid set by Sydney five-piece Canyons (they play indie-club-pop with a saxophone!). Next, special guest Busy P somehow took us from Black Sabbath through Owner of a Lonely Heart to Goodbye Stranger by Supertramp, a feat probably made possible by his awesome French accent and lovely hair.

Melbourne Festival Hall was full by eight-thirty. To fill such a space with bouncing, singing-along bodies is no easy feat, but there were obviously a number of Justice die-hards present, with homemade fan-shirts and squeals of "this is actually happening," a constant throughout the night. Their songs may be sparse on lyrics, but the crowd knew them all (and belted them back) to the French electro duo (Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge), when they played to what has to be one of the most enthusiastic audiences I have ever been a part of.

Justice somehow combine a rock vibe with electro dance music, and do it all in a French, deadpan way, as if that’s how everyone parties. The mixes were different enough from their albums to keep the set interesting, but familiar enough to please the fans. While they didn't seem to care too much about working the crowd and were set back in the stage (unlike the warm-up benevolence of Busy P and his crowd-charming hair flicks), the focus was instead on the lights and making the audience jump about.

The lighting was almost as spectacular as the music and pretty theatrical at times, opening with an ambitious amount of fog and their trademark luminous cross in the middle of the stage. D.A.N.C.E saw beams of what seemed like sunlight coming through the bars of the backdrop and a faux organ, made of incandescent tubing, accompanied the second half of the set, sliding across the stage. By the encore - a spectacular version of Never Be Alone, I was well and truly a convert to the world of French electro.

Review by Jess O'Callaghan.

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.

Field Day ticket giveaway!

What are you doing on New Year's Day? Are you sitting in bed nursing a hangover, or carrying on the party like a sick motherfucker? The answer, if you are a friend of Bobbysix.com, is, of course, the latter. We'll be at Field Day in Sydney's Domain, watching Calvin Harris, Example and French electro-kings Justice (pictured, above) doing their thang, as well as Modestep and a bunch of shit-hot Aussies, like Flight Facilities, The Aston Shuffle and Cloud Control.

We'll see you down the front for Metronomy whose latest album we loved, Crystal Castles, Gotye, our old mate Anna Lunoe and a bunch of cool other acts too. Check the full line-up at the Field Day website. If you haven't got your tickets yet, they're on on sale now and selling fast, so don't delay, fools.

Excitingly (thanks to our friends at Fuzzy) we have A DOUBLE PASS TO GIVE AWAY! All you gots to do is email info@bobbysix.com with the heading "Field Day Giveaway" or send a tweet to @Bobbysix (it can say anything, so long as it has the hashtag #FieldDay). We'll shove all your names in a hat and pick a winner (sorry kids, it's for over 18s only). Good luck dudes, get entering! EDIT: THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

Field Day tickets - on sale now.

Have you heard? New Year's Day is the new New Year's Eve? With the weak long-since having crawled into their beds, it's when the rest of us push on like mad fucks. And where do we continue the party? At Sydney's Field Day of course.

Tickets are now on sale for the upcoming festival at The Domain, so, if you wanna start 2012 with a bang, you're best advised to get hold of one asap. The line-up includes two of the hottest properties in dance music, Calvin Harris and Example, who join French electro-maestros Justice, along with the dubstep stylings of Modestep and a bunch of local talent including Flight Facilities, The Aston Shuffle and Cloud Control. Also on the awesome bill are the likes of Crystal Castles, Metronomy, Moby (DJ set), Gotye, Anna Lunoe and heaps more.

Check the full line-up at the Field Day website, and book your tickets with our good friends at Fuzzy. We'll see you there. Let's party like it's 2012. Which, of course, it will be.

Win the new Justice album!

Do you like awesome French electronic music that mixes indie, disco, rock, sci-fi funk and pop with chunky, fuzzy basslines and dance hooks you could hang your coat off? Yes? Do you also like FREE STUFF? Of course you do. Well, read on.

The exciting news for those of you that live in Melbourne is that JUSTICE are heading your way! Tickets went on sale today for what will be their only performance in the city. The epic, brand new, live experience will feature all of their hits and tracks from their, frankly, amazing new album, Audio, Video, Disco. The Festival Hall will host this night of French genius on Friday 6th January 2012. For ticket info, click here. You want more good news? It's an all-ages show.

It's sure to sell out, so, if you snooze, you lose. You'd better buy your tickets right now.

Meanwhile, Bobbysix.com has teamed up with Fuzzy to give you the chance to win one of four copies of Justice's new album, Audio, Video, Disco. To stand a chance of getting your hands on one of these bad boys, all you need to do is follow @bobbysix on Twitter and send us a tweet. It can say whatever you like (be nice though, hey?), so long as it has the hashtag #justice

If you don't have Twitter [you should really get in the 21st Century, but] you can simply email info@bobbysix.com instead with the subject "Gimme Justice". Because we're nice, we'll send CDs to anywhere in the world, so this comp is open to EVERYONE. Hooray.

Justice are also hitting up FIELD DAY on New Year's Day. Tickets are on sale now.

Uffie - Sex Dreams & Denim Jeans

If Pop The Glock, the autotuned opener of Uffie's Sex Dreams & Denim Jeans, sounds dated, that's because it was first realeased over four years ago. God knows why it has taken so long for her debut album to land, but, there is no doubting its tardiness has allowed Ke$ha to steal in and pull the rug away somewhat.

So, has Uffie, Anna-Catherine Hartley if we're being formal, missed the boat completely? Well, while her press-release proudly boasts, "It may have taken five years to arrive, but Uffie has delivered a captivating masterpiece," NME disagrees, scoring the album 0/10 and declaring, "If you like Uffie, then you really are an idiot." So which is true? Well, neither.

"I never claimed I was an artist, I can't even sing, you know?" she shrugs during Our Song, and at times it feels like Sex Dreams... is merely serving to confirm Uffie as a vacuous novelty act. But, while her rhymes are often painful and her cutesy spoken word rapping style grows tiresome, there is something about her slacker attitude that is enjoyably rock 'n' roll. The bloodymindedness of getting away with it - continuing to succeed where many more talented singers have failed - will resonate with anyone who feels they are punching above their weight.

On top of all that, there are a few good moments and some fine production - all French disco, electronic squiggles and synths. Art It Uff is a middle finger to the haters, MCs Can Kiss is fast and furious in its 80s rap and ADD SUV mixes squidgy electro with the American cool of Pharell Williams.

So, neither an especially good album nor the kind of horrorshow that some would have you believe, the simple fact is that Sex Dreams... has arrived too late and subsequently comes across more pastiche than zeitgeist. “Three tracks a year and they still talk about me,” Uffie boasts. True, but had this been released in 2006 rather than now, we'd have been talking about her a whole lot more.

Justice - †

I reviewed the new justice album for Drum Media. Here's the lowdown:JUSTICE
†

You probably know French duo Justice from Never Be Alone, their excellent collaboration with Simian which won best video at the MTV Europe Awards and, brilliantly, caused fellow nominee Kanye West to jump on stage during the acceptance speech to complain that he didn’t win. Now, with their debut album, the remixing Parisians offer us their own collection of massive beats and distorted dancey electro-funk.

With its sci-fi funk, fuzzy opening track Genesis is an early indicator of the quality of this record, while Phantom has a similar chunky, industrial Daft Punk sound. DVNO is awesome electro-rock, Let There Be Light offers aggressive electronica and Waters Of Nazareth is so brimming with energy that it practically has its own pulse.

However, there are a few weak links. New Jack is messy to the point that it actually sounds like the CD is skipping and Valentine is a strangely limp impression of Kraftwerk. Overall though, the good far outweighs the average, and the ace in the pack is unquestionably D.A.N.C.E, which is currently getting plenty of well-deserved radio play. With lyrics coming straight outta Sesame Street, it is the perfect indie/dance/pop/disco crossover track. You will hear it in clubs a lot over the next few months, and you won’t tire of it in the slightest.

While some of the songs slightly miss the mark, there are plenty of stirring, daring and exciting moments here, proving that when Justice get it right, they really get it right.