Busker Stories is a relatively recent production from Mashup Pictures.
Episode 1 features Tash Sultana, whose name has been getting a lot bigger lately, talking about how street performing affects her art and audience. I like the way they’ve put this show together.
Honestly i don’t know what this woman is doing, i wish i could write a complex and reflective review, but this piece just takes me to a place where i have no logical understanding. Seriously, listen to this.
okay that’s a bit gushing, right? If i was being critically reflective, i would say.. i need more of this. What happens next? it’s too short in time.
last.fm top albums since 2007
So my good friend Amarina tags me on FB, with this request that i share the 12 albums that have affected me most deeply. Don’t think too much about it, just what springs to mind. And yes, i should have kept that initial list, but i had to think about it, didn’t i. Pretty soon that top 12 blew out to 50, and i’m wrestling with the order, trying to get them all to fit into the magical number limit. “I’m choosing 13,” i told her, breaking all the rules.
2020 – b(if)tek For the Roses – Joni Mitchell Diva – Soundtrack Plastic Letters – Blondie Buena Vista Social Club South Bronx Story – Esg Touch – Eurythmics Exit Planet Dust – Chemical Brothers True Colours – Split Enz Confessions on a Dance Floor – Madonna Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris – Soundtrack Rodgers & Hart Songbook – Ella Fitzgerald Gossip – Paul Kelly
Let’s Get Killed – David Holmes Nestegg – Spoonbill Multiply – Jamie Lidell The Albatross – West Side Circus Dogs in Space – Soundtrack Love and Entropy – Lisa Salvo Colour the Small One – Sia Demon Days – Gorillaz Kicking against the Pricks – Nick Cave 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 – Midnight Oil Kick – Inxs Sign o the Times – Prince Let It Die – Feist
Ok Computer – Radiohead The World Won’t Listen – The Smiths Recurring Dream – Crowded House Signs of Life – Penguin Cafe Orchestra Bridge over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel Treasure – Cocteau Twins Aladdin Sane – David Bowie Leftism – Leftfield Back to Black – Amy Winehouse Geogaddi – Boards Of Canada G Love and Special Sauce – G Love and Special Sauce Lemonjelly.ky – Lemon Jelly New Skin for The Old Ceremony – Leonard Cohen
Made of Bricks – Kate Nash Koyaanisqatsi – Soundtrack Cold and the Crackle – Not Drowning Waving East – Cold Chisel Messenger – Jimmy Little Bing Bing Bing – Charlie Hunter Trio Madonna – Madonna Mars Needs Guitars – Hoodoo Gurus Pin-ups – David Bowie Horses – Patti Smith Grease – Soundtrack
This was a truly beautiful project to be involved with.. i played in the opening with many other people, and then First Chorus had a season singing next to the pianos as well. This video shows great community engagement not only in the city, but also in community centres around the outer suburbs. We had over 20 pianos all playing together in the opening. (There i am in the video, around 3:56, woohoo!)
The summer was stinking hot, but it was still a delight to walk around the city from piano to piano and play for a while. Had a couple of great days, playing keys with Sarah and David, and then another time playing characters with Jules and Stevie.
Went to see yet another extraordinary bunch of creative souls parading their talents on the streets of Melbourne. The first piece in this show was Luminesce – a combination of acapella voices and video projection. The video construction was the work of Robert Jarvis, aka Zeal, and basically each microphone was set up to trigger a projection whenever a singer let out any sound.
This is a different performance, from an earlier show. They did this piece on the night as well. Just beautiful.
In news just to hand, another bunch of jazz mofoes has taken a popular 90s hit and jazzified it to the hilt. This time, it’s The Grid, a smooth crowd from the same record stables as Invenio Singers.
Wear More Headbands by THE GRID
Found them on Bandcamp, which I am loving for its mix of awesome music and easy technology. Yes you can buy your music in ogg or flac formats. Audio geek heaven.
Well what about that. Recently went to a single launch by Brooke Russell and the Mean Reds.. and who was in the audience but Paul Kelly! It’s amazing what an effect he can have on a room.. you sense everyone trying to be cool, but really we’re all so starstruck. Gasp. #LivingLegend.
Anyway, I’d seen him on TV just days before playing his new single on Adam Hills Tonight. Paul hasn’t written anything for a couple of years because he’s been working on the book. So this was his first song back on the horse.
What I loved about it was that I find him even more captivating than before. This is such a beautiful and moving song.. surprising in the end too. It’s not always that an artist becomes stronger and richer as they mature. Often you’ll find musicians get worn down by the industry machines and their work is either stale or highly commercialised. But Paul is that rare human, who just sticks to the simple storytelling.
Ooh look, here’s the full episode. I forgot – Molly Ringwald is in there as well. Oh yes.
PS [Link]: Brooke Russell and the Mean Reds, CD Launch 25 August 2013 at the Toff in Town.
Ah the joys of cross-genre inventiveness. Like cabaret grunge or death metal prog folk. Here’s the "candlelight mashup", with Scott Bradlee, whom i first saw in the classic “Vintage Thrift Shop”.. which is the best kind of Opp Shop, right?
Mashups By Candlelight, Vol. 2 by Scott Bradlee
And here’s the Vintage Thrift Shop. Glorious. (Perhaps they could have thought more about the staging, but the song is great.)
I’ve never really listened to Martha, and after seeing this performance I’ve realised my terrible mistake. Here she is live in the Q&A studio singing a beautiful song by her mum (Kate McGarrigle), backed by the lovely tones of Virginia and Jaye of Brighter Later.
Soundscapey duo Jaye Kranz and Virginia Bott were selected to perform as Brighter Later with Martha Wainwright on parts of her Australian tour. The Sydney Opera House banned local support acts, but Martha got them up to accompany anyway.. and she also brought them onto QandA when she was invited to join in the discussion there.
(Virginia is also the musical director of the first chorus band of singers, which is why i’m especially enthusiastic about this performance.)
James just linked to this article on FasterLouder, and it’s reminded me of the great things about MonaFoma13. As well as bumping into someone i knew from Melbourne everywhere i turned, and enjoying the whole experience of being somewhere exciting for 5 days.
Dirty Projectors – i’d never heard of them, and i was just mesmerised. They were so gorgeous. As she pushed further into the crowd at the front, Nina said they were her favourite band in the whole world, and i totally understood why. Amarina said she felt they gave her a new understanding of music, and they did that for me too.
David Byrne and St Vincent. Who wouldn’t love “Burning Down the House” over a dancing brass band. There are few things i love more than a massive euphonium belting out the bass, and here we had Byrne’s classically awkward dance moves played out by the whole band. They even had a real ..ah what’s that instrument you wave your hands against? The electronic one…
Tania Bosak Barefoot Orchestra were just beautiful. Very theatrical and engaging for me, as they played with alternating between wild dancing klezma and stilted off-key jazz. People at the front could appreciate the artistry and theatre of the event, and all seemed to love it. I certainly did. (Unfortunately this one didn’t quite fill the hall, and they lost the attention of the whispering crowds at the back. Don’t know if it was the sound system, or the fact that they followed the Spanish surf rock band, instead of preceding.)
Ben Skeffler looping harpsichord and cello. Beautiful. Apparently he used to play with Miso, and now is incredibly famous.
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