The Kills - Midnight Boom

YOURZ

There is so much to admire about this band, the least being it is rich in garage, punk and art rock references.  Alison Mosshart (whose role in The Dead Weather has already been discussed here) and Jamie Hince take the two piece lo-fi aesthetic, add drum machines, bleeps, distorted guitar and thumping bass lines to create gems of gutter rock.

Living on opposite sides of the Atlantic (Mosshart in Florida and Hince in London) originally, the pair mailed each other tapes of tracks before Mosshart made the move the the Old Blighty and The Kills were born.

Three albums later, with the release of Midnight Boom, they remain true to their original template.  Every track on this is treat, but particularly Sour Cherry, U.R.A Fever, Last Day Of Magic and Cheap And Cheerful.  And the exciting news I gained from researching for this review is their next album is due out very soon.  I hope this means a tour next year cause I'd love to see 'em live too.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Well, it started out OK.  And most of it was fine, but my early hopes for a full-length masterpiece got smashed midway through when the Kills resorted to distored guitars and a bunch of feedback.  I mean, really.  Any indie rock band anywhere.  And there was such promise, especially on song 2, Cheap and Cheerful, which was distinctly hummable.

I loved it when they did the stripped-back sound I was hoping for from a two-piece act.  I hated it when they were predictable.  So pretty much a 50-50 deal, and that's not enough to win me over.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

For more information go to http://www.thekills.tv/

In our collection we also have Keep On Your Mean Side

Joe Jackson - This Is It

MINE

Where do I start?  I've been a fan since Look Sharp, so for many years.  And I've seen him perform a few times too, so excuse me if I just wrap up all the experiences into a little abll and throw them at you.

So one time Sheldon, Ruth, Deb and myself (hi guys!) were going to see the man at Sydney's Entertainment Centre.  I had been responsible for the ticket purchase, and had secured what I though were great seats.  We assembled in someone's car before the gig to partake of (ahem)  what I believe the youngsters of the day would call a doobie.

Some time later we realised we'd missed the support act and would have to get our skates on.  So we stumbled into the venue and I confidently led everyone to what I thought were our seats.  Despite a feeling of unease (on the side of the stage? Really?) we got comfortable.  And then an usher came along with another group of people and pointed out we were approximately 90 degrees away from where our actual seats were, facing the stage and a lot closer to the action.  We sat down just as he walked out.  Whew!  And I really can't remember if it was that concert or one of his others that I saw Mr Jackson's angry side.  At one time he stopped playing because the audience wasn't clapping in time (!) and at another he was using a piece of equipment to play recorded loops.  It malfunctioned.  He destroyed it onstage.  You coulda heard a pin drop.

But despite being Captain Grumpy, I love this man's work.  Different for Girls, Real Men, Is She Really Going Out With Him?  They're all here, they're all great, so just...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

One of the things writing this blog had us wishing for was a turntable as we still have quite a few pieces of vinyl.  So Mine found a second hand one (a really good one too) and we found a space for it.  But because we own a modern amplifier, we discovered we needed a phono preamp of some sort.  Let me tell you this straight up - if you're thinking of doing the same thing, don't, under any circumstances, buy a cheap preamp.  We learnt the hard way.  So despite having a turntable, we are unable to use it until we find a better preamp so we can run it through our system.

What does all this have to do with Joe Jackson?  Well, I would have liked to have said that listening to This Is It made me go and get Look Sharp out of the vinyl collection and play it as I hadn't heard it in years.  The cover of said album informed my sartorial tastes for a number of years to come (not that I wore white winkle-pickers).  This album, along with a few others, were the albums that chased me over the years, constantly grounding me with brilliant song writing.  Joe might have a reputation for being a curmudgeon but he writes such truly great songs, it is easy to forgive his temperament.

This Is It is a retrospective of the ten years Jackson spent with A&M Records (1979 to 1989) and includes some of the best tracks from this period.  While I love the hits, it is the lesser known tracks like Beat Crazy, Steppin' Out and Don't Wanna Be Like That that make me happy we have this collection.  And the live version of Got The Time is almost worth the price of the disc.  Anthrax were never any competition...

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.joejackson.com/

Free CDs - November Throwouts

Free to a good home this month:

Muse: Origin of Symmetry
Lo Fidelity Allstars - Don't Be Afraid of Love

Still going begging from previous months:

28 Days - Upstyledown
Jenny Morris - Shiver
Groove Terminator - Roadkill
Mark Gillespie - Flame
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast
Chris Cornell - Carry On
Frenzal Rhomb - Meet The Family
Portastatic - I Hope Your Heart Is Not Brittle
Goodshirt - Good
Natalie Merchant - Tigerlily
Shamen - Boss Drum
Nikka Costa - Pebble to a Pearl
Enigma - MCMXC AD
Brassy - Got It Made
A Gun Called Tension - A Gun Called Tension
P-Money - Magic City
New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
Gyroscope - Breed Obsession
Queen - Greatest Hits II, Greatest Hits III, Made in Heaven (we're keeping the others)
Come - Near Life Experience, Eleven : Eleven and Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Sugar Ray - Floored

These CDs are available free to anyone who wants them. We even pay for postage - so if you'd like to see an Australian stamp just e-mail us at yourzenmine at gmail dot com.

November Wrapup

YOURZ

November has been a heck of a month for us, here at YourZenMine headquarters, both good and bad.  But life is like that and we're both aware that we have to take the ups with the downs but after everything, be thankful for the life we have.

One of the things bugging me this month has been my struggle with trying to keep this blog fresh and interesting.  While I have enjoyed taking on this challenge so much, I'm concerned I'm becoming a bit stale and boring.  I love writing every day, but as we are getting down to the last month and to the last remnants of our CD collection, it sometimes feels like a bit of chore.

We're also a bit concerned we might run out of music and have been discussing options of what we might do to fill in the small gap.  So far, the best idea is we review some of our favourite albums, ones that the pointy stick never landed on, much to our chagrin.

We've had various meetings regarding these issues among ourselves and our consultants at YZM HQ and the advice we've been given is to listen diligently, encourage the minions slaving away in the tunnels of our minds, spin up the FTL drives and prepare to launch into our final month.  We hope it's one to remember.

MINE

Dragging myself from my sickbed this month has indeed made the blogging a bit more of a chore and a bit less of a pleasure.  Seriously folks, I haven't been this sick for a long, long time - and while it's only bronchitis, it's made me realise how much I've enjoyed rugged good health for all the rest of the year.

So I'll keep this short and say I'm thinking now I'm looking forward to having a break after next month.  Didn't think I'd be saying that when we started!

This month we'll be giving away a CD to a relatively new reader/commenter - NurseMyra.  If you haven't read her blog, go over there now.  It's an ever-expanding eclectic treat of amazing facts about people you've probably never heard of.  Frankly, I don't know where she finds the time!  We'll be passing her a copy of what was certainly my favourite album of the Month - Martin Craft's Silver and Fire, and I hope she finds it as amazing as we do.

The Rebirth Of Cool Series

MINE

This collection remains so good, it's one I have no problem dragging out again and again.  But it's difficult to say exactly what it is.  Acid jazz?  Ambient? Trip-hop?  All of these and more.

The rendition of My Favourite Things (yes, from The Sound of Music) by Ronny Jordan was for many years the theme music to a show I did on community radio.  That's on Volume Three - which I had to re-buy after leaving it in the radio studio one time and having it walk away.  And because of that, I saw Ronny Jordan perform in a small Sydney venue - one of the best jazz guitar performances I've ever seen.

I bought the first album in this collection because it was in the Staff Recommended section of a small music shop I frequented.  And then the rest followed because I couldn't imagine not buying them, the first was so good.  My personal favourite is Phive, but any and all of them are top-notch.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

The Rebirth Of Cool series is one Mine introduced into our collection when we got married. And while I'd heard of it and certainly heard tracks from many of the artists, this compilation series was never really on my radar.

But I'm so glad Mine, in all her infinite wisdom, which I do mean sincerely, had the good taste to purchase the collection because of all the compilations we have (and aside from our perennial favourite, Dusted, and some of the wonderful freebies we've scored from magazines like Mojo and Q over the years) this is by far the best.  But which of the five is top of the list starts fights in our house (okay, it doesn't start fights and if it did, well, I'm a wimp and Mine would probably win all the time).

I really like the first one.  But this is not taking anything away from any of the collections, although I will say this for the compilers: they cast their nets wide for some of these tracks.  But therein is the secret to a good compilation, I believe.  A good compilation has the ability to draw the punter in with a few recognisable names but include damn fine tracks by bands most of us have never heard of and probably will never hear of again.

So, while I could mention names you, dear readers, would recognise, the bombastic part of me wants to name bands you won't know.  Thankfully, I like to think I'm beyond such pretension...  Or maybe saying I'm not means I am...

Erm...

Regardless, there is so much ground to cover if I start naming names, this might well turn into the longest piece I've done for this blog.  But instead, I'll leave it to you to find out for yourselves.  Believe me, it's worth the trouble.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine

YOURZ

Oh, this record is going to make Mine gag.  But I love it.  It is dirty, noisy punk rock belted out by this Canadian two-piece, who have eschewed guitars in favour of fat, distorted and effected bass and pounding drums.  Unfortunately, the band imploded in a fit of spit and bad tempers sometime after releasing You're A Woman, I'm A Machine, their one and only long player.

While I note some similarities to favourites, Queens Of The Stoneage, who are masters of this dirty, fat rock, DFA1979 add their own twist to the formula by building great dance-punk grooves often accompanied by raging, distorted vocals.  On this album, their attack is relentless, with most tracks clocking in under the 3:00 minute mark and only serves to leave me wanting to more.

As a side note, I have to thank my good friend Chris, who passed away recently, for putting me on to this band.  Vale, my faraway friend.  You'll be missed.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

Oh these guys.  YourZ has the t-shirt.  And while I kind of liked the first two songs - especially Romantic Rights  - it all got a bit same-y for me after a while.  But at least the songs were short!

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

For more information go to http://www.deathfromabove1979.com/

Richard Clapton - Best Years Of Our Lives

MINE

Another Aussie name that's indelibly etched on my teenage years, Richard Clapton (or Dick Clap as the less-mature of my friends would have it) is probably our answer to the wave of West Coast sound that washed over us in the late 70s.  

It gave us the feeling we could compete on that stage - with the same lazy-sounding but effortlessly-executed riffs, and lyrics that told us of our East Coast mentality, name-checking Sydney's Palm Beach Road, Bondi Lifesaver and Oxford Street - along with the Tropic of Capricorn, which slices through the top third of our wide brown land.  You see, we share the same Pacific Ocean as the US - just seen from a few thousand miles in the other direction.  We had the same surf culture and the music - and for the first time I think we were starting to understand that despite our British roots, the colonials Down Under had a lot more in common with California than Cornwall.

Richard Clapton's notoriously shy, hiding behind those dark shades in every public appearance, but he's a well-deserved Hall of Famer in the Australian music scene.  And he has a warm, rich voice, that hasn't faded a bit, 40 years down the track.  I'd go and see him perform tomorrow, if I could.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP down in the lucky country

YOURZ

First of all, another big confession: I am not an Eric Clapton fan.  Cream was cool but Clapton's solo work has never done impressed me.  Oh, sure, I acknowledge his ability as a guitarist is without doubt but I find most of his songs to be fairly boring, with notable exceptions, of course.

But Australia has its own Clapton, an artist I much prefer and a man responsible for writing some of our finest songs, including Capricorn Dancer, Deep Water, Lucky Country, I Am An Island and Girls On The Avenue.  Allegedly taking his stage name by combining names of his two favourite artists, Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, his reputation is well deserved.

While growing up in the 70s in the same hometown as Clapton (this being Sydney), his face and music were one of the regular, few Australian constants in a market place saturated with overseas acts.  And while the boy I was then had little appreciation for his songwriting skills, as I've aged, so have my tastes.  The songwriter in me knows brilliance when he hears it.  And age hasn't diminished Clapton's abilities either.  A recent live performance on a local television show only confirms this as he is still as vibrant and dynamic a writer and performer as he ever was.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP 

For further information go to http://www.richardclapton.com