Because We Don't Do Everything Together - Deftones, UNSW Roundhouse - Sydney - 28 January 2011

I'm not a huge metal fan but there are a few acts that really rock my world.  And of these, my favourite is, without a doubt, Deftones.  I've been a fan of theirs since I first heard Around The Fur.  But listening to them is not anything like seeing them live.  Thanks to a Christmas present from Mine, this is exactly what I was going to be doing.

Their only side-show in Sydney while touring with the Big Day Out, Deftones made it an all-ages to accommodate their younger fans.  As a consequence, I barely had time to look at the merch stand (disappointing) before Deftones started their set.  I raced up stairs to the balcony level and was surprised by how good a view I was able to get.  Even so, the few photos I took with my phone don't really do the position justice.  And of course, being the sort of gig it is, the constant jostling made it even more difficult.  See what I mean: 

Looking down on the thrashing sea (well, large pond) of punters, I was glad to be standing in the relative calm on the balcony.  Stand-in bass player, Sergio, looked to be at home with the rest of the band, working seamlessly with Abe Cunningham's percussion and darting between his mic and the front of the stage, while Stephen Carter's hulking presence is personified by his massive guitar riffs layering over Frank Delgado's keys and soundscapes.  

But if the night belongs to anyone, it is to Chino Moreno, who not only held the audience in the palm of his hands but whose vocals were every bit as powerful as they are on record. Standing on a platform over the top of the fold-back speakers, it wasn't hard to imagine it as an altar, with Chino sacrificing his voice over and over, much to the delight of the sweaty throng.  

The set, a massive 23 songs, included material from all their releases.  I loved hearing older tracks like Minerva, Nosebleed, My Own Summer (Shove It) and personal favourite Around The Fur.  I was a little disappointed they didn't play Back To School but with six albums of material, its not hard to understand why it didn't make it.  There is no denying the power of the new tracks included in the the set however.  Diamond Eyes was made to be performed live while Sextape provides a welcome change of pace between Royal and big crowd favourite, Rocket Skates.  Check out the full set list here.

I'm sure Deftones have no problems playing the big stages, but there is nothing like seeing a band such as this in a small venue.  And while it's still early in the year and I may end up eating these words; could this be a contender for gig of 2011?  Only time will tell, I guess.

VERDICT: Vital!

Forays Into Forgotten Vinyl - Vinyl Tidings

YOURZ

Mine and YourZ truly were weaned on a diet of flat black plastic growing up.  As we moved from teen petulance to young adult… well, erm, petulance, our vinyl collections were suddenly usurped by digital interlopers called CDs.  Because we (and yes, I have the courage, in this instance, to speak for both of us) are attracted by bright shiny things, our poor vinyl collections were superseded.  

Also out were the good old reliable turntables, replaced first by CD players then by DVD players.  We loved the new technology because we could pogo, mosh and/or bump'n'grind in front of the stereo without any fear of a causing a skip, jump or scratch.

Unlike most, however, we couldn’t let go of our albums.  When we combined households years ago, we both dragged two crates of records into the mix as well.  We used the full as speaker stands but found the more we looked at them, the more we longed for a record player.

Then late last year, Mine purchased, for a modest price, a Technics SL-D2 direct drive turntable (which apparently was considered quite good in its day).  Soon after, she also got a great preamp as a Christmas present. And this is where the music part of this post starts.

Christmas Day, instead of traditional carols, we played every single Midnight Oil album and the one single we owned.  It was like listening to a time machine, a powerful reminder of days gone by.  We listened to lots of other music too - The Flowers, Divinyls, John Kennedy, Paul Kelly, The Hollowmen and INXS, to name just the Australian acts (or at least those we could remember - we had a very jolly Christmas).  But it was Midnight Oil who ruled the day.  

We started with Place Without A Postcard, followed by Head Injuries, then 10, 9, 8..., Red Sails In The Sunset and the Power And The Passion single with a dub version on the B side - not necessarily in the right chronological order, but close.  As I listened, I felt connected with a time when life was stretched way out in front of me, brimming with all sorts of possibilities.  It teased me with the exuberance of youth I no longer have while reminding me of how good I have it now.  It was also the perfect way to spend a Christmas Day with the one I love.

VERDICT: Vital

MINE

While many of my friends and acquaintances have chosen to throw away their vinyl collection, I've never been able to my records go.  While more and more old music is re-released on CD and for download, many of the albums I loved in my youth miss out.  So for some time now, I've trawled the pages of eBay looking for my holy grail - a Direct Drive turntable in good condition at a reasonable price.

I have to confess that I bought this particular model because it was one I'd used before.  In fact, when my first husband bought it sometime in the late 70s it was very expensive and state-of-the-art.  I love the fact that it has a series of black lines on the side of the platen - so you can adjust the speed for pin-point 33 and 45 rpm speeds.

When I first bought it, we went in search of a phono preamp and picked one up for a very small sum.  Be warned, cheap preamps aren't worth the cash, and we abandoned our first vinyl session pretty quickly after finding a bass hum - probably because it wasn't earthed.  But Christmas Day dawned and the first crisp, clear notes rang out.  As did the hisses and crackles from long-ago times, and the odd jump as we re-learned to tip-toe past the turntable. (Do you have the same song in your head that I do?)

What I thought was remarkable about the rest of that day wasn't that we chose to play all our Midnight Oil (come on, Peter Garrett is our federal MP!) but that there were very few arguments about what we were going to play.  We pulled out lots of albums, scattered them all around the room and had a hoot of a time.  We danced (well, I danced), sang and generally carried on as if we were 20 years younger.

More please.

VERDICT: Vital

The Comeback

Yes, we can hear you.  We know we've been a bit slack but as you can see, we put our designers to work while we swanned about enjoying time with family and friends - indulging ourselves copiously and often.  Twas the season to be jolly and all...

We talked a lot about where we might take the whole 'YourZenMine' thing once we'd finished our initial challenge.  All the hours spend at endless meetings, the arguments and debates can be condensed to the following five categories:

1. What Isn't On Our Ipod
2. Forays Into Forgotten Vinyl
3. Visual Aspects
4. Because We Don't Do Everything Together
5. A Way With Words

The meanings of each of these is either evident or will become so as we continue.  

The astute among you will also notice the ratings have changed to suit our broader interests.  Feel free to make use of these any time you fancy.

And off we go...

The Final Wrapup

YOURZ

It's the Final Wrapup... (to the tune of Final Countdown by Europe)

First of all, apologies for putting that dreadful song in your head but I really couldn't help it...

So, we made it.  All the way to the end.  Three hundred and sixty five days of music reviews.  Sure, there were a few moments when we thought we might not get here but thankfully, we stuck to our guns and kept on truckin'.  And I'm glad we did.  The feeling of achievement is undeniable.  In fact, aside from a couple of reviews being a little late on the day, we've not missed one single deadline.  For a world champion procrastinator like me, this is huge.

There have been some absolutely wonderful albums we've reviewed over the year, so much so, it's hard for me to pick a favourite.  The variety has been quite astounding.  I'm also pleased to say I think there was a great balance between new and old music.  Some of the ones that come to mind include The Dead Weather, The Beatles, Paul Kelly, The Clash, Gorillaz, Sleepy Jackson, QOTSA, Florence & The Machine, Washington and Them Crooked Vultures, to name a very few.  Somewhat surprisingly, instead of reducing our collection to a more manageable number as we thought this might do, our collection has actually grown.  And we couldn't be happier.

One of the best things about starting this is meeting some great, like-minded people from around the world.  It is a constant source of delight to me to get a comment from someone living on the other side of the planet who, through no particular fault of their own, shares similar views.  That sense of being part of a community is wonderful.

With this in mind, our final give-away will be going to the one of the people who have offered us great advice, comments and friendship over the year.  This is not to say you all don't deserve something, because you do.  But we're not Oprah (thankfully), so we've had to make a hard decision about who its going to be.  Our friend Martin, at Music Obsessive, has provided some great comments, food for thought and support over the  year and we are very grateful for it.  There is a special padded bag of goodness on its way to him, along with our heartfelt thanks.

A big thanks to Mine; my lovely wife, best friend and the smartest, prettiest sparring partner I could have ever hoped for - thanks for putting up with my raving, ranting and general palaver.  You continue to rock my world!

So, where to now.  One thing we know is we'll be taking a bit of a break for the first couple of weeks of the year to collect ourselves and get some idea of what we'll be doing.  Rest assured, we'll be back, but just not every day.  And we've already decided to expand our reviews to include all the different interests we have, both together and separately.  And we look forward to sharing these with you.  Thanks for sticking with us so far.

Happy New Year!


MINE


Let him get in the first word and he never shuts up... that's something I've come to love about YourZ.  Of course, I have a tendency to babble too, so often the volume of stream-of-consciousness at or house reaches death metal levels.

I'll admit that when we were coming up the final days, all I wanted to do was stop.  It's been a bit of a stretch for me, just because writing is what I do for a living and this has on occasion felt like a second, part-time job.  Some days it's hard to get enthusiastic about a review when I've had eight hours of intensive reading, writing and editing under my belt already.  But that's not to say that I haven't also managed to write a lot of this in my downtime from said day job.

I guess it's the enthusiasm that YourZ has managed to hold for this project through thick and thin that's kept me tagging along; sometimes willingly, sometimes with that sulky teenage whine and sometimes kicking my heels in an all-out childish tantrum.  So I guess I have to thank him, too for getting us through it.  And for enthusing me enough to consider keeping this going next year.  Expanding our horizons with more things to review.  But always with our two points of view.

We've made some great friends along the way, and I hope you'll hang in there while we take a breath and regroup.  New horizons in the New Year.  Hope you all have a fabulous time.  As a good friend of mine said to me in high school - "Have fun, rave lots, don't O.D."  Wise words that I've managed to stick by for some thirty-odd years.

Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R

YOURZ

Here is a recap for you: we started this project not because we love writing (which we do) or because we love music (which we do) but because we basically wanted a novel way of going through our collection and moving them to our newly-acquired (at the time) Ipod.  So it is rather telling that Queens Of The Stone Age are one of the very few bands whose every CD we own have been all put to the digital library.

I think everyone who is a fan has a favourite QOTSA album.  Every album is a winner in my world but Rated R is the biggest winner of them all.  Maybe its because around the time it was released, I saw them tour for Big Day Out.  Or maybe because it's just a beer-swilling, drug-enhancing, kick-arse and take numbers rock album that does surprisingly well with the ladies too.

Yes, this does have their anthemic Feel Good Hit Of The Summer, but it also has the best recording of Monsters In The Parasol, a fantastic piece of rock nonsense and the way-cool wig out that is Better Living Through Chemistry.  It also has the crazy shit provided by Nick Oliveri, whose live appearance did not include anything done in the nude, thankfully.  And seeing them perform Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret was a  highlight I still remember.

I don't think we could end this project on a better note.  I'm sure Mine would probably disagree but then, isn't this what this project has been all about?

VERDICT: TURN IT UP


MINE

Feel Good Hit of the Summer.  Ain't nothing better.  Frankly, I don't really care about the rest of the album, all I want to do is turn this up L-O-U-D and dance.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (wait, didn't I already say that?)


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

Massive Attack - Blue Lines

MINE

Not only do I own and love Blue Lines, and I think everything else Massive Attack have done, but I'm still holding on to a video of theirs for Be Thankful (even though we don't even own a video player any more) because it's my favourite video ever.  Of all time.  But now, I guess it's available on YouTube or MySpace or something - see?  Um, that's emphatically not G-rated!

I love that song so much I own the Paul Oakenfold remix single and consider it every bit as essential as the album.  But I still haven't seen them live.  Funny, each time they've toured, I've either missed out on hearing the announcement or I've been too poor to afford tickets.

However, this is one album that gets its time on the home dancefloor.  Over and over again.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP 

YOURZ

What to say about Blue Lines other than it is another absolutely essential piece of music.  I still find it hard to believe this was the début for Massive Attack, but there you go.  

One thing I didn't reveal when we reviewed Mezzanine is that I've never actually owned a single Massive Attack record because every one else I knew owned them and played them all the time.  I have to thank Mine for adding this and their other albums to our collection.  It would have been lacking without them.  And thanks for picking this one out too.

The video accompanying Safe From Harm is still one of my favourites too.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

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

Beck - Odelay

YOURZ

This diminutive Scientologist, born and bred in LA, has had a huge amount of influence on me as a songwriter and producer.  I've been a big fan ever since his first major label release, Mellow Gold, and his independent releases but if there is one album that defines him, then it is Odelay, winning numerous awards when it was released in 1996, including a Grammy.  It has since consistently appeared on best-of lists right around the world.

Like a lot of music I love, Beck bravely explores the boundaries between genres, breaking through the confining walls of folk, pop, punk, hip hop, country and whatever the heck else to create something brilliantly idiosyncratic, amazing and absolutely essential.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

OK, this is better Beck.  Confirmed readers will know I wasn't impressed with the album the pointy stick selected of the (seemingly hundreds) of Beck albums YourZ owns.  This one is much, much better.  I like it.  Um.

OK, so I don't have much more to say about it.  Which seems a bit silly, given that I've had to wait about 24 hours to do this review, because I wasn't feeling very well.  But after about 12 hours' sleep, I'm still no closer to imparting any words of wisdom.

Guess I'll just have to say sorry for the delay on Odelay.  Thank you, thank you.  I'll be here all week.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

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