LOVE MIGRATE.
The Goodnight Owl guys are no longer 😦 But, Love Migrate, the new band for the guys are taking forth that excellent melbourne style indie pop. They’ve got a new track to help celebrate the new name…and kind of a new sound. Although, if you’ve been following the guys for a while, you would’ve noticed that they were doing a lot more guitar driven stuff in the latter stages of the Goodnight Owl era.
Anyways, new track is called Little Kid and it’s already got a pretty stellar review from Dom Alessio over on their Unearthed page. It’s all sorts of good. Starts off sounding like a Goodnight Owl track, with that lone guitar. But then it brings in that bass and that almost raucous sound with the double time drums etc. I like this track a heap.
on the chase
so, usually we tend to post film clips on wednesday as part of our clipnesday series. But this is an exception. It’s still a film clip…but it’s from one of my favourite bands and I don’t know if I can last until next Wednesday to post it!
It is of course Goodnight Owl. It’s their first official clip for anything they’ve done…and by geez they’ve done it good.
The track is Maps & Compasses. It was one of maamf’s faves from last year too. And now the clip!
The clip has been directed by Hayden Calnin and the concept was devised by lead singer Eddie Alexander. It’s a little nuts. Eddie get’s chased and chased and chased. It’s as if the other dudes in the band want more or a role in the band or somethin…
It’s a really nice looking clip too. T’was shot down on the Mornington Peninsula down here in Victoria. If you haven’t been down that way, it’s kinda beautiful. It’s where Where The Wild Things Are was shot too.
If you wanna check out the guys live and you’re down here in Melbourne, then head to The Workers Club down in Fitzroy on Sat July 31st. They’re gonna be launching  the clip with some help from Sleep Decade who are also launching a vid and the director, Hayden Calnin.
Anyway, here’s the clip kids. Enjoy!
The 10 Best Tracks of 2009
I’m beginning to sound like a broken record I know, but this list was probably the most difficult thing I’ve had to compile, even outside of the blog.
I think the main contributing factor behind this is that the blog isn’t specialised, there’s just too much good stuff out there to choose from. We don’t just post some electro/dance kinda stuff. We don’t just put a focus on indie rock. We post both of those…and about 50 other styles too (50 might be a slight tiny exageration…). As our About page says, “we’ll like just about anything”…and whilst this may seem to be a bit of a hinderence when it comes to compiling best of lists, I think it’s what makes maamf just that little bit different…different to the 50 gazillion other music blogs out there.
Anyway, enough of blowing the maamf trumpet and onto the 10 best tracks of 2009.
There’s a good mix here. Some electro, some indie pop, some singer songwriter stuff, hell…even some hip hop. I’ve even numbered them too…big call and was difficult…so please don’t take too much notice of the order the tracks are in!!
10. Goodnight Owl – Maps & Compasses
09. Van She – (Don’t Fear) The Reaper
07. The Golden Filter – Solid Gold
06. Hermitude – Your Call (feat. Urthboy & Elana Stone)
Comment away people! Be interested to know what you think of my list, and what made yours!!
Goodnight Owl Live at the Wesley Anne
Friday night we checked out Goodnight Owl at the Wesley Anne in Northcote. Was a great little gig. Well…actually…it was pretty loud, intense, and chair dance inducing. More on that later though.
About a month or so ago I got sent an EP by Goodnight Owl. I posted one of their tracks, Maps & Compasses and a few people commented on how they liked it and how it kind of blew them away. It blew me away too. The whole EP did actually. Eddie (singer and guitar) has this knack of writing really nice pop songs. And then there’s those beats. The EP highlights the great skills of Joe Walker, electro whiz. The beats are simple, and they’re sophisticated (the time change in the groove on Maps & Compasses always gets me). Adding to this mix is Bella Walker (and presumably the sister of Joe) with some nice keys.
So that’s just the EP. Live, it’s almost like another thing altogether. It’s loud, it’s pumping. Although the crowd were fairly restrained, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them wanted to get up and move and dance and stuff. They fill the band out a bit live with the occasional use of a drummer for a few tracks.
Eddie’s also a pretty funny dude. Although, in some instances, it appears that the funnies comes across as unintentional, it adds to the gig a hell of a lot. There is nothing worse than a good artist/band who has no presence or can’t talk to the audience.
But yeah, onto the songs. If you read this blog a bit you may have noticed that I posted a track by a Sydney band called Seekae called Void. It’s that kind of glitchy popish haunting kinda music. It has that pushy synth sound and all that. Goodnight Owl do a cover of it which you can check out on their MySpace…and they opened the show with it. It was, to put it simply, fucking brilliant. It still had that big hip hop beat that Seekae seem to be massive fans of, but it was all kinda liveish and about 100 times more intense. Eddie has a floor tom out the front which he would belt, adding to this really loud and aggressive sound that they had. It was so good that it actually wore me out. I felt buggered after that first one.
The guys introduced a few non EP tracks throughout the night too and these were great. Sounded just live Goodnight Owl. Especially the final track they played which seemed to indicate more a band sound and less of the electro stuff.
There were some tracks from the EP though. Maps & Compasses was amazing. Sounded much bigger and harder than it does on record, especially the chorus. That was something I was a little hesitant about before the gig actually. The EP incorporates this folk-pop and glitchy electro so well on record, I was a little unsure about how they would pull it off live. But they do. They make it big and it works.
Other highlights that came from the EP were Stale Bread and Verandah. For those that know Stale Bread, it’s definitely not one of the more uptempo tracks on the EP. And live, they stayed true to this…but only for the first half of the track. Halfway through saw the inclusion of drums and some electroness to help create a massive big triumphant finish. Verandah is also another fave of mine. It is such a nice song, the lyrics make me think of home and everything that’s constant when everything else is going a little crazy. (wow…just got a little bit wanky and d&m there for a minute…haha…it is a really sweet song though. You know…makes you think and stuff). Anyway, live, Verandah sounded so sweet and just pushed along and made you feel happy.
One thing I remember thinking throughout the gig was “where the hell is the album??” A full length would be bloody impressive and if you see the guys live or you’ve heard the EP, I’m sure you’d agree.
Although their slot was a little short (there was an 11pm noise curfew in place – residential area and all that crap), they put on a great set. It was brilliant actually. The supports were also pretty nice (Ashley Bee did some great guitar pop and Nick Huggins and a dude going by the name of Seagull provided a heap of electro glitch experimental pop kinda stuff).
Probably my favourite of the night (apart from the Seekae remix) was Verandah. Here it is…just below 🙂
Goodnight Owl – Verandah
(iTunes)
new music first #11
wow. It’s been a while I know. I’m in exam mode at the moment so the whole blog thing has been put on the backburner. But, I figure I should at least get one post out there for you guys! And what better than an all encompassing New Music First post. Some pretty good stuff here – eclectic. All with an electronic tinge though which is always good!
First up is a local band called Goodnight Owl. These guys are from Melbourne and they produce some pretty nice guitar pop music. But then it has something else. It’s like a great sounding acoustic track but with this awesome glitchy electro stuff beneath it. It’s a really nice blend. Great lyrics too. If you’re in Melbourne also, you should check them out – they’re playing a few shows in early December. Check out the info here.
Goodnight Owl – Maps and Compasses
(iTunes)
Next up is a band that’s kinda exploded in blog land. They’re called Sleigh Bells and they’re…well…i don’t know. Apart from good, they’re definitely good. Already, you can see they’ve got two sides. A loud full on blown out distorted fucking great in your face style sound. They’ve also got a great nice, sweet pop sound. I like the loud abrasive sound the best. Crown on The Ground is definitely that. Oh…and just in time for Christmas! haha…sorry…had to get that in.
Sleigh Bells – Crown On The Ground
Third up on the list is Fuck Buttons. I got turned on to these guys through The Sound Lab on Triple J radio here in Australia. They produce some pretty awesome glitchy techno i suppose. I don’t know really, i’m no good with genre’s. I will say that it pumps, they all grow into something really big, they’re full of massive layers of sound, and the majority of their songs are pretty long. Including the track bellow, Space Mountain.
(iTunes)
Fourth on my little list of tricks is a band out of Brooklyn. Sensual Harassment are they’re name and they’ve been around for a short while. They cited (the M A A M F loved) Miami Horror as a band they like in the email they sent me so I thought I should give them a shot. They’re track, Daddy Long Legs is great. Is funky, slow groove, comes to an almighty climax mid way and keeps it going throughout.
Sensual Harassment – Daddy Long Legs
(iTunes)
Last on ze listo is The Swiss. You guys may have heard of these dudes before. They’re from South Australia but we won’t hold that against them because they produce some pretty awesome DISCO! Movement 1 has been around for a little while already and it’s part of a big Movement EP with three movements. Other than that, they’ve also remixed Ladyhawke’s Magic which I’m sure some of you have heard. Hell, they’re even supporting Ms Hawke on her current national tour. Must be love. Anyway, you should all check these dudes out. They’re the Next Crop feature artist today for Aus Music Month on Triple J too. Check out a new track called Bubble Bath on the Next Crop/Home & Hosed blog too. Bloody killer.
Anyway, that’s it. Mammoth post, so hopefully that will do you for a while and I can get back to my study. Last exam is on the 23rd, so expect a lot more amazing sounds after that.
K. That’ll do the ramble for now.
MAAMF: an australian music blog 