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Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Enjoying the new Jack Johnson album
Is that the one with the acoustic songs and the single has a video of him in a neutral coloured t-shirt looking out at the surf like it's a Corona ad? I think there's that song where he sort of da-dee-dee-doo's too.
 

Dynamics

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Any Mastodon listeners? If so what do you make of Toe to Toes?

Those Van Halenesque elements are a pretty good hook for me and Brett's mini solo right at the end is nice. I like it. It's like they said yeah yeah, we've changed, whatever... we're having fun... see if you like this little ditty we knocked up. Bye.

Fun song to play in the car.
 

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Any Mastodon listeners? If so what do you make of Toe to Toes?

Those Van Halenesque elements are a pretty good hook for me and Brett's mini solo right at the end is nice. I like it. It's like they said yeah yeah, we've changed, whatever... we're having fun... see if you like this little ditty we knocked up. Bye.

Fun song to play in the car.

I love the new EP, absolutely awesome.
 

Richard Cranium

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Gotta say, pretty disappointed with the LCD album. Comes across as lazy, really: not much actual songwriting, couple of tracks that sound like direct knock offs of older tracks, all with plenty of bloated and distorted synths piled on top to try and hide its shortcomings. Weird mixing on it too.
 

AngryRanga

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Gotta say, pretty disappointed with the LCD album. Comes across as lazy, really: not much actual songwriting, couple of tracks that sound like direct knock offs of older tracks, all with plenty of bloated and distorted synths piled on top to try and hide its shortcomings. Weird mixing on it too.
I only liked oh baby. But I've only really enjoyed five of their songs (shorter and quicker ones) so I'm not a big fan of their style.
 

Kakkle

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Glad to see him back.

 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Gotta say, pretty disappointed with the LCD album. Comes across as lazy, really: not much actual songwriting, couple of tracks that sound like direct knock offs of older tracks, all with plenty of bloated and distorted synths piled on top to try and hide its shortcomings. Weird mixing on it too.
I swear I said this before but yeah every drum beat is like a slightly changed version of an older one. The synths come in and they're just annoying whereas before they had a reckless charm or served some sort of purpose. Agree on the mixing. About zero of the lyrics are even half-important either – almost impressive how he didn't write a single awful nor good lyric, they're all just lyrics...

The comeback was dumb as * and just proved him to be a fat egotistical campaigner in it for the money. Would rather them have hung it up and had the three good albums and the nice little arc and story.
 
BIGSOUND really is a bloody good festival. Cracking week with that, free gigs all throughout the week, and Jeff Rosenstock last night. A few notes:

  • Ziggy Ramo put on the best set I saw all week, and probably one of the best sets I've ever seen. It was pretty remarkable how much he worked into 30 minutes, and it was so powerful. Emotionally gripping. He clearly holds what he writes close to his heart, and he is a fantastic performer. His studio work is pretty good, but that live performance was on a completely different level.
  • sleepmakewaves are awesome performers. Sound just as good live, if not better than they do in their studio music. Also seem like great dudes too. Were happily chatting to their fans after the set. Seem like a great group of people.

  • Clowns were awesome, but made a pretty edgy remarks about BIGSOUND and their merchandise policies. Sold merch behind the festival's back. BIGSOUND take 25% of all merchandise sales, which is a bit harsh on the musicians considering they're not paid, but I guess you have to fund the festival somehow. Especially if it is to be kept cheap enough to keep people going and giving Aussie musicians exposure. Cool set, but that sort of rubbed me the wrong way.

  • Donny Benet puts on a bloody fun live show. Like the sound of his new tracks too.

  • Hatchie's set was good, although her other songs were somewhere in-between Try and Babaganouj which was kind of disappointing. Was hoping she would go all out with that 80s pop theme she was striving for. The Babaganouj sound is just kind of overdone now. Probably borrows some inspiration from The Creases as well, considering she's dating Joe and he plays with her live. Still pretty good music, and maybe I'm just sooking because of the people around me during the set. Overweight couple that would not shut up and kept almost falling on me in front of me, and a bunch of dickheads talking about how "boring" Courtney Barnett is and how sick Dune Rats are behind me - way to have your own opinions guys.

  • Jeff Rosenstock made me develop an even bigger man crush for him.

  • Cousin Tony's Brand New Firebird will become big fast.

  • Lonelyspeck, RVG, Sweater Curse, Easy Life, Jess Locke (been a big fan for a few years) and Holiday Party are all really exciting up-and-coming acts.
 

NotAMagpieBogan

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The Laneway lineup is pretty well stacked. Stoked about The War On Drugs, BADBADNOTGOOD, Mac Demarco, Anderson Paak and Alex G. Looking forward Father John Misty after he played my favourite set of Splendour this year. Clashes will be a hassle no doubt, but I'll probably check out Wolf Alice and Slowdive depending on who else is playing at the same time.

Had a laugh at the lineup getting s**t on by the comment section of Triple J's Facebook. Good to have Laneway go back to what it was earlier, other than it just being the same as any other Australian festival like it had been for the last couple of years. Only 7 of the 26 acts are Australian, with Amy Shark being a massive odd one out. Definitely just a token act to please the Triple J listeners.
 

Gibbsy

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Yeh when I saw the lineup I actually thought it appealed a lot less to JJJ listeners than the last few years. Which in this day of Falls and Splendour, who openly admit they target that exact market, is probably a good thing. Had to laugh at the guy on Facey commenting that there weren't enough internationals these days...
 

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Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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View attachment 414787

The Laneway lineup is pretty well stacked. Stoked about The War On Drugs, BADBADNOTGOOD, Mac Demarco, Anderson Paak and Alex G. Looking forward Father John Misty after he played my favourite set of Splendour this year. Clashes will be a hassle no doubt, but I'll probably check out Wolf Alice and Slowdive depending on who else is playing at the same time.

Had a laugh at the lineup getting s**t on by the comment section of Triple J's Facebook. Good to have Laneway go back to what it was earlier, other than it just being the same as any other Australian festival like it had been for the last couple of years. Only 7 of the 26 acts are Australian, with Amy Shark being a massive odd one out. Definitely just a token act to please the Triple J listeners.
It's total s**t and the cold reception is pretty harsh considering the sort of tepid lineups that warrant mass-tagging and 'INSANE lineup!' comments.

To me it's just a bunch of bands that have been here, played it before, or are tracking okay in their career. Mac DeMarco has played the festival twice in the last three years, The Internet have toured one style-over-substance album three times here after this, and acts like Father John Misty are not just average but they don't have any hardcore fans who'd live and breathe them and want to see them every single tour. Loyle Carner was okay, disappointing album that was pretty bland, but he's already been here for GTM and played small shows in most capital cities and I imagine everyone who'd be half-keen to see him would have done so. It's basically has beens and a middling circuit of seen-before bands. Chuck this on an undercard and it's alright but:

It's now $175 for one day. That's a fair bit of money considering it'll be $150 on the day for some food and beers.

Laneway is notoriously bad for clashes. Even when it's a weak lineup they somehow stack all the good acts within about two hours. The odd thing is sometimes this happens between 3pm to 5pm sometimes, or they have three good guitar bands and there's an overlap.

Wolf Alice are a band I like but they're tiny in Australia and wouldn't be any fun. In the UK they could sell out a 1,000 night venue in a secondary city – here I seriously doubt the Corner would be full.

Slowdive during the day, inevitably.

That s**t awful Melbourne site where the stages are poorly laid out and the walk between them means you either have to camp for a good spot or be stuck 100 metres behind, while the heat hits you and the shade is non-existent.

Then the only bonafide really nice site, Fremantle, attracts a huge demographic of twats and dickheads on bad drugs.

Reckon this'll sell pretty poorly and they could end up in a situation where they're just another Splendour/Falls but without the camping and trip away, which is what people like. Also what kind of ******* idiot doesn't book Beach Fossils or Alvvays? Super cheap, good fun, not as small as you'd think here, and both promoting very good new albums.
 

Lums23

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It's total s**t and the cold reception is pretty harsh considering the sort of tepid lineups that warrant mass-tagging and 'INSANE lineup!' comments.

To me it's just a bunch of bands that have been here, played it before, or are tracking okay in their career. Mac DeMarco has played the festival twice in the last three years, The Internet have toured one style-over-substance album three times here after this, and acts like Father John Misty are not just average but they don't have any hardcore fans who'd live and breathe them and want to see them every single tour. Loyle Carner was okay, disappointing album that was pretty bland, but he's already been here for GTM and played small shows in most capital cities and I imagine everyone who'd be half-keen to see him would have done so. It's basically has beens and a middling circuit of seen-before bands. Chuck this on an undercard and it's alright but:

It's now $175 for one day. That's a fair bit of money considering it'll be $150 on the day for some food and beers.

Laneway is notoriously bad for clashes. Even when it's a weak lineup they somehow stack all the good acts within about two hours. The odd thing is sometimes this happens between 3pm to 5pm sometimes, or they have three good guitar bands and there's an overlap.

Wolf Alice are a band I like but they're tiny in Australia and wouldn't be any fun. In the UK they could sell out a 1,000 night venue in a secondary city – here I seriously doubt the Corner would be full.

Slowdive during the day, inevitably.

That s**t awful Melbourne site where the stages are poorly laid out and the walk between them means you either have to camp for a good spot or be stuck 100 metres behind, while the heat hits you and the shade is non-existent.

Then the only bonafide really nice site, Fremantle, attracts a huge demographic of twats and dickheads on bad drugs.

Reckon this'll sell pretty poorly and they could end up in a situation where they're just another Splendour/Falls but without the camping and trip away, which is what people like. Also what kind of ******* idiot doesn't book Beach Fossils or Alvvays? Super cheap, good fun, not as small as you'd think here, and both promoting very good new albums.
I must admit this managed to be a better rant than I was expecting from you
 
I like the Laneway line-up without loving it. Much better than Falls. The War On Drugs was always going to sell it for me. Anderson Paak, Alex G and BADBADNOTGOOD are all good though. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Moses Sumney are pretty alright too. I've also missed Mac DeMarco every time he's come too, so will probably try to check him out.

Do have to laugh at the Triple J fanboys sulking about it though. The Australian festival scene (well, at least major festivals) is an absolute joke.
 

katana

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problem with that laneway lineup is pretty much that it's just the same bunch of artists who always come out. Moses Sumney was on last year's Sugar Mountain bill, BBNG played Meredith last year, FJM literally just played Splendour, Aldous Harding is on the Meredith bill this year (??), Odesza seem to turn up every couple of months (infact, I think they're playing the forum next week). there's no point calling them 'internationals' if they're here every year.

i mean, it's one thing to get artists out every album cycle (mac demarco, the war on drugs), but it's getting a bit ridiculous how few artists companies take a risk on touring, as if australians were safe and boring... wait.
 
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Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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The only good thing about that lineup is it appeals to what most of us were when we were 16-19; hyped and blogged about artists who aren't actually that good but their name appears everywhere so you listen to them while yet to really decide what you do and don't like in music. Like you could probably sit out the front of this Laneway and ask everyone what their favourite frontwoman is in indie and get about three answers (the chick from Chvrches ranking at the top). And the lines for the beer would be tiny because they'd be worried about drinking in the sun. The nuances of the Zachary Cole Smith/Sky Ferreira relationship and break up would be between-set-chat.
 

Gibbsy

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The only good thing about that lineup is it appeals to what most of us were when we were 16-19; hyped and blogged about artists who aren't actually that good but their name appears everywhere so you listen to them while yet to really decide what you do and don't like in music. Like you could probably sit out the front of this Laneway and ask everyone what their favourite frontwoman is in indie and get about three answers (the chick from Chvrches ranking at the top). And the lines for the beer would be tiny because they'd be worried about drinking in the sun. The nuances of the Zachary Cole Smith/Sky Ferreira relationship and break up would be between-set-chat.

loving the new avy. Nomination for Ruby Fields as cute chick of indie even though her music is bland and deriviative

ruby-fields-1024x577.jpg
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Nah she looks like a chick from a coastal town who moves up for uni and relocates to Northcote and becomes a bit cool a bit too early. Or some chick you see around South Terrace living between her café job and South Beach. I pay it.
 

Gibbsy

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Jeez that's rough call. Ruby Fields is the face of girls who say 'yeah the boys', which couldn't be any less cute in my mind.

I hate that saying. There's some idiot 4WD driver in the region who has it as a sticker on the back of his car and I've driven past him on the highway on the way home from work twice this week alone. It stirs up an anger inside me.
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Anyone heard the new Alvvays? I initially hated the fast paced songs like Hey and Your Type, found them just boring songs to change the pace for the sake of it, but those songs have grown on me and I've found myself humming them and wanting to give them a listen. The last ones to hit me are Already Gone and Forget About Life... we'll see, but so far they're the slow songs for the sake of a change of pace.

I was in love with Dreams and Not Your Baby when they debuted live and it made me feel so differently about this band. The album versions are good too. The drum machine on Not Your Baby initially seemed pretty aggravating, a bit like when you hear a studio version of a Radiohead song that was better live, but it works and the Blink 182-recalling verse is so good. New Haircut/Saved By A Waif is a beauty but should be a centrepiece – what a one-two it would be after Not Your Baby or with a song in between.

In Undertow one of the songs of the year, has everything... melancholy, powering, a great sense of an ending relationship... we tossss and tuuuuuurn in underrrtow-oh-oh, oh-oh. The 'there's no turnin', there's no turnin'' is great live too, has a real sense of everyone nodding and moving slightly to the same rhythm. Love the canter.

What else do I like? Oh the production on the song and word 'lollipop.'

Some of Molly's lyrics are insane too, just the delivery. And the subtle synth parts, the well thought out guitar bits that come and go. Underrated little band.
 

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