Author Archive
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
The Gutter Twins
Image by serenity_now via Flickr
I’m a heretic. The best album by a Seattle band wasn’t recorded by Nirvana. Oh no. Or Pearl Jam. Nup. Soundgarden … sorry. Alice In Chains, never. No, the best album EVER recorded by a Seattle band is Dust by The Screaming Trees. A beautiful insouciant mixture of raw grunge, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Electronic, Music, Pop, Rock by Mike Gee
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
Jeff Buckley: a mother’s tale
Image via Wikipedia
Since the death of her son, Jeff Buckley, 12 years ago on May 29, Mary Guibert has dedicated much of her life to his legacy – the unreleased work he left behind – and his memory. In her own words, she works hard, travels a lot and loves what she does.
For now that [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Music by Mike Gee
Friday, May 1st, 2009
Little Birdy
Little Birdy (via last.fm)
Many years ago, Tom Waits ended his concert twirling an umbrella fast, faster, faster still, as confetti cascaded down from the ceiling. Eventually he just disappeared. It was beautifully choreographed yet random and spontaneous. And that’s the thing about confetti – it draws any number of illusions and allusions depending on the [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Music by Mike Gee
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
Marky Ramone
They were the brothers Ramone – even though they weren’t actually brothers. They changed the face of music – even though they had no intention of doing anything so formidable. Spanning three decades, their spirit and energy lives on, gloriously, 35 years after they formed in Queens, New York, and 13 years after they split [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Music, Punk, Rock by Mike Gee
Thursday, February 12th, 2009
The Waifs
Donna Simpson is tired, very tired. The guitarist and vocalist with West Australian folk rockers, The Waifs, has just played three nights in a row in Melbourne, and there have been friends, lots of friends, in attendance. And then there have been after show drinks, maybe a bite to eat, perhaps a few more [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Acoustic, Indie, Music, People, Roots by Mike Gee
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
All Tomorrows Parties
It was dubbed the festival for people who hate festivals. It was much more. All Tomorrows Parties, curated by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, brought to Australia a laidback, devilishly cool, trippy day out in an almost perfect venue with extraordinarily good sound on all four stages and an exquisite line-up. Not a snotty [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Alternative, Indie, Music, Musings, Punk, Review, Rock, Roots by Mike Gee
Friday, October 17th, 2008
Oasis
Okay, I take some of it back. Oasis are not washed up old Britpop has-beens. While 2005’s Don’t Believe The Truth had white-limbed little Pommy critics bouncing up and down in their bedsits proclaiming the return of the Gallaghers, some of us were less convinced. Okay, it wasn’t quite the tub of lard most of [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Music, People, Pop, Review, Rock by Mike Gee
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Polyphonic Spree: review
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The Metro Theatre, Sydney
29/07/08
Famously, a reviewer once declared he’d touched God at a Radiohead concert. I didn’t at The Polyphonic Spree but I went so close it didn’t matter. This was the best concert of 2008. An extraordinary celebration of everything that is great about rock music; uplifting, deeply [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Entertainment, Music, Musings, People, Review, Rock by Mike Gee
Monday, July 21st, 2008
The Polyphonic Spree
Who would have believed that out of the ruins of US indie psych popsters, Tripping Daisy, a band born of a different time and place and respirited in the ‘90s, would come the all singing, all dancing, quite remarkable entity that is the currently 23-strong The Polyphonic Spree?
And who would have thought a stage full [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Alternative, Entertainment, Indie, Musings, People, Punk, Rock by Mike Gee
Friday, July 18th, 2008
Albert Hammond Jr
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Albert Hammond Jr is a strangely elusive man. The Strokes’ rhythm guitarist/songwriter is also a restless type. Holidays are short. While the rest of the band is off enjoying a substantial break in the wake of touring its third album, First Impressions Of Earth - a break lead singer Julian [...]