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Artists: Die! Die! Die!

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Our Favourite Artists Of The Decade: Die! Die! Die!

Die! Die! Die!

If you have never seen Die! Die! Die! live then I suggest you stop reading now.

I'm not trying to alienate, segment or dissect the viewers of this website, but I can't really imagine people who have never seen the New Zealand trio perform really understanding why they have been included in this list.

While the band's recorded history - their Albini-produced 'raw as a fuck in a backyard toilet' debut and their utterly brilliant follow-up Promises, Promises - are both fairly incredible albums, it's within the live 'arena' (or more preciously - a small, sweaty venue) that the band truly excel. The crowd interaction, the furious punk delivery and the band's general riotous style of performing all combine to create a genuinely jaw-dropping, face melting experience.

Frontman Andrew Wilson frequently enters the crowd, engaging the audience as part of the performance as much as possible. It's chaotic and undeniably 'punk', yet the music still remains the focus, with the band's onstage antics - even when two-thirds of the band are not on the stage - never taking away from their actual output.

Die! Die! Die!

The collection of videos below obviously doesn't even come close to fully capturing the group's live intensity. They do, however, give you some idea of what I am spaffing on about.

Blue Skies (Camp A Low Hum, 2008)

Out Of The Blue (Camp A Low Hum, 2007)

A.T.T.I.T.U.D. (Dallas, 2008)

Super 8 Diaries Teaser (Melbourne, 2007)

Articles

Things we are looking forward to in 2009

On behalf of the internetz, allow me to welcome you to 2009 - only one year away from The Future!

I know we are all disappointed that we don't have hover bikes, hover cars or reliable (hover-based) public transport yet BUT it's not all doom and gloom and there are plenty of exciting things that are going to happen in twenty oh nine.

The 2009 Sydney Festival

This is the reason that the world birthed Sydney in the first place. It's a joyous, special time. The weather is nice and there are plenty of great things going on all around the place.

We put together a bit of a rundown of things that going on a little while back, but for a full run down of the 'goings on' hit up the official site.

Word is that you need to learn a special dance in order to get into the city from January 10 (tomorrow!) onwards. Apparently those that know The Worm can get away with just doing that.

Also, there are FREE pianos all over the city during the festival. Great for improv piano man jokes.

New albums from Die! Die! Die!, Sunset Rubdown, The Mint Chicks, Tucker Bs and Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

Quintental orgasm! No leakage on the DDD, Rubdown or Casiotone albums yet BUT we have heard a few little sneak peaks from the new Mint Chicks and Tucker Bs records. Both sound mildly incredible.

Talons album is (finally) coming!!

Talons LP

We have got our dirty mits on an advanced (semi-mastered) copy of the album. It's all that... AND some! Prepare for mind explosions!

Dr Dre's Detox

Dr Dre

Aka Hip-hop's Chinese Democracy.

Dr Dre's loooooong awaited follow-up to the (almost classic) 2001 is 'apparently' going to see the light of day 'sometime' in '2009'. Word is that it will be loaded with more guest appearances than a Puff Daddy funded orgy. And be twice as hard. And fourteen times more titillating. Biggie's Small.

Oh.. and.. speaking of Biggie...

Notorious - the Biggie Smalls movie

The only real question is - will everyone stop making movies after this because it will be absolute cinematic perfection? Maybe.

The return of grunge

grunge
Some grunge kids (circa June, 2009).

The critical acclaim of No Age's Nouns in 2008 signified the unofficial 'return of punk rock'. Everyone knows that grunge follows punk so it makes sense that the joyous flano deadshit stoner genre comes back in a big way in 2009. PS: fuck disco.

Once again Brisbane is ahead of the curve and 2008 saw the triumphant explosion of 'grungey' newcomers Violent Soho. Did they shoot their load too early? Maybe.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs are going to release a new album

The band recently performed a new song live and if it's any indication of what the new album will sound like it would seem as though the group are back on track...

2009 = the year where everyone will once again pretend that Karen O is sex on legs. Blondie?

Lil Wayne will win the Grammy for Album Of The Year

If an album with this cover beats out Coldplay for the award then surely that will signal that the music industry is OFFICIALLY back on track.

The look on the face of the dickheads members of Kings Of Leon when SPOD's Dead beats out Sex On Fire for the number one spot in Triple J's Hottest 100

There is a top secret anarchist hacking plan currently in the works to convert this dream into a reality. But you should still go and vote for SPOD just in case our plan fails and/or we get lazy and don't see it through.

KOL (while probably just sitting around, circle-jerking) will be like "Huh? A song about death beat us? But Triple J never even played that song. They played our song every 4 minutes. Our song was about sex. And fire". Then the minds and hearts of a million 16-year old girls who think Sex On Fire is the best song (since the last time My Chemical Romance released anything) will explode over the insanity.

Ok, maybe that's just wishful thinking. Let's all hold (internet) hands though and pray that KOL don't get the top spot. It matters, right?

On a serious note - can we please stop playing Sex On Fire EVERYWHERE..? It's 2009. Time to move on. Thanks.

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So YES they are some of the things we are excited about over the next 12 months. Feel free to drop your own dreams, wishes and inside leg measurements into the comments.

Articles

The biggest disappointments of 2008

Under The Internet Act Of 2004 we are legally bound to post some lists in December. These lists (by design) are used to summarise the year in easy to understand bullet points and for the next week or so we will put together some carefully constructed summaries that hopefully capture our love, hate and concise feelings towards the last 12 months.

So let's kick this off with a list of things that let us down, angered us, frustrated us and made us laugh and/or cry.

TV On The Radio

TV On The Radio - Dear Science
Ok, so maybe we are in the minority with our thoughts of this album BUT we didn't want TVOTR to release a jazzed-up-pop-funk record. We wanted the love child of Cookie Mountain and Bloodthirsty Babes - with just a sprinkle of jizz from the Young Liars EP. Sure, Dead Science is still very very enjoyable BUT it's not good enough to lick the perspiration off the face of either of their previous two records.

At The Drive-In didn't reform
Mars Volta continue to make guitar masturbatory jams and Sparta continue to be boring emo pricks. Hurry up and repair the wounds and complete your destiny. Extra disappointment: Minor Threat also didn't reform.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Eddy Current Suppression Ring didn't win the ARIA
Sure they were an outside outside outside OUTSIDE chance AND there were conflicting stories on whether or not they even attended the award show BUT come on!!! It would have been the best thing to happen to Australian music since the time that Australian Idol dropout smacked Molly Meldrum in the face with his extended microphone.

Weezer released ANOTHER shit album
Despite the incredible album cover Weezer Red was an overcooked snooze-fest. For those playing along at home - that's 2 good albums, 2 average ones and 2 stinkers. The next one is the clincher.

Talons didn't release their debut album
Even with a handbag FUN-draising party and the band selling themselves, their hair and their dignity on several occasions OUR FAVOURITE Sydney band (yeah, we said it!) still didn't manage to CON-vince a record label to put their album out. 2009? Let's fucking hope so.

90210

The new version of Beverly Hills 90210 got axed! TWICE!!!
We do realise that this isn't really music related BUT it makes it no less VERY VERY FUCKING TRAGIC. Words can't describe the pain. This never would have happened if they had just agreed to put Tori Spelling in the show. Sure, her acting skillz make Nicole Kidman look like Audrey fucking Hepburn BUT it was certainly the one thing that cursed the 'class of oh eight' from the get go.

The total lack of new albums by Die! Die! Die!, Sunset Rubdown and The Mint Chicks
On the flip side - all three bands are scheduled to release something new next year! 2009 will be greatest year in music history. It will probably be too good. The world will more than likely wank itself to death over the NEW HOT shit that is gonna come out next year. For realz.

Radiohead didn't make it to Australia
They found plenty of time to set-up remix contests, protest against everything and host a billion-or-so web/videocasts BUT couldn't be assed jumping on a plane and heading our way. Fuckers.

Not enough Dead Farmers
Someone PLEASE inject a billion dollars into the Marrickville music scene already. Fuck!

Nickelback

Coldplay didn't break up and/or die
Word is that the group will finally call it quits in 2009 and put the world out of it's misery BUT until then we have to continue to put up with their brainless self-obsessed crap. Urgh.

Black Kids didn't live up to their hype OR their awesome band name
Booooooooo. Music that went from lo-fi greatness to an over-polished turd in five minutes flat.

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Feel free to throw your own list of things that let you down in 2008 in the comments.

Articles

Our favourite Australian/New Zealand artists of 2008

Every year Sean A Reminder asks a bunch of music nerds, bloggers, DJ's and 'hip peeps' to compile a list of their favourite Australian and/or New Zealand artists for the year. The only rule is that they must be an 'active' artist or group (ie. not broken up). He then takes everyone's lists, mashes them together into a special machine powered by Canadian Club, lust and a single piece of Thom Yorke's hair to create The Super List.

The results of this year's poll are IN! You can view the full final list HERE.

Once again we had the honour of contributing to this great project AND (for once) it seems like some of our picks actually made the final top 28 list. We are all mainstream and cool now.

The list that we submitted:

1. Die! Die! Die!
Still the best LIVE band in the world. If you disagree I will wrestle you.

Here is a video of them performing the CLASSIC track Blue Skies in Melbourne. The footage was shot by the same guys behind the fantastic Super8 Diaries project.

AND if that didn't get you WET, here is a photo of the drummer doing a flip of his drum kit to conclude a show...

Die! Die! Die! = fairly wild

2. Snowman
The Horse, The Rat and The Swan will surely end up being at the top of our favourite albums of the year list when we get around to compiling it sometime in February. Snowman are an exciting, scary and undeniably brilliant group and on the new album they really took their sound to a whole new (dark) place which I never knew even existed.

Snowman - We Are The Plague

3. Further
The most underrated Sydney band EVER! Tactics, released back in February, is their finest work to date and their live show blows me away every single time (no homo). It's criminal that these guys don't play more shows. Oh, and NO they haven't broken up. FACT!

4. Ohana
No other local act 'arrived' more in the oh eight. Well, in our world anyway. I am happy about Ohana's placement in my list for this year because for a while they have existed on the 'cusp', only missing out on cracking the top five because I felt they hadn't quite found the right mix of their math rock precision and their sharp punk edges. Dead Beat found the absolutely millimetre-perfect blend of these styles. They exceeded all of my expectations by about a billion percent.

Ohana - When Things Come Alive

5. The Drones
The Melbourne group really took it up a notch on their new album. Mature, raw, honest and unbelievably engaging. They have found the perfect balance between the dueling sides of their sound - the emotive pain soaked ballads and the raw, head-smashing insanity.

The Drones - Nail It Down

6. Witch Hats
Near perfect dirty swamp music. If you haven't wrapped your ears around Cellulite Soul yet then we highly recommend you sort that out PRONTO.

7. Talons
These young ruffians are getting better and better as they mature their sound and begin to drag their signature punk rock style into unfamiliar and slightly more experimental places. They are growing up with me. I think we will all end up in a nursing home together, talking about the good old days when they used to dedicate songs to my facial hair.

Talons - Mudrockets

8. Dead China Doll
Their self-titled album is an intense piece of music BUT still pails in comparison to their live show. Ring leader Eddy is the sexiest AND most menacing AND most scary frontman in Sydney. He also has the best beard the world has ever laid eyes on. If beards were rap abilities we would be the love child of 1992 Nas and 2008 Lil Wayne.

9. The Mint Chicks
The New Zealand punksters had a fairly quiet year due to the fact they relocated to Portland and lost their drummer (to love). They did however 'leak' a couple of songs that will be on their new album. They are taking their sound to a new and exciting place and it sounds surprising, exciting, incredible and awesome. I wouldn't be at all suprised if they top this list at the end of next year.

What A Way To Start The Day

10. Charge Group
Slow, melodic, emotional music has to be REALLY REALLY good to sucker me in. There is no middle ground. Charge Group's album won me over fairly quickly and even when revisiting it months later I found it to be just as powerful. The perfect accompaniment to a cold night indoors with your friend Mr Gin and his life partner Lady Tonic.

Charge Group - Lunar Module

11. My Disco
Head-thumping. In a good way. Fuck it - when is head-thumping not good? I mean, my lady wakes me up almost every night at one in the morning and asks if I want a good head-thumping and no matter how tired I am from mining, pillaging and writing 'code' I am always up for it. I normally first put My Disco's new album on though. They are good at keeping time and my lady (as much as I lust her) is pretty hopeless at that. Sexual metronome.

12. Ghosts Of Television
The Sydney collective ripped me a new one with their new EP and then ripped me several new ones (and reopened the previously 'ripped' one) with their live show. They used to be kinda hit and miss when they performed but they have really sorted that shit out this year. The EP's closing track, Buzzrds, is THE fucking balls.

Ghosts Of Television - Buzzrd

13. Dead Farmers
Record more. Play more shows in dirty warehouse spaces. Promise me you will play Violence at every show. Evolve into the best band ever already. Fuck.

14. Tucker B's
I only need to see the Tucker B's play once a year to keep my love for them. They are an old pair of socks - comfortable, warm and occasionally used as a 'cum pocket'. I mean... these guys are awesome and their new stuff is on par with everything they have served up in the past.

15. SPOD
The one man excitement machine released an incredibly tight new album this year and his live show is still the most fun you can have with your clothes on and/or without being 'coked up to the eyeballs'.

The video for Dead is pretty mindblowingly amazing.

16. Baseball
There is very little tempo change. It's on. I mean - it's ON! All the time. It sounds like Gladiators (with violins).

17. Naked On The Vague
Jangly off-off-off-centre pop that has been smothered with a dirty pillow and left for dead in a trash can in some seedy back alley.

18. The Nevada Strange
Exciting and fucking scary. I have only seen these guys once but hopefully they haven't been too damaged by the loss of some of some of their members (peeps from The Mercy Arms who have fucked off overseas) and I will get a chance to see them many more times in the not-too-distant future.

19. Violent Soho
These stoner Briscunts invented grunge (again) in 2008 and walked the thin line between homage and theft. Thankfully, it all worked out well.

20. Lindsey Low Hand
These guys are fun, disgusting, sloppy and scummy. Australian pub rock just got stabbed in the face with a smashed longneck bottle.

Lindsey Low Hand - Dull and Ordinary

21. Leader Cheetah
This is more of a future one. These guys will be the top of everyone's list next year. As soon as they (finally!) get their debut album out people will cream their jeans from coast to coast. It will be coast to coast jean creaming the likes of which the planet earth has never witnessed. So, in summary - Adelaide, ex-Pharaohs, jean creaming, Bloodlines, melodic as fuck, 2009.

22. Yes Nukes
The trio of misfits sound better and better every time I see them. Hurry up and move from 'yeah?' to 'fuck holy shit I will fly to Perth to see youse cunts play' please. Thanks.

23. Eddy Current Suppression Ring
ECSR have moved up in the Oz Rawk Ranks^TM in the last twelve months YET have still managed to keep their hard-working DIY ethos in tact. These guys seem to have no separation between their sound and their daily lives and this is what I think makes them such an incredibly engaging band.

24. Damnbuilders
One word - Snake Bite.

Damnbuilders - Snake Bites

25. Atrocities
Seeing these guys live is either unbelievable or confusingly fucked. I think it depends a lot on how drunk and/or 'messed up' they are. Right now they exist in that funny middle ground where it feels like they might explode (or implode) or actually become an amazing band.

26. The Stabs
Raw and painfully good. Their guitar screeching skills are THE fucking balls.

27. Mercy Arms
They really surprised me with their (long overdue) debut album. Easily the trendiest band that made this list.

Mercy Arms - Down Here, So Long

28. Batrider
Much like The Mint Chicks these guys (or more accurately - girls) probably rank higher on my 'favourites of all time list' than on this list, but only because they also headed overseas this year to try and win some new fans and lovers. I only need to listen to Tara once every six months to remember how much I love this band.

29. The Grates
They really surprised me this year and their new album is A LOT better than I thought it would be. They have matured, not a lot BUT they have undeniably moved their sound forward. I think it helps that I don't listen to the radio anymore. Triple J almost murdered these guys for me before the new stuff came out.

30. Devastations
Dark and intense. Like my torrid love life (when I was 19).

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Feel free to drop your own top 10/20/30/100 in the comments.