Polaroids Of Androids

The National!!!!

Well said, this IS a truly great album. Each and every song has many, many great things to discover and fall in love with. 9.9 might be a tad strong, but this is surely one of the best two or three albums in 2010.

Mines is a thing of raging beauty!

Pretty much agree, although the appeal of LCD has always escaped me anyway.

I think 7.6 is about spot on. It's a very solid album with The Weekenders the highlight for me. Just not as classic an album as Boys and Girls or Separation, but definitely has lots of replay value.

I think High Violet is a great album, one of the year's best. I love the texture and subtlety on display and Berninger's voice is just amazing. I could listen to him sing the phonebook. I don't find it depressing at all.

2010 just got a whole lot better!!!

Wow!!! Greatly surprised by the quality of the lineup! Also surprised at the number of acts that are making a quick return to our shores. Weren't a lot of these acts just here?

Looking forward to sideshows from the following-
Frightened Rabbit
Broken Social Scene
Grizzly Bear
Band of Horses
Midlake
Laura Marling
Jonsi

No worries Joe. In fact I pretty much agree with just about everything you wrote and I think you articulated an argument far better then I actually did. I think your point about music standing the test of time is a valid one though. The Beatles being a prime example of music that has aged very well.

I think though my thoughts on complex music was more to do with the lyrics then the music. For example John Darnielle writes pretty basic chords, but his lyrics are complex and almost poetic. Some people hate his voice, but that's another matter.
I think Handsome Furs are a good example of a band that writes great music that is probably along way from being complex. But it affects me greatly.

As for the emotional resonance of a song I guess that has to be purely subjective. I know people that cried during Avatar, where I was pretty much falling asleep. So each to their own.

Bella I take your point. Maybe what I meant is that most pop music (a generalisation I know) is rather formulaic. I am sure Kylie, etc. are trying to write a song as good as they can and more then likely with a lot of conviction but it just doesn't connect with me in a meaningful way. Although I am sure it does with many other people. Hence the large sales.

I guess I believe that a Will Sheff or John Darnielle lyric is more complex and meaningful then a Rihanna lyric. Which connects with me much more. Whether their songs are more enjoyable or complete is obviously a matter of taste.

I am sure there are many people who consider death metal to be the pinnacle of all music and consider everything else trite and trashy.

If Pop music is short for popular music then I guess anything that makes the charts is pop music. But I would think most people define pop music as short, sugary and perhaps throwaway. As in Britney, Pink, etc. But then Beach Boys, The Shins, etc. is also defined as pop music and in most cases would be defined as 'good' music.

So, I think once again labels are purely there to help people place music in a box and make it easy to understand. At the end of the day if you like it then you shouldn't feel embarrased to say so. Personally I don't like Rihanna and the other examples mentioned. I just find the music lacking and light, so it does nothing for me. I think Pitchfork throws in the Timberlakes, Lady Gagas to show that they are not too cool to appreciate pop music. I not sure if this genuine though and if it is not then why do they bother.

Basically I think that acts like Rihanna and The Killers do have one thing in common. Music that lacks any heart or intelligence. If that makes me a snob then so be it. I am happy to be one.

The Beach Road is a huge hotel, many levels.
I saw Dr Dog there and it was about 70% full.
Hard to say how big a crowd Frightened Rabbit will pull, but a free
show should guarantee a big crowd you would think.

They played the Annandale last time, so I think some one like there again is perhaps likely. Or maybe the Metro, where they played in 2005.

Spoon!!!!

They played stuff from all over, good selection of songs. A couple I wasn't familiar with. Highlights were Bad Kids and O Katrina.

A quick summation-

Venue was great, historic setting, not too crowded, fairly easy to get around, free parking, although not enough food outlets.

Seekae-very good, very early in the day though.
Jonathan Boulet-great, perfect singalong music for a festival.
Frightened Rabbit-highlight of the day-short set, but so much passion.
Mumford & Sons-crowd was going nuts for them, but they were actually very good. Songs are great live and they seemed totally overwhelmed by their new fan base.
Black Lips-great energy, great fun.
Dappled Cities-wore GOLD Body suits, also joined by Sarah Blasko for one song.

My girl saw Sarah Blasko and liked her.

For various reasons I had to miss The xx, Wild Beasts and Echo and the Bunnymen. Wasn't realy interested in seeing Florence + Machine.

Great day. 9 out of 10.

Saw Neko on Monday as well; totally amazing. Then Grizzly Bear on Monday and Tuesday nights. Quite seriously, best shows I have been to for a very long time. Wasn't much else I was keen to see though, except for The Books but I think they have sold out. One more event for me, Dirty Three doing Ocean Songs at the Enmore on Australia Day.

Overall I think the lineup was very good, but maybe not at the levels of 2008.

No

Yeah, that was great. Fantastic melodies on that.