Tag: thoughts

FEATURE: HEY SPLENDOUR

Hi Splendour,

This morning, after waking up rather late, I opened up my laptop to explore the internet. As usual.

To my surprise, I’d forgotten you were releasing your lineup today! How exciting! I quickly followed a link to a news article on the subject.

Woah, $510 to camp up there! That’s a lot of money. But that’s also a lot of artists. It’s a tough decision, isn’t it? It’s tricky, because although I see many, many artists I like, I also see many artists I don’t care about.

That’s the problem Splendour. See, I’m going to Groovin’ The Moo this year, and I have one clash. Apart from that, there’s a heap of artists I’ll be seeing that I really quite like, and it will be a lot of fun. AND, it’s only $100 to go. Which means if there’s a couple of bands which seem a bit ‘meh’ it’s not so bad.

The thing is though, there aren’t that many artists at Splendour that get my heart racing. There aren’t many that make me scream “I HAVE TO GO!” Sure, I really wanna see Coldplay, and The Living End would be fantastic. There are other exciting artists too, like Modest Mouse, and it’d certainly be cool to see The Mars Volta. But for a lineup this size, and for $510, I’m not sure I can justify the travel and expenses for many artists which I’ll just be taking a punt on. Many artists where I might have heard 1 or 2 songs only.

I’m sorry Splendour. I applaud what you’re doing here, it’s brilliant. Good work on making a lineup which I believe many people will love. There are heaps of famous and great indie artists here, many of which I’d see if they performed locally – it’d be closer and tickets would be much cheaper. I’d even say you guys could get close to knocking BDO off it’s perch as the most popular and well-known music festival (hopefully you don’t inherit it’s infamous bogan atmosphere).

But being a university student, I’m not sure I can make it.

If you had bands like Karnivool, The National, Johnny Foreigner, Los Campesinos!, or (if it’s even possible…) Radiohead; if you had bands that really got me excited and screamed “GO GO GO”, maybe I would try hard to get there. But you don’t.

Although I like some of your artists, there aren’t enough that I love to make it worthwhile for me to fork out over half a grand (although if any media outlets or friends want to buy me a ticket or send me, I’d totally be cool with that).

Sincerely,

Jeremy

Artists playing Splendour 2011:

Coldplay (only Aussie show)
Kanye West (only Aussie show)
Jane’s Addiction
The Hives
Pulp
The Living End
The Mars Volta
Regina Spektor (only 2011 show)
Bliss N Eso
Pnau
Mogwai (only Aussie show)
DJ Shadow
Glasvegas
The Grates
Devendra Banhardt
Modest Mouse
The Middle East
Kaiser Chiefs
James Blake
Kele
The Vines
Elbow
Eskimo Joe
Noah And The Whale
Children Collide
Thievery Corporation
Cut Copy
Isobel Campbell And Mark Lanegan
Bluejuice
The Kills
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears (Featuring The Relatives)
Architecture In Helsinki
Foster The People
The Panics
Friendly Fires
Jebediah
The Vaccines
Gomez
Boy And Bear
Gotye
Does It Offend You Yeah?
Cloud Control
Mona
Sparkadia
Warpaint
Muscles (Live)
Fitz And The Tantrums
The Jezebels
Drapht
British Sea Power
Tim & Jean
Leader Cheetah
Grouplove
Seeker Lover Keeper
Yelle
Kimbra
Phrase
Oh Mercy
Dananananaykroyd
The Black Seeds
Marques Toliver
The Holidays
Ghoul
Liam Finn
The Herd
Young The Giant
Guineafowl
Hungry Kids Of Hungary
Jinja Safari
Wild Beasts
Illy
Cut Off Your Hands
Gareth Liddiard
Alpine
World’s End Press
Mosman Alder
Lanie Lane

Plus a bunch of DJ sets which you can look up if you’re into that kinda thing.

Tickets go on sale on the 5th of May at 9am via Moshtix.

Info and lineup from The Music Network.

Advertisement
Posted on by Jeremy 2

FEATURE: The King of Limbs – first impressions

This is not a review.

I know well enough that Radiohead’s records can take weeks, months, maybe even years, to fully take hold in my mind. Even then, I constantly hear new things. I’m constantly drawn into new elements of songs. Constantly entranced by the way that Radiohead can make music that truly rewards repeat listens. So it seems pointless for me to pretend to review it now, when my thoughts will have probably changed in a week.

The music press seem to have gone beserk in an effort to maximise the number of hits they receive on their websites – everyone wants to know what Rolling Stone, NME, or The Guardian think. It almost seems to jeopardise their integrity as music journalists if you ask me. I don’t honestly believe anyone can fairly review an album when it has been released for under twelve hours, especially a Radiohead album. Maybe it’s just me. But, I guess they’re getting paid and have to do as they’re told.

Anyway, as I don’t think I’ll be reviewing The King of Limbs anytime soon, I decided to give my initial thoughts on the album.

The King of Limbs is most definitely a return to the more experimental side of Radiohead’s music – especially the first half of the album. It’s all layered rather deeply. As obtuse and out-there as it may seem on first listen, the transition between the first and second half of the album shows the kind of diversity we’ve come to expect from Radiohead. The contrast created gives the album a life of its own – like much of their previous work. It’s not just a collection of songs, but an album. It’s easy to pick it apart and find very small, common threads with their back-catalogue, but the reality is that this is another re-invention of the band. It explores new ground.

I’m convinced The King of Limbs will reward repeat listens. It will throw new fans, and some established fans as well, but anyone who knows how Radiohead work will know that they have to give it time. I think, given time, this album will work its way into my head, and the heads of many other fans,  and will quite possibly climb up my list of favourite albums.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Posted on by Jeremy 1