Sunday 28 February 2010

DJs I've seen

This list is far from complete.

I've been to hundreds of shows, wandering from room to room, and my memory is not the greatest at the best of times.

So if anyone out there can help me out, remembers seeing something with me that I've missed, let me know! It will be greatly appreciated!

Adam Freeland
Ali B
Amon Tobin
Andy C
Aphex Twin
Aquasky
A-Sides
A-Skills
Atomic Hooligan
A-Trak
Autobots
Baboo
Bad Company
Bailey
Baobinga & ID
Benga
Blim
Bob Sinclair
Breakfastaz
Calibre
Calyx
Carl Cox
Cash Money
Chemical Brothers
Coldcut
Craze
Cut Chemist
Cut Le Rock
Cyantific
D Bridge
Dave Clarke
Deadmau5
Deekline & Wizard
Digital Primate
Digweed
Diplo
Doc Scott
Dom & Roland
Drummatic Twins
Dub Pistols
Dynamo Productions
Elite Force
Ellis Dee
Evil Nine
Fat Boy Slim
Felix Da Housecat
Nick Warren
X-Press 2
Food & DK
Freestylers
Freq Nasty
Fresh
Friction
Friendly
Grand Master Flash
Groove Rider
High Contrast
Hurricane
Hype
Ian Pooly
Icey
Infusion
J Majik
James Zabiela
Jazzy Jeff
John B
Joker
Josh Wink
J-Rocc
Katalyst
Kid Koala
Klute
Koma & Bones
Krafty Kuts
Krush
Krust & Die
Laidback
Layo & Bushwacka
Lee
Lee Coombs
London Electricity
LTJ Bukem
Luke Vibert
Mark Rae
Marky
Masters At Work
Matrix
Midfield General
Mix Master Mike
Mr Scruff
NAPT
Neotropic
Noize
Paul
Paul Oakenfield
Pendulum
Plump DJs
Presha
Q Bert
Rae & Christian
Randall
Richie Hawtin
Rico Tubbs
RJD2
Rob Swift
Roc Raida
Roger Sanchez
Sasha
Scott Brown
Scratch Perverts
Shadow
Skool of Thought
Skreem
Soul of Man
Splitloop
Spooky
Stanton Warriors
Starky
State of Mind
Steinski
Sven Vath
Tayo
The Herbaliser
The Nextmen
The Rogue Element
Tiesto
Tiga
Tom Middleton
Top Buzz
Total Science
Umek
Vadim
Wiseguys
Yoda
Z Trip


Oh, and I've left off Australian DJs because, although I think most of them are fantastic and easily some of the best in the world, there are just too many of them and I don't want to offend someone by leaving them off :)

Bands I've seen (complete list)

Here's the almost complete list... I'm sure I'm missing some ;)

I've also included DJ "live shows" like Shadow & Cut Chemist, Kid Koala, Daft Punk and so on... shows good enough to transcend the simple mixing of records to be a full show.

The ones in bold are the one's I saw in the last year or so.

1200 Techniques
AC/DC
Acyalone
Afro Celt Sound System
Afrobeat Public Opinion Orchestra
Alien Ant Farm
Amp Fiddler
Aphex Twin
Ash
Atari Teenage Riot
Basement Jaxx
Beastie Boys
Beasts of Bourbon
Beth Orton
Billy Bragg
Bjork
Black Eyed Peas
Blackalicious
Blink-182
Bliss
Bloc Party
Blue King Brown
Body Count
Breakestra
Butterfingers
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
Cat Power
Coldcut
Cooking on 3 Burners
Corduroy
Cosmic Psychos
Cypress Hill
Daft Punk
Def FX
Depeche Mode
Devo
Dilated Peoples
Dizzee Rascal
DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist
Downsyde
Easy Star All Stars
Elbow
Faith No More
Fat Freddy's Drop
Fear Factory
Femi Kuti
Foo Fighters
Franz Ferdinand
Freestylers
Fund-a-mental
Funkoars
Garbage
Gerling
Gnarls Barkley
Good Buddha
Gorilla's Sound System
Gotan Project
Gotye
Grinspoon
Handsome Boy Modeling School
Happy Mondays
Headless Chickens
Helmet
Hexstatic
Hilltop Hoods
Hilltop Hoods & Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Hole
Hoodoo Gurus
Human League
Hunters and Collectors
Ice T
Iggy Pop
Infusion
Inspiral Carpets
Itch-E & Scratch-E
James Brown
Jamie T & the Pacemakers
Jamiroquai
Jarvis Cocker
Jebediah
Jet
John Butler Trio
Jungle Brothers
Jurassic 5
Kid Koala
Kaiser Chiefs
Katalyst
Kosheen
KoЯn
L7
Leningrad Cowboys
Live
Lou Reed
Luke Slater’s Freek Funk
Lyrics Born
Machine Gun Fellatio
Madness
Magic Dirt
Mark Ronson's Version
Massive Attack
Metallica
Midnight Juggernauts
Midnight Oil
Ministry
Mudhoney
Muph & Plutonic
Muse
My Chemical Romance
Mylo
Neon Indian
New Order
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nightmares On Wax
Nine Inch Nails
Paul McCartney
Pavement
Peaches
Pendulum Live
Pennywise
Pet Shop Boys
Peter Gabriel
Pharcyde
Phoenix
Pivot
Pixies
Placebo
Pop Will Eat Itself
Porno for Pyros
Powderfinger
Primal Scream
Primus
Prodigy
Public Enemy
Q-Tip
Queens of the Stone Age
Rage Against The Machine
Rammstein
Rancid
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Regurgitator
Resin Dogs
Roni Size’s Raprezent
Roots Manuva
Roy Ayres
Salmonella Dub
Sarah Jones & the Dap Kings
Scissor Sisters
Shihad
Silverchair
Skunkhour
Slipknot
Snoop Dog
Snow Patrol
Sonic Animation
Sonic Youth
Soulwax
Soundgarden
Spank Rock
Spiderbait
St. Germain
Stereo MCs
Stevie Wonder
Stone Roses
Supergroove
Superjesus
The Avalanches
The Bamboos
The Breeders
The Cat Empire
The Chemical Brothers
The Clouds
The Cruel Sea
The Crystal Method
The Cult
The Cure
The Dandy Warhols
The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
The Donnas
The Flaming Lips
The Hard Ons
The Herd
The Killers
The Living End
The Offspring
The Presets
The Rapture
The Red Eyes
The Roots
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Specials
The Stranglers
The Streets
The Strokes
The Swiss
The Tea Party
The White Stripes
TISM
Tool
Tricky
U2
Ugly Duckling
UNKLE
Urge Overkill
Violent Femmes
Ween
Wolfmother
Wutang
You Am I

Thursday 18 February 2010

I am a winner!

Despite a few people grumbling about it (Rapture IS a utopia, dumbasses!) I won a copy of the Bioshock 2 prize pack from Kotaku!

Here's my entry:

(sung to the tune of Blondie’s “Rapture")

Toe to toe
fighting very close
Plasmids firing
until you’re comatose
Wall to wall
Daddy’s hypnotised
And they’re stepping heavily
Stuck each night in Rapture

Gathering Adam
little sisters
Spindly movements
And a mass attack

Face to face
simply terrified
And it’s finger chopping
Twenty-four hour dying in Rapture

Tenenbaum told me everybody’s high
Atlas spinnin’ not savin’ my mind
Adam is fast, Adam is cool
Fontain say don’t be a fool
And you don’t stop, Suchong
Ryan is makin’ you do wrong

And you get in your sphere and you trip real far
And you dive all night and you’ll see no light
And it fills with water and sinks to the ground
And out comes a man from above
And you try to run but he’s got a gun
And he shoots your head and freezes you dead
And then you’re in the main foyer
Dancing with an ex-lawyer
You kill many slicers
to make the place nicer
And you don’t stop, you keep on killing stars
And you just get more scars
You go out at night and into the deserted streets
Race to face, fight cheek to cheek
One to many and man on man
Fighting toe to toe
Don’t move too slow, ’cause the Big Dad
Is through with slicers and he’s very mad
wall to wall, Through door and door, up hall to hall
He’s gonna get ‘em all
Rapture, be pure
Take a tour, through the sewer
You’ll strain your brain, go insane
You’ll be singin’ la la in the rain
I said don’t stop, drop a block

Well now you see what you wanna be
Make your choice on the VT
‘Cause the man upstairs he won’t care
And now he’s gone back down to hell
None of this bodes too well
And you flip flop, but you don’t stop
Just blast em with a sure shot
‘Cause the man over there is killing and screaming
And now he smokes cigars, level up!

Monday 15 February 2010

AC [lightning bolt] DC

So I've finally seen AC/DC.

It comes as a shock to many people that I'm an AC/DC fan.

But AC/DC remind me of my youth. I remember sitting up all night listening to AC/DC with Philly D as we played computer games.

So why deny my bogan heritage any longer? Sure, during the 90s I essentially shunned AC/DC, and I fucking hated growing up in Elizabeth, but then I just lost the hate. The people I grew up, many of whom I'm still proud to call friends, shaped me into the person I am today, and the music we listened to was a massive part of that.

And Back in Black is one of the world's greatest albums, especially considering the time it was made, and It's A Long Way To The Top is one on the world's greatest songs.

So, when they announced the tour, I wasn't going to miss out. I camped by the internet and hit refresh until I snagged a ticket to the Melbourne Saturday night concert. Sure, it's not as exciting and romantic as camping out for days under blankets sharing the camaraderie that line waiting brings, but it's a fuckload easier.

After losing my job last November, I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to make it. Job offers from interstate and overseas never eventuated, so the worry was misplaced.

Getting to Etihad Stadium was easy - the train stops just outside, although I had to find a internet cafe to print my ticket out. Thank the universe for the internet!

I got in just as Calling All Cars finished. I downed a few scotches and then found a nice spot mid centre of the stadium. It was pretty packed even at 7:30pm, and although I could have pushed my way further to the front, I knew there would be cameras and screens, so I just didn't feel the need to.

Wolfmother opened for them, and were really good. They kicked off with Dimension, then played a couple of new songs, then got the crowd singing with Woman. During the slow bit of White Unicorn, you know, the bit that sounds like Riders on the Storm, they actually started playing Riders of the Storm. Stockdale's voice is perfect for a Doors cover, and I'm surprised they don't do more of them. They closed with Joker & Thief.

I thought they were a brilliant selection for AC/DC's opening band. They're liked well enough by a wide range of people that people would be singing along, rocky enough to fit in with the overall vibe of the gig, yet not good enough to overpower AC/DC (if that was indeed possible).

After a short wait, the screens lit up and showed a short video of the band on a train. Full of childish innuendo and sexually suggestive images, the "train" then smashed onto the stage as the band played Rock and Roll train. Right from this very first moment I knew we were in for a rocking show!

They played another off their new album, something I'm not overly familiar with, and then got into the older tunes. Dirty Deeds, Shot down in Flames, and Thunderstruck. All the while the whole audience is singing and screaming and having a great old time.

But things really got wild when Brian started singing She's Got The Jack. The screen started showing all the girls on the guys shoulders, and up came the shirts. Brian even said "get your eyes off those titties" at one point, and then Angus started his strip. Much like Devo, these old rockers still know how to entertain.

The classics came thick and fast. The bell lowered for Hells Bells, with Brian swinging from the bottom of it. Shoot to thrill and War machine - a track I do know off Black Ice - had cool visuals with the live action on stage, but nothing was as cool as High Voltage, done as a tribute to Bon Scott with his grinning face looking down at the thousands singing along with his lyrics.

More classics - You Shook Me All Night Long, TNT and Whole Lotta Rosie, which featured a massive fat lady riding the train. Let there be Rock was where Angus got loose, and showed that even at 60 he can still play that guitar well. The encore of Highway to Hell and For those about to Rock was absolutely brilliant.

I would have liked to hear more of my favourite songs - If You Want Blood and Who Made Who would have been nice, but overall I couldn't have been happier with the set. This was what a rock concert should be like! Entertaining and fun, no matter what was played.

I felt the same after AC/DC as I did after Madness, Devo, Primal Scream and The Specials last year. Sometimes I admit I caught up in too much negativity and cynicism, and it takes old farts like these to remind me life is all about having fun. If they can do it at 60, then I should be doing it now, and keep doing it until I'm 60, too.

Friday 5 February 2010

Journalism

I wrote this as a response to a Crikey commentator. It's essentially what I wrote in Uni about journalism in one of my essays, and it's something I've been meaning to post for a while...


The only role ACA / TT play in society is to sell advertising to those too lazy to switch the channel after the news.

If you think it’s anything else, then you’re an idiot. Simple as that.

However, before you have a go at me for being “puffed up with moral superiority” I also think this of MOST journalism. Including Crikey.

Journalism has never been about the “Truth”. It’s never been about “Facts”. It’s never been about “Democracy”. It’s never been about “Reality”.

Journalism’s first and continued motivation is profit for the owners.

The very first broadsheets were advertising forums for shipping services, designed to profit those who advertised. These morphed into the first newspapers and they too were all about profit.

The very first photo published in a magazine was a montage - two images spliced together. Never mind the fact that this was the first photo published in a magazine - that wasn’t sensational enough - so they had to fake the truth of that photo.

And this sensationalism and profiteering has always existed in the media. The fact that some of it does some good in the world doesn’t excuse or counter this very basic fact about media.

If I make a good product, you’ll buy it. Likewise with media - it’s simply a product. If someone makes good media - and the definition of “good” changes with the individual - people will consume it.

When ACA expose a charlatan, don’t think for a minute they’re doing it for “the good of the people” - they want people to view the adverts and to make a profit out of that.

Likewise, Crikey’s exposure of the tactics ACA use is fantastic, but don’t think for a minute this was published for any other reason than making people want to subscribe to Crikey.


I want to expand on it later too. I think some may view this as extremely cynical, but I don't, and will explain why in a later post.