Prop – Syndro (Band of Five Names’ Solo Trip remix)
Roam The Hello Clouds – Phases
Triosk + Jan Jelinek – Neckless
Our Brother The Native – As They Fell Beneath Us
Charlottefield – Pacifically
Max Richter – Harmonium
Roni Size & Cypress Hill – Child of the Wild West (Murder Dem Remix)
Vashti Bunyan – Turning Backs
Espers – Widow’s Weed
The Baird Sisters – Snow
Meg Baird – Do What You Gotta Do
Nina Simone – I Hold No Grudge
Ivens – The Grudge
Def Wish Cast – 3rd Degree Burn
13th Son – The Hush (feat Spit Syndicate)
Jase Connection – All Out (feat Raph & BVA)
Celsius – Straight Outta Wentworthville
Brass – How Significant We Are
Sodastream – Brass Lines
Small Sips – Sliding Door
Richard Easton – Distant Dove
The Small Knives – Hardin Your Heart
2 Litre Dolby – Nostromo
Knievel – Someone Had To Tell You
Grant McLennan – Who Said Love Was Dead
Glide – Here She Comes

King Curly – Family Life
Ross McLennan – He Seems To Think We’re His Family
High Pass Filter – Skint (Ross McLennan’s Skinflint mix)
Aluf – Marinated Rizlas
Ryzla – Bushed
Alex Jarvis & Friends – My Life In The Bush of Ghosts
Because of Ghosts – Bright Things Come to Confusion
Telemetry Orchestra – Confused Muscles
Primitive Calculators – Pumping Ugly Muscle
Muscles – The Lake
Blank Realm – Lake
Chasm – Don’t Let Your Guard Down (feat Dialectrix & DJ 2buck)
Tooth – Avoiding the Road to Recovery
New Buffalo – Recovery
New Waver – Monday Mornings All Right For Working
Naked On The Vague – Brown Sun/Sydney Lane Rd
Shannon O’Neill – Vaguely Familial
Beardwagon – We Rock So You Don’t Have To
David McComb & Adam Peters – Don’t Go Home With Your Hard On
Daughters – A Room Full Of Hard Ons And No Place To Sit Down
Autistic Daughters – The Glasshouse and the Gift Horse
Voxtrot – Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
Sons and Daughters – Johnny Cash
Peregrine – The Good Ship
Mark Walton Fretless – Kahana to Hana
Christian Prommer – Beau Mot Plage

Should’ve been on 2007′s favourites list. Yawning Man.

Burgeoning music/fashion media outlet Destra today announced its purchase of the Mess and Noise music community for an undisclosed sum, adding to its extended stable (Oyster/3D World, mp3.com.au, thescene.com.au, Central Station, etc).

Mess+Noise will be promoted across destra’s digital and physical publishing and broadcasting platforms, enabling collaboration with destra’s other music communities such as http://www.threedworld.com.au, www.centralstation.com.au and www.mp3.com.au.

M+N’s been shopping around for a while, but it’ll be interesting to see how successful the sale is considering the different community cultures. Compared to Central Station, mp3.com.au and 3D World’s online communities, and publishing paradigms, M+N offers sophisticated critiques, knowledgeable coverage and deep insights. It’s cynical, and built on a community that fetishises independence. I’m skeptical, but interested to see how it plays out.

Here’s M+N contributor Emmy Hennings on the thing.

I’ve been rambling on about this Sydney Festival gig supporting Caribou, Mountains in the Sky and Jamie Lloyd at the Hyde Park Barracks for ages. It finally happened on Thursday night. Despite the rain, and the sheets of red dust flying everywhere and especially all over the records (as they played), it was a blast. Loads of great people in attendance, great bands, great people running things. My mum even came. What more could you want?

I fell off my scooter on the way home from work beforehand, so I loaded up with ibuprofen and played records for a couple of hours (before and between bands), and then took yesterday off to recuperate, giving me a chance to record some of the songs from Thursday’s set. A few didn’t make it in: Crayon Fields, Os Mutantes, Architecture in Helsinki, Incorporated Thang Band, Ballistic Brothers, John Cale, Gregory Isaacs, Dizzy Gillespie, Sheila Hylton, Caetano Veloso, but the rest did… I’ve split it in two.

I hope it soundtracks something great.

[Part 1 - With Caribou] (128kbps MP3)

01. Butthole Surfers ‘Barking Dog’ from Hurdy Gurdy Man [Rough Trade 7", 1990]
02. The Dream Syndicate ‘When You Smile’ from The Days of Wine and Roses [Slash LP, 1982]
03. Tooth ‘Shift’ [Soft Records 12", 2002]
04. Primal Scream ‘Loaded’ from Screamadelica [Creation LP, 1991]
05. Fat Jon ‘Wood Grained Love Stain’ from A Side of Counterflow [Counterflow LP, 2004]
06. Terry Callier ‘Love Theme from Spartacus (4 Hero Main Mix)’ [Talkin' Loud 12", 1998]
07. Del Dongo ‘Samiscience’ [F Communications 12", 2002]
08. The Y2Ks ‘Sydney Harbour Bridge’ from Nicht Sushi EP [LADO 12", 2000]
09. Scattered Order ‘Sheer Remix’ [Volition white label 12", 1992]
10. Ryuichi Sakamoto ‘Riot in Lagos (Creative Use re-edit)’ [white label 12", 2004]

[Part 2 - With Caribou] (128kbps MP3)

11. Captain Comatose ‘Pricegun Baby’ from Acapulco 2001 [Playhouse 12", 2001]
12. Uter ‘Ohm Sweet Ohm’ from Tomorrow’s Clown’s [OSCARR 12", 2003]
13. The B-52s ‘Loveland’ from Mesopotamia [Warner Bros LP, 1982]
14. Joakim ‘Teenage Kiss (vocal)’ [Kitsune 12", 2005]
15. Air ‘Don’t Be Light (Neptunes Remix)’ from Everybody Hertz [Source LP, 2002]
16. Can ‘Soul Desert’ from Can Soundtracks [Liberty LP, 1971]
17. Soul Kid Allstars ‘Take 1’ from Turntables on the Hudson Vol 1 sampler [Rhythm Love 12", 1999]
18. Eddie Henderson ‘Inside You’ from Heritage [Blue Note, 1976]

Sufjan Stevens’ show at the State Theatre on Monday night looked good. There were moments of bombastic brilliance, from the band, there were the gorgeous evolving geometries of his psychedelic visuals – in fact, the whole thing was a visual treat – the outfits, the cute attempt at hula-hooping. Too bad it was, to twist Emmy Hennings‘ words, “contrived, twee schoolyard indie”. Though you wouldn’t have picked it from the audience, which bordered on the sycophantic, calling for how many encores – I lost count.

They all loved little Suffy, even him (though agreeably not him).

There were songs about towns and highways, about serial killers, he had an explosive band and quiet folk songs, seemingly stream of consciousness anecdotes about sugar highs – Suffy had plenty to grab your interest. Just not much charisma or spark, or as my partner of 10 years said afterwards, “I just wasn’t intrigued by him”. I agree, musically and personally I just didn’t care. I am, however, seriously in the minority.

This article in today’s Good Living reminded me of something: is it true the recent spate of inner city bar renovations has been funded by the tobacco business (to get around recent legislation banning smoking in licensed premises)?

It’s inevitable really.

Kev Carmody tribute show tonight at the State. My fam’s saying last night was “special”.

Jazz in the Domain tomorrow night, with Phil Slater’s band and the Spanish Harlem band, followed by Andy Weatherall at the Oxford Art Factory

Tunng on Sunday night, Spiegeltent.

Sufjan Stevens on Monday night.

And then I’m playing records on Thursday night at the Beck’s Bar with Caribou, Mountains in the Sky, Jamie Lloyd and Somatik – you should come if you’re around. How I’m going to work out what to play amidst this craziness I have no idea. You?

Jackie O Motherfucker – Valley of Fire
The Hepburns – Jackie O
Anthony Rochester – Greased Llamas
Bad Luck Charms – Let’s Talk About the Weather
Bad Luck Charms – You’re a Long Way From Home With Nowhere to Run
End Show – Wires
The Pixies – Where Is My Mind?
Shellac – Be Prepared
Die! Die! Die! – Franz (17 Die! Die! Die! Fans Can’t Be Wrong)
Die! Die! Die! – Blue Skies
Crow – Paper Eyes
Songs: Ohia – The Old Black Hen
Joanna Newsom – Cosmia
Purplene – Cahoots=1
Ricaine – Polevault
Big Black – Bad Penny (live)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – 09-15-00
Blacklevel Embassy – Woman, Here Is Your Son
Shellac – Steady As She Goes
Time of the Assassins – Math
The Mark of Cain – Fire In Her Heart
Los Campesinos! – Police Story
Minutemen – Corona

The man may have a history in advertising and the arts stretching three decades, but by the end of his Sydney Festival tenure he was a fogey. Plain and simple. Boring, stuck in his ways, and running a festival that was polarised between (a) a majority of elitist events celebrating the work of dead white dudes and (b) a few low-brow mainstream events, who could forget how middle of the road Jazz in the Domain was. And his regular columns were fixated on grafitti artists.

I guess he’s retired, at 72, though he’s still writing a column for the Bulletin and doing the talks circuit.

The reason I bring it up is Daily Tele writer Nick Pickard‘s comment that people are complaining about the festival.

In the Oz, Matthew Westwood said this year’s festival “lacks balance and is a disappointment to some … Theatre has only a small presence, as does visual art. Classical music is absent altogether.”

The Herald Sun’s Chris Boyd said Linehan’s 2008 program is “seriously lacking in good judgement and good taste.”

Pickard reckons critics are dreaming of the past and forgetting the reality of that past.

I am not sure where it all comes from, but I suspect it is certain sections of festival going people who have a shared nostalgia for the days when Leo Schofield and Brett Sheehy were the festival directors. They were the days when chamber music and good old text based theatre were the big hit numbers.

I have a different recollection of those days, and am firmly planted in the camp relieved by current artistic director Fergus Linehan’s vision to create not only an exciting festival, but an energy that fills the streets. It’s a less dusty and more accessible programme that makes The Arts sexy, beautiful and brazen.

Me too. It’d be great to see some more challenging works presented. But the festival’s mandate isn’t polite music, arts and theatre programming you can get year round in Sydney. It should be new or new to us. It should make people think differently. It should fascinate and inspire. And while that may not be true for Brian Wilson, it’s been true for a lot of Festival shows I have seen over the past three years.