Keep On Running With Mike & Andy Bull

Have you ever had an epiphany as brutal as a punch to the face? Been so overwhelmed by a situation that you don't know whether to laugh, cry or just inhale another beer and shrug your shoulders? My weekend was full of such fun moments and while it felt like a rollercoaster ride through the rotten bowels of hell at the time, it turned out to be strangely cathartic. I finally woke up to the fact that I've simply chosen a different path to most of my loved ones. And while they bow out of the race to settle down, have kids and get sensible jobs, I'm not ready to stop running.

So what the fuck does this have to do with Andy Bull? Not a lot, I guess. Apart from the fact that the lyrics to his latest single could have been lifted from my diary. "Keep On Running" is another brilliant indie-pop gem from the Aussie songsmith that basically sums up how I feel about life. It's not the first time we've been on the same wavelength. His joyous, retro-soul debut "Small Town Girl" ruled my iPod with an iron fist in 2008, while "Dog", his 2010 duet with Lisa Mitchell, remains the catchiest song about depression ever recorded.

For all I know, "Keep On Running" could be an ode to upping your cardio at the gym but I interpret the surprisingly synth-heavy track as a mantra to help keep the self-doubt at bay while pursuing your own personal happiness - whatever that may be. Ironically, Andy might be a lot closer to his destination than he thought. "Keep On Running" is a hit on alternative radio and rapidly approaching the top 100 on iTunes. With any luck, Australia's most underrated musician could be on the brink of a major commercial break through.

Rant over. I think the people in my life know how much I love them and respect their choices. I just ask them to pull up a chair and cheer me on as I stumble towards the finish line.

Listen to "Keep On Running" here and download it from iTunes today.

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MS MR & Pretty Glitter Vomit

Last night I went to see MS MR at the Oxford Art Factory and was only mildly excited. I had seen the much-hyped New York duo on all the trendy blogs and heard a couple of songs on JJJ but thought they occupied the same space - musically, at least - as a dozen other indie-pop acts. It turns out that I have no idea what I'm talking about. By the end of the set, Lizzy and Max had completely won me over. They walk the line between uber-cool shoegazing synth-nonsense and perfectly-crafted pop with devastating skill. And Lizzy is a complete fucking goddess. Not only can this bitch rock blue hair and green Lycra but her vocals rival Florence in the power stakes.

During the show they mentioned their new clip had just debuted and encouraged us to check it out. I didn't have to be asked twice. "Fantasy" is a beautifully gloomy affair that demonstrates MS MR's uncanny knack for creating atmosphere. It's dark and sexy and very, very catchy. The video (below) is an odd affair. It starts off inauspiciously enough with Lizzy sitting in a cafe looking all edgy but then things get really weird with cheerleaders puking pretty glitter vomit and a gang of old ladies. I love it and can't wait for their debut album to drop on May 13. Get on board now.

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Lana Takes Us To Paradise This November

We're nearing the end of September and Lana Del Rey's Born To Die is still my favourite album of the year. I'm sure Ke$ha's Warrior will give the gloomy masterpiece a run for its money but expect a photo finish. 2012 has been an amazing year for the doomed diva. She has sold 2.5 million albums - without a sizeable hit - and firmly established herself as an A List celebrity with saturation media coverage. Not bad when you consider how many people dismissed Lana as an overhyped flash in the pan! And her reign shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. Born To Die - The Paradise Edition hits stores November 12 and boasts an absolute gem of a lead single. "Ride" (below) is a grim ballad with a faint country twist. It's grittier than Lana's usual fare thanks to Rick Rubin's subtle production but every bit as sweeping and atmospheric. If the 7 other new tracks are half as good, The Paradise Edition will permanently raise the bar for re-releases. It already has as far as packaging is concerned. The deluxe version comes with the following items:

- A remix CD 
- A DVD 
- A 7" vinyl of "Blue Velvet" 
- Four art prints. 

Excuse me while I go and pre-order now!

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Use This Pistol On My Heart

I'm in a weird mood. With the exception of Alicia Keys' new single and Rita Ora's surprisingly good album (review coming soon), pop music isn't really doing it for me at the moment. So I'm broadening my horizons. One of my new obsessions is Mia Dyson. She's been around for the best part of a decade but her latest album has transformed me from casual listener to loyal fan. So who is this stunning chanteuse? I guess Mia is best-described as Australia's answer to Melissa Etheridge because of her soaring, whiskey-soaked voice and popularity with lesbians. The former quality is beautifully showcased on "Pistol", the brilliant second single from The Moment. This is a timeless blues anthem that inexplicably reminds me of Elan's "Midnight". Does anyone else remember that Mexican diva? Mia's lyrics hit home like a sucker punch and I'm in awe of her voice. The video (below) is astoundingly awful, so just close your eyes and wait for the chorus. It's worth it.

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Cosmo Jarvis On His Dick, Why Hip Hop Sux & Selling Out (But Not Really)

I was reading on Twitter that the airline lost your bags. Welcome to Australia!
I brought a guitar with me. I brought two laptops, five hard-drives to edit some footage while I was here and a domestic bag. A few items of clothing. My insulin. My mandolin. All my leads... all that shit and it was just gone. They didn’t tell us until we touched down in Sydney but they lost it in Abu Dhabi. I hope they’ve given some kind of financial contribution because that’s bullshit. It’s fucking insulin.

You’re out here to promote your new album, which is really great.
Thanks man.

To me it sounds like a progression from your last album. We were talking about that last time. Is The World Strange Or Am I? was really weird and wonderful and experimental and had the white man rapping.
I’m not allowed to rap anymore!

Last time you said that you had been banned from rapping by everyone. Was it a conscious decision to make something that is a little more... consumer friendly, for want of a better description?
It was inevitable. It’s album three. The last two had done terribly in the UK. Well, my fans liked them but outside that it wasn’t really growing as much as it should. So the third one had to be as low a risk as possible, while still maintaining some kind of musical diversity and still being a legitimate thing. It’s 11 tracks and I tried to find a more cohesive sound. I would say I want this fucking rap song and the team would say leave it. They would say you can still be a little rock, punk and acoustic but it’s got to be within reason. So, yes. It’s a little bit more playing the game. I’m not pissed off with the product at all. I guess you’ve just got to do these things until one day you can just do whatever you want.

It turned out really well. It’s very cohesive and has a great sound but the topics and the themes are still very you. It’s unusual for that kind of an album...
Cool, thanks. Trying to maintain that at least to still have some interesting subject matter and things that I felt needed to be sung about rather than... what everyone who’s selling music sings about is the most bland, unspecific, widely relatable trash that isn’t even an artwork anymore it becomes music for the sake of music. It’s seen briefs that say things like “relaxed, jovial, think sunshine, think carefree” – those are the kind of things that obviously will make it or people who are smart about it. They know what they’re singing about and it is still legit to them but they word it in a way that is abstract and makes it relatable to the listener, so the listener projects who they are and what they are into the meaning of the song and that works too and that’s a good way of doing it. Sometimes I like to be quite blunt and you can’t really abstract that too much when it’s a story, like a narrative in the song. I’m happy with the way it came out. I’ve just got to figure what to do with the few rap songs that are left over [laughs].

You could put out an online EP!
Yeah. Free downloads and shit. I’ll put ‘em out somehow.

“Love This” (bottom of post) is getting a lot of airplay on the indie-stations. When you first hear it, the song doesn’t sound worlds apart from the Jason Mrazes of the world but then when you listen to the lyrics, you’re like... oh fuck! The single kind of speaks for itself but could you talk about what was on your mind when you penned that one?
It started off a long time ago. I made a short film called The Joke and in that short film there was a piece of music during a montage which all revolved around bass chords and just the four on the floor kickbeat. That’s why I think mainstream radio has given it a few plays. At first listen it has that kind of poppy, dance thing going on. But it was just an instrumental and I always thought about writing words to it because I liked the groove a lot and I had some old words lying around that I just kind of started. The concept was basically – anybody if they met God, if he manifested as a human-being, exploring the question of what is worth more to you – should you choose to follow his example, which could be really good but could also limit you as a human being from finding your own way of doing things and making your own choices. That was the question. God vs good. The chorus just refers to life in general. If you like what you’re doing, just fucking do it. As long as it’s not like massacring millions of Jews in the Holocaust. That sort of thing is quite bad. So, I just kind of put it all together.

Is that a common theme through the album – religion, relationships with other people.
There’s tonnes of that shit.

What is it about the religious thing that tortures you, that plays on your mind?
It just causes so much shit. I can’t believe that the human race got this face, that it’s capable of so much fucking shit, doing unbelievable shit – curing blindness and all kinds of crap – but people still allow religion and their faith to influence professional decisions. The White House, the whole USA. Even in music. A guy from Sony in this country wouldn’t sign me... why was it?

Oh the video with the pedophile priest.
Yeah! He didn’t like “Sure As Hell Not Jesus” because he was Catholic. But you shouldn’t make a professional decision based on faith because it can affect millions of people. Not just musicians but actual countries. That pisses me off a lot. How much weight the idea of God has. And if you were to ask somebody what is God? I don’t know what they’d say but to me the definition is an example of how to live. The overall concept has to be good... otherwise it would be bad! So why can’t people just say that they believe in good?

Talking about that video, I think one of the best things about you is that beautiful symmetry between your music and the visual aspect.
Cheers.

And I think “Love This” is another quirky little video. But I’ve got to ask. It’s a bit of a sausage-fest. What’s going on?
Ok, so I got the suit. We did a few takes and my really good friend Rosie was on the roof with a camera and we were shooting it. We did a few rehearsals and this girl came down from Cheltenham in the UK to be in the video because she was very good looking. It was all cool and then we watched the first take back and we were like fuck, that sticks out quite badly. So I tried duct taping my dick to the inside of my leg but that just kind of made it look a little bit abnormal. It made it look like something was wrong, so then we were just like fuck it. I didn’t really know how to get around it so in the end I was like fuck it, just leave it. Because I am the devil in that video, so he wouldn’t give a shit if his fucking balls were hanging around the place, you know? But yeah, I should have thought about that before wearing a skin tight suit.

It was definitely a talking point. That shit is wobbling all over the place.
Fuckin’ hell. I’m sorry.

It’s like the Olympic 100m final where you should be concentrating on the athletes but instead you’re looking elsewhere.
I should blur it out maybe. It’s bad news. I’ve seen a few blogs where people have talked about just that. I just want people to know that it wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t like, hey look at my dick. It just happened that way and we were literally on some street with some duct tape, a few cameras – so for us to go home and get some sort of codpiece would have been a huge mission.

Slightly related topic... well, not really... you broke through with “Gay Pirates”. Even though you’re not gay, that song has made you a bit of an underground figure in the gay community. It’s really won you a following. Does that surprise you?
I’m honoured that a real gay person took something from my song. At first I was very worried that people would see it as me trying to do a novelty thing about gay men and I was very careful. If I was on a major label they would have had fucking queens doing the can can in the video. I just wanted it to be like any other love song that just happened to be about a gay couple. But it wasn’t just a gay thing – it was about men in general because I think men deal with love totally differently than women deal with it.

Not particularly well.
Yeah, not particularly well because they’re men, so there’s a certain logic there. Not that I’m saying women are illogical but there’s a different kind of logic than men have with regard to their emotional state. People don’t really explore that all too much, especially heterosexual men. I just kind of thought – if I was in love with a dude and we were two dudes on a boat, how would it happen? But I think it’s really fucking good that gay men like it. I’m honoured. It’s cool.

And that “Love This” video really helped seal the deal.
Yeah. Didn’t mean to but yes, there you go – that’s my dick.

What’s going to be the next single from the album?
It’s a toss up at the moment between “Train Downtown” and “Tell Me Who To Be”. Oh and maybe “Sunshine”.

Yeah, I like that one.
“Train Downtown” has a really strong chorus – or so I’m told – and is a good candidate but the problem is the subject matter. I’m not sure how that will differ in Australia because it’s... I’m not supposed to say what it’s about... this is really difficult to talk about. I’ve been told because of what people could perceive it as being about – connotations within the social and political states of countries, which may be detrimental to it being played on the radio. Even though it’s not about anything bad like that. There’s no way around it. I can’t re-record it or edit it. It’s either going to get played or it’s not. It would be great if it did. “Tell Me Who To Be” could be played because it’s simple and catchy. I wrote it when I was 12, so it’s a little fucking haunter. It’s been around for a long time. That’s like the fourth different recording of it that I’ve done. It started off as a reggae song, believe it or not. And I’d love it if “Sunshine” was a single but only if it had the end part in the single version because it would be as heavy as “My Day”, which JJJ didn’t take to, but I think it’s got a better chorus than “My Day”.

I was reading the album credits and you basically wrote, produced, did everything yourself. Do you ever entertain the thought of what it would mean to your sound if you worked with someone else?
Yeah, I’ve thought about it but many of the conversations that lead to me working with a producer start with “you need to work with a producer because it will help the record”. That’s not a good enough reason to work with a producer. If you’re going to work with a producer it’s got to be somebody that you met or jammed with or, I don’t fucking know, had a beer with or gotten blazed with or whatever and they think they can bring something to the table with your music. If that were to happen, I wouldn’t say no. I wouldn’t shoot it before I tried it. But you can’t go around shopping for producers. It’s dumb. I’m capable of producing a record on my own at the moment. I think I’m going to carry on producing stuff on my own but on the next record I want it to be much more rocky, verging on hardcore, acoustic-y, folky, bluegrass-y stuff. I want to get my live band to play on it. I’ll still produce it but I want it to sound more live. The only track I’ve ever done that’s like that was “My Day”. I liked how it sounded. I don’t know anything about micing up amps or anything like that, so I’d need a good engineer but I’d just produce it from there and see how it pans out.

Who are your influences? Who are you listening to?
Everybody. The Bronx, Frank Zappa, Grateful Dead, Tallest Man On Earth, Destiny’s Child.

Is there anyone at the moment?
Bronx. Fucking Bronx man.

Have you heard that Frank Ocean album? That’s good.
No, I haven’t.

I think you’d like that.
I’ll check it out. I like that single from Emeli Sande. The first one but I haven’t heard much of her other stuff but it reminded me of the Fine Young Cannibals, which is really cool. I like Corinne Baily Rae and there’s not a lot of other people. Generally it’s just shit. It’s all this bollocks. This shitty excuse for hip hop coming out of the US with all these well-moisturized rich fucking kids releasing their shitty songs about nothing. I look forward to when that era dies. Nobody makes real rap anymore.

Have you heard Azealia Banks?
Is she that girl with the lick my cunt song?

Yeah, she raps about her "cunt gettin’ eaten” on “212”.
I heard it last night and I really like it. But I heard what her other stuff is like and it doesn’t quite meet that single.

I like her but I think she’s someone who has let herself be mashed into a more palatable version.
But it’s really cool on that song though the way she has all these different voices on the record. There’s like that grimey, distorted thing, then there’s that other accent when she’s talking – which sounds totally sweet – and then, there’s the singing, which is like this evil, bluesy voice. I was like is this all her? And these girls were like, yeah. They loved it, they were playing it in the car on the way to the studio. It’s fucking cool, man. I really like that actually.

When are you coming back to Australia?
December 26. I’m going to come and do a bunch of festivals and then I’m going to do an Australian regular venue tour with my four piece band. I heard that it’s better then because it’s summer.

See you then!
 

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Bertie Blackman - Saviour Of Australian Pop

Bertie Blackman has returned to slap some life back into the Australian indie-pop scene with the lead single from her fourth studio album Pope Innocent X. I've featured the quirky diva several times on the blog over the past few years and fell head-over-heels in love with Secrets and Lies (ranking it as one of my top 40 albums of 2009). Happily, "Mercy Killer" picks up where that opus left off - at least as far as quality is concerned. Bertie's new jam is a brilliantly executed anti-pop song that camouflages the (typically) dark thematic terrain with cute, toe-tapping beats and a sing-a-long chorus. I love everything about this from the brutally honest lyrics to the spooky soundscape.

In other words, it's pretty much brilliant and puts all our local faves to shame. The morose wordsmith readily admits that "Mercy Killer" is a confession about fucking someone over and finding perverse pleasure in the process. She might be a bitch but at least she owns it! The video, unfortunately, is a bit of snooze until the lead actress starts menstruating in the bathroom. From that moment on, it's a rollicking ride full of bad fashion and dead men with combovers. While Washington lost the fucking plot and the likes of Missy Higgins could never find it in the first place, Bertie always delivers. This is one of my favourite Australian pop songs of 2012.

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Bat For Lashes Returns With Laura

Bat For Lashes is probably my favourite clinically depressed indie-pop diva. Two Suns is still my preferred choice of listening material when I'm in a mood - so basically every day this year - and I have no hestitation ranking that album's lead single as one of the best pop songs of all time. And while her new single "Laura" doesn't quite reach the ominous heights of "Daniel", it's a hauntingly beautiful piece of music. The first taste of Natasha Khan's (her real name) third album is a grim piano ballad with typically poetic/depressing lyrics and the kind of emotion-packed vocal that rips your heart right out of your chest. I have to admit, I was hoping for more "Daniel"-esque twisted synth-pop this time around but "Laura" is pretty much perfect. There's not a lot to say about the video. It's sad, arty and stars an old tranny. That's a thumbs up from me then. If this is any indication of The Haunted Man (check out a taste of the slightly disturbing cover art above), the album going to be a down-tempo affair best-suited to late-night listening. Bring it on.

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Cosmo Jarvis - Brilliant New Song & Mesmerising Penis

Cosmo's breakthrough sea shanty "Gay Pirates" was one of last year's best singles. The Brit's experimental approach to music and dark sense of humour, expressed mainly through his twisted videos, established him as one of the rising stars of the alt-pop music scene. Well, the 22-year-old is back with the first taste of his third album and it's another gem. I interviewed Cosmo late last year and he said he was going to steer away from the quirky rap-rock material that drew the critics' wrath on his next opus and he appears to have kept his word. "Love This" sounds like something Jason Mraz would sing if he actually had an opinion. At first listen it's rather gentle, radio-friendly pop-rock but the typically razor-sharp lyrics have Cosmo's sticky fingers all over them. And then there's the video. I'm sorry but I'm mesmerised by the singer's swinging cock. This is like watching the men's 100 metres at the Olympics but at a lower speed! Listen to the pop pioneer's future JJJ hit below.

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I Can't Believe I Love A Band Called Snakadaktal

My favourite song at the moment belongs to a five-piece band from Melbourne called Snakadaktal. Ok, let's just get this out of the way - WORST NAME EVER. To make matters worse, it's apparently an amalgamation of the words snake and pterodactyl. Which is just stupid because snakes have two doodles and pterodactyls only had one hole. I think. So how are they supposed to reproduce? While you contemplate that mind-bending dilemma, let's return to their music. "Air" is one of the best songs of 2011. A delicately constructed indie-pop anthem that deftly borrows elements from fellow aural LSD-purveyors MGMT and Empire Of The Sun, the hypnotic track is an atmospheric triumph. You can almost feel the sunshine poking through a canopy of trees in an enchanted forest full of snakadaktals during the chorus. It's a brilliant debut that deserves to be massive. Make sure you check out the simple but effective smoke-filled video (below).

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