Music ruined by circumstance

Once music I liked (or tolerated), I now cringe or feel queasy when I hear it. It is:

- Anything by Martha Wainwright, Jeff Buckley, At The Drive-In, Maximo Park and End of Fashion
- Josh Pike - Middle of the Hill
- The Editors - Bullets
- Gwen Stefani - What are you waiting for
- Black Eyed Peas - Where is the love

Rivers Cuomo and Asian fetishes

Last night I dreamt that I met Rivers Cuomo backstage after a Weezer gig (yes, this dream was last night, not in 1996). Two mean blonde girls were making me nervous by telling me that I had no chance with Rivers. I told them that they were being stupid for assuming that I would make a move on a celebrity. After the dream I thought, of course I would have a chance, I'm Asian. Rivers loves Asians. The only thing that would turn him off me would be my boyish Westernness and ability to speak fluent English. My Asian fetish friend says he's attracted to Asians because he thinks they're more feminine and it's cute when they speak in broken English. I have a few Asian fetish friends, but I still think most Asian fetish guys are creepy, especially this one. Is it wrong for me to think they're creepy? How are they different from gentleman who prefer blondes? How are they different from any person who is attracted to a certain type? The Asian fetishes' attraction is not much different to my weakness for dark haired, slightly geeky, creative (especially music) types...like River.

I can't believe River went on Friendster to look for a girlfriend. He even found a profile he liked, sent her several messages that she never replied to, and wrote a few songs for her. Other than to complete the degree he's deferred since 1997, Rivers returned to Harvard to look for his future wife. He eventually married a Japanese friend he made at a Weezer concert in 1997. Can someone send me a list of musicians who date their fans?

Phoenix/The Pixies

Second best gig moment of my life - Thomas Mars from Phoenix stepping down from stage to walk in the crowd to sing 'Napoleon Says'. He walked right in my path. I seem to have really good luck with getting close to musicians at gigs. I touched his arm. He stood next to me for most of the song. He is a dreamboat. He is kinda tall and has the slim build that I'm attracted to. After the gig they signed autographs and I got each band member to sign my CD. I thanked Thomas for coming down from stage to sing in the crowd, and said that it was really cool. He said that he tried to reach out to me from the stage but he was too short. I bet he says that to all the girls! I wanted to ask how Sofia Coppola was and if she was in Melbourne but I didn't have the guts. I wish I was Sofia, for several reasons which will be left for another blog.

I was front row for The Pixies, almost 3ft away from Kim Deal. I worship her - she is my favourite bass player and one of my favourite vocalists. She had a permanent smile on her face which was weird given that she is clean, but she definitely seemed to be the most friendly band member because she was the only one who spoke to the crowd. She is one of my top queens of cool, with the other two being Kim Gordon and Karen O. I only got into The Pixies two years ago, but their songs made me feel nostalgic even though I wasn't into the scene back in the early 90s.

A top 5 gig.

Muse

MATT BELLAMY - IS THERE SEXIER MAN ALIVE?



One of the best gig moments of MY LIFE just happened tonight. I was standing front row at the Muse concert. Matt stepped down from the stage and was a meter away from me. He knelt down in front of me and played the intro gituar solo of 'Plug in baby', which is one of my favourite gituar riffs of all time. He was biting his lip as he played it intensly. He looked into the crowd with a growling rock face. His blue eyes were very clear to me. He was wearing skinny white jeans and a white t-shirt. He was pretty much posed like this in front of me:



I loved it when Matt played on the piano and had the gituar slung around his body. I wish he could come play piano at my house. What an insanely talented musician.



I was never a major Muse fan until I blown away by their sunset performance at the Big Day Out on Sunday. There was a magical atmosphere in the audience. The crowd was singing along, but not in an annoying way, and dancing, but not roughly. People were really into it and excited. I think the vibes from the people around me is what infected me even more with the Muse bug. Muse played with such intensity, and I was drawn into Matt's voice. He closed his eyes and tilted his head as he sung in falsetto. He reminded me of Jeff Buckley.



Matt Bellamy and Muse shit all over Thom York and Radiohead. Muse are supposedly influenced by Radiohead and are often compared to them. But Thom York is an arrogant prick and Radiohead don't come close to producing the dramatic sound of Muse. I think they are quite different and shouldn't be compared anyway.

Muse continues to create an exciting variation on prog rock. Their past three albums sound completely different to another. I think 'Origin of Symmetry' is their most accessible, 'Absolution' is their heaviest, and 'Black Holes and Revelations' ventures into new territory with a more pop/funk sound. Electric beats in track 1, 'Take a Bow'. A bit of salsa on track 10, 'City of Delusion'; a bit of surf gituar Tarantino soundtrack-esque sound on track 11, 'Hoodoo'. Matt's vocals on 'Supermassive Black Hole' are rather...disco?

Lupe Fiasco

I met Lupe Fiasco on Friday night. I complimented him on the positive lyrics on his album and said that it was a refreshing change from everything else that is out there in hip hop. Then I gave him a card of a comic book and manga store in the city for him to check out, because I read of his love for that. He signed a CD sleeve for me and took a photo. I am estatic that I met one of my favourite musicians from last year and proud of my ability to schmooze. =)

Favourite song of the year

I didn't think would've been possible for me to pick a favourite song of any year, but one that I haven't got sick of is Midnight Juggernauts "Shadows". One of the best live music moments of my life was dancing to this song at the Parklife festival. The concert was in a park, it was sunny and I was surrounded by good friends. A stranger captured a photo of my group because we looked like we were having so much fun, going crazy to this song. I wish I had that photo!

I was not all that interested in electro music up until this year. So picking this song as my favourite of the year has come as a shock to some of my friends who knew me as the rock chic.

Favourite gigs of 2006

I've seen over seventy bands perform live this year. I've attended two festivals (Big Day Out and Parklife) and been to thirty-one concerts. When I remove the support acts and festival bands that I didn't like, I've enjoyed about fourty-three bands.

My top five were:

1. Cornelius
2. The Strokes
3. Sonic Youth
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5. Gomez

Other highlights were:

Big Day Out @ Princes Park (Kings of Leon, White Stripes, Franz Fernidad rocked)
Sleater-Kinney @ The Corner
Iota @ The Retreat
Jens Lekman @ Northcote Social Club
Ian Ball (Gomez) @ Northcote Social Club
Martha Wainwright @ The Forum
The Grates @ The Corner
You Am I @ East Brunswick Club
The Bellrays @ Hi-Fi Bar
Vasco Era @ Hi-Fi Bar
Parklife festival @ Birrung Marr park - Midnight Juggernauts, Who Made Who, Mixmaster Mike (Beastie Boys), Mattafix
Joan as Police Woman @ Northcote Social Club
Kylie (I'M SERIOUS!)

When I move to Canada next year I think I'll go broke seeing all the great gigs they have over there. I would probably also make trips to NY to see special shows. Live music is a major reason why I want to move to Toronto. Sure, Melbourne is the live music capital of Australia, but certain international musicians don't do frequent tours here (e.g. BECK!!!) or come here at all. I hope to finally get a chance to see Beck and Arcade Fire in Toronto.

My favourite albums/EPs 2006

Oh no! I resorted to doing an end of year list!!! I'm shite at music reviewing. What the hell are guitar layers and pop hooks anyway? I'm basing this list on the albums I could not stop listening to for more than a week.

- Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
- The Grates - Gravity won't get you high
- Lily Allen - Alright, Still
- Lady Sovereign - Public Warning
- Jose Gonzalez - Veneer
- The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
- Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak (Ok, technically this was released last year, but I only discovered it this year!)
- Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor
- Midnight Juggernauts - Secrets of the Universe

Kylie

Yes, Minogue. I got a free ticket to see Kylie Minogue at her Show Girl concert. It was a four year old Lee-Ann’s dream come true. I had to mentally remove my grungy Cons at the entrance and strut in pink diamante stilletos instead. I would have never thought of going to see Kylie in a million years, and I’m still in a state of disbelief about it. But how could I pass up a ticket to see an Australian icon? I went with the intention of hearing her 80s songs - the ones I loved and sung along to as a toddler, such as “I should be so lucky” and “Locomotion”. I had a slight bit of hope that she would sing “Where the Wild Roses Grow” and that Nick Cave would make a surprise appearance, but I highly doubted it, given the Show Girl theme of the concert and a large audience of young girls and gay men who preferred “pop Kylie” over the mid-90s “alternative Kylie”.

Her singing was not great but I was highly entertained throughout the show. Seeing Kylie was a dream for any camp gay man and little girl. She even managed to throw in a line from “Where the wild roses grow”, which was mixed in with another song. This was sung during the segment of the show that was devoted to her darker, lesser known songs. During this segment most of the audience sat down, but eagerly stood up again and danced fabulously once “pop Kylie” re-emerged.

The most magical part of the show was when sitting on a glittering, silver quarter moon suspended from the ceiling. She wore a glittery red sequined dress and sung "Somewhere over the rainbow". My friend said that all the gay men in the audience would be creaming their pants now. The midnight blue visuals in the background of the stage were speckled with golden stars. This is a picture from another concert. Same moon, different dress.

In another part of the show the stage was set up like a 80s disco. She asked the audience “Who went to the disco in the 80s?” and a few older women around me stood up and started dancing. She sung her 80s hits, including, to my excitement, “I should be so lucky” and “Locomotion”. In the final encore she brought out “Especially for you” and asked the audience to sing along with her, since Jason or Kermit weren’t there!

Jamie T

Is it just me, but doesn't Jamie T sound exactly like the Artic Monkeys? Why are all the music reviewers and radio DJs (*ahem* Richard Kingsmill *ahem*) going nuts over this guy? I never understood the big fuss over the Artic Monkeys either. Give me The Streets over any of these two bands any day.