Pack Yr Romantic Mind

10:33 pm - I AM NOT A HEAVY PRODUCT

I am seriously contemplating no longer crossposting what I post on my Dreamwidth account over to my LiveJournal, as LJ is just getting worse and worse with its "privacy? pfft lets moneytise our userbase!" bullshit. I've tolerated it up to a point, because, well, like many I have been reluctant to effectively abandon something I've stuck with for many years, but of course the company I last paid money for this account is certainly not the company running the show now.

But anyway, he's summarised so I don't have to.

Having said that, I'm not abandoning the account, either, because if I do THAT the username may also be freed up for someone else, which opens up another set of issues. I'll have to figure out what that means as far as commenting on others' posts with my LJ login, because right there is the crux of the issue, with the "crosspost to FB/Twitter" nonsense.

But anyway: consider Dreamwidth. They're now the best of the LJ-alikes, particularly with issues such as these, it's easy to import a LJ across, and I have STACKS of invite codes so feel free to ask.

Crossposted from http://gths.dreamwidth.org/368424.html

comments over there.

11:07 pm - Antlerland - Recombinant Diamond Dust

As promised, the album's done. I feel a bit dirty framming it, but eh, whatever.

http://antlerland.bandcamp.com/album/recombinant-diamond-dust

Crossposted from http://gths.dreamwidth.org/366009.html

comments over there.

09:48 pm - music 2009

I'd have to say nothing really grabbed me and shook me furiously this year, probably the highlight was seeing Stereolab just before they went on hiatus, which is probably why they played a good mix of early, middle and new stuff. They were supported by Crayon Fields, who were OK but just were a little too fey for me.

With the pub that had gotten a lot of bands in closing "for renovations under new management", both local and national, it'd really pulled the rug from under the scene so that's kind of dried up. Ironically the meat-market discotheque has decided to take up a little of the slack but it's not quite the same. A few other pubs do occasionally reach beyond the tribute band circuit but generally it's been pretty bad for business. Not to mention the idiot who decided to try his hand at organising a festival having had no experience in any kind of event management or booking or whatever, only to drop the ball two weeks out leaving a LOT of people out of pocket.

Anyway. Onto records. Here's twenty I liked for one reason or another. There also a few downers, I mean the Simian Mobile Disco one was pretty weak and I had to wonder why the hell I didn't just steer clear, but mostly it was good. I've probably missed a few too. Sadly it's just about all wuss rock but anyway...

- Animal Collective Merriwether Post Pavillion / Fall Be Kind (nuff said elsewhere. I wasn't that rapt in it btw but it's still good)
- The Necks Silverwater (takes patience to get into, as with all Necks albums, but worth the wait)
- The Horrors Primary Colours (liked this better than I thought I might - Iain Curtis might be amused were he still around but)
- YACHT Mystery Lights (good despite the hype, "Psychic City" is a silly throwaway riff and it's perfect)
- Grizzly Bear Veckatimest (honestly haven't listened to this as much as I would)
- Dappled Cities Fly Zounds (sometimes the blokes' delivery bugs me but it's all pretty adventurous yet sure-footed stuff)
- Super Furry Animals Light Years/Dark Days (some great songs, a good return to form after the relatively unfocused Hey Venus!)
- Wolf & Cub Science and Sorcery (hit and miss but still has it's moments)
- Antlerland Intercapital Daylight (hey I worked hard on it you jerks. DOWNLOAD)
- Gomez A New Tide (kind of amused but also pleased that these guys are still at it)
- Doves Kingdom Of Rust (they still have what got me interested in them in the first place, so I can ignore the Coldplay similarities)
- Radiohead "These Are My Twisted Words" (even if a new album is still up in the air, this was a nicely textured morsel to keep people going)
- Mumford & Sons Sigh No More (a bit of a surprise - remind me a bit of The Frames, even the Audreys, only with a bit more crank.)
- Sonic Youth The Eternal (well it's certainly a whole lot better than Rather Ripped)
- Yo La Tengo Popular Songs (oh yeah there's a lot of nice noises on here)
- Wilco Wilco (the album) (pretty much dispensed with the nice noises but pretty good all the same)
- God Help The Girl God Help The Girl (despite detractors claims, Belle & Sebastian can actually crank at times. This is B&S without the crank.)
- Plants and Animals Parc Avenue (technically 2008 but definitely one of my fave discoveries of the year. not really like Arcade Fire at all, either)
- Jonsi and Alex Riceboy Sleeps (sometimes you get what you expect and it's exactly what you want - quiet swelling tones and ambient noises)
- Sufjan Stevens The BQE (you know that bit where the orchestral bit suddenly segues into fizzy buzzy electronica - yeah that's what I'm talking about.)

Crossposted from http://gths.dreamwidth.org/365059.html

I have some DW invitation codes if you want one.

03:35 pm - JBs is going to send me as broke as fuck.

One of the things that always killed my bank account when visiting a capital city was the inevitable visit to JB Hi Fi. Of course this year I haven't been anywhere near one since February, but now they opened in Albury last weekend - right on my usual walk to work - umm, yeah, it could be a problem. I checked it out last weekend and bought some shit, GTA:IV (which runs very well on the new box, thank you) along with NDW's Cold and the Crackle (I think it's just Little Desert I have to get now...) and the Wolf & Cub EP from '04 or whenever.

The tendency to stack up kicked in today, though. I guess the Albury branch is about half the size of the Elizabeth St one, but that's understandable considering the market. The range was still pretty good, and certainly had the candy store effect on me. I think I'm going to have to bar myself from the place until the new year but. (Unless I get a gift voucher for Xmas or something ^_^ ) Anyway I picked up this stuff, haven't listened to it instead, it's mainly gap filling.

- Wishbone Ash S/T - as far as I know this could turn out to be terrible prog instead of good prog, but I'll see how the twin lead guitar thing goes (yeah Dragonforce weren't the first to do that you crumby neckbeards)
- Tangerine Dream Tangram - they had quite a bit of TD stuff there, I've got Phaedra but no else so we'll see how that goes.
- Killing Joke Night Time - I only have one eighties album of theirs, What's THIS For, so I figure I better make a start on the rest.
- The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy - was at a party on the weekend and got talking about music with someone as you do, and it occured to me that I haven't got any JAMC. Figured I'd better do something about that.
- The National Alligator - really liked The Boxer, figured this should be about the same quality. Also the only thing I bought today that was done in the past two decades, heh.

The Mates' building premises now look pretty good, even though the refurbishments are still very much under way, with JBs being the first to move into the basement. I'm just wondering how much they're going to knock around the FLRB, though, because, for example, the Tom Waits live set is about five dollars less at the big yellow monster. I guess JBs and downloading has had similar effects at indie retailers in the city as well.

I think there's an argument that it's not just that, however, it's that pop music is fucking terrible today. I mean it's always been kind of terrible but there's usually been something floating around that is actually worth buying a copy of. Whereas these days it seems like that pop music is:
- generic bloke-rock (Powderfinger, Jet, etc)
- stuff that's been sung by androids from the Uncanny Valley Hit Factory
- Andre Fucking Rieu, who makes James Last sound like Karlheinz Stockhausen
- genericised crap from reality show winners that they won't even see a cent from because the deal they got from "winning" completely shuts them out of the profits (ask Damien Leith) - the best thing that can happen to a contestant is getting the exposure without actually winning, so they're free to get a deal on their own bat without having some industry turd acting as svengali and raking off the cash, so for instance what Lisa Mitchell's done (record an album with credible musicians instead of the Uncanny Valley Hit Factory and put her in the same field as Sarah Blasko and such) and be good enough on stage that punters actually want to drop the cash to see them perform. Even if they finish up on the RSL circuit or something.

Whoa that turned into a bit of rant.

Crossposted from http://gths.dreamwidth.org/363907.html

I have some DW invitation codes if you want one.

05:56 pm - Things we do to relieve the tedium of workaday work #403

Thinking up Roller Derby names with an overtly Australian flavour (which may or may not be in actual use).

Victoria Bitter
Mel Burrrrrrn
Queen Slander
Eureka Blockade
Dawn Grazer
Cathy Screamin'
Jana Hittman
Julia Killhard
The Bashup sisters - Julie and Bronwyn
Hate Blanchette

Yeah I was stretching a bit. Maybe you can do better!

Crossposted from http://gths.dreamwidth.org/362083.html

I have some DW invitation codes if you want one.

05:32 pm

( moods, BSG, job interviews, Antlerland stuff )

Crossposted from http://gths.dreamwidth.org/360718.html

03:08 pm - Antlerland - Wronghead Versions

Also, I neglected to mention last week that I put up the Wronghead Versions thing for Antlerland. Basically a heap of working versions and remixes of Wronghead, some of which go WAAAYYY back, although I did a little remixing of those older versions because they were originally done on an 8-bit Sound Blaster, just to make things like pads sound less crap. I also quickly whipped up another version that will give people horrible flashbacks to 1991.

I'll probably do another Versions set with The Sharpest Knife, I might set out to have done in October.

As well I'll also be trying to round up the other stuff that I've already put out via the old website or have been finished but don't have homes, compile that into another volume or more likely two. That'll probably come out in December or January.

That should help to clear the decks through 2010 for a couple of albums of newer material, one instrumental, and depending on if I can sort things like lyrics out, one with vocals. I might have to book some studio time for a day or two to record those. That'll be later into 2010, though, since I'll want to nail the music down first. I've got a few other crazy schemes in line with that as well.

(This should go in the antlerland journal as well but I've borked the password and I can't be fragged resetting it at the moment.)

Crossposted from http://gths.dreamwidth.org/360202.html

05:13 pm

OK, let's see if I can get into the habit of posting through the web interface (at least until DW sorts out crossposting via clients or whatever.). I'll keep crossposting stuff to the livejournal indefinitely but I'm going to try and start considering the DW journal the primary.

Not much to say else aside from that - headaches, study, dealing with crap. Not much worth writing about. :)

[Crossposted from http://gths.dreamwidth.org/360049.html]

06:00 pm - Ian Thorpe

reposted from FB (so you may have seen this there)
http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/07/23/ian-thorpe-australias-dirty-little-secret/

I realised my value to organisations trying to bring positive change lent enormous weight to these causes. I must say though this should be an outrage, because as an athlete I am not as qualified to comment on health or education as the health professionals and educators who daily tackle the big issues. In fact it is a bit disappointing that a teenager’s opinion garnered more attention than those who had been working on their chosen causes before I was even born. This realisation of the opportunity that my voice and name could lend to an excellent cause was the simple foundation laid, for my very own charity.

This has been highlighted once again by what is called in Australia “The Intervention”, the Federal Government’s takeover of 73 remote Aboriginal communities.

The Intervention was constructed by the previous government and has since been reported to have been assembled in the space of just one day. The irony is that Aboriginal people had been campaigning for decades about the living conditions and the neglect of their children within their communities. The programs to protect and nurture the children, had been grossly neglected and under funded by government over the last decade. What appears to be a political stunt and a grab for government control over Aboriginal people continues to this day under the new government.

Once more an Australian government has claimed it is doing its best for Aboriginal Australians by taking over their communities, appointing white managers, more government bureaucrats, promising all kinds of things, if Aboriginal people will just sign over their communities under forty year leases to the Federal Government. And politicians wonder why Aboriginal people do not trust them.

The truth is for over 200 years Australian governments have neglected and patronized Aboriginal people.

The Intervention is unlikely to provide any lasting benefit to Aboriginal people because it tries to push and punish them, to take over their lives, rather than work with them. One of Australia’s oldest and wisest Aboriginal leaders, Galawuy Yunupingu says the only way forward is for Aboriginal communities in these remote areas to be led and organised by their own organisations. Assimilation will not work.

11:31 pm - See if you get the joke

OK, this is what I put in for the all time hottest 100

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Hunters & Collectors - Throw Your Arms Around Me
The The - Uncertain Smile
The Jam - That's Entertainment
New Order - Blue Monday
Dead Kennedys - Holiday In Cambodia
The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
Hunters & Collectors - Talking To A Stranger
The Sugarcubes - Birthday
The Cure - A Forest

Of course we'll probably get some horseshit from Silverchair topping it out or something, but whatever.