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16
Jan

Music: Real Estate – Days

By Darragh|Music Writing, Record review, Writing|Be the first to comment!

Many people liked about this record in late 2011. I’ve only really had the chance to listen to it this week and I can definitely understand why people like so much. Real Estate are from New Jersey, and Days is their second record – the follow up to their 2009 self-titled debut.

It’s extremely breezy, largely uncomplicated music. On first listen, I didn’t know why people were so plaeased with it. However, repeated listens allows the gentle clean guitar pop to seep into you. It slips in between the synapses, plugs right in. I could eat a salad while listening and not miss a beat.

Some enjoyable songs lurk around here. I’m talking about the likes Green Aisle. Out of Tune has a bassline that could have been lifted from Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams. Outside of these, the rest are harmless but none are particularly notable.

Scott Creney’s review on Collapse Board is pretty bang on – this isn’t a particularly challenging record, but nor is it totally without merit. This is easy listening for both hipsters and those who wish they were fashionable to be known as such.

11
Jan

Running crazy like: Half marathon for charity.

By Darragh|Blog|Be the first to comment!

I have a love-hate relationship with running. I love the actual act of long distance running, I love the feeling after you’ve done the kilometres, and I love the various aches and pains that creak into action as your muscles cool down. But I do have a problem with motivation. Getting me out there on the road seems to be the problem, though once I’m out there, I’m all good. Strange isn’t it?

At the moment, I weigh a bit over 100kgs. While I’ve always been relatively big – even at my fittest a few years back, it was difficult for me to get under 90kgs, but the extra weight has meant back and knee problems. I need to get rid of it and the best way to do that is obviously a good diet and exercise.

Hence, I’m determined this year to actually do the Gold Coast Half Marathon. For years I’ve been saying I’d do it, only to train for a bit only to have life get in the way. This year I’m going to try give myself some extra motivation, by doing it for charity. I’ve decided to support Oxfam. They do good work in developing nations and development is always something I’m particularly passionate about.

If you like to help me out, my donation page is here. Any amount is much appreciated. I’m aiming for $1,000 and if we make it to that amount, I promise to donate $200 further funds of my own money to the fund.

Donate by visiting my Everyday Hero page.

You’ll see the ‘donate’ button down the bottom of that page in the right hand corner.

I’m also using Nike+ to track my runs. If you’re a runner and use this service, feel free to add me as a friend. My user profile is “dbmurray”.

I’m also going to try do it in under two hours, which might be a bit of a task. But it’s at the start of July giving me a bit under 6 months to get myself into shape. Though, first training run wasn’t exactly positive. It felt good, but I only managed 2.5kms in 16 mins. Rubbish!

09
Jan

Surburbia politica: Livin’ on the southside.

By Darragh|Blog|4 Comments


Since 2009, I’ve lived in the inner southern suburbs of Brisbane, transitioning between Dutton Park, Woolloongabba, and now Annerley. Before that I grew up and spent most of my life living in the inner north/inner western suburbs, in places such as Bardon, Ashgrove, Indooroopilly, Auchenflower and a few years out at Brookfield. Given that my father dabbled in property development, moving around a lot pretty much defined much of my life. Our family staying in one place for more than a few years was rare.

It did always seem strange that my parents never ventured outside of a western suburbs of Brisbane. Living south of the river just never seemed an option for our family. My father explained it to me once.

Me: “Dad, why don’t you ever think about living on the south side?”

Dad: “That’s where the bridge people live.”

Me: “The bridge people?”

Dad: “The people from the other side of the bridge.”

Some people might call it snobbish, and I had assumed that they thought living south of the river indicated some kind of different socio-economic status. I don’t thik I believe that anymore. I think it’s an Irish trait, and being drawn to the familiar.

However, I broke the pattern in 2009, moving in with my friend Andrew Weber and a few other exceptionally cool cats to a great little share house in Dutton Park. Since the construction of the green bridge a few years earlier, getting to the university was much easier. And since I pretty much lived at university back then, being as close as possible was extremely convenient.

Since then, I’ve never looked back. It soon became clear to me that the inner south is the best place to live in Brisbane. Why? Well there are a few reasons.

Firstly, the transport is miles ahead of the north and the west. When I lived at Woolloongabba, close to Park Road Station, gave me access to two train lines (Beenleigh and Cleveland) plus the busway. I could traverse to UQ as easily as getting to the city. I lived in close proximity to the main bike way that is nestled beside to the South East Freeway, and if I wanted to go north or south, I could easily get to the M3 or Clem Jones Tunnel. Compare that to a commute into the city from the western side of the city, which is the equivalent of being slowly lowered onto a wooden spike.

Secondly, retail infrastructure and access to this infrastructure is much better. There are a huge amount of options here. Garden City and Carindale if you want the large shopping experience, plus numerous smaller retail hubs. Fairfield Gardens, Cooparoo and Buranda are all five minutes drive away.

Thirdly, resturants and bars are much much better here. Getting a beer in Kenmore on a weekday night is a task, being limited to pretty much the Kenmore Tavern or drinking cask wine on the side of the street. Good value restaurants are everywhere as well, having the choice of West End or the Gabba or South Bank close to hand. You have also got Bulimba close to hand. North of the river, at least outside the CBD and Fortitude Valley and perhaps New Farm, I don’t think you can do better.

You know I always have a sinking feeling that posts like the one I’ve just written will annoy people. Trust me, it’s not my intention. So before you think ‘man, this is total bull’, I’d realise that other people have different priorities to me, and not so obsessed with catching public transport, going to shopping centres and getting drunk.

But I would be interested in hearing other people’s stories about why their particular pocket of Brisbane is good or bad. I haven’t ever lived in the east, nor really the north (apart froma stint in Burpengary when I was about two). I can think of one downside to my area – the perception that it is a wretched hive of villany worse than Mos Eisly spaceport. As someone who has recently had their house looted, I can only feel that there may be some truth that the perception.

06
Jan

A few favourite records from 2011

By Darragh|Blog, Brisbane, Music, Music Writing, Record review, Writing|8 Comments

The months of December and January breed lists. People love to bang on about what their favourite things of the year might be….and I’m no different. Being that I’m a sometimes music writer, it’s inevitable that I’d come to the party with a list of my favourite records from 2011. I may have missed the boat, considering its January and all, but nonetheless, they’re going on the Internet.

Some of these I mentioned in my contribution to Rave Magazines ‘best of’ in late December 2011 (which covered my top five). Some of these featured in my Best of Brisbane, written for Collapse Board.

Destroyer – Kaputt

I suppose you could call Dan Bejar’s critically acclaimed ninth record “chillwave”. It’s smooth, it’s got saxaphone’s all over it, and while it takes a bit to get used to, the entire thing is deceptively awesome.

Key tracks: Chinatown, Savage Night At The Opera.

Witch Hats – Pleasure Syndrome

My favourite Australian record of the year. The band, known for their aggressive bass driven rock lighten up a smidgen on their second record. The lyrics are still full of violence and brutality, but the song writing is tight and the themes engaging.

Key tracks: In the Mortuary, The Bounty, Hear Martin.

Read my review in Rave Magazine.

Royal Headache – Royal Headache


So much has already been written about the debut record from Sydney group Royal Headache. It won the Mess+Noise readers poll and it’s easy to understand why – these are rock songs you can dance to without having to think too much. I was a bit late to the party on this one, but it would have easily made my top five.

To me, it sounds like a bizarre melange of The Buzzcocks and Guided By Voices and occasionally a bit of the better tracks from The Strokes debut record.

Key tracks: Really in Love, Psychotic Episode.

Kitchen’s Floor – Look Forward to Nothing


I love a lot about this band. I love the self-deprecating lyrics, I love the way the songs are recorded, and I love that I can listen to the entire thing inside thirty minutes. This is my favourite Brisbane record of the year.

Key tracks: Regrets, Insects.

Read my review in Rave Magazine.

Wild Beasts – Smother

I’ve probably listened to this the most out of any on my list, partly because my girlfriend had it in her car and we never bothered to change the CD over. That fact in itself should tell you a lot about this record, it’s good enough to withstand countless listening.

Key tracks: Reach a Bit Further, Burning.

Read my review in Rave Magazine.

EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints

The debut record by ex-Gowns member Erika M. Anderson is a harrowing experience that makes some serious demands on the audience. It documents EMA battle with self-harm and drugs and…well you get the picture. I can thank fellow Rave writer Chad Parkhill for putting me on to this one.

While not on this record, I also recommend her cover of Nirvana’s ‘Endless Nameless’ as part of Spins tribute record – it’s probably the best Nirvana cover I’ve heard since The Mess Hall covered ‘Breed’.

Key tracks: The Grey Ship, Marked

The Keep On Dancins’ – The End of Everything

Local label Merenoise is home to a hell of a lot of awesome bands. The Keep On Dancins’ debut continues the quality I’ve come to expect from the label. It taps into the whole surf-rock thing with a touch of The Velvet Underground.

Key tracks: Houston, Summertime.

Chad VanGaalen – Diaper Island

I admire VanGaalen. He writes hundreds of songs and records them all himself and does all the artwork (including the amazing animation on his 2008 song Molten Light). Most of the time the songs are pretty good. Soft Airplane (2008) was my first introduction to the Canadian, Inside the Molecules being my favourite of that release. Diaper Island takes the best parts of Soft Airplanes and expands upon them. Rough production, Vangaalen’s nasal vocals, straightforward percussion, and his inclination for childlike imagery.

The record closer, Shave My Pussy is an interesting, possibly challenging, theme for a song. Difficult for me to understand, being male and all, I do like that VanGaalen attempts to think about the pressures of modern sexuality on young women. Whether he’s right or wrong, who knows, but it’s an interesting track nonetheless.

Key tracks: Burning Photographs, Freedom for a Policeman.

The Fauves – Japanese Machines


It’s strange that lots of people thing that older bands can’t cut it despite their experience. I didn’t expect to enjoy The Fauves tenth album, Japanese Engines, as much as I did. It’s powerpop, full of great little melodies and chiming guitars, but sad at its core – a sense of loss permeates through.

Key tracks: Flag of Convenience, The French

Read my review in Rave Magazine.

Stuff I missed

2011 was a super busy year for me in terms of music writing. I reviewed over 50 records, talked to a bunch of artists, and wrote a few special features. It pales in comparison to what normal music writers manage to do, but juggling this witha full time work has been challenging, sometimes overwhelming.

As a result, I’ll admit that I missed a lot of what I believe are good records – Real Estate, Dick Diver, Total Control, Twerps and Wilco, amongst many others. I realise they’re good and I look forward to digging into them soon.

If you’ve got recommendations, throw em in the comments.

Also, if you think I may have forgotten to include the Bon Iver record in my list. I haven’t because I think it sucks. QED.

04
Jan

Strange journalism: Socialism to blame for missing five wicket haul

By Darragh|Blog|Be the first to comment!

It may be that odd things amuse me sometimes. The follow headline from an article by Wayne Smith in today’s edition of The Australian struck me as somewhat humourous.

Seriously? Socialism prevented Australia’s newest bowling sensation James Pattinson from reaching the five-wicket milestone against India at the second test in Sydney? How did this crazy situation come to pass? Well, Wayne Smith explains:

For those who can’t see that graphic, the key quote is:

“Pattinson surely would have had the third five-wicket haul of his brief Test career were it not for the fact that Michael Clarke takes a curiously socialist approach to his bowling changes, spreading the riches around so that all his pacemen might profit equally.” (emphasis added).

I know Clarke is running a tight ship at the moment, but who would have thought it was this strict. What’s he got going? Some kind of quota system? Does getting dropped actually mean being taken to gulags somewhere out in the Australian bushlands?

Those who have an inkling of understanding of first year political science would know, socialism, in a very basic sense, is about centralised ownership of the means of production and a rejection of the hegemony of free-market capitalism, something that seems wholly unsuitable for use as cricket metaphor (for the record, Wayne, perhaps the word ‘egalitarian’ might be better used to describe Clarke’s approach to bowler distribution).

Still, it does raise an interesting thought. The Australian, a Murdoch owned paper who has stated that they were out to destroy the Australian Greens, is well known to fall to the right of the ideological centre ground when it comes to its editorial direction, with things like “socialism” broadly being considered “bad”.

While I don’t suggest that Wayne Smith didn’t do anything other than incorrectly use a concept to describe events on a cricket pitch, it is somewhat conveniently amusing that it appeared in The Australian.

Actually, come to think about it, I’m pretty such that Sachin Tendulker’s failure to reach a century in the first innings of the Sydney test can be attributed somehow to trotskyism.

04
Jan

Arrows to the Knees

By Darragh|Blog|3 Comments

I was an adventurer once, then I took an arrow to the knee.

Feeling insecure is such an unfamiliar sensation. I’ve been blessed to have experienced a life of relative safety, and even when I drunkenly walked around the streets of Cusco, Peru in a pair of rainbow striped long johns, I never actually ever though I was in serious danger from anyone other than my drunken self.

But, thanks to a burglar, who broke into me and my girlfriend’s rental home on the last work day before Christmas last year, I’ve been reduced to a quivering mess. Not only did this brazen individual steel our personal belongings, including my prized cream Fender Telecaster (pictured below) and a copy of Skyrim (though I think my girlfriend might be secretly pleased about that one), but also managed to reduce me to a state of paranoia, and I now live with this unnerving fortress mentality.

My Telecaster

Having never been robbed before, my state of mind has been I’ve hardly left the house during my ten days holidays, and I’ve wallowed in this frustrating existence of fear and anger that has meant 2011 ended in a terrible fashion.

I recall being told of a famous quote by Greek philosopher and famous public masturbator Diogenes of Sinope that went along that ‘material goods will make slaves of us’. While I can’t track down a reliable reference – it might not even exist – but regardless, the idea behind it has some value.

I can’t help but feeling that this need to protect my goods results in endless patrolling of the my residence, baseball bat close to hand. I am inches away from becoming that crazy Christian Brother who used to live at my old primary school and allegedly chased kids with a shotgun loaded with rocks and gravel.

Speaking of which, if any Brisbane musician or otherwise spies a cream white Japanese telecaster for sale around Brisbane, I’d be grateful if you could me know.

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