Kimbra @ SXSW

Kimbra 

Settle Down

Spotify House  

SXSW

South By South West (SXSW) has become the most prestigious music showcase in the world. Over 300 000 people converge on Austin, Texas every year for a week of music buzz, secret shows, showcases and music announcements.

To name a few, we can thank SXSW for the information that Jack White intends to tour Australia 'soon,' or that label Secret Sounds has postponed a debut Australian tour from new band, Zulu Winter stating, 

"After witnessing their scorching live show at SXSW, the Secret Sounds promoters have decided to keep Zulu Winter up their sleeve for a special Australian debut performance at Splendour In The Grass this year.”

Obviously, attending SXSW is extremely high on my do to list, but until my finances are able to support such an excursion, each year I paw through the reviews and watch dozens of videos just to feel a little included.

This is where I found the above video of Kimbra, I highly recommend you take a few minutes to experience her rendition. She is steadily proving herself to be one of the most talented new musicians around. Her powerful vocals and use of mixing boards make for a brilliant performance. 

Kimbra is touring Australia this May. She's playing at The Tivoli on Tuesday 15th May 

-- Trust me, it will be well worth it.

Ball Park Music @ The Hi Fi

THE 180° TOUR

BALL PARK MUSIC 

 NANTES + CUB SCOUTS

Ball Park Music are on a roll. Last year they released their debut album, toured the country twice over, had two entries in Triple J's Hottest 100 and collected the J Award for Best Unearthed Artist. They are currently in the middle of their National headline tour before they join the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, City and Colour, Wavves and The Maccabees for Groovin' The Moo Festival. Their show at the Brisbane Hi Fi had sold out weeks ago and the line outside the building stretched well around the block as people arrived early to hear the support bands. 

Local indie darlings, Cub Scouts, delighted the crowd's pop sensibilities with their catchy melodies and quirky lyrics. No topic was too obscure for the pen of lead singer Tim Nelson, who belted out tunes about everything from a disturbing girl in his anatomy class, to his pet dog, Evie. 

Cub Scouts

Sydney outfit, Nantes have been turning heads recently, earning critical acclaim for their single, Fly. Their synth heavy rock harkens to an early Strokes sound with moodier influences from the likes of Radiohead and Joy Division. Although it would have been nice if the lead singer's microphone was louder, the band had a cohesive vibe well beyond their tender years together. 

Nantes

If Ball Park Music began their musical career as an obscure Triple J Unearthed favourite, this could be nothing further from where they are at now. The group were applauded onto the stage in a midst of flashing lights, giant inflatable fish and friendly comic jostling. The crowd were treated to a musical introduction in the form of Pump It by The Black Eyed Peas before the band smashed out Literally Baby, their newest single. The energy in the HiFi was infectious, the venue was completely packed out and lead singer, Sam Cromack, was clearly loving it. Ball Park Music were home, and the locals couldn't be more excited about their home-grown quirky indie rock idols.

The night was dominated with tracks from the band's debut album, Happiness And Surrounding Suburbs, however there were a few new songs that are currently being recorded for their sophomore album. From the early preview, Australia can continue to expect bigger and better things from Ball Park. 

 Despite their ever-growing reputation as a fast paced and highly energetic live act, the performance mellowed mid-show for a charity announcement; bassist, Jennifer Boyce has been fundraising for the Leukemia Foundation's Worlds Greatest Shave and intends to shave off all of her hair the following morning. She has donation tins strategically placed around the HiFi in the hope of reaching her $5,000 goal. Quite dramatically, at the end of the next song, a crew member takes to the stage with a pair of scissors and cuts off Jen's long ponytail (the first step towards totally shaving). What a woman.  

IFly (I F*cking Love You) whips the crowd into a dance frenzy until Cromack suddenly decides to sit down and have a glass of wine before launching into the final chorus. The band are jumping off amplifiers and bouncing around the stage, clearly having the time of their lives.

They finished the set with It's Nice To Be Alive, the lead single from their debut album and recently voted #31 in Triple J's Hottest 100 last year. The finale was met with such enthusiasm that Cromack's vocals were barely audible above the screams of the audience. The group left the stage amidst an explosion of confetti cannons, reverb and screaming although the show was not quite over yet.  Returning to the stage for an encore, "This is a cover that we've never practiced before, we just all know it," announces Cromack before belting their way through The Kinks' All Day and All of the Night. 

YOU SHOULD DOWNLOAD: It's Nice To Be Alive, All I Want Is You, Sad Rude Future Dude

Lecture Four

"Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language"

-- Walt Disney

Photography, though a relatively new technology, has become a crucial element of Journalism and a source of news in it's own right. Today's lecture was essentially an overview of the medium; it's history and various developments. 


A photograph can convey a powerful message instantly to any audience. It is not constrained by language barriers and our capabilities for sharing images develop more and more every day. It seemed pointless to reflect on a lecture about images with words, so I have found some photos that I find particularly interesting or powerful to better demonstrate the profound affect that an image can have.


These moments in time are significant historical events that show humanity both at it's very best, and at it's very worst. People have captured these extraordinary events so that they can be shared with the rest of the world. 

Astronaut Neil Armstrong 

Moon Landing, 1969

US Troops Destroy Statue of Sadam Hussein

Iraq, 2003

Tsunami Victim

Japan, 2011

Cathy Freeman Wins Olympic Gold Medal

Sydney, 2000

Afghani Children Wait for Medical Aid

Afghanistan, 2009

Polar Bear Stands on a Melting Ice Shelf

North Pole, 2009

All of the above photos are the property of others, reproduced here for academic purposes only.

The Temper Trap - News

If you're a fan of The Temper Trap's debut effort, Conditions, then this song 'Rabbit Hole' from their upcoming self-titled sophomore album will not disappoint. The band have just announced that they will be returning to Australia in May, playing at BASSINTHEGRASS in Darwin and a handful of shows in Melbourne and Sydney. Though the rumours are running wild, it doesn't seem impossible that we may expect to see the group on the 2012 Splendour In The Grass lineup (let's hope so).

Aside from the stunning visual affect that the rolling plumes of smoke in the music video create, 'Rabbit Hole' fully realises The Temper Trap's musical prowess in an acoustic setting. The song develops into a slightly darker version of Conditions but still retains the ethereal harmonies and powerful vocals that lead singer, Dougy Mandagi is loved and respected for. The Temper Trap is one of many exciting releases that we can expect this year but only time will tell if they will earn the band a few more ARIAs to add to the collection.

The first single from the album, 'Need Your Love' will be released soon and the full track listing is available on the band's website: www.thetempertrap.net

Lecture Three

At this lecture we had a guest speaker, Skye Doherty, a print journalist who has worked for various publications here in Australia and in the UK. She spoke extensively about the use and value of text in the media as a story writing tool and particularly it's use in the online media. 

Skye talked about how text has a very important role outside the obvious fact that they tell the stories. There are many people who are employed to construct headlines, stand-firsts, descriptions, menues and navigation bars to suit the specific needs of each social medium. It is an aspect of news that I always overlooked, it hadn't really occurred to me that someone must be writing all of that extra material that I use all the time to find articles without a second thought. 

My Instagram Profile 

[ My Username is ByClare if you were wondering ]

I particularly found her discussion around the importance of text in improving a piece's "search-ability." As a frequent user of Twitter, Tumblr. and Instagram, I would never upload anything without including a number of tags and keywords to try and improve the chances of my work being viewed. In fact, as I am currently embroiled in an "Instagram-Off" with my boyfriend (to see who can gain the most followers) I am very aware of the importance of including tags with my photos so that other people can find them and from that, my other work.

Lecture Two

This week the lecture was all about the web, specifically Web 3.0 or 'Semantic Web.' This new era of internet use begins where the social networking revolution left off,  revolving around the idea of 'being mobile.' Today I take the fact that I carry the web around in my pocket for granted. As soon as I had a full time job I bought myself an IPhone and now I reckon I would be lost without it. 

By using meta tagging, geo tagging and filtering information from social network profiles, advertising agencies and media broadcasters are able to 'hyperlocalise' advertising and news content to an individual. While I can recognise the positives in this venture, one rather large negative can't escape me. I worry that if people are only tuning in to news stories that either directly relates or interests them, society's level of general knowledge and social awareness would drop considerably. This kind of ignorance could become very dangerous. 

Jelly Bellies

Given out in class but then taken away...

I feel giving up free online news would be even more difficult to swallow.

A more pressing challenge for online news is, of course, the profit margin. As publications begin at looking to put up 'Paywalls' so that the public must pay to receive their news online as they would in print. I do believe that a subscription model is needed, something that will be very hard to impose retrospectively. The demonstration of how a person perceives to be entitled to something regardless of the fact they were given it for free in the lecture was both tasty (the jelly beans were delicious) and enlightening. I would hate to have the future and integrity of investigative journalism jeopardised because the general public demands 'free' news. 

Lecture One

My records of the very first lecture are a little vague which I believe probably had something to do with the fact that it was my last class before I went to watch Death Cab For Cutie at The Tivoli. It's not that I don't have my priorities in order, I like the course certainly, but I'd had my tickets for longer than I'd even been enrolled at UQ, it was an exciting day.

Ben Gibbard

Death Cab For Cutie 

The Tivoli 27.02.12

Dr Redman talked about how he wanted everyone to behave as Journalists right from the beginning, to assume the role rather than wait for it to be handed to us once we finish our Degree. I appreciated this idea, despite the fact I have been living by this philosophy since High School. My formative teenage years were spent writing story after story for my school paper, then my local news paper and now I write for a music news website. I suppose this trend will probably continue throughout my University life and I look forward to it. I'm certainly fitting in a lot of concert reviews for a moment (hence all the photos I'm squishing into my blogging). 


Lastly, just incase anyone is interested, Death Cab For Cutie was amazing, the set was a perfect balance of old and new songs and Ben Gibbard was really on form. An acoustic version of I'll Follow You Into The Dark took my breathe away.