Artist Special #1: The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady have just toured in Australia as one of the headliners for the Laneway Festival. Most people here haven't heard much of them but now that Triple J is giving them some airplay in 12 months they will be the next big thing, remember you heard it here first!

I was lucky enough to see them in Brisbane a few weeks back - the gig was on a small stage to a small crowd but they still ripped the place apart. In my opinion they are one of the best bands in the world right now and a great musical journey to embark upon. Straight rock, done brilliantly with superb lyrics mainly all about kids growing up in the mid-west US with too much time and not enough to do. If you grew up in a small town you will feel every story these guys relay. Superb.


The Hold Steady. BOYS AND GIRLS IN AMERICA

This album is classic rock and roll but it has a lighter side with some nice ballads & great story telling, it winds you into meeting the boys and girls they sing about - awkwardly growing up, discovering love, booze, drugs, cars and the law. The great thing about this band is hearing stories about the same kids across their different albums - its like your growing up with them and experiencing what they experience. This is a great album to start with as it has everything on it that they do so well. Check out the track "Chips Ahoy" about a girl who bets on the horses and then her and her guy 'spend the whole next week gettin high' all over a punchy rock riff.. great stuff.

The Hold Steady. ALMOST KILLED ME

Party, party, pass out, probably on top of someone, regret it. Get over it. Party more. Fight a bit, get some drugs. A soundtrack to debauchery.

Their debut album.



The Hold Steady. SEPARATION SUNDAY

More stories of the same characters that your already by now intimately familiar with. Has a slower feel overall but still rocking, and a few more ballads. More focus on stories here



Also see their latest album STAY POSITIVE which is just as good as any of the above. A tight suite of music to own.

Great Reggae for Whitey

Reggae is a niche musical taste, I know very few people who are into it but I can't understand why more people don't like it. Its such an authentic genre of music that to a large part has stayed out of the mainstream and that alone has to be reason enough to check it out...

Yabby You. JESUS DREAD 1972 - 77

This is a major down tempo fat bass line fest. Some reggae can put you into a coma but this makes you want to sing along and dance, its not fast, but its catchy and despite being recorded over 30 years ago it sounds fantastic. Ever wondered where Massive Attack got their sound and lyrics from? Check these albums out and any album by another reggae legend Horace Andy.

Burning Spear. MARCUS GARVEY.

Burning Spear have some great vocals and most of their songs are songs of praise done beautifully with driving bass lines and floating vocals. This is the album to buy if you want to try getting into real reggae and I know its around as I bought it in Melbourne 3 years ago. One the thing most people don't know about reggae is that most of it is actually gospel music sung by those who believe in a god called Jah (a once ruler of Ethopia) and who therefore belong to a group known as rastafari. This is their religious music and the real stuff, like the guys on this list are great artists and have made some fantastic records. If you can get any of these on vinyl its well worth it, the analogue recordings from the 70's reproduce on vinyl superbly...music for serious listeners!

Linval Thompson. RIDE ON DREADLOCKS 1975 - 77

Linval Thompson is my favourite reggae man. This album is not too dub-heavy meaning you won't get 21 versions of the same song played in every which way possible without vocals, that can be a downfall of reggae as it becomes tedious and boring very fast. Linval is very down tempo, laid back and heavy with thick bass lines - a real slow-your-heartbeat album.

5 Albums Guaranteed to Get You Into Jazz

The problem with jazz is that there is so much crap jazz around that most hear a bit of it and therefore think jazz is shite. Fair enough. So this list brings you 5 albums which are not necessarily jazz greats or jazz masterpieces (I'll leave that for another list) but jazz albums that at the end of the day are guaranteed to have you sparking up a fat cigar and corking a bottle of shiraz chilling out to music that truly defined what it meant to be cool. Falling in love with jazz is one of life's great secret pleasures. I can pinpoint the moment a few of my good friends fell in love with jazz, one of my favourite 45" Blue Note jazz records spinning on my turntable & their faces suddenly grinning from ear to ear. I'll never forget it. Enjoy this journey....


Lee Morgan. LEE WAY.

The time and place for jazz was 1950's USA. At that time 2 post war European immigrants were running around recording the best on the scene at the time. Their recordings were released as Blue Note Records recordings. I'll do a feature on Blue Note one day as its one of my great passions but suffice to say if in doubt, buy something on Blue Note recorded in the 50's or 60's. It represents the documenting of a time and place never to be repeated again - its jazz in its absolute heyday. This album is one of the best from the Blue Note collection.


Miles Davis. KIND OF BLUE.

This was the breakthrough album for Davis and it sold by the truck load. Its almost a cliche today to hear this album at a restaurant trying to be all hip and down with it. Truth is, its a great jazz recording and so easy to listen to its almost unimaginable that someone with half a taste for music would not like it. A great late night album. Drift off to the master of trumpet.


Jimmy Smith. JIMMY SMITH PLAYS FATS WALLER.

Another Blue Note release. Jimmy Smith is a hammond organ player who plays the most laid back groovy, smooth, silky, soulful tunes you will ever hear. Here he plays covers from the great composer Fats Waller but that's not what's important, what is important is that Jimmy Smith is the high preist of chill out jazz and you will absolutely love him! Anyone familiar with the organ lick in the Beastie Boys tune Root Down? That's Jimmy Smith baby! Say no more.


Bill Evans Trio. TRIO '65

Bill Evans is a piano player whose recordings sound brilliant and fresh, totally modern and sounds like that idea in your head of what jazz should sound like - tinkering keys, brush drumming, smooth bass solos etc with that real smoke filled room, scotch hitting the rocks authentic jazz bar feel. This is one of his easiest albums, subtle, still in parts and swinging in others.


Joao Gilberto/Stan Getz. GETZ GILBERTO.

Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz brought a latin brand of music to the USA and blended it with the jazz at the time to create Bossa Nova. I can't begin to describe how influential Bossa Nova has been to every chill-house, jazzy beats recording ever made since (e.g Kruder and Dorfmeister some 30 years later see my Must Own Albums of the 90's list) Basically this album combines the latin lyrics of Gilberto with the sax playing of Getz and the result is a magic that transports you to the beaches of Brazil in seconds. Getz was one of the great tenor sax players and here you will hear every pitch and every pinch of this instrument in the hands of a real master. This album is a treasure.


If you liked any of these albums try: The Miles Davis Quintet The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings, Hank Mobley Workout, John Coltrane Blue Train, Stanley Turrentine Hustlin', Grant Green Solid.

Must Own Albums of the 90's

Here's my list of must own albums from the 90's. Basically if you don't own all of these albums you are missing out on some of the best music recorded in the last 20 years.

Slayer. SEASONS IN THE ABYSS

Slayer at their most approachable. I would put a Slayer album in the best of list from the 80's, 90',s and 00's simply because they are about as influencial and as serious a musical force as you can possibly get. Half the bands playing a downtuned heavy guitar riff owe a debt to these true masters of metal. This album is no exception to the fast, dark insanely fast and intelligent music they became known for.

Weezer. THE BLUE ALBUM.

This was Weezer's debut album and by far their best. Crunching guitars, some really tight playing, lyrics that drag you along for the fun ride, half celebratory and half the longings of a kid picked on at school by the football boys while wearing the buddy holly glasses and the red sweatshirt. Still one of my most loved albums nearly 15 yrs on thanks to excellent production from Ric Ocasek from The Cars.

Pavement. CROOKED RAIN

Not a big commercial success but one of those bands that if you knew who they were then you were immediately cool in the 90's. These guys were all about the muddy guitars, valium lyrics and converse shoes. A great 90's band with their own sound who gave the impression they were always playing in their bedrooms and never really cared who liked them. Luckily many did and they probably deserved a wider audience.

Snoop Dogg. DOGGYSTYLE

Snoop Dogg's first ablum and by far the best. Produced by Dr.Dre and a match made in heaven. A lot of this album just sounds like great 70's soul, the rest is some of the best hip hip ever recorded. Check the flow of Corrupt in Doggy Dog World for the groundwork of later stars such as the Wu Tang. Spark the blunt this one's for the smokers. A pinnacle of hip hop which has barely been matched since.


Kruder & Dorfmeister. K & D SESSIONS

This is one of the few electronica albums that has and will continue to stand the test of time. A precursor to just about every chill out jazz inspired electronica album released ever since. Another 90's trailblazer. The kind of electronica for long days with beers on the beach in Thailand. Killer disc.



Tool. AENIMA

My mate Dean was right, this album should have made the cut. Tool are one of those bands that on their day can turn the world upside down. This is one of those albums and probably their strongest in terms of listen-ability, accessibility and head nodding ability. Great production, stiff riffs and inspired lyrics from a band with things to get off their chest such as the idea of praying for earthquakes in the hope of having California flushed away into the ocean like a giant turd. Very interesting album that works on many levels.



Radiohead. OK COMPUTER and THE BENDS
Two albums here from one brilliant band - geat song-writing and the dropping off point for all those fans that just couldn't get a handle on the post-OK Computer Radiohead who shortly after seemed to disappear up their own musical arses in a quest for avant garde-ism. So go back to this album or their earlier one The Bends to see what all the fuss was about.


Red Hot Chilli Peppers. BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAGIC.

These guys took their sound and their mental health to the extreme at about this time and this album was the product. Energetic, frenetic, happy, intense and occasionally reflective George Clinton, Funkadelic all over it with those intimate yet generic lyrics that only the Peppers seem to be able to pull off with sincerity.



Janes Addiction. RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL.

This album is part post-funk, post-punk and all rock. Its music for wasted ears with lots of reverb, crushing lows and strung out highs, bleak open spaces and happy sing along ballads. The whole trip right here anytime you want it.




Nirvana. NEVERMIND

People who saw Nirvana shit me beacause I am very jealous - I was a too chicken shit to skip school on that Friday in 1993 to go to the Gold Coast to see them play at Fisherman's Wharf. Oh well. That's 2 high school regrets. This album inspires massive beer drinking efforts probably just to get just depressed enough to tune into the hopelessness of the lyrics. Probably the quintessential 90;s album and certainly one of the all-time great recordings.


Guns ’n Roses. APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION.

Ok Ok this album was released 3 years before the 90's started but its just too good to not include because this album more than any on the list says is all about the 90's - chew it up, taste it, spit it out and go back for more. The perfect blend of big hair, shiny pants and kick arse guitar riffs all with Axl Rose screaming his guts out like there is no tomorrow - like I said, it sums the 90's up. Like 4 shots of Vodka - start your party with this.



Soundgarden. BADMOTORFINGER.

Grunge music defined the 90's and therefore features heavily on this list. Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger was about the most produced, most thought-out grunge of the bunch. If you like that kind of thing you will love this album. I do, so here it is.



Massive Attack. MEZZANINE.

This is an album for late night smokey card games, weeny eyed 3am wine drinking sessions complete with best-mate D&M's, one minute its background music the next minute it interrupts your train of thought grabs your imagination takes you on a journey and dumps you back in your lounge for the next drink. Great stuff.



Rage Against the Machine.

Own this album, you must. Rage were known for mixing their rap style lyrics with metal inspired guitar riffs despite not being the first to do it, they were probably the best and certainly the most funky; all this with anti-establishment lyrics and you have the perfect high school graduation album, indeed I recall clearing the floor with my headbanging routine to Killing in the Name Of at my high school formal but as they say on Hammy Hampster, thats another story.




Pearl Jam. TEN.

Eddie Vedder at his most raw. True emotion, a real edgy album, some great riffs, some undisputed 90's anthems like Once, Even Flow and Jeremy. Pearl Jam never came close to this level of intensity again in their careers but who could blame them nobody wants to dredge up the tough stuff endlessely.