hottest 100... been and gone!

so...
let me start by saying, oopsy. by the time i realised i hadnt voted in the hottest 100 it was too late to vote. I had a busy coupla weeks there, and should have made some time for it... but oh well. there is absolutely no chance now of me honestly saying what i would have voted for, as i've seen the list. but i will make some comments. something i love to do.

the ommisions? yes... i'll start with who wasnt there.
where was holly? my beloved holly! she can get nomiated for best female in the arias, but not get a mention in the top 100? oh well... i guess i didnt vote, so i cant really complain! IF I just wack the song here with no comment, it simply means i like it and yay for them!

now lets work our way up... starting at
87... Ben Harper - Better Way. his only mention for this year. I think this is reflective of how good his latest album is/was. I like a couple of tunes on it, but yeah... bit of a non event me thinx.
79... Sarah Blasko - Explain. This is a brilliant tune, i can say i would have voted for it... oh well, at least it got a mention
71, 42, 19 + 10 - Grates! Good on em! They are tops people!
62... Justice Vs Simeon - We are your friends
58... Sarah Blasko - Always on this line. Yay again for Sarah, shame she didnt get higher... but oh well.
52... Herd - Unpredictable. I love these guys,so glad they got a mention!
37... Bob Evans - Don't you think its time
36... Bob Evans - Nowhere without you. I love Suburban songbook. Good to see songs like these 2 are getting votes! Adult contemporary album of the year, i always thought leaving home was a grown up tune too...
35... Lily Allen - LDN. My fave Lily Allen tune. Can I also mention now that i saw her doing a sweet version of it on sunrise the other day. she's pretty cool.
28... Saboteurs - Steady as she goes.
26... Camile - Ta Douleur. Great to see a frenchie in the mix! great album too.
24... Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion. One of my favourite songs of the year! Yay!
21... Youth Group - Forver Young. So glad this didnt rate too high, i imagine if the vote was 6 months ago it would have!
20... Regina Spektor - Fidelity
17... Grates - Science is Golden. My fave by them by far!
16... Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks. Will I ever get that whilstling tune out of my head! its a bil tune!
14... OK Go - Here it goes again. the song is ok, the film clip is terrific!
13... My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade.
11... Little Birdy - Come on Come on.
9... Muse - Starlight. This is the song that helped me realise that Muse rock!
8... Gotye - Heart's a Mess. Probably my song of the year! come on the Arias??
6... Gnarls Barkley - Crazy. Deserves the top 10. Great track, great producer!
5... Scissor Sisters - Don't feel like Dancing. Well I do, ok? Seriously... a great follow up album, brillinat. These guys knock my socks off!
4... Killers - When you were young. Another great track!
3... Hilltop Hood - Hard Road - I was picking this for number 1. Top track, their best by far.
2... Eskimo Joe - Balck Fingernails, Read Wine - I'm over this track. Top 10, maybe... top 20, sure... but not number 2. Oh well, if everyone agreed with me, it'd be a boring world!
1... Augie March - One Crowded Hour. WOW! I didnt see this coming at all. Great song, great band, reasonable album. Good to see a track like this get up there. Probably comparable with when No Aphrodisiac won back in 97? Very happy about it anyways!

j award - two thirds of the way thru?

so, the J award is being anounced early december, but i have a funny feeling that we will get at least 3 or 4 nominations in the next 4 weeks.

if i do recall, last year there were 15 nomiations, and so far this year there are only 10! Yet, i strongly doubt that 2005 in any way was meant to be prescriptive, and they have always said that they are going to nomiate those that are worth it, not a particular number of albums. having said that, i think the last 4 or 5 all came in november, quite fittingly, due to it being aus music month. of those nominations in november last year came 4 out of 5 of the big aria awards (best male, female, group and album) - eskimo joe, best single, the only omission (not that it was out then).

i dare say that this is pure coincidence, and well... i had little idea who was going to win it last year, and this year find myself in the same place... i havent had a listen to all the nominated albums, but on the other hand am quite familiar with some of the others, and really enjoying them... (in particular goyte, augie march, hilltop hoods).
and there a couple there that i have read yto give a good listen to (sarah blasko and bob evans).
and others there that ive give na listen to and responded with... "meh... its just not really my thing" (sorry to say this, but as a whole "the grates" wasnt exactly my cup of tea) - mind you i see why they were nominated..

well, we'll see what happens from here eh?

j award 2006 - mid year thoughts

anyone who has followed my reandom mutterings for a while would know that last year i took a particular interest in the J Award - that is, the australian album of the year according to triple j. check out my archive for december for some more thoughts on the whole thing.

anyways, im rather impressed in most part with the nominations for this year.
they are
living end
augie march
hilltop hoods
goyte
the grates

thoughts?

i would put the hard road (hilltop hoods) as the front runner at the moment. it does seem that there are alot of releases in the 2nd helf of the year, but that may just be my imagination. so who knows what will happen

augie march. decent album yes. nowhere near as good as sunset studies though. so in that light its not worthy of the award, but definately worth a mention in the top 12 - 15 or however many they list

living end??? i dunno so much about this one. to be honest i havent give n the album a huge listen. i imagine that it would be very hard for them to release an album that didnt get nominated. they are a great band (but no powderfinger).

the grates. ummmmm. i like some of their stuff, i love science is golden, and i go to church with john's (the guitarist's) grandmother. i also think that patience is a bit of a crazy dancer (well hey, so am i)

goyte! stay tuned for more entries on this genius! A very clever album. I've only just got it, so i cant say more than that at this point in time. but... "your hearts a mess" should be song of the year!

the hoods - its just brilliantly pieced together. look, to be honest, there are some songs on there that dont totally float my boat, but the value in them isnt lost on me.


so???
all in all i think the list is good at this point in time. not too sure if they've missed anything that should be there. future nominations? maybe something for kate? probably youth group... and the dark horse??? true calling from melbourne - everything i've heard about them makes it sound like their album is going to be a standout.

urban month

on the way home from work this morning I was greeted by a bizarre initiative on the airwaves. triple j has declared this month to be "urban month", after some lengthly studies and a general agreement that the listeners would prefer it that way. So... they played only american hip hop - which included the same black eye peas song 4 times! listeners were calling in... some of them livid about this new way that triple j had gone.
i wasnt too bothered by it. i know an april fools day joke when i see one.

votes for hottest 100

so voting is open for the hottest 100 now.
so as i said im going to vote once from home and once from work. if for some reason i cant vote a second time, i will just have my first set... which is ok...
its funny how hard its been to vote. ive pretty much picked things based on how much ive like them, but also to try and effect how well the artists i like go... so for example with kaiser chiefs i prefer every day i love you less and less, but am voting for i predict a riot, cause i think its a great song too, but more people will vote for it... mind you i dont stick to this... anyways...
not sure... i may be totally wrong... we'll see
heres my list anyways...

List 1
Architecture In Helsinki The Cemetery
a great song that showcases lots of what they do. one of many a love off the album, but well and truely the one i love the most

Ben Folds Bastard
i put this in cause songs for silver was an album that i listened to about 30 times straight around may this year. just a great album, and a great opening track

Ben Lee Into The Dark
another album i love. just a great pop song off a great album. very happy when this tune started getting airplay

Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set On this side
what can i say. i just love these guys. couldnt decide what to vote for so i picked the one that i thought might get the most votes. its probably my faviourite album at the moment

Emiliana Torrini Sunny Road
just beautiful. been checking out the album more too of late. its just beautiful... did i say that already?

Holly Throsby Things Between People
another chilled out cruisy track. this album was realised in 2004, so it probably wont get many votes, and up with the birds, which is probably my fave off it, isnt on the voting list as it was realesed in 04. oh well, i shall vote for this one anyways as i really like holly

Kaiser Chiefs I predict a Riot
Na na na na na na

Lior Daniel
just another track that ive listened to stax this year. well, this is where you live... yeah?

Sufjan Stevens Jacksonville If you havent heard this album (Illinois) you need to! its amazing

Xavier Rudd The Letter
I would have voted for Famine, but they didnt put it on the list. again i figured this track would have got more votes

List 2 (if i can)
Antony & The Johnsons For Today I Am A Boy
Just really interesting.

Cat Empire The Car Song
a great upbeat song off their underated sophmore effort

Clare Bowditch & The Feeding Set Divorcee at 23
yeah yeah, i broke my rule. thats cool, i just had to give this song a chance. its an amazing album... really...

Franz Ferdinand Do You Want To
in general i dont get why so many people rave about these guys. but i really like this song... do do do do do do do do...

Herd We Can't Hear You
figured ive been liking hip hop more and more this year. and so, i better vote for at least one track. so this one came up trumps

Josh Pyke Middle Of The Hill
a great song off a mediocre EP. a stnd out for him for sure (post night owl that is)

Sufjan Stevens Chicago
so i broke my rule again. get over it. its just that good people

White Stripes My Doorbell
its like i woke up at some point and went, hang on... the white stripes are awesome. why didnt i notice this earlier? this is the song that did it for me

Willy Mason Oxygen great song... crap album... what can i say? the song is so different to the rest, and not just cause its good.

Wolfmother Joker and the Thief
i reckon this song might get number 1. its just a great track (can you play the intro yet mick?)

100

so, for this my 100th post i shall mention triple J's hottest 100
theres a list of songs here
i think i will vote 2 times (10 songs from each email address) just cause i cant narrow it down to only 10.
Not sure yet what im voting for, but i think i will limit myself to one vote per artist.
im finding it particularly difficult to remember back before about june. oh well, you get that, its inevitable.

sure there will be more on this soon.

top albums poll

triple j finally posted the results of the top albums poll. its here

some thoughts... ofcourse i always have thoughts on these things...

1 - as always it seems amazing that the best album of the year was released recently. i guess this is inevitable with polls like this. (it was wolfmother by the way)

2 - Wolfmother? its like they are the great white hope at the moment. I like them but i think its all a bit silly at the moment. first they give them heaps of airplay (both music and interviews), then the J award, now this... its not suprising. I do think its a good album, but how unusual that i would disagree with the majority. its cool. i just wonder if all those that put it in their top 10 would still agree in april???

3 - 7 of the 15 nominations for the J award were in the top 20 (all but 1 in the top 50 - pivot missed out). Also in the top 20 were end of fashion and the cat empire. Now particularly in regards to Two Shoes by the Cat Empire, why wasnt it nominated for the J award? I feel like it was a better album that their last, and definately deserved acknowledgement from the Js.

4 - great to see that songs for silverman by ben folds got in the top 50 (at number 45). I rate it as one of the best for the year, and unfortunately the Js didnt spin it much. oh well, obviously others liked it too.

well check the list out for yourself anyways. these things are always interesting. something to whinge about or at least be hypercritical of. yeah??

maybe i am becoming a groupie

sure, i will always have tendencies in the area of groupiedom. anyone who knew me during my phish phase will clearly testify to that.

anyways... i posted on Zan's blog (that i mentioned the other day, here) and well she got back to we which was nice.

heres the thing anyways

ian hey zan,love the beatles, and i love sufjan (among others) so im pretty pumped about the album. speaking of sufjan, i found some free christmas stuff of his kicking around, and its awesome, you should check it out some time.
**Hey Ian, I do indeed have those Christmas EP's - it's a much better soundtrack to the 'holiday season' than the usual dorky carols and middle of the road pop singers doing covers eh? You should check out his earlier albums if you haven't also... he's gone from indie to middle eastern, glitchy electronica to stripped back folk.. across five albums. The man's a genius. Illinois is by far my favourite record of the year. Thanks for the post!

run with the hunted

Zan Rowe is fast becoming a fave of mine at the J's
i think i first got glimmers of it when she featured a heap of icelandic music one day while doing myf's shift. very cool indeed.

anyways, she has a blog call "run with the hunted" and well, i like it
thats all

the J award - an irony?

speaking to Grande yesterday I agree that this whole J award seems to be somewhat ironic as it tends to be triple J and their listeners that oppose competition and awards (like these guys).

The saving grace for me tends to be the fact that 15 albums were nominated, so they really are giving a big yell out to a stack of good music (but why wasnt cat empire nominated?). So, its not all that bad, but i guess it could be viewed as somewhat ironic.

top 10 albums

triple J are doing a top ten albums of the year poll.

i checked out some of the lists there already and was rather impressed with Clare Bowditch's (which is here) as well as Chris Taylor and Zan Rowe (which are in the Triple J staff section)

worth having a look thru anyways, whatever you are in to.


and hey, on a slightly different note, has anyone (namely you grande) hear the herd's album (no pun intended), i wouldnt mind checking it out sometime.

and the winner is...

wolfmother

the j award was announced this afternoon.
i have to say that its a good album, but i feel that its a little over-rated by triple j in general.
thats all i'll say for now, cause i havent given the album as much time as i would have liked...
so congratulations ozzy and the crew from wolfmother!

j award approacheth

so, triple j's new awrd - the j award is finally going to be announced on Friday! I'm looking forward to it actually.

15 different albums have been nominated. I feel like a bit of an Oz music nut at the moment. I think i have almost half of the albums. And well, i particuarly enjoyed - Ben Lee, Lior, Architecture in Helsinki, The Beautiful Girls, Wolfmother and Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set.

Its gonna be a tough one to judge, as the artists are so varied... Anyways, we'll see what happens??? And yeah, I got Clare Bowditch the other day, will throw some thoughts around on that one soon.

John Safran - the real socceroos champion

Lisening to the J's this morning Steve Cannane mentioned something oh so true. If you look back at John Safran vs God, episode 7 (look here) its clear to see who is the champion of the day when it comes to the socceroos making the world cup (or the US World Cup according to an american finance chick on suynrise this morning).

We only made the world cup last time (1974) due to a witchdoctor giving us a hand. And well, stingey mungrels didnt pay the guy - so he cursed us. And well... what does John Safran have to do with this. He got the curse removeb by a Mozambiquean Witchdoctor - during his last series (vs God).

So sure, Kewell played well, Aloisi kicked an important goal, and Shwarzer might have saved a couple... but why??? All because of John Safran.



A blog named egdar does not encourage, support, practice or belive in voodoo in any way. It is mentioned here purely for satirical purposes.

a river in egypt

Denile... or maybe that should be Denial...

Listening to the J cast this week, Chris and Craig did this great take off called "wolfmother creek". Very amusing. So anyways, they played that, then they played bits from an interview with Wolfmother. I have to say that my respect for them has dropped significantly - the guy was basically ripping into people who say they sound like other bands... "name the track, name the melody" he said.

C'mon dude - the vocals sound sooooo much like Robert Plant, and the music in most part is a mix of Led Zep and Black Sabbath (with some other bits and pieces from the era thrown in for good measure - Yes, The Who). I'm digging your sound, but pretty unimpressed with the fact that you guys are kidding yourselves. It's a good thing to be reviving a great genre, you should be proud. Oh well... I can think you're tools (or at least somewhat toolish) and still like your music, so thats what i choose to do.

adventures on the internet: podcasting

welcome to another episode of AOTI. Today I feel like mentioning the podcasts I stumbled across.

Triple J, have upped their podcasts significantly. You can check them out here. I'm particlurly pumped by their Aus Music Month podcast and also that you can now get the entire show of Hack daily (instead of just highlights), as well as Roy and HG, Mel in the morning, Megan Spencer's Movie stuff, Richard Kingsmill and the crazy nuts at Today Today plus more. And yeah Dr Karl and whats your name with the annoying squeaky voice... i still love yous...

what can i say. i've been really impressed with triple j this year. they really are a resource this country cant do with out (or maybe just me... but thats ok too). whatever you're into, theres a chance one of their podcasts may well interest you. lots of music (interviews etc) and funny stuff, but also other bits and pieces.

a word on my links - triple j

just thought i'd flesh out the whole link thing and give little explanation.

triple j is the "national youth radio station" for Australia. I came to this harrowing realisation yesterday afternoon that I am no longer a youth (apparently). there was this awesome scholarship opportunity being advertised on the js (as many like to call it), and well im sitting there going "yes.... yes.... no!!!!" im not 18-24... arghhh

anyways, i like the station. some of the music annoys me, a lot. but some of it is gold. there a couple of funny bits, especially the arvo program today today... but thats not really why the link is here.

the podcasting is defiately worth checking out. the 3 bits that i regularly check out and listen to as im driving round, are:

• "hack" - a current affairs program that is actually acurrent affairs, not all about dole bludgers, bad teenage drivers and weight loss (dont get me started)
• "dr karl" - this guy who has like 4 PhDs or something, and basically knows heaps. its just interesting to listen to... im no science nerd, just find it different. oh, and hes a pretty funny bloke too.
• 'sunday night safran" - the science and politics program that somehow manages to spend time talking about science fiction. features this insane catholic priest (bishop?) father bob, who is great
• i know this is over 3. but there are links to the other abc stuff - the deep end on radio national is also bril. live music downloads (mp3)! ben lee the other day. sweet...

check it out sometime. there is generally a link on the homepage to get to the podcasting but if not try. http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/podcast.htm