Johnny Neon & Dear John Love Emma at Assembly

This Friday, 24 April, Johnny Neon come down to Cape Town for a party. Along with them, Dear John Love Emma play their third show, and coincidently their second show at Assembly. It's been widely suggested that they play better in smaller intimate arenas. To be honest, I am a little excited. Remember the last time Dear John played at Assembly? How about Johnny Neon's last show down here?

Check out the Facebook event.
Johnny Neon's whole album is available on free download.

Truth??

Truth? (via @ssassen on Twitter)

New Dirty Skirts Video - Rolling like Thunder

Rolling Like Thunder, the new single from The Dirty Skirts has now been released.

I don't really get the whole stills photography to make up a music video. And why is Dom from Goldfish in it?

I am perplexed by this. I missed them at Cokefest.

Noel Gallagher says...

Noel Gallagher (Oasis guitarist and vocalist if you were wondering) said this on the Oasis Myspace after the Joburg show:

"Sunday, April 12, 2009

Noel's 'Tales From The Middle Of Nowhere' (11/04/09)
Category: Music
Well that was a bit weird. The Coke-Fest. Not sure what to make of it. Strange crowd. It seemed to be made up of every conceivable type of person imaginable. Very quiet. Some of them unfurled a huge banner that said, "NOEL'S PISS IS THE CURE FOR CANCER"!!??

We were on after Snow Patrol. Gotta say, I was staggered at the amount of gear they have onstage. And it all seemed to be working! We must've sounded like Buddy Holly's backing band by comparison.

Leaving for Cape Town in a bit. Meeting up with the rest of Team Gallagher. They're on board for the rest of this bit of tour. Can't wait.

In a bit.

GD.

PS. That thing about my piss has NOT been proven."

What does GD stand for?

Coke Zero Fest 2009, Lourensford Estate

If I hadn’t gone to Coke Fest, I would have been cynical about it. Now that I have been, I am still cynical. I did not get out of bed yesterday thinking I would be at Coke Fest in the afternoon. But I was. This was my experience:

Yesterday, Easter Monday was Cokefest, or as some affectionately named it, Blowfest. What a very disappointing day in the sun. The best parts included meeting people I did not anticipate being there, sneaking into Golden Circle with blue wrist bands made of Bonaqua water bottle jackets (thanks Coca Cola) and eating greasy burgers with my hands and then not being able to wash them.

Ok, so there were also a couple of bands. I arrived for the last Dirty Skirts song. The final South African band followed them, aKing. I didn’t really listen to them. The aKing front man Laudo looks just like Seth Rogen from Knocked Up. (That’s just a freebie).

Panic at the Disco had vocal range. That’s it. Their genre is sickening, and I truly cannot tell the difference between them and Fall Out Boy. I was told I would enjoy them live nonetheless, but I didn’t. I think the organisers realised that we would get out of there before 10pm (due to two bands pulling out) and so they asked them to waffle and tell us about their time in South Africa and dedicate every song to a different person in the crowd or on stage.

Snow Patrol were surprisingly good. They played as it got darker. Lights began to have an affect and sing alongs were joined enthusiastically by a wearying crowd. Girls and small boys went on shoulders and fun was had by all.

At the interval, we made our move. We got our water bottles, folded the labels and bent them around our wrists. As good as could be. Three of us tried, two succeeded. I succeeded. My one friend’s band came off as showed it to the security, so he ran the other way. Hello Golden Circle!

Golden circle was fun. There was one character tripping on something. (I am sure there were many, but there was one making a scene.) He was bleak that we weren’t jumping around and crowd surfing to Oasis. “Come on Cape Town! Come on Cape Town! Come on Cape Town! Are you too cool to clap?” “Make some noise Cape Town!” Blond girls started mocking him. Dialogue ensued:

Blond Girl #1: “Come on Cape Town!”

Tripping guy: “Shut…..it!”

Blond Girl #2: “Shut up man!”

Tripping guy: “Go back to your girls’ school! Whatever girls’ school you are from, go back there. Go back to your girls’ school.”

Blond Girl #3: “What’s wrong with you?”

Tripping guy: “What girls’ school are you from? Hey? HEY?!! Go back there! Just go!!”

That went on for a while. Such a laugh. So, Oasis played some well known songs, some of Noel’s songs were a little foreign to me, but I knew Liam’s pretty well. What’s the story morning Glory?, Wonderwall and a host of timeless tunes. During Wonderwall I realised I lost my phone. I was not stoked about that.

A quick comparison that made a lot of difference: Snow Patrol seem to enjoy playing shows. Being on stage was fun for them. Oasis have been together since 1991. I think they are tired of performing. They look as though they are just going through the motions. I think a lot of people went there for Oasis and came away preferring Snow Patrol.

Let’s hope that the low calorie version that is Coke ZERO Fest does not repeat itself next year. That would be tragic. I didn’t awake this morning with the same, “I am too tired to get out bed” feeling, or the excitement of being able to talk about the rocking bands from last night’s show.

Who's a cute Polar bear? You are, yes, you are!

Seriously, who is stupid enough to climb into a Polar Bear's enclosure at the zoo and swim across it's no doubt filthy pool (/pond) to pet the giant anything-it-can-lay-it's-hands-on killer? This woman, that's who.These people live among us.

Bear article

Easter, what a time

People think that because it's Easter, God is more likely to reveal Himself in a way that is new and bizarre. Take this picture of a perfectly decent Kit Kat as an example.Is this really Jesus' face or just a coincidence? How does anyone know what Jesus' face really looks like anyway? I am no theologian, but I don't recall reading many instances when Jesus revealed himself through chocolate bars. Too cynical? This could be my face. It's not, but it could.

How about the next character who reckons that this is the Easter bunny in a chip, a potato chip.
"Mary Lindstrom told the local TV station that she didn’t use to be a believer: “she has seen stories on TV about people seeing images like the Virgin Mary on a chip or a pancake, but she’s never been able to visualize the image herself, but the bunny she saw right away..."

Seriously, these people live among us...

Bunny article
Kit kat article

We-are-awesome

Hey hey, so We-are-awesome have finally changed their site. It's looking wicked cool. They even have a blog. They have decided that picture taking is not enough. Go check it out.

New site.

Ever considered your size in relation to this world you are apart of?

How small do you feel now?

Trash Yourself vs. Toxic Avenger

Trash Yourself sent me a mail with two songs they thought I might like. I liked one of them.

They sent me a link to this video of them performing "Die" live in Denver.


Personally, I am not a big fan of the getting next to naked to sell music. But maybe that's just me.
Toxic Avenger got hold of "Die" and it is actually pretty cool now.

Die - Trash Yourself & Toxic Avenger (mp3)

To buys some of their music, click here.

You might remember Toxic Avenger remixed Playdoe's "It's that Beat" on their debut release, SIBOT AND SPOEK ARE PLAYDOE? If not, no biggy. Now you know.

I think the real reason Trash Yourself contacted me was because they are hoping to come to South Africa in a few months. Keep a close eye out for them and feed me info minions.

Here are some more pics from the Denver show.
Once I have had a listen, I might post a few more tracks. I just am doing some crap control.

Playdoe/Lapse/Grave Danger/Tonight/Assembly

Playdoe, a very exciting duo from Cape Town have been doing special things with music. They launched their first album a while back at Assembly. It was quite an event.

Anyway, tonight they come together to bring a big party before the Easter weekend. Be sure not to miss out.

Event Page

Twitter

Is Twitter the new Facebook? I just got my own twitter page, finally. I am still finding my way around it. So, we will see how long it lasts.

Check out my page and follow if you are up to it.

http://twitter.com/richardcoleking

Dark was the night

So, a friend guided me to this awesome album that was released in February, and I have been listening to it ever since. It's a little bit of wow.

Basically a compilation with original songs from artists such as Feist, Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird and Arcade Fire (to name just a few) this 31 track double cd (vinyl and download option available) was created to "benefit the Red Hot Organization – an international charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for HIV and AIDS through popular culture. They are the people responsible for albums including No Alternative, Red Hot and Blue and many more, and this is their 20th year, and this is the 20th release!"

To find out more about the artists, click here.

THIS DISC
1 Knotty Pine – Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
2 Cello Song (Nick Drake) – The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
3 Train Song (Vashti Bunyan recorded, written by Alasdair Clayre) – Feist + Ben Gibbard
4 Brackett, WI – Bon Iver
5 Deep Blue Sea – Grizzly Bear
6 So Far Around the Bend – The National (arrangement by Nico Muhly)
7 Tightrope – Yeasayer
8 Feeling Good (popularized by Nina Simone) – My Brightest Diamond
9 Dark Was the Night (Blind Willie Johnson) – Kronos Quartet
10 I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan) – Antony + Bryce Dessner
11 Big Red Machine – Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner
12 Sleepless – The Decemberists
13 Stolen Houses (Die) – Iron and Wine
14 Service Bell – Grizzly Bear + Feist
15 You Are The Blood – Sufjan Stevens

THAT DISC
1 Well-Alright – Spoon
2 Lenin – Arcade Fire.mp3 (zShare)
3 Mimizan – Beirut
4 El Caporal – My Morning Jacket
5 Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis) – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
6 With A Girl Like You (The Troggs) – Dave Sitek
7 Blood Pt 2 (based on original song “You are the Blood” by the Castanets) – Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
8 Hey, Snow White (Destroyer) – The New Pornographers
9 Gentle Hour (Snapper) – Yo La Tengo
10 Another Saturday (traditional song) – Stuart Murdoch
11 Happiness – Riceboy Sleeps
12 Amazing Grace (traditional song) – Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
13 The Giant Of Illinois (Handsome Family) – Andrew Bird
14 Lua – Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch
15 When the Road Runs Out – Blonde Redhead + Devastations
16 Love vs. Porn – Kevin Drew

For more information on how to get hold of this cd, visit the website.

Justice remix U2

I found this track on a blog, it's got a little something something. Do you think Justice charged to make this remix? Or was it just for fun? Did U2 approach them? I am not in the know here, it feels bad.Get On Your Boots (Justice remix) - U2 (zShare)

Pics from Fokof

So, it turns out my friend Alice was at the KLT and photographed Fokof. Here are a few.If you want more pics from this show and other super shots from this photographer check out her blog.

What happened to 8-bit?

Whatever did happen to 8-Bit City? Has he/she died? Was his/her secret identity discovered? Does anyone in fact care? I quite enjoyed reading cynical, contradictory posts from someone who never knew with any definitive knowledge what he/she thought about something. Come back 8-bitcity.blogspot.com, come back.

Will he/she return under a new alias? Will Cevron cease to exist?

I have been pretty slack with my blogging, but lets hope that with a new month, comes fresh energy to write. Well, I hope at least.

Chew - The Technology Issue

The latest Chew Magazine is out and available for FREE pdf dowload. It has interesting music stuffs on Isochronous and Ben Rausch. Also Inge is back with some new hot fashion pics. It is totally worth sacrificing 30MB to get this desktop glossy. Do it. Oh, and the interview with Ben (Sassquatch) is mine.

Click here to share in the experience!

FokofSlashKLT

Ek kan nie Afrikaans praat nie. Ek kan nie Afrikaans verstaan nie. Maar ek het Stellenbos toe gegaan om vir Fokof te gaan kyk. (I had to get a friend to help me with that last sentence.) It was my second time in Stellenbosch in a week, record breaking stuff really.

It was crazy. Cape Town does not compare in any way to Stellies. Heads and shoulders were but stepping stones for Franci as he pranced around on what I thought was the stage. He may be small, but he is a god in those parts. I understood nothing!

The open air KLT was very well attended on Wednesday night with an estimated 1400 people! This was no thanks at all to an act that looks like something out of the 80’s, Slashdogs. The name does nothing for them either. The lead singer looks like Xmen’s Wolverine in 30 years time. Generally it would be considered a compliment for a man to be compared to Hugh Jackman, but he looked and sounded awful. I think the crowd were a little unsure of how to react to the travesty.

They finally finished and it took 20min to get a drink. Then Francois came on, and the fun began in a real way. I felt like the only one there who knew one Fokof song. And, as is Polisiekar tradition, I had to wait till the last song of the set to hear it. “Fokof, Fokofpolisiekar, Fokof!” Fun. I even prided myself on listening to and learning the lyrics for a Van Coke song, thinking it was a Fokof song. The ignorance I am bleeding on this post is making me faint.

Anyway, kids in Stellenbosch don’t dance like the typical Cape Town indie kids, it’s a completely different scene! The more fighting and moshing during a set, the better a show is!! If you get your shirt ripped and get to pinch Francois’ belly, you feel like you have found salvation and getting hit on the head by a flying, empty Tassenberg or Black Label bottle is par for the course. It was super entertaining.

After the show, once the dust had settled and people had picked themselves up, a 6 year old child could be seen coiling cables on stage. A nice touch to a BIG evening out in Stellenbosch.

I still only know and understand one of their songs, or to be more specific, the chorus.

Pics will follow soon I hope.