breaking the fast

having been spurred back onto the blogosphere after my extended hiatus, i thought it best to dedicate this post to a bit of a mishmash of things, as i have a lot of stuff swirling around my head right now, music- and culture-wise.

first stop this time round.. the new scissor sisters' song. now, i know what you're thinking: scissor sisters? awesome? not in the same blawg, dawg! but just have a listen to this. there are many cool aspects to it, not least the deep 5am techno dancefloor vibe, a big big big improvement on the cheese factory that was i don't feel like dancing, but the capper really... is that gandalf is in it. thats right, ladies and gents. gandalf. or at least the actor who plays him, Ian McKellen, doing a spoken word part that is eerily reminiscent of that deep foreboding incantation of Michael Jackson's thriller. yeah, Jake Shears can't resist a bit of cheesy vocal trill every now and then, but on the whole, i really dig this song.

for those with no interest besides Ian McKellen, his part starts at 4 mins in.
glitter EVERYWHERE.

moving right along with something a little more subdued, and definitely more local, is something you may or may not have heard, from melbourne/perth noise-rock GODS, the drones. far and away my favourite band of all time, i came across their second album wait long by the river and the bodies of your enemies will float by not so long ago, and i'm still digging its psych-rock, noise, fat drums and, as in every drones record, Liddiard's trademark haggard drawl, leering and affronted. wait long wanders more than other drones records, like the loosely focussed havilah (2008) and gala mill (2006), but it is still very recognisably the drones. heaving guitars and thundering bass intertwine with Liddiard's frenetic and wrenching leads and vocals. shark fin blues and you really don't care are standout tracks, but i simply can't pick a favourite. If you like rollicking, loud, swaggering and bluesy rock'n'roll, and something a little less harmonic, more dissonant and noisy, or even a touch of twang every now and then, check this album out.

final thoughts: are we living in a similar cultural epoch to melbourne in the 70's, or indeed at any time in the past? are we part of some landmark cultural event, but we just don't know it yet? maybe the ageing rockers of the pub rock explosion in melbourne's nightlife can see it now, but maybe 30 or 40 years time we will look back, ageing rockers as we will no doubt be, and talk with similar nostalgia to our grandkids about what we did and what we saw every weekend...

later