Tape Deck Heart

Some albums are timeless. Dark Side of the Moon is one of those. Others are timely. Somehow, Frank Turner’s last three albums have fit almost perfectly with my life.

I was introduced to Frank by the Revival Tour in early 2010. He played solo in front of 100 or so punters in Brisbane. At the end of the year, I saw him headline to a 3000-strong crowd in England. I’m genuinely not sure which I enjoyed more.

The album I bought back in February 2010 was Poetry of the Deed. While it lacked the bite of his previous work (Love, Ire and Song – still his best), it was upbeat and easy to dig into. The Road was an uncannily accurate anthem for the epic Australian road trip I embarked on, and I was hooked.

I love this song

And I got to see it live. Finally.

Just sayin’.

It was good. Oh, that trumpet trill. Hair-raising.

Also:

Bronte

This song, from Making Mirrors, took a while to get to me. Then I saw the video. It’s beautiful. It was even more stunning on a huge screen live. Coming of age…

And to change tack, but another song that just grew and grew with a bit of funky on-stage energy, booming clear bass and an insane visualisation:

The support acts were off the charts as well… I’ll come back to those!

Artist cover mashup rollerblades

Gotye released Making Mirrors in 2011. In early 2012, the single Somebody That I Used To Know exploded onto the international music charts. It has since had staggering amounts of cover versions and remixes.

So much so that Gotye, experimental sound dude that he is, couldn’t resist mashing up other people’s covers of his song.

I suggest you click on the little ‘youtube’ tab in the bottom corner of the embedded player, where you can read his own description of the motivation of the work. I like it; it’s very much in the vein of his work like State of the Art.

And while we’re in the realm of pretentious, here’s an obscenely talented rollerblader dancing past onlookers in Paris. Click for bigger size.

Endless Summer

This is a strange video, but a wonderful song. I did a double winter when I arrived in the UK – hopefully I’ll do the opposite on the way back!