Knives, Guys and Cola

The whiteboydancefloor mixtape series will feature selections from some exciting up-and-coming Sydney-based DJ's and producers. Each compilation will feature an assortment of tunes mixed and/or produced by these talented individuals, covering a broad range of styles showcasing their skill and taste. The first installment of this wbdf feature stars DJ Le Pony Boy.


With an intriguing and questionable history and an impeccable ear for current and future dancefloor tastes, Sydney routsabout Le Pony Boy is a unique gentleman. Turning up at various private parties around town, invited or otherwise, this hot up-and-comer knows how to start a party with a penchant for Blog-house, Electro-funk and Queer-pop. In his first official mixtape since coming out of the closet known as rural NSW, he draws on influences such as Elton John, pineapples and door knobs to deliver a mixtape worthy of your next party.

1. Klaxons - As Above So Below (Justice Remix)
2. Kasper Bjorke - Back & Spine (Fidel Astro Remix)
3. Ost & Kjex - Milano Model (Rob's No Ears Vocal Mix)
4. Muscles - One Inch Badge Pin (Damage On The Backstreet Remix)
5. Golden Bug - Barby's Back (Web Edit)
6. Solee - Different (Roman Salzger Remix)
7. Ran Shani - Kyoto Night
8. The Glamour - Get Into It
9. The Ghost Frequency - Nightmare (Speaker Junk Remix)
10. Steed Lord ft. Krummi - Bucket of Blood

MYSPACE: Le Pony Boy
MP3: Le Pony Boy - Knives, Guys and Cola

No Man's Woman

There has been plenty of buzz surrounding this compilation.

And after listening to it, it is not hard to see why.

It is a simple yet enticing concept. Assemble a bunch of well respected Australian male artists/bands, and give them the challenge of interpreting tracks written by some of the greatest (and not-so great) female musicians to have ever laid down a track.

Such a concept is bound to throw up some absurdities. Hearing Dan Kelly's ukulele-based interpretation of 'Nothing Compares to You' is as quirky as it is entrancing. Expatriate's fantastic version of 'Missing' by Everything But The Girl is delivered with the subtlety of the original with stark ebbs and flows. The idea of Powderfinger covering Portishead seemed bizarre to me, but somehow they take on 'Glory Box' and nail it. Lior's take on Fleetwood Mac's and later Dixie Chicks' 'Landslide' adds another stunning page to the interpreted history of this powerful and emotive song.

Probably the stand-out track is Tex Perkins' version of 'I am Woman'. All I can say it is everything you would think it is and more. Listening to this growling, bourbon-soaked, stilted cover I can't help but think he is our very own version of Tom Waits.


No Man's Woman is out now through Dew Process. You can buy it here


MYSPACE: No Man's Woman

Green Hills & Enemies

I put "Good Arrows" into my CD player having absolutely no idea of who or what Tunng were. As a general rule of thumb my arrogance usually invites me to hate anything I haven't heard of. Some what of a paradox for a music blogger wouldn't you say?

But it's always nice to be surprised.

From get-go Tunng had an interesting, inviting sound that welcomed me with open arms. Without going excessively into meddling with sounds and the optional extras, Tunng strike an ideal balance between warm memorable fairytales and blunt non-fiction. I suppose you could say Tunng are like my favourite fantasy and yet they have an endearing grasp of reality that sits next to me on the fence so comfortably.

The track I'm featuring today is their latest single "Bullets" and along with the accompanying film clip, it serves as an ideal bookmark for exactly what Tunng bring to the table. "Bullets" secretly marches along like Johnson & friends when no one else is in the room but the difference being, Tunng invite us in on their secret parties they do not lay lifeless on the floor, pretending they're not real when we walk in the room.



Mp3: Tunng - Bullets [Thanks to Wongie's Music World for the link]

Buy Good Arrows

The Combe-back Tour

Today's post comes (or you could say combes rofl) from whiteboydancefloor affiliate, long time friend and all round good looker Sam whose musical opinions and taste are held in high regard within the whiteboydancefloor office. After her amazing date with Pete Combe and destiny, we felt we need to share it with you.

***

Cast your mind back as far as it will go, to a magical time in your childhood when at 4.30 every afternoon the ABC would indulge you in a daily delight; One song each day taken from a rare and prestigious collection of timeless tracks written especially for a generation of kids who have since grown up to become musically inspired adults. Nothing pleased us more than a happy song and dance- especially when it managed to simultaneously incorporate dress ups and candy. No child entertainer achieved this delightful combination better than the king of kids, Mr Peter Combe.

I was both appalled and disappointed at the vast number of people my age who had forgotten this man who so memorably filled our lives with silly childish pleasures. From endorsing a daily intake of junk food to inspiring completely new and mischievous bad habits, he was a parent's worst nightmare and a child's dream come true. Whilst the name might not trigger fond reminiscence, it is the songs that have truly lasted the test of time in our memories. Personal favourites that ring true to this theory include "Newspaper Mama", "Toffee Apple" and who could forget the collective favourite "Mr Clicketty Cane.........he plays a silly game, and all the kids in the street, they like to do the same"? SEE! I can't even write a review on the man without breaking into song.

It was the unmatchable genius of Peter Combe's catchy call and response song writing that spawned the beginnings of an idea so inconceivably brilliant that word only leaked to me in the hours leading up to its fruition. The Combe-back Tour (as I've affectionately titled it)! An over 18's show for the true Combe fans to return and relive the wonder days. So donning a newspaper hat and carrying an abundant supply of red and green toffee apples (crunchy, munchy and very sticky) I made my way into the Metro with a smile on my face and several special songs in my heart ready to take a journey back down memory lane.

Never have I seen such an ocean of newspaper hats! Upon entering the venue I was met with a room full of young adults, sitting cross legged on the floor, eagerly clutching their toffee apples with sparkling eyes (or glazed eyes- I'm not sure.. I was drunk). After sitting through a hilarious guy who calls himself The Bedroom Philosopher and then the musical stylings of The Finishing School (a band comprised of Combesy's kids) the moment every inner child had been waiting for finally arrived. The crowd leapt to their feet in a wave of enthusiastic cheers as good old Petey lit up the stage struggling to get his guitar strap over his head (give the guy a break- it’s been a while). After gazing out at all the hats and toffee apples it was evident that Combesy was just as delighted to be back as we were to have him back, and with a "1 a 2 a 1, 2, 3" the childhood “ants-in-your-pants” dance moves were back in action.



The set was comprised of a choice selection of tracks opening with Jack and the Beanstalk then belting out an array of favourites including Saturday night, 6 juicy apples, Baghdad, Parcel in the Post, Spaghetti Bolognese, Newspaper Mama, Rain and Toffee Apple. For every song that brought back a memory there were shrieks of joy from individuals and cheers of appreciation collectively. Throughout the evening I seized a few opportunities to look around the room and take a few snapshots of a childhood revisited; It was evident that more than a few “grown-ups” shed a tear at some point when a special song reminded them of younger times. For most of us I think that moment was during “Rain”; we all linked arms and waved our toffee apples high above our heads swaying back and forth sobbing our little hearts out. But of course the loudest cheers of all came when the final song of the night was unveiled- none other than Mr Clicketty Cane. Every person in the crowd remembered every word, eagerly anticipating the most memorable line of all, and when that moment arrived the crowd let Combesy have it- “BELLY FLOP ON A PIZZA?!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWW” to which he replied “that’s what you said 20 years ago!” sparking an uproar of cheers that lifted the ceiling. The night closed with an encore of Juicy Juicy Green Grass and then the crowd proceeded to shuffle into a line, picking pieces of toffee out of our hair and clutching childhood memorabilia for the king to sign.

One by one we all took a moment to shake the hand of genius and share a personal message with the man who inspired so many games, endorsed the sale of so many toffee apples and spent many an afternoon singing and dancing away with us in our matching red tights and baggy t-shirts. I myself was privileged enough to get a personalised autograph “To Sammy” and my very own photo hugging the sweaty old man that will always be up there next to Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny on my list of favourite child performers. The only difference with Peter Combe is that he’s real! I’ve seen him! Seriously.

Too Much Booty In The Pants

With Hip-Hop dying a very slow and very painful death with only a select few artists who are still breathing deep, meaningful breaths, it is good to look back to a time when Hip-Hop was still innovative and exciting. When it was dangerous and when it was controversial. When hearing explicit lyrics in a song actually shocked people. When you may have been considered 'cool' and 'fresh' if you rocked up to McDonald's with the bass from your sound system rattling the lenses in the nerd behind the drive-through window's glasses. When showing off 'bling' in a video or photo shoot didn't make you look like a tool. This was a time when Miami Bass emerged from the city with the same name, and with it came 2 Live Crew.

2 Live Crew may well be responsible for the booty/ho/bitch ass/slap that ass lyrical content that modern day Hip-Hop is drowning in. But they were actually good at it, and coming from them it didn't sound ridiculous. 2 Live Crew, like many other Miami Bass purveyors filled their jams with some really cool samples, heavy as hell drum-machine bass kicks, sharp as hell synth high hat slices, a very dance-able tempo and lyrics so dirty you would need a kilo of soap to wash your mouth out afterwards. It's the music you hide from your parents, played only through the massive headphones that came with your crappy Walkman with the tracks taped off your bad ass 'ghetto' mate around the corner who's naive parents plonked down the cash for the album at Brash's (when it still existed). Their music was so bad ass at the time, music retailers were being arrested in some areas of the US for selling it.

MP3: 2 Live Crew - Me So Horny
MP3: 2 Live Crew - Too Much Booty In The Pants

I travelled back in time....

Its been a while. I fell into possession of a time machine, and it did naughty things to me. It took me back to the early 1980's, and here is what I saw and heard.




MP3:Nancy Nova - Made In Japan



Slow Children - President I Am



Hey! Elastica - Eat Your Heart Out



The Models - God Bless America

Wow what a trip. I think I like this time machine. Here is a photo I took of it.

Good Vibes headin' your way

I realise this photo probably has nothing to do with the festival itself... but the quality of my research clearly demonstrates I don't really care. We all know I'm, crap.

So Good Vibes is going to be dynamite and it has the ideal line up to bring all those singlet wearing modular whores. Is there a better kind?

Thanks to Julie for sending me the line up!

A-Trak & Kid Sister
Katalyst
The Rapture
James Zabiela
Pharoahe Monch
Thievery Corporation
Calvin Harris
Pigeon John
Cypress Hill
16 Bit Lolitas
Kayne West
Bag Raiders
Sinden
The Stafford Brothers
High Contrast & MC Wrec
Surkin
E-40
Radioclit
Beat Vandals

Dates
Sat 9 Feb – Melbourne
Sun 10 Feb – Gold Coast
Sat 16 Feb – Sydney
Sun 17 Feb – Perth

I put my favourites in bold to make it look like a more interesting post. No worries.

Where Are The Good Old Days?

I remember when I first started going to the Big Day Out you could go down to the Plaza, walk into Beatdisc records and get tickets there. All over Sydney (and also Australia) the summer festival generation were walking into their local ma+pa record stores to get their tickets at 9 in the morning and that was it. You might have been behind people but at least you saw yourself moving in line and eventually you got to talk to someone. If there was a problem you saw it happening, you understood what it was and you knew that it wasnt going to stop you getting a ticket.

It didnt matter if the guy in front of you was a scalper. He'd be out of the way soon and you'd be next for that sweet sweet feeling of ticket purchase.

Oh how times have changed

I am now an incredibly irate man sitting at my computer at near 2 in the morning (not unusual sometimes, fair enough) trying to purchase myself a Big Day Out ticket. Given the fact that a few years ago they moved everything online and the fact that its more luck that anything EVERY year and every year the system goes down or something happens due to an 'unprecedented influx of people' I already knew that it was going to be annoying, frustrating and tedious - and I was right.

Im still here. Ive moved past the main site despite having to refresh a few times, I then finally got the ticketing page to load, filled out all the prevalent information and clicked the final button. Did it send? Of course not. It timed out. Refreshing takes me back to the order form (EVENTUALLY) and I do it all again and the same thing happens. This has now happened 9 times as well as about the 50-odd times Ive had to try and refresh just to get the ticket information up! Now I sit behind god knows how many people, and god knows how many dont even WANT their fucking tickets and all because of the so-called convenience of the internet.

What a load of shit - and what does it mean?

The patrons suffer - people miss out on tickets due to shitty internet connections, the organisers complete inability to provide an appropriate, fair and WORKING online service and the fact that alot of the tickets will go straight on Ebay.

The record stores suffer - With all ticketing being done on the internet unless you are already familiar with your local outlet chances are you're going to go straight to JBHI-Fi. Small business suffers because people arent going there anymore.

The festival suffers - We end up with more and more dickheads every big day out full of their own self importance, a high blood alcohol content and a desire to see bands like Sneaky Sound System....

Who is pretty much the only group of people who doesnt suffer? Who reap the financial benefits? Who took the ticket sales off the stores so they could keep more money for themselves? Who else of course - the organisers. They've become a lazy bunch of pricks who cant be arsed sending a few thousand tickets around the country to a RECORD STORE instead of some shitty online service that NEVER CAN and NEVER WILL (despite what they may say every fucking year) provide for the people who desire to attend these events that YOU PRICKS are putting on. Fuck you Lees and West!

Sorry but I keep losing my train of thought. I have to go and refresh my other browser every 2 minutes..

c*nts.

Nights filled with longer hours

Often I must admit I concern myself with frantically posting music I have only just discovered in the hope of being the "first" to blog about it. However what seems to happen is that once I've given an album a chance to wash over, the initial reaction compared to the delayed one are enormous.

Now enters The Main Drag into my reasoning. On initial listen I knew they were of immense quality but I didn't realise the way the entire album would gradually tighten its grip until I was constricted, immersed, dazzled. The Main Drag come from a dying breed of rising star that still places an emphasis on making an album and not 3 songs mixed with a bunch of rehashed b-sides.

The featured track I have for you today is titled "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter" and it typifies The Main Drag's ability to carefully walk the tightrope of the popular indie infused electronics sound which when done well, is fantastic. The track dances through the light and shade of winter very well, with the glorious moments seamlessly making way for the softer darker interludes. The marching procession of the percussion and the interplay between the different vocal melodies is quite grand.

"A Jagged Gorgeous Winter" is a winter song (can you tell I go to uni?). I know over here in Australia, winter is becoming a distant memory and the stubby shorts are taking centre stage in my wardrobe once again, however this is not the case for many parts of the globe. So throw this track on and Aussies, reminisce over the winter past while everyone else can get ready for the festive season to come.

Mp3: The Main Drag - A jagged gorgeous winter

Myspace: The Main Drag

Honesty is all out of fashion

For some strange reason as I sit here in my computer chair surrounded by the Western suburbs of Sydney, an emotional connection between myself and the English countryside of years gone by has never really been there. You might say that has something to do with never having been to England, nor have any English heritage and living in Sydney.

To put it simply so us young kids can understand it, Bellowhead play traditional folk music of the olden times. Should the 11 strong band have all been born, met and formed a band some centuries ago, I could think of many kings who would have called for them across the land to come and perform for a mighty feast.

But after a chance late night meeting with Bellowhead on Jools Holland, I've never felt more immersed in a culture I know nothing of. Really with the relatively youthful composition of Bellowhead, they too do not have an explicit connection to the era of the music they are playing. But their ability to capture a point in time, bottle it and deliver it fresher than an English milkman is inspiring.

My initial thought was that you get a cast of good musicians who are classically trained well of course you can play traditional music. But the beauty of this mixture is far more delicate. From the sing song of the instrumental "jack robinson" to the vocals of frontman Jon Boden in "Rigs of the time", Bellowhead are enchanting to say the least. They may not be the rigs of this time, but whatever time it is, I'd rather be there.

Myspace: Bellowhead

Website: Bellowhead

Youtube: Bellowhead - Rigs of the time

What it's all about

The grip of assignments has the whiteboydancefloor once again stuck in a rut, unable to get through the mountains of music that we'd like to. I have so much to report to you guys, so many good artists I just haven't had the time to blog about them to the degree they so richly deserve.

So in the meantime I figure we can't just give you nothing. However, hopefully the amazing beach weather is keeping you busy rather than being couped inside type awaying like us poor souls. I suppose if we're being honest with each other, I'd still be inside even if I didn't have assignments. I know that's not cricket but honestly doesn't anyone else despise sand? I do.

I thought while taking an undeserved break from study. I'd show you what it's all about for me right now. It's all about Soul (and Chet Atkins).





With music like this, Billy Joel can run over as many children, ruin as many nice cars, drink as much cherry and hit as many trees as he sees fit in my opinion.

BDO 2008

Normally I love nothing more than loathing the Big Day Out line up and blabbing on about how I could make such a better festival, whatever, we all know I'm shit. But don't forget, you're shit too.

I'm not sure whether it is soley because RATM are coming or if the line up is actually fairly decent for a first one, I'm excited. What I'm not excited about is the tossbags that go to the Big Day Out. Honestly, I'll go on record as saying that the BDO crowd is easily the biggest bunch of fuckwits walking the planet, assembled alongside the 10% of people who have an enjoyment of music and not Extra Dry.

Anyways, I'm not saying anything revolutionary, we all know about the Southern Cross baring red necks that parade around harassing innocent babes (who just want to get a nice tan) whilst waiting for the John Butler Trio to start so they can show off their incredible dance moves.

Heres the line up:
Rage Against The Machine
Bjork
Arcade Fire
Billy Bragg
LCD Sound System
Dizzie Rascal
Battles
Something with Numbers
Cut off your hands
Grinspoon
Midnight Juggernauts
Paul Kelly
Sarah Blasko
Faker

I wouldn't find it a bad idea to ban having Australian bands play Big Day Out. I can see the benefit the bands get with exposure but honestly, if I wanted to see boring Australian acts I'd go to Homebake or if I was feeling festive and wanted to see good Australia bands, I'd go to Sandwich Club.