Beers, Bands + Babes

A week ago, I bought a glockenspiel. It looks like this:


Later that afternoon, I attempted to play the glock and a shaker on stage with a pared back version of UK band We Aeronauts at a Mongolian music festival called Playtime. It looked like this:


A few more photos here really only serve to highlight the fact that many beers were drunk + it was kinda cold. For some more insight into what went down just outta Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, when a few thousand people + us converged on a lovely outdoor site to hear local bands and a couple of dudes intent on bringing post-rock-prog to the masses came together, please enjoy 1:29 minutes of video starring The Lemons, Cam, Stefan, Katherine, James, Greg + a bonfire conga line.

Do You Care What I Like?

If you do, my list of top musical things from 2009 appears below. If you'd also like to see what my excellent former colleagues and cohorts found enjoyable last year, please peruse this fine newsletter, as compiled by my compadre + the dude currently finding Starburst lollies under my ex-keyboard, Lil Pat. Nice work Pat.

Top Releases + songs

Nite Jewel – Good Evening
The xx - xx
Jack Penate – Everything Is New
The Mess Hall – For The Birds
Miike Snow – Miike Snow
Health – Get Color
DZ – Ruined My Life
The Middle East – The Recordings Of The Middle East
megastick fanfare – brain tooth
Bat For Lashes – Daniel

Kid Sister - Get Fresh
Super Wild Horses – We Don’t Believe It

Gigs I lost a little bit of my mind at

ATP Mt Buller… all of it
PJ Harvey + John Parish, Future Of The Left, The Bronx, Nite Jewel + Spindrift at SxSW
Seekae remix EP launch w/ megastick fanfare, Parades, Ghoul + Bearhug
Ivy League FBi fundraiser w/ The Mess Hall, Red Riders, Cloud Control + more
Spunk FBi fundraiser
Talons + SPOD at Clare’s bday warehouse party

Top Four Mongolian bands I expect to see a lot in 2010
Khusugtun, Altan Urag, Starfish, Mohanik

P.S. If you enjoy the musical selections of Mr Martin Doyle as expressed in the Ivy League newsletter, do take a stroll to Dusty Fingers, Dirty Palms. It's education + inspiration all rolled into one lovely page on the internet.

The ARIAs... Doing It Mongol Style

So it was a public holiday in Mongolia yesterday, an independence day of some description. This meant I went to the gym, ate an egg white omelette, and had a lovely Skype date with Meg. GOOD TIMES. Day got better though, because some clever cats organised an afternoon gig to buck the 9pm curfew. Legends, I say, and our first chance to finally see some local bands. Here are a couple of them:

Yes, homeboy is wearing a face mask while playing bass.

Yes, that is a roll of tape

While watching said bands, news came through that my homie Josh Pyke won an ARIA award. CONGRATULATIONS JOSH! He is a gem among men + musos alike and deserves a trillion awards.

Me and my friend Sam had a celebratory vodka in Josh’s honour.

Yes, that is 100ml of straight vodka. That’s how they roll in Mongol town…

Oddly enough the DJ in between + after bands played Empire Of The Sun, The Vines + Jet. AU represent much?

After the vodka, we required some eatings. So we ate buuz, Mongolian dumplings of goodness containing mutton and maybe some onion. Sorry Hungry Jacks veggie burger, you have been usurped by these little pockets of joy.

P.S Please buy this Josh Pyke DVD here. It was the last thing I worked on at Ivy League and it’s pretty cool.