Midnight Oil’s ‘10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1’
has been voted as the greatest Australian album of all time by
The Age's weekly entertainment section, EG. The album, released
in 1982 and selling more than a quarter of a million copies, received
a total of 150 votes by the selection panel comprising musicians,
critics and broadcasters. The Oils won by a nose over AC/DC’s
‘Back In Black’ which received 149 votes. Not far
behind were classic albums from INXS, Skyhooks, Paul Kelly, the
Hoodoo Gurus and Crowded House. AC/DC received the most nominations
(four), while Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, the Saints, You Am I,
Crowded House, Paul Kelly, The Go-Betweens, and the Easybeats
received two each. Most nominations came from the 70s & 80s
but four albums from this decade, including the Avalanches, Jet,
Silverchair and the Drones, managed to make the list.
SILVERCHAIR’S
SONG OF THE YEAR
Silverchair’s ‘Straight Lines’,
a song written by the talented Daniel Johns and Julian Hamilton
(The Presets), was named as the Song Of The Year at the APRA Music
Awards held at Sydney’s Hilton on June 16th. The song was
also the Most Played Australian Work on the nation’s airwaves
over the past year while Daniel Johns was named the APRA Songwriter
Of The Year for a record third time. This makes Johns the only
songwriter in the history of the APRA Music Awards to receive
this distinction. Other winners on the night included Rogue Traders
(Dance Work Of The Year for ‘In Love Again’), John
Butler (Blues And Roots Work Of The Year for ‘Good Excuse’),
Wolfmother (Most Played Australian Work Overseas for ‘Woman’)
and Sally Seltmann (New Buffalo) who won the Breakthrough Songwriter
Of The Year award after co-composing Feist’s highly successful
‘1234’ hit single. First time APRA Award winners included
Jade Macrae (Urban Work Of The Year for ‘In The Basement’),
Troy Cassar Daley (Country Work Of The Year for ‘Everything’s
Going To Be Alright’) and composer Kenneth Schroder (Jazz
Work Of The Year for the song ‘Eucalypso’, performed
by The Moovin’ and Groovin’ Orchestra).
COLDPLAY
BREAKING RECORDS
Coldplay’s long awaited fourth album ‘Viva
La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’ is breaking records
all over the world. In Australia, it has become one of the fastest
selling albums in years after it debuted at #1 and went Platinum
within days of release. It also debuted at #1 on the US Billboard
200 with over 720,000 copies sold in its first week of release
there, #1 in the UK where it is the fastest-selling album of the
year, and was also #1 in Japan, Canada, France and Germany. ‘Viva
La Vida’ also set the record for highest first-week album
sales ever on the iTunes Store worldwide. Recorded with producers
Brian Eno and Markus Dravs, ‘Viva La Vida’ includes
the single ‘Violet Hill’ which was offered free on
the band's website for one week in May and was downloaded by over
2 million people globally.
LIL WAYNE’S
US DOMINATION
Lil Wayne’s latest album, ‘Tha Carter
III’, has become the biggest US release of 2008 after selling
over 1 million copies in its first week of release. It is the
only album to achieve this feat since 50 Cent’s ‘The
Massacre’ in 2005. More surprisingly, this is Lil Wayne’s
first #1 album and also marks the biggest debut of any album in
the history of Universal Motown Records. Cash Money co-founder
Bryan ‘Birdman’ Williams says, “Lil Wayne is
truly changing the game of hip-hop. Lil Wayne is the most talented
rapper out there right now, and these numbers prove it.”
The rapper has been quite prolific of late making over 70 guest
appearances on other artist tracks including Fat Joe’s 2008
Grammy nominated single ‘Make It Rain’, DJ Khaled’s
‘We Taking Over’, and Wyclef Jean’s ‘Sweetest
Girl’. ‘Tha Carter III’ is available now locally.
DISTURBED #1
Disturbed have also had a highly successful month
with their fourth album, ‘Indestructible’, debuting
at #1 on the Australian Motorola ARIA Chart making it their first
#1 locally. The album also went to #1 in Canada, New Zealand and
the US, where it sold over 250,000 copies in its first week of
release. This is now their third consecutive US #1 album and makes
them one of only six other rock bands in US history to achieve
this feat!
AIRBOURNE’S
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS
After relocating to the US earlier this year, Airbourne
are starting to make inroads internationally. Their ‘Runnin’
Wild’ single/album managed to take the #1 position on the
Heatseekers chart during the first week of release while in Canada,
their track ‘Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast’ was the
#1 most added track at radio. The album also managed a #27 debut
on the German mainstream charts last month. Airbourne recently
toured the US with Finger Eleven while they have just completed
playing at some major European festivals including the Donnington
Download Festival with Kiss in England and the Waken Festival
in Germany with Iron Maiden. Next on the agenda is a huge national
tour of the US on the Mayhem Festival alongside Slipknot, Disturbed
& Dragonforce.
OPERATOR PLEASE DEAL
Following on from Wolfmother, The Vines and Jet
having their music used in global television campaigns, Operator
Please have hooked up with Motorola for a worldwide ad campaign
that will see their single, ‘Just A Song About Ping Pong’,
used to launch Motorola’s latest phone. The ad is already
airing in England and is expected to hit Australia later in the
year. Meanwhile. The band are currently playing some major European
festivals but will be back in Australia in the first week of August
to play at the sold out Splendour In the Grass Festival in Byron
Bay. Their latest single ‘Two For My Seconds’, recently
performed on Network Ten’s Rove program, is out now.
VAN SHE PARTY THIS
MONTH
Earlier this year, Soundscape caught up with Van
She. These guys are currently enjoying what can only be described
as a meteoric rise. Their blend of electro -shoegaze lunar rock,
fits squarely with our appetite for all things synthesized at
the moment. Recent tours with the likes of The Bravery, Operator
Please, Pnau and Phoenix will have prepared them nicely for their
upcoming gig card. Get along to see them as they preview tracks
from their soon to be released album V… I’ll give
you a hint, if you’re into Phoenix and Teenage Fanclub you’ll
love this album! Stay tuned to the Blurb in August for a review
of V. Until then Van She play as part of the Modular’s Van
She Party tour. They’ll perform in conjunction with those
clever remix maestros Van She Tech and guest djs. Visit www.vanshe.com
for details of the Van She Parties throughout July.
TEENS CHALLENGE YOUR
WILL
The Veronicas surprised us with their catchy infectious
pop and the overwhelming success of those indy tykes Operator
Please has set the scene for another in the youth age bracket
to challenge our listening ears. Dash and Will (Charlie Thorpe
and Josie DeSousa-Reay) a duo out of Melbourne, who as teenagers
aren’t shy of performing. As part of a national rock school
quest they’ve shone above all others and now they offer
another splash of pop flavour. Do you agree? Let us know after
you take a peek at their new single Pick you up. It’s a
creeper but also a bit of fun! Check it out at www.dashandwill.com.au
FINAL TOUCHES TO SPLENDOUR
LINEUP
Organisers to Splendour in the Grass have capped off their line-up
for this year’s festival with a strong Australian contingent
to boost an already large ensemble of performers. Friends to the
Blurb, British India will join Katalyst
as well as Yves Klein Blue. Internationals, Polyphonic Spree,
Tokyo Police Club and New Young Pony Club along with Lyrics Born
round it out nicely. These are just some of the acts added to
an already mega –billing which boasts, Swedes, Sigur Ros,
as well as native ‘Statesmen’ Vampire Weekend. The
Wombats and Tricky round will boost the UK representation along
with The Music. Also appearing is Laura Marling, Pnau and Van
She. Splendour is going Not to be trite but come rain or shine
or mud the Splendour Bender weekend will be massive.
Check out this video
- “An Introduction to Lightspeed Champion” - an interesting
clip featuring an interview with Dev (Lightspeed) and gives an
insight in to his music and his comics and is great for those
who might not be yet familiar with him. Lightspeed also plays
solo shows Wednesday July 30 – Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
and Thursday July 31 – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney.
MIDNIGHT
OIL’S ALBUM OF ALL TIME
COLDPLAY
BREAKING RECORDS
AIRBOURNE’S
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS