Triple J reckon that Silverchair vocalist/guitarist Daniel Johns is currently in the studio with Aussie expats, The Scare, producing their upcoming album. I believe this will be Daniel's first time producing someone else's material so it will be interesting to see what they come up with. Still... I think The Scare have scored big-time getting him aboard. The tunes;
The Scare: Scary.
The Scare track is from their 2005 EP, Vacuum Irony. It sounds a bit Klaxons-ish, which is cool.

The Silverchair track is the first track on 2007's, utterly mindblowing, Young Modern. If you haven't heard it yet then forget everything you think you know about the band and have a listen. You WILL like it.

The Scare - Cry Junkies (Out of Luck)
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

Silverchair - Young Modern Station
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

The title says it all. Rob Hirst, Martin Rotsey and Jim Moginie, formally of legendary Aussie band Midnight Oil, have formed a new band with Brian Ritchie, former Violent Femmes bassist. No word on what the band is called yet or, more importantly, who will be singing. Ritchie will replace Bones Hillman job on bass so it won't be all of Midnight Oil... not that it possibly could be give the fact that their enormous, bald vocalist, Peter Garrett, is currently the Australia's federal Minister for the Environment and the Arts.

Speaking of Brian Ritchie... He lives in Hobart, Tasmania and just yesterday it was revealed that the Tasmanian state government has coughed up $350,000 to the organisers of a new festival, the Festival of Music and Art. The festival will be curated by Brian Ritchie (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have been booked). All good, except that this new festival is planned to fall on the same weekend as the well-established Cygnet Folk Festival which is a very, very stupid thing for our state government to be funding. Isn't that completely obvious?

Anyway, some tunes...

Midnight Oil - Only the Strong
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

Violent Femmes - Breakin' Up
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

Source: Undercover.com.au and The Mercury.

I did this remix a couple of weeks ago for a competition, it's a bit of alright. Press the button with the arrow on it...

Imagine.

The year is 2108. An outlandish secret-society of artistic, time-traveling scientists pay a clandestine visit to the Wicca in the year 1908. The scientists prepare a Mental-Template™ based on the minds of the most musically-inclined Wiccans. They then travel forward 100 years and secretly upload the Mental-Template™ into the brain of an electronic musician, who then unwittingly records a song based on his newly acquired arcane knowledge. The industrious, artistic scientists return to the year 2108. They remix and rework the piece of music and launch it on the Universal Music Web. Pagan Passions becomes the most celebrated, critically-acclaimed, song of the year.

True story. I am indeed a mega-superstar in the not-so-distant future. I believe I will be dead by then, which is weird. Anyway, here is the original, un-remixed, un-reworked version of Pagan Passions. I'm sure the future version will be much better but you'll just have to use your imagination for now.

Soulwax: I bet they have funny accents.
Soulwax are from Belgium, that's why their remixes taste like beer and chocolate. If you know what I mean... Formed by David and Stephen Dewaele (A.K.A. The Flying Dewaele Brothers / 2 Many DJ's) back in 1995, they produce some of the finest remixes around. Here's a few of my favourites:

Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of My Head (Soulwax KYLUSS remix)
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control (Soulwax Nite Version remix)
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want (Soulwax remix)
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

Nancy Vandal were are once more a weird-arse Australian horror punk/ska band that formed way back in 1993. They wore strange clothes and makeup, none of them could sing very well or do anything really well (not true but whatever). No talent or professionalism... just art. Everything about it is totally amateurish which I fucking love. It's genius... genius crap.

Jay Whalley from Frenzal Rhomb (and Triple J) was their bassist for a while, that's cool too. Lead singer-guitarist, Fox Trotsky, draws all the bands artwork (I think he might have done some cover art for Frenzal as well.), which is also very cool.

Nancy Vandal - Move Over Satan
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

Nancy Vandal - There's No "I" in Rock
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

Nancy Vandal - We are Nancy Vandal
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

Art vs. Science: My money's on the guy with the tophat.Art vs. Science are a group that you may not have heard of yet. Triple J has been pumping their first song Flippers for a while, which is kick-arse and heaps of fun... kind of light-weight but still totally kick-arse. When I heard Hollywood a coupla weeks ago I figured these blokes are going places. It's much more complex than Flippers but still hook-laden as all fuck. Go rate their tracks on Triple J Unearthed, join their Facebook group, expect an EP in the new year and read their very (in)sane bio:

ART.vs.SCIENCE is a psychological experiment. Songs are crafted carefully according to principles abstracted from the study of human responses to music. Each show is a test of these responses and how they differ in comparison to the manipulation of certain musical elements. Upon complete and exhaustive analysis of the relationship between artistic tools (tempo, rhythm, vocal content, video-imagery and structure) and the human response, ART.vs.SCIENCE intends to publicise its findings. Preliminary results are very encouraging, with consistently strong, positive subject reaction to certain tempos and rhythmic structures. Building upon the knowledge ART.vs.SCIENCE has already confirmed, more theories of music - once believed to be transcendental now competing with the whims of fashion - shall be slowly and surreptitiously employed, and the truths they espouse tested.

I sense a certain linearity between our two paths...

Art vs. Science - Hollywood
from Triple J

Art vs. Science - Flippers
from Triple J

Believe in God Instantly!
1. Thou SHALT NOT believe all thou art told.
2. Thou SHALT seek knowledge and truth constantly.
3. Thou SHALT educate thy fellow man in the Laws of Science.
4. Thou SHALT NOT forget the atrocities committed in the name of god.
5. Thou SHALT leave valuable contributions for future generations.
6. Thou SHALT live in peace with thy fellow man.
7. Thou SHALT live this one life thou hast to its fullest.
8. Thou SHALT follow a Personal Code of Ethics.
9. Thou SHALT maintain a strict separation between Church and State.
10. Thou SHALT support those who follow these commandments

Source: Ethical Atheist and Atheist hussy

Skold - Dead God
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

iNsurge - Whose God is Real (live)
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

Everclear - Why I Don't Believe in God
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

I did this remix a couple of months back fully intending to do some heavy polishing on it but... the time has now passed and I really can't be fucked now. It's not too shabby as it is though, so I knocked up a dodgy cover and uploaded the sucker. Have a listen.

Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire (Vivada remix)

The right choice has been made! Thank you, America! A Black Man in the White House, what will they think of next, hey? I bet my arse that in the distant future, the story of Barack Obama will evolve into an epic piece of American mythology. The man himself will likely be remembered as some kind of superhero-like character who used his enormous brain to single-handedly solve every problem that faced humanity in the early 21st century. Whatever... I kinda hope he doesn't fix everything though, we don't want him to make things too boring.

About a year ago (although it still seems like yesterday), many Australian's experienced a similar feeling of elation when we finally rid ourselves of the Howard government after many years of conservative rule. Aussie hip-hop group, The Herd, wrote a song about the occasion. Non-Australian's may not get all the references but you should be able to get the general gist of it. Flobots are an American hip-hop group that have a lot of similarities to The Herd. Check 'em out.

The Herd - The King Is Dead
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

The Herd - Burn Down the Parliament
from YouSendIt or Mediafire

Flobots - The Rhythm Method (Move!)
from YouSendIt or Mediafire