Song #86: Axis of Awesome - "BirdPlane"

The best thing about Axis of Awesome is how they are easily able to take one simple idea and turn it into the most ridiculous, hilarious thing possible. The trio performed on the garden at my university, and it was pretty easy to tell that we were loving every second of it. This track in particular was a huge favourite. The parody only works, however, if you're familiar with your 2000s hit singles.

Remember Five For Fighting? No? How about Superman (It's Not Easy)? Ringing a bell. Now we're getting somewhere. What this song does is takes the first few lines of the original and then goes insane.

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just trying to find
The better part of me

I'm more than a bird
I'm more than a plane
And in come the Axis:

I'm a BirdPlane!

The rest of the song goes off on this tangent of singing about how awesome life is when part of you is a bird and the other part is a plane. And come on, that does sound pretty awesome! A definite listen for fans of clever parodies that are after something non-Weird Al.

FINAL RATING (/10): 8

Check out the video!



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David

Song #75: Angus and Julia Stone - "Hold On"

 The Stone siblings, Angus and Julia, have returned with their second album, Down the Way. These two have always had a knack for some sweet, beautiful tunes, but they've also written some pretty boring tracks in their time. Thankfully, this little number that opens Down the Way is one of the best things they've done musically.

Julia takes the lead on this one. She still sounds like a little kid, but it's easy to look past - she's very cute and she can keep a tune well enough. The simplistic drum pattern works perfectly as it builds up the song at various accentuated points, as well as the reverberating electric guitar and the wonderful chorus that really assists the song in picking up a notch. If you listen to anything from this record, I strongly recommend it is this very song. Loving it.

FINAL RATING (/10): 8

Down the Way is out next month.

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David

Song #72: Adam Green - "Give Them a Token"

 The lovely Adam Green is back with his sixth album, entitled Minor Love. It's a short, sweet collection of tunes that deal with his break-up and his loneliness. Don't you just want to hug the poor little one? He's normally so happy, so it's strange to hear such dark and moping music coming from him.

I suppose this is his "mature" album. His smoky baritone is still very much the same, but the songs themselves are a lot more textured and shake off their novelty. This track in particular sways along on a simple chord progression with some sweet lyrics and a whirring keyboard flashing through the final segment of the song. It's all over far too quickly, but it's a treat to listen to regardless.

FINAL RATING (/10): 7.5

Minor Love is out now.

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David

Song #71: Kina Grannis - "Valentine"

This one turned up on YouTube - kind of fitting, given how close it is to Valentine'$ Day. I have no idea who the girl is, but I was particularly interested in the video, which uses hundreds of drawings that fall in a domino style to give the impression of motion and movement. I've included it below, because it's really the only thing that's really interesting about the entire song - think Colbie Callait style, innocent acoustic girly stuff. It's essentially Jacqueline Johnson - Jack Johnson with breasts. It's all very  sweet, but my GOD it's fucking boring. It's barely even worth this paragraph being written about it. Pass.

FINAL RATING (/10): 4

But yes, here's the video.



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David

Song #53: The Retreat - "The Weather (Cloudin' Over)"

Okay, got a lot of ground to cover over the past six days, so here we go:

I went and saw Dan Mangan for the third and final time on Friday. He's the one I blogged about back at Song #37. This was his last show in the country before flying back to Canada (ehh), and it was such a thrill to see him off. Of note, however, were his support act - The Retreat.

This Sydney band play a low-key, charming style of countrified pop-rock that recalled acts like Bob Evans, Bright Eyes and even a young Ryan Adams. This song in particular was a charmer. Its major chord progressions and sugar-sweet harmonies were simple but incredibly pleasant. It will also make you want to give lead singer Ross a big hug - and the dude works at JB HiFi in Pitt Street, so there's easily a chance to do so. You have been warned.

FINAL RATING (/10): 7

Follow the doodz on Twitter and the Spaz, etc.

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David

Song #8: Smashing Pumpkins - "A Song for A Son"

Wait, sorry. Let's try that again.

 That's better.

Jesus Christ. Here we go - Billy Corgan is at work with a James-less, D'arcy-less and even fucking Jimmy-less lineup of the Smashing Pumpkins. It gets worse - this lineup is working on a FORTY-FOUR (read: FORTY-FOUR) track album (which will also be split into four 11-track EPs) entitled Teargarden by Kaliedyscope.

Umm...what?

Let's get this out of the way first, Billy. STILL writing and recording under the name of the Pumpkins is fucked. You might think it was all about you, but that classic lineup was something special. It's not fair on anyone, especially you.

Now, let's move onto the song itself.

After the first listen, you're going to feel as if this was a practical joke. What the hell is this? Essentially, we've got ourselves a Stairway wannabe with a wankish guitar solo, gratuitous layering and terrible lyrics (Corgan spends most of the time talking about who the song is for rather than what the song is actually about). His vocals are also hollow and highly nasal, drawling away in the corner of the mix. I have no idea where the band think they're going with this, but so far it's not looking good at all.

FINAL RATING (/10): 3

The Smashing Pumpkins are dead. Or, at the very least, they're on their deathbed. Pay your respects and go listen to Mellon Collie.

Song #5: Boy and Bear - "Mexican Mavis"

Coming up right now for your ears is a DOUBLE EPISODE of TSCC! That's right, boys and girls, I was nowhere near a computer yesterday - for I was at Homebake!

For those of you not in Australia, Homebake is an Australasian-only music festival which features both some of the biggest bands the countries of Australia and New Zealand have to offer, but also some of the best (never associate one with the other, for often it's not really true). At the tiny Hopetoun stage early on in the day, I caught a bit of Boy and Bear, who were the winners of the Triple J Unearthed competition to play the festival. They were obviously very excited to be there, and they were pretty quick to win over the crowd with their clean-cut good looks, upbeat countrified rhythms and absolutely spot on harmonies that threatened to shatter the P.A. with their perfect pitch.

One track in particular that stood out was Mexican Mavis. It's obvious why the band chose this as their single - all the positive traits one can associate with the band on a purely musical basis is placed into a tightly-strung package that's accesible without lapsing too much into an overtly mainstream sound. The harmonies will recall Fleet Foxes, the quaint finger-picking acoustic guitar recalls Nick Drake, the musicianship wouldn't be out of place on a Noah and the Whale album...okay, so maybe they're yet to find a sound that's distinctively "theirs". But there's so much potential here, and it's difficult to ignore this level of sing-along joy to be had.

FINAL RATING (/10): 7

Did they deserve to play Homebake? Absolutely. But they've still got a bit of work to do beyond their amazing knack for harmonies.

If you like what you hear, head over to their Unearthed page and download the track for free. Feel free to add them on MySpace, as well - that is, if you're still a part of that social networking ghost town.

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David