Backchat - 17 March 2010

Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man

Mumford & Sons is a band. Which might sound bleeding obvious, but surely they could just as easily be a goldfield-era ironmongery firm? If I saw the words embossed into the cast iron frame of a pedalboard sewing machine I wouldn’t bat an eyelid. But riding high atop the Triple J Hot 100? Well, that’s

Backchat - 20 January 2010

Tiësto & Sneaky Sound System – I Will Be Here

I’m guessing everyone here has heard of Sensation? It’s a giant international rave party franchise; enormous one-off events characterised by their all-white dress code. Click through the Sensation site and — whether it be Vienna, Amsterdam or Riga — you’re confronted by image libraries of countless thousands of luvved-up recent grads of Supermodel High wearing

Video Watch - 20 January 2010

The Pussycat Dolls (featuring Snoop Dogg) – Buttons

If you’re an all-girl group and you’ve got Snoop Dogg sniffing around, it can mean only one thing: trouble. I hate to pigeonhole the Dogg, but if his press is to be believed, he’s not one to buzz you to commend you on your middle-8, he’s only after one thing… or in the case of

Backchat - 5 January 2010

Rich Bastards Anonymous

Did you know that Tag Heuer is pronounced Tag Hoy-er, and not Tag Heurghhh? You did? Well, you’re doing better than me. Did you know that Longines (pronounced: Lawn-jean and not Long’ns) has released its Quadruple Retrograde with more needles than a Spitfire cockpit? I bet you did. Welcome to the rarified world of Rich

Backchat - 20 December 2009

Shakira – She Wolf

It’s nice to be occasionally reminded that the music world’s past present and future is neatly ‘yin and yang’ed by the Anglo bop of the Beatles and the Afro-American cruisey groove of Smokey Robinson. Occasionally a pop anomaly appears from another culture entirely, bypassing the conveyor belts of the MTV machine… and hundreds of millions

Backchat - 5 December 2009

Slicing the Metaphorical Pie

Let’s just say you were buying a car and you gave me the job of finding the right one. You make it clear to me that the engine was important, it had to be powerful, well maintained, yet quite easy on the gas. “Sure, leave it with me.” The next day the alluring big-cat purr

Backchat - 17 November 2009

Aqua — Back to the ’80s

Guess what? Aqua — a loose affiliation of talentless Norwegian Eurovision rejects — has decided to wager its final shred of credibility on the decade that style forgot — that’s right, the ’80s.Apparently we oughtta ‘get back to’ the Reagan Era for some satellites, skinny ties, Top Gun, Twisted Sister, Mr T, moon boots, Dynasty,

Video Watch - 20 July 2009

Ar Rahman, The Pussycat Dolls & Nicole Scherzinger – Jai Ho

Just for a moment, imagine Molly Meldrum deadpanning this intro on Countdown circa 1979: “Live in the Countdown studios, here tonight, from the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire is Ar Rahman, The Pussycat Dolls and Nicole Schcrzinger with their hit new song Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny). Give them a big hand and do yourself

Backchat - 5 July 2009

I’m a Boutique Freak

Boutique Stadium? I nearly choked on my Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. I have no idea what a boutique stadium is but according to some bureau-prat on the morning radio, Melbourne needs one. In fact, I’m not sure when we began turning ‘boutique’ into an adjective but it’s made things awkward. Institutions that were previously ‘small’ are

Video Watch - 20 May 2009

Coldplay – Life in Technicolor

When I first heard that France has some peak body that oversees how its language is going, I must confess I had bit of a chuckle — talk about precious. I mean, who really cares if there’s no Gallic word for ‘blue jeans’ or that some snooty Parisienne boulangerie has been taken over by Starbucks