It’s finally hitting the mainstream in a big way, and you just can’t escape it: Twitter is being talked about everywhere. Regardless of what you think of the technology, it can’t be denied that it’s having some very real and fascinating impact on the way we connect, network and communicate with each other. Politicians, celebrities, bloggers and now everyday people have started to turn to the system as a means to update and communicate their network in greater numbers than ever.

Unsurprisingly, musicians and artists are among these people turning to the system – and it seems to be having a lot of success, especially in ways that musician blogging never seemed to manage.

Part of Twitter’s success may lie in its simplicity, but it’s also emerged to become a surprisingly diverse application. Some bands are using purely to talk with their fans, others are using it simply to offer updates, others offer a snapshot into their personal lives, while others are doing a mix of all of the above.

Want a few examples? Here’s a small sample of overseas bands that are using Twitter: Ryan Adam & The Cardinals, YACHT, Dave Matthews, ?uestlove, Muse, My Brightest Diamond. All somewhat different approaches, all fascinating – and all getting broadcast straight to mobile devices, computers, aggregators, you name it.

A number of Aussie music bloggers have got in on the action. Australian bands are beginning to get it. Record labels are certainly beginning to jump on the train.

So why this post? Basically, I’m hoping to compile a master list that will serve as a starting point for people to get their music sources set up on Twitter. Hopefully you’ll be able to find various people that will provide you with succinct and instantaneous coverage of musical topics of interest.

I’ll eventually move this list to a fixed location, but for now I’m going to update this blog post. Please leave comments with suggestions on Twitter accounts I should include here, and hopefully you’ll find getting started on the Twitter train really straightforward!

New updates appear at the end of each section and are highlighted in red.

Australian Bands / Musicians

• The Grates - @thegrates
  A highlight. Lots of photos and observations on tour and at home, frequent interaction with the Twitter community. Just like their music would have you believe, these guys are good fun to be around.
• The Mint Chicks - @the_mint_chicks (thanks Geoff!)
  Occasional updates on band activities, mostly promoting their new album.
• Muscles - @musclesmusic
  Vewwy vewwy quiet…
• Bertie Blackman – @bertieblackman
  Sydney artist makes her first foray into Twitter. Early days.
• The Devoted Few – @thedevotedfew
  Sydney band, frequent updates, good community interaction.
• Yves Klein Blue – @yveskeinblue
  Brisbane band tweeting mostly about tour announcements.
• Red Riders – @redridersmusic
  Presently focusing on the band’s return to the studio.
• Expatriate – @expatriateband
  Sydney band recently relocated to Berlin, infrequently tweeting about recording their next album.
• Dappled Cities – @dappledcities
  So it really isn’t “Fly” any more? Updates are fairly uninteresting.
• Urthboy – @urthboy
  Herd band member twitting frequently on life, running a record label and being in the Herd…
  
• Youth Group – @youthgroupmusic
  Just getting started…
  
• Sparkadia – @sparkadia
  Good, sporadic but interesting updates
  
• The Presets – @talklikethat
  Moderately useless…
• Bliss & Eso – @blissneso
  Sydney hip hop with a good, grass-roots approach to the service.

Got any more? Let me know!

Australian Record Labels

• Dew Process - @dewprocess
  Rather half-hearted use of the service
• Modular Records - @modularpeople
  Goofy twitter-based fun and news, frequent updates
• Ivy League Records – @ivyleagues (thanks Dan!)
  Home to Sparkadia, Josh Pyke, Mess Hall, Cloud Control etc…
• Inertia Music – @inertiamusic
  One of Australia’s bigger distributors, home to much great music.
• Illusive Records – @illusivecrew
  Melbourne-based hip-hop label, home to Bliss n Eso, Lowrider, Downsyde etc…

Australian Live Music

• V Festival - @v_festival (thanks Geoff!)
  Hey by the way V Festival, your line-up totally sucks this year.
• Jessie Pink / We Do Stuff – @jessiepink / @wedostuff
  An independent promoter giving updates on live gigs around Sydney.
• Moshcam – @moshcam
  The well-known video footage archive of Sydney gigs is using Twitter to promote their site and post gigs updates.

Australian Radio Stations

• Triple J
  • Robbie, Marieke and the Doctor (Breakfast) – @triplejbrekkie
  • Lindsay McDougal (JTV) – @tripleJTVdoctor
  • Scott Dooley (Afternoons) – @triplejdools
  • Zan Rowe (Mornings) – @triplejmornings
  • Vijay Khurana (Lunch) – @vijaykhurana
  • House Party - @jhouseparty
  • Richard Kingsmill (music director) – @triplejtheking
  • Home and Hosed – @homeandhosed
• FBI Radio (Sydney) – @fbiradio

Australian Music Bloggers

• @dreadfuldan (from Boudist aka Daniel Boud)
• @ford_davis / @ma_shinka / @12majorchords (from TwelveMajorChords.com)
• @fortunegrey (from Fortune Grey)
• @getbiglittlekid (from Get Big Little Kid)
• @jonny_yesyes (from Polaroids of Androids)
• @openyoureyes (from Open Your Eyes To Music)
• @waycooljnr (from Way Cool Jnr)
• @stuartbuchanan (from StuartBuchanan.com)
• @tunebinder (from Tunebinder)

What’s next?

Got any Twitterers that I should have listed here but are missing? Please leave a comment and let me know!

Put this under the “stuff that none of you will care about, but I’m going to blather about anyway” category

Jeff Beck is a name that should need no introduction – at the very least most will probably associate the name with “Yardbirds” or “some guitarist” – but I’m finding more and more that very few people have actually sat down in front of one of his records, and very few have gone beyond Truth or Blow by Blow. That’s a shame because his back catalogue, while occasionally patchy, contains some absolute gems.

I can’t stress highly enough how much impact Beck has had on me musically, and as a guitarist. His sense of musicality and his ability to squeeze all manner of notes out of a ridiculously pared-back guitar rig is insane. He leaves million-mile-an-hour speed freaks in the dust – playing the one note that matters rather than the billions that don’t.

I never thought I’d see the day, but Jeff Beck has announced his first Australian tour in – I dunno, 20 years? 30 years?

To say I’m overjoyed is an understatement.

Beck will be playing the Enmore on January 30. Tickets are on sale on November 25 through Ticketek.

I’ll leave you with a clip of Beck covering The Beatles’ A Day In The Life.

Sean from A Reminder – Australia’s favourite music blogging import – has once again toiled over his spreadsheet software and e-mail client and compiled responses from DJs and bloggers from across Australia to present a collective opinion of what the best bands in Australia and New Zealand are in 2008. I had the pleasure of contributing and had a lot of fun looking over the last year to see what had happened.

The list is largely solid, but there are a few surprises too. Go check out the list and definitely use it as a starting point for discovering some great music if you haven’t heard some of the acts.

Here are the bands I nominated as my top picks:

1. Nick Cave
   I feel like it’s an uber cliché to put him up here, but who else deserves to be? Also, he’s now proved he can write awesome soundtracks too.
2. Machine Translations
   Songwriting that will sneak up on you and completely lure you in. Guaranteed. Seven Seven was wonderful.
3. Snowman
   Brilliant. They deserve much more recognition – can’t wait to see what they do next.
4. The Drones
   I hope it’s not foolish to be putting these guys up this high, with me being so new to them and all. With the songs I’ve been hearing from Havilah and my spins of Gala Mill in the last couple of weeks, I’m quickly realising just how justified their reputation is. Exceptional. And profound.
5. Gotye
   While there’s been nothing new this year, his impact on re-energising the cause of DIY music is *still* being felt, and I think he may well have given it the kick-along it needed to set its sights even higher than it had been.
6. The Brunettes
   I knew they were great live, but I didn’t realise how wonderful this band were until Carly started playing their latest album over and over again when Nazzie was feeling a bit upset. I think I may be hooked. They nail it.
7. The Lucksmiths
   They’re back! They’re baaaa-aaaack. The new album is awesome.
8. Cuthbert & The Nightwalkers
   I just really love what they’re doing. I’m consistently amazed by how many people that normally wouldn’t go make an effort to see music, but are excited every time they hear Cuthbert and his crew are playing another show.
9. The Basics
   They’re still one of those bands that make music for everyone and do it with exceptional flair. I’ve never had someone see a show and walk away disappointed.
10. Pivot
    I think their achievements deserve merit, despite the fact that they’ve perhaps not yet succeeded in creating an album of timeless status.
11. Hermitude
    Similarly to Pivot, they haven’t yet created a legendary work, but they’re still Pretty Damn Good and have (and will) soundtrack many a party that I’ve hosted.
12. Crowded House
    SURPRISE VOTE. Yes, I am pulling out Pop Music That Cool People Don’t Vote For. Their last album may not be receiving ringing endorsements from me, but they still deserve a place in this list for Neil Finn’s songwriting.
13. The Cat Empire
    I was amazed that they didn’t appear *at* *all* in last year’s votes. their last album was a non-event for me, but see this band live and it’s hard to deny that 6 years of being one of Australia’s best known bands has not killed the qualities that made them successful to begin with. Plus, they inspired a resurgence of nation-wide interest in a key slice of Melbourne’s live music scene. 

No I don’t care if you don’t like my last two picks. So there!

To be honest, I’m sitting here wondering how the heck I’m going to describe the music of Sydney’s Ghoul - no matter how hard I try, it seems that there’s no neat one-size-fits-all category or description that is going to give you a realistic sense of this group’s diverse and unique sound: it’s a myriad of styles and moods, and really it has to be heard to be understood.

Fortunately, it’s not that hard for you to hear it: the band made a shrewd move and released their new EP A Mouthful of Gold as an entirely free download for all, which I applaud them for doing – it’s a step which I think more and more emerging bands will realise is a hugely worthwhile investment to reach a larger audience, and I think it will reap extremely good dividends for the earlycomers that do it – things will probably change once every Tom, Dick and Harry jumps on the bandwagon and floods the marketplace with free music.

So, the music: the EP is 9 tracks, clocking in at 19 minutes. It lacks a song that is singularly destined for radio. It shifts and warps stylistically from track to track and yet, unlike a lot of EPs, it’s a complete work in and of itself – it has a definite progression which carries the listener from the first through to the final track, sometimes even blurring the line between songs, making it a seamless play. It’s remarkably cohesive – and this is even more impressive when one considers the territory covered.

The album begins with a simple triangle wave synth motif, the sound of which is expanded upon in its ghostly simplicity through the second track. It’s restrained, a bit ethereal and expands gradually – yet by the time we’ve reached track 3, we’ve somehow found ourselves in a 5/4 groove listening to a four-piece saunter away before building into a fenetic rocker. Did I mention only a few minutes have passed at this point?

So the EP goes – it mutates and changes as it plays, yet it always sounds natural and never like it’s covering all this territory for the sake of it.

Of particular note are the band’s more melodic tunes – tracks like the opening two numbers, along with Corn Cob Dub / Jakob and Swimming Pool contain gorgeous melodies and wonderful textures. Other tunes have a proto-goth aspect to them a la Bauhaus, such as **** Math and Fertile Girls (which is one of the creepiest song titles I’ve heard in a while).

The lead vocals – a soul-esque croon – in particular lend a unique character to the group, and I’m sure this will be one aspect of the band’s sound that will be brought up in every review they get, for better or for worse. Personally, I think they add a left-field yet brilliant element, though it did take me a few moments to get my head around.

In summary, this is a dark, sometimes eerie listen. Needless to say the band are doing something that is not being done by many others – you’re unlikely to find this becoming a “next big thing” movement and it’s probable that you won’t hear an army of clone bands playing the same thing next year. All the more power to Ghoul, I say – the album is a remarkable piece of work and I for one have enjoyed listening to it immensely.

I highly encourage you download this EP at the link below, and then support the band by attending one of their shows listed on their Myspace.

Listen

• Get the whole EP, as provided by the band

I’ve been remiss in not mentioning Why?’s Alopecia since it was released in April this year, but consider this me making up for it: you really really should get on it if you haven’t. It’s up there with the year’s best in my opinion and appeals to people from a variety of backgrounds.

Pitchfork have the premiere of the band’s new video for their wordily-titled track “A Sky for Shoeing Horses Under”, which is a surreal, somewhat dramatic advanture into the story of – well, I have no idea what it’s about… masked attackers and the frightened hunted I guess, except that Yoni’s chillin’ with his pals and dropping a tune amidst the action. And making tea.

While on the subject of Alopecia (the album, not hair loss condition): How good is the mixing on this record? Seriously, one of the more adventurous mixes I’ve heard this year and it pays off in spades by setting this album apart from the pack hugely. It’s both incredibly dry and upfront while somehow managing to give a wonderful sense of warmth and space at the same time. The treatments are both warped and yet entirely musical. And the drum sounds kill me every time.

I just got back from a double headlining album launch featuring Mountains in the Sky and Qua. Whoa. Seriously mind-boggling – most of it anyway.

The event was unusual in that the “double headlining” term was taken more literally than usual and actually featured both acts sharing the same set, taking turns to present material from their new albums and occasionally sharing the stage in free-for-all jams. The format worked really well I thought, although it tended to give a rather ramshackle, unpredictable edge to the proceedings. Sometimes it worked to stellar degrees, other times it came within millimetres of falling to pieces.

Apologies about the page full of photos. I hate having to scroll through pages of pics like this, but unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to incorporate anything more sophisticated for viewing photo collections on this blog.

I don’t have any pretensions of being a great photographer – the shots are pretty mediocre in my opinion, but I hope you enjoy them all the same.

~~~

The evening was kicked off by Ohana, who I’d been eagerly looking forward to see since hearing rave reviews from Jonny at Polaroids of Androids. The band kind of sounds like a combination of noise rock and math rock – perhaps if A Place To Bury Strangers and Battles got together and had a baby – or perhaps not. Regardless, I thought they were fantastic.

~~~

The proceedings continued with a bizarre introduction to the set by this gentleman, who got the crowd into the spirit of things with a speed-rap medley. He later returned with an Eddie Vedder impersonation.

~~~

Enter Qua (aka Cornel Wilczek), who invites you into his mysterious domain:

His ambient stuff that opened the set was insanely good (“All Breath, No Body” off the new album) … a very cool opener for the set. I’ve heard that Silver Red is more along the lines of this, so I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Really enjoyed Qua’s set – his use of various touch-based controllers added a nice touch (haha geddit?) to his set, and the tunes came across really nicely. A particular highlight was “Lapsang Souchong” off the new album (Q&A) which nearly blow the roof off the Oxford.

~~~

Mountains in the Sky (aka John Lee) was also brilliant, with really solid material and a great live feel. I’m really looking forward to hearing his new album Electron Suite, which is now sitting on my desk and awaiting consumption.

~~~

Despite the excellence of most of the performance, unfortunately the set kind of crashed and burned disappointingly towards the end. Whether caused by alcohol or exhaustion, the last three tunes didn’t really things on a high note. John and Cornel both limped through their final solo tunes, and the combined closer that saw half the audience join the band on stage didn’t quite match some of the set’s earlier peaks., though it was certainly memorable in the mayhem that ensued.

Not to matter – both artists offered an excellent showcase of their material, and brought a great party atmosphere with them.

I’m pretty psyched about the upcoming Sydney Festival – there’s a lot of fantastic talent that I’ve been eagerly awaiting an announcement of an Australian tour, but pleasantly I don’t feel overwhelmed by there being too much goodness either. Last year was almost exhausting, especially considering the frantic rush trying to decide which acts I wanted to prioritise in the meagre 5 days they gave us before tickets went on sale.

The full lineup can be viewed over here, but here’s a quick overview of the acts that have got me particularly excited.

• Matthew Herbert + Big Band
  For reals – Herbert’s eccentric productions brought to life with a huge brass section, married with his own electronic constructions. I presume his wife and collaborator Dani Siciliano will be present to provide vocals.
• Camille
  I really liked her last album…
• Bon Iver
  The organizers have generously allowed for multiple Speigeltent performances AND a (presumably) much more elaborate City Recital Hall performance.
• St Vincent
  If you haven’t heard Marry Me yet, you owe it to yourself to check it out… this will be a show and a half.
• The Bug (headlining Hyper-dub)
  His latest album London Zoo is DECIMATING. Quite a remarkable fusion of dubstep, hip-hop, ragga and hip-hop.
• Four Tet
  Loved his set at Hyde Park Barracks a couple of years ago – am not sure if I’d do this as well as his Laneway performance, but we’ll see.
• Daedelus (fronting Mad Racket)
  Can’t wait to see his set at Laneway – and will seriously consider catching this sideshow. Really enjoying Love To Make Music To. Expect a post on it soon.
• The Bays
  All I really know about these guys is that they do entirely improvised sets, and that they feature drummer/programmer Andy Gangadeen. They’re going to be setting their performance to the movie Run Lola Run. You can download sets of their past shows from their website here.

For whatever reason, I don’t seem to pay particular attention to what’s appearing in Pitchfork’s “Best New Music” category all that often, but as luck might have it I made note of their enthusiastic review of the new album by a group called The Week That Was and decided to explore their music.

The group apparently comprises members of the now-defunct Field Music (plus some). For what it’s worth, I know nothing about Field Music and have heard nothing of their material – so I can’t comment on how this compares to that band’s work.

What The Week That Was do offer is concise, smart, distinctive pop music with an atmosphere that sounds heavily influenced by 80s new wave and prog: new wave in its precise yet sensitive approaches and lush melodic arrangements, prog in its fascination with time signature changes, Baroque-esque counterpoint and its eccentric approaches to modulation and moving between segments. Some moments I find remiscent of Echo & The Bunnymen, while others had me thinking of Japan if they were presented in a warmer, more organic context.

“Wait right there Joe – did you just say prog? Forget about it!”

Sure, so prog is a four letter word to a lot of people. While I won’t deny enjoying my share of Yes and King Crimson, I recognise there’s a lot about prog rock that leaves people cold. This, to me, highlights all the more just how remarkable it is that band leader Peter Brewis manages to bring his somewhat intricate approach to writing and arranging together in such an unconvoluted and unpretensious manner. To me, the songs always have a sense of genuine personality to them, and the pieces never seem gratiutious or self-indulgent. If anything, a number of the songs feel like more could be made of them, but the band seem to have decided to go down the cautious route: the album’s 8 tracks clock in at around 33 minutes.

My first listen of the album saw me feeling pretty neutral about the first two tunes. I felt like the music was pretty remiscent of other bands of British invasions gone by (The Futureheads, Kaiser Chiefs, etc), but by the time I had ventured further it was pretty clear that these guys are in a completely different league. By the time I’d got to “The Airport Line” I was in the bag. Having played it many times over now, I’m pretty convinced this is a great album by a great group, and I highly recommend you check it out.

Listen

• The Week That Was – The Airport Line (mp3)