A few people have mentioned that it slipped under the radar a little, so what the hey:

Once upon a time, The Basics made a great single. It was called With This Ship. I remixed it. It got released on their Like A Brother EP last month. The end.

If you want to take a listen to said remix, have a crack at this stream:

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Enjoy!

(oh and you can buy the EP from the band’s myspace, or iTunes)

The video for the new Basics single With This Ship has finally hit the Internet after being under wraps for some time:

The song has been through a few incarnations since it’s first live outings in early 2008, but has become a straight shooting pop anthem. Trust me, it’ll get in your head and not leave for days.

The single (7″ and CD) will be in stores next week. The B-side is Tim Heath’s first ever released composition entitled Trouble In His Head and I am not making an understatement in saying that it is EXCELLENT. Keep an eye out for it. (update: it’s streaming over here)

The Basics will be participating in a Red Cross Bushfire Appeal gig in Melbourne on March 1st (details here), but have released no official tour plans beyond that.

For those of us in Sydney, it’s been all too long since we had our last live Basics fix, so here’s some video of their gig last night in Tamworth (sent via my Dad, seeing it’s my little bro doing the guest drums)

For some reason Dad seemed to have a fascination with Tim’s legs. I mean, they’re nice and all but…

So, I duck into the Sydney CBD to pick up the new album released today by our favourite good times tunesmiths, The Basics. And as a pleasant surprise the packaging really, really looks cool! Maybe my expectations were lowered after the presentation of the last two Gotye albums which I found slightly disappointingly short on substance (good thing the the recordings themselves are, of course, excellent)

Tada:

It contains liner notes, all lyrics, all presented in a manner which looks like business, but never loses the twinkle in its eye.

Here’s the whole kit and caboodle:

Now, shoo! To the record store, you! Go grab yourself a copy!

As for the music, I can already say the tunes are fantastic, having seen plenty of it live. Now to give the album my customary 3-5 initial spins to let it settle in. First impressions are that there’s plenty of new discoveries to be made: the arrangements of the tunes differ (sometimes subtly, sometimes to a great amount) from their live presentation. But I’m not even going to think about writing a review at this early stage of my familiarity with it. But overall, great fun. Go get it.

If you’re in Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne at all during the month of April on any Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday (respectively), you owe it to yourself to go check out The Basics – they’re playing at all those locations on those days. They’re a fun, talented bunch of guys playing music that I suppose you might describe as feel-good retro pop laden with classic harmonies with plenty of rock ‘n’ roll, reggae, blues, rockabilly and much more thrown in. It’s good fun, and they put on a vibealicious show. You may have heard of their drummer – Wally de Backer – who goes under the moniker Gotye for his solo projects.

I happened to take my camera for the second show this month. Here are a few highlights…

Props also go to Cuthbert & The Nightwalkers who supported – really enjoyed them as well.