Powderfinger has joined up with the world renowned live recording team Abbey Road – Live Here Now, to record their upcoming ‘Sunsets’ farewell tour, kicking off 1st September, 2010.

The Abbey Road Live team has had the pleasure of working with Slash and Pixies on their Australian 2010 tours and are now excited to be doing live recordings of Powderfinger’s highly anticipated national farewell tour.

The live recording of each show will be made available in a limited edition, superior double-disc CD set after each performance, as well as digital download for a limited time only. If you are going to the show, you can choose to pick up your copy within ten minutes of the show finishing, or you may have it shipped home to you.

Either way, you can go to www.powderfinger.com RIGHT NOW to pre-order and reserve your double CD set or digital download.

Ever wanted to watch LCD Soundsystem from side of stage?
Well now you can! Well, vicariously through my Flip camera….

After a massive week in Sydney with the THAT’S COOL BUT CAN YOU MAKE IT MORE SH*T? exhibition, we dragged our asses up to Woodfordia for what was to be a very busy but very fun Splendour In The Grass. Mostly we ran around like idiots backstage coordinating interviews but we also got to see some friends and some amazing bands (and a 2m brown snake which was TOTALLY NOT COOL!). In between promo backstage I managed to steal away to watch LCD Soundsystem’s set on the Mix Up Stage. One of the best things about Splendour is their very considerate viewing platforms on the side of stage, which allow other artists and people working to get a glimpse of their festival faves without having to battle the sea of fans out the front.

So I thought I would share my experience with you all. Hopefully it’s a different perspective and a new way to hear the latest LCD hit I Can Change.

If you want to hear the full LCD set from Splendour, tune in to triple j this Monday night 6 Sept at 8pm and you can relive the set in all it’s glory! And if you STILL can’t get enough, hang out till Sunday 12 Sept @ 5pm for an encore broadcast.

Yay for live music!

On Sunday night I had the pleasure of seeing The Cat Empire play one of their biggest Aussie headline shows at Sydney’s Hordern, following on from the soulful Mama Kin, and the fun and theatrical Clairy Browne and The Bangin’ Rackettes.

The guys were on fire, having already toured their latest album Cinema throughout Canada and the US and being half-way through their only Aussie tour this year. The crowd loved it, with hands in the air and hips shaking for all 2 hours. Sometimes I forget what a fun, festive, noisy, and captivated bunch The Cat Empire fans are. When Felix asked everyone to get down on the ground for ‘Fishes’ ,all 5,000 fans did, only to leap up into the air and keep dancing. It was amazing!

There are only a couple of dates left so jump onto thecatempire.com to get tickets, or onto The In Song to buy Cinema.

With a beaming smile, I’m more than happy to welcome Queensland’s Hungry Kids Of Hungary to the EMI Family through the Stop Start label. A very worthy addition to sit alongside Old Man River & Maniac in Australia’s newest indie.

If you’re a Triple J aficionado – you’ll definitely know their tunes. Every single the band have released has had a workout at the station. If you’re new to the name – check them out.

I’ve seen these guys play quite a few times this year in Sydney and that shows how hardworking and great they are for playing around the country all the time. So of course there’s a great tour lined up all around Australia with two other very worthy bands, Big Scary & Ball Park Music.

I’m giving a pre-release copy of their debut album ‘Escapades’ a good crank right now and you’ll be able to join in on the fun when it’s officially released on October 1st.

Robbie and Gary are back together… perhaps in more ways than one???  Check this out!

Shame and another new song will be on Robbie’s definitive greatest hits In And Out Of Consciousness – Greatest Hits 1990-2010 out in Australia on October 8.

The Afterparty.

We find ourselves cavorting up the stairs to Melbourne’s finest Karaoke bars (some are stumbling due to the infinitely open-bar at The Plaza Ballroom, wherein Katy Perry and her cotton-candy band delivered a deliciously sugared show.)

Before we know it… BAM! We’re locked and loaded into both the bittersweettunes of karaoke and the bittersweet punch that flowed richly throughout the night, until the hard liquor came out. An initially- scheduled appearance from Katy Perry to join us (which was cancelled due to an early morning TV appearance) was replaced with non-other than the illustrious & much loved Papa Vs Pretty boys. Gracing the EMI people with their over enthusiastic karaoke skills & oversized lollipops.

Soon, we exhausted our karaoke abilities (or someone BROKE the machine – you know who you are… ) and exploded into dance to songs such as The Killers’ When You Were Young??  (Eiffel 65’s Blue had the reverse effect)
Note to self – if ever throwing a party, ALWAYS blast some horrendous 90’s POP and HIP HOP; so bad it’s brilliant.

While some danced the night away forgetting all cares (and emails), others took the opportunity to relax and recline through the beaded-doorway of private, low lit rooms. The night marched on and by the early morning the dance floor was too irresistible for even the most conservative. The room became a smorgasbord of crumping, pumping, grinding, ‘the running man’ and… motorboating?? I never expected that explosive dancing, substandard karaoke and conga lines were so conducive to intimate record-company bonding. This truly felt like a record company after-party!!

Despite the sea of sickness that no doubt flooded some of the company the next morning, the Magical Mystery Tour was truly magical and one to be fondly remembered!

Already loved by Triple J requesters, here’s a first look at their new video featuring Kimbra who sings those ethereal, beautiful lyrics:

For behind the scenes photos from the video shoot, head to Miami Horror’s facebook page.

The guys released their album Illumination on Friday – buy it on iTunes now and you can get a remix by Ben of the entire album called Lucid Stream - it’s HUGE.

The music world was rocked (or at least gently swayed) over the weekend with the news of the suicide of Charles Haddon – lead singer of UK synthpop group Ou Est Le Swimming Pool.

Apparently he jumped off a 60 foot satellite mast at a Belgian Music Festival after playing his set.

For some reason it feels like suicide and untimely death are disproportionately common occurrences in the music industry. There are arguments suggesting that the amount of suicides within creative communities is a reflection on the link between creativity and mental illness, leading to subsequent drug abuse in an attempt to self-medicate. As horrific as these tragedies can be, these deaths can serve a reluctant creative purpose in that the ensuing publicity can introduce a plethora of people to new styles of music. In the cases of suicide these deaths can also serve as a sombre reminder to the general public of the frequency and severity of mental illness within our society.

So here is a small snapshot of some notable artists whose lives were tragically cut short either accidentally or at their own hand, and whose stars have risen posthumously as a result.

Elliott Smith Memory Lane
Died October 21, 2003 aged 34

Jeff Buckley Hallelujah
Died May 27, 1997 aged 30 (accidental drowning)

Dangermouse & Sparkehorse Dark Night Of Soul Album Trailer
Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse fame died March 6, 2010 aged 47

Nick Drake Day Is Done
Died November 25, 1974 aged 26

Janis Joplin Try
Died October 4, 1970 aged 27

Eva Cassidy Over The Rainbow
Died November 2, 1996 aged 33 (Melanoma)

Well, everyone in the UK knows about her because she’s held a top 5 album for weeks now, but here in Australia we are only just discovering Eliza.

This week we took her single Pack Up to Australian radio and TV… it’s catchy, cool, and very funky:

I’m thinking a little bit Lily Allen and a little bit Duffy or somewhere in between… what do you think?

This young lady is super talented and seems to be able to put her voice to anything… check out her cover of Radiohead’s Creep:

Cool huh!?

The Cat Empire have done a call out to fans around the world to contribute to the creation of a video clip for Call Me Home, from the album Cinema.

They want you to either:

• 1. shoot the band live playing Call Me Home if you see them in concert before mid Sept (in Aust or Europe), and send us the footage.
• 2. shoot a 30 sec sequence which says something about you and what it is that calls you Home, or that you call Home, or that you simply love about Home.

The most compelling footage will be edited by The Cat Empire headquarters, into a video clip. Anyone who contributes footage which ends up in the final video will be credited on the video.

To take part in this, please send us your footage via you-send-it (yousendit.com) to admin@thecatempire.com by Oct 31

How cool’s that!?

The guys have started their near sold out tour with some tickets still left in Sydney, Canberra, Perisher – log on here to buy them thecatempire.com/Tour-dates or for you copy of Cinema go to JB Hi-Fi.