#9: Melbourne, Talking Heads, and Fuck Buttons

Last week I said that sometimes I hated being an Australian. This week I want to suggest that there are some things that redeem Australia, and one of those things is Melbourne.

Now, Brisbaneites are particularly prone to getting upset at the suggestion that Melbourne is better than the fair city that they and I call home. I’m not going to make that call. I will say that Melbourne is cooler than Brisbane. That one is no contest. There are just so many awesome things that Melbourne does that Brisbane could never dream of doing. I’ll list them later. But first, what sucks about Melbourne:

• It’s cold. Really fricken cold right now. I’m not used to it, and don’t think I ever could get used to it.
• The people here can be really obnoxious and/or pretentious. Since they obviously live in the best city in the world, why would they be otherwise?
• It’s expensive. I’m haemorrhaging money here (see below for explanation).

These things are greatly outweighed by the awesome things about Melbourne:

• The food. The Chinese down here is cheap and plentiful, and the Italian and Greek is also really good.
• The bars. Melbourne has more bars than I could possibly list, and each of them is radically different. You can go to bars that perch high above the city and are caged in with chicken wire; narrow bars that look like old sewing factories and are decorated with bolts of cloth; bars fashioned out of disused shipping containers in abandoned lots; bars that are structured like the stock market (the more people buy one drink, the higher the price gets, until the stock market crashes and drinks become cheap again); and a shitload of other niche bars that cater for people’s eclectic tastes (like Gin Palace, which is all about the gin, obviously). The only disappointing bar was the one attached to the Crown Promenade hotel, but even then it was only disappointing by virtue of not being as awesome as other Melbourne bars. And I still haven’t been to Der Raum, which was rated the third best bar in the world.
• The record stores. I’ve picked up some awesome things on vinyl.

These things include this week’s music:

Talking Heads: ‘Born Under Punches (and the Heat Goes On)’ (from Remain in Light)

I grabbed this album because it was secondhand, it was on vinyl, Talking Heads are awesome, and it was recorded at Compass Point (see my previous post about the Funky Nassau compilation for the story). In short, you’ll love this track. Download it now.

Fuck Buttons: ‘Sweet Love for Planet Earth’ (from Street Horrrsing)

Fuck Buttons have intrigued me for quite some time now, mostly because they sound something like the awesome and terribly obscure indie band Growing, but with a more radio-friendly approach. It’s still waves of abstract noise and polyrhythms, the kind of shit music snobs like, but it’s easier on the ears somehow. They also steal Growing’s awesome cover art concepts. Anyways, this is derivative, but since there’s not enough music out there like this, and since Fuck Buttons add enough to the table, I went out and ponied up (as it were) for Street Horrrsing on vinyl. As a bonus, the vinyls themselves are clear. Awesome.

I also got this Black Dice album (Beaches and Canyons), but I haven’t been able to access a turntable to rip this, so maybe this will be material for next week. When I return to Brisbane on Monday I will have a sexy turntable waiting for me, and I will be able to digitise my rapidly-growing vinyl collection with ease. I have one more awesome musical purchase from Melbourne, but since it’s a present I shall keep it under wraps.

I’ll be back in Brisbane on Monday afternoon. I’ll be able to talk about the excitement of the AAP conference a lot more then. Until then, though, enjoy the musical goodies.