AJ highlights:
In Melbourne, saw Hammond Beans featuring Tim from Paul Williamson's Hamm=
ond Combo at the Rainbow in Brunswick on Sunday the 13th - very low-key, =
bluesy set (but the sax player sucked). That Wednesday saw Paul Williamso=
n play at the Esplanade St.Kilda and put on a kiler show. I attended a we=
dding on Sunday that also featured Paul, so as you can tell I heard a lot=
of these guys.=20
The highlight of the Melbourne portion of the trip was catching Snowboy's=
first ever Australian performance as part of the Fringe Festival. Great =
venue - the Prince Pat in Collingwood - and it was packed out. Some suits=
and posers hung out at the back initially, but after about 30 seconds of=
the first song everyone was up front digging the scene. The band only pl=
ayed for about and hour 45 minutes, but it was hot hot hot!
Didn't have much time in Sydney, but managed to find time to pick up Jami=
roquai's new one (excellent), and UFO's "No Sound is Too Taboo" which I'd=
never seen in SD. Found a nice little hole in the ground club called L'O=
tel in Darlinghurst that was rocking some trip-hop/drum 'n bass that was =
quite tasty.
Final stop was in Auckland, NZ, where Nige tipped me off to the local act=
ion. Highly recommend CD store is Marbecks, with a super helpful staff - =
I got Coldcut's Journeys by DJ there on a recommendation and cannont sto=
p listening to it!! Best club in town turned out to be The Box on High St=
reet with a dance room (shit), hip-hop/acid jazz room, and small trip hop=
"chill" lounge. One night we saw an extremely lame band called Dog Gone =
- great percussion, but the keyboard was mixed way up and the player thou=
ght he was much better than he actually was. The second night we saw loca=
l scensters Jazz in the Present Tense who played a tasty set until the we=
e hours (Kiwis party LATE!).
One question - On Triple J, I kept hearing about a CD of local trip-hop/j=
ungle artists called "Excursions", but no stores seemed to have it. Is i=
t released? Any Good?