synthpop

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Tycho Brahe – live and free

Tycho Brahe with us on our wedding night.

Tycho Brahe with us on our wedding night. Pic: Kim Thomsen

Tycho Brahe are an awesome Brisbane band who were kind enough to play at our wedding. They rocked out and were absolutely fantastic. They also produced a lovely cover of The Cure’s ‘Lovesong‘, which was our theme song.

And now, I’m ecstatic to say, there’s a version of the cover available online. The ’80s-lovin’ band had an, um, interesting live session in a recording studio, in which they aimed to produce a ‘live in the studio’ ep. The ep is now available for free download from CDBaby. You might also like to sample their other output: maybe the uber-catchy ‘1985’ single or one of their albums — Atlantic is probably a good place to start, and work your way back!

I’d also mention that the other band who played at our wedding, the divine Brissie Celtic outfit Sunas, have an album coming out kind of soonish through the ABC. These guys performed a simply beautiful instrumental version of ‘Lovesong’ for the processional, then added vocals while we signed the paperwork. And then they too rocked out! You don’t have to wait for the ABC album (I don’t know if their ‘Lovesong’ cover will be on it, but wouldn’t it be cool if it was?): they have a perfectly engaging self-produced album available now.

Wedding background music

While I’m reminiscing, here’s the tunes that were on the iPod’s wedding playlist for when our pals weren’t shaking Bar Soma.


Angel, Massive Attack
Beautiful Day; Lucky Day: Stringmansassy
Ain’t No Cure for Love; Dance Me To the End of Love: Leonard Cohen
I Let Love In; Into My Arms: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Grace; Hallelujah: Jeff Buckley
Fade Into You, Mazzy Star
Beyond the Field We Know, Sunas
Lovesong; Love Cats: The Cure
A Promise Made (Wedding Day), The Cruxshadows
Building a Mystery, Sarah McLachlan
London Rain, Heather Nova
Amazing, Johnette Napolitano
I Love You, Jeff Martin
Such a Night, Dr John
Let’s Stay Together, Tina Turner
White Wedding, Billy Idol
Living Dead Girl, Rob Zombie (touring!)
Science Fiction, Divinyls
She Sells Sanctuary, The Cult
Stripped, Rammstein
Temptation; Shadows on the Mountainside: The Tea Party
Seven Nation Army, The White Stripes
Disarm; Ave Adore: Smashing Pumpkins
Wild is the Wind; Heroes: David Bowie
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, The Smiths
Love Will Tear Us Apart, Evelyn Evelyn
Easy, Faith No More
Come As You Are, Nirvana
The Ship Song, Concrete Blonde
Together in Electric Dreams, The Human League
Paint It Black, Inkubus Sukkubus
Last Beat of Your Heart, Mission UK
Tainted Love, Marilyn Manson
To Lose My Life, White Lies
Zero, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
What You Waiting For?, Gwen Stefani
True Faith 94, New Order
Temple of Love, Sisters of Mercy
No Ordinary Love, Sade
I Will Find You, Clannad
I Do, Placebo
If I Was, Midge Ure
I Just Died in Your Arms, Cutting Crew
Pictures of You, Berlin
Evil Night Together, Jill Tracy
Ampersand, Amanda Palmer
Love in Motion, Icehouse feat. Chrissy Amphlett
Vienna, Ultravox

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John Foxx – songs for the urban condition

The good folk at Projekt recently made available a very attractive 2CD/1DVD set of John Foxx’s new collection, Metatronic.

Foxx is the founder of Ultravox, a pioneer of synthesiser music and all-round clever artist. I saw him rip up Brisbane’s venerable Tivoli theatre two years back, proving that a man and a keyboard or three of electro goodness can put on a hell of a show (having Louis Gordon bouncing around like a mad thing doesn’t hurt, either).

In an interview prior to that tour, Foxx told me about his fascination with the urban landscape. That fascination is apparent on Metatronic, a retrospective put together by Foxx that showcases what he considers his darker material spanning his 30-year career to date.

On early listenings, it’s delivering what I was looking for: a soundscape for the city, lonely and echoing in places, peak-hour and oblivious at others; at times melancholy and other times strident, but almost always evoking a sense of isolation however desperately it might be resisted. Compelling bass lines lay the foundation, with slick, crisp production adding fill and texture (see The Noise). His almost desperate, hoarse vocals complete the picture: love lies lost in the rush and buried under the cacophony, leaves burn, cars burn, “there’s no one driving”.

While disc 1 is the showcase, the second value-adds with live tracks from Foxx’s gig in Sydney in 2008 supplemented with remixes. The DVD includes several music clips and two live clips.