Xavier Rudd

Tonight I had the chance to enjoy the cool vibes of Xavier Rudd performing live at the Enmore Theatre here in Sydney. The band have just one more gig in Australia (30th of April @ the Palace Theatre in Melbourne) before jetting off on a massive gigging tour of Canada, Europe and the States.

Kicking the night off with an errie chant-like sequence the band quickly got stuck into their set with a collection of high energy songs.

Musically I was loving their down tempo grooves and funky blues slide guitar! There was a moment where I thought they were going to break into a Sinfield cover but it was all good.

Their sound has a nice mixture of instrumentation and raw emotional energy. They really got the crowd moving and dancing in ways which completely disobey the laws of gravity and physics! :)

If you haven't heard them before check them out online as they've got some great tracks for you to enjoy! Here is a brief snippet of their live performance from tonight:

[Photos and blog by Daniel "StereoDan" Taylor ]

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Travel to Coachella : Video Log (by StereoDan)






Hope you enjoy this little video blog about traveling to Coachella music festival!









We wanted to bring you more of these video blogs but unfortunately were only allowed to bring our personal still cameras into the Coachella music festival. Covert operations for the future I promise!


[Video log by Daniel "StereoDan" Taylor ]

Sunday Sunday! : PART 03

Everyone I had spoken with at the festival was raving about french alt. rock band Phoenix so I was left with little choice not to check them out! I was familiar with a few of their songs which have been on high rotation on Triple J in Australia. I got down thirty minutes early so I could be as close to the stage as possible. Even at this time the closest I could get was actually 100 meters off (just to the right of the sound mixing booth) but I was happy enough with this. Steadily but surely the crowd filled up with young indy kids who were generally nice, albeit a little hectic with excitement.

Apparently Phoenix were very lucky to have made it to the festival, however unfortunately the same couldn't be said about their lighting crew so the stage show was very stripped back. This didn't worry most people and it was nice to just focus on the music. Their tunes were very upbeat and most people were bouncing around singing along. I'd obviously heard their classic tunes Lisztomania and 1901 but most of the set was pretty new to my ears. I was certainly impressed with their composition and appreciated the electronic rock pop fusion that they were playing.

Towards the later part of their set things in the crowd started to feel a little tightly squeezed. In search of fresh air I took a look behind me and was absolutely gob smacked by the size of the audience behind me. Throughout the festival their was usually a fair amount of space between the various stages, but on this occasion the entire festival looked like it was circled around the "Outdoor Theater" stage which Phoenix were playing on. I decided I'd had enough and started squeezing my way out of the audience. It took a good fifteen minutes to escape and I estimate it must have been a good 600- 800 meters to the back! CRAZY!

Next stop was a mystery tent which I think was called "Dolab" looking back at the festival map. There was some heavy dub step bass lines, break beat and Electro getting people down and dirty and it was a nice change in music genre. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and not taking things to seriously. The tent had a nice open feel to it without feeling too boxed in. People were wandering in and out quite freely and if you wanted to dance there were plenty of other ravers to join in with. Around the tent there was also some interesting objects and structures which are pictured below.

I was on my way back to the beer tent when I realized one of my favorite artists was playing soon... LITTLE BOOTS! While I had plenty of time until her set I wanted to get a good vantage spot and headed back toward the "Gobi" tent. I caught the tail of Sly Stone's performance which was interesting but didn't really give me much of a chance to form an impression. After the crowd dissipated I headed towards the sound desk so I could have a peak of their equipment and watch them setup. I did feel a little sorry for the temporary sound engineer who had to replace the band engineer who had been stranded in the UK. They were using no less then 40 input sources with all of the sound toys and synthesizes on stage! They had a right old geek fest with instruments ranging from Stylephones, Moogs, Casios, Tenori-ON and all sorts of other sound boxes and instruments.

Right from the start the audience was electrified by the dazzling lasers, smoke machines, and blazing sound system! The instruments on stage could certainly produce sub frequencies that would make your intestines resonate with excitement. I've not seen Little Boots for a little while now so it was nice to see things developing for her so quickly. Because of her outfit I've nick named her "Little boots, BIG PANTS!" :)

All her great tracks were played and the crowd went off for "New in Town" which I think is probably her best track. I'm not sure how much of the act was performed live and what was backing tape but regardless Little Boots managed to put on a great show. At one stage it appeared she had setup some kind of infrared control or proximity sensor which was attached to the lazer system. She stood above the beams of light and moved her hands up and down which appeared to control a filter effect (see bottom left photo below). It may have just been for show though but regardless the crowd loved it!

So I hung round for most of her set but towards the end it was definitely time for a quick break to the toilet and to refuel on beer! Maybe this is a little too much information... BUT probably my favorite invention at the festival was the 'side-pee' attachment in the toilets. Thank heavens I didn't have to gaze into the bog of stench just to relieve myself! I was going to do a little side by side comparison here but that's a bit gross :)

By this time at night everyone seemed to be getting excited about the main act of the night Gorillaz! I've always enjoyed their music and sound production wise have drawn a lot of influences from their sound. I think the whole concept of a virtual band is such a wonderful opportunity for people to work together to create an interesting product/artwork. It's a bit of a statement of the obvious, but visually I thought the multi-media elements of the Gorillaz's stage show were amazing! They certainly have managed to create a very striking design and I was impressed in their ability to bring it into the live performance domain. I'm very much taking notes and looking at how I might implement my own ideas in this field sometime in the future.

...and so ended a very interesting day. Just to top it off some rather odd fellow (see bottom left picture below) walked up to me and said he was psychic. I was a little bemused by this but thought I might entertain his notion for just a brief moment by asking him to prove it. He then said "You're from Brisbane" which was accurate (or at least I went to school there) and to clarify he wasn't confused with the American town by the same name I asked which one, to which he replied "in Queensland." I was very entertained by his observation but I was pretty sure that I hadn't actually mentioned it to anyone. Cue errie music...

All that was left to do now was to find the car. I had directions, took a photo of the map as I walked past and started my search. After an hour of wandering around and harassing security staff to point me in the right direction I thought of a new tactic to help get me home. I walked up to a gentleman driving a golf buggie and explained my plight and previous night experiences. It took some convincing but eventually he agreed to help find my car. After another half hour and a number of red herrings we finally found the car and I gratefully gave the driver US$30 for his troubles. My phone was still playing up and god knows what I would have done if I hadn't found it.

Finally I was back on the road again and I couldn't have felt happier to have some normality, if you can call driving on US highways normality :)

[END OF PART THREE: Words and picture by Daniel "StereoDan" Taylor]

It’s a new dawn / a new day : PART 02 (by StereoDan)

Waking up so close to the desert is an eerie but magical experience. The sounds of various wildlife was very different to anything I’ve ever heard. Looking out the window and seeing cacti and snow capped desert hills was simply bizarre!

My body couldn’t accept that it was living in a US time zone but I quickly snapped into consciousness after I realised I’d overslept. Once again there was no coverage on my phone and I went in search of a land-line phone to try and get in contact with everyone. After using the house phone and still not being able to make calls to Aussie numbers (something to do with international dialing?) I found out there was a computer in one of the bedrooms and I got online.

Once connected I was shocked to see in my inbox full with a gradual escalation of concern for my well being. Especially when you are overseas it is amazing how quickly loved ones can become anxious if they loose contact with you. I made every effort to keep on top of things but without a connection to the outside world I simply couldn’t use the facilities which had been keeping everyone updated... twitter, facebook, email... but most importantly “Google Latitude,” which is a fantastic application that plots your location on a map down to approximately a 50-100 meter radius.

I quickly sent out emails to my family and colleagues to put there minds at rest although at this stage I didn’t quite realise the gravity of the situation. As my last email had read I wasn’t feeling particularly great and that I was heading back to the hotel they thought the worst when they found the car the next morning... the possibilities ranging from being drugged, to mugging, kidnap or even worse! Their actions had been pretty systematic with phone calls to police, festival security, local hospitals and even the Australian consulate (sorry everyone!).

They were very relieved to hear that everything was fine and although it took some explaining, they eventually understood how I’d made the best decision possible in my given situation. Coincidentally I didn't get any response from my colleagues in the US, I imagine there must have been some ongoing communication issues. I was keen to get in contact so we could plan the day ahead.

So I felt terrible about worrying my family and colleagues and wasn’t quite ready to get into party mode which my new friends were launching into full swing! Margaritas were very much on the menu however for the time being I had my sensible hat on and stuck with some fresh fruit and water.

I went for a quick wander outside to take in the beauty of the landscape and reflect upon the previous nights events. Satisfied in myself that I’d done all that I could have in the situation I was looking forward to getting back for the final day of Coachella. We shortly were loaded back up in the SUV and heading back down the highway in search of greener pastures! :)

The drive inbound was a stark reminder of the extreme environmental conditions which we were in. When I asked about the actual water availability there seemed to be a strong consensus that it wasn't actually an issue thanks to a large underground reservoir. Environmentally I was concerned that this could perhaps contribute to an increase in ground salinity but there wasn't much of an opinion on this. In the area's favour was a strong and steady wind current powering the vast fields of wind turbines in the area.

We dropped the car back at the Church and jumped into our transfer which dropped us straight off at the front gates of the festival! According to the locals the best way to arrive at the festival was to get there via bike. I don't think they cared much for the security of these bikes as they left them leaned against each other with no chains or locks!

Once again we were back safe and sound inside the festival! My blatant approach to swinging my SLR over my shoulder and being extra polite to the security staff seemed to work as they let me in no worries!

[END OF PART TWO: Words and picture by Daniel "StereoDan" Taylor]