St Jerome's Laneway Festival, Sydney 8/02/2009

St Jerome's Laneway Festival, now in it's fourth year, returns for another stint in The Basement, Macquarie Park and Reiby Palce, Circular Quay. A boutique festival if ever there was one, it takes place in urban laneways and disused spaces within the city centre. The festival itself has received rave-reviews in recent years, Pitchfork Media described it(in typical Pitchfork prose) as "Australia's most insurgent and unique pop music event".

The 2009 lineup provides many possible highlights, those on my particular hit-list include: Pivot, Architecture in Helsinki, Born Ruffians and Four Tet. All going to plan, I also hope to be in attendance for performances by Buraka Som Sistema, The Hold Steady, No Age and The Temper Trap. Girl Talk and Stereolab complete the headline roster.

The complete lineup can be inspected at the Laneway Festival site.

St Jerome's Laneway Festival takes place on Sunday 8 February 2009, 12pm-10pm. Tickets are sold out.

LIVE: The Whitest Boy Alive - Nevereverland, Hordern Pavilion, 13/12/2008

Following on from Eoin and Ferg's disappointment at the Melt festival in July this year when they were unable to get into the tent to see The Whitest Boy Alive, I can finally attest that seeing these guys in the flesh lives up to our high expectations. Performing rousing versions of Burning, Above You & Golden Cage to an attentive Sydney audience, Oye et al lined the front of the stage as opposed to the tradition format with the drummer to the rear on this, their Australian debut. Showcasing many new tracks from their forthcoming album due out early next year, I'm happy to report that it is a release to look forward to(no surprises there eh). The new material sits easy side-by-side with their previous output, sharing the familiar guitar driven groove and once again allowing the distinct warm vocals to shine through. Here to perform at Nevereverland as part of Modular's 10th anniversary celebrations, they shared the bill with Hercules & Love Affair(who were also excellent), The Presets, Klaxons and Cut Copy. Unlike other festivals, all the headline acts performed on the main stage avoiding the horrible clashes that are normally a regrettable feature of most festivals.

Finishing their set with a great cover of Robyn's 'Show Me Love'(video from Melt below, sorry lads), it is incredible that these guys are not better known. Here's hoping they make a visit to Ireland in the not too distant future, for Eoin and Ferg's health if nothing else.

Luciano & Greg Wilson @ Pulse Radio Boat Party, Sydney.

It was worth the wait. Kudos to the Pulse crew who did it in style, kept the crowd numbers comfortable and didn't pull our pants down with exuberant prices at the bar. The weather also played it's part on probably the hottest day of the summer so far. Videos below show Luciano dropping M83 - 'In Church'(one of the stand out tracks from Fabric 41) with the crowd ceremoniously dropping to their knees before jumping back to life with the return of the kick-drum. Quality. Video II shows Greg Wilson laying down his brand of funk on the top deck with the Sydney skyline providing a sometimes surreal background.

Luciano @ Pulse Radio Launch, Sydney: Venue Announced

Finely Tuned and Resident Advisor have finally released the venue for Luciano's debut Sydney appearance. Greg Wilson has also recently been added to the bill. Both guests will play a 4 hour set. I'm very excited about this one. As predicted, the party will take place on a boat; Starship Sydney to be precise. Bit of a change from the Corrib Princess. Steve and I live one street behind the hotels in the second picture.

Luciano: Pulse Radio Launch Party @ Secret Location. Sydney. 6/12/2008

To soothe the depressing departure from South America today, I bought tickets for Luciano's debut appearance in Sydney on Saturday 6th of December.

Promoter's note:
"Luciano will play the Pulse Radio year-end party (featuring a Funktion-One soundsystem!), an epic day-time summer journey on Saturday 06 December at a yet-to-be-disclosed venue that will undoubtedly rise and fall like the tide of Sydney harbour."

Boat party has to be a decent bet for the location.

First release tickets for this strictly limited capacity event went on sale at Resident Advisor on Monday 08 September and are priced at $60 + BF.

Full details on the remaining line-up and venue will be announced shortly.

Presented by Finely Tuned and Resident Advisor.

http://www.myspace.com/luciennluciano