She Said So

Voter Remorse

Hottest 100 voter remorse. It hits me every year usually a day or two before the countdown. This year it hit twice, once when I came to the conclusion that I should've included Little Red instead of Deerhunter and then, true to form, on Sunday I realised I'd left out one song altogether ... Lykke Li's Get Some.

Please forgive me Lykke Li, for I have sinned.

 

 

Anyone else suffer from such remorse?

Hottest 100 Decisions Shmecisions

Shmecisions is hard to say isn't it?  So 2010 Hottest 100 voting opened a little while ago now and closes as midnight tonight. Naturally I started my list almost immediately ... and then left it until 6 hours to go to ACTUALLY vote. Here's my top ten in no particular order of preference. Oh hang on, they're in alphabetical order. I show preference to the alphabet.

 

Ball Park Music - Sad Rude Future Dude

From a Triple J Unearthed find to a drive-in-car-and-sing-like-bit-of-a-nut winner for this seemingly young enough to be my children sextet from Brisbane. (Man, how many great bands are coming out of Brisbane these days? Man HOW OLD AM I??) Lyrics are terrifyingly real. TERRIFYING. I fear I may well be a sad, rude, future dude. Girl dude.  

 

Deerhunter - Desire Lines

To be honest I could really have gone either way with Desire Lines or Helicopter but this just won out. Deerhunter are on the Laneway lineup this year and if I miss them due to set time schedule conflicts I will cry ugly tears in the Turkish Gozleme queue.  The album Halcyon Digest was such a grower for me and the same can be said for Desire Lines. Each listen - and sweet heavens there have been many - induced a different memory, a different smile, a different love, a different sadness.  When you were young, and your excitement showed ... *sigh* ... indeed.

 

Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

Okay so I have a confession. I've had quite the "thing" for Bruce Springsteen since about 1984 mostly due to his rather fine ass on the Born in the USA album cover - way WAY before the #bosscock excitement on twitter last week I might add. By the way if anyone missed that fine Twittisode last week then I suggest you go find it because MY GOD. But as usual, I digress ... massively. For a brief, teeny moment when I heard the beginnings of American Slang a brief, teeny part of me thought it was the Boss. Silly I know, but I can't help the way my synapses work. I've had a huge, near delirious song-crush on it ever since.

 

Jonsi - Go Do

Oh Jonsi. That man. He just. Tears. Tears everywhere whenever I hear him and half the time I don't know if they're happy or sad. If it were at all possible I would include every song released by the man in the top ten but y'know, might make for a boring list and all that. But geez, the little Icelandic dude's a genius and if life were a movie I would like Jonsi scoring my every scene thanks very much. Also, I'd like to start wearing feathers a lot more often.

 

Kanye West, Bon Iver, Nicki Minaj, Jay Z and Rick Ross - Monster

There are certain songs that need to be played LOUD. Really loud. This is one of those songs. It is also so NOT like me to like one of those songs but I still remember hearing it the day it was "leaked" and my brain spasmed with zomygoddedness. Nicki Minaj may dressed like she was assaulted by a brutal thrush inducing combo of lycra, plastic and fluro but the girl can rap magnets over anyone else. 

 

Local Natives - Airplanes

I want it all, so much I call, I want you back ...  A little indie love song right. Right? Ah-ha WRONG. A beautiful, absorbing tune penned as an ode to keyboardist Kelsey Ayer's deceased grandfather. Now listen to it and try not sobbing like a loon. But great, sad lyrics can only go so far. Fortunately the best damn percussion ever and harmonies that would make a choirboy weep combine to make this my favourite song for 2010. Plus anyone who works "encyclopaedia" into the middle of a verse should automatically get top ten. I bet when I leave my body for the sky the wait will be worth it. Oh god. The tears. They won't stop.

 

The Naked and Famous - Young Blood

Again, I couldn't choose between this and Punching in a Dream but there's something about the opening bars of Young Blood that makes me do one of those long, languid summer stretches where your body goes all tingly and then you go back to lying under the tree sipping an icey Corona and watching little waves lap the shore. Yes, I can get all that from a few bars. You should try it someday. The Naked and Famous are playing Oxford Art Factory at the beginning of Feb. I'm quite literally bereft at missing out on a ticket.

 

Philadelphia Grand Jury - Save Our Town

I'm a bit biased about the Philly Jays what with them having beards and being all lovely n that, but I really honestly didn't know it was their tune when I first heard Save Our Town. What I heard was a perfectly formed little indie pop song. A bit of a dirty mix, an addictive little chorus, HAND CLAPS and their usual quirky, cutting, clever lyrics that made me say yes. Yes I WILL throw my money down and save our town dammit. Probably a little too much money. Moot point, I know.

 

Washington - Sunday Best

When I was trying, unsuccessfully, to reduce my Hottest 100 shortlist to ten I had about six or seven "certainties", the same number of "almost certainties" and then the "nearly-got-there-but-not-quites". Megan Washington was in the "almosts". After three weeks of faffing I decided that some form of sorting procedure was in order. Procedure went as follows: Create playlist of shortlist. Play very loudly. Select whichever songs make me jump, sing, cry, clap the most. Stop faffing around like mindless twat. Turns out Megs won in the jump, sing and clap category and BANG! Here she is. And anyway, did you see her sing on a piano at the ARIAs? Did you?? What a doll.

 

Yeasayer - O.N.E.

I'm so looking forward to seeing these little humans at Laneway and I so hope they play this for the pure and simple reason that I look like an absolute A Grade idiot when I dance to O.N.E. and it's rare that I get to do that in public - apart from supermarkets, anyone else like dancing in supermarkets? - but at festivals anything goes. And go I shall. And dance like I've just been released I shall too. Outright pop perfection in the truest sense of the word. The word being pop. Not perfec .. oh you know what nevermind. 

 

Honorable Mentions for 2010 must go to :

The Eels - Little Bird. Hands down the saddest song of the year if not decade. Goddam.

Freelance Whales - Generator 2nd Floor. It has banjo, xylophone and it make me go clappy.

Mark Ronson - Somebody to Love Me. I can't help it, I've always thought Boy George had the voice of an angel and, y'know, really great use of eyeliner.

Little Red - Rock It. Such a huge change in direction for the Melbourne lads and it killed all year. This was originally in my top ten but got bumped by Washington. Sorry Little Red, but Washo danced on a piano. That wins everything. 

Warpaint - Undertow. Oh so gorgeous sounds for the indie darlings from LA. Also playing at Laneway Festival, I sense the need to find them and give them a wee hug.

Funeral Party - NYC Moves to the Sound of LA. Cowbell. Hand claps. Cute boys. COWBELL. Hello.

Boy & Bear - Fall at Your Feet. It takes balls to cover the Finn brothers. Even more balls to do a version this good. Plus, and really this should go without saying, but it has banjo.

Band of Horses - Laredo. I have a soft spot for these hirsuit lovelies. Their Splendour sideshow gig at the Enmore back in the middle of the year was a beauty. This didn't quite live up to No One's Going to Love You for me but goddam it no song ever will.

Wombats - Tokyo. If it was earlier in the year this tune would've made it into my top ten for sure but it just got played SO MUCH that my brain went all plooey (actual word not really) and stopped wanting to hear it.

Gorillas - Doncamatic. Damon Albarn. Nuff said.

Band of Skulls - I Know What I Am. For at least six months I was convinced this was The White Stripes. That proves two things : 1) It's awesome. 2) I'm an idiot. 

EVERYTHING BY JONSI. See above.

 

 

FACT....

Okkervil River's Black is the probably, possibly the greatest angry song ever written. And it's super angry. Disturbing as hell angry. I highly, highly recommend sitting in car and singing it SHOUTY style at people in traffic.

Meditation? Pft. Medication? Bah. JUST GET SHOUTY.

 

The Big Wet

Can we just put the Queensland floods in perspective for a second? It’s not just Brisbane. It’s not just one or two towns.

It’s 75% of the STATE with large parts of Northern NSW thrown in for good measure. Queensland is a bloody big state. I mean really bloody big.

86 towns and cities are affected, either flooded or isolated. 

2.5 million people have been affected in South East Queensland alone.

14 people have died just in the last few days, predominantly in the tiny, tiny towns of the Lockyer Valley. They are still looking for entire families that are missing, feared washed away in their houses.

There are regional towns and areas that were flooded 2-3 weeks ago, have just started cleaning up only to be evacuated and find themselves underwater again.

And let’s just get clear on what flooding actually is. It’s not just “water”. It doesn’t just make the carpets “a bit wet” (thank you douchebag on twitter who suggested this fact, may your balls shrivel up and fall off in the shower sometime soon). A flood is debris. Silt. Mud. Sewerage. Dead animals. Twisted metal. Trees. Cars. Disease. Rot. 

It’s not like when you leave then window open and the rain comes in and makes a bit of a mess but hey that’s what towels and hairdryers are for. It’s shit. Literally, shit.

When the floods subside you are left with rotting floorboards, carpets, walls and in some cases ceilings. Many houses and business will need to be gutted and completely rebuilt.

Even if you manage to stay above the waterline then chances are you lose power. Your clean water supply may be limited or compromised. Your toilet probably won’t flush. Your food’s all gone rotten in your fridge. The surrounding businesses aren’t open because they lost their lot too. The roads are cut. The transport system is doing what it can but it’s hard to drive a bus down a road that isn’t there. 

And then there are assholes who think they can just take a boat. There's a goddam bullshark swimming through a street in Goodna and a 300m floating walkway that has decided to go site-seeing down a raging torrent through the middle of a capital city.

Queenslanders, well Australians in general, particularly those in regional centres are a tough bunch.  There’s still humour in all the mess. Some of the funniest comments on Twitter have been from those who are right smack bang in the middle of the disaster. There’s friendship and mateship and a generosity that makes a heart happy.

Premier Anna Bligh held a news conference earlier today that seemed to make most people’s eyes add yet more water to the nation. Like or unlike the lady, what Premier Bligh had to say as her voice broke was so damn bang on that it will be quoted for years to come. It was like a scene in a end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it movie where the president makes a speech about saving the planet, then some asshat up the back starts the slowclap and Will Smith goes and kills all the aliens. But better, SO MUCH BETTER:

"As we weep for what we have lost, and as we grieve for family and friends and we confront the challenge that is before us, I want us to remember who we are. We are Queenslanders. We're the people that they breed tough, north of the border. We're the ones that they knock down, and we get up again. I said earlier this week that this weather may break our hearts and it is doing that, but it will not break our will. And in the coming weeks and the coming months we are going to prove that beyond any doubt."

For those that are sitting and feeling a little helpless, there are a number of ways to assist. If you live in an area near the floods help your neighbours and friends by offering a place to stay, a hot meal or just a decent cuppa.  If you want to volunteer for the clean-up then register here  - however I think they are already way over capacity.

And to donate money please go to any bank and most credit unions, Red Cross, Coles supermarkets, Australia Post or www.qld.gov.au/floods/

People will need money to clean up, rebuild and purchase much needed items. There isn’t the manpower or the logistics to get clothes and furniture to the floodzone, that’s why monetary donations are required. If you want to give clothes etc why not sell them and donate the profits? The benefit of providing money is that it also gets injected back into the local economy and that’s what the businesses will need as they get back up and running.

Please help.

Thanks.

UPDATE: Please try this address instead for volunteer submissions