Dark Was the Night - Various Artists - Album Review

Dark Was the Night is an excellent double cd featuring 31 exclusive tracks including a number of covers. The profits for this release go to benefit the Red Hot Organization – an international charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for HIV and AIDS through popular culture. This is is their 20th year of releasing compilations and this is the 20th release.

It features a who's who of alternative artists, the highlights being tracks by The Arcade Fire, Spoon, Bon Iver, My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists and Stuart Murdoch from Belle and Sebastian fame. My favourite track on the album is Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch's beautiful rendition of the Bright Eyes track "Lua". Below is the tracklist and a few choice selections provided by the website.

THIS DISC
1 Knotty Pine – Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
2 Cello Song (Nick Drake) – The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
3 Train Song – Feist + Ben Gibbard
4 Brackett, WI – Bon Iver
5 Deep Blue Sea – Grizzly Bear
6 So Far Around the Bend – The National
7 Tightrope – Yeasayer
8 Feeling Good (Nina Simone) – My Brightest Diamond
9 Dark Was the Night (Blind Willie Johnson) – Kronos Quartet
10 I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan) – Antony + Bryce Dessner
11 Big Red Machine – Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner
12 Sleepless – The Decemberists
13 Stolen Houses (Die) – Iron and Wine
14 Service Bell – Grizzly Bear + Feist
15 You Are The Blood – Sufjan Stevens

THAT DISC
1 Well-Alright – Spoon
2 Lenin – Arcade Fire
3 Mimizan – Beirut
4 El Caporal – My Morning Jacket
5 Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis) – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
6 With A Girl Like You (The Troggs) – Dave Sitek
7 Blood Pt 2 – Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
8 Hey, Snow White (Destroyer) – The New Pornographers
9 Gentle Hour (Snapper) – Yo La Tengo
10 Another Saturday (traditional song) – Stuart Murdoch
11 Happiness – Riceboy Sleeps
12 Amazing Grace (traditional song) – Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
13 The Giant Of Illinois (Handsome Family) – Andrew Bird
14 Lua – Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch
15 When the Road Runs Out – Blonde Redhead + Devastations
16 Love vs. Porn – Kevin Drew

Big Day Out 09 - Melbourne - Jan 26 2009

My Big Day Out started at 11am this year, at the Newmarket Tavern. It was meant to be a meeting place and a "couple of beers" but it turned into a 3 hour schooner marathon that left me a bit shabby. Not to mention missing a few bands i really wanted to see, especially Eddy Current Suppression Ring. But the beer was delicious on such a nice day and after dragging myself away we made our way down. The 1st band we got to see was The Ting Tings, they had already been playing a while when we got there but we got to hear a few hits from the bar including "Shut Up and Let Me Go" and set closer "That's Not My Name". Next were the Black Kids, who's debut album Partie Tramautic has been on high rotation for my wife and I and the only band we both really wanted to see. They sounded better live than I had expected, doing perfect versions of "I Wanna be Your Limosuine", "Partie Traumatic" and "Listen to your Body Tonight". We had to leave a bit early so we could see TV on the Radio, and regretted not catching their show at the Corner on the Saturday night before.

TV on the Radio played a set that covered their whole career, and a bunch of hits were played early in their set. When TVOTR belted out "Dancing Choose" it sent me running into the crowd for a better look which was then followed by "The Golden Age" and "Wolf Like Me" which all sounded amazing and the peak of the set. Finishing with "Staring at the Sun", it was a very enjoyable set but was on a bit too early for me to get excited.

The next half and hour was spent trying to work out where the boiler room was, the map provided only confused things. Eventually we found it after overhearing "Superstar" and following the sound and caught the last 2 songs by Lupe Fiasco which sounded great, especially "Day Dreaming" which was the only song I wnated to see anyway.

Next up were My Morning Jacket and they were awesome. Opening with "Evil Urges" they played an energetic set full of wicked guitar solos and thumping drums and was the highlight of the day so far. Highlights of the set included "Off the Record" and "Wordless Chorus" from the album Z and "I'm Amazed" and "Highly Suspicious" from latest album Evil Urges. I then shot over to the Essential Stage to catch the end of The Drones set, wishing they had started half an hour later. I watched Cut Copy with little interest for a few songs and then headed to the main stage for the 2 headliners, catching the last 15 mins of The Living End who sounded good.

Arctic Monkeys went straight into their fine style of geezer rock and played a very enjoyable set to warm us up for the main act of Neil Young. My highlights were great versions of "When the Sun Goes Down", "Brianstorm", "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and a great sped-up version of Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand". By the end of the Arctic Monkeys set, the anticipation for Neil Young was unbearable as we discussed what tracks he might be playing.

The chants for Neil Young (or "Youngy" as he had been drunkenly shortened to by this stage)were coming thick and fast now and we weren't left waiting long as he took to the stage not long after 8:30, much to my excitement. The hits were played early on with a kick arse version of "Hey Hey, My My" and as it's killer riff echoed through the crowd, I couldn't help notice that it was nowhere near big enough for such a legend. For the next half an hour we were treated to excellent versions of "Everybody Knows, This is Nowhere", "Cortez the Killer" and "Cinnamon Girl". But the best was yet to come as we were treated to 3 classics in a row from one of the best albums of all time, Harvest. Neil came out solo for "The Needle and the Damage Done" as chills ran down my spine and I realised I was witnessing something very special. As he warmed up his harmonica and broke into a brilliant version of "Heart of Gold", I officially crowned Youngy the King of the BDO. My favourite moment of the day then followed as he played perfect rendition of "Old Man", and by the time the banjo kicked in I was almost in tears. To close the set, the crowd went off to the often covered "Rockin' in the Free World" and the classic Beatles track "A Day in the Life". As I made my way out I got to hear Prodigy belt out their 90's anthem "Breathe" and left the festival with a smile from ear to ear.