Having headed “Down Under” to participate in this year’s roaming regional “Groovin the Moo” music festival, Canadian Dallas Green and his band were tonight playing their second SOLD OUT gig in a 2-night series of “side show” concerts.

Tonight’s performance, the only one I was able to jag tickets for, was an alcohol-free, all-ages affair, so the pint-sized, fidgety crowd wasn’t exactly the best one I’ve been part of. But, as Dallas pointed out, you gotta let the kids have their night out from time-to-time… I suppose.

The playlist from tonight’s show hasn’t yet made its way online anywhere that I can find, but I can tell you that a nice selection of tracks from the band’s three platinum selling albums were rolled out including some of my favourite tracks from their latest release “Little Hell”, in “The Grand Optimist”, “Fragile Bird” and the outstanding “Weightless”.

There’s no doubt that Dallas connected with the all-ages crowd with a number of songs including a stirring, crowd-participating, performance of “What makes a man?” which literally had the two girls in front of me and Mel sobbing like the couple of schoolgirls they were. Good lord. Haha!

Oddly enough, despite the ridiculous amounts of camera phones being brandished around us, I can’t yet find any decent videos from tonight, but here’s a sweet clip from last night of Dallas performing “Day Old Hate” from the band’s 2004 EP “The Death of Me”.

Bahamas

As is often the case, I have to give a shout out to the charismatic, talented opener, “Bahamas” who entertained the Tivoli crowd with his solo, folk rock act that really surprised me. I enjoyed his 2nd album ”Barchords”, released in February, but I guess I never really had a full appreciation for the guy’s self-taught talent on a six string. Wow!

Check out this talented Canuck if and when you get the chance!

Travelling through Chile and Patagonia over 5 weeks with his girlfriend Nina, Dana has collated breathtaking images of their adventures, which, combined together under the all-too-perfect narration of Castulo Guerra, has resulted in this much-loved online short film.

The 5:30 production, amazingly shot entirely using a Canon EOS 1D Mk IV DSLR, covers the couples journey from the north of the country, through the Atacama Desert, the central wine valley and Lakes district, southwards to the Chiloé archipelago and into the lush Torres del Paine National Park.

The aim of the movie? To explore the age-old question, “Why do we travel?” I think Dana has done a stellar effort in capturing the essence of this question and I look forward to keeping an eye on future “Gnarly Bay Productions“.

Being conducted in partnership with the “University of Queensland” and insurance firm “Catlin Group”, “SeaView” is attempting to make Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef, one of the “7 Natural Wonders of the World”, more accessible to those who have never had the opportunity to get wet and snorkel or dive this amazing part of the planet, below the ocean surface.

Currently, the SeaView demo gives users 360 degree views of 8 spots located around Heron Island, about 72km north-east of Gladstone, including perspectives of the wreck of HMAS Protector, an Australian Naval light cruiser abandoned off Heron after colliding with a tug boat off Gladstone.

For the photo tech junkies out there, the survey is made possible by the use of the “SVII”, a squid-like camera that takes, “360 degree, geo-located panoramic images every 4-6 seconds while travelling at a speed of approximately 4km/h.”

The project is due to launch fully in September of this year, encompassing 3 surveys at 20 points across the entire reef. In the meantime, however, the demo is worth checking out, especially if you’ve never had the pleasure of diving on the magical Great Barrier Reef before.

Check out the introduction video below, and visit: www.catlinseaviewsurvey.com to check out the demo launched earlier today.

I’ve already recently praised the launch of the beautifully designed mobile app “Path”, which makes the process of connecting with friends and the people “who matter” in your life when it comes to your activity away from the web, but what about all the great stuff you find online day-to-day that you wish to share with your nearest and dearest? Is there a better way to share this kind of content than by using services like “Facebook” or “Google Plus”?

I’m pretty sure the answer to that one is YES, and, if all the tech articles that are starting to float around now are anything to go by, it can be found in the form of a fantastic, and highly addictive (there’s your one and only warning) emerging service called “Pinterest”.

Based around the idea that you “pin” interesting links and images to various user-determined “boards” via the mobile app, browser bookmarklets, or your profile on the Pinterest website, the site has initially found a HUGE audience in women keen to share pictorial fashion tips, book recommendations, inspirational quotes and more. With the site beginning to open up to more and more people, however, the user gender balance is evening up and there’s now all sorts of brilliant boards out there featuring music, cars, men’s fashion, architecture, design and plenty of other “blokey” stuff.

Pinterest is still in “invite-only” beta mode, but getting your hands on an invite from current members isn’t too hard. Ask around on Twitter, or even shoot me a message with your email address and I’ll get you in the door.

Happy pinning!

In mid-November last year, I caught 5-time 2011 ARIA winners “Boy & Bear” at the Tivoli and was massively impressed by their openers, a young band from Melbourne called “The Paper Kites”. Back then I vowed to be “in the house” for the Kites’ first headlining tour visit to Brisbane, and tonight I fulfilled that promise.

On the second-to-last-stop on their five-date “Woodland Tour”, Sam Bentley, Christina Lacy, Dave Powys, Sam Rasmussen and Josh Bentley packed out Brisbane’s intimate “Beetle Bar” last night, maintaining their perfect “SELLOUT” record for the tour so far.

Playing a selection of tracks from their current EP “Woodland”, keen observers/fans will have noticed almost instantly the notable absence of the sweet, harmonic voice of the gorgeous Christina Lacy who was on a self-imposed vocal ban for the night after losing her voice. Bit of a shame, but it by no means took away from the show.

In some ways her loss was our gain as a number of brand new tracks including “Follow the Fire” and “Troubadour”, were wheeled out and performed in front of the appreciative audience to make up for songs like “The Mortal Boy King” which understandably couldn’t be performed without Christina on lead vocals.

When it was all said and done, the guys finished strongly on what many in the room would agree is hands down one of their best tracks to date, “Bloom”.

Great song, great gig!

The Support Acts

Considering the way I kicked off this post, it would be remiss of me not to give some credit to tonight’s support acts – the “Oceanics” (look these guys up, they were great!) from the Gold Coast and “Kate Martin” (Townsville). Like The Paper Kites, both are Triple J Unearthed products which just goes to show how brilliant the home-grown-music program is!

The following is Oceanics newest release, “Chinatown (is not Newtown)” which they filmed a brilliant clip for… one I just have to share with you.

An amazing 1.3 million plus votes were cast from all over the world this year with plenty of votes flowing in from both the US and the UK. Given this voting trend, it’s even more impressive that 44% of the countdown was good ol’ Aussie talent! Woot!

Ok, enough of my waffle. Here’s the all important list as it played out across the day:

Triple J’s Hottest 100 Songs of 2011

#100: Mr Little Jeans – The Suburbs
#99: The Beards – You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man {triple j recording}
#98: Jay-Z & Kanye West – Niggas in Paris
#97: Foo Fighters – Arlandria
#96: The Strokes – Machu Picchu
#95: Grouplove – Naked Kids
#94: The Wombats – Our Perfect Disease
#93: Kimbra – Two Way Street
#92: James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
#91: City And Colour – Fragile Bird
#90: Beastie Boys – Make Some Noise
#89: Beirut – Santa Fe
#88: Bombay Bicycle Club – Shuffle
#87: Gotye – In Your Light
#86: Seeker Lover Keeper – Light All My Lights
#85: Cosmo Jarvis – Gay Pirates
#84: 360 – Throw It Away {Ft. Josh Pyke}
#83: The Kills – Future Starts Slow
#82: Little Dragon – Ritual Union
#81: Busby Marou – Biding My Time
#80: Pnau – The Truth
#79: SBTRKT – Wildfire {Ft. Little Dragon}
#78: Husky – History’s Door
#77: Metronomy – The Look
#76: Redcoats – Dreamshaker
#75: Skream & Example – Shot Yourself In The Foot Again
#74: Drapht – Bali Party {Ft. Nfa}
#73: Skrillex – First Of The Year (Equinox)
#72: Flight Facilities – Foreign Language
#71: Luke Million – Arnold
#70: Jebediah – She’s Like A Comet
#69: Bon Iver – Calgary
#68: Arctic Monkeys – Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair
#67: New Navy – Zimbabwe
#66: Bon Iver – Perth
#65: Kasabian – Re-Wired
#64: Owl Eyes – Raiders
#63: Foo Fighters – Rope
#62: Stonefield – Black Water Rising
#61: Radiohead – Lotus Flower
#60: Joe Goddard – Gabriel
#59: Washington – Holy Moses
#58: Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers
#57: The Rubens – Lay It Down
#56: Sparkadia – China
#55: Architecture In Helsinki – Escapee
#54: The Grates – Turn Me On
#53: Bon Iver – Holocene
#52: Kimbra – Good Intent
#51: The Drums – Money
#50: Boy & Bear – Part Time Believer
#49: Boy & Bear – Milk & Sticks
#48: Art Vs Science – A.I.M. Fire!
#47: Sparkadia – Mary
#46: Active Child – Hanging On
#45: The Kooks – Junk Of The Heart (Happy)
#44: Hermitude – Speak Of The Devil
#43: Grouplove – Itchin’ On A Photograph
#42: Florence + The Machine – What The Water Gave Me
#41: The Strokes – Under Cover Of Darkness
#40: Foster The People – Houdini
#39: Benny Benassi – Cinema {Skrillex Remix}
#38: Ball Park Music – All I Want Is You
#37: 360 – Killer
#36: Florence + The Machine – No Light, No Light
#35: Illy – Cigarettes
#34: Gotye – I Feel Better
#33: Jay-Z & Kanye West – Otis {Ft. Otis Redding}
#32: Noah And The Whale – L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N
#31: Ball Park Music – It’s Nice To Be Alive
#30: Calvin Harris – Bounce {Ft. Kelis}
#29: Drapht – Sing It (The Life Of Riley)
#28: Owl Eyes – Pumped Up Kicks {Like A Version}
#27: Example – Changed The Way You Kiss Me
#26: The Wombats – Techno Fan
#25: Kimbra – Cameo Lover
#24: The Wombats – 1996
#23: Emma Louise – Jungle
#22: Snakadaktal – Air
#21: Skrillex – Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites
#20: Bluejuice – Act Yr Age
#19: Nero – Promises
#18: The Wombats – Jump Into The Fog
#17: Seeker Lover Keeper – Even Though I’m A Woman
#16: Grouplove – Tongue Tied
#15: Foster The People – Helena Beat
#14: Foster The People – Call It What You Want
#13: Florence + The Machine – Shake It Out
#12: Architecture In Helsinki – Contact High
#11: Calvin Harris – Feel So Close
#10: Hilltop Hoods – I Love It {Ft. Sia}
#9: The Jezabels – Endless Summer
#8: 360 – Boys Like You {Ft. Gossling}
#7: San Cisco – Awkward
#6: Lana Del Rey – Video Games
#5: M83 – Midnight City
#4: Boy & Bear – Feeding Line
#3: Matt Corby – Brother
#2: The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
#1: Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know {Ft. Kimbra}

Now, if you happened to miss the big countdown yesterday, fear not! Throw on your headphones at work today and hit “play” below. If you have any troubles with the playlist, you can also go directly to my Grooveshark page and play it there.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

SEE ALSO: Triple J Hottest 100 (2010)

Last Dinosaurs

The band’s sold out appearance was a great opportunity for the supporting local band “Last Dinosaurs” to showcase a number of tracks from their upcoming debut LP “In A Million Years” (out March 2nd). I was really impressed with their sound which I liken a bit to popular Northern Irish indie band “Two Door Cinema Club”.

Genuinely chuffed to have the opportunity to play to such a large audience in their home town, the lads from Last Dinosaurs were received well as they made their way through tracks like “Hawaii”, “Saturn” and the one I really like, “Zoom” (below).

Foster the People

Audience warmed up? Check. Packed house? Check. One of 2011′s best live bands in the house? CHECK!

With an impressive level of pulsating energy that began with the first note and didn’t let up until the house lights came on, “Foster the People’s” lead, Mark Foster (vocals/synth/guitar), along with regular band members Mark Pontius (drums) and Cubbie Fink (bass/synth), and touring members Sean Cimino (guitar) and Isom Innis (synths/percussion) rocked the Tivoli to its core with a full compliment of hits from their top selling debut album “Torches”.

Highlights for me? Well I certainly wasn’t the only one blown away by the performance of tracks like “Waste”, “I Would Do Anything For You” and the thumping percussion of “Miss You”. The encore, however, was the real kicker starting with a fantastic cover of Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So”, followed by an extended version of “Warrant” and, as was expected, rounded off with the hit that made a name for the band in 2011 “Pumped Up Kicks”.

Dripping with sweat I exited the “Tiv” with a wave of happy music fans stoked that I’m “two for two” with concerts so far in 2012. I’m sure you don’t need my referral, but if “Foster the People” are ambling through your city, town or village in 2012, buy tickets! Don’t hesitate, just DO IT!

Had tonight’s energetic, sweaty, loud, pumping performance by British rockers “The Kooks“ been on a mere 2-3 days ago, I’d be altering my selection of 2011′s best concert right about now. Instead, the bar has well and truly been raised on all-comers to Brisbane in 2012 on only day TWO of the year!

Maybe I’m still on a “Kooks” high after only walking in the door from the concert a matter of minutes ago, but the fact that I have run in, tuned iTunes into the band’s latest new release “Junk of the Heart” and sat down excitedly to type this out… has to mean something… right?

I actually feel sorry for all those BrisVegans who were moaning on Twitter this afternoon about the fact that they missed out on tickets to tonight’s The Kooks show cause they really did miss out on something special.

I’ll quit banging on and just let the playlist and a few pics tell the story for me.

1. Is It Me
2. Always Where
3. Sofa Song
4. Down to the Market
5. Rosie
6. She Moves In Her Own Way
7. Sway
8. Runaway
9. Eskimo Kiss
10. If Only
11. Seaside
12. Tick of Time
13. See the Sun
14. How Do You Like That
15. Mr Nice Guy
16. Ooh La
17. Shine On
18. Do You Wanna?
19. Saboteur
20. Junk of the Heart
21. Naive

Highlights for me? The simple acoustic awesomeness of “Tick of Time” and without doubt my number one anthem for the band “Sway”. There’s a reason why it’s one of my absolute favourite songs of all time!

If this quick quasi-review hasn’t done anything to encourage you to get out and see these boys the next time they slide through your town, then either you’re not a fan of outstanding talent, or I simply haven’t done my job here.

Like I mentioned earlier, the bar has been set pretty high for me now. I have a sneaking suspicion that the next band I’m checking out in a couple of weeks “Foster the People” may have a red hot go at the title, but we’ll just have to wait and see!

To leave you this evening, however, in a weird twist of fate, I leave you with “The Kooks” covering the song that really got “Foster the People” noticed – “Pumped Up Kicks”. This awesome performance was recorded a couple of months ago for BBC’s Radio 1 Live Lounge. Enjoy.

I have BIG plans already in motion for this here blog in 2012, so please stick with me over the coming 12 months for more great content. Follow me on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook for instant updates on new posts, as well as links to other goodies I find on the interwebs!

Here we go!

10. Move. Eat. Learn.

While my travels around the world have begun to slow down somewhat, I have not, and will not, back off posting links and information about the adventures of other brilliant wanderlust individuals who document their globetrotting experiences through word, photos and video.

This year’s 10th most viewed post looked at a series of stunning short films put together by Aussies Rick Mereki, Tim White and Andrew Lees who spent 44 days travelling 38,000 miles across 11 countries linked by 18 flights.

If you haven’t already viewed these three films, covering the three main themes of “Move”, “Eat”, and “Learn”, get over to my post and check them out now. You won’t be disappointed.

9. Red Bull: The Art of Flight

Extreme sporting films (or practically anything presented/sponsored by Red Bull) have become increasingly popular these days, and there’s no finer example than Travis Rice’s “The Art of Flight” released this year which has been described as one of “…snowboarding’s most iconic films made over the last three decades.”

In this popular post, I took a quick look at the trailer for this epic cinematic event!

8. 10 Tips for Google Plus Newbies

It’s fair to say that one of the biggest launches online in 2011 was that of “Google+”, the giant search engine’s attempt at dipping their toe in the Facebook-dominated social network pond. I seriously believe that 2012 will see a trend in online users succumbing to “Facebook Fatigue” and turning their backs on the privacy suspect, advertising riddled, impersonal behemoth.

Will Google+ be “the one” that everyone turns to? Only time will tell. In the meantime, however, I set out back in July to make the sign up, adoption and learning process on the newcomer network a smooth one with a set of practical tips.

Who knew readers would actually find them and share them around with their friends and family the way they have.

7. Vancouver Canucks – 2011 NHL Western Conference Champions

In the end, it was clinched by one particularly bizarre game winning goal by Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa, but the 2011 Western Conference Final Series against the San Jose Sharks was a beauty. It really ignited the belief in all of us fans that the team may indeed be able to go “all the way” in 2011.

Little did we know…

6. The Darwin Ice Hockey Club

For a bit of fun back in May, I posted a video of one of Vegemite’s 2011 TV ad spots. Particularly topical at the time of launch (NHL Playoffs time), the ad takes a comical look at the World Champion Ice Hockey team located in… Darwin, Australia.

It’s brilliant. Just watch it.

5. What Australia’s Census says about you

Back in July I published a post covering a surprisingly clever and well executed viral campaign and online educational tool launched by the Australian Government to promote the “National Census” which was conducted on August 9th.

Since posting, the page has received over 3,500 views, cementing itself smack bang in the middle of my top 10 posts for 2011.

4. And Raffi makes it 1-0 Canucks!

Oh boy! What a roller coaster of a post-season it was for the Vancouver Canucks and their amazing devoted fans. From the highs of the series win over our playoffs hoodoo team, the Chicago Blackhawks, to the eventual heartache of a Game 7 Stanley Cup Final loss at the hands of the Boston *spit* Bruins, it had it all.

My 4th most popular post of 2011 looked at Game 1 of the Cup Final against the Bruins where unlikely hero, Raffi Torres, slotted the game winning goal in the dying seconds of the 3rd period sending GM Place, and at least one household in North Brisbane, into raptures!

3. Vancouver Canucks Icons & Wallpapers

Who doesn’t love showing off the colours of the sporting team they love?!? Back in May I set off on a graphical journey to create a full set of digital art pieces that my readers, and Canucks fans everywhere, could download and splash all over their digital lives from Twitter and Facebook avatars/icons, to iPhone wallpapers.

The designs were really fun to put together, and have proven to be an ongoing hit with fans of the team.

2. 2011 Rugby World Cup iPhone Wallpaper

Like me, it appears my readers love their rugby. With the big one, the Rugby World Cup, playing out in New Zealand during the Spring, I spent a bit of time putting together a full set of HD iPhone wallpapers for every competing team in the tournament which was eventually taken out on home soil by the mighty “All Blacks”.

Even today, months after the conclusion of the Cup, my designs, which are all available for download, still often rank as the most viewed images daily on my Flickr account.

1. 2011 Queensland Floods: The Big Wet

Without doubt, one of the biggest news stories in Queensland, if not Australia, in 2011 was the massive State-wide floods which occurred back in January, taking the lives of 35 people and affecting the lives of over 200,000 others in 70 towns.

While it was hard for me to really gauge the extent of the natural disaster, images of the capital city, Brisbane, and many of the suburban areas I know well being engulfed by flood waters was one I felt I needed to write about, if only to educate my fellow Vancouverites (at the time) with what was happening back at home.

My attempt at summarising the disaster through images and video proved to be the most viewed post on my blog in 2011, amassing over 17,500 hits throughout the year.

I don’t know what made me think I could knock over my selections in a few days knowing she agonised over her list for a good couple of weeks, but regardless, I think I’ve nailed it for another year.

Here’s what our respective selections look like:

Of course, there’s going to be the odd song or two amongst that lot that you may not have heard before, so in the quest to make life as easy as possible for my readers, I’ve compiled a playlist you can play below, or listen to by visiting this special Grooveshark playlist link.

Lead image by ~LittleGirl88 (DeviantArt).