UPDATE: Because I don’t know how to take a break, I’ve been writing whole bunch of stuff over the holidays. First up, I had a chat to Girl Talk about the art of sampling and what goes in to his iTunes library. I also went to see Eminem a decade too late, which was terrible, and made a few enemies by explaining why. Gave The Vine a rundown of my favourite Sydney shows of 2011 with Erykah Badu, Portishead and Sufjan Stevens taking top spots.
I checked out an exclusive Calvin Harris show and pondered the future of Kings Cross as an entertainment destination, which is a polite way of saying I acted like an exuberant teenager. Speaking of which, there’s an extended feature on Pedestrian about Dro Carey and the stigma of adolescent and male depression which you should check out. Also became a regular-ish columnist for Stoney Roads, expounding my theories on the power of emotional house music (specifically ‘We Found Love’), why producers hide behind masks and how dubstep allows white kids get away with not knowing how to dance.
UPDATE: ‘Tis the season for in-depth interviews. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and profiling some pretty amazing people this month; dance kingpin David Guetta, alternative-rock stalwarts The National and my personal heroes, Portishead. Also started writing for Sydney Morning Herald again with bi-weekly CD reviews in Metro and Brag cover stories on Flight Facilities and Bluejuice for the third time in a row. First Monocle print piece on supermarket competition in Australia published in November issue and new columns for my friends at Stoney Roads and Cool Accidents on remixing, trip-hop and the virtues of pop-punk bands respectively.
UPDATE: So this is pretty much the best day of my life. First piece published for the very prestigious and completely amazing folk over at Moncole Magazine here. Here’s hoping it’s the first of many. Look ma, a real magazine! Also National Times help me feel like an old man at 24 with Generation Shuffle and I get really into the new Jezabels record.
UPDATE: Oh, the places you’ll go. Read what happens when Jamiroquai, Deadmau5 and Nick Cave play to 100,000 Europeans in a Serbian fortress here. Expect many more Travel pieces about sailing Croatia (lovely), getting mugged in London during the riots (not as lovely), visiting Amy Winehouse’s house after her passing and various other Northern Hemisphere delights in the coming weeks.
UPDATE 30/5/11: Music features galore this month. Cover stories on Australian rock heroes Papa Vs Pretty (here) and Hungry Kids Of Hungary (there), feature on my good friend and future superstar Kimbra (here) as well as an exclusive interview with Arctic Monkeys ahead of their fourth album, Suck It & See thanks to management at Domino Records (voila!). Live coverage of Vivid Festival including OFWGKTA (here), Chris Cunningham (there) and Cut Copy. Also took my 14 year-old sister and an Iphone to the Usher concert with hilarious results (seriously) and to Ben Folds which was infinitely better (obviously). I hope she remembers me when she is rich and famous.
(P.S. It’ll be quiet around here over the next two months. I’m heading to Europe to report on EXIT Festival in Serbia this July for InTheMix and catch up on some much-needed Vitamin D.) Party on, Wayne.
UPDATE: Hilariously, I was a featured guest on SBS’ Insight program dealing with Narcissism and Social Media. The two most exciting things here are how much airtime my nose stud gets and my defense of Britney Spears. Watch here. Second piece for The Music Network analysing the industry and commercial pressure on bands to follow up successful debuts, featuring interviews with Clem Bastow, George Palathingal and Triple J’s Richard Kingsmill there. A solid week hanging out with Foo Fighters, including their documentary film screening, a secret show on Goat Island and meeting idol Taylor Hawkins results in a nationally syndicated feature first published way over yonder. Also interviews with Tim & Jean, first pieces published on tastemaker website You Only Live Once (like this one on the new Strokes record) and hanging out with Architecture In Helsinki somewhere there.
UPDATE: First cover story for The Music Network on fashion and its impact on music industry which you can read here. New opinion piece about two of Australia’s most recent viral sensations, Jess Cooper and ‘Casey The Punisher’ picked up by National Times there. There’s other stuff, but who’s counting?
UPDATE: Someone has finally decided that hiring me was not such a terrible idea after all. Check out my new (hopefully permanent) residency over at Pedestrian.tv, where I’ve written pieces on Dave Grohl’s radio station, Drake’s ‘Best Jew Alive’ claim, Lady GaGa’s Madonna rip-off, Diet Coke’s ‘Get Skinny’ campaign for New York Fashion Week, and all the other fun stuff they let me blab on about.
UPDATE: Big things poppin’ round the Internet in the last week. My commentary on why we embrace our softer side in Triple J’s Hottest 100 getting lots of Gen X-ers hot and bothered on National Times (here). Genre predictions (here) and Field Day review (there) over at The Vine. Also, I almost got cast as host in a TV show about music for ABC3. But then, you know, I didn’t.
UPDATE: So, a review of Muse (here) and a wrap of my Top 10 Australian songs of the year (there). That’s the year, then.
UPDATE (08/12/10): I become an old person too fast by arguing in favour of analog culture on National Times (here) and then do a back flip and write over 1000 words for The Vine on why Kanye West’s new record is pretty much as awesome as talking about Wikileaks over coffee (here). Also summarise a night full of drinking on someone else’s tab (Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange – here) and published in first edition of Alphabet Pony’s online magazine (here). Also, One A Day gets advertising.
UPDATE (21/11/10): Big articles ahoy! Feature article on the heroic Brit-rockers Muse over here and cover story in The Brag on loveable punk rockers Phildelphia Grand Jury in Published Articles. Also, because I have far too much time on my hands, I have started a Tumblr full of Sydney snaps called Love This City.
UPDATE (9/11/10): Poems ahoy! If only I could somehow get these published in an anthology or something. Green Eyes and F/R (with apologies to current obsessions and certain ex-girlfriends respectively) now up on Side Street Sydney. Bonus embarrassing commentary care of my Dad.
UPDATE: The Brag website is (finally) up and running after almost 5 years, which means some of my work is becoming digitised! Recently published work includes reviews of fantastic new records from Hungry Kids Of Hungary and The Jezabels, as well as a wrap of the night Kanye came to Sydney to premiere his film, Runaway. Head to thebrag.com for more.
UPDATE: My opinion piece on censorship came third in the inaugural Annabel Crabb Opinion Competition. Read all the entries from Page 17 of this week’s Honi Soit.
UPDATE 5/10/10 Who was responsible for the tragic suicide of American college student Tyler Clementi? My argument against blaming social media technologies, HERE.
UPDATE 4/10/10: Are you a fan of classic rock? Then you’ll probably want to weigh-in on this piece like the rest of my parents’ generation did! Nostalgia is killing our music scene, here. In other news, interview with Ben Folds about his new project with Nick Hornby is up, too.
UPDATE 14/9/10: My opinion piece on Kanye West and the future of music journalism has been published on the National Times! View the piece here. Also, my creative piece, Bond(i)ed has been published on Side Street Sydney here.
UPDATE: Deranged creative ramblings have been published in the UK! Check out the very spiffy online version of Poxymash here and click on ‘Things We Write’ to see my piece, Trigger Happy. Also uploaded to Published Work as PDF.
UPDATE 25/8/10: Foals and Children Collide cover stories uploaded. See ‘The Brag’ on the Published Work page.
UPDATE 23/6/10: Sun-Herald music features (Florence & The Machine, The Temper Trap, Regina Spektor & MGMT) plus new Cream articles added to the Published Work section. New playlist for May and June, too.
UPDATE 4/11/09: CREAM Magazine Articles Added.
UPDATE 27/10/09: SMH Metro ‘VIP’ pieces now added to Published Work and Playlist updated.
