TELAFONICA

i've been working fairly hard on the video for the belafonte and, as a result, have also become quite enamoured again of simple but clever stop motion animation. i'm pretty sure this is a mix of straight stop motion and computer emulated stop motion, but is pretty great nonetheless...

Just when you think you have heard it all before, there is an artist/band emerging from nowhere with a new, genre-defying, yet at the same time, accessible & sublime sound. Arcade Fire did it. Fleet Foxes did it. Bon Iver, Great Lake Swimmers, and so on, did it. Blake Wassell AKA Lessons In Time is 19 and lives in Australia, he is fascinated by the capabilities of sound and music. Blake makes music, which is as beautiful as it is fascinating, made up with at-hand materials, field recordings, heartfelt and clever vocals and traditional instruments, using minimal recording equipment. His sound walks in the middle of electronic, experimental uniqueness and rustic, hillbilly folk, leaving you wondering how he at this young age is already creating music which falls in its own genre. ‘You Dance, And You Dance’ is out to download now, March 15th 2010 , and is taken from the forthcoming debut album by Lessons In Time out later this spring. www.myspace.com/lessonsintime Get it now! iTunes: ...

I have to say that last night's gig at the Lansdowne was my favourite one yet in all areas except that Ellie wasn't there. First and always foremost was the very good park that King-of-Parking Adrian was able to find. It was the easiest load in yet. Second was that we got to play with a whole bunch of good friends. For me it was the first time I have ever seen Rattlesnakes and Romance, We are Volcanoes and Sounds Like Sunset. All very fine bands, so a very nice evening on that score. For me personally, my favourite was We Are Volcanoes. Tim Engelbrecht radiates energy and is entertaining in the extreme. He has a voice like Robert Smith and moves like David Byrne and plays the guitar with as much effort as blinking. When Telafonica played it felt really good in all directions. I think we played well and felt relaxed and had fun, even with the sweat dripping from Adrian and Blake and making their guitars soap-slippery! We met a few really nice people who appreciated our sound - v...

You, Me and the Missionary (These are the lyrics, scroll down to listen.) I am a suburb. I knew it before. I so wanted to be A small country town. There's much to be said For the small man standing. But I know that it's fiction. I know it's not me. But I know that it's fiction. I know it's not me. I am a suburb. You know that I know it. I so wanted to be The bright CBD. There's much to be said For unlimited action. But I know there are limits. I know one is me. But I know there are limits. I know one is me. Across the street Or across the sea. On the way my heart Is undone and remade. Across the street Or across the ocean. The journey is mine The destination is You. I am a suburb. I have always known. All that I have wanted Is paper and dust. There is much to be said For an old man kneeling. There is much to be said And so I begin. There is much to be said And so I begin.

Lyrics by Bec inspired by Edith Schaeffer, Karen Pack, Sharon Wood and Chris Smith. Music by Adrian inspired by Konono No. 1 and Paul Simon.

it's taken a while, but there's finally a review on cyclic defrost. a couple of factual slips, but based on assumptions via listening so completely forgivable... Telafonica – Love On The Second Stair (4-4-2 Music) By Chris Downton March 17, 2010 Telafonica In the twelve months that have passed since the release of Telafonica’s preceding mini-album I Saw This And Thought Of You, there have certainly been some substantial changes within the Sydney-based band. While founding member David Hughes is now based in the UK (though he’s still responsible for the album artwork here, three new members – Eliza Magill, Rebecca Elmer and Blake Wassell now augment original founder member Adrian Elmer. It’s a change that’s immediately apparent upon listening to this latest album. While I Saw This… saw Telafonica fashioning tracks still primarily geared around synths and electronics, Love On The Second Stair positively drips with increased sonic detail and live instrumentation, with glockenspiel...

there's quite an interesting article over here on the judgement for the winner of the australian music prize however, what amazes me has nothing much to do with the issues raised by the article. it's actually some of the numbers and how they apply to telafonica. firstly, there were 234 albums entered this year. of that, there were 30 that made it to the 'long list'. that has pretty much blown my mind. i had imagined the long list had like 90 or 100 albums on it, just a list to cull the really bad stuff, but still keeping it wide open. we got into the final 30! that is just bizarre. the process is outlined in the article and it's reasonably rigorous. time to make a new album!

no posts for march yet! this is a recording of the bridge show from 2 weeks ago for anyone who may have missed it. it ended up being just blake and i. worth a listen for you londoners just to hear the comments about telafonica's graphic design. can be downloaded over at archive.org or just streamed here.