In the midst of touring on the back of their third acclaimed album, Time To Die, DODOS frontman MERIC LONG tells TESS CURRAN how he’d give it all up to be a pelican.

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It’s expected that Pink (pictured) will be announced this week as the ambassador of the Gold Coast’s V8 Supercars for the next three years. International music acts will also be brought in during the two-day event in October to re-brand the motor race.

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Legends of popular rock & roll, Deep Purple (pictured), have returned to touring – hitting up Brisbane’s Convention Centre on Tuesday Apr 27. The touring line-up consists of Ian Gillan (vocals), Ian Paice (drums), Roger Glover (bass), Steve Morse (guitar) and Don Airey (keyboards). Look for tickets from Ticketek for $139.90+bf.

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BarSoma offers up a musical variety show on Thursday Feb 11. Featuring electro-rock types The Fractions (pictured), and locals Rob Robot, alongside singer-songwriter Nadia Colbourn and the folk slide guitar of Tyson Bateman. Doors open at 7.30 for this over 18s show, with entry a paltry $6!

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Photo: Taylor Swift

Gloriana’s Tom and Mike Gossin are tattooed kids from Utica, New York, who somehow wound up in a country pop group in Nashville, but with their plaintive harmonies and slick, catchy hooks, they prove pretty irresistible as tonight’s opening act. To be honest, it’s mostly curiosity that drew me to Taylor Swift – as a 20-something guy, I’m really not in the target demographic for her squeaky-clean country pop, but I saw her go toe to toe with Kanye on the VMAs, I saw her performing alongside Stevie Nicks at the Grammys, and frankly, I’m fascinated to find out just what makes her tick. It turns out that Swift’s greatest strength is in the way she connects with her audience. There is nothing aloof about tonight’s performance. Take the opening number You Belong With Me – a naggingly catchy song about the girl who doesn’t get the guy, she performs it with utter conviction, and while she’s singing, she’s not a good-looking, polished pop star with a big set of pipes and an expensive stage show, she’s a dorky kid just like everyone else in the arena. As pop concerts go, Swift’s is engaging and well-staged, with set and costume changes every few songs – including a sequence with cheerleaders and another in elaborate Marie Antoinette-style gowns – but her real talent is in engaging with the crowd. At one point, she disappears from the stage, and emerges, after a video interlude, standing smack bang in the cheap seats at the back. She performs a clutch of songs there, then tiptoes down into the audience – thousands of screaming teens fall over each-other to touch her, but her beatific smile never falters as she makes her way back to the stage. As a casual observer rather than a Swift fan, I still had a whole bunch of fun at tonight’s show, and truthfully, I’ll be fascinated to see her grow and mature as a performer.

ALASDAIR DUNCAN

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(Ninja Tune)

Jazzheads from Norway blend the experimental and electronic

Jaga Jazzist blend traditional jazz instrumentation (horns, vibraphone, Rhodes piano, drums, guitar) with electronica. The resultant Scandinavian hybrid combines the austerity of European jazz with the Chicagoan soundscapes of post-rock. In an underground rock world with a firm grasp on key instrumental artists and their works, One-Armed Bandit isn’t necessarily a great reinvention.  That said, the polyrhythmic percussion, accessible melodicism and textural placement of synths and electric piano makes for an impeccably arranged suite of songs, from the title track’s giallo-like cinematics to the epic Toccata which melts into Phillip Glass-esque noteplay, evocative of his Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack. The album is an agreeable example of what happens when a gang of hungry music heads find themselves with a shedful of amassed equipment – hence founding member Andreas Mjøs tinkers away on vibraphone, guitar, glockenspiel, Korg synth and percussion. With a collective of similarly well-stocked musos, the music clatters busily, occasionally locking into hypnotic grooves and haunting melody. Simultaneously organic and crisply aloof, One-Armed Bandit ultimately delivers the prize-money. 

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MATT THROWER

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