This year’s Tamworth Country Music Festival will no doubt be all about THE MCCLYMONTS as the three sisters host the 2010 Australian Country Music Awards and stand to take out three categories, as MOLLIE MCCLYMONT tells BIRDIE.

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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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• Sadly, My Chemical Romance have pulled out of the rapidly-approaching Soundwave – frontman Gerard Way’s vocal chords are playing up. But as something of a salve, Arizona’s Jimmy Eat World will be playing instead! Don’t forget, you can still grab tickets from Soundwave or Ticket for $155+bf for the RNA-hosted event, happening on Saturday Feb 20.
• As The Club House at The Empire no longer exists, so The Club House at (the old) Valley Studios rises from the ashes. As such, Jonathan Boulet’s Saturday Mar 13 show now happens at the old 610. (Someone should really keep tabs on Brisbane’s ceaseless name-changing venues.)

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If you’re looking for something to do on Valentine’s Day, have you considered a boat trip? Sweet Dreams (pictured) have, and are launching their new 7-inch on the Brisbane Star as it cruises the river from 6pm on Sunday Feb 14. They’re joined by Chinese Burns and Narwhals, with tickets $15 and available from Rockinghorse and Tym Guitars.

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QPAC Lyric Theatre - Tue Feb 2

OK, so the debate is a valid one among diehards of California’s most evocative soundtrackers – can any combo without the presence of sonic architect Brian Wilson call itself The Beach Boys? But to the audiences who pack out the Lyric Theatre over two nights, this is a minor-to-non-existent point. As long as Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and hired musos pull off the harmonies, as long as the marriage of surf hits and strings is successful, and as long as they play Barbara Ann, it’s all good to the man and woman in the street.

The controversial Mike Love helms this incarnation of the Boys and reading the accompanying tour program, you’d think he was the group’s real visionary. That said, as a pure entertainer, he’s not a bad guy to spend two hours with – Love has a deadpan sense of humour and can’t resist good natured pokes at Bruce Johnston’s Grammy win for Barry Manilow hit I Write The Songs.

In addition, the line-up pay tribute to Brian Wilson’s harmonic forefathers The Four Freshman in a spine-tingling a cappella version of the near-Gregorian Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring. The orchestra add gravitas to grandiose anthems Heroes And Villains and Good Vibrations, while surf ‘n car hits Don’t Worry Baby, I Get Around, Fun Fun Fun and Surfin’ USA are as clap-along catchy as ever.

The orchestral augmentation also allows the traditionally hits-heavy Mike Love to let through some lesser known gems, such as Disney Girls, The Ballad Of Ol’ Betsy and Pet Sounds album track Here Today. So while this doesn’t come close to the genius that was Brian Wilson and band playing the Smile album, it still proves a darn entertaining night out.

MATT THROWER 

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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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