Alhambra Lounge - Friday, 15 June, 2012

Mosman Alder, The Trouble With Templeton, The Oyster Murders

Alhambra Lounge

15 June, 2012
 
Things are looking good at Alhambra tonight. It’s still early, barely past 9pm, and the venue is already buzzing while the opening act sets up. The new stage at the venue is a great addition. The space feels like it is built for gigs now, rather than a bar that happened to have bands occasionally hidden in the corner; a definite improvement.

The Oyster Murders open proceedings with their enjoyable take on the darker side of indie rock. Their mix of male and female vocals gives them what is typically a fairly uncommon feel, although it proves something of a theme tonight. Second song, Ghosts In Our Wake, is the highlight of the set; dark, melancholic and catchy, it’s a lovely track that shows off the band’s melodic skills.

The Trouble With Templeton have some early gear problems, but it’s handled with good humour and when they do start, it’s a very impressive performance. Bleeders, their debut LP, released late last year, is a solid record, but there’s a sense of immediacy and intensity to the live performance that really causes the tracks to shine. Thomas Calder’s voice is strong and soulful, and tonight he’s aided by some beautiful harmonies from Betty Yeowart. There’s a second guitarist, a relatively recent addition, who adds an interesting twist to the sound too, with heavily-effected notes twisting around the folk rock of the originals. The punters don’t do the band a lot of favours – the chattering from the back of the room threatens to overwhelm some of the subtler moments – but for those paying attention it’s a wonderful set.

Mosman Alder’s debut EP, Burn Bright, has been gathering some impressive critical responses and it seems that word has definitely spread as a rather large crowd gathers around the stage in anticipation. The band quickly justifies the turn-out tonight. As with the supports, their already solid EP is turned into something more visceral live, with shifting dynamics and layered instruments that create an impressively coherent whole. There’s some sharing of vocal duties throughout the set, with guitarist Jackson Muir taking over for some new tracks, and while it creates variety Mosman Alder are at their best when primary vocalist Valdis Valodze has the reins, his distinctive voice giving the band a unique presence.
The audience seems excited and engaged and Valodze is clearly thrilled with the response tonight as he mentions how exciting it is to see audience members singing along. There’s still a sense that there’s room to grow for the band, but when everything gels – like when clear highlight Tokyo 1933 builds into distortion and then fades away on a haunting violin line – it’s clear that Mosman Alder have something special to offer.

Deep Sea Arcade - See No Right

Shoe-Gaze meets Psychedelic Pop

The days of the 90's are unfortunately long gone. However, one of the most influential music scenes of the time, Shoe-gaze, can be found rearing its melodic little head in many songs floating around in the present day. 

One band who I think captures this well is Sydney 5-piece, Deep Sea Arcade. This song makes you feel as if you are inside a haunted house. This song in particular, 'See No Right,' off their album 'Outlands' to released on 16 March, 2012 is a beautifully written song that embodies the genre of Pop, Psychedelic, Indie and many more. I look forward to hearing more from this band in the future.

A Grindhouse production

Director - Nic Mckenzie
Producer - Ash Morgan

My Life in a $10 Scrapbook

Lomography Competition Slides

These are the photos I will be entering in the
Lomography contest, hosted by Urban Outfitters

 Owned by Jordan Gurdler 2012

The Trouble With Templeton - Someday Soon

The Blues Revival

It started with The Rubens, and now a new contender has entered the 'Blues Revival.' Simple minor progressions and one hell of a singing voice has resulted in this beautiful piece of melodic genius.

I give you, Thomas Calder (aka, The Trouble With Templeton). Coming fresh out of suburban Brisbane. Even the video clip for this gut wrenching songs will give you the creeps. Post death, the bloody corpse of Caldan sings you a sadistic lullaby.

Listen and download more of his beautiful songs at:

http://www.triplejunearthed.com/TheTroubleWithTempleton

I will continue to promote his music on my blog as it will continue to improve over time.

Deforestation in the Amazon

Impending Issues in the Amazon

Deforestation continues to be the dominant land-use trend in Latin America (Fig. 1) (Ramankutty and Foley 1999, Achard et al. 2002), and subsistence agriculture, an important part of many local economies, is one of the major contributors (Chowdhury and Turner 2006, Pan et al. 2007). But, socioeconomic changes related to globalization are promoting a rapid change toward agricultural systems oriented to local, regional, and global markets. The Amazon basin is the region that has lost the largest area to deforestation, and where deforestation has had the greatest impact on biodiversity and biomass loss (Houghton et al. 1991, Laurance 1998, Lambin et al. 2003), but most other biomes have also been and continue to be severely affected by conversion to agriculture and pastures (e.g., Ellenberg 1979, Sader and Joyce 1988, Viña and Cavelier 1999, Galindo-Leal and De Gusmao Camara 2003, Klink and Machado 2005, Viglizzo et al. 2006, Gasparri et al. 2008). Historically, traditional shifting agriculture and cattle ranching, often favored by government subsidies and migration policies, have been the main drivers of deforestation in the Amazon, as well as in other ecosystems in Latin America such as the Andean forests, Central American lowlands, and South American dry forests (Hecht 1993, Kaimowitz 1995, Grau et al. 2008a). Although these driving forces continue to act in many places, export-oriented industrial agriculture has become the main driver of South American deforestation. In Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina, extensive areas of seasonally dry forest with flat terrain and enough rainfall for rain-fed agriculture are now being deforested for soybean production, which is mainly exported to China and the European Union (Dros 2004). This process affects the species-rich Amazon forests (Fearnside 2001, Killeen et al. 2008) and indirectly favors other forms of degradation beyond the agriculture frontier, such as logging and fire (Nepstad et al. 1999). The expansion of modern agriculture is having its greatest effects on the two most threatened biomes both at global and continental scales (Hoeckstra et al. 2005): tropical and subtropical dry forests (Zak et al. 2004, Grau et al. 2005, Silva et al. 2006) and temperate grasslands and savannas (Paruelo and Oesterheld 2003, Baldi and Paruelo 2008). Although the “soy boom” in Latin America is an important threat to the region’s biodiversity, it has brought large economic benefits to the economy sectors associated with production, transportation, commercialization, and processing of agricultural products and to the local and national governments through taxes. Furthermore, the “soy boom,” partly based on transgenic cultivars, is supplying cheap calories and high-quality protein to help meet the growing demand for food in Southeast Asia, and is thus contributing to increasing nutrition levels in this region.  

Although the efficiency of modern agriculture and the associated lower food costs are positive for consumers, smallhold farmers, particularly those on marginal lands, are frequently unable to compete with large-scale agriculture. This process and the increase in off-farm jobs in the service and industry sectors in the cities stimulate rural–urban migration. The combination of agricultural modernization and rural–urban migration often leads to a shift in the mode of food production and the abandonment of marginal agricultural and grazing land, which can favor ecosystem recovery both as spontaneous processes and by facilitating the implementation of protected areas or conservation policies (Mather and Needle 1998, Mather 2001, Aide and Grau 2004, Grau and Aide 2007, Izquierdo and Grau 2008). Forest transition or more generally, ecological transition (ecosystem recovery occurs also in non-forested biomes), occurs when an economy shifts toward non-agricultural production, agriculture concentrates in the most productive lands, and marginal agriculture is abandoned, favoring the recovery of forests and other natural ecosystems. Although comparatively less important than deforestation and much less perceived by the general public and the scientific community, processes of ecosystem recovery can be observed in many Latin American areas (Fig. 1). Forest expansion or recovery of degraded forests during recent decades has been reported for several Caribbean and Central American areas in association with the strong impact of rural outmigration and economic modernization, including Puerto Rico (Lugo 2002, Grau et al. 2003, Parés Ramos et al. 2008), Dominican Republic (Grau et al. 2008c), Mexico (Klooster 2003, Bray and Klepeis 2005), El Salvador (Hecht et al. 2006), Honduras (Southworth and Tucker 2001), Costa Rica (Kull et al. 2007), and Panama (Wright and Samaniego 2008). In South America, examples of ecosystem recovery include forest expansion in peri-urban ecosystems (Baptista 2008, Grau et al. 2008b), expansion of Andean forests into grasslands (Grau 1985, Kitzberger and Veblen 1999), and land-use disintensification in deserts and semi-arid ecosystems (Moran et al. 1996, Preston et al. 1997, Wiegers et al. 1999, Morales et al. 2005, Jepson 2005, Grau et al. 2008a).

Although agriculture is being abandoned in some marginal areas, in other areas it continues to expand; for example, in regions used for illegal crops. Compared with modern agriculture, which concentrates in fertile and flat soils, illegal crops are often cultivated in marginal areas, mainly because of poor accessibility, which reduces legal controls. The most common of these areas in Latin America are the humid slopes of the Andes, where cultivation of coca and opium are a major source of deforestation and environmental degradation (Cavelier and Etter 1995, Fjdelsa et al. 2005, Bradley and Millington 2008). These areas are also affected by armed conflicts and are outside the legal system of the country, a situation with two contrasting consequences for conservation. On the one hand, social and economic deterioration may lead to outmigration and land abandonment, but on the other hand, conditions for establishment of protected areas and legal enforcement of conservation become very difficult.

Another fact not mentioned in this essay is the possible removal of over 100 uncontacted tribes.

Copyright © 2008 by the author(s). Published here under license by The Resilience Alliance

Triple J - One Night Stand (DALBY)

Rain, Music and Snot Nosed Brats

This year my friend and I made the three hour jouney to see Triple J host One Night Stand in Dalby, rural Queensland. The line up for a free concert was better than expected. Being a big Matt Corby fan I was excited to see him.

Upon arrival, the rain immediately poured down and continued to do so for hours on end. The crowd flooded in one hour before the first act came on, so we all stood, freezing cold in the pouring rain eaglerly awaiting 'Mace and the Motor' to come on. It was quickly established that the crowd of predomintely 15 year-olds was only there to see 360.

Mace and the Motor definitely had some talent, obviously a lot of instrumental experience within this Three-Piece from Towoomba. Playing a rocking set of alternative rock and roll, the crowd was just not entertained, due to their pining for 360 to start.

Next up was 'the blue eyed dream boat, with the voice of an angel and the face of a sex god' (thanks for the descriptor Tom & Alex). Matt Corby was joined on stage by his usual band, which now includes the talented keyboard player Bree Tranter who used to play in The Middle East. The set began with the soulful 'Kings, Queens, Beggars & Thieves', with the crowd already going nuts. Halfway through the performance Matt surprised the crowd with a fresh new track, so new that in didn't have a name. In fact according to Matt it had only been finished 20 mins before he was due on stage. He and the band pulled it off in style before pounding into a heart-stopping rendition of 'Souls A'Fire', before finishing up with the sing-a-long Hottest 100 gem the whole crowd was waiting for 'Brother'. - Triple J review.
However, what they failed to mention in their review was the disapointment that Corby fans felt by the rest of the crowd. As each song Corby played had ended, it was quickly followed by taunts of "Just play brother!" and "Bring 360 on! Take Corby off!" shouted by an unappreciative 'Teeny-bopper' audience awaiting their idol, the untalented 360. Matt Corby is an amazing raw talent that far surpasses 360, however a crowd of drop-kick, uneducated idiots wearing snap backs and disney jumpers were only here to see one person.

By now, the rain had begun to pour down like we had begged for a shower. Stonefield, an adorable 4 piece from an even more remote town then Dalby. These girls are a power package of female rock and roll, reigniting a 80's Blondie theme that was once thought lost. They played a rocking set of old fashioned rock ballads and melodic female power anthems. Such talent for such young girls straight out of highschool.

It was now time for the crowd to see who they had come all this way for. 360 took the stage to ear-splitting screams that easily cut its way through the pouring rain. The crowd went wild as 360 began playing his catchy songs, accompinied by his lack of rapping ability. He is definitely popular as his songs are catchy, but his rapping ability is not to be desired. With time, I am sure it will improve, but for now I am not even remotely impressed as he does not even deserve to be considered in the same genre of music as the great 2pac, Biggie Smalls, Ice Cube, Nas and LL Cool J. However, due to the rain, the festival was cut short for fear of safety complications.


It was a bitter dissapointment that Temper Trap did not play, as a lot of us have waited in the rain for 5 hours to see them. However, if safety is an issue, it was necessary to pull the plug, literally.

The Dalby Showgrounds had been turned into a mud bath. The day was done. It was time for everyone to make the long commute home.