SUPERMODIFIED- EMERGING- ETC- REVIEWS PLUS

SORRY IF THESE BLOGS SEEM TO BE QUITE COMMERCIAL IN NATURE BUT THEY ARE ALL AROUND MY LIFE AND MY LIFE IS A MUSICAL LIFE. I am not really interested in much else, except for books , poetry and dumb tv so its not really commercial. Other people blog about the colour and consistency of their snot. I beg off on inviting people to share that kind of intimacy. Ditto the qualities of my farts. I keep that jive ass stuff outta my music too. My music is actually often about music! I like to descend/ ascend in spirals. While I wait for you know who...
I have actually written a book which is about my music life and its gonna be called "1001 Australian nights" and it'll be out in March 2011.On Affirm press.

I have this remix/remastered/re-sung/re-played/re-strung collection out at the moment. Been doing a lot of shows and will be doing a lot more. I like to play live. Sue me! I like rock clubs and people who go out and be social. Melbourne is a great place for that kinda stuff.

Otherwise, been reading some books. Discovered a character called AE Coppard who wrote in the UK in the 20s. Astoundingly tight and condensed sentences. Other people would take whole chapters - or books- to drop what he does in a single line.

Continuing to do a weekly radio show on RRR with Elizabeth McCarthy which has been great. We interviewed Jacki Weaver who is in town for a David Williamson play. I blushed when she said she and her boyfriend "kissed" to the SOFT 'n' SEXY SOUND.

A lot of other artists and writers and comedians have come in. And I hear a lot of great music. I play all the Australian stuff I like - which is a lot of it- and a lot of jazz and hip hop. I recommend the newish cd by Chuck Prophet called "let freedom ring". Otherwise I toss any cds by hipster yanks in the bin. Everybody else scrambles for that shit. They're all old enough to know better but they act like they're still being bullied. Except for Josh Homme and Bonnie Prince Billy. The rest? Toss their skinny white asses in the river!

The winter has been dark and long and cold and its been difficult to move around outdoors. In the middle of it, our little cat who has been with us for 20 years went downhill due to kidney failure and died. I found her on the floor one cold morning. Stiff as a board. She bit and scratched and hissed at anybody who came into our house for years . A real presence. I called her "aughtie" which was what Tom Custer used to called George when they were kids. She was a Port Melbourne street cat. Padded around us for every cd we've made since 1990. Whenever we moved gear in and out of the house we had to first open the door a little to see if she was waiting there to make her escape. (She never went outside except onto the deck). She was always there on the other side of the door, doing what came naturally and attempting to head for freedom. She had a bell on her to warn native birds for a while. Its all over the cd "heroic blues" , ringing softly as as she walked around the studio. Always scurrying around your feet as you struggled with a big amp or piano. She had all that imponderable, wilful, unknowable, unpredictable stuff that cats have intrigued and amused and bedevilled people with over the years. Funny that an animal can let you know so much, about yourself and the world.

That was very upsetting and I let you in on it. Now I will back off and request you assume the formal position of all strangers on the island. As you were!


Even his staunchest fans would admit that Dave Graney is something of a queer bird. With his penchant for archaic fashions and mannerisms, he seems quixotically at odds with the modern world. Despite this, his artistic persona also neatly encapsulates some of the key strategies of postmodernism, such as a playful artifice and ironic distance from his own creativity. Graney holds the real world at arm’s length, yet he is fascinated with current and historical pop culture.

His recorded work reflects this magpie approach in a way that can render it confusing to casual listeners, who find it hard to distinguish between the actor and the real person beneath the dandyish swagger. The way Graney has positioned himself as an anachronistic enigma has come at the expense of commercial success – even within the sphere of so-called “alternative” music. This is a shame, as Graney has produced a formidable body of work over the last three decades, his career punctuated by many highpoints from all his different incarnations.

From the thundering onslaught of The Moodists’ album Thirsty’s Calling (1984), to the widescreen epic of Night Of The Wolverine (1993), to last year’s critically feted Knock Yourself Out, it’s clear that Graney’s power as a writer has remained consistent over the years. This is by no means an easy feat. One only needs to look at Graney’s celebrated peer Nick Cave, whose increasingly hapless and desperate fumblings for relevance have sent his credibility plummeting in recent years. In contrast, the last decade has seen Graney’s muse in overdrive, releasing a steady stream of strong material. The formation of his own record label, Cockaigne, surely precipitated this artistic renaissance, allowing Graney the freedom to do as he pleases, regardless of commercial considerations.

Holed up in his suburban recording studio with his longtime partner and musical foil Clare Moore and a host of regular musical collaborators, Graney created the dark and moody masterpieces Heroic Blues (2001) and The Brother Who Lived (2003) in the early years of this decade. Both albums were perfectly crafted collections, so it comes as a bit of a surprise at first that he’d want to revisit them on Supermodified. The album contains four songs from Heroic Blues and a whopping 10 from Brother. In addition there are four previously unreleased tracks from the same era.

It’s a risk for any artist to re-interpret their own back catalogue, since most fans are inclined to view the original versions as definitive. On the other hand, by shifting the focus away from the content of the songs, Graney and Moore have been able to explore the subtleties of their arrangements more effectively. For years, the pair have been fascinated with creating something they dubbed the “smooth and sexy” sound – basically a mélange of different easy listing styles, such as smooth cocktail lounge funk, ’70s West Coast rock and adult contemporary pop sheen. What previously seemed like a playful subversion of degraded musical styles – those generally shunned by rock purists – has been warped into a muscular and super-charged 18 tracks that work seamlessly as a whole.

Remixing and re-recording vocals and instrumental backings means that songs like ‘All Our Friends Were Stars’ and ‘Midnight To Dawn’ bear very little resemblance to their original restrained settings. Structurally, many numbers are extended with instrumental passages or repeated refrains. In each case, it’s not merely the kind of remix a clever engineer might do, but a complete re-arrangement of a song’s constituent parts to imbue it with a whole new mood.

Ultimately, it is unlikely that Supermodified will be regarded as more than a footnote to the albums it draws upon, but as a stop-gap before Graney’s next batch of musical missives it’s more satisfying by far than that old stand-by: the live album.

by René Schaefer- MESS AND NOISE

David Graney has released an abundance of records in his time on planet Earth, and with the release of Supermodified, it's time to add another feather to his bound-to-be flamboyant hat. Supermodified is Graney pimped out, re-worked and custom-build, its sort of like that Bonnie “Prince” Billy Sings Palace Music record. Old songs newly recorded and freshly worked. Some people tell me, “hey, some of the Graney records have strange production values, but when I see and hear him live the songs are a billion times better”. Well, if that’s the case for you, then this album will be right up your alley.

It’s an accurate portrait of the live sound, and its shit hot funky. Taking ten tracks from the 2004 album The Brother Who Lived , four from Heroic Blues , and four unreleased ones means this record isn’t just for Graney enthusiasts or diehard fans, but its also a good starting place for beginners. Everything is sounding crisp and top-notch, which is something you’d hope to expect for a band that plays nearly everyday of the week. “The Brother Who Lived” and “All Our Friends Were Stars” should be hit singles, “The Royal Troll” has thick distorted riffing and pounding drums with the typically laid-back Graney croon. “Midnight to Dawn” is another rocking number with wife Claire Moore crashing about in the rhythm section. The whole album sounds like glam rock from a boom box at a gay parade in Melbourne. But sung by the straightest man on earth who is for some reason leading the rally. Think Roxy Music but with the Australian equivalent of Jonathan Richman on vocals. “Clinging To The Coast”, has some interesting compression on the drums, but it works. “Anchors aweigh” are the sounds you’d be hearing if you walked past a sleazy neon-lit cocktail night bar, in fact the lounge-esque themes are pretty common throughout the whole record. I never heard the original to begin with, but this one is well recommended.

Review Score: 7.5/10
nathan roche- au review


Talking of Dave, and being cool, then it’s great to report that Mr Graney is back – along with Clare Moore of course – and the Lurid Yellow Mist band, with his latest album “Supermodified” – and the clue is in the title as this is a re-working of a whole load of songs from the “Brother Who Lived” album and a smaller selection from “Heroic Blues” release. This is altogether a more relaxed, and relaxing effort, than its predecessor the excellent “Knock Yourself Out” album, with the volume turned down and the atmosphere turned up a notch or two. Graney is the ultimate 21st century crooner – reflecting back to the sultry funk of the Coral Snakes at their very best – but also using a selection of “modern” recording techniques and band styles that make it all very relevant today. And the trick, I think, is that Mr Graney can lure the listener in with his laid back style and then drop either a beautiful melody, or a stunning arrangement to create a sensuous listening experience. “Like a Millionaire” is a case in point with its extended coda which builds up the tension but retains a relaxed an open feel. That’s not to say its all “cocktail bar latino cool funk”. “The Royal Troll” for example has a definite driven feel, and the re-working of “Clinging to the Coast” is superb more or less completely revisiting the song from its original stripped down version on “Heroic Blues” – it turns out in hindsight that Dave had a pretty bad lung infection at the time of that album which would explain the contrasting styles and delivery. ”Midnight to Dawn” has a great rock feel with Clare channeling John Bonham under riffing guitars. If I was going to pick out a memorable track then “Are we going to fast for love” is just simply beautiful, however it would be remiss of me to single out one song on what is, simply put, a wonderful album.

rob salford - aural delights blog -salford city radio


LIVE DATES

Saturday 11th September at the Tote w/ Telecom + Brainrust + Money for rope.

Friday 17th September - Esplanade hotel, St Kilda- Victoria

Saturday 18th September - Westernport Hotel - San Remo Victoria.

Saturday 25th Sept- (GRAND FINAL NIGHT) - The Old Bar- Smith st Fitzroy.

Saturday 2nd October- Semaphore Workers Club

Sunday 3rd October (afternoon) Semaphore Music Festival- Adelaide

Sunday 3rd October (evening) Wheatsheaf Hotel - Thebarton- Adelaide

Friday November 5th - Coogee Diggers.NSW (w/Conway Savage)
Saturday November 6th - MORPETH BITTER AND TWISTED BEER FESTIVAL.
Sunday November 7th - Sandringham Hotel Newtown - w/Conway Savage.