Music news

It's a grey Monday in Melbourne
and I've just discovered that, sadly, another music legend has passed
onto history's page. Tony Wilson, the co-founder of Factory Records has
died of a heart attack aged just 57.
As the Factory Records boss, Wilson was responsible for signing legendary bands like Joy Division and New Order and set the benchmark for indie labels throughout the UK and beyond with his fervour and innovation. He also played a massive role in the ŒMadchester scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s with nut-job bands like The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. Blue Monday indeed.

Fare thee well.

Eugene McGuiness is a Morrisey-esque crooner from the North. The latest in a string of young Brit songsmith's to sweep London, but unlike the Lily's, Jamie's and Jack's, Eugene has crept up and knocked me off my feet with his swooning melodies and witty observations of everyday idiosyncracies. His first single, Monsters Under the Bed, is two minutes of poignant pop perfection, complete with hand claps, la da dap ba da ba's, and ascerbic lyrics about procrastination and uninspiring crap English weather.

Australian flags flew, at Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago, as Silverchair rocked out to
a sea of fans, proving they are in full come-back mode. The Australian/New York skinny-jeaned band MINK, currently touring with Satellite Party throughout the states, impressed with infectious rock riffs, bad-ass drumbeat and Mick-Jagger-limbed lead singer.

Possibly the biggest pop star who could easily be mistaken for an aerobics instructor
graced the city of Auckland last night for her one-night-only tour. Gwen Stefani pumped the Vector Arena full of 'Harajuku' madness, busting moves to motivate any over thirty-five year old to take out life time gym memberships. Her first NZ tour since 1996 with No Doubt - and she's come back better than ever!

Toronto indie band Stars have decided to deal with the inevitability of albums leaking before their due publication date by simply releasing their whole brand new record for legal download, four days after its completion. See the Stars Myspace page for more details. They hope, of course, that you'll buy the album anyway in its physical format in order to support its creators. Will it work? It's certainly a canny move, and will help generate some decent positive publicity. But will it actually serve to increase sales of the album? Time will tell - it's due out 25th Sept.

As well as being held in a stunning location, nestled amongst the green hills of Suffolk, by a lovely lake and some rainbow coloured sheep (perhaps they're fed skittles?), last weekend's Latitude line up was killer.
Lovefoxx from CSS is my new hero! She wore not one, but a three layered outfit, an oversized t-shirt dress over rainbow sequinned catsuit which was finally shed to reveal a hot pink metallic catsuit! Quirky, childlike and totally inspiring, her joyous stage antics included nonstop bouncing, running man moves and helium rapping.
Amid the weekend's debauchery I caught up with Juanita and Brendan of brooding Sydney rock quartet The Howling Bells, who, at the tail end of a tour, were a tad tired but nonetheless performed with the style and sass that they're fast becoming famed for.

Glitter smattered, with Ukulele in hand, musical wunderkind
Patrick Wolf finally made his first sojourn to Australia after 6 years of prodigal song-smithing.
With a beatific mix of old albums and new material from The Magic Position, Wolf brought whoops of delight and welling eyes. Humble, humorous and ridiculously talented, the cherubic Wolf, resplendent in Austro-Hungarian inspired attire with a sideways burst of flame for hair, moved from raging piano to gently plucked viola, treating us to the bare bones of his craft. With anecdotes of East London gypsy diasporas and drag queen advice for 13 years olds, his promise to return in October brought cries of sheer joy. Only 60 something sleeps!