Like Yorn’s past three records, Back and Fourth hits more than it misses.
The exuberant glow of Yorn’s distinctive pop-rock songs can be taken at face value, fitting snug like your togs after a hearty winter, or alternatively every structure, lyric and layered instrument dissected into methodical evaluation.
To his credit Yorn thrives on the collaborative input of various producers and musicians. Each track stands alone on merit, before it’s fashioned into a cohesive record.
Back and Fourth is no different. Paradise Cove and Last Summer conceal a dark honesty by placing lively vocal and instrumental melodies over graceful song structures.
The jangly guitar phrasing in Shotgun is intoxicating an exuberant while a moving chorus in Social Development Dance is let down by the throwaway line of its second verse, ‘I tried to find out what had happened to you – I googled you in quotes, got no results’.
The subtle instrumentation in closer Long Time Nothing New mirrors the song’s stirring structure.
A warm intuitive-traditional bass line played on an upright bass and a delicate piano melody ease the listener into a floating chorus, (akin to an Adam Duritz melody), before dropping you back into the second verse with the humble line ‘Something survived here… how’s it feel to lie? It burns on in your mind’.
The track introduces mandolin, electric guitar flourishes and acoustic strumming as the vocal melody swells.
Yorn has a talent for channelling a song’s innate character, accenting the intangibles of what on the surface might seem a tired format.
Current listening: Doomriders-Darkness Comes Alive; Koolism-Jam Master Jay Tribute; The Cave Singers-Welcome Joy.
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
A few good reads
I’ve always had an affinity for sharing stories, whether it’s decent writing, human achievement or a simply a great yarn. I’m constantly bombarding my friends and family w/ news stories, features and blog content (twitter is great for this purpose).
I’m sure not all the recipients get around to reading everything I send, (especially Mrs Ink, who cops the majority of forwarded-links), but I just can’t help it.
In my humble opinion if a friend or family member finds something I send of interest to them (say two out of five links), a story or blog post that might otherwise have passed by them, then it’s worth it.
So with that in mind. Here is the first Litres of Ink instalment of A few good reads. You can also find the links to these reads on www.twitter.com/litresofink.
I’m sure not all the recipients get around to reading everything I send, (especially Mrs Ink, who cops the majority of forwarded-links), but I just can’t help it.
In my humble opinion if a friend or family member finds something I send of interest to them (say two out of five links), a story or blog post that might otherwise have passed by them, then it’s worth it.
So with that in mind. Here is the first Litres of Ink instalment of A few good reads. You can also find the links to these reads on www.twitter.com/litresofink.
- It’s fair to say that Fairfax journos Roy Masters and Jacqueline Magnay pretty much own rugby league writing. That said, I strugged to engage with almost any league piece this season. Despite this, two recent top-shelf post season yarns have caught my eye.
- The first is The Year of the Fullback by Jason Wilson for http://www.newmatlida.com/. Wilson ingeniously and accurately attributes the ebbs and flows of the’ 09 NRL season to the men who pulverise and endear fans from the full-back position.
- The second is Claire Harvey’s insightful take on NRL Chief Executive, David Gallop’s development as a feminist icon. We love David Gallop, was published in News Limited press and finally gives the underrated administrator some credit for his role in addressing the game’s archaic culture.
- Roller derby teams are popping up all over the country – Canberra is no exception. Upstart writer Carey Sheer takes a look at the roller derby scene in Victoria. http://www.upstart.net.au/roller-derby-rocks.
- Are marathons good for your health? This Wall Street Journal piece, The Fleeting Benefits of Marathons: Many Newcomers Race, but Few Follow Through With Lifelong Exercise, by Kevin Helliker, looks at the merits of running marathons over shorter controllable distances.
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
Friday, September 25, 2009
Tiny is the new loud for tiny acoustic Seattle songstress
Tiny Vipers
FLY - 24-09-09
Current listening: Love of Diagrams-Nowhere Forever; Mos Def-The Ecstatic; Shipping News-Flies the Fields.
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
FLY - 24-09-09
Current listening: Love of Diagrams-Nowhere Forever; Mos Def-The Ecstatic; Shipping News-Flies the Fields.
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
Friday, September 18, 2009
Betting culture in Australian sport
A few quick thoughts on the rise of betting culture in Australian sport.
This yarn also appeared on www.thepunch.com.au: I bet you won’t believe what’s going on in the bowls.
News broke this afternoon that the New Zealand bowls’ four (yep, bowls) tanked a game in the Asia-Pacific championships in Malaysia last month. Reports state that as a result of NZ’s poor performance, the Canadian side failed to progress to the championship playoffs. One Black Jack has been stood down as a result despite denying the match-fixing allegations.
No word on how the NZ economy has reacted to the news or if Prime Minister Key is donning his whites in preparation of a statement from the Blockhouse Bay bowling green.
I’m exaggerating the enormity of this scandal but should we really be surprised?
2009 has been the year of sports betting. The ascendency of sports betting from office sweep foolery to the sporting mainstream has been remarkable. Betting agencies at their prerogative are intent on solidifying an online presence and buying up sport sponsorship is its preferred method.
Incredulously, and presumably without much discussion with major sporting codes, commercial television networks have insidiously installed odds and spreads at regular intervals throughout live telecasts and magazine style ‘analysis’ broadcasts.
Aside from the problem gambling connotations associated with the promotion of betting, national sporting codes accept sponsorship money from betting agencies at their own peril.
One implication that a major Australian sporting event has been compromised due to a rumoured betting deal, points shaving scheme or the tanking of a game and you can kiss all credibility goodbye.
That includes code administrators, players, club officials and you’d be a fool to suggest that fans of said code wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire. Although other high profile codes might be reluctant to put the boot in in case its own sport was implicated in the future.
In what has been a year of regret for leaguies nationwide, imagine if the National Rugby League had been linked to betting related tanking or a points shaving scandal this season.
The code would be reduced to ‘bush’ league status quicker than Kanye could interrupt Chief Executive, David Gallop’s 1148th teary and no doubt sincere appeal for forgiveness.
Without delving into Mark Waugh and Shane Warne’s 1994 adventures with an Indian bookie or rumours of elite athletes drowned in debt, these are serious concerns for Australia’s sporting codes.
Codes need to ramp up betting education for players, club administrators and staff; to establish clear guidelines and develop new policy such as placing caps on betting agency involvement/influence in sport.
The tanking Black Jack bowlers’ might have opened the NZ sporting elite to a few more light hearted cross-Tasman gibes, but it serves as a warning to all Australian sporting codes that betting scandals are a real threat.
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
This yarn also appeared on www.thepunch.com.au: I bet you won’t believe what’s going on in the bowls.
News broke this afternoon that the New Zealand bowls’ four (yep, bowls) tanked a game in the Asia-Pacific championships in Malaysia last month. Reports state that as a result of NZ’s poor performance, the Canadian side failed to progress to the championship playoffs. One Black Jack has been stood down as a result despite denying the match-fixing allegations.
No word on how the NZ economy has reacted to the news or if Prime Minister Key is donning his whites in preparation of a statement from the Blockhouse Bay bowling green.
I’m exaggerating the enormity of this scandal but should we really be surprised?
2009 has been the year of sports betting. The ascendency of sports betting from office sweep foolery to the sporting mainstream has been remarkable. Betting agencies at their prerogative are intent on solidifying an online presence and buying up sport sponsorship is its preferred method.
Incredulously, and presumably without much discussion with major sporting codes, commercial television networks have insidiously installed odds and spreads at regular intervals throughout live telecasts and magazine style ‘analysis’ broadcasts.
Aside from the problem gambling connotations associated with the promotion of betting, national sporting codes accept sponsorship money from betting agencies at their own peril.
One implication that a major Australian sporting event has been compromised due to a rumoured betting deal, points shaving scheme or the tanking of a game and you can kiss all credibility goodbye.
That includes code administrators, players, club officials and you’d be a fool to suggest that fans of said code wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire. Although other high profile codes might be reluctant to put the boot in in case its own sport was implicated in the future.
In what has been a year of regret for leaguies nationwide, imagine if the National Rugby League had been linked to betting related tanking or a points shaving scandal this season.
The code would be reduced to ‘bush’ league status quicker than Kanye could interrupt Chief Executive, David Gallop’s 1148th teary and no doubt sincere appeal for forgiveness.
Without delving into Mark Waugh and Shane Warne’s 1994 adventures with an Indian bookie or rumours of elite athletes drowned in debt, these are serious concerns for Australia’s sporting codes.
Codes need to ramp up betting education for players, club administrators and staff; to establish clear guidelines and develop new policy such as placing caps on betting agency involvement/influence in sport.
The tanking Black Jack bowlers’ might have opened the NZ sporting elite to a few more light hearted cross-Tasman gibes, but it serves as a warning to all Australian sporting codes that betting scandals are a real threat.
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Upstart.net.au
The Upstart team were kind enough to run my Wavering Winter piece. Upstart is a new website for emerging Australian journalists.
It's slick and informative, particularly the profiles on practicing journos.
Check out Upstart here:
http://www.upstart.net.au
www.twitter.com/upstartmagazine
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
It's slick and informative, particularly the profiles on practicing journos.
Check out Upstart here:
http://www.upstart.net.au
www.twitter.com/upstartmagazine
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wavering winter
With the NRL Finals starting tonight I’m ready to confess.
Rather, to purge. It’s no doubt obvious to those close that I have acted sheepishly this past winter and I cannot contain it any longer – Catholic guilt will always prevail.
I have been courting a new flame – the Australian Football League. Yes, that’s right - raised by staunch Rugby League brethren, where every Friday night footy telecast was treated like a visit from a Monarch, the anticipative intensity reaching levels akin to those prior to Led Zeppelin’s Sydney Showground performance in ‘72.
Fed up with the relentless bludgeoning of immoral player behaviour and kludgy sanctions imposed by club and league administrators, I tuned out. I badgered Mrs Ink, ‘I just want to see a game a game without any deviant connotations ruining the contest’.
On the whim of an excited neighbour (he barracks for the Bombers), I tuned into the AFL’s Anzac Day clash between Dons and Collingwood. Admittedly, the game of kicks has always been around, lurking with charm, waiting to pounce on a dejected leaguie.
A game of: lightning quick ball movement; crafty field placement and player management; a full stadia of fans intent on a fair contest, for each and every contest; incredible kicking accuracy, basketball-like screens and zone defences and imperative momentum swings.
I fell for a few players that day. Lovett, Mcphee, Watson and of course rookie David Zaharakis, who diligently slotted the winning goal to erase a 14 point deficit as the deafening siren roared. But it was 21 year old Paddy Ryder that caught my eye.
The ruckman forced to ‘pinch hit’ for injured mainstay David Hille, was engaged in his task of defending Pie stalwart Josh Fraser. The Bomber’s ’05 seventh draft pick put in a ‘coming of age’ performance.
A timely last-stanza goal, 13 tackles and 16 possessions secured the West Australian the ANZAC medal for best on ground – the sight of Ryder exuberant through his exhaustion as the medallion swung from his 1.90cm frame, left this writer w/ a sneaky ‘how good is this?’ grin and a few guilt ridden weeks would follow.
Exactly two months later I went on my first date. The MCG was fervent for a midseason Blues v Bombers clash. Mrs Ink and I melted in with ‘lifers’ from both sides and witnessed a dominant Dons 63 point win.
We left the MCG in awe that a game w/ such a large differential could be so engaging, dare I say it – a complete sporting experience.
I woke up dusty from a few post game drinks - I felt dirty. The Dragons and Bulldogs were stamping their dominance for the ’09 NRL title, and here I was smitten in the heart of the enemy.
I’d had enough – ashamed and in midseason limbo, I craved a 40-20 penalty, a deft halves play from a scrum feed, a back-rower putting in a 45 tackle effort – I craved my Raiders.
I found a comforting shoulder in a Major League baseball game. I took solace in the refusal of baseball fans, whose game has been tarnished by a decade or so of HGH abuse – blowing out statistics and distorting records, to remain committed to their game.
I knew that if I could just stay in touch until the back half of the season that a couple of quality performances could restore my faith. The following week – I received a text from my lil’ bro, “the Eels are gunna win the comp”. The Eels went on to string together seven in a row.
The news broke that Karmichael Hunt had defected to AFL, as tempted as I was to jump ship w/ the fullback and nominate the Gold Coast as ‘my’ AFL team, I instead concentrated on the athletic transformation Hunt would require to be successful in his new code.
Then it happened, Round 15. The Raiders dug in with a cracker performance to beat the league leading Dragons. A game which was probably in the top 5 matches this season.
Two weeks later, I witnessed the Raiders belt the Broncos in a 56 point shut out.
I haven’t tuned into an AFL game since.
The final few rounds were vibrant as teams manoeuvred their way into final contention. I wasn’t at all disappointed that the Green Machine didn’t make the eight for the first time in three seasons (a few rookies established themselves as competent first graders, a decent slab for the future).
Today my flirtation w/ the game of kicks seems but a distant blunder, a mid season blip.
Tonight the finals begin and I find myself w/ a rooting interest. Here are my picks.
The Sea Eagles (Mother Ink’s defending champs) take on the Storm (Step-Father Ink’s savvy veterans) – Storm to dominate by 16, (I could speculate on the taunts and tantrums that will fly in my parents’ lounge-room, but lets move on).
Bulldogs V Knights – Bulldogs by three in a tight one
Titans V Broncos – Broncos experience will prove the difference –take it out by eight.
Eels V Dragons – the lead could change a number of times in this one, but the Dragons should win by four.
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
Rather, to purge. It’s no doubt obvious to those close that I have acted sheepishly this past winter and I cannot contain it any longer – Catholic guilt will always prevail.
I have been courting a new flame – the Australian Football League. Yes, that’s right - raised by staunch Rugby League brethren, where every Friday night footy telecast was treated like a visit from a Monarch, the anticipative intensity reaching levels akin to those prior to Led Zeppelin’s Sydney Showground performance in ‘72.
Fed up with the relentless bludgeoning of immoral player behaviour and kludgy sanctions imposed by club and league administrators, I tuned out. I badgered Mrs Ink, ‘I just want to see a game a game without any deviant connotations ruining the contest’.
On the whim of an excited neighbour (he barracks for the Bombers), I tuned into the AFL’s Anzac Day clash between Dons and Collingwood. Admittedly, the game of kicks has always been around, lurking with charm, waiting to pounce on a dejected leaguie.
A game of: lightning quick ball movement; crafty field placement and player management; a full stadia of fans intent on a fair contest, for each and every contest; incredible kicking accuracy, basketball-like screens and zone defences and imperative momentum swings.
I fell for a few players that day. Lovett, Mcphee, Watson and of course rookie David Zaharakis, who diligently slotted the winning goal to erase a 14 point deficit as the deafening siren roared. But it was 21 year old Paddy Ryder that caught my eye.
The ruckman forced to ‘pinch hit’ for injured mainstay David Hille, was engaged in his task of defending Pie stalwart Josh Fraser. The Bomber’s ’05 seventh draft pick put in a ‘coming of age’ performance.
A timely last-stanza goal, 13 tackles and 16 possessions secured the West Australian the ANZAC medal for best on ground – the sight of Ryder exuberant through his exhaustion as the medallion swung from his 1.90cm frame, left this writer w/ a sneaky ‘how good is this?’ grin and a few guilt ridden weeks would follow.
Exactly two months later I went on my first date. The MCG was fervent for a midseason Blues v Bombers clash. Mrs Ink and I melted in with ‘lifers’ from both sides and witnessed a dominant Dons 63 point win.
We left the MCG in awe that a game w/ such a large differential could be so engaging, dare I say it – a complete sporting experience.
I woke up dusty from a few post game drinks - I felt dirty. The Dragons and Bulldogs were stamping their dominance for the ’09 NRL title, and here I was smitten in the heart of the enemy.
I’d had enough – ashamed and in midseason limbo, I craved a 40-20 penalty, a deft halves play from a scrum feed, a back-rower putting in a 45 tackle effort – I craved my Raiders.
I found a comforting shoulder in a Major League baseball game. I took solace in the refusal of baseball fans, whose game has been tarnished by a decade or so of HGH abuse – blowing out statistics and distorting records, to remain committed to their game.
I knew that if I could just stay in touch until the back half of the season that a couple of quality performances could restore my faith. The following week – I received a text from my lil’ bro, “the Eels are gunna win the comp”. The Eels went on to string together seven in a row.
The news broke that Karmichael Hunt had defected to AFL, as tempted as I was to jump ship w/ the fullback and nominate the Gold Coast as ‘my’ AFL team, I instead concentrated on the athletic transformation Hunt would require to be successful in his new code.
Then it happened, Round 15. The Raiders dug in with a cracker performance to beat the league leading Dragons. A game which was probably in the top 5 matches this season.
Two weeks later, I witnessed the Raiders belt the Broncos in a 56 point shut out.
I haven’t tuned into an AFL game since.
The final few rounds were vibrant as teams manoeuvred their way into final contention. I wasn’t at all disappointed that the Green Machine didn’t make the eight for the first time in three seasons (a few rookies established themselves as competent first graders, a decent slab for the future).
Today my flirtation w/ the game of kicks seems but a distant blunder, a mid season blip.
Tonight the finals begin and I find myself w/ a rooting interest. Here are my picks.
The Sea Eagles (Mother Ink’s defending champs) take on the Storm (Step-Father Ink’s savvy veterans) – Storm to dominate by 16, (I could speculate on the taunts and tantrums that will fly in my parents’ lounge-room, but lets move on).
Bulldogs V Knights – Bulldogs by three in a tight one
Titans V Broncos – Broncos experience will prove the difference –take it out by eight.
Eels V Dragons – the lead could change a number of times in this one, but the Dragons should win by four.
If you think it’s worthy or can spare the ink please email your thoughts, opinions to litresofink@gmail.com
Thursday, August 20, 2009
The Nation Blue - Rising Waters
FLY Review
The Nation Blue Rising Waters - 20 August
The Nation Blue Rising Waters - 20 August
Current listening: Athol Intermediate; BIBIO Ambivalence Avenue; JDilla Just Stay Paid.
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