HARRY WHITE – THE BRIDGE
‘Top 10 Sydney songs at the moment’
The Bridge – 100% Sydney Music Every weeknight from 8-9pm we play 100% Sydney music, tracking down as much local music as humanly possible, the Bridge is an outlet to play a bunch of the demos we’re sent, some Sydney staples and everything in between.
ADKOB – Lung Capacity
Spin off from a member of Tin Sparrow doing some solo tunes he’s just started to release – spot an eerie Carriageworks that’s going to look very different come Sunday.
Black Vanilla – Black Vanilla Theme
Sydney threesome plucked from a bunch of our favourite acts featuring members of Guerre and Collarbones making beats and live sets. They’ve just condensed some of this into a 9 track mixtape that we can’t get over.
Bloods – Into My Arms
Three more total Sydney legends.
Boy Outside – River Runs To The Sea
Having just finished a residency at Arcadia Liquors, Boy Outside guest programmed us an incredible hour of Sydney folk from all eras, can’t wait to hear more from across 2013-14.
Cloud Control – Scar
Catchiest. Sydney. Song. Of. The. Year.
Cosmos Midnight – The Dofflin (Wave Racer Remix)
Two of our favourite electronic acts coming out of the Astral People and Future Classic stable at the moment remixing each other. Epic.
Joyride – This Is It
A Sydney hip hop staple, Joyride also makes swooney solo songs we’re always excited to hear more from.
Left – Poison Vine
As our unsigned artist of August, we had these two into the show this week to guest program an entire hour of tunes and played an acoustic song of their own, we also snuck into their living room to film a profile of this band to keep an eye on.
Seekae – Another
How amazing is this album going to be?
Tim Blunt – Boy Scout
Sydney solo act is 17 and sent us these demos a few weeks back – still the most incredible thing to get demos like this.
LEE TRAN LAM – LOCAL FIDELITY
‘Ten things I’ve learnt from interviewing bands on Local Fidelity’
1. Flume has been listening to the station since he was 11 years old (!) – since the very first day FBi went on air.
2. Flume sent us his very first demo at age 15 – under the name Harley. He can remember heading to the beach with his dad and hearing the track come on. He says it was “a serious buzz” to listen to his music on radio for the first time.
3. Flume’s first gig was at the Northern Lights showcase at FBi Social in August 2011 – “it was actually really empty”, because he played early. In April 2013, he performed to 10,000 people in Sydney for his first-ever headline shows at the Hordern Pavilion.
4. Jonathan Boulet’s first radio appearance was also on FBi (on my show). He had once sampled his granddad’s coconut bra for percussion in a song, but sadly this novelty attire did not make a cameo during his live-to-air song in April 2009.
5. Neither did he enlist the the chest of drawers he used on one track – or the British cousin he once sampled saying “wicked”, “just ‘cos I really liked his accent”. But Jonathan Boulet did squeeze an army of people into the FBi studio (a record-busting amount of people that had ever been crammed into that room, in fact); they sang back-up to “Continue Calling” and it was a multi-harmony knockout.
6. Rainbow Chan “dropped to the floor” on learning she was one of the winners (along with Oliver Tank) of FBi’s Northern Lights competition in 2011. “Probably the best moment in my life,” she says.
7. Rainbow Chan’s highlights from Northern Lights include seeing Bjork performing in Iceland and meeting her harpmaker; eating the Icelandic delicacy of fermented shark was nose-stinging and gross, however. “Oliver Tank stayed right away from that.” She speculates that he may have avoided it, because rotten shark does not exactly improve your kissing appeal.
8. Tim Derricourt says the Dappled Cities cover of “November Rain” with Red Riders, “was probably the best thing I’ve ever done”. “It’s as close as I’m ever going to come to feeling like Bon Jovi – or at least Bon Jovi’s water carrier.”
9. Cloud Control recorded their first ever demo at Manning Bar (“because we knew the sound guy there”) and snuck into the back entrance of the Sydney Opera House to mix it. They took it into the FBi Music Open Day and the CD ended up on high rotation at FBi. That same part of the Opera House where they secretly mixed also happens to actually be where they played their sold-out show at Vivid this year.
10. Al Grigg tried to match-make his mum with any “sixtysomething religious dudes” who happened to be in the crowd at FBI Social during the first Palms gig in July 2011. “If you weren’t there that night, you probably missed having a chance with my mum.”
SHANTAN WANTAN ICHIBAN – STOLEN RECORDS
‘Top 10 favorite hip hop records from the last ten years’
UGK – International Players Anthem (I Choose You) (Ft. Outkast)
It is Andre’s verse alone that really pushes this into the top ten. Some of his best bars have been on features. Also see “Throw Some D’s Remix” and “I Do”.
Urthboy – The Signal
Produced by Count Bounce. Urthboy on the Raps. Local product that pushes boundaries, and bumps next to the best of what has been released worldwide. Relevant shit that is not just created for some local radio play.
50 Cent – Many Men (Wish Death)
One of the best gangsta rap tracks of all time. 50 Cent had comeback from being shot 9 times and blacklisted by the hip hop industry. A dark track about mortality and revenge, reminiscent of old Pac with all the god references.
Dead Prez – Walk Like A Warrior (Ft Erykah Badu & Krayzie Bone)
Rappers don’t be hating on the law like they used to. Love the doughnut reference in this.
Horrorshow – All Summer Long
Hood classic. Made In Japan on the production. I have repped this track really hard over the years.
Los Rakas – Abrazame (Uproot Andy Remix)
It takes the rhythm from one of the biggest dancehall tracks of the last few years, Gyptians ‘Hold Yuh’, and turns into one of my favourite reggaeton tracks of all time.
Kendrick Lamar – Cartoon & Cereal ft Gunplay
When you thought hip hop had plateaued then Kendrick comes along. Having said that, Gunplay makes this track. Gunplay has been keeping it a little too real lately. He was recently facing charges of armed robbery and assaulting his accountant.
Cage – Left It To Us ft Aesop Rock, El-P, Tame One and Camu Tao
Def Jux was releasing some of my favourite hip hop of the last 10 years. This track is a big collaboration of some of their best artists.
Estelle – Come Over A midnight stroke special. I have the 7″ of this. Old sounding reggae is one of the few things I really want to hear on vinyl.
Kanye West – Blame Game (feat. John Legend)
I am a big Ye’ fan, but it is hard to pick a single track for the list because they are all a little shit and amazing at once. The thing I like about Kanye is he puts himself into all his tracks. We have gone on a journey with him through good and bad, since the beginning of his career.
Honourable mentions: Ms. Dynamite, Nolay, Baby Blue & Shystie – Kick You Out (Remix), The Herd – 77%, Jean Grae – Keep Livin’, Spit Syndicate – Kings Only Konshens and J Capri – Pull Up To Mi Bumper.
AMY GIBBS – CANVAS
“Top Five Sydney Art Galleries”
Canvas is FBi’s arts, culture and ideas show. Every Sunday morning they speak to artists, curators, photographers and other creatives about what they do and how our listeners can check it out.
There are so many great galleries in Sydney, but these are some of our faves:
1. Firstdraft Gallery- Firstdraft is FBi’s equivalent in the art world – it’s a not for profit organisation run by passionate volunteers. It’s a great space to check out emerging and established artists.
2. Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation – the effervescent Dr Gene Sherman directs her galley with passion and has years of experience under her belt. The gallery is independent and features quirky exhibitions and interesting free talks and seminars.
3. Sullivan+Strumpf – this galley in Zetland has a consistency fabulous stable of Australian work. Directors Ursula Sullivan and Joanna Strumpf have a knack for identifying artists who are no longer emerging but aren’t so well known that they’re established.
4. Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre – stepping outside the city fringe and onto the banks of the George’s River, this is a melting pot of creativity across all mediums. Casula Powerhouse is also a great gallery for the kids with plenty of youth programs and theatre productions.
5. The Musuem of Contemporary Art – this icon on the shore of Sydney Harbour is dedicated to innovative, exciting art from Australia and around the world. We love their infamous monthly ARTBAR which took our the SMAC Award for ‘Best Arts Event’ earlier this year.
