That Guy Sebastian

The other night, Nat loaded me in the car and headed out towards Bankstown, under the guise of going to Habib's for dinner (a great Lebanese charcoal chicken place with to-die-for garlic sauce). When we got there, he parked the car in the Bankstown Sport Centre carpark and lo and behold, whose poster did I see but the one and only Guy Sebastian performing for one night only?!

It wasn't a coincidence, but a lovely planned surprise because I love hearing Guy sing live (or on cd, or radio, or anywhere at all) - he's a superb singer and a really great entertainer. And don't underestimate these local sports clubs - those pensioners must be spending bucketloads on the pokies because they're pretty impressive even in all their tackiness. It had state of the art ID check-in stands, around 4 or 5 restaurants (including a fine dining one) and more lights than Christmas, not to mention that the showroom was actually really similar to the one at Star City.

Guy did a great set with a mix of old and new favourites from his albums (Elevator Love, Art of Love and of course, Angels Brought Me Here), plus a few cool renditions from other artists thrown in. Before I knew it, my feet were tapping, my head was bopping and there was a massive smile on my face, which was mirrored by just about everyone there (lots of youngish and older couples, families and women). He really is a great performer, and his funny stories set everyone at ease and segued his songs perfectly. Particularly memorable was his anecdote about the poor plumbing in his current apartment in LA, which once housed John Lennon. A flush of the toilet led to around 30 years worth of sewage to come gushing out of the bathroom pipes, so having already been familiar with John Lennon's sh*t, he proceeded to sing his song Jealous Guy.

There was also a really interesting part of the concert using a recording device, into which he used a combination of beatbox, ukelele and vocals (recorded live on the spot) to accompany a medley of songs including Jason Mraz's I'm Yours, Alicia Key's Noone and Travie McCoy's currently ubiquitous Billionaire, amongst others.

But I think the best part of the night was just his personality. He came back to Australia off the back of an American tour along the west coast with Jordin Sparks, and bounced into the concert after a day of filming the X Factor, a show in which he's one of the judges, but his pleasure at playing to a westie crowd in Bankstown was totally genuine. His charming and disarming nature is simply impossible to dislike, and add to that the heart, energy and talent of himself and his great band, and you have one heck of show.

Getting naked

So everyone's talking about the video clip for the new Erykah Badu single Window Seat. In it, she walks down Elm Street in Dallas where JFK was shot, shedding one article of clothing after another until she's finally naked. The clip begins and ends with references to JFK, from a grainy film image of Badu rolling up in a 1960s Lincoln at the start, to falling down naked at the end, at the sound of a gunshot. It's sparked off huge controversy in America about whether her clip is disrespectful to the memory of JFK, which is still very emotionally charged.

In a society where nudity is so prevalent, especially in the music industry with people like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears exposing themselves in their music videos, and where every so-called music artist tries to outdo each other in controversy, why has Erykah Badu's clip made such a splash?

Where Spears strips down to titillate and Gaga strips down for... well, who knows why she does the things she does, Badu actually uses nudity to make a point about personal vulnerability. Her body is not glorified or digitally altered (except to pixilate the rudie bits) or made up and made over. She's not a spring chicken either. She's a mother of three with a real woman's body who, terrified (although you can't tell in the clip), stripped down in public for a single shot to make a point. About the shooting, she tweeted:

[S]hot guerilla style, no crew, one take, no closed set, no warning, two minutes, in downtown Dallas, then ran like hell... I was afraid. But I was ready.

After the 'assassination' of her character in the clip, words like blue blood drip from her head: GROUPTHINK. This term was coined by William H Whyte in 1952 who wrote in Fortune magazine:

Groupthink being a coinage—and, admittedly, a loaded one—a working definition is in order. We are not talking about mere instinctive conformity—it is, after all, a perennial failing of mankind. What we are talking about is a rationalized conformity—an open, articulate philosophy which holds that group values are not only expedient but right and good as well.

That is to say, that individual thought, creativity and uniqueness are lost in the attempt to reach a public consensus or state of 'peace'. The Window Seat film clip, says Badu, connects to the idea of groupthink in that:

[It] compared the assassination to the character assassination one would go through after showing his or her self completely. That's exactly the action I wanted to display.

Although I'm not a fan of public nudity and I HATE its graphic and gratuitous use in film clips and movies, I have to say that I really dig this film clip. I love the grainy filming and the guts it took for her to do it. Nothing could have demonstrated the courage of being vulnerable in the face of groupthink more than this woman stripping down in the middle of the street. The fact that she tied it to the assassination of JFK makes the message that much more loaded and impactful.

Check it out for yourself

The latest songs on my iPod

Jason Mraz

LOVE Jason Mraz's whimsically titled album 'we dance, we sing, we steal things'. Standout track for me is I'm Yours. Lucky, Live High and A Beautiful Mess are great too. His sound is a bit of reggae, bit of pop and ultimately a whole lot likeable.

Rating: 9/10
This album really makes me smile
(I get the feeling they saved a whole lot of money on artwork for the album cover...)

Newton Faulkner
I've also just been introduced to Newton Faulkner, of Dreams Catch Me fame. I actually thought that song was from Pete Murray because of the strong acoustic sound and depth of lyrics. I just bought his album 'Hand Built by Robots' from cdwow.com.au, but I've been listening to his tracks on his MySpace page and really loving his 'reggae voodoo' sound. I Need Something, All I Got and People Should Smile are great songs and he does a great rendition of Massive Attack's Teardrop too.

Rating: unrated as yet, because I haven't heard the entire album.

Sara Bareilles, Little Voice (CD review)

I don't know why this album's called 'Little Voice' - she's got a great big voice - not OTT by any means, just really rich and full and beautiful.

This is a really wonderful album full of great melodies, strong lyrics and songs with a slight jazzy sort of feel to them. You feel like she really understands music and moulds the songs to the shape of her emotions, making them interesting and unique to herself.

The songs don't always go where you expect them to, so they don't sound like they've been cranked out by some 40 year old Swedish guy. There's usually a little twist or flick of the wrist in the melody that differentiates it from the usual pop sound, but with enough hooks and riffs to please the average pop listener.

Favourites: the already popular 'Love Song' with its catchy piano tune, 'Between the Lines' for its heartfeltedness (yes, I believe that's a brand new word) and 'Bottle it Up' for its good-girl fun.

I've been listening to this album for practically a week and a half straight and I've yet to get sick of it (even if my colleagues have, but fortunately they're too polite to complain).

Rating: 9/10
Excellent voice, skillful musicianship, great young talent.

Undiscovered, James Morrison (CD)

I don’t usually do music reviews because music is such a personal thing and I’d hate to be judged on my musical taste, however I have to make mention of this awesome CD cos I’ve been loving it for a number of months now and I’m STILL loving it.

I heard somewhere that James Morrison got discovered while busking on some English street, presumably in London, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that was the case. Imagine hearing that smooth husky voice singing passionately on a busy London street. You’d just stop and close your eyes and the sounds of traffic and people and noisy cars would melt away as you heard him sing: ‘You give me something/ that makes me scared alright/ this could be nothing/ but I’m willing to give it a try…’

Even now, after weeks of semi-continuous listening, I still love singing along – especially to You Give Me Something and Wonderful World – while driving. If the people in the vehicles in front of me were to glance in their rearview mirror, I’m sure they’d think I was nuts - singing at the top of my lungs, squinching my eyes (wanting to close them but can’t cos I have to see the traffic), tapping the steering wheel and smiling like a lunatic. Trust me, it’s the perfect solution to road rage. You just can’t get angry listening to this music.

It’s passionate, it’s heart-moving, it’s real and above all, it sounds awesome. While he’s only 21, he’s a great songwriter and manages to convey a lot of emotion through his voice. I can’t remember the last CD that gave me this reaction, and no other playlist on my ipod is getting this kind of airtime.

Rating 9.5/10