Everyone is entitled to my opinion...

This week, there are only two music stories in town.

Lady Gaga and Lisa Mitchell. Strange bedfellows, that’s for sure…

 

In September last year I was at a function talking to a friend of mine about the new Powderfinger album. I said, out loud and in a very clear voice, “I would rather listen to Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” than anything from the new ‘finger album”. My friend was aghast and immediately got on the phone to her sister who pronounced me a complete loser.

 

I stand by my comment. “Poker Face” is an outstandingly good pop song. If anyone thinks writing pop music is easy, try and come up with something as good as that. As for Powderfinger… well, the word “stiffed” springs to mind.

 

With Lady Gaga in town this week, I was extremely interested to learn that she chartered not one but two 747’s to get here (take that, Obama) and travels with an entourage of over 200 people. The stage that she performs on is entirely imported and is the same one used at every show on the current world tour. She’s not short-changing us antipodeans, that’s for sure.

 

Iif you haven’t seen the new clip for “Telephone” yet, you are missing out on THE pop culture event of the year. As my friend Ed wrote (he has his own blog too… worth checking out Plastic Souls) it is the new “Thriller”.

And I don’t disagree.

 

Sarah Blasko Robbed

 

I know, I said this week was all about Gaga and Lisa Mitchell. But really, the week should belong to Sarah Blasko.

 

Last Friday I attended the announcement of the 2009 Australian Music Prize. For those of you who aren’t aware of the AMP, it has been modelled on the Mercury Prize from the UK and is designed to celebrate “outstanding creativity” for albums “released in that year”. The winner receives a $30,000 grant and a pretty decent media campaign to help them out. Since its inception in 2005, the award has gone to The Drones, Augie March, The Mess Hall and Eddie Current Suppression Ring, all of whom are male (except the bass player from the Drones) and mostly Melbourne-based (except Mess Hall, I think…).

 

It’s a great idea and certainly worthy of support. If only it would stick to it’s charter…

 

There was an audible and collective gasp from the attendees at the announcement when Lisa Mitchell’s “Wonder” was awarded the prize. Not that it isn’t a good album or that Lisa isn’t a worthwhile contender…it’s just that the album isn’t “outstanding”. It’s pretty and kind of slight and whimsical… but “outstanding” it ain’t.

 

Now, I have been on my high horse for almost twelve months, banging on about Sarah Blasko’s “As Day Follows Night” album. I gave it a first mention in Fog Blog #7 in June 2009, then a pre-ARIA nomination mention in #16 and then my official Album of The Year prediction for the ARIA’s in Fog Blog #20.

 

Why? Because it shows enormous growth as an artist from her previous two albums, it displays a depth of song-writing that we don’t see a lot of here in Australia (ie. both deeply personal AND authentic) and it is musically head and shoulders above most Australian albums from any year, let alone those released in 2009.

 

So why didn’t she win? Well… there are a number of theories…the best one being from this article that goes into more detail about how Sarah was robbed than I am here in the Fog Blog. It’s a great read and I am compelled to agree with pretty much all of it.