Someone's Finally Talking Syncing At BIGSOUND

EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SYNC

Proving the point of the forum, that the music industry has finally realised the importance of syncing, the 'Synchronicity' presentation drew more than a full house. With every seat in the room taken, conference delegates are sprawled on floors or squeezing in for wall space to lean on.

Facilitator Rick Chazan (Ground Control Music Management) pushed panelists for examples of syncing success stories. Michael Nieves of Sugaroo Music (US) cited a recent example of Neko Case having a nine-year old song go to number two on iTunes within days of being used on an episode of True Blood.

Isabel Pappani of undercover tracks (US) used Powderfinger as an example of how a TV show sync can boost sales for a band. She placed the band's track Drifting Further Away on an episode of Grey's Anatomy and the song scored 10,000 downloads in the days after the episode aired. Pappani said that well-placed syncs can lead to “amazing back-end royalties.” She added, “It's the gift that keeps on giving.”

However, Pappani also warned of how to approach syncing. She cited a case of an Australian band signing off on placement of one of their songs without mentioning they had used a sample in it. It ended in a lawsuit and industry folk never trusting that act again.

Unfortunately the chance for any further industry goss was undercut when the panel went into hypothetical mode. Educational maybe, and humourous at points, but lacking the kinda dirt us vultures down the back were feeding off.

INTO THE VALLEY - BIGSOUND NIGHT 1

After a day of conferences and schmoozing in the Judith Wright Centre elevators, the evening starts at the NZ Music Commission Party in Baker Lane. Arriving midway through the event, it's beyond a pleasant surprise to discover that NZ's The Adults features not only Shihad's Jon Toogood but Shayne Carter of legendary Flying Nun outfit Straitjacket Fits. Both gents bring something of their past to the stage, creating a rockgazey that could find fans glancing up from their shoes.

Unassuming trio Street Chant follow. A gob into the audience and a bratty “we're from New Zealand, duh” lands this punkish outfit firmly in the top gigs of the night list. The three smash through a series of wrecking-ball tunes that left this witness demolished but smitten.

At The Aviary, Sydney's The Laurels drenched a rammed room with an intense sonics and floppy mops of hair. If it's time for a Ride revival – we're ready. Jackson Firebird followed and set out to prove that that they wanna be the toughest power rock duo in the year of power rock duos. Improv'd percussion items are thrashed, vocals are screamed and guitar is thoroughly pummelled.

The next hour is a blur of folk rock harmonies supplied by Split Seconds at the Black Bear Lodge, prog rock drama from Redcoats at a packed out Woodland Bar and the uplifting indie pop of The Cairos at Electric Playground.

Back at Woodland, Blue Mountains band Belles Will Ring prove once again that there are few bands better to see live in this country at the moment. Their blissful update of jangly Byrds pop is a pure delight to behold. Whether it's the big halls they recently played on tour with Pulp or intimate venues like tonight, the Belles ring out into every corner of the room and draw you into their melodic tales.

Over in Electric Playground again, the room is quickly filling out for Velociraptor (pictured) – the most-buzzed about gig of the evening. And it's not just the fact that this 12-piece (was it 12? kinda lost count…) counts the very hot DZ Deathrays among its numbers, word was out that this band's show is a health risk. And yep, their garagey enthusiasm saw tambourine fl into the face of one audience member at the start of the gig and a mid-air collision between singer and guitarist toward the end of the gig. It seemed there was no blood drawn though. The band's sound lands somewhere between The Revillos and 13th Floor Elevators with a nod to '80s garage greats such as Olympic Sideburns (well, that was one our fave '80s garage greats…) and their calamitous stage show leaves you feeling that the world is their's to conquer if the can find the audiences to handle it as well as tonight's full house did.

INTO THE VALLEY - BIGSOUND NIGHT 2

There is a major difference between the first and second nights of BIGSOUND this year, and that is the numbers. There are numerous long queues and quite a few times when venues seem filled to sardine status. Normally this is annoying, but here it isn't even a minor irritation as there's something reassuring about seeing so many local bands pulling full houses.

Speaking of local bands… the night starts with New Zealanders again. In fact, it starts with Street Chant again. Just to make sure that the first night's viewing wasn't coloured by the excitement of the event (you know how it can be…). So it's a relief to be able to report that, yes indeed the three-piece punk outfit is FUCKEN BRILLIANT.

At The Aviary the scent of sweaty ass was counter-balanced by the sweet sounds of Little Scout. And despite their set slowly but surely drawing an ever-increasing crowd in and making the room ever-so hotter, the sparkling set was well worth sticking out.

Walking down from the Aviary to Bakery Lane you could already see the line that had formed for the DZ Deathrays, the hottest band on this year's line-up. Getting into the gig meant witnessing tensions rise as punters desperately tried every trick in the book to get in. The NME-vaunted power thrash twosome played a typically corker set although it did seem a tad on the quiet side.

Melbourne's The Dead Leaves possess a remarkable frontman in Matt Joe Gow. With pin-up good looks and a killer songwriting talent, he also has a voice reminiscent of the great Lloyd Cole. The band's set at Electric Playground sometimes finds the players overwhelming Gow, but when the balance is right you get the feeling that mainstream success will be their's once they get pounding on the live circuit.

Youngsters San Cisco may have been shaken by the occasion. Running late and seemingly nervous the Freo band's live set lacked the polish and playfulness of their recorded work. But there is no doubting, by the size of crowd they pull to the Unearthed stage at Woodland Bar that they are gonna a lot of chances to tighten their live set between now and next BIGSOUND.

Unable to get into the full house that was Oscar + Martin, completely opposite in sound The Getaway Plan seemed like a good option. Showcasing new material to a full house of fans (little industry to be seen here), the Plan seem to be displaying a more melodic side and their followers are happily lapping it up.

Back to The Aviary (where the aircon seems to have calmed things down a bit), newly signed to Dew Process Mosman Alder are sporting big numbers as well. And while Adler produce that verging-on-folk vibe that indie bands and Triple J currently love, however it's singer Valdis Valodze's voice that makes them stand above the rest. And yes, it's a big call but Valodze's voice definitely has a Walkeresque quality to it.

Pluto Jonze electrosoul translates much better on stage at Ric's than it has yet in its studio forays. And it's so good to see a theremin in use for more than novelty value.

But the BIG moment of the night came in the form of Gold Coast garage trio Bleeding Knees Club (pictured). These guys' Punx-like sound has been impressive on record but this was a first-time for seeing them live. And they smashed it. BKC are without doubt the best local shit going at this point in time (and I swear I've not said that about anyone else in the past 48 hours…. except maybe Belles Will Ring). BKC fuck around and even fuck things up but hey, that's punk. What matters here is that everyone's having fun and this fan had wads of fun.

The night end's with a strange one, KING KSSR – the solo-ish project of ex-The Scare frontman Kiss Reid. At first it just seems like another indie hipster wanting to be Crystal Castles but somewhere in set it became clear there were songs and talent amidst the late '90s trance borrowings and occasional early house riffs. Reid looms large on stage, emoting and sweating equally as the drummer played the kinda precise beats you normally expect from electronics (that's a compliment for any drummer purists who might take that the other way).

And suddenly it was all over.