BMA Magazine 414 March 26 2013 by BMA Magazine

Inside: Pete Murray yacht+NaNtes they Might Be giaNts bmaMag.coM

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Local MC/Producer Big Dave Collaborates with Snoop Dogg

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and globally and to inspire innovative pathways for the future of the Australian Theatre Industry. If you’re between the ages of 16 and 30 and this sounds like something you or your art could benefit from, visit watershed.cytc.net before Friday April 5 to register for a heavily subsidised rate of $50.

Canberra Youth Theatre to Host National Theatre Summit

The Forest Comes to Dunsinane

In association with Young People in the Arts Australia, Centenary of Canberra and the Australia Council for the Arts, Canberra Youth Theatre is proud to welcome the brightest emerging artists from across Australia for watershed: The National Theatre Summit for Young and Emerging Artists. The National Theatre Summit is a biennial event, providing an immersive three days of professional development for emerging theatre artists and theatre makers across the country. This year, from Thu-Sat April 11-13, it will take place right here in Gorman House Arts Centre. watershed is an inspiring three days of master classes, panel discussions, workshops and performances with interstate and international guest artists, to unlock untapped ideas, exploring new possibilities to connect locally, nationally

How far do semi-obvious Shakespeare references go nowadays? Probably far enough. Anyway, that misleading headline is meant to allude to the fact that German band Ten Volt Shock (who hail from The Black Forest, Germany) are coming to The Phoenix Bar on Thursday April 4 and have snapped up local band Revellers in support. So that headline is deeply misleading. Anyway, Ten Volt Shock are a fiercely independent band and have now played countless tours throughout Europe, the UK and the USA. Playing alongside the likes of Obits, Melt Banana, A-Frames, McLusky, and Vaz, and with releases spanning 12 indie labels since 2001 (they make friends for life), the band are now coming to Oz. Check out their stuff at tenvoltshock. bandcamp.com and get down to the show at 9pm to catch them live.

Megalo Print Studio Celebrates 33 Years of Totally Awesome Posters Megalomania is a book – and quite some book, at 156 pages in length – set to be released by Megalo Print Studio, the home of DIY printing in the ACT since 1980. Megalomania sets out to span the years from 1980 to 2013 and is a picture of a community in action – every social issue you can think of and some you’d never dream of have been mapped on posters in the ACT and, for the first time ever, they’re all in one place. Brutal, humourous and always informative, the posters portray issues which often still are of concern and interest to residents of Canberra. Sourced from the Megalo archive of

Big Dave’s attempt to convince the other ne’er-do-wells that shiny grey Italian leather shoes were for ballers did not go as planned.

This issue, a full fifth of our magazine is not by us! Can you say, ‘day drunk’? #414MARCH27

Tales of success in Canberra – the kind of success that didn’t originate in Canberra and bloom elsewhere but which is wholly this city’s to claim – are rare. In recent years, few people have been struggling so determinedly and unrelentingly to achieve that kind of success as David ‘Big Dave’ Parsons. As founder of KokyPrik Records, he has masterminded visits to this city by Ice Cube, Xzibit, KRS-One, D12 and more. As KP Records’ principal MC, though, he has set his sights even higher. After forging connections throughout the world of hip hop, late last year Big Dave released his debut LP, Self Made, which has just been picked up for national distribution by MGM Distribution. As part of this deal, a bonus track has been added to the album that sees Big Dave, local producer Grantwho, and Ministry of Sound sound engineer Sameer Sengupta collaborating with Snoop Dogg (aka Snoop Lion). The track, The Original, will drop on Thursday April 4, with the single hitting the air a few days earlier. BMA wishes Big Dave – and every Canberran musician working as hard as he has – every bit of luck.

over 500 posters, Megalomania is an amazing pictorial record of life in the national capital of Australia. You can find out more about the book at megalo.org and buy a copy from Megalo Print Studio + Gallery, 49 Phillip Ave, Watson, or from Paperchain Bookstore in Manuka.

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FROM THE BOSSMAN When the last Canberra weekend in March finished, a kind of ‘ahhhhhh!’ sound was heard arcing over the sky, a most unusual sonic rarity. It has since been discovered that the noise was the huge collective sigh of relief from 380,000 Canberrans realising this dynamic, exciting and rousing month of celebration... Is finally fucking over. Every member of the entertainment industry I have encountered recently - be they performer, curator, MC, promoter or member of the Centenary team - have looked like they could successfully audition for a minor role in The Walking Dead. It’s been a tiring time, for us too. I for one feel relief coursing through my body like heroin as - thanks to you sexy, sexy peeps that came out for it - we successfully launched our BMA Mag Exhibition on Friday March 22 at Canberra Contemporary Art Space (CCAS) Gorman House. It greedily gobbled up hours of valuable magazine/ family time. If you find your life going at an infuriatingly laconic pace with your health generally copasetic and sporting a face horrifically unscathed by lines or wrinkles, then I heartily recommend running a fortnightly magazine whilst putting on an exhibition showcasing over 1000 pieces of gig memorabilia. It does away with that stubborn youthful complexion in a jiffy. Walking into the splendid CCAS on the Monday morning - just moments after the previous exhibition Bad Girls had finished packing up - we were met with an intimidating sight for a group about to pop their curation cherry. Affectionately known as The Tardis, CCAS looks but a humble domicile on the outside. Inside you are met by a vast expanse of white. It’s like writer’s block in glorious, terrifying 3D. So much whiteness, so many things to hang... Where the heck to start? Fortunately my dear lady wife is a genius and, like everything in our relationship, took control and eventually we had another event to further clog to calendar with.

YOU PISSED ME OFF! Care to immortalise your hatred in print? Send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and see your malicious bile circulated to thousands. [All entries contain original spellings.] To the fucking macho man dead shit drunkard who thought it would be cool to pick fights with randoms outside Cube in the wee hours of a Saturday morning; the same small-mansydnromed douche bag who headbutted me for no reason; the same utterly void-of-personality gym stain oxygen thief who decided to start shit with my female friend and knock her to the ground giving her a black eye - what is it with fucking pin-dicked losers like you who feel they have something to prove via their biceps whilst fuelled on copious amounts of bitch-piss? You are the reason 4 Corners makes embarrassing exposes on the state of Australia’s binge-drinking and violence. You. You are everything that is wrong with this country. Yes, I have a bad arse scar and look tough now, but I would have preferred to not have a lacerated arteriole in my forehead and would have also preferred my friend to not witness first hand that piece of shit woman bashers are still prevalent in today’s society. I feel sorry for your girlfriend - honey if you’re reading, here’s the number for the 24hr Domestic Abuse Hotline - 02 6280 0900. My friend, I remember faces and your time is coming. Your continued existence pisses me off.

Yes, there was a lot on in March, a helluva lot on. Some would say too much. I certainly would. One doesn’t want to fall into the typical yawnsome Canberra trap of complaining about nothing being on and then never going when there is but the fact remains that there’s simply not enough days in the week for the amount on. Thanks largely to this Exhibition of ours, I didn’t catch a single thing at You Are Here, bar the launch (everyone told me it has been spectacular). I barely caught anything at the Spiegeltent. As a huge fan of comedy I was cruelly denied the Canberra Comedy Festival gala. I did manage to pop into The Village on two occasions (once for MC duties) but I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time there as I’d like. There was Art Not Apart, Enlighten, the birthday celebrations, the multicultural festival just before... And did I mention our Exhibition? Oh, I did? Sorry; I get forgetful when I’m tired. I hope to all buggery that Robyn Archer and her admirable ‘legacy’ angle for the Centenary comes to fruition and we see these wonderful things return. But I move to space out the events so punters have a chance to check them all out. Added to Canberra CBD LTD’s ‘...In The City’ programs we could have Christmas Carnival in the City in December, the Spiegeltent in January, MC Fest in February, You Are Here/Art Not Apart in March, The Village in April, Canberra Comedy Festival in May, Skate in the City in June... Try complaining about Canberra being boring then. I realise timing dictates these things being on a particular time, but hey... A guy can dream. Only next year will tell. Speaking of dreaming, I’m off to scull a pint of vodka and have a long overdue passout. Our Exhibition is on until April 6. Check check-check check check a check it out. ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com

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WHO: Katie Wighton WHAT: Lounge Room Tour WHEN: Sat Mar 30 WHERE: The Front Gallery and Café

With shows in regional Australia and the east coast capitals scheduled to take place in people’s lounge rooms, audiences can expect extremely intimate shows from this stunning singersongwriter. Joining her on this national jaunt will be a stellar line-up of musicians, including Sydney’s Elana Stone on keys and backing vocals, James Gilligan on bass and Miles Thomas and Chris Port alternating drums. Katie’s pertinently titled new EP, You Are Here, is both playful and strikingly solemn. Coupled with her ability to recreate these emotions live, as well as her onstage banter, Katie’s tour is not to be missed. Catch her from 8pm. Door price TBA. katiewighton.com.

WHO: Jake Nauta WHAT: EP Tour WHEN: Sat Apr 6 WHERE: The Loft

Australian singer-songwriter Jake Nauta launches full force into 2013 with the upcoming launch of his next EP and a tour to support. Following the overwhelming response to his debut album, From These Hands, Jake took time out towards the end of 2012 to focus on creating new music. Born from ‘trying to approach songwriting in a new way’, Dawn is a collection of lovingly crafted, sweet melodies, summery vibes and poetic ballads. Dawn, featuring single Love Me Too, is out now via MGM and jakenauta.com. Get a sneak peak of Jake’s latest sounds here: soundcloud.com/jakenauta. 6:30pm. $18 + bf through jakenauta.com.

WHO: Black Breath WHAT: National Tour WHEN: Sun Apr 7 WHERE: The Basement

Black Breath emerged from basements and dive bars in the belly of Bellingham, Washington, in 2005. Bored by the region’s apathy towards trenchant, punishing music, they combined elements of punk and metal with doses of garage rock from their hometown. Their sound is acutely classic without being painfully retro; a ripping blend of Entombed, Celtic Frost, Poison Idea and Discharge. 2012’s Sentenced To Life projects an even more vile, metallic sonic attack than its predecessor, Heavy Breathing. This April the band will make their maiden trip to Australian shores, with Canberra’s I Exist along for the ride. 8pm. Door price TBA.

WHO: Self Is A Seed WHAT: Album Tour WHEN: Thu Apr 11 WHERE: The Basement

After the success of the band’s Gratis EP and Thought You Would single, Self Is A Seed return to the spotlight with the much anticipated release of their full length debut album, Siren. Recorded at Studios 301 and produced with ARIA Award-winner Anton Hagop (Silverchair, Powderfinger), Siren captures a band on the rise. Upfront, raw and loud, this album is a collection of solid grooves, layered with hook-driven guitars that deliver the band’s bite. Their latest release and accompanying tour perfectly exemplifies the band’s great diversity and talent. Catch them with Escape Syndrome and Teal. 8pm. Door price TBA.

WHO: Katie Noonan WHAT: Album Tour WHEN: Fri Apr 12 WHERE: The Abbey

Katie Noonan possesses one of the most loved voices in Australia. Those who have seen her perform know the warmth and depth she conveys vocally is mirrored in her onstage storytelling. Spanning her career to date, her latest album Songbook sees Katie Noonan lie intimate, acoustic re-imaginings of her most loved songs over lush string arrangements. Songbook is launched in conjunction with an actual songbook featuring sheet music, photographs and the stories behind the songs. The Songbook tour will see each song’s inspiration explored onstage. 6:30pm. $30 + bf show/$80 + bf dinner and show through theabbey.com.au.

WHO: Heath Cullen WHAT: Album Tour WHEN: Fri Apr 12 WHERE: The Street Theatre

Heath Cullen returns home from the USA to release his second album, The Still and the Steep. In 2012 a love of American music from the ‘50s and ‘60s led Heath from his home in the hills of southeastern New South Wales, across the seas to the USA and on a pilgrimage through the musical holy land of the American south, collecting stories and sounds with which to build his proverbial ‘difficult’ second album. The resulting work is a joyous, playful and sometimes dangerous celebration. Beyond a reflection of Cullen’s sharp eye and poetic contemplation, this resulting song collection reflects a weary wisdom that seems impossible for his years. 8pm. $25-$35 + bf through thestreet.org.au.

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bRiTisH indian emPiRe sTRiKes baCK bRiTisH indian emPiRe sTRiKes baCK MEL CERATO

Declan Melia, singer-songwriter for Aussie punk rock band BRITISH INDIA, has the air of someone who is in a good place at the moment. No doubt feeling relieved and excited, he is in high spirits about the release of the band’s new album, Controller, and the subsequent tour. From writer’s block, to financial difficulties, to the label that released their last three albums going into receivership, the road to making the band’s fourth album has been a long and tricky one.

depressing songs we’ve written. But Twice In A Lifetime and We Don’t Need Anyone – those songs are both about overcoming those bad vibes and getting our groove back and reaffirming what British India is all about.’ Declan believes the album is both a reflection on the band’s hard times and resilience, as well as a continuation of the sound for which British India is known. ‘It feels like our second act record,’ he says. ‘It took about as long to make as our first one. It does seem like British India mark two, but it is somewhat a continuation of our other records. It is a continuation, but it is probably the most different yet.’

The vibe was down for the first time in our careers; our backs were against the wall. But as we started working we saw the light at the end of the tunnel

‘This is the record that nearly didn’t happen, so we are very thankful to the gods above for letting this album come out; every obstacle was in our way,’ Declan says. To top things off, the studio which the boys had basically called home got flooded and left them without a creative space. After much deliberation, British India got out their tools and built their own.

‘The other studio where we made our first three albums got flooded so we had to uproot and start all over again which was pretty distressing,’ Declan explains. By converting an old shopfront in Melbourne into their very own creative space, Josif K Studios became British India’s new creative home and they set about jamming and writing every weekday. However, it just wasn’t the same to begin with. ‘We are pretty practical people in real life but when it comes to songwriting we get really paranoid and superstitious. We were really nervous about starting in a new place ‘cos we thought we might lose something.’ Unfortunately, their instincts were right, and the new space did nothing to alleviate the obstacles standing in the way of creating a new album. ‘The vibe was terrible at first, everyone was miserable and depressed, we had writers block, didn’t have a label, were really broke, you name it,’ Declan says. ‘The vibe was down for the first time in our careers; our backs were against the wall. But as we started working we saw the light at the end of the tunnel and pulled it together, and really got things done. Then the vibe became quite the opposite: absolutely celebratory,’ he says. ‘As they say, you need to go to the dark to get to the good vibes.’ As a result of the drama that eventually led to happiness, Controller was born. Blending British India’s rock roots with a fresh new perspective, British India’s fourth album will no doubt be received with open arms by the band’s adoring, and patient, fanbase. ‘Some songs have the bad vibes,’ Declan says about the album. ‘For example, I Can Make You Love Me, Summer Forgive Me and Crystals are all pretty depressing numbers – probably the most

After releasing an album, usually the next step for a band is to tour it. And boy, British India is keen to tour. ‘We haven’t done a proper tour in a long time, it’s exciting,’ Declan says. In fact, it was only a few years ago that it seemed like British India were everywhere! Festivals, sideshows and their own tours seemed to be neverending, so it must have been hard to stay put for the band during those few tumultuous years. ‘We are definitely going to make up for lost time,’ Declan laughs. ‘We’ve been spoilt in touring. I mean, the first few years of the band’s career we were just constantly touring, but now we’ve had time off we’ve just been bored out of our minds.’ The 15-date tour will take the boys cross-country over Australia and Declan hinted at a possible regional tour later this year. He is coy about giving away too many details, though, as he explains that the rest of the year is pretty much dependent on how the new album is received. ‘In this line of work and industry, everything is so co-dependent on everything else. For example, we don’t know what we are going to be doing later this year, depending on how the record goes. We certainly hope it’s going to go well, but there is always an X factor with albums as to whether or not they connect with people. We just hope we can continue to make records and make our records more interesting. We are very lucky with this record because we’ve been able to splice together punk songs and more mellow songs, and our audience and fans are willing to hear both from us,’ Declan says. ‘We’d be really excited to carry on in that direction and get stranger and stranger and faster and faster, and if our fans are willing to follow us down that rabbit hole then that’s something we are really excited about,’ he says happily. If the previous albums and live shows are anything to go by, then British India will no doubt have a huge following of people jumping headfirst into that rabbit hole. Catch British India with supports The Love Junkies at ANU Bar on Friday May 3.

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the bigger names on the poster.

A FOOL FOR LANE julia winterflood When he was 18 or 19, JORDIE LANE, now one of the most compelling voices of Australia’s alt-country scene, applied for the National Folk Festival. ‘I put in a pretty bad application. I got knocked back so I never applied again,’ he said with a wry smile. He now has a manager to do the paperwork for him, and at this year’s Folkies Jordie Lane is one of

There would be 100 people in the stairwells, singing their hearts out. Ten-flight stuff!

When I spoke to him he was still revelling in the heady splendour of the 25th Annual International Folk Alliance Conference, held in Toronto, Canada.‘Folk Alliance was so amazing,’ Jordie gushed. ‘We were basically just bailed up in a big hotel. There were 2,000 musicians or something, all selling their wares. We did 16 shows in four days and the earliest we went to bed was 7:30am. There would be 100 people in the stairwells, singing their hearts out. Ten-flight stuff! Everyone would be singing a harmony of a song by Levon Helm or something. It was magical.’ Sounds akin to the Session Bar at Folkies in the wee hours. Jordie Lane released his debut, Sleeping Patterns, to critical acclaim in ‘09. His reedy, resonant voice takes you by the hand and leads you through sepia-toned scenes of ‘70s rock, Americana and barrelling blues. Album highlight I Could Die Looking at You brings it home with a touching tale of a fleeting encounter with the great granddaughter of Clancy of The Overflow. ‘Did you really meet Clancy’s great granddaughter?’ I had to ask, a Banjo fan since childhood. ‘Do you really want to know the answer?’ he said after a pause. ‘I won’t tell you the answer, but let’s just say I didn’t see birth certificates. I just took her word for it.’

For his second album, Blood Thinner, released mid-2011, Jordie paid homage to his hero Gram Parsons by recording on a fourtrack in the room where he died at the Joshua Tree Inn. You can almost hear Gram’s ghost in the whispered laments and rambling road stories, which is why Jordie’s latest single, Fool For Love, a psychedelic ‘70s folk freak-out with gospel choir and big, bouncy keys, throws such a thrilling curveball. Explained Jordie, ‘It was the people around me in LA where we recorded it – they inspired me to be a little more open-minded and not afraid of just going with your instincts or trying something new. Like when you go to a new place, people just sort of judge you for what you are right there and then. There’s a real sense of freedom to have that, so you also judge yourself in that same way. You’re not worried about anything in your past.’ With his beautiful, heart-wrenching ballads and a future direction suggesting more rollicking, soulinflected belters, Jordie Lane’s set in the Budawang is sure to have you both brooding and grooving. The National Folk Festival runs Thu Mar 28-Mon Apr 1 at EPIC. Jordie will appear on the Budawang Stage on Friday March 29, 11am-12pm. For tickets and all the festival info head to folkfestival.org.au.

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LOCALITY

With the advent of the National Folk Festival on Thursday March 28, the last major event in Canberra’s Centenary month of March will begin, and with its end on Monday April 1, so will end what many in Canberra have found to be the most stimulating, exhausting, rewarding and frustrating month in all their time here. Since the beginning of March, Canberrans have been treated to and run ragged by Enlighten, One Big Day, You Are Here, Art, Not Apart, the Canberra Comedy Festival, and, last and least, BMA’s own exhibition, Canberra at Street Level, which continues at Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Gorman House, until Saturday April 6. Just kidding. No one cares about the last thing.

The Folk Festival’s taken an interesting turn this year, with the rearrangement of its internal layout and the grafting of larger acts like Husky and Jordie Lane to bolster numbers. The prices are still exactly what people have come to love griping about, but if you love it, you love it regardless. See folkfestival.org.au for tickets and info. Local artist Julia Boyd is opening her exhibition, Fluidity, on Thursday March 28 at Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Manuka, and launching her own book too. The launch opens at 6pm and you can check this issue’s Artist Profile for reasons to attend. Impro ACT. I don’t really know where they came from or what exactly they do but they’re having a ‘showcase’ at Casino Canberra from Fri-Sun April 5-7. There’ll be a heap of short plays and, I would imagine, some heavy improvisation. I won’t be attending because improvisation makes me deeply uncomfortable as it is life’s version of intensely awkward comedy, but if you’re into it head to impro. com.au for info and tickets.

YOU MADE MY DAY!

Email editorial@bmamag.com to send a message of gratitude, warmth and generosity to the world at large. AWWW. Listening to 2XX FM’s awesome coverage of the You Are Here festival has made my day. I don’t get a lot of time to visit all the events, but being able to have the radio show on at work, and listening to the recording of some of the YAH events was fantastic!! I particularly loved listening to Rosanna Stevenson’s medley of teen pop songs. So I want to give two thumbs up. One thumbs up to the awesome local content on 2XX FM, and the other, to the entertaining adventure that is the You Are Here festival.

Sunday April 7 sees Minh playing the next instalment of Sunday Best @ A Bite to Eat Café. If you’re one of these yuppie muppets who’s recently begun using the phrase ‘I love tapas’ like it means something, they have a tapas happy hour as well as a regular happy hour so head along at 5pm. Entry is free. 2XX’s Local n Live are responsible for the line-up at Monday April 8’s Bootleg Sessions at The Phoenix Bar. I haven’t seen any of the acts on offer – Party Gravy, Nozl, Moon Landing and Kid of Harith – but I trust the people involved and so should you. Entry is free from 8pm – as always. Green Drinks is a multinational internet-based organisation dedicated to the idea that ‘green’ people (intended to mean people interested in sustainability and the environment, but which deserves a liberal interpretation) would benefit from getting together to share a drink every month. Green Drinks Canberra has been inactive for a while but will meet for the first time in a while at Wig & Pen on Tuesday April 9 at 5:30pm. All welcome. And finally, the next Acoustic Soup at the ANU Food Co-op will take place on Wednesday April 10. The musicians are yet to be revealed but the food is no such diva. Entry is $8 for members/students and $10 for everyone else. Get in from 7:30-10pm. And that’s everything local I care about. ASHLEY THOMSON - editorial@bmamag.com

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DON’T ROCK THE YACHT alistair erskine ‘We don’t live there anymore, and we no longer show people where we live actually,’ laughs Jonah Bechtolt of YACHT. His band used to start performances by a live hook-up to an online atlas that would show how far they had travelled to be there, and then invite people to come and visit them in Portland sometime. Claire L. Evans, his bandmate since 2008, chimes in, ‘These teenagers just turned up one day and we knew we had to stop telling people where we lived. So now that we live in LA, that’s all we tell people, especially when we try and be so inclusive.’

These teenagers just turned up one day and we knew we had to stop telling people where we lived

Yacht have put their last two albums out on the amazing DFA record label, first garnering some love with their indie-electro crossover album See Mystery Lights, then more with 2011’s Shangri-La, a wonderful musical exploration into the band’s overriding hypothetical philosophies and dreams, backed with some seriously catchy beats. Claire explains, ‘We have always had a want to meld, explore and create a character around this band that is more than just the music, and so often have tried to create that with support materials like The Secret Teaching Of The Mystery Lights, which was a slim volume we would sell at shows and have now made into an e-book. With ShangriLa we allowed our thinking about philosophies and metaphysical ideas to mould more into the musical side, and that’s why it can be seen as a little preachy, I think.’ Jonah agrees, ‘If we can create and engage our audiences with the ideas we have been discussing with each other, then the music and the show takes on a whole other life of its own.’ And they do – the rapturous response the band got at the Meredith Music Festival in 2009 when they last toured here is something now etched in the folklore of that southern festival. Why haven’t they been back? ‘We have just been waiting for someone to ask!’ Claire exclaims. ‘These days, it’s not just the two of us; we bring along a band and have a whole bunch of extra musicians.’ What instruments specifically? In unison, both Jonah and Claire yell, ‘All of them!’ and I have a feeling they might not be kidding that much. ‘It’s a remarkable opportunity for us. We get to see more of your wonderful country and when we saw that line-up we were blown away – it’s really, really good!’ Jonah enthuses. I ask if their philosophies have shifted at all in the few years since Shangri-La, and Claire answers, ‘We want to include everyone and make them realise they are individuals who can choose to be part of a collective. Or choose not to. Getting to pose that in the new places is the best.’ Yacht will play at Groovin’ The Moo at the University of Canberra on Sunday April 28. Tickets are $99.90 from Moshtix.

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BIG FRIENDLY GIANTS

ANOTHER NIGHT IN. . .

alistair erskine

CHris downton

There are no bands as funny, as catchy and as wonderfully silly as THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS. Entertaining, original and possibly educational, the Johns (John Flansburgh and John Linnell) are coming to regional centres for the Groovin’ The Moo tour. Amidst the heatwave in February, John Linnell calls from the frozen east coast of America and starts off with a warning: ‘I am having my furnace repaired as we speak – it’s currently 30 degrees, which would be about zero in your temperature, and so you must understand, this furnace needs to get fixed, so please forgive any our ke We try and ma interruption due n music for childre to noise.

While Sydney synth-rock five-piece NANTES (pronounced ‘Narnts’) have experienced a rapid rise in profile since the release of their debut self-titled EP at the end of 2011, it’s an ascent that’s happened on their own terms. After that EP’s single Fly became a breakout hit, being used by triple j for their Unearthed Radio campaign and even turning up on US and UK playlists, it wasn’t long before a band that originally started simply as a recording exercise was being asked to play major festivals like Big Day Out. If anything, Nantes’ highly anticipated debut album BeingsBeing, out this month, seems set to take them to an even bigger audience and sees the band balancing a deft grasp of pop hooks with richly atmospheric synthetic textures reminiscent of Joy Division or The Cure.

as un-educational as possible – we believe kids are entitled to pure entertainment

‘The wildest tour They Might Be Giants ever did, our last great journey felt like it culminated at the end of our last Australian tour.’ Back then it was amazing. The band would play songs from all of their many albums and anthologies and include fun things, where they would turn on a radio and start playing along with whatever frequency they found first. ‘These days, we no longer play “spin the dial”. Now, we have included a puppet show as a nice way to break the set up, and we project the puppets on the wall behind us so everyone can see.’ In the last decade, They Might Be Giants have released four children’s albums, three adult releases, provided many a song to soundtracks and won awards for tailoring audio best played through telephones. ‘We try and make our music for children as un-educational as possible – we believe kids are entitled to pure entertainment. We secretly felt it was always our duty to make the music as un-irritating as possible. Children’s music gets played over and over and that can drive you nuts, especially on a long car ride, so we felt the focus should be more on giving it repeat listens than specifically being focused on learning.’ A noble cause, for which I’m sure many a parent is thankful.

It really does feel like the last call for big record labels

When I catch up with founding member, songwriter and lead vocalist David Rogers via phone, he immediately confirms that creating this sense of cohesive atmosphere was a big priority during writing and recording. ‘We really tried to create a constant mood behind everything,’ he explains. ‘With a lot of the synthetic textures, we created the sounds before the songs were finished and sometimes that fed back into the writing of the songs. With a track like Awayk/Dream for example, we wrote the song and then added the textures, and that changed the actual writing of the song.’ He also agrees that it’s often hard to tell where the live instruments and electronics end, pointing to new single Avid as an example of the band cutting and reassembling the live drums to give them a robotic feel. ‘Me and [engineer] Simon Todkill produce everything and we really want to be a band that pushes and progresses, experiments with different textures and doesn’t play it safe. We don’t want to be a one-tone band; we want to go a lot of different places.’

‘You will have to excuse the noise, they are repairing the furnace,’ John interjects. I let him know it’s actually not too bad and he muses, ‘... mostly bass tones, filtered through floorboards. Actually, I can see how much of that noise wouldn’t carry over the phone to Australia. Very fortunate.’

Another thing marking Nantes apart from a lot of their peers is their insistence on self-contained self-sufficiency, releasing music on their own Deadhand label and handling all audio and video production within the core band unit, lead guitarist Josiah Eastwood being responsible for all the band’s music videos to date.

Does the band still have time perform from their classic albums, like Flood or Apollo 18? ‘We are perfectly happy to play the old favourites, so we form one third of a set from the Flood era, one third from the new releases and a further third of incredibly obscure B-sides to sate the obsessive fans at each show,’ he laughs. ‘Also if we ever do a second show in a city, we make that a Flood show, where we play that album in full.’ Promoters, bookers and TMBG fans, I’m pretty sure you know what to do: make it happen. It will be amazing.

‘We want to do it the way we want to do it,’ replies David when asked about the band’s independent stance. ‘We like not being forced to do things, and we like having our own control over what we do. Having Jos makes it easier to do our videos, though at the same time we’re not opposed to be working with other people on videos in the future. We’re in a climate at the moment where it’s almost impossible to get on a big label, and when you do, they could dump you in the next six months. It really does feel like the last call for big record labels.’

They Might Be Giants are playing at Groovin The Moo at the University of Canberra on Sunday April 28. Tickets are $99.90 + bf through Moshtix.

Nantes hit Transit Bar alongside Battleships on Thursday April 11, 8pm. Tickets are $18.40 through Moshtix.

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NOT SO BLUE, AFTER ALL SINEAD O’CONNELL PETE MURRAY, the man we associate with waves, sand and lazy days in the summer, leaves us hanging no longer with his divinely emblematic new album, Blue Sky Blue: The Byron Sessions. Featuring the soulful Fantine, as well as favourites Bernard Fanning, Ash Grunwald, Scott Owen (The Living End), Busby Marou, Darren Middleton (Powderfinger) and Katie Noonan, the album is an unparalleled artistic composition on the Australian acoustic scene. As the rain poured down on the other end of the line in Byron Bay, Murray hurriedly chowed down some brekkie and humbly apologised for the surrounding noise. He talked about his organic writing process and his ability to observe his constantly changing surroundings. ‘I just write about whatever is going on with me at that time. Things I’m feeling or thinking, or what I see happening around me.’

I just write about whatever is going on with me at that time

It was the humbleness of his words and the tone of his voice that validated this authenticity. Being signed to Sony at age 32, he admitted he was ‘enjoying being an independent artist’ but needed the income to support his other endeavours. Once a rugby man, then a natural medicine student, and now a musician, it is hard to imagine this modest man on the phone was actually Pete Murray, a man who’s sold millions of albums during the span of his lucrative musical career. (It is also noteworthy that his first three full-length albums reached number one on the Australian music charts.) Blue Sky Blue, unlike some of his previous albums, like Feeler and See The Sun, seems more redemptive – as if the album itself is, like him, a veteran of overcoming adversity. The cause for redemption may be due to the fact he’s been lucky enough to spend the last several years in Byron, reading, writing, singing, surfing and making music. Alternatively, it is the result of a divorce with his ex-wife in 2009. In the aftermath of the breakup Murray has been subject to the stigma surrounding the relationship of the album to his ex. However, one only need listen to the lyrics and hear the vibe of the album to realise there is quite a separation of man and his depressive alter-ego. Blue Sky Blue remains quite clear of the breakup void. In fact, it appears rather the opposite – uplifting and calming, retrospective and reconciled. The busy musician has been dashing around the country, back and forth to Byron, and overseas to LA for recording. So, too, is he preparing for his biggest Australian tour yet, which saves little for spare time. Blue Sky Blue is a more serious testament to this man behind the guitar, with more electricity and contributors; the album has morphed into something quite unexpected. It champions love and love lost and gives light to those who, like him, may have been in the dark for a while. Pete Murray will play a sold-out show with Nathan Kaye at The Abbey on Thursday April 11, 8pm. For those who missed out on tickets, you can grab a copy of Blue Sky Blue: The Byron Sessions out now through Sony.

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DANCE THE DROP

Sex sells. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t have things such as edible underwear, blow-up sheep, silicon butt implants or the ‘so horrible that it’s watchable’ C-grade television show, VIP. Does sex also play a role in the clubbing industry? 99.9% of orange-skinned clubbers between the ages of 18 and 18-and-a-half say, ‘Yes lol’. I tend to agree. I would go so far as to say that the entire industry is built on it. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised that if we were to look beneath every club in the world we would find that their foundations were made of a saucy mix of composted marital aids, jungle lube and leopard print hotpants. Nightclubs are a sexual sanctuary where dance music is the matchmaker; it cajoles our senses, tears down our inhibitory walls and – let’s face it – without the help of dance music in some form or another, we would most probably all still be virgins. One of the sexiest records of 2013 is definitely Baauer’s Harlem Shake. This little babymaker has taken the world by storm, mainly in the form of countless viral videos shot by everyone from fire fighters, soldiers, US TV stars and a fat kid. Far from being a one hit wonder, Baauer is one of the most accomplished trap superstars on the planet and, thanks to Subsquad, you can get up close and shaky with him on Thursday April 25 at The Clubhouse. No one does it like The Stanton Warriors. These champion partystarters have been rinsing dance floors all over the world for well over a decade. Trinity Bar have managed to secure the services of the UK duo on ‘Easter Eve’ Thursday March 28. Fellow English producer Gemini has also been added to the bill so you really have no excuse now, do you? A lot of debate has been raging in social media circles recently about what exactly ‘the Melbourne sound’ is and who it originated from. Young upstart Will Sparks could certainly lay claim to being one of the strongest advocates of its most recent incarnation, with a slew of successful releases under his belt, including Beatport and Aria number ones. You can catch his trademark bangers at Academy on Friday April 5. Chiselled techno wonder boy Shaolin took a few moments away from his narcissistic addiction to basketball singlets to deliver a musical roundhouse kick to the cheek with this week’s Drop Top 5. Australia – Techno Music (Original Mix) [Motorik] – A really good remake of a really good track on a really good label. Pilo – Forte Inductance (Original Mix) [Turbo] – This guy is blowing up in a big way and it’s easy to see why with a track like this. Love playing this one out. KiNK – Express (Original Mix) [Rush Hour] – Every single track KiNK brings out is pure gold, pure vibes. Jimmy Edgar – Sex Drive (Jon Convex Remix) [Hotflush] – Such a sleazy/fun track – the vocals are perfect for a 4am bump ‘n’ grind. Diafrix – Helicopter (Ajax Remix) [Sweat It Out] – A great remix by the man who got me into DJing in the first place; a pure icon in the Australian scene. RIP, dance legend! TIM GALVIN - tim.galvin@live.com.au

THE REALNESS Congratulations and big ups to Hermitude on recently receiving the Australian Music Prize for their fourth studio album, HyperParadise. The Blue Mountains duo faced tough competition to claim the revered award, with the final shortlist including the likes of Urthboy, Daily Meds and Tame Impala. The Australian Music Prize had the following to say about the album: ‘HyperParadise is Hermitude hitting the bull’s eye of their artistic vision; a beautifully inventive record of future beats and electronica.’ Not only is it awesome to see a hip hop artist take out this award, but to see three of the top nine albums shortlisted from hip hop artists, it is evident how far the artform has progressed in the Australian music industry. Hopefully you didn’t sleep on Oddisee and Olivier Daysoul’s visit to the capital earlier this month at Transit Bar. The pair but on a thoroughly entertaining live performance with Olivier’s guitar adding an extra dimension to their show. To the promoters: Please keep bringing quality gigs to the capital. Speaking of gigs, it shouldn’t be too late to get yourself to Zierholz @ UC on Thursday March 28 to catch Spit Syndicate. The Sydneysider duo will be touring off the back of their recently released third studio album, Sunday Gentlemen. Unless you were in hibernation during the month of February, you would have come across the numerous posts for the anniversary of the passing of the late great J Dilla. However, you may have missed a couple of interesting projects that will help complete your J Dilla collection. Long-time J Dilla associate and friend Frank Nitt of Frank N Dank fame, is putting together the Lost Scrolls album, which features all new J Dilla beats and vocals. Frank has released a sneak peak of the album via the Music From The Lost Scrolls 10” vinyl, which is available now via Fat Beats Records website. Don’t put that credit card away just yet. Pay Jay Productions, J Dilla’s own production and publishing company, have announced the release of J Dilla’s long lost vocal album, The Diary. The release date hasn’t been confirmed yet, but you can get your hands on the 12” vinyl of the first single Anthem b/w Trucks via rappcats.com. Production on both tracks is handled by J Dilla and also features his vocals, with the hard-hitting Anthem featuring Frank N Dank. Keeping with the single theme, London’s Blunted Astronaut Records are marking the one-year anniversary passing of legendary recording artist Jimmy Castors with a very special limited edition 7” vinyl. They have teamed up with DJ Doom and Nutso to pay tribute to the B-Boy anthem It’s Just Begun. The 7” takes its name from the original break and also features Large Professor, Tony Touch and El Da Sensei. Don’t delay – head to the Blunted Astronaut website and get up on the pre-order before they sell out! Punchline fans will be excited about the coming together of the Demigodz crew (Apathy, Celph Title, Esoteric, Ryu, Blacastan and Motive) with only their second studio project since 2002. KILLmatic is available in stores now. Closer to home, be on the lookout for The Tongue latest, Surrender to Victory, slated for release Friday March 29. BERT POLE - bertpole@hotmail.com

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IN THEIR SUNDAY BEST jade fosberry Sydney’s SPIT SYNDICATE embodies everything that’s good in the world of Aussie hip hop. Jimmy Nice and Nick Lupi clearly have a story to tell and they do this through their brilliantly poetic third LP, Sunday Gentlemen. I had a chat to Jimmy about the inspiration behind their new record and its tour, which kicks off in Canberra at the end of March.

If you believe it enough to say it in conversation with a friend, there’s enough there to make a song

Listening to the duo’s seamless musical charisma, it’s not surprising that they’ve been making music together since high school. ‘We used to jig school and go to a friend’s place. He had a little computer mic and we would record the verses that we’d written and it just kind of went on from there.’ From Year 9 to now, the boys have matured in so many ways, from their musical abilities to the way they see the world. Sunday Gentlemen is testament to that growth. ‘I think we’ve got a better ear now and I think that’s from being around people like Nick and Adit from Horrorshow and the boys from Jackie Onassis. Before, I wouldn’t have paid too much attention to the process, whereas this time I really wanted to know how it all worked in an effort to make me better and make my ears more efficient.’ The album tackles some complex themes, from politics to the choices young people make, and everything in between. Jimmy talked me through the inspiration behind some of these songs. ‘I think that if you believe it enough to say it in passing conversation with a friend, then there’s enough there to make a song out of. Because usually if you think it, chances are a lot of people your age will relate. I think that’s the driving force behind our songs, we want it to be honest and personal and for the listener to get a little insight into who we are and what we stand for.’ The title of Sunday Gentlemen describes the album and the boys perfectly. They took the idea from a book by Irving Wallace, a writer who worked all week but dedicated his Sundays to his passion of writing. The boys understand what it’s like to have to juggle artistic pursuits with the things you need to do to survive. But they’re able to do it well and have produced something truly amazing in the process. ‘I think we’ve both got a real great drive to want to be good at something. We’ve got a lot of faith in our ability and we want to be recognized. There are a million people out there that are super talented and believe in themselves but may not have the financial stability or time to focus on their craft. So it’s an album for us, but definitely for anyone else feeling the same.’ Jimmy and Nick are bringing their Sunday Gentlemen tour to Zierholz @ UC on Thursday March 28 with Jackie Onassis and Raw City Rukus. Doors open at 8pm, tickets are $18.40 through Oztix.

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METALISE RIPs for two columns in a row is pretty grim, but this past fortnight original Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr passed away at 56 years young, having battled multiple sclerosis for many years. While on a bummer note, though not nearly as tragic, The Darkness has cancelled their forthcoming Australian tour due to illness of drummer Ed Graham. This also means there is no Joan Jett & the Blackhearts shows either. Onto more positive news, OM have announced an Australian tour for May this year, taking in five shows nationwide, but Canberra isn’t one of them. Never fear, a short trek to the Annandale Hotel on Thursday May 9 will see you right to see the two-piece who have evolved quite a bit from their minimalist period, as demonstrated on last year’s Advaitic Songs, which introduced some more Middle Eastern themes, female vocals and other instrumentation. You can purchase tickets from Oztix for around 40 bucks. Municipal Waste dates have been confirmed for this winter thanks to our mates at Heathen Skulls Touring. No Canberra show this time unfortunately, but the band hit Sydney on Sunday June 16 at The Hi Fi, next to the Sydney Showgrounds. Check the awesome You’re Cut Off clip on YouTube. Awesome band and welcome visitors to the country! Speaking of welcome visitors, a band you only have to travel to The Basement in Belconnen to see are Southern Lord label legends Black Breath. The killer Seattle five-piece will bring the material from Razor to Oblivion, Heavy Breathing and last year’s Sentenced to Life to town on Sunday April 7. Also along are locals I Exist and Hygiene. I Exist label Resist Records has also announced the band has scored a one-month tour of Europe in July. Also announced on triple j’s The Racket last fortnight was the Hate Across Australia tour featuring current Australian deathcore darlings Thy Art Is Murder, with Cattle Decapitation, King Parrot and Aversions Crown making up the rest of the package. They sparked a bit of controversy on The Racket homepage with host Lochlan Watt a bit incredulous as to why so many people were questioning TAIM headlining over CD. I’ve always been a bit optimistic about metal in Australia, but it’s pretty clear the attitude that metal music has to come from overseas to be good is still a big hurdle for Aussie bands to overcome. Of course, that doesn’t stop metal being made, no matter where people hail from. Take The Black Wreath from Alice Springs, who are doing a festival out there on Saturday March 30. The show dubbed Blacken The Earth is going to be streamed on their website if you’d like to give the guys a bit of support: facebook. com/BlackenTheGlobe. Guantanamo School of Medicine, fronted by Dead Kennedys legend Jello Biafra, are coming to Australia for a run of seven shows in May, with a Sydney date at Metro Theatre on Saturday May 18 with The Hard-Ons and Zeahorse. A bit further down the track is the return of Swedish lords Soilwork with a five-show Aussie tour announced for October thanks to Metropolis Touring. The band are at Manning Bar on Thursday October 3. JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

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ALL AGES Hey folks! Let’s all go on an Easter egg hunt, but instead of finding chocolate eggs, we’ll find all age gigs! Much rarer than said chocolate egg, but definitely more delicious and lower in calories. This Easter Bunny-themed column was inspired by two things: First, my love of little furry mammals, and second, this joke: Q: How do you catch the Easter Bunny? A: Hide behind a tree and make carrot noises. But back to this gig hunt, where do we start looking? I’m not sure, but I know eggs marks the spot. Q: What did the Easter Bunny say when he found out that The Lane Cove, Ocean Grove, and Here’s to Hoping were playing at the Lanyon Youth Centre? A: Eggsellent. He even thought he might take the afternoon off on Sunday March 31 to see it. His only request was that Here’s to Hoping immediately amend the obvious spelling error in the word ‘hopping’. The doors will open at 3pm, where tickets can be bought for $10. All proceeds will be going towards the Black Dog Institute. Q: What kind of movies do bunnies like? A: One’s with hoppy endings. Speaking of movies and the arts, are you a young emerging artist aged 16-30? If you answered yes, you can now register to be a part of watershed, the National Theatre Summit for Young and Emerging Artists. The summit will feature workshops, seminars, discussions and performances for professional development in this career path. It runs for three days between Thu-Sat April 11-13 at Gorman House Arts Centre. The cost is $50 and registrations close Friday April 5. To register, visit watershed.cytc.net. Q: Why couldn’t the rabbit fly home for Easter? A: He didn’t have the hare fare. Now, a flying bunny is one thing, but a flying idea is a whole other basket. (Pun intended. Pun always intended). An Idea Takes Flight is a collection of three short plays directed by a group of NIDA 2012 graduates. First of the trio, Playhouse, takes a deep look into how far we’ll go to accommodate actions in the name of love. Second, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! is a comedic number which follows the cycle of life and uncovers our need for connection. The third, The Witches, a favourite Roald Dahl story, will be brought to life from the grave of nostalgia. You can catch this great opportunity at Gorman House Arts Centre between Mon-Wed April 4-6. Tickets are available through Ticketek. And last but not least, Groovin’ The Moo is back this year on Sunday April 28. Here’s the line-up: Alison Wonderland, Alpine, The Amity Affliction, The Bronx (USA), Dz Deathrays, Example (UK), Flume, Frightened Rabbit (UK), Hungry Kids of Hungary, The Kooks (UK), Last Dinosaurs, Matt and Kim (USA), Midnight Juggernauts, Pez, Regurgitator, Seth Sentry, Shockone, Tame Impala, Tegan and Sara (CAN), The Temper Trap, They Might Be Giants (USA), Tuka with Ellesquire, Urthboy, Dj Woody’s Big Phat ‘90s Mixtape (UK), Yacht (USA), Yolanda Be Cool. Catch it at the University of Canberra. Tickets are available from Moshtix for $99.90 + bf. Cheers, ANDIE EGAN allagescolumn@gmail.com

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E X H I B I T I O N I S T Y O U A R E H E R E F E S T I VA L R E V I E W E D I T I O N : Part One

IN REVIEW

When was the last time you heard someone say the name, ‘Joseph Gordon Levitt’? For the audience of You Are Here vs. Teen Makeouts it was Friday night at Lonsdale Street Roasters. In a lively cocktail of storytelling and teenage nostalgia, four artists offered their musings on the thriving, gyrating melting pot that is the adolescent pop culture industry. Although the performers warn us to expect some ‘truly terrible stuff’, it’s clear we’re in safe hands as the sombre tones of Rosie Stevens’ cello plinks out a medley of instantly recognisable teen pop hits (think Mmmbop). We are now officially transported to a time when the words ‘quadrangle’ and ‘Dolly Doctor’ featured heavily in daily conversation.

ALEV is an evening of singing, dancing and funk music at Kremlin Bar, occurs semi-frequently and showcases Canberra’s burlesque, drag and music scene. It’s a garish evening filled with incredible performances by confident singers, musicians, dancers and entertainers who entice and delight the crowd. It’s the type of fiery performance that sets You Are Here apart from other cultural festivals; it’s bold, brash and unafraid of its audience’s perceptions. Despite the fact that before Friday night I knew nothing of burlesque (except that Dita Von Teese is the poster girl for it) I came away from the performances amazed and wishing the evening didn’t end so early.

David Finnigan offers us a vociferously verbose summation of the evils of teen pop culture. Having discovered that it is a $30 billion-ayear industry in Australia alone, he appeals to the crowd to invest in his plan: pluck a teen with star quality from their ho-hum existence, teach them how to be hot, how to be hip and how to be a star. A sort of sponsor-a-starlet syndicate. He coins the phrase ‘Long-tail Lindsay’ to describe the drawn-out, public, slightly icky decline that will likely follow. Needless to say, many LOLs were had by all.

The glamorous host Melina Fahrenheit brought charisma to the stage and order to the crowd; when the audience was lamely quiet she called for cheers and when they wouldn’t be silent she would tell them to shut up.

You Are Here vs. Teen Makeouts Lonsdale Street Roasters Friday March 15

Jess Bellamy treats us to an imagining of her own tortured friendship with Taylor Swift after a fateful encounter in Nashville. In an attempt to teach Taylor to use her fame as a catalyst for change, Jess dispenses sage advice (if you see her out and about at the festival, ask her why ‘revolutions are like shopping for vibrators’). For this reviewer, the laugh-out-loudest moment of the night goes to Jess for confessing that she listens to Kanye West’s Touch the Sky to feel safe when walking alone at night. Adam Hadley shares his treatment for a screenplay which may be best described as Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls…partially set in space. Compelling narrative and ‘vajazzling’ references aside, I now have an insatiable desire to see Maggie Smith play a high school bully and say things like, ‘Lost something, ass-mouth?’ Teen Makeouts, despite the absence of a Harlem Shake reference, was a satisfying smorgasbord of teenage reverie. Don’t miss the chance to see these wordsmiths perform again throughout the year. You will totes LOL. For shiz. lucy nelson

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ALEV Kremlin Bar Friday March 15

Confidence was the main attraction as pride and allure met in sensual performances by the burlesque dancers. The costumes varied hugely: one performance involved a literal dance with the devil (in the form of a hand puppet) whilst another used giant feather fans and vajazzling. Never in my life have I seen so many pasties in the one place, and yet it was awesome. Everyone in the bar cheered for more as each item of clothing was removed, and screamed with delight as the performers came closer to nudity. Local Canberra funk band Zoopagoo played on the night and got the crowd psyched up with their infectious tunes. Most of the bar leapt to their feet to dance along with the band, with the lead singer being particularly involved with the audience as he danced through the crowd. Minor issues with the sound setup did not distract the singers or dancers, who ignored the occasional volume discrepancies, and it only made the audience more rowdy. Ultimately, ALEV is the perfect example of what You Are Here is all about, showcasing the wonderful and diverse arts scene that exists in Canberra. ALEV was an awesome night and I would recommend that anyone with even a passing interest in burlesque, sensuality, drag or just a fun night out head along to their next event. Elizabeth abbott

CLASSICS IN REVIEW

LITERATURE IN REVIEW

Jules Verne. The very name of this literary-adventurist extraordinaire evokes in us feelings of excitement and nostalgia before they are even brought to life in his writings. Verne has rightfully been applauded throughout the ages as a master – and indeed the father – of the science-fiction genre for his creation of characters who embody the notions of adventure and discovery, for his ability to capture in words the fleeting chance that is at the heart of any journey.

New York at the turn of the 20th Century is a brutal place: cramped and fetid, with poor plumbing and regular outbreaks of disease. Mary Mallon, an ambitious and talented Irish cook, has worked her way into the employ of the city’s most prestigious families when health officials investigating a disease outbreak come knocking with news: Mary is an immune carrier of Typhus bacilli and, though healthy, has been infecting employers with the deadly fever.

Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne [First published: 1873]

In Around the World in Eighty Days, Verne’s stiff English gentleman, Mr Phileas Fogg, Esq., and his rather more continental domestic servant, Passepartout, (both pursued by the ever-wary Detective Fix of Scotland Yard) embark upon a journey which has but one objective in mind: the circumnavigation of the globe in less than 80 days – an unfathomable endeavour in the eyes of a world which quickly judged Fogg’s notion as ‘not only impossible, but madness’. But it is through their madness, through their travails and triumphs, that we can see that only in the embrace of such a journey do we ever find such fantastic adventure and misadventure: Our two unlikely protagonists soon find themselves plodding through a sub-continental jungle on the back of an Indian Elephant; they throw themselves into the near-death rescue of a beautiful princess who had been bound to a sacrificial pyre; they are caught in the pursuit of the ‘Chinese dragon’ in a dark opium den of Hong Kong; they are seized in a frontier ambush by the Native American Sioux tribe. Amidst this unbelievable gauntlet-run of obstacles, friendships are formed, love is found and lives are lived. In the end, we see that even the most mechanical of Mr Foggs amongst us can become unwound to a slower pace, and the most sceptical of Detective Fixs can find respect for those he suspects. The great irony, though, is that with the conquering of air, land and sea, to a degree unfathomable even to Verne, we have scarified much of the possibility for the very adventure which Verne described in Around the World in Eighty Days, the book that pushed us as children from the blankets of our bedrooms to the borders of our backyards. In our age of planes, trains and automobiles, with an ever-expanding array of electronic trinkets designed to help ease the pains of the human condition, our spatial and temporal awareness has grown so narrow that we struggle to comprehend the times of yesteryear in which the pace of life scarcely exceeded that of a horse’s trot; an age where the great oceans and mountains were feats to be conquered and crossed, not merely options to be carefully considered. Whether you read his original 1873 novel in hard copy or watch it on the silver screen, you will get a sense of an age where the world had only just begun shrinking in space and shortening in time; a world on the cusp of modernity. timothy c. ginty

Fever Mary Beth Keane [Scribner; 2013]

Typhoid Mary is a figure who has entered urban legend: the plague bearer, malevolently spreading disease and death to the innocents in her clutches. Fever presents a far more sympathetic view of this maligned woman, based on historical record rather than the inflated tabloid sensationalism of the time. Keane presents a Mary who is self-made, fiercely independent, and genuinely fond of her employers. The prose is abrupt, echoing Mary’s no-nonsense manner and uneducated perspective. It’s rich in historic detail – Mary is clever and observant, and we get a glimpse of the varied social strata, the subtle and not-so-subtle racism, classism and sexism to which she is subjected, the bewildering pace of change of the time. Mary is taken away by the health department in the first chapter and spends the rest of the novel struggling for her freedom, infuriated at the injustice and denying every accusation. Isolated in a fever hospital, the only healthy person on a quarantine island, the narrative wanders as Mary recalls coming to America, falling in love, struggling for work, the idiosyncrasies of her employers and neighbours, and, above all, her love affair with food. Food is Mary’s passion, her life’s work. As an uneducated immigrant, she has few opportunities in America but gains real renown for her cooking – but it is through her cooking that she infects people, and her refusal to give it up is her downfall. Historians have wondered why Mallon, a hot-tempered but evidently kind woman, would continue to cook, knowing that she might infect people. Clever, but uneducated and stubbornly healthy, Mary cannot believe what the doctors tell her about the outbreaks, so when she is released from isolation she returns eventually to cooking, the only real skill and passion she has, with horrifying results. One of the ways Keane tries to make Mary sympathetic is to give her a long-term partner, an alcoholic who falls into debilitating opiate addiction. This may be the weakest part of the novel; the partner is deeply unlikeable, and the chapters from his point of view detract from Mary’s story, which is engaging. The other people Mary encounters, both at the fever hospital and elsewhere, are richly drawn and interesting, but fade in and out of her life as she moves around, leaving a sense of isolation and loneliness even when Mary is in the middle of Manhattan. Mary was not the only asymptomatic carrier of Typhus at the time, nor even the most deadly – even the most damning accounts have her infecting less than 60 people, only a handful of whom died – all by accident – while others infected hundreds. Yet, she alone was demonised by the press and she spent the last 30 years of her life confined and isolated despite her health and innocence. Fever is a sober, melancholy look at the mistreatment and misfortune of the untouchable woman, who was never again allowed to prepare so much as a glass of water. emma grist

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ARTISTPROFILE: Julia Boyd

What do you do? I print photographs onto various objects. When, how and why did you get into it? I like reusing and recycling objects that have a mysterious history to them. I then add my own mark to these anonymous objects by printing photos on them of places I have been and people I know.

What about the local scene would you change? Just a few more unusual exhibition spaces, but we do already have some amazing things going for us! I have loved Canberra’s scene since I was a teenager and it’s awesome to watch it grow, change, go in and out of trends and see the amazing art, music, theatre and design that comes out of here. Upcoming exhibitions? My current solo show Fluidity at CCAS Manuka runs from 6pm, Thu Mar 28 – Sun Apr 7. Contact Info: juliaboydphoto@gmail.com; juliahboyd.com; Facebook: Julia Boyd Artist.

Who or what influences you as an artist? The artists and people around me, and funky, unusual and sometimes banal architecture and urban spaces from around the world. Of what are you proudest so far? Being including in BLAZE 7 at ANCA and the success of my Crowd Funding campaign to print an artist book – the book, titled Fluidity and Photography will be launched at my solo show in March. What are your plans for the future? To continue to make work with photographs in a way that is unexpected and surprising to my audience. I want to push the boundaries of what people expect a photograph to be. What makes you laugh? Sometimes my work is pretty quirky, unexpected and playful, so I laugh at myself. My family and friends also make me laugh – I seem to have been born with a very loud laugh so they usually laugh at me when I laugh! What pisses you off? Not treating the planet with respect and people that forget how lucky we are to live in an amazing place like Canberra.

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IN REVIEW Danny Bhoy Canberra Theatre Centre Fri-Sat March 16-17

Dear Danny Bhoy, after chatting to you last month about your new show, Dear Epsen, I had pretty high expectations for your show. And I must say, you certainly delivered... The art of writing a good letter is not an easy one, and writing a letter that is funny is even harder. However, this is what Scottish stand-up comedian Danny Bhoy’s new show is all about and it works well. Really well. Beginning with a letter of complaint to a printing company about how the price of replacement ink costs more than the original printer itself, Bhoy crafted a well-planned show around a series of letters where he complains to businesses about advertising hyperbole and corporate rip-offs, writes to an old high school teacher and even sends a letter to his 13-year-old self. There was plenty of traditional stand-up between each letter, where Danny Bhoy explained the background story to a particular letter or told an anecdote about why he decided to write it. It was full of material we can all relate to – airlines, beauty products, expensive candles, holidays as kids and telephone companies. While he could have been a bit bolder in some of the subject material, he managed to find new comedic insights and tell his own story about it. Tailoring the show to the local audience was a wise move and really felt like he was engaged with the crowd, with references to specific Canberra eccentricities paying off. Even material about being a famous (and loaded) comedian came across as endearing and something we could relate to.

Mediocre. Average. Unexceptional. Just okay. All derogatory terms used to describe something that’s not quite good enough. We use them all the time: that was ‘an average burger’, he was ‘okay at sex’, that was ‘quite a moderately adequate bassoon player’. But why is this a bad thing? Why are we disappointed in something that is average? We adore the best athletes for their physical brilliance and their amazing hard work. We compare it to our own laziness and that fourth place in the high school swimming carnival. But when it comes down to it, athletes are just getting doped up on Stilnox, engaging in an orgy and then rocking up to do two hours of actual work a week. Hardly any different from my own life, minus the group sex…unfortunately. We rave about the best meals we have had, but when it come down to it only 1% of our meals are like an orgasm in the mouth, the remaining 99% are like a polite handshake or an awkward hug. Why don’t we embrace this mediocrity? Why aren’t we proud of our average-ness? I mean, people who are terrible at things do it all the time.

To finish off, Danny Bhoy opened the floor up to the audience, asking who they would write letters to. In true Canberra style, the complaints were all transport related, with gripes about the bus network, driving in the rain and the time it takes for a taxi to arrive. Here, Bhoy shined, easily bouncing off the crowd in an improv style, showing that his sense of comedic wit could be showcased on the fly. In many ways, the show had a real element of theatre, both in Danny Bhoy’s use of props on his writing desk, as well as his ability to weave a story and paint a picture in your head. The quick change in pace and topics also kept you intrigued – there was absolutely no time to get bored.

It was funny when the fat kid came last in the 50m Butterfly at

As always, the Scottish comedian brought a huge level of infectious energy to his show, with the hour-and-a-half flying by quickly. Danny Bhoy’s unique conversational style and ability to refer back to earlier jokes and subject material brought a sense of cohesion to the show, along with his impeccable timing and quick wit.

owned our blandness. What is wrong with wanting to have a

While polished, the show did feel like it was a work in progress, which will continue to develop as Bhoy takes it across the nation. This is definitely some of his best work yet – five stars.

to disappoint.

peter o’rourke

shows about town.

the school carnival; everyone loved him. Even the barely-talks-towomen guy in the cape with the awkward twitch can get comments from people, like ‘Oh, he is soooo neurotic and awkward! I just love it.’ Yet, if you got fourth in that same butterfly race or are just a standard jeans and t-shirt non-twitch kinda guy, the best you can hope for is to be vaguely noticed. This, to me, doesn’t seem fair. I think it is time we stood up and standard three-bedroom house in an average suburb, having 2.4 kids? So what if our dream job is ‘just’ in an office working 9-5 for an average wage? What is wrong with being not that bad at guitar and reasonable at gardening? We make up the bulk of the economy, we are the critical mass that makes famous people get applause, we give athletes their public to offend and ensure that our leaders and politicians have someone

We live moderately and die just either side of the national average. We are the 50-65%. DANny philippa - Danny Philippa is a local stand-up comic and is the President of Satyros Comedy Society, ANU’s sketch comedy group. You can find Satyros on Facebook for more information on

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UNINHIBITED I’m not one to spend too much of my free time reading opinion pieces by ‘disgraced shock jocks’, but one from former Fringe Festival Producer and 2CA host Jorian Gardner grabbed my attention in January. Not long after reading it, I noticed a tweet from a concerned Canberran along the lines of: ‘Surely the Centenary is whatever we make it,’ retweeted by Katy Gallagher. Gardner’s piece was sound – he criticised the Centenary program for its lack of focus. Many of the events spruiked in the Centenary lineup (and the program I lambasted in this column late last year) are things happening anyways, year to year. The PM’s 11 cricket match. The Brumbies season opener. The NGA shows. So it goes. Gardner went on to suggest that this is all there is to the Centenary program, which is where I begin to disagree. And nor do I agree with that concerned Canberran tweeter authorised by the Chief Minister – the Centenary is not just what we make of it. It’s what the organising committee make it, and what we, the audience, make of their work which will come to define this birthday. The problem, as I’ve written here previously, is clarity. There are a bunch of great events happening specific to the Centenary. But they have been lumped in with everything else. Clear lines of definition have not been made. And hence the celebrations are confused. This was physicalised with the One Very Big Day event. I won’t spend too much time attacking the event here. Hells, I had fun. But it took a lot of work to have fun. It was a very Canberra kind of event – too spread out, no centre, no narrative, no plan. Plenty of gold hiding in pockets, but you had to seek, or get lucky. In that sense, I guess it was perfectly reflective of the city. Public relations 101 says that you don’t strive to reaffirm a negative image. You fight it, or play with it. What is so interesting about our Centenary is the opportunity it provides for a place which does not have a strong sense of self to discuss what it is and what it wants to be. It’s a unique and incredibly exciting opportunity. Canberra is the best positioned place in this country to discuss and design the ideal city as we move into the next few decades. To radically shift Melbourne or Sydney would require an unfathomable program of rebuilding – their populations mean that those cities are busy keeping up with infrastructure projects to cope. We have no such problem. And hence, with clever planning and bold leadership, Canberra could easily be the nation’s best place to live by 2030. The Centenary is (still) an incredible opportunity to celebrate what is, and discuss what could be. The events themselves are great. It’s the communication of the events, and how they relate to a bigger project of a place celebrating what it is while discussing what could be, that is not. GLEN MARTIN glenpetermartin@gmail.com

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There was a time when the colouring of one’s hair was the preserve of whores. A discoloured thatch atop one’s crown was a sure sign of moral indecency. By contrast, flecks of grey around the temple, nostril or knuckle were a badge of honour, testament to the hard-fought acquisition of wisdom and tolerance. To meddle with one’s luxuriant God-given balaclava beyond the annual trim was not to be countenanced by man, woman nor beast. Follicular cleansing was seen as the Devil’s work, let alone colouring. Why, even Piccadilly’s accommodating rent boys had the good grace to communicate their love through the medium of lice. But not now. Now I am forced to bear witness to all manner of cranial atrocities. And most alarmingly, these atrocities are not enforced, but adopted willingly. Willingly, I say! Women (whom, after polite enquiry, I am assured are not whores) display multiple colours alien to nature. ‘Men’ would sooner carve heretical doodlings into their heads than bayonet a savage. I have even seen these inferior men cultivate non-uniform lengths of hair, going so far as to colour one segment of the head to the exclusion of the whole. More worryingly, these two absurd practices are often exercised in tandem. A longer segment invariably trails down the nape of the neck, the discolouration of which appears designed to draw attention to the owner’s obvious and countless character failings. A practice both unnecessary and baffling. The true travesty is that purveyors of this outrage are often of working age (nine and above), and therefore too large and unwieldy to save their mother’s blushes by being drowned at birth. But this general negligence is not confined to the scalp – no, sir. It looks as if even the most basic skills of facial maintenance have been lost in the last century and a half. A gentleman’s whiskers are a thing to be cultivated; like a landscaped garden, a fine intellect, or a comely relationship between a gentleman and a down-on-their-luck chimney sweep whereby both parties profit without whiff of social scandal or criminal prosecution. The general absence of a fine plumage of whiskers nowadays is worry enough, but should one prefer the more feminine approach of being clean-shaven, for goodness’ sake have the decency to do a thorough job. I have lost count of the amount of times I have had to force myself upon some ruffian in order to burn off a squareinch segment of bristle just below the bottom lip by emptying the contents of my calabash pipe over his face. My actions are utterly necessary, the benefit to society unquestionable. The victim, or, more appropriately, beneficiary, often squeals with protests of ‘Aaarrggh!’, ‘Police!’, and ‘It burns!’, all to no avail as his pleas are carried away on the sizzle of human flesh. Are they ungrateful? Perhaps. Should I expect credit? Undoubtedly. But the restoration of their personal dignity and the promise that they may once again feel the warmth of a mother’s love are thanks enough. Gideon foxington-smythe

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bit PARTS NATIONAL YOUTH WEEK 2013 WHAT: Youth Festival WHEN: Fri-Sun April 5-14 WHERE: Throughout Canberra National Youth Week is the largest celebration of young people in Australia. It promotes positive images of young people and highlights the talents, skills and contributions young people bring to the community. It brings together an outstanding programme of activities and events developed by young people for young people. This year’s programme includes: the ACT Jnr Amateur Cook-Off; NYW Festival, featuring young performers, artists, musicians, stalls and competitions; Us Folk Magazine’s The Young Ones emerging artists and photographers competition; Skate-It-Out ice skating with live DJs; Lanyon Youth Festival, featuring free live music, activities, BBQ and local artwork; Battle of Belcompton! BMX Jam, and, of course, Youth InterAct’s Youth InterACTion, a series of fun and engaging workshops, covering graffiti and street art, origami, drama and life skills development, hip hop/funk, drumming, warehouse circus, DJing and more. Registration for these workshops is essential via youth.act.gov.au. See facebook. com/NationalYouthWeekACT or youth.act.gov.au for more info.

MOMENTUM WHAT: Sculpture Exhibition WHEN: Thu Mar 28-Sun Apr 14 WHERE: Belconnen Arts Centre Momentum showcases the rich and diverse creative output of women sculptors in Canberra and explores the underlying creative motivations of the contributing artists. The exhibition will present a broad range of approaches to creating within the discipline of sculpture, including cast bronze, soft sculpture, found and assembled objects and abstract pieces suspended in space. On Sunday April 7 at 3pm, the artists will discuss the creation of the works in their exhibition at Meet the Artists, a free public program. The exhibition will be officially opened on Thursday March 28 at 5:30pm by Deborah Clark. Free.

THE KITCHEN TABLE WHAT: Mixed Media Exhibition WHEN: Thu Mar 28-Sun Apr 14 WHERE: M16 Artspace, Griffith For 100 years Canberra families have recorded the growth of our city in stories told around the kitchen table. This is an exhibition of work inspired by Canberra stories. Through painting, photography, glass, jewellery, film, sculpture, textiles and fashion, 11 local artists provide personal perspectives on Canberra stories and traditions. Curator Emily Casey believes the growth of our city can be measured through the accumulation of memories and histories, and when we take the time to reflect upon that we can see how Canberra has developed over time. The exhibition opening is on Thursday March 28, 6pm. Free.

IMPRO ACT MINI-FESTIVAL WHAT: Improvised Theatre Festival WHEN: Fri-Sun April 5-7 WHERE: Casino Canberra Over three great nights, Impro ACT will showcase fresh and fantastic Canberra-devised one-act impro shows. Each show features the cream of the ACT’s improvisers in a curated selection that will provide both comedy and drama. The mini-festival promises a great variety of performances, including: a dramatic piece inspired by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov; a comedic show involving two guys chewing the fat; a couple of thrillers; puppetry; a romantic comedy; and a World War I period drama. This weekend of adult-only shows will provide entertainment sure to suit all tastes. Ticketing and session time info at impro.com.au.

LIEDEKIJN WHAT: Visual Art Exhibition WHEN: Tue Mar 26-Mon Apr 8 WHERE: The Front Gallery and Café Liedekijn is a sequential group exhibition that retells the medieval Dutch folktale The Song of Lord Halewijn through 24 artworks by local and international artists. Liedekijn follows the story of Lord Halewijn who, in the depths of the forest, plays his lute and lures women to his side. Besotted and entranced, they barely notice when his intentions turn from amorous to murderous. That is, until the king’s daughter is drawn in by his song and must outwit the musician or become his next victim. The art ranges in style from traditional landscape to digital paintings. Free.

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THIS IS ART MARKET WHAT: Art Market WHEN: Sat-Sun April 13-14 WHERE: Yarralumla Woolshed Local artists have united to give Canberra’s creative community an opportunity to sell their artwork, as well as the chance to access, appreciate and purchase it in an affordable way. Though the range of amazing local artists on board are widely varied – from landscape painters to street artists, paper-makers to sculptors – they are unified by a collective mission to share their work and to encourage people to buy unique, locally made, one-off pieces, as opposed to mass-produced department store prints. Local food, wine and beer stalls will be there to fuel your perusal. Sat 12-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm. Free. thisisartmarket.com.

the word

on albums

civil civic rules [remote control]

album of the issue

the drones i see seaweed [Independent]

The Drones’ sixth album builds on their reputation for music which is as challenging as it is awesome. The songwriting is in keeping with a band which has been twice nominated (winning once) for the Australian Music Prize, awarded for creative excellence. If Justin Bieber is equivalent to a Noddy book, then The Drones are an 800-page Russian novel, full of subplots and complicated family trees. Like some Russian novels, I would never presume to pretend that I fully understand a lot of Gareth Liddiard’s tortured lyrics. The Drones’ overall style is one of brooding menace, which suddenly lashes out with undisguised fury. The title track is as much an orchestrated work as it is a piece of rock music. Dark and mysterious, the opening music builds the suspense before Liddiard launches into his jarring vocals. The chorus music

smashes in with the force of a breaking wave, before the atmosphere is relieved by the keys, dissipating the tension. Then it all ends in a confused whirl. This is The Drones at their best. A Moat You Can Stand In rocks out, engulfed in its own fused, distorted energy. But it’s not all a maelstrom. How to See Through Fog slips in a much softer guise, with gentle keys and soft percussion, as it begins with a sound not unlike The Panics. Laika is a haunted fairytale, a dirge for the dog the Soviets launched into space, never to be recovered. After all the rage, the album closes with the epic nine-minute analysis of the world’s woes, Why Write a Letter That You’ll Never Send, which ends on a gentle, fading note. The Drones are not to everyone’s taste. They do not do ‘pretty music’ and are not recommended for depressives. It’s an awesome body of work, songwriting that takes no prisoners. RORY McCARTNEY

Their name may remind any literate, aged brickies of a long-gone builder which erected some iconic Australian buildings. However, this Civil Civic comprises Aaron Cupples and Ben Green, two lads with a pair of guitars, a mess of keyboards and a drum machine. Imagine an indie pop/ rock record which left off the vocals when the album was mixed. That’s the niche market Civil Civic are targeting, with a deliberate no-vocals approach to focus on the music and not get sidetracked by stories. These boys can really crash out some cool sounds, with a whole mess of melodies, rhythms and effects thrown into the mix. A true instrumental is selfevidently complete in itself.

sonicanimation once more from the bottom [independent] Before they called it a day back in 2006, Sonic Animation (aka Rupert Keiller and Adrian Cartwright) were easily one of the most high-profile duos operating in Australian dance music. While they were nominated for ARIAs several times and became a live mainstay of festivals like Big Day Out, in many senses it’s Theophilus Thistler’s giant furry dancing suits that they’re best remembered for. In many senses, they best sum up Sonic Animation’s main modus operandi – rather than being elegantly crafted dance music for purists, they specialise in unpretentious pop crossovers, with the odd novelty thrown in.

In that respect, this album succeeds, with only a couple of tracks lacking that little something extra. The opener Airspray, with its toy piano effects, is not their best work, but they soon get into stride with Run Overdrive. Several tracks like Grey Nurse, which bears some DNA from iconic ‘60s instrumental groups like The Ventures and The Tornadoes, are real foottappers. Sky Delay brings voluminous atmospherics, strong guitar beats and electronic flourishes. Tunes such as Lights on a Leash and It’s Krill are so catchy you keep anticipating that someone will burst into song. This trait is so strong that audiences at gigs have been known to start singing along to the music! The aim of having punters create their own stories really works.

Viewed through that lens, this fifth album (their first since 2004) Once More From The Bottom for the most part fits the bill. After a slightly awkward start with an acoustic soul-meets-drum ‘n’ bass cover of Grandmaster Flash’s The Message that’s likely to divide listeners, first single I Will Be Twisted offers up a curiously Presets-esque floorfiller that’s all squealing Justice synths and falsetto disco vocals. Elsewhere, Punk on the Dance Floor offers up a juddering Diplo-esque fusion of cut-up hip hop vocals and dubstep influences that’s easily one of the most satisfying mo ments here. Alas, novelty moments like Twins’ yodeling duet and (Hey Lady) I Just Wanna Dance’s ‘Cotton Eye Joe’-esque electro hoedown grate quickly and are likely to have some listeners racing for the skip button.

RORY McCARTNEY

chris downton

@bmamag

dick diver calendar days [popfrenzy]

british india controller [liberation music]

pissed jeans honeys [sub pop/inertia]

atoms for peace amok [xl/remote control]

Why isn’t planet earth all a-titter, tripping over their salivations to praise Dick Diver? This is something I’ve pondered after living with this record for a while, and their debut of 2011 (New Start Again!). Are they lacking a marketing hook? Should they dress preppier? Do they need a back-story featuring cults, or members who are/aren’t brother and sister? Because the thing is that Dick Diver should be a national treasure already, responsible for a bunch of classic cuts that come closer to defining this ridiculous and unfathomable nation than almost anyone since Forster and McLennan. This is the Australia of the suburbs, of late afternoons, kicking the footy and spending some time with the billy. Of freaks from all corners finding something shared to take the piss out of. It contains the most perfect three-song run (Alice, the title track, and Water Damage) I’ve heard in years. It needs celebrating. There are songs that serve a purpose without being anything amazing (Boys, Gap Life), but they are surrounded by classics. One can pick apart the elements (jangle, harmony, clever pause, funny lyric), but the strength of Dick Diver’s work is how realised the elements are, how perfectly they combine to create a mood. Dick Diver are not revolutionary. They’re not pushing boundaries, fusing new styles to make newer styles. Maybe that’s the reason why the tastemakers aren’t screaming. But they should be. Calendar Days is an essential Australian record.

British India hit the rock scene like a brick through a plate glass window with their 2007 release Guillotine. Who could forget the reckless invitations to Run the Red Light or play Russian Roulette. With their fourth album, the band has followed the Grinspoon route of drawing away from the full-throttle mayhem of their early work into songs that nudge up against the rock/power pop genre divide. In comparing their first and fourth CDs, there’s a transition from the self-obsessed power of the individual to the realisation of the importance of relationships.

Blessed with one of the more arresting monikers in recent times, Pennsylvania-based fourpiece Pissed Jeans burst forth in 2005 with their debut album, Shallow, before commencing a relationship with Sub Pop that saw their profile rise considerably over two ensuing albums. This fourth album, Honeys, comes produced by Alex Newport (Bloc Party, The Mars Volta) and sees Pissed Jeans refining their approach, although that’s a relative term with a band that sounds like the bastard lovechild of Black Flag and The Jesus Lizard.

There are press releases that make seasoned hacks blanch, and a record that was the result of some superstars ‘hanging out in LA, getting wasted and listening to Fela Kuti’ is right at the top of the barf list.

However, this brings with it an awareness that the path of true love does not always run smoothly, as portrayed in the power pop opener Plastic Souvenirs. The song is half a demand, half a plea: ‘Don’t you hang up on me again’. The verses flow smoothly in a quieter vein than we’re used to from the band, but the chorus is made for mosh pit leaping. This approach of using gentle melodies flows through to a number of tracks, including Swimming in Water and Crystals. However, fans will still find some ragged-edged punkish delivery in the defiant We Don’t Need Anyone and some good licks in Christmas in the Trenches. Highlights are the opener, Blinded, and the contemplative I Can Make You Love Me.

The dark-spirited Bathroom Laughter tosses the listener straight down into a breakneck mass of furious punk riffing, screamed reverb-heavy vocals and head-snapping hardcore breakdowns, the barbed ‘I’m sorry you’re not special’ lyrical hook adding to the seething misanthropic rage. By contrast, the ominous Chain Worker boils with an angular industrial edge that calls to mind Sisterworldera Liars, as Matt Korvette’s howled vocals echo against thundering volleys of live drums and crushing distorted bass. While there’s plenty of bloodthirstiness on show, the hook-heavy Romanticize Me and Loubs see plenty of hardedged catchiness lurking just below the surface and nicely counterbalancing some of the more punishing moments. If you’re up a for a quick dose of the nastier things in life, Pissed Jeans are once again there for you, with Honeys coming across as a far more focused collection than any of their previous work.

glen martin

Overall, it’s a good pop rock record that may increase their potential fan base, but it’s not likely to thrill those preferring the extra oomph. RORY McCARTNEY

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chris downton

And yet, Thom Yorke, Flea and the band that make up Atoms for Peace have seen fit to let us in on their inspiration. AFP is the band that came together to perform Yorke’s underrated solo effort The Eraser and, while this record is many things, luckily it isn’t the sound of a supergroup’s excesses. Not that it ever would be – Yorke is too famously neurotic to facilitate such cliché. So Fela Kuti is funky, but AFP is funk filtered through the prism of neurosis. It speaks, as per Radiohead’s last LP, to Yorke’s long-standing love of minimal electro and glitch. The Eraser did the same, but with melody at the forefront. Amok does not. It makes the same mistakes that Yorke seems prone to make every few years of his restless and extraordinary career, where the singer battles his melodic gifts and buries the voice. There are some moments of beauty amongst the clattering beats (Default is a great single), but this is a record that seeks to engage the body over the brain and hence doesn’t play to Yorke’s strengths. As an exercise in cleaning his beat cupboard, Amok is important. But as a record? We know he can do much better. glen martin

the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

Prequels can be dastardly things. A director who attempts to make a prequel not only has to deal with the expectations of fans of the original flick, as with sequels, but try also to work within a limited framework. After all, in a sequel almost anything can happen. In a prequel the audience already knows what the inevitable outcome will be. And they can go horribly, horribly wrong. Just look at Prometheus. Sam Raimi, however, handles Oz adeptly. Even if James Franco is far too good-looking to become that old codger in the original film.

quote of the issue ‘I don’t want to be a good man… I want to be a great one.’ Oscar Diggs/Oz (James Franco), Oz the Great and Powerful

oz the great and powerful Disney’s fantastical, fantabulous Oz the Great and Powerful, directed by Sam Raimi, is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. Sans any ruby slippers, because apparently the copyright for those were held by other parties. Awkward. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco, swoon), a smalltime circus magician with questionable morals is swept up in a hurricane, he also finds himself swept away in adventure. His hurricane deposits him in a mythical land with giant glittering flowers, real-life fairies, and witches who float around in giant bubbles – all of which he accepts readily as his new reality. But, soon after arriving, he meets three very different witches – Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams) – who test his ability to tell the difference between good and bad, right and wrong. Oz is, like The Wizard of Oz, ultimately a children’s film. The script is simple, the acting is over-the-top, and the 3D effects are played for laughs. But as long as you don’t go into the film expecting this to be an adult interpretation – like recent fairytale adaptations, such as the abysmal Red Riding Hood or the only-slightly-better Snow White and the Huntsman – then you should enjoy yourself. There is visual splendour, clever wit and razzle dazzle aplenty – it is beautiful to behold. Enjoy the technicolour journey, it’s a trip. As I imagine Franco was during filming. melissa wellham

barbara

goddess

German film Barbara is a thought-provoking piece and a must for film-goers interested in German history. Dealing with some large issues, there is a lot more going on beneath the surface of this one – sort of like Barbara herself, you could say.

Director Mark Lamprell’s latest offering is an original musical based on a one-woman cabaret. Elspeth (Laura Michelle Kelly) is lonely and unsatisfied, raising two sweet but wild little boys alone, while her husband James (Ronan Keating) sets sail in the Antarctic waters. James leaves Elspeth a webcam so that they may communicate but, unfortunately, he is often out of range and Elspeth finds herself slowly going insane.

Barbara (Nina Hoss) is the new doctor in a small East German town with a reputation that precedes her. Banished from Berlin for wanting to leave East Germany, Barbara is treated with suspicion and varying degrees of coldness from the townspeople. Underneath her aloof and private exterior, however, is a great deal of warmth. She cares for her patients and forms a connection with another of the local doctors, Andre (Ronald Zehrfeld). If you go into Barbara with no knowledge of the historical context, it might take a little while to pick up the plot. But the subtlety and slow burn of Barbara is part of what makes it so effective. Hoss is magnetic and enigmatic as the title character and makes you stick with it. Barbara is an engaging film that portrays ‘80s East Germany in a very personal way, although it might be too elusive and slow for some. Marketed as a must for anyone who enjoyed The Lives of Others (one of the best films of all time in my opinion), it admittedly isn’t quite up to that standard – but is a worthy watch nonetheless. MEGAN McKEOUGH

She is then struck with an idea – she will channel her frustrations into ‘sink songs’ and perform her woes on webcam and broadcast them to the world. Her performances come to the attention of advertising giant Cassandra (the always-fabulous Magda Szubanski) and she is propelled into the fast-paced world of advertising. Eventually, it becomes clear to Elspeth that she needs to make a decision as to where she ultimately belongs – in the big city as ‘the next big thing’ or at home with her loving family. This movie is definitely one for people who enjoy musicals and the themes that so often go with them – self-discovery and true love. Elspeth’s journey throughout the film is one that is easily empathised with (i.e. which direction to choose at a crossroads) and the fruit of her frustrations – snazzy, well-choreographed musical numbers – are quirky and original. The story is told with theatrical flair, and, while at times it felt a little forced, it is ultimately a feel-good movie. emma robinson

@bmamag

the word on dvds

vikings [roadshow]

storm surfers [madman]

There are many good reasons to watch Vikings, a three-part BBC documentary series about those most misunderstood of all northern Scandinavians, but seeing the long-haired Scottish host Neil Oliver cracking gags about eating testicles whilst an unimpressed middle-aged Icelandic dude in period costume watches on is definitely up there. It’s not that Oliver’s Norwegian host lacked a sense of humour, it’s more that he seemed focused on whether the outsider liked his plate of rotting (yes, rotting) meat. After seeing this, Björk finally made sense. Like all good empires, the Viking Age made its mark through trade. With little arable land suitable for farming in the frozen north, the people that became the Vikings looked outwards. Their massive longships enabled them to island hop for centuries, conquering as they went. That’s the picture we have of them, but reality is far different. The Vikings were no more violent than their peers of the age. They never wore horn-rimmed helmets, and developed one of the oldest existing forms of republican democracy in northern Europe. They even gave Russia its name and carved their name on the handrails at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Evidence suggests they made it as far as North America but obviously never settled. Probably not enough testicles. Wisely, Vikings refuses to engage in dramatic recreations, instead letting Oliver’s thick Scottish brogue and encyclopaedic knowledge of all things historical and archaeological guide the viewer. He’s not the most attention-grabbing host and nor does he try to insert himself or his history into the script. But the upside is that information seeps in rather than washes over in waves. It’s a classic straight up-and-down, comprehensive dissection of a discrete topic. No gimmicks, just the facts.

If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to see a surfing ‘movie’ you’d know full well how preposterous surfers can sound. Taking nothing away from their obvious dedication and abdominal strength, there’s only so many times you can hear a perma-tanned young buck meander through a grab bag of empty soul-searching aphorisms with the red-eyed drawl of a chronic bong jockey.

justin hook

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Tom Carroll and Ross ClarkeJones are both thrill seekers. Their job, as it is, involves launching off waves higher than most Canberra buildings 70kms off the West Australian coast at the edge of the continental shelf. With a combined 60+ years in the professional surfing game they certainly aren’t young. In many ways, Storm Surfers is a rumination of old men in a young man’s game and what is required to justify your reputation. And they both have incomparable reputations. Clarke-Jones is one of the most talented big wave surfers around. Big wave surfing exploded in the ‘90s when legendary man-mountain zenfitness freak Laird Hamilton (curiously unmentioned in the doco) was towed into reef breaks on the back of a jet ski. The combination of speed and access birthed an entire surfing subculture. Clarke-Jones, an émigré from the pro-circuit, made big wave surfing his life, and now, so too has Carroll, although evermore cautiously. Storm Surfers traces the pair, and a weather forecaster Ben Matson, as they chase big waves around Australia in winter 2011, culminating with a trip to the never-surfed Turtle Dove break in the Indian Ocean. The 3D version is a tricky beast, paying off handsomely in some parts, especially the barrels rolling in over the horizon, but less so in the frequent white-water. Although the crass boyish, ockerisms of surf culture linger, it’s more about the science of surf and the psychology of aging. justin hook

searching for sugar man [madman] Any Australian bargain-bin vinyl hunter worth their weight would recognise Rodriguez’s name. Before an unexpected resurgence his records could be had for a fiver or less. Supply and demand being what they are, the going rate is now about five times that. Even though this Oscar-winning doco was released last year, the story took place in the mid-‘90s when a tenacious South African record shop owner joined forces with a local music journo to test the Rodriguez myth and find out what happened to this enigmatic singer-songwriter. Rumours of a colourful death abounded. The internet was only just starting, so you couldn’t Google the guy’s name. Scouring record sleeves and long distance phone calls was all they could do. You do wonder how many stories like this are in existence. The Rodriguez rediscovery story was probably one of the last of its kind, arriving at the cusp of the information overload age before search algorithms answered every conceivable question. In this respect, Searching for Sugar Man captures that indescribable feeling a music fan gets when they scour record sleeves, trying to figure out what the hell an album or artist is all about. Creating back-stories and filling in the gaps. It’s a metaphor for the old school music fan; not merely the devoted, but the obsessive. Searching for Sugar Man is a justification for the hours spent kneeling and leafing through thousands of records searching for that one obscure record. In the course of the doco, Rodriguez’s humble obscurity is reversed but his life remains much the same as three decades ago. You get the feeling he never wanted to be rediscovered – living proof that simple can be best. justin hook

the word

BLACKBOX

on games

Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm Platform: Blizzard Entertainment Developer: PC & Mac Length: 20 hrs+ Verdict: Buy it It took a little over 12 years between the first Starcraft and Starcraft II, but thankfully for us Blizzard has only taken a quarter of that time to produce the greatly enjoyable Heart of the Swarm expansion. The new expansion features eight new units in multiplayer, a whole new campaign focusing on Kerrigan and the Zerg faction, and some new additions to the core gameplay. What is always striking in Starcraft II is just how different the single player and the multiplayer are. Where the single player focuses on storyline and character progression/upgrading, the multiplayer is best described as chess on crack; i.e. several orders of magnitude faster and significantly more complicated. Blizzard obviously knows to keep some of the kookier units and slower gameplay elements out of multiplayer, and to some extent single player feels a bit like a testing ground for the more polished multiplayer game. However, the single player campaign is still as fantastic as always, with movie grade cinematics backed up by what is arguably one of the more compelling plots among video games (if you can excuse some of the fairly cheesy romantic scenes). Blizzard obviously draws on their deep experience with action RPGs when creating the single player, as upgrading your central character (Kerrigan) and your units with new abilities is a central feature of the single player, even to the point of these upgrades warranting entire side missions. As mentioned, the single player also has an expanded set of units, with older units from the original Starcraft making an appearance and some new units that don’t make it into the multiplayer. Multiplayer Starcraft II has always been the more popular element of the game, and has had a particularly strong following in South Korea (the joke being that the North was timing its invasion to coincide with the release of the HotS expansion, as the country would be defenceless). The expansion builds upon this multiplayer heritage by adding a number of social features to make it easier to play with friends, in addition to the unranked gameplay, allowing new players to start jump into multiplayer without being mercilessly crushed by the more experienced. Improvements have been made to the core gameplay, with tweaks to the behaviour of existing units (e.g. Terran Reapers are now much more effective) and general improvements, such as having new worker units automatically target nearby resource patches (separately to non-worker units that the building may produce). This expansion provides good value for money at $50, both in terms of the multiplayer tweaks and the single player campaign. Go get it. PETER DAVIS

While the major commercial networks continue to play cat-andmouse games with their post-Easter schedule, Foxtel and Auntie aren’t so coy, announcing ‘fast tracked’ airdates for two of the year’s most anticipated returns – Dr Who (ABC1, Sun Mar 31, 7:30pm) and Game of Thrones (Showcase, Mon Apr 1, 4:20pm, 8:30pm). Just as SCTEN announce they are no longer devoting themselves to the 18-35 demographic, SBS has crowned itself (or at least SBS2) as a youth broadcaster from Monday April 1 with a line-up that includes a new season of Skins (SBS2, Thu Apr 11, 9:30pm); Community (SBS2, Mon Apr 1, 7pm); Bullet in the Face (SBS2, Mon Apr 1, 9:30pm), an action comedy series with Eddie Izzard parodying graphic novel noir films; Dudesons in America (SBS2, Mon Apr 1, 9pm), a bunch of Finnish pranksters being Jackasses in the US; Threesome (SBS2, Thu Apr 4, 8:30pm), a comedy about raising a baby conceived as the result of a threesome; Him & Her (SBS2, Thu Apr 4, 9pm), a comedy about a couple of slackers who don’t leave their flat (much less the bed); and Warrior Road Trip (SBS2, Tue Apr 2, 9:30pm), a fish-out-of-water doco series following two Maasai warriors as they travel the US. Instead of the usual post-event packaged offering, Auntie will do a live-to-air broadcast of triple j’s One Night Stand (ABC2, triplej.net. au, Sat Apr 13, 7pm) from Dubbo with Flume, The Rubens, Ball Park Music and Seth Sentry. Sketch comedy returns to Auntie too with The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting (ABC1, Wed Apr 3, 9pm) with the comedic talents of Patrick Brammall, Brendan Cowell and Phil Lloyd. Docos to keep an eye out for include Graffiti Wars (SBS2, Apr 4, 9:30pm), exploring the creative tension between ‘80s legend King Robbo and Banksy; Exit Through the Gift Shop (SBS2, Sun Apr 6, 9:30pm), Banksy’s film that tells the story of Thierry Guetta; Who’s been Sleeping in my House?: Gunning (ABC2, Fri Apr 12, 8pm), which looks at the lawless past of the local village; Artscape: Don’t try this at home (ABC2 , Tue Apr 1, 10pm); Conspiracy Road Trip (ABC2, Wed Apr 3, 8:30pm), which takes on some big conspiracies starting with UFOs; Barefoot in Ethiopia (ABC2, Wed Mar 27, 10:10pm), which follows two Australians as they attempt to start an aid organisation in northern Ethiopia. Auntie has just launched Opening Shot 3 for filmmakers under 35. If you have a doco idea head to openingshot.abc.net.au/about. Apps close Tuesday April 12. Opening Shot 2 (ABC2, TBC) will air later this year. US adaptations of The Bridge, based on the Scandinavian drama that aired here on SBS, and Low Winter Sun, based on the British mini-series, will air later in the year on FX. Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spiderman) will make his TV directorial debut on the US Rake pilot. Eep! The Chaser team will be back for the federal election campaign with a show they say is likely to be called The Election Hamster to save on sets. Movies include classic The Godfather (ABC2, Fri Mar 29, 9:30pm), The Godfather Part II (ABC2, Sat Mar 30, 9:30pm) and Part III (ABC2, Sun Mar 31, 9:30pm); The Great Gatsby (ABC2, Sat Apr 6, 9:30pm); Cadillac Records (WIN, Fri Apr 5, 8:30pm), starring Beyoncé and Mos Def among others; Heath Ledger’s turn as Ned Kelly (WIN, Sun Mar 31, 8:30pm); ‘80s American Pie predecessor, Porky’s (WIN, Tue Apr 2, 10:30pm); Sex and the City (WIN, Wed Apr 3, 9:30pm); ‘80s Bratpacker classic Young Guns (WIN, Sat Apr 6, 8:40pm); American History X (WIN, Thu Apr 4, 9:30pm); The Interpreter (Prime, Thu Mar 28, 8:30pm), Twins (Prime, Fri Mar 29, 8:30pm); and The Gods Must be Crazy (One, Sat Apr 6, 8:30pm). TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyherrernan@bigpond.com @ChezBlackbox

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the word

Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen The Famous Spiegeltent Friday March 8

on gigs

What a perfect match! First, take ACT expat Mikel Simic (aka Mikelangelo) who, either solo as The Balkan Elvis or with one of his bands, is renowned for his melodramatic, theatrical performances. Combine this with the first ever appearance in Canberra of The Famous Spiegeltent and you have a show not to be missed for love or money (or a good coffee). A frequent visitor here, Mikelangelo was back as part of the Centenary razzamatazz, which includes several notable ACT artists performing in the Spiegeltent. Having travelled the globe, the tent rested amongst the blooms in the sedate grounds of the Old Parliament House Senate Rose Garden. Externally, the iconic venue oozed old world charm from its coloured glass windows, carved gilt wood and painted scenes. Inside, after being welcomed by the staff in their satin and top hats, it became a cave of wonders, with multi-faceted mirrors running around the walls. Like the TARDIS, it seemed bigger inside than it did from the exterior. As the anticipation and the temperature mounted, with ladies fanning themselves in the heat, the Balkan quintet appeared for a night of glorious cabaret. The band are as good at acting as they are at their music. Every gesture or expression was timed faultlessly to maximise the dramatic, or more often humorous, effect. All band members assumed their special characters. Apart from the Balkan Bull himself, there was Rufino the Catalan Casanova and violinist, Guido Libido the piano accordionist and man of a thousand faces, the clarinetist and taxidermist The Great Muldavio, and finally Little Ivan the double-bass player and barber. The punters started clapping instantly to the impossibly infectious, gypsy-tainted Eastern European melodies. Mikelangelo, already warmed up from an earlier performance, boogied as he launched in his deep baritone into The Devil’s Wedding. Before the song was over he had accosted a woman in the front row (purely in keeping with the lyrics of the song, of course) and rubbed and kissed the shaven heads of nearby men. Yes, it was going to be a good night! Mikelangelo’s comb made the first of its many appearances that night, to keep the thick, well-oiled hair in place. Humour was injected at every opportunity as they moved onto The Song of Experience, with Rufino spinning like a whirling Dervish as he played violin. In keeping with the Centenary, Mikelangelo spoke frequently and fondly of Canberra. The band and crowd sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Canberra and Rufino sang a (dreadful) ACT themed song. A Minor Day got plenty of laughs, with band members doing impressions of a howling dog, a reluctant lawnmower and the strangled crowing of a rooster. Little Ivan then assumed lead vocal duties for Know Your Enemy, standing on, while still playing, the carefully balanced double-bass. Then we headed into Balkan Western territory for one of the night’s highlights, The Wild Wind, accompanied by furious violin and accordion playing.

PHOTOS BY RICKY LLOYD

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Endlessly flexible, another quick change saw them switch instruments for another death-flavoured ditty as they sang the ‘song of the graveyard of the night’. Guido’s deep, breathless Godfatherlike voice was perfect for the sinister Beware. The sombreros and an amazing array of percussion gadgets came out for Ten Long Years in the Saddle. The Spiegeltent owner David Bates joined the band on piano for A Formidable Marinade. The song presented another chance for Mikelangelo to molest audience members (a bit like a Dame Edna show, it was dangerous sitting too near the front). The band finished their encore with Mikelangelo still combing his hair, accompanied by dozens of tiny Mikelangelos in the mirrors around the tent. Fantastic! RORY McCARTNEY

the word

Gold Panda, Elliott, Deaf Cat, CreamCrops, Kure, Mrxkxs, Bottle Brush, Aeon, E A V E S Hippo Bar Sunday March 10

on gigs

Hippo Bar served as an unlikely venue for nurturing the lucid souls of the Gold Panda audience on Sunday night. It was a refreshing change from Trinity Bar, which has notably (and perhaps suitably) held monopoly over electronic music gigs over the last year. Having rearranged the interior décor in order to host the 100 or so guests, Hippo Bar promptly morphed from its usual New York jazz scene veneer into a spacious dance-accommodating arena, fit for all shapes and hipsters. Lit by streetlights and candles that reflected against the soothing red walls, the space gave off an inviting mahogany lure – an allure all too fitting with gin and tonics and cocktails alike. The support acts flowed from one to the next seamlessly, adding consistency to an already fabulously textured event promoted by well-known Blahnket (a sure thing). Namely, however, it was CreamCrops that stood out for me during support. Perhaps it was the hype preparing for the nearing Gold Panda, or it was the conversation we had with the man behind the crops in Garema Place after his set, that made me a true believer. CreamCrops is a humble boy who was more than happy to be in Canberra amongst relative locals and, most importantly, to be supporting such talent. If not just about the music, it was such this type of clientele that added to Gold Panda’s outstanding performance. Friends and foes lined the front row with the enthusiasm and awe of children alighting their first rollercoaster. It has been told thereafter from fans who got photos with Gold Panda after his set that his sweatstained shirt served as just testament to the fire he wrought to fuel such a production. An attendee commented that it was a ‘super chilled’ night and one would have to agree with that inspired sentiment, because in no other way can we describe the vibe that filled the room, alongside booze- and smoke-drenched clothes and breath. It was chilled, comfortable, a bit crazy at times (but still chilled, of course) and, most notably, fun. In our roundabout twenties, fun can sometimes seem uncool or unattainable – heaven forbid us pseudo-intellectual tragedies admit to having fun! But it was, and all because of one man (and the supporting acts, of course) and his decks. Gold Panda, all the way from Essex, England, is known around the world as an authentic artist who plays live, proper, rather than just prodding and flashing an overpriced laptop. Some have said they felt as though they were with him in the recording room the day he first produced the songs. In other words, it was organic and passionate, like watching a machine work in its raw industrial state – churning out sounds and images flawlessly. The man, unlike so many electronic artists, painted the air like a canvas from his beat pad, harnessing every moment and not wasting a second to impress his foreign companions. His surprise new EP entitled Trust is a ‘swirling maelstrom of melancholic electronic experimentation’, which sees Gold Panda ‘exploring techno, off-kilter hip-hop and ambient influences to create a diverse and truly unique sound’. Too true, in retrospect, never was there such an opportunity to witness a truly unique sound unfold – a rare privilege.

PHOTOS BY PAOLO RUIZ

It was both the destination and the music that served for a great night on Sunday March 10; a night that will remind us that Hippo Bar and Gold Panda, and all their animal friends, are willing escorts in the fight against retrograde electronic pretentions. SINEAD O’CONNELL

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the word

on gigs

Birds of Tokyo, Regular John, Super Best Friends UC Bar & Refectory Tuesday March 12 The line was already huge when I arrived at the University of Canberra; a mixture of younger students and older gen-Xers and baby boomers waiting patiently to walk up the stairs into the Refectory. We were here for the Canberra leg of radio favourites Birds of Tokyo and, despite it being a Tuesday night, it looked like it was set to be well attended. Local Canberra band Super Best Friends were up first, opening the night with an energetic mix of pop punk and indie rock. Apart from a few devoted fans at the very front, the crowd didn’t seem to react much, but still listened politely. Despite the less-thanwarm response, the band put in a fantastic performance with a tight, polished sound. The group clearly had a sense of humour, referencing cheesy Canberra nightspot Mooseheads in one of their numbers, as well as just joking around onstage. After a short break, Sydney band Regular John soon took to the stage. Presenting a heavy mixture of ‘90s grunge bass, echoed guitars and wailing, psych-rock vocals, it was an odd choice to support the main act to follow. Again, the crowd seemed a little confused. However, the band arguably put in the best performance of the night, lead singer Ryan Adamson giving it everything he had. Bassist Caleb Goman almost stole the show himself, flinging his long hair wildly, playing the part of a rock ‘n’ roll maniac perfectly. The group possessed a unique style of sound, knowing when to pull back, realising that moments of silence are just as important as noise. Ultimately, the band received a big round of applause, almost winning over the crowd, ending on a heavy but funky number. With Regular John packing up, the numbers swelled as the Refectory began to fill up, an excited chatter filling the air. The now-huge crowd pushed forward, a cheer rising as Birds of Tokyo finally took to the stage, the opening notes of the keyboard resonating through the room. Visuals projected across a series of rectangular screens were used for the first time that night, transforming the stage and bringing an elevated level of production to the concert. Birds of Tokyo were notably louder than the previous groups. However, lead singer Ian Kenn’s voice was still quite clear, cutting through the wall-of-sound guitars and synthesisers. At times, it was almost too loud, the high volume reverberating sharply around the room, slightly diminishing the performance. The audience now at last seemed to wake up, singing along to favourites such as Wide Eyed Boy and Broken Bones, nodding their heads and finally relaxing. The group genuinely looked like they were having fun with their performance, but there was definitely a sense of serious concentration within the band. Even though Ian Kenn committed to the performance, grabbing the microphone with both hands and giving it his best, there was something lacking. Birds of Tokyo were exactly as I expected them to be – and I think this was the problem; there was nothing unexpected in the performance. No extended jams or strong interactions from the band with the audience or with each other.

PHOTOS BY BRETT SARGEANT (D-EYE PHOTOGRAPHY)

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I certainly had a good time, but I did feel that Birds of Tokyo’s performance didn’t connect with me in quite the same way the rawness of the previous two bands did. Despite this, Birds of Tokyo put in a solid (if a little too polished) performance, which the rest of the audience seemed to really enjoy. PETER O’ROURKE

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Wed Mar 27 - Fri Mar 29

Listings are a free community service. Email editorial@bmamag.com to have your events appear each issue. wednesday march 27 Art Exhibition - Canberra At Street Level

BMA celebrates 21 years in the game with the best exhibition ever! 11am5pm (10-4pm, Sat). Free!

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

BMA celebrates 21 years in the game with the best exhibition ever! 11am5pm (10-4pm, Sat). Free!

Exhibition – Rise Exist Demise (RED)

NISHI GALLERY

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

A contemporary Australian art exhibition curated by Chloe Mandryk. 1-2pm (Sat/ Sun 12-2pm). NISHI GALLERY

Karaoke Karaoke Wednesdays 9pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Live Music Two Crows

Crossing the roads of roots and folk. 7:30pm. $10. THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Espresso Sounds

Anna Porter, Adam Cook and Elise & Edgar play from midday through 3pm. Free.

A contemporary Australian art exhibition curated by Chloe Mandryk. 1-2pm (Sat/ Sun 12-2pm).

Live Music Newton Faulkner

On sale now through theabbey.com.au. THE ABBEY

DJ Mo

Special Urban Playground edition Easter Thursday with the UMG All Stars. Doors 9pm. MONKEYBAR

Cub Callaway

With Jenny Spear and The Rip, Los Pajaros. 9pm. THE PHOENIX BAR

National Folk Festival 2013

A celebration of world music, arts and culture. See folkfestival.org.au for info and tix. EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA (EPIC)

Oscar

TEATRO VIVALDI

9pm. Free.

On The Town

Nite Society: Instagram

4Some Thursdays Free entry. 9pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Win Landspeed vouchers by hashtagging your adventures with #nitesociety on the night. 8pm.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

TRANSIT BAR

Something Different

7:30pm. Free.

Organic Lunch at the Co-op

All welcome for a delicious vegetarian feast. $5 students, $6 everyone else. Midday-2pm. ANU FOOD CO-OP

C!rca’s Wunderkammer

Groundbreaking circus for three nights. See canberratheatrecentre.com.au for info/bookings. $30-55. CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

thursday march 28 Art Exhibition Opening – Three Exhibitions

Art across three galleries. Talking Water, Life In Your Hands, and A Legacy of Good Design. 6pm. CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Exhibition – The Kitchen Table Reflecting on everyday Canberra stories, memories and histories. 12-5pm. M16 ARTSPACE

Exhibition Opening – Momentum

Live Jazz

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Spit Syndicate

With Jackie Onassis and Raw City Rukus. 8pm. Tix $18.40 + bf thru Oztix. ZIERHOLZ @ UC

Something Different Organic Lunch at the Co-op

All welcome for a delicious vegetarian feast. $5 students, $6 everyone else. Midday-2pm. ANU FOOD CO-OP

C!rca’s Wunderkammer

Groundbreaking circus for three nights. See canberratheatrecentre.com.au for info/bookings. $30-55. CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

friday march 29 Art Exhibition – Rise Exist Demise (RED)

A contemporary Australian art exhibition curated by Chloe Mandryk. 1-2pm (Sat/Sun 12-2pm). NISHI GALLERY

Established and emerging women sculptors, their rich and diverse creative output. 5:30pm.

Exhibition – Three Exhibitions

Exhibition Opening – Fluidity

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition and book launch by Julia Boyd. An exhibition exploring photography as a fluid form. 6pm. CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Exhibition - Canberra At Street Level

Talking Water, Life In Your Hands, and A Legacy of Good Design. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

Exhibition – The Kitchen Table Reflecting on everyday Canberra stories, memories and histories. 12-5pm. M16 ARTSPACE

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Fri Mar 29 - Tue Apr 2 Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief

Exhibition – Momentum

Exhibition – Fluidity

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

A powerful tribute to the late Aboriginal artist and grassroots activist, Kevin Gilbert. 10am-5pm.

Exhibition – Momentum

Established and emerging women sculptors, their rich and diverse creative output. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Fluidity

By Julia Boyd. Exploring photography as a fluid form, with sculptures and installations. 11am-5pm. CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Exhibition - Canberra At Street Level

BMA celebrates 21 years in the game with the best exhibition ever! 11am5pm (10-4pm, Sat). Free!

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Established and emerging women sculptors, their rich and diverse creative output. 10am-5pm.

Exhibition – Fluidity

By Julia Boyd. Exploring photography as a fluid form, with sculptures and installations. 11am-5pm. CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Exhibition - Canberra At Street Level

BMA celebrates 21 years in the game with the best exhibition ever! 11am5pm (10-4pm, Sat). Free!

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Live Music Katie Wighton

Live Music

A combination of technical skill and heartfelt songwriting. 8pm. Door price TBA.

National Folk Festival 2013

Cromwell

A celebration of world music, arts and culture. See folkfestival.org.au for info and tix. EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA (EPIC)

Havana Nights

Good Friday Special! With DJ Trent Richardson & MC Pelusa. Doors 9pm. Free entry. MONKEYBAR

Deadly Visions

With Brazen, Snakepit, Machina Genova. Doors 8pm. THE BASEMENT

Mitch Canas/The Naughties 5pm/10pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Live Fridays

Live acoustic musicians. 5pm onwards. Free. DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Hit Parade

9:30pm. Free.

HELLENIC CLUB (WODEN)

Alive Fridays

With Young Blood Ft. Chief, Bitmore, Jared Kong & Everest. 9pm. $5 door. ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Patrick James

Recent Unearthed winner. With Pete Akhurst. 8pm. $12 presale/$15 door. THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

On The Town Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Disco, motown, ‘80s and ‘90s. 10pm onwards. Free. DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Exhibition – Three Exhibitions

Talking Water, Life In Your Hands, and A Legacy of Good Design. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat). CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Exhibition – The Kitchen Table

Reflecting on everyday Canberra stories, memories and histories. 12-5pm. M16 ARTSPACE

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief

A powerful tribute to the late Aboriginal artist and grassroots activist, Kevin Gilbert. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Live Music National Folk Festival 2013

A celebration of world music, arts and culture. See folkfestival.org.au for info and tix. EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA (EPIC)

Glasshouse: Lost Weekend 8pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Irish Jam Session

Free traditional Irish music in the pub from late afternoon on into the night. Free. KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Chad Croker/Kimosabi

Live act/DJ set. 3-6pm/6pm-close. Free entry. THE DUXTON

Album launch. 9:30pm.

On The Town

Urban Playground

Free Pool Tables

THE PHOENIX BAR

tuesday april 2 Art Exhibition – Three Exhibitions

Talking Water, Life In Your Hands, and A Legacy of Good Design. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat). CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief

A powerful tribute to the late Aboriginal artist and grassroots activist, Kevin Gilbert. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - Canberra At Street Level

BMA celebrates 21 years in the game with the best exhibition ever! 11am5pm (10-4pm, Sat). Free!

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Exhibition – Momentum

Established and emerging women sculptors, their rich and diverse creative output. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Karaoke

Does exactly what it says on the packet. From 2pm.

Karaoke Love

A celebration of world music, arts and culture. See folkfestival.org.au for info and tix.

Easter K-Pop Night

TRANSIT BAR

Special K

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

With the UMG All Stars. Doors 10pm. MONKEYBAR

National Folk Festival 2013

EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA (EPIC)

10:30pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Something Like This

TRANSIT BAR

With three DJs supported by the ANU Korean Society. Tix on sale mid-March at digress.com.au.

monday april 1

9:30pm. Free entry.

Live Music

Chad Croker

The Bootleg Sessions

HELLENIC CLUB (WODEN)

Live music. 4-7pm. THE DUXTON

Something Like This 9:30pm. Free.

CMC present The Naddiks, The Burley Griffin, Briony Wills. 8pm. Free. THE PHOENIX BAR

National Folk Festival 2013

Croon and wail your heart out on the Transit stage. 9pm. Free.

Live Music I The Breather

With The Storm Picturesque, Prepared Like A Bride. Doors 8pm. $25. THE BASEMENT

Irish Jam Session

Free traditional Irish music in the pub from late afternoon on into the night. Free. KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Trivia The Phoenix Quiz

With Pred. 9pm. $10 door.

A celebration of world music, arts and culture. See folkfestival.org.au for info and tix.

Black Sun Empire

Biscuits

First prize $75 cocktail party. 7:30pm. Free.

HELLENIC CLUB (WODEN)

Love Saturdays

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

From the Shadows album tour. With Zerosis, Harlequin MC, Benjammin’ and more. 10pm. Price TBA. THE CLUBHOUSE

EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA (EPIC)

Post-weekend sounds from Ryz, Peekz, Kimosabi and more! Free pool. 9pm. Free.

7:30pm. Free.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Trivia Tuesdays

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

TRANSIT BAR

On The Town Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Disco, motown, ‘80s and ‘90s. 10pm onwards. Free. DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

sunday march 31

saturday march 30 Art

By Julia Boyd. Exploring photography as a fluid form, with sculptures and installations. 11am-5pm.

Art Exhibition – The Kitchen Table

Reflecting on everyday Canberra stories, memories and histories. 12-5pm. M16 ARTSPACE

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief

A powerful tribute to the late Aboriginal artist and grassroots activist, Kevin Gilbert. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Momentum

Established and emerging women sculptors, their rich and diverse creative output. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Wed Apr 3 - Sat Apr 6 wednesday april 3

Exhibition – Three Exhibitions

Art

Talking Water, Life In Your Hands, and A Legacy of Good Design. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

Exhibition – Three Exhibitions

Exhibition – The Kitchen Table

Talking Water, Life In Your Hands, and A Legacy of Good Design. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat). CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Exhibition – The Kitchen Table

Reflecting on everyday Canberra stories, memories and histories. 12-5pm. M16 ARTSPACE

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief

A powerful tribute to the late Aboriginal artist and grassroots activist, Kevin Gilbert. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Momentum

Established and emerging women sculptors, their rich and diverse creative output. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Fluidity

By Julia Boyd. Exploring photography as a fluid form, with sculptures and installations. 11am-5pm. CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Exhibition - Canberra At Street Level

BMA celebrates 21 years in the game with the best exhibition ever! 11am5pm (10-4pm, Sat). Free!

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Reflecting on everyday Canberra stories, memories and histories. 12-5pm. M16 ARTSPACE

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief

A powerful tribute to the late Aboriginal artist and grassroots activist, Kevin Gilbert. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Momentum

Established and emerging women sculptors, their rich and diverse creative output. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Fluidity

By Julia Boyd. Exploring photography as a fluid form, with sculptures and installations. 11am-5pm.

friday april 5 Art Exhibition - Canberra At Street Level

BMA celebrates 21 years in the game with the best exhibition ever! 11am5pm (10-4pm, Sat). Free!

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Exhibition – Three Exhibitions

Talking Water, Life In Your Hands, and A Legacy of Good Design. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat). CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Exhibition – The Kitchen Table

With Will Sparks. 9pm. $10 before midnight. ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

On The Town Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Disco, motown, ‘80s and ‘90s. 10pm onwards. Free. DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

See canberrarep.org.au for details.

Exhibition – Momentum

Live Music

Alive Fridays

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief

M16 ARTSPACE

Comedy

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

GAREMA PLACE

Something Different

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

The Mindblender tour. 8pm. Tickets $46.90 + bf through canberraticketing.com.au.

Music and dance comp, part of National Youth Week. With Revellers and more. 7:30-10:30pm. Free.

Reflecting on everyday Canberra stories, memories and histories. 12-5pm. A powerful tribute to the late Aboriginal artist and grassroots activist, Kevin Gilbert. 10am-5pm.

Ross Noble

Garema Beatz

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Established and emerging women sculptors, their rich and diverse creative output. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Fluidity

By Julia Boyd. Exploring photography as a fluid form, with sculptures and installations. 11am-5pm.

Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision ANU ARTS CENTRE

Theatre An Idea Takes Flight

Three one-act plays and an exhibition by recent NIDA graduates. Bookings through Ticketek. GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE

Impro ACT Showcase

A short festival of... drama. See impro. com.au for info and tix! CASINO CANBERRA

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Timothy Bowen

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Comedy

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Live Music

Art

Ross Noble

The Down in Flames tour. With Jobstopper, Little Mac & the Monster Men. 8pm. Door price TBA.

The Hillbilly Killers

Exhibition - Canberra At Street Level

Ten Volt Shock (Germany)

Amy Vee

The Mindblender tour. 8pm. Tickets $46.90 + bf through canberraticketing.com.au. CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Karaoke Karaoke Wednesdays 9pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

thursday april 4

7:30pm. Door price TBA.

The Resignators

TRANSIT BAR

With Revellers. 9pm. THE PHOENIX BAR

Chicago Charles & Dave 9pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Live Jazz

7:30pm. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Art

On The Town

Exhibition - Canberra At Street Level

4Some Thursdays

BMA celebrates 21 years in the game with the best exhibition ever! 11am5pm (10-4pm, Sat). Free!

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Free entry. 9pm.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Theatre An Idea Takes Flight

Three one-act plays and an exhibition by recent NIDA graduates. Bookings through Ticketek.

Doors 6:30pm. See theabbey.org.au for more info. Show only $28. THE ABBEY

8pm. Door price TBA.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Urban Playground

With the UMG All Stars. Doors 10pm. MONKEYBAR

The Levitation Hex

With The Schoenberg, Nobody Knew They Were Robots, Inhuman Remnants. Doors 8pm. $15. THE BASEMENT

Live Fridays

Live acoustic musicians. 5pm onwards. Free. DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Groove Dot Com 9:30pm. Free entry.

HELLENIC CLUB (WODEN)

Night Potion/4th Degree

saturday april 6

BMA celebrates 21 years in the game! 11am-5pm (10-4pm, Sat). Free!

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Exhibition – Three Exhibitions 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Exhibition – The Kitchen Table 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Momentum 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Fluidity

By Julia Boyd. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

5pm/10pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Sat Apr 6 - Wed Apr 10 Live Music Havana Nights

sunday april 7

monday april 8

Green Drinks Canberra

With DJ Trent Richardson & MC Pelusa. Doors 9pm.

Art

Pat Capocci

Exhibition – Fluidity

By Julia Boyd. 11am-5pm.

Exhibition - ‘The Safe Box Project’

MONKEYBAR

With The Fuelers. 9:30pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Hard Cover

Exhibition – The Kitchen Table

HELLENIC CLUB (WODEN)

M16 ARTSPACE

THE PHOENIX BAR

Talks

Messengers Arts Students use recycled materials to create unique and intruiging spaces. 10-5pm. Free

An informal monthly meetup for people interested in sustainability/the environment. 5:30pm. Free. WIG & PEN

Trivia Trivia Tuesdays

9:30pm. Free entry.

12-5pm.

Killing the Sound

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief

Live Music

First prize $75 cocktail party. 7:30pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Biscuits

The Phoenix Quiz

10:30pm. Free.

10am-5pm.

Zoopagoo

Exhibition – Momentum

Japanese Night! Part proceeds go to Tsunami Relief Fund. 9:30pm. $10 entry. THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Love Saturdays

With Runamark. 9pm. $10 door. ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Roger & Buddy Knox

With Bart Willoughby. Performances by Indigenous artists as part of ‘I Do Have a Belief’. 6pm. Free. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

On The Town Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Disco, motown, ‘80s and ‘90s. 10pm onwards. Free. DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Something Different Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision From the book by Craig Christie. Dinner and show tix available. See canberrarep.org.au for details. ANU ARTS CENTRE

Fash ‘n’ Treasure

For all your new and retro clothing wants. 10am-3pm. $3 entry.

EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA (EPIC)

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Post-weekend sounds from Ryz, Peekz, Kimosabi and more! Free pool. 9pm. Free.

Live Music

The Bootleg Sessions

10am-5pm.

The Griffyn Ensemble

Joined by Swedish quartet The Peärls Before Swïne Experience to explore themes of Water. 7pm. $32+.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Black Breath

With I Exist. Doors 8pm. THE BASEMENT

Irish Jam Session

Free traditional Irish music in the pub from late afternoon on into the night. Free. KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Immigrant Union

Featuring Brent DeBoer from The Dandy Warhols and Courtney Barnett. With guests. 8pm. THE PHOENIX BAR

Sunday Best @ A Bite to Eat

Minh: funky folk guitar with added didgeridoo goodness. Tapas + happy hour 5-7pm. Free. A BITE TO EAT CAFE

On The Town

An Idea Takes Flight

Free Pool Tables

GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE

Impro ACT Showcase

A short festival of... drama. See impro. com.au for info and tix! CASINO CANBERRA

2XX Local n Live Present Party Gravy, Nozl, Moon Landing, Kid of Harith. 8pm. Free. THE PHOENIX BAR

tuesday april 9

The Neo

They go off like a fireball. 8pm. Door price TBA.

From 2pm.

TRANSIT BAR

Theatre Impro ACT Showcase

A short festival of... drama. See impro. com.au for info and tix! CASINO CANBERRA

Art Exhibition – Three Exhibitions

Talking Water, Life In Your Hands, and A Legacy of Good Design. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat). CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief

A powerful tribute to the late Aboriginal artist and grassroots activist, Kevin Gilbert. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Momentum

Established and emerging women sculptors, their rich and diverse creative output. 10am-5pm. BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition - ‘The Safe Box Project’

Messengers Arts Students use recycled materials to create unique and intruiging spaces. 10-5pm. Free THE SHOP FRONT GALLERY

Karaoke Karaoke Love

7:30pm. Free.

THE PHOENIX BAR

wednesday april 10 Art Exhibition – Momentum 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Three Exhibitions 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Exhibition – The Kitchen Table 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Exhibition – I Do Have a Belief 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Exhibition – Imprint: Growing up Planned 11am-5pm. Free.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Exhibition - ‘The Safe Box Project’ 10-5pm. Free

THE SHOP FRONT GALLERY

Karaoke Karaoke Wednesdays 9pm.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Live Music Acoustic Soup

Croon and wail your heart out on the Transit stage. 9pm. Free.

Line-up TBA. Good food and good music. 7-10:30pm. $8 students/ members, $10.

Live Music

Something Different

Irish Jam Session

Eurobeat: Almost Eurovision

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

ANU ARTS CENTRE

TRANSIT BAR

Free traditional Irish music in the pub from late afternoon on into the night. Free.

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DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

TRANSIT BAR

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Theatre Three one-act plays and an exhibition by recent NIDA graduates. Bookings through Ticketek.

THE SHOP FRONT GALLERY

ANU FOOD CO-OP

From the book by Craig Christie. Dinner and show tix available. See canberrarep.org.au for details.

FIRST CONTACT SIDE A: BMA band profile

Bacon Cakes Where did you come from? Same place I always do. Group members? Bo. Describe your sound: Mechanical vibrations transmitted through an elastic medium, traveling in air at a speed of approximately 1087 feet (331 meters) per second at sea level. Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? bit.ly/Y94F34.

Aaron Peacey 0410381306

In The Flesh Scott 0410475703

Adam Hole 0421023226

Itchy Triggers Alex 0414838480

Afternoon Shift 0402055314 Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410308288

Jenn Pacor Singer-songwriter avail. for originals/covers 0405618630

Annie & The Armadillos Annie (02) 61611078/ 0422076313

Johnny Roadkill Paulie 0408287672 paulie_mcmillan@live.com.au

Aria Stone sax/flute/lute/ harmonica, singer-songwriter Aria 0411803343

Kayo Marbilus myspace.com/kayomarbilus

Australian Songwriters Association Keiran (02) 62310433 Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422733974 backbeatdrivers.com Bat Country Communion, The Mel 0400405537 Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows-bookings@ birdslovefighting.com

What’s an experience you’ve had? My watch broke; I was going to get it fixed but I didn’t have the time.

Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438351007 blacklabelphotography.net

What are you so far? Half man, half man.

Bridge Between, The Cam 0431550005

What are your plans for the future? Nothing. What makes you laugh? Why couldn’t the life guard save the hippy? He was too far out man. What pisses you off? This question. What about the local scene would you change? I would bring back smoking in pubs and dikfours. What are your upcoming gigs? Thursday April 25 at The Phoenix Bar. Be there or don’t.

Capital Dub Style Reggae/dub events Rafa 0406647296

Los Chavos Latin/ska/reggae Rafa 0406647296 Andy 0401572150 Missing Zero Hadrian 0424721907 Hadrian.brand@live.com.au Moots Huck 0419630721 aspwinch@grapevine.com.au Morning After, The Covers band Anthony 0402500843 Mornings Jordan 0439907853 MuShu Jack 0414292567 mushu_band@hotmail.com Painted Hearts, The Peter (02) 62486027 Polka Pigs Ian (02) 62315974

Cole Bennetts Photography 0415982662

Rafe Morris 0416322763

Danny V Danny 0413502428

Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404178996/ (02) 61621527

Dawn Theory Nathan 0402845132 Danny 0413502428 Dorothy Jane Band, The Dorothy Jane 0411065189 dorothy-jane@dorothyjane.com Drumassault Kate 0414236323 FeralBlu Danny 0413502428 Fighting Mongooses, The Adam 0402055314 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410381306 Lachlan 0400038388 Fourth Degree Vic 0408477020 Gareth Dailey DJ/Electronica Gareth 0414215885 Groovalicious Corporate/ weddings/private functions 0448995158

Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417025792

Redletter Ben 0421414472

Rug, The Jol 0417273041 Sewer Sideshow Huck 0419630721 Simone & The Soothsayers Singing teacher Simone 62304828 Sorgonian Twins, The Mark 0428650549 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401588884 STonKA Jamie 0422764482 stonka2615@gmail.com Strange Hour Events Dan 0411112075 Super Best Friends Matt 0438228748 System Addict Jamie 0418398556

Guy The Sound Guy Live & Studio Sound Engineer 0400585369 guy@guythesoundguy.com

Top Shelf Colin 0408631514

Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com

Zoopagoo zoopagoo@gmail.com

Undersided, The Baz 0408468041

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