BMA Magazine 421 Jul 15 2013

#421JUL17

INSIDE – Sarah Blasko Bernard Fanning EAVES eX de Medici Alex Williamson

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Gillard, Rudd, it makes no difference.

Jesus Christ will always be #1 on our ballot. #421J U LY 1 7 Fax: (02) 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne Allan Sko General Manager Allan Sko T: (02) 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com

Advertising Manager Scott Johnston T: (02) 6257 4360 E: sales@bmamag.com

Editor Ashley Thomson

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Accounts Manager Hongyan Ao

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Sub-Editor & Social Media Manager Greta Kite-Gilmour Graphic Design Marley Film Editor Melissa Wellham NEXT ISSUE 422 OUT JULY 31 EDITORIAL DEADLINE JULY 22 ADVERTISING DEADLINE JULY 25 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA Magazine is independently owned and published. Opinions expressed in BMA Magazine are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

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Perennially neglected, Canberra will finally welcome its very own leg of the Vans Warped Tour Australia in 2013. With a somewhat nostalgia-laden line-up, the Warped Tour will bring The Offspring, Parkway Drive, Simple Plan, New Found Glory, The Used, Hatebreed, Tonight Alive, H20 and many more to Exhibition Park on Friday December 6. The cost of tickets is yet to be announced, but they can be purchased via vanswarpedtouraustralia. com from Thursday July 18, 9am. What’s more, the show (as they usually are) is a licensed all ages event. Expect this one to be a seething mass of prepubescents, folks. Buy those tickets and this might become a fixture in Canberra – here’s hoping.

Tropfest 2013 Calls for Entries The single largest short film festival in Australia is once again looking for a slew of short films about which everyone can disagree, gripe and begrudgingly acknowledge talent, meanwhile doing the same of cheeses, wines and other peoples’ children. This year, the prizes on offer are a new Toyota, $10,000, a Nikon DSLR filmmaker’s kit and a trip to Los Angeles. Films must be no longer than seven minutes, and the signature item this year is ‘Change’, which seems a bit shit, really. Get it together, Tropfest. A bunch of famous people say good stuff about Tropfest, but all you really need to know is that nothing’s stopping you from having a crack, and entries open on Thursday August 15.

Visit tropfest.com/au for more information.

66 Music Launches ‘TakeMe-to-the-Next-Level’ ACT Music Competition International production company 66 Music is opening a cutting edge studio in Canberra, bringing with them years of experience. To celebrate, 66 Music, in conjunction with local sponsors Flow Media, UC Live and Style by St James, are holding a competition for local musicians, with a prize valued at over $11,000. This includes a music video with over $8000 behind it, a styling session, and a support slot for a yetto-be-announced national touring band at one of UC Live’s Belconnen venues.

To enter the competition or for more information, visit 66music.com.au.

Inaugural Sculpture Event Calls for Entries Sculpture in the Street is a fundraising, non-competitive sculpture event that will take place in a small street in Downer from Fri-Sun November 15-17, 2013. The residents of Rennie Street have agreed to open their front gardens for the exhibition, providing six gardens open to any form of sculpture and installation.

Facades of some houses may also be used, in consultation with the resident. There are also trees and lampposts.

If you have an idea, just ask them if it’s possible to do.

Submissions can be in any form, such as drawings or photographs. A $20 submission fee for work(s) is asked for administration purposes, and will be used to print the catalogue and pay insurance.

At the conclusion of the event, a $500 Peoples’ Choice Award will be presented. Submissions are due on or before Tuesday July 30 and can be made to sculptureinthestreet@hotmail. com. For further info use the aforementioned email address.

And one day, behaviour like this led to the eradication of a vast majority of the human race, son.

First Ever Canberra Date for Vans Warped Tour

gallery. Just so you’re not disillusioned when you look, though, you should know it’s really cheap and probably no one else will apply so just assume you’re a shoo-in when you’re filling out the form because they’ll like that.

Proposals due Thursday August 29.

ANCA Gallery Calls for Proposals ANCA Gallery is currently seeking exhibition proposals for the second half of 2014.

The application form, hire conditions and floor plan are available on the ANCA website: anca.net.au/applications/

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FROM THE BOSSMAN It being just over halfway through the Centenary, it seems an apt time to reflect on what this year says about our identity.

Through some successful events that explore our subculture, Canberra seems to be planting two feet firmly on the ground, veritably swelling up its chest and shouting, ‘Check me out, with me balls all shiny!’ We now have a Comedy Festival, You Are Here and Art, Not Apart are set to continue, the Spiegeltent and The Village were enjoyable slabs of quirkiness which would be great to see again... The list goes on.

But these are the big ticket items. It’s the little things that tell us the most, as a recent visit to the supermarket revealed.

In the O’Connor IGA of a Saturday afternoon, I spied a sale item that summoned an instant rush of memory. It was a little lime green Canberra Milk sporting a price tag that screamed, ‘Please take me... No-one else will’. I plucked it from the shelf and eagerly stuffed into the hand basket. Unloading perfectly normal items onto the checkout counter - wine, nappies, soda water, wine, chocolate, wine - my hand closed on the green ooze and I suddenly hesitated. My hand trembled; I was afraid to look the checkout gal in the eye. The reality hit me; here was a grown man about to publicly hand over money for citrus flavoured milk.

But I was hooked on nostalgic charm. This was a slice of Canberra. My Canberra. I hadn’t had a lime milk in over 20 years.

My mind shot me back to simpler times, when gleaming glass bottles were hand-delivered by impossibly short-shorted flurosporting men who sprang from the side of a dirty cantankerous truck; the crunch of size 14s on the frost on Mum’s precious azaleas echoing across the neighbourhood as the milk was delivered to your door; householders locomoting breathy condensation as they quickly scurried the glass bottles inside.

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.]

There once was a peppermint tea That I spilled all over me My mouth was all set, but now I’m all wet And my pants look like I have just pee’d To my dear office mate, I want to pull my eyeballs out and stuff them in my ears! Why do you have to give me a play by play account of what you are viewing on the internet? Can you not make selections on a drop down list or look at a map without telling me? SHUT-the fuck-UP! Thoughts are for the inside of your head you moron! You Piss Me Off! Fuck!

To the manky tart in the supermarket that gave me the stinkeye because I didn’t realise I was pushing someone’s shopping basket away with my pram. Do you think I ritually aim to make pushing a pram harder by using people’s shopping baskets like curlers? You could have used your human words and politely it pointed out instead of srtaring at me like some feral cat. Piss off to auditions to Ladette to Lady and leave the rest of us alone.

I remember the excitement and panic sparked by hearing the rumble of the milk truck and racing breathless to part with your New England ha’penny for a special edition carton of lurid green milk while parents slumbered. It brought to mind the halcyon days of the Raiders, the green jerseys and Canberra Milk sponsor sparking this curious cross-promotional concoction in the first place. I remember Laurie Daley and Bradley Clyde visiting our school, imposingly big to us three-foot-nothingers, and keenly asking the burning questions - if I became an NRL player, would I still be allowed to eat McDonald’s?

Lime milk is inherently Canberran, a concept so ridiculous it has to be ours. At the same time we feel uneasy about it. Similar to the much talked about, much maligned Skywhale. Canberra has once again been presented with a questionable representation of the area. Why, we may ask, are we constantly foisted with these bizarre creations?

Well damn the haters, I’m all for it. I love the goofy, the weird, the bizarre and the frankly bonkers things we present to ourselves and the world. And I love the fact we get awkward and embarrassed about it. That is our identity, and it’s charming.

‘May we see awkwardly tied-in blue promo pints to support the Brumbies at Mooseheads and grossly priced hot air balloons in the shape of whale genitals in 2014!’ I proudly declare to the dear lady wife before taking a first hearty sip of lime milk and spraying it in an impressive arc all over her face. ‘Yergh! Bastards have changed the recipe! This tastes like frogpiss!’ Good old Canberra. Always keeping you on your toes.

ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com

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Image credit: Marco Borggreve Image credit: Johnny Au

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WHO: Joe Oppenheimer Presents WHAT: Live Music & Singterview WHEN: Thu Jul 18 WHERE: The Phoenix Pub

Tune in to The Phoenix for a night of local talent hosted by Joe Oppenheimer. Joe will interlude sets by Alex Gilbert, Luciana Harrison and Cathy Petocz, James Fahy and the mysterious mixing duo Tom & Tom in a format known as ‘singterview.’ Encouraging of the fact that Phoenix feels like most people’s living room, Joe had this to say of the evening: ‘The main way is to come in, sit back, yell some nonsense and enjoy good tunes. It’s not the only way but it’s sure rewarding!’ As anyone who’s been to pretty much any of Joe’s events (‘singterview’ or not), it’s indeed worth piping up – your nonsense may will fuel his next song. 9pm. Free.

WHO: Ungus Ungus Ungus WHAT: Rumpapo Tour WHEN: Fri Jul 19 WHERE: The Front Gallery and Café

The third release from Ungus Ungus Ungus, Rumpapo, presents a psychedelic meeting point between raucous gypsy and progressive rock. Referencing Klezmer and Balkan music and travelling from epic rock to jazz, this is not music for the faint of heart. Ungus Ungus Ungus have been crafting a unique fusion of progressive funk, gypsy, pop and psychedelic rock for almost half a decade. As explorative in their lyrically cryptic protest song writing as they are in their genre defying, multi-directional and technically profound instrumental explorations, Ungus Ungus Ungus are dedicated purveyors of original music. With Moochers Inc. & Coolio Desgracias. 8pm. $10.

WHO: Patricia Kopatchinskaja & The ACO WHAT: ‘Barefoot Fiddler’ National Tour WHEN: Sat Jul 27 WHERE: Llewellyn Hall

This Moldovan violinist is renowned for her technical control, joyous on-stage presence and intensely personal readings of a broad cross-section of repertoire. Known as the ‘Barefoot Fiddler’, for Kopatchinskaja playing sans shoes isn’t just a gimmick – it stops her energetic foot-stomping from interrupting the music. Returning for her third national tour with the ACO, Kopatchinskaja has established herself as one of Australian audiences’ most celebrated visiting soloists. Directing as well as appearing as soloist, Kopatchinskaja is eager to share the spotlight and lead the ACO. 8pm. Tickets $44.75$93.75 + bf through ticketek.com.au.

WHO: Sam Buckingham WHAT: Album Tour WHEN: Thu Aug 1 WHERE: The Front Gallery and Café

Lover, traveller, teller of truths, Sam Buckingham has created a remarkable collection of pop musings and troubadour tales in her latest independent offering, I’m A Bird. Feeling right at home on festival stages, and touring with Washington, Matt Corby, Katie Noonan, Lior, and Angus & Julia Stone, Buckingham is equally at home in the lounge rooms of fans. The release of I’m A Bird will see another run of house concerts around Australia, performing the new album from start to finish. Funded in part by a successful crowd-funding campaign, the grassroots and fan-focused approach continues to drive and deliver for Buckingham. 7pm. Door donation.

WHO: The Woohoo Revue WHAT: ‘Pure Decadence’ Tour WHEN: Fri Aug 2 WHERE: The Polish White Eagle Club

A fiendishly talented sextet of horns, strings and drums, The Woohoo Revue has forged its reputation with adrenalin-fuelled celebration, fit for dancing, drinking and ignoring tomorrow. Having toured relentlessly during their five-year existence, there remain some fine dancefloors neglected by this boisterous band. The upcoming tour is set to change that. It will be a journey across all of Australia’s states and territories. They’ll be bringing on the road with them a host of new material, allowing fans and newcomers a glimpse of The Revue’s brand new album, due for release in early 2014. With Nyash! 8pm. $25 + bf at trybooking.com.

WHO: Naughty Rhythms & Los Chavos WHAT: Ska-Tropica WHEN: Sat Aug 3 WHERE: The Croatian Club

Naughty Rhythms, reformed Canberra legends, team up with Los Chavos to offer a show dedicated to the Caribbean beat known as ska. After a one-off gig at The Speigeltent this year, NR are back, this time for a show that offers a wider palette of ska, with Los Chavos, young guns coming at the same genre from a different perspective. The night will be an exploration of the global influence of ska (e.g. two-tone ska, which channelled a countercultural message in ‘70s/‘80’s England), and a dip into Canberra’s own musical history. The first major gig by the CMC at The Croation Club promises to be a winner. 8pm. $15.

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The Sound The Sound of‘STraya of‘STraya glen martin Here’s a controversial suggestion – The Drones aren’t the best band in Australia. Sure, they’re pretty handy. But one could argue that they’re bettered by a group perhaps too unassuming to be taken seriously. A band who don’t take themselves seriously enough to be taken seriously. Still, DICK DIVER have a legitimate claim to being amongst Australian music’s top dogs. Not just on the back of their two peerless records, the most recent of which is this year’s stellar Calendar Days, but based on the suggestion that they’re the most Australian of Australian bands.

What’s strange is just how few acts seek out a sound that is entirely local. We’ve always been more likely to produce bands that sound like New Yorkers in 1976 than Melbourne in 2013. We’ve also wondered just what an Australian sound would be. Turns out it’s laconic, sarky, suburban and smart. Sign ‘em up for a tourism campaign, I say – the tagline might read: ‘Australia – it’ll do!’ Or, ‘Australia! Plenty of good bottle shops!’ BMA spoke with DD’s Alistair McKay via the magic of email. McKay proved himself to be a laconic yet pedantic smartarse. Which wasn’t really that much of a surprise.

Q: In the song Interstate Forever you link Canberra and fascism.

Are you concerned about a potential confrontation between the cities jackbooted drones at the Transit gig?

A: Do you mean ‘city’s’? [Note: This tune mocks someone who moves back to Canberra. But whatever, dude. Sometimes we make grammatical errors. We’re human.]

Q: Chapter Records’ roster is a bit of a who’s who – are you all mates? Ping pong with Twerps, bake-offs with Beaches? If so, wouldn’t some intra-band warfare make for better PR? A: It probably would. But what they don’t tell you, is that that path also fast tracks to bust-ups and post-band collaborations with ‘orright geezer’ types, followed by endless, irresistible offers to rejoin.

And someone – ‘innocently’ – someone invariably gives in. And who would wish any of their friends to wash-up, milky eyed, on stage at Roachford Winery in front of a crowd confusing air kisses and soft cheeses with genuine nostalgia?

Do you WORK for Cubase or something?

You think that shit’s gonna help you write a fucking hit??

Q: Various media outlets (including this publication) suggest that you’ve made at least one Australian classic, probably two. So why aren’t you super famous? Or at least as famous as Gareth Liddiard/Glenn Richards/Dan Kelly/Daryl Somers?

A: That’s very kind of you, thanks. But I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of these people. Is Glenn Richards the sexy one from Oh Mercy?

Q: With four songwriters, how does editing occur? Is there a dictator, are some tunes included out of fairness, or is DD a unit of simmering passive aggression?

A: Other. Al and I are Pro-tools kind of guys, but Steph and Rupe are more fans of Cubase. The smoothest DAW around they reckon. And we’re both like, ‘What? Do you WORK for Cubase or something now?

You think that shit’s gonna help you write a fucking hit??’ I guess the world’s all roses if you’ve got a 1080p display though, hey! (jks) Hahaha! Hi-end foreva!

Q: Did you support Gillard or Rudd?

Q: There’s a Facebook campaign for the anointment of Al Montford as Australian of the year – if he wins, how will he juggle music with his ribbon-cutting and inspirational speaking engagements?

A: ‘Music’ is a bit much.

Q: You and Stephen Malkmus have flown the flag for a reevaluation of the rock band Dragon. (Google ‘Dick Diver + Are You Old Enough’ – be careful if you’re at work though…) Any other names from the past we should be (re)considering?

A: Abba. The Visitors.

Q: For the rest of us, Melbourne still looks like the promised land for music – is it really so? Or is the city facing the same annoyances we all are (venues closing, lacklustre crowds etc.)?

Q: What does it take to make a living doing this kind of caper at the moment?

A: Melbourne is pretty great for music. There is a receptive and critical audience; really good community radio stations; some really good independent record labels; good record stores; a handful of very generous, talented producers; and a good artistic history.

Venues do close down from time to time, and that’s often sad. But generally they seem to be well run, by people who are into music, and those that close down are replaced. These come in a good range of size, decor and mood to sustain various scenes and to be able to attract international acts. It feels like there’s a strong music community basically, which is why there are some really great bands in Melbourne. But I’m in my mid-20s, so what do I really know? Some people might say it’s gone to shit. But at least we haven’t gone by way of the pokies in as big a way as some other states.

A: The courage to believe in your dreams and follow them through the recesses of irony.

Dick Diver hit Transit Bar on Saturday July 27 at 9pm with TV Colours and more TBA. Tickets are $8.70 + bf through Moshtix.

A: Yes. Q: The Go-Betweens have a bridge, AC/DC and Roland Howard have lanes – if Dick Diver ever get their due, what piece of the city would be named in your honour?

A: The Yarra River. Because it might look deep at certain points, and wind past a few cultural landmarks, but on closer inspection reveals that it’s primarily a vessel for floating turds into an inevitable and greater expanse.

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ALL AGES Hey folks! Did you know that Chuck Norris has endorsed every event in this column?* And one does not simply dismiss his seal of approval. This is a man who can believe it’s not butter, who can slam a revolving door, and who can divide by zero.

Q: What’s the quickest way to a man’s heart? A: Chuck Norris’s fist.

And if you love tea and art and music, what’s the quickest way to warm your cold Canberra bones and heart? A: Winterfair! So what is Winterfair? An easier question would be what isn’t Winterfair?

There’re clothes, crafts and arts stalls, and even some live music!

Not to mention the photo booth, clothes swap and rumours of Pin the Glasses on the Hipster. But how is this awesome thing possible?

And where does it take place? Firstly, Chuck Norris said so, and the location is 21 Blythe Close, Kaleen on Saturday July 20 between 10am-4pm. For more information check out the Facebook page: facebook.com/events/479742852103956/?fref=ts.

Are you in high school? Do you play music? Have you ever wanted to write a song about Chuck Norris? (Chuck Norris built the hospital that he was born in/ Apparently his skin is made of den-im.) If you answered yes to those first two questions then you’re eligible to enter triple j’s Unearthed High competition. If you answered no to the last question then shame on you! How to enter: write an original song, record it, register your band on their website, and upload the song by midnight, Monday July 22. The prizes include a professional song recording at the triple j studio, airplay on triple j and triple j Unearthed and, lastly, a lunchtime concert at your high school, where your band will play alongside San Cisco. Make sure your friends register on triple j as well so that they can show their support by rating and reviewing your track(s).

Did you know that anyone who doesn’t exist actually used to be alive? Chuck Norris erased them from history using his beard. So if you used to think Bernard Fanning was the beardiest man alive, think again. But you should still go to Bernard’s show. He’s playing live on Sunday August 4 with supporting acts Vance Joy and Big Scary. They play at the Royal Theatre at 7:30pm. Tickets cost around $70 + bf and can be bought online or by calling Ticketek on 13 28 49.

Did you know that Chuck Norris can play the ‘H’ note on piano?

Rumour is that he taught Rudimental how to play it too, so you should go see them play live on Wednesday September 18 at the UC Refectory. The show starts at 7:30pm. Tickets are $54.95 + bf through Oztix and Moshtix.

Did you know that Chuck Norris’s cat killed curiosity? Did you also know that The Cat Empire are coming to Canberra? They’re playing on Thursday September 19 at the UC Refectory. These guys are probably as popular as Chuck Norris, so I wouldn’t wait to book.

Tickets are $49.95 + bf for concession and $59.95 + bf for general sale. You can buy your tickets through Oztix.

And one more for the road: Did you know that Mick Jagger has moves like Norris?

Cheers, ANDIE EGAN allagescolumn@gmail.com * Disclaimer: by ‘endorse’, I mean ‘didn’t endorse’.

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LOCALITY

Most people need, at some point, to be told what a ‘slam’ is. Those that know may attend tens, hundreds, without going on to research their origins, not to mention their detractors. It’s easy enough to attend a poetry slam without needing to know they’ve been described as both ‘the death of art’ and ‘the democratisation of verse’. But whichever is the case, they’ve now evolved to include such things as the Story Slam at The Front Gallery and Café on Wednesday July 17 from 7:30pm. The theme is ‘… and that’s when I knew I was in trouble.’ Enjoy. Or don’t?

Thursday July 18 sees Joe Oppenheimer returning to Canberra to play at The Phoenix from 9pm. Oppenheimer means to play host to a slew of his favourite locals and ex-locals, including James Fahy, Luciana Harrison and others, providing a series of interlude sets.

This I dare you not to enjoy.

New local theatre company Something Borrowed are presenting their first production, At Home at the Zoo, at Smith’s Alternative from Thursday July 18. At Home at the Zoo, a play by Edward Albee (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), can be caught from 8pm for three nights for a $10-15 door. The perennially touring King of the North is returning to The Basement on Friday July 19, 8pm, with locals Hence the Testbed and Kid You Not. Despite their namesake being a little worse for wear, they soldier on. This one’s a $10 door. Also that Friday, Sydney four-piece funk outfit Ungus Ungus Ungus are visiting The Front from 7:30pm, bringing locals Moochers Inc. and, for those of you who can’t get enough of a man wearing a baseball shirt with his own name stitched on the back, Coolio Desgracias.

YOU MADE MY DAY!

Email editorial@bmamag.com to send a message of gratitude, warmth and generosity to the world at large. AWWW. To the medieval reenactment doods who dress up in armour and have sword fights n shit in Haig park... Every time I drive past youse guys, you replenish my mana. Go you free spirits. Fight like noone’s watching. You have my +4 Approval.

Nothing beats flying halfway around the world only to have your Sydney to Canberra flight cancelled due to fog. Except for stupidly leaving all of your precious duty free presents in the courtesy Mercure hotel lobby afterwards. So a hearty You Made My Day! to whoever it was who spied the oh-so-tempting bags of alcohol and decided to hand it in. You Made My Liver Hurt.

To the Skywhale, for riling up all the old crinklies in town because they’re offended by bulbuos tits floating in the air. I’m sorry, but that shit’s just funny. Money well spent I say.

To the ‘Shit Nobody Says in Canberra’ YouTube clips makers.

Your second vid was nearly as funny, but the first was a pisser.

Thanks for the laughs, fellas.

Saturday July 20 sees Wollongong group Hockey Dad taking the stage at The Phoenix from 9:30pm. Local Bacon Cakes is supporting. Over at The Polish White Eagle Club, Revellers are headlining for Hotel Books, Sundial and Breakout from 8pm.

The Bootlegs on Monday July 22 is solid as packed ice, with Bears With Guns, Hashemoto and The Burley Griffin from 8pm.

Perpetual End are launching a new album at The Basement on Friday July 26 from 8pm for $15, with Tensions Arise, Renegade Peacock and Critical Monkee. Closer to the city on the same night, the Canberra Musicians Club present Chaos in the Cosmos, a triple album launch at The Polish White Eagle Club from 8:30pm. Space Party, Magic Rob Universe and Little Mac and the Monster Men are all dishing out new albums. Tickets are $10/15. Saturday July 27 at The Phoenix, megafunk band Zoopagoo are supported by Nozl and The Spindrift Saga from 9:30pm.

The Canberra Songwriters Workshop has set up shop at The George Harcourt Inn, the next instalment being on Monday July 29 from 6:30pm. It’s billed as a judgment-free zone for anyone looking to learn, trade tips, or just play. It’s free for first-timers and under18s are welcome with an adult.

And that’s everything local I care about.

ASHLEY THOMSON - editorial@bmamag.com; @aabthomson

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SINEAD O’CONNELL Although not a concept album, SARAH BLASKO’s fourth album, I Awake, places a lot of emphasis on the realisation of self. In Blasko’s words, ‘It’s who I was in that place and time. I think that since I’ve made the record, things have changed and things have shifted. Each album is a reaction to things you’ve done before, but I see [As] Day Follows Night and I Awake as being very connected. I wanted I Awake to be a continuation from the last album … It’s important now to do something quite different.’

Her upcoming regional Australian tour follows the release of the track All of Me, a provocative visual insight into both the mind and body of the women behind the genius. Collaborating with friend and colleague Wilk, they created a ‘performance-based video that was … equally beautiful and strange.

I just knew that I wanted to present something that was very unselfconscious and pure

With a collection of 12 ethereal songs, Blasko’s new lyrical direction lends virtue to the novel sound. God Fearing and Fool deal with the struggles of unhealthy relationships; An Oyster, A Pearl exposes the wonders of being true to oneself; and Cast the Net sheds light on a future unaffected by the past.

Working with Bulgaria’s New Symphony Orchestra, Blasko confesses, ‘was overwhelming, sort of, the scale of it, because I wanted to record with an orchestra and it seemed like a huge task, and I wanted to get it right. And if it didn’t, I didn’t want it to fail the way I think that orchestral stuff fails on pop records. I didn’t want it to be wishy-washy, I wanted the orchestra to be really bold and strong, and I felt the pressure just in trying to achieve that.

‘In my opinion,’ she continues, ‘I think I made the record I really wanted to make, and I do think that the orchestra is really bold.

I don’t think it’s used in that kind of necessarily traditional way … you know? It’s not just there bubbling below the surface, I think it has a really great presence.’ I Awake is definitely Blasko’s most identifiable album offered; it’s expansive and unusual, exceptionally honest and complex. The writing is organic and natural, confronting her individual contradictions and passions, as well as those of her audience.

‘I think that’s the nice thing about the album; there are more beautiful moments like in All of Me and Here, but then there are songs like I Awake and Not Yet where the orchestra is really bold and almost scary the way it’s used. I like the fact that it’s got personality and that it takes on all these different sides and emotions; it can be very beautiful but it can also be very harsh and unusual.’ She adds, ‘It [I Awake] can capture that time and place. It’s not even about a place either; it’s just that time in my life. That’s where I was at, that’s what I needed to write about.’

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‘It sort of was something that I felt was a very natural kind of mixed step; it felt instinctual to actually do it and I just went ahead and did it quietly with a friend of mine. Also I wanted it to be more of an art piece, I didn’t want it to be this commercial clip; I wanted to work with a friend. Something that I felt was important.’

Bordering between the ‘natural and the unnatural’ the pair set out to expose ‘honesty, bravery and intimacy’ in place of sexuality in their single take video. ‘The song itself likens falling in love to the purity of being a newborn, but love is also at its best when it comes from a place of understanding and experience.’

The making of the video, which sees her naked, though slightly blurred, liberated Blasko. She comments, ‘It was intimidating, but I think it was very important for me to rid myself of the preciousness of your … oh it’s hard to explain! I just knew that I wanted to present something that was very unselfconscious and pure. It was kind of, just, important to me somehow. I think, with the last two clips, I wanted to do something more honest and more personal and I chose to work with just one other person and I work that way, which seemed to be a good day to work. I found it very liberating actually, it takes away a lot of preciousness with those things. You realise your body is a sacred thing, it’s very personal, but also it’s a tool, and it’s not always connected to sexuality … it’s kind of mixed in with this other realm.’

Having just returned from Europe after living in Paris and touring the UK, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland among other places, Blasko offers insight into touring in different hemispheres. ‘It’s quite different to playing here, you know, because I feel like I’m building something over there in a different way. I had some really good experiences, met some really amazing people.’ I can’t imagine what ‘amazing’ would be to Blasko, she herself being one of the finest musicians Australia’s been graced with.

Sarah Blasko is performing at The Playhouse, Monday July 22, 8pm.

Tickets are $59.95 + bf via canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

@bmamag

It wasn’t planned, it simply happened by circumstance, or luck

supporting such an impressive range of international artists. ‘I don’t have a huge understanding of how electronic music is done by other people. It’s great to get exposed to how other touring artists perform their live show; a lot of the chats after shows with these people have been amazing. I’ve been in the fortunate position where I’ve now supported three out of my list of four dream artists to support, and I’ve only been going since last year,’ she adds.

UNDER THE EAVES chris downton A former Canberra-based electronic producer and live artist who’s just recently relocated to Melbourne, Kels Bagust only launched her project E A V E S last year, while completing her Year 12 studies at Narrabundah College. In that relatively short time, though, she’s already begun to generate the sort of presence many local producers dream about, with support slots under her belt for an impressive list of international headliners, including Tokimonsta, Shigeto and Gold Panda.

As for Kels’s live shows, she describes herself as still finding where she wants to be, somewhere between stacks of equipment and a more minimal electronic presentation. ‘I’ve noticed that there seems to be this weird thing where the more equipment you bring with you onstage, the more respect you seem to get from live audiences,’ she muses. ‘It’s strange, but when I’m using a laptop, it seems to be harder to convince people that this is actually all being done live, and that I’m not just pressing play.’

Check out E A V E S at soundcloud.com/eaves-music and find out about upcoming shows via her Facebook at facebook.com/musiceaves.

When I catch up with Kels via phone, she’s the first to admit that her introduction to the idea of making electronic music was only relatively recent. ‘I always listened to pop punk and really bad pop bands in high school,’ she laughs, ‘until a friend showed me things like Boards of Canada and Apparat. Then I wanted to enrol in the contemporary music class [at Narrabundah College], but it was full, so I had to do the electronic music class instead. It wasn’t planned, it simply happened by circumstance, or luck.’

Kels’s love of sampling and sound gathering also comes to the forefront during our conversation.

‘I’ve always wanted to integrate sounds that don’t really go together, like zippers and sheets rustling,’ she explains. ‘But it got to the point where I’d accumulated so many sounds that I didn’t know what to do with them. The biggest thing for me is trying not to throw too many found sounds in there, because it’s very easy for me to do that,’ she adds, pointing towards her recent triple j Unearthedfeatured track Winter Haze as ‘the first track where I tried to just keep it to my guitar and sampled Middle Eastern instruments.’

She also points towards the opportunities to further develop her own performance skills that have been presented by

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SINEAD O’CONNELL The origins of BERNARD FANNING’s resurrection as a solo artist may be found in his song Drake, the fifth song of ten on his new album, Departures, written in the immediate aftermath of his former band Powderfinger’s retirement. It’s a stark, mid-paced rock single built on momentum from a glam-rock guitar riff, added, of course, with Fanning’s harmonised lyricism and vocals.

would be suited for this task proved foolish. It was, of course, distracting more than anything else. ‘Oh, good! I’m actually so glad it’s ruining your academic career,’ he responds. ‘I mean, yeah, it definitely has more intensity. You could definitely sit down and study to Tea and Sympathy.

See, even that, that’s what I was talking about, that conception that … I guess there’s a certain expectation that I will make a certain type of record, and I just wanted to kill that notion straight away if I could.

If I wanted to be a careerbuilding psychopath, I would have just made another version of Tea and Sympathy

Despite Fanning’s sentiment that the album is an exodus from its predecessor, Departures feels, ironically, more like Powderfinger than his solo career. It holds a new kind of energy that Fanning explores through electronic influences. However, it lacks the warmth of Tea and Sympathy (save the standout tracks Grow Around You and the soft beauty of Departures (Blue Toowong Skies)). He wastes no time in justifying his new direction, however.

‘I set out to make this record as different as I could from Tea and Sympathy. That was the idea of making the record really different … I’m not really sure how successful that was. I guess that’s for other people to judge,’ he laughs. ‘I certainly approached it very differently. I wrote things from a rhythm perspective rather than from a melodic perspective.’

I asked him why the want to ‘depart’ so much. He added, ‘Just curiosity, you know? I just wanna try and make different records from now on … all the time, if I can. I just want to try and be as wide-ranging as I can be as a writer. Last time I wrote a record by myself, I had just split up from a 13-year relationship. That was a really difficulty time, but a really good time to sit down with an acoustic guitar and write songs.’

He began then to talk about the change in his lifestyle that comes across heavily in the album, particularly in songs Call You Home and Zero Sum Game. ‘This time I was living in a different country, I was married with two kids, it was a completely different situation.

I was really happy, and kind of free of any constraints. I was approaching it with a bigger sense of freedom.’

With a busy 2013 ahead, Fanning says what he’s looking forward to most is touring and showcasing his new music. ‘I can’t wait to tour, and to be on the road again …Well, not so much the travelling part, but the playing live part. I haven’t done it for three years. I have a new band, they’re really good, the music is really energetic and lends itself to playing live.’

I mention how I attempted to study with the new EP streaming online in the background, and how my assumption that his music

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‘That wasn’t the only reason, obviously, but, you know, if I wanted to be a career-building psychopath, I would have just made another version of Tea and Sympathy and it probably would be more successful and whatever, but it also probably would have been really boring. You don’t get enough chances to make records to then just hate them.’

Fanning’s honesty is commendable. He recognises the reality of the industry and transcends it, confessing that he might fail (though Departures seems likely to do well), but he would rather fail with Departures than succeed with another acoustic collaboration that sits on the shelf with the rest of everyone’s rainy day/study music.

Recording over an eight-week period in Los Angeles, the driving force behind the controls was Joe Chiccarelli (The Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket, Boy & Bear). Chiccarelli’s role as a recording guru, alongside other notables like drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, REM, Bob Evans), who co-wrote the opening track Tell Me How It Ends, offered integrity to Fanning’s sound.

The combination of rhythmic beats and pop-inspired electronic riffs are just a few additions that cannot be understated. Track Limbo Stick has a noticeable anthemic sound that flows into the softer dynamics of Battleships. Grow Around You, Fanning’s love song, may appear ‘pedestrian’; it is fitting, however, in the production of the album as a whole. Without it, the title song, which harks back to his last album and pays homage to his origins in Brisbane, would appear meek.

It’s obvious, regardless of warmth or ‘soul’, that Fanning has given Departures his all. Listeners, rather than mourn the loss of another album of acoustic chords and whisky tears, may be grateful.

Bernard Fanning hits The Royal Theatre on Sunday August 4 at 7:30pm with Big Scary and Vance Joy. Tickets are $69.90 + bf through Ticketek.

@bmamag

Image credit: Stephen Booth

SALT OF THE EARTH pete huet

BEN SALTER is one of Australia’s most successful musicians. Not in the rolling-in-cash-and-coke kind of way, but in the way he’s put together a working life that meets all other job satisfaction criteria.

Salter works with great musicians, writes great songs, plays in places far and near, and has built a dedicated following along the way.

The Queenslander first came to note as a member of alt-rockers The Giants of Science before helping found the intriguing collective of musos, The Gin Club. He’s also played in The Wilson Pickers and The Young Liberals (the band, not the bores); recorded a solo LP The Cat with Gareth Liddiard; and supported the likes of legendary Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis (‘He doesn’t say much’).

A lot of musicians suffer from both depression and anxiety, and it’s always a weird ride trying to deal with both

Salter is heading back to Canberra on his European Vacation tour with an EP of collaboratively written/recorded songs that came together, funnily enough, on a trip through Europe. And it was a journey filled with fascinating encounters. A meeting in Germany provided Salter with a unique songwriting partner. ‘This Australian guy showed up [to a Berlin show] and said, “I’m so-and-so’s brother-in-law” … He was a physicist by trade but also used to be a roadie and wrote a bit of music as well.’ That meeting with Tom Oates led to Semi Pro Gamer, a tune catchy as the flu.

Another time a friend rang with an invitation to play a party of sorts in London. ‘Next thing you know we’re playing in the ballroom of the Australian High Commission on Queensland Day,’ Salter says. ‘The Governor General was there and there were generals and athletes and businessmen in what’s one of the most beautiful rooms in London; although, they did just talk all the way through our performances. But I think they probably had important things to discuss.’

Also in London, Salter recorded the electronic number Tremulus with Christa Vi. The track’s lyrics address anxiety, something that’s affected him over the years. ‘It’s the absolute pits and it just warps your thoughts into all sorts of strange patterns that are completely irrational,’ Salter says. ‘I think a lot of performers and musicians suffer from both depression and anxiety and it’s always a weird ride trying to deal with both of those.’

Salter recently finished a tour based on another excellent concept: playing in fans’ houses. ‘It was just fantastic. In fact, I’ve just done a reprise show in Sydney. It far exceeded my expectations on every level,’ Salter says. ‘These people who are fans of mine are awesome, interesting people. I’m not super massive or anything but my fans are committed.’ And that’s got to be better than cash and coke.

Ben Salter’s European Vacation tour rolls through The Front Gallery & Cafe, Lyneham, Saturday July 27. Tickets are $15. Doors 7pm.

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GUS McCUBBING There is a man in Canberra who has for the last six years been attempting to construct a 300-strong venue which would fundamentally change the manner in which we enjoy music and art. DAVID CAFFERY is a philosophy graduate from the ANU, as well as the founder of uniVibes, a Board Member of the MusicACT Music Awards, and as Events Manager and Cultural Co-ordinator of NewActon Precinct, a major figure in the events Sense and Art, Not Apart, also covered by BMA. In what was a slightly unorthodox interview, roaming from his house to Officeworks, Knightsbridge and back again, I gained a detailed insight into his most ambitious of projects, DIONYSUS.

late last year he claims to have assembled eight investors who had collectively pledged the $950,000 required to gain a spot in NewActon, only for one investor to pull out during the final meeting, taking over $200,000 with him. The most depressing point in this venture could well have been the moment Caffery applied for a grant from Innovation Connect, ‘an innovation grant run by the Chief Minister’s department,’ through which ‘you can apply for $50,000, if you match that money.’ Despite the fact that Caffery produced the same money, the grant was denied on the basis that Caffery’s wasn’t a ‘proven business model’.

Canberra is at a cultural turning point at the moment. We could go in a unique direction … so we’ll get our own identity

In Greek mythology, Dionysus was the god of wine, tragedy and orgiastic pleasure. This turns out to be an apt name for Caffery’s venue, as he attempts to trade the mad orgies of maenads and satyrs for a transcendent coalescence of music, art, food and drink.

Essentially, Caffery says, the idea is that it’s ‘an active space … not just a bar that’s sitting around and just selling alcohol. We want to have a reason for people to come in that’s artistic, rather than just alcohol or coffee-related.’

‘The whole place is an art gallery,’ Caffery continues, but he says he wants ‘to get away from that whole idea of there being that static art gallery place – you walk in, there’s white walls, you’re a bit uncomfortable, if you walk too loudly it echoes.’ Instead, he wants to start a place ‘that feels as comfortable as the lounge room.

There’s art all over the walls, but there’s really comfortable chairs and tables and bean bags and there’s live music playing five to six hours a day.’ Of course, on top of this, the venue will serve as a fullfunctioning café during the day, with a focus on good coffee.

Caffery was adamant Dionysus would need to be a ‘mid-size venue’, something unseen in Canberra. To better visualise this term, Caffery is aiming to construct a venue the same size as The Annandale Hotel in Sydney or The Northcote Social Club in Melbourne. This is what will set it apart from the likes of The Front, The Phoenix or Smith’s Alternative. Caffery said he believes many major national and international acts are ‘avoiding playing in Canberra because there’s not a quality two-to-four hundred music venue that they’re happy to play in.’ He explained that this capacity will provide the turnover necessary to fund a bar with ‘huge expenses’, as he plans on not only ‘changing exhibitions every month’, but also purchasing a ‘sound system that makes you cry’.

As Caffery recounted the painstaking process involved in not only securing a suitable location for Dionysus but also raising the roughly $1 million required to fund the project, however, it became clear that he faced two formidable obstacles: investors’ distrust; and noise complaints from local residents.

In his journey through the bureaucratic underworld of Canberra, Caffery’s bid to lure investors has reached the uncannily desperate – he recalls once flirting with becoming the ‘boytoy’ of a wealthy older man to secure funds – as well as the agonizingly close:

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All this has led Caffery to envisage the Canberra arts scene as distinct from the interests and support of private and propertybased investors, the purposeful support of culture hindered by financial myopia. He bemoans the fact that there is ‘a wider problem for arts or all culture in Canberra,’ which is that each location we could hope to place a new arts venture is ‘generally run by a very affluent, heavily capitalist shareholder.’ Typically, says Caffery, ‘they are the people who own property in Canberra and they have fuck-all artistic merit. They don’t care about anything to do with the arts . . . [T]hey just see Excel spreadsheets and how it’s going to affect their bottom line.

‘We definitely need financial, property and governmental assistance that are more willing to take risks, because Canberra is at a cultural turning point at the moment. We could go in a unique direction where there’s all these people trying to do something innovative and unique to Canberra, so we’ll get our own identity.

Otherwise we’ll go down a road more akin to Sydney, and it’s going to be quite a consumerist and sort of same-same culture.’

Nevertheless Caffery remains as determined as ever. Moreover, he believes he is beginning to garner more interest. Even though the ‘business model literally hasn’t changed for three years,’ the reaction from investors has ‘flipped’. Caffery said this has been achieved ‘purely because someone like the Molonglo Group has got behind us and given me a platform to run events and we’ve shown our ability to make money.’ As it stands, Caffery has located another space in Braddon, and is now re-embarking on the job of adjusting the financial model in a bid to engage investors.

Caffery concluded our chat on a relatively somber note. ‘It feels like the less passion you put into something, the more accepted you are.’ Whether this is a sign that Caffery is losing faith in the project, or that he has merely learnt to curb his enthusiasm, is uncertain. One thing is clear, however. Regardless of the quixotic nature of the project, Caffery’s ordeal has done much to reveal the unwillingness of those with money and power in Canberra to foster, through our arts scene, a more unique and culturally vibrant city than that which we see today.

To join in David Caffery’s conversation about the need for a mid-size venue in the ACT, visit facebook.com/dionysusvenue to learn more, lend your support, or voice your concerns.

@bmamag

DANCE THE DROP

In the last few months the Kicks Entertainment juggernaut has spat out announcements with more fervour than an angry llama, including huge shows with Disclosure, Duke Dumont and Rudimental, and the massive news that the Foreshore 2013 festival is not going ahead. I caught up with Kicks Director Ryan Phillips for a quick chinwag.

‘We are taking a year off Foreshore in 2013; we just weren’t 100% happy with how the event was shaping up on all sides so we decided that it was time to re-evaluate and come back next year with a fantastic offering for the next few years. I am currently on my way to live in Europe and do a bunch of research on awesome events over there and maybe have a little fun!’ he says. ‘I am very excited about the Disclosure show as I have a few particular artists that I get super excited to see and both Disclosure and Duke Dumont are on that list.’

The winner of the Pang! and Our Sound DJ competition, Double Agent, will be proving his worth at his first headline show on Friday July 19. I urge attendees to be lackadaisical with their beverage placement and commit to at least three ridiculous song requests to give the lad a proper taste of commercial disc jockery at his first club show.

With track titles like Kill All Humans you would expect producer Dubsidia to be a violent kind of guy. Unlike his brutish choice of appellations, the Spanish dubstep don is more likely to be found sipping tea with Moby than forcing a shiv into the spleen of an Aryan gang member. Subsquad and Dubstep Australia are teaming up to bring the rising star to The Clubhouse on Friday July 26.

If you love your music as rich, heavy and hard as Gina Rinehart wearing a strap-on dildo, Bobby Rush is your man! The Underground Entertainment Director stopped by this week to smash your eardrums with a gargantuan top five.

Netsky – We Can Only Live Today feat. Billie (Modek Remix) [Hospital Records] – Beautiful melodic riffs, coupled with an energising bass line … always gets the crowd bouncin’.

Valentino Khan – Cigarettes (Original Mix) [Gotta Dance Dirty] – Unbelievable track; dirty, heavy and hits the spot everytime!

Dog Blood – Next Order (Original Mix) [BoysNoize Records] – Not much can go wrong when BoysNoize and Skrillex collaborate.

Zedd – Clarity feat. Foxes (Torro Torro Remix) [Interscope Records] – Torro Torro never cease to amaze! I got the pleasure of supporting them at The Clubhouse in April and also got to kick on with them ‘til all hours afterwards too!

Dillon Francis – Bootleg Fireworks (Burning Up) [Fly Eye Recordings] – Anyone who doesn’t vibe to trap will certainly do so after listening to this track!

TIM GALVIN - tim.galvin@live.com.au

The Melbourne sound is a random combination of hardstyle, electro, Dutch and illegal stimulants. If this bubbling cauldron of uncertainty is your bag, Academy is hosting young interstate upstarts SCNDL on Friday July 19. Their trademark over-the-top style will have you twerking your way to the local chiropractor in no time.

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(as you do). The man’s got a real ability to tell stories with his music; something anyone who caught his four-hour set at Strawberry Fields can testify to.

Jon Hopkins’ recent album Immunity sees the spotlight-shy producer (who’s worked with Coldplay and Brian Eno in the past) asserting his own sound at last. Hopkins’ work on soundtracks shows through as well, with thematic grandeur and urgency coming to the fore in tracks like Open-Eye Signal and the slow and blissful ending crawl of Sun Harmonics. Another ‘JH’ – James Holden – is also smashing it with a new album. We haven’t heard much from Holden in LP format since way back in 2006, with The Idiots Are Winning. While a good release, it was somewhat overshadowed by his stellar mixes for Balance and the DJ-Kicks series. But on this newie, Holden’s really found his feet.

Called The Inheritors, it’s apparently inspired by the William Golding novel of the same name. That’s really all I can tell you, though, as I’ve never read the book (Lord of the Flies was quite enough for me, thank you very much). But has anyone ever noticed how that’s a thing? When Apparat’s album The Devil’s Walk came out in 2011, every press release or review mentioned that it was named after a poem of the same name by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Et alors? No-one actually seemed to have read the damn thing.

But the good news is: even if you don’t understand the literary parallel, it’s pretty clear from first listen that The Inheritors is an extremely good album. Holden spent a bunch of time playing around with some analogue synths and custom-made programs, and took inspiration from things like pentatonic folk scales and pagan rituals

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Speaking of strawberries, the VIC/NSW festival has just made their first line-up announcement for November. This’ll be their fifth year in the game, and the line-up thus far is no exception to the varied and left-of-centre programming we’ve come to expect from Strawbs. We’ve got Detroit dons Carl Craig and Moodymann, euro minimal sorts Extrawelt and Microtrauma, as a well as a hearty chunk of prog mainstays such as Liquid Soul, Antix and Day Din. There are also a few wild cards, such as the unclassifiable LA-based artist Nosaj Thing, reputed for his innovative live performance, and London’s neo-noir bass scientist DjRUM. Psyfreaks will also be well catered for, with Zenon Recordings celebrating their ten-year anniversary with an as-yet unannounced showcase of artists. All in all, a sweet and juicy first announcement! If only they could do something about the nang problem...

Seriously, nangs. They have to be the least efficiently-packaged narcotic imaginable. One dose – with a duration of approximately 45 seconds – comes packaged in a small steel cylinder. Surely there’s some room for innovation here. Imagine if your neighbourhood dealer sold his wares in bank safes instead of baggies. It would just be silly. And so are nangs! We should be thinking of ways to recycle our used nangs; or even better, reuse them. This is why I’ve decided to lead by example and build a suit of a nang armour. While it’ll be hot, bulky and probably garner a lot of odd glances when I wear it into Bunnings, it’s at least a start. So, send me your empty nangs!

You can address them to: Nitrous Avenger, c/o BMA HQ. Groovy.

See y’all next month!

MORGAN RICHARDS - morg.richards@gmail.com

@bmamag

METALISE With Black Sabbath enjoying worldwide #1’s for their 13 album, it’s entirely appropriate that Australia finally gets its first visit from a band that has bridged the gap between the decline of the classic Ozzy era and their resurgent success. Saint Vitus are as cult as it gets and I may be (validly) accused of drawing a long bow here in my opening statement, but let me put it to you this way … Guitarist Dave Chandler and bassist Mark Adams formed the band in 1978 and have staunchly stuck through 35 years together, distilling the slow heavy Iommi-infused riffing into their own form and made as much contribution to giving form to the doom metal genre as the Birmingham quartet did.

Also, while Sabbath distance themselves from labels such as ‘heavy metal’, there is no such discomfort with the genre they pioneered along with luminaries like Witchfinder General or Pentagram.

Purists may feel that only a Scott Reagers-fronted Vitus is the best, but there is no denying the pedigree that Wino brings to the table, fronting the touring line-up rounded out by drummer Henry Vasquez, who replaced the late Armando Acosta in 2009. Their tour manager told me that there was no way this tour would ever happen, and I believed him at the time, but they play Sydney’s Hi Fi on Friday July 19, and as you can see by the amount of coverage I’ve given the show, I’m pretty into it! This is an opportunity to see a genre-defining band that are still making essential material all these years later and to get an opportunity to see them with French act Monarch and Canberra’s Looking Glass is worth the effort to make it to the show.

Want more amazing good news? How about the band that took the doom metal flag from Vitus et al. in the early ‘90s and forged the stoner doom genre in the form of the mighty Sleep! For a mere 55 bucks you can get a ticket to their show at The Manning Bar in Sydney on the Sunday October 27, running off the back of their appearance at the All Tomorrow’s Parties show in Melbourne. This is not all for October and I hope to be able to make an equally exciting announcement in the next couples of issues from another Roadburn festival stalwart from the land of the rising sun. If you like your riffs slow and heavy, it’s going to be an amazing second half to 2013.

Australia-wise, Sydney’s best band of recent years for me, and making a welcome return to the live set, is Fattura Della Morte, who hit the Basement on the Friday August 2 with The Reverend Jesse Custer, Throat of Dirt and Los Hombres Del Diablo.

Coming up in the next week, Infested Entrails has a gig on Saturday July 20 at The Basement in Belconnen with Miscreation, CHUD and Avascular Necrosis. Mid-week action in the city with Party Vibez, Yoko Oh No, Hygiene and Throat of Dirt are at The Phoenix on Wednesday July 24.

More local action and it’s awesome to see The Levitation Hex taking on the Civic Hellenic Club as part of a tour that has also announced a Melbourne and Sydney dates so far, with more to come. The band will bring sounds from their extraordinary eponymous debut to town on Sunday August 25 and that will be a corker. Also in town in August, Attila has a show at The Basement on the Tuesday August 13 with Hellions.

Lots to thrash to!!!

JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

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E X H I B I T I O N I S T

Image credit:

ARTS | ACT

VICIOUS AND UNSTOPPABLE chloe mandryk EX DE MEDICI is a captivating woman whose stabs at being ‘cold blooded’ fall short. She recently opened a survey show at the Drill Hall Gallery, curated by Dr Jenny McFarlane. eX creates work which is of the moment – socially and politically engaged. As a result, this capsule collection helps remind us of the Australian cultural nodes, now forgotten, that have broken the surface over the last 20 years.

The fact that there has been little resolution in some of the scenes she has depicted reinforces her ‘raison d’être’ – that we are complicit and we don’t care.

Or, as eX says, ‘If I were to hope that anything would happen with my work, it would be that we question our own complicity with our government, or with how the media want to frame something … If I were able to provoke them into anything, it would be to be a little more conscious about their own actions. For instance, if people get into the idea of buying shares, they won’t buy mining shares. Or that they might think twice about hearing a debate about nuclear power being green, that “uranium mining is good”. All these things are fed to us and all of a sudden something intolerable is tolerable. So if there was any reaction, it would be to not believe the hype.’

Pictorially what does her protest look like? Surprisingly, it’s not didactic at all. For years, she has presented works that are caged by their beauty. Her detailed watercolours depict guns, skulls, bullets, indecipherable (to some) Arabic text, and shapes evocative of entrails. The images of icons we fear are shrouded, symbolically, with beautiful blooms of roses, Australian iconic flora and creepy crawlies we think might be a bit twee. Like a glossy advert, you are held captive until you see the real crime.

By pairing the ballistic and the benign, ‘it is literally delivering a message in a way that isn’t an instant turn-off. So I make the work acceptable … beautiful, skilful,’ she explains. eX’s compositions look like a really riotous tattoo sleeve – each section melts into the next and you know it is a labour of love. You find organic materials laced around the barrel of a gun, stars bursting out of a black hole that could be a bird’s bower or a portrait of Cold Chisel emerging from an excavation.

Acting as an Artist Fellow with the Lepidoptera Section of the CSIRO Department of Entomology, an Official War Artist in the Solomon Islands, and having taken annual trips to Iran, eX’s impression of the human footprint on the world is well developed. When you deal

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in the dark arts, it is necessary to add a little sparkle. I asked if eX favours hyper-real colour, a large-ish scale and a ‘pretty’ cornucopia of symbols to frame her imagery for consumption. Her reply: ‘Yes exactly, it’s like a gelato … There are so many flavours.’

As eX is a CSIRO nerd, I began to think that art practice could take the shape of a very basic experiment. We start with an intention or aim, have an imagined outcome, a level of control, materials of our choosing, and a variable. The result of the investigation takes a physical form, a record, and for the most part you keep repeating your experiment to improve. The artist aims to liberate thinking; we do not have to subscribe to the ‘art of war’ as we know it.

The instruments of war appear often in her work, alongside telltale skulls of the anonymous; ‘It’s not all heroism and it’s not all as it appears. There are the people who design [guns] and the people who decide to make them … Like science in the service of murder – I find it extremely offensive. At the CSIRO, every scientist is heavily engaged with preserving what we have left of our natural environment. They would baulk forever about making something that would hurt people, nature or the environment. There are questions about that power and scientific power. The overwhelming issue is what humans do.’

What I enjoyed about speaking with eX de Medici and appreciating her work was her commitment to get to the bones of her argument.

She explains, ‘Yes, I’ll stop when I’m dead … It’s the only thing I’ve ever done. I think sometimes what art can do is position a question in a different way. If art is lucky enough to get some air, it can begin rethinking a paradigm.’

How do you feel when you see cycles of violence or power? eX answers, ‘I think a human is involved … If I can make this comparison in the suffragette movement, where it progressed … to a global level where millions of women got together and talked and said, “What is wrong with us? Why do we cop this shit?” It was probably the most important philosophical movement in the history of humanity because it involved an entire gender. So I am praying for the day when men question themselves about what is wrong with them that they engage with needless war.’

And how did this fly with the women in Iran? World over, she says, ‘Women are a vicious and unstoppable force.’ I’ve got to agree. eX de Medici’s Cold Blooded exhibition is currently showing at Drill Hall Gallery until Sunday August 11. Free entry.

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landing in Australia to contemporary society. Throughout this journey, incisive, sarcastic and clever observations abound, mocking the ignorance of the colonisers whilst brutally recounting the appalling atrocities which mar our past.

There is a buzz to Hipbone Sticking Out; a piece so contemporary, so situated in this time and place, so packed with ideas and emotions that the air around the stage seems charged with energy and the performance itself pulses with life.

The play maintains a jarring emphasis on self-reflexivity through incongruous popular culture references and direct address, the goal being an avoidance of so-called ‘tragedy porn’; halting a scene for a humorous aside when things seemed to become too serious, or even playful jibes at the Canberra Theatre goers. Eventually, as the layered artifice is gradually peeled away, the raw and undeniable truth became overwhelming as performers wept openly on stage while telling their stories.

Hipbone Sticking Out Canberra Theatre Centre Thu-Sat July 3-6

Produced by not-for-profit arts and social justice company Big hArt, this grand piece completes a trilogy of works generated during their three-year residency with the Canberra Theatre Centre. Although premiering here, Hipbone has its origins in the Western Australian community of Roebourne, where locals collaborated with Artistic Director Scott Rankin as a part of Big hArt’s Yijala Yala Project.

The project aims to highlight cultural heritage as a continually evolving entity, which informs much of the frenetic, eclectic mix of storytelling modes that make up Hipbone, including digital image projections, contemporary pop music appropriations, traditional songs of the Pilbara and dance.

Set in 1983 Burrup Peninsula (which loosely translates to the play’s title), the narrative begins with 16-year-old John Pat becoming severely injured after an inadvertent skirmish with police.

Unconscious in a police cell, dying, we are taken on a journey with Pat as his ‘life’ flashes before his eyes. Arriving in the 17th Century, it quickly becomes clear that the story of John Pat is not a telling of a singular tale, but an apt metaphorical launching pad for exploring a complex history. Together with the should-have-been present-day adult version of himself, and a guide in the form of Greek god Pluto, Pat traverses Roebourne’s history from the first Dutch explorers

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This juxtaposition of dark humour and poignant honesty was perfectly balanced to achieve the greater purpose of Hipbone Sticking Out: reclamation. By choosing parody as a storytelling device, an ownership of these events is granted, one which is denied through continual victimisation. A space opens for a new message to surge forth; that it’s not their story, it’s ours. Hipbone demands acknowledgment that Indigenous heritage does not begin and end with the devastation wreaked by colonisation. Instead, it reminds us that this culture is far greater, full of vital stories to be told and, more importantly, listened to. alice McSHANE

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A R T | C O M E DY | D A N C E | L I T E R AT U R E | T H E AT R E

MORE ON THE FLOOR grace carroll For the past 15 years, Quantum Leap has fostered young dancers from the Canberra region and beyond. HIT THE FLOOR TOGETHER is the latest work by the youth dance ensemble, which is a part of QL2 Dance. Created in conjunction with the Centenary of Canberra celebrations, the contemporary dance work is a rich collaboration between four choreographers and more than 30 young dancers. A number of the dancers and choreographers involved are Indigenous, with Hit the Floor Together offering an uplifting view on relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. I spoke with one of the choreographers, QL2 Artistic Director Ruth Osborne, to find out more about this dynamic production ahead of its run at The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre, which kicks off at the end of July.

Hit the Floor Together was set in motion by Daniel Riley McKinley, a previous participant in the Quantum Leap auditioned youth dance ensemble. McKinley, as Osborne explained, ‘wanted to make a work that had Indigenous cultural content.’ A member of the celebrated Bangarra Dance Theatre, McKinley sought to give back to his hometown of Canberra and, in particular, to Quantum Leap. For Osborne, McKinley’s vision presented ‘a chance to encourage more Indigenous engagement.’ Osborne and McKinley have joined forces with Deon Hastie and Dean Cross to choreograph Hit the Floor Together. Each choreographer worked on a section of the show, responding to similar themes.

Ideas surrounding family, landscape and tradition underscore the production. These themes are explored in the context of relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Hit the Floor Together is not, however, a show focused on reconciliation or Indigenous rights. As Osborne commented, the choreographers ‘didn’t want to go down the traditional path.

‘We have a lot of young people who may or may not have danced before,’ Osborne commented, as I asked her about the dancers involved. The diversity reflects the dynamic approach of Quantum Leap, which prides itself on its innovative, creative dance works.

Collaboration is the strength of the company, with a number of dancers coming from outside of the region. Exposure to different dancers enriched the experience for all involved, offering opportunities for the emerging dancers, who range from the ages of 14 to 26. A work that not only celebrates the talents of young people from Canberra and the region, but also offers an inspiring message about the ways in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians come together to learn about and appreciate each other, Hit the Floor Together promises to be an uplifting contemporary dance performance. For the work is, to use Osborne’s words, ‘about looking forward, not backward.’

Hit the Floor Together shows at The Playhouse from Wed Jul 31-Sat Aug 3.

Individual tickets range from $20-$28 + bf through canberratheatrecentre. com.au. Session times vary – check the venue website.

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BLOODY HILARIOUS MELISSA WELLHAM Blood. Guts. Laughs. 100 BLOODY ACRES is a new horror-comedy film from Colin and Cameron Cairnes. They wrote and directed the film, which follows the story of Reg (Damon Herriman) and his brother Lindsay (Angus Sampson) who run an organic fertiliser business. Problem is, they need a fresh supply of their ‘secret ingredient’ to process through the meat grinder. The rest, as they say, is hilariously disgusting.

The brothers, who shall herein be referred to as ColCam (because it’s almost impossible to distinguish their voices over the phone and ‘that’s what we sometimes get called on set’), have just returned from a stint doing interviews in America. ‘We’re just recovering from a bit of jetlag, just got back from Haawwwllywood,’ the brothers drawl. ‘We’re real movers and shakers, now.’

The brothers have been working on 100 Bloody Acres for years. They say, ‘It gets longer every time we answer this question. Apparently, now it’s been about 38 years.’ But in reality, they had a first draft of the script finished back in 2005. ‘So we’re looking at six or seven years of development, and pre-production and post-production and editing,’ ColCam says. ‘It’s been a long haul. But a rewarding one.’

Horror-comedy can be a difficult genre to wrangle. Either it’s too campy and over-the-top, and loses all credibility as a horror film, or it’s too gory and disgusting, and it becomes too difficult to laugh at the instances of decapitation. ‘There was definitely a challenge in trying to strike a balance between funny and scary,’ ColCam reveals. ‘But I think what was most important was being true to the characters, and being true to the journey the characters find themselves on. It was about … being invested in those characters, and not treating them as caricatures. The humour is really inherent to those characters, and all those weird relationship dynamics.’

It rings true when watching the film. What makes 100 Bloody Acres so interesting isn’t necessarily the scares or the silliness – but the complicated relationship between the quite likeable and unprepared killers, Reg and Lindsay. As the tagline of the film says: ‘They’re not psycho killers … they’re just small business operators.’

The film has to date had a great reception in America. ColCam acknowledges, ‘I’ve seen a couple of tweets from people saying, “Oh, I’d like to see it again with subtitles”, [laughs] but … but actually, I think that’s what’s going to make it work. Look at the Aussie films that do travel, and they’re often distinctly Australian. They haven’t pulled any punches about were they are from, or what they’re about.

‘And besides,’ ColCam continues, ‘we’ve had to put up with America’s cultural references for 100 years – it’s time for them to deal with some from us.’

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100 Bloody Acres will get a limited Australian release, Sunday August 11.

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BECAUSE FRENCH IS A LANGUAGE TOO

Image credit: Adam Thomas

A R T | C O M E DY | D A N C E | L I T E R AT U R E | T H E AT R E

yolande norris ‘One of the most powerful and effective ways to share your voice is through spoken word,’ says Jorge Bagnini, Community Cultural Inclusion Officer. ‘But artists often feel vulnerable because they are constantly dealing with what’s on the inside, constantly revealing themselves to the world.’

There’s no doubt that most writers suffer performance anxiety when it comes to publicly presenting their work, but writers for whom English is a second language may struggle with this even more so. In 2012 Bagnini came up with an idea to address this challenge, collaborating with the ACT Writers Centre to produce In Others Words, a poetry workshop to recognize Canberran poets who write in languages other than English.

This year the project continues as LINGUA LOCA, giving languagediverse writers the opportunity to work with established writers Geoff Page and Harry Laing. Page is a Canberra-based poet who has published many works, including 19 collections of poetry and two novels, and Laing is a Braidwood-based writer, comic performer and creative writing teacher who teaches confident voice workshops.

Across a day-long workshop, participants will learn how to craft an effective poem and perform it in a powerful way, working on a range of texts as well as a piece of their own writing that they would like to present or perform in public. Each writer will have the opportunity to work on their poem with Page before learning performance skills and confidence-building exercises with Laing. New to this year’s project is the addition of musician and composer Adam Cook, who will support performances with piano improvisation and uncover the similarities between music and literature. As Bagnini sees it: ‘poetry is music written for the human voice. The sonority and rhythm are very important in narrating a story and engaging an audience.’

Each participant will be given the opportunity to perform their work at the conclusion of the workshop, potentially paving the way for a new-found love of performance. By revealing latent poets in the community the Lingua Loca project is not only adding to the strength of Canberra’s writing scene, but giving the Englishspeaking world first-hand insight into literature from other cultures.

The workshop is free but places are strictly limited, and by application. Applicants are asked to submit the following to the ACT Writers Centre by Friday July 26: a paragraph about themselves, including their cultural background and what they would like to gain from the workshop; a copy of a poem that they have written, in English, of no more than two pages in length.

Lingua Loca will take place 10am-5:30pm, Sunday August 4, at Gorman House Arts Centre. For more information, or to apply, email admin@ actwriters.org.au or call (02) 6262 9191.

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There seems to be a blockage of discussion when it comes to creating something and asking for payment, and not just in the internet age where everything is free and theft is the new normal.

UNINHIBITED

That notion of being ‘for real’ and ‘doing it for the love’ gets in the road of a decent expectation – that one’s efforts, if put on in a public place and therefore representing a professional outing, should be remunerated.

I stumbled upon an amusing exchange on the Facebooks a few weeks back. A local promoter was looking for an act to fill out a three-band bill. 45-minute slot, supply own amps and kit, no payment (sorry). The venue was an established joint in Civic, but considered a ‘new’ space because they were reintroducing bands to their entertainment register.

I’m not talking figures here, but understand that when I say ‘payment’, I mean bugger all. Cover costs. Pay for a pizza. It’s the gesture. It is actually the thought that counts.

Some commenters pointed out that a club of its type, with a list of several thousand members, should be able to cough up a cursory payment for bands.

The promoter responded with a world weary response, which, if I were to paraphrase, basically read: ‘new venue/supporting new artists/gotta play to get a name and gotta play for free in order to get that exposure/hey, you should be in it for the music (man).’

The promoter actually said that last bit, without the bracketed term.

In it for the music.

What a stupid idea that is – that emerging musicians, and artists of any stripe, are doing it for the money and should be doing it for the art instead. If they are in it for cash, they are choosing the most ridiculous platform to make it, and need to devote more time to share analysis, or app development, or real estate. That’s where you earn money. Not painting, making films, sculpting, writing verse or prose or playing original numbers in shoddy venues.

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The Phoenix pays its bands. As does Transit and ANU Bar. The Front lets you run the door and take the pot. It’s a simple act of respect, and it makes fine long-term business sense.

Pay the artists who bring their 20 mates to your bar and maybe they bring 25 next time, but also make an investment in the creative arts in the city.

David Byrne writes an excellent guide to building a scene in his How Music Works, and a lot of it comes from a venue establishing itself as a kind of club for artists.

Paying them, offering cheaper drinks, establishing a place as a hangout. It guarantees a core pack of punters, and it builds community. Everybody wins.

If you seek an audience for your work, you will inevitably face the non-payment option. Take too many free gigs and you’ll get trodden on. If you think your work is worth something, there’s no shame in saying so.

GLEN MARTIN glenpetermartin@gmail.com

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ARTISTPROFILE: Sacha Jeffrey What do you do? I paint and draw (make prints very occasionally).

Upcoming exhibitions? I have a solo show of caricature at Honkytonks on Sunday July 14. After that is a solo show of painting and installation at The Front Gallery opening Tuesday August 13. My year ends with the ANU SOFA grad show, date TBA. Contact Info: sacha.j@live.com.au; primarycolours.me.

When, how and why did you get into it? I have always drawn. I got into it because it was natural to do and I enjoyed doing it. It used to be that it was something I could do to fill time, but since being at art school this has changed a little. It has since stopped being separate to the rest of my life and become something I do because it is an important part of how I live my life.

Who or what influences you as an artist? I think a good artist is an open one. So my influences or inspiration could range from the hyperromanticism of my favourite R&B playlist to a strong relationship felt towards another artist like RB Kitaj or Sally Gabori. Perhaps the most crucial and influential is the ebb and flow of life in all of its uncertainty.

Of what are you proudest so far? I don’t have too many proud moments… Winning The Front Gallery exhibition space for two weeks at last year’s grad show was probably the proudest.

What are your plans for the future? My plans are to continue to practice art, to travel and hopefully create artwork that people respond to, whether it’s with laughter or disdain.

What makes you laugh?

Perfect weather conditions, good company and alcohol.

Failing the first, either of the last two will usually suffice.

What pisses you off? Greed.

What about the local scene would you change? I think the scene is great but more spaces, more art and more initiative could only help.

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LITERATURE IN REVIEW The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman [Harper Collins; 2013]

A nameless man recalls his childhood friendship with a very strange little girl, whose duck pond is the ocean, and whose Grandmother can remember the Big Bang. When the death of a lodger causes a shadowy, malevolent creature to attach itself to the boy narrator, the girl Lettie Hempstock and her family must use all their strange skills to protect him and set things to rights.

Gaiman’s latest adult novel is an uneasy fairytale about the horrors and helplessness of childhood. It would feel like a children’s book, about a boy who doesn’t fit in and his magical adventures, but for the layer of thinly veiled terror laid over the top, the adult understanding of risks and consequences.

The child narrator is anything but indestructible, especially since the story is being recalled by an adult man, far too aware of his own mortality and the gaps and silences in a child’s perspective.

It’s a story, too, about the wisdom of children, the places they fit and the things they see that adults have lost, but it has none of the wondering edge such stories usually have. The things the young narrator sees are anything but wondrous.

There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about the plot – an ordinary young boy discovers a special world just beside our own and battles the ancient evil he discovers there with the aid of some mysterious allies.

Even the Hempstock women, wonderfully drawn and comforting to read, are explicit archetypes: maiden, mother, crone. Nothing is explained, or it is couched in so many layers of metaphor it becomes nothing but a myth. The ending is more bitter than sweet.

The strongest element of The Ocean at the End of the Lane is its childlikeness – the instinctual ease with which the narrator trusts and distrusts, the disdain for things adult, the lack of understanding and converse acceptance of the bizarre.

It makes for a short novel, and a deceptively simple one, with the layers of what is not said or understood by the child but taken as read by the audience adding texture and subtlety to the story.

Nevertheless, it’s a fantastic read.

Gaiman can write like you wouldn’t believe, and The Ocean is tense and atmospheric with dread. The prose evokes that dreamy quality of a half-remembered childhood anecdote, but it’s intensely readable, and more than possible to swallow the whole thing in a single sitting. emma grist

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A R T | C O M E DY | D A N C E | L I T E R AT U R E | T H E AT R E

CLASSICS IN REVIEW The World of Yesterday Stefan Zweig [First published: 1942]

In The World of Yesterday, Stefan Zweig passed on to our generations his parting words to his shattered Europe and a shattered century, both as a eulogy to his own life – a life which he took alongside his wife’s, just one day after he sent the memoirs to his publisher – and as a eulogy to his dream of a liberal-cosmopolitan European community of citizens, artists and intellectuals, united in the cause of the humanities.

In his autobiography, we see that Zweig was something of a nostalgic; ever disheartened by the madness of his own age, ever unsettled by its direction. But his impatience with his own reality might better be described as idealism for a better future, more than a lament for a lost past. In any case, idealistic or nostalgic, Zweig’s impatience with his world came to be vindicated when his Europe ‘threw itself into the abyss of horror’ not once, but twice, and with twice the ferocity. His words carry all the more force some 71 years on, as a reminder that our own world is equally as blind to its future as his was, and equally as confident in its self-belief, in what he labelled the ‘Age of Security’, before the first European catastrophe of the century brought it all to an abrupt end.

than any stale old textbook that any tutor can toss at you, go immediately to your nearest library and ask for Zweig’s World of Yesterday; or better, go to your nearest bookshop and request that it, or any other ‘Zweig’, be shipped in, in hope that the powers that be in the literary world might recognise a popular resurgence in interest in Zweig among the inheritors of his world, so that they might send to print once more the many titles which he bequeathed to our generation. timothy c. ginty

Zweig, the ‘Incarnation of Humanism’, as Clive James described him in Cultural Amnesia, was first and foremost a man of words; the archetypal cultural and intellectual practitioner who was – in his own words, which he penned in his February 1942 suicidenote – a man ‘for whom cultural work has always been his purest happiness and personal freedom’.

His distinctive voice, which you can almost hear trembling with emotion, rising and falling with feeling, echoes throughout every page of The World of Yesterday, where he pens down the wisdom of his age; ‘Only the person who has truly experienced light and darkness, war and peace, rise and fall, only that person has truly experienced life.’

Stefan Zweig ought to be remembered as one of the great literary talents of the 20th Century, but to our collective loss, his name has fallen from once-great heights of fame across the world into now nearobscurity outside the ranks of only his most admiring readers.

But for a better lesson in history

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Nah, just joshin’. I’ll go back to basics and just be myself. Sounds a touch clichéd, but there’s nothing more attractive to a woman than honesty. If her hair’s looking a bit shit that day, I’ll let her know. And she will appreciate the constructive criticism. Well, it’s not really constructive criticism, it’s just criticism. They love it, nonetheless.

I can’t believe how hot the women are down at Bondi. I feel so unworthy when I’m walking around down there picking up cigarette butts.

How do I get with these girls? Seriously? Do I pay them money? Do I offer up some of my discarded cigarette butts as a gift for sex?

Or shall I do the old ‘treat ‘em mean’ trick, and run her leg over in a car? I just don’t know.

Telling these girls you’re a ‘YouTuber’ doesn’t really get them dripping, believe it or not (unless you are the ‘Nek Minnut’ bloke; he would slay glamours 24/7).

Sometimes I’ll make up a fictional career to win these uppity bitches over, e.g., ‘I’m a pro rugby player. Would you like to come back to my hotel to do sex stuff while the other boys get in a wardrobe and watch?’ They usually say no.

Wait, I just remembered something. I read somewhere girls are attracted to men with a sense of humour?

This is great news. I’m a comedian. I’ll just sneak one of my always relevant rape jokes into early conversation, then let fate run its course.

If that doesn’t work I’ll have to pull out the big guns. Quite literally, use an assault rifle to rally up hot women on the beach at gunpoint.

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Perhaps I just won’t try? Pretend I’m not interested in this beach goddess. That always works. Hear me out. When she sees me wandering down the beach in the opposite direction, not even turning my head to give her a quick glance, she will lose her damn mind. She’ll whisper to her hot friends, ‘I want him, the one with the semen-stained Target tracksuit pants.’

Then I assume some sort of jealousy bloodbath will unfold between the girls and I will tear apart their friendship without even knowing. Then I’ll have a flog on the beach near a picnicking family.

Powerful imagery.

I’m a country lad at heart though, which has always worked in my favour in the big cities (people feel sorry for me and I get pity pussy).

Although, when girls envision country boys, they picture some chiselled and bronzed mofo riding a horse. Not some pasty white piece of shit that has three cats.

Actually, let’s be honest, shall we? I got no chance in Bondi. I’ll just head to Canberra to jag one. The beautiful women are admittedly scarce out there, but you do still find the occasional distraught, semi-attractive cougar waiting for smack at a train station.

Three out of ten of these types are doable. Heard it here first.

ALEX WILLIAMSON - Performing at Zierholz @ UC on Thursday July 18 at 7:30pm (sold out) and 9:30pm. Tickets can be purchased via Oztix for $34.70 + bf.

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A R T | C O M E DY | D A N C E | L I T E R AT U R E | T H E AT R E diversity is varied, it is nonetheless scant when laid in comparison to your own fair city’s marvellous variety.

There is an unsavoury district of London known as the East End. It is a breeding ground for criminality, a festering sore of ill-educated hoodlums who would sooner slit you open with a rudimentary blade than grant a simple request to buff one’s cummerbund. I urge you never to go there. It is one of the more unfortunate habits of ‘Eastenders’ to consistently rape not only one another, but also the English language. Their grammar is universally sub-par, the use of double negatives is rife, and spelling questionable at best. They would even go so far as to linguistically deride that most delicate of creatures: womankind.

Women are a particular source of contempt among the cockney masses; blithely cast forth to pursue education, employment and unsupervised socialising. The wanton release from the necessarily restrictive beauty of their gilded cage perhaps gave rise to womankind’s derisive depiction as ‘birds’.

I myself have no stamina for unorthodox folly, choosing to invest my time fostering a love of proper birds and proper English.

As a consequence, I am not only enamoured with Canberra’s ornithological diversity, but also more than capable of unnecessarily verbose and superfluous introductions.

I find bird life to be generally charming, with the essence of that charm contained within its many-fold applications: mobile choir; target practice; lunch. However, while England’s ornithological

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Upon my largely unexplained and narratively-suspect arrival in Australia, I was immediately struck by the innumerable assortment of these marshals of the sky. All colours of the rainbow were accounted for, whether swooping nimbly between branches, or unceremoniously mashed into the road.

This kaleidoscope of colour, so clear in your avian community, is complemented by the reflection of the full breadth of human personality traits in the mannerisms of these tax-dodging garden squatters. The timidity of the sweet Galah stands in vivid contrast to the sinister wickedness of the bolshy Magpie; the intrepid, nimble daring of the Rosella a charming offset against the ham-fisted mental instability of the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo.

It even appears that a social pecking order is firmly established among Canberra’s bird populace, although not as one may think. In the animal kingdom, size is often paramount in the establishment of social order, but not so here.

While out rambling, I have witnessed Magpies peck a child all the way to the infirmary, and yet be routed by one or two feisty Peewees. While playing tennis in the charming surrounds of Old Parliament House, a plucky Willy Wagtail warded off a far larger King Parrot, only to be abruptly diced by the flashing arc of my tennis racquet as I hit an unreturnable cross-court smash.

It is my firm belief that we can learn far more from the unobtrusive observation of Mother Nature’s feathered pilferers than we ever can from pursuing the misguided social support of the illiterate, grime-encrusted smut peddlers who fill Plaistow or East Ham. gideon foxington-smythe

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bit PARTS COUNTRY WHAT: Art by Patricia Wheatstone and others WHEN: Thu Jul 11-Sun Jul 28 WHERE: M16 Artspace In celebration of NAIDOC week, M16 Artspace presents Country, showcasing personal encounters with the country we live in. Country includes two solo exhibitions, screening of Indigenous films, and a performance by Aboriginal vocalist/guitarist Alinta Barlow on Saturday July 20 at 12pm. Solo artist Patricia Wheatstone’s exhibition, South Australia: Eyre Basin from the Air, was inspired by flights over South Australia during 2011 and 2012, when flood waters from Queensland were still flowing into Lake Eyre and much of the land had enjoyed recent rain. 12-5pm, Wed-Sun. NATURAL PERCEPTIONS WHAT: Glass Art Exhibition WHEN: Wed Jul 17-Sun Aug 4 WHERE: ANCA Gallery

Zoe Woods; Microcosm

Natural Perceptions showcases new works by two emerging glass artists, Christine Atkins and Zoe Woods. Natural Perceptions sees Atkins and Woods examine abstract organic forms and patterns through the optical qualities of glass. Atkins’ work explores how light and glass can be combined to evoke natural phenomena, while Woods’ work describes the intricate patterns found in nature. Together, the works create a richer and more complex vision of nature, triggering a feeling of familiarity with the natural world, while also evoking a sense of mystery and wonder. 12-5pm, Wed-Sun. AT HOME AT THE ZOO WHAT: A Something Borrowed Production WHEN: Thu-Sat Jul 18-20 WHERE: Smith’s Alternative Edward Albee’s play, At Home at the Zoo, is a story about the things we repress and avoid talking about, about connecting with the animal within. Perhaps most famous for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Albee has written a slew of highly regarded plays, and Something Borrowed (a relatively new Canberra theatre company) has chosen At Home because it reflects their desire for theatre to be accessible, welcoming, and interesting to Canberra’s robust youth scene. The play has been described as ‘scratching at the surface of urbane complacency’, and if that’s not suited to Canberra, what is? 8pm. $15/12/10.

EMBRACING INNOVATIONS 3 WHAT: Design Art Exhibition WHEN: Thu Jul 18-Sat Aug 24 WHERE: Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre Embracing Innovation 3 showcases research and advances in the creative arts, with a focus on craft and design. This exhibition presents design that has come out of new technologies, including glow in the dark fabric by Leanne Zilka to encourage energy efficiency in urban areas, interactive movable lighting by Tamara Kyd, and a bracelet by Jonathan Duckworth, named Embracelet (pictured), that helps patients recover from brain injuries. Innovations such as the works in this exhibition have a significant effect on Australia as a hub for thought provoking technologies and designs. 10am-5pm, Tue-Fri (-4pm, Sat).

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the word on albums

it went both ways. Shows at The Phoenix were raved over, the room probably breaching its capacity to squeeze in the hoards who bathed in vast washes of guitar noise. These shows were intercut with significantly less ideal experiences at Transit, where all that noise bounced around the room without a focal point. Kill needs good acoustics to rise above the axe calamity.

But good or bad, people were talking. This is getting more important. But it’s not the key thing.

album of the issue TV COLOURS PURPLE SKIES, TOXIC RIVER [DREAM DAMAGE] Here’s what is not important about the debut record for Canberra’s Bobby Kill – that it took six years to make, and two versions were scrapped. Every column you could have read about Purple Skies, Toxic River has mentioned this. It’s a good PR trick. That kind of message anchors a record in a classic madman/authenticity tradition, made stronger when the album is a concept record about a kid leaving town for the bright lights of a city and losing their mind. What we can read from that is that the record has been crafted by an auteur, some genius on the spectrum. Cue Kevin Shields references.

Whatever. None of that is really important.

The only way that the press release detailing the length of construction finds its way past the spam filter, or the first paragraph test, is if there’s something compelling that makes the world’s music press take note. In TV Colours’ case, this started with a shared 7” released on Dream Damage a few years back, a double A-side shared with Assassins 88. Kill joined Assassins for a while, or played shows with them, and made rough cassette recordings. The association was beneficial for all – Assassins had built a reputation for incredible shows. But with Kill on board, they became something else. Assassins probably left us too soon, or maybe they left at the right time. Either way, TV Colours got a foot in the door. This is slightly more important than the six-years/ two-version story, but it’s only the first piece of important information, and you really don’t have to care about it.

The next bit of information that affects the rise and rise are the intermittent live shows, mostly around Canberra, that got people talking. There’s nothing quite so effective as the chatter a live ‘reputation’ can bring. Hoodlum Shouts and Voss had that, as did The Fighting League. With TV Colours,

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What is important, and pertinent in the context of a record review, is that the TV Colours LP is getting attention around the world (yes, this is where I mention the Pitchfork thing) because it is an incredible collection of songs, fused into a monolithic structure. It doesn’t matter that it’s a narrative record, though I like that, and regard it highly because the narrative works. What matters is that this is the kind of total, realised artistic statement that comes along very rarely. And it also performs the task of kicking your arse very, very well.

It begins with The Neighbourhood, plaintive flanged chords (cue ‘80s teen film references) and found sounds – maybe crickets, maybe a sprinkler. Moments later a distortion pedal is engaged, a classic hardcore riff is enacted, and you’re transported into the very evocation of a teenager’s bedroom. You can smell the socks. Frustration bristles on the skin. And incredibly, the energy behind that frustration is communicated perfectly. It energizes. We’re around 72 seconds into an album and the listener is already immersed.

The metal/hardcore element is interesting – without that machine gun percussion and the speed rush that underlies many of these songs, you’ve got something that might veer too closely to the MBV/Ride/Slowdive troupe (albeit faster).

But the precision of the beat contributes much to the tension and emerging madness of the protagonist scattered through these tales. The chaos of the guitars, the sweet hooks of the melody and the militarism of the rhythm gel perfectly.

As the narrative and the record emerge you’ll do well to keep up with the amount of incredible hooks. Maybe the sonic qualities and filmic referencing will sound just so 2013 in a few years, but the strength of the songs should hold up. Run with the Creeps is perfect because it stops so cruelly short.

The Kids Are All Grown Up and world-beating Beverly are tunes The Ramones would’ve put on their first record, while The Lost Years is the best Dinosaur Jr tune J. Mascis never wrote. Losing Control sounds exactly like what the title suggests, and you’re just going to have to hear Wastelands, the vast and woozy closer, to believe it.

LA Thomas of Danger Beach and Assassins is credited as an ‘executive producer’, and it’s clear that Kill and Thomas share an aesthetic. There’s a rough noir, a fuzzy overplayed VHS tape quality to the record. One hopes they’ll continue to infuse each other’s projects.

If there’s a quibble to be had, it’s that the 15 tracks contain a lot of information. Which is the lamest quibble of all time, given that each one of these tunes has earned their place on the set. The charms of Purple Skies are immediate, but there’s enough here to chew on for some time. Bravo Bobby Kill.

You’ve made one of the year’s best records.

GLEN MARTIN

@bmamag

gold panda half of where you live [Notown/liberator]

splashh comfort [breakaway recordings]

danger beach pacific [dream damage]

It’s been three years since Essex-born and now UK-based electronic producer Gold Panda (real name Derwin Schlecker) set the leftfield dance world alight with his debut album Lucky Shiner, and this download-only follow-up, Half of Where You Live, definitely bears the influence of his extensive global travels since that record.

Comfort is the debut album by continentstraddling outfit Splashh, based in London with members hailing from Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

We’re all swimming in the swirling backwash of popular culture. Nothing is new. Everything old is waiting for its turn in the revival sun. Listening to the second LP from LA Thomas, aka Danger Beach, one is aware of the tightrope walk between being influenced and influential – this album feels a little shackled by its stylistic foundations, but occasionally breaks out something genuinely original and gripping. Much of Pacific sounds like work built via a looping pedal – a simple choral riff repeated, with layers built over the top. There’s not a lot of verse-chorus action. Which means that the songs live or die on both the appeal of that initial riff, and the atmosphere.

Described as a city album by Schlecker, the 11 tracks collected here see traces of both Asian and Latin American influences filtering in amongst a tracklisting that for the most part avoids the use of vocal samples. It’s also a far more texturally rich yet curiously light and airy listen than its predecessor, with the glistening and luminous We Work Nights threading atmospheric flute and shamisen samples in between a backbone of lithe 808 toms to spectacular effect. Elsewhere, Junk City rolls with a satisfying gritty shuffle, sending refracted rave stabs darting against rattling retro drum machine fills and vibraphones, in what’s easily one of this album’s most Detroit-tinged offerings, while Brazil gets into some complicated percussion trickery as volleys of treated basskicks arc beneath a hypnotic vocal sample repeatedly intoning the title phrase, only for things to suddenly descend into a headspinning mass of dubbed-out metallic tones.

As the aforementioned track suggests, it’s the exquisite level of attention to textural detail that really impresses here, making Half of Where You Live an album that’s equally as geared towards solitary headphone sessions as it is a heaving dancefloor at 2am. If anything, this excellent second album marks a real increase in both depth and scope from Gold Panda, and also manages to capture the atmosphere and activity of the cities Schlecker’s visited from start to finish. chris downton

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The general invocation of summery, nostalgic good times is their jam, and throughout Comfort, Splashh stick to what they know – glistening, spacey surf/garage rock that dabbles at times in whirls of ambient noise – with steadfast consistency.

The band comes out of the blocks wearing their influence on their sleeve – opener Headspins is catchy enough, blending a hazy, spaced out vocal track with a rhythm section that could easily pass as straight off a Pixies B-side. All I Wanna Do widens out their sound, adding a fuzzy, echoed, driving rhythm that triggers a wistful tone. Vacation and So Young provide simple, driving rhythms to prop up the pace at the midpoint of the album, before Lemonade slows the tempo slightly, breaking it up with a short, ambient interlude.

Broadly, Splashh adhere to their signature sound fairly closely throughout, and they’re competent at what they do – so there are few genuine flaws to pick at here. And importantly, at a little over 30 minutes in length, the album gets in and out without outstaying its welcome. Equally, however, it feels as though they provide relatively little to exult over, nor do they offer a substantial differentiation from established surf/garage rock acts in the same neighbourhood.

Splashh can take you back to times past and to favourite bands of old, but it’s probably safe to say they won’t take you anywhere particularly new – nor do they promise it. Comfort is, as the title suggests, comfortable, safe, and consistent. david smith

The latter is where Thomas excels, and where Pacific trumps his debut LP Milky Way. Opener Sioux is crying out to soundtrack an ‘80s noir film. Black Rain name checks a Michael Douglas film of the era and makes the connection (perhaps a little too) obvious. TV Glow and the title track come close to being works of pastiche and little more, but there’s a wonky charm and a winning grasp of melody that elevate them. On Xue-Ying Thomas takes the Phoenix route round the far east (via a Hong Kong action flick), and the creepy twin vocals of Magnum make it a highlight.

Bobby Kill from TV Colours is one of the many guests on the set, and his new record threatens to overshadow Pacific.

It’s probably fair enough – this record is good with glimpses of more, whereas the TV Colours LP feels like a landmark set for both Canberra and Australian music.

What’s more pertinent is that 2013 has become a red letter year for the label both LPs have dropped from. More power to Dream Damage records, and let’s hope for something a little less reverential from Danger Beach next time. glen martin

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album in focus

boards of canada tomorrow’s harvest [warp] The arrival of new Boards of Canada material is akin to a major religious event among the faithful. There is a mystique surrounding BoC that lends itself to a fanatical devotion akin to Grateful Dead worship. Scottish brothers Marcus and Mike Sandison are the proverbial enigma wrapped in a paradox – they rarely conduct interviews; their first ‘long-players’ – Old Tunes Vol 1 & 2 and A Few Old Tunes – were unreleased mixtapes given to friends via cassette; years elapse without new output; press shots are rare; and Marcus initially went under his middle name Eoin to avoid comparison to Orbital’s Hartnoll brothers. In short, the BoC machine is the promotional equivalent of Opposite Land. This shroud of mystery funnels into their mesmeric downtempo electronic music, with each new release whipping up a frenzy of questions. Will it touch on the majesty of Music Has the Right to Children? Will it be darker in tone like Geogaddi, or pastoral like The Campfire Headphase? And, of course …

Will it be any good?

BoC have always been masters of mood, able to instantly summon atmosphere.

They patiently layer levels of sound atop hypnotic loops and trademark scratchy percussion so that by track’s end you’re enmeshed in a dense soundscape. The music resembles a Rorschach inkblot test; some find a piece sinister and depressing while others will find it beautiful and uplifting. This is a deft trick. Has this mastery continued onto the long-awaited Tomorrow’s Harvest?

Where preceding album The Campfire

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Headphase in 2006 was one of their most accessible to date – rich in live instrument sampling and more uplifting in tone – Harvest is intensely brooding.

Conjecture has suggested this is a concept album, the title suggesting a soundtrack for a post-nuclear apocalyptic landscape. True or not, it’s certainly believable. Harvest is BoC’s most introspective and foreboding effort to date. And like most new BoC releases, it requires patience.

On first listen the record glides past, with many percussion-less segues and seemingly few standout moments.

Where are the melody-rich songs like Aquarius or 1969? But suddenly – sometimes minutes, sometimes days after – snippets bob to the surface of the brain. Subsequent listens soon reveal Harvest to be an exquisitely woven album with moments of magic along the way.

The Sandisons remain deeply committed to their core sound, so there is vintage BoC to enjoy. Lead track Reach for the Dead pulses with urgency from the opening second; the slow heartbeat of a kick drum pushes soaring synthlines before a purposeful percussion set drops in at the laconic 2:49 minute mark, creating an imposing warning of something big to come. Cold Earth and Palace Posy piece together many familiar sounds to make some friendly – if not overwhelmingly fresh – pieces of BoC bliss (wait for that trademark elevating sound at the 2:32 mark of Palace Posy).

Then there are the obligatory challenging tracks. Jacquard Causeway takes a dragging yet forceful beat and warps the tone with each added sound, while Uritual’s eerie nuclear throb wouldn’t be out of place on a David Lynch film soundtrack. But the last third of the album delivers moments of true magic. Come to Dust’s commanding synth pulse is joined by jittering electronic noises to create an engaging listen. The spacey Nothing is Real is the album highlight, with a beautiful melody synth line and a simple-yet-soulful key change that will soundtrack your head for days. It makes the eight-year wait worthwhile.

For an extra treat, be sure to listen with headphones to discover even more intricate sounds lurking beneath the wash. Even if the segues seem a shade too frequent, there’s no denying BoC can still marry mournfulness with grace and the macabre with beauty.

ALLAN SKO

batpiss nuclear winter [every night is a saturday night] While they only formed in 2011, Melbournebased noise/sludge/hardcore trio Batpiss has managed to attract a significant amount of local attention in a relatively short time, something that’s been aided by tour supports over the last couple of years to the likes of Guitar Wolf, Blood Duster and Regurgitator. Nuclear Winter offers up Batpiss’s debut album on Melbournevia-France indie label Every Night Is A Saturday Night, and it sees the trio going for an extremely raw feel, with all 11 tracks recorded live upstairs at Collingwood’s Tote Hotel. It’s a recording strategy certainly faithful to the initial hardcore DIY aesthetic, and in truth it’s also probably the best approach Batpiss could employ to capture the viscerality and volume of their churning fusion of tribal drums, screamed vocals and sludgy guitar riffs.

The punky, tribal, drum-fuelled Hollywood calls to mind Black Flag as filtered through the noise-rock likes of The Jesus Lizard as it charges along at demented freight-train pace, while the chaotic squall of opener Seed manages to evoke comparisons with seminal Melburnian noisemongers The Cosmic Psychos, as Thomy Sloane’s screamed vocals distort and the guitar and drums lock into a contorted knot of tension. Burn Below meanwhile offers up what’s easily one of this album’s most interesting moments, with a sidestep into more danceable rhythms as a Fugazi-esque guitar figure clings tightly to a mechanicalsounding drum groove. Aside from these sorts of interesting explorations, though, the biggest enemy here is the sheer lack of real variation. After the initial assault a sense of jadedness soon kicks in, with many of the tracks here repeatedly charting almost exactly the same ground. chris downton

@bmamag

surge EP cosmo’s midnight [yes pleas]

brass knuckle brass band brass knuckle brass band ep [independent]

beaches she beats [chapter music]

Surge is the debut EP from Cosmo’s Midnight, comprised of twin brothers and proponents of lush, atmospheric electronica, Cosmo and Patrick Liney.

Don’t you just love the glamour of brass instruments: the lustre of the metal, the fluid motion of the trombone slide, the spit dripping from the end (well, maybe not that bit). Brass bands have an unfortunate tendency to get associated with those municipality-based outfits which, wearing slightly tragic uniforms, shuffle along in ANZAC Day parades. However, this Canberran eight-piece has tipped that notion over on its ear and kicked it in the guts, as they put all that tubular metal pizzazz to good use in the cause of funk, more funk and a wee drop of jazz.

Forgive this, but there are some records which make the act of writing about them so seemingly pointless that the only honest course is to state this, and struggle on.

It’s the dancing about architecture thing.

Because some records have a force that is so specific to the form, to music itself, that words on a page are useless. So it goes.

Opening and titular track Surge kicks off with a vortex of swirling ambient noise, and as the track shifts in and out of a simple, deep, pumping bass rhythm, the duo maintain this dizzying backdrop while subtly tweaking the texture to bring the effect to the fore. The duo waits for a mid-point interlude to drop in the upbeat synth hook that pocks the rest of the track – this, paired with the astute textural shifts imparted, provides enough progression to ensure the track feels satisfyingly balanced. The same hook is slowed down and recycled in follow-up (and EP single) Phantasm, where the viscous, halting bass line and the sweet vocals of guest Nicole Millar combine to widen and diversify the EP’s sound. It’s a polished, gripping track that is by nature strongly reminiscent of the visceral electronica of Canadian duo Purity Ring.

The EP is rounded out with Lover’s Shadow and Won’t You Stay, both lower-key, but nonetheless nuanced and well-constructed tracks that adhere to Surge’s swelling, riseand-fall dynamic.

As recent additions to Sydney-based label Yes Please, Cosmo’s Midnight slot in as a more-than-able complement to the lush electronica of simpatico label-mates like Oliver Tank and Fishing. As they grow, Cosmo’s Midnight will continue to find constant comparisons with Flume (among other established proponents) inevitable – but, short as it is, Surge plays as a tasteful, balanced and promising entrée, providing ample evidence that the duo have the nous, textural taste and depth of sound that will help them to both draw on influence and surpass duplication. david smith

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BKBB are frequent giggers, at communitybased festivals and all manner of local venues from The Phoenix Pub to Transit Bar. (I don’t know how they fit two trumpets, two trombones, a sax, a sousaphone, the drummer and a vocalist on that tiny stage.)

The experience of some BKBB musicians who are also Canberra Symphony Orchestra members comes across clearly in the orchestral arrangement of opener Now’s the Time. Featuring Cameron Smith on vocals, the various instruments all shine in solos, while the sousaphone provides the steady deep bass sound in the background.

New Pants and No Puns shows the natural ability of brass to build moods of suspense and drama. There’s a Motown vibe in Phat Attack, projecting images of ‘70s TV cop shows with muscle cars, gaudy neon lights and blokes with shoulder holsters. The traditional number St James Infirmary sees BKBB’s second vocalist Courtney Stark add her jazzy tones to the mix.

While pure brass band music has limited appeal, this New Orleans-style street funk band stands out loud and proud with its party-party atmosphere and loads of groovable rhythms. rory McCARTNEY

What you need to know, I guess, is that the second album from Melbourne’s Beaches is excellent. From the first (the spiky guitars and swooping, summertime vocal of Out of Mind) to the last (the sun drenched Runaway), She Beats is pretty-well perfect.

This band tends to inspire breathless prose because there seems to be something beyond the five-people-playing-music thing about them. They feel like a force. Like their united powers are transformative.

These songs are the result of grooves and melodies which can only come from another power. Neil Young talks about ‘playing through a song’, where the musician becomes some kind of delivery conduit.

That’s what Beaches sound like to me.

Too much? Give Dune a listen and tell me otherwise. The elements are simple. Light snare, plucked riffs, riding the swooping tremolo bar of a Fender Jaguar. But the effect is the opposite. It feels like a trip, in the best and least lame-arse hippy take on the term. Send Them Away is a song for all-time mixtapes. Distance sounds like the drugs your parents used to take. Lovely journeys round the sun and moon. Dig. Beaches will probably become better known on the back of She Beats, especially in overseas markets that appear poised to lap them up. So it should be. They’re amongst our finest, and you’re missing out on a world of pleasure if you don’t own this LP. glen martin

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that, a bonus on top of three excellent records.

More importantly, the three are now available on vinyl for the first time.

The reissues also include liner notes, which is excellent, because, as we all know, reading about music is even better than listening to it.

you am i Sound As Ever/Hi Fi Way/Hourly Daily [superunreal editions] [sony music entertainment] The first years of this century were not the kindest to You Am I. Once critical, peer and punter favourites, the equivalent of The Drones today, they were almost forgotten, like a high school crush.

One particular night at the Holy Grail in Civic marked a low point. Whereas the band had drawn hundreds to the ANU Refectory just half a decade before, You Am I played in a venue with the atmosphere of an Exceloo to a crowd numbering in the low dozens.

Since that night, the lads have built up a new generation of loyal fans, and the old fans have steadily drifted back to shows.

Now, with the reissue of their first three albums, Sound as Ever, Hi Fi Way and Hourly Daily, the band has reminded the rest of us, who stopped thinking about them, what dicks we were for having done so.

These ‘Superunreal Editions’ mark 20 years since the recording of debut LP Sound as Ever with Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo producing. Each CD or digital version comes with a bunch of B-sides, alternative takes, live recordings and covers, with 65 extra songs in total.

First listens suggest the band did an excellent job of choosing the album tracks; but the bonus material is just

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Sound as Ever was recorded over seven days in Minnesota in 1993 and contains three of the greatest songs of the ‘90s in Berlin Chair, Adams Rib’s and Jaimmie’s Got a Gal. The album works despite the presence of a heavy metal drummer behind the kit. Fittingly, the liner notes are written

by Rusty Hopkinson; the man who came to take over on drums and who helped take the band to another level.

Ranaldo returned to produce sophomore effort Hi Fi Way (1995), this time recorded in New York’s Green St studio. There was no messing about on this one, either, laid down in a week with the use of only two amps; an incredible feat considering the classics these sessions produced, including Cathy’s Clown, the ageless Purple Sneakers, and the model album closer How Much is Enough.

While Sound as Ever and Hi Fi Way are good albums with some great songs, Hourly Daily (1996) is a great album.

Conscious there was an element of luck in the quality of the first two hastily recorded long players, the band gave more attention to the arrangements, the instrumentation and the equipment for their third record.

On top of that, Tim Rogers penned extraordinary lyrics that paint a vivid, impressionistic picture of Australian suburbia. The band then spent a packed and relatively luxurious two weeks in the studio. The result was the culmination of You Am I’s rise from great live band with a couple of decent records to great band full stop.

PETE HUET

eleanor friedberger personal records [merge] For some reason, the idea of the Laurel Canyon songwriters of the 1970s always appealed to me. Sun-drenched and pretty, but with darkness hiding in the hills. Phrased well, good listening for both the coastal road trip and the introspective headphone spin.

Problem being, most of those records were too polished and insipid by half. This record

by Brooklyn chanteuse Eleanor Friedberger is the Laurel Canyon record I’ve been searching for all these years.

Like her solo debut Last Summer, Personal Record is a sonic sigh of relief for those of us convinced by her talents in The Fiery Furnaces, but annoyed by their increasing inability to stick to one song for more than 30 seconds. That such an outstanding weird pop group fell afoul of their (or perhaps just sibling Matthew’s) desire to convince all comers of chops and aptitude (over their strengths as writers of whole, formed songs) was beginning to grate. That Eleanor has chosen to present another record of minimal, perfectly structured pop is wise.

Not that lady Friedberger is easy to read or formulaic. Far from it. What made her first solo record so satisfying was the union of song craft with her ability to be affecting yet distant, present yet mysterious. She presents a puzzle you want to work out.

What is so good about Personal Record is that it’s more of the same, but better.

Co-written with British folkie John Wesley Harding, this suite of songs is very firstperson, utterly direct, yet with enough of a veneer to avoid being obvious. There’s enough space for the listener to inhabit. And the mood is never 100% complete, meaning that this is a record you can call upon in a variety of moments. It’s simple, smart, and beautifully put. glen martin

@bmamag

escape syndrome king catalyst EP [independent]

shockone universus [viper/onelove]

lily & madeleine the weight of the globe EP [asthmatic kitty records]

The Faulkner brothers, with Matt Tennant in tow, have been entertaining Canberra with their brand of heavy rock for a good seven years. Their track record for releases with a drawn-out gestation period was repeated

by King Catalyst, which took at least six months longer to get on the street than they had hoped. Rich in punk influences, metal overtones and lots of oomph, the band has been a frequent support for visiting heavy hitters such as Helmet and Thousand Needles in Red. With vocalist/showman Matt Faulkner bouncing around in springloaded fashion, their gigs are well-known for their dynamism, and this release was created with the intention of replicating that verve on disk.

Born Karl Thomas, Shockone emerged in 2005 from the same thriving Perth drum and bass scene that birthed former bandmates Pendulum, though in the years since, he’s diversified his palette to include dubstep and established a base in London.

Rebelling against the glam and pretense of modern pop, Indianapolis teenagers Lily and Madeleine Jurkiewicz have delivered a debut EP which strips indie folk/pop down to its bare bones. The absence of any production trickery renders the songs honest bordering on starkness. Even their videos are basic views of an expressionless Lily strumming while the elder and equally poker-faced Madeleine sings, all recorded in monochrome (of course).

I think the boys have met their aim. Opener Safe and Sound employs the popular technique of starting soft, a far-off sound, before the music crunches in loud and sharp.

Both the guitars and the vocals, with shoutouts in the chorus, storm right through until the fading reverb at the finish. Shadows Part II keeps it heavy, with a voluminous, echoing arena sound. Guitars flash in from every direction and Matt goes for the big notes in the vocals.

A CD highlight is The Set Disease; the most melodic song in the disk, with Matt boosted by supporting harmonies from the boys.

The vocal support, whether in the chorus or screaming hardcore style in Shadows, impresses on this release. Trace starts big, with a rising rumble and a strident yell, and continues strongly with cool riffage and some of the best licks in the release. King Catalyst’s high impact sound, befitting the soundtrack for a cage fight, cements Escape Syndrome’s place as one of the capital’s best heavy bands. rory McCARTNEY

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Universus offers up his debut album and arrives after something of an extensive wait, with some of the singles featured here initially emerging almost two years ago. There’s no doubt from the outset that Thomas has done his best to cast this as an ‘event’, with Singularity offering up an unintentionally hilarious intro complete with ‘50s B-movie announcer about the birth of the universe that hints at the grandiosity going on here. The 13 tracks collected here see Thomas throwing any pretensions of subtlety firmly to one side in favour of a maximalist ‘everything up to 11’ aesthetic that cannibalises pretty much every single trope present in ‘big room’ dance music at the moment. Which probably means Universus will sell bucketloads.

Tracks such as Chaos Theory and Big Bounce see Thomas crafting the sort of overheated ‘all orgasms, no foreplay’ post-EDM dubstep that hits big in American superdomes, with the emphasis on packing in as many squealing synths and ridiculous drops as possible. If it gets all a bit like watching monster trucks after a while, the more drum and bass-centred tracks fare only slightly better, the use of vocoders on several tracks rendering the vocal collaborators virtually anonymous against the sort of streamlined trance/electro-edged junglist territory the likes of Concord Dawn and Jon B were exploring around six years ago.

The Weight of the Globe is a strange title for an EP from the sisters, aged only 18 and 16, carrying songs so light in construction.

Lyric themes reflect their stage in life, of stepping over the chasm between childhood and adulthood, as portrayed in the opening, acoustic guitar-driven track In the Middle. This song sets the pattern for an EP of simple but appealing melodies, with backing instruments used sparingly.

These Great Things, opening with echoing guitar, brings a more upbeat tempo. Back to the River and Things I’ll Later Lose are pretty, but slightly maudlin in tone, the latter being propelled by sorrowful strings.

Tired, with its chiming guitar pattern, like Pony Up’s The Truth about Cats and Dogs, is the CD highlight. Containing the lyrics which give the EP its name, Madeleine’s high tone and Lily’s deeper timbre combine in the best harmonies on the disc. It’s the liveliest song in a collection of tracks which are sad but sweet. Throughout the release, the girls’ voices deliver a melancholy vibe, while being strangely devoid of passion, as though observing trouble from afar.

Madeleine sounds not unlike our own Cilla Jane, but without the emotive quality of the Australian songstress.

While thrilling in measured doses, Universus is ultimately tiring for all the wrong reasons.

It’s this detached quality which prevents a good record from being great.

chris downton

rory McCARTNEY

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the pastels slow summits [domino]

majical cloudz impersonator [matador/remote control]

the child of lov the child of lov [domino/emi]

Two lines in the first two songs of The Pastels first LP in 16 years might make your eyes roll – one concerns daytime walks in the cemetery, the second asks whether you ‘can sing the song quietly’. How twee, you might say, and you’d be right. There is a church of indie twee and The Pastels built it.

Their fans are shy but many, and for us it’s a pleasure to have them back.

In a recent interview, Devon Welsh of Canadian duo Majical Cloudz stated that he wanted to write music that ‘seemed like it was barely there’; an ode to the strength in fragility, the courage inherent in placing vulnerabilities out in the open. Debut album Impersonator is the honest, consistent, and unquestionably compelling realisation of this songwriting ideal. Welsh says all the songs he writes are autobiographical, and true to this, his lyrics come across like honest, personal letters written to past and present figures in his life, steeped in vivid imagery and delving into wistful themes of sadness, fear and joy. He seems equally comfortable drawing out his own insecurity (‘I want to feel like somebody’s darling’) as he is recalling images of death.

Born in Belgium but now based in Amsterdam, enigmatic soul/funk revivalist The Child of Lov (real name Cole Williams) first started attracting attention with the release of his Heal single late last year, and this self-titled debut album arrives amidst considerable levels of media anticipation.

Add into the bargain William’s penchant for the dramatic (he only recently revealed his identity, before going on to cancel his arguably crucial Glastonbury appearance in favour of honing his live presentation), and you’ve already got the stuff of mythmaking.

That The Pastels continue to be a band says something about their need to create, and although this record is gentle, it also feels driven. It’s chock full of references to singing and dancing and coming together, to making relations and creating community. In a very small, probably socially awkward way.

More importantly, it’s absolutely lovely.

The playing remains somewhat primal, but the flavour of one-part Glaswegian bedsit and one-part French chanson, topped with a Bacharach garnish, works a treat. It sounds absolutely sumptuous thanks to the reliably brilliant recording of John McIntyre, and the songs are amongst the strongest of their career.

Check Your Heart is the 2013 dance-floor stomper for the criminally shy; music to swivel one’s bangs to. Wrong Light and Kicking Leaves are further standouts, but the album has no major drops in quality.

It’s warm, unchallenging, and absolutely ideal should your idea of an afternoon wellspent be a pot of tea chaser, a touch of thrift store shopping, topped off with a sneaky dram and a dance round the house. I can understand how unappealing that will sound to some to you, but The Pastels will never hold a gun to your head.

Musically, Impersonator is deliberately shaped to an ethos of stark minimalism.

Welsh’s rich vocal tone carries the narrative powerfully, but when set against this backdrop of electronic quietude his words stand out like bold pen strokes on a white page. Fittingly, the most affecting tracks here are the gentlest and most musically sparse. Throughout I Do Sing for You, Welsh’s sweet nothings are carried perfectly atop a near-weightless pairing of synth and electronic glitch. Bugs Don’t Buzz provides a poignant climax, as Welsh’s baritone is given acres of space alongside the slow, measured pace of quiet keyboard chords. It’s only in the dying seconds, once the vocal narrative has faded away, that the track becomes enveloped in an absorbing synth-bass warble.

For those of us under their spell, our good fortune continues. This is a lovely addition to a cherished catalogue.

This ending feels deeply satisfying, the musical restraint typifying the respect afforded to Welsh’s powerful emotive centrepiece, and exemplifying the exquisite balance between tale and sound that elevates Impersonator to the upper level.

glen martin

david smith

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More than anything else, the ten tracks collected here call to mind the sorts of ragged soul/funk showmanship pioneered by the likes of Little Richard, filtered through a more contemporary R&B/hip hop aesthetic coloured by the influence of D’Angelo and Madlib. Williams also has some impressive names in his corner here, with both Thundercat and Damon Albarn contributing throughout; the latter contributing some particularly Gorillaz-esque reggae organ to the grimy and downbeat One Day. While Williams doesn’t really quite have the vocal abilities of his stylistic influences, tracks such as the Motown-tinged Call Me Up see him focusing more on applying multitracking effects and harmonies, the result being a raw, openly flawed growl that sits nicely against the dusty electronics. If the levels of soul catharsis feel slightly faux at times, Owl sees DOOM injecting some welcome edginess before Fly kicks the tempo up a few notches, with what’s easily the most triumphant soul offering here, majestic jazz brass and all.

Unfortunately, though, the aforementioned moments represent highlights amongst a debut album that’s often more diverting than really gripping. chris downton

@bmamag

savages silence yourself [matador/remote control]

sigur Rós kveikur [xl recordings]

big scary not art [pieater/inertia]

This breathless press surrounding London four-piece Savages? It seems as carefully managed as any TV talent show or prefab pop starlet. The austere black and white press shots, the carefully curated statements, a feature in The Guardian painting the group as an insufferable pack of whining self-important miserabilists.

How dull.

Sigur Rós were the perfect band for the first decade of the new millennium, back when a certain world superpower was baring its fangs and lashing out in strict good/bad, in/ out, hero/terrorist dictums. Out of Iceland, Sigur Rós were the polar opposite – vague, detached, unstructured, less attack-y. They both used drones to devastating effect.

Don’t believe the album title, it’s a lie! If this brave foray towards the boundaries of indie rock does not constitute art, then I don’t know what does. Melbourne duo Tom Iansek and Jo Syme got serious about making music in 2008 and released their debut album Vacation in 2011. Now the band has really put the ‘A’ into ‘alternative’, with a sophomore album that may polarise fans through its genre confusing change in style that will surprise, if not shock.

There’s certainly some sonic chutzpah on show – the album opens with a minute of ambient drone laid under dialogue before the stabbing guitars and twisty bass of Shut Up introduce the band. It leaps out of the speakers well enough. It bristles with intent.

The problem is that you and I have heard it all so many times before. Its pure post-punk, one part Siouxsie, one part Wire, and one part Gang of Four.

So it goes, through each of these 11 tracks.

What the songs lack are hooks. It’s easy to dismiss Bloc Party now, but half of their first record had enough thrilling melody and inventive rhythm to offset a ten-year career of progressively diminished returns. Silence Yourself doesn’t have this. It’s so tired, and to hear something so formulaic performed with such gusto makes for strange listening.

It’s the sonic equivalent of the earnest student activist, so convinced by their suite of issues. Savages sound like a group of zealots. Fundamentalists even. This was a record I was excited to hear. Hearing it is a significantly less exciting experience.

It seems constructed, focus grouped, and it lacks any real spark of invention. It’s a facsimile of cool influence. That Savages are being held up as one of the year’s most exciting breakthrough acts smacks of an industry desperate to create heroes. Wire’s first three records are amongst the best things I’ve ever heard. I’d recommend those highly. This? Not so much. glen martin

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Over time Sigur Rós became a bit of a joke. The made up language, the ghostly orchestrations, the formless ‘songs’, all of it began to look like vastly overblown parody with each new album ringing of ho-hum familiarity. What was once mysterious was now boring. So when they started calling this new album ‘aggressive’ it was impossible not to arch an eyebrow like an overly critical dickhead at a gallery opening. Really?

Okay, so they’re not going to be mistaken for Judas Priest, but Kveikur is a propulsive record and in a hurry to get somewhere, while occasionally looking in the rear view mirror. Brennisteinn is a prime example; a lurching distorted fart-bass setting the rhythm for what sounds like erratic saucepan bashing. Halfway through it slows down, laying on a few classic Sigur Rós-isms (falsetto, atmosphere) before somehow marrying the two vastly different approaches. Through it all, Jonsi’s hushsinging holds it altogether. The pan-rattling continues with Hrafntinna and again Jonsi makes the chaotic sound reasoned. Isjaki and Ratstraumur approach twee pop and are poorer for it. The rest of Kveikur is more adventurous and densely melodic than anyone had dared expect. For the first time in a long time, Sigur Rós sound purposeful and engaged. Losing a keyboardist may have something to do with it, but something has clicked, and whilst not total reinvention it’s very welcome progress. justin hook

Having abandoned conventional indie rock/pop, the band has aimed to produce work which feeds its own creative juices, rather than delivering catchy tunes for the listening public.

The best work appears in the first half of the album, starting with Hello, My Name Is, with its alternating mix of gentle guitar picking interspersed with berserk drumming/guitar sequences. Iansek declares who he is by shouting out what he is not. Disc highlight Luck Now is a collage of syncopated percussion, electronic beeps, trickling keys and vocal samples. Belgian Blues, another highpoint, features gunshot drumming, long floating yodels from Iansek and some great psychedelic guitar licks. Phil Collins is a festival of harsh reverb, full of unreleased tension. Why Hip-Hop Sucks in ’13 impresses with haunting singing from Syme, in a jigsaw puzzle of vocals and instrumental effects.

Not Art is a softer, more keyboard-driven CD which is made for contemplation rather than rocking out. It sounds like something that may be hard to replicate live; but then again, anything’s possible with enough loops and samples, right?

With two ACT gigs on the menu in August, it will be interesting to see how the new work translates to the stage. rory McCARTNEY

49

the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

Ah, school holidays. The time when our usually diverse line-up of intelligent arthouse flicks and rip-roaring blockbusters is inundated with bland, half-baked, overdone animated children’s films. Usually sequels.

Perhaps I’m being too harsh.

Although I have absolutely no interest in seeing it, Despicable Me 2 is apparently very enjoyable. Aaaand this issue I saw the not-a-sequel animated film Epic, and I may or may not have giggled like a schoolgirl at some points throughout the film.

quote of the issue ‘Most people don’t believe something can happen until it already has. That’s not stupidity or weakness, that’s just human nature.’

– Jurgen Warmbrunn (Ludi Boeken), World War Z

much ado about nothing High school English teachers can breathe a sigh of relief.

If students want to take a cinematic shortcut studying William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, filmmaker Joss Whedon has made a superb adaptation that burns brightly with the wit and romance of The Bard’s work. There is elegance in the minimalist approach Whedon takes to the material and it pays off. Shot in one location using black and white photography means maximum attention is paid to the actors and the wonderful words that spill from their mouths. Whedon doesn’t use any gimmicks with the modern setting, nor does he aspire to make the film act as a commentary on life in 2013. It would have been nice to see Whedon build on the material in a minor way, but it’s mostly a loving cuddle from a huge Shakespeare fan. The comedic moments, both verbal and physical, are hilarious.

Villains make time for mischief throughout the story and the drama has an impact during moments of betrayal and misdirection.

Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof are absolutely delightful in each other’s company both in love and hate. Acker is perfect as Beatrice; she is feisty and intelligent but a romantic at heart. Desinof delivers a brilliant performance as Benedick and most of the film’s best moments come from his blind confidence and with the character’s misguided attempt to stay a bachelor for life. Prepare to be smitten with Much Ado About Nothing as Whedon shows that there is beauty in simplicity.

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cameron williams

man of steel

world war z

With Marvel leading the charge in superhero movie franchises, DC has definitely been lagging behind (Green Lantern, anyone?), with the obvious exception of all the things that Nolan is touching and turning to box office gold.

World War Z is a fairly brainy zombie film – kind of like a cross between Contagion (the Soderbergh venture that starred every famous person in Hollywood, and depicted the demise of the world as we know it, as a deadly virus swept the globe) and, er, any other freaky zombie film (28 Days Later, television series The Walking Dead et al.).

It’s clear that Man of Steel, with its darker tone and respected cast, was DC’s next big hope.

Following Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) as he roams the globe as a tortured hobo, trying to fight his unquenchable thirst to help people, Man of Steel is a bit slow to start. Things pick up when Clark slaps on those tights (now in textured latex) and tries to gain acceptance from humanity by saving the world.

Man of Steel is hardly a turkey.

Most of our favourites are here – Lois (Amy Adams), the Kents (Diane Lane and Kevin Costner) and Jor-El (Russell Crowe). As for Cavill himself, I’m not entirely convinced that he is a good Superman – some of his expressions are too soap opera-y, and I can’t decide if he’s charismatic or just really handsome.

While this new incarnation of the man in tights is palatable as an action movie, it doesn’t have the finesse or true heart of a superhero classic.

While entertaining, it has neither the dark soul of the Nolan Batman films, nor the balls-out peacocking of the Iron Man franchise. It’s enjoyable, but it hardly achieves greatness.

Ostensibly based on the apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks, World War Z stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations employee who is brought back into the field to investigate what has started the zombie day of reckoning – and find out if there is a way to cure it.

World War Z has been criticised by some reviewers for being too over-the-top, or not over-thetop enough, or hackneyed – but I disagree.

There is suspense. There are scares. Brad Pitt turns in a solid performance, and the set pieces depicting a world overrun by zombies are just spectacular.

It diverges from the source material, but it still manages to effectively blend action and investigative sequences.

Admittedly, the final act is a little clichéd, and could perhaps be called really slow and boring in some sequences – the climax of the film is essentially Brad Pitt cracking open a can of coke.

No joke. But for the most part World War Z is both intelligent and menacing.

MELISSA WELLHAM

megan McKEOUGH

@bmamag

the lone ranger

epic

While certainly epic in scale, this latest offering from Gore Verbinski (the Pirates franchise) falls short in far too may ways.

Look, Epic is no Finding Nemo.

Or How To Train Your Dragon.

Or, you know, any animated kids’ film that is actually really awesome and will appeal to adults as much as it appeals to children. But it does have a few redeeming qualities.

The story follows Tonto (Johnny Depp), a Native American, and the formerly upstanding lawman John Reid (Armie Hammer) – who now moonlights as the masked Lone Ranger – as they track a heart-eating outlaw, and fight for justice.

Lone Ranger was a disappointment. I couldn’t even enjoy it on the level of a zone-out popcorn film – I felt like it was intentionally trying to offend me. Depp’s caricature Native American, Tonto, feels awkward and almost offensive, and is basically just another version of Jack Sparrow.

Hammer spends too much time hamming it up for the camera, ensuring that the tone of the film is never quite right. There is a tiny spark between the two but it never blossoms into convincing chemistry, probably because Hammer isn’t that charismatic, or at least not as the hero. The love story is unconvincing, and the framing device (young boy hears the story from a talking carnival museum exhibit?!) is lame.

I know it’s supposed to be a bit silly (I mean, Pirates of the Caribbean was hardly meant to be historical), but in truth the whole film just annoyed me. Depp’s pandering around annoyed me; the running gags annoyed me; the exceedingly unnecessary running time (2.5 hours? !) annoyed me.

I’m not even going to waste any more words. megan McKEOUGH

MK (voiced by Amanda Seyfried) is just your average teenage girl who has been sent to live with her kooky dad out in the sticks. That is, until she is magically shrunken and finds herself embroiled in an epic battle waged between fairy people, representing the powers of life (they’re the good guys, FYI) and death (bad guys, natch).

So, what are these aforementioned redeeming qualities? For starters, it has a spunky female as the lead character! For firsttime readers: I love a strong female character, particularly in children’s films, which are frequently led by male protagonists (see: almost every Pixar film ever. Even Wall-E).

Secondly, the voice actors are all phenomenal, and you’ll have a blast trying to pick out the stars. There’s Chris O’Dowd as a snail (swoon), Aziz Ansari as a slug, Christoph Waltz as a villain, and BEYONCÉ as a fairy queen. Right? Right?!

Beyond that, although Epic is a familiar tale – ‘good vs. evil’ is pretty much the oldest tale in the book – the film is beautifully animated and its colourful characters make it worthwhile.

It’s not epic, but it’s not a total waste of time either.

MELISSA WELLHAM

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51

the word

on games

The Last of Us Platform: PS3 Developer: Naughty Dog Length: 15 hrs+ Verdict: Definitely buy The Last of Us is the latest offering from Naughty Dog, the studio that created both Nathan Drake and Crash Bandicoot. Their previous offering came in the form of Uncharted 3 – a game rocking a Metacritic score in the 90s. By contrast, I found the game mechanics tired and story lacking. Consequently, I was somewhat worried The Last of Us may follow a similar pattern. Luckily, I can say the game is indeed worthy of its critical acclaim. Unlike with most titles, I found myself really itching to get another play session in with this game.

On the harder difficulty the game is addictively challenging. Par for the course, you’ll be starved of both ammo and health, making it essential to scour the surroundings for supplies.

The enemies range from fast paced ‘zombies’ to blind stumbling monsters, both capable of killing you very quickly, if not instantly.

When the enemies do get the better of you, the game doesn’t hold back. Over the course of my playing session I saw Joel beaten and burnt to death, his neck snapped and face ripped apart. Even when you get one up on an enemy, if another is around the corner you’ll quickly realise that one versus two doesn’t normally pan out too well. The result of this brutal gameplay is a mix of frustration and adrenalin-pumping satisfaction. Possibly not since Resident Evil 4 have I had such contempt for my aggressors and taken such enjoyment from bettering them. Breaking a wood plank over a stalker’s head or blowing a clicker’s face apart (or least what’s left of it) is disturbingly enjoyable.

This enjoyment requires some investment though. A good chunk of the game is spent lurking in the dark and observing your enemies’ patterns. Normally, this stealth style of game play isn’t really my forte. However, on this occasion it works well, in part because of some interesting design decisions. Firstly, your allies are invisible to enemies. As you’re hiding behind that pillar, hoping it is large enough to hide your finely rendered beard, your allies just simply barge past them. Whilst it makes for some bemusing gameplay, it avoids it being a frustrating one. Similarly, the game is pretty generous with what constitutes cover – enemies are apparently unable to look over a table. While such elements quickly remind you that you’re playing a game, there’s finesse and skill here that feels highly rewarding when mastered.

Matching the heights of the gameplay are the graphics. True to its heritage, the game looks great, so much so that it possibly falls into the uncanny valley. I found myself becoming hypercritical of each graphical element. That said, the cut scenes are top notch and make for an engaging storytelling experience. All up, this a great game – one worth putting some solid hours into.

TORBEN SKO

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BLACKBOX It’s not up there with Game of Thrones for scripting and the tagline ‘The storm is coming’ may be too close for comfort, but Michael Hirst’s latest drama Vikings (SBS, Thu Aug 8, 8:30pm) will fill the void left by GoT, and, surprisingly, Sons of Anarchy. Not because of its subject – Hirst has faithfully recreated a real period in history, albeit with lashings of artistic licence – but because of its testosterone-fuelled sword battles and the vikings’ penchant for plundering. While it’s not the most popular viewpoint, Chez Blackbox is excited at the return of The Newsroom (Showcase, Mon, 8:30pm).

A bit too Sorkin-preachy for most, but if you can get past that, its indepth portrait of the way media should be, mile-a-minute dialogue and idiosyncratic characters are worth it. Sci-fi geeks rejoice – Summer Glau will have a continuing role in Arrow (WIN, Wed Jul 24, 8:30). Maybe the CW-produced show will get some nerd cred.

Better Man (SBS1, Thu Jul 25, 8:30pm), the harrowing two-part mini-series from acclaimed filmmaker Khao Do, is heart-wrenching drama at its best. And as much as any of the high-profile Australian docudramas this year, it’s a story begging to be told. Other new shows include Dexpedition (SBS2, Sun, 7pm), a travelogue from Dex Carrington that’s the antidote to a middle-aged British person showing you how to have the most boring time of your life in any given destination, and the similarly themed Hamish and Andy’s Gap Year Asia (WIN, Mon Jul 22, 8pm).

The original Danish series of The Killing (SBS1, Wed Jul 24, 9:30pm), Housos (SBS1, Mon Jul 22, 9:30pm) and 2 Broke Girls (WIN, Mon, 10pm) all return for new seasons, and South Park Season 16 (SBS2, Sun Jul 28, 8:30pm) makes its free-to-air debut. Docos to check out include David Bowie: Five years in the making of an icon (ABC2, Wed Jul 24, 8:30pm), exploring five separate years of Bowie’s career – ‘71, ‘75, ‘77, ‘80, and ‘83, Pain, Pus and Poison (SBS1, Mon Jul 22, 8:30pm), which looks at how the world’s most useful drugs were created, Australia Sunday Best: Facing Ali (ABC2, Sun Jul 28, 8:30pm), a tribute from ten of his acclaimed rivals, and Ten Bucks a Litre (ABC1, Thu Aug 1, 8:30pm), where Dick Smith looks at Australia’s energy use in his own inimitable way.

The fifth season of The True Story (ABC2, Sat Jul 27, 7:30pm) goes behind a series of major films, starting with Star Trek and including Platoon, Die Hard 4.0, Scream and The Da Vinci Code, to explore the real stories that inspired them. Look out David and Margaret, there’s a new movie show in town. Sort of. Marc Fennell presents the best cult, action, thriller and horror flicks in Movie Mayhem (SBS2, Sat Jul 27, 9:35pm), starting with British thriller The Disappearance of Alice Creed. Other movies to keep an eye out for include Revenge of the Nerds (Go, Sat Jul 27, 9pm), 1970 hammer horror flick Lust for a Vampire (GEM, Sat Jul 27, 12:55am), described by one of its stars as the worst film ever made, Shaun of the Dead (7Mate, Wed Jul 24, 10:30pm), a cult classic that actually deserves that title, Romancing the Stone (One, Sat Jul 20, 8:30pm), an ‘80s adventure romp with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and (of course) Danny DeVito, another ‘80s jewel Lethal Weapon 2 (WIN, Sat Jul 20, 9:45pm), Carry on Spying (GEM, Sat Jul 27, 2:45am), one of the earlier and more revered Carry On films, and more spying in the Cold War-era Ice Station Zebra (WIN, Sun Jul 21, 2pm) with Rock Hudson.

Don’t miss the re-runs of The Hollowmen (ABC1, Wed, 10pm).

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyherrernan@bigpond.com @ChezBlackbox

@bmamag

the word on dvds

eagleheart [madman]

grimm: Season one [universal]

Adult Swim made its name with peculiar and wickedly funny cartoons for students and stoners: Space Ghost, Harvey Birdman, Frisky Dingo, Aqua Teen, etc. But over the last decade the Atlantabased production house has commissioned more live action shows to diversify and spread portfolio risk. In doing so, it has fashioned a comedy incubator of sorts – where some of the most talented comedic writers and actors can create shows where ratings appear to be an afterthought. The list of names involved is imposing: Rob Corddry, John Glaser, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, Megan Mullaley, Nick Offerman, Henry Winkler, Lake Bell …you get the idea. It’s a deep pool of talent. Individually, and at times collectively, they work on the recently reviewed Delocated and Steve Brule, the legendary Tim and Eric, and now Eagleheart.

Entertainment studios often find themselves releasing very similarly themed shows and movies very close to each other.

The recently departed 30 Rock started within months of the despicable Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In 2011, two shows debuted that were modern updates on nursery rhymes, fairytales and folklore; Once Upon a Time and Grimm. Both looked alike – brooding, flashy and more than a little low rent – but the former won the ratings battle by virtue of first-mover status. By a long shot, Grimm is the better show, but it’s still a show with inherent design limitations. For starters, Grimm feels like it arrived a decade too late. Co-created by some of the team responsible for Buffy and Angel, it’s only natural there’s shared DNA; human/monster hybrids, wisecracks, violence, ancient gloom through the prism of middle class suburbia.

Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) is a grimm, someone who can see monsters when they bare their fangs – figuratively and literally – in flashes of anger.

It’s a skill/curse passed through his bloodline and he has been tasked to harness this energy and bring the monsters to justice. Or kill them, whichever is easier plot-wise. All this monster-hunting is draped over the crime procedural format, so pretty much each episode is tied up in a nice clean bow after 43 minutes. Longer arcs exist, but they aren’t the engine. The pacing can be painfully slow at times, like cable drama slow, without any justification.

Chris Monsanto (Chris Elliot) is a no-nonsense, no-prisoner US Marshall in the Chuck Norris mould, getting the job done through extreme violence and ridiculous quips. His offsiders, Maria Thayer and Brett Gelman, are whip smart and super dumb respectively. Each 11-minute episode plays like a heavily condensed episode of Walker Texas Ranger vs. Miami Vice.

It’s stupid fun and, though there are misfires, episode run times are too short for it to trouble.

Like most Adult Swim shows, it satirises clichés by pushing them far beyond the brink.

Chris Elliot is probably the most senior of the Adult Swim fraternity. In the ‘90s, when David Letterman was still reasonably funny and mattered, Elliot was a regular guest/ sidekick. His TV show (Get a Life) is the very definition of cult. He was everywhere, but always seemed on the periphery. Eagleheart won’t change his cult status, but it’s great to have him back. justin hook

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But Grimm isn’t a bad show.

As it progresses it hits the target with increased accuracy. The supernatural unexplained elements of Fringe and despairing menace of Millennium sit neatly against the plentiful Buffy and Angelisms. If it sounds like Grimm is Dr Frankenstein’s crudely assembled monster, you’re close – not perfect, but not without ghoulish charm and remedial frights. justin hook

the untold history of the united states [roadshow] Giving Oliver Stone ten hour-long episodes to tell his version of the history of the United States is like putting an arsonist in control of a match factory. He likes getting into people’s faces – whether it’s his antagonistic trips to South America on ‘dictator’-hugging expeditions, or his many controversial statements about … everything, Stone is an unashamed inflammatory figure. So it’s no surprise The Untold History of the United States is incendiary, bloated, illuminating and exasperating.

Based on a book of the same title, co-written with historian Peter Kuznik (with a hat tip to Howard Zinn’s epic A People’s History of the United States) this is Oliver Stone comfortably in his bailiwick: pointing out what’s wrong with the US domestic and foreign policy, with exhaustive detail and examples. But there’s no hidden agenda; Stone makes it clear from the outset the series is meant to be a left-leaning takedown of the establishment.

The series starts just prior to WWII and spends the majority of its time in the 30 years following; a more accurate title might be The Untold Cold War History of the United States.

Even for those accustomed to detail-heavy docos, this series is a mighty task, and Stone’s deliberately downbeat narration gives us little time to comprehend the story. This is a problem. At times it feels like you’re having a book read at you where context has been thrown out the window. The pace really picks up from the Reagan episode onwards, offering a sign of what could have been.

When the terms ‘fair’ and ‘balanced’ have become so disfigured, so empty, it’s hard to argue Stone’s passionate editing of facts is a bad thing; angry pugilists hit the target far more than detached spectators. justin hook

53

the word

on gigs

Kate Miller-Heidke, Franky Walnut The Street Theatre Wednesday June 23 On the night that Kevin finally exacted his revenge on Julia, I left the political turmoil on the TV at home and headed out to The Street Theatre to see Kate Miller-Heidke. Was it a strange night to be playing a gig in Canberra? Kate and her support act, Franky Walnut, thought it might be. When I got to the theatre I headed to the bar to get a drink, as you do, and noticed that everyone around me seemed to be sipping hot chocolate or coffee. Why weren’t they drinking alcohol, especially tonight?

My seat was in the back row, in front of me the theatre twinkled with small white rectangles as every second person was checking their phone. But to no avail; Kevin was still Prime Minister.

Franky Walnut wandered on stage in a flannel shirt, thongs and Akubra. He acknowledged it was a big night on the news and launched into a song about a family road trip, and then another which featured his best pick-up lines, my favourite being, ‘you could do a lot worse than a fella like me/I’ve had a lot better than you.’ The crowd were amused but muted.

A couple of punters trying to find their seats gave Franky the opportunity for some banter and with this he finally released the tension in the crowd. It turned out the theatre was full of Julia supporters. ‘Oh, so this is a sad night for you guys,’ Franky sympathised. After this the theatre got smaller, more intimate and the crowd came together to enjoy the night. Franky finished up with a couple of his classics; the crowd loved him. But when he left, the phones lit up again.

After a short break Kate came on stage, radiant in a white ruffled skirt, chunky black shoes and her bright blonde hair teased on the side. Franky was back on stage – in a different shirt and sporting glasses – dressed as his alter-ego Keir Nuttal. The two of them opened with The Tiger inside Will Eat the Child and a great version of In the Dark, featuring John Rogers on piano. The crowd were appreciative and captivated.

After performing Caught in the Crowd, Kate told a great story about a letter she received from a Year 7 kid, George, whose teacher made him write to her. George told Kate that in the first verse of Caught in the Crowd, she rhymes ‘school’ with ‘school’ and that’s not a rhyme; she should try harder next time!

During the evening Kate tried out some new material; in one song she sounded a bit like a Swiss yodeller, which I wasn’t particularly keen on. Then she did a captivating instrumental song, again featuring John Rogers, this time on violin, which Kate described as bluegrass metal opera. For me, Kate’s music has always trod a fine line between being experimental, highly original and, well, maybe a bit overdone. I’m really enjoying her latest album, Nightflight, because it feels like she is using her powerful voice to good effect and not overdoing it. But these new songs I wasn’t so sure about.

On the other hand, they gave me an appreciation of Kate’s diverse taste in music and the songs felt very organic, like they were pouring out of her. She finished the night with Sarah and an amazing rendition of Humiliation.

PHOTOS BY MARTIN OLLMAN

54

In the end, there is something very satisfying about the whole Kate Miller-Heidke experience. She is an amazing musician who bravely expresses herself and has brilliant execution; she is compelling.

ZOE PLEASANTS

@bmamag

the word

Spartak, A Drone Coda, Oxen The Phoenix Bar Thursday July 4

on gigs

This past Thursday, Spartak crashed into The Phoenix – along with A Drone Coda and Oxen – and reminded every one of the vintage clothing-clad 20-somethings why they love The Phoenix. I should start by saying that due to a mishap with an Action Bus I arrived a half-hour late and missed the first band, Oxen. I ran all over asking everyone about them to try and see what I had missed. The best answer I got was, ‘Oh yeah! The one with the girls that yell heaps!’ It didn’t help me too much. Luckily, I managed to catch A Drone Coda – a three-piece that sits somewhere on the fringes of punk and progrock. The guitar rings with distortion while the bass holds the slow driving beat of the drums, and somewhere off in the background are the screaming vocals. It all blends together into a hard-edged rock performance that left me feeling lucky they hadn’t been the ones to play first. I’d have missed them and been none the wiser.

PHOTOS BY ADAM THOMAS

the word

Around 11:30pm, Spartak took to the stage. I had made some effort to prepare for this article by listening to Spartak’s third release, Nippon, which, for the unfamiliar few (or many), is a swirling piece of eclectic synths, guitars, broken and sporadic drumbeats, and various elemental atmospheric recordings.Being that we were in The Phoenix, I was happy to hear that they had moved on and sat somewhere on the verge of post-punk, while still maintaining their improvisational roots and their solid use of synth beats and effects, leaving them with a sound reminiscent of bands like The Faint. They also unveiled a new track, Mystique – a much heavier track that left me excited for their next release.

TIM SAUER

The NEO, Andrea Kirwin The Polish White Eagle Club Friday July 5

on gigs

Darwin-based ‘powerfunk’ band The NEO (Near Earth Objects) opened the night with their incredibly good natured blend of funk, ska and lounge music. They probably aren’t the tightest band in the world, but The NEO clearly enjoy doing what they do and that delight is infectious. With their colourful clothes, rotating menagerie of instruments and beaming smiles, The NEO struck me as The Wiggles for grown-ups.

The NEO’s two sets sandwiched a set by Andrea Kirwin and her band. While The NEO make the most of modest talents, Kirwin is still working out how best to use her prodigious musical gift. Her voice is simply, and apparently effortlessly, beautiful. It is rich and soulful, and a world away from the cutesy or breathy vocals that are currently fashionable for ‘alternative’ female vocalists.

PHOTOS BY GEOFF DUNN

Kirwin opened with three solo acoustic songs from The Andi and George Band era. (Now disbanded, Andi and George were based in Canberra; Kirwin has since moved to warmer climes.) Those songs were compelling and Kirwin had the crowd in the palm of her hands as the band joined her to play their new album. Quite quickly, though, the audience’s interest seemed to dull. This was not due to the playing – the band was excellent – but the songs themselves, which, at least on this night, came across as bland and unadventurous.

There were engaging moments – particularly when the impromptu brass section joined the stage – but the set ended with a whimper when Kirwin pulled the plug because her acoustic guitar could not be heard in the mix.

AMY DOWLER

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55

the word

Gangbusters The Polish White Eagle Club Saturday July 13

on gigs

Saturday July 13, Gangbusters made its triumphant return to Canberra, hosting two handfuls of the best bands that Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney have to offer – but, let’s face it, you already heard about it. I’ll flag now, seeing as this is a local review column, that I’m only really going to be talking about our homegrown acts – just because that’s where my focus was on the day.

Kicking off the show at two was local band, Cold House, usually a two-piece but on this occasion a three-piece. Utilizing looped and distorted guitars and synth beats, coupled with the talents of the young woman and her stunning but haunting pipes (which she chimed in, seemingly improvised, to be used for loops), Cold House conjured a somewhat haunting ambience that made me suddenly remember nightmares from the night before that I had since forgotten. Following Cold House on the lower stage was Beach Slut, that was possibly my pick of the day (alongside Waterford).

These guys are bringing back rough surf punk with an angst-filled urgency. After releasing their first EP Lucidity back in January, they’re out to make themselves known for their hypnotic and borderline-psychedelic breed of punk; it brings to mind the likes of The MC5 and The Stooges, mixed in with Sonic Youth and The Velvet Underground. A special mention goes to the bands latest single, Teen Dream, which will certainly feature in many a summer mix-CD. It’s quick and poppy, while still holding onto the heavy hard edge, and sounds just like the beach.

After my fifth beer of the day, Central West was getting ready to unleash itself on the White Eagle crowd. The band started off with a haunting instrumental piece reminiscent of Pink Floyd. With nothing between songs but a lingering keyboard, they moved into a similarly slow but heavy track, featuring lyrics repeated over an ever-growing chord progression; it climaxed in a fit of heavy bass, crashing drums, a distorted and overdriven guitar, and a calamity of keys. They capped off their set with a cover of Wynter Gordon’s Dirty Talk, which they definitely made their own. Keeping to the style they had already demonstrated, they transformed the originally poppy dance song that you hear in every club in Civic into a dark, Florence and the Machine-esque plea for understanding. One of the greatest things about this cover was a Middle Eastern chant buried in the background of the introduction, which made the song sound almost spiritual.

Local favourite Cracked Actor was up next on the lower stage, with their ambient post-rock and hard beats infused with intricate, perfectly constructed guitar melodies. I would compare them to early Radiohead, with their fusion of traditional post-rock sensibilities and Spartak-esque ambience. As usual, Cracked Actor didn’t disappoint. The last band I was able to catch before I was forced to leg it due to a bad headache (not because of anything I had heard that night), was another local favourite, Waterford. Now, I’ve liked these guys for a while – partly because they’re one of those bands that take the best parts of everything they hear and find a way to put it all together. They are the quintessential Canberra indie-rock band (alongside the likes of Cracked Actor).

PHOTOS BY ADAM THOMAS

It’s a happy sight to see that Gangbusters is back in town, and hopefully for good. By the end of the night (or, at least, by the time I left), I was walking away with the debut EP from Beach Slut (Lucidity), a Waterford EP, and a collection of recordings from Reuben Ingall – who played keys for Central West. All of which I highly recommend you go see if you find them performing somewhere trawling through the BMA Entertainment Guide.

TIM SAUER

56

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Wed Jul 17 - Fri Jul 19

Listings are a free community service. Email editorial@bmamag.com to have your events appear each issue. wednesday july 17

The Side Project

Art Exhibitions

Art by Cesar Cueca and Karl Firla celebrating molecular gastronomy.

Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm

An Arc of Crockery

Embracing Innovations Vol. 3

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm.

11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

BILK GALLERY

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Paris to Monaro

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

First Light

Curated by Liz McNiven, featuring works by various artists. Opens Fri Jul 5, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Marcus Foley

Objects and more. 11am-5pm (-4pm Sat) or by appointment.

BILK GALLERY

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Innovations in the arts, with a focus on digital technologies. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Mariana Del Castillo

Intriguing jewellery related to the artist’s Ecuadorian heritage. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Paris to Monaro

thursday july 18 Art Exhibitions eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

SCNDL

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

THE BASEMENT

9pm. Door price TBA.

10am-5pm.

An Arc of Crockery

First Light

Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Paul Kelly & The Portraits NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm. 11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

BILK GALLERY

Comedy Alex Williamson

7pm. $32.65 + bf through Oztix.

ZIERHOLZ @ UC

9pm-2am. Free entry.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Paris to Monaro 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Paul Kelly & The Portraits 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

An Arc of Crockery

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm. 11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

BILK GALLERY

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

On The Town

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

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Theatre At Home At The Zoo

A play by Edward Albee, presented by Something Borrowed. 8pm. $15/12/10.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Jack Charles vs. The Crown 8pm. See canberratheatrecentre.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Karaoke at The Inn

8pm-midnight. Free entry.

OLD CANBERRA INN

Karaoke @ PJs

Go in the running for the $1000 prize at the final on July 25. 7pm.

P J O’REILLY’S (CIVIC)

James Fahey + Friends. 9pm.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Konrad Lenz and the Spirits of the Dead With Alice Cottee. 8:30pm. $7.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

‘Welcome to the Work’ with Ben Lee

A Conscious Club event, with meditation, chai, music and spiritual talks. $55-65 thru consciousclub.

ALBERT HALL

Hard Cover

9:30pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Theatre

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

The Foreigners

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley. 10am5pm. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Intersections

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

At Home At The Zoo

City of Trees

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

With Hence The Testbed, Kid You Not. Doors 8pm. $10.

Boathead

An exhibition by Julie Delves. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

11am-5pm.

Funk-ing awesome. Support from Moochers Inc. and Coolio Desgracias.

7:30pm. Door price TBA.

10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

Curated by Liz McNiven, featuring works by various artists. 11am-5pm.

Joe Oppenheimer

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Boathead

Ungus Ungus Ungus

King Of The North

THE PHOENIX BAR

A celebration of black Australia’s refusal to give up on getting on. 8pm. See canberratheatrecentre.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Embracing Innovations Vol. 3

Live Music

Jack Charles vs. The Crown

Live Music

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

First Light

BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!

Theatre

City of Trees

OLD CANBERRA INN

CHARLIE BLACK

8pm. Free.

CANBERRA SOUTHERN CROSS CLUB (WODEN)

DRILL HALL GALLERY

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

THE DURHAM

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

12-5pm. Free.

9pm. Free.

Rock Karaoke

The theme is ‘... and that’s when I knew I was in trouble’. All five-minute stories welcome. 7:30pm.

You know his face. Oh, you know his face. 8pm. $45. See cscc.com.au.

10am-5pm

Karaoke

Story Slam

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Vince Sorrenti

The Side Project

Karaoke

Something Different

Art Exhibitions

Comedy

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

Karaoke From 10pm. All welcome.

friday july 19

A play by Edward Albee, presented by Something Borrowed. 8pm. $15/12/10.

Jack Charles vs. The Crown

A celebration of black Australia’s refusal to give up on getting on. 8pm. See canberratheatrecentre.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

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57

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Sat Jul 20 - Tue Jul 23 saturday july 20 Art Exhibitions City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley. 10am5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Boathead

An exhibition by Julie Delves. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Intersections

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

First Light

Curated by Liz McNiven, featuring works by various artists. Opens Fri Jul 5, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Paris to Monaro

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

An Arc of Crockery

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm. 11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

BILK GALLERY

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Live Music LOVE Saturdays

With Lucrative & Adam. 9pm. $10.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

The Surrogates 10:30pm. Free.

The Black Hat Band OLD CANBERRA INN

First Light

9pm. Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Avascular Necrosis

Curated by Liz McNiven, featuring works by various artists. Opens Fri Jul 5, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

With Infested Entrails, Chud, Claret Ash. Doors 8pm. $15.

THE BASEMENT

Classic Metal by Live Evil

You Am I

Hi Fi Daily Double tour. Doors 8pm. $56.10 + bf through Oztix.

UC REFECTORY

Live Music Sarah Blasko

8pm. $59.95 through canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

THE PLAYHOUSE

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

THE PHOENIX BAR

Revellers

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

TRANSIT BAR

With Hotel Books (USA), Sundial, Breakout. 8pm. Door price TBA. THE POLISH WHITE EAGLE CLUB

Hockey Dad

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

With Bacon Cakes. 9:30pm.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Live Music

On The Town

Irish Jam Session

Mid-Winter Market at BAC

A diverse and unique array of local products and produce from local artists.

1-5pm. Free.

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

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

No Idea

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

4pm. Free.

Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Canberra Blues Society Jam

OLD CANBERRA INN

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

The best Canberra blues musicians gettin’ loose. 2-5:30pm. $3 members/$5 non-members.

Theatre

Sandcastle Sandy

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

At Home At The Zoo

A play by Edward Albee, presented by Something Borrowed. 8pm. $15/12/10.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

World Impro Gala

8pm. $27.50-38.50 through canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

THE PLAYHOUSE

sunday july 21

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

THE STREET THEATRE

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

The Bootleg Sessions

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

Tjintu Desert Band, Radical Sun and Hung Parliament. 7:30-11pm. Free, booking essential through thes

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

Paris to Monaro

Art Exhibitions

Rock for Reconciliation

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Paris to Monaro

Live Evil performs Dio, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Pantera and many more. 8pm. $15 presale at Moshtix/Lan

Marcus Corowa

Highly awarded Indigenous singersongwriter. 8pm. $15 door (presale through Oztix).

Intersections

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

Harmony hunter takes you on an audio fox hunt. Tapas + happy hour 5-7pm. Free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

On The Town Free Pool Tables

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

TRANSIT BAR

monday july 22

City of Trees

Art Exhibitions

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

Boathead

An exhibition by Julie Delves. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

With Bears With Guns, Hashemoto, The Burley Griffin. 8pm. Free.

Trivia Rainman’s Trivial Excuse

Transit trivia returms with your host Rainman. Book your table now on (02) 6162 0899. 7:30pm.

TRANSIT BAR

tuesday july 23 Art Exhibitions Paul Kelly & The Portraits

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Intersections

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

The Side Project

Art by Cesar Cueca and Karl Firla celebrating molecular gastronomy.

Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Embracing Innovations Vol. 3

Innovations in the arts, with a focus on digital technologies. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

An Arc of Crockery

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm. 11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

BILK GALLERY

Paris to Monaro

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

DRILL HALL GALLERY

58

@bmamag

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Tue Jul 23 - Thu Jul 25 Comedy Comedy Night

wednesday july 24

thursday july 25

7:30pm. Door price TBA.

Art Exhibitions

Art Exhibitions

Jason Alexander

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

Paris to Monaro

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

Karaoke

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

8pm. $89 through canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

Karaoke Love

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

TRANSIT BAR

Live Music Wired @ Charlie Black

With All the King’s Men, The Rebound Slapdown, Jasmin Bea. 7:30pm. Free.

CHARLIE BLACK

Irish Jam Session

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

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Talks Lucy Perry (Hamlin Fistula)

CEO of Hamlin Fistula Hospital project talks about their goals and vision. 6pm.

Book via (02) 6247 7753.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Boathead

An exhibition by Julie Delves. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Intersections 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

First Light

Curated by Liz McNiven.11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

The Side Project

TILLEY’S DEVINE CAFE

Art by Cesar Cueca and Karl Firla celebrating molecular gastronomy.

Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm

Trivia

Embracing Innovations Vol. 3

Trivia

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

7:30pm. All welcome.

THE DURHAM

Liz’s Coming Back up the Rear Trivia 7:30pm. Free.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Trivia Tuesdays

First prize $75 cocktail party.

7:30pm. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

Mariana Del Castillo

10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

An Arc of Crockery

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm. 11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

City of Trees

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Boathead

An exhibition by Julie Delves. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Intersections

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Curated by Liz McNiven, featuring works by various artists. Opens Fri Jul 5, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

The Side Project

Art by Cesar Cueca and Karl Firla celebrating molecular gastronomy.

Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm

OLD CANBERRA INN

Karaoke @ PJs

Go in the running for the $1000 prize at the final on July 25. 7pm.

P J O’REILLY’S (CIVIC)

Live Music Nick Van Breda

With Twin Lakes. 7:30pm. Door price TBA. THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Chicago Charles & Dave 9:30pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

The Fuelers 9pm.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Theatre The world premiere. Directed by Karla Conway. $15-21. See cytc.net for times and tickets.

Workshops Canberra Music Workshop

For amateur musos to jam or perform in a non-judgemental environment. 6:3010:30pm. Free.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

Embracing Innovations Vol. 3

An Arc of Crockery

Karaoke

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm. 11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

Sound From Earth

8pm-midnight. Free entry.

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Live Music

Karaoke at The Inn

C BLOCK THEATRE

First Light

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

THE DURHAM

CHARLIE BLACK

DRILL HALL GALLERY

10am-5pm.

From 10pm. All welcome.

9pm-2am. Free entry.

Wickfield Wonderland

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

Paris to Monaro

Karaoke

Rock Karaoke

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Innovations in the arts, with a focus on digital technologies. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

BILK GALLERY

Karaoke

BILK GALLERY

Mariana Del Castillo

Intriguing jewellery related to the artist’s Ecuadorian heritage. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

With Mike Clifford (USA). 8pm. $10.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Party Vibez

With Yoko Oh No, Hygiene, Throat of Dirt. 9pm.

THE PHOENIX BAR

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59

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Fri Jul 26 - Mon Jul 29 friday july 26 Art Exhibitions City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley. 10am5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Paris to Monaro

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Boathead

An exhibition by Julie Delves. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Intersections

On The Town

Live Music

Live Music

Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Gasoline

Dave Knight

OLD CANBERRA INN

OLD CANBERRA INN

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

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Something Different Poetry Slam

Wham, Bam, thank you Mam, please come and check out our poetry slam. 7:30pm.

The world premiere. Directed by Karla Conway. $15-21. See cytc.net for times and tickets.

C BLOCK THEATRE

saturday july 27

City of Trees

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

An Arc of Crockery

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm.

11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

BILK GALLERY

Embracing Innovations Vol. 3

Innovations in the arts, with a focus on digital technologies. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Mariana Del Castillo

Intriguing jewellery related to the artist’s Ecuadorian heritage. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Live Music Killing the Sound 10pm. Free.

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Paris to Monaro

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Boathead

An exhibition by Julie Delves. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Intersections

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

First Light

Curated by Liz McNiven, featuring works by various artists. Opens Fri Jul 5, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

An Arc of Crockery

Smokestack Lightning

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm. 11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

OLD CANBERRA INN

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

9pm. Free.

Perpetual End

‘Blood Complex’ album launch. With Tensions Arise, Renegade Peacock, Critical Monkee. 8pm. $15.

THE BASEMENT

The CMC Presents Chaos in the Cosmos

A triple CD release: Space Party, Magic Rob Universe, Little Mac and the Monster Men. 8:30pm. $15/10 THE POLISH WHITE EAGLE CLUB

Airbourne

With Tonk and special guests. Doors 8pm. $30 + bf. thru Moshtix/Ticketek.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

PURE Fridays

By Famiz Entertainment. 9pm. $10.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

BILK GALLERY

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

Irish Jam Session

Zoopagoo

THE PHOENIX BAR

Gerry Gardiner Tribute

With NOZL, The Spindrift Saga. 9:30pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Latin Christmas In July

A night of modern jazz. 7:30pm.

Door price TBA.

The Men In Black Tour

Wickfield Wonderland

4pm. Free.

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

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Theatre

First Light

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

10:30pm. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Art Exhibitions

Curated by Liz McNiven, featuring works by various artists. Opens Fri Jul 5, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

Special K

Los Chavos and Kokoloco. 7pm (w. dinner)/8pm. $70/30.

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

9pm. Free.

TEATRO VIVALDI

Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash – sort of. 8pm. $54.90-59.90 through canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

THE PLAYHOUSE

LOVE Saturdays

With Lucrative & The Projektz.

9pm. $10.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Ben Salter

Of The Gin Club and The Wilson Pickers, striking out on his own. 7:30pm.

Door price TBA. 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

Theatre

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

A Loss For Words (USA)

With Monuments, Sidelines, Fires In July. Doors 8pm. $22 + bf.

THE BASEMENT

David Christopher

Interstate guitarist sings emotive originals and covers. Tapas + happy hour 5-7pm. Free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

On The Town Free Pool Tables

Does exactly what it says on the packet.

From 2pm.

TRANSIT BAR

monday july 29 Art Exhibitions Paris to Monaro

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Wickfield Wonderland

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

C BLOCK THEATRE

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

The world premiere. Directed by Karla Conway. $15-21. See cytc.net for times and tickets.

sunday july 28 Art Exhibitions Boathead

An exhibition by Julie Delves. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Live Music CIT presents The Bootleg Sessions

Paris to Monaro

With Brass Knuckle Brass Band, Cherry Cocoa, Mind The Gap, Maggie Jeffs. 8pm. Free.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Trivia

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

THE PHOENIX BAR

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

Rainman’s Trivial Excuse

Intersections

TRANSIT BAR

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Transit trivia returms with your host Rainman. Book your table now on (02) 6162 0899. 7:30pm.

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

Workshops

Swing into the Sixties

First Light

Free for first-timers and under-18s are welcome with an adult. 6:30pm.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Dance A Kick Up Your Heels Centenary dance event from the 1960s. 8pm. $30 + bf thru socandance.org.au.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Curated by Liz McNiven, featuring works by various artists. Opens Fri Jul 5, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

Canberra Songwriters Workshop

THE GEORGE HARCOURT INN

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Tue Jul 30 - Thu Aug 1 tuesday july 30 Art Exhibitions Paris to Monaro

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Intersections

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley. 10am5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

Live Music Irish Jam Session

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

Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

‘93 Project

Jack Ray’s outlet for original compositions. 8pm. $5.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Talks Professor Laurence Krauss

Renowned cosmologist, with Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt, live music.

6-8pm. $10 (email events@anu.edu.au) ANU ARTS CENTRE

Trivia

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Trivia

An Arc of Crockery

THE DURHAM

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm. 11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

BILK GALLERY

The Side Project

Art by Cesar Cueca and Karl Firla celebrating molecular gastronomy.

Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Embracing Innovations Vol. 3

7:30pm. All welcome.

Nerd Trivia with Joel and Ali Dee’s Books & Comics and Impact Comics Presents. 7:30pm. Free.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Trivia Tuesdays

First prize $75 cocktail party.

7:30pm. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

wednesday july 31

An Arc of Crockery

eX de Medici: Cold Blooded

Comedy Satyros Comedy Ice-Breaker

45 minutes of sketches and silliness

by ANU’s premium comedy collective.

7pm. Free.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Pleasures from the studio of Hilda Rix Nicholas. 10am-5pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

First Light

Curated by Liz McNiven, featuring works by various artists. Opens Fri Jul 5, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

Karaoke

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Karaoke Love

City of Trees

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

TRANSIT BAR

Rock Karaoke

9pm-2am. Free entry.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

CHARLIE BLACK

The Side Project

Karaoke at The Inn

Art by Cesar Cueca and Karl Firla celebrating molecular gastronomy.

Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm

8pm-midnight. Free entry.

OLD CANBERRA INN

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Live Music

Embracing Innovations Vol. 3

Innovations in the arts, with a focus on digital technologies. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

Super Best Friends

Mariana Del Castillo

Theatre

With Revellers, Too Soon! 9pm.

THE PHOENIX BAR

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Intriguing jewellery related to the artist’s Ecuadorian heritage. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

Dance

Wickfield Wonderland

The world premiere. Directed by Karla Conway. $15-21. See cytc.net for times and tickets.

C BLOCK THEATRE

Hit the Floor Together

Karaoke

Paris to Monaro

Karaoke

Lays bare the artist’s forensic examination of contemporary society.

12-5pm. Free.

Intersections

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

THE PLAYHOUSE

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Art Exhibitions

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

New from QL2. More at hitthefloortogether.com.au.

10:30am/2pm/7pm. $17-28.

Aspects of singer-songwriter Paul Kelly’s performance persona.

10am-5pm.

Mariana Del Castillo

65 Canberra artists create work on the theme of Intersections. Opens Fri Jul 19, 5:30pm. 10am-5pm.

Hit the Floor Together

Paul Kelly & The Portraits

New from QL2. More at hitthefloortogether.com.au.

10:30am/2pm/7pm. $17-28.

Intriguing jewellery related to the artist’s Ecuadorian heritage. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

Dance

BILK GALLERY

Innovations in the arts, with a focus on digital technologies. Opens Thu Jul 18, 6pm. 10am-5pm (12-4pm, Sat).

CRAFT ACT CRAFT & DESIGN CENTRE

thursday august 1

A retro perspective by Marcus Foley.

Opens Fri Jul 12, 6pm. 11am-5pm (-4pm, Sat).

THE PLAYHOUSE

Karaoke

From 10pm. All welcome.

THE DURHAM

Live Music RAAN

Delightful, predictably unpredictable improvisational jazz. 7:30pm. $8.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley. 10am5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

OUT

JUL31

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FIRST CONTACT Aaron Peacey 0410381306

SIDE A: BMA band profile

Adam Hole 0421023226 Afternoon Shift 0402055314 Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410308288 Annie & The Armadillos Annie (02) 61611078/ 0422076313 Aria Stone sax/flute/lute/ harmonica, singer-songwriter Aria 0411803343 Australian Songwriters Association Keiran (02) 62310433

The Second Hand Salmon Where did your band name come from? Our first bass player was seeing a bird and one morning after intercourse she referred to the fourday-old sushi in her fridge as ‘second hand salmon’.

Group members? Jack Biilmann – vocals, electric, acoustic and slide guitars, harmonica; Alec Coulson – bass guitar, Joe Biilmann – drums/percussion; Josh Hart – trombone; Ax Long – trumpet.

Bat Country Communion, The Mel 0400405537 Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows-bookings@ birdslovefighting.com Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438351007 blacklabelphotography.net Bridge Between, The Cam 0431550005 Capital Dub Style Reggae/dub events Rafa 0406647296

Describe your sound: Our sound is made up of a roots background with a newly acquired taste of punk/reggae/ska.

Cole Bennetts Photography 0415982662

What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had whilst performing? Supporting The Beautiful Girls in our hometown, and supporting Chase the Sun band and Kid Mac.

Danny V Danny 0413502428

Of what are you proudest so far? Our latest EP The Eagle (available on iTunes and Spotify) was produced by Pol O’Shea who has worked with The Cruel Sea. And our song Roll with the Changes was at number four on the triple j Unearthed roots charts for four weeks, which makes us very proud.

What are your plans for the future? To continue supporting well-known acts, play on local festival bills such as GTM etc., work towards touring, More recording to release debut album and to keep all our mates happy and play fun shows.

What makes you laugh? Hipsters, getting on stage and realising how pissed you are and there’s nowhere to run, a certain band from ANU who legit think they are the greatest rock band to walk the earth, how easy Alec makes bass look, and good hecklers at gigs.

What pisses you off? Hipsters, cats, other bands using our gear and not helping set up and pack up, DJs who think they are killing it playing other people’s music, and our day jobs.

What about the local scene would you change? More venues supporting bands and a drive for more festivals and events to be held around Canberra.

Upcoming gigs? Thursday August 8 at Transit Bar. Contact info: jack.biilmann10@hotmail.com; triplejunearthed.com/TheSecondHandSalmon; facebook. com/TheSecondHandSalmon; facebook.com/pages/ JackBiilmann; @thesecondhandsalmon.

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Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422733974 backbeatdrivers.com

Dawn Theory Nathan 0402845132 Danny 0413502428 Dorothy Jane Band, The Dorothy Jane 0411065189 dorothy-jane@dorothyjane.com Drumassault Dan 0406 375 997 Feldons, The 0407 213 701 FeralBlu Danny 0413502428

Jenn Pacor Singer-songwriter avail. for originals/covers 0405618630 Johnny Roadkill Paulie 0408287672 paulie_mcmillan@live.com.au Kayo Marbilus myspace.com/kayomarbilus Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417025792 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 Obsessions 0450 960 750 obsessions@grapevine.com.au Painted Hearts, The Peter (02) 62486027 Polka Pigs Ian (02) 62315974 Rafe Morris 0416322763 Redletter Ben 0421414472 Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404178996/ (02) 61621527 Rug, The Jol 0417273041 Sewer Sideshow Huck 0419630721 Simone & The Soothsayers Singing teacher Simone 62304828 Sorgonian Twins, The Mark 0428650549

Fighting Mongooses, The Adam 0402055314

Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401588884

Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410381306 Lachlan 0400038388

STonKA Jamie 0422764482 stonka2615@gmail.com

Fourth Degree Vic 0408477020

Strange Hour Events Dan 0411112075

Gareth Dailey DJ/Electronica Gareth 0414215885

Super Best Friends Sam White sam@imcmusic.net

Groovalicious Corporate/ weddings/private functions 0448995158

System Addict Jamie 0418398556

Guy The Sound Guy Live & Studio Sound Engineer 0400585369 guy@guythesoundguy.com Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com

Tegan Northwood (Singing Teacher) 0410 769 144 ThrownUp Scott 0415849619 Top Shelf Colin 0408631514

In The Flesh Scott 0410475703

Undersided, The Baz 0408468041

Itchy Triggers Alex 0414838480

Zoopagoo zoopagoo@gmail.com

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