The Brag #381

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The Roundhouse promotes the Responsible Service of Alcohol. 18+ Only event. Must present valid identification upon entry. Lineup and event subject to change.

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QANTM COLLEGE DIPLOMA & DEGREE COURSES IN: Games Design 3D Animation Graphic Design Games Programming Web Design & Development Come and try a course for a day – Study Day October 16th This is an opportunity to experience a full day of hands-on training in your chosen field, with industry-experienced instructors, for only $40.

Call 8241 5200 to Register

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rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on, down and around town. With Nathan Jolly and Cool Thomas

he said she said WITH

T

he guitar thing was something I discovered as a kid at school, not something I grew up with at home. My family encouraged me to explore it myself – they bought me a guitar when I was 10, and I was

JULES FROM THE BARONS OF TANG

hooked. Apparently my grandmother played the violin, but I was pretty young when she died and have no memory of hearing her. I guess I’m a bit of an aberration - but my parents and siblings are all creative in other ways.

Most of the music I’ve been into over the years has been guitary stuff. I would hear a guitarist that interested me and would follow them into their musical world…

Paco De Lucia and Carlos Montoya got me into Flamenco; John Fahey and Leo Kottke got me into American fingerstyle stuff. When I was a teenager, it was thrash metal guys like Kirk Hammett and Marty Friedman; and John Williams and Julian Bream opened the world of classical music to me. Every few years I’d hear something else and wander off… When I was 17, I heard Django Reinhardt. I’ve been in love with gypsy guitar music since.

The seven piece line-up is double bass (Julian Cue), Drums (Sean Wyers), percussion (Annie Pfieffer), saxophone/trombone (Anna Gordon), clarinet/bass clarinet (Aviva Endean), accordion (Carlos Parraga) and me on guitar.

In France last year I was told by a Manouche maestro to stop trying to sound like a gypsy. Wiser words were never spoken.

I got back to Melbourne and heard that The Barons of Tang needed a new guitarist and the rest… will be history.

It’s tough financing a seven-piece touring band all year round. You have to be very proactive, creative and dedicated. There are so many amazing bands with the qualities to keep things fresh and inspiring, like The Crooked Fiddle Band, Mojo Ju-Ju & The Snake Oil Merchants, and Sex On Toast… It’s a buzz to be banging away on the front-line of such a talented community. It helps that wherever we go, we blow peoples minds!

We play a crazy mixture of almost all of the music styles that I’ve been into. No idea or influence is discouraged unless we, as a group, don’t like it. We all have a wide range of tastes and skills, and we can combine them all into some really unique sounds; the phrase “gypsy death-core” is a tongue in cheek nod to this.

Our basic aim is to make as everyone lose their shit on the dance-floor, no matter how young or old - leaving them sweaty, tattered and smiling. We’re based in Melbourne but tour pretty much all year round, so our back yard has grown pretty big. Australian independent bands do it hard - no-one throws money down our throats for doing what we do.

Who: The Barons Of Tang What: Knots & Tangles EP is out October 1

GHETTO (SUPER) BLA(STER) Oh wow, Goons of Doom. That name used to bounce around the pages of The Brag most weeks - and now they’re back, as part of GhettoBlaster at Q Bar on Saturday October 2. SLVGRS DSCTHQ, Nickles, Double Denim and more are DJing, and if you see some hooligans painting the walls, don’t unleash a citizen’s arrest; it’s just artists Judie So and Saxon Shing up to their old tricks again.

PUBLISHERS: Adam Zammit & Rob Furst EDITOR IN CHIEF: Adam Zammit 9552 6333 adam@peergroupmedia.com EDITOR: Steph Harmon steph@thebrag.com 9552 6333 ARTS EDITORS & ASSOCIATES: Dee Jefferson dee@thebrag.com 9552 6333 STAFF WRITER: Jake Stone jake@thebrag.com NEWS CO-ORDINATORS: Nathan Jolly, Cool Thomas, Chris Honnery

LIOR ALBUM TOUR

Tumbling Into The Dawn is a pretty name for what will no doubt be a pretty album full of pretty songs. Lior is releasing this album on October 1 - but you’ll have to wait until November 6 to hear the songs live at The Metro, by which point you’ll have picked your favourites and will yell for them in your shrill, three-drinks-in voice. Just don’t stand near us, please. Not like last time.

ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Dara Gill SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Ashley Mar, Rosette Rouhana, Daniel Munns, Patrick Stevenson, Renee Rushbrook, Maja Baska, Jay Collier, Susan Bui, Andrew Green COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: Isabella Moore

CHURCH AND STATE

The only church worth believing in, Steve Kilbey and co., are embarking on an acoustic tour to celebrate 30 years of The Church.

They’ll be performing two sets - and each ticket holder gets a 28-page booklet, a bonus EP and loads of other presents just for watching one of the greatest Australian bands of all time play live. Tough break. December 5 at Notes.

SALES/MARKETING MANAGER: Blake Rayner 0404 304 929 / (02) 9552 6672 blake@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9552 6618 les@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Sara Golchin - (02) 9552 6747 sara@thebrag.com GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Christian Moraga - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance) INTERNS: Liz Brown, Rach Seneviratne REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Joshua Blackman, Mikey Carr, Bridie Connell, Bridie Connellan, Benjamin Cooper, Oliver Downes, Tony Edwards, Christie Eliezer, Murray Engleheart, Lucy Fokkema, Mike Gee, Thomas Gilmore, Alice Hart, Kate Hennessy, Chris Honnery, Nathan Jolly, Andy McLean, Amelia Schmidt, Romi Scodellaro, Xanthe Seacret, Jonno Seidler, RK, Luke Telford, Caitlin Welsh, Beth Wilson, Alex Young Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this address 153 Bridge Road, Glebe NSW 2037 ph - (02) 9552 6333 fax - (02) 9552 6866 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Publisher, Editor or Staff of The Brag.

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Stephen Forde : accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Art Work, Ad Bookings Thursday 12pm (no extensions) Ad Cancellations Tuesday 4pm Published by Cartrage P/L ACN 104026388 All content copyrighted to Cartrage 2003 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get The Brag? email distribution@furstmedia.com.au or ph 03 9428 3600.

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10 :: BRAG :: 381 : 27:09:10

Bob Log III Gypsy And The Cat

GYPSY AND THE CAT

This is the last week we’ll be bigging up Gypsy And The Cat’s ‘Time To Wander’ Tour because after this week, it will be in the past. Papa Vs. Pretty and Matt Walters are joining the about-to-be-seriously-massive headline act - who’ll be playing from their pending album Gilgamesh, which comes out through Sony on October 22. It all goes down at Oxford Art Factory, Wednesday September 29 - and tickets are on sale now through Moshtix.

SOUNDCLASH AT TINA FESTIVAL

Soundclash is an initiative of the Australia Council’s Music Board, which offer grants to help innovative music projects push themselves forward. They’re putting on a showcase at This Is Not Art (aaaand for our ridiculously amazing TINA special, check out pages 28-35), with our coverstars kyü on the bill, plus Holy Balm and Collarbones. If you haven’t heard of them yet, you’re doing it wrong. Turn up to the This Is Not Art Festival Club (267-269 King St, Newcastle) at 7pm on Sunday October 3 for some free entry, and fun-lovin’ good times. And also, while you’re here - the next Soundclash closing date is December 6, for projects starting after 14 March 2011… Hop to.

GLEN RICHARDS’ ALBUM LAUNCH

When I received an email with the words ‘Glimjack’, ‘Torpor’ and ‘Spleen’ in the first sentence, I naturally thought that it was my

monthly Star Wars fan fiction update. It wasn’t; just Augie March’s Glen Richards announcing a launch for his solo album Glimjack. It’s happening on November 12 at The Metro - with Ernest Ellis and The Honey Month supporting.

Incidentally, ‘Torpor and Spleen’ is the name of Richards’ new single, and not a bumbling pair of bounty hunters from Fan Faction #450: Rancor Rampage.

CIRCLE POP

Circle Pit play warehouse venues in Marrickville that you don’t even know exist. By the time you’ve cottoned onto this scene, it won’t be a scene anymore - just a bunch of storage spaces for toilet rolls or something - and Circle Pit will be in the USA, releasing records on some awesome DIY label, and just generally being the same lovable, punchable duo you all hate-love to love-hate. Friday October 1 they play Cosmos Lounge on Mitchell Street in Marrickville, with Mother & Father, Black Realm and Dirty Mattress. You should totally go.

BLACK CHERRY, BLIND LOVE

Whenever Bret Michaels is in town, we like to slam some Jack down, play a little Bubsy 2 on the SNES (the only system Bret and I recognise), and then head down to Black Cherry. This October 2 we’re in for a treat, with a lineup featuring Bob Log III, La Mancha Negra, The Lazys - and oh yeah, Simon Day from Ratcat is DJing. I really hope he just plays Blind Love in order... Plus there are prizes, burlesque shows and loads more. It’s all happening at The Factory in Marrickville. Yep.

GIG OF THE WEEK

GHETTO BLASTER Torch-bearers of good times Goons Of Doom are fresh back from the USA and will be headlining the night, long to be remembered. If you're yet to be acquainted with them prepare to be blown away. Shakin' Howls will be opening the night with one of their energy packed, alcohol fueled sets so we can all only imagine how the rest of the night will play out.

We’ve managed to secure a wall in our beloved Q Bar for artist Judie So (Wolves&Owls) to get creative with.

Collaborating with Saxon Shing (Fox Glove) they'll be painting the wall live on the night. As always VIP will hold an art exhibition this month featuring work from Jennifer Leung. Taking the raw energy of Sydney's live music scene and capturing that with her innovative and diverse range of photographs. &Dimes DJs will be well and truly making an appearance on the night.

Bastien is to make his way back from tour to play the night, and let me be the first to say he sounded pretty amped up for the night. We reeled in SLVGRS DSCTHQ once again and they'll be hitting the decks rather late in the nights events.

Dialz is preparing his CDs for annihilation by your requests, Nickles is yet to even think about his but we all know how he pulls it together and gets the dance floor going and Double Denim? Well I think I've previously mentioned enough about those girls for you to know what you're in for.

WED 29 SEP

ONLY THE SEA SLUGS THE MONEY SMOKERS WELCOME FAMILY 8PM-$10

THUR 30 SEP

HOT DAMN BERMUDA

THE ERADICATED CREATIONS 8PM-$12/$15

FRI 1 OCT ARROWS (ALBUM LAUNCH)

JUNGLEMAN GENTLY

BETWEEN THE DEVIL & THE DEEP OUR ANATOMY

8PM - $12

HEARTATTACK MARK C NAT NOIZE

9PM-$12/$15

FRI 1 OCT UN-UNAUSTRALIAN ELECTRONIC AND PARTY OVER TWO ROOMS

g’list - marketing@exchangehotel.biz

$5

SAT 2 OCT

SIERRA MONTANA CAULFIELD

HOT DAMN

OLD SCHOOL PUNK/HARDCORE STRAIGHT UP, NO BULLSHIT

10PM-$12/$15

FRI 1 OCT

9021BROS WINONA FOREVER DJ TANNER DJ PUSHIN’ POP DOOGIE HOWSER MDJ

10PM-$10

SAT 2 OCT

GOONS OF DOOM

ALSOP, AND RADO,HIGH ENERGY HOUSE, VOCAL, UPLIFTING

DJS

SAT 2 OCT THE PROM

SHAKIN' HOWLS

SUN 3 OCT EXTRA DIRTY

PLACES, PEOPLE THE DISADVANTAGED AFTER 11.30

NACHO CHAPADO

So if you thought Sydney had anything else to offer on Saturday October 2nd, think again friends! GhettoBlaster is where it's at.

WITH DJS PLAYING ALL YOUR FAV INDIE HITS

BABY BEAR + PAPA TOM

(BARCELONA) P*A*S*H FEISTY + ROB GILBERT KNIFE & GOLDFOOT

10PM - $45+bf

BURLESQUE BU SATURDAY OCTOBER 23

4:30AM-$10

BASTIEN+SLVGRS DSCTHQ NICKLES+DOUBLE DENIM + LIVE ART BY SIRENS + NATIONAL TREASURE JUDIE SO+SAXON SHING NEIL DOWN + HAN VALEN + CHAMPAGNE HANGOVER PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION BY HAZUKI + SEX AZZA WEAPON JENNIFER LEUNG

9PM - $10

EVERY FRIDAY MEMBERS ONLY EVERY SATURDAY MEMBERS ONLY

TEEN SPIRIT NOTHING BUT HEAPS OF 90’S HITS

SAT 2 OCT PHOENIX RISING

9PM-$10

We'll be rocking a $6.50 GhettoBlaster shot, all involved are spending the nights in the event lead up taste testing what will become the $8 GhettoBlaster cocktail and with Goons Of Doom and Shakin' Howls on board... we just had to bring you $5 beers to fill those red cups with.

8PM - $12

THUR 30 SEP

RESIDENT DJ'S INCLUDE DAN GHETTOLIVE BLASTER MURPHY, JOHAN KHOURY, MARK

LET ME DOWN AFTER 11:30

HOT DAMN SARAH SPANDEX

LOCAL TUNES ALL NIGHT

FAR WEST BATTLEFRONT

SILENT ALARM

THUR 30 SEP

+ MORE TBA

10PM-$10

SUN 3 OCT

LOOSE ENDS RETURNS

WITH MATT

VAUGHAN VINYL RITCHIE CRAIG WILSON

MON-FRI

10am TIL LATE

SAT-SUN

9am TIL 6am

SUN RECOVERY 9am TIL LATE

HAPPY HOUR 5pm-7pm DAILY

10PM-$10

34 - 44 Oxford St, Darlinghurst - www.exchangehotel.biz - 9331 2956

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 11

rock music news

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on, down and around town. With Nathan Jolly and Cool Thomas

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH Growing Up I always recall my father playing the 1. guitar and singing Elvis songs. He would serenade us to sleep and spend a lot of time with a couple of my uncles, recording in the small dining area of our humble home. Dad introduced us to the likes of Paul Anka, Tom Jones, Elvis, Burt Bacharach and Chicago to name a few. My younger brother (now Cell’s guitarist/producer) and myself were forced to attend brass lessons, and we despised it with a vengence! In hindsight, we learnt how to read music, and it actually gave us a solid grounding. Growing up in South Auckland, the scene was dominated by hip hop and R’n’B. Anything heavy was unheard of where we lived.

Inspirations As our musical tastes 2. progressed, I started to listen

CLIFF FROM CELL

people becoming involved in the lie that this is their lot in life, and it can’t change. I wanted to write about the struggles, the battles, the fight to live and the faith to dream.

Your Crew Our band is made up of myself, Gideon 3. (my brother) on guitars, Ioaba on drums, Cody on rhythm and Richard on bass. We’re a pretty tight knit group from the same community, and all come from a Maori or Islander background.

4.

The Music You Make Cell have evolved over the last five years.

Beginning as a metal-core outfit, we’ve sinced transitioned into what you can classify as either alternative or rock music, with

to and enjoy music that was full of energy and aggression.

It started with Rage Against The Machine, ‘Chilli Peppers and Blur, and then heavier bands like Slipknot, Killswitch Engage and IlI Nino began to emerge. These are our influences, but our musical inspirations come from our living dynamics. In South Auckland we see a lot of negativity, crime and a lot of young

hooks thrown in the mix. We wanted to maintain an edgy sound with heavy elements, while incorporating catchy melodies and creating a wider ‘catchment’. The sound also now incorporates electronics and synth. What I’ve learnt is that if you can make music that kids can remember and sing along to, you’re on the right track - and my kids love it. We feel we’ve struck this balance with the new record, Love And Murder.

Music, Right Here, Right Now To be honest, we don’t go to heaps of 5. shows. It’s tough getting a chance with a full-time job, two kids and the band as my real passion. All my spare time goes into rehearsing, and doing the things that keep a band going.

The Zebs

THE ZEBS @ MELT

Who: Cell What: Love And Murder is out now through So Frank With: The Understatement, City In Crisis Where: Valve Bar, Tempe When: Friday October 1

What’s better than a band that describes themselves as the “young foetuses” of the Sydney music scene? A band who describe themselves as the “young foetuses” of the Sydney music scene playing in an brand spankin’ new venue. The band is The Zebs, and the venue is Melt, Sydney’s best new intimate band space - thanks to the fellas at The Annandale. Melt swings out of the corner with style this Friday October 1, with headliners The Zebs supported by The Colt 44s, Radio National, Flight, and Massema.

If you want to see how it’s physically possible for a foetus to perform a rockin’ full length set, tell us your fav gig at the Annandale. We’ve got five double passes to send your way.

GROUPER SIDESHOW

If you have a wedding, house inspection, jury duty, appointment with a skin specialist or at the womens’ clinic, shift at Taco Bell that you can’t get rid of, web stream of an Obama address or a penguin doco to watch - or you just can’t afford the train to Newcastle for This Is Not Art - DO NOT FRET! Grouper are playing The Sandringham in Newtown on Saturday October 9. Tickets are $15 and on sale now through Moshtix - you can read more about her when you hit our TINA special.

Flick through, flick through...

Little Red

LOUIS BERTIGNAC AT THE GAELIC

Bridzilla

DOUBLE DRAGON VS BRIDEZILLA

Watching a Bridezilla show is like running a crush-marathon, as your undying love and everlasting feelings of lust ping-pong from one band member to another for an entire forty-minute set.

It’s exhausting! They’ll be playing their beautiful psychedelic tunes when they headline Double Dragon II, on October 1 at Oxford Art Factory. The bill for this thing is truly mental: WIM, Zeahorse, Psychonanny & The Babyshakers, Arkestra, Dark Bells, Sick Python, Old Men Of Moss Mountain, Nhomea, Disco Club, Whipped Cream Chargers and Piano Is Drunk - all for only five dollars, bay-bee.

Did you ever hear the Frech rock outfit Téléphone? Some go so far as to say they were France’s answer to The Rolling Stones in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The band has split since then - so the best way to enjoy ‘em these days is at frontman Louis’ solo show at the Gaelic on Saturday October 2.

CAMBRIDGE SHOWS DURING TINA

Anyone who’s been to This Is Not Art knows that all the “win” that the festival holds peaks over the two TINA/Sound Summit showcase nights at the Cambridge Hotel. Take a deepas-shit breath for this… Friday October 1: Jason Forrest, Tantrums, Scattered Order, Geodesic Domes, No Anchor, Cock Safari, Black Math. Yes, yes, for the love of God, yes. And then? Saturday October 2? Grouper, Songs, They Live, Blank Realm, Anna Chase, Nhomea, Bare Grillz and Potato Masta. MZBLLZ. A ticket for both nights is $20 right now through Moshtix. Sweet.

My Disco

UNSW OKTOBERYES(T)!

After last year, when 5000 students turned up to squeeze into UNSW Oktoberfest like clowns in a car (or midgets in a phone booth), UNSW have decided to implement the oft-underrated ‘buy ya tickets before the event, you guys’ policy.

With Ian Carey, The Jezabels, Jonathan Boulet, Watussi, and Snob Scrilla Sound System playing this year, I’d get in quick to avoid the stampede. Students can get them on campus now – but the rest of us will have to wait ‘til October 4.

LITTLE RED STILL ROCK IT

Little Red are riding high on the endless accolades that their latest record Midnight Remember has received, and are planning to unleash a live show of such sneering arrogance that you won’t believe these are the same shy Melbourne guys who hung out at Lassiters with you that one time. October 8 at the Metro. That’s next Friday, everyone.

MY DISCO’S LITTLE JOY

My Disco are about to tour their new album Little Joy nationally – if you’re not sure what you’re in for, bring earplugs and an obligationfree Saturday. My Disco is set to dominate Manning Bar with Dead Famers, Laurenz and PVT on Friday November 26. This is not a show to miss - tickets are on sale through the venue, or Moshtix.

“Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” - CARRIE FISHER 12 :: BRAG :: 381 : 27:09:10

PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

The Smirnoff word and associated logos are trademarks. Š The Smirnoff Co. 2010.

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 13

dance music news

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... With Chris Honnery

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

he said she said WITH

OUR LAST ENEMY

SAM FROM SAM HAMILTON & THE MYSTIC DISCO (NZ)

I

grew up with urban hippy parents who encouraged me to run up and down the hallway screaming my lungs out to James Brown and Talking Heads records.

Come to think of it, there’s probably a lot to be said for all those late 80’s and early 90’s parties/bongo drumming parties my mother took me along to…

My core musical practice has dramatically reoriented from fairly uncompromisingly experimental music towards more meaningless, sociable, partyesque music.

This can be strongly attributed to the four months I spent recording environmental sound in the Amazon rainforests of Brasil, Colombia and Peru. In my view, there’s fundamentally very little that separates hundreds of frogs in a warm, humid tropical swamp singing about sex, and a bunch of drunk humans getting on down to Miami Booty Bass in a dim, nocturnal and sweaty urban nightclub.

in your ass all at once. It’s more like magic than music, a ritual in electronic hypnosis. If you want catchphrases though, you can try Mystic Disco, Fucked Modern Pop, Magic Booty Bass Tonalism, FREE WAVE or Futurist Voodoo Punk Trance. There’s a new breed of artists cropping up in Auckland who are all exploring a similar vibe; funcore, sexy but spazzy, intelligent but unpretentiously energetic, interesting and explorative dance party music. Artists like F in Math, Sweat City Heat Wave, MOPPY and Pikachunes - it’s an exciting time to be in Auckland because of them.

The first five or so years of my ‘practice’ were typified by diversity. Psych freenoise rock bands, field recording projects, expanded cinema projects, acoustic ecology, drone music, occultist weirdo folk, ‘sound art’ projects, theatre and film soundtracks, improvisation… Now days my practice is way more streamlined, coherent and more powerful, or relevant. I guess I just feel that I’ve got something actually individualistic, subjective and interesting to contribute to the world, that’s not just second-hand shit that sounds like a million other things out there.

Confronting difficult obstacles seems to define what it is for me to be an artist. I think that’s why I live in Auckland - a rather inhuman city that doesn’t shine too brightly on artists in general. Artists and musicians have always mirrored larger cultural obstacles to a degree. What we really need to be doing is focusing a little more on what kinda world we want to be living in, and trying our hardest to create that and live in it.

My music will simultaneously be like nothing you have heard, yet utterly understandable on every level - from the intuitive and subconscious, to the intellectual. You’ll feel it in your mind and

David Guetta

Who: Sam Hamilton & The Mystic Disco With: DJ Raceless (Curse Ov Dialect), Avant Hard Where: The Great Northern, Newcastle (Sound Summit/This Is Not Art) When: Friday October 1, from 5:30

Alternative party night SFX has settled into its new home at the St James Hotel with swagger. This Saturday October 2, SFX are hosting the launch of Our Last Enemy’s album Fallen Empires. The juggernaut sound will engulf the hotel in a blanket of sonic intensity and density, with their (rather morbidly named) array of songs like ‘Carrion’ and ‘10 000 Headless Horses’. They’ll be supported by Dawn Heist and Recoil, and there’ll be free CDs from all three bands dished out on the night. To get in on the action, tell us what exactly you‘d do with 10 000 headless horses. We have five double passes for y’all.

ANGIE HART

Remember Frente!? If not, refresh your memory with a trip down ‘Accidentally Kelly Street’ (via YouTube). If that was Angie Hart THEN (at the tender age of 20), imagine how good she is now… Her newest EP, Loving It Hating It, sees Hart shed her Frente! skin and come to terms with the implications of becoming a household name at such an impressionable age... Luckily for you, special reader, Hart is about to start on a whirlwind tour with special guests Dead Letter Chorus and Canadian singer-songwriter Matthew Barber. We knew you’d be excited, and have for exactly that reason set aside three prize packs to give away - which include a double pass to her show this Friday October 1 at Notes in Newtown, a copy of her second solo album AND a copy of Matthew Barber’s fourth album, True Believer. Just tell us your fav moment from the film clip (sorry Ange, there’s just no escaping dancing with a giant glittering pot plant…)

Breakbot

BOUNDARY BONDS WITH...

ED & MONICA, AT THE

JUNIOR – CELEBRATING LIFE BOTTOM

Can you tell us a bit about Junior?

Junior is a site for young creatives. We scour the earth for the most interesting and successful creative directors, writers, designers, directors, whatevers.

Then we take them to a bar, ply them with booze, and make them tell us stories about how they got to where they are, and how they do what they do.

Simultaneously we run monthly events; we fill a pub with young, like-minded people and have a guest speaker deliver ‘10 tips for juniors in 10 minutes’. Booze plays a crucial role in all of our activities.

GUETTA’S A SHORE THING

Mr. ‘fu*k me I’m famous’, David Guetta himself, headlines Fuzzy’s annual Shore Thing bash on New Year’s Eve at Bondi Pavilion. Guetta has attained levels of exposure to rival his compatriot Bob Sinclar thanks to a string of ubiquitous singles over the past year, including ‘Sexy Bitch’ featuring Akon and collaborations with Kelly Rowland and The Black Eyed Peas – the man is an unashamed ‘dance popstar’. Guetta will be flanked by Armand Van Helden, who’s notorious for his party jam ‘You Don’t Know Me’ and remixes of Dizzee Rascal and Daft Punk - while newly crowned ITM #1 DJs the Aston Shuffle will be playing ‘live’ to round out the triumvirate. Tickets are on sale from Friday October 8 for $135, through www.fuzzy.com.au.

MAD RACKET 12TH BDAY

BREAKBOT @ CARGO NYE

Detroit’s Daniel Bell will play Mad Racket’s 12th Birthday on Saturday October 23 at Marrickville Bowling Club. A techno producer who’s been there from the beginning (or the early 90s in any case), Bell paved the way for later minimal producers with cuts like ‘Losing Control’, released under his alias DBX. You only need to know that Bell has collaborated with figures like Moritz von Oswald and Richie Hawtin and set up labels with the likes of Theo Parrish, Rick Wade and Dopplereffekt to have an idea of his dance music pedigree. For those still unsure, Bell’s mix CD, The Button Down Mind Of Daniel Bell, released in 2000, was voted in at number two of the decade’s best mixes by leading electronic music authority Resident Advisor...

Enough said, really – the man is well and truly on the level. You’d better purchase your presales for this one, so saunter into Murphdog’s emporium of depravity (Spank Records on Bourke Street) to secure your ticket for 35 crabs.

WE ARE INTERNATIONAL

Boasting the mantra “We don’t need internationals, we are internationals”, We Are International is a night dedicated to celebrating local dance music talent.

Overseen by Chemistry, Beef Records and Chameleon Records, the lineup boasts an array of local producers and DJs, many of whom are internationally recognised in club circles. One of Australia’s finest, Ant Steep – who has released on the Future Classic label as part of Little Beasties – is slotted to spin, along with Uone, Steve Ward, Shades of Grey, Jamie Lloyd, Jimi Polar, Murat Killic, Simon Caldwell, Jordan Deck, Trinity, Cadenza’s Nick Belshaw and Claire Morgan.

It’s all about putting a beat to your patriotism (apologies, I couldn’t sound cornier if I tried) this Friday at The Civic Hotel. Entry is $15 before 11pm.

And the New Year’s Eve announcements keep on coming, with Cargo Bar at Cockle Bay wharf entering the market with a lineup aimed at anyone with a penchant for electro. Frenchman Breakbot will be playing a Sydney-exclusive show, joined by Melbournian proponent of electro-pop Miami Horror - whose debut album Illumination has spawned no less than five rather successful singles in recent times. Bag Raiders will also be repping on the back of their long awaited debut-LP, while Van She Tech, Sosueme DJs, Cassian and the delectable Alison Wonderland are also involved. Early bird $85 tickets will be on sale from 9am Monday September 27, through www.cargonye.com.

What drove you to start it up?

We landed our first gigs in advertising (high fives all round), but then realised we had some questions about stuff - but everyone seemed too busy to help out.

We checked out the existing industry organisations and found them all a bit, well, lame. That’s when we decided to create Junior.

You’ve had some great interviews.

Whose passion has blown you away the most?

That’s a difficult question – and I know how frustrating it is when people dodge questions – but the great thing is that everyone has been as keen as mustard to help out.

The best three pieces of advice you’ve heard?

“Don’t loose your ‘juniorness’.” – Emma Hill, Clemenger BBDO “You gotta take a shit job and turn it into a winner.” – Tim Kentley XYZ, studios “Get away from school and university networks and clubs, and join real world clubs. Such as, people who sit at bars and bitch about life.” – Penny Modra, Right Angle Studio

“I think of my body as a side effect of my mind”- CARRIE FISHER 14 :: BRAG :: 381 : 27:09:10

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 15

free stuff

dance music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... With Chris Honnery onthefly.com.au WITH

WITH

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

ALISON WONDERLAND (SOSUEME)

five things

DECKLAND FROM HOBO GESTAPO DJS You I am pretty much just like Tiesto, except 3. not European or technically skilled and I’m a mad hater when it comes to trance... although I do know how to get a party started. Who else plays ‘S Club Party’ and the Duck Tales theme song in one set? No one. Is it ‘cause they’re both awful and inappropriate in a club? Maybe.

But girls really enjoy it! And sausage will always follow the salad on the dancefloor…

The Music You Make I’m moving into the production scene, with 4. samplings of ball-slapping and sweat-dripping mixed with forms of harp-strumming. Although recently I have been using the delay and echo effect in my mixer with my microphone; it’s usually called “annoying white noise” though.

5.

Growing Up My earliest memories of music are pretty 1. standard - an ex-hippy mother playing Pink

Inspirations I extract inspiration from things like shapes, 2. scents and animals. At the moment I am very

Floyd, The Beatles, Billy Joel and Bob Marley on repeat. As I grew up a bit I discovered the radio – and around ‘94 is when I really embraced crap music. Ace Of Bass, East 17, Pet Shop Boys and Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch was all I had in the mixtape that I made in my Walkman out of dodgily-recorded tunes from 2dayfm.

oblong-potpourri-sloth, although I’ve been moving into a triangle-rice cracker-llama phase recently. I also find that after doing photography for many years in clubs, I’ve been inspired by lots of DJs I see play regularly. Joyride is one of my biggest role models, both in life and music. I will never be half the man he is, literally.

2manydjs

Music, Right Here, Right Now There’s some awesome stuff coming out in Sydney at the moment. Flight Facilities have some gems brewing, Light Year have an EP coming out in October which is going to cream jeans, and the new Bag Raiders album is going to blow up! Blowing minds and loads all over the place. Summer is going to be fairly amazeballs. You can catch us doing our thang in a collection of dark nooks, either hiding behind the flash of a camera or the pretty lights of a CDJ… Who: Hobogestapo DJs With: A collection of Sydney’s top DJs Where: Falcona Fridays @ Kit & Kaboodle When: Every Friday, baby!

Caldwell, Jamie Lloyd, (the local) Magda, Dean Dixon and Dave Fernandes.

BEN KWELLER

Genre-defying singer-songwriter and Californian wunderkind Ben Kweller is about to kick off a national tour in October, hitting up The Factory Theatre in Enmore this Sunday October 3, supported by west coast folk kids Delta Spirit (whose new album, History From Below, is produced

by My Morning Jacket band member Bo Koster). Wanna go? To win one of four double passes, just tell us which dance move you’ll be whipping out at the gig…

BLACK CHERRY’S 4th BIRTHDAY

Our favourite Rock’n’Roll party, Black Cherry, are celebrating their fourth birthday in style – with four bands, six burlesque shows and a throng of party-startin’ DJs across two rooms! The bands include the sartorially-splendid one-man-band Bob Log III (USA), Melbourne’s cabaret-punk junkies Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants, the seriously dashing La Mancha Negra, and the ironically named The Lazys. With hypnotic burlesque performers, karaoke DJs, and a Mexican ‘Day of the Dead’ dressup theme, you’d be silly NOT to be there.

We have one double pass for October 2 at The Factory Theatre. To win it, tell us why Black Cherry’s 4th Birthday Bash will be that much better than your 4th birthday was. blackcherrypresents.com.au

Flo Rida

NYPC PARKLIFE SIDESHOW

PARKLIFE

Another reminder that Parklife is this weekend - Sunday October 3, to be precise. The yearly festival normally signifies the chance to start the silly season with some [legal] hedonism in the open air at Moore Park. This year you have the opportunity to bare witness to performances from 2manydjs, bohemian rockers The Dandy Warhols, UK stalwarts Groove Armada (delivering their ‘Black Light’ live show), French tease Uffie, Missy Elliott accompanied by her 27-strong all dancing entourage, Mix Master Mike of the Beastie Boys, Kele (from Bloc Party), New Young Pony Club, Holy Ghost!, Busy P, Memory Tapes, Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts, Brodinski, DJ Mehdi, Jesse Rose and Bag Raiders. My sources tell me there are still tickets available, though by the time you read this there may not be - hesitate at your own peril! And check page 61 for the map and playing times.

DEETRON

In a standout option over the October long weekend, Switzerland’s Deetron headlines HaHa at Marrickville Bowling Club this Saturday. Deetron’s more recent projects, such as his ‘Each Step’ collaboration with Crosstown Rebels’ enfant terriblé Seth Troxler are well worth a listen - and while cratedigging you should go back a little further to the excellent single ‘Let’s Get Over It’, which was crafted with the aid of vocalist Justin Chapman. Support comes courtesy of Simon

UK five-piece New Young Pony Club return to Sydney and play The Forum this Friday October 1, ahead of their Parklife appearance.

NYPC released their sophomore album The Optimist earlier in the year, an LP that marked a departure from the nu-rave sounds that characterised their acclaimed ’07 debut album, Fantastic Playroom. “This was a case of us saying what we can be; we can always revisit the electronic and dance sound later, but we definitely made the record we felt like making this time around,” core member Andy Spence told me, when discussing the album a few months back at a VIP gathering in Ivy Penthouse... “It was about asserting our identity.”

JAY-Z GOES LITERARY

Iconic rapper Jay-Z will release his first book, Decoded, on November 16. Published

by Random House, it features an image of Andy Warhol’s Rorschach emblazoned on the cover, and comes fully-illustrated with the aim to “decode” 36 of the rapper’s most famous tracks, offering an “intimate, first-hand account” of his raps. In Jay-Z’s own words, “When I first started working on this book, I told my editor that I wanted it to do three important things. The first was to make the case that hip-hop lyrics – not just my lyrics, but those of every great MC – are poetry if you look at them closely enough. The second was I wanted the book to tell a little bit of the story of my generation, to show the context for the choices we made at a violent and chaotic crossroads in recent history. And the third was that I wanted the book to show how hip-hop created a way to take a very specific and powerful experience and turn it into a story that everyone in the world could feel and relate to.”

HARBOUR PARTY HUMBLE PIE

For a self-proclaimed omniscient dance music demi-God, last week I committed a rather embarrassing faux pas. Desperate to file the news before I raced out the door to yoga, I described Digitalism as a “French electro duo”.

Well the pair is clearly from Hamburg, Germany – in fact a few years back in an interview, they told me they recorded much of their hugely successful debut album in an abandoned German bunker in from World War 2. You don’t get much more German than that. So to clarify,

SUMMERBEATZ

Following on from Winterbeatz and Supafest, two of the bigger urban/pop events ever staged in Australia in recent times, Summerbeatz arrives on our shores next month.

International drawcards Flo Rida, Jay Sean, the Grammy-nominated Soulja Boy, Travie McCoy, DJ Nino Brown and Australia’s own Stan Walker are all slotted to provide more than four hours of live music at Acer Arena on Saturday November 20 from 6pm. Presales are online now.

the German duo of Digitalism will be playing the Harbour Party at Luna Park on New Year’s Eve alongside US house don Dennis Ferrer, Sneaky Sound System, Dirty Bird’s Riva Starr and Goodwill. Grab your tickets online from Thursday – it’ll be a huge one.

FOREIGNDUB DNBBQ

The Foreigndub posse will ransack Sydney University’s Manning Bar on Saturday November 27 with three stages traversing Drum n Bass, Dubstep, Reggae, dub, hiphop and soul sounds. As the tradition goes, a free tasty gourmet BBQ will cater for the early birds from 7-8:30pm out on the balcony, courtesy of Foreigndub’s resident head chef b.hopps. Inside, Japan’s Makoto will be throwing down along with Lynx & Kemo and New Zealand’s Dub Terminator, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. Red Bantoo, Vice Versa, Rollers Music, The Versionaries Soundsystem, James DeLa Cruz, Budspells and Janny Casanova

Soundsystem are among the hoards of other acts on the menu. Doors open from 7pm, and your $35 ticket does include the aforementioned feed.

HOLY GHOST!

NYC duo Holy Ghost! will play a DJ set at Adult Disco on Sunday October 3, in addition to their performance at Parklife Festival.

Signed to the DFA label, Holy Ghost! shot to prominence with their cut ‘Hold On’ a few years back, which they followed with remixes of MGMT, Cut Copy, Phoenix and Moby.

Their debut Australian tour took place in 2009 with a much-lauded slot on the Big Day Out bill, before backing up at the Sydney Festival’s Beck’s Bar alongside UK disco outfit the Idjut Boys that very same night. But this ain’t no stroll down memory lane, as Holy Ghost! have continued to maintain a strong presence in the club scene over the past year and a half, releasing a new EP, Static On The Wire, on DFA earlier in 2010… Get your tickets now.

“I went to a doctor and told him I felt normal on acid, that I was a light bulb in a world of moths. - CARRIE FISHER 16 :: BRAG :: 381 : 27:09:10

MODULAR TOURING, FASTERLOUDER.COM.AU & 3D WORLD PRESENT

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NEW EP ‘YOUNGER & IMMATURE’ OUT OCT 29TH

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 17

Industrial Strength themusicnetwork.com

Industry Music News with Christie Eliezer

JET: ONE MILLION REASONS

MUSE “BEST COVER SONG”

When Jet hit Sydney with Powderfinger, EMI Music threw a biz function at a warehouse, to present them with plaques for one million Australian sales of albums, singles and DVDs.

Muse’s cover of Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’ was named Best Cover Song of All Time by 15,000 fans who voted in an NME. com poll. They beat The Beatles’ ‘Twist And Shout’, Johnny Cash’s ‘Hurt’, Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Hey Joe’, Nirvana’s ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night’, The Clash’s ‘I Fought The Law’, Jeff Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’, Jimi Hendrix’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’, Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ and The White Stripes’ ‘I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself’. Conversely, Britney Spears stab’ at ‘I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll’ got Worst Cover Song Of All Time, ahead of Ronan Keating’s ‘Fairytale of New York’, Take That’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, Madonna’s ‘American Pie’, Limp Bizkit’s ‘Faith’ and Mark Ronson’s ‘No One Knows.’

AMP ANNOUNCES NEW JUDGES, MEDIA PARTNERS The sixth Australian Music Prize (The Amp) has added new names to its 31-strong judging panel. Representing musicians are The Presets’ Julian Hamilton, Oh Mercy’s Alexander Gow, Spiderbait’s Kram, Urthboy’s Tim Levinson, The Black Sorrow’s Pete Luscombe, Died Pretty’s Ron Peno and indie musician Cameron Bruce. They join Tim Freedman, Renee Geyer, Holly Throsby, Lorna Clarkson and Romy Hoffman.

New media names are Spicks and Specks captain Alan Brough, Mikey Cahill (News Ltd) and Darren Levin (The Age). On the retail side, Greg Rutherford joins and Tom Beaumont returns. This year’s AMP’s new media partner is The Music Network, joining Rolling Stone, Nova, Channel [V] and the stable of Street Press Australia. To enter, artists submit their album via www. australianmusicprize.com.au until October 29.

The fee is $95 per album, with a discount for early birds who enter before 6pm on October 1.

Life lines Married: Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder wed longtime girlfriend, model Jill McCormick, in Hawaii.

They have two daughters, Olivia, 6, and Harper Moon, nearly 2.

Among the 70 guests was Jack Johnson and Sean Penn, who used Vedder’s music in his 2007 drama Into The Wild.

Marrying: Kings of Leon’s Caleb Followill, 28, proposed to his model girlfriend Lily Aldrige, 24.

Expecting: Jet guitarist Cameron Muncey and wife Sarah, their first, in March.

Expecting: Damien Leith and wife Eileen, their third, in March.

Hospitalised: Justin Townes Earle cancelled the remaining dates on his US tour, and enter a rehabilitation facility.

Recovering: Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes is recovering after collapsing on stage during a Philadelphia show.

In Court: Dave McCabe of The Zutons broke a man’s nose with a headbutt, after his girlfriend was insulted by a group of men outside a Liverpool club.

Arrested: R&B singer Bruno Mars, for drug possession after he finished a gig at a Las Vegas club.

Sued: Busta Rhymes, for battery, for $250,000 - for throwing a glass at a woman at an LA restaurant, after they rowed with his female companion.

In Court: Sydney nightclub operator Justin Hemmes was awarded $1.6 million payout from Lucas Stuart builders, after claiming 1324 defects in his $65.4 million redevelopment of The Ivy. Arrested: Reggae artist Bounty Killer, for allegedly assaulting a female companion, apparently with a hammer.

Died: Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd for disciplining them for their long hair, 77, from Alzheimer’s disease.

Died: Michael Hutchence’s mother Patricia Glassop, 84.

HANDLIN BACK AS ARIA CHAIR Following the departure of Ed St John, Sony Music Chairman and CEO Denis Handlin was elected back as the Chairman of ARIA. He already spent 10 consecutive years as Chairman up to 2008, and has been a member of the ARIA board since 1984.

Handlin led initiatives like ARIA #1 Chart Awards and the Hall of Fame, as well as dealings with government and the industry’s fight against piracy.

VENUES #1: CHATSWOOD GETS EASTERN LOUNGE Chatswood gets a new live music venue Eastern Lounge, which launches Friday October 8. It is at the Tennis Valley Club at 325a Eastern Valley Way, Chatswood (or Castle Cove). It’s being promoted by Perfect Pitch Music, whose creative director Dave Keogh says, “There’s a dearth of live venues on the North Shore, so this is good news for both musos and the local community.”

Christening it are country rock artist Aleyce Simmonds and local band Mimesis. For bookings, e-mail info@easternlounge.com.au.

VENUES #2: SKYBOMBERS’ SPEAKEASY By winning Drambuie’s The Premise competition, Skybombers will design and run a bar in Sydney over a month. The band’s Hugh Gurney tells us they’re changing The Doghouse into “a 1920s style speakeasy hidden behind a pet store façade”. It opens on October 8 - and the Melbourne band will move to Sydney for the duration. Skybombers won over 150 entrants.

THINGS WE HEAR * Poor J-Lo: she was paid US$12 million to join the Idol judging panel — and then discovered that one of the entrants is her first husband, Ojani Noa, who plans to do one of her songs at the audition. Word is he’ll be banned? * There was confusion as to whether Wolfmother would play the Java Rockin’ Land festival in Jakarta, after Andrew Stockdale discovered it was sponsored by a cigarette company. Stockdale posted on their site that they’d pulled out – but their agent Joe Seg of IMC told triple j that the band was still on the bill. * Hot rumour was that Austereo’s new drive time team is Fifi Box, Wil Anderson and Perth’s zany Sam Mac, who’s now doing breakfast at 92.9FM.

* How can Kings Of Leon claim they nixed their music being on Glee, the show’s co-creator Ian Brennan asks, “when they were never asked.” * Powderfinger to announce a gig on their customised tour plane? * Gossip singer Beth Ditto reveals she shoplifts every now and again, and that she nicked a dress three months ago. * Muse’s Matt Bellamy is giving guitar lessons to galpal Kate Hudson’s stepdad Kurt Russell. * How true are the rumours of whining amongst UK’s X-Factor judges that, while they’ve been hit by budget cuts, the show spent a fortune sending its hosts, eight contestants, crew and producers to Australia to film with new mum Dannii Minogue…

at the 2010 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, with a line-up including Missy Elliot, Adam Lambert and Mariah Carey.

AUSSIES ABROAD #2: THE LOVETONES The Lovetones head back to the US for two months to promote their fifth album Lost, being released in the states through Planting Seeds. The album features US singer/songwriter Miranda Lee Richards, plus members of The Asteroid No.4, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Chief Nowhere. Its intriguing cover artwork was

by James Marsh, a massive fan of the band, who’s worked with Andy Warhol, Talk Talk, Jamiroquai, Gerry Rafferty and Erasure.

AUSSIES ABROAD #3: SAM REYNOLDS Newcastle musician Sam Reynolds has placed 100 pieces of music with sync companies in the US and Germany. His

music was used on MTV’s The Dudesons In America and Parental Control, The Discovery Channel and NBC Sports. Earlier this year, his dancey ‘Baby Gaga’ was on the People’s Choice Awards on CBS, when Jessica Alba presented Favourite Web Star to Ashton Kutcher - watched by 10 million people. Reynolds, who teaches guitar, bass and recording technology at his Studio 27, is working on music for a new MTV show and a pilot. He can be paid up to $2000 for a minute’s music.

NARELLE GEE PENS RAGE BOOK Narelle Gee, long time programmer of ABC TV’s Rage, is releasing an all-revealing book Real Wild Child: An Insider’s Tales From The Rage Couch this week through Harper Collins. Over the years, the Rage couch has been home to lamé pants (Kylie), leatherclad, mostly bare butts (Gene Simmons), food, ciggy ash, food fights and even a bit of arson from an electronic artist…

›› TMN TOP 40

The top 40 most ‘heard’ songs on Australian radio.

TW LW TI HP P1 P2 P3 ARTIST

TRACK

LABEL

1

1

9

1 14 31 59 KATY PERRY

TEENAGE DREAM

CAP/EMI

2

2

9

2 13 26 53 TAIO CRUZ

DYNAMITE

ISL/UMA

3

3 10 2 14 27 58 USHER FT. PITBULL

DJ GOT US FALLIN’ IN LOVE

SME SME

4

5

2

4 15 35 63 KINGS OF LEON

RADIOACTIVE

WANNA VOLUNTEER FOR JACK JOHNSON?

5

6

4

5 14 27 51 CEE-LO GREEN

FU

WMUK/WMA

When Jack Johnson toured here in 2008, he donated money to 25 non-profit groups to help them with their environmental education and sustainable agriculture, as part of his All At Once Community initiative. His upcoming ‘To The Sea’ tour will donate all its profits to charity. He’s looking for official volunteers - go to jackjohnsonmusic.com/tour/volunteerform.

6 12 34 61 THE SCRIPT

FOR THE FIRST TIME

SME

7 16 4

7 14 25 55 BRUNO MARS

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

ATL/WMA

8 20 2

8 11 25 50 RIHANNA

ONLY GIRL (IN THE WORLD)

DEF/UMA

CLOSER TO THE EDGE

VIR/EMI

RADIO AWARDS CALLED THE VOXIES The community radio CBAA awards have a new name — The Voxies. It was chosen from a competition, and suggested by Denise Kuchmar who started in radio at Plenty Valley FM in 1991 and is now an educator of broadcast radio. It’s the Latin word for “voice of the people”, which she says “is catchy, short and sharp; and… is what community radio is all about.” The awards are held as part of CBAA’s conference in Hobart, October 21 24. This year they’ve added the Outstanding Small Station Award for stations with revenue of under $100,000.

BIG NAMES ON QANTAS SHORTLIST Ten names made it on the shortlist of the Music section of Qantas’ Spirit of Youth Awards. They are Cloud Control, Deep Sea Arcade, kyü, Seekae and Thundamentals from NSW; Washington, Super Wild Horses and Love Connection from Vic; Leader Cheetah from SA and The Middle East from QLD. The prize include $5000 cash, $5000 in flights and a 12-month mentorship.

AUSSIES ABROAD #1: THE CRACKS Sydney band The Cracks won LG Electronics’ LG Unsigned national band search, which drew 200 entries. They were flown to Singapore to perform at the LG LIVE

6 11 8

9

7 11 7 12 25 58 THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS

10 14 8 10 12 25 51 MIKE POSNER

COOLER THAN ME

SME

11 21 7 11 12 29 55 GOOD CHARLOTTE

LIKE IT’S HER BIRTHDAY

CAP/EMI

12 8 12 8 17 30 54 BIRDS OF TOKYO

PLANS

CAP/EMI

13 4

DANCE IN THE DARK

INT/UMA

14 10 12 1 11 25 51 EMINEM FT. RIHANNA

LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE

INT/UMA

15 17 6 10 15 35 87 TAYLOR SWIFT

MINE

BIG/UMA

16 12 8 11 13 24 51 KE$HA

TAKE IT OFF

SME

17 9 14 5 13 25 46 FLO RIDA FT. DAVID GUETTA

CLUB CAN’T HANDLE ME

ATL/WMA

18 15 16 1 14 30 56 ADAM LAMBERT

IF I HAD YOU

SME

19 13 17 5 15 44 67 TRAIN

IF IT’S LOVE

SME

20 18 11 16 11 32 57 ED KOWALCZYK

GRACE

SME

MAGIC

ATL/WMA

9

21 22 9

4 14 26 54 LADY GAGA

21 11 27 50

UNCLE KRACKER

SMILE

ATL/WMA

23 28 15 18 12 38 64

JOHN BUTLER TRIO

REVOLUTION

JAR/MGM

24 24 18 1

13 28 52

ENRIQUE IGLESIAS FT. PITBULL

I LIKE IT

INT/UMA

25 25 13 7

13 31 62

MICHAEL PAYNTER

LOVE THE FALL

SME

POWDERFINGER

IBERIAN DREAM

UMA

27 31 13 12 16 37 58

MAROON 5

MISERY

A&M/UMA

28 23 8

SME

22

19

17 1

26 26 5

14 42 82

B.O.B FT. RIVERS CUOMO

23 12 36 69

STAN WALKER

CHOOSE YOU

29 27 12 15 12 39 54

21 13 26 62

NICKELBACK

THIS AFTERNOON

RR/WMA

30 38 4

BRIAN MCFADDEN FT. DELTA GOODREM

MISTAKES

ISL/UMA

30 10 26 60

31 35 32 1 32 36 6

15 49 67

32 12 24 45

TRAIN

HEY, SOUL SISTER

SME

ZOE BADWI

FREE FALLIN’

NEON/WMA UMA

33 29 18 12 15 30 56

GYROSCOPE

BABY, I’M GETTING BETTER

34 32 8

27 11 22 41

PARAMORE

CAREFUL

ATL/WMA

35 78 2

35 11 25 53

ADAM LAMBERT

FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

SME SME

36 30 21 2

19 40 64

SCOUTING FOR GIRLS

THIS AIN’T A LOVE SONG

37 34 20 1

15 29 53

KATY PERRY FT. SNOOP DOGG

CALIFORNIA GURLS

CAP/EMI

38 33 29 6

15 45 59

JET

SEVENTEEN

VIR/EMI

39 37 33 7

16 41 54

LIFEHOUSE

HALFWAY GONE

GEF/UMA

40 43 27 4

11 26 41

VANESSA AMOROSI FT. SEANY B

MR. MYSTERIOUS

UMA

“Leia follows me like a vague smell.”- CARRIE FISHER 18 :: BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 19

Words by Oliver Downes Photo by Isabella Moore

a couple of hours. Realising that they didn’t have enough material, and with the band comp imminent, they wrote almost all of the material that makes up their self-titled and full-length debut release in a single creative burst, the week before the first heat. Legend has it they reduced a judge to tears the night they won the grand final...

Colour And Light

I

f they were characters in a sprawling nineteenth century novel, Alyx Dennison and Freya Berkhout might be described as ‘ardent spirits’. As kyü, the electronic pop project that brought them together, the pair impart a sense of limitless expansion; they’re brave enough to allow themselves to be led musically by a shared sense of epiphany, following their instincts towards a point of revelation in a way that is endearingly vulnerable, completely genuine and utterly captivating.

When they aren’t doing that, they do things like bake brownies, listen to the Spice Girls and watch Doctor Who. Alyx does convincing impersonations, and also likes to paint.

Freya speaks Hindi and aspires to make film soundtracks. Both would like to travel more; both are buoyant, bright-faced, smiley-eyed and utterly disarming to talk to. And then of course there’s the small fact that they’ve created one of the most exciting sounds to come out of Sydney in a very long time. kyü came together at the beginning of 2009 as a swift consequence of the duo’s newlyfledged friendship. Alyx needed someone with a student card to enter the Sydney University band comp, and Freya volunteered. Although their initial attempt at rehearsal was “pretty awful”, a second try produced their nowsignature song, ‘Sunny in Splodges’, in just

“We never consciously made a decision to be that band” says Alyx. “We never thought ‘oh let’s be experimental’ or ‘tribal’ – all those phrases really weird us out … It really kind of evolved naturally, it was all stuff that was lying around the studio as well.” She says that the week before the band comp they felt as though they were waiting for something to start: “We refer to that period of our life as limbo.”

Plural personal pronouns are par for the course for kyü, both girls picking up each other’s sentences, filling out the other’s thoughts and chasing each other down inviting tangential trails - so that it often becomes difficult to determine who said what.

The impression of a single mind at work is at times uncanny, each being the perfect foil for the other. And they don’t disagree. “We are one brain when we’re writing,” says Alyx, “it’s a strange experience.” “It’s weird though,” adds Freya, “they’re not the same - they’re so different that they just fit together.”

Although Freya has had the benefit of formal vocal training, Alyx is essentially self-taught.

Each arrived at similar musical conclusions by circuitous routes of their own. Both have a solid grounding in the Western classical canon – Alyx admits to an (as yet) unrequited love for Beethoven, while Freya thinks that Mahler’s 5th Symphony has “the most amazing chord progression in the history of the world”. But they also draw inspiration from sources as diverse as Indian classical music and the soundtrack to Akira, while being

rabid fans of bands like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear.

Not that the kyü sound can be reduced to a catalogue of influences; their lush mix of electronics, synths, glockenspiel, drums and strong, startling vocals produce an almost primal alchemy. But both are quick to dismiss any accusations of derivation on the one hand, or originality on the other. “People say we’re like Björk or Fever Ray” comments Alyx, “not because we are, but because we’re girls who’re belting… We do stuff with our voices that isn’t particularly dignified or pretty - we use our voices instrumentally,” she explains, before Freya continues: “I don’t think our music is hard to listen to. Some of it isn’t middle of the road, but it’s not ‘pushing boundaries’. If we’re experimental it’s because of the way we sing but it’s not like no one’s done it before.”

Either way, an air of timelessness pervades the kyü LP. Dan Johnston (of local folk rockers Big Smoky) drew on his filmic sound design background to lend the recording an almost cinematic sense of space. Suggesting a shifting series of emotional states rather than any conscious narrative, the music nonetheless follows a definite arc, moving from the midnight awakening of ‘Sistar’ through to the ecstatic dissolution of ego in ‘Sunny In Splodges’.

“We spent a lot of time designing the track listing,” says Freya. “I hate the word ‘journey’, but there’s a progression … It is projections from the same time. It’s all a response to the same thing in our life.” Which was? “When we met each other, a new life really did start for us,” she explains. “We were meeting new people, and just kind of finding the ropes with them and ‘our sound’ … [It was] the most amazing, crazy time.” ‘New people’ here is a euphemism for the fellas from local group Megastick Fanfare, who provided the catalyst that kyü bonded over. “They’re the reason why

we started. We just decided to go to every show. We wouldn’t be making the music we’re making if we didn’t have them in our lives.”

While a Megastick collaboration is still up in the air, the girls have been open to allowing other musical cross-pollinations to occur - a stint as the guests of Parades lead to friendship and mutual remixes with Jonathan Boulet (“I don’t think anything anywhere will ever be as good” says Freya of his kyü remix, “it’s going to blow everyone’s minds”), both drawing inspiration from the local music scene. “Sydney music is amazing” declares Alyx, “the world’ll catch on soon.”

Since their victory at Manning, kyü have had a crash course in performing, refining their act and building confidence while supporting local lights, as well as opening for an increasingly high profile series of touring groups including Why?, Yeasayer and High Places. “I would like people to love it or hate it, because I don’t want anyone to feel middle of the road.” says Freya. “And I think so far we’ve had pretty good evidence of that. There are people who love us and there’s people who detest us – and we just want to send out love to those guys. We love you guys!”

With things off to a sparkling start, for kyü the future seems alight with possibility. So, what’s next? “I think things will be happier, brighter maybe,” muses Freya. “We’ve been through a lot since we met, and have evolved a lot as people and evolved a lot as musicians and songwriters. We wrote a song recently which is really different. Vocally it’ll be a bit more weird.”

“Stimulation is to be had before we do any more writing” adds Alyx. “We’ve written about everything around us, about the things that we love and the people we love and the things that we’re doing - and now we need to move on and do other things.”

What: kyü is out now through Popfrenzy Where: Paddington Uniting Church When: Friday October 22 More: kyü, Holy Balm and Collarbones are playing Soundclash at Sound Summit, presented by the Australia Council for the Arts - October 9 at the This Is Not Art Festival Club in Newcastle. Flick to page 28 for our This Is Not Art special!

“Instant gratification takes too long.” - CARRIE FISHER 20 :: BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10

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BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 21

Classixx Bringing Sexy Back By Dan Watt In the world of international dance music, there are two massively different scenes that sit almost at oppositional ends. The Classixx style has been dubbed ‘Nu-Disco,’ while the aforementioned Aoki/Justice side tends to be flagged as ‘Maximal Electro’. As Blake explains, the discrepancy can lead to some uncomfortable set changes at festivals and clubs… “I guess you could call both of them ‘dance music,’ but what Steve [Aoki] and the Bloody Beetroots and Proxy and those types of groups are doing is almost like metal. We’ve actually played some very awkward gigs, where we’re playing right before or after acts like that.” Like that time when Classixx’s soul and groove was pitted against the ’Beetroots’ party bangers. “It was cool because they’re amazing at doing what they do and getting the kids going - but it is very different to what we do,” Blake says. “So when the kids that come to see Bloody Beetroots start moshpits and wanna get fucked up, that vibe is very different to the stuff we do - and totally different to the way we get kids dancing.

I think they’re both cool in their own way, but maybe don’t crossover so well…”

“A

s far as producers go, I’d say that Quincy Jones is our number one influence.” That’s Taylor Blake there, one half of LA production duo Classixx. He and Michael David are heading to Sydney this week for Parklife, to play alongside Groove Armada, Missy Elliot, Holy Ghost, Soulwax, Mix Master Mike, 2 Many DJs, The Dandy Warhols and, well, about a million others.

With acts like Holy Ghost and The Juan MacLean, Classixx form a new guard on American dance floors - bringing soul, disco and musicality to the forefront of electronic dance music. Through their originals and remixes, Classixx create music with a calm, sexy mood that’s associated more with masters of composition like Quincy Jones and Isaac Hayes.

Throughout most of the last decade, the electronic music scene was dominated by noisy electro - think Steve Aoki and Justice. But when I talk to Blake about their remix of Holy Ghost’s ‘I Will Come Back’, I get the feeling he believes Classixx have the most soul out of the new guard of disco, too. “Their version was really driving, so we tried to deconstruct it a little bit and make it kind of more groovebased, I guess you could say. We tried to make it sound more like a Michael Jackson tune.” I suggest that taking the power out of a tune like that could rub purist fans up the wrong way – but a casual relief enters his Californian accent when he replies: “I haven’t really heard any negative feedback. We really like that one - and also, those guys are like our best friends; so obviously when they asked us to do it, we jumped at the opportunity.”

He’s diplomatically understating a basic truism: a Classixx set is a damn lot sexier than Maximal Electro. If you have a dig around VIMEO and YouTube, you’ll find footage of Classixx DJ-ing at some pretty cool, pretty sexy parties – Blake and David on a raised DJ console in the middle of a mansion, surrounded by babes in bikinis and guys who know how to dance. “It’s cool man, I can’t complain,” Blake says, with that typical understatement once again. “When we started doing Classixx, this is what we signed up for. It is exhausting sometimes, but you just have to step back and appreciate it...

We are by no means where we would like to be, as far as our name and music goes - but it’s cool that we’re at least able to reach a lot of people, and that people get excited to see us play.”

It’s only when we talk about their upcoming debut album that Blake offers up more clues as to where exactly Classixx would like to be...

“Mike is primarily a guitar player, and there are actually a lot of guitars on our tracks and our remixes. Mike plays most of that.” Apparently, Classixx are planning on changing their live act; for a band that writes guitar music, two guys

“You could call both of them ‘dance music’, but what Steve Aoki and The Bloody Beetroots and those types of groups are doing is almost like metal. That vibe is very different to the stuff we do. They’re both cool in their own way, but maybe don’t crossover so well...” behind decks won’t cut it for too much longer.

“Turning [Classixx] into a live act is definitely something we have thought about, and something we might do after we finish the record that we’re working on right now. We need more songs to be able to build a full LP - and once we’ve finished those live tracks in the studio, playing as a band will be the next step.”

I ask Blake if some of those new Classixx tracks may get a little debut when they’re in town? “Yes - if we have some things finished.

But on this new record there are a lot of songs that aren’t ‘dance’ songs, so I don’t think they would translate to the big crowds at Parklife. But if we have some of the dance tunes from the record finished, we will definitely try them out.”

Who: Classixx With: Groove Armada, Soulwax, Mix Master Mike, The Dandy Warhols, Holy Ghost, 2ManyDJs, Missy Elliot and more Where: Parklife 2010 @ Kippax Lake, Moore Park When: Sunday October 3

Tinie Tempah Getting Used To The Big Time

By Simon Hampson Growing up in South London, Okogwu’s ascent to major label stardom has been achieved solely through sheer hard work. “Coming from where I did, I think I learnt lots of positive skills, in terms of being a good performer and holding the crowd’s attention, that I feel like I wouldn’t have had otherwise,” he reflects. “I guess you get a little bad with the good, you know?” That ‘bad’ has come in the form of habits which die hard; he uses an example of technique to illustrate the point. “I came from the end of the pirate radio era, and we learnt to hold microphones in a certain way. The microphones were usually shit, so we had to cup them to get the most out of them. Now it’s like, ‘Tinie, don’t worry, the microphone is an expensive, clear one. You don’t have to do that anymore!’” he says, with a laugh. “So now it’s [about] trying to come to terms with that, and getting used to it!”

Okogwu first felt a calling to music at around twelve years of age. “I started pursuing it from then. Obviously I had to do a lot of moaning and shouting, [but] my parents fed my indulgence of music, and saw my passion for it. I started using MSN and sending rough demos to friends - nothing serious. But one that I made called ‘Wifey’ blew up a little bit more than all the other ones did... From then on it was like, ‘Wow! Maybe there’s something here. Let’s just run with it and see what happens,’” he continues.

“So I started to take things a little bit more seriously, and then a couple of years later, I am where I am.”

W

ith two hit singles already out this year, the mega club hit ‘Pass Out’ and ‘Frisky’ and his new single ‘Written In The Stars’, Tinie Tempah is riding the crest of a wave of UK music, as it makes its way around the world. Laying skilful vocals over a blend of UK Grime, RnB, Drum N Bass and more, 2010 has seen Tempah - real name Patrick Okogwu - sign to major label Parlophone and collaborate with a host of guests for his second album, Discovery.

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The recent crop of English MCs making noise in Australia has been unavoidable; old hands in the game like Dizzee Rascal and Wiley have suddenly been everywhere. But this is Tinie Tempah’s first taste of major success. I reach an animated Okogwu on the phone from London, and we start with recent events. “This year has been like a dream come true,” he says. “It’s been very surreal down to the places that I’ve played, the people I’ve met and the things I’ve done.”

The success of ‘Wifey’ led Okogwu’s manager (and also his cousin) to set up the DL label and sign his first album, Hood Economics.

“We wanted to do everything to major label standard, you know,” he explains. “We were determined to get everything on the radio and across the board. My cousin set up DL and gave me a little part in the company, which was pretty generous of him. And then a couple of years down the line we ended up signing a deal with EMI, so we licensed the record.”

Okogwu’s music has always had a diverse palate. He’s sampled Supertramp in the

past, and mentions growing up with Dolly Parton playing at home. His recent singles have had quite a US RnB style to them, more so than other singers coming out of England right now. “Yeah, I guess it is a little bit more eclectic,” he agrees. “Like, ‘Pass Out’ has loads of different genres in it; from ska, to dub, to electro, to grime, RnB, and everything. I think it’s representative of our generation, where we listen to loads of music. We all have Muse and Jay Z in our record collection - so I don’t see why [the music we make] shouldn’t reflect that, you know?” When questioned further, Okogwu says he currently has Michael Bublé and Sleigh Bells on high rotation.

That varied taste has certainly rubbed off on his new album Discovery, which is due out in October. “It’s real eclectic,” he says. “There’s lots of different genres on there. I had a lot of fun making it, and I can’t wait for people to hear it.” Guests on Discovery include Swedish House Mafia, Kelly Rowland and Ellie Goulding, who won the BBC Sound of 2010 poll. “I feel like October is a great time to release an album,” continues Okogwu, “because it’s a good way to end the year and start the next. I feel like if I had put out an album sooner, the hysteria for the album might not translate. Now, everyone has held out for it and they’re anticipating it. I’m feeling good!”

Tinie Tempah is heading to Sydney early next year, for a huge show at the Hordern Pavilion with N*E*R*D, Chromeo and Boys Noize. “I can’t wait to come over to Australia. I’ve been buying loads of shorts and sandals because I’ve heard it’s gonna be really, really hot! And I’m ready to come and party - the festivals are going to be incredible.”

Who: Tinie Tempah With: N*E*R*D, Chromeo and Boys Noize Where: The Hordern Pavilion When: Friday January 7, 2011

Ben Folds & Nick Hornby Lonely Avenue. Get excited. By Jonno Seidler

W

hen I was eleven, in the archaic mIRC days of the Internet, I had this ePenpal from Norway. She used to write songs and send me the lyrics. Dark, depressing and penned in some form of pidgin English, they were actually pretty useless to an Australian tweenage troubadour - and in hindsight, mildly scarring too. But as it turns out, co-writing music via correspondence can actually be a very rewarding endeavour. I know this because Ben Folds (refresher: Rocking The Suburbs, “She’s a brick and I’m drowning slowly”, many ex-wives) has just completed an entire album worth of songs with words that aren’t his. Just like me, he has a penpal from a country where they speak a really bizarre form of English. It’s called England, and the man in question is Nick Hornby (refresher: About A Boy, kick-starting Jack Black’s career, many ex-wives…).

The fruits of their combined labour is Lonely Avenue; twelve songs, or ‘suites’ as Folds prefers to term them, composed equally by the two of them. “It was basically like a year of Christmas,” Folds tells me. “I’d wake up every morning to find new lyrics, and Nick would wake up the next morning on his side of the world with an mp3.”

Hey, Norwegian babe? Email me.

he’s recorded cover versions of his songs with university-aged a Capella groups, set up an album of fake songs with nonsensical lyrics to deter illegal downloaders, dropped his band and played the Sydney Opera House solo for two and a half hours - and produced ex-Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer. Though Hornby creatively contributed half of the project, it’s Folds who will be touring it. “He [Hornby] can sit in a room, write, tie it to the foot of a bird and send it out the window,” he jokes, “For me, I’ve got to go out there and manual labour this shit.” That means a new band, re-jigging the setlist and finding fresh blood to take with him. “I just had Kate MillerHeidke on tour with me for ages,” he says, “That was a blast. If I could permanently attach her to us, I would.”

So it seems pen-pal Ben is gonna have to take his tunes out to the world alone... At least he’ll be assured that once he gets to London, there’s a guy there who’ll write him a ripper review.

Who: Ben Folds & Nick Hornby What: Lonely Avenue is out now through Warner Music

“I always have a melody in my head for something that’s happened, an experience I’ve had,” Folds says. When speaking of the bizarre process of decoding words from someone else and putting them to music, he explains, “It’s kind of like interpretive dancing for me. I could do it every day, but I’m not sure it’d be any good.

The thing about Nick is that he’s given me lyrics and I’m then going down this path of discovery - which is great, because it keeps all that stale shit out of my head!” For the record, Folds and Hornby have actually met in person. They had dinner, physically, not virtually, and discussed the idea of collaborating. And it was a pretty natural fit; Hornby had lauded Folds’ tune ‘Smoke’ in his 2002 collection of essays 31 Songs, while Folds had spent much of an early tour reading High Fidelity. It was only a matter of time before the two made contact It was only a matter of time before the two made contact, but what Folds wasn’t expecting was how well the process would go. “Usually I get to the end of a record and I never want to do it again,” he laughs. “I know that I’ve fucked up say, 27%, but it’s in the bag and now I can just move on with it. But with this album, it takes the pressure off of me because all I really have to do is show someone how good their lyrics are.”

“It was basically like a year of Christmas.

I’d wake up every morning to find new lyrics, and Nick would wake up the next morning on his side of the world with an mp3... He has this amazing way of writing characters.”

Lyrically, Lonely Island is as diverse as Folds’ entire back catalogue. There’s the pretty (‘Claire’s Ninth’) and the profane (‘Levi Johnson Blues’) in equal amounts, but the most exciting part is hearing Folds sing what are, in essence, custommade musical short stories. ‘Levi Johnson’s Blues’, dedicated to Bristol Palin’s on-again off-again boyfriend, comes equipped with a line lifted straight from his MySpace profile: I’m a fuckin’ redneck, I live to hang out with the boys / Play some hockey, do some fishing, kill some moose / I like to shoot the shit and do some chillin’, I guess / Ya fuck with me and I’ll kick your ass. Conveniently, it sounds just like one of the more crass characters in Hornby’s novels - like Jess Crichton, the foul-mouthed teenage star of Folds’ favourite, A Long Way Down. “Two years ago, he didn’t even have a driver’s license,” he ruminates, over Johnson’s loss of innocence, “and now he’s all over the TV. I think inside the song, after you peel the humour away, is that intrinsic fear of growing up a bit too fast.” That’s what Folds loves about his online buddy; “He has this amazing way of writing characters. In A Long Way Down, I was so impressed that there was four characters who were [running] parallel the entire time, the thoughts in their head, the way they speak - it’s so convincing.”

Though it may be Nick Hornby’s first step into the world of bizarre side-projects, Folds has been doing this kind of stuff for years. To date BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 23

Dan Kelly Technicolour Dreams By Caitlin Welsh

D

an Kelly is known for a few things – his status as the nephew of the legendary Paul; his unruly, gravity-defying curls; and last but not least, his brand of peculiarly Australian, verbose pop song-stories. He is also (in)famous for his plaintive, R18+-for-coarse-language rant ‘Drunk On Election Night’ - an expletive-ridden acoustic catharsis for every indie-leaning leftie who died a little inside when John Howard was re-elected in 2004. Two very different elections later, Mr Dan Kelly calls me on the morning of the day those pesky independents are to declare their allegiances and settle the damn thing. I’m compelled to start by asking if he’d doused all the election-night suspense with quantities of booze again this year.

“Yeah, I actually got really loaded, I’m kind of ashamed,” he laughs. “I just got more and more depressed as the night went on. I started to become semi-hopeful – which I’ve sort of remained… It’s either going to be a really bad night, or a really good one.”

While some of the rage has subsided since Dan Kelly & The Alpha Males’ Drowning In The Fountain Of Youth, Kelly’s partiality to the colourful

has not. Newest LP Dan Kelly’s Dream is an epic concatenation of psychedelic adventures, packed with surreal imagery and postmodern wit - and song titles like ‘I Was A Classical DJ at Dandenong Station’ and ‘Bindi Irwin Apocalypse Jam’. There’s more going on everywhere than can be processed at first; part of the fun is to discover the layers like uncharted territory on each subsequent listen.

Well aware of the effect that the initial deluge of sounds and references has on the listener, Kelly says he hopes people will make the effort to explore the record. “It’s a funny thing, because I actually sat down with the intention to make it much more stripped-back this time,” he recalls. “But when I got to the end of that process I just thought it sounded a bit dreary. Mostly coming from me.

Like, just my vocal performance was a bit weird and… I’d written the songs before we decided on this stripped-back kind of thing, and in my head they’d become quite epic. So after about a month of recording and then trying to mix this record, we were trying to do it like loose and funky… almost like a Beatles out-takes record, or mid-period Bob Dylan. I just kind of went, ‘Oh, it’s boring!’ Like the band was really beautifully recorded, and the performances were there, but...”

“All these great things come with age, you know? You don’t have to be a hipster douche just because you’re shy.”

Kelly then tramped off to London to work with erstwhile Alpha Males guitarist Aaron “A. Ron” Cupples - and, in Dan’s words, they “coloured it in”. “It’s probably the antithesis of what you should do. When you do so many lyrics, you should just let the lyrics speak, but I couldn’t help it,” he says of the layered Technicolor sound of the final mix, so busy at times it’d make Brian Wilson blush. “I just wanted to make it sound like adventure-songs.

I think the next record I’ll have a shot at doing something a bit more stripped-back. Eventually I’ll crack it, I think. I don’t mind having the legacy of these sort of overdone, full-on, Technicolor records.

They work as a bit of a trilogy, I reckon, those first three.”

Strung together with Kelly’s clever lyrics and deceptively sweet falsetto stylings, the three albums feature a revolving-door backing-band that changes on each. 2004’s Sing The Tabloid Blues was “essentially me and The Drones,” Dan says of Gareth Liddiard, Christian Strysboch and Devastations’ Tom Carlyon. On 2006’s Drowning, Kelly was joined by Cupples, St Helens’ Lewis Boyes and Dan Luscombe (who would later join The Drones). For Dan Kelly’s Dream, the band features Augie March’s Dave Williams & Kiernan Box, and Indra Adams and Dallas Packard from Ground Components – with cameos from The Ukeladies and Dan Luscombe.

It’s an exhausting but talent-packed roster of collaboration and co-operation, which Kelly says lends each album and tour their own distinct character. “When someone went up for a guitar solo in an instrumental section in the last band, everybody went, you know? It was kinda full-on.

Whereas this one’s a bit funkier – I don’t mean in terms of like white-funk, it’s just all a bit more… held down. Even though it’s quite busy, I think it’s made it a bit more… widescreen. Because it’s got a really solid sort of core. And it’s allowed my lyrics to come out a bit more, too.”

Kelly has a curious way of pausing before the end of a sentence, as if ensuring that he’s chosen the right word. It’s very different to the glib, smoothtalking protagonist of Dream – Kelly informs me that every song is a product of much editing, re-writing, and “colouring-in”. He suggests that maybe something more natural is on the cards next. “I’d like to get into a process of writing more quickly and more intuitively. I’m in my 30s now – I didn’t really start writing songs until I was in my late 20s. I mean, I was always trying, but they were just awful,” he adds, with a bit of a self-deprecating chuckle. “[It’s about] trusting yourself and editing yourself a bit better, or knowing what’s good about what you’ve come up with.

“Before I was 30 I never really wrote a song, didn’t know how to stand up in front of a crowd and be entertaining,” he continues. “You get better at talking to girls, you get better at walking into a party and not caring what you look like - all these great things come from age, you know? You don’t have to be a hipster douche just because you’re shy.”

Who: Dan Kelly What: Dan Kelly’s Dream is out now With: Big Scary & Love Connection Where: The Annandale Hotel When: Saturday October 9 24 :: BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10

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Die! Die! Die! Still On Form By Oliver Downes

T

here are big things stirring across the Tasman, and we’re not just talking about seismic instability and tectonic plate grindage… Although with their new album Form, Dunedin punk-pop outfit Die! Die! Die! have supplied an appropriately abrasive soundtrack for any nonchalant stroll through the wreckage of downtown Christchurch.

Although more melodious than the almost icy sonic assault of 2007’s Promises, Promises, Form is still a furious dervish of an album.

Andrew Wilson builds richly layered guitars over Lachlan Anderson’s sturdy bass and Michael Prain’s unsettled yet relentless machine gun drumming. “We were throwing up names for what we were doing,” says Prain from Auckland, where the band are currently laying down some new songs in between tours of New Zealand (and the rest of the English speaking world.)

“And that [‘Form’] summed up the album best in a way, keeping things really simple. If you look up the definition of ‘form’ [as a verb] it’s like a new beginning, a new start – it’s quite a blocky record, it’s simple and to the point.”

Unlike their previous two efforts, which were recorded in a matter of days, with Form the band consciously tried to allow a bit more time in the studio to see what might develop.

Good friend, and The Skeptics alumnus, Nick Roughan provided a fruitful sounding board as producer. “We were never like, ‘Fuck, we want this really intense layered album,’” says Prain. “It was never super intentional. As we went along though, we were like, ‘This sounds cool, we should pursue it.’ It was sort of like one of those happy accidents listening back, we were all a bit shocked, like, ‘this definitely doesn’t sound as nasty as we thought it would!’”

While journalists tend to throw around adjectives like ‘relentless’, ‘blast’ or ‘onslaught’ in describing the Die! Die! Die! sound (as is our wont), Prain is bemused by the hyperbole. “I think our band has always been described as being a lot more outrageous and angry than we ever intended to be. Reviews use words like ‘jack hammers’, but we’ve never been about that; when people see us it becomes apparent that it’s not like that.”

On release, Form enjoyed an entire fortnight at #19 on the official NZ chart, which Prain describes as “kind of a weird thing for us!”

Playing no small part of the band’s gradual ascent into the public eye is their internationally cemented reputation for delivering live shows that leave punters dazed, sweat-drenched and plastered with big happy grins. “We want to take different angles on how we do it,” says Prain. “For our last NZ tour, we took our own PA with us and just set up in warehouses and stuff. They were really wild and fun and cool; we really like mixing it up and doing that sort of thing. It’s a lot easier and not as contrived as some other things.”

With a recent move to iconic Dunedin record label Flying Nun streamlining the operational side of things (“they’ve still got the same really good ethos about music, which we can totally relate to. It’s good to be releasing on a label that we’ve always identified with,” comments Prain), album number four or possibly a 7” single is in the oven, and tours to Australia, the US and the UK have been lined up. Die! Die! Die! seem to have their feet firmly on the accelerator. “We haven’t changed - the way people receive the band and react to it have,” says Prain. “It’s an exciting time to be doing stuff.”

Who: Die! Die! Die! What: Form is out October 1 on Flying Nun, through Remote Control Where: The Grand Hotel, Wollongong / Oxford Art Factory When: October 7 / October 8

Zeahorse A Rocking Horse By Brent Balinski

F

or music so gloriously coarse and unrefined, Zeahorse are a bunch of surprisingly polite young men. They date their history as a band back a few years to Southern Cross Uni at Lismore, where vocalist Morgan Anthony and guitarist Max Foskett met as audio engineering students. Considering that most of the band is between 22 and 25 years of age, they draw on a set of surprising influences, too. “A lot of the post-hardcore stuff from the 80s – like Fugazi, and I guess Jesus Lizard, and a bunch of instrumental bands,” says Anthony, of the bands which inform the sound of Zeahorse.

“And psychedelic stuff like Primal Scream; prog from the 70s,” he adds - before suggesting that talking about this sort of thing unfairly pigeonholes what he and his bandmates are trying to achieve. No band is ever completely thrilled when the question of influences comes up; you can hear post-punk noise like Fugazi, Sonic Youth or Mudhoney in Zeahorse, but there’s a wide dynamic range, a catchiness and a groove stuck in there, too. It’s not for nothing that they earned a support slot for Them Crooked Vultures earlier in the year.

Seeing Zeahorse live can be baffling. The combined noise from Anthony and baritone guitarist Foskett is so wailing - so obtrusively, skull-crackingly thick - that you’d swear it’d drown out an illegal drag race on a runway between two A380 Airbuses. The rhythm section of Ben Howell (bass) and Crendall (drums) gives body and structure to this omni-directional guitar yawp, and manages to shift tempos and time signatures in a way that that makes you pat your stomach and mutter, ‘I’ve never felt so seasick at a venue before.’ The whole thing buzzes with an intense energy and meatiness, like a prize-winning bull barging its way through an electrified fence.

At least one reviewer has made light of the array of effects pedals used by Anthony and Foskett to

create their aural barrage. Sure the axemen’s feet are busy, but there’s also a lot of thought given to the way guitar parts fit together. “He plays lots of dry riffs, which allows me to use a lot of delay and create a bit of space,” says Anthony of his co-guitarist. “Otherwise we become like a garage band I guess. It’s a bit limiting in a way: you get pinpointed in that genre of garage. We’re not incredible players, but we’re canny enough to make [our own sound].”

Anthony says that these days they’re working on doing more with fewer gadgets. “We started out with a lot of effects; Max had probably double the effects and he really kind of culled them down. Same with me - I used to do a lot,” he says. “Now we’re progressing into a different phase - we’re trying to attain some sort of quality instead of just hiding behind effects, which a lot of bands tend to do.”

This year has been busy for Zeahorse, with frequent touring off a self-titled EP released in February. Anthony describes the band’s determination to win over punters in terms of push and pull. “I guess the fact is that you don’t get much help. A band that shines on a major label has a ‘push’ approach, in that their music is pushed onto lots of markets in a way,” he says.

“Our music is kind of working on a pull basis – we’re pulling tunes and longevity in a way, because our music isn’t commercial. I guess you have to work for your fans - which is the way it should be.”

Who: Zeahorse With: Bridezilla, WIM, Arkestra, Dark Bells, Psychonanny & The Babyshakers, Old Men Of Moss Mountain and heaps more Where: Double Dragon II @ Oxford Art Factory When: Friday October 1

Sage Francis After Life By Mikey Carr

S

age Francis’ art is disconnected from the ghettoes and street life often seen as a hip hop prerequisite. Forging his own style amongst the crucible of the slam poetry and freestyle battle scene, his rapid fire lyricism and intense, vivid imagery revolves around a world of involved metaphors and heavy symbolism. His 2002 album Personal Journals showcased an artist unafraid of laying out his imperfections for all to see, attacking his personal issues with a vitriolic delivery. 2005’s A Healthy Distrust, and 2007’s Human The Death Dance were further explorations of this style; with lyrics that found new targets in politics and society, Sage built himself a reputation as an MC dedicated to finding new ground.

With such a long track record for experimentation, you’d think that people would’ve gotten over his genre-bending by the time he released his latest LP, the somewhat religiously-focused Li(f)e. But apparently not.

“I still caught flack from this record, where people were pretending like they should expect another boom-bap record from me... and I don’t know why,” Sage tells me with a laugh.

To be fair, Li(f)e marked a particularly large step away from conventions – even by Sage’s standards. Choosing to involve musicians who’d never worked with hip hop artists,

including Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla and Amelie soundtrack composer Yann Tierson, Sage wanted to push his music and himself even further. “We wanted to have a unique sound, one that separated Li(f)e from previous albums,” he explains. “We understood that it might push away some of my listeners, or the core hip hop base… but for my own sake and for my own sense of reward, I wanted to do that.”

The album also sees Sage softening his vocal delivery; the angst and rage of his early albums raises its head far less often on Li(f)e. “It’s not as in your face, it’s not as angsty - it really has more of a tempered conversational tone,” he admits. “It might be because of older age, it might be just that I’m adapting to the music I’m performing over.”

Whatever the reason for the change in tact, it’s undeniably related to Sage’s steadfast refusal to fall into a creative rut. He tells me he never wants to respond to pressure from fans or critics to make the same record over and over again. “But it’s scary to change things up; as artists we work so hard to get that initial respect and appreciation - and then who’s dumb enough to throw that away and start all over again? Me,” he says, as we both laugh.

Importantly, Sage’s relentless experimentation isn’t driven by a distaste for his early work -

when it comes to live performance, he revels in revisiting the past. “I’m going through my whole catalogue, I’m doing stuff from the new album as well as my first album, and I like to do that. I show respect to my old material, I don’t diss it, I don’t say ‘oh that shit’s whack because it’s old,’” he says. “I actually like my old material just as much as my fans do.”

Currently on a tour which will see him in Sydney next week, this may be the last chance any of us will get to see Sage for a while; he’s recently announced an indefinite touring hiatus, effective after this last run of shows. He explains he needs to stay centred

and stationary for a while, to work on different music and focus on his home life. “Everything is kind of falling apart in my personal life and I’m just sick of that, it’s taking its toll,” he says.

“I want to try and figure out something new for myself, so we’ll see what happens. I’ve got a lot of things planned, and I look forward to pursuing those in the next year.”

Who: Sage Francis What: Li(f)e is out now Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Sunday October 17

“I was street smart, but unfortunately the street was Rodeo Drive” - CARRIE FISHER 26 :: BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10

SOUND SUMMIT SEPTEMBER 30TH – OCTOBER 4TH 2010 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA

A FESTIVAL OF INNOVATIVE AND INDEPENDENT MUSIC FEATURING UNIQUE LOCAL NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS PRESENTERS AND SPEAKERS SOUND SUMMIT DESCENDS ON NEWCASTLE TO EXPLORE CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION THROUGH INDEPENDENT MUSIC

PERFORMING

GROUPER (USA) + JASON FORREST (USA)

SONGS + SCATTERED ORDER + BLANK REALM SAM HAMILTON AND THE MYSTIC DISCO (NZ)

BARE GRILLZ + SOUNDCLASH SHOWCASE + MORE SPEAKING & PRESENTING ABC ART NATION + APRA-AMCOS + AUSTRALIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS THE BRAG + [CUBISTEFFECTS] + CURSE OV DIALECT + CYCLIC DEFROST FBI + NEW WEIRD AUSTRALIA + RENEW NEWCASTLE + VOX CYCLOPS + MORE

SOUNDSUMMIT.COM.AU

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THE BRAG GUIDE TO: NATIONAL YOUNG WRITERS FESTIVAL: Zines, comics, blogging, screenwriting, poetry, spoken word, hip hop, journalism, autobiography, comedy, songwriting and prose... OH MY! It’s another NYWF...

BEST OF THE REST

In 1997 a young Novocastrian called Marcus Westbury founded This Is Not Art, by pulling together several existing student and youth media festivals, and adding a few new ones. He took the name from a prominent piece of graffiti on the side of a building. More than a decade – and many hands, hearts and heads later – the graffiti is gone, but TINA is grown into a thriving hub for discussions, workshops, panels, gigs and parties, incorporating five festivals: Sound Summit, Electrofringe, National Young Writers’ Festival, Crack Theatre Festival, and Critical Animals. Almost every event is FREE, making TINA not only the largest but the most delicious feast for creatives that we can think of. We’ve attempted to chart a little bit of that for you in the following pages the rest is up to you. So get cracking! We’ll see you there...

Friday October 1

Live Readings: Women of Letters 7-9pm @ The Royal Exchange (34 Bolton St) This Melbourne-based series of events, created and curated by Age writers Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire, brings together a diverse range of strong female talent to celebrate the beautiful lost art of letter-writing.

With: Anna Barnes, Krissy Kneen, Anna Krien, Marieke Hardy, Michaela McGuire.

Saturday October 2

WALK ARTBOUT

By Dee Jefferson For the first time this year, This Is Not Art festival will incorporate a public art ‘tour’, under the banner walkARTbout. Perhaps it’s strange that no-one has done this before – after all, TINA takes its name from a large piece of graffiti that used to sit on the side of the Latec Building (since demolished). walkARTbout was the brainchild of TINA Coordinator Simone Sheridan, as a project that would not only showcase talented local street artists, but also provide a ‘legal’ solution to Newcastle’s distinct lack of street art (the project was actually developed in collaboration with the City Council and property developer GPT). Curating the project, and wrangling the amazing line-up of artists, is Newcastle photographer Carli Hyland.

Workshop: Staple Manor, hosted by…

11am-6.30pm @ Staple Manor (Pan (Pan Building, 5 Auckland St) St) You might want to start your day by pulling up a cushion to write, draw or chat alongside performance poet Mandy Beaumont (the artist behind this year’s large-scale poetry installation); OR you could drop in throughout the day, to experience a different host. Take your pick from: comic diarist Chris Downes and graphic novelist Kirsten Reed (12.302.30pm); zine-making stalwart Vanessa Berry (2.30-4.30pm); or zine-maker, video artist, and producer Pip Stafford (4.30-6.30pm).

Sunday October 3

Panel: I Should Have Read That By Now 1-2.30pm @ The Great Northern Hotel (89 Scott St) How many of us have claimed to have read Dostoyevsky or Proust but haven’t gotten further than the blurb? Fortified by lunch and beer, artists fess up about the books they really should have read by now, but haven’t.

With: Benjamin Law, Christopher Currie, Antonia Hayes, Kirsten Reed, Lin Tan. Activity: Spelling Bee 7-9pm @ The View Factory (Cnr Hunter St/ Telford St, Newcastle East) More adverbs! More tricky consonants! More explosions! The NYWF Spelling Bee arena is open again for brave gladiators of the English language. Will the reigning champion defend his title, or will you wrest it from his grasp?

With: Benjamin Law, Michaela McGuire AND YOU!

Monday October 4

Activity: Speed Scrabble 2-3.30pm @ Lowlands Bowling Club (Dawson Street, Cooks Hill) Gather your beer, your vocab and your business cards in this speed networking event featuring the game every writer loves. Move from board to board and word to word as you chat to your opponent about love, life and the festival that was.

With: host Nick Rippon, and YOU! What: National Young Writers Festival When: September 30 – October 4 Where:: Various venues, Newcastle Where More: youngwritersfestival.org

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Where and how can we find the art!?

The works are spread across Newcastle City from Cooks Hill to Newcastle East. There is a map available at festival sites which marks out the various locations and artists, but as you walk through the city you’re bound to stumble across these wonderful treasures. There are several artists who will be painting live, so be sure to pick up a map and check out when they’ll be around!

What is the mission behind walkARTbout?

Newcastle has many public spaces that are overlooked and often left in decay, so the mission behind walkARTbout was to produce a diverse visual arts project by inviting local and national artists to respond and engage with these sites in an interactive and positive way.

Party: American Gothic Ball 8-11.30pm @ Festival Club (167-169 King St) Weird tales of deepest darkest America; Elvis fighting soul-sucking mummies; old bluesmen meeting the Devil at the crossroads; Cthulhu in Deadwood Deadwood;; Swamp Thing meets Sheriff Buck. Brush up on your Joe R. Lansdale and Cherie Priest, put on your cowboy hat and neckerchief and have yourself a rollicking occult time.

Shop: Sunday Zine Fair 11am-4pm @ King Street Car Park (cnr King St and Thorne St) Ease out of your hangover and into your Sunday at the annual zine fair & artists market; swap goodies, have a natter (and remember your coin purse). Food stalls, readings, impromptu collaborations and the smell of fresh photocopies will lift your heart and mind.

Stencil paste-ups by Ben Foster

Dan O’Toole (a.k.a. ears)

VOICE WORKS

By Lucy Fokkema “Writing is like trying to make a pet out of a wild elephant,” says Sam Cooney, writer, reviewer and member of Voiceworks’ editorial committee. “Reading is the opposite; it’s pure hedonism.”

Writing might not be the easiest career path, but Cooney isn’t about to give up anytime soon. In fact, he’s getting ready to present workshops and panels at the National Young Writers’ Festival (NYWF).

Under the warm and loving umbrella of This Is Not Art, the NYWF gathers together young and innovative writers, from both new and more traditional forms, including (take a deep breath) zines, comics, blogging, screenwriting, poetry, spoken word, hip hop, journalism, autobiography, comedy, songwriting and prose. The festival gives them a place to present their work, share ideas, learn about the industry and meet likeminded readers and writers.

Featuring new writing by Australian writers under 25, Voiceworks is a national quarterly (remember those?) and a warm, snuggly fit for the NYWF. That’s probably why its editorial committee are involved in a good chunk of the

FEATURING: Who: Dan O’Toole a.k.a. ears What: Aerosol/painting Where: Morgan St. cement wall More: earstotheground.net LIVE: Friday after 12pm Who: David Hampton What: Reverse graffitti Where: Church Park wall, King St More: renewnewcastle.org/projects Who: Trevor Dickinson What: Illustration/paste up Where: ‘Welcome to Newcastle’ back wall, 66 King St. More: trevordickinson.com

How did you curate it?

There was an ‘expressions of interest’ callout made a few months prior to the festival but mostly artists got a hold of it via word of mouth, and approached us in that way. I also selected a few prominent local artists who are active in the Newcastle street art scene.

Generally speaking, the locals know how public space feels in Newcastle, and really jumped at the idea of being able to invigorate various sites around town.

Who: Jason Hatcher What: Illustration/paste up Where: throughout Hunter Street Mall More: yearoftheshorts.wordpress.com

program, sitting on panels as well as running hands-on workshops for young writers.

something to say about the state of ‘young’ writing,” says Cooney.

“We do this every year, and are the only people who put on events that get people actually writing,” says Cooney. “We think this is über important, as it gives NYWF attendees a chance, even if it’s just an hour or three, to put pen to paper amongst the hectic scurrying about that is the festival.”

“Voiceworks exists to give a leg up to young writers who might normally be dismissed by other organisations, people and places. The magazine allows writers to practice submitting work for publication and it allows editors to hone their skills. It gives everyone a more moderate experience than being flung in the deep end and told to kick,” explains Cooney.

“Although there is something to be said for the deep end.”

Covering ‘Writing about Place’, ‘Character and Voice’ and the intriguingly bad-ass topic ‘Breaking the Rules’, the writing workshops are each presented by three “edcommers”.

“We will be looking to go outside normal, linear writing, pushing instead to get the participants to write in entirely new and untested ways,” explains Cooney.

And the panels don’t look bad either – Voiceworks leads you on an intellectual frolic through ‘Ethical Magazine Making’ and the fine line between idealism and survival; the future of writers’ centres, and whether drugs/vices in general help or hinder writers (basically the Jack Kerouac vs. Isaac Asimov stand-off we’ve all been waiting for).

At the NYWF, the Voiceworks team take their experiences as editors, writers and readers of “young” writing, and use them as a springboard for discussion. “We see such volumes of writing at Voiceworks (hundreds and hundreds of submissions every month from all around Australia) that we feel we have

Who: Josh White What: Plastic toy soldiers Where: United Servicemen’s Club, etc.

On-site/live: Fri & Sat 7-9pm

AND MORE...

Find the Voiceworks editorial committee at: Panel: I’m a writer but nothing’s ever happened to me.

Saturday October 2, 2.30-4pm Pan Building (5 Auckland Street) Panel: Vices Sunday October 3, 4-5.30pm Staple Manor (within Pan Building) Workshop: Breaking The Rules Saturday October 2, 4-5.30pm Pan Building And more…

Follow us on

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HIGHLIGHTS

CRACK THEATRE FESTIVAL

In 2007, National Young Writers Festival co-director Nic Low started Crack, as a performance initiative designed to create disruption, and shake up the NYWF proceedings.

Since then, like all good little monsters, it has broken free of its parental shackles and run amok in the world, as a Festival Unto Itself. Last year – the first Crack Theatre Festival – was the throbbing, sweaty epicentre of This Is Not Art: where else were you going to find nudity, paint fights and zombies - in the same space as a discussion on theatre criticism? To the right, we profile a couple of theatre collectives whose shows you should not miss this year; below, we look at the ‘best of the rest’.

Friday October 1

Performance: Short and Shit 2-3pm @ The Crackhouse (102 King Street) Playwrights! Dig out your worst mistakes and most embarrassing failures from the bottom of your script drawer and enter them into Crack’s Worst Short Play Competition. Directed by Laura Scrivano, the Crack Performance Ensemble will attempt to breathe life into your ghastly mistakes and the most pompous, derivative, angst-ridden drivel will win A PRIZE!

JOIN IN

Panel: Theatre For Social Change 4-5pm @ The Crackhouse If you read last week’s feature on their new work Namatjira, you’ll know that the team behind Ngapartji Ngapartji have achieved great successes in this area, and we’re angling to hear creative producer Alex Kelly talk about their process. Other heavyweights include Brenna Hobson (you know, the one who runs Belvoir), Jane Gronow, editor of Lowdown, a magazine that covers youth performing arts, and playwright Van Badham who’s also a totally famous author now. Far from being an idealistic love-in, it looks like this panel is going to interrogate how realistic using theatre for social change really is, and whether or not it’s just a catchier way to get grants than saying “because I want to”.

Saturday October 2

Applespiel’s Morning Commercial Radio Breakfast Show 10-11am @ Lodge of Lounge (The Crackhouse) Grab a coffee (you need it) and head along to the Crack Den to see the fellas (and lady!) from Wollongong performance collective Applespiel (Snail Piece; Appleloft) create a live radio show before your very eyes; make it your mission to get on air. Apparently this live performance work is a sideways glance at the ways we create and receive information… But if you ask us, it sounds too much like fun.

PICKS

Workshop: Kickstart Your Art With Next Wave 12-1pm @ Lodge of Instruction (The Crackhouse) If you’re a contemporary artist of any persuasion, then you should probably be applying to perform in Melbourne’s Next Wave festival. Kick Start is their development wing and is opening applications for young artists, providing cash, project development workshops, critical feedback, and all kinds of creative and logistical support to help them create mind-blowing new projects. This workshop will help you nail that application, so it’s you going to Melbourne next year, not your dumb mate. With Ulanda Blair, from Next Wave.

Sunday October 3

Party: Year 12 Formal 6-11pm @ The Crackhouse The best part of CTF last year was this Sunday night extravaganza. The idea is to create an environment of mayhem where the audience, immersed in the chaos, allow themselves to take the brakes off and let themselves go. Last year featured nude modelling, a choose-your-ownadventure zombie game, dance music composed entirely on MIDI, and peaked with a pillow fight between the two organisers which left the entire venue covered in feathers. It was absolutely magic. We can only imagine that this year, with everyone dressed up in second-hand suits, trying to impress their high-school sweethearts, this will be unmissable once again.

What: Crack Theatre Festival When: September 30 – October 3 Where: Various venues around Newcastle CBD More: cracktheatrefestival.com

THE RIMMING CLUB

By Simon Binns Do you find yourself unable to engage with the lofty theatrical productions that Sydney’s main stages love to program?

Would you rather laugh at the theatre than learn? If you answered yes to either of these questions then Sisters Grimm are the theatre company for you. Self-professed purveyors of “gross-out high-camp trashtheatre”, the Melbourne-based duo are bringing their newest show, The Rimming Club, to this year’s Crack Theatre Festival.

“We started the company in 2006 as a reaction to what we perceived as being heavy-handed, very polemic and didactic theatre being made in Melbourne at the time,” says writer/performer Declan Greene, who co-founded Sisters Grimm with “partner in grime” Ash Flanders. “We tried to make theatre about the things we love… John Waters movies and Jackass; and we wanted to put a queer bent on these things.”

The pair met during rehearsals for one of Greene’s show (which he says was “an absolute crock of shit”). “Ash said he’d never work with me again because I’m a terrible person,” he laughs, but a year later the pair met again by accident, under happier circumstances. The result has been a DIY theatre company that is just as often seen in a car park or a lounge room as on a stage.

“We tend to do our plays in non-traditional theatre spaces” muses Declan, “it’s a lot cheaper, but it also means you’re pretty much building a theatre in these ridiculous, non-practical spaces.”

Their love of “live-ness” keeps the pair interested in theatre, but their shows are often inspired by film. “We’re both film nuts” says Greene, “we watch a lot of movies, then sit down at a computer and try and make each other laugh - and whatever works goes in [to the script], and we go into production.”

Their latest show is an entirely different beast altogether, however. The Rimming Club is actually the second in a series of one-off shows where the pair write a play based on a pun of a main stage show.

The first in the series When Lorraine Stops Falling (based on Andrew Bovell’s epic – When The Rain Stops Falling) was performed in a friend’s lounge room and

The Rimming Club, based on Hannie Rayson’s The Swimming Club (which showed at Melbourne Theatre Company earlier this year), is set to be just as vibrant, featuring everyone from drag queens to performance artists. “We’ve got about 14 really great performers from Melbourne” says Greene excitedly. All that’s left is to come up with some lines for them to learn.

“We’ll develop characters we think it would be funny seeing these people perform…

try and weld everything together into a script, then we’ll drive down to TINA, have eight hours to rehearse and then put it on,” says Greene with only a hint of doubt in his voice...

What: The Rimming Club When: Saturday October 2, from 7-8pm.

Where: The Grand Lodge (inside The Crackhouse, 102 King Street) More: sistersgrimm.com.au / cracktheatrefestival.com

THEATRE F OR Y OUR S ENSES.

SHH: BLIND AS YOU SEE IT

By Nicholas Hose A psychedelic feast for the senses awaited audiences at last Saturday night’s performance of Blind as you see it. Playing as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival, Blind as you see it is the creation of Michal Imielski and his Shh theatre company and could well prove to be the crowd favourite and enfant terrible of this year’s Fringe.

close-up magic. She appeared to enjoy the reactions of her family more than the show.

After the show she told me she lost her sight at 18. She thought her life was over but gradually she learnt to be independent again.”

Blind as you see it is a visceral feast inviting audiences the rare opportunity to take delight in a world of magical sensory delights. The central motif is a 25-year-old woman who is gradually loosing her sight, trapped inside a catacomb of Imielski’s making.

Much like the silent films of a bygone era, Blind as you see it catapults audiences to a different realm with its distinct lack of words; instead, a litany of devices leave the audience in sensory overload. “Creating works without words is a bit like creating visual poems,” Imielski suggests – “not every performer can do it; one has to be skilled in many different disciplines of theatre’.

Established in 2003 as a way for Imielski and fellow Macquarie University graduates Misha Baka, Carly Dawson and Lisa Bracken to continue their exploration of hybrid theatre practices, Shh is hard to pigeonhole. “We are not a puppet company, but we do work with puppets and objects. We are not a physical company, yet our works have a lot of physical theatre. Not a dance, yet we do work with a lot of movement, clowning and magic,” says Imielski. Magic? “Amazing magic! Candles floating, chairs running, little things appearing and disappearing.”

Self-devised, interactive theatre with a touch of magic is something Michal Imielski and Shh are renowned for. Public Bunnies, which debuted at PACT in 2009, took the form of two extended physical theatre sequences set to the backdrop of a multilayered soundscape in a self-constructed village where vagrants, gypsies and priests held court with the audience.

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gathered together a bunch of their favourite artists for a truly ‘ensemble’ evening of mayhem.

What: Blind as you see it When: Thursday September 30, 7-8pm; Friday October 1, 4-5pm When it came to the inspiration for their current show, Blind as you see it, Imielski didn’t have to look far. “I was inspired by a woman I met at a restaurant while doing

Where: The Playhouse (within The Civic Theatre, 375 Hunter Street).

More: cracktheatrefestival.com

Electrofringe | Sound Summit Crack Theatre Festival | Critical Animals National Young Writers’ Festival

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Sound Summit is the arm of This Is Not Art which deals directly with innovative, independent and experimental music, from Australia and beyond. Five days of panels, presentations and performances, this year’s Sound Summit was curated by Andrew Tuttle, Chris Hearn and Kirsty Brown (former editor of The Brag, ahem).

“It’s important for us to keep an ear to the ground, and have an understanding of what discussions are currently being had about the music industry,” Kirsty says of her role.

She and her co-directors have been busy since February not only finding innovative new music to showcase, but programming panels, workshops and presentations. This year, you’ll be hearing industry experts discuss issues like the continuing shift towards digital versus the passion of the

Outside of the panels and performances (of which you can read more about below), one of the most pertinant public discussions is set to be ‘The Grand Debate – Arbiters of Taste’. Andrew Ramadge from Mess+Noise (and the ex-Pop In Print columnist for The Brag), Fenella Kernebone (triple j’s Sound Lab), Elmo Keep (The Internet Is Punk), Stuart Buchanan (New Weird Australia), Adam Gauci (Curse Ov Dialect) and the always controversial Everett True will be talking about the relationship between the music industry and its critics - both professional and armchair. They’ll be asking who the real Australian arbiters of taste are, and why they think they matter.

“The debate aims to unpack why more mainstream media avenues aren’t doing a better job of music criticism,” says Kirsty, who’ll be facilitating the discussion. “We’ll be talking about why the bar has been

By Bridie Connellan

Famous for his work under the cloaks of Cock Rock Disco, Nightshifters and the more incongruously chosen moniker of DJ Donna Summer, Forrest’s eclectic work with beats, rock licks, rhythm shifts, wondrous explosions of sound and outrageous loop breaks has made him one of the most innovatively noisy electronic artists cutting loose. Atlanta-born and Berlin-based, the laptop-toting DJ has a penchant for hilariously outrageous party sets, which he’ll be bringing to the Cambridge Hotel on Friday for the Sound Summit showcase.

“I really love the multifaceted nature of audio, because a sound and song can represent so many different things all at once,” he tells me. “It’s like an onion.” Almost irrationally difficult to define, the Cock Rock

GROUPER

By Kate Hennessy Following her U.S tour supporting Animal Collective last year, Portland-based ‘textural songwriter’ Grouper says she never checked to see if her MySpace had spiked after the string of huge, sold out shows. “I have to admit I don’t know,” says Grouper, aka Liz Harris. “I don’t log onto MySpace anymore. I don’t really want to pay attention to that kind of thing.” When we talk, I’m relieved at how chatty and accessible Harris is. As Grouper, she subsumes herself amongst reverb, echoes and delay, with a fragile, ethereal voice emerging from the beautiful murk - hard to pin down, impossible to translate. I wasn’t sure that she’d want to talk shop at all.

“I don’t want to get into a cycle where I’m motivated by relying on what other people think about my music,” she explains further.

“I want it to remain true to what comes naturally, what feels honest. It seems that when artists start feeding off attention from an audience, it can taint that process.” In her words, Harris is not a natural performer –

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Other highlights will be the fuzz pedal making workshop with Christian Moraga from [cubist effects], ‘The Music Industry 101’ panel for up-and-coming musicians, and ‘Newcastle: A Cultural Exploration’ – an in-depth look at “one of the most interesting emerging music scenes in the country right now. Head along and see Bare GRillz, ii, Polyfox, Sam Hamilton, No Anchor, Blank Realm and a stack more incredible musicians play too. See y’all there!”

What: Sound Summit @ TINA When: September 30 – October

influences. “I HATED the term mash-up when it came out, mainly because people wanted to make me some sort of poster-child for it,” he says. “My music was all about sampling, and exploring the various ideas that are possible within that, while the nature of the mash-up was very static.” Forrest decries the pigeon-hole, saying his music is more about crafting the aesthetics of electronics than, for instance, some catchy fusion of punk and disco. “I guess what made [my music] always a bit more experimental was that I was always trying to use sampling to show off more artistic ideas, rather than simply making a party tune for drunk college kids,” he says. “But please don’t get me wrong - I LOVE drunken college kids, and I’m all about making stomping dance floor tracks too. Just maybe not exclusively.”

JASON FORREST Jason Forrest is honourably trying to explain his latest mix to me: “I’m sort of an A.D.D type dude, so while this mix is pretty prog/ psyche, the next one might be Japanese gabber or even some sort of more smooth UK house music.” Right, wonderful… At least we didn’t try to define breakcore.

set so low, and how Australian music is infinitely better than a handful of hype bands.” The inclusion of Everett True on the panel is set to be especially provocative: “His biggest claim to fame is introducing Kurt and Courtney to each other – but more recently, he’s become notorious for his scathing criticisms of the Australian music industry,” Kirsty says, diplomatically side-stepping his continuing attacks against the relevance and future of, uhhh, streetpress… “Everett has had some run-ins with the other panelists over the years – but generally, I think people agree with his basic idea that the standards of music journalism and musical output really need to be looked at more critically for things to push forward.”

Disco website opts for this explanation: “ass-moving mass of huge kicks, Hardstyle synths, nu-style DnB breaks, old-school rave, booty, techno and yes, Breakcore!!!”

Fairly straightforward, really.

Most recently, Forrest conjured a special D&D mix for Sound Summit - a swirling fury of psychedelia and multi-faceted intrigue.

“The mix is sort of an introduction to my influences in a way,” he explains. “My live act and music is way more electronic, with the beats pushing forward a bit more. But yeah, it’s true that I’ve gone a bit more arty, and am less ashamed of a proximity to more - ugh - “cosmic” sounds of late.”

A purveyor of ‘mash-up’ or ‘bastard pop’, the man is still considered a contemporary experimental artist, maintaining a breakcore love of industrial sounds and techno-

she’d rather observe from the sidelines. So the limelight of the Animal Collective tour must have been a little overwhelming... The band was touring on the back of freakishly popular psych-folk zeitgeist Merriweather Post Pavilion; Harris says even they were “a little surprised” at the worldwide fervour.

Grouper, essentially, is mood music. Listen, properly, and there’s no option but to descend into a blurred, subterranean, muted landscape; a gentle environment, but also a terribly unsettling one. Wrapping words around Grouper’s sound has presented a challenge to music writers, commonly solved through imagery. Sam Lewis from UK website Drowned In Sound, for example, takes readers on a journey through impressionism.

He draws a parallel between impressionist art (“the colours start to melt into one another; figures become absorbed into the landscape itself”) and Grouper’s music. It’s apt. “What Harris seems to comprehend better than most is the power … in becoming lost in the colours, rather than definitively outlined,” he says. “These are songs that recognise the fact that in the shadows, anything is possible.”

In 2008, Grouper’s LP Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill was lauded by Pitchfork

Jason Forrest will be appearing in discussion with Sound Summit co-director Andrew Tuttle at the Renew Newcastle HQ, at 2:30 on Friday. He’ll also be talking on the ‘Outside The Square’ panel at 12pm on Sunday, about how to spread your music by playing outside the rules. And when asked if we can harbour expectations of some terrible/great dancing from his gig at Sound Summit, he answers in capitals: “YES, YOU CAN.” What: Jason Forrest Where: Sound Summit/TINA Showcase @ The Cambridge Hotel With: Tantrums, Scattered Order, No Anchor (QLD) and more When: Friday October 1, from 7:30

with an 8.1, although largely for Harris’ decision to strip away much of the “effectsladen gauze” of her earlier works. These days, Harris says, the murk is back. “Yeah, it may be a little bit more washed out. But although it’s hazier and murkier, I’m also doing sparser, more minimal arrangements within that.”

Grouper performs at the Saturday night TINA showcase gig, as part of Sound Summit. She’s also sitting on the ‘Pop Extender’ panel at 4:30 on Saturday – discussing how experimental music can adopt pop tactics. Harris asks me what the weather will be like; of particular interest, thanks to her backpack size. “I bring so much gear but I don’t want to check any, so every time I tour there’s always the debate of what one outfit to bring…”

What: Grouper What: TINA Showcase @ Cambridge Hotel With: Songs, Blank Realm, Potato Master and more When: Saturday October 2, from 7:30pm More: October 9 @ The Sandringham

Friday October 1

Panel: Grow Your Product 2 - 3:30pm @ TPI Auditorium (131 King St) With: Dan Lewis (Q Music, Making Hey!), Emily McDaniel (Refraction), Joanne Kee (Sound Travellers, Ceres Solutions), Jon Tjhia (Paper Radio, ii) What to do when the initial capital for your project runs out, or barely existed in the first place?

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OVERVIEW

By Steph Harmon

record collector (‘Reinventing The Obsolete’), the (non)relationship between the New Zealand and Australian music industry (‘Draining The Tasman’), and new ways to get the word out about your creative product (‘Outside The Square’). The diverse line-up of speakers comes from all corners of the industry - from the ABC to FBi; from Everett True to Fenella Kernebone; from Cyclic Defrost to the Australia Council for the Arts.

SOUND SUMMIT

Presentation: Instant Expert - Ableton Undead 4 - 5pm @ Renew Newcastle HQ With: Ambrose Chapel (aka Ian Rogers of No Anchor) Ambrose Chapel will be presenting and releasing software patches built over the past year, while exploring the aesthetics of drone/doom metal.

Performance: Ohm Sweet Nom 5:30 -7:30pm @ The Great Northern With: Sam Hamilton and the Mystic Disco (NZ), DJ Raceless (Curse Ov Dialect; Vic), Avant Hard

Saturday October 2

Performance: Saturday Matinee 1 - 2:30pm @ This Is Not Art festival club (267-269 King St) With: ii (Vic), Polyfox Panel: The Grand Debate – Arbiters of Taste 2.30 - 4pm @ This Is Not Art festival club With: Adam Gauci (Curse Ov Dialect), Andrew Ramadge (mess+noise, news.com.au), Elmo Keep (The Internet Is Punk), Everett True (Collapse Board), Fenella Kernebone (ABC Art Nation, triple j Sound Lab) Examining the unique relationship musicians have with critics - whether professional, or armchair. Who are the guardians of ‘taste’, why do they matter and how much can they effect?

Sunday October 3

Panel: Outside The Square 12 - 1:30pm @ TPI Auditorium With: Ian Rogers (No Anchor, Ambrose Chapel), Emily Hasselhoof (Baaddd, Hoofkake), Jason Forrest (Cock Rock Disco, DJ Donna Summer; USA), Stuart Buchanan (New Weird Australia) How you can forge your own niche and spread the word by playing outside the rules.

Workshop: Instant Expert - Build A Noise-Making Fuzz Pedal From Scratch 1 – 5pm: TAFE Worksheds (Hunter TAFE, 590-608 Hunter St) With: Christian Moraga ([cubisteffects]) and YOU! Christian Moraga will teach a class of n00bs how to build, solder and wire their very own fuzz pedal from scratch – before they play with and keep their very own creation! ($20 registration – email info@ soundsummit.com.au) Panel: The Indie Rock Canon 2 - 3:30pm @ TPI Auditorium With: Andrew Ramadge (mess+noise, news.com. au), Everett True (Collapse Board), Lucy Hearn (MySpace music), Marcus Whale (Collarbones, Scissor Lock), Shaun Prescott (Cyclic Defrost, mess+noise), Stuart Buchanan (New Weird Australia).

There’s an unspoken place for bands like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Fugazi. We discuss the nature of and path to canonisation.

Performance: Soundclash showcase 7pm - 10pm @ This Is Not Art festival club With: kyü, Holy Balm and Collarbones Soundclash is an initiative of the Australia Council’s Music Board, which provides funding for the creative development of innovative and risk-taking music projects. The next closing date is December 6 - for projects starting after 14 March 2011.

Monday October 4

Newcastle – A Cultural Exploration 12 - 1:30pm @ TPI Auditorium With: Chris Hearn (Sound Summit), Di Drew (Penis Tower Anti-Slam), Grant Hunter (ARThive), Marni Jackson (Renew Newcastle), Susy Pow (Bird in the Hand) We focus on the emerging creative communities in Newcastle. What makes a scene a ‘scene’? What makes Newcastle different to any other city in the world?

Music Industry 2010 2 - 3:30pm @ TPI Auditorium With: Eliza Sarlos (MusicNSW), Peter Keogh (Australia Council for the Arts), Sean Price (APRA), Steph Harmon (The Brag), MySpace Australia, FBi Radio and more!

Your chance to learn everything you want to know from heavyweights of the Australian independent music industry!

Grouper

ON T HE RE CORD

By Alex Young Sometimes there’s something perfect in imperfection. Take Sydney’s beloved act Songs. The band’s self-titled debut LP last year attracted praise from fans and critics alike for their delightful style of rusty, unconcerned pop – even the evercontroversial Everett True declared the album “the best of the year.” The band’s original lineup will be playing their last ever show at Sound Summit, before guitarist Jeff Burch and percussionist Steve Uren depart amicably – and the former will be appearing on a few panels, too.

ELECTRO FRINGE

Thursday September 30

Workshop: Electronic Speed Dating 1pm - 4pm @ TAFE Worksheds Get nerdy and learn the basics of electronic music with a diverse crew of ladies, across a series of 15 minute crash-courses.

Friday October 1

Panel: Classroom To Community 12:30pm - 2pm @ Process Space (401 Hunter Street, Newcastle) With: UTS Sound Collective What fundamental issues face emergent artists and students working in the sound and media arts community?

Workshop: Game Boy Music Club 11am - 1pm @ TAFE Worksheds With: Alex Yabsley (Dot.AY) and Tom Gilmore (10kfreemen) Learn how to write original chiptunes and squeeze new life out of the Nintendo Game Boy, using the tracker program LSDJ.

Saturday October 2

Presentation: Refraction 3pm - 5pm @ Renew Newcastle HQ With: UTS Sound Collective Refraction is a regular series of music and sound events organised by the UTS Sound Collective. In this special concert, they are are joined by Ben Byrne from The Splinter Orchestra.

Presentation: Potato Mastaclass 3:30 - 4:30pm @ The Royal Exchange With: Potato Masta Brisbane-based Japanese MC/DJ/Producer Potato Masta provides an introduction to his repertoire, showcasing his skills across a wide range of styles, techniques and gadgets.

Screening: Electroprojections 6 - 7pm @ Playhouse Theatre Electrofringe’s annual presentation of new single-channel video works, sourced from an international open call.

Panel: Wii Like To Move It 10:30 - 12:30pm @ Eldery Citizens’ Centre Laing Street, Newcastle With: Christian Moraga ([cubisteffects]), Jonathan Papert, George Khut, Pia van Gelder (Dorkbot), Sumugan Sivanesan From Nintendo Wii remotes to analogue TV console games, come and see how artists and musicians integrate gaming technology into their own original instrument designs.

Sunday October 3

Workshop: Notions of Large-Scale Improvisation 12:30pm - 2:30pm @ Top Level, Market Square, Hunter Street Mall With: The Splinter Orchestra Improvisational ensemble The Splinter Orchestra talk through their collaborative process, and work with audience members to create a supersized edition, for a special one-off performance.

October 1 – October 3

It’s these ideas of perfection that present a question about the flaw-filled medium of vinyl – a strong interest of Burch’s, via both Songs and his own distribution project, The Spring Session. Songs are about to re-release their album on wax, and Burch is taking part in a Sound Summit panel to discuss ‘Reinventing The Obsolete’. “The music was created with vibrations - so why wouldn’t you reproduce it with vibrations? We (Songs) probably have more interest than most in creating Things that Exist’.”

BEST OF THE REST

Branded with terms like ‘lo-fi ’ and ‘unpolished’, Burch says these descriptors don’t necessarily define Songs’ attitude towards their work. “We care a lot about what we make in the practice room, and we try to present that as honestly as we can”, he

explains. He thinks that the band’s sound is more reflective of today’s current musical climate – one he describes as disillusioned and false. “We are not interested in the periphery of the music ‘industry’, especially in Sydney,” he explains, “and if that means we ‘don’t give a fuck’, then perhaps there is some truth to that. It feels like the current musical climate is flying towards a sort of weird, idealised, musical hyperrealism.

It’s as if bands are trying to recreate the McCarthyist-era, in something as succinct as an album!”

Installation: Haptic Nature 11am - 6pm @ TAFE Front Room Gallery With: Akira Tsukimori, Marika Hayashi, Ryuma Niiyama This work illuminates dual nature of haptic interaction with the help of a novel sensor. A visitor wears special shoes and a glimmering pendant and feels their way in a dark room. If visitors touch each other, the lights get stronger, or a roar echoes with a flash light.

While vocalists Max and Ela propose to continue under the Songs guise in one way or another, drummer Steve departs to continue with other projects, while Burch will return to the United States. From the external, the timing of their decision seems bizarre, especially after the success of their debut – but Burch explains that it was a sad turn in family matters that brought forward an inevitable decision. “I was born in the United States, and a lot of my family are there so I had always planned on moving back eventually. My wonderful father Brad passed away a few months back, which changed a lot of things for me.”

And it will be without regrets, too. “I’m personally happy with how everything has gone, and that we have good documentation of all of our work - most of which I think we are all proud of. We got to tour with Yo La Tengo and Deerhunter, play with Stephen Malkmus, share a record with The Bats, play in the States, collaborate with some great minds, grow a small audience. I am really happy with all of that.”

What: Songs With: Grouper (USA), Blank Realm, Potato Master and more Where: TINA Showcase Gig @ Cambridge Hotel When: Saturday October 2

OVERVIEW

SONGS

WIRED F OR E VERYTHING

By Kate Hennessy Electrofringe Festival co-director Daniel Green has had a “big, goal-kicking day” when I call him. “I’d like to think the festival is as under control as possible at this stage,” he says cautiously, “although there’s always another curve ball thrown at you.

That’s the nature of the beast!” The Beast is Electrofringe, TINA’s experimental electronic arts festival. This year, Electrofringe presents around 60 events – performances, artist presentations, exhibitions, workshops, panel discussions, screenings and public interventions. Due to the sheer exuberance of those involved, it’s a festival that often seems to bite off more than it can chew; yet always seems to pull it off, too.

For the last 13 years, the Electrofringe raison d’être has been to promote experimental electronic arts and culture, and to uncover emergent forms. Each year, however, new directors steer it down a

slightly different path. Green tells me that Electrofringe is brighter and more playful this year, featuring artists whose work is “delightfully left of centre, but yet somehow still accessible.” Green is from a visual arts background; his co-Director Estee Wah is from a theatre background. As such, the sound aspect of Electrofringe is not as academic as in previous years. “The spectrum has swung between the extremely academic (and almost completely ambient by association), to extreme noise. This year has a more pop-influenced sound.”

Green says that the Blip Showcase, featured below, is the best example of what the festival is all about. Alongside 8bitpeoples from New York, Electrofringe is showcasing several renowned chiptune artists, who play music composed from retro videogame consoles – like Nintendos, Commodores and Gameboys. “It’s incredibly niche within its own circle but also widely accessible… We want people to see new versions of old ideas, and leave with a new way of looking at things.” Green is also excited about Dale Gorfinkel’s residency in association with the LockUp Cultural Centre in Newcastle. Gorfinkel develops

kinetic sound sculptures based on found materials. “They have a very childlike, friendly quality. They’re made from everyday objects, so they have a sense of wonder about them too.” Another highlight is UK artist Charlie Penroses’ ‘Bright Lights’ installation. Shipping the artwork made from black neon lights to Australia has been a world of pain for Green – but the artwork is one of his favourites. “Essentially, it’s a one-line joke – and I love it for that reason,” he says. “From a subjective level there’s probably heaps going on, but on an experiential level, it’s a nice, cute pun!

“It sounds cheesy, but I always describe Electrofringe as being like a homecoming,” he continues. “After a year of tinkering away, people crawl out of the woodwork and get really excited about their work - and it’s absolutely infectious. Newcastle really comes alive, and you see how diverse the electronic arts community is in Australia. It’s a galvanising experience.”

What: Electrofringe @ TINA When: September 30 – October 4

MA KING O LD SOU NDS N EW

BLIP, CHIP AND 8BIT

By Steph Harmon “You have to save up your mana for three turns, and cast ‘retrofit music’ as a counterspell,” offers Sydney’s Tom Gilmore, when I ask him to explain the art of the chiptunes. Put your nerd hats on, everyone. As 10 Thousand Freemen And Their Families (AKA 10kfreemen), and co-founder of Australia’s biggest chiptune blog, Tom’s a pretty focal proponent of Australian chipmusic. He’ll be at Electrofringe’s Blip Showcase, presented by 8bitpeoples - a NYC-based label/ collective that was seminal to the birth of the modern chipmusic scene.

In an infamous 2003 article for Wired magazine, Malcolm McLaren - the selfproclaimed mastermind behind the rise of punk music - claimed to have uncovered another new genre: programmers finding their way inside old, low-bit gaming consoles, and turning the soundchip into their own brand of music. He referred to it as “the next step in the evolution of rock and roll” – before being quickly (and publicly) cut down. As Tom explains, chiptunes weren’t new in 2003; people had been writing music for soundchips since the rise of the gaming console itself. Chipmusic isn’t particular new – and nor, Tom argues, is it a genre. “I mean

technically, it’s a medium,” he explains.

“The only thing that unifies most people who make this music is that they use the same things to make it.” Chip musicians reinterpret their own musical tastes and styles through retro technology. The music of 10kfreemen, for instance? “It’s basically just me screaming over a Gameboy.” Then there’s ‘chipbreak’ (where the Amen Break meets 8bit), and even a netlabel called Jahtari, which specialises in ‘digital laptop reggae’. “Chipmusic isn’t a genre,” Tom says. “It’s more like a process; a limitation.”

While ‘tracker’ software was being circulated in the 1980s, allowing nonprogrammers an easy interface through which to manipulate console sound chips, so too were the games themselves.

Hackers were learning to crack the copyprotection code, often tagging the software before they’d pass it on - think graffiti, but in zeros and ones. Initially just words or an image on the title screen, these tags grew into elaborate multimedia demonstrations: scrolling titles, animations and, yes, music.

The demoscene was born. “Chipmusic has very much been tied in with demo routines,” Tom explains. “But I think as soon as people started releasing just the songs, and putting on shows that were less about demos and more about the music – that was the real turning point for chiptunes.”

In 2008, Tom and Brisbane’s Alex Yabsley (Dot.AY) developed GameBoyAustralia, the first website specifically dedicated to the growth of chipmusic in Australia. “Suddenly a lot of people came out of the woodwork; people who’d been doing this for a while, but had no one to share it with.” Since then, regular chiptune nights have popped up in Brisbane and Melbourne - but neither Tom nor Alex would consider themselves local forerunners. “I mean, cTrix from Melbourne has been writing music on Commodores and Omegas since, like, 1991. I was three.”

In the western chiptune scene, everything still points to New York. It’s there where 8bitpeoples was founded in 1999 - the first collective/label set up for people writing chiptunes specifically to be played live.

“That label is partly where the current concept of chiptunes came from,” Tom says.

8bitpeoples labelheads Nullsleep and Bit Shifter are both playing the Blip Showcase, and will be discussing what they do at 1:30pm on Sunday, at the Elderly Citizens Centre. Want to learn more? Head to the Game Boy Music Club on Friday afternoon, with Dot.AY and 10kfreemen. N3RDZ. What: Blip Showcase, presented by 8bitpeoples With: 10kfreemen, Nullsleep, Bit Shifter, cTrix, Derris-Kharland and Dot.AY Where: Newcastle Leagues Club When: Thursday September 30, 6:30pm

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brushstrokes WITH LILLIAN

STARR

routines as if it were a walk in the park, while looking devastatingly sexy, and having a whole lotta fun. She’s bringing her bag of tricks to Black Cherry this weekend, as part of their trademark mix of beats, bands and burlesque.

What is your background/training as a performer?

Well, I suppose I can attribute the foundation of my movement to 12 years of ballet, tap and jazz. I’ve always closely observed physical humour like Mr Bean, Marcel Marceau and the Muppets and I’m always mucking around, trying to balance on chairs or flip my hat and stuff. After I finished uni, I started thinking about the kind of music and movements I was really into – I just love big band jazz, so I pursued swing dancing and broadway jazz...

I did four years of pole dancing, and now, I’m really into Jamaican dancehall. It’s all about the booty right now.

W

e first saw Lillian at Gurlesque, where she was doing a rather fabulous pole dance routine in full star-spangled showgirl regalia; another memorable routine involved a Charlie Chaplin spoof; in other words, she’s a bit of a chameleon. She’s also the kind of performer whose background in dance allows her to whip out water-tight

How did you get into burlesque?

I’ve been out and about watching burlesque shows since around 2002, when Gurlesque was at the Imperial Hotel. Girls were doing these totally wild shows and busting out all these really funny gags and word puns, and really making light of the body. It was really sexy and liberated and creative. Then late in 2005, the (now separate) showgirl duo Lorelei and Sarina asked me to be a part of their show at 34b. I thought I was going to die of nerves. We did a traditional Las Vegas showgirl piece, but even then, I could feel the class clown trying to bust out of me. Once they got me past that first show, it wasn’t long before I had a notebook full of ideas.

You’re a woman of many guises – what are some of your favourites?

My favourite routines are the ones where there is a BIG reveal - not just the body, but the reveal of some bigger concept or joke; and the communication of my own pleasure or agency.

I have a cherry pie cooking show, which people often request. It involves a surprising strap-on scene and some power rock music.

And I have a milkmaid show where I have a big cow and I actually sit down and milk it, then take a bath in this fluorescent milk. It’s a nightmare to tour with that! But I love a big prop.

What routine are you bringing to Black Cherry?

I will be performing onstage with Mojo Juju and the Snake Oil Merchants. It’s been a three-year fusion of our performances and a mutually inspiring relationship. They are so amazing and visual in their stand-alone performances, and burlesque just cranks it up an extra notch. They are also performing with the beautiful and sultry Frankie Valentine, who takes my breath away. Black Cherry looks like it is going to be a massive night and they have asked me to perform my ‘beaver’ routine. I might just leave that up to your imagination!

What: Black Cherry: 4th Birthday!

When: October 2, doors open 8pm Where: The Factory Theatre, Enmore More: blackcherrypresents.com.au / factorytheatre.com.au

DANGEROUS IDEAS

In its second year, Festival of Dangerous Ideas aims to once again poke your brain, with a series of talks and discussion panels covering the thorny dilemmas of modern living. Geoffrey Robertson and Alan Dershowitz will go toe-to-toe on the scandal of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Eric Kaufmann will fence with new atheism in ‘Why the Religious Will Inherit the Earth’, writer, essayist and film-maker Tariq Ali will tell us What We Can Learn from Terrorists, and David Marr will argue that ‘Art Doesn’t Make Us Better People’. Sacrilege, if you ask us. It’s a pretty stellar line-up, with other guests including our favourite economist, Ross Gittins; our favourite war correspondent, Paul McGeough; not to mention fierce ladies Annabel Crabb, Miriam Lyons and Elizabeth Farrelly… It all goes down October 2-3 at Sydney Opera House.

Because we love you (and thanks to Sydney Opera House) we have some special double passes up for grabs, to see two very different young speakers, both of whom started with fairly modest ideas that spiraled into epic projects that challenge the way we look at the world, and ourselves.

We have three double passes to see This Is Not Art founder Marcus Westbury tell you what’s f*#ked with arts funding, in ‘What’s So Special About Opera’ on Sunday October 3 at 11am.

We also have one double pass to see Christian Lander talk about Stuff White People Like – his blog lampooning the middles classes - on Sunday October 3 at 8.15pm. To get your hands on any of these hot tix, email us with the name of event you want to attend, and one other speaker on the FODI line-up… sydneyoperahouse.com

PROJECT 5 X AUCTION

Last month aMBUSH Gallery gathered four of Australia’s best street artists to create a one-off piece of art, in front of an audience, to raise funds for the Western Sydney’s Information and Cultural Exchange (I.C.E.). For an audience of cheerful punters, Anthony Lister, Meggs, ears and WeBuyYourKids whipped up four amazing works – which will all go under the hammer on October 14, with all the proceeds going to I.C.E. Brissie native Lister is seriously collectible these days; with a New York studio, his works are being snapped up by everyone from rockstars to actors with too much money, and serious art collectors; ears (a.k.a. Daniel O’Toole), MEGGS and the WBYK kids seem well on their way to similar heights.

Head along to Leonard Joel auction house on October 14 from 6pm to see the hammer drop. project5.com.au

Artwork by Creepy

PEACE INSIDE ANXIETY

When Matthew Gillet isn’t non-stop-flat-out occupied with being the Venue Manager for Sydney’s fabled Annandale Hotel, he’s stealing spare moments to surf around the world. And magically, when he’s not doing either of the aforementioned, he still finds time to paint – and paint well. Drawing from the sensory similarities between the holy hedonistic triumvirate of art, music and painting, Gillet paints dark, soulful, blissful, soaring works with a myriad of cultural influences that all combine to portray his own personal journey towards inner peace. Peace Inside Anxiety takes place at Mart Gallery in Surry Hills, from September 30 to October 16.

FOTO (RIESEL) RALLY

In partnership with Art & About, the Australian Centre for Photography and Foto Riesel have created Foto Riesel Foto Rally: a creative mash between a scavenger hunt and The Amazing Race, with all participants armed with a camera and a set of themed clues. The 8km ‘race’ will dive in and out of Sydney’s iconic locations such as Woolloomooloo, Kings Cross, Surry Hills and Paddington before reaching the finishing line at the Australian Centre for Photography. Contestants’ images will be uploaded onto the ACP’s website, and winners will be in the running to receive a swag of prizes from Foto Riesel, the ACP, Canon, Polaroid, and more. The race is on October 16, commencing at 364A Kent St. Admission is $10 from fotoriesel.com.au.

COFA KIDS X STAIRWELL

Sydney’s hidden creative prodigies will emerge from their artistic laboratory – The College of Fine Arts – for COFA Kids, to present to the public an assortment of their best work. The art will not be hung in a formal, pretentious museum gallery – but in a strange and wonderful stairwell! The Absolut Stairwell 36 :: BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10

STC MAINSTAGE 2011 FACE PALM YOUR OWN DEMONS

The press release reads “Perth art gang embarks on national tour” which strikes chords of jealousy where we find ourselves wishing that we were in a nomadic art ‘gang’. These artistic vagabonds go by the collective name of Last Chance Studio and individually as the monikers Daek, Kid Zoom, Creepy, Sean Morris, Ryan Boserio and Tim Rollin. Last Chance Studio will be going all around Australia spreading their low-brow art love, stopping in Sydney to open an exhibition on September 30 called Face Palm Your Own Demons, at Oh Really Gallery in Newtown. The guys will then kick onto Melbourne, but the Sydney exhibition will stay running ‘til October 10. www.last-chance-studio.com

Gallery in The Sugarmill will be the temporary home for the works of tomorrow’s budding artistic genii, and it will feature works from John-Ernest Dinamarca, Mitchell Ford, Joel Gibson, William Giovas, Michael Gunadi, Jimmy Le, Nick Swann and Jessica Thompson. The exhibition opens September 30 and will run until November 11. (The Sugarmill Hotel, 33-37 Darlinghurst Rd, Kings Cross)

SUSTAINABLE MARKETS

October will be a celebration of sunshine, community and great food at the Taylor Square Spring Fair. Taylor Square’s weekly Farmers Market was recently awarded The Lord Mayor’s Sustainability Award, and this theme of economic and environmental sustainability will be promoted through the six-week Spring Fair. As well as the regular fresh produce stalls there will be cooking demonstrations, cheese and wine tasting, the Oxford Art Festival Art Fair, recycled craft workshops, live music, the inaugural Giant Swap Party... Fingers crossed

for lovely summer weather! Spring Fair will run over the six Saturdays from October 2 - November 6. More information and a full program of each week’s events at www . sydneysustainablemarkets.org.

ARTS/MUSIC INCUBATOR

If you remember, last week we told you about our fascinating and informative conversation with Kween G (you know, from the KillaQueenz)... No? Well she was explaining this rad event she’s involved in called INCUBATOR: a creative expo for music and filmmakers where you can show your stuf f, sell your stuff, or just network your pants of f with distributors, licensers, funders, collaborators, marketers… It's an initiative from PIIP – the Pacific Incubator of Intellectual Property, a nonprofit, non-government organisation established in 2009 to support the creative industries. The INCUBATOR launch is on September 30 from 6-11pm, at Oxford Art Factory. For all the details, head to www.incubator.org.au

Cate and Andrew have launched the 2011 season for Sydney Theatre Company – perhaps their most daring yet. If 2010 was programmed around the theme ‘America’, then next year will take us down a potentially darker path, with a tour of the ideas that shaped the 20th century. The exhilarating program takes us from Ross Mueller’s mainstage debut, ZEBRA! – an examination of masculinity post-GFC, starring Colin Friels and Bryan Brown – to Andrew Upton’s adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The White Guard (starring Miranda Otto), Brecht’s Baal (directed by hot young thing Simon Stone) and Threepenny Opera, Pinter’s No Man’s Land, and Joe Orton’s gleefully un-P.C. 60s masterpiece Loot.

First up in the season is In The Next Room, or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl – directed by Pamela Rabe, and starring Jacqueline McKenzie. The centrepiece of the program, arguably, is Botho Strauss’ Gross und Klein: translated by British In-Yer-Facer Martin Crimp, directed by one of the masters of modern theatre, Luc Bondy (ex-Schaubühne), and starring Cate…

We’re just saying, you might want to subscribe. If you’re under 30 and book at least six plays at once, you qualify for a Season Ticket, and pay just $30/$35 per performance. The full program and forms are at sydneytheatre.com.au

Reclaim your city! By Bridie Connell Spring has sprung and it’s the perfect time of year to get outdoors, soak up some vitamin D and explore all the free, public art goodness of Art & About.

The 2010 program explores the theme ‘The Sydney Experience’. Old favourites such as the Sydney Life photography competition (regularly displayed along the Hyde Park promenade) will be back, as will the The Banner Gallery, with photos of regular Sydney folk hanging over the streets of the CBD. Below, we’ve selected some of our favourite new additions to the festival: Laneway Art (which debuted last year, under the heading Laneways

By George!), the collaborative public art project Oh Alfred! and Sydney Sculptures: Project! – all of which are fun, colourful, and invite us to reclaim Sydney’s nooks and crannies.

Pool. “Jess Cook and I live and work in the th he both Surry Hills area,” explains Reid. “We’ve b oth missed Prince Alfred Park while it’s been misse n closed [and we’re] excited about the prospect close osspect the unsightly construction fence of turning tur ce around its perimeter into something fun a and aroun nd beautiful.” beau

© Oh Alfred! Photo by Matthew Venables

Since August, the duo have been hosting ng g crafty working bees with local volunteers, s, constructing twisted fabric rosettes and const threading strips of fabrics through the fence threa en nce wire to create colourful woven compositions, io ons, which feature alongside the work of several ve eral other local artists.

“We asked each of the artists to come up with a concept that reflects their impressions sions and rrecollections of the park,” says Reid. d..

“The responses have been wonderfully diverse; Tealia Scott’s memories of the o old diver ld ice-skating rink; Garth Knight’s golden o orb ice-s rb spider webs; Skye Wagner and Melissa spide a Chalker’s bold geometric maps; Lachlan Chal an n McGuiness and John Doe’s kinetic windMcG ndpowered sculptures; and Lucia Scurrah’s powe h’s flying seagulls, made from plastic takeaway way knives.” knive

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OH ALFRED!

Constructed in 1954, Prince Alfred Park Pool is something of an innercity institution. Currently closed while the pool and surrounding parklands undergo extensive renovations, the site fencing has been transformed into an outdoor gallery for Oh Alfred! – a collaborative public

© Sydn Sydney Statues: Project! Photos by Isabella Moore Sy

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art project that captures locals’ recollections ons of Prince Alfred Park’s past, in order to beautify au utify the present.

Created and produced by Jess Cook (Token To oken Imagination) and Kali Reid, Oh Alfred! is the s th e product of hours of dedicated handywork k born from a sincere love for Prince Alfred Park k and

SYDNEY STATUES: PROJECT! Think what you will about the fashions, but ut the 70s and 80s were decades of great creative tive innovation in Sydney. For the first time, local oc cal artists and designers began to look internally nally at their local environment and peers for inspiration, producing some of the most iconic conic designs of the ‘wearable art’ movement - the inspiration for Sydney Statues: Project!

Produced by Michelle McCosker (Reef K Knot) not) and Imogen Semmler (The Occasional Collective / Underbelly Public Arts Lab + Festival), Sydney Statues: Project! brings together an impressive line-up of Sydney a artists, rtists, fashion and costume designers, including g Ken Done, Flamingo Beach co-founder Linda a Jackson and Dinosaur Designs’ Lianne Rossler. Their brief? To reinterpret, enhance nce and re-dress some of Sydney’s forgotten historical sculptures, with reference to ourr most colourful and creative era.

Artist and fashion stylist Jonathan James me es says, “I’ve Prince says say s, “I’ I ve wor worked ked on the the Prin P rince ce Alb Albert ert st statue t t

The ffence also features new work from ‘cuprocking’ street artist Andy Uprock, a an ‘cupr n interactive message board by Jonathan intera n James and a vertical text garden by James Jame mes Harney.

Harn More: ohalfred.wordpress.com More

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LANEWAY ART: ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME?

Sydney’s inner-city laneways may not hold the same cultural cachet Melbourne’s, but Art & About’s Laneway as M has fast gained a reputation as one of Artt h most exciting events on the annual arts the m calendar. Whilst submissions for last year’s calen event were open to all creative professionals, this yyear renowned Sydney curator Barbara Flynn has commissioned new site-specific installations from nine of Australia’s best insta contemporary artists, under the project title conte You Looking At Me? Are Y

“Each artist has come up with a new work especially for the project,” Flynn explains. espe “Their art will so radically transform the space “Thei that it'll i be as if people are seeing the laneway the first time. Their art will transcend for th temporality and become an unforgettable part temp of the living memory of Sydney” – and given such generous artistic freedom, the range of responses from the artists to their assigned respo laneways is refreshingly diverse. lanew

Macquarie Street. He’s wearing a Jenny on M nny Kee-inspired cape and pantaloons that Keehighlight both her love of the Australian highl bush and his many facets as an all-round nd d good guy! He was an enlightened man AND AND he had ha a great love affair with one of the e most famous women of his era – Victoria. a.

She laid his clothes every day til she died, ed, so I’ve I’v been piling on the kitsch romance ce e with lots of hearts and sparkly confections!” on ns!”

Known for his witty word-plays, painter Jon Know Campbell has cheekily installed a largeCam scale text banner reading ‘Har Bour View’ in Wynyard Lane, whilst Jan van der Ploeg’s Wyny repetitive black and white billboard posters repet (Warriors) add light and intrigue to the (Warr darkness of De Maestre Place. In contrast, darkn Justene Williams’ video installation in Curtin Juste Place, Banker Baker Spanglemachine Maker, Place feeds off the bustle of CBD workers.

From high romance to the New Romantics, tics, artist Susie Rugg has been working on the th Shakespeare monument in Shakespeare Place, in collaboration Shak with designers Spoke and Spool - an experience not without challenges. expe “Unfortunately there’s no instruction “Unfo manual on how to dress really big statues!” manu ues!” explains. “Each artist involved has she e had tto come up with a different approach, ch, but it’ll it be a great way for the public to rediscover these almost faded statues, redis whilst drawing attention to Sydney’s artistic whils tistic communities past and present.” comm

With Simon Yates’ Woodwork, a series large-scale photocopied paste-ups, the of lar message is in the details. “Discover messages mess hidden in the dials and keys of old fashion hidde telephones and typewriters,” he invites, “as you telep walk down Underwood – a lane adjacent to a telephone exchange, that shares a name with telep maker of 1900s typewriters.” a ma

More: M e More e: sydneystatues.wordpress.com sydne sy dneyst ystatu atues es.wor wordpr dpress ess.com com

What: Art & About 2010 When: Until October 24; Laneway Art until January 31 Where: Sydney CBD More: www.artandabout.com.au

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 37

Dangerous Ideas [FESTIVAL] What gives an idea its teeth? By Bridie Connellan

D

avid Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, was sure on the money when he uttered the immortal words: “The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.” As a host of idea-laden and discussion-hungry speakers and punters break upon Sydney Opera House this weekend for the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, freedom of speech rears its persistent little head, in a series of discussions that allegedly ‘nip at the boundaries of polite conversation’.

With 2010 seeing the Israeli raid on a Gazabound flotilla, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, the explosion of an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the release of Wikileaks, and a seriously perplexing Australian election, the second run for FODI could not have asked for a more controversial climate.

“Some of the bigger sessions are really going to be about everything that has been happening in politics in the last six months,” agrees curator Ann Mossop. “With people like Simon Sheikh from GetUp! on the panel Is Politics Killing Democracy? it’s going to be a bit like a postmortem of this new political situation.”

Of course, it’s arguable that the discussion formats embraced by FODI are anything but ‘dangerous’ – with talks and interviews, rather than debates, the dominant format. Nevertheless, Mossop is adamant that even these traditional forms of discussion will prove inevitably ‘enraging’ and

‘inciting’ - and singles out events such as Tariq Ali’s What We Can Learn From Terrorists and Paul McGeough’s After The Flotilla: Controlling the Narrative in Israel and Palestine amongst her picks for storming backlash.

Of course, there are a number of debates on the line-up this year – the most prominent being Geoffrey Robertson QC vs. Alan Dershowitz, pitting two the Western world’s most high profile lawyers against each other to debate whether the Pope should be held accountable for the sex crimes perpetrated by the Catholic Church.

Mossop also singles out the IQ2 debate: If You Want Peace, Forget Justice as one that will “get up some peoples’ noses,” “Really, what is the best way to resolve these major conflicts? Do you say, “Well, we’re not going to give up on this until we hold everyone accountable for the terrible things that happened during this war,” or “Hey, we’ve just got to get over it, get along with each other, and look for reconciliation”? Those are the kind of things I think people are going to have pretty heated opinions about.”

Mossop argues that the concept of an idea being ‘dangerous’ has a multitude of meanings, and isn’t confined to the domain of politics. Programmed alongside politicians and journalists, she has Rebecca Huntley talking about how 'Australian Husbands Are The Worst In The World, And Why It’s Women’s Fault'. “Now, that’s not dangerous because someone’s going to die because they talk about it, it’s really about picking apart peoples' closely-held views about what matters to them in everyday life,” Mossop explains.

All this aside, the greatest risk within the FODI may lie in giving the masses, rather than the speakers, the microphone. The ‘national conversation’ of the unexpectedly successful Soapbox, allows Regular Joes to register for a two-minute tirade, with progressive rounds ultimately allowing the winner of the competition to address a 2000-plus audience in the Concert Hall.

“If you’re in a larger session listening to a big name communicating their ideas, it’s great to bring your perspective to that conversation, but the thing about Soapbox is the chance to move past just bringing your idea to respond to what someone else is saying. The danger is enabling people to say ‘This is what I think, alright, now it’s on the line.”

With last year’s winner taking an uplifting stance on euthanasia, one can only hope Sydney still has the balls to make that drawl of ours heard.

Ann Mossop

What: Festival of Dangerous Ideas When: October 2-3 Where: Sydney Opera House More: sydneyoperahouse.com/FODI

Stuff White People Like [FESTIVAL] Lampooning the middle class. By B.C.

A

rts Degrees. Ugly Sweater Parties. Black Music that Black People Don’t Listen to Anymore. Banksy. Ray Ban Wayfarers.

Hating People Who Wear Ed Hardy. Brush that pasty white dust off your shoulder, kid.

Individuality is dead.

In January 2008, after taking flak from friends for watching The Wire, Christian Lander co-authored the blog Stuff White People Like with buddy Myles Valentin in a satirical effort to analyse contemporary upper-middle-class ‘white’ culture. With items on the list including Moleskine Notebooks, Multilingual Children and Self Aware Hip Hop References, Lander tapped into that bourgeois mentality which considers itself cultured, inimitable and incapable of typecasting, and felt it was time to turn the joke on those who so regularly stereotype others.

“As white people we like to feel we’re above everything that’s on the list, that the list is for poor or predictable people, and that we can see the meaning,” says Lander. “We’re better than that right? You can’t put us into a box like that, mould us into a group! But we’re just as guilty of group mentality as any other ‘group’ on earth.”

The ‘white people’ Lander critiques are not necessarily Caucasians, but simply cashed-up bourgeois nouveau roturiers. “You don’t have to be white to be white, you just have to be rich,” he says. “What I’m actually doing with the site is collapsing race and class. It’s saying that no matter how much progress we feel we’ve made, the middle class is still ‘white’.”

Walking towards his Prius in his New Balance Shoes to fetch his pair of Wayfarers, Lander is completely aware of his place in the joke, as he cites his inspiration as the mirror and his Facebook feed. “This is ultimately just me making fun of myself, my friends and my upbringing,” he says. “I just didn’t realise there were so many people out there who are as pretentious as me.”

With the suggestion that SWPL could be number #135 on this assault on vanilla stiffs, Lander laughs that there’s enough metahumour in the blog to go without that one. With Being Offended and Self Deprecating Humour taking out coveted spots on this ‘scientific approach’, Lander assures the biggest insult is reality. “There is nothing more offensive than the truth,” he says. “Nothing hurts more, nothing is more frustrating and annoying, and this is why living with your parents is so difficult.”

But when placed against such ideas as “Should the Pope be held to account?’ and

Christian Lander ‘Why economic growth should be stopped’, Lander’s place at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas could be seen as confusing in a ‘dangerous’ spectrum, as his thoughts stem from cheek rather than anarchy. However with SWPL registering over 300,000 daily hits and over 40 million total hits within nine months of commencing (now reaching 70 million), Lander claims the danger inherent in his yuppie digs, is more endemic.

“Sure, the only real danger if someone in power reads my blog would be they might choose not to buy that organic watermelon,” he laughs. “But I think my story is really testament to the power and speed with which ideas can spread. I had no connections, no circumstances in which my dad was editor of the New York Times - I literally put this idea out there to be consumed. It’s not necessarily dangerous enough to cause a riot but it sure offended and annoyed an enormous amount of people.”

What: 'Stuff White People Like' panel, chaired

by Julian Morrow, w/ Lenore Skenazy & more When: Sunday October 3, 8.15pm Where: Sydney Opera House, Opera Theatre More: sydneyoperahouse.com/FODI

What’s So Special About Opera?

[FESTIVAL] Marcus Westbury pokes a stick at arts funding. By Dee Jefferson Marcus Westbury

W

ith young thinkers at the helm of social change through nongovernmental organisations like GetUp!, New Matilda and the Centre for Policy Development, it’s unconscionable to have a program like the Festival of Dangerous Ideas that doesn’t represent the next generation of policy makers and shapers. Stepping up to the plate this year, the Festival has put CPD’s Miriam Lyons and GetUp!’s Simon Sheik on the bill, talking on panels about politics; and Marcus Westbury, talking about the arts. And so, as This Is Not Art kicks off in Newcastle this week, its founder will be at Sydney Opera House, mounting the proverbial soapbox to shake his metaphorical fist in the face of arts funding.

Within TINA, and his roles in initiatives like NOISE, Melbourne’s Next Wave Festival and Creative Sydney, Westbury has had ample opportunity to appraise the arts landscape over the last decade, and one of the most striking things about his ‘dangerous ideas’ is just how reasonable they sound. In ‘What’s So Special About Opera?’, Westbury will that call for a re-examination of existing funding models, which are largely skewed in favour of ‘heritage arts’. “We need to move in a direction that catches up with the reality of the culture that we live in," Westbury suggests. "That inevitably

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involves not prioritising the same things we’ve been doing the last 50 years.”

Westbury has been developing his ideas for some years. In a recent paper for ABC’s The Drum website, he writes: “Opera Australia last year received more funding from the Australia Council than all the applicants for all 6 of the Australia Council’s major artform boards combined. [...] That’s one opera company receiving more than seven hundred and eighty one separate projects, organisations and individuals competitively funded across all those forms.”

The figures are surprising, and Westbury is not the only one interrogating them; but neither is there a massive movement towards defunding the heritage arts. Nevertheless – and in the fraught atmosphere of a federal election – questions around arts funding seem to have hit a nerve, provoking angry editorials from the artistic directors of the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s and West Australian Opera. Westbury is quick to point out that he is not arguing against opera; he’s just arguing against its disproportionately large slice of the funding pie. Furthermore, he belives that funding "should be mostly pointed towards where there are market failures; we need to find ways that we’re encouraging people to experiment, innovate, try things that are not in the first instance going to be commercially successful, but may build a stronger, more resilient culture.”

It's interesting times for the arts right now, with Simon Crean appointed to the Federal Arts portfolio (via a press announcement which somewhat feebly pointed to his love of opera and the ballet as his credentials for the role). At the time of our interview, Westbury is circumspect about the appointment.

“I don’t know yet; I’m writing a column about it for the Age, so I’m thinking about it at the moment… One thing that is interesting to me is that they’ve put Arts in with the Regional Development portfolio, which is a fascinating development for lots of reasons. I’ve been working a lot on things like my Renew Newcastle project, that literally just can’t get any [government] interest, from a spending point of view, even though there’s ties between regional development and those arts projects. But I think this [new] combination is interesting because it allows a different way of thinking about things...

So how do we move forward? "It’s not like anyone really in the last 20 years has sat down and said ‘If we invested properly in Australian culture, what would the benefits be?’ I think that’s what’s missing."

What: 'What’s So Special About Opera?'

When: Sunday October 3, 11am.

Where: Sydney Opera House, Playhouse More: sydneyoperahouse.com/FODI

Film & Theatre Reviews What's hot on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.

September 14-19 / Sidetrack Theatre Masculinity is a topic often examined in Australian plays. It could be said that David Williamson’s long-lasting success is heavily related to his investigations into how Australian men are meant to behave. One only has to look at the dramatic success of Belvoir’s Ruben Guthrie last year to see that the trend is still well and truly alive. Which brings us to Zetland, emerging playwright Jasper Marlow’s promising inquiry into brotherly relationships and so-called Australian values.

Ross, Josh and Kez are housemates.

The house is the family home of brothers Ross and Josh, but their parents are nowhere to be seen. It seems that their father has had to leave for some reason or another, and there’s no mention at all of their mother. After a string of employment failures Ross has decided to join the army, a decision which delights Kez, who apparently sees it as a very noble choice, but disappoints Josh, who sees it as next to failure, giving in to the redneck values the family has fought so hard against. The play centres around the question of whether or not Ross will change his mind.

Director Andrew Johnston has kept the play grounded in reality, creating beautiful moments between the cast as they joke and argue their way across Kate Shanahan’s busy, but evocative set. Feliz Jozeps delivers a standout performance as Josh, bringing a compelling honesty to the hard-working older brother as he tries to keep what’s left of his family together.

It is the story’s familiarity that gives it its power. I found myself relating to all three characters, and with such endearing moments as Kez’s goon guessing game or the brothers’ over-night monopoly competition, I think this play will resonate with audiences far beyond the inner-west suburb from which it derives its name.

Henry Florence ■ Dance

FAKER September 21-26 / Sydney Opera House During his darkly humorous 45-minute solo work Gideon Obarzanek, artistic director of Chunky Move and one of Australia’s best known choreographers, plays two roles: himself, and a 25-yearold dancer who he mentored in a failed two week dance workshop. Throughout the performance he reads out her brutally honest email from the screen of a laptop, remaining impressively deadpan as she describes the experience of working with him, ultimately condemning Obarzanek with that epithet that all artists dread hearing: “Faker.”

Faker is about the work that never happened; it traverses the emotional rollercoaster of the creative process, from creative aspirations and expectations, to the dark edges of doubts, and disappointment. Obarzanek’s experience and reputation count for little as he doubts his ability to make works sparkle, and the young dancer questions his creative spark.

As Faker continues, Obarzanek demonstrates, dances, sets himself improvisation exercises, finally performing the abortive solo (intended for a dancer twenty years younger) - all with exquisite comic timing.

Highlights include a gleefully awkward and off-key rendition of Prince’s ‘I Would Die 4 U', which Obarzanek sings loudly while listening to headphones and prancing. And I loved the little touches too - asking Matt, the invisible lighting technician to “turn the lights down,” and bringing out a temperamental iPod

that begins blaring choral music as Obarzanek dances in his Jockeys.

Faker is a frank, confrontational and absorbing piece of dance-theatre that evokes a visceral reaction from its squirming audience as it takes you deeper inside the mind of one of Australia’s best-known creators. While exploring self-doubt and the shaky integrity of the artist, Faker ultimately ends up proving Obarzanek’s versatility and choreographic prowess.

Lucy Fokkema ■ Theatre

THE BALLAD OF BACKBONE JOE Until October 2, Wharf 2 / STC

Having almost-but-not-quite seen these fellas at Imperial Panda Festival, PACT and the Sydney Festival, it seems somehow ironic that I finally see them at Sydney Theatre Company… So, ashamed as I am, I sit amongst the ‘new audience’ who will discover the unique charms of The Suitcase Royale thanks to the Next Stage program – which all goes to say: nice work STC!

terence chin

17:09:10 :: China Heights :: L3, 16-28 Foster St Surry Hills

As a band, The Suitcase Royale do quite well; as a performance collective, they specialise in ‘junkyard theatre’ – their key principle being the construction of sets ad hoc, using rescued roadside refuse. Their particular shtick (as per previous works The Ghosts of Rickets Hill and Space Show) is the oldfashioned telling of tall tales, which they intersperse with their swampy, bluesy three-piece rock.

Used to performing their show in rather more limited arenas, Miles O’Neil, Glen Walton and Joseph O’Farrell have adapted The Ballad of Backbone Joe for Wharf 2, with all the extra space and rigging that entails; but with the exception of size and some extra lighting, their set feels very handmade. The centrepiece is an ingenious cardboard front that doubles for a hotel room, boxing ring and screen, onto which black-and-white cinema, illustrations and puppetry are projected. The top line of the edifice doubles for a mini-diorama of the town’s main street, with cardboard cut-outs of the pub and the abattoir/boxing emporium. With two STC technicians handling most of the audio and lighting cues, the fellas still operate some of the more handmade effects – a red gel over a lamp, the slide projector...

The plot pales in comparison to the theatrical delights of the ‘show’ – something about a boxer called Joe (O’Farrell), a nefarious promoter called Messy Dimes Dan (O’Neil), a detective called Von Trapp who is disguised as a boxer (Walton), and a murdered dame in a red dress…

The performances are suitably hammedup, as cardboard as the props. With three years and numerous seasons to fine-tune this show, the risk is that the three performers lose the appearance of spontaneity that makes all those miscues and line-gaffes so funny. As the opening night show progressed, however, you could feel the stiffness falling away, and their interactions becoming more spontaneous. The result was pure theatre magic.

Dee Jefferson

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

andrew kidman

PICS :: TL

ZETLAND

At the heart of the arts Where you went last week.

PICS :: TL

■ Theatre

Arts Snap

18:09:10 :: Lo-Fi Collective :: L3, 383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 93113100

Arts Exposed What's on our calendar...

TWO-ONE & THOMAS JACKSON Thursday September 30 from 6pm LO-FI Collective / 383 Bourke St, Darlinghurst Next up at LO-FI Collective are these two acclaimed artists from Melbourne’s thriving low brow scene, who are collaborating for the second time this month to produce a series of works that explore nature’s playful reclamation of a planet that man has all but destroyed. It’s on for just one night, so hurry along. wearelofi.com.au

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Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...

ALBUM OF THE WEEK BAG RAIDERS Bag Raiders Modular

The electro pop duo made good on their debut.

A friend of mine walked by when I was listening to this album and said ‘fuck me, the Hacienda sound is really coming back, isn’t it?’ The comparison is pretty clear – Bag Raiders’ debut is stuffed with snarling acid lines, uplifting piano loops and the general sense of euphoria that characterised the Rave Era. At certain points, like ‘Not Over’ and ‘Always’, the album gives off such a 24 Hour Party People-vibe that if you close your eyes, you can literally see a sweeping helicopter shot of the Manchester skyline circa 1991.

Bag Raiders has some more modern influences too – ‘Sunlight’ is the kind of bright, busy dance

ROBERT PLANT

To get this one together, Plant utilised the momentum from last year’s sessions for the abortive follow up to Raising Sand - his lauded collaboration with country goddess Alison Krauss.

Band Of Joy sees him resurrecting the spirit of his first group of the same name - pressing his fingerprints all over songs that come from a diverse range of sources. While the aura of the Krauss alliance hangs around the edges in a ragged shroud, Band Of Joy also recalls Led Zeppelin III – it’s a heady blend of rock, country and half a dozen varieties of folk.

There are some wicked moments here.

Plant pays homage to selected sixties fellow travellers, with a leanly electric version of Richard Thompson’s ‘House of Cards’, and a deceptively easy-going rock-rendering of Townes Van Zandt’s devastating ‘Harm’s Swift Way’. Less successful is the early sixties pop of ‘You Can’t Buy My Love’, which sits uneasily alongside the cleanly pure lines and spine-itching harmonies of Low covers ‘Silver Rider’ and ‘Monkey’.

Plant has an excellent production and arranging partner in Buddy Miller, while the new 'Band of Joy' seems to consist of a cherry-picked best-of Americana session musicians – including a more than adequate Krauss-replacement in the form of Patty Griffin.

The album loses points in that the best track, ‘Shooting Stars’, has been around for the better part of two years, but wins them back for ‘Golden Wings’ - a huge, lumbering monster of an acid house track that promises to pummel festival crowds over the summer. The only questionable thing is the instrumental track ‘Snake Charmers’, but even that has a certain Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis charm to it - and the fact that

BLONDE REDHEAD

Band Of Joy Universal While other survivors of his generation do fun things like undergo high-profile divorces, languish in obscurity or snort their father’s ashes, Robert Plant has managed to perform that most difficult of manoeuvres over the last few decades, The Post-MegaSuccess Reinvention; honouring the Led Zeppelin legacy by becoming, well, Robert Plant.

pop gem that Basement Jaxx are perfectly capable of producing but choose to steer clear of these days, while ‘So Demanding’ is a PG-rated electro-funk dry-hump in the tradition of Chromeo.

The local pair of Jack Glass and Chris Stracey have enlisted the help of other local heroes like Simon Jones from the Holidays, Martin Solomon from WIM, Giselle Rosselli (who featured on ‘Crave You’ by Flight Facilities), and the UK’s Dan Black.

OU EST LE SWIMMING POOL

Penny Sparkle 4AD/Remote Control The chilly textures of Penny Sparkle are a defiantly minimal retreat from the varied evocations of predecessor 23; co-vocalist Kazu Makino takes her cues more than ever from Elizabeth Fraser and Beth Gibbons. Imagine a midpoint between the icy inaccessibility of Massive Attack’s 100th Window and the barelyinterested bedroom mutterings of The xx (and I still do not get what people think is so amazing about that album), and there’s the territory Blonde Redhead have wandered into.

This record demands real, sustained attention in order for the individual tracks to distinguish themselves. The penultimate ‘Black Guitar’ starts with Amedeo Pace crooning damply over a clipped machiney beat, recalling the gorgeous slow-burn opener on the latest Massive Attack LP. It quickly opens out into Makino’s subtle and lovely, indecipherable vocals over restrained strings and crisp, fibrous percussion. Despite its narcotic rhythm and unadventurous arrangement, it may actually be the best track on the album. Other highlights emerge with repeated listens – ‘Will There Be Stars’ swoops quietly in on a stretched-out wave of subterranean bass pulses and trip-hop beats, to build into an actual melody in the chorus.

Penny Sparkle takes few risks, and its bloodless, Scandinavian aesthetic (they’re from New York, remember) occupies the same landscape as SVIIB, or Vespertine-era Bjork while lacking the sensual humanity.

It’s simultaneously claustrophobic, intimate and chilling – like being embraced by someone who hasn’t quite forgiven you yet.

This is a warmly generous collection that suggests Plant’s best days are by no means behind him.

Apparently the Inuit have dozens of words for snow. I need a few more ways to say “sounds like cold”.

Oliver Downes

Caitlin Welsh

The Golden Year Hustle / Ministry Of Sound Well it was more like two, but The Golden Year is still an appropriate description of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool’s brief period in the sun. Forming in 2008, the Camden-based trio enjoyed a jet-paced rise to success, tragically and abruptly ended by the suicide of frontman Chazz Haddon last month. So what of the legacy he left his fans?

We all remember the 80s revival which exploded in 2007, with a tsunami of neon, synthesisers and masculine hair-care. Well thankfully, much of the trash of '07 has been filtered through the fickle claws of fashion trends - and what’s left is a respectable genre of 80s synth-pop music, in the midst of which The Golden Year is firmly nestled.

The opening track ‘You Started’ is, however, surprisingly bare of synthesisers - featuring only vocals, piano and strings. This sparse texture creates a moving piece of music quite unlike anything else on the album.

By track two we’re in familiar territory, and for the next eleven, the band wield their artificial instruments to their whim.

Deeper synths and split vocals work especially well in stirring up moods, from the euphoric to the wistful to the dramatic. But the techniques that work so well for songs like ‘The Key’ and ‘Outside’ start to lose their emotional impact as track after track rolls by with little change. ‘Dance The Way I Feel’ has earned its place as a classic, but the rest of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool’s debut presents as average imitations.

The Golden Year starts with every promise of success that it unfortunately fails to deliver.

Jordan Smith

Found Things Bird Fire Records

This is easily the most insane album I’ve heard all year, and the best part of it is the insanity – on their sophomore record, Laneous and his large posse fly through genres, and completely spoil your ears.

Take Regurgitator at their prime, mixed with the fuzz-jams of Bumblebeez and the funk-jams of bluejuice topped with a Mr Bungle chaser, and you’re still not

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even close to the Molotov cocktail that is Found Things.

Serious string sections, math-rock breakdowns, criminally smooth soul and hipster-rap interludes…

Laneous and his family try everything and even when they fail, it’s glorious. My favourites have to be the expertly arranged soul numbers; ‘Deserve’, ‘Bad Son’ and ‘Haunting’ may seem like mere excursions from the madder moments here, but damn they’re beautiful.

BRANDON FLOWERS

Distractions EP Valve When everyones' favourite Brisvegas wunderkinds drop a new release, no-one expects a new sound. Dues have been already been paid for a solid fanbase and a killer live reputation - nobody ever walks away from a ‘Gurge show without a sloppy stoopid grin replacing the hole where a face used to be.

The latest offering bears the requisite elements: brash hooks still underwrite passionately obtuse lyrics, in a room exploding with heaving energy. There has always been a unity to the band’s particular brand of mayhem, and pleasingly this is combined here with a more primitive tightness that was left lacking on its slickly produced predecessor, Love And Paranoia. Pete Kostic’s drums sound rougher, with the danger element increasing as opener ‘Making No Sense’ progresses.

When Ben introduced the song ‘Miranda July’ in Melbourne a few months back as “Quan’s unanswered love letter to a girl who’ll never like him,” it necessitated an apology from Quan to his actual girlfriend’s father, who was in the audience at the time.

But it seems unlikely that the old bloke could have been too offended by lines like, “I don’t think it’s sexual/It’s simply contextual!” - and if he was, Quan, there’s always a li’l cupboard space in my heart for one more.

Fittingly, closer ‘Midday Sun’ is two minutes of shimmery dream that makes you wish for one of your aunty’s special cookies - before a much longer fade-out accompanied by the transcript of increasingly panicked nuclear experimentalists, who issue their post-world-post-mortem through the poltergeist in the next room…

Great to see the rough edges being embraced again – and I promise, it is bitchin’ live. Time to get ya goofy grin on.

Benjamin Cooper

Laneous (or whatever his name actually is), the expert rhymer and classic crooner, may be Brisbane’s answer to Plan B. How he manages to keep a lid on not only his innate sense of spontaneity but also that of his band for long enough to write any one song, is beyond me. This group is a musical chameleon of epic proportions, but strangely I don’t have any desire to pin them down. With so many sounds, so many ideas and so much promise, not everyone will ‘get’ these guys - but those who do will fall head over heels in love.

Boldness has a fresh new face, and now, a fresh new family. Top stuff.

Jonno Seidler

Alasdair Duncan

REGURGITATOR

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK LANEOUS & THE FAMILY YAH

Bag Raiders have me using LucasArts adventure games as reference points is a win in and of itself.

Distractions EP Valve The allure of the solo breakaway career is strong.

Who wouldn’t want to follow in the gold-plated footsteps of Lou Reed, Bernard Fanning, Thom Yorke, or Justin Timberlake? Surely it’s a chance to explore your creativity with more freedom, away from the pressure of existing fans and label expectations? Well take heed, O headstrong frontman - ye will be judged, and judged mercilessly.

It’s impossible to mistake the strong vocal intonations of Brandon Flowers, lead singer of The Killers - especially when they follow the same melodic contours that they’ve travelled in the past. In terms of songwriting, Flowers hasn’t revealed any new dimensions to his artistic self; most of Flamingo could easily be Killers’ songs. The punch of Dave Keuning’s gritty guitar chords is, however, conspicuously absent on this album, and Flowers hasn’t really filled the void with new ideas or instrumentation.

In developing the laid-back style of Flamingo, Flowers features the Hawaiian guitar in a bunch of tracks like ‘Playing With Fire’ and ‘The Clock Was Tickin’’. Some people love it, but to me the sickly sweet slides of that guitar always feel like stepping on banana peels in slow motion… And peels get mashed all over this album.

Flowers’ duet with Jenny Lewis in ‘Hard Enough’ is an album highlight, and a great example of a modern American country ballad. ‘Crossfire’, whilst a little grandiose in sentiment, is also enjoyable - and irresistibly catchy. But this is not an album of standouts, and the fourteen-trackdeluxe-edition is over-indulgent for an album of limited stylistic ideas.

Flamingo is pleasant enough, but underwhelming. The Killers with their claws filed down.

Jordan Smith

OFFICE MIXTAPE Wondering what the 'experts' listen to?

Here's the music that drives The Brag... for this week, anyway.

GOLD PANDA - Lucky Shiner REGURGITATOR - Unit SUFJAN STEVENS - All Delighted People EP

THE HOLD STEADY - Stay Positive BEIRUT - Gulag Orkestar

live reviews What we've been to see...

METALLICA, FEAR FACTORY, THE SWORD Acer Arena Saturday September 18

“Metaaallicaaa!” screams a greasy metal-head at Olympic Park train station.

A hundred metal-heads scream back, “Metaaallicaaa!!!!!!” What am I in for? I’ve been skeptical about Metallica’s last five records, and now I’m worried their rabid following is all fired up for a pack of overthe-hill has-beens. I don’t want to see any metal-heads get their feelings hurt…

The Sword’s ‘heritage’ metal sounds like a Texan Black Sabbath with the bravado to thrash when necessary. On the other hand, second support Fear Factory feels manufactured and lack sincerity and energy. A gig for their wallets, perhaps?

Or maybe they sense Metallica’s shadow looming…

The stage at Acer Arena is set up boxing ring style, with a surrounding pit of unexpectedly short-haired metal fans.

For the next two-and-a-half hours, lasers blast, giant coffins swoop, fireballs explode and green flames jet out of amps. “Tonight is a celebration of life and heavy music,” James Hetfield assures us. There is also plenty of steady light, no annoying strobe and you can actually watch fingers on frets.

Sonically, at least tonight, Metallica have lost none of their speed, volume or technicality. Even better, the 80s material gets a solid run. “You like the old stuff, huh?” says James, to a roar of approval.

After opening with Death Magnetic’s ‘That Was Just Your Life’, they shred through ‘Jump in the Fire’, ‘Fuel’, ‘Sanitarium’, ‘Hit the Lights’, ‘One’, ‘Master of Puppets’ and ‘Enter Sandman’. On a slowly spinning riser placed centre-stage, Lars Ulrich wheels back from his kit every few songs, strides to the edge of the stage (loping like a man 26-times his size) and spits hallowed water over the crowd. Kirk Hammett– as always – compensates for Lars’s antics with his gentle, respectful stage presence, soloing into the crowd and smiling blissfully, while Robert Trujillo thuds around, bass slung low, ape-like and monstrous. “You’re all part of the Metallica family, Sydney!” James yells, as he too prowls the stage to sing into every corner.

Before closer ‘Seek and Destroy’ begins, the houselights go up and an army of huge black beach balls comes down.

Metal madness, fun park style! Onstage mics are skittled and Trujillo spins with his bass, nearly impaling a roadie as the Metallica family screams “Seek and Des-TROY-ah!”. Metallica stay onstage afterwards, throwing sticks and picks to the crowd. They played long, they played hard, they played fast.

Tyler Broyles

JEFFREE STAR

The Metro Theatre Saturday September 18 As I wove through clusters of tiny teenage boys in stilettos, spangles, and bouffant pink wigs, and past pairs of baby dykes making out, the average age of Jeffree Star fans hit me like an ACME anvil. I must confess: it made my thirteen-year-old sister’s year that I took her to the gig. (“I LOVE HIM, HE’S SO HOT!” she explained on the train.) I am probably not Jeffree Star’s target audience.

Blue Mountains duo The Blush Foundation, who are entirely awesome and who you should check out when you get the chance, did a great job opening the show. Their fun eighties synth-pop sounds got everyone boogeying, and they delighted with their finale, “big lezzo song” ‘Designer Vagina’. While many seemed not to have heard it before, all were singing enthusiastically along with the chorus by the end. Local favourite DJ Sveta kept the tunes coming between supports and was excellent as usual - including a Backstreet Boys remix I must confess to loving.

And then, Jeffree Star. Powering onstage in his epic heels and the pink interpretation of ‘Baby One More Time’era Britney hair, he alternately swore,

simpered and flirted with the crowd demanding adoration and subsequently lapping it all up. “Who here has loved me since the beginning?” he asked.

Continually reassuring us we were looking fierce, he barrelled through a fairly short electro-rock set, with lyrical themes ranging from fashion to murder to sex and back again.

So let’s be honest: the guy can’t really sing and his music isn’t great - but no one else in the crowd held it against him, so I didn’t either. I’m not sure anyone was there for the music. Jeffree’s a MySpace star, a fashion designer, a make-up artist, a beautiful, sexual, outrageous, foulmouthed, cross-dressing tween and teen megastar, and growing to be as much of a brand as the Louis Vuitton he likes to name drop. None of this is problematic: in fact it’s perfect. Jeffree owns the stage, and has the audience wrapped around his perfectly manicured pinky. He’s a performer, acting out a caricature of a self-involved bubble-gum-pop alt-electrorock star. And perform he did.

If girls bursting into tears and vowing never to wash their hands again is anything to go by, the night was a success: I saw it happen not once, not twice, but three separate times.

Romi Scodellaro

CHANGING LANES FESTIVAL Eliza Street, Newtown Sunday September 19

Changing Lanes, or an event like it, has been well overdue in Newtown for some time now. Indeed it’s a small miracle that it grew wings at all, considering the myriad forces arrayed against it - speaking volumes about the dogged commitment, unshakeable faith in the Sydney scene and (hell) sheer bloody-mindedness of the organisers. A few minor hitches aside, their sweat provided the couple of thousand odd punters who packed into Eliza St with a wonderfully cruisey afternoon of good music and chilled vibes.

Once again though, the Council certainly didn’t make things easy. Pressure on the Courthouse and Zanzibar led both venues to pull out of the event at the last minute. Mega kudos to the newly risenfrom-the-ashes Bank for stepping in, its doors being flooded with sweaty, grinning bodies for electro and hip hop mayhem after things wound up over the road.

Attention good Councillors of the fair Shire of Marrickville: this wasn’t a one off, so now might be a good time to upgrade the bureaucratic infrastructure just a touch.

You don’t have to make things easy, just not next to impossible, K? K. Jinja Safari made the best of a fairly raw deal, ramming a show’s worth of energy into the ten minutes they were left with after their set was delayed by technical glitches. They were all smiles however, getting the collective feet moving in the flat afternoon weather, the smell of aerosol gently wafting over from the awesome creations unfolding across the Courthouse wall, courtesy of SMC3 & Ears. Warm harmonies, bouncing drums and twanging sitars. Maybe they’re just always like that.

No such issues for Cabins, who turned on a stellar half hour of seething psychedelia, Leroy Bressington’s strangled howl cutting above the hubbub of loosening tongues and minds, before Thundamentals provided a necessary adrenalin injection - getting the collective limbs flailing while adroitly freestyling off the quirks of the crowd. The limitations of the main stage’s sound were highlighted by a stylishly red-top clad Bridezilla, though violinist Daisy’s characteristic antics went down a treat. Tame Impala rounded off the afternoon with an extremely well-received mix of their own songs – oh the sweet irony of bopping en masse to a song called ‘Solitude Is Bliss’ – and covers, the sun even managing to weakly illuminate the massive bunch of mistletoe hanging front of stage while Kevin Parker belted out Blue Boy’s ‘Remember Me’. If that’s not a good omen for next time, then, well, nothing is.

OFFICIAL NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB AFTER PARTY

OCTOBER

1

FRIDAY

JINJA SAFARI DJ SET BENLUCID vs M.I.T

ANDRE 1700 . ALISTAIR ERSKINE GIRLS GONE WRONG

PHILADELPHIA GRAND JURY

HOPE IS FOR THE HOPELESS GIVEAWAYS COURTESY OF SHOCK

Oliver Downes

BRAG :: 381:: 27:09:10 :: 41

The Minor Chord The All Ages rant bought to you by Indent.net.au. By Melody Forghani

Urthboy

+ GUESTS This man certainly needs no introduction to The Minor Chord. Urthboy features here again not for tour dates but to ask all you loyal fans a favor. Having just whipped out his latest tune, ‘Your Thing’, he is looking to link the track up with a music video and wants your contribution in the clip.

The track is about what inspires Urthboy, and he is out to know what inspires you.

Collaborating with youth organisation Reach Out, he is putting the call out to young people across the country to submit video footage and photographs that reflect what YOUR thing is. It could be anything you enjoy to do such as dancing or playing your favourite sport. All you gotta do is head to youtube.com/group/whatsyourthing and upload your footage (1 minute max).

This is interactive, user-generated video fun at its best. Don’t be the one to miss out, go ahead and get involved.

Swing by to The Factory Theatre in Marrickville on Friday November 12 for a night of indie-pop brought to you by Australia’s own Hungry Kids of Hungary.

Having recently done a string of shows overseas, and toured with artists such as Kate Miller-Heidke, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Oh Mercy, Little Birdy, Ernest Ellis, The Holidays, and OK Go, they are following in the footsteps of fellow Australian indie-pop bands such as Cloud Control and The Temper Trap in their rise to fame. They are back in the homeland to perform for their Australian fans with their recently-announced Escapades Tour, with special guests Big Scary and Ball Park Music. You can score your ticket to their all-ages Sydney show through The Factory Theatre.

+ THE BEA BEARDS + THE DEL DELTA RIGGS

George Pettit, Dallas Green, Wade MacNeil, Chris Steele and Jordan Hastings form the Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire. Their music commonly takes the shape of aggressive rock but has moved towards heavy atmospheric tunes across their three albums, testing the boundaries of music genres and entering new unknown territories. These guys are heading out to our fine shores this month for a show at the University of New South Wales’ trusty venue space, the Roundhouse. You can grab your tickets through Ticketek and catch this gig on Friday October 8.

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Following the theme of hardcore music, Australian honeys Miles Away have announced a string of shows across the country for your musical pleasure. They are playing this September 30 at Oasis Youth Center in Wyong to promote the release of Endless Roads, supported by Hopeless and Phantoms. Leave tickets 'til the day and grab them on the door.

If the Australian music industry is a family, then The Philly Jays (Philadelphia Grand Jury) are your inappropriate uncle(s) that everyone always warns you about, particularly at family picnics. Our favourite

indie-punk-soul-rockers have announced an all-ages, all-brilliant show at the generous Metro Theatre on November 13 (it’s not as far away as you think). Tickets to this baby are available through the venue for an acceptable $17+bf presale or $22 on the door.

Take Irish band The Script and sprinkle it with a bit of Luna Park magic and you’ve guaranteed yourself good times ahead.

The band that brought you the chart topping singles ‘The Man That Cannot Be Moved’ and ‘Breakeven’ have decided to head on down to Aus to promote their latest album, Science & Faith. They’re playing one massive show at the Big Top this Wednesday October 6 from 8pm.

Tickets are on sale now, so get in there quick.

Last but certainly not least, meet Heroes For Hire (not to be confused with the fictional superhero team in Marvel comics), Sydney’s answer to Blink 182. Since the release of their debut album, they’ve been working hard to expand their audience by embarking on national tours. This month they’ve hit the road with House Vs. Hurricane and The Wonder Years.

They hit the Annandale Hotel on Saturday October 23 with a midday all-ages gig alongside The Bride, Built On Secrets and The Never Ever. Tickets are available through the venue for $15 + bf.

ALL AGES GIG PICKS THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30 Miles Away Oasis Youth Center

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 6

The Script with Michael Paynter The Big Top at Luna Park

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8

Alexisonfire UNSW Round House

SATURDAY OCTOBER 23

Heroes For Hire, with The Bride, Built On Secrets & The Never Ever The Annandale Hotel

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 12

Hungry Kids of Hungary The Factory Theatre

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 13

Philadelphia Grand Jury Metro Theatre

Send pics, listings and any info to minorchords@thebrag.com 42 :: BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10

Remedy

More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

The Don’t Look Back series continues in London on July 1, 2011 with The Flaming Lips presenting The Soft Bulletin with “support” from Dinosaur Jr who’ll be delivering 1988’s Bug and Deerhoof who’ll take a leap at their 2004 effort Milk Man. The show is at the Alexandra Palace.

BIG FOUR

Now for some more detail about that Big Four DVD release featuring Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. You should know by now that all four shared a stage on June 22 in Sofia, Bulgaria, a show that was beamed live into over 550 theatres worldwide. On October 29 that legendary gig will be available as The Big Four Live From Sofia. It includes full shows from all four bands – Metallica gets about two hours while everyone else gets an hour which firmly makes the point about the metal pecking order - on a two disc set as well as behind the scenes and interview footage.

Naturally, there’ll also be a limited edition super deluxe box set including the DVD set, five CDs containing all the music that you see and other stuff.

WINO LIVE

With the Roadburn Festival fast becoming what Budakan was in the 70s as the place to do a live slab, now comes Scott “Wino” Weinrich, the metal legend from St Vitus, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan and most recently Shrine Builder with his on stage effort from the event called simply and uncryptically Wino: Live at Roadburn 2009.

Wino in this instance is not just the name of the man but also the band that included bass player Jon Blank who tragically died just days after this recording was put to tape.

The unstoppable Neil Young has a new slab out this week called Le Noise which sounds exciting even if it ain’t - and even though it was produced by Daniel Lanois, whose studio atmosphere credits include U2 and Dylan. While there’s some acousticness to be had, Uncle Neil also does an electric thing big time, as the title implies, and (like his recent US tour) without a band.

RED FANG

Portland’s "much more rock than thoust" Red Fang have a new album ready to go which will be their first for the Relapse label.

NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

This year’s Nightmare Before Christmas Festival in the UK (December 3-5) is being curated by Godspeed You Black Emperor, which can hardly make for a boring bill. And it ain’t with – apart from GYBE of course – Neurosis, Deerhoof, Mike Watt, The Dead C, Wolves In The Throne Room, Nomeansno, Cluster, Keiji Haino and Throbbing Gristle.

ZZ TOP X RUBIN

It seems like we (or at least someone) first mentioned this years back, and they’ve only just started work now, apparently. We speak of ZZ Top recording with producer, Rick Rubin. We’re not sure how Rubin’s usual reinvention techniques will work on a band that lost its original spark and moved away from its roots long ago will pan out - but here’s hoping.

The Flaming Lips

RELAXING WITH…

The Heads, the UK’s modern-day garage answer to the 13th Floor Elevators (mixed with Zappa from his Uncle Meat era and Hawkwind), have thankfully had another of their impossible-to-find original efforts reissued. This time it’s their 1996 album, Relaxing With… that’s been expanded to include a BBC session for John Peel, plus early singles and more.

ON THE TURNTABLE

MD M 4

We did a show of hairy hands in the Remedy office the other day and the feeling was unanimous; the coming Soundwave Festival is the greatest thing to happen in this country since Taco Bell (RIP…sniff…sob…). The first round of acts to be announced was ridiculously strong, what with Iron Maiden, Queens of The Stone Age, Slayer, Social Distortion, Gang of Four, The Gaslight Anthem, The Bronx, Monster Magnet, The Melvins, High On Fire, Sword and stacks more.

Royal Headache’s full-lengther will be out in the new year on R.I.P and we’re very keen for something from Carborator, who were formed by Dead Farmers guitarist David Akerman after he recorded a bunch of Velvet Underground-inspired demos on his trusty four-track cassette recorder. He’s enlisted Songs drummer Steve Uren, Royal Headache/Bed Wettin’ Bad Boy member Joe Sukit on guitar and fellow Bad Boy and R.I.P Society label CEO “Young” Nic Warnock on bass.

Now comes the second announcement which includes One Day As A Lion, which is the new(ish) effort from Rage Against The Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, Bullet For My Valentine, the Murderdolls, Dimmu Borgir, Millencolin, Fucked Up and Saxon.

Somehow on February 27 they’ll all fit into Eastern Creek. www.soundwavefestival.com Young Docteurs, Molten Universe, New Vintage and The Pastics are at the Excelsior on October 10 at 5pm.

Send stuff for this column to remedy@ozemail.com.au by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag please. www.myspace.com/remedy4rock

F

The R.I.P Society label is holding a “Success Summit” at the Annandale on October 3 at 7pm, with the killer line-up of Royal Headache, Zond, Blank Realm, Boomgates, Woollen Kits, Carborator and Whores. The night is the launch of the vinyl edition of the self-titled album by “maximum volume, minimalist sound” Melbourne rock mob Zond and the debut 7” from Boomgates, who feature members of Dick Diver, The Twerps, Teen Archer and Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

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TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS

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On the Remedy turntable is Roky Erickson’s True Love Cast Out All Evil – which, from what we’ve heard so far, is more wide-open-space-lonely-Americana that anything else; and if anyone can lay claim to have been wandering about in the wilderness, it’s this guy.

Not that that’s a bad thing - we’re just saying, is all. We wonder how much Rick Rubin might be able to pull from the great man with say, a collection of 13th Floor Elevators’ classics and some obscure John Fahey-type-stuff, with just Roky in an old church. Just a thought. Also doing the rounds (and rounds) is Sabbath’s Sabotage. But just the first side.

It’s hard to go past ‘Hole In The Sky’ and ‘Symptom of the Universe’ - and we rarely do.

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DON’T LOOK BACK

LE NOISE

PARTY BA N

Leonard Skinner - the gym class teacher from Jacksonville who in the 60s expelled future Lynyrd Skynyrd axeman Gary Rossington for looking like a girl due to his collar-length hair (and so was the inspiration for the band’s alphabetically mangled name) - has died. He was 77.

SATURDAY OCTOBER

LYNYRD SKYNYRD

B E F O R E 9.3

0P

PS OF CD GIVEAWAYS HEA

ALTERNATIVE ROOM

LIMP BIZKIT TRIBUTE

LIVE BANDS FALLEN EMPIRES ALBUM LAUNCH +

+

playing live at Entertainment Cntr 15 Oct

CONCERT TICKETS

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GIVEAWAYS WARM UP PARTY!!

FREE ENTRY b4 9.30PM

ST JAMES HOTEL 114 CASTLEREAGH ST, CITY BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 43

snap sn ap

cancer bats

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

danimals

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gallery bar

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15:09:10 :: Annandale Hotel :: 17 Paramatta Rd Annandale 95501078

16:09:10 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

17:09:10 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

Our New Empire

It sounds like: Six badass live bands and several amazeballs DJs, turning it up to 11, just for you, all night long.

Acts: The Khanz, If We Had A Boat, Howler, Slow Waves, Howl at The Moon (Melb), Post Paint, O.N.E. DJs. Three songs you’ll hear on the night: Paul Simon – ‘You Can Call Me Al’; Best Coast – ‘Boyfriend’; William Shatner – ‘Common People’.

And one you definitely won’t: ‘Wiener Melange’ by André Rieu.

Sell it to us: Our bands come from a select group of suburbs in Sydney, Australia. Wonderful ripening conditions in the summer of 2009 allowed us to harvest fully ripe bands with good fidelity. The bands were hand picked thus allowing positive crowd selection and avoiding the risk of bitter phallic-like characters from appearing.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Flying off The Khanz's Marshall stack & injuring thousands.

Crowd specs: People who love their life as a dickhead.

Wallet damage: 10 bones.

Where: Ruby Rabbit, 231 Oxford St. Darlinghurst.

When: Saturday October 2, 8pm.

44 :: BRAG :: 381:: 20:09:10

club blink

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party profile

It’s called: Our New Empire presents: Tumble Down the Rabbit Hole

17:09:10 :: St James Hotel :: 114 Castlereagh St City 9261 8277 ) :: ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO LIER:: SUSAN BUI:: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER COL JAY :: SON VEN PATRICK STE MUNS::ROSETTE ROUHANNA:: ANDREW GREEN

snap sn ap

domeyko/gonzales

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up all night out all week . . .

ivy league spring break

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17:09:10 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

17:09:10 :: GoodGod :: 55 Liverpool St. city 93316245

GhettoBlaster party profile

It’s called: GhettoBlaster

DJs/live acts: This month we have Goons Of Doom supported by Shakin’ Howls; on the decks, the &Dimes DJs: Nickles, Bastien, Dialz and Double Denim, plus guests SLVGRS DSCTHQ. Sell it to us: After an alcohol-fuelled set by Shakin’ Howls, Goons of Doom will take the stage. Judie So & Saxon Shing will be painting Q Bars walls live on the night. VIP will showcase an exhibition by Jennifer Leung, tying in to the LA garage party theme for the night. Then our DJs will keep the party going until 5.30am, when management kicks us out... just like last time.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Climbing over couches covered in dancing kids, wading your way through the discarded red beer cups and reaching 34b, before being wowed by our live show.

Wallet damage: $10 entry. $5 Beers. $6.50 GhettoBlaster shots $8 GhettoBlaster cocktails.

Where: Q Bar & 34b / 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst.

When: Saturday October 2.

) :: ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER :: JAY COLLIER:: SUSAN BUI:: SON VEN STE ICK PATR NA:: MUNS::ROSETTE ROUHAN ANDREW GREEN

BRAG :: 381 :: 12:09:10 :: 45

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metals & boxwars

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up all night out all week . . .

melt

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18:09:10 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

changing lanes

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17:09:10 :: Melt :: 12 Kellett St, Kings Cross 93806060

19:09:10 :: Changing Lanes Festival::Eliza St Newtown

party profile

Louis Bertignac It’s called: Louis Bertignac (FRA) It sounds like: The lead singer from the famous French super band Téléphone.

Live acts: Louis Bertignac (FRA) and Brian Campeau.

Sell it to us: In the 70s and 80s, Téléphone were the French equivalent of The Rolling Stones, and Bertignac was the definitive Gallic version of Keith Richards.

But all good things come to an end, and when Téléphone split in 1986, Bertignac took on the role of Lonesome Guitar Man, launching a successful career as a solo musician.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Guitar riffs that make you want to learn the six-stringed instrument yourself.

Crowd specs: Frenchies, and people that want to experience something from another time and place.

Wallet damage: $25+bf / $30 at the door.

Where: The Gaelic Hotel / 64 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills

metallica

PICS :: JC

When: Saturday October 2

18:09:10 :: Hordern Pavilion :: 1 Driver Ave Moore Park 93834000 46 :: BRAG :: 381:: 20:09:10

) :: ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO LIER:: SUSAN BUI:: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER COL JAY :: PATRICK STEVENSON MUNS::ROSETTE ROUHANNA:: ANDREW GREEN

presents presents...

TUE CULT SINEMA 28th September 7:30pm

$5 suggested donation

WED JAGER UPRISING Quarter Final 29th September 7pm

#

1

The Finalists are: THE MING KINGS + EYE TO EYE + TOLHURST SATELLITE Winner walks away with a $1,000 cash prize! $8 door

THU CAPTAIN KICKARSE 30th September & THE AWESOMES 7.30pm w. Jimmy Swouse & The Angry Darts + Hong Kong + Rockethead $10 door

FRI 1st October 8pm

SYDONIA w. Melody Black + Dive Into Ruin $15 + bf

SAT 2nd October 8pm

ELECTRIC MARY w. Nat Col & The Kings + L.U.S.T + Raise The Crazy $18 + bf

SUN Screaming Sunday *All Ages* 3rd October 11am – 3pm

w. The Sunny Side Up (Cd Launch) + The Perfect Revolution A Sleepless Melody (Melb) + When the World + Karl-Christoph Dinkibike + Beginning of the End + special guest $12 door

SUN 3rd October 7.00pm

Tone Defeat presents

SUCCESS SUMMIT 2010 featuring Royal Headache + Zond + Blank Realm + Woollen Kits + Boomgates + Carborator + Whores $15 + bf

/0%. -/. TH /#4 ,ONG 7EEKEND

3!4 35. AM PM "OOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL ON

COMING UP: DAN KELLY | JONNEINE ZAPATA | THE IVYʼs | HELLMENN | BEDOUIN SOUNDCL ASH | THE THREE UP TOUR feat ILLY + 360 + SKRYPTCHA | HEROES FOR HIRE DIESEL | STICKY FINGERS | PEABODY | SKA WEEKENDER | BARONESS

0ARRAMATTA 2D !NNANDALE &ULL LIST OF UPCOMING SHOWS INFORMATION AND SHOW BOOKINGS VISIT

WWW ANNANDALEHOTEL COM

YOUR LIVE MUSIC CHANNEL

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 47

small bars guide Smaller Than Your Average Hordern Pavilion...

Is there a bar we should know about? Email listings@thebrag.com

Stanley Street Station 85A Stanley Street (Corner of Crown St), East Sydney

brag

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bar

E E W

Bec Foley started her career at The Victoria Room back in 2006 as a waiter - by the time she left in 2008, she was Restaurant Manager, with a team of fifteen.

From there it was Gazebo Wine Garden in Potts Point, Eleven Kitchen and Cellar and now the new challenge – Stanley Street Station.

Rhys Cornish wanted to be a bartender before he was of legal age. Three days after turning 18, he offered to work for free in a bar and voila, Rhys’ career was born. He then got a job at the prestigious cocktail bar Goldfish under the supervision of ‘Cocktail King’ Ben Walsh.

THE PITCH We consider ourselves to be the least pretentious bar in Sydney, and probably the most fun. It’s a bar that doesn’t take itself seriously (except for the awesome drinks). We play Elvis, there’s a resident skull the size of a chair and we’ve got Uno on our games shelf.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Amy Yongsiri and Greg Vankuyk – Stanley Street Station’s ‘Station Masters’ (owners) - wanted it to feel like a stop, a hub; somewhere for people to get on… or off.

LOCATION LOCATION The bar site is one of the infamous ‘white elephants’ of Sydney - but we saw the potential of the prime location!

The space itself is so brilliant; just enough nooks and crannies to either do some peoplewatching, or hide in a dark, sexy corner.

SYDNEY CITY

Alira Shop 120, 26 -32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont Wednesdays: $25 paella & glass of wine Ash St Cellar 1 Ash St, Sydney CBD Balcony Bar 46 Erskine St, Sydney CBD Firefly 17 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay GoodGod Small Club / Jimmy Sing’s 53-55 Liverpool St, Sydney The Grasshopper Bar & Café Temperance Lane, Sydney CBD Number One Wine Bar 1 Alfred St, Circular Quay, Sydney Small Bar 48 Erskine Street, Sydney CBD Monday – Thursday 12pm – 3pm: any main meal, with glass of wine or beer for $20 Tone Venue 16 Wentworth Ave, Sydney CBD Verandah Bar 55 – 65 Elizabeth St, Sydney CBD Tuesdays 12pm – 9pm: $9 schnitzel

INNER WEST

THE CROWD Local Darlo residents make us their living room. It’s pretty hard to peel yourself off our couches, especially when you’ve got a fabulous margarita in front of you. We’ve also got some awesome friends in the arts world, so we’ve become a bit of a hub for them too.

THE BRAG’S GUIDE TO SYDNEY’S BEST NOOKS

DESIGN INSPIRATIONS We have an amazing artist that works with us: Amy Yongsiri.

The concept is based on psycho-geography. That sounds pretentious, but it’s actually fun and a bit subversive. Guy Dubord (a French theorist) looked at urban landscapes and how they are structured - he said that there are hidden ways we ‘claim’ territory psychologically as our own. Think about walking past a laneway, and remembering a night when you shared a sneaky kiss with someone down there.

We also have an exhibition on at the moment by one of Sydney’s most famous street and studio artists, Ears.

SIGNATURE DRINKS There’s our trashy cocktail The Passiona – which is all about passionfruit and vodka. It actually comes out with a flaming lime

wheel. It’s straight from 1986: it looks so retro tacky, and it tastes so good!

HINDSIGHT Having never opened a bar before, we learnt all the boring stuff: finding suppliers, comparing prices, etc. The initial cocktail list and back bar were designed by Alex from Sticky, Katharine from Porteno, and Jeremy from Shady Pines Saloon. We were fortunate to have such amazing friends who didn’t mind us usurping all of their intellectual property.

OTHER FAVOURITE SPOTS? The SSS crew are regulars of Low 302, Shady Pines, The Flinders, Eau de Vie and good ol’ Gaslight. And when all of those places kick us out, it’s off to Judgement Bar…

Berkelouw Wine Bar 70 Norton Street, Leichhardt Friday 3pm – 8pm: 2-for-1 sparkling wine Bloodwood 416 King St, Newtown Corridor 153a King Street, Newtown Monday – Friday, 5-7pm: $9 mojitos Wednesday Mexican Night - $12 for a bowl of soup, crispy turkish bread and a glass of red wine.

Different Drummer 185 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe Daily, 6 – 7:30pm: Cocktail Happy ‘Hour and a Half’ The Hive Bar 93 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville Monday - Thursday: any pizza with a free glass of wine or E’ville Pilsner, $12 Kuleto’s 157 King Street, Newtown Saturday 6-7pm: Happy Hour (2 for 1 cocktails) Madame Fling Flong Level 1, 169 King St, Newtown Tuesday: Movie Deal - $20 for mezze plate for one and a glass of wine or beer Rosebud Restaurant & Bar 654 Darling St. Rozelle Soni’s 169 King St, Newtown

INNER EAST

brag cocktail of the week: Pour it in your mouth-hole... (responsibly).

To Pan and To Pallas @ Eau De Vie

Inside the Kirketon Hotel, 229 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst

20ml Johnnie Walker Gold infused with Honeycomb 10ml Johnnie Walker Gold Ruinart Blanc de Blancs

and listening to: jazz.

Method: Coat a flute glass with citrus oils using the citrus peels and place the bitters into the flute.

Rinse the glass with the bitters, and coat the entire flute with the sugar using the barspoon.

Place the spirits inside the flute, and top with champagne.

Ingredients: Peel of one lemon, one orange, one pink grapefruit Dash Peach Bitters 2 Barspoons of Gold Leaf Honey Sugar

Glass: Flute Garnish: Aromatic - the carbonation from the champagne carries the aromas of the honeycomb, citrus, peach and Johnnie Walker.

best drunk with: friends or a loved one during: pre-dinner cocktails while wearing: something celebratory

48 :: BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10

Absinthe Salon 87 Albion St, Surry Hills Boteco 421 Cleveland St, Surry Hills Café Lounge 277 Goulburn Street, Darlinghurst Tuesdays, 6:30pm: Sin-e with live music, $5.50 champagne cocktails, free entry Ching-A-Lings 133 Oxford St, Surry Hills The Commons 32 Burton St, Darlinghurst Jazz Thursdays, from 8pm Doctor Pong 1a Burton Street, Darlinghurst Sundays: Doctor Pong’s Grand Royal Roast, $19 with DJs, mulled wine and fire place Eau de Vie 229 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst Thursdays, 8pm: jazz, free entry El Rocco @ Bar Me 154 Brougham St, King’s Cross The Falconer 31 Oxford St, Surry Hills Fringe Bar 106 Oxford St, Paddington Tuesdays, 7:15pm: Trivia Thursdays 6-9pm: all you can eat pizza Thursdays 9-11pm: $8 cocktails Sundays, from 4pm: Lounge Olympics - exhibit your athletic prowess with favourites such as table tennis, foosball, giant Jenga,

UNO & Connect Four.

The Gazebo 2 Elizabeth Bay Rd, Potts Point Iguana Bar 13-15 Kellett St, King’s Cross The Local Taphouse 122 Flinders St, Darlinghurst Lo-Fi L2, 383 Bourke St Darlinghurst Low 302 302 Crown St, Surry Hills Name This Bar 197 Oxford St, Paddington Happy Hour every day 4pm – 7pm: $4 tap beers, $5 dumpling boxes, $6 mojitos The Passage 231a Victoria St, Darlinghurst Piano Room Cnr Darlinghurst & Kings Cross Rd, Kings Cross Pocket Bar 13 Burton St, Darlinghurst Mondays: ‘Pocket Change’ - $10 crepes Shady Pines 256 Crown St, Darlinghurst Solas Bar 557 Crown St, Surry Hills Stanley Street Station 85a Stanley St, Darlinghurst Sunday – Thursday 5pm-7pm: Early-bird dinner, two courses for $26 (excluding pork belly & New Yorker) Supper Club @ Will & Toby’s 134 Oxford St, Taylor Square, Darlinghurst Tea Parlour 569 Elizabeth St, Redfern Toko 490 Crown St, Surry Hills Velluto 7/50 Macleay Street, Potts Point Saturday & Sunday, 2-5pm: High Tea The Winery 285a Crown St, Surry Hills Yullis 417 Crown St, Surry Hills

EAST

Bondi Social 262 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction Cream Tangerine Swiss Grand, Campbell Pde, Bondi Mocean 34A Campbell Pde, Bondi Beach Ravesi’s Corner of Campbell Pde & Hall St, Bondi Beach Thursday - Friday : 6pm - late Saturday: 3pm - late Sunday: 2pm - late Until August 31st: Winter Magic Specials, 2-course menu - $26 The Rum Diaries 288 Bondi Road, Bondi Mondays: Live acoustic sets, $5 house wine, $5 Coopers, $5 wedges Speakeasy Bar 83 Curlewis Street, Bondi Beach Until October 20: ‘The Speaker’s Table’ is a desk harbouring the works of writers. Anyone can leave their short written work in the desk for others to discover.

White Revolver Cnr Curlewis & Campbell Pde, Bondi Beach

NORTH

Firefly Lodge Lane Cove 24 Burns Bay Rd, Lane Cove Firefly Neutral 24 Young St, Neutral Bay Miss Marley’s Tequila Bar 32 Belgrave St, Manly Small Bar 85 Willoughby Rd, North Sydney The Winery 8-13 South Steyne, Manly

Your bar’s not here?

We’ve missed something?

Email us! listings@thebrag.com

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 49

Presented by

Gig Guide

send your listings to: gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29

JAZZ

Club Jazz Open Mic Night The Manhattan Lounge, Sydney free 7pm James Valentine’s Supper Club Golden Sheaf Hotel, Double Bay free 7pm Jazzgroove: Zac Hurren Trio, The Vampires 505 Club, Surry Hills $8–$10 8.30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm Soup Jam Session Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills free 6pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Blackheart The Basement, Circular Quay $20+bf 9.30pm Residents: Sharmber, The Black Paintings, Zach Abbott, Alisdair Mcclintock Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Sin-e: Leine (Holland) & Lucy Hall Cafe Lounge, Surry Hills free 7pm

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 Gypsy & The Cat

Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst

Gypsy & The Cat,

Papa Vs Pretty, Matt Walters $15 (+ bf) 8pm

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 27

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 28

ROCK & POP

ROCK & POP

Andy Mammers Coogee Bay Hotel free 9pm Bernie The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Nicky Kurta Opera Bar, Sydney free 8.30pm Parkway Drive, The Devil Wears Prada (USA), 50 Lions, The Ghost Inside Newcastle Panthers, Newcastle West $35 (+ bf) 8pm Songwriter Sessions@Excelsior Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills free 7.30pm Unherd Open Mic: Derkajam Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm

JAZZ

Misinterprotato, Elly Hoyt, James Sherlock The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (conc)–$25 (+ bf) 9.30pm The Grand Sezuan, Adam Page 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm

Beau Smith Duo Stamford Grand North Ryde, Macquarie Park free 6pm Cambo O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm Klondike’s North Forty Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Matt Jones The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Open Mic Night Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle free 7pm Passenger (UK) Raval, Surry Hills $15.90 8pm The Ghost Inside, Relentless, Hand Of Mercy Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $20 They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Tuesday Unplugged Uni Bar, Wollongong University, Gwynneville free 4pm

ROCK & POP

Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Angie Hart, Matthew Barber, Gabrielle & Cameron Brass Monkey, Cronulla $23.50 (presale) 7pm Built To Spill (USA) Metro Theatre, Sydney $49.70 (+ bf) 8pm Chontia Shoal Bay Resort free 1pm Christine Anu, Casey Donovan, Emma Donovan, Australian Girls Choir Notes Live, Enmore $34.70 7pm Dereb the Ambassador Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8pm Emma Hamilton Stamford Grand North Ryde, Macquarie Park free 6pm Gary Johns Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 5pm Gemma The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Grace Rizzo, Stuart Davey Workers Blacktown $12 (member)–$15 8pm Gypsy & The Cat, Matt Walters Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $15 (+ bf) 8pm Isaac de Heer, Mike McCarthy, Birds & Belles Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle free 8pm Jager Uprising: Ming Kings, Eye to Eye, Tolhurst, Satellite Annandale Hotel $8 7pm Katrina Burgoyne Dee Why Hotel free 8pm Live n Local: Meags Hill Lizotte’s Restaurant, Lambton $13.50 7pm Miles Away Live at the Wall, Leichhardt 8pm Only the Sea Slugs, Halal, How Are You?, Welcome Family Spectrum, Darlinghurst 8pm Open Mic Night Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Open Mic Fubah on Copa, Copacabana free 7pm Perfect Strangers, Dennis Aubrey Raval, Surry Hills $20 (+ bf) 8pm Phillip Ricketson Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Sideshow: The Holidays, The Cairos, We Are Fans Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm The Study: Huntings, Sleepyhands, Kieran de La Harpe Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 7.30pm Tom Trelawny O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm

Totally Unicorn, Caverns, Handsome, FH Harp Hotel, Wollongong 8pm Two Minds Ettamogah Pub, Rouse Hill free Uni Night Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 9pm Vocal Sampling (Cuba), Diana Fuetes The Basement, Circular Quay $45 (+ bf) 9.30pm YourSpace Muso Showcase: Tempting Eve, Starr Witness, Shenoa Fox, Alec Dejanovic, Mattie Slur, Josh Shipton, Adam Bachley Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 7pm

JAZZ

Bernie McGann Quartet 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm Didi Mudigdo Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7pm John Redmond Trio The Manhattan Lounge, Sydney free Magnetic Heads, The Falls Hotel Hollywood, Surry Hills free 8pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free

COUNTRY

Philip Ricketson (The Hoo Haas) Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30 ROCK & POP

Abba Lives Wests Campbelltown Tennis Club, Leumeah $8 11am Angie Hart, Matthew Barber, Gabrielle & Cameron Lizotte’s Restaurant, Kincumber $20 (+ bf) 7pm Antoine Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Birds of Tokyo, Silversun Pickups, The Chemist Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park $61.55 7pm Boston Shaker Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor 8pm Captain Kickarse & the Awesomes, Jimmy Swouse & The Angry Darts, Hong Kong Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm Cosmic Psychos, The Rumjacks, Hytest, Solid Gold Bastards Harp Hotel, Wollongong $15 (+ bf)–$20 (at door) 8pm Declan Kelly & The Rising Sun Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free

8.30pm Diesel South Newcastle Leagues Club, Merewether 8pm Food Inc: The Thing Os The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $10–$20 7pm G3 Marble Bar, Sydney free 8.30pm Gypsy & the Cat, Matt Walters The Grand Hotel, Wollongong $15 8pm Hot Damn!: Bermuda, Far West Battlefront, The Eradicated, Creations, Hot Damn DJs Spectrum, Darlinghurst $10–$12 8pm Jo Vill Windang Bowling Club free 6pm Johnathan Devoy Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Jukebox Jive River Canyon Restaurant, Parramatta $10 (show only)–$35 (dinner & show) 7.30pm Katrina Shoal Bay Resort free 5pm Louis Martin Place Bar, Sydney free 5pm Lumiere, The Re:enactment, Solkyri, Bright Quito Spring, World Champion Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $10 7.45pm Mark Wilkinson, Carra Brass Monkey, Cronulla $12.75 8pm Miles Away Oasis Youth Centre, Wyong 8pm Morning Melodies: Dorothy Copper Penrith RSL $6 10.30am Mr Percival Lizotte’s Restaurant, Lambton $25 (show only)–$65 (dinner & show) 7pm My City Screams, Sienna Skies, The Bride, In Hearts Wake The Attic, Mona Vale Hotel $12 (+ bf) 8pm Neon Heart Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 8pm Old Man River, Dead Letter Chorus, Adrian Deutsch The Basement, Circular Quay $23 (+ bf) 8.30pm Paris Wells Raval, Surry Hills $12 (+ bf) 7.30pm Reyes De La Onda Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 12am Ross Ward GJ’s Coffee Lounge, Cronulla Mall free 7.30pm Sable, The Howling Tongues, Rabble Rabble Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 7.30pm So Frenchy, So Chic: Emilie Simon, Melanie Pain (France)

Melanie Pain

“You can’t find true closeness in Hollywood, because everybody does the fake closeness so well.” - CARRIE FISHER 50 :: BRAG :: 381 : 27:09:10

Presented by Pres

Gig Guide

send your listings to: gigguide@thebrag.com Metro Theatre, Sydney $42 (early bird)–$52 (+ bf) 8pm Steve Edmonds Band Empire Hotel, Annandale free 7pm Stickyfingers, Corduroy Pillow Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle free 8pm Stormcellar Dry Dock Hotel, Balmain free 8pm The Incubator: Killaqueenz, Nathan Kaye, Cameras, Act Yo Age, Stephanie Brownlee, Mojada, We Are Fans, The Sculptures, Paper Moon, Mickl Sayers, Skii Harvey, Kempsey, Charmaine Bingwa Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $20.90 (+ bf) 6pm The Marly Battle of the Bands Grand Final Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8pm The Next Step Hornsby RSL $20 (+ bf) 8pm The Sacred Truth Club 77, East Sydney 8pm Wollongong Wail Band Comp City Diggers, Wollongong free 8pm

JAZZ

Anikiko, Alex Gibson, Yunhu The Vanguard, Newtown $15 (+ bf)–$20 (at door) 6.30pm Jazz Factory The View Factory, Newcastle free 7pm Madeline’s Couch 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm Steve Edmonds Empire Hotel, Annandale free 8pm Sydney Sound Big Band Rockdale RSL Club free 7.30pm The Continental Blues Trio The Funky Deli Cafe, Newtown free 7pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Bacon & Cabbage, TeeJay Cock ‘n’ Bull Tavern, Bondi Junction free 9pm Charlie Parr (USA), The Maladies Notes Live, Enmore $31.65 (presale) 7pm Shut the Folk Up: Kid Dynamic, CJ Shaw, Raymond Nazdiak, Dave Perran The Hive Bar, Erskineville free 7pm

FRIDAY OCTOBER 1 ROCK & POP

1927, Kim Cheshire Lizotte’s Restaurant, Lambton $40 (show only)–$80 (dinner & show) 7pm 2 Of Hearts Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 3 Stripe Avenue Avoca Beach Hotel free 8.30pm Amplifire: Bang Bang Guns, Carlisle, Crossing Lines, Gundo, Kross Junkie, Plastic Soldiers Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $20 (+ bf) 7.30pm Angie Hart, Matthew Barber, Gabrielle & Cameron Notes Live, Enmore $23.50 (presale) 7pm Big Rich The Beachcomber Hotel, Toukley free 8pm Brash Asset Nelson Bay Bowling Club free 7.30pm Brewster Brothers Avalon Beach RSL Club 8pm Brown Sugar Marble Bar, Sydney free 9.30pm Casho Station Hotel, Kurri Kurri free 8pm Cosmic Psychos, The Rumjacks,

The Corps, Blackloop Live at the Wall, Leichhardt $20 (+ bf) 8pm Country Club DJs Shoal Bay Country Club Hotel free 8.30pm Darling Harbour Fiesta: Diego Guerrero Trio (Spain), JJ Son Con Idabelis, Cecilia Noel Darling Harbour Precinct free 8pm David Campbell Revesby Workers Club $55 8pm Double Dragon: Bridezilla, WIM, Zeahorse, Psychonanny & the Babyshakers, Arkestra, Dark Bells, Sick Python, Old Men of Moss Mountain, Nhomea, Disco Club, Whipped Cream Chargers, Piano is Drunk Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $5 8pm Double Whammy Kurnell Recreation Club free 8pm Filth: Fearless Vampire Killers, Seek The Silence Ivanhoe Hotel Manly - Lobby Bar free 10pm Formula Warners Bay Hotel free 9pm Gypsy & The Cat, Matt Walters CBD Hotel, Newcastle $15 8pm Hit Machine Engadine Tavern free 9pm Hue Williams Avalon RSL free 9pm In Pieces Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL free 10pm Jamie The Seabreeze Hotel, Nelson Bay free 8pm Juicy Fruit MJ Finnegan’s Irish Pub, Newcastle free 10.30pm Katrina Lake Macquarie Tavern, Mount Hutton free 7.30pm Kira Puru & The Bruise, Mother & Son, Lanie Lane The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm Lawrence Baker

TUE 28 SEP

wed

29 Sept

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

New Young Pony Club Celebrity Room, Blacktown RSL Club free 8pm Lee Rolfe Docks Hotel, Darling Harbour free 7.30pm Leeroy & the Rats East Maitland Bowling Club free 8pm Lollipop Sugar, Oxygen Thief, Danger Bus, Upside Down Miss Jane, Bistu Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 9pm MUM: LIVE: Paper Moon, Howling To The Moon, Re: Enactment, Convaire, We Are Fans , Wolves, Orca! Straight Ahead!, DJs: Felix Lloyd Vs Walkie Talkie, Nic Yorke, Mush, Monkey Genius, Wet Lungs, Jack Shit, Bobby Six & Meowcat, 16 Tacos, 10th Avenue and Cosmic Explorer The World Bar, Kings Cross $10

ROCK-STEIN TRIVIA FREE ENTRY

THE STUDY presents

30 Sept

WED 29 SEP

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

fri

01 Oct

(5:00PM - 8:00PM)

James Parrino

02 Oct

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

SATURDAY NIGHT

(9:15PM - 1:00AM)

THU 30 SEP

OCTOBER LONG-WEEKEND

+ SLEEPYHANDS + KIERAN DE LA HARPE SABLE + THE HOWLING TONGUES

+ RABBLE RABBLE + THE PRESENCE

(2:00PM)

sun

03 Oct

FRI 01 OCT

(5:00PM)

(8:00PM ) (9:00PM - 12:00AM)

HUNTINGS

FREE ENTRY

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

SAT 02 OCT

Plus PARTY DJS from 12pm- level one and CLUB DJS from 12am on level two

AMPLIFIRE + KROSS JUNKIE + CROSSING LINE + GUNDO + PLASTIC SOLDIER + CARLISLE + BANG BANG GUNS

LOUIS BERTIGNAC (FRA)

mon

04 Oct

FREE ENTRY

COOPERS presents

thu

sat

(guestlist)–$15 8pm New Young Pony Club (UK), The Dirty Secrets, Purple Sneakers DJs The Forum Theatre, Moore Park $44 (+ bf) 8pm Nobby Grooves, DJ Karey Gasworks Nightclub, Albion Hotel, Parramatta $10 9pm Old Man River, Adrian Deutsch Lizotte’s Restaurant, Kincumber $20 (show only)–$60 (dinner & show) 7.30pm Outer Phase Iron Horse Inn, Cardiff free 6.30pm Pawno Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor $10 8pm Purple Sneakers: Jinja Safari DJ Set, BenLucid vs M.I.T, Andre 1700, Alistair Erskine, Girls Gone Wrong Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale free 7pm

(2:00PM - 5:30PM)

+ BRIAN CAMPEAU COMING SOON

(7:30PM - 10:30PM) SAT 02 OCT

SECRET SHOW

SUN 03 OCT

NRL GRAND FINAL

FRI 08 OCT

TRASHED MILF

WWW.THEGAELIC.COM EVENT EVENT &&FUNCTION FUNCTIONBOOKINGS: BOOKINGS: clayton@selectmusic.com.au danielle@thegaelic.com BAND BANDBOOKINGS: BOOKINGS:clayton@selectmusic.com.au clayton@selectmusic.com.au

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 51

Presented by

Gig Guide

send your listings to: gigguide@thebrag.com Real Deal Greta Workers Sports & Recreation Club free 8pm Rezzalp, Drew Sutherland, Ian Sandercoe Raval, Surry Hills 8pm Ross Ward Pyrmont Bridge Hotel free 9pm Seabellies The Grand Hotel, Wollongong $10– $20 (incl CD) 8pm Secret Society Mayfield Ex Services Club Ltd free 8.30pm Snowy Amos The Hunter Valley Brewery, Maitland free 9pm Spectacular Feets Fire Station Hotel, Wallsend free 8.30pm Steve Edmonds (solo) Crown Hotel Sydney free 8pm Super Jam Scenic Lounge, Central Coast Leagues Club, Gosford free 8.30pm Sydonia Annandale Hotel 8pm The Bohemian Masquerade Ball: The Barons of Tang, Kira Puru & The Bruise, Jephthah Francis & The Forbidden Zone Gallipoli Club, Hamilton $26 (+ bf) 7.30pm The Little Big Band Mattara Hotel, Newcastle free 8pm The Next Step Penrith Panthers $20 (+ bf) 8pm The Sacred Truth Tea Club, Nowra 8pm The Supreme Motown Show Diggers @ The Entrance free 8.30pm The Urge Kent Hotel, Hamilton free 10pm The V Dubs Beresfield Bowling Club free 9pm This is Not Art: Sound Summit: Jason Forrest, The Tantrums, Scattered Order, No Anchor, Geodesic Domes, PA, Chris Cerrito, Cock Safari, Black Math Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West $15–$20 (whole event) 7.30pm This is Not Art: Sound Summit: Sam Hamilton & the Mystic Disco (NZ), Raceless, Avant Hand Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle 5.30pm Undercover Campbelltown Catholic Club free 9pm V Tribe The Lucky Australian, North St Marys free 7pm Yardvark, Milkmaids, Mending Melissa, The Last Cavalry Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $10 (presale)–$12 8pm

JAZZ

Bridge City Jazz Band Club Ashfield free 7.30pm Continental Blues Bus Empire Hotel, Annandale free 8pm Manly International Jazz Festival: Van Sereno, Byron Mark, Shane Flew, Uncle Jed Old Man River

The Manly Fig $18–$45 (whole event) 7.30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 5.30pm Pink Martini (USA) State Theatre, Sydney 8pm Rick Estrin & the Nightcats (USA), Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm (USA) The Basement, Circular Quay $50.20 (+ bf) 8pm Rockers & Revheads Ball: Jive Bombers, Jimmy D Newcastle City Hall 7.30pm Shawnuff Swing Band Newtown Jets Rugby League Social Club, Tempe free 8pm SIMA: The Catholics The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $15 (conc)–$20 8.30pm Tim Wilson 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Charlie Parr (USA) Brass Monkey, Cronulla $25.50 (presale) 7pm Harry Manx (Canada) The Factory Theatre, Enmore $44 (+ bf) 7.30pm The Furry Animals, Mental Elf The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 8pm

HIP HOP

Dustones: Def Wish Cast, Dialect & Despair Feat Motion, Social Change, DJ Mathematics, Bentley Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 2 ROCK & POP

SFX: Our Last Enemy, Dawn Heist, Recoil St James Hotel, City $15 80s Radio Nelson Bay Bowling Club free 7.30pm A Day on the Green: Simply Red (UK), Marcia Hines, Ross Wilson Bimbadgen Estate, Pokolbin $105– $395 2pm am8er Fanny’s of Newcastle 8pm Angie Hart, Matthew Barber, Gabrielle & Cameron Clarendon Guest House, Katoomba $20 7pm Australian Guns n Roses Tribute Show Scenic Lounge, Central Coast Leagues Club, Gosford $10–$15 8pm Black Cherry: Bob Log III (USA), Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants, La Mancha Negra, The Lazys, Simon Day, Rockabilly Rhino, Ruby Riot, CeeCee, Nathan

Deviant The Factory Theatre, Enmore $15 (+ bf)–$18 (at door) 8pm Bon Chat Bon Rat, The Tantrums Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Brash Asset The Seabreeze Hotel, Nelson Bay free 8pm Brewster Brothers Coogee Diggers 8pm Cash & Co Peden’s Tavern Hotel, Cessnock free 8.30pm Chartbusters Campbelltown Catholic Club free 8.30pm Cherribomb Oatley Hotel free 8pm Cosmic Psychos, The Rumjacks, Driving The Rhino, Rust Manly Fisho’s $15 (+ bf) 8pm Darling Harbour Fiesta: Diego Guerrero Trio (Spain), JJ Son Con Idabelis, Cecilia Noel Darling Harbour Precinct free 8pm Dave Feint Hawks Nest Golf Club free 7.30pm Deborah Sinclair Cessnock Rugby League Supporters Club free 7.45pm DJ Danc Bateau Bay Hotel free 8.30pm Double Whammy Cronulla Sharks free 8.30pm Exodus (USA), Switchblade, Subtract Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $52 (+ bf) 8pm Hendrix & Heroes Tribute: Steve Edmonds Notes Live, Enmore $23.50 (presale) 7pm Jason Hicks Kendall Bar, Central Coast Leagues Club, Gosford free 8.30pm Jessica Cain Shoal Bay Resort free 2pm Jukebox Zombies, Paintbox City, The Half Empties Hornsby Inn free 8pm Katrina MJ Finnegan’s Irish Pub, Newcastle free 8pm Late Night Lounge: iOTA, Libbi Gorr, Matt McMahon, Cecilia Noel, Randy, Heath McIvor The Studio, Sydney Opera House $39–$49 10pm Leah Flanagan, Melanie Horsnell Raval, Surry Hills $12 (+ bf)–$15 8pm Louis Bertignac Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $25 (+ bf) 8pm Manyana Doyalson-Wyee RSL Club free 9.15pm Mark Sholtez The Vanguard, Newtown $30 (+ bf)–$35 (at door) 6.30pm Misbehave Anna Bay Tavern free 8.30pm Old Man River, Adrian Deutsch Lizotte’s Restaurant, Lambton $20 (show only)–$60 (dinner & show) 7pm One Hit Wonders Celebrity Room, Blacktown RSL Club free 10pm Outer Phase Nelson Bay RSL Memorial Club free 9.30pm Patio de Tango Milonga: Tango Bar Bexley RSL & Community Club $22 8pm Pop Fiction Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club, Bondi Junction free 9pm Radio City Cats Marble Bar, Sydney free 10.30pm Raise the Crazy, Electric Mary, Nat Cole & the Kings, L.U.S.T. Annandale Hotel $18 8pm Rezzalp Lass O’Gowrie Hotel, Wickham 8pm Rock Factor Warners Bay Hotel free 9pm Rolling Stoned Diggers @ The Entrance free 8.30pm Ross Ward Imperial Hotel, Bowral free 8.30pm RPM Shoal Bay Country Club Hotel free 8.30pm

Bob Log III

Secret Society MJ Finnegan’s Irish Pub, Newcastle free 10.30pm Service 30 Hotel Delany, Newcastle free 9pm Solid Gold DJs Iron Horse Inn, Cardiff free 9pm Spectacular Feets Avoca Beach Hotel free 8.30pm Taylor King Roxbury Room, The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe $10 7.30pm The Bad & The Ugly Salamander Hotel, Soldiers Point free 8.30pm The Clap, Elephant Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle 8pm The Murder Junkies (USA), The Blurters, The Corps, Vee Bees, Rukus Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $25 (+ bf) 8pm The Next Step Revesby Workers Club $20 (+ bf) 8pm The Sacred Truth Hamilton Station Hotel, Islington 8pm The V Dubs Blackbutt Hotel, New Lambton free 8.45pm The Vaudeville Smash, Elle Kennard Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm This is Not Art: Sound Summit: Grouper (USA), Songs, Blank Realm, Potato Masta, Nhomea, They Live, Bare Grillz, Anna Chase Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West $15–$20 (whole event) 7.30pm This Is Not Art: Sound Summit: ii, Polyfox This Is Not Art Festival Club, Newcastle 1pm Todd Rundgren (USA) The Basement, Circular Quay $77.10 (+ bf) 7.30pm Trilogy Ivanhoe Hotel Manly - Lobby Bar free 10pm Veora, Geminine, Archaic, Engine Three Seven, Dumbsaint, The Arctic, Beaufields, Marlow Minus House Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $12–$15 3pm Viagra Falls Bradford Hotel, Rutherford free 8pm Whiskey River Catherine Hill Bay Hotel free 1.30pm Xtra Hot Brighton RSL Club, Brighton-LeSands free 8pm

JAZZ

Calle Macondo 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm Cass Eager & the Velvet Rope Grand Junction Hotel, Maitland free

“Leia follows me like a vague smell.”- CARRIE FISHER 52 :: BRAG :: 381 : 27:09:10

8.30pm Kings Cross Organic Food Markets: Paul Sun Fitzroy Gardens, Potts Point free 9.30am Manly International Jazz Festival: Zoe Elliot, Bridie King, The Domestics The Manly Fig $18–$45 (whole event) 7.30pm Old Time Band The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 2pm SIMA: The Catholics The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $15 (conc)–$20 8.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie, Tony Burkys, Ron Gillet, Alan Gilbert Fraternity Bowling & Recreation Club, Fairy Meadow free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Charlie Parr (USA) Northern Star Hotel, Hamilton 8pm

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3 ROCK & POP

Aslan (Ireland) The Forum Theatre, Moore Park $59.50 (+ bf) 8pm Barnestormin Bateau Bay Hotel free 2pm Ben Kweller (USA), Delta Spirit (USA) The Factory Theatre, Enmore $44 (+ bf) 6.30pm Beth Robertson Docks Hotel, Darling Harbour free 5pm Billy & I Ivanhoe Hotel Manly - Lobby Bar free 8pm Blues Sunday Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly 7.30pm Bob Log III (USA) Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle $10 8pm Brewster Brothers Clarendon Guest House, Katoomba 8pm Daniel Lee Kendall, Jacob Pearson Lizotte’s Restaurant, Kincumber 7pm Darling Harbour Fiesta: Diego Guerrero Trio (Spain), JJ Son Con Idabelis, Cecilia Noel Darling Harbour Precinct free 8pm DJ Fresh, Adrian Allen, Jorgie Jay Gasworks Nightclub, Albion Hotel, Parramatta free 6pm End Of August Bateau Bay Hotel free 1pm Helpful Kitchen Gods, Church

Presented by Pres

THE SIDESHOW WEDNESDAYS Ape, Something Else & The Reasons, Theophones B, Stuart Jammin Gladstone Hotel Chippendale Free 5pm Hit Machine Campbelltown Catholic Club free 9.30pm Hue Williams Long Jetty Hotel free 1pm Irish Sundaze: The Bad Penguins P.J. O’Brien’s, Sydney free 5pm Jungle Kings Bradford Hotel, Rutherford free 2pm Kirsty Larkin Dora Creek Workers Club free 1.30pm Kool Bananas Oatley Hotel free 1pm Outer Phase Shoal Bay Resort free 1pm Peabody Red Eye Records, Sydney free 3pm Screaming Sundays: Perfect Revolution, A Sleepless Melody, When The World, Karl Christoph, DinkiBike, Beginning Of The End Annandale Hotel $12 11am Steve Edmonds Band Premier Hotel, Broadmeadow free 4.30pm Success Summit: Zond, Royal Headache, Blank Realm, Boomgates, Woollen Kits

Annandale Hotel $15 (+ bf) 7pm Super Florence Jam, Spectacles, The Arctic, The Politiks, Thin Air Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $8–$10 3pm The NEO Catherine Hill Bay Hotel free 2.30pm This is Not Art: Sound Summit - Soundclash: Kyu, Holy Balm, Collarbones This is Not Art Festival Club, Newcastle 7pm Tobias Cummings, Jamie Hutchings Raval, Surry Hills 8pm Vince Lovegrove, Peter Head Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Zoltan Penrith Panthers free 4pm

JAZZ

Cecilia Noel The Basement, Circular Quay $30 (+ bf)–$78.80 (dinner & show) 9.30pm Didi Mudigo Velluto Champagne and Wine Lounge, Potts Point free 6.30pm Jim McBeath’s Californian Jazz Band Scenic Lounge, Central Coast Leagues Club, Gosford free 2pm

Louise Marie Trio Rocksalt, Menai free 12pm Manly International Jazz Festival: Simon Phillips, Urban Gypsies, Mimesis The Manly Fig $18–$45 (whole event) 7.30pm Old Time Band The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 2pm Robbers Dogs Fortune of War Hotel, The Rocks free 3pm Robert Susz & the Continental Blues Party Pyrmont Bridge Hotel free 9pm Soul Shakedown Party: The Scorcher, Kid Mince.

Chuan. Plus Diamond Williams (The Herd) The Great Northern Hotel, Hamilton free 7pm The Subterraneans Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 6pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Acoustic Lounge: Dr Bull Cafe Lounge, Surry Hills free 6pm Charlie Parr (USA) The Junkyard, Maitland 8pm Indian Classical Music Concert: Anindya Bannerjee, Bobby Singh Macquarie University, North Ryde $20–$25 6pm

29TH SEPTEMBER - 8PM

THE HOLIDAYS + THE CAIROS + WE ARE FANS

FREE

gig picks

up all night out all week...

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 28

Passenger (UK) Raval, Surry Hills $15.90 8pm

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 Built To Spill (USA) Metro Theatre, Sydney $49.70 (+ bf) 8pm

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30

Birds of Tokyo, Silversun Pickups, The Chemist Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park $61.55 7pm Charlie Parr

Old Man River, Dead Letter Chorus, Adrian Deutsch The Basement, Circular Quay $23 (+ bf) 8.30pm So Frenchy, So Chic: Emilie Simon, Melanie Pain (France) Metro Theatre, Sydney $42 (early bird)–$52 (+ bf) 8pm The Incubator: Killaqueenz, Nathan Kaye, Cameras, Act Yo Age, Stephanie Brownlee, Mojada, We Are Fans, The Sculptures, Paper Moon, Mickl Sayers, Skii Harvey, Kempsey, Charmaine Bingwa Oxford Art Factory,

Darlinghurst $20.90 (+ bf) 6pm Charlie Parr (USA), The Maladies Notes Live, Enmore $31.65 (presale) 7pm

FRIDAY OCTOBER 1

Double Dragon II: Bridezilla, WIM, Zeahorse, Psychonanny & the Babyshakers, Arkestra, Dark Bells, Sick Python, Old Men of Moss Mountain, Nhomea, Disco Club, Whipped Cream Chargers, Piano is Drunk Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $5 8pm New Young Pony Club (UK), The Dirty Secrets, Purple Sneakers DJs The Forum Theatre, Moore Park $44 (+ bf) 8pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 2

Black Cherry: Bob Log III (USA), Mojo Juju & The Snake Oil Merchants, La Mancha Negra, The Lazys, Simon Day, Rockabilly Rhino, Ruby Riot, CeeCee, Nathan Deviant The Factory Theatre, Enmore $15 (+ bf)–$18 (at door) 8pm Louis Bertignac Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $25 (+ bf) 8pm

COMING SOON

MOJADA 26TH SEP SHARMBER + THE BLACK PAINTINGS + ZACH ABBOTT + ALISDAIR MCCLINTOCK 28TH SEP LOOSE CHANGE + TRUE VIBE NATION + DAILY MEDS + DJ MORGS + BENTLEY 8TH OCT

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3

Ben Kweller (USA), Delta Spirit (USA) The Factory Theatre, Enmore $44 (+ bf) 6.30pm

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 53

club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

club pick of the week Groove Armada

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3

Kippax Lake, Centennial Park

Parklife Groove Armada (UK), The Dandy Warhols (USA), Cut Copy, The Wombats (UK), Darwin Deez (USA), Wolf Gang (UK), Washington, Gypsy & The Cat, Missy Elliott (USA), Kele (UK), Midnight Juggernauts, Dan Black (FRA), Chiddy Bang (USA), Mix Master Mike (USA), Sinden (UK), Bag Raiders, Ajax, Soulwax (BEL), Busy P (FRA), Uffie (USA), Jack Beats (USA), The Glitch Mob (USA), Brodinski (FRA), DJ Medhi, AC Slater (USA), Yolanda Be Cool, D-Cup, Holy Ghost! (USA), Memory Tapes (USA), Classixx (USA), Delorean (SPA), New Young Pony Club (UK), The Swiss, Jesse Rose (Germany), Grum (UK), 2MANYDJs (BEL), Convaire $145–$205 (premium) Midday - 10pm

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 27 Empire Hotel, Potts Point Bazaar HBK, I Low free One World Sport, Parramatta Ricky Ro free Soho, Kings Cross Comedown free The Sugarmill, Kings Cross Mondays James Rawson (live), Kavi-R free V Bar, Sydney Monday Mambo Mambo G $5–$10 World Bar, Kings Cross Mondays at World Bar Ooh Face, Hot Carl and friends free

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 28 Xxx Cruise Bar, Circular Quay DCE Salsa Lessons $20

54 :: BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10

Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel DJs Willie Sabor and guests free Martin Place Bar, Sydney Louis M, Sammy free Oatley Hotel Suburban Alternative DJ Mini Mullet free Opera Bar, Circular Quay DJ Jack Shit free The Gaff, Darlinghurst Coyote Tuesday Kid Finley, Pee Wee Pete free–$5 World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic Karaoke, DJs Shipwreck, Cris Angel, Daigo and CM free

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 Bank Hotel, Newtown Girls’ Night DJ Emme Jay free Cruise Bar, Circular Quay Rockstar free Establishment, Sydney Mid Week Hurdle Nic Phillips, Craig

Patterson free Fringe Bar, Paddington F.R.I.E.N.D/s $5 drinks & pizzas, free entry Gasworks Nightclub, Albion Hotel, Parramatta DJ Fresh free Goldfish, Kings Cross The Salsa Lounge Latin Mafia Sound System free Q Bar, Darlinghurst Paradise City Ronnie Rocker, El Mariachi Sly Fox, Enmore Queer Central Sveta, DJ Beth, DJ Bel free The Argyle Hotel, Rocks Ben Peterson, Casa free The Eastern, Bondi Junction John Glover, Tenzin, Here’s Trouble, Cassian, U-Go-B, Steve Frank, Mistah Cee, Kavi-R free The Gaff, Darlinghurst New Generation Franny, Alex, Triky, Electroholics, Con-x-ion, Psygnosis, Calico, Kermy, Deceptikon free The Lincoln, Kings Cross Kareem the DJ free (guestlist) The Sugarmill, Kings Cross Battery Operated DJ Matt Hoare free World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall/SUGD Art exhibtion by Mitch Guerin, Free Comedy upstairs, DJs: 16 Tacos, M.I.T, Wacks, Alistair Erskine, Meekins free

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30 202 Broadway, Chippendale Basic Foreign Dub, Headroom, Space Is The Place, Void free Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Camera Club DJ Enari free Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool After School Detention DJ Rangi, Mac, K-Note MC Buddy Love free Cruise Bar, Circular Quay DJ Dwight ‘Chocolate’ Escobar free Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown Brett Hunt free Dug Out Bar, Burdekin Hotel Speakeasy Magda, Dave Fernandes Empire Hotel, Potts Point Episodes DJ Schoder, Wanted, Zahra, Jason K, Johar free Gasworks Nightclub, Albion Hotel, Parramatta Da Bomb with DJ Fresh free Goldfish, Kings Cross The Funk Quarter Phil Hudson, Phil Toke, Dave 54, Michael Wheatley free Home Terrace, Darling Harbour Unipackers Rnb, Top 40, Electro $5 Judgement Bar, Taylor Square Judgement Night. Sex Worker & Ymerej, weekly guests free Kinselas Hotel, Darlinghurst Simon Alexander free Mansions, Kings Cross Van Sereno and Cavan Te live on rotation free Martin Place Bar, Martin Place Thursdays at MPB Louis M free Newcastle Leagues Club, Newcastle West This is Not Art: Electrofringe Nullsleep, Bit Shifter, Henry Homesweet (UK), Ctrix, DerrisKharlan, Dot.Ay, Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families $13.50 (presale) Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn! DJ Sarah Spandex, Mark C, Heart Attack $10–$12 Raval, Surry Hills Paris Wells, Alice Terry $15 Sapphire Suite, Kings Cross Flaunt Nacho Pop, Diaz, Eko, Tom Piper, R-Son, Zero Cool free Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney The Social Club Beth Yen free The Black Boater, Surry Hills Loop Simon Caldwell, Jimi Polar, Lorna Clarkson, Magda, Jordan Deck, BC, Trinity, Dave Stuart, Raffi Darkchild, Kali, Mark Murphy Tone, Surry Hills Loop Thursdays Rotating guests; Simon Caldwell, Lorna Clarkson, Jimi Polar, Magda, Mark Murphy, Kali, Trinity, Dave Stuart, Raffi Darkchild, Jordan Deck & B.C. $15 Various Venues, Newcastle This is Not Art: Electrofringe UTS Sound Collective, The Splinter Orchestra, Andras Fox, Rebecca

Def Wish Cast

Anne, Sui Zhen, Freeman, The Human Theremin free–$20 World Bar, Kings Cross Teenage Kicks El Mariachi, Urby, Johnny Segment & Mick Jones free

FRIDAY OCTOBER 1 Bank Hotel, Newtown Absolut Fridays Reel Sessions (live), Damien Goundrie, Ben Kelly free Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Dustones Dialect, Despair, Def Wish Cast, Motion free Candy’s Apartment, Kings Cross Liquid Sky Bass Thiefs, Knocked Up Noise, Guttermouth DJs $10/$15 Chinese Laundry, Sydney Peter Mayes, A-Tonez, Mind Gutter, Skep, John Ferris, Mr Bill, Kate Doherty, Ryzer $15 before 11pm & $20 after Civic Undergound, Sydney We Are International Ant J Steep, Uone, Steve Ward, Murat Killic, Shades of Grey, Simon Caldwell, Trinity, Jordan Deck, Claire Morgan, Jimi Polar, Jamie Lloyd, Nick Belshaw $15-$20 Collector Hotel, Parramatta Corner Shop Tikelz, DJ Browski, J Lyrikz, Naughty, Gunz free Cruise Bar, Circular Quay Johnny Vinyl, Strike free Establishment Hotel Carnival La Fiesta Sound System and Special Guest DJs all night free Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale Purple Sneakers Jinja Safari DJs, Ben Lucid, M.I.T, Andre 1700, Alistair Erskine, Girls Gone Wrong $12 Goldfish, Kings Cross Sugar & Soul Phil Hudson, Paul Hatz, Agey, Danny De Sousa, Matt Cahill, Tom Kelly free Home The Venue, Darling Harbour Sublime Peewee, John Ferris, Nasty, Hardforze, Aurora Astralis, Nick Farrell,, D83Suae, Pulsar, Kinekt 4, Makio, Monk3y, RaversMVP, Jin Kang, Concept, Chubby, Juzzy Raver and Losty $17 pre/ $25 door Home The Venue, Darling Harbour Home Fridays Kobra Kai, Royalston, Bionic, GeeFlukz, Erecsean, Peewee, MC Losty, Arbor, Scotty G, Nasty, Beinz, Back to Basics, Hannah Gibbs, Tony Venuto, Haze, Dover, Makio, Kinekt 4, RaversMVP and JDDJ $35 (+ bf) Kinselas, Taylor Square Toby Wilson free Kit & Kaboodle, Darlinghurst Falcona Fridays Falcona DJs, The Gameboys $10 Ladylux, Kings Cross Able Bobby Disco, Tekkaman, Matty Saville, Destroy Disco $10 Mansions, Kings Cross Nick Polly, Little Rich, Nick T, Stevie S, Adrian Allen free Martin Place Bar, Martin Place Jimmy Mac, Sammy free Middle Bar, Kinselas, Darlinghurst Flavours on Friday MC Q-Bizzi, C-Bu, Trey, Mike Champion, Naiki, Tekkaman $20 Oatley Hotel We Love Oatley Hotel Fridays DJ Tone free Omega Lounge, Sydney Unwind Greg Summerfield, Matt Brunton free

Opera Bar, Circular Quay Gian Arpino free Raval, Surry Hills Listen Hear Huwston, Micah, James De La Cruz, Chris Coucouvinis free Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Fridays Miss Match, Rob Morrish, Dave 54, Kate Monroe, Chiller $10 guestlist Soda Bar, Golden Sheaf, Double Bay Mike Who, Mr Glass, Brynstar free Spectrum, Darlinghurst Silent Alarm Silent DJs $5 St James Hotel, Sydney Club Blink DJs Bzurk, Luke, Nick, Naked Dave, Firefly, Absynth The Argyle Hotel, Rocks John Devechis, Heidi, DJ BBG free The Gaff, Darlinghurst Hard Styles United Dutchmaster, Hardforze, Kid Finley, Suae, Pulsar, Bioweapon, Arbee and More $25$35 The Lincoln, Kings Cross The Scene Charlie Brown, Samari The Rouge, Kings Cross Twilight Bass Thiefs, Slappin’ Plastic, Deckhead, Jordan F, Tag Team $10 The Roxy Hotel, Parramatta Roxy Fridays $10/ free for members The Sugarmill, Kings Cross The Gameboys, Calling In Sick, Joyride $10 after 10pm Tonic Lounge, Kings Cross Tonic Fridays $15 Various Venues, Newcastle This is Not Art: Electrofringe UTS Sound Collective, The Splinter Orchestra, Andras Fox, Rebecca Anne, Sui Zhen, Freeman, The Human Theremin free–$20 World Bar, Kings Cross MUM 10pm free before 8pm, $20 after.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 2 202 Broadway, Chippendale Headroom Monk Fly, Jonny Faith, Know-U, Suburban Dark, Elliot $15 Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo Trash DJ M!Veg, DJ Absynth $12 Bank Hotel, Newtown DJs Mike McGrath, Ash Turner free BB’s, Bondi Beach Wildlife DJs Mesan, James Roberts, Adriano Giorgi, Dinesh Sundar, Matt Singmin, Chris Kyle free Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst Trancelation Zac Slade, Scott Anderson, Pato De Gomah, Khris S, Man Lie, Collin Jowell, Marc Taylor $25 Candy’s Apartment, Kings Cross Shake!! Shake!! Shake!! Joe Le Fro, Dorkatronique, , Smokin Joe Mekhael, Deckhead, Skinny $15/$25 Chinese Laundry, Sydney TV Rock, Sampology, Jeff Drake, Tass, Rogers Room, Robbie Lowe, Matttt, Spenda C, Marky Mark, Tones, Brett Jacobs, MC Adam Zae $15-$25 Clarence Hotel, Petersham Caesars Sandy Bottom, Justin Scott, DJ Chip free Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool Slinky Saturdays DJ Steve, DJ Trisha free Cricketer’s Arms, Surry Hills Pod War free

club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com Cruise Bar, Circular Quay DJ Simon Neal, Ben Vickers free Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown Kaki $20 Eastern Hotel, Bondi Junction I Love Saturdays Zannon, Tony Shock, Matt Ferreira, Tass, Akay, Don Juan, Dante Rivera, Dennis Agee, Willie Sabor, Oscar Cadena free Enmore Theatre Intencity Dutch Master, DJ Hazzard, Bio Weapon, Weaver, Suae, Pulsar, Hard Forze, Kid Finley $30 (+ bf) Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Sleaze Ball: Adam Love, Dan Murphy, Eddie Coulter, Baby Bear, Beth Yen, Kate Monroe, Sveta, Beatrix $59 (member)–$75 Gasworks Nightclub, Albion Hotel, Parramatta Ozi Battla

DJs Matt Hoare and Andy Marc $10 Goldfish, Kings Cross Abel, Tom Kelly, Phil Hudson, Ross Middleton on Sax free Home The Venue, Sydney Homemade Saturdays The 808s, Aladdin Royaal, James “Saxman” Spy, Matt Ferreira, Hannah Gibbs, Tony Venuto, Dave Austin, Flite, LKO, Seiz, Uncle Abe $20 VIP/$25 door Hotel Chambers, Sydney Red Room $20 Hotel Gearin, Katoomba DNBBQ Typhonic, Alf, Ozi Battla, Bruce Willis, Foreigndub, Janny Casanova Band, Flava Dave, Undertow, Chop Stuey, Innariddim, Mick Stuart Ivy, Sydney Pure Ivy Sam La More $20 Jacksons On George, Sydney Leno, Aladdin Royaal free

Kinselas, Taylor Square Brynstar, Shaun Keble, Yin Yang, Beth Yen and Matt Hoare free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Elaine Benes, Gabby, Cassette (NZ), Alison Wonderland $10 after 10pm/ members free all night Mansions, Kings Cross Reckless, Little Rich, Shaun Keeble, Nick Polly free Marrickville Bowling and Recreation Club VERSUS: Round 1 – Sydney Vs. Bern feat. Deetron, Simon Caldwell, Jamie Lloyd, Magda, Dean Dixon, Dave Fernandes 10pm $25+bf Martin Place Bar, Sydney Bamboo Eko, Nude-E, Mirage, Shorty, Ace, Moto, Qrius, IllDJ $5 Melt Bar, Kings Cross Kontrast, Daniel Farley, Joey Kaz,

Joey Tupaea, Tom Yum $10 Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Tour De Dance SambaFrog, Lordz of the Fly, Triple Rebels, Ability, Willie Sabor, Cristina Ramon, Mya Fernandez, Maya Martinez, Stacy Peke, Shari, Vincent de Vega, Kaylene, Sussie free Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney Shipwreck, Daniel Nall, Leon Pirello $10 after 10pm Spectrum, Darlinghurst P*A*S*H Goldfoot, DJ Knife $7 St James Hotel, Sydney SFX DJs Bzurk, Snowflake Stonewall Hotel, Darlinghurst Greg Boladian, Nick J free The Argyle Hotel, Rocks MarcUs, Levi 5 Star, Phil Hudson free The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross Sin City Don Juan, DJ Willie, Mista Kay, MC Q-Bizzi The Dolphin Hotel, Surry Hills DJ Chris Skinner, DJ Carl O’Brien free The Gaff, Darlinghurst Perfect Day Resident house DJs Mark Alsop, DJ Chip, DJ Murray Hood, DJ Miss Match, DJ Brett Austin, DJ Scotty Tanner, DJ James Tobin, DJ Man and DJ Dirty Dan free Manhattan Lounge, Martin Place Hushhh... DJs Stunna, Sonny, Special K $10 after 9pm The Rouge, Kings Cross Le Rouge Dejan Sem, Francesco DaRoit, Tim McGee, Keli Hart $10 before 11pm The Venue, Double Bay Pure House Ben Morris, Illya, Robbie Lowe, Matt Mandell, Ollie Brooke, Matt Roberts, Simon Caldwell, Kato, James Taylor, Lummy, Mitch Crosher, Phil Smart Tonic Lounge, Kings Cross Tonic Saturdays Gian Arpino $15 Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross hush free on guestlist Various Venues, Newcastle This is Not Art - Electrofringe UTS

Sound Collective, The Splinter Orchestra, Andras Fox, Rebecca Anne, Sui Zhen, Freeman, The Human Theremin free–$20 Verandah Bar, Sydney The Booty Bar George B, Nasser T, Lenno, K Sera Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Paul Moussa free World Bar, Kings Cross Wham! James Taylor, Johnny Rad, Foundation, Rob Marshall, Moneyshot, Gabriel Clouston, Daigo, Matt Formosa, Mehow, Wedding Ring Fingers, Joe Gadget, Harry Cotton, Ennsu, Detnum $15 before 10pm, $20 after

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3 Bank Hotel, Newtown DJ Kitty Glitter, James Tobin Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Lek Fonq, Swat DJs Free Chinese Laundry, Sydney Daywash Grant Smillie $50 Civic Underground, Sydney Adult Disco Holy Ghost DJs, Sidwho, Luke Millions, Future Classic DJs $15–$25 Club Nevermind, Darlinghurst Sleazeball Girls Afterparty Sveta, Kate Monroe, GI Jode Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool Michael Peter Colombian Hotel (Downstairs), Darlinghurst Hotrod Sunday Sandi Hotrod and guests free Colombian Hotel, Darlinghurst The Deep Disko Phil Hudson, Mark Matthews, Vincent Sebastian, Michael Wheatley free Cruise Bar, Circular Quay Sassy Sundays free Docks Hotel, Darling Harbour Salsa Caliente Sabroson, DJ Vico

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 55

club guide

Deep Impressions

clubguide@thebrag.com free Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown DJ Metal Matt, Louis Tillett free Gasworks Nightclub, Albion Hotel, Parramatta Sundayze Goldfish, Kings Cross Martini Club Live Tom Kelly, Johnny Gleeson free Home Terrace, Sydney Spice After Hour Steve Ward (MELB), Matt Weir, YokoO $20/$10 Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park Godskitchen Andy Moor (UK), John O’Callaghan, Marcel Woods (Holland), Wippenberg (Germany), VLN, Thomas Knight $61.55 (+ bf) Ice Bar, Sydney The Kitsch Sound System, Phil Hudson, Chloe West, Mark Matthews free Kings Cross Hotel Jammin Sundays free Kippax Lake, Centennial Park Parklife Groove Armada (UK), The Dandy Warhols (USA), Cut Copy, The Wombats (UK), Darwin Deez (USA), Wolf Gang (UK), Washington, Gyspy & the Cat, Missy Elliott (USA), Kele (UK), Midnight Juggernauts, Dan Black (France), Chiddy Bang (USA), Mix Master Mike (USA), Sinden (UK), Bag Raiders, Ajax, Soulwax (Belgium), Busy P (France), Uffie (USA), Jack Beats (USA), The Glitch Mob (USA), Brodinski (France),

Underground Dance and Electronica with Chris Honnery

DJ Medhi, AC Slater (USA), Yolanda Be Cool, D-Cup, Holy Ghost! (USA), Memory Tapes (USA), Classixx (USA), Delorean (Spain), New Young Pony Club (UK), The Swiss, Jesse Rose (Germany), Grum (UK), 2MANYDJs (Belgium), Convaire $145–$205 (premium) Metro Theatre, Sydney La Leche! Official Sleaze Ball After Party Lydia Sanz, Alex Taylor, Kitty Glitter, Dan Murphy, Murray Hood, MC Glammer, Peyton $69–$9 (weekend) Oatley Hotel Sunday Sessions DJ Tone & Friends free Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst Loose Ends DJ Matt Vaughan & guests Vinyl Richie & Craig Wilson $10 Sapphire Suite, Kings Cross Random Sundays Mike Rukus, Tom Piper, James Taylor, Matt Nukewood, Goodfella, Adam Lance, RobKAY free (guestlist)–$15 Space Nightclub, Sydney October Long Weekend Bender Steve Hill, Suae, Pulsar, Amber Savage, X’dream, Arbee, Hardforze, Yoshi, Keely, Micky D, Halu Suzuki, Tahndee Tank Nightclub, Sydney Experience Layo & Bushwacka, Ben Morris, Matt Cahill, Kocho, Robbie Santiago, Beth Yen, Tikyo, CO-OP DJs, Monkey Tennis DJs, Claire Morgan $25-$29 The Argyle Hotel, Rocks

Charley Bo Funk, DJ BBG free The Bank, Kings Cross Soul On Sunday Nino Brown, Don Juan free The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills B Side free The Bunker Bar, Kings Cross Marco Resmann free The Forbes Hotel, Sydney Church Of Techno Mitch Crosher, Kerry Wallace, Joey Kaz, Jey Tuppaea, Jaded, Shepz $5 The Rouge, Kings Cross Cheap Thrill$ John Glover, Matt Nukewood, Will Bailey (UK), J Smoove free The Sugarmill, Kings Cross Neighbourhood Kate Monroe free The Village, Sydney Sunday Surgery DJ Russ Dewbury and friends free Trademark Hotel, Darlinghurst Soul on Sunday Nino Brown, Don Juan Various Venues, Newcastle This is Not Art: Electrofringe: UTS Sound Collective, The Splinter Orchestra, Andras Fox, Rebecca Anne, Sui Zhen, Freeman, The Human Theremin free–$20 World Bar, Kings Cross Smooth Sailin’, Sunday Levins, Kato, Bad Ezzy, Disco Punx, Hippy Joel, Gay Bash DJs, DC-10, Slow Blow, Generic Collective, Death Strobe DJs, Kali, 16 Tacos, Mehow, Teen Spirit DJs $15

club picks up all night out all week...

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30

Tone, Surry Hills Loop Thursdays Rotating guests; Simon Caldwell, Lorna Clarkson, Jimi Polar, Magda, Mark Murphy, Kali, Trinity, Dave Stuart, Raffi Darkchild, Jordan Deck & B.C. $15

FRIDAY OCTOBER 1

Civic Undergound, Sydney We Are International Ant J Steep, Uone, Steve Ward, Murat Killic, Shades of Grey, Simon Caldwell, Trinity, Jordan Deck, Claire Morgan, Jimi Polar, Jamie Lloyd, Nick Belshaw $15-$20

SATURDAY OCTOBER 2 Chinese Laundry, Sydney TV Rock, Sampology, Jeff Drake,, Tass,, Rogers Room, Robbie Lowe, Mattt, Spenda C, Marky Mark, Tones, Brett Jacobs, MC Adam Zae $15-$25 TV Rock

Marrickville Bowling Club VERSUS: Round 1 – Sydney Vs. Bern feat.

Deetron, Simon Caldwell, Jamie Lloyd, Magda, Dean Dixon, Dave Fernandes 10pm $25+bf

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3

Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park Godskitchen Andy Moor (UK), John O’Callaghan, Marcel Woods (Holland), Wippenberg (Germany), VLN, Thomas Knight $61.55 (+ bf) Metro Theatre, Sydney La Leche! Official Sleaze Ball After Party Lydia Sanz, Alex Taylor, Kitty Glitter, Dan Murphy, Murray Hood, MC Glammer, Peyton $69–$9 (weekend) World Bar, Kings Cross Smooth Sailin’, Sunday Levins, Kato, Bad Ezzy, Disco Punx, Hippy Joel, Gay Bash DJs, DC-10, Slow Blow, Generic Collective, Death Strobe DJs, Kali, 16 Tacos, Mehow, Teen Spirit DJs $15

DJ Magda

P

olish DJ Magda will finally release her maiden artist album, From the Fallen Page, on Richie Hawtin’s Minus label at the end of the month.

Having emigrated from Poland to Detroit as a child, the now-Berlin-based Magda was responsible for one of the best compilations of the noughties: She’s a Dancing Machine. Indeed Magda has firmly established herself as one of the (if not THE) premier female techno DJs on the circuit, but her production career has been more minimal than [insert Minus/ minimal tech/Richie Hawtin gag of your choice here]. In fact, she has only a single 12-inch release to her name so far, 2005’s Stop, which included the track ‘48 Hour Crack in Your Bass’. Unfortunately I’ve never heard it, and as I’m loathe to bullshit my devoted readership I will abstain from offering some generic yet ambiguous description – I’ll leave that to Tony E across the page. I can, however, extract some excerpts from the press release for From the Fallen Page, which certainly is not short on adjectives itself. Apparently we can expect “an engulfing, transportive album that takes listeners from one end of the spectrum to the other, treading the fine lines of extremities along the way. Starting with ‘Get Down Goblin’, a growling, dramatic entrance into her electronic voyage, the album bleeds into tracks of all shapes and sizes, from the swelling, eerie chords and solid rhythms of Lost In Time, to the oozy, bass-ridden Breakout, to the dynamic techy workout of Your Love Attack.” Yes they really did put a full stop there. To that what guys? We can’t have a continuum of ‘To the tos’ now can we? Skipping through the rest of the presser it seems we are in for a collection of “post-punk, dark disco set of soundtrack-inspired music” that gradually evolves into a more percussive, basslineheavy affair. It will be very interesting to hear how Magda goes making the transition from DJ to producer – I’ll report back once I’ve snared a promo and had a listen.

Spice Afloat has established itself as a popular New Year’s Eve/Day choice with clubbers over the past five years, holding down a niche as the only NY sunrise cruise on offer. Returning for its sixth installment, this/next year’s lineup doesn’t disappoint, boasting the international triumvirate of Glaswegian techno dons Slam, Freerange’s Milton Jackson and Björn Wilke ahead of Mr Reckless Republic himself, Murat Kilic and other locals. Slam, who are also the duo behind the Soma label, were out here last year and I had the privilege of playing before them at Earthdance so can attest to their considerable prowess. I haven’t seen Mr Jackson play, but given the current spike in the popularity of deep house I have no doubt he’ll go over nicely, particular with the sun rising and the “gorgeous scenery” Milton Jackson

LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY OCTOBER 2

Deetron Marrickville Bowling Club

SATURDAY OCTOBER 9 Gregor Tresher Redfern Warehouse

SATURDAY OCTOBER 30 Superpitcher Boat Party

SATURDAY DECEMBER 11

Carl Craig, Moodymann, Theo Parrish The Forum Deetron

[sigh]. Anyhow, this really doesn’t need any selling and tickets are already moving fast, so you’d best finalise your New Year’s plans post haste lest you miss the boat, literally.

Monolithic techno stable Perlon Records, which remains a benchmark in the underground production milieu, have announced preliminary details for Superlongevity Five, the next edition of their acclaimed compilation series. Label co-founder Thomas Franzmann, better known for his work under the Zip moniker, has revealed the cast of artists confirmed for the album, all of whom contribute previously unreleased tracks. Many of the label’s ‘big guns’ represent, such as Ricardo Villalobos, Matt John, Dandy Jack, Thomas Melchior and Baby Ford.

Cassy and Tobias Freund each make an appearance, along with Soulphiction, my boy Stefan Goldmann, STL and Half Hawaii (AKA Sammy Dee and Bruno Pronsato). Label founders Markus Nikolai and Franzmann both contribute as well, with the latter appearing under his Dimbiman guise. Zip and Sammy Dee appear as Pantytec for the first time since ’06, Matthew Dear revives his seldom-used Jabberjaw guise, while the Perlon supergroup Narcotic Syntax, which consists of Zip, Markus Nikolai, Uwe Giegler and James Dean Brown also all feature... I’m salivating, I can’t take this. I’m calling it already: best compilation of the year. And now for the ultimatum: if you do not buy this album, you are not a serious techno lover - in which case you are wasting both mine, and your own time, reading this column.

But that’s not you of course is it? Yes I see you now marking November 8 in the diary, the day you will be able to order your copy of Superlongevity Five online. (There’s no point pretending the local CD store will have this – it won’t!)

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com.

56 :: BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10

Soul Sedation

Soul, Dub, Hip Hop & Bottom-heavy Beats with Tony Edwards

Soul Sedation goes live every Wednesday night on Bondi FM (88.0 or bondifm.com.au). Tune in 10pm 'til midnight to hear a deep and soulful selection of the tunes covered here, and plenty more that I don't have room for.

ON THE ROAD Sharon Jones

Soul Sedation hopes some of you made it down to the Chico Mann show at Melt last week? Man, some of Chico’s tunes and clips that circulated with the tour were seriously brilliant. Props to Love Police for bringing him through town.

The lovely Sharon Jones will return to Sydney to further enhance our summer.

Jones will play alongside her Dap Kings on Friday December 3 at the Enmore Theatre.

Aloe Blacc’s album Good Things is out worldwide this week. Highly anticipated! If ‘I Need A Dollar’ and ‘Femme Fatale’ are anything to go by, this release should be a serious contender for album of the year.

Although Good Things will prove to be his most mainstream-styled output as yet, the man has a stunning back catalogue for new fans to get their heads around.

John Legend and The Roots have released an album made up of covers of classic political soul tunes. One of which - ‘Our Generation’ by Ernie Hines – was sampled by Pete Rock & CL Smooth for ‘Straighten It Out’. There’s a Spike Lee documentary to follow, based around a live performance of the album.

Fly Lo has dropped a new seven-track album, Pattern + Grid World, barely three months after he released the full length Cosmogramma. The psychedelic cover art is of typically high standard, and is the work of one Theo Ellsworth. Bleep had this high praise to bestow on the record: “High concept beat-science is again the order of the day, frazzled with invention, propelled by myriad time signatures and colour burst, cosmic-electronics. It’s been noted before, but FlyLo is slowly unravelling as the natural hip-hop heir to Sun Ra, a maverick oneness with sonic art is his.” And even though they’re trying to sell us the album, I still like their words.

Lupe Fiasco has teamed up with James Lavelle on the new UNKLE record.

The track’s called ‘The Runaway’ and reportedly is something of a return to the early UNKLE days of good old fashioned beatsmithery.

DNBBQ returns to mark the start of summer, and they’re kicking things off with a serious line-up in late November that includes Japan’s Makoto, the UK’s Lynx & Kemo and NZ’s Dub Terminator. That Lynx & Kemo news is heavy, the producer/ MC duo putting out some of the most memorable DnB in recent times. Soul Sedation will be front and centre for that set. It goes down Saturday November 27.

NZ’s future soul band Electric Wire Hustle will drop through town to mark the launch of their debut album. Together since 2007, the trio are Mara TK, Taay Ninh and Myele Manzanza. Mara TK you might know from Julien Dyne’s BBE album as well, who’s another of NZ’s current leading producer lights. At any rate, EWH

OCTOBER 15 & 16 Mulatu Astatke The Basement

OCTOBER 22 Ice Cube Luna Park

NOVEMBER 17 Electric Wire Hustle Tone

NOVEMBER 20

Femi Kuti & The Positive Force The Metro

NOVEMBER 25 Fat Freddy’s Drop Enmore Theatre

27 NOVEMBER

DNBBQ ft. Makoto + Lynx & Kemo Manning Bar

DECEMBER 3

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings Enmore Theatre

DECEMBER 3 - 5 Subsonic Music Festival Barrington Tops

will be giving Tone’s soundsystem a workout on Wednesday November 17.

Brownswood Bubblers Six will appear this November, so we’ll get to find out what Gilles has had his ears around for this past year. And December will see Lefto and Simbad each curate a CD for Brownswood, “showcasing their individual personalities, exquisite taste and an impressive roster of artists.” It’s called Various Artists - ‘Lefto & Simbad present Worldwide Family Vol.1’.

Soul Sedation has been putting together something of a live Sunday night reggae jam. It’ll kick off around mid October at a venue in the eastern suburbs. Stop back next week for more details.

John Legend, ?uestlove & Black Thought

Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 57

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f.r.i.e.n.d.s

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up all night out all week . . .

wham

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15:09:10 :: Fringe Bar :: 106 Oxford Street Paddington 93605443

18:09:10 :: Plantation :: 2a Roslyn St Kings Cross 93607531

NYE on The Harbour

It’s called: NYE on The Harbour It sounds like: The midnight firewo rks going off in your head as we announce a playground of the most sizzling artist line-up of the year!

DJs/Live acts playing: Miami Horr or (live), Breakbot (Ed-Banger / Fran ce), Bag Raiders (DJ set), Van She Tech , SOSUEME DJs, Cassian, Joyride, Alison Wonderland, The Gameboys - plus more to be announced.

Sell it to us: We’re thrilled to anno unce the infamous Cargo ‘NYE on the Harbour’ event. We’re raising the bar on previous years, with a killer soundtrack by an A-class line up of local and international talent and set against a stunning backdrop, Sydney Harbour. Ticke ts on sale now from www.cargonye .com Wallet damage: First Release $85 or Platinum VIP (limited release) $170.

Where: Cargo Bar/Lounge, 21 Lime St, Darling Harbour (King St Wha rf) When: Friday December 31/ 8pm

samiyam

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trash

party profile

18:09:10 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

starfuckers

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16:09:10 :: Tone Venue :: 116 Wentworth Ave Surry Hills

18:09:10 :: Club 77 :: 77 William St Kings Cross 93613387 58 :: BRAG :: 381:: 20:09:10

) :: ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO LIER:: SUSAN BUI:: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER COL JAY :: SON VEN STE ICK PATR MUNS::ROSETTE ROUHANNA:: ANDREW GREEN

snap

purple sneakers

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up all night out all week . . .

falcona fridays

PICS :: PS

17:09:10 :: The Gladstone Hotel :: 115 Regent St Chippendale 96993522

DarkLife The After Party

It’s called: Cargo & One Cheeky Sunday present DarkLife - The After Party It sounds like: The Festival After Party DJs: Grant Smillie (TV Rock/Nov anation), Minx (Onelove), The Back handerz (UK), Bondi House DJs, Miss T, Max Smart.

Sell it to us: At night everyone can hear you scream. That’s exactly wha t TV Rock’s Grant Smillie, Onelove’ s Minx and U.K. expats The Back handerz will make you do at your number-o ne kick-on destination. Continue partying throughout the night in your festi val gear at Cargo…

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Wristbands, glow sticks, smeared make up, random pashing, losing that prec ious phone number…

Crowd specs: Festival fashion welc ome.

Wallet damage: FREE for members , FREE with a festival wristbands, $10 after 10pm if you’re not a member or have no festival wristband.

Where: Cargo – The Promenade, King Street, Wharf.

When: Sunday October 3 from 6pm onwards.

itm top 50

PICS :: SM

party profile

17:09:10 :: Kit & Kaboodle :: 33-35 Darlinghurst Rd Kings Cross 9368 0300

16:09:10 :: Lo-Fi Bar :: L2, 383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 93113100

) :: ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER :: JAY COLLIER:: SUSAN BUI:: SON VEN STE ICK PATR NA:: MUNS::ROSETTE ROUHAN ANDREW GREEN

BRAG :: 381 :: 20:09:10 :: 59

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the wall

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up all night out all week . . .

15:09:10 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

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hot damn

party profile

Parklife

grand central station

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16:09:10 :: Q-Bar :: 34-44 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93601375

National Tour It’s called: Parklife Best Party Ever It sounds like: The , Memory Tapes, DJ Uffie, Darwin Deez y Busy P, AC Slater, , tch Mob, The Dand iott Gli Ell e ssy Th Mi n, s: ea DJ , Wolf Gang, ats, 2manydjs, Delor UP Be DC ck vs Ja ol n, Co de Be Sin i, Mehd Yolanda se, Holy ax, Flight Facilities, ster Mike, Jesse Ro Warhols, Kele, Soulw Pony Club, Mix Ma g Raiders, g un Ba Yo w py, Ne Co t n, de Cu The Swiss, Sin , Grum, Classixx, ats mb Wo ts e au Th , ern da gg Ju Ghost, Groove Arma Brodinski, Midnight Black, Washington, s...

Chiddy Bang, Dan nds and banging DJ ba ol co n, your friends, the su rk, pa a ’s ere Th : Sell it to us s in a park? g in and that did we mention it wa first bass drum walkin ber in the AM: The ng. em so t rem las ’ll the we for bit ck e ba Th g up and down your that will smile as tingling feeling runnin sic scene, the types mu the of rs ne un ntr fro e Th Crowd specs: irts on. usually with their sh bars, room and they walk past and ) $202 (VIP = more (general admission 47 $1 : ge ma da t Walle toilets!)

Moore Park, Sydney Where: Kippax Lake, pm tober 3, midday – 10 When: Sunday Oc

chinese laundry

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09:09:10 :: Kit & Kaboodle :: 33-35 Darlinghurst Rd Kings Cross 9368 0300

teenage kicks

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17:09:10 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958

16:09:10 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700 60 :: BRAG :: 381:: 20:09:10

) :: ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO LIER:: SUSAN BUI:: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER COL JAY :: SON VEN STE ICK PATR MUNS::ROSETTE ROUHANNA:: ANDREW GREEN

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Do

Don’t

- Remember to bring your ticket and photo ID. - Bring sun/rain protection we party rain, hail or shine.

- Use public transport.

- Use the rubbish and

recycling facilities, Parklife’s in a beautiful venue. Please keep it that way!

- Party safe and have a great day

- Bring any alcohol, drugs, weapons or audio/video recording equipment.

- Bring a bad attitude – Park life is about having fun.

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Full terms and conditions at fuzzy.com.au

BRAG :: 381 :: 27:09:10 :: 61

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dubrave

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up all night out all week . . .

mum

PICS RO+SB

17:09:10 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

17:09:10 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

Smooth Sailing

Wallet damage: 10-15 clams.

Where: The World Bar / 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross.

When: Sunday October 3, 8pm

chinese laundry

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girlthing

18:09:10 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958 62 :: BRAG :: 381:: 20:09:10

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18:09:10 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

party profile

redbull thre3style

PICS :: TL

It’s called: Smooth Sailing It sounds like: New-world jams, techno shant ies, stranded-pirate beats, deepwater house and mast-stiffening electronica …

DJs/live acts playing: Levins, Kato, Disco Punx, Hippy Joel, Gay Bash DJs, Bad Ezzy, Slow Blow, Death Strobe DJs, Gene ric Collective, Kali, 16 Tacos, DC-10, Mehow, Teen Spirit DJs. Sell it to us: A dose of post-festival smoothnes s presented by The World Bar and Disco Punx that offers dancegoers a stacke d line-up of Sydney’s best DJs, tasty drinks and vibe to boot!

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: A scram bled montage of killer DJ sets, partial nudity and good times. Plus $6 Tiger beers and $5 Shojo cocktails, and (as with every Sunday at World) dumplings steamed to order on the terrace.

Crowd specs: Legends, Michael McDonald look-a-likes and people who dance.

18:09:10 :: Q-Bar :: 34-44 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93601375 ) :: ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER :: JAY COLLIER:: SUSAN BUI:: SON VEN STE ICK PATR NA:: MUNS::ROSETTE ROUHAN ANDREW GREEN

Direct from Africa, Winston Ruddle‘s

CIRCUS OF THE SENSES S

“Think Cirque Du Soleil with a fulsome African flavour” Australian Stage Online

Fun for the whole family - Tickets selling fast!

Oct 26-Nov 3 State Theatre, Sydney 1300 139 588 ticketmaster.com.au

cirque-mother-africa.com

RETFAR ENTERTAINMENT