The Brag #391

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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

NICHOLAS ROY Taupin’s lyrics really resonated with me. In the same way, Paul Simon’s stuff really made an impact on me - his lyrics are in that folk tradition of storytelling. I read everyday and I’m always looking for new ways to tell a story. My inspiration for writing comes from the people I meet and have in my life; every person you meet has an interesting story.

The Checks

M

y family moved to Indonesia when I was young, and we lived there for a few years. My parents would take me out to buy cassette tapes, which were only a few cents each, and I’d churn through them.

I’d sing along and mime the instruments, with a whole stage show in my head… My dad

played guitar in an Aussie bush band, although his real love was blues. I still go to my dad for guitar lessons.

Elton John was definitely an early source of inspiration. I first remember listening to one of his cassettes in Indonesia - Bernie

I’ve been lucky enough to play with some really talented musos. At the moment I’m touring with Adam Coad, a drummer I met when we were both studying at WAAPA in Perth. I moved back home to Melbourne and Adam also made the move. We’ve been playing together on and off now for six years. Most people would agree that he’s the happiest drummer going around; he’s great on stage, and really fun to tour with. I work closely with Jaime Jimenez on the recording side of things - we sometimes have very different ideas on music, but seem to meet somewhere in the middle.

I find it quite hard to fit my work into a specific genre. My album …In A Shoebox Under The Bed was described in a review as a “cultural clusterfuck” which was meant as a bad thing - but I kind of like it! I managed to

record the album in my front room at home.

The flexibility to be able to work on the album at any time of the day or night was really conducive to the creative process. The amount of times an idea pops into your head and you forget it before you can jot it down... It’s a daily occurrence and frustration, so to have the recording equipment so close to my fingertips made the experience more honest, capturing the moment I felt at that chosen time.

Since people are buying less CDs, it’s harder to make a living through music. I think that this is just an incentive to create better records and develop a stronger live show. People are still going out to see bands they’re just possibly more discerning, as there’s much more competition for their attention.

Who: Nicholas Roy and Benjalu Where: The Rocks’ Markets By Moonlight When: Friday December 17, 6pm More: Also playing at the Markets By Moonlight for free through summer are Pugsley Buzzard and Taylor & The Makers (December 10), Papa vs Pretty and Owl Eyes (January 7), Fisher King and Jeff Stanley (January 12) and more…

78 SAAB/PEABODY XMAS The Jezebels

PUBLISHERS: Adam Zammit & Rob Furst EDITOR IN CHIEF: Adam Zammit 9552 6333 adam@peergroupmedia.com EDITOR: Steph Harmon steph@thebrag.com 9552 6333 ARTS EDITOR & ASSOCIATE: Dee Jefferson dee@thebrag.com 9552 6333 STAFF WRITER: Jonno Seidler NEWS CO-ORDINATORS: Nathan Jolly, Cool Thomas, Chris Honnery ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Dara Gill SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Susan Bui, Reef Gaha, Ashley Mar, Patrick Stevenson, Tom Tramonte, Rosette Rouhanna COVER PHOTOGRAPHER: Isabella Moore (Shot at Tea Parlour: 569 Elizabeth St, Redfern.)

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If you like to celebrate Christmas on Thursday December 9 (to avoid the crass commerciality of it all), then I know the perfect place for you to go. 78 Saab and Peabody are double-heading an Xmas show at the Sando that evening, and a coin toss will decide the playing order to ensure you don’t turn up late, after tagging a Myer Xmas display or some other such act of rebellion...

BEN FOLDS IN AUS!

SOSUEME’S XMAS PARTY!

Sosueme’s annual family Christmas party is back again, everyone! And apparently, there’ll be eggnog! Of course it’s possible that they were lying about the eggnog merely to lure you in (their press release also promised seedy awkward uncles), but they needn’t have bothered - Sydney indie-pop superstars The Jezabels are on the bill, along with Australia’s most impressive turntablist Sampology, the Sosueme DJs, pop kings The Protectors, laptop popstar Pluto Jonze, Rapids, with a DJ set by The Holidays. Presales for this Friday December 10 shindig are only $15 through Moshtix, or it’s $20 at the door.

JEN, JOHN, & THE LAURELS

Shoegaze is pretty much the greatest sounding music ever; but as with all Things, there are good versions and bad versions. The Laurels are a good shoegaze band; in fact they make Lush look like they were just mucking about with pedals and Ride look like a bunch of Oxford chancers. This may be why the Sydney group were selected by the adorable Jenny and Johnny (aka Jenny Lewis & Johnathan Rice) to support them in Sydney and Melbourne. They hit Oxford Art Factory on February 7. On sale now. Reverb.

BIG MOUTH SIA

Don’t ever tell Sia if you have a crush on someone (say, Lisa cuteface Mitchell), because judging by the way she crashed into inboxes a few weeks ago announcing her Big Day Out slot before the organisers could, she isn’t very good at keeping secrets. She also mentioned a show at Enmore Theatre on February 2... Tickets, yes, they’re on sale now.

THE BESNARD LAKES

Oh hai, blogger. There is a great band you already know all about from Quebec called The Besnard Lakes. Civil Society are bringing the six piece and their eerily-nostalgic atmospheric rock to Australia next year for Golden Plains Festival - and you can buy tickets to the Sydney sideshow now. They’re playing Manning Bar on Thursday March 10, 2011.

JIMMY EAT WORLD

Post-9/11 censorship got a little mental back then, didn’t it? Among the casualties were

Remember when brilliant author and humorist Nick Hornby collaborated with brilliant singer/ songwriter and humorist Ben Folds, on the brilliant and humorous Lonely Avenue album?

Well it’s hardly an elephant-esque feat of retention, considering it was only released in September. To be honest, I’m not quite sure why you brought it up - but luckily it links into what I wanted to talk about, which is that Ben Folds is playing May 13 at the State Theatre.

Nick isn’t coming as he is a writer, and will therefore be busy - probably holed up in a grotto with a bottle of wine, a heart full of loneliness and a rickety old typewriter, dying of consumption. Tickets on sale December 14.

Cat Power

Jimmy Eat World, who had to change the awesomely-titled Bleed American to the lessoffensive eponymous release that now sits on your shelf. That album name-checked Jesus and Mary Chain’s Automatic record too - which is more than enough reason to get excited about JEW (oh, that acronym doesn’t work at all) playing the Enmore on April 8. Tickets on sale now!

DON’T CALL ME VEDDER

Eddie Vedder, the man who responsible (by proxy) for hits like ‘Kryptonite’, ‘How You Remind Me’, ‘Lighting Crashes’ and ‘Arms Wide Open’ (I could go all day) is planning to turn off his mobile and go AWOL during the March 18 Pearl Jam rehearsal (they book them six months ahead), in order to travel to Sydney and play a solo set at the State Theatre. Tickets are on sale December 10, so go ahead and get one.

MUSE TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE!

The Edge is so pissed off. He and Bono were backslapping about how their show would be the most epic, over the top show in Sydney this December - and then Muse come along with their 12 metre LCD towers, their arsenal of lasers, their light show and their keytars, and quicker than you can say ‘Zooropa’, the U2 show is looking like a community hall fundraiser in comparison… December 10 at the Acer Arena is when and where the second show happens, and tickets are still on sale. Their first one sold out quicker than you can say ‘Stuck In a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of’ - so hurry it up.

CAT POWER TOUR

To the uninitiated, the words ‘Cat Power’ bring to mind some sort of incredible Tumblr... But she’s actually a singer-songwriter who loves Australia.

She’s toured here countless times over the past decade, uses Dirty Three drummer Jim White to keep time with her shy tantrums, and come January 30 she’ll be making our Opera House her own personal concert space - and you are invited. Also she’s impossibly good looking, does an excellent Dylan impression and wrote one of the best songs ever in ‘Good Woman’ - but I digress. Tickets on sale Friday.

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BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 15

rock music news

free stuff

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

five things WITH

Electric Mary

MATT FROM THE BUNGALOWS most part we’re happy walking to the same beat. We all got jobs, though we spend more time exploring ways not to. Cuneo keeps us well stocked and in tune through his work at Haworth Guitars, and Wildman used to share a cubicle as a workplace advisor with Jeremy from Cloud Control.

Growing Up The old man was a mad Jimmy Buffett fan, so we grew up with a big mix of Jimmy and The Choral Reefers’ pop, rock, country and calypso sounds. It was a suitable soundtrack to the seaside living. Growing up, we all had lots of the classics playing, courtesy of the folks; Eagles, Dire Straits, Chicago and the fab four. That music, and growing up in little coastal towns, have had a big impact on what The Bungalows do and don’t do.

1.

The Strokes. Grant is a mad Bob Marley fan, Wildman’s tastes are like a pack of liquorice allsorts (though this year he’s been big on Arcade Fire, Surfer Blood and Deerhunter), and Cuneo thinks he’s the missing Gallagher brother. I’ve always dug anything Damon Albarn has done, and really like The Jam - as well as some of the good old storytellers. Away from the music, The Bungalows dig the surf, sunshine and a dose of rugby league - though not together due to mixed allegiances.

2.

Your Band The Bungalows is home to the Gannon brothers (Matt and G), Cuneo and Wildman.

Whilst we have our musical differences, for the

3.

MATT AND/OR KIM

Pitchfork, Spin and New York Post are just three publications that want to throw a milkshake full of unicorn hearts all over cute, hyper indie-rockers Matt & Kim. You get to see what the fuss is all about during their 2011 Australian tour. Come Friday January 21, Matt & Kim will perform at Beck’s Festival Bar with TheDeathSet as part of the Sydney Festival.

Pick up your tickets from the Sydney Festival website – and if you’re lucky enough to have a ticket to Big Day Out, make sure you catch them there as well.

Gurrumul

FEBRUARY FOALS

Right, Evan Dando only just left the country, and the amazing Hummingbirds have just been announced for the Sydney BDO - which is the perfect chance to talk about Foals. (if

ELECTRIC MARY

correct. We’ve recently recorded a single with Burke Reid (Gerling) at BJB Studios called ‘Killer’ that’s being released through General Pants’ Major Label, which we’re really stoked about. The folks at triple j Unearthed and NIDA have made a clip for it, too. We’re hoping for a big 2011 and heading back to the studio with Burke to cut an album.

Melbournites Electric Mary are more than just your average Aussie rock band. After reaching the finals of the MusicOz Awards in 2008, they landed supports with the rock hall of famers: namely Whitesnake, Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, and Deep Purple. They’re now collaborating with Grammy-yielding producer Jason Corsaro on a live recording, yet to be released... They’ve gone from playing with themselves (ew), to playing with their idols and some of the biggest names in rock. They’re playing at the Annandale on December 11, supported by Nat Col & The Kings, Contraban and Jaime Robbie Reyne. To win one of five double passes to the gig, tell us the name of Electric Mary’s 2004 single...

Music, Right Here, Right Now It’s so easy these days to access good 5. music - there is so much good stuff out there.

OXMAS ART FACTORY

The Music You Make I guess you could call what we do ‘garage 4. by the sea’, which is at least geographically

Inspirations In general we’re all big lovers of the old timers, but I guess in more recent times one of the big influences we can all agree on is

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

Just around old Sydney town, there are heaps of bands we dig and lots more we need to see. We’ve got a little show on December 12 at Dr Pong’s with Rapids and New Navy, and we’re looking forward to catching those cats live and then kicking some ass in a round of ping pong... I’ll be bringing my own paddle.

What: ‘Killer’ is out now through Major Label With: Rapids, New Navy Where: Dr Pong’s, Surry Hills When: Sunday December 12

you don’t get the link, YouTube their song ‘Total Life Forever’ and marvel…). They (Foals; keep up!) have announced a February 9 show at The Enmore, because they’ll be out here anyway for Laneway - and why not?

Oxford Art Factory’s Christmas Party lineup is a funfest of festive festivity for your ears. On December 17, OAF will be decking the halls with boughs of Cabins, Zeahorse, Circle Pit, Ghoul, The Preachers, Myth & Tropics and many more soundsmiths in the OAF Gallery Bar. Guaranteed to be far more fun than your work’s black-tie Christmas function, and far less awkward than your family’s shindig where the mums and dads get just that little bit too honest with each other, OAF’s 3rd Annual Christmas Party will be the one you won’t want to miss out on! To win one of five double passes, tell us the name of Cabins’ debut album.

The Beautiful Girls

SPARKADIA NEW ALBUM & TOUR

What better way to celebrate Sparkadia’s sophomore release than a tour? The alternative pop-rockers will be releasing The Great Impression on March 18 (finally!) and want to give you a rundown of it live, with Operator Please and Ivy League label-mates Alpine.

You can catch Sparkadia at the Bar On The Hill in Newcastle Thursday March 31 (bookings through OzTix) or at the Metro Theatre in the city on Friday April 1 (bookings through the Metro’s website).

Oh Ye Denver Birds

THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS

The Beautiful Girls is the most misleading band name ever. Although to be fair, if a group of females named themselves that, their arrogance would render them so unattractive as to make the name a lie… Unless of course they are really hot. Keeping on the theme of titles (sub-theme: gentle misogyny), The Beautiful Girls’ latest single is the brilliantnamed ‘My Mind Is An Echo Chamber’ - and to celebrate this song, and because their music works best in summer, they’re playing Mona Vale Hotel on December 10. The Chemist will be supporting, tickets are $30, and the single (and album Spooks) are out now.

BLUESFEST MK II

Start growing your beard and shopping for a straw hat (ladies), because the second lineup announcement for Byron Bay’s Bluesfest has come in. Jethro Tull, ZZ Top, John Legend, Gurrumul (Bluesfest exclusive), Toots & The Maytals, Pete Murray, Wolfmother, Funky Meters, Irma Thomas, Booker T, Los Lobos, Kasey Chambers and truckloads more will be joining Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Elvis Costello & The Imposters and Michael Franti & Spearhead for the festival. Seriously, have a squiz at the Bluesfest website for the full (and freakin’ amazing) lineup.

CHURCH & OPERA KYUSS VENUE CHANGE

Although hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of weed have been nabbed by drug cops in Sydney and Melbourne over the past fortnight, their May shows have still sold so quickly that promoters have been forced to upgrade the Sydney and Melbourne shows to larger venues that will adequately house this awesome stoner rock. So now the May 7 Sydney show will be at Luna Park Big Top, and they’ve got some more tickets are on sale now too!

CLOUD CONTROL WAS THERE IN YOUR FUTURE.

Sydney faves and Brag coverstars Cloud Control have made the next announcement for that little festival they’re curating, Was I There In Your Future. Oh Ye Denver Birds will be joining We Say Bamboulee, Djanimals and Melbourne’s Otouto at Marrickville’s The Factory Theatre on Saturday December 18, from 2pm til 10pm. It’s an all ages event with bands, DJs, art and video installations, and it also just happens to be the very last time you’ll get to see the Cloud Controllers headline their own show before the little traitors lovelies re-locate to the UK next year. There’ll be a final band and DJ announcement next week – so stay very, very tuned!

When ‘Church News’ dropped into my inbox, I naturally assumed it was either my weekly invite to Guilt Thursdays or the annual ‘Belief Suspension Seminar’ from the Pastor…

Instead it’s just news that Australia’s greatest ever psychedelic band The Church are performing their back catalogue with the George Ellis Orchestra (under the title: A Psychedelic Symphony), to celebrate their 30th birthday. It happens April 10 at the Opera House - and tix go on sale December 10.

“He polarized the pumpkin-eaters – static-humming panel-beaters” - JETHRO TULL 16 :: BRAG :: 391 : 06:12:10

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dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

he said she said WITH

Mogwai

PLUTO JONZE

Growing Up I can vividly remember singing along with 1.

Beatles records, adding my own harmonies and trying to work out which of them was singing which of the three-part vocals on songs like ‘Nowhere Man’ and ‘Because’. I was a little obsessive when it came to that band… still am. My dad was a producer in the 80s who played piano a lot, so I grew up surrounded by music, and have been messing around in home studios since I was a wee bairn.

Inspirations I don’t think I ever shook my childhood 2. addiction, so it’s Beatles for the melodies.

MOGWAI

Beck for the attitude. Golden Silvers for the style. I remember the first times I heard Beck’s Odelay and Gotye’s Like Drawing Blood - those albums blew my mind. They sounded so fresh, experimental and exciting.

I was always into songwriting, but these guys really got me into sampling and synthesised sounds.

the while retro TVs scattered about the stage play funky visuals to the music. Lately I’ve been a busy busy boy recording and helping mix my debut EP, which will be released in January next year.

You This is one of the most open-ended 3. headings I’ve seen. So suffice to say: I am

Music, Right Here, Right Now I think it’s still difficult for bands that aren’t 5. making ‘in’-die music to get a break. A while ago

from another planet. We are the 60s.

The Music You Make I write and record demos in my bedroom, 4. which I then translate with a three-piece band for the live show. So there’s drums, guitar and I swap between theremin, synth and keys - all

it was all drainpipe jeans, angsty vocals, and guitar jabs, then the 80s synth-pop thing was big, and now every second group’s trying to be the Fleet Foxes. Not saying that any of those styles are bad in themselves, but I think a lot of new bands too-readily model themselves on the flavour of the month, which can stifle true

HENRIK SCHWARZ

Mount Kimbie

The man known by industry insiders as ‘the Schwarzenator’, Germany’s Henrik Schwarz, returns to Sydney to play The Beck’s Bar for Future Classic on Thursday January 13.

Schwarz has toured recently alongside Âme and Dixon as part of the live trio A Critical Mass, but is also known to put on a rollicking live show on his lonesome - as anyone who was in attendance at his gig at The Civic last December will attest to. Schwarz ‘broke through’ on the back of his sublime DJ Kicks compilation, and has since crafted a succession of memorable remixes, such as a rework of Omar’s ‘I’m Feeling You’ and DJ Hell’s ‘The Angst’. Frank from Âme commented that Schwarz plays Ableton “like an instrument”; and tickets to see the Schwarzenator do his thing are available online now.

creativity. Having said that, the Sydney scene is definitely on the up, with FBi championing new acts without style-prejudice, great cheap gigs popping up around town and some top-notch new bands coming through. From the snippets I’ve heard, WIM’s debut album will shake the old peach tree when it’s finally released next year.

Keep your peepers peeped.

With: Jezabels, Sampology, The Protectors, Rapids and more Where: Sosueme Xmas Party @ Oxford Art Factory When: Friday December 10

incurred. We can, however, verify that all acts are re-confirmed for tours in 2011, and details will be released accordingly. Watch this space.

Real close.

BOUNDARY BONDS WITH...

GENNA ALEXOPOULOS, MEDIA ASSISTANT, SHOCK

D25 THIS WEEKEND MOUNT KIMBIE

UK bass duo Mount Kimbie will be making their Australian debut in March 2011, to play GOODGOD Small Club on Tuesday March 9 with support from Seekae and the Future Classic DJs. With a sound that’s been described as “post-dubstep”, the London-based pair made their mark with twin EPs on Scuba’s Hotflush Recordings, prior to dropping their debut LP Crooks & Lovers this year. The release traverses hip-hop, jazz, techno, ambient and post-rock influences, earning rave reviews in many a hallowed publication. Mount Kimbie have taken their guitarenhanced performance the world over, even playing in Berlin’s clubbing colosseum Berghain, and should work well in the intimate confines of GOODGOD - which, incidentally, was lauded in the Good Living section of The Sydney Morning Herald last week, and hailed as “Sydney’s favourite small club” by Timeout.

D25 celebrates 25 years of Detroit techno with one of the best lineups our city has seen in some time, in an event fittingly billed as “techno’s cultural event of the year”. Three of the very best, auteurs if you will, headline proceedings, with Carl Craig, Theo Parrish and Kenny Dixon Jr – aka the great Moodymann – all set to play at The Forum this Saturday December 11. Each of the three producers has had a huge influence on the way electronic music has been crafted the world over, and you see it in the attitude of many European producers - as well as younger generations of Detroit producers. Indeed, the contributions of the three stretch well beyond the techno genre and imbue house, disco, jazz and drum and bass soundscapes as well. Craig has even remixed the likes of LCD Soundsystem in recent years and produced for artists such as Etienne Jaumet (Zombie Zombie), while Moodymann affirmed he has lost none of his touch with his latest single ‘It’s 2 Late 4 U and Me’ - and from all reports Theo played a ripper of a set when he was out here last. It’s rare you get a lineup such as this anywhere in the world, let alone Sydney; and presale tickets are still available online.

RAP CITY POSTPONED HOPSCOTCH OPENS

Hopscotch Nightclub opens its doors for the first time this Saturday December 11, with a lineup comprising Bang Gang 12 Inches’ Light Year, Kitsune’s Beni and Melbourne’s Indian Summer. Hopscotch is a complete remodeling of the old 169 Oxford St, which in previous incarnations has been known as ‘Havana’ and ‘Suzy Q’s’. Apparently the new décor fuses influences from bad Chinese restaurants and Brooklyn – a broad but happy spread indeed.

Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way you want it to - but you gotta keep on truckin’.

This maxim is pertinent to the news that the organisers of the upcoming ‘Rap City’ tour, featuring Blackalicious, Murs & 9th Wonder and RA the Rugged Man, have regretfully had to postpone the December Australian tour, due to circumstances beyond their control. All ticket holders can obtain a full refund from their place of purchase and the organisers apologise for any disappointment and inconvenience

Mogwai are a very good band - and it turns out that they’re very good filmmakers too. In anticipation of their 7th studio album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, Spunk Records are holding one (just one!) special screening of both Mogwai films Burning and Adelia, I Want To Love at Paddington’s Chauvel on Thursday December 9. Their music is soaring, powerful and intimate all at once, so this cinematic transition was almost meant to be. Tell us your favourite Mogwai song and why. The winner will get a double pass, a copy of Mogwai’s most recent album The Hawk Is Howling as well as the live CD/DVD Burning/Special Moves. Two runners up will get a double pass to the screening.

Mock & Toof

PLAYGROUND WEEKENDER ADDITIONS

The second round of acts have been announced for the forthcoming Playground Weekender Festival, held at Wisemans Ferry on the banks of the Hawkesbury River from February 17 – 20. Lamb, Tricky, The Beautiful Girls, Architecture in Helsinki, You Am I, Midnight Juggernauts, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Derrick Carter, Black Mountain, The Like, I Am Kloot, Dixon, Ame, Ewan Pearson (hurrah!), Mad Professor and DFA’s Mock & Toof are among those added to a list that already includes Caribou, Tom Middleton, Four Tet and De La Soul, among a whole heap of others.

Their best lineup to date. Tickets are currently available through www. playgroundweekender.com.au.

What’s your role all about?

I work with media to make sure everyone is hearing what we’re putting on the table. I also work alongside the other members of the promo & publicity team to make their respective days run as smoothly as possible. As my boss says, my role is “making shit happen”.

How did you score your job?

There’s this hot blonde that turns all the promo cogs in Sydney for Shock, who I met while I was living there for a couple of years. Well, she needed an assistant so I put my hand up, and I went down to Melbourne to meet the boss (in all my post-wisdomtooth-extraction-glory) - and from there we made the magic happen!

The best part about working in the music industry?

I’ve met some goddamn amazing people in the 18 months I’ve been working here. Everyone works really hard but they all know how to take the piss, and we get up to all kinds of shenanigans… And of course, the music. It blows my mind that I get paid to listen to and work with my favourite bands. I also get to use heaps of exclamation points in emails.

Favourite five bands of 2010?

No favourites! These are the artists that have been most flogged on my iPod this year: A Place To Bury Strangers, Jamie T, Vampire Weekend (cutest mu’fuckers out), Alexisonfire & Kvelertak. (with a special mention to Doomriders.. #HORNS)

“You snatch your rattling last breaths with deep-sea-diver sounds, and the flowers bloom like madness in the spring.” - JETHRO TULL 18 :: BRAG :: 391 : 06:12:10

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 19

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

The Books

PEACH

Growing Up My parents gave me a strong attachment 1. to Paul Simon’s Graceland and a defensive mindset whenever anyone insults Billy Joel.

Plus, you know, hearing ‘I’m On Fire’ is mindblowing whether you’re eight years old in the back of a car fighting with your little brother, or sixteen and (finally...) losing your virginity.

The Boss is a boss, sure, but really what I’m saying is: there was music around when I was growing up and, luckily, some of it was great.

Inspirations Like most rich, white, Australian 2.rappers my first taste of rap music (that I liked) was made by angsty white Americans. I can quote Aesop Rock’s ‘Daylight’ to you word for word. I remember when Slug’s melodrama felt thrilling. I can tell you who won every Scribble Jam emcee battle (and show you the DVD). But it took Jay Z making ‘99 Problems’ to get me to listen to Illmatic, if you catch my drift – hearing one example of great music made me listen out for others.

Your Crew No crew, really. I have had 3. a few tastes, but. I was in the freestyle/drawing group Sketch The Rhyme. I’m in the Mailer Daemon Sound System whenever it gets together.

My main collaborator (aside from incredible zine boss Jon “16Tacos” Valenzuela, who does all the artwork for me) is Jozz from Claws And Fangs. He makes most of the music, cuts it up, records it, and spits it back out at the end. My blood brother Shag is my self-styled executive producer. I have other friends who I could namedrop (and you’d be impressed), but nah: no crew.

The Music You Make I make rap music; rap music that wishes 4. it was pop music. I rap about: my job, food, being a good rapper, and about other rappers being bad rappers. I don’t consider myself a premier lyricist, though. I just want you to go home from the show humming the hook and wearing the t-shirt.

Music, Right Here, Right Now We’re lucky. Sydney is home to Australia’s 5. three best: Urthboy, Fame, and Jimmy Nice from Spit Syndicate. It’d be tough to rap in this city and not think of those three. But I’m not trying to sound like them or be like them; I’m trying to pursue excellence like they have. I try to be hungry to develop like they are. It’s how I think we all should be. Shoulders of giants and all that.

Who: Off The Grid mixtape is available now, for free download Where: www.peachpeach.com.au

The Ting Tings

More than 10 years ago, New York City neighbours Paul de Jong and Nick Zammuto began – accidentally-on-purpose – crafting what would come to be known as their signature sound; a warm combination of acoustic pop and electronic creativity.

Such accolades for their albums Thought For Food and The Lemon Of Pink earned The Books a call-up from the French Ministry of Culture, who wanted them to compose music for a new elevator in their building… You know you’ve really made it when you’re asked to compose the elevator music for a French cultural institution.

The Books are playing at the Seymour Centre on February 18. To see these sonic experimentationalistisers in the flesh, tell us what your favourite book is.XXX

BIG VILLAGE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Tuka

THE PALACE NYE GOOD VIBES RISING & THE TING TINGS ADDED

Good Vibes Rising is an initiative that gives local Indigenous artists an opportunity to be part of a Good Vibrations festival, by winning the opening set on the Roots Stage. The competition is open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander bands whose members are 14+, and play live music in the style of hip-hop, soul, funk, dub or reggae. APRA will also reimburse the travel expenses of the winning act up to a maximum of $1000, and throw in some extra tickets to the festival too. Apply online and get further info at www.apra-amcos.com.au/gvr. In further Good Vibes news, electro pop duo The Ting Tings have just been added to a lineup which already includes Faithless, Phoenix, Cee Lo Green, Miike Snow, Janelle Monae and more. It just keeps getting bigger and better… Centennial Park on Saturday February 12.

PIRATE CRUISE + AFTERPARTY DAFT PUNK’S The annual ‘Pirates of the Underground’ boat TRON SOUNDTRACK party returns this Saturday with sets from a number of the headliners from the weekend’s huge Subsonic Music Festival. German duo Extrawelt from the Cocoon label are the headline attraction, closely followed by another pair from Deutschland, Heinrichs & Hirtnefellner - while Berlin’s Turmspringer will continue the Germanic motif. The lineup also includes Bar 25 regulars The Bastards and Andre Wakko from the Tonkind imprint, and the local brigade is lead by RifRaf and Matt ‘Davey Jones’ Aubusson. There will be an official afterparty that doubles as Chemistry’s second birthday, at a warehouse location to be announced online. The afterparty starts at 10 and runs till 6am, with entry $15 from those who were on the boat and $25 for those who weren’t.

THE BOOKS

Arguably the most hyped release of the year, Daft Punk‘s soundtrack for TRON: Legacy hits shelves this week, with the film to follow next week. The largely electronic score was composed, performed and produced by GuyManuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, with contributions from an 85-strong orchestra recorded at Air Studios in London.

“This project is by far the most challenging and complex thing we have ever been involved with,” Bangalter said in a recent interview. “Coming from our background of making electronic music in a small bedroom, and ending up having our music performed by a 90-piece orchestra, with some of the best musicians in the world…

Recording with this orchestra was a very intense experience.”

The Palace Hotel in Coogee has unveiled details of its New Year’s Eve bash. Among those throwing down will be Modular/ Kitsune’s Beni, Nick Thayer, Anna Lunoe, Emily Scott, Snob Scrilla Sound System, Surecut Kids, Frew, Funktrust DJs and a live set from Kidmac - all spread across three levels. The Palace’s balcony will provide a prime vantage point from which to watch the Coogee fireworks and take in the first gasps of 2011, which will be filled with the pungent aroma of hope and opportunity (and beer).

First release tickets are available for $30 from the venue.

The Big Village Christmas Party at Tone next Friday December 17 is one for the hip-hop aficionados.

Those who’re unfamiliar with Big Village may well be aware of some of the acts signed to the label; Tuka, Daily Meds, Loose Change and True Vibenation, all of whom will be throwing down at the Xmas bash.

Tuka, known to the Australian hip hop scene as a member of Obese Records’ Thundamentals, will also be performing songs from his recently released debut solo album Will Rap For Tuka, with Mute & Kit Complete, Roleo and Sketch The Rhyme slotted to perform - as well as guest MCs The Tongue and Joe New. Entry is $15 on the door from 8pm.

Freestylers

WHAM TURNS FIVE!

It’s a tricky business to run a night in Sydney; and nigh on impossible to make it last for five years. Saturday institution Wham’s managed it though, a half decade of some of the best dance parties around courtesy of our good friends, B and JT. To mark the lofty occasion, they’ve got an “all star, all night, four-room lineup” headlined by Chicago house maestro James Curd, the mastermind behind Greenskeepers. Backing him up will be Act Yo Age, Like Woah!, Ro Sham Bo and basically every favourite DJ that Wham have nourished over the last five years… It all goes down on Saturday December 11 - 15 before 10pm, $20 after. We’ll be standing near the bar, shuffling awkwardly and waiting for the cake to come out. Happy birthday, you guys!

FREESTYLERS

UK stalwarts The Freestylers return to Australia over summer to play ‘A Sunburnt Xmas’ at Bondi Pavilion on Christmas Day. They’ll be indulging in an encore performance at Chinese Laundry on Saturday January 14, the week after breakbeat proponent Freq Nasty plays at the same venue. The Englishmen are both touring at the same time that the Ashes is being decided on the cricket pitch; either a coincidence, or they’re both keen to cheer on Kevin Pietersen…

“In your pomp and all your glory you’re a poorer man than me, as you lick the boots of death born out of fear.” - JETHRO TULL 20 :: BRAG :: 391 : 06:12:10

5

th hda y t

birtember 11 Dec

d r u C s e ) a m s u s Ja r p e e k s n e (Gre

e g A o Y t c A (So ut h ern Fri ed)

Like Woah! ( Kitsune)

Jame s Taylo r

Plus:Illya,Ro Sham Bo, Garry Todd, Kato vs Wax Motif, Discopunx, Ben Korbel vs Kerry Wallace, Negghead, Telefunken vs Matt Weir, Will Styles, Foundation vs Ben Dunlop,Temnein, Generic Dj's

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 21

The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Industry Music News with Christie Eliezer

CHANGES AT TRIPLE J

Canberra-hailed DJs The Aston Shuffle (Vance Musgrove and Mikah Freeman) are joining triple j’s Friday night dance show ‘Mix-Up’ team, of Nina Las Vegas and Deacon Rose. They replace the Funktrust team (Will Styles and Learned Hand), who leave after four years to concentrate on DJing and production work.

Dom Alessio takes over as the full-time host of triple j’s Australian Music show ‘Home & Hosed’.

Current co-host, Steph Hughes is moving on to focus again on her first love - live music.

Hughes will be touring the world for much of next year as a drummer, vocalist and guitarist for several Melbourne bands, but she’ll be back on air late 2011 for regular catch ups and talk-back segments. Reporter Tom Tilley from current affairs program ‘Hack’ moves up after four years to become presenter. He replaces Kate O’Toole, who’s relocating to 105.7 ABC Darwin after five years at the js. triple j Manager Chris Scaddan says, “Look out for more innovations from us early in the year online, on your mobile phone and on your radio.”

SHORT STACK GO GOLD

Short Stack’s second album This Is Bat Country has gone gold, two weeks after it debuted at #6 on the ARIA album chart. The band now have a staggering 100,000 friends on Facebook.

GENERAL PANTS’ LABEL SIGNS THREE MORE

Major Label, the singles label set up this year

by General Pants, has signed three more acts for singles-only deals. They are Sydney’s Kite Club, Perth’s Felicity Groom and The Bungalows, from the NSW south coast.

Life lines Born: Daughter Reiley, to Paul McCartney’s fashion designer daughter Stella and her publisher husband Alasdhair Willis. Reiley is their fourth child.

Dating: John Mayer, apparently with newly single Eva Longoria.

Injured: Newcastle band Seabellies’ guitarist/bassist Eddie Garven needed stitches to his forehead, and some of the others were bruised up, when they were attacked by thugs with belts and sticks while walking down Melbourne’s Brunswick Street during a visit.

In Court: Michael Jackson’s father Joe has re-filled his wrongful death lawsuit so it could be heard in a federal court, and not a state court as a judge ruled.

Joe is suing Michael’s physician Dr. Conrad Murray for between $10 million to $500 million alleging that he caused his son’s death, and that he has lost income and “companionship” as a result.

Suing: Lily Allen is taking action against The Daily Mail for printing photos of her new £3 million home in the Cotswolds. She is claiming copyright infringement.

Major Label has signed 15 acts, many from recommendations and demos sent in by store teams, and some of which have gone on to full-blown deals. “Are we breaking new ground, breaking Gaga’s, turning the music world on its head? No. We’re making noise, having fun and connecting with young people making cool music,” observes Jethro Lyons, General Pants Co Brand Manager.

THINGS WE HEAR * The City of Sydney has ratified its Late Night Trading Premises Development Control Plan, which will make it easier to close venues earlier. The packed committee meeting at the Town Hall chambers was emotional. Venue operators and DJs spoke angrily, Lord Mayor Clover Moore was booed and riot police were on standby outside. * Will U2 be announced as a guest of the December 14 Sydney taping of Oprah Winfrey, as The Australian has heard? They play Sydney that night. * 16,000 Townsville fans were unimpressed when Guns N’Roses took to the stage at Reid Park Stage, over an hour late. “Bullshit!” and “Go back to America’!’ went the chants... All was forgiven when the Gunners came on. * Bob Evans cancelled his first show in Seoul after things got nasty between South and North Korea, after the North fired on an island. * 30 Seconds To Mars’ video for ‘Hurricane’ was banned from US TV, for scenes of raunchy bondage and violent fights. Jared Leto accused censors of “double standards”. * Heavy rains kept audiences to below break-even point at the Open Arms festival in Coffs Harbour. The festival might not return unless local council increases its funding.

INDIGENOUS GOOD VIBES

More indigenous acts will be showcased at next year’s Good Vibrations. Its promoter Jam Music and APRA have teamed up for a competition open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander bands who play hip hop, soul, funk, dub or reggae. Four acts will perform at Good Vibrations in NSW, Vic, QLD or WA (one artist per state), opening the Roots Stage in their home state. Go to www.apra-amcos.com.au/ gvr for more info or to submit applications (by Friday January 7). Winning acts will get to hang with headliners, and APRA will reimburse their travel expenses up to $1000.

AC/DC’S RUDD IN COURT

Phillip Hugh Norman Witschke Rudzevecuis - aka Phil Rudd, drummer of AC/DC - was fined NZ $250 in the Tauranga District Court, for possessing 26g of marijuana. Police found the stash on his boat in October. His lawyer pleaded that the 56-year-old not be convicted, as it would affect his going into some countries on AC/DC tours. But it may not be a problem; rumours abounded when they were here last that it would be AC/DC’s final tour, due to the medical condition of one of the key members.

HELP PAY FOR PAT PICKETT’S FUNERAL

› THE MUSIC NETWORK TOP 40 The top 40 most ‘heard’ songs on Australian radio.

TW LW TI HP P1 P2 P3 ARTIST

TRACK

LABEL

1

1

8

1 16 41 70 PINK

RAISE YOUR GLASS

SME

2

2

7

2 16 31 61 KATY PERRY

FIREWORK

CAP/EMI

3

5

8

3 14 27 59 ENRIQUE IGLESIAS FT. NICOLE SCHERZINGER

HEARTBEAT

INT/UMA

4

3

7

3 11 28 58 KE$HA

WE R WHO WE R

SME

5

4 12 4 11 27 46 NELLY

JUST A DREAM

UNI/UMA

6

6 12 1 14 31 62 RIHANNA

ONLY GIRL (IN THE WORLD)

DEF/UMA

7 21 3 8

7 15 24 42 MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

8 18 2 14 29 53 MIKE POSNER

9 14 6

9 11 26 46 FAR EAST MOVEMENT

WB/WMA SME

LIKE A G6

INT/UMA

10 11 5 10 11 28 49 THE BLACK EYED PEAS

THE TIME (THE DIRTY BIT)

INT/UMA ATL/WMA

The blogs were busy last week remembering Pat Pickett, one of the legendary roadies who passed away two weeks ago after a battle with cancer. Despite a rough exterior - 6 foot 7 inches, bald head, tattoos - he was loved as a mentor to young roadies and musos.

He started out working with AC/DC and then for the Angels, Midnight Oil, Screaming Jets and Spy v Spy. His rent was paid up in advance, but Support Act were unable to help out as they don’t cover funerals - so friends of his in the industry set up the Pat Funeral Fund.

Commonwealth Bank, BSB 064121, Account 10245472. Their target is $10,000, to go to his family... His memorial service is at the South Chapel Rookwood Necropolis on Tuesday December 7, at 10:30am.

5

18 11 24 54

23 22 4

22 14 30 58

YOLANDA, DCUP HIT USA GOLD

24 25 10 23 10 37 65 25 20 18 6

11 26 4 11 11 25 48 BRUNO MARS

GRENADE

12 9 14 1 15 30 59 BRUNO MARS

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

ATL/WMA

13 10 5 10 12 27 53 GOOD CHARLOTTE

SEX ON THE RADIO

CAP/EMI

14 17 12 14 11 33 54 ADAM LAMBERT

FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

SME

15 36 2 15 11 24 45 CHRIS BROWN

YEAH 3X

SME

16 15 11 14 12 44 68 TRAIN

SAVE ME, SAN FRANCISCO

SME

17 13 22 8 17 39 64 BIRDS OF TOKYO

PLANS

CAP/EMI

18 7 16 6 14 29 58 ZOE BADWI

FREE FALLIN’

NEON/WMA

19 19

F**KIN’ PERFECT

SME

RADIOACTIVE

SME

4 19 12 25 53 PINK

20 16 12 2 18 42 63 KINGS OF LEON 21 12 14 5 22

18

15 31 60

11 38 68

CEE-LO GREEN

FU

WMUK/WMA

JESSICA MAUBOY FT. LUDACRIS

SATURDAY NIGHT

SME

KINGS OF LEON

PYRO

SME

LIFEHOUSE

ALL IN

GEF/UMA

THE SCRIPT

FOR THE FIRST TIME

SME SME

Yolanda B Cool and DCUP’s ‘We No Speak Americano’ has gone gold in America, selling half a million copies. It’s selling so fast that it’s tipped to hit platinum shortly, helped by the guy off Jersey Shore uploading a video of them dancing to the song on YouTube, which has been watched 3.2 million times. The track has also gone gold in UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Romania, and platinum in Holland and Belgium.

Not surprisingly, it’s found success in Latinospeaking Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia (#1 for 10 weeks) and Mexico (reached #2).

26 48 3

26 13 26 58

GUY SEBASTIAN FT. EVE

WHO’S THAT GIRL?

27 31 6

25 11 24 45

PITBULL FT. T-PAIN

HEY BABY (DROP IT TO THE FLOOR) SME

RECEIVERS TAKE WOLLONGONG VENUES

Receivers KordaMentha took over Wollongong’s Glasshouse Tavern, Harp Hotel and Commercial Hotel. They are owned by RDL Investments NSW which reportedly have $1 million in debts, mostly to the Westpac Bank.

28 23 19 1 29 30 5

13 28 56

29 11 24 48

TAIO CRUZ

DYNAMITE

ISL/UMA

RIHANNA FT. DRAKE

WHAT’S MY NAME?

DEF/UMA

USHER FT. PITBULL

DJ GOT US FALLIN’ IN LOVE

SME

31 24 23 12 15 32 50

THE TEMPER TRAP

FADER

LIB/UMA

32 35 8

JAMES BLUNT

STAY THE NIGHT

ATUK/WMA

GOOD CHARLOTTE

LIKE IT’S HER BIRTHDAY

CAP/EMI

30 28 20 2

14 28 57

32 12 32 65

33 32 17 10 14 31 54 34 27 21 7

THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS

CLOSER TO THE EDGE

VIR/EMI

35 33 4

33 8

28 60

THE SCRIPT

NOTHING

SME

36 63 6

36 7

35 48

THIRSTY MERC

ALL MY LIFE

MUSH/WMA

37 57 4

37 9

25 42

NEON TREES

ANIMAL

MERC/UMA

38 NEW 1

38 11 22 44

DAVID GUETTA FT. RIHANNA

WHO’S THAT CHICK?

VIR/EMI

KATY PERRY

TEENAGE DREAM

CAP/EMI

39 29 19 1

14 26 57

14 32 58

themusicnetwork.com

Stickers, posters, flyers, banners & design at very competetive prices.

See our webpage or email us for more info 22 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

SING COOLER THAN ME

02 9317 5777 gnpprint@tpg.com.au

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 23

Trick Or Treat? By Caitlin Welsh

S

leigh Bells create a sound that bypasses the intellect and goes straight to your lizard brain, thudding in your skull and sending blood rushing to places long numbed by endless standing and nodding. “What is this?” cried the internet last year, clutching their collective ears as the rawred demo of ‘Crown On The Ground’ scythed its way through the chillwaved blogosphere like an early-morning car alarm injected with fury into a nice dream. Formed in September 2009, when singer-cum-teacher-cum-singer-again Alexis Krauss met guitarist Derek Miller in a restaurant in NYC, they were signed to M.I.A.’s Mom + Pop label within a month; consequently there were pant-soiling levels of anticipation surrounding the release of their debut album in July this year. Crushingly immediate, and abrasively fun, Treats is a cunning mix of dumb sounds: brickshithouse riffs and saccharine mantras combine in a sweaty cocktail of transgression and physicality. Kind of like the head cheerleader banging the king of the metalheads, on your parents’ bed.

If you ask songwriter Derek Miller, though, we’re over-thinking it. “Our music’s not academic, you know? It should be first and foremost for your feet, or your body, and maybe the last priority is your brain. I hate to sound like a broken record, but I can’t reiterate that enough.”

I speak to Derek twice within the space of a month. The first time he’s in Nevada, in a locale so nowheresville we were disconnected four times on three different phones. (“Basically, it’s a desert. There’s nothing.”) Sleigh Bells were on the road with LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip – straight off the back of the national headlining tour for Treats, it must be noted – for a run of shows that finished with a sold-out night at the 15,000-capacity Hollywood Bowl.

For six days they rested, then it was away over the pond for a tour of the UK and Europe with their good friend M.I.A. - and so Miller takes the second call from backstage in Berlin. The last few nights he’s joined her onstage to play guitar on ‘Meds & Feds’, a track from her latest LP that samples the titanic riff of Treats’ title track. “If you told me a year ago I’d be playing with her, I probably wouldn’t believe you,” he says, and you can’t help but believe him. But the key to not being overwhelmed, it seems, is not thinking too much. “We try to stay away from all press, and just focus on what’s in front of us, which is playing shows,” Miller points out. “But I have read some of [the reviews], and it’s always flattering when people understand what you’re doing. We don’t sit around and think about whether we’re doing something original. But yeah, we appreciate it.”

album by next [northern] summer at the latest, and then immediately start recording the next record,” Miller says, with enthusiasm. “Because even when we were wrapping up Treats we were working at a great rate, and didn’t get all the ideas that we’d [recorded]. So we’re really excited to get back to it. I really should focus on Treats, and playing those songs - but truthfully, I’m just thinking about the next record.”

Sydney will get their first taste of the Sleigh Bells live show on New Years Day, as the twosome come down for Field Day. Be prepared to do some serious screaming for encores, though - Miller tells me that theirs is a short set. (“We play about 33 minutes. The record is 32 minutes. It’s just kind of in and out.”) All the album tracks except ‘Rachel’ and ‘Run The Heart’ currently feature, as well as, uh, interludes. “We wrote an intro that’s pretty abrasive, and I think that probably disorients people.”

who knows, but it will stop. And it’s really interesting, so I enjoy it. I don’t take it for granted.” I ask if he’s bothered by the naysayers – those who can’t stand the noise and distortion, who say it lacks musicality for the sake of shock. “I’d be worried if it wasn’t polarising,” he replies without hesitation. “That would scare me. Indifference is awful. When you work, I think it’s better when people really love it or really hate it. [It means] you’re doing something right.”

With: Klaxons, The Rapture, Tame Impala, Justice, Duck Sauce, Erol Alkan, Public Enemy, Chromeo and more Where: Field Day @ Sydney Domain (tickets from fuzzy.com.au) When: New Years Day from midday More: The Forum on January 8, with Rat Vs Possum and Baio (Vampire Weekend - DJ set)

I have to wonder if he sometimes lets the enormity of the past year overtake him, especially right before he goes on stage in front of 15,000 people; and it’s here where the man who supposedly doesn’t think about this stuff much gets all metaphysical on me. “Being in that situation every night makes me feel lucky to be doing something that makes me totally afraid and freaked out. It’s a very weird state. Not to sound like a hippie,” he hurries to add, “but it’s very weird, you’re in a very different state of mind. You can only get it in a handful of ways, and that’s one of them: put yourself onstage in front of a ton of people who are expecting something from you.

And it won’t happen forever, it’s happening now. “The time’s limited – could be a year, could be fifteen,

Whether originality for its own sake is a goal or not, Miller does admit that Sleigh Bells was born out of his own creative frustrations. After years of playing in hardcore outfit Poison The Well, he found himself clashing with his band mates and pushing against the confines of the scene, before quitting in 2007. “Playing was still fun, but creatively I was unsatisfied,” he tells me. “[Sleigh Bells is] just the two of us, so there isn’t a lot of conflict… With hardcore it’s all about democracy with a lot of bands. Every decision has to be unanimous or it has to be a majority vote. It’s very frustrating, because more often than not it’s one or two people kind of driving the whole thing. [Whereas with Sleigh Bells] I don’t really feel hemmed-in or suffocated creatively. We can kind of do anything.”

While their sound is instantly recognisable, with Krauss’s fairy-floss vocals skipping over Miller’s industrial-grade riffs, Treats draws on a few different moods within the basic blueprint; ‘Rill Rill’ samples a dreamy Funkadelic acoustic strum, while ‘Rachel’ eschews the downward guitar crunches in favour of an urgent, teasing, trance-ish synth ostinato that never drops its payload. The latter hasn’t made it into the live set yet – Miller says he’s working on a version to be debuted during their headline tour of Europe next year, which suggests to me that beneath the laid-back demeanour lurks a maddening perfectionist. While he insists it’s more a matter of time constraints and grueling tours that keep him from working on it, he also admits that he and Krauss are getting ahead of themselves with regards to the “ton” of new material haunting them. “I think we’ll probably wrap up touring this

“We go together like a bird and a nest. Like internet and kiddie-porn. Like guns and the US” – TIM MINCHIN 24 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

THE FRONTIER TOURING CO., VIDEO HITS, MAX & THE BRAG PRESENT

SUNDAY 24 APRIL ENMORE THEATRE 132 849

ON SALE THIS FRIDAY F R O N T I E RT O U R I N G . C O M

NEW ALBUM ‘THE SOUND OF SUNSHINE’ OUT NOW

MICHAELFRANTI.COM BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 25

Little Dragon Smooth Sailing By Mikey Carr

T

hey say there’s a sucker born every minute - and it’s a particular truism when it comes to the music industry. It seems like there’s a new buzz band every time you pop into a record store or onto the internet. The sheer weight of competition has flooded the market to a point where, when once record labels could make pop stars on a whim, now everyone is fighting to push their heads above the surface of a widening sea.

Increasingly desperate to find a new sound that will capture the public imagination, labels often try to sculpt or shape artists into some preconceived mould for success. Swedish synth-pop outfit Little Dragon, being brought to Australia by Gorillaz this week, have experienced such sculpting first hand.

Meeting in high school in the mid nineties, singer Yukimi Nagano along with Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrick Källgren (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards) formed the band in the early days of the new millennium. Like many before them, their nascent years were marked by a strong emphasis on organic progression and evolution. “When you’re making music, forcing things or trying things that aren’t necessarily coming naturally to you is never good,” Nagano explains. “It’s always important for us to feel like we’re being truly

“We wanted to release a different album, [but] the label had decided that those were the songs that they wanted to release. We were devastated - those were just our demos...” ourselves.” Living together in a collective called The Seal Colonie, the band soon built themselves a studio, recording a mountain of half-finished material. Their close friend, producer Christoffer Berg, soon heard it, and released a special limited edition single on his and Daniel Noord’s label, Off The Wall. It wasn’t long until they were signed to Peacefrog Records, and were forced to deal with the harsh vicissitudes of the music industry.

“The first album was pretty much a bunch of our demo songs - and to be honest, we wanted to release a different album,” Nagano tells me.

“We’d gotten into a bit of a difficult situation with our label, and they’d decided that those were the songs that they wanted to release. We were devastated at the time, because like I said those were just our demos - we hadn’t even mixed them.

But at that time we’d already gotten our advance and spent all the money, so we all just went along with it.”

Unhappy with their self-titled debut, and distressed by the lack of decision-making power they’d been given, Little Dragon chose to go it alone, embarking on an ambitious bout of self-funded touring. Visiting the US and Europe multiple times with no backing from the label and no press support, they began to build a following from the ground up. “You know - a few people coming to a show and then coming back to the same place, and those few people bring their friends, and then there’s twice as many people in the club…”

With the buzz around them slowly building, they lucked out when Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn handpicked them as collaborators for Plastic Beach. Little Dragon found a kindred creative spirit in the former Blur frontman. “We were complete strangers when we went into the studio, but coincidentally we have a very similar way of working. He’s very free and just kind of open; there’s not really any kind of formula,” Nagano tells me. “He just tries things out and if they work they work, and if they don’t they don’t - and that’s just how we work, too.” Working with Albarn offered the band a bigger profile, which brought with it a more advantageous height from which they could deal with their label. Learning their lesson the first time round, when it came to their second album, Machine Dreams, Little Dragon were unafraid of making themselves heard to ensure that this time it would come out the way that they wanted. “I think that’s all part of the learning process,” Nagano states humbly. “It takes time to build your confidence so that when people you’re working with tell you, ‘no, this is better,’ and you really don’t agree, you’re able to be stubborn and put your foot down and say, ‘this is really, really what we want.’”

Coming through the sausage press of the music industry, Nagano and her band have come to realise that the key to overcoming its hurdles is simply working hard; it’s impossible to try to predict trends. “I think everyone is just speculating; the record companies are just coming from a pure business perspective,” she points out, with sobering clarity. “But in the end it just needs a lot of work. You need to invest, and that’s where the strange balance is. You have to believe it will be successful, but you can’t be complacent and think it will just blow up overnight; you have to put a lot of work into it. People have been spoilt because that’s how it was before; people were selling so many records, and were in such a powerful position - but then they just lost it.”

Currently taking their time working on new material while touring with Gorillaz, and hoping to have another album out next year, Little Dragon are a rare example of a band whose talent, hard work and persistence helped them cross the tumultuous straights of music industry hype, to finally rest in the calm waters of success.

What: Machine Dreams is out through EMI Where: GOODGOD Small Club When: Wednesday December 15 More: Also playing Sydney Entertainment Centre with Gorillaz, on Thursday December 16. Unsurprisingly, it’s sold out.

26 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

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Jack Johnson will donate 100% of his 2010 tour profits to charity. Learn more at AllAtOnce.org Presented by Michael Coppel, Nik Tischler & MAX I jackjohnsonmusic.com I jackjohnson.com.au I Brushfirerecords.com I coppel.com.au

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 27

Hermitude Back In The Game By Hugh Robertson

H

ermitude is a difficult beast to pin down.

Their last and third album, Threads, was one of my favourite albums of 2008 for precisely this reason, changing styles with each new track and barely giving you time to get comfortable in your surroundings before it raced off in another direction. Yet despite this, it never once feels thrown together; all the different sounds in Hermitude’s extraordinary sonic palette – with just the right mix of vocal and instrumental tracks – come together to create a down-tempo, chilled out, electro-hop masterpiece.

After taking 2010 off to pursue other projects, Hermitude are finally back in the game, and getting to work on their next album. And although they’re right at the start of the whole process, Angus Stuart (aka Elgusto) has some pretty strong ideas about how it will turn out. “This time around we’re actually just going full instrumental,” he explains over the phone. “We mostly are an instrumental group [who’ve] delved into the vocal world here and there... This time we’re trying to focus on making the album a little bit more cohesive. Threads was kind of all over the shop...

On this next album we’re trying to make a bit more of one cohesive sound”.

Stuart admits that the process is very much in its nascent phase: “Basically, we’re trying to find that sound at the moment. There are a few different directions that we can go in, but we’re just looking to see what comes out. You never really know until you start writing.”

For all its charms, an all-instrumental album is a devil of a thing to try and sell. You don’t need to take off your shoes to count the number of successful instrumental beats-based albums that’ve been released - and if you exclude DJ Shadow, RJD2 and The Beastie Boys from that list, you aren’t left with many at all. Stuart himself acknowledges that it can be difficult to engage with an album without words. “There aren’t vocals for people to connect with”, he says. “[But] there are instrumental albums out there that people really love and hold in high regard, and that have been quite big throughout the world. So I think it’s doable. You just have to capture a time and a place and an essence and a vibe that will really connect with people. And those songs will have to translate, whether there are vocals or not.” With an output that’s so difficult to describe, the task for them becomes even harder; Stuart readily admits that Hermitude have walked a fine line between the hip-hop scene and the electronic crowd for most of their career.

“That whole thing about the accent people have dropped that now, and can actually listen to an Australian rapper for their words and their flow and their music.”

This all makes it somewhat surprising that Hermitude have managed to stay strong in one form or another for nearly ten years, slogging away at the coalface of the Australian hip-hop scene. When we speak The ARIAs were only a few days ago, so I have to ask: what did Stuart make of the perceived snub of not presenting ‘Urban Album of the Year’ at the main ceremony? ...As it turns out, it wasn’t so much about when the award was presented, as the choice of performer to follow it. “We went along on the Wednesday night [to the genre awards at the Botanical Gardens],” he explains, “and on the urban, hip-hop and dance night they had Guy Sebastian playing, with some other indie band [Amy Meredith]. Everyone was standing around dumbfounded, wondering who booked these acts for this night. Everyone was like, ‘What’s going on here? This is really shit.’”

Happily, Stuart doesn’t see that night as indicative of the standing of local hip-hop on the Australian music landscape. “It’s amazing to see where it’s come,” he says, with excitement.

“It’s a beautiful thing. Because people, now, are waiting for artists to drop their album. And there are people all around the country who are digging it on the radio, there’s a real buzz - and young artists can come up and burst onto a big scene which wasn’t there about ten years ago.

There was a scene, but it was a lot smaller and connected, and everyone knew each other. Now there’s more room to flourish, and you can sell more albums. There’s a lot more happening.

“And that whole thing about the accent -” he continues, referring to the cultural cringe that’s surrounded Aussie hip hop in the past, “people have dropped that now, and can actually listen to an Australian rapper for their words and their flow and their music, and for what the album is as a whole, and for the artist. And I think people who put on American accents don’t actually last very long in the Australian scene, because people nowadays won’t accept it. But that’s good; it makes it Australian. Something different about our scene.”

Hermitude will be hitting the road next week to dust off some of the live cobwebs, and also to promote their new single, ‘Get In My Life’ – available for free download from the Elefant Traks home page. There aren’t many expectations for the shows, but Stuart is looking forward to it. “It’s been a while since we’ve been out on the road,” he says. “We’ve got these couple of shows to really smash out, and play people some new tunes, and get it out there. We’re just poking our heads back out and letting everyone know to keep their eyes and ears peeled. We’re back!”

What: ‘Get In My Life’ is available for free download from ElefantTraks.com Where: Tone, Surry Hills When: Saturday December 11 28 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

Clipse Labels, Lyrics & The Law By David Edgley

L

ook behind their connections with Pharrell & Chad, read between the lines of the Justin Timberlake collabs, dig beneath the surface of the mountains of coke, and Clipse are complex street corner poets whose lyricism kicks the arse of every single one of their peers. The brothers Thornton have been punishing beats ever since their Neptunesbacked debut Exclusive Audio Footage was shelved indefinitely back in 1999, but it was only with their follow up, Lord Willin’, that they were able to finally showcase their intricate one-two punch; Pusha’s wordplay and emotive cadences against Malice’s cold-edged icy flow.

The pair have maintained a storytelling tradition ever since. “I do think it’s a dying art - but I live for this!” says the older brother, Malice, emphatically. “You can probably listen to a Rakim album right now and still find something that you didn’t know he was saying back then.

And those, to me, are the magical parts of a record; when you’re still catching onto things. For the few that get it [when] it goes over the rest of everyone else’s heads - that lets you know that you’re talking to a specific group. And I think this art form and what we do - as far as lyric-driven hip hop - it still speaks to a certain audience, and I appreciate that audience. This is the hip hop that we know and love.”

wait to get to this, I can’t wait to get to that one.’

I got beats coming in from everybody - so I’m definitely coming with it.” With the label drama that’s clouded their past, I’m curious as to how their forthcoming album might come out could Clipse be looking to land on an artist-run label? …Perhaps a label owned by one of the most successful rappers of the decade? “Yeah, well, you pretty much know already where the [Pusha T] solo is going to end up. I don’t want to get ahead of myself right now-” Malice says, letting his guard down slightly... Was this a veiled confirmation of Clipse as a whole being signed to Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music? “What I will say is that I’ve learnt my lesson, being in the industry as long as I have; I’m not going to put anything out there,” he continues, warily. “But look, it’s coming, it’s going to be good. Clipse has something very good in store for you.”

What: Til The Casket Drops is out now on Re-Up Records, through Sony With: Levins, Wax Motif Where: The Metro Theatre When: Sunday December 12

Clipse have often been derided for their subject matter, which has for the most part revolved around the business of cocaine. But if you believe that their music is simply same-old drug dealin’, bang bang, shoot-em-up hip hop, then you aren’t listening right. “The first time I heard us labelled as ‘cocaine rappers’ it did bother me, because that’s just not a title that I wanted to be labelled as,” states Malice. “[Drugs] have definitely played a part in our life, and our music is a true-to-life music. But there’s so much more in these verses it doesn’t stop with the cocaine.”

“The first time I heard us labelled as ‘cocaine rappers,’ it did bother me. Drugs have definitely played a part in our life, and our music is a true-tolife music. But there’s so much more in these verses...”

Late last year saw the arrest of Clipse’s ex-manager and friend, Anthony “Geezy” Gonzales, and many of the brothers’ close friends. “Our whole entire entourage, all of our friends from young got locked up [last year]. Our manager and everybody who was with us on a day-to-day basis are now all locked up”. Geezy was sentenced to 32 years in prison for his role in heading up a $10 million a year cocaine and marijuana distribution empire, while the others are still waiting trial. The experience had a truly profound impact on Malice’s life and his music.

“When you look at their daughters, and their dad isn’t there anymore, you have to think about what you’re saying. You got to. You can’t deny that. I mean maybe somebody else can, but it’s hard for me,” he says. “I’ve definitely had a change of heart... It’s definitely been an awakening.”

With the other half of Clipse, his younger brother Pusha, signing to Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music and beginning work on his solo LP, Malice has been free to explore his newfound spirituality through other creative outlets. “This is time for me to breathe and really satisfy my heart right now. You mature, you know what I’m sayin’? I just want to step back for a minute and get into this, because I really enjoy what I’m doing behind that camera.”

The short films that Malice has been directing and producing (check mademylifechange.com) are all based on a book he wrote, Wretched, Poor, Pitiful and Naked, which outlines the perils and pitfalls he’s experienced in his personal life. “I feel like it’s my calling,” he says of his new business, Re-Up Gang Films. “I have such a passion for it. It reminds me of when I first started rapping and it was all I wanted to do, you know? And especially if it’s going to help somebody – that’s the most fulfilling thing that I can imagine. When I look at my Tweets and I look at people that reach out to me, they tell me things like, ‘I was about to get revenge, but you made me chill out’ …just positive things. That’s awesome to me.”

Clipse fans need not worry - there’s no truth to the rumours that Malice is giving up the mic to become the next Kubrick. “No, that’s not happening,” Malice says, obviously amused. “I’m still writing rhymes, tucking ‘em away like, ‘I can’t BRAG :: 390 :: 06:12:10 :: 29

Marina & The Diamonds Sparkling Jewels By Birdie

A

little riot grrrl and a little Britney Spears, Marina & the Diamonds is proving quite the brain-fuck for industry types as they try to box her music in. On the one hand cutesy and commercial, on the other weird and left-field, come Australia’s summer festival season we’ll get to make up our own minds about the latest U.K. alt-pop sensation – the elusive Marina Diamandis, and her eclectic treasure-chest of finger-snapping tunes.

“It’s like a mini-explosion of theatrical goodness!” Marina tells me, when I ask about her live show. “I love the whole riot grrrl era and all the girl punk bands, so it’s definitely not tame on the stage. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like I can bring my complete show to Australia the way that I do it around the U.K., just because it’s very expensive.

Usually it’s quite cinematic and there’s lots of amazing lights and photography… It’s just too bad.”

What Diamandis will be bringing with her to our shores is music from her chart-topping debut album The Family Jewels - following on from her first headlining, 70-date tour around Europe, America and Canada. Days before its release, the album peaked at number five

in the U.K. album charts, and was certified silver shortly after, largely thanks to singles ‘Mowgli’s Road’ and ‘Hollywood’. “It speaks volumes about the spending habits of the youth,” suggests Diamandis. “The fact that it’s done so well in the U.K. means that even despite the recession, music is still so important to people.

“I get the best feedback for ‘I Am Not A Robot,’” she continues. “That’s my favourite song too. It’s the purest track on there [and] it’s the most open, lyrically. I don’t want to compromise in any way with my songs, and I’ve been lucky and grateful so far that I haven’t had to. I always pause before critiquing another artists - but I have to say that even Lady Gaga, for all her talent, the way she started off was to definitely compromise and give in. I guess you have to do what you have to do. Compromise for me is a very gritty issue.”

Instead Diamandis is on a mission to put her own unique stamp on culture and make an impact on her generation the way that Britney Spears did on hers. And while Diamandis draws some influence from Miss Spears, she claims it’s more about what the pop princess stood for rather than her sugary

brand of music. “I’m not ashamed to admit I like Britney Spears, no way!” she giggles. “For me, it was something about her personality that appealed to me. She was this delicious package of weird wrongness on a lot of levels. She is smart and I genuinely think she had amazing social skills, because she seriously pulled off the whole circus of her life for a long time. It takes skill to work from eight years old up until 25 and not go completely crazy,” she continues.

Still, it’s Madonna who Diamandis relates to the most. An artist with courage and power, and the talent and ability to make people sit up and take notice. “A lot of the work has already been done because of artists like Madonna,” she offers. “I’m getting a bit sick of provocation and the shock value – there’s no such thing as that anymore. A lot of women and female pop artists are trying too hard. Being overtly sexual is not necessarily empowering or liberating, it’s more liberating to pose and display yourself in your natural way. To me, it’s interesting being a female but I don’t let it consume me.”

What: The Family Jewels is out now through Warner Where: The Factory Theatre When: Thursday December 30 More: Field Day @ Sydney Domain, January 1

The Jezabels Who Needs A Day Job? By Jonno Seidler

H

eadliners of the upcoming Sosueme Xmas party and generally ‘oh my god’ amazing, Sydney-via-Byron Bay’s The Jezabels are on a hot streak at the moment, with their years of hard work finally starting to pay dividends. (An indication of which is the fact that pianist Heather Shannon, who holds down two jobs in addition to ornamenting the band’s already huge sound with her brand new Nord keyboard, hasn’t clocked in at her bookstore job for quite some time.) “We’re sort of at the stage now where we’re almost making enough to live off the band,” she says. “It’s really cool to feel like it’s gradually building. But we want it to be a gradual thing, we don’t want it to get blown out of proportion.”

That gradual thing Heather’s referring to is The Jezabels’ steady stream of EPs, from their debut The Man Is Dead early last year, to this year’s iTunes No.1, Dark Storm.

Gradual also because, despite rumours of unrelenting pressure to sign a mega-deal with a super-label, The Jezabels remain fiercely independent. “I feel like we’ve set it up quite well, grown our fan base organically from the bottom up,” says Heather. “Even though it’s a big risk, people seem to like us or respect us more for it, so we’re going to give it a go.”

When they get back from their latest stint, The Jezabels are heading to the studio to record a full album, which will come proudly emblazoned with their own JEZ004 code, in the vein of their previous work. Despite having seriously amazing material already laid down, Heather says the band have no desire to mine the annals of the past. “It’s all going to be new; at least that’s our plan for now. We definitely don’t want our fans to buy the CD and say, ‘Oh, we’ve heard that already!’ We’re also planning to write double the amount we usually write in half

the amount of time - so that should be interesting.”

The Jezabels have racked up more frequent flyer miles than Sir Branson himself this year, circling Australia a few times as well as heading over to New York and Canada, where they’ll be returning for SxSW in 2011. That means playing to audiences who may never have heard their stuff before, which Heather says is sometimes daunting. But nothing can be as difficult as Melbourne: “They’re really weird. The crowd just stand back with their arms folded, waiting for you to impress them, and it’s really intimidating.” That being said, she’s a bit more worried about playing her hometown of Byron in the next few weeks...

“I think it will be our most nerve-racking show; it’s really hard playing to close friends and family. We’ve been getting a lot of calls like ‘Oh, what time are you on, I have to work in the morning…’ - that sort of thing.

Heather, who’s second job is school piano teacher, is preparing for the onslaught by practising exactly how to use her groovy new Nord. “I haven’t used a third of what it can do,” she laughs. “I’m actually spending rehearsal time now making sure I get the effects buttons right so I don’t fuck it up!” Luckily then, their next Sydney gig is headlining the Sosueme Xmas party – there’s nothing less intimidating than a party crowd. “Nah,” says Heather. “I reckon I’ll have it down by then.”

With: The Protectors, Pluto Jonze, Rapids, Sosueme DJs, Sampology and more Where: Sosueme Xmas Party @ Oxford Art Factory When: Friday December 10 More: Peats Ridge Festival @ Glenworth Valley, December 29 - January 1

Mystery Jets Jetting Off By Nick Mason

“W

e can’t wait. We were out there a couple of years ago and we had a great time, so we’re really looking forward to coming back,” William Rees of UK indie quintet Mystery Jets unreservedly declares. “We’re actually kind of talking about living in Sydney for a little bit and doing some recording or writing over there. I think it’s fascinating, a really interesting place... especially if you come from somewhere like England, because Australia is wild in comparison,” he explains. “It’s the kind of place where you step into your back garden and you might get bitten by a deadly snake or something. To an English person, that’s just out of this world. It would just never happen!” he grins.

It’s Mystery Jets’ celebrated catalogue – including its latest addition, Serotonin – that’s enabled the Eel Pie Island band to take their music abroad. “I think on the tail-end of the last album, we did a lot of travelling,” Rees recalls.

“We really saw a lot of the planet, and a lot of what we talked about before we started making our third record was, ‘Let’s try and get some of those experiences and some of the space we’ve crawled though, seeing the world - let’s try and get that in the actual sound of the record.’ We wanted to achieve something more cinematic, I think; more polished and more widescreen sounding.”

Previous excursions to our shores proved particularly instrumental in the band’s inspiration for Serotonin; the record’s opening track, for instance, is titled ‘Alice Springs’. “It’s a really intriguing name... we all saw it on the map in Australia. We didn’t actually go there but we want to,” Rees muses. “It was us just trying to branch out, you know, and make a sound that was bigger than London and England… Make a sound that was kind of planetary. ‘Alice Springs’ is kind of the epitome of that in a lot of ways.”

Rees is, by now, more than familiar with life on the road. “It’s a very up and down lifestyle,”

he admits. “You can be away for months, then suddenly you come home and sit on your arse… You go through periods of lots of movement and lots of new experiences kind of flooding your life so quickly to periods of stillness. It’s very different to someone who lives in a city, gets up and works everyday in a routine,” he muses. “There’s a constant kind of adjusting process and that’s actually a real challenge, that’s really hard at times. But also great fun. You’ve just got to roll with it, kind of like a fun fair ride. You just have to laugh at the funny bits, cry at the sad bits and scream at the scary bits and just do it, I suppose,” he smiles.

Although further touring awaits, it seems that Mystery Jets have their sights set on who – and where – they will be in the distant future. “I think we’re going to get out of England... we’re going to become American or become Australian and live there and make music,” Rees explains. “I think we need to press the reset button, you know? We need to find a new way of working, a new way of tearing up the rule book.” Much affection is felt for their work to date – 2006 debut Making Dens and 2008’s Twenty One – but the band are looking forward to moving on.

“We are proud of those records,” Rees nods.

“We do love them and think they’re good, but I just think it’s time we head off in a completely new direction. It’s impossible to really say at this stage what that would be. But I think it’s going to be very live, very dynamic... there will be lots of blood in it.

“Not in a kind of Alice Cooper way,” he laughs, qualifying the idea, “more in an emotional honesty way.”

What: Seratonin is out now through Remote Control Where: The Metro Theatre When: Monday January 3 More: Field Day @ Sydney Domain, January 1

“You never steal food off my plate at all. I never have to masturbate at all. Unstoppable, inflatable you.” - TIM MINCHIN 30 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

The Field Sounds Of Tomorrow By Chris Bright

W

ith summer finally upon us, Sydney’s getting ready to welcome some of the biggest music names from around the world - representing the best from every genre under the steaming sun. Among the international draw-cards for the ambient techno aficionado, none are gathering more excitement than Swedish-act The Field. Down this week to headline Victoria’s Meredith Music Festival, this year marks the first time the cult favourites have come to Australia and they’re as excited about it as we are.

Battling a bad phone-line from Berlin and two very distinct accents, most of the conversation between futurist frontman Axel Willner and myself consists of “could you repeat that last part” or “you’ll have to excuse the accent” - but in between, we manage to discuss life as an international DJ, the attraction of ‘70s pop music, and his preparation for the Australian summer.

“It could be a bit too hot, but Berlin is very grey and cold at the moment, so it will be nice to get some sun. I was actually hoping to stay for longer to check out the beaches.

I’ve heard good things,” he tells me. “We’re really looking forward to Meredith. I don’t know much about the festival, apart from the fact that it’s massive! There are some other big names playing, which should be fun.” While The Field is generally considered Axel’s one man project, he’ll be touring Australia with the more-recently expanded group, including instrumental musicians to “really pump up the energy.” “The live instrumentals really add more power to the music; we now have a guitarist, bassist, drums. I think you Australians are going to love it”.

with all the touring.” It’s hard to sympathise with him about that, but even so, and with everything happening around him, Axel assures me that none of it is getting to his head. “I’m still the same guy on stage and in real-life... Well, I may nod my head a bit more on stage,” he laughs to himself. “Hopefully that’s something I don’t do in public.”

I finish by asking Axel how he expects to keep energy levels high with the 2am set-time they pulled at Meredith. He shrugs the question off casually. “[The late time] shouldn’t be a problem. In our genre we get used to playing late shows. Our plan is to watch the other bands, have a few drinks before our set, and have a good time with the crowd.” It helps that their set will be full of live instrumentals and unique sounds. “This isn’t just standard techno with a laptop. We don’t use a laptop – this is different to everything else out there.”

What: Yesterday And Today is out now Where: The Gaelic Theatre When: Saturday December 11

Axel admits that when he first started making music, he never had plans to conquer the techno-scene. “I didn’t start out making techno music. In Sweden, everyone is encouraged to get into music; they put a lot of money into the industry. I started out playing guitar and drums – I was really into punk,” he reminisces. “But then I started playing around with different programs and started remixing some tracks - and before I knew, I was signed with a label.”

“This isn’t just standard techno with a laptop. We don’t use a laptop. This is different to everything else out there.”

The label he refers to is the taste-making Kompakt, who currently represent some of the biggest international techno acts around, including Gui Boratto, Sascha Funke and Dominik Eulberg. “It’s good to have the support of your label – [Kompakt] take really good care of their artists.” With such a broad musical range, Axel is lucky to be with a label that allows him to experiment with so many different sounds and projects. In addition to his many collaborations, which include work with !!! and John Stanier (drummer for US outfit Battles), he’s also expanding on several new solo adventures. In what could be classified as a minor split-personality disorder, Axel’s been working under multiple stage names to represent different ventures.

“I use different stage names to embody the different sounds,” he explains (see: Lars Blek, porte, Cordouan and James Larsson.)

“Unfortunately, since The Field has taken off, I haven’t had the time to explore music with my other monikers. I’m hoping to get back to guitar soon.”

The Field became an overnight sensation in 2005 with the online release of his debut 12-inch, and a catchy remix of Norwegian songstress Annie’s ‘Heartbeat’. He built on the cult following with other big-name remixes, like Thom Yorke, Battles and 120 Days. When asked how he chooses the music he samples, Axel insisted that there’s nothing better than rediscovering pop music from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. “I don’t really have a system for picking songs. If I hear something I like, I just think about how I can use it. I often remember old pop songs I heard as a kid and find them.

Old pop songs have such good melodies, and great production.”

So what’s next for Axel and The Field? “We’re working on a few things at the moment,” he tells me. “I would like to get more done with some of my collaborative groups in the next year and hopefully find time to work on a new album with The Field. It’s just been too hard BRAG :: 390 :: 06:12:10 :: 31

Local Natives Where To Next? By Andrew Weaver

F

or Local Natives, food and productivity seem to have somewhat of an inverse relationship. “When we were recording the record, we were just with ourselves - living very poorly and eating very little,” Kelcey Ayer, vocalist and keyboardist recalls. “Now we’re eating more… and recording very little.” The band have every reason to keep it chill after this year’s meteoric rise, which saw a littleknown Silver Lake, CA five-piece become hot property in the fickle world of indie rock.

It all started with humble beginnings. Not only did Local Natives self-record and produce their debut album Gorilla Manor, but they paid for it all to happen in the house that it was named for, which the band shared in Orange County. When it comes to making their second album, which they’ll start working on in the new year, Ayer tells me it will be difficult to give up the level of control that they’ve enjoyed. Particularly now that they have a whole team of industry types working for them, recruited since their standout performance at the South By Southwest music industry extravaganza in 2009. “It’s hard to find the right people, but we’ve been really lucky. We’ve got a really amazing manager, an amazing booking agent, an amazing label. We’re very happy with who we’re working with right now,” Ayer tells me.

The band are all looking forward to the next stage: the second album. “Everyone has a lot of ideas, but we have to figure out how to write on the road - because I think as a band, we need a lot of time and space to flesh out ideas, flesh out parts, and flesh out whole songs.” For a group still stuck on the touring cycle behind their debut album, Local

Natives are looking forward to being back in a studio together again, working hard to create something that inspires them as much as their debut did. “We want to see how much we’ve grown over the last year, two years, since we wrote those songs,” he says. “I know Gorilla Manor only came out early this year/ late last year, but we’ve been playing these songs for a long time...”

It’s the fatigued anticipation you hear from any band on the final leg of the touring cycle.

Any new act that’s been touring incessantly since the release of their debut will get to this point and wonder… What’s next? With Local Natives struggling to write on the road during their Gorilla Manor tour, their sophomore set is very much in its formative stage. “We don’t have any songs ready to go,” Ayer sighs.

“But seeing as how everyone writes in the band, we all have ideas. Everyone has their own project ideas that they’re working on themselves, but everyone is very cautious… well, not cautious…but, I mean…” he trails off, uncertain how to express the goings on behind the shared creative process. “I learned early on that if I work on a song with this band and develop it too much, that it’s just going to go to the cutting board and get cut up into a million different pieces and be something completely different to whatever [I started with],” he says. “It will end up something more, and something completely better than what I ever thought it could be, because of the people that I’m working with.

So everyone has their pencilled-in ideas and we’re all excited to begin working on them,” he concludes. “It’s a very exciting time for us.”

What: Gorilla Manor is out now Where: The Metro Theatre When: Thursday February 10, 2011 More: Laneway Festival 2011, February 6 @ SCA with !!!, Beach House, Holy Fuck, Les Savy Fav, Foals, The Antlers, Yeasayer and more

Duffy Such Great Heights By Sasha Perera

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uffy’s debut album, Rockferry, was a gin-soaked, Dusty-styled soul/pop affair of misty-eyed love lost, which referenced a sixties Motown shimmer and a Bacharach style of musical drama. It became the biggest selling UK album of 2008 (with 6.5 million sold), and Duffy picked up three Brit Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. It’s fair, then, to assume that everyone must have had an opinion on how album number two should take shape…

“Interestingly, not,” the doe-eyed Duffy shrugs.

“I alienated everyone – I made sure that nobody got too close, like before.”

Duffy changed tact for her sophomore album Endlessly, opting to rev up the energy and reference some 70’s disco/soul sounds.

Songs like ‘Well, Well, Well,’ the leading single, and ‘Keeping My Baby’ (complete with swirling strings and chimes) noticeably travel new territory, while echoes of her melancholy debut are still at the forefront - songs like ‘Too Hurt To Dance’ and ‘Don’t Forsake Me’ continue to deliver the downhearted style that Duffy’s voice is most suited to. “Without struggle, there’s no progress; without experimenting, there’s no development, so I couldn’t rest on my laurels,” she explains of the shift. “I had to push myself… I wanted to be greedy; I wanted to experiment with what it would be like to dance through the hard times as well as cry through them.”

After the success of her debut, she could have worked with anyone she wanted – but instead Duffy chose a “small family” to help her out, which included Questlove from The Roots and Albert Hammond, the father of The Stroke’s Albert Hammond Jnr and a prolific songwriter in the 70s and 80s. “It was a strange collaboration from the outset I guess, but nobody really said anything about it at the time,” Duffy says, of the unusual crossgenerational partnership with the 66-year-old Hammond. “I think he was just charmed by my presence and my voice. He’s worked with Tina Turner and Diana Ross, and he made me feel important, and made me feel that maybe I too, one day, could be a star - like the real stars. I think he sees my star quality.”

Doesn’t everyone see her star-quality, I ask?

“Maybe I can’t, and so maybe that’s the problem,” she responds, plaintively.

When I first met up with Duffy before the release of Rockferry in 2008, she talked excitedly about her manager Jeanette Lee, from the well-respected indie-alternative Rough Trade management and label team (which Lee currently co-owns.) Lee had discovered Duffy and took her under her wing – spending four years working with her on her music and image before the pop explosion

that followed. Duffy adored Lee, and readily owned the influence she had on her style of fashion and music; Lee was an influential motherly-figure for a young Welsh girl finding her way in the music industry, and living away from home.

But all of that has changed; in the wake of Rockferry’s success, artist and manager split. From the outside it seems like success unfortunately spoiled this once-close and inspired relationship. “Rough Trade were completely kind to me, and I’ll always stand by that,” Duffy says, slightly shielding the intricacies of what actually happened. “They were important role models and figureheads for me, but it would be too idyllic for me to assume that I could always have those people around, or that I could drag them along on my journey... You really have to travel this road alone.”

These days, Duffy is managed internationally

by Angela Becker, Madonna’s ex-manager, and now also wife of super-producer Stuart Price. In a way, it says a lot about how much has changed for Duffy in the last couple of years. No longer an indie-related artist, Duffy is a certified global star. “Good management is what I have to have - otherwise, what is it?

Just me an Albert sitting in a room, drinking tea and writing songs… You have to get others to bring you out of yourself and push you forward.”

What: Endlessly is out now through Universal

Papa vs Pretty We Three Kings By Jonno Seidler

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o here’s how a typical meet-up goes with the boys behind the uber-dynamic and far-too-good-for-their-age-and-it’smaking-the-rest-of-us-look-bad Sydney trio, Papa Vs Pretty. Lead singer Tom Rawle breaks his phone, and can’t get anywhere until bassist Angus Gardiner picks him up to bring him over - at which point he realises he forgot to bring his guitar to play some new songs. In the meantime, drummer Tom Myers (henceforth to be labelled ‘Myers,’ to avoid what has already become confusing) not only doesn’t answer his phone, which he’s lost, but has his girlfriend call to tell the other two that he’s on Clovelly Beach, seemingly oblivious that he’s due for an interview, well, now.

Angus, who I’ve since termed ‘the sensible one’, apologises for their tardiness, but reveals that Papa vs Pretty’s heads are justifiably all over the place. Coming off the back of one prestigious support slot with The Holidays, and about to fly straight into another with Birds Of Tokyo, as well as playing two blistering headline shows last week, you’d think it might be high time for the whole band to chill out for a minute and get in the water...

But then, you don’t know Papa vs Pretty.

“We’ve got seven songs done for the new album,” Angus tells me. “Eight by the end of today!”

The great thing about this band is that they’re always excited. When he’s not talking about harmonies or chord progressions, Rawle uses onomatopoeia to describe every song (“’King’ is the one we close with every time we play live. It’s the one that goes ‘durgh dugh dur-dur-dur’”) - and when he’s not doing that, he’s looking at the wall of the room, asking questions about every picture he finds.

This natural creativity and inquisitiveness is part of what drives Papa Vs Pretty, only recently high school graduates, to create such mind-bogglingly complex rock songs; they just want to get everything in. “We want to make an album with ten really fucking solid tracks,” Rawle explains. “No filler. I feel like people couldn’t really gauge our direction before [with previous EPs], but now they should have a very good idea of what we’re about.”

People who don’t have a good idea of what the band is about include The Dwarf reviewer who recently labelled them ‘cock-rock’ before making it apparent that he hadn’t even been at the show, and everyone else who alternately label the band ‘emotional’, ‘disparate’ and various other ambigious words that don’t really mean anything at all… For three young guys who can all sing in tune and play their instruments phenomenally well, being pinned down isn’t all that much fun. That’s why Tom’s relegated his keyboard to the corner for now to concentrate on guitar, just in case people

get confused “about me being emotionally troubled! There’s a massive difference between being angry and sad.”

In addition to playing fast, Papa Vs Pretty write fast. Their Heavy Harm EP only dropped a few months ago and the album, which is making everyone at their record label super excited (not least EMI Chairman Mark Poston, who called them “the most exciting young band in the country”), will be out in the first half of next year. The band have also been added to the local Big Day Out line-up - those comparisons to Silverchair in their youth are starting to

look more and more realistic. “Before we were covering so much ground,” says Angus, “but now we’ve sort of funnelled all our ideas into this one direction, which is great.” So now all they have to do is get some new phones...

What: Heavy Harm EP is out now, through EMI With: Hot Hot Heat Where: The Factory Theatre When: Thursday January 6 More: Peats Ridge Festival, December 29 – January 1 @ Glenworth Valley

“If you don’t eat pigs and we don’t eat pigs, why not not eat pigs together?” – TIM MINCHIN 32 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

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SUMMER 10/11

December 09 10 11 12

Th Fr Sa Su

9 December 20 March

14 15 16 17 18 19

Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

Centennial Park Tickets at the gate or moonlight.com.au Gates open at 7pm, screenings start at sundown, approx. 8.30pm in Dec and Jan, 8.15pm in Feb, 8.00pm in March.

Tamara Drewe* M The Expendables MA15+ Salt M The Ghost Writer MA15+ Some Like it Hot PG

Love and Other Drugs MA15+ The Other Guys M Toy Story 3 G Paranormal Activity 2* M The Killer Inside Me MA15+

21 Tu The Kids Are All Right MA15+ 22 We Tomorrow When the War Began* M 23 Th Machete MA15+

24 Fr CLOSED 25 Sa CLOSED 26 Su Due Date MA15+ 28 Tu The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo MA15+ 29 We Life as We Know It M 30 Th Inception M

31 Fr CLOSED

January 01 Sa Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Pt 1 M 02 Su Eat Pray Love M

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04 Tu Wall Street: Money

07 Fr 08 Sa 09 Su

Never Sleeps M Dinner for Schmucks* M The Rocky Horror Picture Show M Wild Target M Unstoppable M Breakfast at Tiffany’s* PG

11 12 13 14 15 16

Red M Jackass 3D* MA15+ The Last Airbender 3D* PG Diary of a Wimpy Kid PG The Town MA15+ Despicable Me 3D* PG

05 We 06 Th

Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

18 Tu Legend of the Guardians:

February

March

01 02 03 04 05 06

Donnie Darko M Skyline M Top Gun* PG Little Fockers* CTC Little Fockers* CTC Zoolander M

01 02 03 04 05 06

Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

Pulp Fiction R The Commitments M The Godfather* R Somewhere M The Dilemma CTC How Do You Know CTC

08 Tu Gainsbourg M 09 We Monsters CTC 10 Th The Rocky Horror

08 09 10 11 12 13

Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

Blue Valentine CTC The Social Network M The Fighter CTC Hereafter M The Next Three Days M The Green Hornet 3D CTC

15 16 17 18 19 20

Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

Burlesque M Black Swan CTC Sanctum 3D* CTC The Warrior’s Way CTC True Grit* CTC

*

No free list Check the Classification Preview screening Doggie Night Special Valentine’s Day Screening Early screening time

Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

Picture Show M Gulliver’s Travels 3D CTC

11 Fr 12 Sa CLOSED 13 Su The Tourist CTC

The Owls of Ga’Hoole 3D PG The Girl Who Played with Fire MA15+ Grease Sing-along* PG Megamind 3D* PG The Social Network M The Social Network M

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off* PG Tron: Legacy 3D PG Red Hill MA15+ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 3D PG 29 Sa The American* MA15+ 30 Su Fair Game M

22 23 24 25 26 27

Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

19 We 20 21 22 23

Th Fr Sa Su

25 26 27 28

Tu We Th Fr

Heartbreaker* M

CLOSED Inception M The Last Exorcism MA15+ Tangled 3D PG Love and Other Drugs MA15+ Love and Other Drugs MA15+ Breakfast at Tiffany’s* PG Enter the Dragon MA15+ Unstoppable M The King’s Speech* M Morning Glory* M

CTC

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest CTC

CLOSED

28 Mo Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Film CTC

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arts frontline

free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com

arts, theatre and film news... what's goin' on around town and more...

brushstrokes WITH FLICKERFEST MANAGING DIRECTOR BRONWYN

from the bunch. We continue to show five Australian programmes - which demonstrates just how rich the local industry is year after year. And then the Documentary programme returns too, which is traditionally a very strong programme of shorts.

S

ince Bronwyn came on board in 1997, Flickerfest Short Film Festival has grown from 200 entries to almost 1800, is Australia’s only Academy®-accredited and BAFTA-recognised festival, goes on a 23-venue national tour each year, distributes Australian short films around the world, and has its own TV show: FlickerfestonEXTRA…

What makes a good short? And what turns you off?

I’m looking for something that is original, innovative and looks at a human experience in a different way. The film must have insights into the world and those insights cannot be clichéd. Cliché is what makes me turn off – I do not enjoy watching something you’ve seen before or that is derivative of another story. I am looking for the space where all the elements of cinema come together, from the acting, the production, the sound; and I look for stories that are not predictable, that will keep you engaged. Watching the films is a long, involved task, but ultimately a very satisfying one.

Over its 20 years, the festival has developed an outstanding international profile, enabling it to attract the cream of cinema from around the world; it’s also showcased the works of directors like David Michôd (Animal Kingdom), Warwick Thornton (Samson and Delilah), Rachel Ward (Beautiful Kate), Cate Shortland (Somersault), Adam Elliot (Mary & Max) and Patrick Hughes (Red Hill). The next big things of cinema always pass through Flickerfest…

What is your background/training?

My background is in filmmaking and I have a postgraduate degree in communications from UTS. Prior to and whilst running Flickerfest I have also produced and directed documentaries mainly on human rights and indigenous issues.

What is new in terms of strands and themes for Flickerfest this year?

We’ve got the GreenFlicks programme, which are shorts that tackle environmental and sustainable themes from around the world.

Then we’ve introduced FlickerUp, which is our school shorts program, open to primary and highschool filmmakers from Australia it’s been incredible seeing the new talent we

have in our youth. We also have a Spotlight On Poland this year in association with the Krakow Film Festival, so we are bringing out their festival director Krzysztof Geirat to showcase the rich and varied filmmakers from a country with a long and brilliant cinema tradition. Then, we’ve got a Comedy night and also a Star Wars tribute night – both must-see showcases!

And what popular strands are returning?

We received over 1790 films this year from around the world, so of course our International Programme will return; that showcases the very best from a hugely diverse range of countries, hand-picked

PAPER TRAIL X PLUMP

Paper Trail features works by 20 local artists, who have gone off the beaten track to create a series of papery delights that range from sculpture and animation to installation, wearable art - and everything in between. featured artists include curator Tasman Munro, Tamryn Bennett, Fiona Curran, Kael Murray, Jess Pickford, Roni Judge, Tamara Elkins, Benja Harney, Willurei Kirkbright, and Jessica Page. We're hearting Dara ‘BRAG Graphic Designer’ Gill’s Self-Help Pulping installation, in which classic titles such as Lighten Up! and Living Fear Free have been denuded, and the insides pulped, cubed and displayed on a shelf below the cover. Voila! Never has self-help literature looked so attractive. Paper Trail opens Fri Dec 10 from 7.30pm, with live music by Hobo Bordeaux and JNR Trio.

Plump Gallery, 240 Enmore Rd.

BEN BROWN IS IMMORTAL

Tim Minchin

TIM MINCHIN VS SSO: #4 A fourth, epic, show has just gone on sale for Tim Minchin Vs The Sydney Symphony. More rock than Metallica, more Australian than the Hilltop Hoods, and at least four times funnier than both combined: the hairy musical cavalcade of vitriol and verbosity that is Tim Minchin is also the latest act to be given the Symphony treatment.

The barefoot comedy-rock god will regale audiences with his uniquely hilarious tunes – possibly including the epic ‘Canvas Bags’, ‘If You Really Loved Me’ and ‘If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out (Take My Wife)’ – accompanied by the Sydney Symphony, at the Opera House. What could be more rock than that? It runs March 24-27, and tickets for the final show go on sale Monday December 6 at 9am, starting from just $49(+bf). sydneyoperahouse.com

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KIDD

Sydney-based illustrator/designer Ben Brown opens his latest exhibition this week.

Immortal continues the themes of his previous solo show, Kill your Idols - which combined celebrity, junk culture, zombies and skulls in a graphically charged visual extravaganza. Both shows reflect Brown’s background designing posters and cover art for Silverchair, Nirvana, Fat Boy Slim and Frenzal Rhomb (among others) as well as brands like Homebake, Vibes on a Summers Day, the Big Day Out, The Falls Festival, and Good Vibes… Immortal will feature limited edition prints, plus original works in ink and paint. Opens Friday December 10 from 6pm at the National Grid Gallery (24 Chard Rd Brookvale) – with a live performance by rock‘n’roll demons Hong Kong. thenationalgrid.com.au

PIER 2/3 = YOUR NEW HOME Arts NSW are calling for submissions from not-for-profit arts organizations who want to use Pier 2/3 in Walsh Bay for arts, cultural and creative purposes. WHAT!?! Get on that shit, right this second. You’d be in the same hood as Cate, Andrew, Fratelli Fresh, Sydney Dance Company, ATYP… Not to mention Harbour views, and a sea breeze to air out the musty, cobwebbed corners of your creative control centre. Pier 2/3 sits squarely within Clover’s ‘Cultural Ribbon’ - touted as “a vibrant cultural precinct that extends from the Opera House, to the performance centre of Wharf 4/5 and links to the new development at Barangaroo”. Somewhere you want to be, yes? Information can be downloaded from arts.nsw.gov.au, and registrations of interest close with Arts NSW on 28 January 2011.

Flickerfest celebrates 20 years this January – what makes it so special?

We’re really proud of our ability to curate films that go on to achieve great successes all over the world. Most recently, The Six Dollar Fifty Man was recognised with the top award at Flickerfest 2010 which qualified it for the Oscar pool, and we leant that is has now gone on to be shortlisted for an Academy Award!

What: Flickerfest Programme Launch When: Tuesday December 7 More: Flickerfest runs January 7-16, 2011 Program/tickets: flickerfest.com.au

MOONLIGHT CINEMA

Moonlight Cinema launches this week, bringing with it a summer of outdoor cinematical soirees in Centennial Park.

Sigh. This year they’re even doing 3D films – in case 2D isn’t tuf enuf for you anymore.

We’re looking forward to a season of new, classic and cult films on the lawns of the picturesque Belvedere Amphitheatre. The season kicks off this Thursday December 9 and runs until March 20; our picks so far are Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (Marilyn, honey) on December 14, The Rocky Horror Picture Show on January 6, and Ferris Bueller on January 25. (YES, WE’RE SENTIMENTALISTS.) Gates open at 7pm every night, and the films kick off around 8.30pm, as the sun goes down.

Thanks to Moonlight Cinema, we have 20 double passes up for grabs, which can be redeemed online for two tickets to a film of your choice from Moonlight’s Summer season… To get your hot little hands on one, email us with your postal address, and the name of the film playing this Saturday night! www.moonlight.com.au

VISUAL RESPONSE

Australian INfront are having a party this Thursday, to celebrate – and display – the top twenty works from the fourth instalment of their Visual Response competition. Basically, the project sets designers a challenge: a one-word brief to create an original artwork, and the chance to win prizes. The theme for this latest instalment of the competition was ‘Future’ – and the impressive line-up of artists who got involved includes James Jirat Patradoon, MASH Studio, Mark Gowing, TOKO, Rhett Wade, Debaser and Synapse – so you’re looking at a pretty ace show. Head along to Roller Gallery (6 Lacey Street, Surry Hills) on Thursday December 9 from 6pm. australianinfront.com.au/involved

SPARKAPOLOOZA

Speaking of creative juices: much in the style of Australian INfront’s Visual Response comps comes a new initiative called Sparkapolooza, started by two ladies in the creative industries who were feeling a bit bored by the humdrum day-to-day drone of boring briefs. They started Sparkapolooza to give budding young creatives and designers like themselves the chance to get inspired on a regular basis – and with the motivation of a brief and a deadline. There’s a new brief put up on their site every week, with a two-week deadline attached. The briefs are open to any type of creative response – graphic, written, photography, baked – and the deadline is long enough to avoid panic attacks, but short enough to provoke ACTION! All the rest at sparkapolooza.blogspot.com

WOODY'S VIRGIN SPRING

While you’re waiting breathlessly for Blue Valentine, The King’s Speech, and the latest flicks from Sofia Coppola and Todd Solondz, you can (and should) head along to the Chauvel in Paddo, where they’re currently screening choice cuts from two very different directors. Firstly, there’s a retrospective of every single Woody Allen film. Husbands and Wives we can do without (thanks, parents, for making us sit through that aged 12; totally never getting married) but Bananas, Sleeper, Zelig… these are all harder-to-locate (in Blockbuster anyway) gems from the Woody canon. Veering leftwards, and across the world, you can take a tour through Ingmar Bergman’s oeuvre – we highly recommend ‘original horror’ flick The Virgin Spring (remade as The Last House on the Left) which plays Monday December 6 at 6.30pm as part of the Cinematheque program. As always, we urge you to support boutique cinemas and cinematheque programs alike.

AWAY FROM HERE

There must be something in the air, because not only do we have CURVY 7 launching this week, but we have this whimsical, super-femme show from four of the East Coast’s bestknown artists: Deb, whose busty beauties, all curves and cat-eyes, can be found slinking, all sultry, along the walls of Sydney and Melbourne; Brisbane-based illustrator Elana Mullaly; LO-FI resident and illustrator Mia Taninaka; and perennial sweetie Kareena Zerefos (work pictured). It’s called Away From Here, and we’re guessing it comes with a large dose of the fantastical, the whimsical and the creaturesque. Opens December 10 at LO-FI (383 Bourke St, Taylor Square). Wearelofi.com.au/collective

DO DUNGOG (FILM FEST)

OKAY, we admit it: we were a bit sceptical when Dungog Film Festival started. But three years (and many volunteering friends) later, it's hard not to be intensely curious about this new mecca for Australian film.

Anyway, Jane Campion describes it as "an inspired venture" and "a brilliant way for the film community and audiences to connect and enjoy Australian films." If it's good enough for Jane, it's good enough for us - and you, and your mum. If you fancy yourself the next Jane, then think about submitting your work to the festival - be it features, docos, shorts, television pilots, music videos, animation...

Entries are open now, and the deadline is March 21. Dungog Film Festival runs May 26-29. www.dungogfilmfestival.org

TRON: LEGACY

Words by Caitlin Welsh & Hugh Robertson

TRON TRIVIA

Pixar chief John Lasseter cites TRON as the film that opened his mind to the possibility of computer animation.

TRON: Legacy was written by Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz of Lost fame.

The 3D technology in TRON: Legacy was developed post-Avatar, and represents the most advanced in the world today.

This is the first 3D movie to integrate a fully digital head and body upon an existing actor.

To create a younger version of Jeff Bridges’ character, Kevin Flynn, the filmmakers used advanced Emotion Capture technology – making Bridges the first actor in cinematic history to play opposite a younger version of himself.

Michael Sheen cites Mae West and Ziggy Stardust as his inspirations for the role of flamboyant nightclub owner Castor.

Garrett Hedlund is Sam Flynn in TRON: Legacy

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huge part of the appeal of remaking a film like TRON is that the world it imagined in 1982 has changed on a scale that was unimaginable 30 years ago. Watching the original film now is a revealing (and often, unintentionally hilarious) journey that shows how much reverence and suspicion was afforded the huge, mysterious world of computers. Foreshadowing the overblown analogies that accompanied the arrival of the Internet (“information superhighway”, anyone?), computers were depicted as portals into an alien, hyperfunctional world where deletion (or “derezzing”) is murder, Pong is a blood sport and Users (i.e. us) are deities. The anthropomorphised Programs that populate this world are either docile, dedicated servants of our functions in the real world, or become evil rogue elements that combine a mechanical inhumanity with superhuman intelligence. In other words, TRON speaks volumes about the terrifying and thrilling possibilities computers were showing to the world at the beginning of the 80s.

So now that the phone in your pocket can recognise your voice, track your location and scan barcodes, this world is all too ripe for a revisit. While most remake and sequel rumours relating to nostalgic 70s and 80s favourites spark cynical cries of money-grubbing, fans have been all too eager to see what 21st Century SFX technology can bring to the world of TRON. It's not just technology, but also attitudes, that have shifted hugely in the past three decades. While nowadays effects-fests like Avatar can pick up Best Picture nominations without a single nod for writing or acting, TRON was declared by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences to be ineligible even for a visual effects award - because using computers was, essentially, cheating.

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TRON: Legacy, which opens next week, picks up in the present day. Flynn, the brilliant programmer who became the first human to enter the digital

world in the original film, has been missing for over twenty years. His friend Alan Bradley has been like a father to Flynn’s son Sam, but when Alan receives a page from the office in Flynn’s abandoned video arcade, Sam ends up sucked into the digital world like his father before him.

Far from the spare, flat landscape of the original film, the computer world now holds The Grid: a richly-textured digital utopia built by Flynn, who has been trapped there since 1989.

Wisely, the Legacy team has assembled a brilliant combination of the best bits of the

MEET THE DIRECTOR If there is such a thing as a ‘traditional’ education for directors, Joseph Kosinski didn't have it. Long before he took the helm of TRON: Legacy, Kosinski attained a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford, followed by a Masters in Architecture from Columbia. Since then he has cut his directorial teeth on commercials and video games, most notably Halo. It might not seem like the sort of thing that Scorsese or Jarmusch would do, but bear in mind the tremendous aesthetic vision necessary to create an entire world that exists in 3D and is fully explorable. (Also, Godard made music videos – so shut up.)

If you’re thinking that the universe of TRON is a tricky one to give to a relatively untested director, Kosinski is right there with you. “Steve Lisbeger [the director of the original film] had a unique vision”, he enthuses, “and he had amazing collaborators...they basically made a movie look digital using handcrafted methods, which is just mind-boggling”.

It turns out that Kosinski’s own vision was just as complicated. “I wasn’t interested in an ‘Internet’ movie,” he begins. “I liked the idea that this world had sat on Flynn’s server

original (lightcycles, vicious battle games, gorgeous landscapes, the gloriously hirsute Jeff Bridges) and new additions (3D, parkour, Daft Punk, young CG Jeff Bridges). But while many elements of TRON turn up, amplified and more epic, in Legacy, director Joseph Kosinski says it works as a stand-alone film.

“I told the studio that this movie was going to be a father-son story. And that’s really what the heart of TRON: Legacy is. It’s the story of a son in search of his father. It’s about finding your father so you can find your way home.” CW undisturbed for 20 years, cycling away and evolving. And over that 20 years the simulation had become much more visceral and real, like our world. I was interested in bringing in that atmosphere and that sense of the material - basically making it feel like we went into the world of TRON and shot it with a motion picture camera.”

French electronica duo Daft Punk are responsible for the epic, doomsday-machine score, performed by an 85-piece orchestra.

They also have a brief cameo in the film.

Parker Brothers Choppers has created a street-legal lightcycle modelled on the Legacy design – it’s yours for only US$55,000. If that’s a bit steep for your budget, there’s an official iPhone game, where you can torment your own tiny programs in vicious battle games for your own amusement.

The producers consulted the US National Academy of Sciences to ensure that all the technology & scientific concepts in the film were supported by scientific theory - even if the means to achieve them don’t actually exist yet.

Jeff Bridges returns, more zen.

This posed its own challenges. “Because the grid was created by Kevin Flynn”, the director explains, “this world has to feel as if every detail was done by one person. So it was a challenge, a master design problem, to create an entire world that felt like it had come from the hand of one designer. Vehicles, architecture, landscapes, props, furniture — from the prospective of a designer, it was a dream come true to assemble a team composed of artists I considered the best in every field, and to bring them together in one amazing art department. It was fascinating to watch... They really operated like one big brain”.

Yet for all the CGI, bizarre death sports, and the awkward biology of romance between man and machine, Kosinski is quick to point out that, at its core, TRON: Legacy is ultimately “a story about finding human connection in a digitial world”. HR

What: TRON: Legacy – an IMAX 3D Experience When: Opens December 16 Where: IMAX Darling Harbour / imax.com.au

ZZ TOP GIVEAWAY

ZZ Top have been together for more than 40 years and have sold more than 20 million records worldwide - that’s one album for each Australian over a timespan longer than most marriages.

Now, for the first time in ten years, the beardiest band in the world (incidentally the bandmember with the least facial hair actually has the surname ‘Beard’ which in itself contains enough irony to implode the earth) will be heading down-under towards the end of April to play a smattering of their hits.

Because we like ZZ Top, beards, and YOU, we have three double passes to give away to their April 27 show at the Enmore Theatre.

To get your hands on one, email freestuff@ thebrag.com with the name of their most recent album, released in 2003.

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Sydney Dance Co. [DANCE] Conquering Sydney, one audience at a time. By Dee Jefferson

Megamind [FILM] DreamWorks spoofs the superhero film with Megamind. By Martyn Palmer

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reamWorks Animation have a proud history of turning genres upside down, creating sharp satires like Shrek and Kung Fu Panda that appeal to all ages by working on different levels. Their latest opus is no exception, doing to the superhero film what Shrek did to Disney’s fairytales.

Will Ferrell gets into the Megamind spirit at ComicCon; Brad looks on...

The story, says director Tom McGrath (Madagascar), is an affectionate tribute to the superhero genre – with plenty of twists.

In fact, Megamind delights in turning the whole comic book world upside down. At the centre of the story is the charmingly inept arch-villain Megamind, whose ongoing battle with dashing superhero Metro Man suddenly comes to an end when one of his nefarious plots unexpectedly succeeds. Left in charge of Metro City, Megamind gradually realises he may have missed his true calling.

I

t’s a cold, wet and blustery morning down at the Wharf, but the café-foyer of Sydney Dance Company is warm and thrumming: casual business meetings on leather lounges; caffeinated conversations between actors from the Sydney Theatre Company’s ‘Residents’ troupe; the comings-and-goings of dancers signing in for dance classes, killing time before rehearsals… Ushered upstairs and into the office of Rafael Bonachela, I find myself in a quiet enclave, however; a long but narrow office overlooking the choppy water between the piers, and dominated on one side by a giant ‘inspiration wall’. “Right now it’s okay, but when I begin rehearsals, it will get crazy,” says Bonachela, motioning towards his chalk ponderings.

Bonachela has just finished his second year as Sydney Dance Company’s Artistic Director, and is in preparations for his recently-announced 2011 program. The first season will feature two world premieres: his own LANDforms, and a new work by guest choreographer Jacopo Godani. The second half of the year will feature a remount of Bonachela’s critically acclaimed work The Land Of Yes and the Land of No – giving audiences a chance to understand the hype around the 37-year-old dancer-turnedchoreographer.

With 12 years dancing for London’s Rambert Dance Company, and citing Merce Cunningham and Wayne McGregor (of Random Dance) as choreographic influences, Bonachela belongs to the international avant garde. Next year’s seasons are the first that he has programmed since actually living in Sydney, and getting to know its cultural landscape. “Sydney likes a ‘Show’,” says Bonachela grinning. “If there isn’t glitter, it’s not a show.” He wryly observes that we also like costumes, and a ‘story’ with

our dance – all things that put us a couple of steps behind his own tastes, which tend toward ‘pure movement’. He says he sensed a little audience apprehension about Emmanual Gat’s ‘Satisfying Musical Moments’, performed as part of the recent New Creations 2 season. “It was like, ‘Where are the costumes?’” he smiles.

Sydney is adjusting quickly, however, seduced by the quality of work at SDC, and increasingly exposed to contemporary dance through shows like So You Think You Can Dance (which SDC has featured on twice now) and the Sydney Opera House’s annual Spring Dance festival, which had it’s second season in September – “only the second ever dance festival in Sydney,” Bonachela says incredulously.

Bonachela does not take an interest in dance for granted, however; for the last two years he has been doing the hard yards around Sydney’s cultural scene to cultivate new audiences, speaking at events as disparate as Creative Sydney and corporate lunches, running workshops in Western Sydney, and attending school matinee performances of New Creations 2 to field questions from curious students. He remains optimistic, and cites many examples where first-time audience members have been ‘converted’ after seeing just one SDC show.

He also acknowledges with a cheeky grin that if you still hate contemporary dance after five shows, he’ll let you go…

What: Sydney Dance Company 2011 When: March 30 – April 16 / October 19 - 29 Where: Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay More: SDC perform FREE as part of Sydney Festival's Festival Inside Out at Parramatta Park on January 21 and Sydney International Regatta Centre (Penrith) on January 23.

One of the best aspects of Megamind is the way it plays with and subverts film conventions. "The villain becomes a villain through circumstance, not that he doesn’t have a great soul," says McGrath. "[Metro Man] is also kind of more of a façade of a hero, and the reporter turns out to be very strong and actually doesn’t need anyone to rescue her – she’s probably the strongest character in the movie.”

McGrath cast the film with comedians, with the aim of building the script through workshopping, rather than a decade-long development process. “[T]hat’s what’s great about animations; even down the road you can always keep going back in and improving stuff. You are not trapped by the footage you shoot, like on a 90-day live action set."

One unexpected recording studio alteration occurred when Ferrell experimented with the character of Space Dad, coming up with a Marlon Brando riff that mirrored the late actor’s turn as Superman’s father, Jor-El, opposite Christopher Reeve back in 1978.

“We were laughing so hard when we were recording it that I decided I wanted to put that in the movie. So we went back and re-designed the character and added more

scenes with Space Dad so we could play around with that character.”

With the team shooting and developing the script simultaneously, they relied on what Will, Tina and Brad could bring to the seemingly sterile recording room. While most actors record alone, the unconventional relationship between Will and Tina’s characters meant recording was a little different. “[We] took out the glass [separating the recording booths] and just let them play off each other,” the director explains. Improvisation, dialogue changes and genuine chemistry ensued.

McGrath’s own recording experience (he lent his voice to a host of characters in Madagascar, Shrek The Third and Flushed Away) led him to give his stars free reign when it came to finding their characters. “With Brad we decided to try [recording] with a hand held mic. [Pitt] grabbed that and started walking around the whole studio, doing his lines, and he really got into it because you can be physical in that way.” As a result the character has a distinct Elvis edge that’s contrasted rather amusingly by Megamind’s Alice Cooper-ness.

Although Megamind is McGrath’s first solo directing job, his knowledge, experience and passion for the animation genre suggests it won't be his last.

What: Megamind, Dir Tom McGrath When: Opens December 9

Punk Monk Propaganda [FILM/ART] From the gutter to Glenworth Valley. Words by Dee Jefferson / Photo by Isabella Moore theme-based challenges). They connected over a mutual interest in operating on a dead pig. “We kind of found love,” Vic laughs.

The resulting short, When Sally Met Frank, premiered at Possible Worlds (Canadian) Film Festival, and won a handful of awards at horror and experimental film festivals overseas.

“It gave us all our confidence, probably,” Kate speculates. The two subsequently worked on a feature film, where they met Clare, who was a production assistant; the three quickly bonded over late night film-shoot delirium.

T

o unravel the meaning of ‘Punk Monk Propaganda’, we go back to their physical roots, a site of gutter beers, plump cats and permaculture: The Corner Shop. It’s part studio, part home, and it’s where you are most likely to find the Punk Monks on any given day of the week. Huddled together on a couch, bathed in a slick of blue and yellow ‘liquid light’, are Victoria Waghorn, Kate Taylor, Clare Devlin-Mahoney and Alex Papasavvas.

As a collective, they’ve been shopping their wares around Sydney’s film and arts scenes for the past couple of years, popping up at Kino Sydney meets, Sydney Underground Film

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Festival, the monthly Wormwood psychedelia nights at UTS, and Kluster’s recent ‘State of the Art’ event. They also curate a semi-regular ‘interactive arts’ night, called Algae Rhythm.

There’s as many competing voices on the couch as there are ‘origin stories’ for this group. Punk Monk Propaganda was born in 2005 as a solo project, just as Victoria ('Vic') entered film school; but it’s fair to say that ‘It All Began When’ Vic met Kate in Hyde Park in 2007, during the second Sydney installment of Kino Cabaret (a global, no-budget filmmaking movement that sets participants time- and

“I had this concept of almost a Warholian Factory,” Vic recalls, “which would maybe bind lots of interested and talented artists, musicians, whatever; it just grew organically, where everyone wanted to take it. We started running an arts event called Algae Rhythm, and that kind of allowed us all to flourish as curators – and it was kind of where Kate and Alex came up with [Liquid Light].”

Liquid Light is just one of the things that Punk Monk Propaganda are bringing to the Peats Ridge Sustainable Arts & Music Festival this year. Simply put (and in its most basic form) liquid light is a technique where light is projected through liquid (commonly a mixture of oil, water and food dye). It was pioneered in the 60s, arising out of the psychedelic music scene in San Francisco – and made famous by bands such as The Grateful Dead, who incorporated it into their live performances.

The Punks will be bringing their liquid light shows to the festival's geodesic dome (aka 'The Land of Hopeless Utopians'), giving them more screen-surfaces (and technical challenges) than usual. It’s a perfect fit for Peats Ridge, providing a sensory indulgence that is also responsive to the environment, and allows for playful interaction with festivalgoers.

“Because it is so accessible, there’s often people around you who want to get involved; we like giving them [that experience],” says Kate – but quickly clarifies, “Most of them!” And Clare giggles, “At the beginning of the night!”

In addition to Liquid Light, the Punks are bringing a fusion of video footage, lights and live music called ‘Psychic States’, and a live short-filmmaking experiment called ‘15 MB of Fame’, which will be edited onsite from mobile phone footage submitted by festivalgoers, with the resulting short film to be screened on NYE. With a touch of anarchy, zen focus and their powers of persuasion, they'll pull it off.

What: Liquid Light / Psychic States / 15 MB of Fame When: December 29 – January 1 Where: Peats Ridge Sustainable Arts & Music Festival, Glenworth Valley, NSW More: facebook.com/punkmonkpropaganda / peatsridgefestival.com.au

Sydney Dance Company photo by Angelo Sgambati

Rafael Bonachela

A team of over 600 animators, creatives and editors worked with McGrath to bring the story to life, harnessing the comedic talents of Will Ferrell (voicing Megamind), Brad Pitt (Metro Man), Tina Fey (smart-and-sexy reporter Roxanne Ritchi, the key love interest) and Jonah Hill. “Will was the obvious choice to play Megamind, because the ambition was to be an action comedy and to take the genre and turn it on its ear,” McGrath explains. “[We wanted] to specifically tell the story from the villain’s point of view. We wanted to know his origins, how he became a villain and the whole nature versus nurture thing; you know, ask the question, do we have a choice with our destiny?

Come work with us!

The Brag is seeking a new Advertising Sales Junior to add to our energetic and youthful team!

A fantastic opportunity exists for the right person to join one of Australia’s leading music titles.

car allowance adds to a great package with all the usual benefits.

A knowledge of and passion for of all things Sydney bars, clubs, pubs, music, entertainment is essential.

Applicants with sales experience and/ or existing contact base who can hit the ground running are preferred.

Plus, you get to work in a cool, inner city location with one of Australia’s foremost youth marketing companies and publishing teams.

A retainer and generous incentives are offered, commensurate with experience. A mobile phone and

This is an excellent opportunity for the right, self motivated and hard working person to break into the music industry!

Got what it takes?

Email resume and cover letter to robfurst@beat.com.au The Brag is part of Peer Group, Australia’s foremost youth marketing company and Furst Media, Australia’s biggest streetpress company

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Arts Snap

Film & Theatre Reviews

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

Mish Grigor, Natalie Rose & Zoe Coombs Marr in A Distressing Scenario

■ Film

DEVIL

anthony lister

PICS :: TL

Released December 2

25:11:10 :: Chalkhorse Gallery :: 94 Cooper St Surry Hills 96998999

When the trailer for Devil played in theatres earlier in the year, audiences seemed onboard with what promised to be a modest but effective chiller. That was, at least, until the words “from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan” flashed on screen, at which point enthusiasm was quickly replaced by snickers and outright laughter. After having made his name with The Sixth Sense and the underrated Unbreakable in the late 90s, his directorial projects (most recently, The Happening and The Last Airbender) have yielded diminishing artistic returns, to the point where using his name as a marketing tool seems counterproductive.

planetarium

PICS :: TL

Devil largely avoids the pitfalls of his recent directorial efforts, arguably because Shyamalan only receives a story and producing credit. It’s the first of his “Night Chronicles” series of films, a trilogy of macabre tales of the supernatural (think The Twilight Zone, only more grim). The premise is simple: five people are trapped in a high-rise elevator with what may be the Devil incarnate. How the police, lead by the quite competent Detective Bowden (Chris Messina), arrive at that theory is largely due to the simplistic ramblings of Ramirez (Jacob Vargas), a security guard with an overdeveloped sense of exposition.

Screenwriter Brian Nelson feeds him speeches about the devil roaming the Earth and a slice of toast falling face down on the floor, apparently, is a sign of his impending arrival. We’re meant to laugh at some of this, we assume – the other characters certainly do – but we (and they) quickly become believers when the electricity supply wavers, and people start getting killed.

26:11:10 :: LO-FI Collective :: L3, 383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 93113100

Arts Exposed

Despite a hokey concept and simplistic theology, Devil is a genuinely effective suspense thriller that riffs on Hitchcock and Agatha Christie. Much of the credit must go to director John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine), who exploits darkness to great effect and seems more adept with actors than his more famous over-producer. Australian Bojana Novakovic, in particular, is believable as one of the unfortunate trapees, and is blessed with one of the most bloodcurdling screams this side of Fay Wray.

Joshua Blackman

What's on our calendar...

CURVY 7 & MUSCLE UP LAUNCH

■ Theatre

LO-FI Collective / The Galeries / December 8 / 7.30-10.30pm & December 9 / 6-8pm

Until December 19 / Belvoir Downstairs

Our favourite annual compendium of art by ladies is launching its 7th edition this week, with a staggering line-up of work by 80 amazing gals from around the world, curated by French street artist Fafi and Colette creator Sarah Lerfel.

The big news, however, is that CURVY now has a male counterpart: MUSCLE UP – featuring 40 creative fellas from around the world, and curated by Jeremyville.

MUSCLE UP and CURVY 7 launch this Wednesday December 8 at LO-FI Collective (above Kinselas) from 7.30pm – and to celebrate this epic, artistic battle of the sexes, CURVY will host a series of live art battles for three consecutive Thursday nights in December, pitting two girls from CURVY against two male challengers in a series of live, head to head, one hour art battles. Kicking off this Thursday December 9 at The Galeries (500 George Street Sydney), Bridge Stehli and Melbourne’s graf queen Deb will rep the ladies, against male champs Houl and Mike Watt. thegaleries.com / wearelofi.com.au / www.curvy-world.com

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A DISTRESSING SCENARIO The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) is probably the most talked about event of the last few years, and yet virtually no one in the general public has any idea what actually happened. Economists have seemingly failed in this task, so to help us all out, post and version 1.0 have stepped in and the result is A Distressing Scenario, a double bill of one act plays that attempts to bring some nonexpert opinion to the fray.

First up is post, with Everything I know About the Global Financial Crisis In One Hour. Rather than do any research and try and explain what actually happened, the trio have instead created a show about what they think happened; and apparently it’s even more complicated than you think. Drawing

on pop culture and dubious facts, post have created a hilarious work that is absurd, yet at times rings eerily true. The work beautifully articulates the ridiculous way the GFC has been “explained” in the media, whilst also mirroring the kind of excess that caused the crisis in the first place. It is also one of the most entertaining shows I have seen this year, with the penultimate wine party an obvious highlight.

The second half is version 1.0’s The Market Is Not Functioning Properly, an ambitious work that attempts to both bring some light to the events of the GFC and translate the effects to an Australian context. Performed by Jane Phegan and Kym Vercoe, the shows draws heavily on speeches from Barack Obama, George Bush and Kevin Rudd, as well as opinions from friends and family of version 1.0. The show suffers from coming second on the bill, as after the ludicrous, frenetic energy of post, it is initially hard to settle into the low-lit space, accompanied by Paul Prestipino’s brooding sound design.

However, as is their way, version 1.0 win you over with their personal stories of debt and disaster and the show’s images, such as the pair sculling bottles of champagne, will stay in the memory for a long time.

Henry Florence ■ Cabaret

MY STORIES, YOUR EMAILS November 24 - December 4 / The Studio Ursula Martinez is a world-renowned performer who garnered international fame when her striptease/magic act Hanky Panky was videoed against her will and placed on the internet. As the fan mail began piling up, Martinez felt a distinct loss of control, with anyone in the world able to watch her strip naked at the click of a button. My Stories, Your Emails is in essence, her attempt to retain control of her work and her body.

The show, which in its short life has been performed in both comedy and theatre venues, is split into two halves, as per the title. For the first half, Martinez reads stories from her life out of a book, whilst for the second she reads e-mails from fans on a computer screen. At the beginning and end there is a bit of chitchat, but the work essentially rests on her incredibly funny (and at times horrifying) stories.

Martinez’ presence is spot-on, putting the audience at ease from the moment she steps on stage. The result is that it’s not long at all before it seems perfectly reasonable for her to tell you a story about how she once accidentally consumed cat poo, or read aloud an email from a man who wants to have “sexy internet times” with her.

The stories and emails range from the intimate to the grotesque; however, Martinez does a fantastic job of not judging the people who populate them, opting instead to give each an authentic voice – from strange childhood neighbours to eccentric family members and off-putting fans.

As Martinez confidently struts around the stage, building through the stories and emails to an exhilarating climax, it is truly a joy to watch this natural performer reclaim control.

Henry Florence

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

A Distressing Scenario photo by Heidrun Lohr

What's hot on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.

DVD Reviews What's been on our TV screens this week The Good, The Bad, and the Totally Unicorn.

CENTURION

Hopscotch Home Ent. Released December 2 Neil Marshall came from the horror genre, via Dog Soldiers (a b-grade goretastic werewolf film complete with sausageguts), and the more original Descent. This pedigree shows, in the bloodthirsty fight scenes that dominate Centurion - at the expense of character and plot.

A sort of poor-man’s Gladiator, Centurion is built around the ‘legend’ of the infamous Ninth Legion of the Roman Army, which disappeared ‘into the Scottish mist’, some time around 108/9 AD. Michael Fassbender (Hunger, Fishtank) plays Quintus, the son of a gladiator who earned his freedom in the arena, taught his son everything he knew, and made him what he is today – a soldier in the Roman army.

As the film opens, Quintus has been taken prisoner by the Picts, the savage warriors who inhabit what we now call Scotland. Rescued by the Ninth, he finds himself in the middle of a battle carnage that sees the demise of that legion, and the capture of its commander, General Virilus (yes, really), played by The Wire’s Dominic West. Taking charge of the group of survivors, Quintus leads a suicide mission to rescue the General.

INCEPTION

Warner Bros. Home Video Released December 8 If you haven’t seen Inception, then try your darndest to get to a big screen for your first time (the only options left now are probably Moonlight Cinema and St George Open Air) – and prepared to be floored.

Given of the scale of the film, and particularly its subject matter and premise, the more immersive your viewing environment, the more fully you will experience director Christopher Nolan’s vision. Whatever you do, DON’T make your first time on some shitty square-screen TV‌

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As far as I can see, Warner are releasing Inception only as a special four-disc pack that includes one Blu-ray disc of the film and another for the special features; plus a DVD of the film, and a ‘Digital Copy’ disc. The Blu-ray may look superb, but may also take some wrangling to get to the best special feature: Extraction Mode - like ‘commentary’ mode, but with extra functionality – and only at certain points during the film. Nolan’s brain is certainly one you want to climb into, so I kinda wish they’d just done a straightforward director’s commentary. Other perks include a doco on lucid dreaming, and an animated prologue that sets up the background for the first scenes.

Centurion is fairly plot-lite, the majority of the screen time taken up by ‘the pursuit’ of the Romans by the Picts, interspersed with gory skirmishes. Historical and political context are given fairly short shrift, despite the fact that Marshall was inspired by growing up in the region, and the stories told to him by his parents. On the other hand, Centurion has attitude and atmosphere to boot, with battles, blood, babes and blades - and most importantly, the richly atmospheric potential that the mistshrouded, epic landscape of ancient England affords.

There’s not much that hasn’t already been said about the film itself; however, I can’t relate to any discussions that see this film as purely an exercise in intellect or CGI. Its core is the emotional through-line, carried by an obsessive romantic who must fight through layers of guilt and regret to get home to his family. DiCaprio is perfectly tortured – and Hans Zimmer’s epic, haunting score (built around variations of Edith Piaf’s ‘Non, je ne regret rien’) doesn’t let you forget it.

Dee Jefferson

Dee Jefferson

Street Level With Anna John

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ou might recognise Anna from Sydney psych-noise trio Holy Balm; in addition to this, she does a mean line in fantastical architectural performance installation‌ Her latest show, titled Wind Now, takes in an intriguing mix of Ancient Greek culture, and popcultural paraphernalia from the 60s and 70s - including TV variety shows, the films of Chilean mystic Alejandro Jodorowsky, and a little-known 70s South Korean psych-popster called Kim Jung Mi‌ What is your artistic background/training?

I completed my BFA at COFA from 20032007, and completed my Honours last year at SCA. How do you music and art intersect?

I approach music and material (in the studio) in a similar way, which would be improvised and experimental - where time and process are the ruling forces, as opposed to going in with a preconceived idea or plan.

Can you describe Wind Now? It’s kind of a backyard blitz of scrap wood, plaster bandage and wire - making small works that reference Ancient Greek figurative sculpture, architecture and most importantly, drapery. The installation will look somewhat like an acropolis; by definition an acropolis was a place to retreat to when under attack.

The maquette size of most of the sculptures gives the sense of a miniature film set. So, the show is kind of like a set for a music video, whereby we might find out more about Kim Jung Mi. But here I have taken the liberty to make it up, seen through a filter of the bleached landscape of the Jodorowsky film El Topo. It’s pure surrealistic fantasy.

What was the inspiration for this show?

The catalyst for Wind Now was an investigation into armature - the structural components of sculpture, the insides that hold the thing up. Armature is also defined as a defence mechanism in the animal kingdom, like a turtle’s shell. So with this inside/outside binary, I started a body of work that would exist around and with armature rather than concealing it.

Who is Kim Jung Mi – and why do you find her so fascinating?

Kim Jung Mi was a pop singer from South Korea; the albums that I am familiar with (Wind and Now, both 1973) were a collaboration with Shin Jung Hyun, who’s lauded the ‘grandfather of rock’ in Korea.

Not sure I find her ‘fascinating’ as such - I know very little about her. I am a fan, and the obscurity of the information available allows one to fantasise a little, particularly given the material produced in the said period, it's quite dreamy and kitsch in a 70s way.

Who/what is inspiring you at the moment?

In relation to this show: British sculptor Rebecca Warren, Pakistani sculptor Huma Bhabha, and pop-music performance and set design for television variety shows throughout the 60s and 70s.

And what's coming up for 2011?

Continuing pottery class and replicating all the work in this new show in porcelain. And a trip to the Venice Biennale.

What: Wind Now by Anna John When: Opens December 9 at 6pm; continues until December 18.

Where: Locksmith Project Space / 6 Botany Rd, Alexandria More: locksmithprojectspace.com

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK THE PHANTOM BAND The Wants Other Tongues

An enigmatic, ingenious and challenging listening. But give it time; don’t expect to enjoy it based on its sound alone.

Described as ‘the soundtrack to their own apocalypse’, the second album from Glaswegian-based quintet The Phantom Band is so bamboozling as to make a day of reckoning enticing. This is intricate music characterised by true innovation, incorporating elements from influences so diverse that they’re barely discernible within the idiosyncratic musical idiolect they form...

The sinister güiro scrape and howling wind sample at the

Lyrically, they’re not going to blow your mind; it feels sometimes like EWH would rather hit you over the head with their message than let it slowly unfurl so you can discover it for yourself - especially in ‘Burn’, which references New Zealand’s position on nuclear proliferation with lyrics that consist almost solely of the line “the people are burning”. For the most part though, the album is refreshing enough for it to not really matter.

We might have just discovered the next judges of X-Factor NZ. Liz Brown

From Split Enz to Crowded House (and via their various side projects), Tim and Neil Finn have crafted incredible careers full of incredible songs. Not to push the point or anything, but it was John Lennon himself who decreed the Split Enz as creators of melodies no one had seen since The Beatles - and even then, as far as melodies go, it’s always been the ‘House which stood tallest over the ‘Enz. So it’s with the keen enthusiasm of 18 Australian artists that He Will Have His Way is released, a tribute to the songs of Tim & Neil Finn… and at times, it’s a doozy.

Of course, as is the nature with these sorts of albums, you’re privy to an increasingly broad range of stylistic tendencies that battle from either end of the spectrum. Whether it’s the delicately plucked banjo on Boy & Bear’s ‘Fall At Your Feet’ or Art Vs Science’s erratic ‘I See Red’ that sells you, you’re bound to find something to love here and, undoubtedly, something to hate. I defy you not to fall for the Paul Kelly & Angus Stone ‘Four Seasons In One Day’ duet; likewise I defy you to sit through ‘Message To My Girl,’ as sung by the cringe-worthy strains of Jimmy Barnes. Meanwhile, you’re just as well-served by Chris Cheney covering Billy Bragg covering ‘Distant Sun’ as you are by Brylcreaming back your quiff for Dan Sultan and The Break’s surf-rock outing, ‘Shark Attack.’

A superb tribute album pockmarked by the occasional misadventure. Either eclectic or inconsistent depending on your tolerance levels, it’s a very sweet dosage of the Brothers Finn that you’re well-versed in treating yourself to.

Max Easton

rocking motion of the pared-down, lullaby-like ‘Come Away In The Dark’ brings to mind Iron & Wine.

The songwriting is undoubtedly clever, but its execution is simultaneously the album’s greatest strength and weakness. Pleasure is derived from appreciating invention and ambition, rather than enjoying the tracks purely on their sonic merits. Coupled with the album’s intensely melancholic ambience, at times the songs seem to blend into one long funeral dirge so complex that, if you don't listen hard enough, it will wallow away as background music.

Andrew Geeves

LYRICS BORN

He Will Have His Way: The Songs of Tim & Neil Finn EMI

Electric Wire Hustle BBE/Inertia

One minute you’re washed out with fuzzy reverberations, layerings and vocal fragments like you’re chilling with Gold Panda (see ‘Again’), and the next you’re cruising with Kanye (‘They Don’t Want Me’). But it's different. And it works. Mara TK’s smooth croon rocks you back and forth like a baby in bassinet - to be honest, he sounds a little (maybe a lot) like Guy Sebastian, but don’t let that dissuade you.

With Gregorian chants, gothic lyrics and the interjection of backing vocals, like the mournful staccato choir on ‘Everybody Knows It’s True’, the whole album could pass for prog-rock - if only the mix didn’t also contain warbling synths, Beth Ditto-like falsetto vocals and upbeat tempos. Meanwhile, the gentle,

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ELECTRIC WIRE HUSTLE

Disclaimer: I dislike world music. And when I say dislike, I pretty much mean hate.

But at least I’m honest when I say I associate it mostly with coffee house music and Australian Geographic stores’ world music section... I was thankful then that although Electric Wire Hustle feature bongos and were in Melbourne a few weeks back for the Australasian World Music Expo, they aren’t your typical world music band. Their debut release offers a heap of soul and funk, paired with electronics, jazz, R&B - and just about every other musical genre that you can package into a delightful New Zealand three-piece.

beginning of ‘A Glamour’ is almost Tool - but then the beat kicks in, and instantly we’re in Not Drowning, Waving territory. Similarly, the eightminute epic triptych ‘The None of One’ gives a nod to the organic feel of Glen Hansard in its earthy, no-frills first instalment, Radiohead in its structure and The Necks in its extended instrumental outro.

In the liner notes of As U Were, Lyrics Born has penned a lengthy tirade. He makes a point (amongst a myriad of topics) of informing the listener that the divergent sounds he’s included on the album, ranging from soul to synthpop, is an intentional choice and one for which he’s unapologetic. Well, I guess it’s lucky that Lyrics Born is completely at ease with this, because with his latest effort he may have just alienated the last of his fanbase that this respected underground MC accumulated from his days with Latryx and Quannum Projects.

Borrowing from James Brown, Cameo and Afrika Bambaataa, as well as mirroring contemporaries like Outkast and (regretfully) Black Eyed Peas, As U Were is completely removed from the hip hop sound he cut his teeth on in the Bay Area in the 90s. In fact, the two hip hop joints included on the album sit as the weakest - whereas the disco collab with Australian singersongwriter Sam Sparro, ‘Coulda Woulda Shoulda,’ and the lead-off single ‘Lies x 3’ actually argue strongly for the case of the (and I quote) “progressive, soulful music” that Lyrics Born is pushing.

As a standalone record, without consideration given to his previous efforts, As U Were is an album of solid 80s electro-funk. Swinging thematically from party-starter vibing to self-deprecating introspection, it still manages to showcase his impeccable skills on the mic, and the raw organic production values present in his earlier work (putting aside his shambolic 2008 LP, Everywhere At Once). But in the end, it seems that his further departure away from hip hop is a further departure from where he belongs.

Long-suffering fans will probably be disappointed, but Lyrics Born doesn’t care what you think.

Rick Warner

Go Home Tenzenmen/R.I.P. Society

If you wanna make your ears bleed, your brain explode and piss off all your neighbours, you gotsta get your hands on some Dead Farmers stuff. Originally released on vinyl, Go Home is punk, blues and a whole lot of fuzz - in the tradition of Eddie Current Suppression Ring, but probably louder.

44 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

It’s the sound of twenty illegal warehouse gigs getting drunk and crashing into each other from the quarrelling distortion of ‘Suns Of Thunder’ through the Jack White-on-ketamine stomp of ‘Slow Time’, this will not make you any friends - but it’ll most definitely influence people.

Dead Farmers are selffinanced and, as their inside sleeve shows, highly indebted to a bunch of likeminded friends in the Inner West garage-DIY-fuzz scene.

Having David Akerman (Sydney's own Jonny Greenwood) blasting white heat from his axe, and Daniel Grosz holding the bass down with equal parts attitude

Keith St EP Capitol / EMI

Fabric 54 I Like The Noise It Makes Former journalist turned DJ/producer Damian Lazarus knows the vicissitudes of the club scene better than most.

Having resurrected his Crosstown Rebels label in recent times, Lazarus – how about the biblical reference, eh? – is also renowned for his ability to draw on his broad sonic palette to reinvent himself as a DJ as trends come and go.

His vast knowledge of music and adventurous approach are integral to his appeal as a DJ, but this compilation showcases the difficulties of condensing a record collection onto a single CD. It would certainly be different if one was seeing Lazarus spin in a club, but when listening to this at home the final product seems, at times, to be a victim of its over-ambition.

Things begin strongly with material from Four Tet and a pitched-down stonker in Claude VonStroke’s remix of Kenny Larkin’s ‘Glob’. From this point, Lazarus indulges in a bit of cherrypicking, oscillating between techier cuts from The Martinez Brothers, the housier grooves of Deetron’s ‘Sing’, the psychedelic tribalism of Soul Clap and the selfaware anthem ‘Vampire Nightclub,’ from Art Department. When it hits, it really hits – but unfortunately, the opposite is also true. One wonders how the muchhyped [ephemeral?] luster of ‘Vampire Nightclub’ will age, and Lazarus does appear to disappear up his own behind as he ends with songs from Su Kramer and Bill Holt... There’s no question that Fabric 54 boasts plenty of highlights, but ultimately the best mixes should add up to more than the sum of the individual tracks - and that’s just not the case here.

Mew-mneew der da-deeew. Oooh!

Oooh hoo hoo! ...That warm, 50s-tinged opening riff that so delicately introduces the title track of Oh Mercy’s Keith St EP is an instant crowd pleaser; and lying here underneath headphones on a spectacular summer afternoon, you’ve got a thoroughly pleased crowd of one. Maybe it’s the couple of beers under the belt or the fly screen-filtered breeze that’s doing this to me, but Keith St is a gorgeously satisfying quadrant of songs to lie down to. In fact, one riff in and I reckon it’s already earned the hype and hyperbole.

Naming themselves after Bob Dylan’s 1989 masterpiece of the same name, Melbourne's Oh Mercy have only a passing similarity to the works of America’s folk laureate. Yeah, they’re dabbling in some sounds of Dylan’s era (that omnipresent flute on ‘Blue Lagoon’ and ‘What You Do’ is strangely reminiscent of Canned Heat’s ‘Going Up The Country’), but they’re certainly no tribute band.

For one, the soulful gravelly whine of Dylan is replaced by a confident, sweetened and light-hearted croon.

For two, these songs are far too bubbly and smooth to ever have left the pen of the man who wrote ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’.

This is an EP that washes over you, and takes parts of you with it. From ‘Keith St’’s gloriously warm electric tones to the romanticised acoustic balladry of ‘With You’, Oh Mercy have crafted something distinctly realised and pretty.

We mark Damian hard because we know what he’s capable of; this is still a safe bet to fill any technophile’s Xmas stocking!

It’s a cocktease to have to re-start this CD after only fifteen minutes, but Keith St succeeds where all good EPs do; it leaves you desperately eager for more. You should definitely get this.

Chris Honnery

Max Easton

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK DEAD FARMERS

OH MERCY

DAMIAN LAZARUS

As U Were Shock Records

and proficiency, certainly helps their case.

OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week...

Go Home revels in its messiness, turning things up and throwing out the metronome and kicking you where it hurts. These guys still play in-stores.

They recently flew to China to tour largely on their own dime. That’s the kind of band they are: no bullshit.

KID CUDI - Man On The Moon: The End Of Day DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST - Brainfreeze LAURA MARLING - I Speak Because I Can

I wager only one in ten people will be able to get past the second track: but that person is about to have an awesome, no-holds-barred good time. Isn’t that what rock n' roll is all about?

DIGITALISM - Idealism THE BOOKS - The Way Out

Jonno Seidler

DVD & Blu-ray Available In Stores December 1 Visit www.viavision.com.au

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 45

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

The Lemonheads

STEREOSONIC FESTIVAL Homebush Showgrounds Saturday November 27

NLY O T H G I EN N O R O F A SPECIAL SCREENING OF 2 FILMS BY

MOGWAI BURNING & ADELIA, I WANT TO LOVE.

Sydney turned on a corker of a day for Stereosonic, a festival which offered a disparate spread of artists for music lovers of contrasting dispositions. The lineup for this year’s event was so vast it would’ve been possible to do it all again checking out a completely different selection of internationals – i.e. Calvin Harris – but this reviewer certainly doesn’t regret the path he chose, bumping and grinding to a lineup of techno artists who lived up to the considerable hype. While Tiësto received mixed reviews for a ‘non-trance trance set’ in the main arena, and Mr. Satisfaction, Benny Benassi, delivered a rollicking, if at times slightly patronising, set – there’s crowd pleasing and then there’s dropping AC/DC in a tech set – there was too much fun to be had at the Sneakerpeeps stage to explore the Homebush Showgrounds as thoroughly as I would have liked...

It was a rocky beginning though. Jeff Mills was nowhere to be seen when his set was due to start; in fact, there was no DJ to be seen full stop, and a burnt CD blared Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ to a bewildered crowd of hardened techno fiends. Finally, Mills stepped up to the decks more than half an hour late after apparently missing a flight from Canberra.

It didn’t matter though; he soon had the crowd bouncing with a ‘more minimal than thou’ set that traversed cuts from the likes of Robert Hood and had a genuine vigour to it. Sure the three-deck mixing was occasionally sloppy, but it wasn’t about that; Mills had brought an energy to the area, which was sustained by Frankfurt’s Reboot, who followed with a more percussive, house-oriented set, dropping his anthemic track ‘Caminando’ to the delight of the now writhing crowd.

The best was saved for last, with techno deity Ricardo Villalobos breaking his ten year absence from our shores in style.

Though many might find his productions ‘self-indulgent’ (to say the least), this is not indicative of his DJing, which was harder and more vivacious than I’m guessing many people would have expected. Smiling his way through an assortment of burnt CDs and vinyls, the man described by those who have met him as a ‘magical unicorn’ explored an array of minimal and acid house sounds, with a Josh Wink remix of Lil Louis getting a particularly rapturous response. A fitting climax to a day of revelry.

Screening at the Chauvel Cinema, Paddington on the 9th of December at 6.30pm.

Tickets available at the Chauvel or through Moshtix at www.moshtix.com.au and Moshtix outlets.

46 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

Ian Bell

THE LEMONHEADS The Metro Theatre Wednesday December 1

It may be a shame about Ray, but it sure as hell isn’t a shame about Evan Dando.

As the pen and voice behind that oh-soseminal 90s record It’s A Shame About Ray, Dando and The Lemonheads delivered 30 minutes of near-perfect powerpop to the long hair and striped shirts

of 1992’s youth. 18 years on and The Lemonheads are here to play the album in its entirety to the same people who bought it on release; people who have long since traded in their torn jeans for desk jobs.

Wasting no time after the parting of the crimson curtains, The Lemonheads cut through every nostalgia-bent bone in the body with that career-defining opening riff of ‘Rockin’ Stroll’. At the end of each song, the expectation of what comes next seems to lurch through the crowd, snapping only when the follow-up breaks through the tension. It’s a constant and unparalleled cathartic flow, regardless of whether the effect was instigated by the snare thwacks of ‘My Drug Buddy’ or the muted strums that open ‘Alison’s Starting to Happen’.

While Dando interacts with the crowd about as much as a wilted lettuce, it doesn’t really seem to bother anyone. In fact, so much of what’s missing from the set just seems to be filled in mentally: Juliana Hatfield’s backing vocal from the Ray recording on tracks like ‘Rudderless’ seem to sing out in the back of your head when left unfilled

by The Lemonheads. And then, when your brain fails you, you’ll find that it’s actually a sold-out Metro Theatre that’s screaming “a bit part in your life” back at Evan Dando.

Thankfully, the set doesn’t end with ‘Frank Mills’, instead segueing into a best-of-therest, featuring pearlers from ‘Rick James Style’ to ‘If I Could Talk I’d Tell You’. It’s ‘Big Gay Heart’ which provokes the only reaction from the deadpan security guard staring blankly into the crowd from down front, and ‘Into Your Arms’ which gets the biggest reception from those in attendance.

The Lemonheads may have been an everrevolving unit, but this current iteration is tight to the point of telepathic; always in step, on cue and punching out neat, twominute packages of punk-infused pop.

In characteristic Dando fashion, the curtains close to the encore calls, leaving the devon patches and Pearl Jam ’95 tour shirts to shuffle down the stairs and onto the buzz of George Street, fresh from another Rockin’ Stroll.

Max Easton Tiësto

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The Minor Chord The All Ages rant bought to you by Indent.net.au. By Kate Dean

Pennywise

G

ood news for all of those who can't make it to Soundwave - allages ‘Sidewaves’ have just been announced! Metal and hardcore bands, Devil Driver, Ill NiĂąo, All That Remains, and nonpoint will all be playing at The Forum on March 3; punk icons Millencolin and Pennywise will hit up The Roundhouse on February 28; and The Gaslight Anthem and Polar Bear Club will play the Metro Theatre on the same night. Here’s to all-ages sideshows!

Thanks, Soundwave!

Singer-songwriter, surfer and soft rock musician Jack Johnson will be gracing The Domain this Saturday December 11.

Chilled acoustic sounds from his latest release, To The Sea, will be complemented

by Canadian twins Tegan & Sara, and the punchy pop rock songs from their latest album, Sainthood. Our very own Ash Grunwald will also be performing on the day, so be sure to get there from 4pm when the gates open - maybe you could grab a bunch of mates and scope out a nice grassy knoll. This one isn’t free, but it’s certainly worth the splurge.

+ JPS + SPIKEY TEE + FOREIGNDUB

Highland rock band Biffy Clyro is hitting up The Factory Theatre in Marrickville this Saturday December 11. Showcasing their recently nominated album Only Revolutions, the Scottish power-pop rockers deliver a high-energy live show, with their complex and face-melting guitar riffs... Who said you couldn’t rock out in a kilt?

Freshly united by their passion for writing and performing music, DylanDrew is a synergy between two acoustic rockers,

ALL AGES GIG PICKS SATURDAY DECEMBER 11

Jack Johnson, Tegan & Sara, Ash Grunwald The Domain, Sydney Biff Clyro The Factory Theatre, Marrickville DylanDrew Royal Cricketers Arms, Prospect

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Channel [V] Live Children Collide, Gyroscope Waves Nightclub, Towradgi

Toykidz Doof Doof: Toydeath, Matt Stegh, Dully Doof, Hoola Hoop The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville DylanDrew Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor

Dylan Smith and Drew Fry. Drawing inspiration from memories, family and life dreams, this acoustic duo produce a smooth sound delivered straight from their hearts to yours. The guys are playing two free shows this weekend - Saturday December 11 at the Royal Cricketers Arms down in Prospect from 7pm, and on Sunday December 12 at the Fitzroy Hotel in Windsor from 5:30pm. They even break out the harmonica - well worth seein’ and hearin’.

The Red Rattler Theatre in Marrickville will play host to Toykidz Doof Doof, a special event for the quirky experimentalist, this Sunday afternoon. Doors open just after lunchtime and your ears will be delighted by some familiar childhood sounds.

Headlining the show is a group better known for their repurposing of sounds, reusing them in ways you’ve probably never thought of: electronica trio Toydeath use children’s toys as their instrument of choice, often bending the limits of each circuit board to create their unique sound. Using only the electronic sounds produced by these toys, the creative mashup is seriously genius. They'll be playing alongside fellow Sydney electronica ‘doof doof’ artists Matt Stegh, Dully Doof and Hoola Hoops.

If you can manage to get down to Towradgi, just south of Wollongong, Channel [V] is presenting a gig with Children Collide. These Aussie punks have had a very long list of shows on their national album tour for Theory of Everything. Perth grunge rockers Gyroscope are supporting on the night, performing songs from their latest album, Cohesion. This is a great opportunity for the all-ages crowd to get in and see a double-whammy lineup for free. The Waves Nightclub will host the show, cameras and all, on Saturday December 11. How do you get in? Just RSVP to the event via the Channel [V] website. Sound easy? It’s a random draw, but there’s a good chance you’ll get to go.

Cloud Control have been announcing support acts in the lead up to their minifestival Was I There In Your Future?, and Oh Ye Denver Birds have been confirmed as their latest addition.The band hail from sunny Queensland and the sound they create pushes boundaries beyond anything described as indie-pop. Their music has evolved greatly since their first release, Sun Chant, late last year, and with a renewed sense of identity, you’ll be swept away to another place by sweet yet haunting harmonies. Their latest single, 'Your Sacrifice', could be described as a magical journey of space and sound - that’s one thing you can look forward to experiencing live. They’ll be joined by Djanimals and Melbourne experimental pop Otouto. Awesome line-up? We think so.

If you can’t wait til next week’s edition of The Minor Chord, you can catch the allages rant over the airwaves courtesy of FBi Radio. Tune in from 5pm Wednesdays.

You’ll hear about more all-ages events, including arts and culture, guided by our good friends Kate and Eva. Enjoy.

Send pics, listings and any info to minorchords@thebrag.com 48 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

Remedy More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

ROAD WARRIOR

We’ve lost another road warrior with the recent sad and very sudden passing of the legendary Pat Pickett, who was damn close to being the last – if in fact he wasn’t the last – of his old school roadie kind.

The big guy was closely involved with AC/ DC in the '70s – a role that often included him at least trying to keep an eye on Bon Scott – and countless other major acts including The Angels and Midnight Oil. Pat was working right up until the week he passed, and many people weren’t even aware he was ill. Folks who have lived rich lives aren’t always rich, so a bank account has been set up to contribute to his funeral expenses. Any amount remaining after expenses are met will be given to Pat’s family. The banking details are: Pat Funeral Fund, Commonwealth Bank, BSB 064121.

Account 10245472. If you can spare twenty bucks or so we’d be grateful.

Dead and guested on a stack of tracks on one of their releases in the Dick’s Picks official bootleg series...

AGE OF MENACE

QUEEN

This sure is a promising start. Western Sydney hard hitters Age of Menace played their debut show on November 26 to a sell out crowd at the Excelsior in Surry Hills.

Earlier this year the band released two demo tracks online that hav=e attracted a great deal of interest, including offers from several European labels. They return to the studio in January, with a second show planned for March or April. Hear what all the fuss is about at www.ageofmenace.com or on their Facebook and MySpace sites.

LAYLA ET AL

Derek & The Dominos’ 1970 textbook in songwriting and guitar playing, Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, will be out in March in three 40th Anniversary editions, that will include as many as four albums and a DVD.

THE DOORS

The latest instalment in what seems like an ongoing sideline for The Doors (apart, of course, from endlessly reissuing their albums) is another live set, this time titled Live In Vancouver 1970. This twin set was recorded at the Pacific National Exhibition Coliseum in Vancouver, during their 1970 ‘Roadhouse Blues’ tour. Albert King makes a guest appearance – which is about as weird (and makes as much sense) as when Bo Diddley got up with The Grateful

Albert King lights Jim's fire

Queen’s catalogue receives the overhaul treatment next year to mark the 40th anniversary of their formation in 1971 – when they were considered to be a) not overly remarkable and b) possibly the new Led Zep. The reissues begin in March, with their big five: Queen, Queen II (OK, who laughed at the Zep reference?), Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera and A Day At The Races. After that it was all downhill in a big way. But there’ll be ten more albums to come during the year, each with “additional content”. A major movie about the band starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury is on the way too – but we’re still far from convinced that they’ve really attained the same kind of rock demi-god status as, say, The Doors or The Stones.

But hey, what do we know eh?

STATION TO STATION

A little while back we mentioned that Bowie’s Station to Station had been issued in a ridiculously large format. We reported this because plenty of people really rate the recording. We don’t. Anyways, in that spirit: we further report that there’s a new leather-bound, limited edition book called From Station To Station - Travels With Bowie 1973-76 by Geoff MacCormack and Bowie. There are only 2000 copies, and one could be yours for 295 pounds or we guess about what, $500 Australian? But hey, it’s signed by the man himself.

ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is the tarted up version of Iggy’s masterpiece Kill City. We always loved the muddy mix of the original – which, unlike everything else in Mr Pop’s career since, didn’t waste a word or a note. But this - this is like a new recording! Talk about giving new meaning to the term ‘remix’. You actually need both the old and new versions (just as you do with Raw Power), as stuff has surfaced here that literally has never been heard before; although some of the piano that worked so well the first time around has now been buried by extra guitar. The other thing that’s really on high beam is just how great a factor The Stones were in Stoogedom. No one ever mentions that.

TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS ZZ Top will be here next year for Bluesfest in Byron, and for two nights at the Enmore on April 27 and 28 with Rose Tattoo and The Poor. They’ll also be at Newcastle Entertainment Centre on April 20 and Wollongong Entertainment centre on April 25. We hope ZZ are better than last time.

Witnessing one of the greatest boogie bands on the planet seemingly being unable to play boogie sure was disturbing...

Canadian psychsters Black Mountain return to our shores next year with their new album, Wilderness Heart. February 19 and 20 at the Annandale. Tickets on sale December 9.

Solid Gold Hell are having an ‘Xmas In Hell’ bash at the Sly Fox Hotel, Enmore on December 11, with the usual very best in rock n’ roll, rock, soul, punk, indie, garage and rockabilly - along with screenings of the worst in Xmas-themed slasher films and B-grade flicks, including Santa Conquers The Martians, Silent Night Deadly Night and Jack Frost. Special guest DJ is Trent from The Holy Soul, plus regular sonic assassins Cutthroat and Demonika, with Danger Coolidge and

Angie Von Helle (Unbelievably Bad). And it’s all free. www.solidgoldhell.com Sydney’s Toe To Toe wrap up their 2010 - which has seen them reissue their Tao, Consolidated and The Best Defence Is Attack albums, as well as their newie, Arturo Gatti - with a show at Hermann’s Bar on December 11. Also on the bill are The Corps, Deathcage and Westside Hustlers.

The No Sleep Til festival is only a few non-sleeps away, with a bill that includes Megadeth performing the classic Rust In Peace slab in its entirety, NOFX, Boston’s rioters Dropkick Murphies, Parkway Drive, The Descendents, A Day to Remember, GWAR, Alkaline Trio, Frenzal Rhomb and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. No Sleep Til Sydney is on December 18 at the Entertainment Quarter, Hordern Pavilion and surrounds. Gates open at 1pm.

Due to huge demand, the Kyuss Lives! show on May 17 has been moved to the Big Top, Luna Park. All tickets for the Metro show remain valid for the new venue.

Send stuff for this column to remedy@ozemail.com.au by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag please. www.myspace.com/remedy4rock BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 49

snap sn ap

34b burlesque b'day

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

temper trap @ the chapel

kids of 88

:: St Stephen’s Church :: 189 Church St Newtown 95572043

PICS :: TT

23:11:10

26:11:10 Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

It’s called: SOSUEME XMAS Ho Ho Ho-Down It sounds like: (To the tune of ‘Jingle Bells’) Jezabels, Jezabels, SOSUEME they will play; oh what fun it is to Joyride in a Christmas Ho-Down way. HEY! Who’s playing? The Jezabels (live), Sampology (DJ Set), SOSUEME DJs, The Protectors (live), The Holidays (DJ set), Pluto Jonze (live), Rapids (live) + more!

Sell it to us: Our annual family Christmas soiree is back, complete with eggnog, seedy awkward uncles, fat annoying aunts, bon-bons with shit jokes and semisenile ‘pissed on sherry’ Nannas.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Hoping that stain on my Santa sack is… um, eggnog!?

Crowd specs: Dashers, Prancers, Dancers & Vixens.

Wallet damage: $15 (pre sale/moshtix) / $20 at the door.

Where: Oxford Art Factory / 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst When: Friday December 10, 8pm

fat freddy's drop

PICS :: AM

party profile

SOSUEME XMAS

25:11:10 :: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Road, Newtown 9550 3666 ) :: ASH LEY MAR :: TOM S : TIM LEV Y (HEA D HON CHO OUR LOV ELY PHOTOG RAP HER IEL MUN NS :: ROS ETT E ROU HAN NA DAN :: TRA MON TE :: SUSAN BUI

50 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

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27:11:10 :: 34b :: 34b Oxford St Darlinghurst 93601375

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passenger

PICS :: RO

up all night out all week . . .

27:11:10 :: St James Hotel :: 114 Castlereagh St City 92618277

the chemist

PICS :: SB

sfx

PICS :: AM

26:11:10 :: The Vanguard :: 42 King St Newtown 95577992

26:11:10 :: Melt :: 12 Kellett St, Kings Cross 93806060

Kim Churchill

26:11:10 :: Manning Bar :: @ Sydney Uni City Rd Chippendale 95636107 ) :: ASH LEY MAR :: TOM S : TIM LEV Y (HEA D HON CHO OUR LOV ELY PHOTOG RAP HER IEL MUN NS :: ROS ETT E ROU HAN NA DAN :: BUI TRA MON TE :: SUSAN

52 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

party profile

my disco

PICS :RO

It’s called: Kim Churchill - East Coast tour It sounds like: The future of Australian roots music. Look out!

Who’s playing? Kim Churchill, with Ashleigh Mannix and Carter Rollins.

Sell it to us: Having recently returned from impressing audiences at Canada’s premier festivals (Live from the Rock, The Big Time Out, Stewart Park Festival, Blue Skies Festival, Toronto Buskerfest, Festival de la Poutine), young Aussie guitarist Kim Churchill is returning to his roots for this intimate show. Expect explosive, intricate finger-picking, percussive beats on the body of the guitar, and two-handed tapping intertwined with an earthy stomp box, powerful blues harmonica melodies and soulful voice: for 15 bucks, all this is yours.

The bit we’ll remember in the morning: That you spent the night at a rockin’ gig in an intimate venue. Also - the Glebe show is BYO! Crowd specs: Be early, it’s an intimate space.

Wallet damage: $15 Where: Cafe Church (Glebe) / Brass Monkey (Cronulla) When: Friday December 10, 7.30pm / Sunday December 19, 7.30pm

snap sn ap

23:07:10 26:11:10 :: Agincourt Hotel :: 871 George St City 92814566 ) :: ASH LEY MAR :: TOM S : TIM LEV Y (HEA D HON CHO OUR LOV ELY PHOTOG RAP HER IEL MUN NS :: ROS ETT E ROU HAN NA TRA MON TE :: SUSAN BUI :: DAN

the magnetic heads

PICS :: TT

club blink

PICS :: RR

up all night out all week . . .

26:11:10 :: The Gaelic Theatre :: 64 Devonshire St Surry Hills 92111687

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 53

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

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

Mocean Restaurant & Underground Bar brag

THE HOSTS

TH

Alex Houle is basically part of the furniture here at Mocean, and happens to be a Sommelier Extraordinaire. He is also an excellent mixologist, and is always accommodating.

EK

bar

OF

34 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach

E E W

THE PITCH We’re positioned on the south end of Bondi, between Francis St & Mitchell St. The dining room has large open-bay windows which look out over the expanse of Campbell Parade and a panoramic view of the beach - we believe it to be one of the best kept secrets in Bondi…

Running a menu to satisfy any palette, from everything between baby beetroot salad, Mediterranean cous cous, soft shell crab to grilled haloumi and eggplant, we also have a range of custom pizzas, including ‘V.I.P’ (chilli salami, pancetta, red capsicum and feta),‘Spanish Inquisition’ (chorizo, Spanish onion, chilli, fresh cherry tomatoes) and ‘Black Sheep Pumpkin’ (lamb loin, pine nuts, goats curd and rosemary). The legendary Mocean Underground Bar is a very popular party/ function room: a cocktail bar modelled on a New York City 1940s jazz bar, with decadent velvet booths, great music and a rich notorious history.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? Mocean – Ocean - Motion...

LOCATION LOCATION Mocean is located in the building of the old Astra Hotel in Bondi.

It was a notorious hotspot for both socialites and the criminal underworld back in the day; and rumour has it that the Mocean Underground Bar (once the old laundry room of the Astra Hotel) was the site of a murder….

THE BRAG’S GUIDE TO SYDNEY’S BEST NOOKS 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

DESIGN INSPIRATIONS? Design inspirations for Mocean: One half New York City-inspired 1940s jazz den and one half cocktail lounge.

Underground Bar as a function venue for private Birthday parties for the 21 – 40 year olds… It’s really cosy, and as a result we were booked out for most of winter!

SIGNATURE DRINKS? Amaretto Sour; a simple, twisted classic – or Lychee Martini; a classic, with a twist.

HINDSIGHT Our biggest challenge is always in the winter months!

Traditionally a very quiet time for all businesses in Bondi, we overcame it by promoting our

brag cocktail of the week:

Berkelouw Wine Bar 70 Norton Street, Leichhardt Friday 3pm – 8pm: 2-for-1 sparkling wine Bloodwood 416 King St, Newtown Buzzzbar 349 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 Well-Connected 35 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe

Pour it in your mouth-hole... (responsibly).

INNER EAST

Honey Melon Sour @ Sugar Lounge 42 Beachfront, Manly best drunk with: no clothes on during: bathtime while wearing: a smile and listening to: Marvin Gaye, ‘Sexual Healing’.

Ingredients: 30ml honey vodka, 30ml melon schnapps, 30ml lemon juice, 4 cubes of honeydew melon, 15ml homemade honey water Method: crush honeydew melon with a muddler, add all other ingredients into cocktail shaker, fill with cubed ice and shake and strain over ice into rocks glass.

Glass: old fashioned rocks glass Garnish: cherry and honeydew melon slice.

54 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

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 fireplace 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 Gotham 35 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 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 Tonic Lounge 62-64 Kellett St, Kings Cross 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 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?

Email us! listings@thebrag.com

9pm

THURSDAY DECEMBER 9TH

KOOLISM DJ SHANTAN/KAIFRESH/ SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

9pm

FRIDAY DECEMBER 10TH

REGROOVED GOOD GROOVE VS BOMB STRIKES

BUSTER & WILL STYLES / SLYNK & PAUL MASTER

9pm

THURSDAY DECEMBER 16TH

PRIORY DOLLS

SARAH BIRD/BRENT HILL

9pm

FRIDAY DECEMBER 17TH

RUFUS SUPPORTS TBA

9pm

THURSDAY DECEMBER 23RD

NATURAL SELECTION TIN SPARROW / PATRICK JAMES

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 55

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week FRIDAY DECEMBER 10

Muse

Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park

Muse (UK), Biffy Clyro (Scotland)

$109.90 (presale) – $129.90 7pm MONDAY DECEMBER 6 ROCK & POP

Andy Mammers Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 4pm Carribean Soul Paddy Maguires, Haymarket free 8.30pm CC the Cat, Ngaiire Bar Me, Potts Point 8.30pm David Agius Duo Opera Bar, Sydney Opera House free 8.30pm Derkajam Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Elevation Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10.30pm Looking Through A Glass Onion: John Waters, Stewart D’Arrietta Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $75 (conc)–$99 7.45pm Mandi Jarry Coogee Bay Hotel free 9pm Matt Jones The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Matt Seaberg Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free Nuts Camden Valley Golf Resort, Catherine Field free 6.30pm Songwriter Sessions@Excelsior Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills free 7.30pm Thank God It’s Monday: bluejuice Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free (guestlist) 8pm The Eagles (USA) Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $102.35 (C Res)–$256.90 (gold) 7pm The Fumes, Carmen Townsend, The Sins Brass Monkey, Cronulla $17.85 (presale) 7pm

The Knife Waltz, The Wonderful Lives Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm

JAZZ

Craig Simon Collective 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm Jazz @ the Wall Live at the Wall, Leichhardt free 8pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

DinkiDiAcoustic: Peter MillerRobinson, Julie Nelson, Victoria Young, Erskinevillian Duo, Graham Healy The Hive Bar, Erskineville free 8pm Songsalive!: Ross Bruzzese, April Sky, Helmut Uhlmann Kellys On King, Newtown free 7pm Songsalive!: Under the Purple Tree and guests Springwood Sports Club free 7.30pm Songwriter Sessions Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills free 7.30pm

Broadway Mile Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Jeff Martin (Canada), Terepai Richmond, Gabrielle & Cameron Lizotte’s Restaurant, Kincumber $40–$45 8pm Looking Through A Glass Onion: John Waters, Stewart D’Arrietta Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $75 (conc)–$99 7.45pm Matt Corby Brass Monkey, Cronulla $15 7pm Peacebeliever Tribute to John Lennon: Fergus Brown, Sui Zhen, Winter People, Preachers, WIM, Hero Fisher, Herb Armstrong (USA) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10 (+ bf)–$15 (at door) 8pm Rob Henry The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Ross Maio Illawarra Master Builders Club, Wollongong free 11am Steve Tonge O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm The Eagles (USA) Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $102.35 (C Res)–$256.90 (gold) 7pm The Fall (UK), Dave Graney Metro Theatre, Sydney $55 (+ bf) 8pm The Idea of North The Basement, Circular Quay $21 (+ bf)–$25 (at door) 8pm They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm

JAZZ

James Valentine’s Supper Club: James Valentine Quartet Golden Sheaf Hotel, Double Bay free 7pm Paul Sun, John Blenkhorn Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm The Space Cadets, The New Cabal 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Sin-e: Transat, Steve Grady & CC the Cat Cafe Lounge Surry Hills free 7pm Songsalive!: Massimo Presti, Jacob Pearson, Russell Neal El Rocco, Kings Cross free 7pm Songsalive!: Salome Cerda-Vargas, Nick Coady, Laura Beasant, Rebecca Fielding, Tyra Ryninks, Bo Banta, Andrew Denniston Off Broadway, Ultimo free 7pm Tuesday Night Live: Chase the Winter, Bondi Jam, Simon Paparo Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm

COUNTRY

Blacktown Country Music Club The Lucky Australian, North St Marys free 7pm Whip Crackin’ Country Music Club Penrith Gaels Club free 7pm

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8

COUNTRY

Camden Valley Country Music Club Hope Christian School, Narellan free 7pm

TUESDAY DECEMBER 7 Adam Pringle Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Bernie Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 4pm Blondie (USA), The Pretenders (UK/ USA), Adalita Enmore Theatre $115 (+ bf) 7pm Bno Rockshow Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 8pm

ROCK & POP

An Intimate Space: The Church Lizotte’s Restaurant, Kincumber $110.50 (dinner & show) 7pm Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Antics: Falling For Beloved, Revived, Prevailing Dishorder Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West free 8pm Ben Finn Duo Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm Bianca Meier, Andy Kelly Brass Monkey, Cronulla $12.30 (presale) 7pm Blondie (USA), The Pretenders (UK/ USA), Adalita Enmore Theatre $115 (+ bf) 7pm Broadcast (UK), Seekae, Pikelet The Forum Theatre, Moore Park $42 (+ bf) 8pm

Coby & The Remedy, Georgia Juliette Tokio Hotel, Darling Harbour free 9pm Crystal Cove The Great Northern Hotel Newcastle free 9pm Ekklesia, The Dead Will Tell Newcastle Leagues Club, Newcastle West 8pm Girls (USA) Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $39.80 (presale) 8pm Happy Hippies Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free 6.30pm Happy Wednesdays: One Flew East, The Domestics, Wayphaser 34B Burlesque, Darlinghurst $8 8pm Jeff Martin (Canada), Terepai Richmond, Gabrielle & Cameron Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $40– $45 8pm Looking Through A Glass Onion: John Waters, Stewart D’Arrietta Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $75 (conc)–$99 7.45pm Matt Corby Otis Bar, Wollongong 8pm Mike Bennett The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm OMG Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Open Mic Night Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Sam Buckingham, Ruby For Lucy Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $10 8pm Sideshow: Cloud Control, Guineafowl, Jaime Robbie-Reyne Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm Tenpenny Towers, Above The Fallen, Kill Appeal, Corporate Takedown, JDMO The Valve, Tempe 6pm That 1 Guy (USA), Mr Percival Hotel Gearin, Katoomba 8pm The Study: Julia Why? The Gaelic Hotel, Surry Hills free 7.30pm Tom Trelawny O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm Tommy Emmanuel, Phil Emmanuel Lyric Theatre, Star City, Pyrmont $99.90 8pm YourSpace Muso Showcase Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 7pm Zoe K, Kira Puru The View Factory, Newcastle free 7pm

JAZZ

Adam Pache Quartet 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm Nick Norton, Tim Fisher, Paul Derricott’s Arrow, Tim Wilson The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (+ bf) 8pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 5pm The Smith Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 8pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

The Falls, Fergus Brown, John Vella Hotel Hollywood, Surry Hills free 8pm Songsalive!: Gavin Fitzgerald! , Eve Goonan, Merilyn Steele, Russell Neal Coach & Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm Songsalive!: Carolyn Crysdale and guests Earlwood Hotel free 7pm

COUNTRY

Bryen Willems Westmead Tavern free 6.30pm South Coast Country Music Club Mount Kembla Heights Hall free 6pm

HIP HOP

Jagermeister Annandale Christmas Party: Urthboy, Stickyfingers, Daily Meds, Massema Annandale Hotel free 8pm

THURSDAY DECEMBER 9 ROCK & POP

2 Of Hearts Miranda Hotel free 9pm 78 Saab, Peabody, Vegan Mosquitos Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $15 8pm An Intimate Space: The Church Lizotte’s Restaurant, Lambton $39 (show only)–$104.50 (dinner & show) 7pm Andy Mammers - Peak Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm Blondie (USA), The Pretenders (UK/ USA), Adalita Enmore Theatre $115 (+ bf) 7pm Calling All Cars Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor $15 (presale)–$18 (at door) 8pm Carols By The Tree: Hearbeat Darling Harbour Convention Centre Forecourt, Sydney free 7pm Dragon Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $48 8pm Dropsaw, Mindsnare, Against, Relentless, Phantoms Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West $15 (at door) 7.30pm Felix & The Phoenix The Vanguard, Newtown $25 (+ bf) 7pm G3 Marble Bar, Sydney free 8.30pm Gangajang Vault 146, Windsor $25.50 (+ bf)– $53.05 (dinner & show) 8pm Hot Damn!: Skyway, Word Up!, Secrets In Scale, Hot Damn DJs Spectrum, Darlinghurst $12–$15 8pm Jebediah, The Novocaines, Giraffe Season Annandale Hotel $22 (+ bf) 8pm Jo Vill Windang Bowling Club free 6pm Kunvuk, Winter Gaunt, Simulacra The Valve, Tempe free 7pm Latin Style Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Looking Through A Glass Onion: John Waters, Stewart D’Arrietta Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $75 (conc)–$99 7.45pm Luke Dixon Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Matt Corby Independent Theatre, North Sydney $15 8pm Moniters The Valve, Tempe 8pm Mother & Son, La Mancha Negra Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Muse (UK), Biffy Clyro (Scotland) Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $109.90 (presale)–$129.90 7pm Pete Davies Newport Arms Hotel free 7.30pm Girls

“The magnificent magnitude of my morning erection merely mocks me like the sun in its optimistic greeting of the day” - TIM MINCHIN 56 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Pianoman The Loft, Darling Harbour free 6pm Skipping Girl Vinegar, Penny & The Mystics Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, Nowra $16.50 8pm Steve Edmonds Band Empire Hotel, Annandale free 7pm Straight Arrows, Whores Goodgod Small Club, Sydney 8pm Super Massive Dapto Hotel free 8pm The Atom Bombs Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 11.30pm The Camera Club: The Camera Club Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm The Elevators, Amy Vee Upstairs Bar, Queens Wharf Brewery, Newcastle free 9pm Tommy Emmanuel, Phil Emmanuel Lyric Theatre, Star City, Pyrmont $99.90 8pm Washed Out (USA) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $40 (+ bf) 8pm

JAZZ

Australian Afro Jazz Project 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm Jazz Factory The View Factory, Newcastle free 7pm Paul Greene The Basement, Circular Quay $22 (+ bf)–$25 (at door) 9.30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 5pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Colin Jones Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 8pm Lissa The Great Northern Hotel Newcastle free 7pm

Songsalive!: Andrew Denniston and guests Mars Hill Café, Parramatta free 7pm Songsalive!: Daniel Hopkins and guests Narrabeen Sands free 7pm Songsalive!: Dennis Aubrey @Newtown RSL free 7pm Songsalive!: Under the Purple Tree and guests Henry Lawson Club, Werrington County free 7.30pm

COUNTRY

A Tribute to Johnny Cash: Stuart French, Daniel Thompson Brass Monkey, Cronulla $23.50 7pm

HIP HOP

Koolism, Kai Fresh, School of Thought Melt Bar, Kings Cross $17 (+ bf) 8pm V.I.P. Thursdays: Alphamama The Gaelic Hotel, Surry Hills $10 9pm

FRIDAY DECEMBER 10 ROCK & POP

2 Of Hearts Hawkesbury Hotel, Windsor free 7.45pm Akinga Rooty Hill RSL Club 8pm AM 2 PM Blacktown RSL Club free 8pm An Intimate Space: The Church Lizotte’s Restaurant, Lambton $39 (show only)–$104.50 (dinner & show) 7pm Barnstorming Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm

Belles Will Ring, Guineafowl, Magnetic Heads Hotel Gearin, Katoomba $12 (+ bf) 8pm Best of the Locals: Rapids, One Jonathan, Baba O’Riley Annandale Hotel $8 (at door) 7.30pm Botanics, Costa Rae, The DynoMics, Mardi Pannan Manly Fisho’s $10 8pm Brown Sugar Marble Bar, Sydney free 9.30pm Carols By The Tree: Ninety Nine & a Half Darling Harbour Convention Centre Forecourt, Sydney free 7pm Dave Trice & Stray Roots Jolly Frog Hotel, Windsor $10 (at door) 9pm Ekklesia, The Dead Will Tell Live at the Wall, Leichhardt 8pm El Guincho (Spain) Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $40 (+ bf) 8pm Elevation U2 Show Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Friday Night Live Miranda Hotel free 9pm Genevieve Chadwick, John Hill, Cora James, Vicky Turner The Manly Fig $10–$13 7.30pm Gentle Ben & His Sensitive Side, The Holy Soul Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $12 8pm Heatwave Goodgod Small Club, Sydney 8pm Highway To Hell Revesby Heights Ex-Servicemen’s Memorial Club free 8.30pm Hot Water Music (USA), Bouncing Souls (USA), Dave Hause, Grand Fatal Metro Theatre, Sydney $43 (+ bf) 8pm Hue Williams Tall Timbers Hotel, Ourimbah free 6pm Ignition Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm

Bouncing Souls

Kim Churchill, Justin Carter & Ashleigh Mannix Cafe Church Glebe $15 7pm Knife Fight (USA), Iron Mind, White Male Dumbinance, Had It, Vigilante, Fistmouth The Valve, Tempe free 7pm Laughing Outlaw Christmas Party: Perry Keyes, Bek-Jean Stewart, The Rumjacks, LJ Hill, Jason Walker, Transat, Hailer, Brian Estepa Notes Live, Enmore $19.90 7pm Laura Jean, Jenny Hval The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $15.30 (presale) 8pm Looking Through A Glass Onion: John Waters, Stewart D’Arrietta Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $75 (conc)–$99 7.45pm Matt Seaberg Great Southern Hotel, Central free Muddy Feet Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Mum: LIVE - Pop Strangers, The Dead Heads, Brothers, Long Island Sound, Leeroy MacQueen & The Gussets, Bare Grillz, Tierra Outlaws, Fake Wars, DJs Walkie Talkie, Animal Chin, Shag, Glen Be Trippin, Kapow, Jack Shit, 10th Avenue, Mush, Robbie B World Bar, Kings Cross $15 10pm

Muse (UK), Biffy Clyro (Scotland) Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $109.90 (presale)–$129.90 7pm New Millenium Auburn Hotel free 7.30pm Purple Sneakers: Straight Arrows DJs, Indian Summer, PhDJ, M.I.T, Ben Lucid, Fantomatique, James Lillicot Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale free 7pm Red Bee, Five Star Prison Cell, Nobody Knew They Were Robots, Mish Gearin Hotel, Katoomba $12 8pm Rip It Up Eastern Suburbs Legion Club, Waverley free 8pm Rock Factor Long Jetty Hotel free 7.30pm Skipping Girl Vinegar, Daniel Lee Kendall Fusebox, The Factory Theatre, Enmore $15 (+ bf) 8pm Sosueme Xmas Extravaganza: The Jezabels, Sampology, The Protectors, Pluto Jonze, Rapids, The Holidays DJs, Sosueme DJs Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $15 (presale)–$20 (at door) 8pm Steve Edmonds The Belrose Hotel free 8.30pm

WWW.THEGAELIC.COM

wed

08 Dec

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

thu

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

09 Dec

OPEN 10AM- 4PM

$10 - $15 MEALS

$5 PINTS @5

SUNDAY NPL POKER

MONDAY I 90’s

TUESDAY ROCKSTEIN

2PM - FREE ENTRY - CASH PRIZES

7PM - DRINKS SPECIALS + DJ’s

7PM - MUSIC & MOVIE TRIVA

fri

10

WED 08 DEC

Dec

(5:00PM - 8:00PM)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Dec

THU 09 DEC

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

sat

NHOMEA + JULIA WHY? + LYYAR + GHASTLY SPATS

(9:15PM - 1:00AM)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

11

FREE ENTRY

THE STUDY presents

V.I.P. THURSDAYS PARTY

ft ALPHAMAMA + DJ TICKELZ + DJ LOPEZ

sun

SATURDAY NIGHT

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

12 Dec

FRI 10 DEC

SUNDAY NIGHT

SAT 11 DEC

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

EL GUINCHO + CATCALL + MEGASTICK FANFARE

THE FIELD + MARK PRITCHARD + DOMEYKO / GONZALEZ COMING SOON

WED 15 DEC

DEREB THE AMBASSADOR

THU 16 DEC

ALPHAMAMA

SAT 18 DEC

MISS ALTERNATIVE NSW

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 57

gig guide

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

Linkin Park

Stolen Youth Town Hall Hotel, Newtown 8pm Stone Parade Caringbah Bizzo’s 8pm Stormcellar Kurnell Recreation Club free 8pm Street Music Festival The Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle free 6.30pm That 1 Guy (USA), Mr Percival The Factory Theatre, Enmore $25 (+ bf) 8pm The 3 B’s Show Club Macquarie, Argenton 8pm The Australian Pink Show Warners Bay Hotel free 10.30pm The Beautiful Girls, The Chemist The Attic, Mona Vale Hotel $30 (+ bf) 8pm The Deer Republic Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm The Flaming Stars Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville free 9pm The Foreign Objects, Calling All Cars Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle West 8pm The Green Day Show Bomaderry Hotel 9pm The Kylie Show Cronulla Sharks free 9pm The Maristians Rag and Famish Hotel, North Sydney free 8pm The Poor, Black Label Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm Tim Freedman Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why 8pm Two Minds Customs House Bar, Sydney free 7pm Zoltan Pittwater RSL Club, Mona Vale free 7.30pm

JAZZ

Bandaluzia Flamenco 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm Bridge City Jazz Band Club Ashfield free 7.30pm Full Swing Quartet Lane Cove Golf & Country Club, Northwood free 7.30pm James Morrison The Basement, Circular Quay 8pm Pianoman Cruise Restaurant, The Rocks free 10pm Susan Gai Dowling Duo Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7.30pm The Half Nelson The View Factory, Newcastle free 7pm The Rocks Markets by Moonlight: Pugsley Buzzard, Taylor and the Makers The Rocks Market free 6pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Acoustic Music Evenings: Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music Band Thirning Villa, Ashfield free 6.30pm Chris Arnott Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 8pm

HIP HOP

Neon: Softwar Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm

COUNTRY

Macarthur Country Music Club Wests Campbelltown Tennis Club, Leumeah free 7.30pm

SATURDAY DECEMBER 11 ROCK & POP

031 Rockshow Peachtree Hotel, Penrith free 9pm 112, Merv Mac, Big Ka$h, Miss Bernie Love, Lazy J, Big Guy Litte Guy Arthouse Hotel, Sydney $40 (+ bf) 9pm 2days Hits Penrith RSL free 9pm A Day on the Green: The Pretenders (UK/USA), Blondie (USA), Little Red, Adalita Bimbadgen Estate, Pokolbin $110 (show only)–$395 (dinner & show) 4pm Anna Salleh’s Bossa Boots The Harbour Bar, Park Hyatt free 8pm Barnstorming, What U Need INXS Show Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown free Biffy Clyro (Scotland) The Factory Theatre, Enmore $44 (+ bf) 8pm Black List Rock Club: Virginia Killstyxx, Neon Heart, Sunset Riot Notes Live, Enmore $10 (+ bf)–$15 (at door) 8pm Bon Jovi The Show Burwood RSL Club $15 (at door) 8pm Carols By The Tree: The Hollys Darling Harbour Convention Centre Forecourt, Sydney free 7pm Chartbusters Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 9.30pm ChromeFest: John Ryan, The Elvis Aaron Tribute Show Memorial Park, The Entrance free 3pm Club Kooky Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $20 (at door) 8pm Cover 2 Cover Newcastle Panthers, Newcastle West free 8.30pm Creedence & Beyond Blacktown RSL Club free 10pm Debbie Newsome Toukley RSL Club free 8pm Dragon Lizotte’s Restaurant, Lambton $42 (show only)–$101.50 (dinner & show) 7pm Dylan Drew Royal Cricketers Arms, Prospect free 7pm Electric Mary, Nat Col & the Kings, Contraband Annandale Hotel $15 (+ bf) 7.30pm Eucalypso Wickham Park Hotel, Islington 8pm Firebird Matraville RSL Club free 8pm Freddie Mercury - The Music of Queen: Craig Pesco Lyric Theatre, Star City, Pyrmont 8pm Go Roll Your Bones, Zeahorse, Dark Bells, Spirit Valley Spectrum, Darlinghurst 8pm Helm, sleepmakeswaves, Adrift For Days, Vangate Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $12 8pm Hermitude Tone, Surry Hills 9pm Hit Selection Duo

Paddy Maguires, Haymarket free 9.30pm Jack Johnson (USA), Tegan & Sara (Canada), Ash Grunwald The Domain, Sydney $95 (+ bf) 7pm Joey Cape (USA), Will Wagner, Jen Buxton Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $15 (+ bf) 8pm Johnny G & The E-Types Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Juice, Davey Hilder Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach $15 (+ bf) 8pm Keith Armitage Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Kim Churchil, Justin Carter & Ashleigh Mannix Grand Junction Hotel Maitland free 7pm Linkin Park (USA) Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $102 (silver)–$132 (gold) 8pm Looking Through A Glass Onion: John Waters, Stewart D’Arrietta Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $75 (conc)–$99 7.45pm Martin Mulholland The Belrose Hotel free 8.30pm Matt Corby The View Factory, Newcastle free 8pm Millennium Bug RG McGees Hotel, Richmond free 9.30pm Original Sin INXS Show Oatley Hotel free 8pm Phil Spiller Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 8pm Potbelleez Selina’s – Coogee Bay Hotel $10 8pm Radio City Cats Marble Bar, Sydney free 10.30pm Ray Ray Ray and the Jetsons The Great Northern Hotel Newcastle free 9pm Reverend Horton Heat (USA), The Snowdroppers, La Mancha Negra, Black Cherry DJs Metro Theatre, Sydney $60 (+ bf) 7.30pm Rockbox Jolly Frog Hotel, Windsor free 9pm Ryde, Zane Penn Queens Wharf Brewery, Newcastle free 3pm Sean Coffin, John Harkins Freeway Hotel, Artarmon free 7pm SFX: Black Asylum, Daysend St James Hotel, Sydney $10–$12 8pm Sons of Mercy Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Sound Stream Brighton RSL Club, Brighton-LeSands free 8pm Steve Edmonds Band George Tavern East Maitland free 8.30pm Stormcellar Pendle Hill Inn free 8pm Syko Sapien, Under The 8 Ball, Pecking Order, Simulacra, Pulseffect, Vendetta of The Fallen The Valve, Tempe free 7pm Take 2 Newport Arms Hotel free 7.30pm Teen Wolves: Deez Nuts, Louie Knuxx (New Zealand), Phantoms Glasshouse Bar, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo $12–$15 8pm The 3 B’s Show Pittwater RSL Club, Mona Vale 8pm The Australian Pink Show Diggers @ The Entrance free 8.30pm The Decline, Chris Duke & The Royals, Easy Company, Dividers, Running Bear With Eagle Eye, Indelierium The Valve, Tempe free 1pm The Field (Sweden), Mark Pritchard, Harmonic 313, Domeyko/Gonzalez Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $40 (+ bf) 9pm The Green Day Show Kiama Leagues Club free 8.30pm The Ivys, The Ruminaters, Static Silhouettes, Hattie Carol The Attic, Mona Vale Hotel $12 (+ bf) 8pm The Nevilles Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm The Oh Boy Buddy Holly Show: Paul McCann

Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, West Ryde $17 (member)–$20 8pm Toe To Toe, Deathcage, Westside Hustlers Hermann’s, Darlington $15 8pm Velvet Hotel Cronulla Sharks free 8.30pm Yae!Tiger, Little Lovers Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Zoltan Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL free 10pm

JAZZ

Monique Di Mattina 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 5pm Pugsley Buzzard Clarendon Guest House, Katoomba 8pm Sally Street Trio Sean’s Kitchen, Sydney free 6pm Show Stoppers, Enormous Horns, Dreamgirls The Grand Ballroom, Bankstown Sports Club $70 6.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie, Paul Furniss, Tony Burkys, Bob Gillespie Penrith RSL free 2pm

COUNTRY

Tamara Stewart Macquarie Arms Hotel, Windsor free 2pm

HIP HOP

Thundamentals, Larykan Manly Fisho’s $15 8pm

SUNDAY DECEMBER 12 ROCK & POP

Ash Grunwald Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle $22.80 7.30pm A Carnies Christmas Party: Waiting for Guinness, Mojo Juju, Nigel Date Trio, My Sauce Good, Ivy Ireland, Plus 555 DJs, Trevor Brown The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $20–$25 7pm Acoustic Lounge: Luke Escombe Cafe Lounge Surry Hills free 6pm Blues Show: Tic Toc The Valve, Tempe free 7pm Blues Sunday: Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 8pm Carols By The Tree: The Hollys Darling Harbour Convention Centre Forecourt, Sydney free 7pm ChromeFest: Tezza & The Twistops, DJ Vinny Memorial Park, The Entrance free 9am Colours of the Soul: The Sydney Youth Orchestra Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music $42 3pm Dragon, Halfway to Forth Lizotte’s Restaurant, Lambton $42 (show only)–$101.50 (dinner & show) 7pm Dubwise Up, Junk, Sunset Retirement Club Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $10 5pm Dylan Drew Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor free 5.30pm Fiona L. Jones Harbord Beach Hotel free 6pm Floyd Vincent and the Childbrides Wickham Park Hotel free 5.30pm Grant Robinson Palace Hotel, Darlinghurst free 2pm Green Day Show Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Highway To Hell Bateau Bay Hotel free 3pm Hold Your Own (AA): Stand For The Fallen, Lost In The Moment, City Falls, Absolution, Days Gone By, Never Back Down, Armour of Misery Lucky Australian Tavern St Marys $15

Hope FM Live Broadcast: Naiigre, Jon Casimir Notes Live, Enmore $14 (+ bf)–$16 (at door) 7pm In Pieces Peachtree Hotel, Penrith free 2pm Jaaw Fubah on Copa, Copacabana free 2pm Kym Churchill, Ashleigh Mannix, Carter Rollins, Suri K Queens Wharf Brewery, Newcastle free 2pm Looking Through A Glass Onion: John Waters, Stewart D’Arrietta Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $75 (conc)–$99 4pm Matt Seaberg The Mill Hotel, Milperra free 3pm Mick On Wheels Macquarie Arms Hotel, Windsor free 2pm Nick Andrews Charing Cross Hotel, Waverley free 5.30pm Rockin the Kasbah The Gaff, Darlinghurst free 5pm School Of Rock Showcase The Valve, Tempe free 1pm Soul Patrol, Adam Katz, Benny Vibes Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee free 4pm Steve Edmonds (solo) Balgownie Hotel free 2.30pm Sunday Chill: Kate Gogarty Newport Arms Hotel free 3pm Sunday Sessions Miranda Hotel free 4pm The Radiators, Big Ben Heathcote Hotel $12.50 4pm The Sunday NiceUp!: Reality Chant (NZ), Rebel Bass, Meem, DJ Ability Beach Road Hotel, Bondi $15 8pm Tim Pringle New Bayview Hotel, Woy Woy free 3.30pm Toykidz Doof Doof: Toydeath, Matt Stegh, Dully Doof, Hoola Hoops The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $5–$10 1pm Twitcho Long Jetty Hotel free 2pm U2 Elevation Acoustic Show The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm Watussi Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm

JAZZ

Club Jazz Velluto Champagne and Wine Lounge, Potts Point free 6.30pm Janet Seidel Rocksalt, Menai free 12pm Mal Gatt Latin Jazz Trio The Entrance Sails Stage free 11am Paul Sun, Ray Martin, Monique Lysiak Addison Road Community Centre, Marrickville free 12pm Unity Hall Jazz Band Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 2pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Ash Grunwald, PJ Kevo and the Do, Elephant Funk The Great Northern Hotel Newcastle $20 6pm Cafe Carnivale: Jorge Campano, Rasa & Duende Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $22 (member)–$28 3.30pm Nicki Gillis, Bryen Willems The Oaks Hotel 3.30pm Satellite V Marrickville Bowling and Recreation Club free 8pm Songsalive!: Russell Neal and guests Avalon Beach RSL Club free 6.30pm

COUNTRY

Greater Southern Country Music Association Bomaderry RSL free (member) 1pm Merilyn Steele Campbelltown RSL free 12pm Merilyn Steele Landsdowne Hotel, Darlington free 6pm Northern Beaches Country Music Club Balgowlah RSL Club, Seaforth free (member) 1pm

“I may make you feel but I can’t make you think. Your sperm’s in the gutter your love’s in the sink.” - JETHRO TULL 58 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

gig picks

SIDESHOW WEDNESDAYS

up all night out all week...

Broadcast

TUESDAY DECEMBER 7 Peacebeliever Tribute to John Lennon: Fergus Brown, Sui Zhen, Winter People, Preachers, WIM, Hero Fisher, Herb Armstrong (USA) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10 (+ bf)–$15 (at door) 8pm The Fall (UK), Dave Graney Metro Theatre, Sydney $55 (+ bf) 8pm

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8 Broadcast (UK), Seekae, Pikelet The Forum Theatre, Moore Park $42 (+ bf) 8pm Girls (USA), Deep Sea Arcade, Step-Panther Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $39.80 (presale) 8pm

Jebediah, The Novocaines, Giraffe Season Annandale Hotel $22 (+ bf) 8pm Straight Arrows, Whores Goodgod Small Club, Sydney 8pm

FRIDAY DECEMBER 10 El Guincho (Spain) Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $40 (+ bf) 8pm Laughing Outlaw Christmas Party: Perry Keyes, Bek-Jean Stewart, The Rumjacks, LJ Hill, Jason Walker, Transat, Hailer, Brian Estepa Notes Live, Enmore $19.90 7pm Sosueme Xmas Extravaganza: The Jezabels, Sampology,

The Protectors, Pluto Jonze, Rapids, The Holidays DJs, Sosueme DJs Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $15 (+bf) –$20 (on door) 8pm The Beautiful Girls, The Chemist The Attic, Mona Vale Hotel $30 (+ bf) 8pm

+ GUINEAFOWL + JAIME ROBBIE-REYNE

SATURDAY DECEMBER 11 Jack Johnson (USA), Tegan & Sara (Canada), Ash Grunwald The Domain, Sydney $95 (+ bf) 4pm The Reverend Horton Heat (USA), The Snowdroppers, La Mancha Negra, Black Cherry DJs Metro Theatre, Sydney $60 (+ bf) 7.30pm

Jagermeister Annandale Christmas Party: Urthboy, Stickyfingers, Daily Meds, Massema Annandale Hotel free 8pm Sideshow: Cloud Control, Guineafowl, Jaime Robbie-Reyne Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm

THURSDAY DECEMBER 9 78 Saab, Peabody, Vegan Mosquitos Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $13 (+bf) 8pm

The Reverend Horton Heat

Straight Arrows

COMING SOON CHASE THE WINTER + BONDI JAM + SIMON PAPARO 7TH DEC JUICE 11TH DEC REALITY CHANT[NZ] + REBEL BASS + MEEM + DJ ABILITY 12TH DEC

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 59

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

club pick of the week

FRIDAY DECEMBER 10

Act Yo Age

World Bar, Kings Cross

Wham's 5th Birthday

James Curd, Act Yo Age, Like Woah, James Taylor, Illya, Ro Sham Bo, Garry Todd, Kato, Wax Motif, Disco Punx, Ben Korbel Vs Kerry Wallace, Negghead, Telefunken Vs Matt Weir, Will Styles, Foundation Vs Ben Dunlop, Temnein, Generic DJs $15 before 10pm, $20 after MONDAY DECEMBER 6 Empire Hotel, Potts Point Bazaar HBK, I Low free Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills I Love 90s DJ Alloy, Grumpy Gramps free before 10pm / $5 after One World Sport, Parramatta Ricky Ro free Soho, Kings Cross Comedown free The Basement, Circular Quay Prinnie, King Farook, Trey $10 (+ bf)–$58.80 (dinner & show) World Bar, Kings Cross Mondays at World Bar Ooh Face, Hot Carl and friends

TUESDAY DECEMBER 7 Xxx Cruise Bar, Circular Quay DCE Salsa Lessons $20 Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel DJs Willie Sabor and Guests free 60 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

Martin Place Bar, Sydney Louis M, Sammy free Oatley Hotel Suburban Alternative DJ Mini Mullet Free The Valve, Tempe Underground Tables Disco Rossco, Grand Wizard, Gee Whiz, Benji World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic Karaoke, DJs Shipwreck, Cris Angel, M.I.T.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8 Bank Hotel, Newtown Girls’ Night Beth Yen free Cruise Bar, Circular Quay Rockstar free Establishment, Sydney Mid Week Hurdle Nic Phillips, Craig Patterson free Gasworks Nightclub, Albion Hotel, Parramatta DJ Fresh free Goldfish, Kings Cross The Salsa Lounge Latin Mafia Sound System free GOODGOD Small Club, Haymarket Dancing In The Dark Sarah McLeod $15

Q Bar, Darlinghurst Paradise City Ronnie Rocker, El Mariachi Sly Fox, Enmore Queer Central Sveta, DJ Beth, DJ Bel free The Annandale Hotel, Annandale Jagermeister Annandale Christmas Party Urthboy, Stickyfingers, Daily Meds, Massema 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 ‘Invest in Dreams’: 30 new paintings by artist Lewie JPD + DJs free

THURSDAY DECEMBER 9 202 Broadway, Chippendale Basic Foreign Dub, Headroom, Space is the Place, Void 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 Dug Out Bar, Burdekin Hotel Speakeasy Magda, Dave Fernandes Empire Hotel, Potts Point Episodes DJ Schoder, Wanted, Zahra, Jason K, Johar free Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills V.I.P Thursdays Tikelz, Moto, J Lyrikz, Naiki, Rkayz, Mistah Cee $10 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 LO-FI, Darlinghurst Hamish Rosser, Bad Wives Mansions, Kings Cross Van Sereno and Cavan Te live on rotation free Martin Place Bar, Martin Place Thursdays at MPB Louis M free Melt Bar, Kings Cross Koolism, Kai Fresh, School of Thought $17 Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn! DJ Sarah Spandex, Mark C, Heart Attack $10–$12 Sapphire Suite, Kings Cross Flaunt Nacho Pop, Diaz, Eko, Tom Piper, R-Son, Zero Cool free The Argyle Hotel, Rocks Husky & Yogi free Tone, Surry Hills Loop Thursdays Simon Caldwell, Jimmi James $30 World Bar, Kings Cross Teenage Kicks Urby, Johnny Segment, Monkey Genius, Jamie Robbie Rayne & Mike O’Dowd free

Koolism

FRIDAY DECEMBER 10 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Neon Softwar (Modular) free Chinese Laundry, Sydney The Audiophilez, Ritual, D-Funk, Frenzie, Derty Rich, Murda 1, Fire & Whitey, Slice $15 before 11pm & $20 after Civic Underground, Sydney Plus One Thomas Schumacher, Murat Kilic, Rifraf $10-$15 Collector Hotel, Parramatta Corner Shop Tikelz, DJ Browski, J Lyrikz, Naughty, Gunz free Establishment Hotel Carnival La Fiesta Sound System and Special Guest DJs all night free Fanny’s of Newcastle Foam Beach Party Amber Savage free for members Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale Purple Sneakers Straight Arrows DJs, Indian Summer, PhDJ, M.I.T, Ben Lucid, Fantomatique, James Lillicot $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 $35 (+ bf) Jacksons on George Ultimate Party Venue over 4 Floors Guest DJs free Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross Kid Kenobi & MC Shureshock $15 Kinselas, Taylor Square Toby Wilson free Kit & Kaboodle, Darlinghurst Falcona Fridays Falcona DJs, The Gameboys $10 Mansions, Kings Cross Nick Polly, Little Rich, Nick T, Stevie S, Adrian Allen free Martin Place Bar, Martin Place Jimmy Mac, Sammy free Melt Bar, Kings Cross Regrooved Slynk, Will Styles, Busta, Paul Master, Jpod, Temnein, Lok Stok $15 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 Reg Tee, Slip N Slide, Tony Shock Free Omega Lounge, Sydney Unwind Greg Summerfield, Matt Brunton free Urthboy

club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com onefiveone, Wollongong Dig Your Own Rave $5-$10 Opera Bar, Circular Quay Gian Arpino free Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Sosueme Christmas HoHo Down The Jezabels, Sampology, The Protectors, Pluto Jonze, Rapids, The Holidays DJ set, Mush $15 Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst Void Mark N, Elliot Marx, Mark Pritchard, Victim, Alf $15 Queens Wharf Brewery, Newcastle Adz, Matt Saxon, DJ E free Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Fridays Miss Match, Rob Morrish, Dave 54, Kate Monroe, Chiller $10 guestlist Shush, Enmore Borgore, Reality Chant, Filfth Collins, Low Society DJs, Foreigndub Crew 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 Tank Nightclub, Sydney RnB Superclub G Wizard, Def Rok, Troy T, Eko, Lilo, Jayson, Losty, Ben Morris, Matt Nukewood, Charlie Brown, Oakes & Lennox, Venuto, Adrian M The Argyle Hotel, Rocks John Devechis, Heidi, DJ BBG free The Loft, King Street Wharf Late at The Loft Somatik, Noel Boogie, Noodles, DJ Huwston, Meem, The Swat DJs, Lippo free

The Rouge, Kings Cross Hollywood Gossip NAD, Kyro, The Hump Day Project, Deckhead $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 Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Bring on the Weekend! Club Miami free

SATURDAY DECEMBER 11 Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo Trash DJ M!Veg, DJ Absynth $12 BB’s, Bondi Beach Wildlife Mesan, James Roberts, Adriano Giorgi, Dinesh Sundar, Matt Singmin, Chris Kyle free Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee Young Gun, Jay Royal, DJ Manni, Papa free Chinese Laundry, Sydney Tiefschwarz, Chris Fraser, Matttt, Spenda C, A-Tonez, Sam Scratch, Bella Sarris, Naiki, King Lee, Tom Yum $15-$25 Clarence Hotel, Petersham Caesars Sandy Bottom, Justin Scott, DJ Chip free Cricketer’s Arms, Surry Hills Pod War free Cruise Bar, Circular Quay Ben Vickers, Danni Presti 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 Empire Hotel/Plantations, Potts Point The Temple Alex K, Sunset Bros, Outsource, Rata, Steve Play, Andre Jay, Dk1, Wilz Frantic, Benino G, Blinky, ScottyO, Nick Nova, Danny P, Rath $15-20 Gasworks Nightclub, Albion Hotel, Parramatta DJs Matt Hoare and Andy Marc $10 Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills The Field (Sweden), Mark Pritchard, Harmonic 313, Domeyko/Gonzales $40+bf Goldfish, Kings Cross Abel, Tom Kelly, Phil Hudson, Ross Middleton on Sax free Home, 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 Ivy, Sydney Pure Ivy Helena, Beth Yen, Tass & Minx, Nat Conway, Mark Matthews, Graham Cordery, Liam Sampras & Kocho $20 Jacksons On George, Sydney Luna Lounge DJ Michael Stewart and Guest DJs free Kinselas, Taylor S quare Brynstar, Shaun Keble, Yin Yang, Beth Yen and Matt Hoare free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Elaine Benes, Gabby, Cassette,

Alison Wonderland free before 10pm, $10 after, members free all night.

Latin Motion Dance Academy, Sydenham Latin Christmas Concert Csaba & Gina, Mambo Master $25 Mansions, Kings Cross Reckless, Little Rich, Shaun Keeble, Nick Polly free Martin Place Bar, Sydney Bamboo Eko, Nude-E, Mirage, Shorty, Ace, Moto, Qrius, IllDJ $5 Melt Bar, Kings Cross WE LOVE US HOUSE The House Inspectors live, Random Soul, Laminex, Will Jax, 2 PHAT DJs, Matt Roberts v Emme Jay, Ant Best v Travis Hale $20 Newtown RSL Bass Drop Cyantific, Sigma & The Upbeats $24 Opera Bar, Circular Quay Krishna Jones free Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Trashbags DJ Atention $39.80 (presale) Q Bar, Darlinghurst Ghettodisco Isbjorn, Wacks, Masaki, E-Cats, Ross Kent, Paul Done, OBY1 $15 Randwick Labour Club Buena Vista Christmas Party $30–$45 Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney Shipwreck, Daniel Nall, Leon Pirello $10 after 10pm Soho, Potts Point Stafford Brothers, Timmy Trumpet, Tenzin, Ember, Benibee, John Glover free entry before 11pm Spectrum, Darlinghurst P*A*S*H Goldfoot, DJ Knife $7 St James Hotel, Sydney SFX DJs Bzurk, Snowflake

Clipse

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 Forbes Hotel, CBD We Love Indie We Love Indie DJs $10

DECEMBER

10 FRIDAY

STRAIGHT ARROWS DJ SET INDIAN SUMMER DJS PhDJ . M.I.T

FANTOMATIQUE . JANG

STRAIGHT ARROWS IT’S HAPPENING

GIVEAWAYS COURTESY OF RICE IS NICE

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 61

club guide

Deep Impressions

clubguide@thebrag.com The Forum Theatre, Moore Park The Likes of You: D25 DJ Carl Craig, Theo Parrish (USA), Moodymann (USA) $42.90 (early bird)–$65.50 (+ bf) The Gaff, Darlinghurst Johnny B free The Loft, King St Wharf Late at theloft Somatik, Noel Boogie, Noodles, DJ Huwston, Meem, The Swat DJs, Lippo The Manhattan Lounge, Martin Place Hushhh... DJ’s Stunna, Sonny, Special K $10 after 9pm The Mansion, Darlinghurst Wonderland Johnny B free before 10pm The Rouge, Kings Cross Le Rouge Guy Tarento, Francesco Daroit, Chris Fraser, Tim McGee $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 Tone, Surry Hills Hermitude, $18.40 Tonic Lounge, Kings Cross Tonic Saturdays Gian Arpino $15 Verandah Bar, Sydney The Booty Bar George B, Nasser T, Lenno, K Sera Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Skybar free World Bar, Kings Cross Wham 5th Birthday James Curd, Act Yo Age, Like Woah, James Taylor, Illya, Ro Sham Bo, Garry Todd, Kato, Wax Motif, Disco Punx, Ben Korbel Vs Kerry Wallace, Negghead, Telefunken Vs Matt Weir, Will Styles, Foundation Vs Ben Dunlop, Temnein, Generic DJs $15 before 10pm, $20 after

Underground Dance and Electronica with Chris Honnery

SUNDAY DECEMBER 12 Bank Hotel, Newtown DJ Murray Hood Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee Adam Katz, Benny Vibes, Soul Patrol free Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Nice Up Reality Chant (NZ), Rebel Bass (NZ), Meem, Ability free Collingwood Hotel, liverpool Michael Peter Colombian Hotel (Downstairs), Darlinghurst Hotrod Sunday Sandi Hotrod and guests free Colombian Hotel (Upstairs), Darlinghurst The Deep Disko Phil Hudson, Michael Wheatley, Mark Matthews, Vincent Sebastian free Docks Hotel, Darling Harbour Salsa Caliente Sabroson, DJ Vico 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 Turmspringer & RifRaf, Rikki Newton, Murat Kilic, Yokoo $20/$10 Ice Bar, Sydney The Kitsch Sound System, Phil Hudson, Chloe West, Mark Matthews free Jacksons on George Aphrodisiac Industry Night Guest DJs free

Kings Cross Hotel Jammin Sundays free Kinselas Hotel, Darlinghurst The Fifth Dimension free Kit and Kaboodle, Darlinghurst Easy Sunday $10 (at door) Metro Theatre, Sydney Clipse (USA), Levins, Wax Motif $55 (+ bf) 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 The Argyle Hotel, Rocks Charley Bo Funk, DJ BBG free The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross Soul On Sunday Nino Brown, Don Juan free The Forbes Hotel, Sydney Church Of Techno Defined

by Rhythm, Rob Zobec, Altay Altin, Vinae, Shepz $10 The Rouge, Kings Cross Cheap Thrill$ 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 Tone, Surry Hills Evidence, Total Eclipse $33 Trademark Hotel, Darlinghurst Soul on Sunday Nino Brown, Don Juan Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Afternoon DJs DJ Matt Roberts free World Bar, Kings Cross Fortune! Disco Punx $15

club picks up all night out all week...

THURSDAY DECEMBER 9 Melt Bar, Kings Cross Koolism, Kai Fresh, School of Thought $17

FRIDAY DECEMBER 10 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Neon Softwar (Modular) Free Chinese Laundry, Sydney The Audiophilez, Ritual, D-Funk, Frenzie, Derty Rich, Murda 1, Fire & Whitey, Slice $15 before 11pm & $20 after Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross Kid Kenobi & MC Shureshock $15

The Field Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst Void Mark N, Elliot Marx, Mark Pritchard, Victim, Alf $15

(USA), Moodymann (USA) $42.90 (early bird)–$65.50 (+ bf)

SATURDAY DECEMBER 11

Q Bar, Darlinghurst Ghettodisco Isbjorn, Wacks, Masaki, E-Cats, Ross Kent, Paul Done, OBY1 $15

Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills The Field (Sweden), Mark Pritchard, Harmonic 313, Domeyko/Gonzales $40+bf

Moodymann

62 :: BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10

The Forum Theatre, Moore Park The Likes of You: D25 DJ Carl Craig, Theo Parrish

Tone, Surry Hills Hermitude, $18.40

SUNDAY DECEMBER 12 Metro Theatre, Sydney Clipse (USA), Levins, Wax Motif $55 (+ bf)

Konrad Black

S

o this is the week. The big week. The week of D25. The week of the third annual Pirates of the Underground boat party. The week of The Field. All on Saturday. Can you combine them?

Perhaps. Can you do all three properly?

Probably not. But you can’t lose, whatever option you choose. To recap: D25 at The Forum offers Moodymann, Theo Parrish and Carl Craig celebrating 25 years of Detroit techno; the pirate cruise features the German duos Extrawelt and Heinrichs & Hirtenfellner (with a warehouse after party going well into the morning); while The Field is Axel Willner throwing down at The Gaelic. The red pill, the blue pill or the Willner pill?

Looking further ahead by a single whopping week, new club brand ‘Organic’ launches in grand fashion on Saturday December 18 with an exclusive Sydney set from Wagon Repair’s Konrad Black.

Better yet, this will be a BYO affair that also features visuals courtesy of Mr. Nathan Garnett and will be held at Sun Studios in Alexandria, away from the riffraff of Kings Cross et al. For anyone who isn’t so well acquainted with Konrad, or ‘Todd’ as he goes by to his friends and groupies, here’s the bluffer’s guide: Black has released a number of top-drawer cuts over the years on labels like Wagon Repair and Minus, namely ‘Medusa Smile’ and ‘Draconia’, though he’s best known for his funked-up remix of Snax’s ‘Honeymoon’s Over’ – a panty-dropper if ever there was. He’s also reworked the likes of Tiga, Audion and Martini Brös, and mixed an instalment in the Watergate compilation series, which affirms his standing in the pantheon of tech DJs. Support is headed by one of Melbourne’s finest, Mike Callander, whose name is often – and not incorrectly – bandied about when people discuss Australia’s leading DJs (a regular topic at cafés on Saturday mornings no doubt).

The Washington DC duo Benoit & Sergio, one half of whom (Sergio) also records with Berlin-based Canadian Ryan Crosson under the Birds and Souls moniker, are gearing up to release a new EP, Where the Freaks Have No Name, in January. The EP will be the inaugural release on the Visionquest label, the immaculate conception from the titillating triumvirate of Seth Troxler, Lee Curtiss and Shaun Reeves. Benoit & Sergio have already made an impression on the club cognoscenti with their previous releases – most recently the singles ‘Midnight People’ on Spectral Sound and ‘What I’ve Lost’.

Diatribe described Bruno Pronsato’s remix of the latter cut as “brooding…

Pronsato transforms the upbeat original into a different beast altogether, with the antecedent’s romanticism displaced by a solipsistic introspection”... Let’s leave it there; seems like word salad to me. Those of you who want to read the full loquacious rant should head to the Spank Records blog; I recommend it for people who enjoy, and also for those who dislike, this column.

(It will take your contempt to higher levels.)

LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY DECEMBER 11

D25 Ft Carl Craig & Moodymann The Forum Pirates of The Underground ft Extrawelt Boat Party The Field The Gaelic Club

SATURDAY 18 DECEMBER Konrad Black Sun Studios

The Field

Damian Lazarus’ techno-cum-house hub Crosstown Rebels is already gearing up for its first release of the New Year, courtesy of Brooklyn’s Deniz Kurtel. The relative newcomer, who has remixed No Regular Play and put out an EP, will drop a two-song 12” featuring a fresh cut, ‘The L Word’, in January. On the flip side of the record you’ll find Guy Gerber’s remix, a track that purportedly sounds something like “Four Tet crossed with Moodymann” – not to talk it up or anything. The release precedes Kurtel’s debut full-length artist album for Crosstown Rebels, Music Watching Over Me, which is set to drop sometime in February. Fans of Kurtel and Lazarus should already know that the latter is playing the next AGWA boat cruise on Saturday February 5, along with label mates Art Department. But there’s plenty of time to think about that. For now, you have to sort out your plan for Saturday…

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com.

Soul Sedation

Soul, Dub, Hip Hop & Bottom-heavy Beats with Tony Edwards

Arrested Development 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.

11-piece I Like It Like That Orchestra with their Brazilian beats, Latin soul and funk flavours, and DJ support from Russ Dewbury. It happens on January 9. And in further nostalgia: those US positivity cats Arrested Development will be holding down the Becks Bar Stage the following night, January 10, with Last Kinection on support.

Opiou

H

opefully work is winding down for you this time of year, just as the party is winding up. Soul Sedation will be recovering from the Subsonic Music Festival as you read this. Expect deity-worshipping-flavoured “journalism” in next week’s column, probably largely surrounding what I’m anticipating will be another mind-melting set from Melbourne breakbeat producer Opiou.

In new music: DJ Soulist and Gilles P favourite Fulgeance team up on another one of their Souleance projects. The Soupape EP is loaded with Brazilian flavours, breaks and boogie vibes. It’s out on the First Word label, without a doubt one of this year’s brightest shining music factories.

DJ Asparagus is back with a 12” on Gamm. ‘Open Ur Eyes/100Ways (Disco Version)’ is a re-work of Bobby Caldwell’s feelgood soul anthem ‘Open Your Eyes’.

Asparagus’ version ups the tempo so you can drop it unexpectedly in your house or disco sets. Also features the butter-smooth grooves of James Ingram’s ‘100 Ways’, for all the soul heads out there.

Todd Terje has been back in the studio – hang on, does he ever leave it? – whipping up an edit of Isaac Hayes’ ‘Zeke The Freak’. The phrase “maximum dancefloor impact” is being bandied around. Speaking of Isaac Hayes, what a legend...

Soul Sedation brings you The Playground Weekender second line-up – exposed: Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Mad Professor, Trus Me, Marc de Clive Lowe, Lorn, Electric Empire and Rephrase.

Dub, breaks, soul, future beat and disco!

Epic. Party. Man. Some tickets you might want to think about getting your hands on: as you’d expect, tickets are reportedly moving real fast for the Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke, Gaslamp Killer, Dam Funk gig in early January. Niche have advised there’s 150 odd left - no doubt less by the time this goes to print.

Friday January 28 will see man of the moment Aloe Blacc and his band The Grand Scheme, plus Benji B, Wajeed and Africa Hi-tech, all packing into the Becks Festival Bar. This column is predicting a night to remember.

Nashville native Charles Walker will be fronting funk/soul outfit The Dynamites in a nod to vintage 60s sounds. Walker, in his day, opened for all sorts of our favourite old soulers, like JB himself and Wilson Pickett. On support duty is the

ON THE ROAD FRI DEC 10 Hermitude Tone

FRI JAN 7

Fly Lo, Hud Mo, Dam Funk, GLK The Forum

SUN JAN 9 Mos Def Enmore Theatre

FRI FEB 18

Kool & The Gang, Roy Ayers Enmore Theatre

SAT FEB 19

Mayer Hawthorne & The County Manning Bar

FEB 17 - 20

Playground Weekender Wiseman’s Ferry

WED MARCH 16

Horace Andy & Dub Asante The Metro

Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com BRAG :: 391:: 06:12:10 :: 63

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pharoahe monch

:: The Metro Theatre :: 624 George St City 92642666

billabong design for humanity

starfuckers

PICS :: AM

23:11:10 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

11:11:10 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

the wall

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teenage kicks

PICS :: TT

27:11:10 :: Club 77 :: 77 William St Kings Cross 93613387

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metronomy

inertia 10th birthday

23:11:10 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711 64 :: BRAG :: 391: 06:12:10

PICS :: TL

24:11:10 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

25:11:10 :: Tone Venue :: 116 Wentworth Ave Surry Hills

) :: ASH LEY MAR :: TOM S : TIM LEV Y (HEA D HON CHO OUR LOV ELY PHOTOG RAP HER IEL MUN NS :: ROS ETT E ROU HAN NA TRA MON TE :: SUSAN BUI :: DAN

PICS :: TL

26:11:10

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up all night out all week . . .

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hot damn

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up all night out all week . . .

cargo's 10th b'day

PICS :: AM

25:11:10 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

chinese laundry

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25:11:10 :: Cargo Bar :: 52 - 60 The Promenade King Street Wharf 92621777

smirnoff nightlife exchange 27:11:10

PICS :: AM

27:11:10 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958

:: The Metro Theatre :: 624 George St City 92642666

It’s called: NYE @ The Palace It sounds like: Funk, hip hop, house, party breaks Who’s spinning? Beni (Modular) Anna Lunoe , Nick Thayer, Emily Scott, FREW, SureCut Kids (QLD) Snob Scrilla, KIDM AC (live), Funktrust DJs, and more!

Sell it to us: The lineup, the location - if this was a cut of meat it would be a Grade A: premium. Partygoers will be treate d to one of the most varied and quality lineups to hit Sydney this summer, sprea d across three huge levels.

The Palace’s famous balcony will also provid e the perfect location to watch the stunning Coogee fireworks and take in the fi rst gasps of 2011 summer air.

Three records that’ll rock the floor: ‘My Love Sees You’ – Beni; ‘Super Too Short’ - Nick Thayer; ‘Hear tbreak Scorsese’ - Snob Scrilla.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: “DAAA AAAMMN”, ...and/or “please let this be a dream”...

Crowd specs: People who like Awesome.

Wallet damage: 30 bucks Where: Beach Palace, Coogee When: NYE

dnb bbq 27:11:10

PICS :: AM

party profile

NYE @ The Palace

:: Manning Bar :: @ Sydney Uni City Rd Chippendale 95636107

) :: ASH LEY MAR :: TOM S : TIM LEV Y (HEA D HON CHO OUR LOV ELY PHOTOG RAP HER IEL MUN NS :: ROS ETT E ROU HAN NA TRA MON TE :: SUSAN BUI :: DAN

BRAG :: 391 :: 06:12:10 :: 65

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puma after hours golf

soul power

PICS :: TT

26:11:10 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

25:11:10 :: Roller Warehouse :: 6 Lacey Street, Surry Hills, 92817808

dj krush

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mum

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up all night out all week . . .

26:11:10 :: The Basement :: 29 Relby Place Circul;ar Quay 92512797

gaga ohh la la

PICS :: TL

26:11:10 :: Tone Venue :: 116 Wentworth Ave Surry Hills

26:11:10 :: The Basement :: 29 Relby Place Circul;ar Quay 92512797

27:11:10 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700 ) :: ASH LEY MAR :: TOM S : TIM LEV Y (HEA D HON CHO OUR LOV ELY PHOTOG RAP HER IEL MUN NS :: ROS ETT E ROU HAN NA TRA MON TE :: SUSAN BUI :: DAN

66 :: BRAG :: 391: 06:12:10

party profile

wham

PICS :: DM

Hopscotch It’s called: The Launch of Hopscotch It sounds like: A house party in a club; the Amazon; super fun party jams; your mother’s scream when you go on your first date.

DJs: Light Year (Bang Gang 12 Inches), Beni (Kitsune), Indian Summer (Melb), 3Hundreds Vs Jamie Whaat?, Awkward Boys, 14th Minute, Chevy Bass, Three Fingers, Jordan F, Cunning Hunters, Matt Sav, Nick Walsh.

Sell it to us: Bringing Oxford St back to its old days, Hopscotch is like an outrageous house party, in the middle of the city. Pretty much anything goes; we're pushing eclectic, eccentric and just fun in general. Expect big local and international acts over the summer!

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The guy in a Hello Kitty suit touching your crotch.

Crowd specs: Fun, outgoing and young! The people you’re happy partying with.

Wallet damage: 20 clams on the guestlist, 25 for walk-ins.

Where: 169 Oxford St, right next to Stonewall When: Saturday December 11

LEES & WEST, triple j, CHANNEL [V], VIDEO HITS & FASTERLOUDER.COM.AU PRESENT

PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS

T U O D THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER L SO

FRIDAY 10 DECEMBER FINAL TICKETS SELLING FAST!!

ACER ARENA TICKETS: PH 132 849 OR WWW.TICKETEK.COM.AU

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