The Brag #409

Richard

in Your M ind APRIL

27

TORTOISESHELL

JINJA I R A F A S MAY

4

WE ARE GRACE

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

he said she said WITH

PLUTO JONZE 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... Beatles for melodies, Beck for attitude, Golden Silvers for style.

I’m a bit of a musical loner. I write and produce the demos on my own, but for re-recordings, final mixes and the live show I enlist the help of some very talented others.

Jonno, on guitar for the live show, is a high school friend, while I met Ben on drums through MySpace a few years ago. Those two totally bonded when they both turned out to be jazz / Frank Zappa heads. I leave the rehearsal room for two seconds and they’re cooking away on a Peaches en Regalia-cumColtrane jam...

The Wiggles were pretty freaking awesome when I was growing up! Then a bit later Fantasia was a big hit, along with the Beatles during my 12-year-old psychedelic trip-out phase. Music’s always been tied up with

visuals for me, which is why visuals are such a big part of my show these days.

I remember the first times I heard Beck’s Odelay and Gotye’s Like Drawing Blood.

The songs on the first EP, which is about to drop, were written and demo’d in my bedroom. From there, drums were re-recorded at BJB Studios, and the final mixes were done by Tony Espie (Avalanches, Cut Copy, Holidays). I’m quite proud, though, that a lot of those original bedroom recordings actually made it to final print, so what you’re hearing on record is that initial creative spark of something being performed for the first time. For the live

Jack Ladder

show, we’ve incorporated visuals hooked into the music, which are projected as well as played through several retro TVs scattered about the stage. It’s better than Fantasia, no lie.

I feel like these days in Sydney there’s a lot more gigs in random, ‘incidental’ feeling sort of venues, which is very cool. Bands like WIM play everywhere from CBD laneways to the Australian Museum surrounded by dinosaur bones, and there are plenty of small bars, like Low 302 on Crown, where you can catch a rad little indie EP launch or two. For a long time we’ve had the big gigs when, for example, Sydney Festival rolls into town (Gotye @ Angel Place earlier this year was breathtaking) - but you need the small stuff on a regular basis to actually engender a scene.

I’m sure readers don’t need me to tell them that the recently established FBi Social at The Kings Cross Hotel is going to be a great way to discover fresh live acts.

What: Pluto Jonze EP is out on May 6, through Stop Start With: Sky Squadron Where: Last Night @ The Gaelic Theatre When: Friday April 29

IT’S ALRIGHT, MA (I’M ONLY BLEEDING)

In the tradition of Shakespeare, The Bleeding Knees Club are using profanity to appeal to the masses, on the ‘Who The Fuck Are The Bleeding Knees Club’ tour. They’ll be posing that rhetoric and slightly ironic (or Alanic, possibly; irony is hard!) question on April 30 at FBi Social at Kings Cross Hotel.

Tickets are only $8, too!

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JACK LADDER

If you’re an Australian songwriter named Tim Rogers, unless you are the Tim Rogers, then you should either take up carpentry (timely Jesus reference) - or change your name.

Which is what Jack Ladder did. His third album, the gloriously titled and gloriously monochrome cover-arted Hurtsville, is finished, pressed and due out on June 10. To make sure people remember just how good he is before it’s released, he’s playing GoodGod on May 13 with his backing band The Dreamlanders, and Melodie Nelson in support.

DOO-WOPS AND WHOA-OHS

JEFF MARTIN 777

Firstly, it turns out Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed isn’t an actual paperboy. I know, right? Nextly [sic], locals Boom Bap Pow have been announced as the support for his upcoming Australian tour (which hits Sydney on Thursday April 28 at Oxford Art Factory). If you are unaware of Boom Bap Pow, “trashy doo-wop pop n’ soul is their mission.”

Glad that’s cleared up!

Jeff Martin used to be in The Tea Party and used to live in Canada and used to worship 666 and the devil (citation pending), but that’s all changed. These days he lives in Australia, plays solo and is embarking on the 777 national tour, which is swinging into the Gaelic Theatre on May 7 with raucous bluesrock band The Joe Kings (phonetic win).

THIS WEEK @ FBI SOCIAL

A GOSPEL CELEBRATION

Were you at the launch of FBi Social? If not, you were probably wandering bewildered around Sydney’s Inner West, wondering where the shit everybody went. It was crammed full of people and fun and if you have been on a depressing back-to-reality crash ever since, then you should probably get along to the second in Radiant’s (boss DIY/indie radio show) series of gigs at the pop up venue. It happens on Thursday April 28, with Charge Group (ex Purplene!), The Coolies (NZ punks) and one-man juggernaut Alps all taking the stage. Plus, the stairwell totally counts as a weekly exercise regime.

Black American gospel churches make our fumbled, atonal sing-alongs seem pretty embarrassing; anyone that has ever spoken about there being ‘spirit’ in music would undoubtedly be talking about gospel music.

Which is why A Gospel Celebration – The Blind Boys of Alabama (with Aaron Neville and Mavis Staples) sold out a first Sydney Opera House show with such ease, and why a second show was announced for this Tuesday April 26. That’s the same Tuesday that happened a few days ago, if you only pick us up at the end of the week - and in a couple of days time, if you’re our favourite.

Owl Eyes

YOU AIN’T GOT NO DEEZY?

Melbourne-based popette Owl Eyes’ press photos have shifted from “girl in a tree” to “girl in a headpiece.” It’s a startling seachange, and it comes just in time for her new single, new EP and new tour – Raiders will be released in coming months, and we’re very excited about it. Before all that though, the talented lady will be supporting Brooklyn-based, indie fuzz-muppet Darwin Deez at The Metro on Tuesday May 10. Yay!

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rock music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

Datarock

BIG DUMB KID

Growing Up My earliest memory of 1. listening to music is being driven to other primary schools for chess tournaments and playing AC/ DC’s ‘TNT’ on repeat to psyche us up. My dad taught me how to play ‘Wipeout’ by The Surfaris on guitar when I was really young, and then I kind of took it from there. Fast forward a decade of playing in generic metal bands and experimental electronic acts, to buying myself a decent PC - I’d spend hours writing my own beats, singing over them and learning from my mistakes. Not much has changed.

Kyle to play drums and help me write beats.

He has a more progressive style of drumming and I’ve found it works really well with my music. I’m always keen to write music for/ with other acts; I’m currently working on some beats for the Crochet Crooks, who are doing some cool stuff in the hip hop scene at the moment.

The Music You Make My music is pretty broad, I guess; I use 4. my computer to write everything, so I have a vast library of different sounds to work with. I like hip hop beats, acoustic pianos, big synth stabs, droning bass lines and arpeggiators. My live shows are always fun - I try and interact with the audience as much as possible, even if it means making a fool of myself.

Inspirations Music, Right Here, Right Now I’ve been listening to a lot of The music scene in Sydney is really 2.

5. hip hop lately. I love Wu-Tang. They inspiring at the moment. I think people are tend to rap about how cool they are quite a bit, but I really like the beats and samples they use. I also have an affinity for folk music - I got into Elliott Smith after a pretty nasty break up when I was younger; he’s great at evoking emotion in his storytelling, which is something I try to accomplish with my music.

3.

Your Band Recently I got my good friend

TIM AND JEAN

Like what? Like this: One show. Saturday April 30. Oxford Art Factory. Tim and Jean. In support of their debut record Like What (which, like Is This It by The Strokes, doesn’t use a

question mark because it’s not a question, it’s a statement of intent). Jump Jump Dance Dance have just remixed their track ‘I Can Show You’, too – and even Moby likes these guys. And Moby hardly likes anything. See you Satdee!

giving up on the whole indie fad and just being themselves, which is what music is all about. I saw Dress Thèque play GoodGod Small Club a few weeks ago and it blew me away; they’re probably my favourite unsigned act in Sydney at the moment. Simo Soo is almost too much fun, and Orca! Straight Ahead! are fusing some great genres of music.

Where: Mum @ The World Bar When: Friday April 29

DATAROCK

Scandinavian superstars Datarock have pretty much done it all. From Coachella to The Sims, there is no arena these guys haven’t mastered, recently adding “most mind-blowingly-huge single release ever” to the list. The single, ‘Catcher In the Rye’, will come with a USB holding 110 tracks (everything they’ve recorded ever, pretty much), 1500 photos from shows from 33 countries, 20 music videos, and a brand new hour-long concert film. Huge? These crazy electro rockers will be tearing it up at Oxford Art Factory on Thursday May 5 with Ballarat kids Gold Fields. If you wouldn’t mind one of two double passes, just tell us what country they’re from.

Super Wild Horses

YELLOW LOVE-HORSES

Despite their dubious minefield of a name, YellowFever have booked a show at the Red Rattler on April 28, and are intending to fill their hour or so with some angular, twangy, art-pop. Not only this, but the Texan duo have enlisted Melbourne’s psych-pop band Love Connection and instrument-swapping duo Super Wild Horses, to ensure that this night surpasses everybody’s expectations. (Well, everybody except that guy who thought he was going to a Yellowcard gig, and brought his deck to get signed.)

MAKE HAY, NOT WAR

Men At Work vocalist Colin Hay, the man who recently battled a kookaburra in court (or something), is launching his recent album Gathering Mercury at the Basement on May 24. Tickets include dinner and a show, so don’t fill up on Jatz beforehand.

The Vines

THE VINES @ THE CHAPEL

This time of year, it seems like a lot of people are thinking about church. Now there’s a tangible reason to do so, as The Vines are playing St Stephen’s Anglican Church in Newtown on Thursday May 26 for Live At The Chapel, which is presented by Russian Standard Vodka (do Russians have a standard when it comes to vodka? Discuss.) They’ll be playing tunes from their brand new album Future Primitive, which is out in June and widely tipped to be played in the BRAG offices until their next record comes out… Or until Craig comes in, tears the CD from the player and screams “Enough! Guys, I can hear it from my house!”

APRILROIDS GIGROIDS

Polaroids of Androids, that plucky young music website, are putting on their second Polaroids of Goodroids gig - which is such a clumsy mash-up name that we’re going with it gleefully. Wednesday April 27 at Goodgod Small Club is where you’ll find Coolies (NZ), Beautiful and The Warm Feelings. You will also bump into that friend of a friend that you kissed that one night, but you won’t recognise their new haircut for ages and shit will get weird.

FRENZAL. NUFF SAID.

You know what we always say: there’s no better way to kickstart May than with Frenzal Rhomb and The Optionals playing at the Annandale. And for the first time in history, this wishful thinking actually lines up with a show on May 1! Smoke a pack of cigarettes before midday and come along, sans lung. Or, if you’re a dude, bring along two pieces of bread and take your pants off.

STRANGE TALK

What have you been up to in the past year? Aside from building that goon-box wall, I mean... Well Melbourne electro-wizards Strange Talk signed with The Presets’ management, opened for the likes of The Rapture, Neon Indian and Marina and The Diamonds, and played Parklife, Good Vibrations, and Playground Weekender. Oh, and they signed with Neon Gold in the UK. They’re set to launch their debut EP at Goodgod on Thursday April 28, and we suggest you get tickets now.

“I look at you all see the love there that’s sleeping While my guitar gently weeps”- GEORGE HARRISON 8 :: BRAG :: 409 : 25:04:11

Large Format Lar m Printers

BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 9

dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things

MURS

WITH THE IMMIGRANT The Music You Make The stuff I make is indie dance, if I had to 4. give it a name. About half of my set is made

front of my parents’ stereo, being utterly fascinated by album covers. I thought the old Uriah Heep and Pink Floyd and Hendrix Experience cover art was amazing. Most of my family are involved or have been involved with music, from blues bands to church organists.

up of originals and remixes of mine – and of course my latest single ‘Summer Of Love (She Said)’ is featured in a special live edit.

You’ll also hear stuff from Mr Oizo, Feadz and Djedjotronic, through to some of the noizier Berlin stuff. In my DJ set, I use a controller called Otus. Besides looking like it’s from outer space, it allows me to manipulate what I want when I want, without being buried in my laptop - which I think is important.

Inspirations I really admire a lot of the pioneers, 2. but not from any particular genre - from Richards and Jagger to Kraftwerk. Jimmy Page was my childhood hero as a guitarist.

Strangely enough, considering the music I make, Led Zeppelin are one of my greatest musical inspirations, particularly in their song structures.

Your Crew I work mostly with Danny Ross; we 3. grew up together and probably terrorised all those around us at the time, thinking back on it. We parted ways after school finished, and I moved overseas – but we came back together late last year and wrote ‘Through The Wire’, which has really worked out well.

Our new single ‘Summer Of Love’ is looking even better. Exciting times.

Music, Right Here, Right Now I think the Australian music scene is 5. great. There is a great amount of “total integration” labels like mine – Onelove – which are connected to festivals and radio. It’s much less of a shit fight like what I dealt with in Germany; a much more coordinated attack, you could say. I think Australians are very open to new music, and not just the cheap shot.

With: Deadmau5, Martin Solveig, Chuckie, Simon Patterson, Bingo Players and more Where: Creamfields Festival @ Showring & Hordern Pavilion

MURS

LA’s vegan hip hop hero MURS is no stranger to our shores, regularly selling out his tours down under – but for the first time, he’s bringing longtime collaborator and producer 9th Wonder out with him to smash your shit up. (Also to promote their new collab album ForNever. But mostly to smash your shit up). They’re playing at The Gaelic on Thursday May 5 with Long Island underground veteran MC, R.A. The Rugged Man. If you fancy bypassing the scramble for tickets, we’ve got a double pass to give away: just tell us what the 10th Wonder should be...

When: Saturday April 30

Tiga himself. “100 years ago I had a dream: release music I love, with pro graphics, without going bankrupt. 100 12-inches later, Turbo stands high on the rubble of crumbled empires: Mo’Wax, Factory, Institubes all dead in our wake…. we will never give up the fight: music we love, dressed for success, formatdemocratic, NEVER going bankrupt. Climbing to the stars, 300 copies at a time. It’s just us and Jack White, motherfuckers… bring on the next 100. See you in 2017.” Hear hear!

JAMES PANTS

James Pants’ new self-titled album dropped on April 19 on Stones Throw. It’s Pants’ third album proper to date, following 2008’s Welcome and 2009’s Seven Seals. The latter record found Pants reaching for his guitar and charting choppier terrain than on his more accessible ‘feel good’ debut, with an acknowledged debt to the sounds of minimal wave, post-punk and the fucked-up psychedelia of Bobby Beausoleil and Bruce Haack. The new album picks up where Seven Seals left off and, according to its maker, it was partly inspired by David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. James Pants is out through Fuse Group Australia/Stones Throw on May 29.

The Immigrant photo by Dean Hammer

Growing Up One of my earliest childhood musical 1. memories would have to be sitting in

ENO WARPED BETWEEN THE BELLS

Following the release of his recent album Small Craft On A Milk Sea, seminal producer Brian Eno is set to drop another album on Warp, his second. Drums Between The Bells is a collaboration between Eno and poet Rick Holland, who have known each other for years.

A press release explains how the project came to pass: “Brian first came across the work of Rick in the late 90s during the Map-Making project; a series of collaborative works between students of the Royal College, the Guildhall School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the National Youth Orchestra and the English National Ballet, among others. In ’03, Brian and Rick made their first music together (the resulting work does not appear on this album). In the intervening time since that initial session they have met infrequently to work on new compositions.

In early 2011, following the release of Small Craft On A Milk Sea, the pair resolved to finish the project. Drums Between The Bells is the result.” The album is set for release on July 4 Independence Day.

Joelistics

Datarock

DATAROCK

Norway’s Datarock are set to return to Australia in all their red tracksuited glory. The vivacious indie/dance exponents are best known for the cuts ‘Computer Camp Love’ and ‘Fa-Fa-Fa’, both of which were included on their self-titled debut LP that stormed the airwaves about five years ago. They’re touring on the back of new single ‘Catcher In The Rye’, which is a harbinger of Datarock’s next artist album (which may or may not be called Datarock – The Musical; the press release was slightly abstract to say the very least).

Datarock play Oxford Art Factory on Thursday May 5, with support from Gold Fields.

After a sold-out celebration in Melbourne, The Bamboos bring their 10th Anniversary show to The Manning Bar on Friday May 20, with special guests The Psyde Projects and Paper Plane Project. The Bamboos are generally acknowledged as one of Australia’s leading funk and soul bands; emerging from the ‘Deep As Funk’ scene of the early 2000s, The Bamboos have since forged a sound that merges elements of funk, hip hop, psychedelic and northern soul. For their 10th anniversary celebration, they’ll play an assortment of tracks thought forgotten from the band’s sprawling catalogue, including their early selfreleased instrumental 7” vinyl tracks. Tickets at manningbar.com

TURBO’S CENTURY

Tiga’s highly influential Turbo Recordings label celebrates its 100th release with a remix package of ‘ZZafrika’, the latest single from ZZT (a Tiga and Zombie Nation collaborative side project). Launched in 1998, the Montreal-based label has released everything from thumping acid techno to big room electro house under Tiga’s (deceptively) watchful gaze, with an artist roster that includes Jori Hulkkonen, Azari & III, Chromeo, Boys Noize and Zombie Nation among others. The ZZafrika EP features a host of divergent reworks of the track courtesy of producers like Julio Bashmore, Crowdpleaser and Tomas Andersson, whose bygone anthem ‘Washing Up’ was remixed by Tiga back in 2005.

It also comes with a typically facetious and entertaining presser courtesy of

JOELISTICS

TZU frontman Joelistics will release his solo debut record, Voyager, on May 20 through Aussie hip hop emporium Elefant Traks. Self-produced and written in France, Mongolia, China and Australia, the forthcoming album taps into themes of travel, modern world paranoia and growing older, all from a man regarded as one of the most charismatic front men in hip hop. Elefant Traks have created an entertaining new web series to accompany the release, the first episode of which can be viewed at youtube.com/elefanttraks. It’s a good way to set the mood ahead of Joelistics’ spate of upcoming gigs, which includes a date supporting Lowrider on their ‘Hold On’ national tour at Sydney’s iconic Annandale hotel on Friday May 13. [Cue ominous music and Camp Crystal Lake reference...]

“My advice for those who die, declare the pennies on your eyes”- GEORGE HARRISON 10 :: BRAG :: 409 : 25:04:11

Datarock by Thomas Brun

BAMBOOS 10TH ANNIVERSARY

NICHE PRODUCTIONS, TRIPLE J, MTV & LIFELOUNGE PROUDLY PRESENT

WITH FULL LIVE BAND SPECIAL GUEST NATIONAL SUPPORT FROM BROOKLYN NYC

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free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

he said she said WITH THE

PSYDE PROJECTS good, then it’s good music irrespective of genre. Naturally, I gravitate more to certain styles such as hip hop, funk, electronica, disco, rock, house, soundtracks - blah blah blah - but at the end of the day it comes down to whatever tickles my fancy, really.

M

y earliest memories of music were of the blues and early rock.

I remember smashing Chuck Berry and John Lee Hooker on cassette tape as a kid. Creedence were also played regularly. I remember my mum playing a lot of the blues and 70s rock; she wasn’t a muso, but she certainly liked to dance and party!

My philosophy is that if the music is

The Psyde Projects came about during D’fro and iLresponce’s high school years. They started jamming and making beats and doing rudimentary recordings in their bedrooms. At the time, Sketchenry was their DJ - then Moonshine jumped on board, and has since pushed The Psyde Projects to new levels. Now, after four years of chemistry, we’re tighter and stronger than ever before. I think it’s the different styles and opinions that we all bring to the table,

Big Boi

plus us being open minded, that help us work well together.

As a whole, The Psyde Projects definitely lean towards the golden era sound of hip hop. We all like cats like People Under The Stairs, MF DOOM, J5, Leaders Of The New School, ATCQ and other similar acts. We recorded ‘Welcome To Boomtown’ with Sandy Milne, while mixing & mastering duties were undertaken by Dan Elleson. Our live shows are explosive and upbeat and kind of loose but in the end it all comes together well.

The music scene at the moment is interesting. The internet has made it easier for emerging artists to get their music out to the public without recording companies - but in saying that, I think it’s much harder to get a break these days. Still, that in itself simply creates a challenge; as the saying goes, the cream always rises to the top!

What: The Bamboos’ Ten Year Anniversary Show With: The Bamboos, Paper Plane Project Where: The Manning Bar, Sydney Uni When: Friday May 20

in London who release their records through their own Dented Records label, and have supported The Prodigy, Snoop Dogg, Amy Winehouse, Public Enemy, Ian Brown and De La Soul. Not bad. The lineup also includes Swindle, Geilis, Paul Fraser, Max Gosford and Beans, who will be showcasing world class beats traversing dubstep, grime, hip hop and DnB from 9pm until 3am.

POOLSIDE

Summer may be over, but LA production duo Poolside has just arrived, courtesy of local label Future Classic. With dramatic piano and whispered vocals, Poolside’s debut slice of daytime disco, ‘Do You Believe?’, has already amassed 30,000 plays on YouTube. With Future Classic’s 12” release including remixes from Jacques Renault (feat Tiffany Roth of Midnight Magic), James Curd and Cosmic Kids, this is a must-have to keep you warm through the winter months...

And if, like us, you’re now salivating at the thought of some thick summer disco grooves, we’ve got a copy of Poolside’s 12’’ vinyl to give away; to be in the running, clue us in on your favourite way to stay warm during winter.

ESCAPE THE FATE

One day we’re gonna start a hair-metal band called Superfluous Umlaut and we’ll take over the world with our platinum riffs and platinum-er locks. In the meantime, however (and while we’re saving for that acid-green Flying V), we’re sating our arena-metal cravings with Escape the Fate. The Vegas rockers are playing a show with Pierce The Veil at the UNSW Roundhouse on April 30, and to gear up we’re giving away a copy of their self-titled album and a signed poster. Just email us with your postal details and the name of a famous rock outfit with superfluous umlauts in their name.

Pigeon John

RATCLIFFE

Simon Ratcliffe, one half of Basement Jaxx, is about to release his first solo productions in eons - the Dorus Rijkers EP. Ratcliffe released a couple of 12”s way, way back in the day (the last being the City Dreams EP in 1995) and recently popped up to remix David Lynch and Throbbing Gristle. Now he continues the solipsistic creative spike with an offering named after a Dutch lifeboatman. “Dorus Rijkers was a famous Dutch lifeboatman and also the name of the street where I was born in Holland,” Ratcliffe elucidates. “At age three I fell into the creek that ran by our house. An old man reached down and pulled me out. Some kids took me home. I never saw the man again but always assumed he was Dorus Rijkers.” The music is a swirling mix of syncopated rhythms, unusual time signatures and poly-grooves; apparently Ratcliffe’s attempt to channel his Captain Beefheart, Weather Report, Lonnie Liston Smith and Frank Zappa influences.

BIG BOI TOUR

One half of Grammy-winning duo Outkast and acclaimed solo producer in his own right, Big Boi aka Antwan Andre Patton will be touring Australia with a full live band in August.

Big Boi’s debut solo album Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty was well received upon its release last year, spawning the single ‘Shutterbugg’ and being crowned triple j ‘album of the week’ while purportedly shifting a fair few copies – though not nearly as many as the 25 million albums Outkast have sold over the course of their career...

Big Boi will perform at the Enmore Theatre on Saturday August 27, with support from Brooklyn’s Theophilus London (on his debut Australian jaunt) and Thundamentals.

ROBERT HOOD TOUR

Minimal pioneer (and something of an enigma), Detroit’s Robert Hood will headline the next in HaHa’s ‘Versus’ series in a warehouse bash on Saturday May 28 at an as-yet-undisclosed location. Hood was a member of Underground Resistance and recorded alongside Jeff Mills under the moniker H&M. His landmark 1994 album Minimal Nation was a prototype seized upon by Richie Hawtin et al, and he most recently released the concept LP Omega, which was written and produced as a soundtrack to the 1971 sci-fi film The Omega Man. Further details including ticket info available at www.hahaindustries.com

VIVID LIVE...

If you missed it, the lineup for this year’s Vivid LIVE, which will feature a selection of international and local artists performing at the Sydney Opera House from May 27 – June 5, was announced last month. Stephen ‘Pav’ Pavlovic, the founder of the Sydney-based

record label, touring company and international brand Modular, has curated this year’s event and his fingerprints are all over the program; see the presence of the likes of Gavin Russom, Cut Copy, Tame Impala and Architecture in Helsinki. Aside from the Russom gig, the other electronic music jaunt that stands out is that of Spiritualized performing their celebrated 1997 album Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space on Friday May 27 with the aid of some 30 other artists on stage, including a gospel choir and orchestra. Tickets are on sale through vividlive.sydneyoperahouse.com

NEVER SAY DIE

Some of Sydney’s eminent purveyors of global bass music, Low Society, Void and Foreigndub, have combined for the ‘Never Say Die’ tour on Friday April 29, headlined by the triumvirate of Foreign Beggars, Skism and Trolley Snatcha over three arenas at the Manning Bar, Sydney University. Foreign Beggars are a critically acclaimed rap, grime and dubstep group based

JACK THIS FRIDAY

“Jack your body to the bass… Don’t let no one get in your way. Tonight’s your night, Today’s your day, I’ll jack you, I’ll jack you, I’ll jack you, I’ll jack you.” These profound lyrics, the result of a 2005 collaboration between P Diddy and Felix Da Housecat, are pertinent to local monthly night Jack - which is being held this Friday April 29. For those of you who snuck in late, Jack celebrates old-skool Chicago house as well as a touch of disco, Detroit, acid house and “everything in between” courtesy of DJs and hostesses Mark Murphy (formerly of Spank! Records) and Speakeasy’s Magda Bytnerowicz. It’s on at The Polo Lounge, Oxford Hotel, and kicks off at 7pm, running ‘til way past your bedtime (well, it depends; the party runs ‘til midnight, which also renders it a suitable launching pad for those with a proclivity for allnight benders – not that we’re encouraging that sort of thing). What’s more, it’s free to get in, free to jack your body to the bass…

CREAMFIELDS

At time of print, tickets were still available for this weekend’s Creamfields, which returns for a second year with a lineup that includes our cover star Deadmau5, plus Skrillex, Chuckie, Simon Patterson, Bingo Players, Martin Solveig and more. I’ve already extolled the virtues of the Spice Arena (Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Tim Green...) - I recommend you book now.

Saturday April 30 @ Hordern & surrounds.

PIGEON JOHN

Californian hip hop tunesmith Pigeon John will tour Australia in May in support of his new LP Dragon Slayer, a heavily lauded record and triple j Feature Album. With the aid of General Electriks’ Herve Salters, Pigeon John produced the whole record - his second album for Quannum and first for Australian label Other Tongues. Pigeon John will play Tone on Friday May 20 with a lustrous support cast of some of the country’s finest, namely Yeo, Tuka, Casual Projects and Dust Tones DJs. Presale tickets are available online for $25.

“My life’s a book of short stories / And we wrote a new one everyday” - THE DRUMS 12 :: BRAG :: 409 : 25:04:11

BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 13

The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Industry Music News with Christie Eliezer

Lifelines Wes Carr

Engaged: Singer songwriter (and 2008 Oz Idol winner) Wes Carr and actress Charlotte Gregg.

Ill: X member Exene Cervenka has cancelled her solo tour after her multiple sclerosis flared up again.

Charged: Two of Lil Wayne’s bodyguards, for wearing police uniforms and gun belts when they escorted the rapper into a nightclub in Indiana.

Arrested: A 21-year old who stole $100,000 in jewelry from Jon Bon Jovi’s $22 million New Jersey home, and also robbed three of his neighbors.

Died: US producer and engineer Tal Herzberg, 41, liver cancer.

He worked with U2, Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas and Britney Spears and was an early adopter of Pro Tools.

Died: TV on the Radio’s bassist Gerard Smith, 34, of lung cancer, just over a month after it was announced that he was battling the disease.

‘BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY’ WINS ANOTHER POLL The 36-year old rock opera ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has won yet another poll. It’s the most popular song among British armed forces personnel. The poll by army radio station BFBS found that the Queen song had double the votes awarded to runner-up Snow Patrol’s ‘Chasing Cars’. Others in the top 10 were Oasis’s ‘Wonderwall’, ‘Sex On Fire’ by Kings of Leon, ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns N’Roses and Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing’. The forces’ favourite war film was the 1964 classic Zulu.

AIR JOINS CRA’S $1.3M RADIO SEARCH The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) has joined commercial radio’s quest to find emerging Australian indie artists, through the New Artists 2 Radio (NA2R) competition. The comp is celebrating its tenth year, and it’s open to any act not charted in the top 100 national airplay chart. AIR GM Nick O’Byrne, said, “There’s a place for great Australian

independent music on commercial radio and for that reason AIR is happy to support an initiative like NA2R. NA2R provides an opportunity for independent artists to open the door to the mainstream, the chance to present your music to the decision makers of Australia’s widest reaching radio stations”.

It has launched acts like Delta Goodrem, Sarah Blasko, Thirsty Merc, Jade McRae, Ashleigh Mannix and Finabah. The two winners play at the showcase on the Gold Coast on October 14 in front of key music and program directors, and also receive six weeks airplay worth $1.3 million, a digital distribution deal with MGM, and advice from VGM Media & Marketing on marketing and artist management. All finalists can attend a radio workshop in Sydney in September. See www.na2r.com.au - deadline is June 10.

NSW SHIFT FOR THE ARTS? That NSW’s new Arts minister George Souris is also handling Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality and Racing could mean a shift for the state’s arts. “I look forward to meeting stakeholders in the arts community and helping them work with the tourism, events and hospitality sectors as we strive to make NSW the number one cultural and creative destination in the country,” he says.

As an arts fan, he acknowledges the arts has its importance economically and communitywise. “I pledge to be a Minister for all artistic endeavours including suburban, regional and indigenous artistic pursuits,” he adds.

THINGS WE HEAR * 70,000 Miley Cyrus concert tickets were sold in the first week in Australia. * Australian Radio Network is about to launch a digital radio station. * Will Beyonce’s headliner set at the Glastonbury festival in England see her joined onstage by Jay-Z, Kanye West, Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow? * Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Avril Lavigne, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas and Shakira are battling it out in another awards ceremony. But this is a little different: it’s their individual fragrant brands that are jostling for the top honours. Also nominated for The Fragrance Foundation’s gala event are Halle Berry and Eva Longoria. * The eight-year-old Northern Territory Indigenous Music Awards will open up three categories to national voting.

They will now be known as the NIMAS:

ROD YATES NEW ‘STONE EDITOR Rod Yates has become editor of Rolling Stone magazine, initially in an acting capacity.

He replaces Dan Lander, who has bought a guitar shop in NSW’s Blue Mountains. Yates previously edited ACP stablemate Empire Magazine, and continues to have a role in that publication as Editor-in-Chief. The new editor of Empire is Ben McEachen, formerly its Review Editor.

HIGHER TICKET PRICES FOR WINERY SHOWS? Music fans attending winery shows in the Hunter Valley might pay another $1 or $2 extra for their tickets. This is one of the proposals being bandied around after the Cessnock City Council announced it was axing $266,000 in funding to Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism. Local councillors say that the ticket levy could be used to improve the area’s bad roads, and to promote tourism.

HELPING INDIGENOUS TALENT Getting more Indigenous performers onto the world stage is the focus of a new market development strategy by the Australian Council for the Arts. It has just released an Indigenous Market Development Strategy covering 2010 to 2016. Ideas include setting up an indigenous touring network, developing skills through mentors, teaching indigenous talent to market themselves and develop their audiences, and planning for overseas talent buyers to come to indigenous festivals and see the talent first hand.

FOOS GO PLATINUM Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light went platinum after it debuted at #1 on the ARIA chart last week. It’s their fifth #1 album here, and has achieved the biggest first week digital album sales in Australian chart history, according

Miley Cyrus

to Sony Music. But wait, there’s more: it’s also the first time the word ‘Wasting’ appeared on any album to top the charts in Oz. But four other records have reached #1 with “light” in their title - Ray Of Light for Madonna (March 1998), Light Years for Kylie Minogue (October 2000), and Desert Lights

by Something for Kate (July 2006). Chart historian Gavin Ryan points out that with their fifth chart topping album, the Foos are now equal seventh on the list of acts with the most #1 albums. The six other acts with five #1 albums are Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Silverchair, Metallica and Powderfinger.

BYRNE GETS APOLOGY FROM POLITICIAN David Byrne received a public apology from former Florida governor Charlie Crist. Crist was sued for $1 million for using Byrne’s song ‘Road To Nowhere’ without permission, in a YouTube attack on his rival Marco Rubio during the US Senate race. Byrne and Crist met in Florida to mediate. Crist reckons Byrne “couldn’t have been a better guy” and Byrne quipped “I’m feeling very manly” for standing up for artist rights. Byrne’s attorney Lawrence Iser represented Jackson Browne when he sued John McCain for using ‘Running On Empty’ in

We has internets!

www.thebragmag.com Extra bits and moving bits without dirty fingers 14 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

National Indigenous Music Awards. * While clearing out her wardrobe of old clothes, LeAnn Rimes took time out to tweet what she was doing. A fan called Peggy Joyce immediately tweeted her asking if she had clothes to donate, as she’d lost her job and found it difficult to make ends meet with her 16-month baby.

The singer immediately sent her stuff. * All hell broke out when Liam Gallagher discovered, on arriving in Liverpool with his band Beady Eye, that brother Noel was staying in the same hotel, in town to see a football match. He threw a tanty and moved to another hotel, the more appropriate Beatles-themed Hard Day’s Night Hotel. * Radiohead have refuted rumours that they were planning to release a Pt 2 of The King Of Limbs, filled with leftover tracks.

Guitarist Ed O’Brien told BBC 6 Music that generally, Radiohead prefer to start afresh when working on a new album.

McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

DARREN HAYES ON MERCURY After a spell releasing records through his own label, former Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes has signed with Mercury Records Australia / Universal Music Australia.

The London-based singer songwriter will release his fourth studio album later in the year. It includes collaborations with producers like Walter Afanasieff and Sweden’s Carl Falk, and includes an orchestra.

WARNER SALE BY MID-MAY? Shares of Warner Music Group rose 3.4% to $7.61, as rumours flew that its sale could be finalised by mid-May. Warner is pushing to be sold as a block, rather than in parts. Billboard reckons there are just three bidders still in the running, but is not sure which ones. They’d be amongst Yucaipa Cos, Access Industries, the BMG/Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts joint venture, Tamares, Sony Music Entertainment and Platinum Equity/Gores Group. Out of the running, says Billboard, are Live Nation and MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc, who just wanted the recording division. Also falling by the wayside are the Oaktree Capital Management & Primary Wave and Guggenheim Partners & E2 Group, who just wanted the publishing section.

BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 15

Everything But Bluegrass By J. Barbasch

“H

ello? Hello? Can you hear me now?!” I am at breaking point.

Skype can be a temperamental bitch and, as the wind howls outside, it’s clear that my voice is being lost somewhere in cyberspace. A confused Joel Thomas Zimmerman (better known to the masses as his alter ego, deadmau5) cries out, frustrated, “Dude! You are breaking up all over the place!”

This is not a good start; I’ve already read all about the Canadian producer’s reportedly frosty interview manner. And although he relaxes once it becomes clear that the internet is beyond my control, I ditch my planned opening question regarding his recent anti-DJ tirade (“I don’t really see the technical merit in playing two songs at the same speed,” he told the Irish Daily Star.

“They’re like fucking lawyers! You need them, but they’re fucking cunts.”) - and quickly think up a more diplomatic starting line.

Zimmerman has made it clear in the past that he’s no fan of travelling, so with his visit to Australia for Creamfields fast approaching, I ask how he manages to fuse something he hates with something he loves. He seems disappointed by the question though, answering curtly: “I don’t like travelling. I don’t like not playing gigs.” But, I probe, does the performance outweigh the travel?

“For sure,” he says with a bored sigh. “Hell, getting out of the airport outweighs it. Being in a different country outweighs it. As long as I am there, I am good. I just hate the process of travelling. The screening, the security, the sitting in airports for days. I hate it.”

Breaking his disdain with a light laugh, Zimmerman thankfully seems less frustrated by me than by the subject matter. A man who’s known to speak his mind, Deadmau5 is media-wary these days; he’s used to making small comments to journalists that end up being amplified through a chain of ensuing interviews. I decide on a more neutral topic: the buzz of a live show…

“Oh Jesus, that’s a big one!” Zimmerman exclaims, his tone changing completely.

Happy to be on subject, it seems that he’d rather let the music do the talking and leave himself out of the equation (a facet of his personality that could go some way to explaining why he tends to conceal his identity with that mouse headdress). “It has all evolved so quickly and so fast, I’m not kidding when I say I have never sat back and appreciated it,” he says. “I got some good advice from Adam Freeland; he told me, ‘Dude, you’ve got to stop and look at what you are doing.’ I’m not really taking it in like I should be. That’s something I will learn to do.

“I got some good advice from Adam Freeland; he told me, ‘Dude, you’ve got to stop and look at what you are doing.’ I’m not really taking it in like I should be...”

“[But] you know what, I am just so workminded that I’m not really focusing on that.

I’m probably going to die of some stressrelated thing before I finish.” Zimmerman clearly has no issue with playing the music game – he’d just prefer to do it on his own terms. And for the right reasons. “Just seeing the front row; just seeing people coming to listen to your music and to hear and appreciate electronic music.”

Having been passionate about electronic music from a young age, Zimmerman understands the opportunities presented to him as the rewards of someone else’s labour.

“Electronic music is such a cool thing; I’ve really grown up with it, from the point when it was in its infancy,” he explains. “You know, there really weren’t big electronic festivals or even nightclubs [when I was growing up]. It has been really rewarding to see this whole thing grow; to see how we got from – well, how someone else got from – playing in warehouses in Chicago, Detroit and the UK. Really underground things, to the point where it was almost shut down – [going from that] to the point where it has emerged as a big thing.”

Though Zimmerman may be proud of how electronic music defied the odds to reach the mainstream, he insists that the way he developed his own musical output was based on a lot more than the one genre alone. From an early age he knew what made him tick: a loose catch-all of “music in general”. “I wouldn’t pin it right to electronic music,” he says. “I knew that whatever it was I was going to be doing, it was going to be music and technology-related.” This love of technology would prove the defining characteristic as he embraced his love of music; and of course in music, technology

sits best in the electronic sphere. The merging of his two prime interests was too hard to resist. “That is exactly it!” Zimmerman exclaims, without any trace of his earlier coldness. “I have a pretty hard time explaining it to people - but you pretty much nailed it there.”

With that in mind, it becomes easier to understand why Deadmau5 battles so hard against genre classifications. He may use all the tools of electronic music, but his inspiration and diverse sound encompass many different sonic classifications. Though many see him as simply “an electronic dance act,” he insists that the labelling issue “is even worse than that”. “Even being pinpointed as an electronic composer, you have got all these subcategories that all these guys I can think of – all these big names in electronic music – will stick to. Their little Thing. Do you know what I mean? I don’t like that,” he says.

During his formative years, Zimmerman was listening to Steely Dan, Radiohead and Metallica – and it’s clear that he intends his own output to encompass all of the above and more. There is one exception to the rule, though. “Everything but bluegrass!” he laughs. “Have you ever fucking listened to bluegrass? Google it and tell me if your ears warm up to that shit. It is probably the most annoying music in the world.”

With: Skrillex, Martin Solveig, Chuckie, Simon Patterson, Bingo Players and more Where: Creamfields Festival @ Showring & Hordern Pavilion When: Saturday April 30

“Been stuck in airports, terrorized Sent to meetings, hypnotized Overexposed, commercialized / Handle me with care”- GEORGE HARRISON 16 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

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FROM 6PM - LATE Photo: Terence Chin

BRECHT’S FIRST PLAY SCREAMS INTO THE 21ST CENTURY

BAAL

by Bertolt Brecht

Translated by Simon Stone & Tom Wright

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Baal is presented in association with the exhibition The mad square: modernity in German art 1910 - 37 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales Aug-Nov 2011 Director Simon Stone Set & Lighting Designer Nick Schlieper Costume Designer Mel Page Composer & Sound Designer Stefan Gregory With Brigid Gallacher Geraldine Hakewill Louisa Hastings Edge Shelly Lauman Oscar Redding Chris Ryan Lotte St Clair Katherine Tonkin Thomas M Wright WARNING: Contains adult themes, nudity, violence, simulated sex scenes, drug references and very coarse language.

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BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 17

Murs & 9th Wonder Always Expanding, Always Working By David Seidler

“It’s more of a marriage.

We come together, we argue and we compromise ... We’re definitely an item.”

W

hen I finally get hold of Murs, it’s on a fuzzy line from somewhere that sounds like an airport toilet, with bleeps and paging calls interrupting my introduction. “I’m in Waikiki, man!” the veteran rapper exclaims.

That’s a long way from his hometown of Mid-City Los Angeles - is he there for work or pleasure?

“Work, man,” comes the answer. “Always working.”

Because above all, Murs (aka Nick Carter – you can see why he’s adopted the stage name) is a worker. Having featured on over 20 records since he entered the game at 18, he has earned spectacular insight into the rapidly changing industry. Even over a murky line, the 33-year-old sounds vital, fresh and aware as he discusses the need for artists today to adapt to stay relevant. “I’m not interested in pigeonholing,” Murs offers, bluntly. “A kid’s iPod today can have Murs and Dre and Crookers and Daft Punk and Taylor Swift all in one playlist.” It’s the stuff of most artists’ nightmares: flagging allegiances, erratic genre flirtations, the sort of consumer schizophrenia that’s anathema to A&R men the world over. But not to Murs - he runs his own repertoire. Backpack rap, relationship advice, club bangers and 16mm short films, all while managing his spectacularly successful Paid Dues hip hop festival in California, negotiating distribution deals himself and tweeting like a man possessed. “There’s definitely an entrepreneurial spirit in everything I do,” he admits. “A lot of the things I do are just to see if they work.”

he deserves. “I hope I can emulate Redman,” Murs confides. “He can do a song with Christina Aguilera, or he’s on a Daft Punk song, or with Limp Bizkit or Method Man. He’s gone platinum, but he’s never been considered not underground.”

Most of them work. If you think that you’ve never heard a Murs track before, you’re most likely mistaken. He’s the comic genius behind the insanely catchy DJ Z-Trip ode to Saturday morning cartoons, ‘Breakfast Club’. He’s the voice trying to translate ‘jacket’ into French (“le cote?”) alongside Busy P on the Ed Banger classic ‘To Protect And Entertain’. He’s the guy who sampled James Blunt on his most recent solo record, 2008’s Murs For President and managed to make the tremulous, austere Brit sound halfway crunk. Murs boasts a CV that would put many to shame, but is yet to really achieve the mainstream success his toil would suggest

Counting Ice Cube (“I’m still honoured he even played my festival”), Snoop Dogg (“a more organic relationship”) and producer 9th Wonder amongst his friends, the industry kudos is certainly there.

It’s Murs’ relationship with the latter, his longtime production partner, that will see him touring Australia early next month. The ‘Murs & 9th Wonder’ brand has been strengthened over five collaborative albums since 2001 and, from the endearing way Murs describes the partnership, we can expect great things to come. More than once, he reverts to matrimonial terms. “It’s more of a marriage. We come together, we argue and we compromise - and compromise is beautiful.”

jump on a Busy P joint as he is to hook up with the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am in the booth. In answering, it turns out Murs can add another label to his ever-expanding title: Good Samaritan. He tells me he’s had the chance to speak at a couple of high schools recently, and recounts the words of a 28-year-old who thanked him for encouraging him to break out of the ‘homeboy lifestyle’ and get a university degree. “You’re one of the reasons I’m doing this,” Murs quotes, “because you make me proud to do the right thing. Because you never compromised who you are.”

They’ve released more albums together than 9th ever did with Little Brother or Murs ever did with Living Legends – the hip hop groups with which the two began their respective careers. But rumours of bickering and squabbles over lyrics and beats don’t gel well with those utopian visions of hip hop’s formative recording partnerships: Nas and Premier, Rob Base and E-Z Rock, Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. “It’s a democratic process,” explains Murs. “We’re free to work outside the moniker if we want, but we’re valuable together...

We’re definitely an item.”

While his collaborations with 9th don’t conform to traditional understandings of the producer/emcee bond, neither are Murs’ lifestyle choices strictly hip hop. Following in the steps of rap trailblazers like Redman, I’m curious as to how Murs gets by in the notoriously cutthroat industry as a non-smoking, vegan teetotaller, just as happy to

It’s poignant stuff which, coming out of the mouth of any artist but Murs, would sound trite and contrived. But this is a rapper who, in what should be the twilight years of his career, is surer than ever of both his role in the industry and his path forward. I press Murs for his five-year plan and he answers, amused, “I always see myself not rapping - and I always end up rapping.” With an exclusive direct deal with iTunes, an electro “more 2 Live Crew kind of record”, a punk album, a comic book and a 2011 Paid Dues Festival in the offing - and a manager freshly fired - it seems Murs will be very busy for the immediate future. “I’m always expanding and finding new ways to succeed and extend myself,” Murs says - and with that, the Richard Branson of rap gets back to work.

With: R.A The Rugged Man, The Narcicyst, Daily Meds and DJ Jaytee Where: The Gaelic Theatre When: Thursday May 5

UNKLE Find The Sound By Jordan Smith Tim Goldsworthy understood that as well. We’d say: ‘Nah it doesn’t work, it doesn’t sound like UNKLE.’ Or, ‘That’s amazing. Let’s make it sound like UNKLE.’” Rather than tearing one’s hair out trying to concoct some hyphenated monstrosity of the English language that covers the scope of their style (trip-hop-dance-prog... I give up.), it seems best to conclude that UNKLE exists less within the boundaries of musical genres than in the relationships between its creators at the time.

The tricky question is, how does Lavelle decide when it’s time for a personnel shake-up? “It just implodes, you know? I don’t ever want anybody to leave - I didn’t want to stop working with Richard File or with Josh Homme or anybody, it just happens. A lot of the time it becomes very intense, and sometimes people just want to do other things. UNKLE has been something they can dip in and dip out of, because it’s collaborative. It allows people to have a different creative experience.

T

here’s no doubt that UNKLE is James Lavelle’s baby; his involvement has been the act’s only claim to consistency in almost two decades of diverse releases. But to assume that UNKLE is a one man operation is to grossly misunderstand its entire ethos. The project is more of an idea, one that seems to thrive on change and eclecticism, with the collaboration doors constantly swinging as artists and producers of acclaim drop in and out of Lavelle’s studios.

A quick scan of past players reveals a crosssection of contemporary music. At its inception, UNKLE incorporated Tim Goldsworthy (who went on to found the revered label DFA Records), members of Japanese hip hop crew Major Force, and DJ Shadow. UNKLE has also included producer Richard File, the Scratch Perverts, and a mind-boggling list of occasional collaborators including Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Thom Yorke (Radiohead)

and Mike D (Beastie Boys). The current and, according to Lavelle, most productive incarnation of UNKLE now includes Pablo Clements of the Psychonauts – and the most recent full-length album, Where Did The Night Fall, features appearances from members of QotSA, Sleepy Sun, The Black Angels and more.

With such varied creative inputs, UNKLE’s ‘sound’ is constantly being pulled in different directions - to both the delight and dismay of fans. “Half the time you’re trying to put these puzzle pieces together and create something cohesive that just feels like an UNKLE record,” Lavelle explains. “But that’s part of the fun, challenge and process of how records are made.” I ask him to define that ‘UNKLE sound,’ but he understandably shrinks from the task. “It’s a feel thing – it’s very hard to articulate. Pablo and I both understand what it is, musically, that defines what we do, [but] it’s very hard to explain because it’s just a feeling.

“Also, when I hooked up with Rich and Tim [Goldsworthy] and [DJ] Shadow, we were very young and it was a very different time,” he continues. “We were very naïve. We spent a lot of time in clubs together and in the end, that environment sort of took its toll. We were living in and out of each other’s pockets, and that’s why a lot of other bands don’t survive.” Later, Lavelle describes some nightmare gigs from this period in his life, admitting that blacking out and passing out on the decks happened at more than one of his DJ sets. “But hey - it’s rock’n’roll!” he adds with a chuckle.

Although Lavelle is now on the comparatively straight and narrow path with Clements, the romanticism and intensity of that rock’n’roll existence still allures him. “I’d love to be on a [Led] Zeppelin tour to see what that period of time was like; where everything was so new and the whole rock’n’roll environment was at its height. There’s something magic about that era because you can’t really see it or YouTube it - it’s mythological. It was so extreme behind a lot of closed doors, and there’s a romanticism about that. It would have been a trip.”

“Half the time you’re trying to put these puzzle pieces together and create something cohesive that just feels like an UNKLE record.”

But being a modern artist has its perks too, and technology is a big one for UNKLE. Not only has it broadened Lavelle’s reach in the search for new collaborators, but it has also enabled his ongoing exploration of the relationship between audio and visuals (every UNKLE release is accompanied by evocative, creative artwork) to become a part of the UNKLE live shows. “For a band like us, technology plays a massive part in what you can do and how you can communicate live. We spend a lot of time and detail on visuals, trying to create both an interesting visual and sonic experience as a live show. Pretty soon I think we’ll see a huge shift, where 3D, holograms and high-level projections are going to become cheaper and easier to do, so the types of live shows people are going to be able to create will be very interesting. It’s the same as the way technology has influenced DJing; five years ago, DJing on Ableton was seen as a bad thing to do, and now 90% of DJs play on computers.”

Finally, I ask what it was like to work with Nick Cave on UNKLE’s latest single ‘Money and Run’ (off their most recent Only The Lonely EP.) “He’s brilliant!” Lavelle laughs. “He’s just eccentric and unique, and I love that quality about artists. He’s such an inspirational lyricist and it’s been a nice thing for us to have his support and enthusiasm.

He’s a special kinda dude, really.”

Where: Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall When: Monday May 9 More: Also appearing at Groovin’ The Moo with The Go! Team, The Drums, Darwin Deez, The Wombats and more - www.gtm.net.au

“And all the stars in the sky / And all the flowers in the fields / And all the flower in the earth / Could never take you from my heart” - THE DRUMS 18 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

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Crystal Stilts The Dream State By Luke Telford

“If I were happy, I don’t think I’d write a song.

Why bother writing a song if you could go ahead and live your happy life?”

C

rystal Stilts is very much a band’s band.

Although they draw comparisons as routinely tasteful as The Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division and The Velvet Underground, the real appeal of the Brooklyn outfit is altogether less classifiable. The band sounds entirely at home in their mélange of gloomy, melodic garage rock; from the staunchly adroit riffs that could have been lifted from obscure ‘60s R&B 45’s, through the crunchy organ trills and cavernous reverb, to the cryptic, plaintive baritone of Brad Hargett’s vocals, it’s clear that this band isn’t trying to be anyone but themselves.

Despite sounding stylistically straightforward on the surface, a closer listen to their latest album, In Love With Oblivion, reveals an unsettling juxtaposition of light and dark. The music itself is at once lucid and hazy, the lyrics both plagued by and fascinated with an impending chaos. It feels apt, then, when Hargett answers the phone with an apology, as he retreats from a chaotic scene unfolding outside his Brooklyn apartment with ambulances sounding in the distance. Still, when I mention the comparable air of menace that lurks in many of his band’s songs, Hargett disagrees. “I don’t think anybody is going for that at all,” he says. “I think JB [Townshend, guitarist] even made a bit of an effort to make tunes that were a bit more sunshiney this time around.” It turns out that rather than being intentional, the darkness of their music is simply a byproduct of its genesis.

“The things that drive me to write a song are things that are dark. If I were happy, I don’t think I’d write a song,” Hargett explains. “Why bother writing a song if you could go ahead and live your happy life? The process of writing is the process of trying to come to terms with things [which are] a bit darker.”

If the Stilts’ new record In Love With Oblivion shows any kind of departure from the brooding, ad hoc garage rock of their 2009 debut, it’s that it is, at least for the most part, a little brighter.

The ocean, and water generally, is a common motif running through the album, which casts a peculiar blanket over the unease. “To be honest, almost all of the songs are either straight from dreams, or inspired by dream imagery,” admits Hargett. “The ocean is something that features

a tomb, and she fed me. That’s literally what it was,” he says. It’s a simple detail which is characteristic of what makes the band’s music so compelling.

in my dreams a lot. I’m not sure if I’m qualified to explain that, [but] I do think that the ocean is a big huge metaphor for the unknown. I think that it comes up a lot as an image in songs, because it represents that aspect of your life that is unknown, the future.”

he explains. “I started writing down my dreams.

At first you wake up and write it down, and it’s just a bunch of nonsense. But then you go back to it and it seems more sensical. ‘Through The Floor’, the first and final verse, I actually woke up repeating those words.”

This sheds some light on the aqueous trills of tracks like ‘Alien Rivers’, a seven-minute jam that incorporates the howling of a kettle into its layers of disorienting textures, amidst tape feedback and spiralling organ. It doesn’t sound like the kind of dream that would be much fun to have – and Hargett explains that the conception of his part in the songs isn’t always wilful. “There’s two different ways it can happen,”

A closer inspection of that track – the album’s chipper second single – reveals the words: ‘Figures are forming, finding the door / the numbers are trying to say something more.’ In other instances, In Love With Oblivion’s tracks are reconstructions of dream situations. “With songs like ‘Invisible City’, there was a scenario in the dream: I was holding a feather, and someone took me and guided me down into

Beneath their pronounced stylistic façade, there’s much to marvel at - which is a shame given that Crystal Stilts seem to attract so many tags casting them simply as an act indebted to cult bands. “I think the Joy Division thing is overdone because it’s solely related to the sound of my voice. It’s just the fact that we sing low and neither of us are great singers, so we don’t have much of a range. And then there’s comparisons like [that of] a man in his midforties coming up to us after the Brighton show and telling me that we reminded him of the Doors so much. I might think a song like ‘Alien Rivers’ … to us, that’s more like a Mazzy Star sort of thing. And unlike Hope Sandoval, I’m not a woman, so it ends up reminding people of the Doors more,” says Hargett, exasperated.

At the end of the day, pidgeon-holes are just part of being a successful band, regardless of the hidden depths the music might hold for its makers and its fans. “It’s one of those things where you never really think of anything specifically when you’re writing a song, you just put chords together that sound nice, and by the time it’s over…” he trails off. “It’s just the nature of music journalism, to try and reference things so that the reader can understand it without hearing it.”

What: In Love With Oblivion is out now through Popfrenzy

Oscar + Martin Pop Is Not A Dirty Word By Caitlin Welsh

In Helsinki. (This writer recently spotted a reference to “R’n’Twee”, but refuses to help perpetuate any more absurd spliced subgenres.) More importantly, it’s lighter and more upbeat than most of Psuche’s output, confirming that O+M are definitely a horse of a different colour. “I think it’s just more fun, really,” King agrees. “I think that’s kind of the main difference. It used to be a bit more serious, but now we just get up on stage and have a dance and have fun. We mess around in a way that I felt we never could in the old band.”

Psuche, King says, would often become fixated on musicality and pushing boundaries in subtle ways. “Having said that, it wasn’t like we were like, ‘No, it has to go like this because that’s the most musical way to do it’,” he explains. “We just thought too much about it, thought too much about the music. Nowadays if it feels good we just play it and go from there … I think it took a long time for us to just relax and just goof around and not worry as much what it sounded like.”

O

scar + Martin will have to endure their share of clunky phoenix-from-theashes references in the press, but the analogy doesn’t quite work. The demise last year of their old band, the much-loved art-pop collective Psuche, was less a fiery destruction than a shrugging evolution born of the members’ wanderings. The five-piece was whittled down to Oscar Slorach-Thorn and Martin King as, one by one, the others left Melbourne for Berlin and London and higher-education institutions and love affairs.

“Me and Oscar were left here still with a bunch of shows to play, and so we had to work something out between us,” explains King, over the phone from Melbourne. “Obviously in that time the music changed as well.

“It was a bit awkward to cut the band down to the two of us, but there’s no bad blood

20 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

between all the members now.” In fact, he adds, they were all together a few weekends ago, for Psuche alum Ruby Green’s wedding to Chris Bolton (aka Seagull, one of Oscar + Martin’s Two Bright Lakes labelmates). “It was amazing, it was just at a yacht club with all these sets of family – just pared-back family, not particularly religious or anything, just a really nice party. My other band The Harpoons played the reception, and everybody was dancing, the parents and everything, It was beautiful.”

Cutting loose a little seems to have worked wonders for Oscar + Martin. Their debut fulllength, For You, is a slinky, heartfelt gem of a pop record, with Oscar’s clear, hesitant falsetto chattering and fluttering over hopscotch beats and feathery samples to create something like the lovechild of James Blake and Architecture

Their influences have shifted as well; King says that for him, what used to be a mere fondness for 90s R&B has developed into a full-time habit. “I sometimes think that 90s (and early 2000s) R&B is the epitome of all music,” he confides later, in a follow-up email. “It has no restraints stylistically or aesthetically, it was never afraid to be cheesy (perhaps because it is the source of what is considered cheesy these days), nor was it afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. Alicia Keys’ first album Songs In A Minor is a masterpiece (though I’m not sure Oscar would agree with me on that one).” King’s well aware of the resurgence in indie circles of 90s-influenced R&B, from James Blake’s gossamer bedroom-soul to the universal adoration of slow-jam alchemists The Weeknd. “I think it was just R&B’s time to come back around, you know?”

Those influences are more visible on some tracks than others. The centerpiece of For You, ‘What I Know’, is a gentle slow-jam, built on a slouching Psuche sample dragging a muffled

“It used to be a bit more serious, but now we just get up on stage and have a dance and have fun.

We mess around in a way that I felt we never could in Psuche.” beat behind it, and featuring the honeyed tones of King’s Harpoons bandmate Bec Rigby. It’s one of a couple of tracks that started more as King’s creation, and he takes obvious pride in it - both lyrically and emotionally, For You is skewed towards Slorach-Thorn. “It’s no secret that a lot of the album is about Oscar’s recently broken heart,” he says, though he assures me it’s very much a collaborative effort. “Oscar wrote around 90% of the lyrics on the album and put together most of the song structures, and we share the production and arrangement when we work together on the recordings.”

The duo also listen to a lot of J Dilla and Madlib, the go-to icons for inventive beats, and both Slorach-Thorn and King are involved in beatmaking and production for R&B and hip hop projects in Melbourne. But King says that their more eclectic influences all still go towards the one end: good pop songs. “I think we both had to come to terms with the idea of making pop music,” he admits. “I think a few years ago we would have been a little scared of the simplicity of the pop form - verse/chorus/ bridge - but really, that form exists for a reason, which is that it is awesome.”

What: For You is out now on Two Bright Lakes, through Remote Control

BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 21

Hugh Cornwell The Perfect Mix By Mike Gee

H

ugh Cornwell will go down in history as one of the founding members of The Stranglers, but it turns out he formed his first band in the 1960s, with a young Richard Thompson. That one of the prime figures of UK punk and new wave began his career in a school band with one of the finest singer/ songwriter guitarists to ever emerge from the UK just goes to show how small the music world is. “It’s true,” Cornwell says from Los Angeles, where he’s touring his new solo show. “I couldn’t play guitar at the time so I started as a bass player, taught by Richard.”

Cornwell’s had some interesting moments since then. He’s done time in Pentonville jail for drug possession; The Stranglers appeared on stage at Battersea with a bunch of male and female strippers in 1978; on another occasion, bassist JJ Burnel burnt the American flag in front of the boss of the US record company that the band was licensing its music to. And some people still sneer at the mention of The Stranglers, bagging them as just art-rock with attitude, all because they played with keyboards; they’ve been labelled sexist, boorish, violent, crass, revolutionary, intellectual, reactionary, pretentious, contrary and whole lot more. And when punk descended in a blaze of pure rock ‘n’ roll and, in one brief year, was consumed by the record industry and burnt out, The Stranglers didn’t give a toss. Mannerisms meant little; in the next ten years they would become a fully-fledged rock band, tossing out some sublime pieces of pop, a couple of anthems, some stunning

Escape The Fate Twist Of Fate By Birdie

rock - and some really ordinary stuff as well.

Right at the bottom of this pile of music was The Stranglers’ incendiary, glorious 1977 debut, Rattus Norvegicus IV. And even today, it’s still a remarkable album. “It’s only the children of the fucking wealthy who tend to be good looking,” screams Cornwell in ‘Ugly’, which segues into an eight-minute keyboarddriven anthem, ‘Down In The Sewer’ – this, back when punk was supposed to be about brief, visceral venom. Still, there’s plenty of punk in Rattus’ smart rock: ‘London Lady’, ‘Hanging Around’ and ‘(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)’ is a trio of near-perfect punk pop; listen to the melodies, listen to Cornwell snarl.

Cornwell, who left the band in 1990 to pursue his solo career, is bringing his split set show to Australia in May. The second half will be Rattus Norvegicus IV in its entirety - and without keyboards. “I’m not bringing the keyboards to Australia, as I’m bringing down a trio. My band’s been a trio for 10 years - I find there’s more room to do stuff,” Cornwell explains.

“When we’re doing the back-catalogue, we have to reorganise the material, listen to the keyboards, decide whether to keep the passages in or axe them. For instance with ‘Down In The Sewer’, the big keyboard part at the end I now play on guitar. People like it, apparently – it gives it a different feel.”

The revisited Rattus can be heard on Cornwell’s latest live double album, New Songs For King Kong. It’s been well roadtested already, and the 61-year-old just keeps on playing. “As far as longevity goes, I’m just happy my health has sustained me and I’m still in shape to do this, because it’s a tough schedule. But I’m still enjoying doing it. I think the secret is that I don’t do anything I don’t want to do.” In summer, between festival appearances, Cornwell has been keeping a different schedule - that of a writer. He already has three non-fiction books on the market, but his first novel, Window On The World, is being released this May in the UK. “It’s about a beautiful young Australian artist who looks a bit like Nicole Kidman. She went to a Sydney girls’ school and comes to London looking for success - and the story develops from there.

“I loved doing it,” he continues, of writing the book. “It took me five years; I can only do ten days at a time, as it’s very solitary. That’s why I like doing music - there’s people everywhere.

It’s perfect mixing both.”

What: Hooverdam and New Songs For King Kong are out now Where: The Manning Bar, Sydney University When: Thursday May 5

T

here are times in life when you realise that anything is possible. Escape The Fate vocalist Craig Mabbitt will vouch for it, especially after spending a recording session with one of his biggest idols: Mick Mars of Motley Crue. “[Mars] is just this awesome guy,” Mabbitt enthuses. “He’s like, ‘nice to meet you’ and not at all official. It makes sense when you think about it objectively – I mean, he’s just a lead guitarist and a human being like everybody else. He was super-keen to work with [guitarist Bryan] Money, they were really vibing off one another. I really do hope that track gets used in the future.

“It’s always great to meet someone who’s been in this business for as long as Mick has, you can always take something from that,” Mabbit continues. “I personally took away that if you really do have the passion and love, if you live for the music like we have since we were kids, then it can be something you end up doing for the rest of your life. It was one of those humbling moments – here we were, at Mick’s house, he wanted to write with us… One of those moments when it hits you that nothing is unobtainable.”

Escape The Fate have always received comparisons to the rock legends Motley Crue, but the singer claims that their latest album is different: more pissed off, much darker. “With this record, I learned more about [Bryan] Money than I ever knew,” he says. “It turns out that he’s very heavily influenced by Rob Zombie, Slipknot, Orgy and Korn - the real dark, industrial heavy metal bands.

He never ever told anybody about that! We never knew! He plodded along and did his thing, and let us get pigeonholed as a Motley Crue band - he thought he couldn’t be himself - and so when I told him to just write from the heart, the sound of the album took a whole different direction.”

But as Mabbitt has come to realise, everyone’s

a critic. “Some people are saying it’s not heavy enough! You can never please everybody,” he says. “They’re just scene kids who judge a song not by the quality of the music but by the amount of screaming... It’s kind of weird because I actually think that both this record and our first record are heavier than our last record, so I don’t know what they’re talking about. On the last album we had all the singalong poppy songs, and they’re still popular.”

Kids talking shit is something Mabbitt has been used to since he stepped into the shoes of founding Escape The Fate vocalist, the notorious Ronnie Radke, back in 2008. “The way I’ve come to see it, though, is ‘Not my fan, not my problem’,” he says. “There was a little bit of a backlash at first, which was something any new vocalist would expect, but most of the true fans have given me nothing but positivity and support. If they tell you that you suck, you just don’t listen, it’s as simple as that. When you know that your album is good, you can afford to just sit back and laugh about it.”

After all, the music is all that Mabbitt really cares about. With album number four already on the band’s to-do list, he says the plan is to combine the sounds they do best. “So we’ve got the heavy album [Dying Is Your Latest Fashion, 2006], we’ve got the poppier album [This War Is Ours, 2008] and we’ve got the heaviest [self-titled, 2010] album,” lists Mabbitt.

“What I want to do is take the best elements from both of the last two albums and go from there.”

With: Pierce The Veil What: Escape The Fate is out now Where: UNSW Roundhouse When: Saturday April 30

The Little Stevies Ready For Whatever By Nick Mason

“O

bviously we make plans and have hopes and dreams and aspirations like any other band ... but I feel like we kind of roll along very organically, whether we try to or not,” says Sibylla Stephen. With sister Bethany, Sibylla fronts The Little Stevies, a Melbourne band who’ve finally arrived at their anticipated second album, Attention Shoppers.

Renowned for their casual blend of folk and pop music, The Little Stevies formed around seven years ago, releasing their debut EP, Grown Up, in 2006, and steadily developing a fan base from there. “We sort of learned how to be a band together - and even, embarrassingly enough, in front of a few audiences. We played festivals really early on and there would be a lot of people in those rooms - and only Robin [Geradts-Gill] could play an instrument properly at that stage! I know bands get better with age, but we really learned our stuff while we were doing it.”

Their passion and persistence would ultimately pay off. The group’s endearing debut LP, Love Your Band, scored acclaim from all corners, its success spurring on plans for another release.

And the band didn’t take long to establish a set of intentions for their follow-up project. “We just wanted to make a really good pop album,” Sibylla says. “We felt we had really catchy,

punchy pop songs; we just wanted to make a pop album, basically, that sounded like a real band in a room playing real music together, as one. We didn’t want to make a Britney Spears type album - we wanted to make a Crowded House pop album.”

In embarking on their next creative endeavour, Attention Shoppers, The Little Stevies would venture onwards and upwards, trading in a familiar St. Kilda setting for studio time in the USA. “It was really freaky. It was like, ‘How the fuck did we get here? What the hell are we doing?’” Sibylla recalls. “We were all really busy organising this thing before we got there - then we got there, and probably when we stepped off the plane was when we first realised what was about to happen, and what we were doing. We felt very uncool and very out of place, but soon we felt very cool and very LA - or we pretended we did, anyway!

I think having an experience like that really pushed us to stand up to it and say, ‘Let’s do the best we can - this is amazing, let’s take every opportunity by the balls and just do it!’”

Not only did this unmitigated ambition result in a stunning sophomore record, but the band learnt a lot from the process, too. “In hindsight, it was a really great thing for us to do, to get out of the country, to go to America and record this album with an American producer and

stuff. It was great for us as a band and for our confidence,” Sybilla says. “Having done it I feel like I can take on anything now. I feel really great about it.

“Suddenly we felt like an incredibly professional band with a lot of responsibility on our shoulders,” she continues. “That’s a scary feeling but it’s also a great feeling, and it makes you do great things ... I’m really proud

of the album and the recording process. I feel like it’s got me ready for whatever.”

What: Attention Shoppers is out now With: Gossling Where: Great Northern Hotel, Newcastle / The Vanguard, Newtown / The Brass Monkey, Cronulla When: May 6 / May 7 / May 8

“Everywhere there’s lots of piggies living piggy lives You can see them out for dinner with their piggy wives””- GEORGE HARRISON 22 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

s g u r d e s Do you u e out ? r ’ u o y n e wh

Researchers from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre would like to speak to people who use drugs when they party. Face to face interviews will be conducted between March and May. The interview takes around one hour and is held at a convenient location for you. Interviews are anonymous and confidential.

You will be reimbursed $40 for your time.

Contact Laura on (02) 9385 0407, email nswedrs@unsw.edu.au or sms details to 0404 786 677 (you do not have to use your real name).

COOGE E THURS MAY 5

TONY JOE WHITE

THE ORIGINAL SWAMP ROCKER

SAT MAY 7

DEREK WARFIELD & THE YOUNG WOLFE TONES COMING

SOON! RAY BEADLE + GUESTS SAT MAY 14 GRANEY + DOG TRUMPET SAT MAY 21 DAVE GR THE ATLANTICS RETURN TO COOGEE SAT MAY 28 Band Bookings

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Tickets & info from www.coogeediggers.com.au

COOGEE DIGGERS 9665 4466 CORNER BYRON & CARR STREETS

USE ME. BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 23

arts frontline

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

brushstrokes WITH JEFF

O

riginally training as a chemical engineer, Jeff Green has now been doing stand-up and generally making a living out of comedy for 20-or-so years.

British-born, he decided to move to Melbourne two years ago – and the ensuing process of cultural adjustment is the subject of his new stand-up show, Hear Me Out, which he brings to Sydney Comedy Festival this month.

Tell us about how you got into stand-up!

I went to my first comedy show in October

GREEN (MELB)

1987, at the comedy store in Leicester Square, London. As I entered the basement past all the photos of Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, Ade Edmonton, Alexei Sayle – heroes of mine from The Young Ones and Friday Night Live – butterflies erupted in my stomach. I had a great night. On the way out I saw a note inviting new acts who wanted to try stand-up to get in touch with the venue. That was it for me. I fretted and dreamed about becoming a stand-up from that moment on. I went to a Tuesday night course in North London for wannabe cabaret performers – taught by stand-ups from the circuit. I was in the class with another hopeful – Eddie Izzard. We became great friends, gigging together in the early years.

What was your first gig, and how did it go?

I booked myself into my first gig: April 6, 1988, in a pub called Funny Business at Fergies.

My first show was to six people (two of whom were my friends). I did the three minutes of jokes I’d written and learnt off by heart. The jokes were terrible, but I got by on enthusiasm and hope. The organiser booked me again for a few weeks later, which paid seven quid.

What advice you would give other poms trying to assimilate into Australia?

Don’t be freaked out by the overcomplicated parking restrictions, the fact that amber seems to mean accelerate, or the fact that you can often experience being overtaken, undertaken and tailgated all at the same time – even though you’re already doing 10km over the speed limit. Start saying ‘look’ at the beginning of a sentence. Pick a football team to support – you don’t have to know the rules. Don’t take offence when they hang shit on you, it only encourages them…

POLYAMORY DOESN’T WORK You and your five wives should hop along to Serial Space this weekend, to find out where it all went wrong, courtesy of their Great Love Debate, which tackles the viability of ‘polyamorous’ relationships. Part of Serial Space’s semi-regular Great Debate series, this event will peek behind closed doors into the private realms of romance, pitting different theories of love against each other, via debaters Eddie Sharp, Angela Bowne Anderson and Siri May (The Affirmative Team); and Lara Thoms, Nigel Cox and Jess Keen (The Negative Team).

The sultry Nick Coyle will take adjudication duties, with tunes from FBi’s Tyson Koh. $7 gets you all the opinions you can handle. Saturday April 30, 7.30pm at Serial Space (33 Wellington Street Chippendale).

SUSTAINABLE WORKS

Sustainable Works returns to CarriageWorks this Saturday April 30, with its monthly roster of FREE workshops. This month’s selection covers soil cultivation, the medicinal and nutritional values of common weeds, and ‘reverse robots’ – which entails making robot costumes out of recycled materials. You can register for any or all of these sessions from 8.30am on the day, and the workships themselves run from 10am-midday. There’s also something called the ‘Kitchen Garden Club’ from 9am, where you can swap gardening notes, wax-lyrical about organic home grown veggies, composting, soil prep and more, and trade excess food. Hessian clothing optional, but a crusading sense of conviction about climate change is compulsory.

Carriageworks.com.au

How has your sense of humour changed over the years?

Early on I had a lot of scatological jokes and knob gags. Later I moved toward jokes about my family (especially my dad). From the mid‘90s onwards I detailed incidents with various girlfriends, and wrote a few joke books on the subject of relationships. The kids came along in 2005 and 2008 and feature briefly in the show, as well as living in Australia. Your material has to change with you – there’s nothing sadder than seeing a 40+-year-old comic peddling confused, dated material and stories about what happened to them in school.

What topics are most tickling your fancy at the moment?

I’m enjoying exploring Australians' innate antiauthoritarianism. The government, the cops, bankers are all fair game in this show.

What’s the most important skill in standup, in your experience?

Well THE most important lesson to learn in stand-up is: Connect, connect, connect.

Without the link made and constantly remade with the audience, you really are just talking annoyingly loudly in a room. Another good lesson is to try and find a way to be funny between the jokes – you know you’re onto something when audiences laugh at you when you’re not saying anything; it takes a heap of pressure off your material, too.

What: Hear Me Out Where: The Factory Theatre, Enmore When: May 3 – 7, at 9:15pm More: sydneycomedyfest.com.au

Award-winning British comedian and novelist Mark Watson is bringing his hyperactive brand of stand-up to Sydney Comedy Festival this year, in his most personal and critically-acclaimed show to date – which seems to be about social faux pas, and involve a powerpoint presentation… He’s an annoyingly intelligent former member of the Cambridge Footlights (the theatre soc that gave rise to Douglas Adams, Stephen Fry and Monty Python, among many others), frustratingly talented, and only 30. If this doesn’t intimidate you, then we have three double passes for his show on Tuesday April 26, at the Seymour Centre. To get your hands on one, tell us which famously-neurotic New York filmmaker Stephen Fry has compared Mark Watson to… (hint: check out Watson’s show page on sydneycomedyfest.com.au)

FOO FIGHTERS DOCO

In Back & Forth, Academy Award-winning documentarian James Moll strips back the layers of publicity, hype and dissemblance to reveal the dudes behind the Foo Fighters – and explore their 16-year history, from the early cassette demos Dave Grohl recorded during his time as Nirvana’s drummer, to the rock pantheon where they now sit. Foo Fighers: Back & Forth will screen at Dendy Newtown on April 29 at 9pm and Sunday May 1, at 3.30pm, with each session followed by a live recording of the new album Wasting Light, which was saw the Foos abandon the studio in favour of Dave’s garage, and which will be screened in epic 3D. Tickets are $25, $23 conc., $20 Club Dendy members. On sale now through www.dendy. com.au.

HEAD ON PHOTO FESTIVAL

The annual flotilla of mini-shows that comprise the Head On Photo Festival is making its way into a gallery near you this week. The official launch takes place on Thursday May 5, when the Head On Portrait Prize winners will be announced, and the celebration of photography won’t let up 'til around June, with satellite shows taking place at the Apple Store Sydney (iPhone Photography!), At The Vanishing Point in Newtown (curated by landscape photographer Kurt Sorensen), Blender Gallery of Oxford St (a group show of works by top music photographers), Gaffa, and a billion other galleries, cafes, bookstores, etc. To see the forty Head On Portrait Prize finalists, head to the Australian Centre of Photography, from May 6 – June 11. headon.com.au

Will Lars Von Trier's Melancholia be programmed for Sydney Film Festival? Find out May 11...

DIRTY HANDS

Next up at The Paper Mill is a group show by Dirty Hands Print Studio, a collective of ex-COFA printmaking artists who play with etching, collograph, screen-printing, lino and more. Opening on Thurs April 28, Flux (Density) will feature works by Fernanda Porto, Gokcen Altinok, Lisa Woolfe, Mike Watt, Helen Daley, Jessica Hodgkinson, Mehwish Iqbal & Stephanie Peters (work pictured left).

TINY STADIUMS = LIVE ARTS

Tiny Stadiums are bringing magic to the streets of Erksineville this May, with their annual festival of ‘live arts’. Produced by PACT Theatre and curated by their resident ARI, Quarterbred, Tiny Stadiums programs interactive and live arts that are specifically tailored to the streets of Erskineville. What does this mean? It means that if you take a stroll through central Erko on the weekend of May 14-15, you can expect to stumble upon curious things. However: this year, TS are also putting on a couple of theatre-based shows for a two-week run in PACT. Performance collective Applespiel will be presenting their new show, Executive Stress/Corporate Retreat; and Nat Randall (of Team MESS, and Some Film Museums I Have Known) will be presenting her one-woman show Cheer Up Kid – “a tragi-comedy about

FILM FLEXI-PASSES

It’s time to start stocking up on flexi-passes, in anticipation of the mad flurry of online ticket sales that will take place after Sydney Film Festival launch their full program on May 11. With a killer 'teaser' lineup already announced, including Miranda July’s The Future, Anh Hung Tran’s Norwegian Wood, and awardwinning Greek drama Attenberg, we’re also keenly anticipating a swag of films snatched from Cannes Film Festival’s outstanding line-up this year, which includes newies from Lars Von Trier, Terrence Malick, Gus Van Sant, Pedro Almodóvar, Takashi Miike, Kim Ki-duk…. Get your flexi-passes NOW, and put May 11 in your diary, when all will be revealed… sff.org.au

24 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

MARK WATSON! WIN!

childhood anxieties, parenting failures and disturbing matriarchal figures in film.” The two short shows run back –to-back at PACT from May 3 – 15. Pact.net.au

34B BURLESQUE: BERLIN!

It was only a matter of time until Messr. Bublé took 34B Burlesque to smokey 1930s Berlin – the home of burlesque, the honorary fatherland of cabaret, and site of the steaming artistic underground that had all Europe talking... Your train leaves May 14, fuelled by the beats of FBi’s Jack Shit, conducted by Francois Büble himself, and your travel companions include Kira Hula-la, Audrey L’Espionne, Ember Flame, Briana Bluebell, Electrik Dreams, and Dizze Der Kazz. A brave new world of burlesque awaits! Pre-sale tickets are $20 for general admission, $30 for a reserved table (min. three persons) and more on the door, through moshtix.com.au 34B – 44 Oxford St Darlinghurst.

CUBE ART AT OAF

Oxford Art Factory continues its commitment to both art and live music with a new weekly performance mash-up called Free Fall.

You might think of that glass box between the Gallery bar and the main floor as a passageway, but OAF like to think of it as a place where magic happens, so they’ve teamed up with Chalk Horse gallery and artist/curator John A Douglas to put together a three-month program of adventures courtesy of Sydney’s most provocative young artists, taking place every Friday and Saturday night in the cube.

This week’s instalments (April 29 & 30) will see Tim Gregory and Chalk Horse director Oliver Watts turn the tables on the audience in their performance Loge AA, where they pose as critics, judging the night club scene below, and writing their (il)logical reviews on white boards to unsettle the audience. facebook.com/ FreeFall.OAFCUBE

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THE DEEP FIELD new album out now BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 25

s Kenneth Branagh talk w Shakespeare, rainbo agic. bridges, and movie m

THOR

By Dee Jefferson

A

s I sit down opposite Kenneth nneth Branagh, I can’t help thinking nking that when he was my age ge this actor-director already had an Academy Award-winning film under his belt, had founded his own theatre company, and was prepping his is sophomore feature in Hollywood. od.

Right now, however, he looks like he could do with a holiday. Since nce moving to Hollywood in late-2008, 008, his working life has been moreeor-less consumed by making one of Hollywood’s more daunting propositions: the first 3D Marvel el super-hero film.

The notion that Branagh, a renowned Shakespearean, would ould be attached to one of the hottest est comic book properties in Hollywood, ywood, isn’t intuitive; pairing the star and director of Hamlet and Henry V with a film about a hammer-happy god, in a franchise that includes Marvel arvel stablemates Iron Man, the upcoming coming Captain America and The Avengers, ngers, seems like a bit of a stretch.

mythopoeic scale, from Shakespeare mytho speare to Mozart’s Magic Flute, and Mary Mo Shelley’s Shelle Frankenstein: primal emotional struggles, worked out emotio ut on screen by kings, noblemen and scr monsters. monst

However, the more you probe the history of both Branagh and Thor, hor, the less strange the partnership ip seems. While Branagh’s content nt has often been British or European, n, his cinematic sensibilities have tended nded decidedly towards Hollywood: big films with big stars, big emotion, n, and epic visuals and scores – the most successful example being g Much Ado About Nothing (1993), 93), which re-popularised Shakespeare eare for the first time since Zeffirelli’s ’s Romeo & Juliet, and paved the e way for the ‘90s ‘Shakespeare on film’ revival. Branagh has also always ays been drawn to storytelling on the he

When I ask Branagh where this is taste ffor the epic comes from, I half expect expec him to recount tales – as he has elsewhere – of growing up e p in an extended working-class family ext mily in Belfast, Belfas with plenty of time around ound the hearth listening to improbable he able yarns. Instead he points to a childhood diet of Hollywood films, childh ms, courtesy courte of television and trips s to the cinema cinem with his parents. “I really lly felt the big screen ‘thing’ as a small all child.

[Films like] The Sound Of Music, sic, and Th The Great Escape; Lawrence nce of Arabia; Arabia the Bond films – that kind of sensorially overwhelming picture.” senso ure.”

It’s an experience Branagh stilll Branagh on set...

chases. chase “There’s just something g about larger-than-life element of [the big b screen experience] – the absolute absolu thrill of being taken away way from who w I am and where I am, m, and stepping into the picture…” st …” He pauses, pause before admitting, “Although ough I admire, and sometimes wish I adm did more mo of what you might call all ‘gritty’ or ‘observational’, in-yer-face, -face, contemporary or domestic stories, contem ries, I like that th flight into the unfamiliar. ar. That full, visual and aural experience.” vi ce.”

Thorr is i very much the ‘full experience’: an effects-laden exper intergalactic epic based on the interga e Marvel Marve character created in the e 1960s, 1960s borrowing heavily from Nordic mythology.

A fan of the comics mytho s as a child, child and enamoured of the big screen potential of that universe, se, Branagh Brana petitioned Marvel Studios udios for the job.

the film conceptualises Asgard d as a distant dista planet, and its rulers a dynasty dynas of super-powered beings ngs typically typica mistaken by humans for gods. The film deals with what happens happe when Asgard’s king, Odin (Anthony (Antho Hopkins), banishes his eldest son Thor (Aussie expat Chris Hemsworth) to Earth, ass a punishment for his pride and pun d disobedience.

Stranded in the New disobe Mexico Mexic desert, our hot-headed d young killing machine meets a beautiful astrophysicist (Natalie beaut e Portman) who teaches him the Portm e value of life.

“[I remember] this moment of being rem in a newspaper shop in Belfastt on a n Sunday, Sunda and seeing a very brightlyghtlycoloured colour magazine up on a rack ck – and it was Thor. The thing I chiefly remember is the title treatmentt – it remem was like li the pillars of Stonehenge, nge, great big obelisks of rock. There re was something about it that was going, somet oing, ‘MASSIVE!’” he says, throwing ‘MASS g his arms and his eyes wide, in mock ock disbelief.

“I wasn’t obsessive about disbel bout [the Thor Th comics] by any means,” ns,” he admits, “but the colour saturation ad uration and the th angles [appealed to me] – all stuff stu we tried to capture in the he movie.” movie

Branagh Brana always begins his directing ecting projects projec with ‘anchor images’, which set the tone and encapsulate his vision for the rest of the picture. e. For Thor, he says the first image was “the warriors riding horses across w oss the rainbow bridge in outer space.” ra ace.”

He pauses, seeing my eyebrows pa ws rise, and a concedes (laughing), “Even to say it, it feels like you’ve taken ken some drugs... I thought, you know, now, if I could cou just negotiate this so that people don’t scream ‘Oh, it’s so o operatic!’

– and if I could get those opera hose two guys gu on that rainbow bridge ge fighting, ghtin at the end – both of those hose images image are very distinct, potentially ntially original origina [achievements]. They’re e kinds of images that have been n touched touche on in the comics, but if we could do that on film, in 3D, with th big music – well, that’s cinema! So o the challenge was, could we bring off challe those images without people thinking hinking it was hokey.”

Based largely on comics writerr J. Michael Straczynski’s recentt Mic incarnation of the Thor character, incarn ter,

Branagh Brana has always taken risks ks with his h directorial choices – and nd it must be b said, they haven’t always ays

paid off. o His last commercial hit, Frankenstein, was eviscerated by Franke most film critics – and conversely, his last las critical success, the four-hour Hamlet, Hamle didn’t make a dent at the box office.

From his early days at of London’s Londo Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, to t his creation of a counterversion versio to the Royal Shakespeare Company, and his decision to make Comp risky films like the fantasy noir thriller Dead Again, and his Oriental version of As You Like It, Branagh seems to have hav followed his gut rather than his commercial instincts. And if Thor co does prove to be the box office p success succe that Marvel hopes, it seems unlikely unlike that that was Branagh’s motivation. motiva “I sometimes ask myself if there was som an easier eas way,” he says of his career.

“I think thin I tried to put myself in places where the degree of discomfort was appropriate to challenging the rigour appro of my artistic work. For instance: Thorr was w so immense, and often overwhelming.

I suspected it would overw be – and a I was right. But it was character charac forming, or…” he searches for the phrase. “I dunno – you challenge yourself, don’t you? [British challe director] directo Peter Brook calls it the ‘uninformed hunch’: the little voice ‘uninfo inside that says ‘that’s the thing to do’ – even though the other voice might be saying ‘You’re mad, you’re mad! say They’ll They’l hate you! You’re gonna get that wrong!

You’re not experienced w enough!’ enoug You just go ‘Oh fuck it!’ Life should be full of adventures.”

What Thor, dir. Kenneth Branagh What: When When: Released April 21

B U C & F L O W t E AC R G E R A E S W T t O I O R R A F E A N S O T A S J R IN NE J R t O N C O t O S S N I G B A A N I B C t M M D O L CO A B W Y N U K R C NI HG S t A E t R S I E P K A M F E P ND I A C E I M R R CH T U C O E Y L N E I t D S R T CHA EN I R t S R E NI H E T O B R t PICNIC EVM B S N Y O A I D L I E L H O T H t CASSIANtROM AYt N U M B E R S R A D I O t T H E ALPHAMA 26 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

As seen on Good News Week, Talkin Bout Your Generation and star of solo Standup Comedy Specials on ABCTV

JACQUES BARRETT

IN

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Get making!

Housed in the old Eveleigh Rail Yards, the CarriageWorks site has been a place of movement, since its earliest days. Today, CarriageWorks is home to artistic exploration, creative collaboration, individual expression and collective experience. CarriageWorks exists to open up new opportunities to bring creativity, in all its forms, to as many people as possible.

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BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 27

THE BRAG GUIDE TO:

[PHOTOGRAPHY]

S

ydney’s greatest confluence of creativity is back for its ninth year, with a weekend of presentations and talks from the best local and international creative-types. This year’s line-up is typically eclectic, including a typographic illustrator, a graphic designer, a visual effects company, both a fashion and an ‘art’ photographer, a production designer, a design duo, a design studio and a creative agency... And that’s just 9 of the 12 speaker spots! Below we’ve explored some of this year’s highlights – for the full line-up and to purchase tickets, see semipermanent.com

Design Is Kinky (SYDNEY) Words by: Dee Jefferson

I

t’s nine years since Andrew Johnstone and Murray Bell of Sydney design studio Design Is Kinky established the SemiPermanent conference, as a mecca for good design. Over those years, they’ve invited the cream of the creative crop from across Australia and around the world to take part in the annual forum – from photographers and graphic designers to filmmakers, illustrators, creative agencies, typographers, production designers, art directors, and even writers. To say their definition of design is broad, is an understatement.

What binds their line-up of speakers together, however, is Bell and Johnstone’s taste for good design (as displayed in EMPTY magazine, DiK’s semi-regular compendium of visual creativity), and their passion for giving creative practitioners a forum to share and discuss their process, inspirations and ideas. “Murray and I basically choose people that we like, that’s really our only criteria,” Johnstone says simply. “Obviously we try to have a diverse range of speakers, but if we didn’t like their work, we wouldn’t ask them to speak at SemiPermanent.”

The granddaddy of this year’s line-up, in a sense, is iconic Australian illustrator and musician Chris O’Doherty – aka Reg Mombassa. “It feels like I’ve known about him most of my life,” says Johnstone. “Mental As Anything was maybe a few years before my time, but not much. And I’ve been a surfer for 30-odd years, so I was always into Mambo, and discovered his artwork through that; I just loved its quirkiness and its style. He’s a lot older than most of our speakers, so he’s a lot more wise on the industry, and how things have changed over the last 30-or-so years.”

The rest of the line-up has come together through a combination of recommendations, chance discoveries, and long-standing admiration. For example, a colleague who runs the New Zealand edition of SemiPermanent recommended the Auckland-based multidisciplinary design studio Alt Group for this

Work by Alt Group

year’s Sydney event. Established in 2000, Alt Group have made tracks for their innovate and award-winning campaigns for clients as diverse as fashion label Karen Walker and boutique publisher Oakfield Press. “Their ad work is really clever, very creative,” says Johnstone. The same colleague was responsible for adding Londonbased fashion photographer Kayt Jones to the Hong Kong edition of Semi-Permanent earlier this year, which is where Johnstone and Bell discovered her work. “She spoke really well about what she does, and really passionately,” Johnstone recalls, “and gave me a new perspective on fashion photography, and the kind of work that goes into it.”

On the other hand, Johnstone discovered Portland-based fisherman-turned-photographer Corey Arnold while browsing through the Fecal Face website, around a year ago.

“He’s shooting some really interesting stuff, and I really like his style of documentary photography – not everyone has to shoot poverty in India, or death and destruction.”

Who: Semi-Permanent’s 2011 line-up includes Webuyyourkids, Reg Mombassa, Gemma O’Brien, Kayt Jones, Alt Group, and everyone you see on this double-page spread!

When: May 13 & 14 Where: Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour More: Get early bird tickets until April 29 at semipermanent.com

[PRODUCTION DESIGN]

Shark Men (2010 / Spain)

Corey Arnold (USA) Words by: Bridie Connell

important and gives me a great sense of pride.

T

So, do you think your time away from the art world enhances your creativity? I never really feel like I’m fully involved in the art world to begin with. I’m not a good networker and don’t get out to art events all that often. I’m definitely most inspired while at sea.

he contemporary art world is far removed from that of the commercial fishing industry, but Portland-based photographer Corey Arnold is making waves in both. A deep-sea fisherman by trade, he spends up to three months of the year at sea, and the remainder working on exhibitions, editorial assignments and Fish-Work – an ongoing series that documents global fishing cultures, in colour-rich, medium-format film.

Where does your interest in photography come from? My dad used to take pictures of our catch after every fishing trip when I was young. He was a bit obsessive about photography, and always encouraged me. At a young age I was pretty good at not cropping the heads off people while taking pictures, so I got a lot of positive feedback about that! Then in high school people noticed that I had a good eye and encouraged me to go further. I learned to love it later.

Is it difficult to navigate between your lives at sea and in the art world? I really enjoy balancing the two. The pressure to always make better pictures can get stressful, and my escape into commercial fishing 2-3 months a year is really like a retreat. I come back clear minded, healthy and strong, and ready to power through those hundreds of emails I’ve left on auto-reply. I find photography really inspirational, but the idea of harvesting wild sustainable seafood to feed people feels

28 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

Any advice for other creatives? Not depending on photography for income or having to consider the saleability of photographs is extremely rewarding – it keeps the work real. For me, having a seasonal job I can do in one block, allowing me the rest of the year to fully focus on photography, is a perfect balance.

More: www.coreyfishes.com

Annie Sperling (USA) Words by: Bridie Connell

T

o make a success of production design you need to be a dynamic all-rounder – so with a list of talents ranging from muralist, painter, and photographer to interior designer and burlesque performer, it’s no wonder Los Angeles local Annie Sperling is in high demand.

Having worked with some of the biggest names in art, music and advertising (most notably photographer David LaChapelle) Sperling’s creative vision not unlike her hometown – bold, beautiful, and a lil’ bit rock and roll.

What’s an average day at work for Annie Sperling?

As the economy has receded, I find a typical day of work more like several work days rolled into one very long one. Today for example, we’re prepping three sets as we’re shooting two.

I’m designing key elements that need to be addressed, dressing live sets, organising crews of trucks and set dressers and construction but when it’s all lit and shot, it’s like childbirth. All the great effort is forgotten as me and my amazing crew marvel at our baby.

'Deluge Museum' by Annie Sperling

Fish-Work is described as a ‘life-long’ series. Where in the world will it take you next? I decided back in 2002 that I’d return to my fisherman roots, and work in and photograph different fishing cultures around the world. Right now I’m three seasons into shooting my life as a salmon fisherman, living and working on a remote stretch of coast in Alaska. Next week, I’m off to Mexico in search of the vaquita, which is the smallest species of cetacean dolphin, and to photograph the neighbouring fishing communities. I hope to produce a new project every 2-4 years, and the series has gotten me quite a lot of editorial jobs, often fishing-related, so I’m always discovering new worlds.

You’ve worked on many high profile projects. Any highlights?

I recently worked on a portrait of the Taschen family. I’m so inspired by Taschen books.

Bringing high-quality art books with beautiful full-colour images to the masses is a great work of philanthropy, in my mind. Art is a powerful, necessary and vital part of humanity. I did that photo with David LaChapelle, and we had a great evening of arty collaboration.

Does your creative approach differ between commercial projects and personal projects such as your paintings and photography?

Being a production designer is a bit of a tightrope. You must juggle several groups and individuals – an agency who will have worked on a campaign, often as a team for months, a production company that has bid the job, and the director who hires you and who you must please with your vision of his/her ideas. I try to never build a set I don’t like because the whole crew will be dedicated to lighting, dressing and rigging it! My personal projects, on the other hand, are wholly me. I have only myself to please and answer to. The hardest part is finding the time!

What inspires you most?

I think beauty and ugliness are where I draw inspiration, and travel is where I seek those things. The unknown of a new land, complete with its mysteries and the dirt on top of it, is the core of my wanderlust and inspiration.

Sometimes I think I only work so that I can be free to travel again!

You’ve been involved with infamous burlesque revues The Velvet Hammer and Rock and Roll Stripshow? Are you still performing and producing shows?

Yes, [Burlesque performer] Kitten de Ville and I are still doing shows. We have high hopes of getting a big theatrical show up in some bitchin’ old theatre and doing a long run – with loads of designed set-pieces, of course!

More: www.anniesperling.com

THE BRAG GUIDE TO:

FUEL

[VISUAL FX]

(SYDNEY)

Words by: Bridie Connell

I

f you’ve owned a television or been to the movies in the past decade you’ve almost certainly been exposed to the work of Sydney’s Fuel VFX. Established 11 years ago and employing a full time crew of over 80 talented individuals, Fuel boast a commercial client list ranging from Toyota and Gucci to McDonalds and Heineken, with film credits on international productions including Charlotte’s Web, Iron Man 2 and Thor. Leaders in the fields of computer generated (CG) effects and animation, they’re the team behind the galloping Optus stag, the Bankwest squirrel and the bounding kangaroos in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia – and are currently in production on forthcoming Hollywood blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger. We spoke to Executive Producer and co-founder Jason Bath about all things VFX. How did Fuel VFX begin?

The five founders of Fuel – Paul Butterworth, Andrew Hellen, Simon Maddison, Dave Morley, and myself – either come from a CG artist, design, or film production background.

Some of us knew each other in the 1990s from crossing paths as freelancers on various projects, but the first time all five of us worked together was on the Farscape television series in 1998. There we set up some innovative systems to turn around a high volume of quality effects work and about a year after that finished, we realised that we’d worked very well together, and so in late 2000 we started Fuel.

What range of visual effects do you provide?

We offer high-end CG digital visual effects and

animation services to directors, production companies, advertising agencies and Hollywood studios – and we’re experienced in the full range of effects, from CG environments and character animation to FX simulations.

We also have a talented design department and a Baselight colour-grading suite that can be utilised to digitally colour-correct any film or television project.

You’ve worked with many high profile international clients. Do you think Australia is leading the way in visual effects?

Australian individuals and companies have certainly led the way in many areas of visual effects artistry, technology and research and development - or in the least have contributed to many important innovations. Australians are repeatedly lauded at international festivals and credited on some of the most high-profile films and television commercials globally.

As a destination for visual effects, Australia competes with London, Vancouver, California and Wellington, New Zealand.

What trends do you see emerging in the field of visual effects? What’s the next innovation?

Creating realistic digital humans is the next Holy Grail – we’re talking staring a digital human in the eyes and totally believing it is a person. That’s a huge deal because it’s about satisfying the human brain that that digital person looks right, and our brains have thousands of years of evolutionary experience in doing that! But visual effects have started to make some leaps in this regard over the last two to three years so it’s only a matter of time...

More: www.fuelvfx.com

Moffit.Moffit

(SYDNEY) [CREATIVE AGENCY]

Despite officially joining forces only last year, Moffitt.Moffitt have been prolific public speakers, already featuring at events like Creative Sydney and the Sydney Apple Store’s regular talk series. The brothers avoid portfolio-based presentations, preferring to discuss their philosophy and values. “At a forum like Semi-Permanent we’re more interested in having a dialogue with the audience and telling them something that they can’t find out from our website.”

The Moffits with their album art for The Verses

Words by: Irina Belova

U

sually when people talk about destiny, I tend to tune out and focus on something in the middle distance to stop my eyes from glazing over. But when twin brothers Mark and Andrew Moffitt cite ‘destiny’ as the reason for their creative union, it kind of makes sense. “We’ve been together doing this our whole lives,” says Andrew. “There was always going to be a point where we’d join forces and start a business. So I suppose this is only really a representation of our collaboration.”

Growing up in the Sutherland Shire, the self-proclaimed ‘boys from the 'burbs’ studied together at UNSW’s College of Fine Arts, and despite working at competing agencies they often collaborated on freelance and personal ‘passion projects’. Early on this included a fashion-oriented culture magazine that was scrapped for being, as Mark bluntly puts it, “just another bowl of crap.”

“We actually had a bit of a Eureka moment.

We’d already spent thousands of dollars on this [idea], and we sat down one night and thought, ‘Okay, let’s scrap this.’ It came to us that we have to do something that helps someone else.” Enter DEMO magazine, a large-format music annual heralding young Sydney talent. While existing to expose young artists, DEMO also helped the twins gain work in the music industry, and was chosen to feature in the ‘De-Zines’ contemporary independent publishing exhibition in Spain, alongside titles like Fantastic Man, Dazed and Monocle.

Mark and Andrew are passionate about raising the public profile of visual communication – or ‘creating experiences’, as they prefer to call their craft. “What we do is present daily.

Everywhere you look is something that we [visual communicators] create – a sign, a campaign, a brand. People should expect more from visual communicators, which means that the general standard should go up, the noise should reduce, and the messaging should become clearer.”

The Moffitts’ strong public voice is also a deliberate strategy to champion the value of what they do and develop their brand. Their Apple Store presentation was a response to a post on the design blog Australian INfront, which commented on the way the twins have created a brand based purely on themselves.

Andrew points out that very few creative companies use the name of the directors and for them it was a deliberate choice. “It’s a very Australian thing to be hidden; and that ‘tall poppy syndrome’, which is part of our whole cultural identity, is something that we don’t really believe in. We don’t put ourselves before our work, [but] we put ourselves alongside it.”

FUEL VFX for the Gucci Guilty commercials

Michael Leon (USA)

[GRAPHIC DESIGN]

Words by: Irina Belova

W

hile he was still a teenager and living in North Carolina, Michael Leon made connections within the local pro-skating culture that got him started in design, and saw him move to California – where he eventually landed a job at Spike Jonze’s Girl Skateboards company. By the late noughties, he was Art Director at Nike. However Leon's real passion turned out to be Commonwealth Stacks, a clothing and skateboard label that he started out of his own bedroom in 2000, and which has evolved into a leading purveyor of functionally superior decks that are easy on the eyes.

Now 36, the artist/designer/art-director and 'creative' not only has a successful small business under his belt, but his own design studio, and a string of solo and group exhibitions to boot.

What is graphic design to you? How does it different from art? Or ‘art direction', for that matter? Graphic design is about problem solving.

Art is about ideas that don’t necessarily need an answer or resolution. The recognisable language of graphic design can definitely be used to create art. Art direction is simply having a vision for what the end result is supposed to look like, and using whatever tools are necessary to get there, as well as having the skills to bring others working with you toward that goal. It’s not necessarily anything to do with being a good designer, and I think it’s a mystery to a lot of people. It’s also a very unselfish position, because an art director needs to be a champion of good ideas, whoever they come from. I often say that I’m a much better art director than designer, and I think people often think that I design everything I art direct. I don’t.

Does your approach differ for personal, group exhibition and client work? Yes, I think it’s all different, and I try to approach each project with a clean slate so the process is exciting and new each time. I don’t have a set way of working.

Usually I will be working on my own work until I get interrupted by an interesting client job. I’ll take some time for that, then go back to my own work, and Stacks.

The Stacks website says that the brand ‘embodies the creative side of skateboarding.’

Why do you think skate culture lends itself so well to art and design? Art and design are

A Curious Catalogue by M. Leon, for Colette Paris

there in the two pieces that make up a board: the construction and the graphic. We put a lot of time into both, and all the details in between.

We started with a very simple idea on how we could do this differently and build the whole thing, business and creative, on a very contemporary approach to skateboarding and a respect for skateboarders. By respect I mean we will not dumb it down for anyone. Skaters are smart people and a lot of what they are getting from the industry feels so dated. If most of the skateboard industry is Motörhead, we want to be Radiohead.

Which piece of your work are you most proud of, and why? I’m most proud of the boards that Stacks makes because I know they serve a purpose and the people that use them sort of live with them for a period of time. I love that we can be a part of someone enjoying life, outdoors, with their best friends. That’s very gratifying.

Where do you think graphic design is heading? Well it seems like there are a lot more designers than there are jobs, so I assume there will be many more people creating fantastic speculative projects and artworks using graphic design. I think that’s great.

More: michaelleonstudio.com / commonwealthstacks.com From Ideas Float Away (2002)

Mark and Andrew credit travel with 80% of their inspiration, and are immediately dismissive of the concept of ‘Australian design’.

“If a place has history, such as Denmark or Switzerland, then sure – through history they’ve got a design sensibility,” Mark argues.

“Because [Australians] have no history, we have nothing to hold onto – and that’s actually a really positive thing.” Andrew continues, “It’s a challenging question about Australian design – what does it represent? Are we inward or outward looking? I don’t really know the answer. But I think that slowly we are finding our feet as an international creative destination. I think fundamentally support from the government and the public in general is key in making this city a hub for creativity.”

More: www.moffittmoffitt.com

Flag design from Vexhall (2010)

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Arts Snap

Film & Theatre Reviews

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

darlo fleamarkets

PICS :: TL

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

17:04:11 :: LO-FI Collective :: Floor 3, 383 Bourke St Surry Hills

Tom Hiddleston (Loki) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) in Thor

■ Film

THOR Released April 21

PICS :: TL

uneasy futures

The first of this year’s superhero blockbusters, Thor is dramatic, funny and filled with intricate details. This was never a guarantee. As a stepping-stone towards The Avengers next year – which assembles virtually all of the Marvel superheroes including Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America – it could have easily become a glorified advertisement for that tent-pole, like the overstuffed Ironman 2. Fortunately, Marvel boss Kevin Feige seems to have let his Shakespearian-vet director, Kenneth Branagh, do his thing. The result is a largely self-contained, visually striking superhero tale that manages to forge its own identity.

empty exhibition

PICS :: TL

14:04:11 :: Performance Space :: 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh

14:04:11 :: aMBUSH gallery :: 4A James St, Waterloo 83990707

Arts Exposed In our diary this week...

GO FONT UR SELF: BOOK 2 – LAUNCH & EXHIBITION

The film divides its time between Earth and the sparkling, gold-plated metropolis of Asgard, where the reckless Thor (played by charismatic Aussie Chris Hemsworth) has unwisely disrupted the fragile relationship between the Norse gods and a race of Frost Giants. Furious at his son’s disobedience, the imposing, eye-patched King Odin (Anthony Hopkins) strips him of his powers and banishes him to Earth, allowing Thor’s petulant brother Loki (a superb Tom Hiddleston) to mischievously scheme his own ascension to the throne.

It’s then that Stellan Skarsgård, Natalie Portman, and Kat Dennings – a scientist, plucky astrophysicist and comic-relief sidekick – literally bump into the perplexed and largely unconscious deity while thundering through the dusty New Mexico desert.

Thor is a film of two halves – the weighty scenes in Asgard, and the slighter, more accessible scenes on Earth – and it has fun in playing up Thor’s struggle to adjust to the little banalities of small-town existence (“This drink, I like it! Another!”).

The ample CGI-assisted action is impressive and has a gnarly physicality to it (when Thor gets thrown across the room, you feel it), and the post-converted 3D is needless but not obtrusive. What impresses most, however, is the powerstruggle between the stalwart king, the young upstart and the shifty neglected son, which, given Branagh’s pedigree (Henry V, Hamlet), is not surprising.

It’s odd perhaps that a film that involves magic, shiny helmets and a giant metalbehemoth that shoots fire out of its hollow skull ends up being so believable and dramatically affecting, but that speaks to both the sincerity of the cast and Branagh’s effort in making the often silly-sounding material palatable and appropriately mythic. Thor is no masterpiece or game

changer, but we’d do well if the other 2011 superhero films (Green Lantern, Captain America and X-Men: First Class) were at least as assured as this.

Joshua Blackman ■ Theatre

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Until May 14 / Drama Theatre Sydney Opera House Much Ado About Nothing is exactly that.

It’s a rom-com about some rich families, and despite some brief moments of seriousness, the entire event is pretty light.

This production has pushed that lightness to the nth degree by setting it in a tacky games room, complete with billiard table, darts board and most impressively of all, a basketball court. This allows for the comedy to take complete pride of place, and with such great actors in charge, the result is an entertaining evening of well-written hilarity.

The story is now a classic – two people hate each other so much that you just know they’re going to get together. It’s also got some classic Shakespearian devices: friends deciding to play cupid with friends, a woman feigning death so as to deceive the rest of town, and of course a masked ball, where anything can happen. We all know it’s going to end in marital bliss, but it’s a hell of laugh watching the train wreck that gets us there.

Toby Schmitz and Blazey Best have been perfectly cast as the warring pair Benedick and Beatrice. Both own the stage whenever it is theirs alone, with Schmitz in particular finding great comic depth in his tangential monologues. But it is when the two find themselves together on stage that the play really fires, with Shakespeare’s gorgeous wise cracks flying back and forth across the stage. Their wordplay is such a bedrock of the piece that their absence from the stage is felt very keenly, leaving the other actors a lot of work to keep the various sub-plots interesting.

It would unfair of me not to mention that there are times when the gender politics are not dealt with particularly well, with one arse slap in particular seeming completely unnecessary, but for the most part it was a brilliant night of comedy that showcased some of our most formidable young talent.

Henry Florence

Thursday April 28, from 6pm / Roller Studio (6 Lacey St, Surry Hills) The fellas from Go Font Ur Self, the exhibition series dedicated to typographical and letterbased art, are launching a slim, glossy white volume of works from the collection – and they’re celebrating the only way they know how: an exhibition of type-based art. Prints from across the five GFUS series will be on display and up for auction, with all the proceeds going to a very worthy local cause: the Penrith Museum of Printing. Set up by a small group of letterpress enthusiasts, the museum preserves the traditions and technology of letterpress printing by restoring retired machines, and making them available for public use and hire. It’s a labour of love built entirely on volunteer hours and donations, so if you need an excuse to purchase a piece of typographic art, then head along. gofonturself.com.au/ 30 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

Toby Schmitz and Matthew Walker in Much Ado About Nothing

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Street Level

DVD Reviews Bone-up for film festival season...

With comedian Seann Walsh...

THE SCENT OF GREEN PAPAYA

VALHALLA RISING

Umbrella Entertainment

With Norwegian Wood selected for Sydney Film Festival’s Official Competition this year, a look into director Anh Hung Tran’s body of work is timely. While his second and third films (Xich lo and The Vertical Ray Of the Sun) are out of print in Australia (and pretty much everywhere else), it’s far easier to acquire a copy of his Cannes-winning debut, The Scent of Green Papaya (1993).

Born in Vietnam, but a resident of Paris since about age 13, Tran created this portrait of the Vietnamese psyche from an outsider’s vantage point – which, he argued, made it the more potent. It’s a film that requires you to surrender to its sedate pace and constrained narrative, as it takes you through the day-to-day life of Mui, from her arrival, aged 10, at the middleclass household in Saigon where she is to commence service, through about 12 years in her life. Set in the 50s, the first part of the film presents a vision of daily ritual, tradition, and family, that is almost hermetically sealed – only the occasional sound of planes reminds us of the outside world. In the second half, where Mui is transferred to another household, the constrained visual style and diegetic soundtrack of traditional Vietnamese music give way to languid camera-work and sensual imagery, set to a soundtrack of avant garde and modernclassical French piano music.

Madman Entertainment Released April 13 Given Nicolas Winding Refn’s ultra violent Pusher trilogy, and his ultra-stylish sixth film, Bronson (2009), it’s silly to discount any of his work out of hand. In fact, his best work is probably yet to come – hopefully his Cannes 2011 Official Competition contender, Drive. In the meantime, Scottish/Danish co-pro Valhalla Rising is an immensely intriguing and stylish experiment – a mist-shrouded, hallucinatory nightmare of blood and filth, set in Viking-era Newfoundland.

The film has been designed like an acid trip (something that becomes progressively apparent) – the more you surrender, the more rewarding the experience is. It opens on a mute, one-eyed killing machine (Pusher star Mads Mikkelsen) who has been appropriated by a tribe of pagans as a kind of pet warrior, upon whom they bet (and always win) in primitive gladiatorial matches. Fuelled by survival instincts, One-Eye breaks loose, slaughters his captors, and sets off with the sole survivor, a young boy, in tow. When he comes across a small band of Christian Viking missionaries, he joins them – ostensibly on their Jerusalembound crusade; their ship becomes lost, however, and they come ashore eventually in a foreign land, populated by lethal primitives.

Making a cup of tea after the credits rolled, I was amazed to find myself relishing each distinct part of the process, as if it were a ritual. If the film has this effect, it is deliberate; its biggest success is the evocation of a temperament that Tran considers essential and immutable within the Vietnamese psyche. With his talent for mood and emotion demonstrated, it will be fascinating to see how Tran brings Murakami’s novel to the screen.

Valhalla Rising has merit as a fully immersive audio-visual trip, with compellingly eerie static and slowmotion visuals, no score, and barely any dialogue. More fascinating still is the film’s origin: a radio story Refn heard as a teenager, about an ancient rune discovered in Delaware, which suggested the Vikings had made it to North America. The rune was deciphered as a warning to other Vikings. Most fascinating of all is the director’s commentary, in which Refn explains how this is actually a science fiction rendition of the ‘creation of man’…

Dee Jefferson

Dee Jefferson

B

ulmers’ iconic showcase of fresh talent returns to the 2011 Sydney Comedy Festival, bringing an unbeatable night of world-class comedy (and, you know, three of the best UK acts for the price of one). We took five with Brighton-born comedian Seann Walsh, whose looks, charm, and dark sense of humour already have him being touted as the next Dylan Moran…

What did you do before stand-up?

Before stand-up I managed a pub. To give you an idea of how good I was, the pub no longer exists. I never went to uni. I do regret that, but I just couldn’t bear listening to students to talk about conspiracy theories for any longer.

How did you first get into comedy?

I have always wanted to be a comedian. I used to do it in the playground when I was 10. I was a lot funnier when I was a kid. It’s part of the reason I didn’t behave at school. I just always thought, ‘I don’t need to do my homework. How is this going to help me talk to audience about how much I hate people who cycle with no hands (unless they’ve got no hands)?’

What in everyday life most inspires you to make comedy?

The thing that inspires me to do comedy is just how much I love it. I have a lot of friends who do it and dread the gig. I used to be like that but I can’t understand it anymore. Doing the gig is my favourite part of the day. I don’t really know what to do with myself before and after…

You’ve supported Stephen K Amos a couple of times – did you get any pearls of wisdom from him?

Supporting Amos was a great experience for me. He’s been a good friend and I couldn’t have learned more than doing big theatres in the UK everyday for several months with him. He really helped me adapt what I did from a smaller room to a big theatre. I had quite a few bad gigs when supporting him over the years and he always helped me get back from them and believe in myself.

What's the Bulmers ‘Best Of’ show about?

It’s myself, Carl Donnelly and Tom Allen doing the best bits from our individual Edinburgh

shows. We basically try to get who we are across as much as we can in 20 minutes each.

What other topics are tickling your fancy at the moment?

At the moment I guess I have my new Edinburgh show in the back of my mind. It looks as if it is probably going to be about how I came to being the 'lazy chain-smoking twat who hates moving’ that I am now. I couldn’t have been any different when I was a young teenager. I was competitive, I loved sport and activities but I was more than likely still a twat.

You’ve been described as ‘this generation’s Dylan Moran’ – thoughts?

I’ve seen the quote from the poster. The Dylan Moran comparison is flattering but ridiculous.

Dylan Moran is this generation’s Dylan Moran You’ve also been called a ‘grumpy’ comedian; is that fair?

I wouldn’t say I was a grumpy comedian as such, but I suppose I don’t have much good to say about anything. It’s usually trivial. I’m very immature. I get far more worked up about toilet light switches being in hallways than I do about anything that actually matters...

What: Bulmers Best Of the Edinburgh Fest (UK) feat. Seann Walsh, Tom Allen and, Carl Donnelly.

When: Wednesday April 27 – Sunday May 8 (no shows May 1 & 2) Where: The Factory Theatre More: sydneycomedyfest.com.au

Get Up Close & Personal 35x

SUPER ZOOM

BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 31

Album Reviews

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK JEBEDIAH Kosciuszko Dew Process

Jebediah are insisting that they didn’t really go away - but they did, for a while. And with Kosciuszko, we realise how much we missed them.

Within a certain formative age bracket, Jebediah were a much-loved band; undeniable, sugar-buzz pop songs delivered by four high school friends from Perth. But to many, it was more than that.

They were an important band. There was an emotional core to the attraction; as Kevin Mitchell recently said as he introduced the song live, “Before there was emo, there was ‘Harpoon’.” But after releasing four albums over seven years, they slowly slid away, overtaken by a singer songwriter named Bob Evans who became the Mitchell’s main musical output for most of the last decade.

‘Lost My Nerve’ and ‘Under Your Bed’ were the first two songs drip-fed to radio that announced

DRAPHT

KURT VILE

The Life Of Riley Ayems / Sony Drapht has all his ducks in a row. ‘Jimmy Recard’, his 2008 triple j favourite, served to push his music into the spotlight and ‘Rapunzel’, the lead single from this album, introduced him to the mainstream, and promptly sold platinum. This album will most likely be his launch pad into real success.

Opener 'Sing It' offers us the back story of Drapht’s wonder years and it’s immediate and hooky, even if some of the references are a bit too thudding (the first of two unfortunate Cobain shout-outs on the album).

‘Down’ is much more interesting; an evil-sounding, well-produced track, layered with interesting backing vocals, minor-key piano, overdriven guitar licks and - uh-oh, he namedrops Broome and Perth. Not to worry, this track easily overcomes cultural cringe; it’s a fantastic tune, and a great lead into ‘Rapunzel’, which merges Kinks-esque beat guitar with a laconic sing-song/ rap, containing enough lazy swing to have owned the radio last summer.

A eulogy which effectively kills off Jimmy Recard is followed by an overly defensive diatribe which showcases Drapht’s insecurities (he seems worried about being a one-novelty-hit wonder). ‘Won’t Listen When’ is another possible single - although the simplistic message unfortunately masks a series of interesting lyrics - and ‘The Paul The Dan’ is a rap-battle of sorts that actually serves as an entertaining sketch.

All in all, the album is crammed with potential crossover singles; it’s melodic, meticulously crafted and bursting with ideas.

A far more accomplished release than this genre has seen, The Life Of Riley could well win over those who shrink from Aussie hip hop.

Plus, anyone who namedrops Ricky Gervais, Slash and Chuck Berry in the same song is undeniably on the right path.

Nathan Jolly

It’s clear that he takes some of his drawling laconicism from Bob Dylan, but the way he toes the line between indulgent desperation and wry, dry humour also echoes the likes of Townes Van Zandt or Neil Young. It could be very easy for him to disappear into a cloud of this delightfully passiveaggressive singer-songwriterly contempt, but he never does - perhaps out of empathy with the listener.

Instead, he meets us halfway.

‘Jesus Fever’ is ostensibly a chipper rumination on ceasing to exist, but features lines like “If it wasn’t taped/ you could escape this song.” On ‘Baby’s Arms’, he relents to hiding from his disillusion, nestled in the limbs of the track’s subject, “’cos except for her there just ain’t nothing to latch on to” - and we’re right there with him. The arrangements throughout, and the inventive, gently lo-fi way in which they were recorded, feel strangely like the nuances of an embrace from an old friend. Smoke Ring… is an album that offers worldweary listeners respite from the relentless churn of machismo and sass in modern pop.

Kosciuszko mostly sees the band traverse new ground while still sounding like Jebediah. There’s Jebediah with a colonial swing and a bucket of rum (‘To Your Door’) and there’s Jebediah marching in a 6/8 war in the appropriately titled ‘Battlesong’. There’s the both dreadfully-mature and giddily candy-coated ‘The Lash’, and the largest stylistic leap: the Split Enz-meets-Presets-meets Sleepy Jackson electro freak out of ‘Freakin’ Out’. ’Are We OK’ is hypnotically beautiful in a

RIVAL SCHOOLS

Smoke Ring For My Halo Matador / Remote Control There is so much to marvel at on Smoke Ring For My Halo. The way the indie-deadbeat jocularity of ‘On Tour’ wryly contrasts playful fingerstyle guitar and the liberating caress of a muted harp. Or how a close listen to the mélange of slide guitar on the brooding ‘Society Is My Friend’ whittles it down to a sustained mellotron drone, as Vile intones bloody-minded lyrics with resigned desperation/ sarcasm, a lonesome one-man band playing forcefully in a cavernous room: “society is my friend/he makes me lie down in a cold blood bath.”

Jebediah were back; and both work far better on this album than they did on initial, isolated listening. Then the first official single ‘She’s Like A Comet’ was released, a three-minute pop blast that sits up there with the very best Jebediah singles.

Radio stations that had never played the band were suddenly clambering to add the track, and suddenly Jebediah were a going concern once more.

You would think a decade was time enough to reinvent the damn wheel, but Pedals picks up exactly where United By Fate left off – lead single ‘Wring It Out’ is all snaky guitar lines bustling between riffs, with the occasional post-hardcore flourish thrown in for good measure. And while these old dogs are certainly capable of learning new tricks, ‘Eyes Wide Shut’s feathery chorus against a huge drop-tuned riff shows they’re still leaning on their roots as a counterpoint for the lighter moments.

Speaking of new tricks, ‘Choose Your Adventure’ almost sounds funky with its organ stabs and fuzzy bass lines. ‘Racing To Red Lights’ and ‘Small Doses’ presents some heartfelt moments, but while Schreifels has always been a visceral songwriter, his lyrics sound far less committed when they’re not being belted over squalls of feedback.

If you’re partial to slyly inventive song-based guitar music, you need this record in your life.

United By Fate was hardly challenging, and neither is this - but rather than wasting time on big grand parts, Rival Schools are still successful at getting straight to the point with simple ideas. Why it took them the better part of a decade to do so, we’ll never know.

Luke Telford

Dan Patrick

Sister Jane’s debut LP Mercy is a very fine album that highlights two things: firstly, that the Blue Mountains band (three members of which are also in Belles Will Ring), possess considerable songwriting talent, and secondly, that the sound they’ve crafted positions them as a band who could move in just about any direction they please.

melodious soundscape that oscillates between rollicking ‘60s Americana rock'n'roll (‘Great Highway’), hazy psychedelia (‘Indigo Shire’) and haunting minianthems (‘And That Is All’, ‘Free Ride’). The overall effect is an enchanting one; moments of brilliance pepper the album and, like all good pop music, make one’s nervous system shiver with exuberance. These are songs that, due to the strength of the songwriting, can be listened to over and over again, and over and over again captivate the listener.

The nine songs presented here coalesce to envelop the listener in a richly

Finding bands that operate at this level is always a joy, but what’s especially

Mercy Broken Stone Records

From about midlast year, the term 'Art Department’ stopped invoking burnt-out teachers in paint-stained classrooms, and was now associated with one of the hottest commodities on the electronic scene. The Toronto duo of Kenny Glasgow and Jonny White had just released their hit double A-side 'Without You' / 'Vampire Nightclub' on Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels label, and everyone had gone Art Department crazy.

So with the debut album, why not follow that same tech-house blueprint? Basically, The Drawing Board does just feel like a collection of singles. Put together much like a well-crafted DJ set, it starts out very deep and builds from there. But there’s not much going on in the first three cuts of the record; granted, they showcase Glasgow’s vocals, but his repetition of the choruses wears a little thin, to the point of irritation at times.

Still, when the vocals are used right, as a part of the whole instead of as the focal point, the album transforms. The lead singles are obvious highlights; ‘Without You’ is an irresistible piece of druggy tech house and ‘Vampire Nightclub’, which starts out as a Booka Shade replica, turns on its head, transforming into a glorious peak-timer. ‘We Call Love’ (featuring NYC stars Soul Clap), with its classic synths and snappy percussion, is close to the best on the record, and album closer ‘I C U’ uses 80s electro sounds to perfection, before driving the track home - just what’s needed at 5am when the lights come on.

32 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

Rolling Papers Rostrum Records / Atlantic When Atlantic were pushing Lupe to make his sound more ‘radio friendly’, what they were hoping for was Rolling Papers. It’s Khalifa’s major-label debut after wellreceived mixtapes and a couple of Top 40 hits, and there's been some serious cash thrown around, on a who’s who of producers and writers.

Much of the album is fairly standard Top 40 R&B/hip hop, and you can pick the singles a mile away. The limp sing-along of ‘Black & Yellow’ and the agreeably insubstantial ‘No Sleep’ and ‘Roll Up’ are clearly chasing the recent success of acts like B.o.B. and Drake, but are better than most of what commercial radio has to offer. The secret to this winning combination of confection and substance is the production of the album as a whole. There’s a similar sound and feeling to all of these songs which helps to maintain Khalifa’s individuality from track to track, as well as making the album more than just the sum of its parts.

And of course part of the credit goes to Khalifa himself, a tremendously versatile MC able of sounding utterly convincing whether singing the dull pop hooks of ‘The Race', or swagging out with ‘On My Level’.

There are all the inevitable tales of weed, hotel rooms and clubs, but paired with a catchy chorus and a healthy dose of poptastic charm they become infinitely more listenable.

Plus, it sounds as though Khalifa is really enjoying himself – and it's an exuberance that’s just as catchy as any of the hooks.

This album does have its moments, but don’t bother if you aren’t already converted to the house nation.

It sticks closely to a limited formula, but a little more effort than usual gives Rolling Papers enough cohesion and personality to succeed as an album, rather than a series of singles.

Rick Warner

Hugh Robertson

exciting about Sister Jane is the sense that they could veer off into any number of directions. They’re not restricted or limited to a particular sound or aesthetic.

Consider Primal Scream: they started out much as Sister Jane have - 60s psychedelia - and went on to make the revolutionary Screamadelica. There’s likewise a sense in Sister Jane of possibility, like the open, expansive American landscape they call to mind on Mercy.

Mercy, which comes out on vinyl in May, heralds the arrival of a big new talent. One question we should ask ourselves: how far does this band want to go?

Duncan Idaho

WIZ KHALIFA

The Drawing Board Crosstown Rebels

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK SISTER JANE

Nathan Jolly

ART DEPARTMENT

Pedals Warner Music

The bio reads the same as it did eight years ago, with Gorilla Biscuits/ Quicksand alumni Walter Schreifels leading a dream team of early90s hardcore veterans (featuring members of CIV, Youth of Today and Iceburn) into milder, safer territory as Rival Schools. After one release, four years filled with second-album rumours and then an indefinite hiatus, one could easily have written the band off as merely a distraction from its member’s prior vitriolic leanings, but out of left field comes Pedals affirming Rival School’s existence as more than just a one-off fling with modern alt-rock .

way Jebediah have never quite been before, and ‘Control’ will, in all reality, be another big single for the band. Which is a good thing, as Jebediahcirca-2011 makes sense on radio.

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

THE WEEKND - House Of Balloons SUPER WILD HORSES - Fifteen UNKLE - Where Did The Night Fall

OTIS REDDING - The Definitive Collection THE MUSIC - The Music

live reviews

What we've been to see...

SEEKAE

Manning Bar Saturday April 16 We’re all amateur singers at home, yes?

Much more than private guitarists we sing alone, crackling towards unavailable notes. This then is the pleasure of seeing someone do it live and well; hit those highs that we all scratchily strain to achieve, the connection where our own vocal chords dip and gulp to meet the singer on stage. For an instrumental band (and not a DJ, not someone providing the dance track) to make that connection with a crowd is a test, especially if the players devote their performance to downcast eyes, twiddling and fiddling on sequencers and screens.

Like some sugar-stuffed child reaching to register subtle flavour tones on his tongue, my mind will always try to graft story onto voiceless songs, pairing them with imagery that would never occur had there been vocals in place. A philistine kid raised on pop instead of classical. So how then to visually score Sydney’s Seekae? Perhaps an HBO-lush and serious take on The Legend of Zelda, futuristic and retro, the human journey of an 8-bit boy. Seekae’s sonic toolbag seems sourced from the other-worldly, and this is heightened outside the headphones' sphere.

What living sound-grabs there are feel laboratory-twisted, processed and fed and regurgitated. It’s often the oozing, tweaking bleeps that are the easiest to emotionally connect to.

The difference between recorded and live for Seekae has to be the nonstop sense of focus in the tracks - never before meandering in scope, in the flesh each song pounds onwards, the triptych of bobbing heads amidst the mist onstage leading a charge towards some pixelated destination. Lost along the way is the playful noodling, the crooning tunes of some '70s sci-fi ‘bot. Highlighted are the harsher clicks and tacks, the teeth grinds and dislocations, those sounds of an organic transformation. Brief interludes of melodica humanise the proceedings, but the scuffed beats proceed throughout.

If Seekae went huge, if this music swept through the mainstream like the Presets did a couple of years ago, then they could do worse than have the tale of the fire alarm in their past. Each and every punter present shifted gears to realise that the wails and warnings from the loudspeakers were not sampled by the band, but a recording that would ebb and flow on the beat for the next five songs, until it was disarmed. Seekae played through the sirens and the smog, and the floor of the Manning Bar followed them forwards.

Matt Roden

KIMBRA, YEO, NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE Oxford Art Factory Wednesday April 13

After her breakout performance on Miami Horror’s single ‘I Look To You’, hype has been building solidly around 20-yearold Kiwi belter Kimbra Johnston. While she’s yet to release a full-length album, she’s able to pack the OAF to capacity with industry types and keen fans on a damp Wednesday night – and that says something.

While the post-set buzz for Northeast Party House was noncommittal, the crowd was fairly attentive as Yeo and his backing band began their set. Opening with by far the strongest song on his recent minialbum Bag-O-Items, the Gotye-esque ‘The Weight I Pulled’, he had a few heads nodding appreciatively; as the set went on, though, he struggled to nail the Pharrellfalsetto that works so well for him on the record, and the crowd seemed a bit baffled by his self-aware RnB funk-jams about making pasta. His live show needs a bit more polish and character to really back up how fun his studio output is.

Kimbra took the stage with a rogue’s gallery of hipster tropes backing her up - from her drummer’s skyscraping flattop and thick-rimmed specs, to the guitarist’s neon-salmon slacks and oversized blazer, they were a slightly worrying sight. But those irony-clad fellows could really fucking play, and were almost worth the price of

admission alone. Kimbra herself, however, was, is, and absolutely deserves to be the star. Bouncing and slinking gleefully about the stage, batting her eyelashes one moment and singling out rapt audience members for suggestive glances the next, slim hips swivelling in a blinged-out tutu, she’s a joy to watch. She delivered her own songs and a couple of covers (‘Another Part Of Me’, complete with MJ’s cheeky snarls, and a darkly mesmerising version of Nina Simone standard ‘Plain Gold Ring’), letting high notes rip, and dark, deep ones growl; her voice is perfectly controlled but not mannered.

NEON NIGHTS

Live, the creeping groove of the Camilleish ‘Settle Down’ bubbles along on vocal tics and pops (recorded live and looped) and its sly hook; new single ‘Cameo Lover’ is Motown as fuck and great fun, if a little sweet. One moment solidified her as a set not to miss at Splendour: the last song, a good-not-great aspirational jam about “being a better person”, wound up the encore with a stomping snippet of ‘Robot Rock’, to the delight and astonishment of absolutely everyone.

She’s at her best when going for dark, quirky and whimsical, rather than the smooth neo-soul grooves that an unimaginative label would dump her with exclusively in a second. With flashes of Prince and the Dirty Projectors shaping the best moments of the night, here’s hoping Kimbra is always given the freedom to explore the more eclectic influences that she so clearly relishes.

Caitlin Welsh

EAT SKULL, SLUG GUTS, THE RENDERERS, BED WETTIN’ BAD BOYS The Sandringham Hotel Sunday April 17

Each time I’ve watched Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys live, I have startlingly varied reactions. Tonight is no different, as their barely-contained chaos occasionally peels back sufficiently to allow some of the powerpop to peek through. Despite persistent misgivings that their primitivity may be an affectation, it’s all fairly dumb and fun.

Eagerly anticipated NZ shoegaze outfit The Renderers certainly show us their psychedelic influences, but suffer from a lack of focus and a surfeit of sentimentality and affectation. The latter particularly manifests in Brian Cook's onstage manner, as he repeatedly ducks his head and leans downwards into the microphone for no apparent reason. As a whole, the exaggerated tone of their performance detracts from the music itself.

The Sando is loud tonight. In the midst of admiring the wall of speakers leering from either side of the stage, I share my reflections on the severity of volume with the small girl next to me. She tells me to harden up. Intestinal fortitude is not necessary for Slug Guts. Patience is required to deal with their particular brand of meandering creep. Having seen this band at last week’s Totally Autumn festival in Newcastle, this evening’s showing was different again. Whilst the loudness and tightness of the room made the whole experience more immediate and threatening, the size also ensured that sounds bled and died before making any discernible mark.

And then Eat Skull destroyed everything.

It is not hip at all, but The Bronx don’t do it for me. Having seen them live I seemed the only individual in attendance who thought it wasn’t particularly compelling, and I’d almost given up on international noise pop and hardcore. Thankfully, these Portland natives shredded me a brighter future. As one, the whole room could not discern how four individuals could generate sound so entirely whole and powerful. It seemed unlikely their singer would remain standing, yet time and again he signalled to rear up the beast of the band. The early closing time (thanks to Sunday licensing) meant that King Street’s climes were filled with noise-smashed punters long before the witching hour.

None of us could hear, yet all of us were smiling.

Benjamin Cooper

BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 33

The Minor Chord

The all-ages rant bought to you by Indent.net.au and Hannah Sellwood

ALL-AGES GIG PICKS NEW ARTISTS 2 RADIO

NA2R (New Artists 2 Radio) is into its tenth year in the annual hunt for unsigned young artists to take the spotlight on commercial radio, with notable success stories including Thirsty Merc and Delta Goodrem.

This year’s two winners will score six weeks of airplay on seven different radio stations, plus a distribution deal with MGM for online sales, a performance at the NA2R showcase in October in front of the big bosses of the music biz, plus workshops with music marketing professionals and program directors, to sustain the kickstart. If you think you've got what it takes to climb to the big time, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! To find out more head to indent.net.au

FUZZY INTERNSHIPS

If your skills and interests lean towards event management, marketing, human resources, production and touring, then this one’s for you: dance music heroes Fuzzy, the folks behind Parklife and Field Day among other things, are looking for interns who are passionate about the music industry, and can work two days a week. Not only does Fuzzy’s internship program offer a first-hand taste of the industry, but it often leads to casual, fulltime and contract work in the future.

Submissions close this week, so check out indent.net.au, like, now!

HEAVY DUTY ALL-AGES

Metal-heads, scenesters and die-hard hardcore fans will be delighted at this week’s AA listings – a bucket of the heaviest and explosive stuff around!

Practise your fight-dancing and ferocious moshing, because kicking off the next coupla weeks’ heavy rock AA gig heaven are Disturbed, headlining Acer Arena this Monday April 25, with support from metal giants Trivium, As I Lay Dying and Forgiven Rival.

(SCOTLAND)

10TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW

But wait there’s more! If you’re a stone’s throw away from Campbelltown on Friday April 29, head down to catch Shinto Katana shake up Campbelltown PCYC. The Sydney locals are well on their way to greatness, with their brand of ferocious head-gyrating hardcore.

The week comes to a close with Escape the Fate’s show at the UNSW Roundhouse on Saturday April 30. Escape the Fate channel similar energy to their heroes Mötley Crüe, so you know that their show is going to be an electrifying gutpuncher, à la the insane arena shows of the ‘90s. Accompanying them are Pierce The Veil, whose brand of progressive hardcore segues between melodic intricacies and full-blown ROCK. A not-tomiss night.

A Day To Remember are among the most revered of the post-hardcore Gods – so if you’re one of the obsessed masses, don’t forget that tickets are still on sale for their second show at Luna Park at the start of May. Get in quick before the ‘Sold Out’ sign gets whipped out for this highly anticipated gig.

Next month’s Destroy Music Festival line-up will have Australian heavy fans foaming at the mouth, featuring The

MONDAY APRIL 25

Disturbed (USA) w/ Trivium, As I Lay Dying, Forgiven Rival Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park,

FRIDAY APRIL 29 Shinto Katana Campbelltown PCYC

SATURDAY APRIL 30

Escape the Fate w/ Pierce the Veil UNSW Roundhouse

SUNDAY MAY 1

Unsigned Wonders feat. Finabah, The Never Ever, Call the Shots & Ghosts on Broadway Annandale Hotel

SATURDAY MAY 14

A Day To Remember w/ Underoath Big Top / Luna Park

SATURDAY MAY 15

Chasing Amy w/ The Never Ever, Futures in Black and White, Recording All & Dan Sweeto Annandale Hotel

SATURDAY MAY 21

Hungry Kids of Hungary w/ The Chemist & Andy Bull Metro Theatre

THURSDAY MAY 26 & FRIDAY MAY 27

*SECOND SHOW ADDED* Destroy Music Festival feat. Amity Affliction, I Killed the Prom Queen, Deez Nuts, Of Mice and Men UNSW Roundhouse AmityAffliction, I Killed the Prom Queen, Deez Nuts and US band Of Mice and Men. It’s all going down Thursday May 26 and Friday May 27 at the UNSW Roundhouse. Having wowed the world with an ultra-successful world tour – not to mention setting Soundwave alight in February – it’s only right that The Amity give their rapidly growing fan base more.

Re-uniting for the Festival are I Killed the Prom Queen, who were high voltage figureheads of the hardcore scene in the early noughties, before calling it quits in 2007. Thankfully, Destroy Music brings them together for a reunion, with a crossover performance on the night when IKPQ’s drummer JJ Peters takes to the stage again in his new, much-hyped outfit Deez Nuts, blending hip hop and fierce punk rock.

WASHINGTON TIX

Wanna win tix to Washington’s all ages show next week? Of course you do. If you want to get your mitts on a double pass, name three hit-songs released from Washington’s record I Believe You Liar in an email to minorchords@thebrag. com and you could be our lucky winner!

(NB: entrants should be under 18, or accompanying someone who is).

AS ALWAYS…

Keep on rockin’ and tuning in to The Minor Chord on FBi 94.5, 5pm every Wednesday, with Kate and Eva. Shinto Katana

Send pics, listings and any info to minorchords@thebrag.com 34 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

Remedy

More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

TRAIL OF RAGE & MELODY Bob Mould

Bob Mould – former Hüsker Dü and Sugar man – has an autobiography out in June, snappily entitled See A Little Light: The Trail Of Rage And Melody, which should make for interesting reading.

Not just because of the greatness of the HD cyclone and the struggle they went through, but the stunning personal dynamic that was at work within the band between Mould and drummer Grant Hart. Then there’s Mould’s love of wrestling and his dream come true (thrilling and intimidating as it must have been) of writing storylines for the great Hulk Hogan, and being the guy behind the curtain in the WWF...

THE CARS

The Cars are back in action in May with a new album called Move Like This. They split back in 1988, with main man Ric Ocasek adamant that they would never be heard from again - but it seems not.

They’re weird this lot. By rights they should have been way more left-of-centre and under-the-counter than what they ended up being, given Ocasek’s base in the underground and connections with the like of Suicide and Alan Vega. Not that there’s ever been anything offensive about the pop The Cars trade in; it's just that more than the odd glimpse of an underbelly would be nice, is all.

STOOGE TRIBUTE

That tribute show to late Stooge Ron Asheton, held on April 19 at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theatre, featured not only The Stooges, with James Williamson along with Steve Mackay on sax, but also archfan Henry Rollins as MC, and Radio Birdman’s Deniz Tek on guitar. “Deniz learned playing the guitar from Ron,” Scott Asheton told the Ann Arbor Times. “Deniz is probably closest to Ron’s style that you will ever hear from another guitar player.”

All funds raised from the sold out show will go to the Ron Asheton Foundation, to benefit local music and animal charities in the area.

DRUNKEN MISJUDGMENTS

One bored drunken night many years back, we decided it would be a good

idea to go and see America, the friggin’ awful mob who did ‘Horse With No (damn) Name’, which was kinda drone metal for hippies (but without the fun of the metal).

In our oiled-up state we wildly cheered every song even if no one else did, and after a while others joined us (though they probably didn’t know or like the tunes either). But even alcohol couldn’t disguise just how lame and shitty these guys were.

The only highlight – and it sure was a beaut – was when Little Feat’s very, very out-of-it Lowell George wandered on and jammed. We’re not sure why, but we were delighted. That was a moment. Anyway, last week we saw a guy in an America t-shirt, and it brought back the whole cripplinglyboring episode. (Lowell to one side, of course.)

KERRANG!

UK metal institution Kerrang! celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Not bad going, really. The mag was originally an offshoot of UK weekly Sounds, which itself was something of a metal bible in the early ‘80s. The ‘Big K’ has kept on keeping on ever since, pretty much on a weekly basis, while others have fallen by the wayside. It mightn’t have the clout it once did when it was the go-to mag for everyone from Metallica to Pantera – and is now more a punk metal comic than anything else. But it’s nice to still have it around.

ATTENTION PLEASE

Boris have a new album out in May called Attention Please which, it seems, is a very, very different sonic animal to Amplifier Worship, and even their Smile effort - with pop and even (gulp) beats. But we like their whole thang, so they can do whatever the heck they want. Also out in May is a reissue of their damn tough-to-find and more traditionally Boris-y Heavy Rocks album.

CHESS RECORDS TRIBUTE

He’s sorta been lost to us for quite some time, but in essence George Thorogood’s thing is still mighty fine. On July 8 he goes back to school with an album called 2120 South Michigan Avenue which, as the Chicago address implies, is a salute to his heroes from Chess Records, such as Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf and many more. “The first Rolling Stones album I bought, 12x5, included ‘2120 South Michigan Avenue,’” Thorogood says. “I said, ‘I know I’ve heard this somewhere before…’

I wrote to Chess, they sent me a catalogue, and my life was changed.” Later, with The Destroyers, he got to play with and watch many of the old masters. “We were playing with these tough guys – these legends.

That’s the education I got, hanging out day in and day out. There’s an incredible story behind the music – they’re speaking the truth.” Told you he was one of us.

ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable has been a succession of albums by Midnight Oil, a band whose musical greatness seemed to get lost very early on in the weirdness of Peter Garrett’s dance style and chrome dome, and their political stance. The fact is that these guys were a mindbogglingly great post-punk band from day one – kinda The Clash meets the physical power of the The Who – but most crucially had melody lines that far too many can only dream of being able to pen these days. Right from their self-titled effort it was obvious something magical was at work, and by the time they hit 10, 9, 8… and Diesel And Dust, like, wow! Power and passion indeed.

TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS Bastardfest hits town on September 10 at the Sandringham with Psycroptic, I Exist, the mighty Pod People, Bane of Isildur, Ouroboros and Chaos Divine – with more still to be announced. Tickets are on sale from April 28 from Moshtix. www.bastardfest.com

The Holy Soul

On April 29, The Holy Soul are at the Excelsior with support from Kim Salmon and Leanne Cowie from The Scientists, who’ll be doing a selection of what should have been big hits from the band. Mr Salmon’s new single ‘Precious Jules’ will be on sale on the night. Openers are Dead China Doll.

Send stuff to remedy@ozemail.com.au by 6pm Wednesdays.

Pics to art@thebrag.com www.facebook.com/remedy4rock

Wednesday, May 11 Thursday, May 12 Saturday, May 14 Tuesday, May 17

Tickets online at

MARY COUGHLAN (Ireland) LULO REINHARDT (France) EMMA DEAN ALI MCGREGOR’S JAZZ CIGARETTE

www.thebasement.com.au BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 35

snap sn ap

peter combe

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up all night out all week . . .

adalita

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15:04:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 93323711

ladi6 16:04:11

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16:04:11 :: Sandringham Hotel :: 387 King St Newtown 95571254

:: The Gaelic Theatre :: 64 Devonshire St Surry Hills 92111687

bruno mars

It’s called: Bleeding Knees Club @ FBi Social It sounds like: Carpet burn.

Who’s playing? Bleeding Knees Club, Dead Farmers, Step-Panther Sell it to us: We are going away overseas for a long period of time, and may never return - so it could be your last chance to watch us for a while. And Jordan will give you personal pleasure on entry.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The massive knife fight that is going to happen.

Crowd specs: Wear brown pants.

Wallet damage: $8 +bf Where: FBi Social / level two of Kings Cross Hotel.

When: Saturday April 30

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party profile

Bleeding Knees Club

16:04:11 :: Manning Bar :: @ Sydney Uni City Rd Chippendale 95636107 36 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

kimbra

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seekae

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14:04:11 :: Big Top, Luna Park :: 1 Olympic Drive Milsons Point 99226644

13:04:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711 :: :: ALICIA COOK :: MITCHELL JAY S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER STEVENSON ICK PATR :: Y CHE PEA MAS :: THO ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL MUNNS

snap up all night out all week . . .

RES EATEST PLEASU O OF LIFE’S GR MARRYING TW

ND MUSIC GREAT FOOD A Y

Calling all artists for Live and Locals!

Contact: events@lizottes. com.au

NE LIZOTTE’S SY02D 33 9933 4 99 984 998 2 99 APR

Lizotte’s presents

27 Live and Local APR 28 Eric Bibb

zz and Brian’s Famous Ja 29 Chilli Crab Night APR te 30 Tony Joe Whi MAY ck Jones 1 Ja e’s presents MAY Lizott 4 Live and Local eding MAY one Parade plus Fe St 5 Edgar, Is It Her & Dividers MAY 6 Ash Grunwald MAY Knight 7 Grace Day Lunch with MAY Mother’s 8 The Soul Predators APR

OAST C L A R T N E C ’S E LIZOTT 02 4368 2017

el Loren Kate with M 27 Robinson APR ocal Studio 28 Elite V se Showca APR 29 Jack Jones APR orrison 30 James M Ross Macdonald len MAY David 1 (The Waifs) & Heath Cul MAY 3 Eric Bibb resents MAY Lizotte’s p 4 Live and Local Brothers MAY The Brewster 5 play Dylan MAY 6 Grace Knight MAY mes Reyne 7 Ja Evening MAY Mother’s Day 8 with James Reyne

hot damn

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APR

14:04:11 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

party profile

Pear Shape It’s called: Pear Shape (but we’re also considering AAA Pear Shape so we can be on the top of your iTunes music, like what plumbers do in the Yellow Pages).

It sounds like: Vampire Weekend cross Strokes cross Brian Jonestown Massacre, but somewhat Aussie-er. We sing in harmonies, Jack does some guitar gymnastics, Dan has long hair and often doesn’t wear a shirt under his vest.

Who’s playing? Pear Shape, Hopefools and Toy Temple (who are seriously going places).

Sell it to us: Very danceable and catchy sing-along songs, if we do say so ourselves. Some MySpace tunes are up at /pear.shape.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Always use a condom.

ASTLE LIZOTTE’S NEWC 022 449955566 220066

Crowd specs: Expect to see other youths that enjoy getting daggy. We’re always up for someone getting loose onstage for some tambourine and maraca action, Peter Allen style.

Lizotte’s presents 27 Live and Local onald APR David Ross Macd th Cullen ea 8 2 (The Waifs) & H APR 29 Diesel APR l 30 Diese MAY Tony Joe White 1 Eric Bibb MAY 4 Reyne MAY James 5 Reyne MAY James 6 rewster Brothers MAY The B 7 play Dylan h with Mother’s Day Lunc MAY APR

Wallet damage: $10 Where: The Vanguard / 42 King Street, Newtown When: Sunday May 1, doors at 7.30pm

wolfden

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8

15:04:11 :: Phoenix Bar :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

Lizotte’s Sydney 629 Pittwater Rd Dee Why

Karen Schaupp Katie Noonan and

Lizotte’s Central Coast Lot 3 Avoca Dr Kincumber

Lizotte’s Newcastle 31 Morehead St Lambton

WWW. LIZOT TES.COM.AU BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 37

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week Tim & Jean

SATURDAY APRIL 30

Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst

Tim & Jean, We Say Bamboulee, Voltaire Twins $16 (+ bf) 8pm MONDAY APRIL 25 ROCK & POP

3 Way Split Beach Hotel, Collaroy free 1pm The Aggrolites (USA), Backy Skank, The Rumjacks, Steppin’ Razor, Madonna Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $44.90 (+ bf) 8pm Andy Mammers Duo Penrith Panthers free 6pm Bacon & Cabbage Cock ‘n’ Bull Tavern, Bondi Junction free 2pm Ben Finn Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free 12pm Benn Gunn Chatswood RSL Club free 1pm Billy & I Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 8.30pm Bitch: Sarah McLeod, Miss Match, Sveta, Beth Yen, GI Jode Cruise Bar, The Rocks $25 (+ bf) 1pm Cambo The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 5.30pm The Champagne Sundaes The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.15pm

Chris O’Leary Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 12pm Crushed Ice Ramsgate RSL, Ramsgate Beach free 10am Dan Lissing, Mark Oates, Richie Cock ‘n’ Bull Tavern, Bondi Junction free 9pm Dave White + Luke Dixon Kirribilli Hotel free 6.30pm David Agius Summer Hill Hotel free 6.30pm Deep Duo Northies, Cronulla free 6pm Disturbed (USA), Trivium (USA), As I Lay Dying (USA), Forgiven Rival Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $91.65 7pm The Donovans The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 1pm Gary Johns Greengate Hotel, Killara free 6.30pm George Lam Sydney Entertainment Centre, Darling Harbour $62.05– $142.15 8.15pm Glenn Whitehall Duo Robin Hood Hotel, Waverley free 1pm Guineafowl, Ball Park Music, Tin Sparrow Brass Monkey, Cronulla $12 (+ bf)–$15 7pm

Mickey Pye Parramatta RSL free 1pm Monsters of Rock: Gods Of Thunder, Devine Electric, Virginia Killstyxx Notes Live, Enmore $14.30– $36.75 (dinner & show) 7pm Noiseworks Auditorium, South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford $40 8pm The Nuts Ramsgate RSL, Ramsgate Beach free 10am The Nuts Lakemba Services Memorial Club free 3pm Phil Boughton Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 7am The Prehistorics, Rack N Ruin, The Bloody Kids, 400KW Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $12 8pm Reckless The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Ricky Lynch Lockies, Leppington free 1pm Rob Henry The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm Robert Susz & the Continental Blues Party Penrith Panthers free 5pm Seattle Sound Blacktown RSL Club free 7pm Songwriter Sessions Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills free 7.30pm Spurs For Jesus, The Handsome Young Strangers Annandale Hotel $12 12pm Steve Tonge The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 12pm The Strobes, Liberty County Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor 8pm Third Watch Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Tone Rangers Sackville Hotel, Rozelle free 6pm Velvet Hotel Padstow RSL Club free 3pm Venus Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 4pm Xtra Hot Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 2pm

JAZZ Handpicked Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 12pm Homegrown Rooty Hill RSL Club free 8pm Hot Damn!: Sienna Skies, The Bride, One Vital Word, Villa Rise Spectrum, Darlinghurst $12 (+ bf)–$15 (+ bf) 8pm JD’s Band Campbelltown RSL free 2pm Jenny Marie Lang Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm John Legend (USA), Lowrider State Theatre, Sydney $74 (+ bf)–$107 8pm all ages Kristy Lee Campbelltown RSL free 11.45am Looking Through A Glass Onion: John Waters Campbelltown RSL $45 7.30pm Mandi Jarry Trio Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel free 5pm Martini Club Bungalow 8, Darling Harbour free 8pm Marty Mullholland Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free 12pm Matt Seaberg, Powderfinger Show, Elevation: U2 Tribute Hurstville RSL Memorial Club free 3pm

A Gospel Celebration: The Blind Boys of Alabama (USA), Aaron Neville (USA), Mavis Staples (USA) Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $55.20 (member)–$110 8pm all ages Jazz @ The Wall Live at the Wall, Leichhardt free 6pm Open Mic & Jazz/Latin Jam Session: Daniel Falero, Pierre Della Putta, Phil Taig, Rinske Geerlings, Ed Rapo El Rocco Jazz Cellar, Woolloomooloo free 6.30pm

TUESDAY APRIL 26 ROCK & POP

Adam Pringle Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Cambo The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 7.30pm Chris Brown (USA), Jessica Mauboy, Justice Crew, Havana Brown Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $99–$299 6.30pm Hip Not Hop The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 6.15pm Jethro Tull (Scotland) State Theatre, Sydney $91.82 (+ bf)–$112.28 (+ bf) 8pm Mandi Jarry Duo Northies, Cronulla free 6pm Marty From Reckless Northies, Cronulla free 6pm Nicky Kurta Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 4.30pm The NOW Now: Emily McDaniel, Mike Cooper (Italy), MoHa!, Horatio Pollard Studio Impermanent, Rozelle $8–$10 8pm Rob Henry The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm Steve Tonge O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Two Minds Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm The Wild Armadillos The Orient Hotel, The Rocks

JAZZ

A Gospel Celebration: The Blind Boys of Alabama (USA), Aaron Neville (USA), Mavis Staples (USA) Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $55.20 (member)–$110 8pm all ages Jazzgroove: The Motion Band, Matt McMahon Trio 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm Paul Sun Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7.30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm

ROCK & POP WEDNESDAY x

APRIL 27

ROCK & POP

Andy Mammers Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free 6.30pm

Arabesk Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8.30pm Ben Finn Duo Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm Billy & I Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Bob Dylan (USA), Paul Kelly Sydney Entertainment Centre, Darling Harbour $96.97– $178.80 7.30pm Calling All Cars, The Cairos, Strangers Spectrum, Darlinghurst $16 (+ bf) 8pm Catch 22 Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Dean Michael Smith, Anthony Hughes, RJ Chops Brass Monkey, Cronulla $12.25 7pm Goodnight Dynamite O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm Jack Jones Vault 146, Windsor 8pm Jade Gannon Sugar Lounge, Manly free 7pm licensed all ages Jethro Tull (Scotland) State Theatre, Sydney $91– $112 8pm Lars Wallin & The Tribelars, College Fall, Bears With Guns, Chris Neto Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $10 8pm Live & Local: Hey Mia, Tryselle, Larissa McKay, The New Casuals Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $13.50 7pm Mark Lucas, Susana Carmen Petersham Bowling Club free 7pm Mike Bennett The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm The Monks of Mellonwah Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $10 7.30pm Muso’s Night Live at the Wall, Leichhardt free 8pm Nag Champa Marble Bar, Sydney free 9.30pm Open Mic Night Sports Bar, Mona Vale Hotel free 8pm Open Mic Night Coach and Horses Hotel, Randwick free 8pm Polaroids Of Goodroids: Coolies (NZ), Beautiful, The Warm Feelings Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10 8pm Relay For Life Fundraiser: The Fergies Annandale Hotel $20 (+ bf) 8pm Richard In Your Mind, Tortoiseshell Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8.30pm

Guineafowl

“I’d see a beautiful flower / It was trampled on the ground / Jenny, it makes me think of you / How you used to be and how you are now” - THE DRUMS 38 :: BRAG :: 409 : 25:04:11

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed

Robert Susz & the Continental Blues Party The Rose Hotel, Chippendale free 7pm Rootbeat Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Steve Tonge Northies, Cronulla free 7.30pm YourSpace Muso Showcase Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 7pm ZZ Top (USA), Rose Tattoo, The Poor Enmore Theatre $99–$149 6.30pm

JAZZ

Anna Salleh’s Bossa Boots Cru54, Surry Hills free 7.30pm Brendan Clarke Quartet 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm Franko, Irridium, Mashy P The Valve, Tempe 7pm

Mimosa (U.S.A) Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Dark Horses (UK) Cat & Fiddle Hotel, Balmain $20–$25 8pm Tamara Stewart Royal Cricketers Arms, Prospect free 7.30pm

THURSDAY APRIL 28 ROCK & POP

Stripe Avenue, Vanessa Jade Band, Jess & Jenny

Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills free 8pm Adam Rennie Rag and Famish Hotel, North Sydney free 7pm Bob Dylan (USA), Paul Kelly Sydney Entertainment Centre, Darling Harbour $96.97– $178.80 7.30pm Broken Young, Acid Puppies, Drover Mad, Glass Chain The Valve, Tempe 7pm The Cadres Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $6 (+ bf) 8pm Chick Boom Band Comp Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm Craig Laird Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8.30pm Dirty Nice Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 8pm Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed (USA), Boom Bap Pow Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $44 (+ bf) 8pm G4 Marble Bar, Sydney free 8.30pm Hit Machine Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Hot Damn!: As Tall As Lions (USA) Spectrum, Darlinghurst $12 (guestlist)–$15 8pm Ian Blakeney Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Indigo Girls (USA), Henry Wagons State Theatre, Sydney $89.90 (+ bf) 8pm Jack Jones, Irwin Thomas, Xander Smith Brass Monkey, Cronulla $20.95 7pm Jager Uprising Final: Howler, Liberty Country,

The Dead Love, Distorted Theory Annandale Hotel $8 7pm Johnathan Devoy Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Justin Bieber (Canada) Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $65 (silver)–$95 (gold) 7pm Mark Lucas & the Dead Setters, Michael Carpenter & the Cuban Heels, Simon Bruce The Vanguard, Newtown $12 (+ bf)–$47 (dinner & show) 6.30pm The Nuts Bankstown Trotting Club free 8pm Pianoman The Loft, Darling Harbour free 6pm Radiant Live: Charge Group, The Coolies (NZ), Alps of NSW Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $12 8pm Ric Herbert Woollahra Hotel free 7.45pm Rob Henry Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Slide McBride, Leigh Archer, Tony Mazell & the Four Tunes South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8pm Strange Talk Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10 (+ bf) 8pm Tim Robbins (USA) The Basement, Circular Quay $60–$108.80 (dinner & show) 9.30pm Tony Joe White (USA), The Widowbirds Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL $45 8pm Vegan Mosquitos, Manager, Erik The Red Lansdowne Hotel free 8pm

YellowFever (USA), Love Connection, Super Wild Horses The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville 8pm ZZ Top (USA), Rose Tattoo, The Poor Enmore Theatre $99–$149 6.30pm

FRIDAY APRIL 29 ROCK & POP

After Party Band Rooty Hill RSL Club free 8.30pm Brown Sugar Marble Bar, Sydney free 9.30pm Craig McLauglan Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville free 9pm Crazy Judah Freeway Hotel, Artarmon free 8pm Dark Half, Darker Order, Teratornis Live at the Wall, Leichhardt $8 8pm Elevation Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Floating Me, Sleep Parade, Red Remedy Annandale Hotel $15 8pm The Holy Soul, Kim Salmon & Leanne Cowie, Dead China Doll Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $12 8pm Ian Moss, Renny Field Brass Monkey, Cronulla $38.25 7pm Jenny Marie Lang Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, West Ryde free 8.30pm Joseph Arthur (USA) The Vanguard, Newtown $35 (+ bf)–$40 7pm Justin Bieber (Canada) Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $65–$95 7pm Keith Armitage Harbord Beach Hotel free Lachlan Doley, Sam Joole, The Middle Class Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $15 8pm

JAZZ

Anna Salleh’s Bossa Boots Cru54, Surry Hills free 7.30pm Jazz: Cool For School: Dale Barlow Band, Bernie McGann Trio The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $15– $18.50 11am Merenia & The Way, Samba Mundi Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8.30pm Oscar Jimenez 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm Phil Jones & the Unknown Blues, Frank Macias, Los Amigos Notes Live, Enmore $19.90– $42.35 (dinner & show) 7pm Ted’s Sly Band Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Eric Bibb (USA), Staffan Astner (Sweden), The Blackbirds Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $72–$127 (dinner & show) 7pm Nikki Thornburn Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm

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g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Last Night: Pluto Jonze, Sky Squadron DJs Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $10 8pm The Led Zeppelin Show Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 10pm Lowtide Petersham Bowling Club 7.30pm Mad Cow South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8.30pm Steve Passfield The Manly Fig $13 7.30pm all ages The Maristians Rag and Famish Hotel, North Sydney free 8.30pm Milkmaids, Ninth Pillar, Groin Gravy, Danger Bus Caringbah Bizzo’s 8pm Monks of Mellowah, The Black Heist, Crows Feet Coogee Diggers 8pm MUM: Big Dumb Kid, Hey Big Aki, Jugu, MUM DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10–$15 9pm

Naturally 7 (USA) State Theatre, Sydney $65– $79 7.30pm Original Sin INXS Show, Keep the Faith Auditorium, South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford $10 (member)–$15 8pm Panorama Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm Phil Jones & the Unknown Blues, Frank Macias, Los Amigos Vault 146, Windsor $17.85– $43.35 (dinner & show) 8pm Pod Brothers Club Rivers, Riverwood free 9pm Rachel Laing Hawkesbury Hotel, Windsor free 7.45pm The Rockaholics Western Suburbs Leagues Club Campbelltown, Leumeah free 9pm Shinto Katana Campbelltown PCYC, Minto 6pm all ages

Skyscraper Customs House Bar, Sydney free 7pm Tony Joe White (USA), The Widowbirds The Basement, Circular Quay $55 (+ bf)–$103.80 (dinner & show) 9.30pm Tony Williams Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Trinity Roots Metro Theatre, Sydney $57.70 8pm The Ultimate Song Writers Challenge Sports Bar, Mona Vale Hotel free 8pm Wildcats Trio Commercial Hotel, Parramatta free 7pm

JAZZ

Brian's Famous Jazz and Chilli Crab Night Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $18–$53 (dinner & show) 7pm Doug Williams, Gang of Brothers Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8.30pm Freefall Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7.30pm A Night of Swing 505 Club, Surry Hills $15–$20 8.30pm Soul Rhythm La Banda Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL free 10pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Pluto Jones

Jont Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Sibo Bangoura & Keyim Ba, Pape Mbaye & Chosani Afrique Notes Live, Enmore $28.60– $51 (dinner & show) 7pm

THURSDAY 28TH APRIL

FRIDAY 29TH APRIL

THURSDAY 5TH MAY

FRIDAY 6TH MAY

SATURDAY 7TH MAY

40 :: BRAG :: 409 : 25:04:11

Sun 8/05 Derek Warfiled & The Young Wolfetones (Ireland) Thur 12/05 Sierra Fin Album Launch Fri 13/05 Sam Shinazzi Album Launch + Perry Keyes + 49 Goodbyes Wed 18/05 Mike Noga (The Drones) (CD launch) + Daisy M Tulley Thurs 19/05 Dave Graney Book & CD launch Fri 20/05 & Sat 21/05 Alex Lloyd & The Pigram Brothers Play music from the film “Mad Bastards” Wed 25/05 Greek Festival Of Sydney Pop & Rock Revolution Thur 26/05 Freddie White (Ireland) Fri 27/05 Shot Of Desire 4th Birthday Fri 3/06 Contraban + the Licks Wed 8/06 Dominique Fraissard EP launch Fri 10/06 First Ladies Of Soul Sat 11/06 Perry Keyes Fri 1/07 Skipping Girl Vinegar (album launch)

SATURDAY APRIL 30 ROCK & POP

2days Hits Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 9.30pm 3 Way Split Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool free 9pm Abbalanche Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club, West Ryde $18 (member)–$20 8pm Adrift For Days, Dumbsaint, Branch Arterial Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $12 8pm The Amenta, Ruins, Ouroboros, Aeon Of Horus Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $15 8pm Anything Goes Duo Western Suburbs Leagues Club Campbelltown, Leumeah free 9pm The Australian Pink Show, Katy Perry Show Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown free 9pm Barnstorming Asquith Leagues Club, Waitara free 8.30pm Bleeding Knees Club, Dead Farmers, Step-Panther FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $11.23 (+ bf) 8pm Bliss Bombs Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Blue Moon Quartet Fairfield RSL free 7pm The Champagne Sundaes Bankstown Sports Club free 7pm Chartbusters Penrith RSL free 9pm

Check It Aqua Jam Session: Adam Katz, Benny Vibes Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee free 8.30pm Chris Connolly Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Countdown Explosion South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8.30pm Dc3 Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm Escape the Fate (USA), Pierce The Veil Roundhouse, Kensington $62.50 (+ bf) 7pm Europe By Night: Milko Foucault-Larche, Rikelle Turner, Malice, Ashley Brophy Auditorium, South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford $10 (member)–$15 7pm, 9.30pm The Falls, Emad Younan, Red Boots, PJ Wolf, EuSH CarriageWorks, Eveleigh free 12pm Fiona L Jones Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Foundry Road, Amodius, Illcontent, A Murder of Crows The Valve, Tempe $10 6.30pm Funpuppet Peachtree Hotel, Penrith free 9pm Gunslinger Nights: Kotmata, We Are Grace, Lovers Jump Creek, All My Alien Sex Friends Annandale Hotel $12 8pm Hill Street DJ Hurstville RSL Memorial Club free 7.30pm Hue Williams Wallacia Hotel free 7.30pm Ian Moss, Renny Field Brass Monkey, Cronulla $38.25 (presale) 7pm

Keep the Faith Celebrity Room, Blacktown RSL Club free 9pm The Nevilles Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm One Non Blonde Brighton RSL Club, BrightonLe-Sands free 8pm Phil Jones & the Unknown Blues, Frank Macias, Los Amigos Coogee Diggers $19.90 (+ bf) 8pm Radio City Cats Marble Bar, Sydney free 10.30pm Reload Appin Hotel free 6pm Rob Luckey & the Lucky Bastards Marrickville Bowling and Recreation Club $15 8pm Royal Chant Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Swingshift Hurstville RSL Memorial Club free 8pm Tice & Evans, Kaki Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Tim & Jean, We Say Bamoulee, Voltaire Twins Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $16 (+ bf) 8pm Tony Joe White (USA), The Widowbirds Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $73–$113 (dinner & show) 7pm Underlights Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Whiplash: Our Last Enemy, Viral Millenium, The Eradicated, Caulfield, Ghosts On Broadway Live at the Wall, Leichhardt $10 8pm

gig picks

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

JAZZ

Alamode Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8pm Lisa Crouch Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL free 10pm Paul Sun, Monique Lysiak, Mark Szeto Larrikin’s Café & Lounge Bar, Walsh Bay free 5pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 5pm Susan Gai Dowling Duo Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7.30pm Tina Harrod 505 Club, Surry Hills $15– $20 8.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK David Ross McDonald, Cullens

The Vanguard, Newtown $15 (+ bf)–$44 (dinner & show) 6.30pm

SUNDAY MAY 1 ROCK & POP

Bon Chat Bon Rat Brass Monkey, Cronulla $14.30 (+ bf) 7pm Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Zwartz, Hamish Stuart, Michael Galeazzi, Bruce Reid Clovelly RSL Club $10 6.30pm Drive: Peter Northcote Bridge Hotel, Rozelle $15 3pm Festival on the Green: Frenzal Rhomb

up all night out all week...

Mark Cashin & the Lil Hussies, Zumba, Michelle Lee Band, Sam’s Trio St Ives Village Green free 10am all ages Frenzal Rhomb, The Optionals Annandale Hotel $20 (+ bf) 8pm Jack Jones, Irwin Thomas Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $33–$73 (dinner & show) 8pm Mitchell Anderson Trio Woollahra Hotel free 6.30pm Serious Beak, Godswounds, Squawk, Violence in Action Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills $8–$10 5pm Take A Hit Hurstville RSL Memorial Club free 2pm Triple Imagen South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8pm Unsigned Wonders: Finabah, The Never Ever, Call the Shots, Ghosts On Broadway Annandale Hotel $15 1pm all ageS

JAZZ

Blues Sunday: Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Dan Barnett Big Band Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 4pm Herbie Hancock (USA) Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $112.35–$143.35 8pm sold out Robber’s Dog Fortune of War Hotel, The Rocks free 3pm

Strange Talk

TUESDAY APRIL 26 A Gospel Celebration: The Blind Boys of Alabama (USA), Aaron Neville (USA), Mavis Staples (USA) Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $55.20 (member)–$110 8pm all ages

WEDNESDAY APRIL 27 Jethro Tull (Scotland) State Theatre, Sydney $91–$112 8pm Polaroids Of Goodroids: Coolies (NZ), Beautiful, The Warm Feelings Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10 8pm Richard In Your Mind, Tortoiseshell Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8.30pm

MONDAY 25TH APRIL

GUINEAFOWL

& BALL PARK MUSIC + Tin Sparrow

WEDNESDAY 27TH APRIL

DEAN MICHAEL SMITH

+ Tegan Rogers + Anthony Hughes + Stasi Matzis THURSDAY 28TH APRIL

JACK JONES + Luke Pittman

FRIDAY 29TH APRIL

IAN MOSS + Renny Field

SUNDAY 30TH APRIL

IAN MOSS + Daniel March

SUNDAY 1ST MAY

BON CHAT, BON RAT WEDNESDAY 4TH MAY

ASH GRUNWALD

Thursday 5 May Afro Moses Friday 6 May Holly Throsby Saturday 7 May The Flood Sunday 8 May The Little Stevies Monday 9 May Comedy Night Special Tuesday 10 May Mark Olson Wednesday 11 May Pete Cornelius Thursday 12 May Jeff Martin Friday 13 May KISS Tribute Sunday 15 May The Ritmo Arch Tuesday 17 May Mike Noga Wednesday 18 May Freddie White Friday 20 May GANGgajang Saturday 21 May Doc Neeson Sunday 22 May Glen Mead Tuesday 24 May John Overholt Wednesday 25 May Bones Atlas Thursday 26 May Jackson Mclaren Friday 27 May Mark Seymour Saturday 28 May Abby Dobson Sunday 29 May The Brewster Brothers Tuesday 31 May Pete Sot Thursday 2 June Renée Geyer Saturday 4 June Classic Rock Show Sunday 5 June Darren Jack Band Wednesday 8 June Joel Leffler Saturday 18 June Steve Flack Monday 20 June Kinky Friedman Tuesday 21 June Kinky Friedman Thursday 23 June English And The Doc Sunday 26 June Natalie Gauci Thursday 30 June Caravãna Sun Wednesday 6 July James Blundell Saturday 9 July Johnny Cash Tribute Saturday 16 July The Paper Scissors Thursday 4 August Diesel Friday 5 August Diesel Saturday 6 August Diesel Sunday 7 August Diesel Thursday 18 August Wendy Matthews

Radiant Live: Charge Group, The Coolies (NZ), Alps of NSW FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $12 8pm Strange Talk Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10 (+ bf) 8pm YellowFever (USA), Love Connection, Super Wild Horses The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville 8pm John Legend

THURSDAY APRIL 28 Bob Dylan (USA), Paul Kelly Sydney Entertainment Centre, Darling Harbour $96.97–$178.80 7.30pm Indigo Girls (USA), Henry Wagons State Theatre, Sydney $89.90 (+ bf) 8pm

FRIDAY APRIL 29 Last Night: Pluto Jonze, Sky Squadron DJs Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $10 8pm MUM: Big Dumb Kid, Hey Big Aki, Jugu, MUM DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10–$15 9pm

SATURDAY APRIL 30 Bleeding Knees Club, Dead Farmers, StepPanther FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $11.23 (+ bf) 8pm Escape the Fate (USA), Pierce The Veil Roundhouse, Kensington $62.50 (+ bf) 7pm

SUNDAY MAY 1 Bob Dylan

Frenzal Rhomb, The Optionals Annandale Hotel $20 (+ bf) 8pm Richard In Your Mind

BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 41

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

club pick of the week Deadmau5

SATURDAY APRIL 30

MONDAY APRIL 25 Cock ‘n’ Bull Tavern, Bondi Junction TeeJay free 12am Ivy, Sydney Mark Farina (USA) $25 (1st release)–$40 (+ bf) 2pm Tank, Sydney DJ Paulo, Alex Taylor, Kitty Glitter, Mikey C, MC Glammer, Steve Sky $50 (+ bf)–$80 9pm The Tea Gardens Hotel, Bondi Junction DJ Mosh, Tom Boyle free The World Bar, Kings Cross Company Party James Taylor, Jonothan Boulet DJ Set free 8pm

TUESDAY APRIL 26

Showring & Hordern Pavilion

Creamfields Festival Deadmau5, Martin Solveig, Skrillex, Chuckie, Simon Patterson, Gabriel & Dresden, Wynter Gordon (PA), Hi Tek Soul: Kevin Saunderson & Derrick May, Bingo Players, Skazi, Surkin, Dada Life, Umek, Nadastrom, Round Table Knights, Sandwell District, Tim Green, Bart Claessen, Mumbai Science and more

202 Broadway, Chippendale Jamrock 8pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst Coyote Tuesday: Kid Finley, Johnny B free 9pm Melt Bar, Kings Cross Format:B (Germany) $15 9pm Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park Chris Brown (USA), Jessica Mauboy, Justice Crew, Havana Brown $99–$299 6.30pm The Valve, Tempe Underground Tables Gee Wiz, Myme, Benji, BC free 6pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic free 8pm

WEDNESDAY APRIL 27 Bank Hotel, Newtown Girls’ Night DJ Sista free 8pm Goodgod Front Bar, Sydney Special Moments Long John Saliva free 8pm The Hive Bar, Erskineville Vinyl Club free 8pm Lewisham Hotel Club Cubano: DJ Jamie, Musica Linda free–$12 7pm Marlborough Hotel, Newtown DJ Moussa free 11pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall free 8pm

THURSDAY APRIL 28 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Drop Cheap Fakes, Sniffer Dogs, Bentley, Fester 8pm

Mark Farina Cruise Bar, The Rocks Salsa on the Rocks DJ Dwight ‘Chocolate’ Escobar free 8.30pm Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor Top 40 Fitzroy DJs free 9pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst The College Party Kid Finley, Pee Wee Pete free 9pm Goodgod Font Bar, Sydney Club Al Levins free 9pM Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney Tenzin, Cadell, Zannon, K-Note free 8pm Home Terrace, Sydney Unipackers John Young $5–$10 10pm Ivy, Sydney Groove Academy 6pm Sports Bar, Mona Vale Hotel Rob Brizzi, DJ Austin free 3pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Propaganda DJs free (student)–$5 9pm

FRIDAY APRIL 29 Bank Hotel, Newtown Friendly Fridays Richie Carter, Jack Prest free 7pm Bankstown Sports Club DJ Matt, Scotty Sax free 6pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Glove Cats $15–$20 9pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Jeddy Rowland, Anders Hitchcock free 5pm Cruise Bar, The Rocks Johnny Vinyl, Strike free 8pm Establishment, Sydney Tank G Wizard, Def Rok, T, Eko $15 9pm Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor Mind Over Matter, Ilz, Coptic Soldier, Drakezilla, Vincent Vega, Johnny Utah, Kade MC, Crymziko $7 (presale)–$10 8pm Gaelic Club, Surry Hill Last Night Pluton Jonze, Sky Squadron DJs $10 8pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Funktank Mike O’Conner, Fabz, Drop Dead free 9pm

Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Bamboo Music Misha Hollenbach, Rohan Bell Towers $10 10.30pm Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney Caddell free 5pm Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst FBi Social Golden Era 10pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Hobogestapo $10 9pm Le Panic, Kings Cross Box Social MYD, 3Hundreds, Sotiris, Jamie What, 14th Minute, Jordan F $10 9pm The Loft, Darling Harbour Late at theloft Somatik, Noel Boogie, Noodles, DJ Huwston, Meem, The Swat DJs, Lippo free 10pm Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown DJ Michael free 8pm Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown Foreign Beggars, Skism, Trolley Snatcher, Low Society DJs, Swindle, Gelis, Paul Fraser, Max Gosford, The Beans, JK47, The Superfriends, Foreign Dub, Sam the Chemist $42.50 (student)–$50 (+ bf) 9pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Skrillex, Kobra Kai, Vengenance, Rubio, Creeptown, Matt Nukewood, Glove Cats $33 10pm Tank, Sydney RnB Superclub 10pm Tone, Surry Hills Frequency Lab Label Party Roleo, DJ Elliot, Jensen Brewster, Know U, 48/4, Monkfly, Cam Baird $10 8pm The Valve, Tempe Sceptic & Dseeva, DJ Trauba, Dee Molish, Bio Keed, Terrorist, Geoff the Cheff, Mark N 7pm Water Bar, Woolloomooloo Groove Academy 6pm The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM Hey Big Aki, Jugu, MUM DJs $10-$15 8pm Mind Over Matter

$119.95 midday - 10pm “Now when I fall down / When I get weak / When I grow tired / I’ll never drop my sword” - THE DRUMS 42 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

club guide up all night out all week...

SATURDAY APRIL 30 Bank Hotel, Newtown Ben Kelly, Paul Master free 9pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Cassian $15–$25 9pm Coach and Horses Hotel, Randwick Retro Night free 8pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Jeddy Rowland, Mike Silver free 8pm Dee Why Hotel Kiss & Fly Venuto, Kasier, Olsen 8pm Empire Hotel, Darlinghurst Empire Saturdays Empire DJs free 9pm Establishment, Sydney Sienna G Wizard, Def Rok, Teko, Lilo $20 9pm Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor Traffic Light Party Fitzroy DJs free 8pm The Forbes Hotel, Sydney We Love Indie $10 9pm Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Dynamite! Captain Franco, Count Doyle $10 10.30pm Hotel Chambers, Sydney Red Room C-Major, K-Note, DJ Mac, Troy T, Naiki, Pachero, Mike Champion $20 8pm The Loft, Darling Harbour Late at theloft Somatik, Noel Boogie, Noodles, DJ Huwston, Meem, The Swat DJs, Lippo free 10pm Macarthur Tavern, Campbelltown George B free 8pm Phoenix Bar, Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Phoenix Rising Dan Murphy, Johan Khoury, Mark Alsop $10 4am

Sports Bar, Mona Vale Hotel DJ Austin free 8pm Water Bar, Woolloomooloo Daniel Rowntree 8pm Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Sky Bar free 10pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham! $15-$20 8pm Showring & Hordern Pavilion Creamfields Festival Deadmau5, Martin Solveig, Skrillex, Chuckie, Simon Patterson, Gabriel & Dresden, Wynter Gordon (PA), Hi Tek Soul: Kevin Saunderson & Derrick May, Bingo Players, Skazi, Surkin, Dada Life, Umek, Nadastrom, Round Table Knights, Sandwell District, Tim Green, Bart Claessen, Mumbai Science $119.95 midday – 10pm

SUNDAY MAY 1 Bank Hotel, Newtown Scott Pullen free 4pm Civic Underground, Sydney Virgo Four (USA), Simon Caldwell, Future Classic DJs $25 9pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Brynstar free 8pm The Hive Bar, Erskineville Revolve Records DJs free 5pm The Valve, Tempe The Estate 3pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Fortune Disco Punx free 6pm

club picks up all night out all week...

FRIDAY APRIL 29

Chris Brown

Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst FBi Social Golden Era 10pm The Loft, Darling Harbour Late at theloft Somatik, Noel Boogie, Noodles, DJ Huwston, Meem, The Swat DJs, Lippo free 10pm

MONDAY APRIL 25

THURSDAY APRIL 28

Ivy, Sydney Mark Farina (USA) $25 (1st release)–$40 (+ bf) 2pm

Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Drop Cheap Fakes, Sniffer Dogs, Bentley, Fester 8pm

Tank, Sydney DJ Paulo, Alex Taylor, Kitty Glitter, Mikey C, MC Glammer, Steve Sky $50 (+ bf)–$80 9pm

Goodgod Font Bar, Sydney Club Al Levins free 9pM

Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown Foreign Beggars, Skism, Trolley Snatcher, Low Society DJs, Swindle, Gelis, Paul Fraser, Max Gosford, The Beans, JK47, The Superfriends, Foreign Dub, Sam The Chemist $42.50 (student)–$50 (+ bf) 9pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Skrillex, Kobra Kai, Vengenance, Rubio,

Creeptown, Matt Nukewood, Glove Cats $33 10pm Tone, Surry Hills Frequency Lab Label Party Roleo, DJ Elliot, Jensen Brewster, Know U, 48/4, Monkfly, Cam Baird $10 8pm

SATURDAY APRIL 30 Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Dynamite! Captain Franco, Count Doyle $10 10.30pm

SUNDAY MAY 1 Civic Underground, Sydney Virgo Four (USA), Simon Caldwell, Future Classic DJs $25 9pm Kobra Kai

TUESDAY APRIL 26 Sydney Acer Arena, Sydney Olympic Park Chris Brown (USA), Jessica Mauboy, Justice Crew, Havana Brown $99–$299 6.30pm

WEDNESDAY APRIL 27 Goodgod Front Bar, Sydney Special Moments Long John Saliva free 8pm

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BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 43

Deep Impressions Underground Dance and Electronica with Chris Honnery

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

Soul Sedation goes live every Wednesday night on Bondi FM (88.0 or bondifm.com.au). Tune in 10pm 'til midnight to hear a deep and soulful selection of the tunes covered here, and plenty more that I don't have room for.

A

Dominik Eulberg

H

aving cancelled Australian dates on two separate occasions last year – yeah, we can hold a grudge with the best of ’em – Dominik Eulberg will release his fourth LP, Diorama, in May on the Traum imprint. Eulberg has been at the vanguard of the minimal techno scene since releasing his debut album Flora & Fauna on Traum back in ’03, kickstarting a career that has seen him release on labels such as Platzhirsch Schallplatten (say it out loud and really accentuate those ‘schs’), Cocoon, and Kompakt Records.

(Rumour has it that Eulberg’s move out of the Kompakt stable was somewhat acrimonious, and may have contributed to him not touring alongside the Kompakt artists in Australia at the backend of last year...) The sometimes-German park ranger suffuses his productions with a passion for nature, layering his tracks with distinct samples and calls of the wild taken from his time in national parks - an ethos which is again apparent on his latest album.

For Diorama, Eulberg has selected, in cooperation with German nature magazine NABU, the 11 greatest wonders of domestic nature. The wonders that made Eulberg’s top 11 include the glow worm, bats, the bee orchid, the Icelandic cyperine, water and ants. Wait a sec – ants?! “One ant alone is not capable of big achievements,” Eulberg writes. “But through the brilliant, self-organised state formed out of millions of ants, a collective intelligence comes into being.” Don’t tell me that doesn’t pique your interest…

Argentinean producer Barem will finally release his debut artist album, After the Storm, in June. When read continuously, each of the ten individual track titles spell out the full sentence ‘There Is Nothing Better Than A Clear Blue Sky After The Storm’, which if nothing else emphasizes the superfluous nature of track titles in techno these days; it really is more about distinguishing the tracks from one another, rather than capturing and reflecting the specific mood. Cynicism aside, Barem has been a noteworthy producer since signing to Minus and releasing his breakthrough

Motor City Drum Ensemble

LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY MAY 14 Kollektiv Turmstrasse Tone

SATURDAY MAY 28 Gavin Russom (aka The Crystal Ark) Vivid LIVE @ Sydney Opera House

SATURDAY JUNE 4 Iron Curtis Inner-city warehouse

SUNDAY JUNE 12 Marcellus Pittman Tone

EP, Kolimar – so the perfunctory titling of his tracks should not take the focus away from this much-anticipated LP. While there’s a fair way until After the Storm is released, the track ‘Blue’ will be released as a lead-off single in the interim, as part of an EP that also offers remixes from luminaries such as Mathias Kaden and D’Julz. Now: Barem is apparently embarking on a ‘world tour’ in support of the LP, so how about getting him to Sydney this summer, local promoters?

Detroit’s Marcellus Pittman, a member of the Three Chairs production team that also includes Rick Wilhite, Kenny Dixon Jr. (aka Moodymann) and Theo Parrish, jets into town to play at Tone on Sunday June 12 (which I believe is a long weekend, so the ominous spectre of work the next day should not be an inimical factor affecting this Sunday night bash).

Pittman first rose to prominence with a handful of co-productions with Parrish that were released across two 12”'s on Parrish’s Sound Signature label in ’99 and ’02. He unveiled his own distinct sonic identity with the M. Pittman EP for Omar-S’s FXHE label, an unapologetically soulful release that homaged the Chicago house tradition and fused it with a raw and minimal edge.

While his solo release schedule has been relatively relaxed (and the quality control high), Pittman has plenty of other ventures on the go; he’s collaborated with Parrish and Omar-S as the T.O.M. Project, is part of the sprawling Rotating Assembly collective, and his Midwestern Advocates EP Part One remains a favourite among those who ‘know their stuff’ – that means you, dear reader. Presale tickets are available now through Resident Advisor.

Continuing the Motor City motif, Detroit dance music aficionado and accomplished sonic craftsman Danilo Plessow, a.k.a.

Motor City Drum Ensemble (henceforth ‘MCDE’), has fashioned the next instalment in the DJ-Kicks compilation series. The German DJ/producer compiled 22 tracks for his DJ set, which he described as a search for “magic moments,” comprised of an array of rarities and classic cuts from the likes of Mr. Fingers, Robert Hood, Aphex Twin, Loose Joints and Isolee’s ripper of a remix of Recloose’s ‘Cardiology’.

MCDE’s soulful and eclectic offering to the DJ Kicks canon, described by the man himself as “a classic DJ kicks, not just a house mix,” will drop in July.

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

44 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

n advance copy of Joelistics’ debut album Voyager hit the Soul Sedation desk this week; the TZU man has broken out on his own for a solo jaunt on the Elefant Traks label. On first listen, I’m feeling it. There’s more than a little touch of early The Streets vibe in there, that amateur kind of charm that can so often make the difference for a white emcee to make any impact on “the marketplace” at all. More on that release once I’ve got a bit further down the playlist - there’s some bass heavy production to get my head around.

Joelistics will be joining Lowrider on their upcoming national tour; you can catch them both at The Annandale on May 13.

Heads up Outkast fans: an Australian Big Boi tour has been announced for later this year. He’ll be supported by UK head Theophilus London, who’s made waves for himself with some pretty good mixtapes recently, fusing a commercial-style hip hop feel with some of the old soulful stuff. It’s his first time out to Australia - but the party’s not until August 27, at the Enmore Theatre.

Deep disco heads will want to know about the second instalment of M&M Mixes Vol 2, a 2CD collection of John Morales’ output from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. It holds 18 tracks in all, and features edits and remixes of WAR, Loleatta Holloway, and Inner Life tunes, from one of disco’s originators.

UK songstress Stac’s brilliant Turn That Light Out record has now been remixed twice over. The Remixes Vol 2 features contributions from Hint, Blue Daisy, Ashley Beedle, KidKanevil, Alex Patchwork, Yult, Scrimshire, LenAfrosaxon, Los Vampiros Lesbos, King Knut, Pause, Asthmatic Astronaut, Herma Puma, Ambassadeurs and Quirx. That’s an impressive list!

Sixties throwback night Twist & Shout’s is back Friday May 6 with their Motown edition. DJs Mr Chad and Dylabolical will be pushing sounds “from Little Stevie Wonder through to Marvin Gaye and The Jackson 5. Our DJs will be tag-teaming all night to try and play every '60s Motown classic, along with other danceable vintage rock, surf, soul, British invasion, psychedelic and pop.” The fun goes down at Tone.

The sounds of afro and disco join forces as live afrobeat pushers The Liberators join Flatwound and Paradise Lost DJs for some loose Saturday night antics at the Civic Underground. Soul Sedation can attest that last time these heads got together it was a pretty bumpin’ occasion.

Keep your ears out for Flatwound’s new single ‘Our Love Will Last’, a distinctly camp disco anthem featuring Keren Minshull on vocals.

NY producer and man of many alter egos Slow Hands is back with The Formal EP, a short four-tracker of slow-burning house and disco. The talented studio whiz has released on Wolf+Lamb, Future Classic, and International labels, all worth scanning the vaults for. His new release can be found

ON THE ROAD MONDAY APR 25

Blind Boys Of Alabama, Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples Opera House

THURSDAY APR 28 Eli Paperboy Reed OAF

THURSDAY MAY 5 MURS, 9th Wonder Gaelic Theatre

SATURDAY MAY 14 th Void 4 OAF

Birthday ft N-TYPE

FRIDAY MAY 20 The Bamboos Manning Bar

FRIDAY MAY 27 Bliss n Eso, Horrorshow Hordern Pavilion

MAY 31, JUNE 1 & 2 OFWGKTA Opera House

THURSDAY JUNE 2 Sonny Rollins Sydney Opera House

SATURDAY JUNE 4 Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Sydney Opera House on More Or Less records.

US hip hoppers MURS & 9th Wonder join us next week for what promises to showcase where conscious US backpack rap sits in 2011. Murs, also known as Felt alongside MC Slug of the Atmosphere collective, will be backed by uber-producer 9th Wonder, who’s penned some seriously good beats for names like EPMD, Badu and De La. You can listen to one track the pair have produced together at mursworld. com, entitled ‘I Used To Love Her Again’.

NY’s R.A the Rugged Man rounds out the international bill on the night, another US rapper who’s worked with Notorious B.I.G, Chuck D & Mobb Deep.

In a strong statement for the health of the Sydney dubstep scene, VOID celebrate their fourth birthday on Saturday May 14, taking over the entire Oxford Art Factory for the night. The dubstep and grime main room is headlined by the UKs N-Type, who’s backed by Garage Pressure, Victim, Swindle, Zerodub, Max Gosford. Prize, Preacha, Low Society DJs, and Jonny Faith will all be holding it down on the future beat, UK funky and hip hop front in the Gallery Bar. And last but definitely not least, Eli Paperboy Reed plays the OAF this Thursday April 28. Winning fans over at Sydney’s Days Like This festival in previous years as well as this year’s East Coast Blues & Roots Fest, Reed pushes a modern fusion of soul and blues held together with a dose of old-fashioned charm. So far the Bostonian has two albums under his belt, 2008’s Roll With You, and last year’s Come & Get It, which is out through Capitol Records.

Slow Hands

Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com

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chinese laundry

PICS :: AM

up up all all night night out out all all week week .. .. ..

15:04:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958

mum

It’s called: Liquid Sky at Candy’s!

It sounds like: The launch of Sydney band The (imagine what would happen if Kings of Leon, Grand Lethals Oasis, and Pearl Jam had a baby), followed by an explosion of electro beats in an underground haven.

Who’s playing? The Grand Lethals, suppo rted by Ghosts of York and The Baker Street Irregulars.

Who’s spinning? Knocked Up Noise, Three Sixteen, Minor Delay, Stress Less.

Two records you’ll hear: ‘Cinema’ – Benny Benassi (Skrillex Remix); ‘Me and My Bitch’ – Vengeance/Gigi Barocco.

And one you definitely wont: ‘Friday’ – Rebec ca Black.

Sell it to us: A perfectly-timed transition from a chilled band night into a crazy electro dance party, all in the comfo rt of your favourite underground lair.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Chances are, you wont remember a thing.

Crowd specs: Band kids early, club kids late.

Wallet damage: $10 Where: Candys Apartment / Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross When: Friday April 29, doors 8pm.

PICS :: TP

15:04:11 :: The Gaelic Theatre :: 64 Devonshire St Surry Hills 92111687

party profile

last night

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Liquid Sky

falcona fridays

15:04:11 :: Kit & Kaboodle :: 33-35 Darlinghurst Rd Kings Cross 9368 0300 PICS :: AM

paddle emporium

PICS :: PS

15:04:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

:: :: ALICIA COOK :: MITCHELL JAY S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER STEVENSON ICK PATR :: Y CHE PEA MAS :: THO ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL MUNNS

15:04:11 :: LO-FI Collective :: Floor 3, 383 Bourke St Surry Hills BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11 :: 45

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chinese laundry

16:04:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958

PICS :: AM

the wall

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upall allnight nightout outall allweek week...... up

bedlam bar

PICS :: AC

13:04:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

girl thing

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15:04:11 :: Bedlam Bar :: University Hall, 2-12 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe 96606999

a state of trance

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16:04:11 :: Q Bar :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

propaganda

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16:04:11 :: Acer Arena :: Olympic Park, Homebush

14:04:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

46 :: BRAG :: 409 :: 25:04:11

:: ALICIA COOK :: MITCHELL JAY S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER ICK STEVENSON PATR :: Y CHE PEA MAS THO :: ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL MUNNS

::

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Saturday 14th May & Sunday 15th May

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