The Brag #418

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The Melodics

+ FAIT ACOMPLI + MARY OF THE MOON

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DON RIMINI(FRA)

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Secret Sounds presents

AUSTRALIA 2011 With Special Guests Pulp have decided to get together and play some concerts this year. The shows will involve the original members of the band (Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey & Mark Webber) & they will be playing songs from all periods of their career. (Yes, that means they’ll be playing your favourites) If you wish to know any more then please visit www.pulppeople.com where you will be subjected to a barrage of cryptic questions. In the meantime ask yourself this: “Do You Remember The First Time?” Thank you for your attention.

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rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly and Steph Harmon

five things WITH

ANDY BULL Growing Up My dad played piano in a couple of 1. jazz and blues bands before my family

people. It’s also important to be respectful of everybody’s different journeys in music.

came to Australia in the 80s. After that, his life got pretty well swallowed up by his job and there wasn’t much time for it. By that stage, though, he had collected some great stuff; an upright piano, two harmoniums, a harpsichord, and a couple of Rolands. It wasn’t until I was older that I really started to appreciate those things.

The Music You Make I recorded an EP last year with Carlos and 4. Nick from Deep Sea Arcade, and it was a very

Inspirations When I was growing up I was obsessed 2. with music, but I didn’t really know many Australian bands. When I left school and started going to shows, I realised that Australian musicians can be world class too, and now I find myself pretty inspired by my peers. I think we should all be rich - then we could all quit our day jobs and make more music. Your Crew While there are lots of people in bands 3. and working in music press etc, it seems like everybody crosses paths eventually. I think if you can be humble and confident enough to just be yourself, then even in that big crowd, you tend to eventually be drawn to likeminded

HOMEBAKE 2011: CLASSIC EDITION

EDITOR: Steph Harmon steph@thebrag.com 9552 6333 ARTS EDITOR & ASSOCIATE: Dee Jefferson dee@thebrag.com 9552 6333 STAFF WRITERS: Jonno Seidler, Caitlin Welsh NEWS: Nathan Jolly, Chris Honnery ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Dara Gill SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Cai Griffin, Ashley Mar, Daniel Munns, Thomas Peachy COVER DESIGN: Sarah Bryant ADVERTISING: Matthew Cowley - 0431 917 359 / (02) 9552 6333 matthew@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9552 6333 les@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Meaghan Meredith - 0423 655 091 / (02) 9552 6333 meaghan@thebrag.com GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Matt Banham - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance & parties) INTERNS: Sigourney Berndt, Louisa Bathgate, Jemma Cole= REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Simon Binns, Joshua Blackman, Liz Brown, Oliver Downes, Alasdair Duncan, Max Easton, Tony Edwards, Christie Eliezer, Murray Engleheart, Max Easton, Mike Gee, Chris Honnery, Nathan Jolly, Alex Lindsay Jones, Peter Neathway, Hugh Robertson, Romi Scodellaro, Rach Seneviratne, Luke Telford, Rick Warner

THE LAURELS

The Laurels have been one of Sydney’s best bands for years, but up until now they haven’t yet been able to totally capture their wall-ofpedals, twin vocal, woozy, shooshy, shoegazey loveliness on one of those discs that keep getting caught in your Macbook. The four piece are finally set to release their debut EP Mesozoic (that era that occurred 250 million years ago, roughly 249,994000 years before

8 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11

Where: FBi Radio’s Sydney Sounds Like - Choose Your Own Adventure @ Factory Theatre, Enmore When: Saturday July 2, from 3pm

Adalita

PYKE VS BIRDS

“Only Sparrows,” declares Josh Pyke on his third album, and the tension that has been bubbling under the surface explodes into a fullblown bird-race war. Featuring the future loner classic ‘No One Wants A Lover’, Only Sparrows is out August 19 - which gives you less than a month to buy it, learn the words and sing them back to Pyke at his September 10 Metro show. He says no one wants a lover, but what if you learn ALL the words? Will he be able to ignore such devotion? Only one way to find out...

Split Seconds

ADALITA ANNANDALE

Adalita’s solo album is quite a bit more personal than her stuff with Magic Dirt. It’s like finally getting your hands on the diary of that girl you tried to pay attention to, whose three male friends kept whacking drums and roaring guitars around her so you could never really get to know her. You’ll be able to finally get a little intimate when she plays August 6 at the Annandale Hotel.

EAGLE AND THE WORM

Eagle And The Worm Goodtimes National Tour. Not a Japanese game show that we don’t quite understand involving puppets and mazes, but a tour announcement from eight-piece majorchordy pop group Eagle And The Worm. Catch them at Oxford Art Factory on September 9, and make sure you check out Melbourne’s Frowning Clouds in support. They sound like the docks of Liverpool in 1964, without all the swearing and accents.

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With: Faker, Parades, Deep Sea Arcade, Matt Corby, WIM, Holy Balm, Collarbones, Royal Chant, Domeyko/Gonzales and loads more

MUM, PIZZA, ROCK

EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Publisher, Editor or Staff of The Brag.

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around, so I like the music scene. Most of the obstacles we have to face are practical tending to relationships and money - and the other obstacles just relate to personal shit (doubt, envy, etc), which everybody has to overcome sooner or later.

We spent a fair amount of time at World Bar last week, warming our calves by the new fireplace they’ve set up, and that place just keeps getting better – for starters, you can order pizza from the bar now, from 5-10pm. This Friday, MUM’s invited Butcher Blades, Peppercorn, The Owls and Scientists of Modern Music to play the main stage, with Bloods, Johnny Rock & The Limits and The Mountains upstairs. As always, it’s free for students before 10pm, and $10 afterwards ($10 before 10pm and $15 after for everyone else).

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Music, Right Here, Right Now The music scene is whoever you hang 5. around I think, and I like the people I hang

SPLIT SECONDS & THE PANICS

After doing a bit of, ‘What the crap is a WAMi, I’m pretty sure that isn’t a word, and we are journalists and keepers of the print-media flame and therefore can be smug about such things’, we were distracted by the more pressing question: ‘Who the hell is this Split Seconds band, that won three gongs at the WAMis and are tipped to be the biggest newest bestest thing we haven’t heard of yet?’ Turns out the Perth band are touring off the back of latest single ‘All You Gotta Do’, a jangly blast of unseasonal sunshine that we’ve been listening to all day. They’ll be playing it for us on July 8 at Oxford Art Factory, as part of their tour supporting The Panics. (In answer to your first question: West Australian Music Industry Awards. They’re kind of a big deal.)

BUSBY MAROU

When I heard Busby Marou was coming, I thought this was some kind of Jersey ‘70s mob figure, finally settling the score for all those satiric cartoons I drew in The Age (classic example: a Mafioso boss in a diaper with a cigar. I know, right?!). Turns out they’re one of those lovely Byron Bay-sounding bands, and are coming from Rockhampton, QLD with their self-titled debut record. They’ll be playing July 23 at 34B at the Exchange Hotel.

Split Seconds photo by L. Businovski

PUBLISHERS: Adam Zammit & Rob Furst EDITOR IN CHIEF: Adam Zammit 9552 6333 adam@peergroupmedia.com

Dig up your One Dollar Short tee, because the country’s premier All-Australian festival is back after a year’s hiatus with Homebake 2011: Classic Edition - a retro-heavy festival set for December 3 at The Domain. We won’t know the actual lineup until the announcement in late July (and we won’t even be able to snap up tickets til August 15), but let’s start the wild speculation just for funsies... Our choices would be Ratcat, Bodyjar, Frenzal Rhomb, The Hummingbirds, Regurgitator, Paul Kelly, Jebediah, Magic Dirt, The Living End, Grinspoon, Spiderbait, Cold Chisel, You Am I and Silverchair, yeah? And if they could throw in Red Riders that’d be great - they killed it at their final show last weekend (and handed out cake after encore!) ...So, put all those dates in your diary and cross your fingers that we’re as good as we think we are at starting lineup rumours.

God created earth - Bible, The (2001): Puffin, Australia), and are playing a string of shows to celebrate. There’s the Friday July 1 Metro show with The Black Angels, their July 8 EP launch at the Lansdowne (free!), and an instore the next night at Repressed Records.

positive experience. Now I’ve got a new trio together with its own character; Dave Jenkins Jnr on drums, and Alex Bennison on guitar. We just finished a beautiful tour with Hungry Kids Of Hungary and The Chemist, and I think we’re really starting to find our footing.


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rock music news

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly and Steph Harmon

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

he said she said WITH

MATTY FROM THE ELLIS COLLECTIVE

L

ike most kids, my parents’ record collection was pretty much my life until I bought my first cassette, Man of Colours. I remember listening to Dylan’s ‘Hurricane’ and Banjo Patterson’s ‘The Man From Snowy River’. Even as a six year old those stories used to make me cry. That still holds true – a good song might make you dance, but only great stories will bring you to tears. Writing music never required any inspiration. The inspiration to actually perform came from watching local musos play, from behind the bar I worked at when I finished school. Guys like Michael Simic, David and Pip Branson, Randall-Blair, The Gadflys and Trouser Trouser affected me deeply. Everyday dudes, but legends all of them. We’re a seven-piece outfit, but essentially it’s a freakish coincidence that a bunch of good mates were drawn together over a shared love to make a particular kind of music. There was never a ‘Drummer Wanted’ sign or a campaign to recruit a shit-hot guitarist. It was a natural progression - people that cared enough simply made the effort to join

BJM @ LAST NIGHT WHA?

There’s this amazing episode of The Gilmore Girls where Joel Gion (the tambourine-shaking mutton chops one from Brian Jonestown Massacre) joins Lane’s band (Hep Alien), and the whole thing turns into a caffeine-fuelled parody of Dig. I’ll be at Purple Sneakers’ Last Night on Friday July 1 at The Gaelic Theatre, interrupting his midnight DJ set with inane ‘what’s-she-like-in-real-life’ questions. Red Ink and Particles are playing live, too.

THE GURGE!

On August 13, around midday, sidle up to that girl/boy you like and get into inane chit-

chat about stuff. Then loosely bring up Mad Men, which will lead to how much you both hate Betty Draper, then make a Black Betty reference which will lead to talk of Spiderbait, and to that era of music in general. You mention Jebediah and Happyland, then he/she will say “Regurgitator!” Then you can mention that Regurgitator have a new single out called ‘One Day’ - “Heard it? It’s real good!” and then, “Actually, they’re playing tonight at Manning Bar, wanna come with me?” Next thing you know, she or he will be back at yours listening to ‘Black Bugs’ and finding out what’s at the end of Satan’s rainbow… (August 13 @ Manning Bar, tickets on sale now. Buy two, just in case.)

in. That’s even how we chose our recording studio - Infidel Studios went out of their way to bring us in themselves. It’s a personal investment that the best studio and endless cash can never buy. ‘Honest’ should be an actual genre. It’s an attitude that transcends genres, and that’s what we try to do. Guys like Dylan through to Tim Rogers, Oberst and Darnielle are great at it. It’s the only thing that truly knits lyrics, performance and recording together. We recorded our album entirely on antique tape machines simply because it proves we never went back to change shit digitally – you’ve actually got to play your instrument and nail it. Live shows are the same; audiences connect to the fact that you genuinely care about what you’re doing on stage. At the end of the day, good musicians and good audiences tend to seek each other out. Good venues are great, but I think the fact that there are gigs being held in backyards and lounge rooms, and venues growing organically out of old warehouses and halls, shows that the music scene will always establish its own healthy equilibrium. Who: The Ellis Collective What: Means What It Means comes out July 4 More: www.theelliscollective.com

GOSSLING

Gossling is one likeable lady. She’s from Melbourne, she’s pretty, she hangs out with peeps like Oh Mercy, Lior and The Whitlams, and she’s got more talent in her little finger than most of us have in our entire tragic careers… To prove all of this, Gossling is about to embark on a tour of Victoria and New South Wales to show off her new single ‘War’ from her Until Then EP. BRAG has two double passes to her show on Wednesday June 29 at GoodGod Small Club. All you gotta do is email us with Gossling’s real name...

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

FBi’ s Sydney Sounds Like fundraiser is back for another year; two huge parties to put in your diary for this Saturday and the next. The first is Choose Your Own Adventure, an epic day of all-ages fun, filled with music, art, food, burlesque and more at The Factory Theatre. They’ve asked Faker, Parades, Deep Sea Arcade, WIM, Matt Corby, Steppanther, Collarbones and loads more to perform for you on Saturday July 2, and it’s kicking off at 3pm and wrapping up at 10. Tickets go for a cool $20, but to get your hands on a double pass for free, send us the name of another band on the bill...

Seekae

Architecture In Helsinki

SEEKAE ARE BACK

If you’re a regular reader of BRAG (and we can tell by the ink stains on your fingers), you won’t need us to sell you this one: Seekae are coming back from totally slaying it in the UK, to head out on another national tour. We caught them at their album launch at Manning Bar for +Dome, which was an insanely good show despite the fire alarm that came startlingly close to passing for a sample. This time, they’ll be bringing their ambient, glitchy, hip hopfused post-dubby thing to The Metro Theatre on Saturday August 20. We have it on good authority tickets will sell fast, so hurry hurry hurry!

MERCY, MERCY ME

ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI TOUR

We’ve been waiting for this since we missed their Vivid LIVE show at the Opera House: Architecture In Helsinki are finally doing a proper national tour for their insanely poppy funbag of an album, Moment Bends. Call them indie darlings, quirky popsters, transcendently joyous party-starters or a ten-legged juggernaut of synthy bubblegum – call them whatever you want, but make sure you get tickets to their Sydney show on Thursday September 1. Why so far away, you ask with a plaintive sigh? They’re currently in the midst of an international tour around USA, Russia, Europe and the UK – ain’t no thang… Tickets go on sale Monday June 27, which is today if you’re an early reader, and last week if you found this under a pile of junk on that shelf by the girls’ toilet at the Cricketers Arms.

Dan Sultan met Alexander Gow (Oh Mercy) on the street, and the pair decided to tour together. It was kinda like that time you chased Vinnie from Home and Away down the street, only with less AVOs and more July 20 double-headlining shows at The Basement. Oh Mercy will also support The Vaccines on August 3 at the Metro, but August is like another planet away...

ORIGINAL SYNDICATE

Sydney rock band Syndicate read the rock and roll handbook, made up a to-do list and found that #1 was Get Matt Sorum From Guns N Roses To Be Involved In The Production Of Your Debut Album. So they did. Steps 2 through to 7 are boring and mostly require data entry and chord charts, but step 8 is to play The Gaelic Hotel. Thursday June 30 is the night they can

tick that off and move on to the next step: gather the fans together and kill all humans.

ANBERLIN

“Each of the shows we will be doing different things than we have ever done in any one show,” Anberlin’s vocalist Stephen Christian told us exclusively through a press release they may or may not have sent to everyone else. “We might be doing some special covers, different variations on our own songs, telling stories behind the recordings and writing, maybe a Q&A with the audience, never before played b-sides, an intimate acoustic portion, and perhaps some special guest vocalists on stage…” Nice! It’s a world first for the Florida band, and it all happens on Thursday September 1 at The Enmore Theatre; tickets go on sale this Friday July 1.

“It was twenty years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play,”-THE BEATLES 10 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11


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The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Industry Music News with Christie Eleizer

APRA AWARD MOMENTS

Paul Kelly Paul Kelly got a standing ovation from the 550 guests at CarriageWorks last week when he was awarded the Ted Albert Award For Outstanding Contribution by Andrew Denton, at this year’s APRA awards. Kelly thanked his parents for forcing him to take piano lessons when he was a kid, and asked the audience to toast “the next song coming down the road”. On that theme, he performed ‘One More Tune’ with Megan Washington on piano. Volcanic ash played havoc with flights, leading to Arts Minister Simon Crean, John Butler and Zoe Badwi among others being unable to make it. But Julia Stone flew from her home in Los Angeles, and with brother Angus took Song Of The Year and Songwriters Of The Year. Angus quipped onstage that when he’d told his old man he was tossing up whether to grow weed or play music for a living, pappa had said, “Don’t be an idiot, you can do both.” An ongoing highlight of the APRAs are the covers of Song Of The Year nominees by others. Papa vs Pretty gave Angus & Julia

THINGS WE HEAR * Word from inside production firm 300 Entertainment — which last week canned the five city Lil Wayne/Kid Cudi-headlined USB Music Festival for October — is that all their staff have been axed... * John Farnham’s tour moved 35,000 tickets on the first day of sale. He’s certainly picked up a new audience since playing with Coldplay on Sound Relief, before 50,000 in Sydney. * British classical performer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has called for people who use mobile phones during performances to be fined. * Apparently Justin Bieber burns all his underwear to stop fans from going to dangerous extents to steal them. * How many bands are being asked to reform as part of December’s Homebake Classic Edition, back after its break last year? * The company that provides luxury tents for the Glastonbury Festival has collapsed. The festival will be providing free accommodation for those caught out. *After a hectic rendition of ‘Rock DJ’, Robbie Williams found his lil’ fella had popped out of its pants before 82,300 Dublin fans... * For the second year in a row, Austereo scored a place on the BRW’s ‘Best Places To Work’ list. It ranked #5 in the ‘Most Respectful Companies’ list, too.

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Stones’ sleepy (and much maligned) ‘Big Jet Plane’ a rockier treatment, Darren Hayes did ‘Plans’ by Birds Of Tokyo with a string quartet, Clare Bowditch tackled Kasey Chambers’ ‘Little Bird’, Curse Ov Dialect turned John Butler Trio’s ‘Revolution’ into a hip hop rave, Guineafowl tackled Sia’s ‘Clap Your Hands’ while Kimbra marked Silverchair’s “indefinite hibernation” announcement with a soulful version of ‘Across The Night’. Hosts Chris Taylor and Andrew Hanson from The Chaser lampooned everyone, from Farnham’s manager Glenn Wheatley for now faithfully paying tax, to Alex Lloyd, who they hoped wouldn’t eat any of the awards (which looked like doughnuts). Urthboy and Guy Sebastian had a twitter exchange over whether Sebastian should have been in the urban section (Guy agreed with Urthboy). Full list of winners at apra.com.au.

AUSSIES BEHIND BUCKLEY FLICK Two Australians are among those behind the upcoming Jeff Buckley biopic, A Pure Drop. It will be directed by Aussie filmmaker Brendan Fletcher, whose debut film Mad Bastards had its US premiere this year at the Sundance Film Festival. Fletcher says, “One of the greatest live music experiences of my life was in 1996, when I saw Jeff Buckley play The Enmore Theatre in Sydney.” The script is based on the 2008 book A Pure Drop: The Life Of Jeff Buckley, which was written by Aussie music journo Jeff Apter. The scriptwriter is California-based Train Houston, who had tried to get a Buckley biopic off the ground in 2004 through Tobey Maguire’s Maguire Entertainment. That one was going to be based on David Browne’s dual biography of Jeff Buckley and his father Tim Buckley, Dream Brother.

UPSTAIRS AT THE BERESFORD DRIES OUT

HTRK for Seattle’s Bumbershoot fest. In the Skills And Arts Development program, 15 individuals received funding for a range of projects including guitarist Mark Van Doornum to study with a flamenco master in Spain, and singer-songwriter Lauren Williams for a songwriting mentorship in Nashville. In addition, five organisations were supported to deliver local development projects including Music NSW for workshops associated with the Indent program, the Tasmania Youth Orchestra, and Music SA, for a contemporary music education and mentoring program delivered through secondary schools. All grants were assessed by Australia Council music board members and music business colleagues, including manager Cath Haridy, musician and music board member Johannes Luebbers, publisher Philip Mortlock, musician and manager Andy Kent and composer and music board chair Matthew Hindson.

AIM OPEN DAY The Australian Institute of Music (1-51 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills) holds an Open Day on Saturday August 13, from 10am to 3pm. Students wanting to study in Audio Technology, Composition & Music Production, Contemporary Performance, Classical Performance, Music Theatre and Entertainment Management can find out more on the day, and take part in a tour of AIM's recording studio; aim.edu.au

ROCKWIZ MOVIE WINS NSW’s Empress Arts Films won Best Emerging Artist at the International Disability Superfest Film Festival in California, for Rainman Goes To Rockwiz. It was made by husband and wife team Russell Kilbey and Amy Scully about Sutherland man Mark Boerebach, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, auditioning for the SBS music trivia show.

The launch this week of Justin Hemmes’ Upstairs At The Beresford (Bourke Street) will go ahead. The place got flooded last week when sprinklers were set off after a security radio battery exploded. Three hours later, Hemmes got the tradies in. Hemmes bought the Beresford last year for $14 million and based Upstairs on New York venues like Joe’s Pub. Upstairs is also the first project for Stella Wong, who’s joined Hemmes’ company Merivale as marketing director. She has formerly been employed in marketing at XYZ Music Channels.

Live On Stage grants supported Stonefield to play Glastonbury, Frank Yamma at the City of London Festival, Great Waitress for the Konfrontationen Festival in Austria and

Born: Son Revel Young Ian, to Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian and wife. Ill: Chocolate Starfish guitarist Zoran Romic is undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, forcing the band to reschedule its reunion shows next month to later in the year. Hospitalised: US guitarist Leslie West of Mountain had a leg amputated due to diabetes. Hospitalised: Reel Big Fish singer Aaron Barrett, from acute appendicitis. Married: Noel Gallagher and longtime girlfriend Sara MacDonald, at a posh hotel he hired for £60,000. Guests included Paul Weller, Mike Pickering and Russell Brand, but not Liam Gallagher who was in the US with Beady Eye. Sued: R. Kelly for $1 million by his ex-manager Jeff Kwatinetz, for not getting paid during the making of two albums, multi-million tours and a book deal, while the singer was battling kiddy porn accusations. Died: Anet Mook, frontwoman of 90s indie band Cay, after being hit by a bus.

Matt Bellamy, at #11, was the only one in the Top 20 to have emerged in the last 25 years.

BDO WILL STAY IN NZ Big Day Out will remain in New Zealand, stresses a statement by its NZ promoter CRS Management. Rumours began after its long time home, Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium, reportedly cranked up hire charges and wanted a greater share of bar takings. BDO is negotiating with other venues.

BEN LEE GETS THE BIRD Ben Lee is now with LA indie label Dangerbird Records, and will release his eighth solo album in spring. A documentary on Lee, Catch My Disease, will premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival later this year.

BIGGINS HOSTS HELPMANNS

FROM THE FUN(D)HOUSE The Australia Council announced the latest results from its music funding programs to support international touring and showcasing, as well as grants for professional development. International Pathways provide funding for eleven acts of up to $20,000 for tours abroad. Among them were Henry Wagons to tour the USA, Black Jesus Experience (UK and Ethiopia), Straight Arrows (USA), Little Stevies (Canada), Way Out West (Norway and Denmark) and Flight Facilities (Europe).

Lifelines

Micheal Jackson & E.T

MICHAEL JACKSON THE “GREATEST SINGER” — NME A poll by NME saw Michael Jackson declared the world’s “greatest singer”. The Top 20 poll drew 10 million votes and 4000 Facebook comments. At #2 was Freddie Mercury, followed at #3 by Elvis Presley, then Axl Rose, John Lennon, David Bowie, Robert Plant, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin (the list’s only female) rounding off the Top 10.

Political satirist and broadcaster Jonathan Biggins will host the 11th Helpmann awards. Covering all aspects of the Australian live sector, including contemporary music, opera and theatre, it is to be held at the Sydney Opera House on Monday August 1, and broadcast on arts channel STVDIO.

JAIL SENTENCES FOR POP STAR HACKERS Two German hackers were given jail sentences for targeting pop stars for personal information, and record companies to get pre-release tracks. Deniz A (DJ Stolen) and Christian M (CEE) accessed email accounts, banking details and other private data belonging to the likes of Lady Gaga and Dr Dre. Both were given prison sentences of 18 months, but CEE’s was suspended.


BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 13


Party Of Five By Romi Scodellaro

magine discovering a band you love, and finding out they’re playing a venue that’s a four-hour drive away. You set out with plenty of time, but your temperamental sat-nav delivers you there via the most scenic of routes (ie you get lost repeatedly). You and your partner peel into the venue ridiculously late to find the show’s over, the venue’s nearly empty and the band is ready to go. There’s usually only one way this story would end, and that’s with a dejected four-hour drive home. Unless of course you’re a couple named Dora and Chris, and the band you were travelling to see is Grouplove. You’d be forgiven for not knowing who Grouplove are, but that won’t be the case for long; the Californian five-piece deliver some seriously beautiful guitar-based indie-pop. They released a charming, surf-glazed eponymous EP last year, which has won them acclaim, dedicated fans, and spots supporting The Joy Formidable and Florence & The Machine. You will have heard their first single, ‘Colours’, on the radio last year - an addictive track, with its intertwined male and female vocals and urgent, repeated lyrics - and their first album, Never Trust A Happy Song, drops in September. They’ve just played Glastonbury, and they’ll be here for Splendour In The Grass in late July. They’re a band you’re going to want to get to know before then, too; this August will be the first and last time these guys play a Sydney venue as intimate as Oxford Art Factory. Grouplove are based in LA, but they’re from all over the place. The lead vocalist and guitarist Christian Zucconi and his girlfriend Hannah Hooper (also a vocalist) are from New York, passing the phone between each other when I call. Bassist Sean Gadd hails from London (he’s the reason they spell ‘Colours’ with a ‘u’, by the way), while guitarist Andrew Wessen and drummer Ryan Rabin are LA locals. Knowing this, it’s little surprise that the first song on their upcoming album, the energetic single ‘Itchin On A Photograph’, is about letting

go and not looking back. Christian says it reflects what every band member had to do to get the group together. “We wanted [that song] to be first. We went through this: Hannah and I left New York, Sean left everything in London, and Ryan and Andrew left other bands and projects they had at the time,” he explains. “It’s just a nice way to kick off a CD; it’s a certain metaphor for the whole situation the band is in right now.” The album will be “keeping it small”, which is how Grouplove like to work. Ryan, the drummer, produced their EP and is producing the album, and Hannah has done the artwork for both. Christian is bubbling with joy when he talks about it. “We’re really excited about it. It covers lots of ground; musically, emotionally, it’s all over the place. We’re really happy.” The story of how they got to this point is at its core a series of happy coincidences. Most of the band members met for the first time at an art residency in Crete - and if that all sounds a bit too cool to be true, it kind of is. Someone had a house available on a bit of land, and a little music festival was attached to it. “It was the first time it had been done,” explains Christian. “It was just a place where certain artists could go and be creative and have space to work”. Andrew was there because his brother had organised the residency, and he invited Ryan because he was relatively local, studying in the Czech Republic at the time. Sean was in the area tagging along with a mate’s band. And Andrew’s brother invited the multi-talented Hannah because he’d been blown away by the art at her studio in Manhattan. Hannah, in turn, invited Christian. “We’d just met a few days earlier and had really hit it off,” says Christian. “And before going away for six weeks she just wanted to know if I could come, and I said yeah...” I ask Hannah if she frequently invites nearstrangers on six-week international artistic jaunts. She laughs. “I swear it was love at first sight,” she says happily. “It was something I’d

never felt before. We hung out non-stop until I was invited to this art residency - which was only two days after meeting him - and I didn’t want to go away to Greece and not see him again. I got in this real fairytale mode and just invited him, and he said yes straight away.” “It’s a great way to find out if you’re compatible with someone,” says Christian. “Going to a foreign country, sharing a single bed with no shower in this mystical little town...” Love was in the air, and it hit the entire party of five they spent the days after they met jamming together, and sharing their music with one another. “It was magical.” When they got home they all kept in touch - and now? “We’re a fullyfledged band,” says Christian proudly. “Or at least planning to be there.” “It feels like one big made-up story,” says Hannah. It’s almost a bit too sugary sweet, and just as bad is how the band got its name… They all met up a year after Crete, and were so stoked to finally be together again as a group that they kept yelling “GROUP!” – out of windows, in the street, everywhere they went. They considered naming themselves GROUP, but decided it was too Google-unfriendly, and a little too harsh. “Then we were writing lots of emails at the time and we kept signing off, ‘group love, group love, group love all around’. So that’s where it came from.” So, Grouplove are a huggy bunch who love one another. That much is clear. They’re so lovey dovey that Christian can’t think of a single bad habit any of his bandmates have demonstrated on the seven tours they’ve had together thus far - although to be fair this may have been influenced by Hannah being within earshot… But you’ll forgive them their cutesiness, if only because it doesn’t spill over into their music (although they definitely go for the occasional bout of happy clapping and bouncing around). It’s also amusing how smirkinducing and parental-guidance-recommended ‘Grouplove’ ended up being as a choice of band name. Christian is diplomatic about it.

“We’d just met a few days earlier and really hit it off. It’s a great way to find out if you’re compatible with someone. Going to a foreign country and sharing a single bed with no shower in this mystical little town...” “Usually it’s cool, unless you type ‘group love videos’…” So now we know a bit more about these guys, it should come as no surprise how the night ended for Dora and Chris, when they missed the Grouplove gig they’d driven four hours for. The band were so sorry to see them sad that they gave them a couple of free shirts, and rushed outside to perform ‘Colours’ for them on the street. The video of the impromptu performance ended up online, and it’s heartwarming: the whole band bouncing, clapping, singing and dancing their little hearts out on a Miami sidewalk, to the delight of a very small crowd. These guys are at that happy stage of their career where they’re still super humble and grateful for the recognition they’re getting – and they’re making great music, too. It’s all about the love. With: Young The Giant Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Wednesday August 3 More: Also appearing with Kanye West, Coldplay, The Hives, Pulp and loads more at Splendour In The Grass from July 29-31

“Picture yourself in a boat on a river, With tangerine trees and marmalade skies,” - THE BEATLES 14 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11


BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 15


Micah P. Hinson On Spain, Pain And Staying Sane By Nils Hay

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ince the release of his fifth full-length album just over a year ago, Micah P. Hinson & The Pioneer Saboteurs, Hinson has been travelling through the USA and Europe, on a tour that will be making its way to Australia later this month.

The Black Angels Coming Full Circle By Denis Semchenko

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arrying the torch for the type of authentic psychedelia patented in the ‘60s by bands like fellow Texans The 13th Floor Elevators, The Black Angels built their solid reputation on the strength of their songwriting, hypnotic live shows and expert use of drone atmospherics. But it’s taken them a while to bring it all down under. “We’ve been waiting since 2006! Our first album [Passover] was actually released in Australia first, and we thought we’d be coming shortly thereafter,” says the jovial, chatty guitarist Christian Bland. “Five years later, we’re finally coming!”

A fearsome live unit in their own right, The Black Angels sharpened their teeth gigging with acts like Queens Of The Stone Age, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, fellow revivalists The Warlocks and psych-rock godhead Roky Erickson. “Back in 2002, when I was going to the University of Texas and Alex [Maas, vocalist] was down at Texas State [University] in Austin, we went to see BRMC – they were one of our favourite bands back then – and there was this band opening for them we’d never heard of,” Christian recalls. “Nine people on stage, low red lighting; they looked like this evil biker gang! Two drummers, three guitarists, an organ player, the bassist – turned out they were The Warlocks. That was huge. That show really did it for Alex and myself, and we started a band. Five years down the line, we were given the tour opening for Black Rebel, and The Warlocks eventually opened for us – that was, like, full circle, pretty amazing. Also, touring with Roky Erikson and getting to play 13th Floor Elevators’ songs that we grew up listening to with him was... surreal,” he says with awe. “I remember we started playing ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ and he let out this famous shriek at the beginning – the hair on my neck stood up. It was wild.” Following 2006’s taut debut Passover and 2008’s full-scale psychedelic assault Directions To See A Ghost, the five-piece’s incendiary

third LP, Phosphene Dream immediately stands out as their best recorded work to date. That being said, the band already put out two strong EPs this year - and album number four is in the works too. “‘Bad Vibrations’, the first track, might be my favourite Black Angels song,” Christian says, when I ask for his own gig highlights. “We’ve been playing this other song ‘Surf City’ a lot recently – it’s from a double EP we released called Another Nice Pair [exclusive release for Record Store Day 2011], and it’s been in the set pretty much all this year. Off another release we had for the Record Store Day, Phosgene Nightmare, we’ve been playing ‘The Boat Song’, which is one of Alex’s songs that we recorded with [The Brian Jonestown Massacre member/producer] Rob Campanella, down in his basement. We have lots of new songs we’re getting ready for the fourth album, but we probably won’t play any of them [in Australia], because we haven’t been together in Austin enough to sit and practice and work them out. I’m hoping we can start recording a new album at the end of this year and get it out next year. So far, we’ve released albums every even year since 2006, so next year... We’ve got to keep going.”

But while being on the road has kept the Texas native busy enough, he’s also in the process of establishing his own label – The Recordings of the Republic – and working on a follow-up record. “I’ve been recording using this old 1950s quarter-inch tape machine that I acquired, [and] an old Yamaha ‘70s desk,” he tells me in that deep Southern voice, on the eve of his trip to our shores. “Not to make it sound old, but just to make it fucking old-style, as old as I can. Not with any, let’s say, bullshit modern music manipulation that you can do with computers.” When we speak, Hinson seems keenest to talk about his novel, No Voy A Salir De Aquí. Hinson has a strong following in Spain, and last October had his first Spanish book published; four reprints later, it’s being sold throughout Central and South America, and there are plans for an English translation. Indeed, his publishing company approached the legendary Lawrence Ferlinghetti for the translating honours, only to find out that he wouldn’t even read the book because of a political comment lifted from Hinson’s Wikipedia page: ‘Hinson describes himself as “a firm supporter of the American Dream”, which he considers Barack Obama to be “the murderer” of.’ Even now, Hinson seems bewildered. “I was like, ‘Dude, you’re Ferlinghetti … You’re on a different path!’ Just to turn away a novel based on the fact that I might not like some value or idea is very strange.”

It’s almost surreal that, given Hinson’s chequered past, it would be a comment about Obama that would come back to haunt him. For years he’s fielded questions about the illicit drugs, women, homelessness and jail time of his early adulthood. “I don’t feel very much different than I ever did,” he admits. “The only difference is that I make different decisions and I have a good woman in my life.” He speaks fondly of his wife, Ashley. “She makes the bread, dude,” he chuckles. “She wears the pants in the family.” He may have made some different decisions, but since suffering an exploded disc in his back several years ago, Hinson’s hand was forced when it came to drugs. “Fuck man, I’m in the heyday of drug addiction right now.” Far from a boast, it’s an indication of what happens when all else in modern medicine fails… “They have me on Fentanyl, it’s like a hundred times stronger than morphine,” he starts, and the list goes on… “They have me on these crazy muscle relaxants, they have me on crazy, crazy dosages, and that’s just so I can attempt to function in life.” Despite all this, Micah P. Hinson perseveres. Harbouring no aspirations of topping charts or signing huge record deals, he’s content to just have listeners that enjoy his music and come along to his shows. “In that spirit hopefully [my music] will draw people to it like a light that you put outside,” he says. “That’s what I want.” What: Micah P. Hinson And The Pioneer Saboteurs is out now through Other Tongues Where: The Gaelic Theatre When: Saturday July 2

A guitar nerd at heart, I can’t help but wonder how TBA arrived at the insta-catchy riff at the start of ‘Bad Vibrations’. “The der-der, der-derder one?” Christian laughs. “I came up with it. It’s very much inspired by The 13th Floor Elevators and Stacy Sutherland’s guitar playing – the riffs he used to create.” What: Phosphene Dream is out through Blue Horizon/Warner. With: The Laurels and Joel Gion (The Brian Jonestown Massacre, DJ set) Where: The Metro Theatre When: Friday July 1

Dereb The Ambassador Kaleidoscopic Vintage Soul By Simone Ubaldi

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ontemporary Australian culture is a patchwork of styles and influences from around the world, the product of generation after generation of migration, from the British on down. With every new wave of migrants, our culture expands a little more, and only the very small-minded could see this expansion in negative terms. For musicians, it means fresh blood in the mix, and the possibility of blending established sounds with a rich range of world music influences. For music fans, it means previously exotic and distant music is now on your doorstep.

Dereb Desalegn is one of Ethiopia’s most celebrated singers, born into a family of musicians in Northern Ethiopia. He climbed up on stage at the age of four and never looked back. “I was with my sister in a very small club and I didn’t even know how to play the instrument,” he recalls. “I had just picked up the instrument from the shop. Straight away, we went to the club and started singing and making some sound from it,” he laughs. “Since then I never stopped.” By the age of ten, Dereb had learned to

play the Masenko, a kind of Ethiopian violin, and was recognised as a talented young soul singer. By the age of 16, he was drawing crowds in the bars of Addis Ababa and around Ethiopia, performing as a solo artist and with other touring bands. His first album, KorkoroYalew, was released in 2003 and featured the hit single Wollo, which was massively popular in Addis Ababa that year. Shortly after it was released, Dereb fell in love with an Australian girl, moved to Melbourne and began a whole new career down under. The only snag, as it turns out, was that Dereb found it “almost impossible” to establish himself as a musician in Australia. There were only two or three other Ethiopian musicians working in the country, and very little awareness of the vintage Ethiopian soul that he sings. “Ethiopian music just doesn’t sound like from anywhere else. It is a very distinctive sound,” he says – and without an audience, things were tough in the beginning. Dereb began performing in Australia with a band called Lion Of Judah and eventually hooked up with renowned world-music man-about-town Nicky Bomba; the two artists performed at WOMAD together, collaborating on a world music fusion record in 2006, Drums & Lions. It was a “satisfying” project for Dereb, but leagues away from the classic Ethiopian sound he loves. It was only after moving to Sydney that he was finally able to bring his

musical heritage to Australian audiences. Dereb marshalled the talents of seven Sydney musicians, including members of The Strides and Deep Sea Arcade, and became Dereb the Ambassador. With his new ensemble, he began performing soul masterpieces made famous by Ethiopians artists from the 1960s and ‘70s like Mahmoud Ahmed and Mulatu Astatqe, who have become familiar to world music audiences through the Ethiopiques compilation series, and to film audiences via the soundtrack to the Jim Jarmusch film, Broken Flowers. The self-titled record by Dereb the Ambassador was recorded by Tony Buchen in a studio using only pre-1970s equipment, which helped Dereb to recreate an authentic vintage soul sound. It was so successful that according to the ABC, the producer of the Ethiopiques series selected one of Dereb’s tracks for an upcoming compilation: “The most interesting Ethiopian music happening now is happening in the diaspora.” What: Dereb The Ambassador is out now through Other Tongues Who: Dereb The Ambassador & his seven-piece band With: Lo-Five Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Friday July 1

“Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall,” - THE BEATLES 16 :: BRAG :: 417 :: 20:06:11


Dananananaykroyd vs The Annananandale By Bridie Connellan

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t’s only 9am when I call him, but Calum Gunn never sleeps in. Stringing a few sleepy words together while he makes a cup of tea, Gunn admits he’s always up early - Coco has needs. “I’ve got an annoying cat. She’s got control of me all the time, you know? She’s looking at me now telling me to shut up.” Gunn will be leaving his maine coone kitty to her own devices in the coming months, taking to the road with fellow Scottish bandmates Duncan Robertson, David Roy, John Baillie Junior, Paul Carlin and Ryan McGinness for a whole world’s worth of festival grandeur. With a fresh album under their belts, Dananananaykroyd are back in action. “I feel like this is something of a new era for us,” the drummer/vocalist says triumphantly, of his latest record, There Is A Way. “It’s like Christmas, where you can’t wait for tomorrow but you don’t want to go to sleep for some reason. This Thing was finally able to come to fruition.” Dananananaykroyd spent the best part of the last six months skateboarding and recording in sunny California. Working with producer Ross Robinson (The Cure, Korn, At The DriveIn, Machine Head) aka The Godfather of Nu Metal, their follow-up to the acclaimed ‘fight pop’ debut – 2009’s Hey Everyone! – is a fresh explosion of Danananananess; there’s as much scream as catchy twang, and their infectious blend of Scottish accents and punky US tinge exude through the pores of a really, really well-produced project. Claiming immediate influence from the likes of Fugazi, Gunn says an unlikely inspiration came to the band when they had some downtime in LA. “It’s really weird, I really got into Metallica again - that’s just the opposite of what we would usually have in our headphones. Their film Some Kind Of Monster, we watched that about five times in two days once over there, and I don’t know why but I just took a massive shine to them. Bless Metallica.” Gunn says such a love-in was a rarity for the crew. “If anyone is going to put music on in the van it’s usually our tour manager, and it’s usually Tears For Fears.”

more serious than the last; it’s a lot more minimal and considered. So why not release it on a label that sounds ridiculous? We thought it was funny, so fuck it.” The most disappointing part of all of this is that the band have never had contact with the idol from whence their namesake sprung; everydad actor Dan Aykroyd has failed to make contact. “It’s disappointing. We don’t really want to make that contact; we’re just patiently waiting for someone to take him a CD and let him know that, ‘Ah, Dan? Some wee guys in Scotland are using your name.’ ... We’re waiting for his wrath to come down on us,” says Gunn, chuckling about the prospect of Sir Dan showing up side of stage. “I’d have to stop. It would be too funny. Centre stage solo at the least...” What: There Is A Way is out now on Dew Process Where: The Annandale Hotel When: Friday July 29 More: Also appearing with Coldplay, Pulp, Kanye West, Jane’s Addiction, The Grates and more at Splendour In The Grass, held July 29 – 31 at Woodfordia, Queensland.

“I feel like this is something of a new era for us. It’s like Christmas, where you can’t wait for tomorrow but you don’t want to go to sleep.” The process by which the six-piece hauled a second record into existence was nothing short of epic, with That Infamous Injury ultimately being the least of their problems. (At their last show in Sydney, in August 2009, lead singer John Baillie Junior riled himself up enough to leap from the stage, breaking two bones in his arm; the band were forced to cancel the remainder of their Aussie tour, and he’ll spend the rest of his life with screws holding his arm together.) “It’s taken quite a while to tackle this album with focused concentration, because we had quite a hard year where we weren’t really doing anything - and then we wrote the album in a couple of months,” Gunn says. “It was then that hard period of working out who we were going to work with, and there were all these weird communication breakdowns. They really stalled us, and we had quite a bit of a dark time there. We just had to stick it out by ourselves to get things done, but that’s a long time to be sitting in your own head thinking, ‘next one, next one, next one.’ When we got to LA, everything just felt like it was coming together, and we just thought the name of the album was a way to kind of express that relief … We should have called it Thank God.” With the band forced to restructure their lineup in the aftermath of Baillie Junior’s recovery, this month’s return to the ‘Dale means business. “Yeah! We’re gonna punch that place,” laughs Gunn. “Oh it is ON. It’s so on. I mean last time it was a good thing - the one and a half songs we played were a lot of fun. I don’t know how we’re going to do something special, but I’ll sort it. We might just start halfway through a song. Some sort of pillow castle around the stage should do the trick…” In a savvy move, the gang chose to release this album on their newly-founded label, the whatthe-fuckly named Pizza College. “That was just a joke from LA that went too far,” Gunn admits, agreeing that that kind of thing is becoming a habit with these guys. “Yeah we don’t think things through too far - check out the band name,” he laughs. “But in a strange way this album is a lot BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 17


Skipping Girl Vinegar Keep Calm And Carry On By Krissi Weiss

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n just over four years, Skipping Girl Vinegar have developed quite a name for themselves. Comprised of brother/sister duo Mark and Sare Lang, along with childhood friends Chris Helm, Amanthi Lynch and Kelly Lane, their debut single ‘One Chance’ was declared Single Of The Week on iTunes and received high rotation across Australian radio - and some inspired packaging (library card slips and cloth wraps) also made them favourites with fans of whimsical design. Their first album, Sift The Noise, was a far lighter outing than their latest offering, Keep Calm, Carry The Monkey - and you can tell from one listen of the follow-up that the band have matured a lot since 2005, and have experienced their fair share of heartbreak. It’s a coming-of-age album that may well define the future sound of Skipping Girl Vinegar, pointing in a darker and grittier direction that still retains echoes of their gentle literacy. While always erring on the edgy side of folk, the lithe pop of Sift The Noise has been shattered and rebuilt with a determined sonic evolution in mind. Skipping Girl Vinegar have taken the independent route for their entire career, and although it’s never been easier than it is now to release your own music, going it alone still remains a challenging trajectory. But Mark Lang remains committed. “We’ve been very fortunate to have the support of people around us that helped us to do it,” he says. “Philanthropy isn’t just for the rich, but also for people who are passionate about the arts and music, and that’s basically how we recorded our last album. That and a council grant and a government grant, that’s how we got going. And the people who have bought our music also helped us to make the next one.”

As well as being the primary songwriter for the band, Lang is responsible for all of the band’s detailed and well-crafted artwork and merchandise. “It’s been pretty consuming, and there have been times where I’ve thought, ‘If we were signed to a label, we wouldn’t be thinking about this,’” he says. “In the process of having to be inventive in what you are doing - well, I think this album wouldn’t have been the album it is if it wasn’t for that. There’s stuff that happened because we didn’t have money and it forced us to be creative. That’s not to say it wouldn’t have been good if we were signed to a major label, being signed isn’t a bad thing. It’s just that for us, [staying independent] seems like the right thing to do.”

“There’s stuff that happened because we didn’t have money and it forced us to be creative... For us, staying independent seems like the right thing to do.”

“Biding My Time” July Tour BULLI

NEWCASTLE

SYDNEY

THU 21 JULY • THE HERITAGE HOTEL

FRI 22 JULY • CBD HOTEL

SAT 23 JULY • 34B

Tickets from www.oztix.com.au / Available from the venue

Tickets from www.bigtix.com.au / Available from the venue

Tickets from www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 GET TIX

AVALANCHE CITY “OUR NEW LIFE ABOVE THE GROUND” DEBUT ALBUM OUT JULY 8

BUSBY MAROU DEBUT ALBUM OUT NOW

WANT A FREE TRACK?

www.busbymarou.com www.avalanchecity.com www.facebook.com/BusbyMarou www.footstompmusic.com www.facebook.com/avalanchecity

18 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11

I mention to Lang that the sound on the new release is a lot grittier and somewhat darker than their previous album, and he admits that he wasn’t going through the best of times when he wrote it. “I wrote some of it while I was in Canada and America, and that was a heavy time for me, and I guess you can hear that in the lyrics. I was working through a lot of depression,” he says. “There has been a lot of hope and [some other] stuff was written in happier moments when I was back, and Point Lonsdale [in Victoria, where the album was recorded] for me was a reflection of that. It was a really peaceful place. I am interested in character, and the character of the house the hum of the refrigerator or the birds singing in the background - we kept that in, unedited. Those kinds of noises create a sonic landscape for the songs to sit in, and it kind of ties it all together,” he says. Lang has a background in doing soundscapes for contemporary dance and short films, which you can clearly hear through the record. “That’s a whole different side of my personality that I wanted to bring out on this album.” “As a songwriter I have found that I can only write about what I know,” he explains. “I’m not a massively political person and I can’t write things that aren’t relevant to me. When you write something that rings true and you leave it open-ended enough that people can create their own meanings for it, you’ve created something that is not only meaningful for yourself, but also meaningful for others. … When I listen to an artist, I want to believe what they are saying. The hard thing with that is that people will make judgements - but that’s part of it.” Lang explains to me that the recording location along the Southern coastline had a lot to do with him being able to free himself from emotional darkness in order to get the album finished to a point he was happy with. “Every time I would drive into the town I would literally feel my shoulders lower and relax; I found it an amazing place to get my head into the record.” What: Keep Calm, Carry The Monkey is out now through Secret Fox/Popboomerang With: Kieran Ryan (Kid Sam) & Colleen Hixenbaugh (Canada) Where: Notes, Newtown When: Friday July 1


Suede Coming Back Up By Michael Hartt

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hen Suede reunited in March 2010 for their first shows in seven years, they weren’t exactly sure how the world would react. By the time they released their final album, 2002’s A New Morning, interest in the band seemed to have waned to its lowest point. Reflecting on the band’s return a year on, singer Brett Anderson says that the turning point came last year at The Royal Albert Hall. “There was a moment at the Albert Hall [show] when we did ‘Metal Mickey’ and there was just this weird three minutes of applause, where we just couldn’t get started on anything else. Everything that I love about playing live was summed up in those seven minutes. I’ve played a lot of shows in the meantime with my solo stuff, which I loved, but without that kind of insane feedback you get when it’s a proper loud rock gig. That was something that set the bar very high.”

It was after this show that the reunited Suede – Anderson, guitarist Richard Oakes, bassist Mat Osman, drummer Simon Gilbert and keyboard player Neil Codling - decided to continue playing shows, but on their terms. “We kind of made a pact with ourselves that we weren’t going to fall into a rut,” he says. “The gig was really special and we kind of made a vow that all the gigs would be like that. It’s not a hugely tiring schedule. We’re not slogging it out. We’re spending the week at home and then the weekends doing one show or two shows, and making sure that they’re still something special.” For Anderson, the opportunity to play the Suede songs with the band in a somewhat different musical landscape has been interesting and exciting. “I think the people starting to listen to music now are ridiculously omnivorous. Because they’ve grown up with every piece of music that’s ever been recorded available for free immediately, they’re weirdly undiscriminating of when music comes from. We played in Romania a couple of weeks back, where we’d never been, and the crowd were all like 16 and 17; which is great but you kind of say, ‘Why aren’t you listening to Vampire Weekend?’ And they’re like, ‘We do, but as far as we’re concerned, you’re a new band. You’ve never been here before. We heard your records on mixtapes and Spotify playlists.’ I think there’s a sense that we fit quite nicely into the musical landscape at the moment, and people are maybe just a bit less ideological about it.”

album - but not yet. “We’re just literally this week starting to write, but unless it’s something that I think stands toe to toe with the best stuff we’ve ever done, we won’t release it. It’s as simple as that. I’m enjoying working with the guys again and they’re full of good ideas but you never know, so I don’t want to say we’ll definitely release something. If it’s good, we’ll release another record and if it’s bad, we’ll all go off and do other stuff. The only reason we’ll release something new is if it’s something spectacular.” In the meantime, Suede is set for a run of festival dates in the northern summer – but Anderson says we won’t be seeing them in Australia anytime soon. “We talked about doing it at the end of the Japanese shows, but because we’ve got other stuff back here it was turning into a real slog. We just couldn’t find a way of making it work and being sure it was going to be great. I really enjoyed the shows we did there – not the festivals, but our own shows. If there’s another record, I’m sure we’ll come back there.” What: Suede – The Best Of (2CD) is out now, along with 2CD/DVD deluxe editions of all five Suede studio albums, through Warner Music.

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“Briitiishh Sea Power are bravelly briingiing beauty into an increasiinglly uglly worlld, whhethher thhat worlld wants it or not. They oughht to be given a medal” Thee In Th Inde depe de pend pe nden nd entt UK en

“I’ve spent the last six months trawling through boxes of old photos and demo tapes; going down to dusty warehouses behind recording studios to find old masters...” To coincide with the re-emergence of the band, all five of their studio albums have received the reissue treatment. The 2CD+DVD sets include a host of alternate versions, demos and live tracks – and a Best Of was released last week, too. After obtaining the master rights to their back catalogue, the band set out to put together something that was definitive. “It was a labour of love. I’ve spent so much of the last six months trawling through boxes of old photos and demo tapes; going down to dusty warehouses behind recording studios to find old masters; emailing people who were around at the time to say, ‘What have you got that people haven’t heard and is good?’” Listening back to the songs with fresh ears gave Anderson the opportunity to re-evaluate which album he’s most proud of. “Coming Up brings back the best memories for me, I enjoyed making it and I love it as a record. But I think probably the first one [1993’s Suede], which I wouldn’t have said three or four years ago. I thought of it at the time as a picture of a live band because we didn’t spend a lot of time in the studio, we just recorded our live set. Going back to it, I enjoyed it so much more. It’s a fantastic sounding record,” he says. “The general thing, listening back, that kind of struck me, was how strange it is. When you’re writing songs, they always just seem like you’re writing normal straightforward pop songs that are the sum of all the records you’ve loved. It was only coming back with an outsider’s ear, just listening to the first album and the b-sides and going, ‘This is actually quite an odd record’. It’s quite spiky and left field and complicated and difficult and stubborn.” When Suede split in 2003 they’d been working on material for a sixth album, which never saw the light of day. Anderson told the audience at the band’s final show that there would be another

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brushstrokes WITH DIRECTOR MICHAEL

GOW

(BY SIMON BINNS)

What is it about Faustus that captures you? The first thing is Marlowe… He was an early contemporary of Shakespeare, so it’s kind of interesting to be dealing with a writer who was around when Shakespeare was just starting to work in theatre. But it’s also the notion of how do you make a piece of theatre where you know how it’s going to end? So it’s about what the journey’s like. [Faustus] sells his soul in the first 25 minutes – and it’s a matter of what happens from there.

M

ichael Gow is undoubtedly best known for his 1986 play Away, which made its way onto many an Australian stage and drama syllabus. More recently, his play Toy Symphony won Best New Australian Work at the 2008 Sydney Theatre Awards, after debuting at Belvoir Street under director Neil Armfield.

For the past 11 years, however, most of Gow’s energy has been consumed by his Artistic Director role at Queensland Theatre Company – a job he only recently left. His upcoming production of Faustus, a collaboration between QTC and Bell Shakespeare, marks Gow's return to freelance directing. Considered a masterwork in the modern dramatic canon, Faustus is a cautionary tale about a man who sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for power. Gow’s production travels from Brisbane to the Sydney Opera House this month, starring John Bell as the mischievous Mephistopheles

There seems to be a bit of a Mad Men influence in the staging, is that fair? We thought that rather than have mad devils with horns and spiky tails, we’d make them look incredibly cool – like executives or bureaucrats – so they’re just all in suits. Except you find out as the show goes on that they’re completely demonic. Like bankers! Is that a comment on the corporate world? Absolutely. Is the corporate world hell? You look at a story like Dominique Strauss Kahn. He was the most powerful man in the world and it turns out he was a terrible serial groper and rapist – and you think, what did he sell his soul for? Now he’s been busted and is in his own hell. It’s an interesting parallel. What do you feel John Bell brings to Mephistopheles? He didn’t want to do a whole lot of classical acting, so he explored a really sleazy, horrible side of himself. It’s really compelling and pathetic

The devil made him do it (2011) C-Type photograph courtesy of Christian Thompson and Chalk Horse Gallery

BIZARRE BAZAAR #2

The Bizarre Bazaar returns for its second instalment this week, with a lineup of emerging and avant garde fashion designers presented via an intimate twilight market in Sussex Lane this Thursday June 30. Holding their first event in May, the BB crew are upping the ante this Thursday with three bars, live entertainment, and 25 stalls, encompassing everything from handmade to vintage, bags, belts and accessories. We feel strangely compelled by the polymer clay broccoli pendants, baguette rings and peach earrings of Fingerfood Jewellery; the studded black Italian leather satchels by Love & Luck; hand-poured, eco-friendly, scented soy wax jarcandles from Sniff Candles; and any number of other vintage and hand-made temptations. To plan your attack, head to bizarrebazaar.info

MONO SHOW NOTHING IS TRUE

A group show with a broad streak of punk and play, Nothings Is True, Everything Is Permitted features new works by some of Australia’s most exciting young talent. Kate Mitchell (Greedy Hen) will be swinging from a chandelier; Christian Thompson will be presenting photos from new series, Native Instinct; John A Douglas’ critically-acclaimed short film Starella will screen fresh from its premiere at the Barbican, London; Archibald finalist Yvette Coppersmith will present her new work Details, which pushes further away from her earlier photorealism into the abstract; Sanné Mestrom will apply her curiosity and talents to growing a plant out of her head; and David Capra will manifest his spirituality and love of detritus in a series of mixed media works. Nothings Is True, Everything Is Permitted opens July 7 at Chalk Horse. chalkhorse.com.au

The second exhibition out the gate at Kaleidoscope Gallery’s new Danks St digs is MONO – a group show exploring the tantalising emotional and visual responses to monochrome artworks, and featuring an eclectic lineup of established and emerging photographers, printmakers, painters and illustrators, including Dylan Demarchi, Mark Gerada, Ollie Burge, Mim Montgomery, Elena Duggan, Varry Niven-Fisher, and Sarah Park. Gallery director Sam Mitchell writes, “MY MY, our grand opening exhibition, was a kaleidoscopic fusion of colour and form, to excite the eyes and stimulate the senses. MONO on the other hand is an exhibition to soothe your soul – a celebration of dark moody hues, of black and white noir and single coloured simplicity.” MONO opens Thursday June 30 from 6pm, at 3-7 Danks Street, Waterloo. kaleidoscope-gallery.com

GRAPHIC COMPETITION

Having debuted last year with a lineup that included Kevin Smith and Neil Gaiman, Sydney

SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

BAMS & TED BOUTIQUE

bams & ted transform pop-up venues into glorious, film-inspired vintage boutiques – as per their Picnic At Hanging Rock and Murder She Wrote pop-up stores at Gaffa Gallery last year. Fresh off the back of presenting their gorgeous Wes Anderson appreciation soiree at The Wall, they’re creating two film-inspired shopping experiences at a new Paddington pop-up store. First up is the Edge Of Love: think London ladies, blitz-era bombshells, and ‘40s pin-ups; then let your imagination take your northwards, to the ragged cliffs of Wales, the home of Dylan Thomas and his paramours – played in the 2008 film by Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller, sporting floral dresses, cable-knit cardies, wool tweed skirts and long socks. Edge of Love runs throughout July at 84 William St in Paddington (where Kaleidoscope Gallery used to live). Keep abreast at bams-and-ted.blogspot.com 20 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 26:06:11

We had a film festival! It was awesome – and for our money, the strongest Official Competition lineup yet. It almost makes up for the fact that we’re losing Artistic Director Clare Stewart, who in five years has transformed the festival into an international destination for filmmakers like Miranda July, Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace), Athina Rachel Tsangari, and jury president Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine). In terms of awards, Iranian drama A Separation beat out Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life for the Sydney Film Prize; but by far our favourite winner, for obvious reasons, was Dario Russo (pictured, with cat) who won the Peter Rasmussen Innovation Award for his web series Italian Spiderman – a spoof of ‘60s giallo and b-movies. To get down with Dario, see youtube.com/dariotown

and tragic. [For him] it’s a matter of freedom – he’s not being ‘Sir John Bell’ playing Richard III in this horrible blue suit… It’s not all that sort of 'watch me suffer' stuff. We wanted to avoid lots of rhetorical acting. How do you reconcile the beautiful language with your desire to stay away from classical acting? It’s a way of playing it ironically and taking a line that says ‘yes this is meant to be famous and terribly elevated’ [and spinning it irreverently]. But there are other bits when Faustus quotes one of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets and he just goes right into it – and it’s breathtaking, because it’s such beautiful language. So the language isn't all undercut. What role does video play in this production? Some of it is treated to look like daggy old Super 8 movies… There’s some documentary footage at one point about the horrors of war and there’s one section that takes place in a prison, and it’s a kind of mad scene, and the madness is signalled by live-feed video and it becomes incredibly intense, like some European movie. What: Faustus by Christopher Marlowe Dir. Michael Gow When: June 30 – July 24 Where: Playhouse, Sydney Opera House More: bellshakespeare.com.au

THE TRIP! WIN! TICKETS! A spin-off from the hit BBC series of the same name, The Trip sees British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reprise their roles as reluctant dinner companions, under the helm of director Michael Winterbottom (who previously directed both in Tristam Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story). Coogan plays a pompous British food reviewer Steve Coogan, who having been commissioned to review six restaurants, plans a trip around the North of England with his girlfriend. When she dumps him, he reluctantly settles upon his sort-of-friend Rob Brydon, rather than face a week of lonely meals. Their culinary-adventure-turned-week-from-hell proves to be comedic gold, as the duo freestyle their way through impressions of iconic actors, from Michael Caine and Sean Connery to Al Pacino. The Trip opens Thurday June 30. Thanks to Madman Entertainment, we have ten in-season double passes up for grabs; to get your hands on one, tell us the name of Winterbottom’s last film.

Opera House are bringing back their GRAPHIC festival this August, headlined by cult countercultural illustrator Robert Crumb. Anyway – you already know that, right? We talked about it a few weeks back. They’re also bringing back the GRAPHIC Animation Competition, and as of NOW they’re calling on all illustrators, animators and storytellers to enter. The winner will receive $20,000 prize money (to be used for professional development or to make a feature) and have their entry screened before the festival’s headline event on Sunday August 21 in the Concert Hall – i.e. right before Crumb takes the stage. Entries for Round 1 close July 17, so start daydreaming about ideas for ‘Escape’, and find the details at sydneyoperahouse.com/GRAPHIC

WORLD PRESS PHOTO

The annual World Press Photo exhibition is what we call a ‘Sure Thing’: the most striking, unusual, clever and visually ravishing photos taken by photojournalists around the world – from news to nature, social interest, sports, and everything in between. It’s not only good for your eyes and imagination, it’s also good for your knowledge, and a sure-fire talking point between you and your "date". This year’s instalment presents over 200 colour and black-and-white images from last year, by 55 photographers, including three Australians (Daniel Berehulak, Adam Pretty and Steve Christo). It opens at the State Library of NSW this Saturday July 2, alongside Photos 1440, which offers the best published and unpublished work by Sydney Morning Herald photographers from 2010. Plan your trip at sl.nsw.gov.au

SOUTH OF THE BORDER

Curated by graf artist Phibs, South Of The Border is a group show featuring the graffiti and street artists behind Melbourne’s colourful laneways. Representing the southern low brow scene are Rone, Wonder, Makatron, Sync, James Reka (work pictured), Stabz, Dr Prizm, Mayo, Bailer, Sheda, Itch, Otis Chamberlin, Nurock, Zode, Musery, Guy Parker – and of course Phibs. If you like your streets colourful and your art graffic, head along to South Of The Border on Thursday June 30 from 6pm, at LO-FI, Lvl 3/383 Bourke St, Taylor Sq. Wearelofi.com.au/collective

MAD PRIDE

It’s okay to be a bit mad – in fact most of the best people are; it’s even okay to be depressed, or suffer from mental illness in general; it certainly makes life a bit harder, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of. That’s what Mad Pride is all about – destigmatising mental illness (and raising

Dario Russo, with cat

awareness of dual diagnosis – i.e. coexisting mental health and substance use issues) one awesome party at a time. This Friday July 1 between 5-10pm, the Mad Pride crew are taking over the Weave Arts Centre (alongside CarriageWorks on Wilson Street), and turning the Eveleigh railyards into a carnival of live performance, music, visual arts and films by young people – plus the finals of the 2011 Mad Pride Breakdancing Competition. There's also a forum to discuss mental health issues with key agencies in NSW. madprideyouth.com.au

FUTURE SHORTS

Founded in 2003 by the same fella who started London’s Secret Cinema project, Future Shorts is film label that celebrates the short format. Rejecting the idea that short films are purely the preserve of film festivals and vimeo, Future Shorts holds regular screenings on the silver screen – the way they deserve to be seen. The FS network encompasses 60 cities across 18 countries – now including Sydney. The next event takes place Saturday July 9 at Fox EQ’s newest venue, Highway 125. The lineup will feature short films from across the globe, alongside the awardwinning AFTRS short Four, a cheeky look at the swinging '70s. Tickets are just $10 (at the door), and include a free drink and live music. For more details, see futureshorts.com/ONE/Events


BRAG'S GUIDE TO

Underbelly Arts 2011:

What distinguishes Underbelly Arts from festivals like Tiny Stadiums, This Is Not Art, Sydney Fringe, and Imperial Panda is its fusion of a festival with on-site development. The Public Lab puts the artists together in one space for ten days, and allows members of the public to take guided tours through the space, during which the artists explain the ideas and creative processes behind their works.

and more projects will integrate the Public Lab into their creative process. At the end of the day, however, the audience experience is key. “I’ve always thought that what's going on behind the scenes is as interesting as what comes out in the final product," says Semmler. "I like the idea that punters can come and see the artists at work. It’s breaking down those walls. I used to get so intimidated by the arts [laughs] – I thought ‘I don’t get it!’ But you don’t have to ‘get it’ – it’s just about your response, and enjoying the experience!”

U

nderbelly Arts: Festival + Public Lab began in 2007 as an experiment, and has grown into an essential part of Sydney’s arts ecosystem, providing an invaluable playground, springboard and showcase for emerging artists and collectives like post, Pig Island, Reef Knot, Token Imagination, Bambina Borracha, and Team MESS. A glance over past lineups reveals a swag of projects that were developed as part of the Underbelly Arts Lab, and went on to seasons at Griffin, Belvoir, The Old Fitz, Sydney Theatre Company, Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne’s Next Wave.

As Underbelly founder and Creative Producer Imogen Semmler says, the benefits of the Public Lab are manifold: it’s inspirational for the artists, seeding new projects and collaborations; it’s accessible for new audiences, who aren’t familiar with the alternative theatre and performance scene; and in many cases (e.g. Applespiel’s Snail Piece or the I Can Draw You A Picture zinemaking workshop, both at Underbelly 2010) the involvement of punters during the Lab directly feeds into the final works. Semmler anticipates that as the festival continues, more

Below, we look at some familiar and fresh faces on this year's program, to give you some inspiration. Check out the full lineup online – and then hop on a ferry, and get involved! What: Underbelly Arts: Festival (Saturday July 16) + Public Lab (July 3-12) Where: Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour More: Full lineup, tickets and Public Lab tour schedule available NOW from underbellyarts.com.au

Joan of Arc Is Alive And Well And Living On Cockatoo Island Triage Live Art Collective (MELB) Fans of The Smile Off Your Face (Sydney Festival 2009) will want to check out this intimate, participatory performance event designed for one audience member at a time. Joan of Arc is Alive and Well and Living on Cockatoo Island comes from the brains and bodies of Melanie Jame and Katerina Kokkinos-Kennedy. Melanie is an emerging artist with three years of performance training (specifically the Butoh, Suzuki and Viewpoints disciplines) under her belt, courtesy of her work with Tony Yap Company, Laura Sheedy and Barney O’Hanlon (SITI). Katerina is an experienced director and dramaturg, with more than 15 years in the industry, and a more recent focus on live art, audience participation, and site-specific works. The two bonded over a shared sense of humour and interest in relational aesthetics (google it) while working on a production in 2009, and created Triage Live Art Collective. So how does Joan Of Arc Is Alive work? In response to a calling card, individuals will rendezvous at an appointed time and place on the island with a woman named J. Dark. The calling card, like a mysterious business card from a ‘40s film noir, leads them to an ambiguous meeting. J Dark invites her guests to her ‘rooms’ on the island. Here, an intimate moment of exchange unfolds which follows a careful dramaturgy as it explores ideas of

By Dee Jefferson

Festival + Public Lab

V

Justin Shoulder (SYD) Justin Shoulder is a jack-of-all-trades in Sydney’s arts scene, dabbling in visual arts, dance, sound, sculpture and theatre – but he's best known for his Fantastic Creatures: sculptural fullbody costumes of creatures that look like they’ve crawled out of the Reverse Garbage womb. Over the last five-or-so years, these costumes have formed the focus of Justin's performances at Lanfranchis' Cab Sav nights, Club Kooky, Red Rattler and Performance Space, and been incorporated into video works like Bumblebeez' ‘Misfit’ film clip and more recently, director Amy Gebhardt’s winning 'Map My Summer' entry, Into The Sun. Justin’s latest Fantastic Creature is V, a contemporary demon that harks back to childhood monsters, monkey demons and chimera. Debuting at Glitter Militia's Clown Cult! show (Red Rattler 2009), V was subsequently the focus of a short, self-titled video work commissioned by Performance Space’s NightTime Statewide program, allowing Justin to further explore this narcissistic new persona.

alter egos, identity, passion and confession. Joan of Arc is Alive explores the creation of a ‘One to One’ – an immersive, participatory audience-of-one event that subverts traditional notions of performance context, and investigates performer and audience risk, relationship & responsibility. What were some of your inspirations? The work is inspired by the challenges that One to One performance itself presents to both performer and audience/participant. It

is inspired by the work of UK One to One performers like Adrian Howells, and the work of Belgian theatre artists Ontroerend Goed. Why is Joan Of Arc Is Alive a good fit for Underbelly Arts? It’s a site-specific work that really challenges conventional notions of theatrical form and performer/audience relations and boundaries. The work is very much about intimacy, and the chance to test and re-test ideas with both other artists and the public is invaluable to our process.

Through the JUMP mentoring program, which paired Justin with veteran curator, director and producer Jeff Stein, V is being developed into a large scale, sitespecific work of performance, projection and audio-visual installation created specially for Underbelly's Cockatoo Island venue. Justin will be collaborating with musician Nick Wales (CODA), talented young video/lighting designer Toby Knyvett (who is in turn being mentored by lighting and projection design guru Sydney Bouhaniche) and Joey Ruigrok, an expert in site-specific theatre sets, structures, rigging and contraptions. In other words, prepare for an audiovisual spectacle of epic proportions – "a cycle of perpetual indulgence in ego and self-idolatry that is beautiful, humorous and horrific." More: justinshoulder.com

Awful Literature Is Still Literature I Guess Sexy New Urban Design Team (Tiny Stadiums 2010), involved a small-scale cardboard replica of an improved Erskinville, based on public suggestions; they’ve even dabbled in radio (Applespiel’s Morning Commercial Breakfast Radio Show, This Is Not Art 2010). Most recently, for Tiny Stadiums 2011, they debuted their first proper theatre show, Executive Stress/Corporate Retreat, which pitted audience members against each other in a carefully constructed ‘corporate seminar’. Applespiel made their Underbelly debut at last year's festival, devising a theatrical ethical experiment called Snail Piece, which involved audience members deciding the fate of a snail. This year they return with Awful Literature Is Still Literature I Guess.

Applespiel (SYD) Applespiel are young, whip-smart, tirelessly creative, and will no doubt be causing a ruckus for quite some time. Like Team MESS before them (one year before them, to be precise), the Applespiel collective was forged in the fires of University of Wollongong Performance program.

Debuting as part of Performance Space’s NightTime program in 2009, the nine-or-so-piece have been incredibly prolific over the last 18 months, with shows for Tiny Stadiums, Crack Theatre Festival, GriffFringe and the inaugural Sydney Fringe. But they're not just prolific, they're diverse: although they specialise in devised performance works, one of their early works,

Awful Literature Is Still Literature I Guess – what’s going on there? This show came from thinking about all the terribly disappointing books we’ve ever read. There’s a lot of expectation that goes into book reading, and I think it’s wrapped up in a lot of fantasy about reading and bookshops in general – it’s very easy to romanticise these things. So we wanted to pitch the two things up against each other – the wonder and magic of books, and the frustration when the reality is far more disappointing. It’s a huge chore to finish a book you don’t like, and deciding to stop reading halfway is just as bad. We’re hoping that by resisting that disappointment, we can find something really beautiful.

What will the show look and feel like? We don’t know yet – we’re basically creating the work during the Public Lab part of Underbelly, which runs on Cockatoo Island from July 3-12. The Lab means we’ll have a fantastic space to try some new things and see where our ideas can take us. We’ll be focusing on using the architecture of the space as well as video to create a certain atmosphere, and then work towards integrating our personal stories of disappointing literature with it. And with a performance so grounded in common personal experience, we’re looking forward to chatting to audiences during the Lab tours and hearing their stories, too. What are some of the inspirations for this work? We’ve done a few pieces before that were devised from a collection of honest, personal stories, and this is sort of building on that. In that regard, it takes a lot from works like Zoe Coombs Marr’s And That Was The Summer That Changed My Life, and also a piece that Malcolm Whittaker and Laura Caesar performed at IPAC last year called Starfuckers, which navigated anecdotes from their relationship while they made statuettes of famous couples. What are the roles/contributions of each Applespieler? As usual, there’ll be Applespiel people coming and going all festival, contributing and devising and watching. At the moment it looks like the performers will be Simon Binns, Nathan Harrison and Troy Reid, but everyone else will have a substantial contribution to the development. BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 21


TO BRAG'S GUIDE

Underbelly Arts 2011:

100 Years Of Lizards The Sexy Tales Comedy Collective (SYD) The Sexy Tales Comedy Collective are Patrick Lenton, Bridget Lutherborrow, Patrick Weyland-Smith, Scott Selkirk, Alex Williams, Shalane Connors and Stephen Jones. They debuted at last year’s Sydney Fringe with their show Sexy Tales of Paleontology – ‘a hysterical, flamboyant and ethically dubious meeting of science and business’ that won the ROFL Award. Reuniting for Underbelly 2011, the Sexy Tales Comedy Collective will be presenting 100 Years Of Lizards - a theatrical mishmash of sketch comedy, musical numbers, farce and high drama that’s based around the premise that a race of lizards has secretly survived on Cockatoo Island for millions of years. We took five minutes with the show’s writer-producer Patrick Lenton,

who says that he was inspired by Jim Morrison’s poem/song ‘The Lizard King’: “I honestly wondered how something titled so awesomely could end up so boring.” How did y’all come to be collaborating together? Most of us met at Wollongong University: myself and Bridget in the school of Creative Writing; Alex, Shalane and Stephen in Performance. Much like the popular saying on how a US Marine is born (“Put them through hell together”), there is a similar quote: “Put them through Wollongong together, and they’ll end up collaborating on a show about lizards.” Patrick Weyland-Smith is currently studying at Australian Institute of Music (AIM), and was picked up at a bar and shanghaied into working with us. What’s 100 Years of Lizards about? At heart, this is a love story – but in reality it’s a farfetched tale of an ancient lizard race, the

The All You Can Stand Buffet

lonely humans who observe them and the television host who wants to eat them. Why is 100 Years Of Lizards a good fit for Underbelly? Underbelly Arts is a dream come true for a young, mewling comedy collective like ours. While many of us have worked together before in some capacity, we have never had a chance to truly collaborate on a project from the beginning. Allowing us to experiment and bring so many disparate elements in is something we might not have had a chance to do otherwise, and gives us the freedom to trial using a drag queen as our villain (Stephen Jones, whose alter ego is the drag phenomenon Liez A’Plenty) or enlisting an alternative pop-artist (Patrick Weyland-Smith from his band Patrick And The Deep End) to provide live music and scores. Altogether we could create something horrible or truly amazing, thanks to this chance.

Clearly there’s something in the water at the University of Wollongong: the very freshest batch of talent is Butterfries, a multi-disciplinary collective of Creative Arts graduates who are working together for the first time as part of Underbelly’s Lab.

Who are Butterfries? Damien Dunstan, Jennifer Medway, Kirby Medway, Tessa Musskett. Jenni can write essays on Marxism and sing opera whilst crying real tears; Kirby learnt that the mind may be the stencil, but the body is the brush with which we paint dreams; Tessa wraps fans in lycra under the guise of ‘visual arts’; and Damien can write a film score or alter a photo of you so that you literally have a third eye.

Dante’s Inferno meets the Sizzler’s buffet in The All You Can Stand Buffet – an all-you-can-eat buffet par excellence, with a twist: you have to complete gnarly physical challenges in order to get to the food. For example, you’re welcome to all you can eat of their rich, delicious chocolate cake – if you don’t mind wading through their mud pool to get to it. Housed in one of the old industrial warehouses in the Cockatoo Island precinct, the show will function much like a haunted-house tour, with audience members lead through different rooms and challenges by members of the Butterfries crew…

How did you come to be collaborating together? It’s basically the plot of City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly’s Gold: Jenni is Billy Crystal, Tessa is his best friend Daniel Stern, Damien is Jon Lovitz (the other friend) and Kirby is Duke (Curly’s long-lost twin brother). Everyone is satisfied and happy with their lives after the adventures of the previous movie but then Kirby/Duke comes into the picture and lures this ragtag group of 40-somethings into an adventure with the promise of gold and riches.

With influences ranging from David Lynch’s Eraserhead to popcultural food ‘incidents’ such as the Jonestown massacre, and the bin-diving exploits of modern ‘freegans’, delicious never looked so diabolical.

What’s the appeal of The All You Can Stand Buffet? It’s an entertaining, interactive journey where you can get involved and enjoy some delicious food – for as long as you can stand to be there.

Butterfries (SYD)

The Stream / The Boat / The Shore / The Bridge experiment. Five artists will pretend they have been stranded on Cockatoo Island, and will live and collaborate for the duration of the Lab, leading up to an "enticing experience" on Festival Day, which will include audience members. Led by project manager and director Dan Koop (whose most recent work involved a ‘mystery postcard’ delivery service during the Tiny Stadiums festival), the project will bring together a disparate group of artists will different skills: dramaturg and designer Andrew Bailey, photographer Max Milne; illustrator Caroline Gasteen; and sculptor Georgie Humphries.

Dan Koop & Co. (MELB)

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The Stream / The Boat / The Shore / The Bridge combines the entertainment value of Lost with the competitive dynamics of Survivor and game theory, to create an interactive performance

The Stream / The Boat / The Shore / The Bridge came about in response to the upcoming Next Wave festival theme, ‘The space between us wants to sing’ – and the final product of this collaboration will be presented at Next Wave 2012, in Melbourne. But for Underbelly,

Koop and his collective hope to get the ‘ideas ball’ rolling, and test out how their newfound collective will function. How did y’all come to be collaborating together? Dan and Andrew met through performance studies. Max has trained as a photographer and in digital media. Caroline is studying Fine Art (Painting) at RMIT; and Georgie has just completed the Masters of Public Art at RMIT, which Dan is halfway through. Essentially, the group has a real mix of skills and perspectives, which is ideal for this work where we explore how different perspectives and vantage points can tell us a lot about how conversations occur and opinions get formed. Describe The Stream / The Boat / The Shore / The Bridge? We’ll be playing a few pervasive games, which are a bit like big board games played in real space that use the physical,

architectural and spatial qualities of a site to give the game some structure - I bet we’ll work with being stranded on an island to make one. It might not be Cops and Robbers, maybe more like Convicts and Wardens or something like that... But it’s hard to know if that will make it into the final work, as the site-specific nature of it all becomes more important. Eventually, the work will include a river, a bridge, a boat and the shore - that’s all I’m saying! What/who are some of the inspirations for the project? Social and political artists such as Francis Alÿs and Dries Verhoeven are influences for the content of this work, while the structure of the work is influenced by game theory, including artists like Tassos Stevens (AKA Coney), and pervasive gaming communities such as Igfest and Hide & Seek. More: dankoop.net / igfest.org

TRANSFORMERS 3:

DARK OF THE MOON (3D) WIN! TICKETS!

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onsummate action director Michael Bay (Bad Boys; Armageddon) returns with the third instalment of his box office smash hit, in which a mysterious event from Earth’s past erupts in the present day, with implications that threaten the future of humankind. As the Decepticons and Autobots prepare for a massive showdown on Earth, young hero Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBoeuf) must balance saving the planet and his new love interest (played by British bombshell Rosie Huntington-Whiteley).

Transformers: Dark Of the Moon opens at IMAX Darling Harbour on Wednesday June 29. Thanks to IMAX, we have TEN in-season DOUBLE PASSES up for grabs; to get your hands on one, email freestuff@thebrag.com with the full title of the second instalment of Bay’s Transformers series. 22 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11


Kitty, Daisy & Lewis “The only thing wrong with a Gillian Welch album is that she makes so damn few of them."

- Uncut Magazine’s Album of the Month

“Listen to this record with the lights low. Listen to it on an old radio, cradled next to your ear.” - Colin Meloy of The Decemberists

INSTORES NOW ALSO AVAILABLE

www.aconyrecords.com shock.com.au

www.shock.com.au OUT NOW

THE NEW ALBUM

OUT NOW BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 23


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

Film & Theatre Reviews Emily Tomlins & Paul Bishop perform Amazing Feats of Loneliness

up close

PICS :: TL

■ Theatre

16:06:11 :: LO-FI :: 383 Bourke St Darlinghurst

EDWARD GANT'S AMAZING FEATS OF LONELINESS Until July 23 / Wharf 1, STC I was worried when Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats Of Loneliness began. Despite falling immediately in love with Renée Mulder’s set design, I was nervous about how similar the atmosphere felt to Kneehigh Theatre’s The Red Shoes, which I found so disappointing at this year’s Sydney Festival. I am always wary of actors in white face paint, and chubby compères. However, with every moment Anthony Neilson’s clever play drew me further and further into its magical world, until it seemed reality had shifted. Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats Of Loneliness is set up like an old circus freakshow, except that rather than elephant men and conjoined twins, our host Edward Gant (Paul Bishop) offers us horrific tales of loneliness. Sadly, those whose stories he tells cannot be with him, so his trusty troupe of actors (Lindsay Farris, Bryan Probets and Emily Tomlins) render them for us. The stories are fantastical, engaging, and always broken up with snappy one-liners.

supernova

PICS :: AM

Without a stellar creative team, this play could easily have been a mess, and it is thus under the tight direction of Sarah Goodes that the play succeeds. Damien Cooper’s lights swell and subside in perfect tune with Steve Toulmin’s evocative melodies and sound design. The costumes by fashion design duo Romance Was Born will undoubtedly be a talking point, with no moment left unsupported by some gorgeously bright garment (the jam-roll bodysuit has to be seen to be believed).

18:06:11 :: The Dome :: Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush 97147888

Arts Exposed What's on our calendar...

TRS, Little Creatures & The Old Fitz present

THE HOME BREW MICRO-FESTIVAL 2011 June 30-July 2 / Old Fitzroy Hotel, Cnr Cathedral & Dowling St, Woolloomooloo The Home Brew micro-fest returns to the Old Fitzroy Hotel this week, courtesy of Tamarama Rock Surfers' Associate Artistic Director Phil Spencer, bar manager Brett Pritchard and Little Creatures beer. A sell-out success last December, Home Brew is a mini festival that fills the nooks and crannies of the Old Fitz with theatre, film, live music and performance. On the arts front, there’s performances by Tim Spencer (Words They Make With Their Mouths / Bambina Borracha), Tin Shed theatre, Caroline Craig and Scarlet McGlynn (pictured right), dancers Anton & Ann, Matilda Ridgeway, Mel Matheson, and two favourites from last year’s festival, courtesy of playwright Caleb Lewis – plus cheap Little Creatures on tap! Tickets and full lineup at rocksurfers.org 24 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11

However it is the actors that bring the stories to life, and without their commitment and imagination it would be impossible to get lost in Gant’s wonderland of sadness. All four deliver superb performances throughout. This is genuinely brave programming, genuinely exciting theatre and you won’t see anything else like it this year. Henry Florence ■ Theatre

WHO’S THE BEST? Until July 2 / Wharf 2, STC It makes me so happy to see post at the Wharf. A company who started on the fringes in 2003, these three ladies have, through hard work and good ideas, risen to the cusp of main stage success. It also shows that the Next Stage program is living up to its name, bringing exciting new shows to broader audiences. In Who’s The Best? post are on a mission to ascertain which of them is objectively the best. What started out as a rehearsal-room joke has turned into a complex system of evaluation that involves ten categories, which are then broken down into sub-categories, which are then broken down again into subsub-categories. For example, the category ‘looks’, is made up of sub-categories for head, body etc., with head then being broken-down into the sub-sub-categories

of face, hair etc. It’s a simple system that you get the hang of quite quickly as the trio go through their various strengths and weaknesses across the categories. If this sounds like it could all be a bit dry, rest assured; fuelled by its competitive premise, the show has all the energy of a beauty pageant, mixed with reality TV, and the kind of heated arguments that happen between best friends. As the trio constantly move and dance around a gorgeous set design of plush curtains, the desire to be the best ramps up. What starts out as hilarious narcissism quickly becomes a stark portrait of the way competition functions in our society – but with amazing dance breaks. This show once again sets post apart as the masters of mashing pop culture with serious content. They have seamlessly integrated their extensive research into the destructive nature of competition with a buoyant playfulness and the result is a show that is hysterically funny, a little bit terrifying, and at times, oddly inspirational. Henry Florence ■ Theatre

THE COMING WORLD Until July 3 / Darlinghurst Theatre Written by Pulitzer-nominated playwright Christopher Shinn (Dying City), The Coming World revolves around three characters’ unquenchable thirst for love and acceptance: Dora (played here by Cheree Cassidy) and twin brothers Ty and Ed (Ian Meadows). We first meet Dora and Ed on a lonely New England beach where Ed, agitated and strung out, admits to his lover that he is in trouble – he owes $10,000 to the wrong people and he needs Dora’s help. Meadows’ interpretation of Ed is captivating; his Boston accent, mannerisms and threads scream lower-middle-class dropkick drowning in everyone’s disapproval. He is even more impressive as Ed’s twin brother Ty, a straight-laced computer geek desperate to break free of his disappointment of a brother. Finally we notice Dora, the real victim; the one who above all else just wants to be loved. Cassidy’s performance is compelling, and benefits from comedic one-liners that provide relief from the sometimesoppressive dramatics of the play. The highlight of the show is the scene where Dora and Ty go swimming. It is here that the rawness of guilt, loss and betrayal become so overwhelming for these angstridden characters that they reach their breaking point. As an audience member you really feel witness to a private moment of truth. Charlotte Lane’s set design is a retro throwback, with a cascading waterfall of videotape representing the confusion and restlessness of the characters. The intimate surroundings of the Darlinghurst Theatre, coupled with Jack Audas-Preston’s haunting light design, provide the perfect setting for this 60-minute performance.

Morgan Reardon

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Edward Gant – photo by Brett Boardman

Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.


DVD Reviews

Street Level With Deborah Pollard

Adrenaline junkies unite!

127 HOURS

UNKNOWN

20th Century Fox Released June 15 In this dazzling, lifeaffirming drama, director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting; 28 Days Later) fashions Aron Ralston’s arm-sawing tale of survival into an intense story of a man addicted to adventure and lacking the close personal relationships most of us hold dear. Ralston (played by Academy Award-nominee James Franco) doesn’t answer his mother’s calls; he doesn’t even bother to tell anyone where he’s going on the fateful day in question. Is it because his route through Blue John Canyon is a snap for a man of his experience? Or is it because there just isn’t anyone to tell? The overt themes of 127 Hours are laid on thick by Boyle and his Slumdog screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy: life is precious; relationships should be cherished. In between is a dazzling display of inventive filmmaking – triple split screens, ultra close-ups, smash-cuts – all to the strains of A.R. Rahman’s pulsating score and Boyle’s astute song choices. A film set largely in one location has no right to be this entertaining. The kinetic style places you unnervingly inside Ralston’s energized mind, making it even more unbearable when he finally gets out his blunt pocket knife and gets a’hackin’. The arm-severing scene, much touted for its gore and intensity, speaks to the effectiveness of the film: Boyle doesn’t show us all that much, but he sure makes you feel it.

taken on tours of our mini Manila, during which they are engulfed in the histories and stories of the city. It is a diverse crazy ride for the audience, who can experience the delights of a trannie revue, a seedy karaoke bar, a politician’s office, and the infamous suburbs of Malate, Ermita, Quezon city and Makati. The show includes surround soundscapes, dance, song, hilarity – and even a bowl of piping hot Adobo, a famous Filo dish!

Warner Home Video Released June 29 Liam Neeson is a fine actor, one of the few who seems equally at ease in sophisticated indies like Kinsey as B-grade actioners like Taken. Unknown falls firmly in the latter category, a middling who-am-I thriller with a cold war bent. The clichéd setup certainly has potential. Neeson awakens from a watery car crash to discover his wife (January Jones) believes another man to be her husband. No one seems to know who he is, and soon the university professor is starting to have his own doubts. Could his confusion be caused by posttraumatic stress from his near-fatal incident? Desperate to regain his identity, he unwittingly enlists the help of the Bosnian taxi driver who saved his life (Diane Kruger) - herself an illegal immigrant looking to save enough cash to obtain residency - and becomes mired in a world where nobody is what they seem. Director Jaume Collet-Serra misses too many opportunities to create suspense. In one scene, for instance, Neeson is strapped to a hospital gurney with a lethal liquid creeping ever closer to the drip needle in his arm. Hitchcock would have milked this scene for tension, cutting back and forth between the liquid and Neeson’s desperate reach for the pair of scissors just out of his grasp. Collet-Serra and his editor, Tim Alverson, just don’t have the same touch.

Anchoring the film through all the showiness is Franco’s flawless performance. Apart from an invigorating run-in with Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn’s fellow hikers early-on, and his dehydration-induced hallucinations of his ex-girlfriend and family members, Franco is the only actor on screen. He, like Boyle, puts you through the ringer.

As it is, the scene works well enough, but there are too many similar scenes of great-setup, poor-execution, and the film suffers from a tepid script, too many lapses in logic and repetitive doses of exposition. The cast is adequate, though there is impressive supporting work from veterans Frank Langella and Bruno Ganz – the latter of which is the only one to elevate himself above the hokey material.

Joshua Blackman

Joshua Blackman

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eborah Pollard is a jack of all performance trades: a graduate of the University of Wollongong’s Creative Arts faculty, she went on to study physical theatre in Japan under Tadashi Suzuki. However, she cites her subsequent interdisciplinary collaborations (particularly with installation and video artists) as the biggest influence on her current practice, which sees her take the directorial reigns of performance such as Blue Print (P-Space 2007), which married performance with an audiovisual installation of sonic and photographic artefacts. More recently, she directed Urban Theatre Projects’ critically acclaimed The Folding Wife (P-Space 2010), which fused live performance with the multimedia artistry of the Anino Shadowplay Collective, to explore the immigrant experience of three generations of Filipina women. Pollard's latest project, Within & Without, reunites her with Anino, in an interactive performance that combines theatre and visual arts to explore the urban, social and historical landscape of Manila, the coastal capital of The Philippines. Describe Within & Without: We have created a model of the city of Manila out of recycled cardboard boxes. It's expansive and a very beautiful environment. Audiences are

How did this project come about? Within & Without was initiated by Paschal Daantos Berry, who migrated to Australia with his family from the Philippines when he was 10. Paschal has a great interest in and understanding of the Philippines, and it’s easy to get seduced by his passion! Manila is a wild and intriguing place – we went on a research trip there last January, which was very inspiring and has informed the show greatly. I was also intrigued by the idea of creating a city, and the challenge of recreating its psyche. Visual media such as theatre images, video and sound are often the best devices to give an open-ended reading of complex ideas like the history of city - hence the show is very visual and sound is very important. What are some of the artistic inspirations behind the work? Fellini’s Roma and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain were very inspiring. Both films create visual storytelling that focus on cities. We watched both films looking at the basic themes they explored, which were essentially exploring the link between the past and the contemporary; how we are made up of a mash-up of historical events that inform our language, architecture, religion, customs and economies. What: Within & Without When: Until July 2 Where: Blacktown Arts Centre More: Within & Without is part of Performance Space’s current season, WALK. performancespace.com.au

BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 25


BRAG EATS

News Bites DRY JULY

If Zan Rowe and Jane Gazzo can go a month without booze, we sure as hell can, right? They're just two of over 30 musos, comedians, radio and TV hosts, chefs and actors who are giving up booze for the month of July, to raise funds for adults living with cancer. But if you’re not into altruism, consider this your chance to get fit, lose weight, save money, detox your body, and clear your mind (fact: alcohol dulls the brain for as much as two weeks after consumption) – and maybe even recalibrate your social group towards people you can stand when you’re sober. Most importantly, you don’t want to let Ian from the Commonwealth Bank win... As we go to print, he’s already raised $6831 – so you have some catching up to do. To sign up for Dry July or donate to your favourite sober person, head to dryjuly.com

BRAG'S WEEKLY GUIDE TO FOOD

corner pubs of yesteryear. Our mouths are watering at the prospect of salted cod croquettes, calamari sliders, and braised rabbit…

CRAVE: FOOD The Carrington

CARRINGTON

The Carrington on Bourke Street, Surry Hills, is getting a massive overhaul courtesy of the fellas behind The Norfolk, and will reopen in mid-July with the addition of a charming Spanish bistro called Beba Y Cene (= drink and dine in Spanglish), with a menu of Iberian comfort food presided over by chef Jamie Thomas (formerly of St John, The Anglesea Arms, and Avido). Owned by James Wirth and James Miller, and designed by Michael Delany (The Flinders/Duke Bistro, The Norfolk), The Carrington will channel the pintxos bars of San Sebastian, Barcelona’s xampanyerias, and suburban

Crave Sydney

Crave Sydney International Food Festival is back this year, from October 1 – 31. As with the 2009 event, you can expect a mix of the accessible and the lofty, the free and the exclusive – everything from produce markets and the annual Hyde Park Noodle Markets, to the two-day World Chef Showcase (Oct 1-2) where some of the biggest stars on the international culinary scene (and the hippest up'n'comers) will share their know-how in showcases and masterclasses held at Sydney’s Hilton. The full Crave program is set to drop August 27, so stay tuned! cravesydney.com.au

WORLD BAR NOMS

We’re delighted to make this delicious announcement: thanks to Planet Pizza, the World Bar is now peddling pizzas seven nights a week, from 5-10pm. Punters can choose from such cheeky delights as The Puzo (Pepperoni), The Kipling (Tandoori Chicken), The Hugo (Provencale) and The Plato (Greek pumpkin), all of which are served up on big ole rustic wooden boards, that double as playing cards (not true). Delicious! (True).

BRAG’S GUIDE TO

THE SYDNEY GOOD FOOD & WINE SHOW July 1–3 / Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre / goodfoodshow.com.au

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ow in its tenth year, the Good Food & Wine Show is heading to Sydney from July 1-3, with a lineup that’ll keep you salivating the entire weekend. Aside from an extensive range of stores, stalls and tastings, you’ll be able to pick up some cooking techniques from the best chefs in Australia, explore the intricacies of the wine connoisseur’s palate, and discover cuisines you’ve never even heard of. “The Good Food & Wine Show is probably the largest and most diverse blend of food, wine, chefs and interactive features all in the one place,” says event director James Laing – and any self-respecting foodie should have their ticket booked by now. Here’s a run-down of some of our festival picks!

THE FISHER & PAYKEL THEATRE

MEALS $10 Mexican

C o r ri dor Fr esh New Bar. F RE S H C OCKTA ILS. S P I RI TS. WINE. I M PO RTE D & LOCA L BEER S, LE AF Y DECK. LI V E M USIC. C O MF Y C OUCHES. LUS C I O US FOOD.

L AI D B A C K

Mondays Meat or fish add 3.00/4.00

$10 Pasta Tuesdays For all our pastas excluding seafood

$10 Chicken Schnitzel Thursdays With salad and chips or mash

268 Oxford St Paddington DINNER 7 NIGHTS corridorbar.com.au. 1 5 3 A K i n g st. N e wto wn 26 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11

THE RIEDEL WINE THEATRE & DECANTER BAR

$10 Burger Wednesdays Any of our burgers with chips

$10 Fish & Chip Fridays With salad and tartare

st a y c l a s s y

As the headliner of this year’s GF&WS, the Fisher & Paykel Celebrity Theatre is your chance to get up close and personal with celebrity chefs like MasterChef’s Matt Moran, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris, and My Kitchen Rules co-host Manu Feildel. Watch them work their culinary magic (without the benefit of crafty editing or dramatic music!) then meet your favourites, and maybe even pick up an autographed copy of their latest book. “The GF&WS Show has always had a strong following, and attendance numbers have not been greatly affected by the MasterChef phenomenon,” says Laing. To the contrary in fact: MasterChef has helped raise the profile of our local produce. “We no longer have to bring chefs from overseas – the Aussie talent can more than hold its own.” Visit the website to check out the schedule, and book a free seat when you purchase your GF&WS ticket.

ph: (02) 9361 5157

OPEN IL 8AM UNT MIDNIGHT 7 DAYS

All meals exclude additions, only available on the days listed and cannot be used in conjunction with other promotions or offers. May exclude weekly Specials, Subject to change or cancellation without prior notice.

more to learn about it. How’s it made? What distinguishes different types? How can you best match it with food and wine? How much can you fit in your stomach? Under the tutelage of Naomi Crisante and the Cheese Matters team, you’ll come away with heaps of cheesy knowhow to share with your friends ad nauseum. The Cheese Matters class costs just $35, and sessions run every two hours from 10am, daily.

ADORA HANDMADE CHOCOLATE CLASS

If you’re more sweet than savoury, the group behind Adora Handmade Chocolates are hosting hands-on chocolate classes, where you’ll learn how to create your own delicious butter truffles from home. Adora’s been making choccies for almost 20 years, so it’s fair to say they know what they’re doing.

LIFESTYLE FOOD CHEF’S TABLE

Join some of Australia’s leading chefs, Justin North, Miguel Maestre and Adrian Richardson, at intimate sessions offering guests specially designed tasting menus with perfectly paired wines. The chef’s will talk about how each dish came together, and why the tastes and smells work so well. It’s $40 per session, and you can book time with your favourite chef online… Make sure you come hungry!

STALLS AND EXHIBITORS

For the wine connoisseurs among us, the Riedel Wine Theatre is a chance to sample award-winning vinos from around the world. Join the Managing Director of Riedel Australia, Mark Baulderstone, as he illuminates the art of wine tasting and food matching, then pick up free wine tasting tips from some of Australia’s finest sommeliers. But be advised: places are limited, and are likely to go fast. Serious wine lovers will want to also check out the stems at Riedel's Decanter Bar, where you’ll learn what makes a good glass, and how a good glass can make a great wine truly mindblowing.

THE CHEESE MATTERS DISCOVERY CLASS

Cheese cheese cheese cheese cheese. Cheese? Cheese. It's the perfect beginning, middle and end to any meal, and there’s always

Outside of the special sessions and tastings, the GF&WS also gives local firms the chance to show their wares. There are well over 100 exhibitors to be perused at your leisure – remember, the real heart of this show is a genuine passion for food and drink, and support for the boutique companies that share it. Sydney is a melting pot of cuisines from around the world, and The Good Food & Wine Show is an opportunity to celebrate the fantastic culinary delights at our fingertips... – Richard McConnell The Good Food & Wine Show takes place from Friday July 1 – Sunday July 3 at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. It’s open from 10am-8pm on Friday, 10am-6pm on Saturday and 10am-5pm on Sunday, and you can buy tickets for $29.50 ($24.50 conc.) at goodfoodshow.com.au. All pre-booked tickets include show entry and a reserved seat to your selected Celebrity Theatre session. Check out the website for the full program, and remember to eat, drink and be merry!


BRAG EATS

free stuff

food review

Fork In Hand THE FRIEND IN HAND HOTEL [GLEBE]

“A Popular Spot May Not Be Booked Twice In The One Week”. This notification hangs from one of the many signs bolted to the beer-garden wall. Yes, it’s the Friend In Hand Hotel in Glebe, and it rules. When the hip and gritty start paying the pub and its kitchen their proper dues, the sign will likely be bolted atop the front door.

DIGI KAF FOR TWO

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ocated just off the beaten track, on St John’s Road, Glebe, Digi Kaf is on oasis of warmth and wifi, serving up the best coffee, breakfast and brunch on the strip. In fact, one Bragster still travels out of her way for Digi Kaf’s Green Eggs & Ham, even after our office moved to Surry Hills… So we decided to see what all the fuss was about. It’s something to do with the basil pesto that’s stirred through their creamy three-egg scramble, which is served atop crusty sourdough toast and garnished with wild rocket and rashers of crispy grilled prosciutto… Although personally, we can’t go past their home-baked borlotti beans, in a rich herbed tomato sauce with onion and roasted capsicum, topped by a single soft poached egg.

The Friend’s restaurant, The Fork In Hand, has the best name it could possibly have. It is also the only possible name. From our perch by the window my date and I notice the observable affect the particular slew of hung signs and looming mounted beasts has on the patrons. Some have ambled in from the ridiculous Sydney cold outside, and others are seeking refuge from the excitement of the bar and the screeching of George the cockatoo. Ah, George. Turns out cockatoos are pretty cranky at night. When the steaming chilli prawn pot ($16) arrives, attempts are made to get a photo of the dish with an unaccompanied George in the background – but it transpires that George is both insurmountably screechy, and heavily into chilli prawns. The dish is rescued before the bird can reach it, and its powerful flavour

Wipe that drool away, and email us with your pick from their menu, and we might just send you one of FIVE $50 breakfast/ lunch-for-two vouchers, to share with your better half.

arrestingly begins the tasting game. (The crusty bread served on the side means none of the delicious broth is wasted.) While the bar’s manager Mitch arranges for a freakishly talented yet sportingly professional crab (my stipulations) to represent my interests in the upcoming Crab Racing Tournament (a regular Wednesday night event) our mains are served, and potential crab names are bandied about. It may be simple, but it follows that a good hotel kitchen will deliver good pub food. The chicken parmigiana ($16) on this particular evening is a little thin in size, with a lack of exchange in flavour between the meat and the sauce. Disappointing, as the chips are bloody good - a welcome antidote to the limp potato shreddings on offer at most local pubs. To counter the parma’s battered outer-shell, the Atlantic salmon ($23) is protected by a light sundried tomato crusting. The meat is perfectly cooked, and augmented by a Mediterranean salsa that sits alongside the chickpea base. It’s a credit to head chef Neil that, since taking residence last November,

www.digikaf.com.au

The Place is a Blast!

SUCCUMB TO YOUR SENSES

B A R C

G N I C RA

EVERY WEDNESDAY

he’s venturing to create a few slightly more expensive dishes – that entirely justify the money spent. The flavours of this dish are defined without dominating one another, with the restrained dash of lemon on the chickpea base a surprising final touch. With absolutely no encouragement from its owners, our crab surged ahead of all other competitors and nabbed first place. His name? Raging Crab(s). The prize? You’ll have to take a wander down to the Friend in Hand Hotel in Glebe and taste for yourself. – Benjamin Cooper Where: Friend In Hand Hotel / 58 Cowper Street, Glebe Hours: Restaurant: Mon-Sat 12-3pm, 6-9:30pm. Pub: Mon-Sat 8am-midnight, Sun 10am-10pm. NB Pub’s happy hour is 4-5pm, Mon-Fri Crab racing? Every Wednesday; $2 entry. Contact: 9660 2326 Web: friendinhand.com.au

Pre-book & WIN! Pre book tickets through Ticketek to go in the draw to win a set of Riedel Vitsis Wine Glasses valued at $149.95. Simply quote BEAT when booking.

COMEDY EVERY THURSDAY

digi kaf digi kaf

GOOD FOOD. PUB FOOD ENOUGH D N E SAID. I FR ND

great

We DO have a DRESS CODE!!!

PUB

A H N I

Hard to find.. BUT WELL WORTH THE EFFORT!!

58 COWPER ST GLEBE 9660 2326

174 st johns road glebe 9660-3509 www.digikaf.com.au info@digikaf.com.au

Immerse yourself in a world of food and wine. Purchase through Ticketek on 13 28 49 or online.

Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre

goodfoodshow.com.au

1 -3 July 2011 BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 27


Album Reviews

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK THE VINES

Chris Colonna is the perfect producer for The Vines, and Nicholls matches this new sound palette with a serving of songs that sit quite opposed to the band’s catalogue.

Future Primitive Sony

Their sound was a schizophrenic mash to begin with and now, with other elements at play, it's intoxicating.

Future Primitive was released after a promo run-up the likes of which hadn’t been embarked upon by The Vines since they publicly imploded a few years ago. They wandered off into the wilderness for a while, kicking cameras, shunning media and pumping out two good but hardly progressive records that had most smug journalists claiming the band’s winning days were gone. The same people that supported Craig Nicholls' freewheeling ways quickly turned once his behaviour was deemed unacceptable; the music was sidelined, and Nicholls was short-changed as an unstable, yelping frontman. But listen closely. The craft involved in the songs of Future Primitive is too exact, too auteured and too good to be the work of somebody who doesn’t take his job seriously.

WILEY

FLOGGING MOLLY

100% Publishing Big Dada / Inertia You’ve got to hand it to Wiley; he’s not going down without a fight. The Godfather of Grime has watched as the movement he helped pioneer slipped between his fingers, with turn-of-the-century contemporaries like Dizzee Rascal making the big bucks as he struggled to cross over. When he finally got there with 2008’s ‘Wearing My Rolex’, he was accused of being a sell-out, fought with his label and ended up releasing gigabyte upon gigabyte of free music online in order to reclaim his sound for the underground who always dug it. 100% Publishing, then, refers to the uncompromising creative control Wiley took over his work after he had pandered to the pop pundits, and the record is entirely his - from the production to the mastering to the rapping itself. 100% Publishing goes back to what made the genre such an attractive proposition in the first place; it has all the clipped drums, aggressive bass figures and minimalist instrumentation that made Dizzee’s earlier work so engaging. ‘Numbers In Action’ is a surefire hit, all Ying Yang Twins tom drops and percussion, while ‘Your Intuition’ shows that even after two decades releasing songs, Wiley can spit with the best of them. But as much as labels can suck, they also stop you from making poor decisions, like turning a circus theme into a garage beat on the painful ‘Boom Boom Da Na’, or putting four tracks in a row which have exactly the same beat. “Labels say that you can have control but labels lie a lot,” Wiley rages on ‘Talk About Life’, and while he’s certainly regained the fire, maybe a few more cooks would have helped this broth turn into something more palatable. Keep trucking, Wiley. We’ll stay with you if only for your vision. Jonno Seidler

Speed Of Darkness Borstal Beats / Other Tongues What’s with all the Celt-Punk bands growing up? Although always more refined than the barroom-brawl glee of Dropkick Murphys, both bands have turned out arguably the best and certainly the most mature work of their careers this year. On Flogging Molly’s latest record, the bombast of older tracks like ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ has been replaced by a steely-eyed resolve, and the production is cleaner than ever without sacrificing their rough-and-tumble heart. After a three year hiatus from the studio, Dave King’s vocals and lyrics cry out with frustration and solidarity with the downtrodden, especially on the accusatory ‘Don’t Shut ‘Em Down’ and the sarcastic blues anthem ‘The Power’s Out’; King himself has said "it became the album we had to write." Speed Of Darkness marks FM’s first album under their own label, after over a decade with SideOneDummy. Given their fierce independence and DIYethos, it’s surprising this didn’t happen earlier. This is also their first album since their relocation to Detroit from their LA birthplace – but paradoxically, ‘Revolution’ and the title track owe more than a little to California punk royalty Social Distortion. The acoustic versions of three tracks on the Australian edition of the album are very welcome. As is often the way with FM, the most floor-filling, mosh-stomping tracks are revealed as heartfelt fireplace folk songs when stripped of their threatening banjo and parade-ground drums. A highlight is Bridget Regan’s vocals on ‘A Prayer For Me In Silence’; while normally on fiddle and tin-whistle duties, her lilt shines next to King’s softened brogue. Deeply human and keenly observed, this may well be the album to bring Flogging Molly into the mainstream. Robbie Miles

Most notable for its defiantly at-odds sound is ‘Outro’, a tripped-out sound collage that’s followed immediately by ‘Goodbye’, the most candid moment in the Vines canon to date and the most sparse; just an acoustic guitar and Nicholls’ naked vocal. ‘Candy Flippin’ Girl’ is an early blast of dizzying power pop, equalled a few tracks later by the jangly, hooky ‘Cry’. ‘All That You Do’ is a mature, harmonydrenched ballad which Nicholls pegged as his favourite, while the noisy, Scott Pilgrim-garage-grunge of 'Weird Animals' breaks new ground in terms of feral ferocity quite a feat for a band like The Vines. This album’s only flaw is that at certain points it rests too readily on old tricks that The Vines have so evidently outgrown. Having said that, it is nice to hear ‘Autumn Shade 4’. Nathan Jolly

BLANCK MASS

POTBELLEEZ

Blanck Mass Rock Action / Inertia

Given the vogue for retro-fetishism in indie music – the likes of Small Black or Neon Indian disingenuously resurrecting hazy 80s pop tropes to win cheap praise for eerie nostalgia – it’s no surprise that synth music is enjoying something of a renaissance. The self-titled debut by Blanck Mass, aka Benjamin John Power of Fuck Buttons, is part of this revival. But what sets it apart from the fickle fashion is a sincere, unpretentious devotion to the pursuit of a sublime catharsis that can sometimes be wrung out of analog synthesisers. This record presents quite a different prospect to the music that Power makes with his other band. Rather than sand the listener’s ear canals with hyper-distorted, lo-fi dancescapes, it chooses to immerse us in alluring textures of the sort that Emeralds, Stellar Om Source and Oneohtrix Point Never are particularly fond. The album opens to the gentle ebb of crystalline phosphorescence, anchored by the sound of running water, before effervescing waves of crunchy synth spin you into orbit. Pieces like ‘Raw Deal’ spend minutes drawing you into a conversation with multitudinous waveforms before layering everything further with ghostly piano patterns. On ‘Land Disasters’, the legions of voices speak in unison, stretching the vista painted by a single major-key progression far beyond perception. The record is loosely based around themes of cerebral hypoxia (an impairment of brain function due to a lack of oxygen) and ineffable wonder at the complexities of the natural world. They are both themes that suit the music well; listening to it is akin to floating in stasis, peering with unsettling clarity through the complex onionlayers of alien worlds. A well wrought, kindly detailed soundtrack to winter stargazing. Luke Telford

There’s no question about it: The Potbelleez work hard at creating accessible music. The explosion of their uber-single from a few years ago, ‘Don’t Hold Back’, saw their star rise to a point where they’re now playing support slots for Usher, and headlining the entertainment for V8 Supercars. With their second album Destination Now, the Sydney group grip tight the guide-ropes of their chosen path, and pick up exactly where they left off. Never straying too far from Black Eyed Peas’ post-Fergie 'How To Make Music' manual, The Potbelleez keep it simple. The music is catchy and unchallenging and the lyrical content is much the same. It’s full of nightclubs, putting your hands up, and choruses of ‘Whoa’ and ‘Hey’ that even primary school kids can singalong to - but that's the point, right? Lyrically, Blue MC - the female rapper in the group - Dr. Suesses through her verses, bashing out cringe-worthy lines like “we be out tonight / we gonna be feelin’ alright /we be lookin’ outta sight / we about to ignite / it’s tight”, while Ilan Kidron, the male singer, proves again he has enough strength in his voice to power a substation - but his vocal chops are too often spoiled by clichés. While pretty singular in scope, the production duo of Johnny Sonic and Dave Goode are good at what they do: creating pop house music aimed straight at the commercial radio circuit. It’s just unfortunate that the flecks of classic Euro-house heard in ‘Feels Real Good’ and the Balearic pianos splashed across ‘101 Reasons’ are so constantly displaced by cheesiness. This is an album full of TV jingles and commercial radio fodder, and it’s exactly as they intended. Rick Warner

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK SINGING SKIES Routine And War Preservation

Sonically, Routine And War is at once pristine and intimate. Simple arrangements of viola, piano and melodica ornament an eloquently plucked Gibson acoustic. Kell Derrig-Hall’s tremulous tenor is tacitly ushered by layers of breathy backing from partner Lia Tsamaglou (aka Melodie Nelson), and all has been framed with a measured degree of natural reverb, so it sounds as though the players are within arms reach in the living room of a large, old terrace. Each scrap of sound has been so lovingly

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recorded and mastered that the album veritably glows with warmth. Regardless, it sounds haunted. Derrig-Hall appears to rely on song to transcend the existential ennui that plagues so many westerners in their late 20s... It’s a theme that is sprouting up in a number of releases of a similar timbre to Routine & War, but in place of clumsily rapturous pledges about hypothetical orchards, his songs turn soberly to the knot at the heart of apprehension - and are often unsettled by what they find there. The magnificent title track opens with a dogged, plaintive motif on a solitary electric guitar, as Derrig-Hall intones phrases laden with urban paranoia:

“The killers own the hammers in this town / so you climb up all their ladders / and you hope you’re not pushed down.” On ‘Acting Fine’, a paean to the redemptive beauty of writing music which bears the weight of indecision, he sings, “Don’t you think it’s time / we put something on the line?” It’s not all grim. There’s a wry humour that runs through many of the lyrics, and the album closes with a bittersweet love song, albeit one wrung with uncertainty. A quietly stunning debut from one of Sydney’s unsung talents. Luke Telford

WIM

Destination Now Vicious / Universal

WIM Modular There’s a recognisably cinematic air to WIM’s debut, which is a thing reviewers say when music conjures up something more substantial than just a 'mood'; when it evokes pictures, grainy or gleaming or exotic or deeply familiar. In WIM’s case, it's a dark fairy tale – the old-fashioned, everybody-dies-in-theforest gloom of a Christian Andersen original, or perhaps the seamy, misanthropic whimsy of Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Tim Burton. From the creepychildren chorale of ‘See You Hurry’ to the waltzing accordion of ‘John’, WIM have mined evocative effects to create a polished yet pleasantly peculiar sound. The band’s best asset is singer Martin Solomon. His voice is a lovely thing, supple and sweet; it’s often reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright’s, lean and crooning one moment and stretching into a careless falsetto the next. But Solomon lacks Wainwright’s arch selfawareness as a vocalist, and it’s hard to get a sense of the person behind the pipes. The lyrics are so steeped in earthy, old-fashioned mythology and emotions – seahorses and waterbabies, lamp-posts and love notes and looms – that the songs often feel similarly impersonal. Several songs with a ‘60s feel stand out in particular for some reason – the Abbey Road strut of ‘Something For You’, which has more than a little of ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ in its wry guitars, and the wistful sturdiness of ‘Monster And Me’, which has Solomon channelling Ray Davies just a tad. But WIM also have a way with a tune, and the ones here are almost uniformly lovely, melodies of hills and valleys, bucolic and rolling. WIM are not quite the groundbreaking folk-pop pioneers we’ve been led to expect from a couple of years of gentle hype, but this is a signing experiment that should pay off for Modular in the long run. Caitlin Welsh

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

SNOWMAN - The Horse, The Rat And The Swan THE HOLD STEADY - Separation Sunday DAVID BOWIE - Diamond Dogs

VILLAGERS - Becoming A Jackal BLU - HerFavouriteColo(u)r


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The Minor Chord The all-ages rant bought to you by Indent.net.au

ALL-AGES GIG PICKS SATURDAY JULY 2 ROCK THE SHIRE FBI RADIO: PRESENTERS!

Ro 30 JUNE 2 JULY

If you think you’ve got what it takes to rock the radio, this is your last week to apply for FBi Radio’s callout for presenters under 21. FBi does Presenter Training Courses a couple of times a year, but this is the only round specifically for young people. This course will prep you for a slot on air on the ‘All-nighter’ shift – after which you should be ready for world (radio) domination! Applications close Friday July 1, so head to fbiradio.com, stat!

ck’n’Roll

ANNANDALE HOTEL Supporting Rick Brewsters Angels THE WALL - LEICHHARDT with Ugly Little Secrets & Mad Charlie

16 JULY

SOUTH HURSTVILLE R.S.L.

22 JULY

THE HIGH BAR, PENRITH HOTEL with T.H.U.G.

30 JULY

THE BASEMENT, CIRCULAR QUAY with T.H.U.G. & Lucy Desoto & the Handsome Devils

SNAP SHOT

Penrith Regional Gallery is currently calling for entries to the Snap Shot Teenagers Photographic Prize – so if you have an awesome, astounding, crazy, cool photo you’re itching to show off, this is your chance to get it on the walls of Penrith Regional Gallery, and win from a prize pool of $1200! Entries close August 8, and all the details are at penrithregionalgallery.org

MMAD CAMP

XXX CMBDLMBCFMBVTUSBMJB DPN BV t www.myspace.com/aussieblacklabel

MKB CONTRACTING

Sydney Sounds Like feat. Faker, Parades, Deep Sea Arcade, Matt Corby, Andy Bull, WIM, Kirin J Callinhan, Step Panther, Holy Balm, Collarbones, Royal Chant, Big Dumb Kid, The Gooch Palms The Factory Theatre

FRIDAY JULY 8

Art vs Science, Strange Talk Enmore Theatre

THURSDAY AUGUST 4 Does It Offend You, Yeah! (UK), Purple Sneakers DJ’s Metro Theatre

SATURDAY AUGUST 6

Kaiser Chiefs (UK), Papa Vs Pretty, Stonefield Enmore Theatre

SATURDAY AUGUST 28 You Me At Six, We The Kings, The Mission In Motion UNSW Roundhouse

MMAD (Musicians Making A Difference) are an organisation designed to improve the lives of all young people through music, arts, and positive affirmation. From July 10-12, they’re running the Sydney 351 Urban Camp, which is part of their broader 351 Camp program (Three Days, Five Elements, One Shot): intensive three-day programs of music workshops, seminars and performances that teach young musos skills in writing, recording and performing their own music, thanks to mentors like Bliss N Eso, Trey, Mistery, Maya Jupiter and Mind Over Matter. Or if you just want a quick boost, you should check out the MMAD Conference, a one-day program designed to help you reach your full potential. Interested? Head online to www. mmad.org.au to register!

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

The mammoth Choose Your Own Adventure mini-festival returns to The Factory Theatre this Saturday July 2, for a jam-packed day of all-ages goodness: bands, art, DJs, food, burlesque, and more. A fundraiser for FBi 94.5FM, Choose Your Own Adventure has been touted as ‘the must see all ages event of the year!’ Locals Faker are headlining, in their first public Sydney show since New Years Eve 2009! The band has been locked away in the studio for the last 18 months and are now ready to release new music, starting with the single ‘Dangerous’ – and will no doubt be pulling out old favourites too, including mega hit ‘This Heart Attack’. Joining Faker on the bill are Parades, Deep Sea Arcade, WIM, Andy Bull, Matt Corby, Collarbones, Kirin J Callinan, Step-Panther, Domeyko/ Gonzales, Holy Balm, The Gooch Palms, Royal Chant, and Big Dumb Kid, and DJs Alison Wonderland, F.R.I.E.N.D/S DJs, Hobophonics, Splash Mountain, Shag, Lexy Savvides and

You Me At Six

Harry White, Phew! Tix are $17 if you’re an FBi supporter or $20 if you’re not.

ALL-AGES GIG PICKS

Other all-ages gigs coming up this month include electronic masterminds Art vs. Science (July 8) and Rise Against (July 16). Then in August, The Kaiser Chiefs are hitting our shores, supported by up-and-coming Australian bands Papa vs. Pretty and Stonefield, who sure have been hogging the airwaves at the moment. On the same night, The Get Up Kids reign at the Metro Theatre (August 6). Does It Offend You, Yeah! have also made their August 4 show all-ages due to demand, gotta love that! Further on the horizon for lovers of all things hardcore, punk, pop punk, metal, are You Me at Six (August 28) – tickets on sale NOW.

Parades

SPA and Other Tongues Presents...

DIRECT FROM THE USA!

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS:

MYLES MAYO and MAJOR CHORD

Friday July 1 Brass Monkey • CRONULLA TICKETS from BRASSMONKEY.OZTIX.COM.AU

Saturday July 2 Gaelic Club TICKETS from WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU

Sunday July 3 Clarendon Guesthouse • KATOOMBA* TICKETS from WWW.CLARENDONGUESTHOUSE.COM.AU * MAJOR CHORD NOT APPEARING

www.othertongues.com.au

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New album “Micah P. Hinson & The Pioneer Saboteurs� out now! ★★★★ “Troubled Troubadour’s fourth album is his best� – MOJO ★★★★ “Incredibly addictive� – UNCUT ★★★★ “There are few voices in contemporary alt-country quite so adept at wresting consolation from the depths of despair as Hinson’s sonorous baritone� – Q ★★★★ “Hinson has one of those voices – that of a Cave or Cohen, Waits or Costello – that can howl, bark, croon or condemn with equal verve� – THE FLY OTHER TONGUES EDITION INCLUDES 2 BONUS TRACKS!

Send pics, listings and any info to minorchords@thebrag.com


GOSSLING + KIRA PURU & THE BRUISE + BENTLEY

THURSDAY 8PM

JUNE 30TH FRI 1ST JULY

8PM-MIDNIGHT Launching the brand new Wiley album '100% Publishing' with giveaways courtesy of Big Dada & Inertia plus DJS ON ROTATION KATO VICTIM HUWSTON MASON & BENNET PREACHA

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Remedy

More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

Lou Reed & Metallica

LOU REED X METALLICA

This is pretty damn cool and straight out of left field: in 2009, Metallica teamed up with The Kinks’ Ray Davies at Madison Square Garden as part of the 25th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. That same night they backed Lou Reed. Both were surprising collaborations, but on closer inspection were perfect moments given the musical bottomlines of both Reed and Davies (particularly Reed): simple three-chord rock action, despite their high brow artistic leanings. Now Metallica have taken that night one major step further and done a full ten-track album with Mr Reed, who seems as excited by the project as Ulrich & Co. “I knew from the first day we played together,” Reed said. "‘Oh, man, this is perfection right in front of me. It’s a marriage made in heaven.' They’re bringing Metallica with all that power. And because they’re pretty sophisticated, wherever I go they’re still with me.” Metallica’s next effort, with Rick Rubin, is still being firmed up; but to us, that’s way less exciting than this.

HEALTH ANNOUNCEMENT

It was only last week that we were singing the no ageing praises of Mountain’s Leslie West, whose guitar volume dial actually does go up to eleven. This week we’re most saddened to report that the great man has lost his lower right leg below the knee to a diabetes-related infection. It had to be amputated. He’s in a “serious but stable condition.” Which reminds us: Lemmy? Mate, you gotta start drinking more Jack and less Coke. Please?

CANADIAN FUNHOUSE

In other Mountain-related news, drummer Corky Laing is the surprise inclusion in a teaming that includes members of The Dictators and Teenage Head for a coming show in Ontario, at which they’ll be roaring through The Stooges’ Funhouse in its entirety.

JIMI JIMI

Jimi Hendrix remains the gift that just keeps on giving, way more than even The Doors or Iron Maiden. A six-disc box set of his incendiary shows from Winterland is on the way, as well as a repackage of Hendrix In The West - which is kinda weird as we always thought that comp, strong as it is, was not viewed favourably by the family.

NU-METAL RAP COMEBACK

Serial dickhead Fred Durst (who, strangely, really nice people strongly vouch for) is planning a comeback for that shithouse

nu-metal rap genre, with a package tour of the Godawful Limp Bizkit plus Korn and The Deftones. Spare us. Although Korn have well and truly outlived their usefulness by now, they sure as hell had a huge moment and thing in their time, and The Deftones are still almighty. But Bizkit never rated, period. And Fred would probably want top billing...

PASSINGS

Man, it’s been a tough week or so. Billy Hughes from Downtime and Toe to Toe was killed in a motorcycle accident, while The E Street Band’s iconic sax man, Clarence Clemons, died after suffering a stroke. The “Big Man”, as Bruce Springsteen called him for almost 40 years, was the colourful and towering foil for Springsteen on stage, and a strong spiritual grounding point in the band generally. It’s the second tragic loss to the E Street Team in the last few years, after keyboard player Danny Federici left us in 2008. We also lost Larry ‘Wild Man’ Fischer, the former LA street guy who attracted the attention and patronage of Frank Zappa in the late ‘60s. He was 66.

WHAT ABOUT THE REVOLUTION?

There was a reunion last week of the former clientele of Sydney punk cesspit The Grand Hotel, which used to be on Broadway opposite the bus terminal. If those walls could talk and everyone could remember everything… Without doubt, the topic of conversation would have been, 'Whatever happened to the revolution?'

THE LAST WORDS

Speaking of The Grand, The Last Words – a punk band from that era – seem to be finally getting their due, with a CD and digital release of all their material, including their classic debut single, ‘Animal World/ Wondering Why’, the subsequent re-recorded version of ‘Animal World’, the follow-up singles, all the B sides, the UK-only releases, and the unreleased Wizard label material. The album is on track to see daylight later this year.

HOLOGRAPHIC ALICE

We wonder if this will make it to DVD, and if it does, exactly how? The original Alice Cooper played a show in LA a little while back that was beamed across the Atlantic to the UK. No big deal right? (The beaming that is...) No, but if we understand correctly, it was viewed as a hologram. Funnily enough, Salvador Dali was a huge fan of the band and wanted them to perform that exact same way...

ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is Ginger Baker’s Airforce, which for ages we thought was a Baker solo effort (read: not all that thrilling). But in reality it’s a super-smoking double set, featuring a collective of members from Traffic and other luminaries doing heavy funk and at times a free jazz thing, with three sax players and cranky old Ginger centre-stage, thumping it out to the point where his snare drum sounds like timpani. Powerful shit this. Also spinning is Sleep’s Dopesmoker. Talk about glorious variations on barely one theme. How long is it before the vocals start? More to the point, why do there have to be vocals at all? For that special time when more than one riff is way too much...

TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS Soundwave Revolution is on September 25 at Old Kings Oval, Parramatta Park, with Van Halen (with Mr David Lee), Alice Cooper, Bad Religion, Machine Head, Danzig, The Cro Mags, The Devin Townshend Project, Gojira and stacks more. www.soundwaverevolution.com

Don’t forget that Boston supermob Doomriders will be here in July. Joining them for their Oz run are Canberra’s I Exist, who’ll be out on the back of their new album, II: The Broken Passage. Dates are July 23 at the Annandale, July 24 at the Cambridge in Newcastle and July 25 at the ANU Bar, Canberra.

Send stuff to remedy@ozemail.com.au by 6pm Wednesdays. Pics to art@thebrag.com www.facebook.com/remedy4rock BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 33


snap sn ap up all night out all week . . .

party profile

Propaganda It’s called: Propaganda It sounds like: An end of semester party. Who’s playing? Slow Down Honey (live), The Vines DJs and Urby. Sell it to us: Propaganda is the global indie sensation with over 20,000 people attending weekly, across 17 different cities. It’s a right proper indie institution, heavily laden with rock’n’roll and Britpop singalongs. It’s the only place in town you’ll hear the latest tunes from Arcade Fire, PJ Harvey, The Vaccines, The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, Friendly Fires and Papa vs Pretty. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Hazy flashbacks of teapots and good times! Flash bulbs too; check the photos from the night at facebook.com/ PropagandaSydney. Crowd specs: Loads of indie mofos having a good run at our $4.50 VB / Vodka and $12 teapot student drink specials - just show your student card at the door. Wallet damage: $5 after 10pm, free for students. Where: The World Bar / 24 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross

new weird australia

PICS :: TL

When: Thursday June 30

red riders

PICS :: AM

16:06:11 :: Kings Cross Hotel :: 248 William St Darlinghurst 2010 9331 9900

18:06:11 :: Kings Cross Hotel :: 248 William St Darlinghurst 2010 9331 9900

mum

PICS :: TP

jack ladder

PICS :: KC

18:06:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

17:06:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711 :: CAI GRIFFIN:: ASHLEY MAR :: S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER THOMAS PEACHY :: :: SON VEN STE ICK PATR :: RKE DANIEL MUNNS :: KATRINA CLA

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falcona fridays

PICS :: PS

paper scissors

PICS :: KC

17:06:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

17:06:11 :: Kit & Kaboodle :: 33-35 Darlinghurst Rd Kings Cross 9368 0300


snap

up all night out all week . . .

ST PLEASURES LIFE’S GREATE OF O TW G IN MARRY

D MUSIC N A D O O F T A E GR

Calling ts all artisand e iv L r fo Locals! Contact: es. ott n eve ts@liz com.au

NEY LIZOTTE’S SYD 3 9933 84 99 84 98 99 2 99 02 Lizotte’s presents

JUNE

29 Live and Local

Sarah McLeod

JUNE

30 (The Superjesus) JULY

zz Brian’s Famous Jaht 2 & Chilli Crab Nig owditch – Winter JULY Clare B 3 Secrets Tour sents JULY Lizotte’s pre l ca Lo 6 Live and JULY 8 Wolverines

PICS :: VN

last night

1 Jeff Lang

JULY

17:06:11 :: The Gaelic Theatre :: 64 Devonshire St Surry Hills 92111687

JULY

9 1927

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

tte’s presen 29 Lizoe and Local Liv

JUNE

ditch 30 Clare Bow JULY eod 1 Sarah McL JULY 2 Jeff Lang

JUNE

egar

r Girl Vin 3 Skippe

JULY

Live n Cookin arah 5 with Jonny & S dio JULY Elite Vocal Stu 6 Showcase

JULY

JULY

8 1927

es 9 Wolverin

middle east

17:06:11

PICS :: AM

JULY

ch with Lazy Sunday Lun 10 Glenn Shorrock JULY

TLE S A C W E N ’S E T T 2066 LIZO 6 20 5 56 95 49 24 02

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

twist and shout party profile

It’s called: Twist and Shout: 60’s Dance Party

JUNE

Newcastle Comedy

JULY

1 Mental As Anything

Who’s spinning? Mr Chad, Doctor J, Dylabolical

JULY

Skipping Girl Vinegar JULY 3 The Doors Experience JULY Lizotte’s presents 6 Live and Local JULY Sarah McLeod 7 (The Superjesus) JULY 9 Glenn Shorrock JULY 10 1927

Three records you’ll hear on the night: ‘Twist and Shout’ – The Beatles (from Ferris Bueller); ‘You Never Can Tell’ – Chuck Berry (from Pulp Fiction); ‘Try a Little Tenderness’ – Otis Redding (from Pretty In Pink).

2

Sell it to us: On top of great ‘60s rock/soul/surf tracks we’re spinning classic songs from movies like Ferris Bueller, Rushmore, Pulp Fiction and The Big Lebowski – AND we’ll be serving White Russians (the Dude’s drink of choice) all night! The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Everyone re-enacting Jon Cryer’s Pretty in Pink “Duckie Dance”. Crowd specs: Mods, mop tops, Mad Men, Motowners – all welcome! Wallet damage: $5 Where: Tone / 16 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills

:: CAI GRIFFIN:: ASHLEY MAR :: S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER THOMAS PEACHY :: :: SON VEN STE ICK PATR :: RKE DANIEL MUNNS :: KATRINA CLA

Clare Bowditch – Winter

30 Showcase

It sounds like: That scene in Almost Famous where Patrick Fugit unearths his sister’s record collection... before entering the Pulp Fiction twist contest.

When: Friday July 1 / 9pm – 3am

JUNE

29 Secrets Tour

Lizotte’s Sydney 629 Pittwater Rd Dee Why

Lizotte’s Central Coast Lot 3 Avoca Dr Kincumber

Lizotte’s Newcastle 31 Morehead St Lambton

W W W. L I ZOT TES.CO M.AU BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 35


g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week

Tin Sparrow

Deep Sea Arcade

MONDAY JUNE 27 ROCK & POP

SATURDAY JULY 2

The Factory Theatre, Enmore

Sydney Sounds Like: Choose Your Own Adventure Faker, Parades, Deep Sea Arcade, Matt Corby, Andy Bull, WIM, Kirin J Callinan, Step-Panther, Holy Balm, Collarbones, Royal Chant, The Gooch Palms and more...

$17–$20 from 3pm presented by FBi Radio

Andy Mammers Opera Bar, Sydney Opera House free 8:30pm George Kollias The Basement, Circular Quay $20 7pm Matt Price Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 5pm O’Malley’s Got Talent O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 8pm Sarah Paton The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8:30pm Steve Tongue Coogee Bay Hotel, Beach Bar free 9pm The Owls Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst 8pm The Rocks Choir The Merchant’s House, Sydney free 6pm The Thinos Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Tigertown, Open Skys, Matt Sztyk, Carolyn Crysdale, Alan Holt Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $12 (+ bf) 7:30pm

JAZZ

Evan Lohning Quintet 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8:30pm Jim Gannon Dee Why RSL Club free 6:30pm

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Lucky Luke, The Belle Havens, Chris Brookes, Massimo Presti, Helmut Uhlmann Kellys On King free 7pm Pat O’Grady, Alana-Lee Glover, Renee Jonas, Charli, Russell Neal Orange Grove Hotel free 7pm

TUESDAY JUNE 28 ROCK & POP

Adam Pringle Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Bondi Community Choir Bondi Pavilion Community Cultural Centre, Bondi Beach free 7pm Embrace Tokio Hotel, Darling Harbour free 8:30pm Matt Jones Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Rob Henry The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8:30pm

Shane Flew Dee Why RSL Club free 6:30pm Steve Tonge O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9:30pm Strip!: Mash Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 10pm They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9:30pm

JAZZ

John Harkins Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7pm Leonie Cohen Trio, Elana Stone, James Muller 505 Club, Surry Hills $8 (member)–$10 8:30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm

COUNTRY

Nearly Young and Lazy Horse Belrose Bowling Club free 2pm

WEDNESDAY JUNE 29 ROCK & POP

Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9:30pm Arcadia, Letters Of Carnage, Flaming Wreckage, Mrs Mangle Live at the Wall, Leichhardt $15 8pm Ben Finn Duo Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm Best of Jager Uprising Annandale Hotel $10 7pm Brad Johns Dee Why RSL Club free 6:30pm Brian McKnight (USA), Barry Southgate, Dwele (USA) Metro Theatre, Sydney $69.70 (+ bf) 8pm Catch 22 Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Embrace Tokio Hotel, Darling Harbour free 8:30pm Gemma The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8:30pm Gossling, Ryan Meeking, Boy Outside Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (presale)–$15 (at door) 8pm Gunk, Dirtybird, One Day Soon The Valve, Tempe 7pm Jamie Lindsay Northies, Cronulla free 7:30pm Julian Kuo Quintet Slide, Darlinghurst $20–$60 (dinner & show) 7pm

“Mr H will demonstrate ten summersaults he’ll undertake on solid ground,” - THE BEATLES 36 :: BRAG :: 418 : 27:06:11

Lockdown, Bridges, Get Real!, Deadly Visions Caringbah Bizzo’s 8pm Mark Lucas Petersham Bowling Club free 7:30pm Mitch Anderson Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Musos Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag Hotel. free 8pm Musos Jam Night Live at the Wall, Leichhardt free 6pm Nicky Kurta Summer Hill Hotel free 7:30pm Open Mic Night Coach and Horses Hotel, Randwick free 8pm Open Mic Night Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta 8pm Open Mic Night Down Under Bar & Bistro, Kings Cross free 7:30pm Pete Murray Notes Live, Enmore $44.90 (presale)–$69.40 (dinner & show) 7pm Phoebe Eve, Jasmine & Kaija, Nativosoul, Ashton Tremain Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $15 8pm Pod Brothers Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free 6:30pm Shivon Coelho, Femme Da Funk, Frances Madden Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 7pm Storm Large The Vanguard, Newtown $20 (+ bf)–$55 (dinner & show) 6:30pm The Melodics, Mary of the Moon, Fait Accompli Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm Tin Sparrow, Charlie Mayfair, Boats of Berlin Brass Monkey, Cronulla $12.25 (presale) 7pm Trav & Rosco Show O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9:30pm

JAZZ

Darryl Beaton Civic Underground, Sydney free 9pm Deva Permana Trio Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7pm Hammerhead 505 Club, Surry Hills $10– $15 8:30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm Robert Susz & the Continental Blues Party The Rose Hotel, Chippendale free 7pm The Smith Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7:30pm The Spirit of Moses Quartet Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8:30pm


g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

THURSDAY JUNE 23 ROCK & POP

Bloody Lovely Audrey, The Foreign Objects Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Caravana Sun, Andy Kelly, Toys of Counterculture Brass Monkey, Cronulla $17.85 (presale) 7pm Caulfield Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 8pm Craig Laird Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8:30pm David Agius Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Duck & Cover Woollahra Hotel free 7:45pm Gossling, Ryan Meeking Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm Jake Nauta, Tigertown The Vanguard, Newtown $15 (+ bf)–$50 (dinner & show) 6:30pm Joe Guido Slide, Darlinghurst $30–$70 (dinner & show) 7pm Johnathon Devoy Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Johnny Rock & The Limits Revesby Workers Club 8pm JP Toxteth Hotel, Glebe free 8pm Moon Holiday, Berluscronies, The Townhouses Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Musos Club Jam Night Carousel Hotel, Rooty Hill free 8pm

Platinum Brunette Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $5 8pm Replika Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Rick Brewster’s Angels, Dave Gleeson, Black Label Annandale Hotel $27.75 8pm Sarah McLeod, Fire Tree Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $25 8pm Sharron Bowman Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Soul Nights Tokio Hotel, Darling Harbour free 9pm Syndicate Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $15 (+ bf) 8pm The Initiation, The City In Motion, City Of Ghosts Spectrum, Darlinghurst $12 (guestlist)–$15 8pm Tiger Temple, Peppermint & Fox Enter The Ninja The Valve, Tempe 7pm Tony Mazell & the Four Tunes, Lisa Page, Ricky Organ South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8pm

JAZZ

Andy Glitre The Basement, Circular Quay free 5pm Christa Hughes 505 Club, Surry Hills $20–$30 8:30pm Jo Fabro, Reyes De La Onda Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8:30pm Kristin Berardi/James Sherlock Duo, Elana Stone Band The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $15– $18.50 11am

Lionel Robinson Dee Why RSL Club free 7pm Monique Lysiak Jazushi, Surry Hills free 7pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm

Skipping Girl Vinegar

ACOUSTIC/FOLK

Carolyn Crysdale Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7:30pm Jeremy Harrison The Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt $8 7pm Kate Gogarty Ruby L’otel, Rozelle free 6pm Vaudeville Smash, Clarity GoodGod SmallClub $10 9pm

HIP HOP

OziBatla, Dialectrix with Joe New and Plutonic Lab, Tuka, The Last Kinection, DJ Gabriel Clouston, Rivals, LC Beats Oxford Art Factory 8pm

FRIDAY JUNE 24 ROCK & POP

2 Way Split Customs House Bar, Sydney free 7pm Angelas Dish, The Jeffersons Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Antoine Hawkesbury Hotel, Windsor free 7:45pm BNO Rockshow The Ranch Hotel, Eastwood free 9pm

Clare Bowditch, Lanie Lane The Factory Theatre, Enmore $38 (+ bf) 7:30pm Fireballs, The Dark Shadows, Dunhill Blues, Jarren Zen & The Switchblades Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $25 (+ bf) 8pm Gary Robertson Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Hit Selection Duo Coogee Bay Hotel free 10pm Jeff Lang Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $33–$78 (dinner & show) 7pm John Kennedy & the 68 Comeback Special Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville 8pm

wed

29 June

thu

Wednesdays Riot House Comedy

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

30 Private June

Function

7%$ 5 * .%

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

fri

01 July

(5:00PM - 8:00PM)

(9:15PM - 1:00AM)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

sat

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

July

SATURDAY NIGHT

02

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

4(5 *5.%

July

SUNDAY NIGHT

THE STUDY PRESENT

SHIVON COELHO

FEMME DA FUNK + FRANCES MADDEN

SYNDICATE

CITY LIGHTS FADE + THE FUTURES IN BLACK & WHITE + EXIT ROW PURPLE SNEAKERS PRESENT LAST NIGHT

joel GION (

3!4

DUBPLATE MICAH P HINSON INSPECTOR GEMINI + ENOCHI

35.

*5,9

)

BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE DJ SET

LIVE: RED INK + PARTICLES

*5,9 MYLES MAYO + MAJOR CHORD

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

&2%%9 %.42

&2) *5,9

sun

03

Mission Jones Club Rivers, Riverwood free 8:30pm Nativosoul Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7:30pm Night Owl Down Under Bar & Bistro, Kings Cross free 8pm No Brakes South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8:30pm Ray Beadle Vault 146, Windsor 8pm Red Ink Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $10 8pm Rikki Organ & The Organgrinders Dance Band Bankstown Sports Club free Roc-A-Tac Rockdale RSL Club 7:30pm

Jonny Gretsch’s Wasted Ones Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7:30pm Kang, The Gap Players, Hook Elation, Karmajar, Scarlet’s Revenge The Valve, Tempe 7pm La Vista Petersham RSL Club free 8:30pm Mental Elf The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 7pm Micah P Hinson (USA), Myles Mayo, Major Chord Brass Monkey, Cronulla $28.60 (+ bf) 8pm Mike Mathieson Duo Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club free 8:30pm

DOCTOR WEREWOLF

DOORS ALIVE THE CONCERT JIM MORRISON’S 40TH ANNIVERSARY SMOKE & SILVER + THE VOLTS

09/07 OURBOROS/SRDL AFTERPARTY 14/07 CROSSROADS LAUNCH NIGHT 16/07 MAJOR RAISER 20/07 THE STUDY + RIOT HOUSE 22/07 LAST NIGHT 23/07 NOWHERE 28/07 FOSTER THE PEOPLE 30/07 VTRIBE + BUD SPELLS

COMING SOON BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 37


g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Short Stack, Heroes For Hire, Because They Can Enmore Theatre $60 (presale) 8pm Skipping Girl Vinegar, Kieran Ryan, Colleen Hixenbaugh (Canada) Notes Live, Enmore $20.95– $43.35 (dinner & show) 7pm Soul Nights, Radio City Cats, Mr Fabulous Tokio Hotel, Darling Harbour free 8pm Swinging Sixties Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 9:30pm Talk It Up Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm The Black Angels (USA), DJ Joel Gion, The Laurels Metro Theatre, Sydney $52.70 (presale) 8:30pm The Glimmer, Nic Dalton & the Gloomchasers, Bambino Koresh, Sam Shinazzi’s Band Landsdowne Hotel, Darlington free 8pm The Green Day Show Penrith Hotel free 10pm The Jane Austen Argument Camelot, Marrickville $20 8pm The Mess Hall, 78 Saab Annandale Hotel $20 (+ bf) 8pm The Scientists of Modern Music, Butcher Blades, Peppercorn, The Owls, Bloods, Johnny Rock & The Limits, The Mountains and MUM DJs MUM @ The World Bar, Kings Cross 8pm

JAZZ

Armandito y Su Trovason 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8:30pm

Dereb the Ambasaador, Lo Five Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $15 (presale)–$20 (at door) 8pm Doug Williams Old Manly Boatshed $5 10:30pm Kim Sanders & Friends, The Vampires St Luke’s Hall, Enmore 7pm Kristin Berardi, James Sherlock The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10 (member)–$20 8:30pm Not Quite Cabaret Paddington Arms $24 7pm The Bandits Club Cronulla free 8:30pm

SATURDAY JUNE 25 ROCK & POP

Bang Shang a Lang Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 9:30pm Big Radio Dynamite Bankstown Sports Club free 9pm Big Shots Club Five Dock, Five Dock RSL free 8pm Black Label, T.H.U.G, Dirty Little Secrets (USA) Live at the Wall, Leichhardt free 8pm Creedence & Beyond New Brighton Golf Club, Moorebank free David Choi (USA), Jayesslee, Amelia Jae Atrium, Macquarie University, North Ryde $39 (show only)– $59 (A Res) 5pm Choose Your Own Adventure: Faker, Parades,

Deep Sea Arcade, Matt Corby, Andy Bull, WIM, Kirin J Callinhan, Step Panther, Holy Balm, Collarbones, Royal Chant, Big Dumb Kid, The Gooch Palms The Factory Theatre, Enmore $17–$20 3pm Fearless Vampire Killers Goodgod Small Club, Sydney 8pm Flux Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Ignition Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10:30pm Jack McCord (UK) Water Bar, Woolloomooloo free 8pm JD’s Trio Ramsgate RSL, Ramsgate Beach free 8pm Micah P Hinson (USA), Myles Mayo, Major Chord Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $25 (+ bf) 8pm Mr James Band Club Merrylands free 8:30pm Nightshift Regents Park Sporting & Community Club free 7:30pm Original Sin INXS Show, Swingshift Celebrity Room, Blacktown RSL Club free 10pm Rocks Up Doc Campbelltown RSL free 8:30pm Rose of York Brass Monkey, Cronulla $14.30 (presale) 7pm Shy Guys South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8pm Sneaky Sound System, Beni Metro Theatre, Sydney $35 (+ bf)–$40 (at door) 8pm Take Two Petersham RSL Club free 8:30pm

The Buddys Rockdale RSL Club free 7:30pm The Danny John Trio, 3 Wise Monkeys Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 8pm The Furious Five, The Funsters Band Jannali Inn free 7:30pm The Glen Mead Band Club Cronulla free 8:30pm The Jacks Oatley Hotel free 8:30pm The Rubens, Meow Kabw, Made in Japan Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Blood, Sweat & Beers: The Snowdroppers, Area 7, Anchors, A Death in the Family, The Smith Street Band, Former Cell Mates (U.K), Gay Paris, The Graveyard Train, The Outsiders (New Zealand), The Rumjacks, Grenadiers, The Smith Street Band, Jamie Hay, Jen Buxton, The Casino Rumblers, The Gun Runners, The Corps, Headaches, Easy Company, Bayonets For Legs, Homeward Bound Annandale Hotel $20 (day ticket)–$45 (weekend) 12pm The Trips, New Manic Spree Landsdowne Hotel, Darlington free 8pm Time Machine Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club free 8:30pm Tony Williams Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Too Many Guitars Cronulla RSL free 7pm Velvet Hotel Brighton RSL Club, BrightonLe-Sands free 8pm Winslow’s Cancer, Indilerium, Wheeler, Lions &

Former Cell Mates

The Lotus, Macho Distorto The Valve, Tempe 5pm

JAZZ

Alister Spence Trio The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10 (member)–$20 8:30pm

Greg Coffin Trio, Kristin Berardi 505 Club, Surry Hills $15–$20 8:30pm Mista Meanor, Jak Twist’d, Dick Tucker, Mytee Max, Victor O’Tool, Boi Cox, Sovryn Buckles The Vanguard, Newtown $18 (+ bf)–$53 (dinner & show) 8pm

We has internets! WEDNESDAY 29TH JUNE

FRIDAY 24TH JUNE

WEDNESDAY 29TH JUNE

FRIDAY 1ST JULY

Extra bits and moving bits without the inky fingers.

www.thebrag.com 38 :: BRAG :: 418 : 27:06:11

SATURDAY 2ND JULY

Wed 13/07 Penny & The Mystics Fri 15/07 For The Love Of Purple Deep Purple Tribute Sat 16/07 Hendrix & Heroes Thur 21/07 Tiny Ruins (NZ) Fri 22/07 The Strides + Uncle Jed Sat 23/07 The Sins Single Launch + The Glamma Rays + The Pork Collective Sat 8/08 Café Of The Gate Of Salvation With guest Paul Capsis Fri 29/07 Last Waltz Revival Sat 30/07 Sarah McLeod Tue 16/08 Kevin ‘Bloody’ Wilson Fri 19/08 Songlines Thur 25/08 After The Goldrush Tribute Fri 26/08 Jeff Martin & Terapai Richmond Wed 31/08 The Amazing Rhythm Aces (US) Fri 9/09 Otis Redding 70th Birthday Celebration w/ Johnny G & The E Types


g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Old Time Band The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 2pm Paul Sun, Mark Szeto, Cameron Andrews Larrikin’s Café & Lounge Bar, Walsh Bay free 5pm Paul Sun, Stan Valacos, Didi Mudigdo Fitzroy Gardens, Potts Point free 9:30am

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Beecroft Bush Dance Beecroft Community Centre $12 (member)–$17 8pm Ben Osmo, The Reelers, Blue Goose Tramshed Community Arts Centre, Narrabeen $15 Ben Sundae The Belvedere Hotel free 9pm Kristina Olsen (USA), Anatoli Torjinsky, Jim Conway’s Little Wheel, Jess Green Notes Live, Enmore $30 (+ bf) 8pm The Townhouses, Elizabeth Rose, Tim Fitz Pablo and Rusty’s, Epping $10-15 7:30pm

HIP HOP

Phatchance, Coptic Soldier Oxford Art Factory $14.80 8pm

SUNDAY JULY 3 ROCK & POP

8 Ball Aitken Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 4pm

Ace Brighton RSL Club, Brighton-Le-Sands free 7pm Brian King Ramsgate RSL, Ramsgate Beach free 2pm Clare Bowditch, Lanie Lane Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $43–$85 (dinner & show) 6:30pm David Goyen Club Five Dock, Five Dock RSL free 4pm Doors Alive, The Volts, Smoke & Silver Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $10 (+ bf) 7pm Elevation U2 Show The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4:30pm Peter Northcote Bridge Hotel, Rozelle $10 3pm Ron Osborn Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club free 4pm Blood, Sweat & Beers: The Snowdroppers, Area 7, Anchors, A Death in the Family, The Smith Street Band, Former Cell Mates (U.K), Gay Paris, The Graveyard Train, The Outsiders (New Zealand), The Rumjacks, Grenadiers, The Smith Street Band, Jamie Hay, Jen Buxton, The Casino Rumblers, The Gun Runners, The Corps, Headaches, Easy Company, Bayonets For Legs, Homeward Bound Annandale Hotel $20 (day ticket)–$45 (weekend) 12pm Triple Imagen South Sydney Juniors, Kingsford free 8pm Unforgettable Campbelltown RSL free 5pm

We Are The Emergency, Wake The Giants, City Falls, Uncorrected, Stand for the Fallen, We Built Atlantis The Valve, Tempe 12pm Wildseed Marrickville Bowling and Recreation Club 4:30pm

JAZZ

Dan Barnett Big Band Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 4pm Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 3pm Mission: Jones The Belvedere Hotel free 5pm Old Time Band The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 2pm Sean Coffin Quartet Cafe Sydney free 12pm The Moods Cronulla RSL free 12:30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Anthony Aughes & the International Love Experiment, Brave It Through The Night, Dani Paryce The Valve, Tempe 4pm Finbar Furey (Ireland), Brendan Grace (Ireland) Fred Chubb Lounge, Rooty Hill RSL Club $42 (conc)– $72 5pm Green Jam The Hero of Waterloo Hotel, Millers Point free 7pm Kickstar Duo Oatley Hotel free 2pm Shane MacKenzie Cohibar free 5pm

GRAPHIC DESIGNER REQUIRED Looking for a highly creative designer to work in a fast paced environment. Must be highly skilled in CS4 suite including Photoshop, In Design, Illustrator and Dreamweaver. Must be a good multi-tasker and work well under pressure. Must be able to take design from concept to print, have excellent typographic/ layout skills and be able to work across various projects at the same time. Role requires someone with music knowledge and an edgy, modern style. Web knowledge a must! Please send CV and portfolio to Sarah@beachroadbondi.com.au

COOGE E WEDNESDAY 29TH JUNE

TIN SPARROW EP LAUNCH

+ Charlie Mayfair + Boats of Berlin

THURSDAY 30TH JUNE

CARAVANA SUN SINGLE LAUNCH

+ Andy Kelly + Toys of Counter Culture

FRIDAY 1ST JULY

MICAH P HINSON

AND THE PIONEER SABOTEURS (USA) + Myles Mayo + Major Chord

SATURDAY 2ND JULY

ROSE OF YORK

SUNDAY 3RD JULY

QUASIMODO + Mississippi Shakedown

WEDNESDAY 6TH JULY

JAMES BLUNDELL

& CATHERINE BRITT

Thursday 7 July Old Man River Saturday 8 July Dragon Saturday 9 July Johnny Cash Tribute Tuesday 12 July Little JohnnyThe Movie Thursday 14 July Martinez Akustica Friday 15 July Dan Sultan & Alexander Gow Saturday 16 July The Paper Scissors Sunday 17 July Mark Seymour Friday 22 July Bob Marley Tribute Saturday 23 July Stevie Ray Vaughan Celebration Tuesday 26 July Ninth Pillar Thursday 28 July Sarah McLeod Friday 29 July Bachelor Girl Saturday 30 July The Last Waltz Revival Thursday 4 August Diesel Friday 5 August Kira Puru Saturday 6 August Mr Percival Wednesday 10 August Panda Band Thursday 11 August Matt Corby Friday 12 August Ray Beadle Saturday 13 August James Taylor Tribute Sunday 14 August The Louds Tuesday 16 August Boats Of Berlin Wednesday 17 August Bob Log III Thursday 18 August Wendy Matthews Saturday 20 August FisherKing Sunday 21 August Jace Everett Wednesday 24 August Alvin Youngblood Hart Thursday 25 August Craig Woodward Friday 26 August King Tide Saturday 27 August Andy Bull Wednesday 31 August Jeff Martin Thursday 1 September Jeff Martin Friday 2 September Owl Eyes Sunday 4 September Bonjah Friday 9 September Ian Moss

SAT JULY 9

TRIPLE SHOT OF ORIGINAL ROCK

3 LOCAL ORIGINAL BANDS FOR $10 @ DOOR

THE REVELLERS + FIRE TO THE HAYSTACK + CROWS FEAT FRI JULY 15

VARIETY BASH FUND RAISER FEATURING:

SOPHIE KATINIS & PLANET GROOVE & NATHAN FOLEY Tix & info at www.planetgroove.biz/band-faq/charity-fundraiser.html SAT JULY 16

SARAH MCLEOD SAT JULY 30

THE SNOWDROPPERS MON AUG 1

‘LITTLE JOHNNY’

ADVANCED FILM SCREENING WITH LIVE INTRODUCTION BY KEVIN ‘BLOODY’ WILSON

Band Bookings

info@codeone.net.au - www.codeone.net.au

Tickets & info from www.coogeediggers.com.au

COOGEE DIGGERS 9665 4466 CORNER BYRON & CARR STREETS

USE ME.

BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 39


gig picks

up all night out all week...

The Black Angels

WEDNESDAY JUNE 29 Gossling, Ryan Meeking, Boy Outside Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (presale)–$15 (at door) 8pm Tin Sparrow, Charlie Mayfair, Boats of Berlin Brass Monkey, Cronulla $12.25 (presale) 7pm

THURSDAY JUNE 30 Syndicate Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $15 (+ bf) 8pm

FRIDAY JULY 1 The Black Angels (USA), DJ Joel Gion, The Laurels Metro Theatre, Sydney $52.70 (presale) 8:30pm Skipping Girl Vinegar, Kieran Ryan, Colleen Hixenbaugh (Canada)

Gossling Notes Live, Enmore $20.95–$43.35 (dinner & show) 7pm Clare Bowditch, Lanie Lane Factory Theatre, Enmore $38 (+ bf) 7:30pm

SATURDAY, JULY 16 – Dan Sultan And Alex Gow SOLD OUT TUESDAY, JULY 19 – The World In The Basement WEDNESDAY, JULY 20 – James Valentine + Mr Percival THURSDAY, JULY 21 – Dragon Tickets online at

www.thebasement.com.au

40 :: BRAG :: 418 : 27:06:11

Dereb the Ambasaador, Lo Five Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $15 (presale)–$20 (at door) 8pm

The Mess Hall, 78 Saab Annandale Hotel $20 (+ bf) 8pm

SATURDAY JULY 2

The Scientists of Modern Music, Butcher Blades, Peppercorn, The Owls, Bloods, Johnny Rock & The Limits, The Mountains and MUM DJs MUM @ The World Bar,

Micah P Hinson (USA), Myles Mayo, Major Chord Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $25 (+ bf) 8pm

Clare Bowditch

The Snowdroppers

Kings Cross 8pm

Blood, Sweat & Beers: The Snowdroppers, Area 7, Anchors, A Death in the Family, The Smith Street Band, Former Cell Mates (U.K), Gay Paris, The Graveyard Train, The Outsiders (New Zealand), The Rumjacks, Grenadiers, The Smith Street Band, Jamie Hay & Jen Buxton, The Casino Rumblers, The Gun Runners, The Corps, Headaches, Easy Company, Bayonets For Legs, Homeward Bound Annandale Hotel $20 (day ticket)–$45 (weekend) 12pm


brag beats

BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture

dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery

five things WITH

Wiley

AJAX Growing Up The Music You Make No musos in my family, except In the past, I guess I’ve been 1. 4. for a bit of under-the-cover kazoo known more for making re-edits, after midnight. I used to make tape-to-tape compilations when I was a kid, mostly new wave and ska and punk stuff; I’d hand ‘em out to private school girls on the bus and see if any of them would bite. Inspirations Without a doubt Metronomy; 2. I could listen to their stuff all day long - there isn’t one song I don’t like. They have a wonderful sense of bent melancholy. My favourite song of all time is Art Of Noise’s ‘Moments In Love’, which I first heard on a Monbulk Jam TV ad when I was a grommet, and I’ve adored it ever since. Without sounding like a wanker, it is so sanguine, and reminds me of an Autumn romance in Japan.

3.

Your Crew I think I must be difficult to work with, ‘cause I’ve sat down and doodled with a bunch of people like K.I.M (Presets), the Juggernaught boys, Angus from Sneaky and Nicky Van She, to name a few. Nothing really eventuated with these peeps, which was a bit of a bummer, mostly my fault! But finally it’s all coming together; I have a single coming out in six weeks featuring Lil Wayne with S.L.M, and I’ve been working a bit with Miami (when he’s around) and Rob Pix, under the guise JAxon Pixoff.

remixes and bootlegs, which is fine for shows but I don’t want that to be my legacy. So I’m really jacking up the original shit. There’s always been massive hip hop influences in my sets, like acapellas, the way I drop mix and tempo changes etc - I guess it’s more of that, but on steroids. I’m doing a very practiced and intense set for Splendour In The Grass this year, so I’m thinking of updating it and giving it even more juice for Coaster Festival. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. I’m sick of people always hatin’ and whinging about dubstep or this or that and the other. I love it - music is always about revolution and evolution, and it puts a big smile on my face when I hear something so fresh and exciting! I like Kanye West material a lot, but I dislike the man. Metronomy for sure, Soul Clap, Pleasurekraft, Mr Oizo, DJ Shadow - a real cross section of stuff has brought me to where I am today. With: Drapht, Little Red, Jebediah, Bag Raiders, John Butler Trio, The Potbelleez, Horrorshow, Tim & Jean, Ball Park Music, Gold Fields, Nina Las Vegas and more Where: Coaster Festival @ Gosford Showground When: September 17 More: coasterfestival.com.au

INDEX Gemini

Thomas Green – aka Rockwell – headlines the next Index at Tone on Friday July 8. Rockwell is Shogun Audio’s prize signing, who has a chain of noteworthy releases under his belt on labels like Digital Soundboy, Renegade Hardware, Critical and Darkestral, along with remixes for the likes of DJ Shadow, Cash Money and Jose James. Rockwell first emerged as a contender in 2010, unveiling a fervently detailed but assuredly ruff, rugged take on DnB that was also characterised by a willingness to explore different tempos. His acclaimed Aria EP was praised for its “spine-snapping drum technicalism and sickeningly deep sub-bass”; in normal-person speak, the EP showcased four tracks of minimalist drum ‘n bass, heavily informed by ‘90s synapse-friers like Alex Reece and Photek, and crucially packed a hefty dancefloor punch - a punch you can expect to experience first hand if you make it down to Tone next Friday. Support DJs Alf, The Abyss, Semper Fi and Void DJs will also be representing, with $20 presale tickets available for purchase online to guarantee your entry.

DJ HARVEY LOCUSSOLUS GEMINI + INSPECTOR DUBPLATE

Gemini and Inspector Dubplate will perform in Sydney for the first time when they headline an Inspected Records bash for SwitchUp at the Gaelic Club this Saturday July 2. 20 yr old Gemini, aka Thomas Slinger, has remixed the likes of Deadmau5, Jamiroquai, Kelis and Hadouken, and announced his arrival in the dubstep scene as a solo producer in his own right when he dropped his debut EP Blue earlier in the year. Inspector Dubplate founded the Inspected label, and has continued to garner plaudits worldwide for DJ sets that showcase esoteric bass music. Support on the night will come courtesy of Doctor Werewolf, Creeptown, Bruxism, Enochi, Dainbread DJs, 3 Bit DJs and Coops, with proceedings commencing at 11pm.

Having wowed Sydney clubbers at the Beck’s Bar for Picnic way back in January (where has the year gone, right?), endearing stalwart DJ Harvey has just dropped a new album which complies the recent spate of 12” singles he released under the name Locussolus. In addition to seven previously released Harvey originals, there are remixes included from luminaries Andrew Weatherall, Lindstrom & Prins Thomas and The Emperor Machine. If nothing else, the LP is a testament to Harvey’s free-spirited character, both as a person and a producer… in fact, it’s worth taking an excerpt from an online interview that encapsulates the man himself, whose personality is intertwined

MOVEMENT LAUNCHES WILEY ALBUM Movement at Beach Road Bondi, Sydney’s newest dubstep and basscentric weekly party, is presenting its first CD launch party for Wiley’s latest LP 100% Publishing, this Friday July 1. The UK grime producer has returned after topping the charts with the Fizz-endorced ‘Wearing My Rolex’ a couple of years ago. Wiley’s latest album is currently available at most semi-decent CD stores, and features the single ‘Numbers In Action’; radio listeners will be aware it was also FBI’s Album of the Week last week. But Wiley’s latest ain’t fading into the oblivion of the past that quickly, as DJs Kato and Mason and Bennet will demonstrate when they spin an array of tunes spanning the beats, dubstep, UK funky and grime genres – speculation is rife as to whether ‘Wearing My Rolex’ will get a look in… From 8pm at the Beach Road Hotel in Bondi, and entry is free.

with his productions themselves. Q: Tell me about the ‘Rwandan Ice Cream project’ – that sounds very rewarding? H: “It is amazing. Basically a group of Rwandan Holocaust survivors came to New York to learn how to make ice cream, and they brought their drums with them. They are part of an all-female drum band, and I’ve produced a CD for them. The proceeds are going to Rwandan charities, so it’s been an absolute honour to work with them.” Locussolus is out now, and though Harvey obviously consumed plenty of marijuana in the studio while crafting the album, the result is still a fair bit more than Harvey merely enjoying himself infectiously and recording the fruits of his hedonism.

NO DICE PARADISE

No Dice Paradise returns to Oxford Art Factory’s Gallery Bar this Thursday July 30 with a night that the press release states (not my words here people, ok?) “is guaranteed to bring all the rad kids out of their winter caves just in time for mid semester break”. The quality of music on offer at No Dice Paradice is far superior to the PR copy [ouch! - ed], with Future Classic signees Moon Holliday, Mrs Bishop, Berluscronies and Melbourne band The Townhouses, who have recently remixed local lads Fishing, performing alongside Oh Reilly Factor and No Dice DJs. Better still, it’s free entry, with free mixtapes that feature a handful of the acts playing on the night available for you to take home and play at your leisure.

“Uncomplicated lovin’ / Is what I’m lookin’ for / Do you think you can take me on?” – SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 41


dance music news

free stuff

club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

INSPECTED RECORDS

CAL FROM THE SCIENTISTS OF MODERN MUSIC heavily into Kraftwerk, he had a few of their albums. But I think Surrender is what pushed me into computer music production. Thanks, Julius! Inspirations My icons would have to be Daft Punk 2. and The Chemical Brothers. I remember hearing ‘Around The World’ when I was ten in 1997. I’m not sure why I love their music so much, I think I just have a strong emotional connection to it - I guess that shows when we make music.

3.

Your Crew Simon and I have never really produced with anyone else, except for when we went to London to work with The Slips on our debut but apart from that it’s just been us for the last six years! I’ve dabbled with other side project but it’s never the same, we just work really well together. We do have varying musical opinions from time to time, but on average we rest on even ground.

Growing Up The Music You Make I remember when I was 12, my friend 1. We recorded our first ever EP ourselves 4. bought me The Chemical Brothers’ Surrender in my shitty home studio, with a busted pair album for my birthday. That album got played so many times it stopped working! My parents didn’t mind, as I grew up in a very electronic music-influenced household - my dad was

JEREMY GLENN

Up-and-coming Canadian producer Jeremy Glenn dropped his New Life EP on June 20 via Sydney-based electronic bastion Future Classic, which includes a remix of the title track ‘New Life’ by Jazzanova’s Alex Barck - a cut that provides a tantalising glimpse of summer from the bleak standpoint of the Sydney winter. (Apologies for the seasonal pessimism.) According to Jeremy Glenn’s website, “the song conjures up sunny days in the park, the laughter of children, bike rides and all those cool summer things. It’s a more groovy version of the song, and I’m so thrilled to have Alex’s hand working on my music.” It’s not the only pie Future Classic have their fingers in at present; there’s also the forthcoming LP from Joakim to look forward to, while FC have provided a significant slice of this year’s Parklife lineup by bringing Sebastien Tellier, Little Dragon and Tensnake down under circa October.

of hi fi speakers from eBay - funnily enough, that EP got played on triple j. It was so badly mixed. Then we got the opportunity to re-do it in Sydney with Daniel Jones (ex-Savage

ARCHITECTURE TOUR

After something of a sojourn interjected with only a couple of shows, Architecture in Helsinki have announced their most expansive national tour in years to showcase their new album, Moment Bends - out now through Modular Records. Recorded over a two-year period in ‘Buckingham Palace’, the band’s Melbourne studio space, songwriter Cameron Bird elucidates, “Moment Bends was all about being at one with our ideas, obsessed with popular music and falling in love with our hometown. We wanted to build a record to get lost in.” AIH are currently basking in the success of the second single from the album, ‘Escapee’, a cut which Bird offers was “as instantaneous and un-complicated as songs happen in our world. [Which is] probably why it still makes me feel so good when I hear it!” Architecture in Helsinki play the Metro Theatre on Thursday September 1 in support of Moment Bends, with presales available online.

Garden) in his Level 7 Studios. Our new album was recorded ourselves in Hobart over two years, as we popped backwards and forwards from our home studios drinking too many coffees. After a long time writing, we got to go to London to work with The Slips and put the finishing touches to our album, drinking too many coffees yet again. Then we got Nilesh Patel to master it - he’s mastered Daft Punk’s albums, so I was pretty happy about that. Expect a whole lot of movement and dance moves from our live show! Music, Right Here, Right Now To be honest, I don’t really follow much 5. within the Australian music scene; I haven’t been struck with anything that I’ve taken an interest in lately. I haven’t been as excited as I was when the electro scene was really kicking into gear around 2007/2008. A band that have inspired me lately are a local Hobart three piece called Tiger Choir. Another are these two dudes from the UK called VanGuard; they create funky disco house that really brings me back to my early Daft Punk listening. With: Butcher Blades /, Peppercorn, The Owls, Bloods, Johnny Rock & The Limits, The Mountains and MUM DJs Where: Mum @ The World Bar, Kings Cross When: Friday July 1

DISTORTION FT EMALKAY

English dubstep producer Martin Knowles, who produces under the moniker of Emalkay, will play Distortion at Fake Club on Friday July 19. Emalkay is best known for his 2009 single ‘When I Look at You’, released on Caspa’s Dub Police label, and he released his debut album Eclipse only in May this year. On the remix front, the Birmingham producer has reworked the likes of Pendulum, Faithless and Miike Snow, which introduced his sonic sensibility to a broader cross-section of the listening public. Emalkay will be supported by Distortion residents Rubio and Guillotine, with $30 presales available online.

DON RIMINI

Frenchman Xavier Gasseman, better known as Don Rimini, headlines Chinese Laundry this Saturday. Rimini is responsible for the hugely popular but grammatically befuddling EP NLarge Your Parties, and has also completed remixes for

The Herd

On Saturday July 2, the Gaelic Theatre is playing host to two British heavyweights of dubstep: moustachioed Inspected label boss Inspector Dubplate, and rising star Gemini, aka Thomas Slinger. Inspector Dubplate pumps out fresh, quality sounds through his label, and signed newcomer Gemini, who made his mark early in 2011 with his debut EP, Blue. They’ll be supported by locals Doctor Werewolf, Creeptown, Bruxism and more. We have three double passes to give away; to get your hands on one, just tell us what distinctive facial feature Inspector Dubplate has a mild-topotentially-dangerous obsession with…

SLOW-BLOW

Also this Saturday, Sydney party pundits Slow-Blow at GoodGod Small Club are hosting the launch of the first EP from Melbourne Deepcast - a label, podcast and online music hub at melbournedeepcast.net. Melbourne’s Andy Hart will be there to help showcase his own particular brand of deep house, techno and disco, alongside Softwar and Slow-Blow DJs Jungle Snake and Dreamcatcher. We’re giving away two double passes to the show; email us the name of EP they’re launching.

major players such as The Count and Sinden, Rye Rye, BeatauCue and The Sub. The Don is known for a slamming electro sound that should be on full force in the sweaty confines of Laundry, while local jocks John Glover, Neon Stereo and Asylum will attempt to maintain the pace. Over in the cave, one half of the Rollin Connection duo, Darrius Bassiray from Melbourne, will join Dirty D, Ahab and Nick! behind the decks. Entry is $15 before 10pm.

3THINGS

For anyone who’s unaware, 3things is goin’ down at Oxford Art Factory this Thursday June 30, offering a veritable smorgasbord of all-Aussie hip hop for a mere $5 entry, which will go to a damn good cause via Oxfam. 3things will be hosted by Kween G of KillaQueenz, and feature visual jams by VJ Spook (VJ for the likes of Bliss N Eso and Snob Scrilla). Representing on the night will be Ozi Batla, Dialectrix with Joe New and Plutonic Lab, Tuka, The Last Kinection, DJ Gabriel Clouston, plus beatboxers Rivals and LC Beats – not bad for a school night at all. Full details are available at 3things.org.au

SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM

Sneaky Sound System are embarking on their first Australian tour in over two years, and play a show at The Metro this Saturday July 2 with support from Kitsune’s Beni - and tickets are still available online. After a break from the limelight, the now two-piece of Black Angus and Miss Connie Mitchell, who have parted with MC Double D since the last Sneaky Sound System project, are gearing up to release a new album From Here To Anywhere on Modular records, which is due out in late August. The lead-off single ‘We Love’ has already received plenty of support from commercial radio stations, and we daresay there will be more material from the forthcoming LP being previewed for those in attendance on Saturday.

OBITUARY: KENNY HAWKES

THE HERD: FUTURE SHADE

The Herd are set to unveil their fifth album, Future Shade, with a national run of dates that includes a performance at The Metro Theatre on Saturday September 17. The troupe have just released the single ‘Signs Of Life’, an appetiser for Future Shade, which will be out late August through Elefant Traks. The Herd will be supported on their forthcoming tour by the soul duo Sietta, who’ve been the subject of considerable hype ahead of the late July release of their debut album, The Seventh Passenger - also out on Elefant Traks.

Acclaimed UK house proponent and pirate radio pioneer Kenny Hawkes sadly passed away recently, after a short illness. The Brighton-born DJ was one of the founders - along with Classic boss Luke Solomon - of midweek house night Space, while Hawkes’ best known track was the classic house cut ‘Play The Game’, which was featured by Radioslave on his Fabric mix and received a remix from Dutchman Joris Voorn last year. Derrick Carter, a frequent guest at Space, said: “Kenny Hawkes, I’m going to miss having you on this earth. Your dry assed sense of humour was amazing.” “R.I.P Kenny Hawkes,” Jess Rose concurred. “Feels like only yesterday I was dancing to you at Plastic People thinking, ‘I gotta become a house DJ’. A super influence.” For anyone who was unaware of Kenny, ‘Play The Game’ still holds up today, and is well worth a listen – as either a tribute or an introduction.

“Keep me on / don’t switch me off / you’d better not turn off the projector!” – SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM 42 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11


PRESENTED BY ELEFANT TRAKS, NEW WORLD ARTISTS, TRIPLE J AND STREET PRESS AUSTRALIA

FUTURE SHADE TOUR 2011

SATURDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER

METRO THEATRE WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

TICKETS ON SALE NOW FROM FROM THEHERD.OZTIX.COM.AU OR PH: 1300 762 545 AND THE USUAL LOCAL OUTLETS

THE HERD –– FUTURE SHADE featuring SUM OF IT ALL and SIGNS OF LIFE RELEASED AUGUST 26 ON ELEFANT TRAKS through INERTIA

BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 43


Thievery Corporation The Slow Burn By Ava Nirui

“W

e never had to answer to anybody,” Rob Garza boldly declares. “We never had to sit in a boardroom and talk about our record. It has allowed us to be ourselves.” With a dense curriculum vitae featuring seven full-length studio albums under their very own record label Eighteenth Street Lounge Music, Thievery Corporation have successfully antagonised the notion of the ephemeral. Their universal sound, devoid of stereotyped genre-branding, has kept them relevant over the sixteen years that they’ve been making music. By fluidly fusing soul, funk, electro and jazz as well as a variety of multicultural flavours, Thievery Corporation have maintained their status as one of the most consistently innovative artists of the last two decades.

Rob Garza and Eric Hilton formed the band in late 1995, self-signing to their own collaborative label as a response to the competitive 90s music scene, and in line with their anti-marketable, nu-underground aesthetic. “I think that Eighteenth Street has helped us get to where we are today,” Garza says. “We are independent artists and we have done this ourselves … If we were signed to a major label when we started, I can guarantee you we wouldn’t be where we are now … We went with Eighteenth Street because we didn’t know who we could get to put our music out - what we were doing wasn’t really part of a genre.” Their independence effectively allowed

“It’s been a slow burn and that’s been great... We’re here 16 years later making music, when we’ve seen a lot of flavours of the month thrown aside.”

the Washington, DC-based duo to experiment and look forward, rather than simply respond to the expectations of a major label and mainstream audience. Collaborating with high profile artists like Emiliana Torrini and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips didn’t hurt either… “I think that it has taken a while for us to reach that wider audience,” Garza says. “The audiences that we have played to here in America are bigger than ever; it has taken people a while know what are doing. It’s been a slow burn - a long kind of trajectory - and that’s been great. The fact that we’re here 16 years later making music, when we’ve seen a lot of flavours of the month thrown aside, shows us that we’re still very lucky.” It’s been especially important for Thievery Corporation to maintain their independence because of the social messages that lie beneath the duo’s danceable psych/trip-hop grooves; messages that couldn’t be effectively communicated under the tyranny of a major label. Such oblique political commentary was first seen on controversial Bossa Nova track ‘Amerimacka’ off their 2005 release The Cosmic Game, a track which aimed to bring to light the corruption Thievery Corporation saw pervading USA governmental policies. Intense socio-political statements based around the ignorance within American society, the perverse nature of the Iraq war, the economic crisis and the antics of George W. Bush have continued to feature within their body of work, but their sixth LP, 2008’s Radio Retaliation, was considered their most politically radical, showcasing their left-wing alliances through passionate, dogmatic lyrics. But the pair’s talent is not limited solely to lyricism. They have always collaborated with an array of artists from a wide variety of styles and language backgrounds, demonstrating their phenomenal musicality as they effortlessly explore a huge breadth of styles. It makes their live shows especially an unusual and interactive experience. “When we play live we have about five or six vocalists with us, and it’s great because you never go to live shows where the music kind

of changes, in terms of genres and different singers and styles,” Garza says, “and so when we travel we have a drum section, a percussion section and five or six singers, so it keeps it fresh”. It’s this multi-dimensionality that makes Thievery Corporation’s art simultaneously rich in surface appeal, but infused with layers – some of which can be too subtle to notice. “There are a lot of songs that people may be dancing to, but they might not really know what the song is talking about,” Garza says. “There are messages that are happening within the music - for us its good to have the different levels and ideas. When it comes to political messages and social consciousness, music is the perfect vehicle for us to say what we want to say, and obviously we’re against things that are inhumane, whether it’s corporations, war or government. Our music definitely allows us to speak our mind.”

You can hear them speak their minds late next month, when Thievery Corporation head to Australia to support the release of their seventh studio album, Culture Of Fear. Garza tells me that unlike the neo-political Radio Retaliation, Culture Of Fear is based more around the music, with “beautiful, trippy 60s and 70s space rock influences”. With such a trail-blazing ability to keep retro-sensibilities and broad styles alive within their music, it seems that Thievery Corporation will be staying current for years to come. What: Culture Of Fear is out through Shock Where: The Enmore Theatre (with a full band) When: Monday August 1 More: Also appearing at Splendour In The Grass 2011, July 29 – 31 at Woodfordia, Queensland, with Pulp, Kanye West, The Hives and loads more.

Yuksek Not For DJs By Alasdair Duncan

W

hen the great French dance music boom happened around four years ago and artists like Justice and SebastiAn were churning out squelchy, distorted electro bangers faster than DJs could snap them up, Yuksek released his debut album. It ticked all the right boxes, including high-profile cameos from the likes of Chromeo and Amanda Blank, and its clubfriendly sound fit pretty neatly with everything else that was happening in Gallic electro at the time. Many grew bored with the ubiquity of that sound, Yuksek included - which explains why his second album, Living On The Edge Of Time, is strikingly different in sound and character. The bangers have been replaced by gossamer-light synth pop, and so are the guest spots, with Yuksek singing all the vocals himself. As he tells me of the record, “This is not an album for DJs to play.”

“The new SebastiAn album is really just the same thing as he did five years ago, and the new Justice sounds quite similar too. I’m really just trying something else.” to find tricks, you have to find ways around it, and often you end up singing stuff that wasn’t written for you. I did that the first time around, so this time I really wanted to play the record as it was made, with me singing on it. Once I came to that decision, the rest was easy.” The new dynamic has made for a much better live show, too. “I enjoy the new setup three times more! It’s something new and something fun up there on stage, and the first couple of shows that we’ve played sounded very good. It was cool. I’m very happy with that.”

When I ask Yuksek if he ever felt like part of the ‘scene’ that emerged around the Ed Banger crowd in Paris, his response is somewhat ambivalent. “I brought my first album out three or four years ago, and it was a new time for dance music. There was a new sound coming from France, so it was exciting to be a part of that as a producer. I didn’t ever really listen to too much of that club music, though,” he says. “When I made this album, I was thinking that I didn’t just want to make music that DJs could play in clubs. When I play live I love the reaction of the crowd, so I had that in mind when I was writing these songs.” When it comes to the leading lights of the French electro scene, he doesn’t hold back. “I’m not so close to them,” he admits. “A lot of those guys are friends, but I don’t live in the same city as they do and in general, I feel a bit out of it. The new SebastiAn album is really just the same thing as he did five years ago, and the new Justice sounds quite similar too. I’m really just trying something else. I love making music, I’m really passionate about it, and I would never want to go into the studio and do the same thing for three or four years. So it wasn’t a decision that I wanted this album to sound different, it’s just something that happened naturally.”

Living On The Edge Of Time was inspired in part by the loneliness of life on the road; of the hotel rooms and trains and airport departure lounges that Yuksek got to know intimately as his DJ career blossomed. But he tells me that he doesn’t much like to write while on tour. “I’ve played a lot over the last few years, but the songs were written at home. When I would get a few days off, I would find myself going into the studio and spending a couple of hours writing. I didn’t write that much on the road – I used to do that some years ago, but I can’t now,” he laughs. “I think I’m getting too old or

something! When I’m on the road, all I do is sleep and read books and look out the window.” For a producer, Yuksek proves a surprisingly able vocalist on Living On The Edge Of Time, and he tells me that his new, more singersongwriter-style approach has made playing live shows easier. “I liked the idea of doing all the vocals myself because it felt like a challenge not to ask anybody else in,” he says. “Really, though, I wanted to be able to play the record as it had been written. When you have a lot of featuring credits on an album, you can’t bring all of those people on tour, so you have

Yuksek tells me that in all likelihood, he will be back in Australia for some of our January festivals. He was last in the country in January of this year as a DJ, and I ask him how it went. “Some of the shows were really good, some were less so,” he says. “Field Day in Sydney was excellent – I played between The Rapture and Chromeo on that night.” What about some of the shows that weren’t so good? Yuksek laughs. “I don’t remember the city, but I played somewhere with a very small stage, without so much light, the equipment was really shit – the conditions were just really bad. I’d just come back from Sydney where I’d played a show in front of 20,000 people, and come to this next show which was just tiny and shit... Still, shit happens.” What: Living On The Edge Of Time is out now on Universal

“I saw a UFO but nobody believes me / I was 16 miles from home with nobody in sight” – SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM 44 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:10


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.

S

ydney promoters aren’t letting the cold months slow them down, with some monster gigs coming up. Electronica heads have a great run with gigs from Rockwell, Opiuo, Emalkay, Tokimonsta and Nosaj Thing, as well as the less frenetic but still very fresh Splendour sideshows from James Blake. And there’s also some colossal hip hop artists coming through town, with The Nextmen, Del, Big Boi, DJ Shadow and Wu-Tang Clan shows all appearing on the horizon.

Dixon

I

nnervisions boss Dixon will helm the eighth and final mix in the esteemed Live At Robert Johnson series. And to continue with the slightly ominous motif of finality, it will also apparently be Dixon’s last commercial mix, following his much lauded efforts Temporary Secretary, The Grandfather Paradox and my personal favourite, Body Language Vol 4. As anyone who enjoyed Temporary Secretary would expect, Live At Robert Johnson Vol. 8 contains plenty of Dixon edits, with tweaks of P. Éladan, Barnt and Mark E all featuring in what appears to be a fairly mellow-looking mix, that slowly builds towards more dancefloor-friendly terrain by its conclusion, via cuts from Roman Flügel and Todd Terje. The mix also showcases a few exclusive Dixon edits of other people’s remixes, such as a rework of Axel Boman’s remix of Kenton Slash Demon, and the Âme rework of Osunlade. In regards to everyone suddenly ‘washing their hands’ of the mix release format, a press release elucidates that both Dixon and the team behind Live At Robert Johnson are ad idem in their view that the format has run its course. From here on out, LARJ will only release EPs and unmixed compilations, “free of the rules that tempo, blending and arrangements dictate", a move that won’t surprise anyone who heard club founder Ata’s unmixed Robert Johnson compilation, which was more in the mould of an old fashioned Italo disco mixtape. Dixon meanwhile is purportedly set to concentrate solely on his club sets, productions and his label, Innervisions – which is a bit of shame, as he has been one of the few people who has consistently approached the mix-CD format with both flair and ingenuity. As for my picks of the Robert Johnson back catalogue for you to chase up, it’s hard to separate the Chloe and Prins Thomas mixes – and Dixon’s offering should be right up there too. We’ll find out once it gets released in early September… Tickets to Pulse Radio’s first boat party of the summer go on sale this week – July 1 to be exact. And though Saturday November 19 may seem a long time off, securing your ticket should make the inevitable winter lull that little bit more bearable. The cruise is headlined by hipster house proponents Hot Natured, the flourishing project from Jamie Jones, and L.A. party boy Lee Foss, who are perhaps best known collectively for their panty-droppin’ rework of MGMT, ‘Electric Jones’. Jones first sprung to notice via his cut ‘Amazon’ in 2006, and subsequently collaborated with Matthew ‘the goat’ Styles to create a remix of Fuckpony’s ‘Lady Judy’ that I often used to slip in to my DJ sets – something of a ‘Pimp Jackson is Talking Now’ of its time – before his single ‘Summertime’ pushed the Briton onto the mainstream radar. The track, which features vocals from Norwegian duo Ost & Kjex, could easily be taken as a straightforward house anthem – which probably explains its huge success with the tasteless masses – but it's slightly more substantive than it may initially appear, and rewards a closer listen. Since then, he’s gotten quite comfortable pushing strippedback, bassline-driven grooves that don’t quite do it for me – they lack that certain something, and slot quite nicely into that

LOOKING DEEPER FRIDAY JULY 8 Rockwell Tone

SATURDAY JULY 9 Tevo Howard Civic Underground

Vibrating Balance Label Party Inner-city warehouse

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 19

AGWA 011 ft Jamie Jones and Lee Foss Boat party whole ‘bubblegum’ hipster tech for neophyte pill poppers who don’t quite get ---- I’ll stop myself there, I’m getting carried away. Anyhow, grab your ticket to AGWA 011 and bring on summer. Woo, yeah, summertime, huzzah, etc… In something a bit more on the Balearic tip, Barcelona-based producer John Talabot will release his debut album through Permanent Vacation later this year. Talabot confirmed the news recently on Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space podcast, where he described the album as a “dark” LP that contained “electronic short cuts” based primarily on analogue sounds rather than samples. He confirmed that fellow Spaniards Pional and Delorean both appear on the album, and being in a rather verbose mood, proceeded to divulge that he had recently completed a remix for Tigersushi don Joakim, as well as contributing a track to a forthcoming Permanent Vacation compilation which is due for release this summer. While I ain’t a huge fan of nu-disco, Talabot is a producer who operates at the cross-section of various genres, and has had his tunes supported by the likes of Ewan Pearson and Al Usher, which is good enough to guarantee him a bit of coverage in this column on slow news weeks (like this one). While on Pearson, the erudite Englishman attracted a bit of criticism from the clubbing community for a post on his Enthusiasm blog, in which he stated that he’s not DJing in Israel as part of a political boycott. Pearson asserted, “Musicians are not ambassadors with carte blanche to go where we like as we’re spreading an implicit message of love. Too damn easy.” This was in contrast to producers like Daniel Wang, who presented a diametrically opposed view on the very same subject. “It begs the question… [as a DJ], can we choose our audiences, and should we? There are some places that we might not feel comfortable playing… but simply you are there to make common ground with people of another culture, so rather than preach behind a curtain, get out there and share”. If nothing else, this politically-charged debate does challenge the view that all DJs are vacuous puppets whose thoughts are geared entirely towards pills and breasts; here’s to proving that political debate and dance music are not mutually exclusive.

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

To this column’s mind, Opiuo is probably the most exciting Australian producer to emerge in recent times. Out of Melbourne, he’s an electronic wizard who fuses the raw energy of The Prodigy with the most polished electronic production. Think fat breakbeats, glitchy electronica, and futurebeats with a badass hip hop attitude. But far from coming from the inner-city club scene, he’s a child of the Victorian outdoor scene, which means there’s a hefty dose of psychedelia in his production as well, and – importantly - he draws on a massive range of influences to give his sets real crossover appeal. Opiuo’s reputation abroad is already well cemented; he’s toured the US on the Monsters Of Bass tour alongside leading US producers like Freq Nasty and Bassnectar. To get yourself up to speed you should check out his catalogue so far: the Physical Symptoms EP, and Boganus Proteinius EP, Slurp & Giggle LP, as well the new Squiggle EP. In his first Sydney headline show, Opiuo will smash up the OAF on Friday July 29, with support from JPS (of Melbourne’s The Operatives). Soul Sedation cannot recommend this guy enough – every time I’ve seen him he’s won over masses of people. On the heavier end of the spectrum, Birmingham dubstep producer Emalkay joins us in July for a night at Fakeclub. You can check out his body of work on Dub Police records. Alongside residents Rubio and Guillotine, he’ll play Distortion at Fakeclub on Friday July 15. There are yet more sounds from the Shogun Records family due to pass through Sydney (the Bass Drop showcase earlier this month was dope), with Rockwell – one of Mixmag’s 2010 Players of the Year – joining us from the UK. He’ll be pushing the sounds of future bass, experimental rhythms and some trusty old drum n bass no doubt. The Void fraternity are putting it all together under their Index banner at Tone on Friday July 8. Rockwell will be supported by ALF, The Abyss, Semper Fi and Void DJs. DJ Shadow has been all over the world with his Shadowsphere tour, and he’s bringing it to the Hordern Pavilion on Saturday July 30. With 50 Shadowsphere

ON THE ROAD FRIDAY JULY 8 Index ft. Rockwell Tone

FRIDAY JULY 15 The Nextmen Oxford Art Factory Emalkay Fakeclub

FRIDAY JULY 22 Tokimonsta, Nosaj Thing Oxford Art Factory

SUNDAY JULY 24 Del The Funky Homosapien Oxford Art Factory

FRIDAY JULY 29 Opiou, JPS Oxford Art Factory

SATURDAY JULY 30 James Blake (second show) Factory Theatre

SATURDAY JULY 30 DJ Shadow Hordern Pavilion

AUGUST 4 & 5 Wu-Tang Clan Enmore Theatre

SATURDAY AUGUST 27 Big Boi Enmore Theatre

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17 The Herd, Sietta Metro Theatre

shows under his belt already, I’m sure the set has been honed down to a fine edge. Die hard fans and promoters both will be smug as the Sydney Wu-Tang Clan show scheduled for Friday August 5 has sold out. Tickets are now on sale for a second show, Thursday August 4 at The Enmore. Soul Sedation is keeping the ‘new music’ section strictly local this week, with a small handful of Aussie artists making big moves: the Perth based soul/funk outfit Randa & The Soul Kingdom have put the finishing touches on their second album, What You Need. Fans of Sharon Jones, Amy Winehouse (pre-meltdown), and Charles Bradley should get on board the soul train. The record has been produced by Lance Ferguson of Bamboos fame, who has no doubt added a top shelf layer of gloss. Keep your ears peeled for lead single ‘The Things’, which has also been remixed by OKMa Flavours (aka London-based saxophonist and producer Jake Telford). Australian vocalist Fantine is back with her second single, ‘Eleven’. Her previous single ‘Rubberoom’, which you should have heard by now, sounded even better live than it did on the radio. You’ll have a chance to judge her potential for yourself when Fantine appears with her band at the Beach Road Hotel on Friday August 19.

Dj Shadow

And there’s a new The Herd record, Future Shade, on the horizon. ‘Signs Of Life’ is the lead single off the forthcoming album. It starts slowly, balladesque even, but the beats and hip hop intensity kick in half way through the track and it finishes with some balls. As always it will be worthwhile to check in with The Herd’s take on the issues of the day; they have a habit of painting our country with insightful clarity. Check it out when they launch their ‘Signs Of Life’ single at The Metro Theatre on Saturday September 17.

Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 45


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

club pick of the week

SATURDAY JULY 2 Don Rimini

Chinese Laundry, Sydney

Shrug & Golden Cage present:

Don Rimini (FR),

Asylum, John Glover, Neon Stereo, Darrius Bassiray, Dirty D & Ahab, Nick!, Dj Say What ?, Murray Lake, Mike Hyper $15-25, 9pm MONDAY JUNE 27 World Bar, Kings Cross Mondays at World Bar 16 Tacos, Pipemix free 8pm

TUESDAY JUNE 28 Bella Vista Boat, Sydney Harbour Flouded Speaker’s Under 18 2pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst Coyote Tuesday Kid Finley, Johnny B free 9pm The Valve, Tempe Underground Tables Myme, Ato, Gee Wiz, Benji, BC, One Am, Allstars 6pm World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic free 8pm

WEDNESDAY JUNE 29 Bank Hotel, Newtown Girl’s Night DJ Sandi Hotrod 9pm Harbord Beach Hotel Dj Chris Morrison free 9pm Marlborough Hotel, Newtown DJ Moussa 11pm The Hive Bar, Erskineville Vinyl Club 8pm World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall free 8pm

THURSDAY JUNE 30 Australian Hotel & Brewery, Rouse Hill Hook ‘n’ S ling 9pm

Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Botanics, Budspells, Bentley, Ability 8pm Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Club Al Levins, McInnes, Joe Gadget free 8pm Home The Venue, Sydney I Love Unipackers Steve Frank, John Young $5 8pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst 3 Things Hip Hop Approach Ozi Batla, Dialectrix, Joe New, 2Buck, Plutonic Lab, Tuka, The Last Kinection, Jonah, Victor Lopez, Gabriel Clouston, Rivals, LC Beats $5 (+ bf) 8pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst The College Party Kid Finley, Pee Wee Pete free 9pm The White Horse, Surry Hills Let Loose 7pm

Kato The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Propaganda DJs free (student)–$5 (at door) 9pm

FRIDAY JULY 1 Bank Hotel, Newtown Friendly Fridays Jeremy Kirschner, Paul Master free 9pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach Movement Kato, Victim, DJ Huwston, Mason & Bennett, Preacha free 8pm Blue Hotel, Woolloomooloo Friday Shines The Groove Academy, Sarah Hyland Duo free 6pm Burdekin Hotel Lava Lounge (Top Floor), Sydney Rosey, AxleMax, DJ Ritchie Rich, Dj Cue 8pm Candy’s Apartment Liquid Sky 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney The Mane Thing, Alf, Ritual, Bounce Crew djs, jamie What?, Flash Hubbard $1520 10pm Club 77, Kings Cross Sideways Fridays 10pm Cohibar DJ Jeddy Rowland & DJ Mike Silver free Cronulla RSL DJ Michael Stewart free 8pm FakeClub Giuseppe Ottaviani $25-30 8pm Goldfish, Darlinghurst Funktank Mike OConnor, Fabz, Drop Dead Ed 9pm GoodGod SmallClub Dereb the Ambassador $15 8pm Gypsy Nightclub Nik Fish, Amber Savage, Matrix, Tom-E, Just Corz, Shadower $22 9pm Home The Venue, Sydney Digital Therapy Adam Byrne, Big J, Likewise DJs $10 9pm Jacksons on George Ultimate Party Venue Lenno, Aladdin Royale free 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Devola, Hobophonics, Julian Sparrow, Starjumps, Kristy Lee $10 8pm Le Panic Social Network 8pm Oatley Hotel We Love Oatley Hotel Fridays DJ Tone free 9pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst 16 Bit (UK), Singha, Bad Channel, Glove Cats, We Monsta, Them Kids,

Dance CLub DJs $25 (1st release)–$35 9pm The Gaelic Last Night Joel Gion (Brian Jonestown Massacre, DJ Set), Red Ink, Particles 8pm Tone Nightclub, Surry Hills Twist & Shout Dylabolical $5 9pm Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Bring on the Weekend! DJ Matty Roberts free 9pm

SATURDAY JULY 2 Bank Hotel, Newtown Slynk, Busta free 9pm Blue Hotel, Woolloomooloo Saturday Night Deluxe Damien Goundrie free 8pm Bungalow 8, Darling Harbour Bungalow Nights free 9pm

Candy’s Apartment Ritual 8pm Cargo Bar, Darling Harbour The Institute of Music 9pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Don Rimini (FRA), Asylum, John Glover, Neon Stereo, Darrius Bassiray, Dirty D & Ahab, Nick!, Dj Say What ?, Murray lake, Mike Hyper $15-25 9pm Coach and Horses Hotel, Randwick Retro Night free 8pm Cohibar DJ Mike Silver & DJ Anders Hitchcock free CO-OP 2nd Birthday Party DJ Hari, CO-OP DJs, That Keen! DJs $30 9PM Dee Why Hotel Kiss & Fly Ben Morris, Kaiser, Olsen 8pm Eleven Nightclub, Paddington Inspector Dubplate, Gemini (UK), Doctor Werewolf,

The Last Kinection

“I love it when I have you in my arms / I love it when you’re holding me you make me feel so me” – SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM 46 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11


club guide

send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com Creeptown, Bruxism, Enochi, Dainbread DJ’s, 3 Bit DJ’s, Scoops 8pm Empire Hotel, Darlinghurst Empire Saturdays Empire DJs free 9pm Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills Gemini (UK), Inspector Dubplate, Doctor Werewolf, Creeptown, Bruxism, Enochi, Dainbread DJs, 3 Bit DJs, Coops $30 (+ bf) 11pm GoodGod SmallClub Slowblow feat. Any Hart, Softwar, DJ Dreamcatcher, DJ Jungle Snake, Slowblow $10 10pm Hotel Chambers, Sydney Red Room Trey, Naiki, C-Major, Troy T 8pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Ultimate Party Venue DJ Michael Stewart free 9pm Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst Alison Wonderland, Frames, F.R.I.E.N.D.S DJs free 8pm Le Panic Blow 8pm Manning Bar Downlink 9pm Maquarie Function Centre Soul Good 6pm Metro Theatre, Sydney Sneaky Sound System, Beni $35 (+ bf)–$40 (at door) 8pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Phatchance, Coptic Soldier, Jon Reichardt $12 (+ bf) 8pm

Phoenix Bar, Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Phoenix Rising Dan Murphy, Johan Khoury, Mark Alsop $15 5am Q Bar, Darlinghurst Whatever Ben Lucid $10 10pm Selina’s, Coogee Bay Hotel Black Magic Brazillian Costume Party 9pm Sydney Showground, Homebush Bay Prophecy - Chaos Rising Neophyte, Evil Activities, Alpha2, Tha Playah (The Netherlands), Neophyte Record All Stars, Max Enforcer, Mad Dog, Panic (Netherlands), The Beholder, Balistic, Weaver, Suae, Nik Fish, S Dee, Pulsar, X Dream (Germany), MC Losty, Erase MC $49 (+ bf)–$100 (premium) 6pm Tone Nightclub, Surry Hills Rabbit Hole Estaban. Andy+Mike. Rabbit Hole DJs (cbDj & DJ Nick La Rosa), RUFUS $10 The Forbes Hotel, Sydney We Love Indie $10 9pm The Gaff, Darlinghurst Johnny B 9pm The Polo Lounge and Supper Club, Darlinghurst Robopop $10 10pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham! Wax Motif, Disco Punx, Alleyoop, Starjumps, Money Shot, Deckhead DJs $15–$20 9pm

Watershed Hoted The Watershed Presents... Skybar

SUNDAY JULY 3 Bank Hotel, Newtown Kitty Glitter free 4pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Picnic Sundays DJ Jamin 6pm Bedlam Bar, Glebe Soundwave Sunday Fake Club, Kings Cross Spice Murat Kilic, Kerry Wallace $20 4am Jacksons on George Aphrodisiac Industry Night free 8pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Session DJ Tone free 7pm Petersham Bowling Club Sunday Jump Kojo $10 2pm Sweeney’s Rooftop Sundaes Hanna Gibb, Ty $10 12pm The Hive Bar, Erskineville Revolve Records DJs free 5pm The Tea Gardens Hotel, Bondi Junction Anthony K, Demolition, Gee, Gary Honor Anthony K, Demolition, Gee, Gary Honor free 4pm Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour DJ Brynstar $25 World Bar, Kings Cross Disco Punx free 6pm

club picks up all night out all week...

Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst 3 Things Hip Hop Approach Ozi Batla, Dialectrix, Joe New, 2Buck, Plutonic Lab, Tuka, The Last Kinection, Jonah, Victor Lopez, Gabriel Clouston, Rivals, LC Beats $5 (+ bf) 8pm

Levins

WEDNESDAY JUNE 29 World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall free 8pm

THURSDAY JUNE 30 Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Club Al Levins, James McInnes, Joe Gadget free 8pm

SATURDAY JULY 2 CO-OP 2nd Birthday Party DJ Harri, CO-OP DJs, That Keen! DJs $30 (+ bf) 9pm

FRIDAY JULY 1

GoodGod Small Club Slow Blow feat. Andy Hart, Softwar, DJ Dreamcatcher, DJ Jungle Snake, Slowblow $10 10pm

Chinese Laundry, Sydney The Mane Thing, Alf, Ritual, Bounce Crew DJs, Jamie What?, Flash Hubbard $15-20 10pm

Metro Theatre, Sydney Sneaky Sound System, Beni $37.50 (+ bf)–$40 (at door) 8pm

Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Devola, Hobophonics, Julian Sparrow, Starjumps, Kristy Lee $10 8pm

SUNDAY JULY 3

Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst 16 Bit (UK), Singha, Bad Channel, Glove Cats, We Monsta, Them Kids, Dance Club DJs $25 (1st release)–$35 9pm

Bedlam Bar, Glebe Soundwave Sunday Shane Burgess, Jae Sneddon free Fake Club, Kings Cross Spice Murat Kilic, Kerry Wallace $20 4am

Ozi Batla

BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 47


snap sn ap

propaganda

PICS :: DM

up all night out all week . . .

lyrics born

PICS :: KC

16:06:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

paddle emporium

PICS :: TL

18:06:11 :: The Metro Theatre :: 624 George St City 92642666

It’s called: Last Night It sounds like: Your rock’n’roll wet dream. Who’s spinning? Joel Gion (Brian Jonestown Massacre), Randall Stagg, PhDJ

demon parade

17:06:11 :: Tone :: 116 Wentworth Ave Surry Hills

Three records you’ll hear on the night: ‘2 Hearts’ – Digitalism; ‘The Bay’ – Metronomy; ‘Helena Beat’ – Foster The Peopl e

And one you definitely won’t: ‘Beautiful Girl’ – Sean Kingston Sell it to us: The Brian mother-ucking Jones town Massacre. ‘Nuff said. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Getting felt up on the couch on the top of the bleachers. Crowd specs: Superbabes repping both sexes , the guy at the bar shouting everyone shots, that girl somehow making a Blossom hat work. Wallet damage: $15 Where: The Gaelic Theatre / 64 Devonshire St, Surry Hills When: Friday July 1

strike bowling

PICS :: AM

wham! 18:06:11 :: Strike Bowling :: 122 Lang Road Moore Park 1300 787 453

48 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11

PICS :: DM

party profile

last Night

PICS :: CG

17:06:11 :: LO-FI Collective :: Floor 3, 383 Bourke St Surry Hills

18:06:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700 :: CAI GRIFFIN:: ASHLEY MAR :: S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER THOMAS PEACHY :: :: SON VEN STE ICK PATR :: RKE DANIEL MUNNS :: KATRINA CLA


BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11 :: 49


snap sn ap

hot damn

PICS :: CG

up all night out all week . . .

potbelleez

PICS :: CG

16:06:11 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

get loose

PICS :: KC

16:06:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

PICS :: AM

chinese laundry

PICS :: AM

17:06:11 :: Q-Bar :: 34-44 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93601375

david dallas

PICS :: KC

18:06:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958

17:06:11 :: GOODGOD :: 55 Liverpool St. Sydney 92673787

bungalow 8 18:06:11

PICS :: AM

party profile

3things’ Hip Hop Approach

:: Bungalow 8 :: 8 The Promenade Kings Street Wharf

50 :: BRAG :: 418 :: 27:06:11

It’s called: 3things’ Hip Hop Approach It sounds like: High-powered Aussie hip hop, infused with a social conscience.

Who’s playing? Hosted by Kween G (of the KillaQueenz), and featuring Ozi Batla, Dialectrix, Tuka, The Last Kinection, DJ Gabriel Clouston and visual jams by VJ Spook. Sell it to us: Some of the best local hip hop acts issues that relate to us all – and the three things jamming on the global things for the better. Plus an epic freestyle sessiowe can do to help change n to top it all off. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The all-in freestyle jam featuring all the MCs on the lineup, and a few surprise came os announced on the night. Crowd specs: 18+ hip hop lovers young and old, your local hip hop supporters, a scattering of indie fans, and a bunch of socially-conscious party-goers. Wallet damage: $5 on the door / all proceeds go to Oxfam Australia Where: Oxford Art Factory / 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst When: Thursday June 30, 8pm

:: CAI GRIFFIN:: ASHLEY MAR :: S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) MAS PEACHY :: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER THO :: SON VEN RKE :: PATRICK STE DANIEL MUNNS :: KATRINA CLA




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