The Brag #428

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

five minutes WITH

LUKE DELLA SANTA, BOOKER OF THE STANDARD What makes The Standard different from other venues in Sydney?

Like many venues in Sydney, we love what we do and want to see the communities we help evolve! I guess what makes us different is that we have the ability to delve into everything we love. We aren’t just a live music venue, but you will be seeing all your favourite bands there; we’re not just a theatre, but expect two-week-long runs of both local and international shows; and we’re not an art gallery – well, not every day, anyway.

T

ell us about the Standard?

The Standard is a brand new venue that’s taking over a space which has been lying dormant for about the last 15 years. Around a year ago it was rediscovered, covered in dust, with broken timber floors and

screaming to be used again. When you walk into the venue, you’ll feel like you’ve stepped into a world somewhere between a New York City loft/warehouse and that sweet house party five years ago that your mates are still chatting about. All this, and a ridiculous PA!

What drove you to start something like this?

The project came from a few like minds, common ideas and shared passions: music, art, comedy, theatre, burlesque and booze.

Lo-Fi Collective, a weekly low-brow art night, started the space off, and pushed it to what evolved into a multi-purpose performance space. The closure of venues in Sydney has obviously played its part; I think that, since the closure of The Hoey, everyone has constantly had this “let’s find new spaces” mentality. We were lucky enough that our space will be able to handle anything and everything from live music to aerial, burlesque and theatre.

RICHARD IN MY MIND

Take acid (don’t do drugs) and go see Richard In Your Mind, The Laurels and Fishing at Goodgod Small Club on September 23. Richard In Your Mind are launching their third album SUN, a record that promises less mental experimentation, more live drumming and more singing wistfully about the sun. Sounds good.

But then again, so did all the experimentation in the headspace and the acid… They are just good, I guess. Go to this show! (Spoiler alert: it’s our indie album of the week, too…)

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EXPLOSIONS IN MY BRAIN

Panic! At the Disco

JOIN THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION

Soundwave Revolution may have been cancelled, but as Che Guevara once said, “For every cancelled revolution there shall be a counter-revolution, so buck up, sprites!” (The Bumper Book of Che-facts, Puffin, 1982). September 25 at Sydney’s Luna Park Big Top is when this particular Counter-Revolution occurs, and leading the charge is Panic! At The Disco, All Time Low, Yellowcard (‘Ocean Avenue’ is perfect pop-punk), Story Of The Year, Face To Face, The Damned Things, Set Your Goals, The Pretty Reckless (fronted by an underdressed Jenny from Gossip Girl) and about fifteen other killer bands.

Get tickets to this; it’ll sell out quick.

Explosions In The Sky make incredibly epic, beautiful, profound-sounding music and I’m not sure quite how they pull it off – but I will be studying and taking notes and doing all kinds of equations when the Texan five-piece come back out to play The Metro Theatre on December 11.

There aren’t any vocals, so why does it make me feel this way? WHY? Stop making me feel things with your music! It’s alchemy! WITCHES!

CAMDEN

Camden are only three demos and five gigs into their career, but can already pull a Morrissey

Tell us about the history of the building?

Got a week? In the 1930s the venue was a funeral parlour – it apparently even had an underground tunnel that led to a crematorium, but we haven’t found this yet...

In the 1990s, it was the undisputed home for Sydney’s creative culture. It had a cult following as a theatre/restaurant, played host to comedians like Jimeoin and Wendy Harmer, and acts like The Beastie Boys and Public Enemy did live sets, as well as icons like The Lemonheads and Dirty Three. Kylie and Michael were often caught pashing in the toilets, and Prince almost did a exclusive set… The guards didn’t like his shoes. Ha. What sort of programming can we expect?

Please, expect everything. But keep a particular eye out for bluejuice, Custard, the Changing Lanes after party and the return of Lo-Fi Collective, coming soon...

What: The Standard launch, featuring bluejuice Where: Above Kinselas, Taylor Square When: September 15 More: Official Changing Lanes after party on September 17 / Custard on September 23

like nobody’s business. They’ll be headlining Insert Coin(s) at the Oxford Art Factory on Thursday September 8, which is the same night as Sparkadia are playing… Big competition for a little band, so Camden Chan’s decided to make it interesting: “Anyone who can create an idea of why people should come to see us and not them will win two free tickets.” Dem’s fighting words. Start creating reasons, you guys – and let them loose over Facebook.

HALL. OATES. ICE. HOUSE.

If you have a heart condition, then you’d probably best avoid the Sydney Entertainment Centre on February 8: Hall and Oates AND Icehouse are playing together, which means massive, massive ‘80s ballads, keyboards that will tear a hole through a pacemaker like a wet piece of toast, and more huge choruses and key changes than any concert promoter could ever actually get a permit for. It’s going to be incredibly dangerous – and considering Hall and Oates actually sang backup on Icehouse’s ‘Electric Blue’, we cannot in good conscience promise you they won’t team up for a rousing version of said track. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday September 7. Wear a hard hat.

Gotye

JD SET

Jack Daniels turns 161, and while I plan to spend that particular milestone floating in a Walt Disney-esque chamber of suspended fashion, Jack Daniels and the JDSet have grabbed Art vs Science and asked them to cover a bunch of Icehouse classics. That works too, I suppose. Injecting these covers with some awesome girliness will be Kate Miller-Heidke and Patience Hodgson from The Grates and that ‘19,20,20’ song. It goes down Thursday September 15, at Upstairs Beresford, and tickets are on sale now.

CAITLIN PARK

Caitlin Park sounds like a lovely place to read a book or play with strangers’ dogs, but it’s actually the name of a delightful singersongwriter whose debut album Milk Annual is like walking through an old Hollywood film, where everything is warm and overexposed and a little woozy, like you’ve drunk too much cough syrup and forgotten to eat for a day…

Plus Holly Throsby sings on it (Park sang on her last album Team, so H-Throz totally owed her).

She’ll be launching the record on September 29 at FBi Social, and if you miss it, she will track you down. Probably.

PEATS RIDGE LINEUP ANNOUNCED

I know we made plans to watch seasons 3-6 of Boy Meets World this New Year’s Eve, but that was before I saw the Peats Ridge Festival lineup. Gotye (or ‘Yeezy’, as he is known round these streets), Salmonella Dub, Dum Dum Girls, Xavier Rudd, Stanton Warriors, The Holidays, Mountain Mocha, Hermitude, Thundamentals, and many, many more are heading down to ring in the New Year at the idyllic Glenworth Valley. This is only the first group of acts to be announced, but we hear rumours (read: have seen the full list), and trust us: it’ll be worth getting in early on that ticket purchase… It all goes down on December 29 - January 1, and tickets go on sale at 10am on Monday September 12.

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rock music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things BJENNY MONTERO FROM MONTERO [MELB] Growing Up I went to 13 different primary schools, so 1.

I’ve never been comfortable with stability. I mainly kept to myself and drew comics to sell to kids during school. On the weekends I was forced to play old standards on the piano in the nursing homes my mother worked in, to entertain the residents. I befriended an old man at one of these places who taught me how to write my own songs, and when he died he left me his jukebox filled with old doo wop 45s.

Inspirations I love the songs of Jimmy Webb; 2.

Shakespearean actor Richard Harris sang them the best. Lots of dramatic emotion.

And sometimes Richard Harris sounds like Calculon from Futurama, which is cool.

3.

Your Crew A wonderful, handsome, powerful, sensual group of sensitive and inspiring men. Great musicians and excellent dudes.

It’s the first band I’ve played in where it’s a pleasure to just hang out with everyone. It’s a new feeling, because bands have always seemed like miserable boot camps that made me mental. I get to play in Geoffrey O’Connor’s band, which is fantastic fun, and he’s a brilliant songwriter. I occasionally play bass in Guy Blackman’s band; another one of my favourite songwriters. I’ve never

FUTURE OF THE LEFT

‘To Hell With Good Intentions’ by mclusky is one of the greatest songs of all time, so when they split up and the singer and drummer formed the very similar Future Of The Left, we sulked and avoided them, because we’re petty like that (it’s one of our most endearing traits). Well, we’re finally ready to admit that Future Of The Left are actually pretty amazing, and we might even be at their show at the Annandale Hotel on December 8. Tickets go on sale Thursday September 8 – but you know, whatever…

BOY AND BEAR AND BOY AND BEAR

For a band with such pretty, laidback harmonies, Boy and Bear inspire a sense of urgency in their fans that borders on insanity. You all went and sold out their Enmore Theatre show (Saturday November 5) – and because they are so nice, they’ve agreed to do another the following night, when they were planning on spending a relaxing Sunday night with 60 Minutes and Antiques Roadshow. Tickets on sale now. Orderly line please – no shoving.

CHANGING LANES MK II

The first release of tickets for Changing Lanes has sold out; we’re not really surprised seeing as the lineup includes PVT (formerly Pacifier/ Danimals), Gareth Liddiard, Papa vs Pretty, The Vasco Era, The Snowdroppers, Lanie Lane and Bleeding Knees Club. The second round of tickets is now on sale and the second round of acts is on display. Here’s a list of sexy names: Cameras, Big Scary, Canyons DJs, Brous, Ellesquire, Spookyland, The Black Cherry DJs, Domeyko/Gonzales DJs, Colonel Dubya P Flawstane. Pretty good, hey? $33, or $27.50 for FBi Radio supporters. (Don’t forget it’s on Devonshire Street, in and around the Gaelic Club, this year – not Newtown.)

OH YE STICKY FANFARE

Megastick Fanfare, those squelchy, percussive Sydneysiders, are teaming up with “Brisbane’s synth-y psych-y Oh Ye Denver Birds for an East Coast tour. There’s Brisbanes and Ballarats aplenty, but the date that caught my eye was October 21 at Spectrum. $10 pre-sale, or $15 on the door for those who don’t plan two months ahead. (Chumps.)

Custard

not played in a band with Gerald Wells; he’s an ex-choirboy, so soul brother can really harmonise. I’ve always been a massive fan of Cam’s drumming, plus he lives with Bobby Fresh Bravington, who I was recording with even before the band was formed. So it’s all just kind of fallen into place naturally.

The Music You Make Pop/shmaltz/glam/prog/post-mellow/ 4. wave-wave/man-core. We’ve been recording at secret locations, and we’re about to start an album soon. Expect a manic romantic show with lots of love on and off stage.

Music, Right Here, Right Now There is lots of good music around and 5. there are lots of supportive amazing people who make up the various scenes. I’ve not run across anything to complain about at all. The only obstacle is yourself and your own insecurities, which you shouldn’t have because you’re wonderful. Hello Sydney – let’s get loose.

What: Mumbai b/w Rainman is out now With: Domeyko/Gonzalez, Erik Omen, DJ Shesh Besh Where: GoodGod Small Club When: Thursday September 15

Springtime always makes for the perfect festival vibe. The winter chills have begun making their way up to the northern hemisphere and scorchers are few and far between, meaning that you and your buddies can dance and party all day and all night, without passing out at 7pm from sunstroke before the headliner even comes out. Bring on Coaster Music Festival then, which is set for Saturday September 17 up in Gosford. The allAustralian lineup includes some of the finest Aussie acts around, with John Butler Trio, Jebediah, Little Red, The Potbelleez, Bag Raiders, a recently re-formed One Dollar Short, Horrorshow, Tim & Jean, Gold Fields and our cover star, Drapht. And it’s only 76km from Sydney! We’ve got three double passes to give away. If you want one, let us know the last thing you used as a makeshift coaster…

BIG SCARY CHURCH PARTY

MORE BANDS FOR AWME

Australasian World Music Expo has announced another wave of artists set to perform at the four-day expo (November 17-20 in Melbourne).

There are about 60 acts on the bill, but the main ones definitely seem to be called Blue King Brown, The Congos (from Jamaica, birthplace of Jah), Mista Savona, Katchafire, The Dynamites, Charles Walker, Mulatu Astatke, Black Jesus Experience, The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra and Skipping Girl Vinegar... OK, read the rest online – we don’t have this kind of time.

ROCK-WIZ/QUIZ... I GET IT!

NICK CAVE TRIBUTE

This November, as part of triple j’s Ausmusic Month, they are curating a series of tribute concerts to the not-dead-but-still-awesome-andworth-a-tribute-concert Nick Cave. November 17 is when it happens in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre, and check ouT that lineup: Adalita, Bertie Blackman, Alex Burnett (Sparkadia), Dan Sultan, Abbe May, Johnny Mackay, Jake Stone (Bluejuice), Kram, Lanie Lane, Lisa Mitchell, Muscles and Urthboy. Tickets already on sale!

The Standard is a brand new music and arts venue that’s gone ahead and plonked itself in the heart of Taylor Square (above Kinselas), taken the back half of September, and pretty much claimed it for themselves. They officially launch themselves onto Sydney on September 15 with a cheeky Bluejuice gig (those lads have another album out pretty soon, we hear...), on September 17 they keep going with the Official Changing Lanes Afterparty, and on September 23 they will be owning your soul with Custard’s first Sydney show in 12 years. CUSTARD. October had better be amazing, that’s all we are saying…

COASTER FESTIVAL

When I read the words ‘Big Scary’ and ‘Gladiator’ in my inbox, my thoughts leapt to a dinosaur-filled medieval wonderland of heroic lion battles and fair concubines (and the odd wench). Seems I jumped the gun a bit, as ‘Gladiator’ is only the name of Big Scary’s latest single, from their forthcoming (non-seasonal) album Vacation. They are playing songs from it on October 14 at Paddington United Church, so if you’re gonna be there anyways playing the organ/drinking the wine, you may as well check out the band.

This December, I’ll be curling up with a blanket, a cigarette and a six-pack of beers to watch Rockwiz. At some point I imagine someone will come up to me and say, “Sir, you cannot smoke in here, take your feet off that chair, and you cannot bring takeaway beers into The State Theatre. Also, please stop scratching yourself intimately.” See, it’s Rockwiz Live, The Christmas Show, and it happens on December 2 at the State Theatre. It’s going to be funny, and Julia Zemiro is going to be funny. Plus it’s summer; I might not even need the blanket! (No, I probably will.)

THE STANDARD OPENS

After years of telling friends and family that a ‘birthday week’ is not asking too much, Jack Daniels comes along with a whole birthday MONTH to make me look positively humble. The folks at the JD Set are kicking Jacktember off with a party that’ll see Art vs Science take on the classics of Icehouse at new venue Upstairs Beresford, on Thursday September 15. They will be supported by Kate Miller-Heidke, Patience Hodgson (The Grates) and Tim Derricourt (Dappled Cities). If you want to win a double pass, just tell us what your favourite Icehouse song is and why.

A LONE SPARK

Sparkadia is touring again, because even though he is now a solo artist and not a band, he needs to do band-type things like tour every few months.

Luckily he is extremely good at it all, as you can see for yourself on Thursday September 8 when he storms the Metro Theatre with his backing band (who definitely aren’t part of Sparkadia because it’s a solo act now and not a band).

Metro. September 8. Storms.

Through word of mouth alone, and after only eight weeks on the market, Tunes For Change’s second release – The Seed Album – has received over 10,000 album downloads, with all proceeds going towards The Seed Fund. We caught up with Richard Wilson, the founder and managing director of Tunes For Change, about what his project is all about.

What is Tunes For Change?

It’s a non-profit organisation that digitally releases an exclusive album every three months. People download for a donation [amount] of their choice. All profits from album sales go to charity.

Why did you start it?

It seemed like a good idea, and one that’s never been done before. I love the Australian music industry, and wanted to help people and organisations in need.

What is it about The Seed Fund that inspired you to support it?

The Seed offers tremendous support to emerging Oz artists. There’s nothing like it around.

Who are some of the people that appear on The Seed Album?

Nick Cave, Angus Stone, Sarah Blasko, The Waifs, The Cat Empire and loads more. We also have a selection of the countries most exceptional independent bands, including Jinja Safari, Charlie Mayfair & Emma Louise.

What can we look forward to from Tunes For Change?

Our next album (early October) will consist of exclusive and never before released tracks from some of the country’s most popular artists…

To get your hands on The Seed Album, head to TunesForChange.org and download the release for whatever you think is a fair price! All proceeds go towards The Seed Fund: theseedfund.org

“Jesus must be the seventh son of God. A-sus, B-sus, C-sus, D-sus, E-sus, F-sus, G-sus” - EDDIE IZZARD 10 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

Custard Photo by Karin Catt 1999

WITH

JD SET

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The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Industry Music News with Christie Eleizer

DENIS HANDLIN EXPANDS HIS SONY REIGN

Denis Handlin is named Chairman & CEO, Australia & New Zealand and President, Asia, Sony Music Entertainment. In addition to his current responsibility over the label’s branches in Australia, NZ, South East Asia and Korea, Handlin is now responsible for China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India and the Middle East. He will

Lifelines Marrying: After 28 years together, Kiss’ Gene Simmons and model Shannon Tweed will marry on October 1.

Ill: The Vaccines had to postpone their US, Japanese and European tours after singer Justin Young has to have his third throat operation for this year.

Hospitalised: Slipknot/Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor underwent corrective eye surgery, which he says has given him 20/20 vision.

In Court: Screenwriter August Elizabeth Thomas, who’s been drunk-stalking former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, wanting to write a movie on his life. Thomas has been ordered by a court to stay away for two years.

Warned: Christina Aguilera’s lawyer wrote a stinker to US gossip site MediaTakeOut.com, after it posted a photo of her with her kid sporting a black eye, and suggested “child abuse”. The photo went down pronto.

Suing: Rihanna takes action against the companies that designed and inspected her new $6.9 million mansion in California.

She says the rooms are leaking…

Anyone got an umbrella?

Died: AC/DC singer Bon Scott’s mother Isa died in WA aged 94.

AC/DC gave her the VIP treatment and visited her every time they played Perth.

Died: Esther Gordy Edwards, 91, who helped her brother Berry build up Motown Records. She ran the international division, and was a mother to acts like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross.

Died: Detroit music journo Dan Sicko, of ocular Melanoma. His 1999 book Techno Rebels: The Renegades Of Electronic Funk was among the first to chronicle the rise of techno music.

Died: Grammy-winning blues musician David “Honeyboy” Edwards. At 91, he was believed to be the oldest surviving Delta bluesman.

remain based in Sydney and reports to Edgar Berger, President & CEO, International, Sony Music Entertainment. Handlin’s expanded role means that Adam Tsuei, President, Greater China (China, Taiwan and Hong Kong), and Shridhar Subramaniam, President, India and the Middle East, will report to him. Handlin has been with CBS/Sony for 41 years, and has spent close to 27 years as head of the Australian company.

ENTERTAINMENT ASSIST

Entertainment Assist is a new charity which launched last week to help performers and backstage workers (music, theatre, circus, dance) who’ve fallen on financial and medical bad times. Chairman Larry Ponting, of DPJ Audio, told guests and benefactors that most people who enter the business “do it for love, not the money”, and hence run into problems in their later lives. Mark ‘Trogg’ Svendsen, director of Gig Power which supplies production crews, recalled that when he started out, “the oldest person that I knew working in our industry was about 35 years old”, and work was plentiful in those days. Sam Lipski of the Pratt Foundation, a major benefactor, pointed out that what he liked about Entertainment Assist’s programs was they were as much about prevention as they were about helping. See www.entertainmentassist.org.au

JAY-Z & KANYE SUED

Jay-Z and Kanye West are flying high, with Watch The Throne going to #1 in 23 countries and becoming highest selling digital album in history for first-week sales for iTunes. But the bubble may be pricked by soul singer Syl Johnson, who claims they sampled his 1967 cut ‘Different Strokes’ without permission on the track ‘Joy’, and plans legal action. The 75-yearold has been sampled by Wu-Tang Clan, Michael Jackson and others. If successful over ‘Joy’, he’ll get a huge pay-out – but his previous suits haven’t always gone so well. He lost a $29 million legal challenge against Cypress Hill over a 1993 sample.

POSSE SPEAKS DIGITAL FUTURE

The Posse website’s inaugural ‘Music Social’ in Sydney and Brisbane drew enough interest for it to become a regular event. It was designed to help artists anticipate trends and new technologies in digital marketing and harness the power of a crowd. Posse founder Rebekah Campbell outlined how artists can promote themselves through the site. Gavin Parry (Chair of the ARIA Digital Committee and Head

of Digital at Sony Music) outlined digital sales models and opportunities. Ernesto Soriano III (Product Manager at YouTube) urged the crowd to “think epic”, “cultivate your content” and “find a geek, buy him a beer”. Lars Rasmussen (Founder of Google Maps and currently the Director of Engineering at Facebook) highlighted the two biggest technological trends of this decade: mobile and social.

MUSICNSW, SIMA, JAZZGROOVE GET FUNDING

MusicNSW, SIMA (Sydney Improvisational Music Association) and Sydney jazz collective Jazzgroove were amongst recipients of the Australia Council’s Annual Program grants for music organisations. They received up to $50,000 for operational costs. Altogether 26 organisations around the country — including the peak music associations in QLD, NT and WA — were funded to a total amount of over $1.1 million.

JEZABELS’ GLOBAL STRATEGY OUTLINED

The Jezabels became a success story by utilising US college radio and showcases at key events like CMJ, Canadian Music Week, SXSW, The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Music Matters and Reeperbahn. On Friday September 16, the band’s manager Dave Batty and Boston-based founder/director of The Planetary Group, Adam Lewis, will discuss their strategy.

Along with Sounds Australia’s Export Music Producer, Millie Millgate, they will share what to watch out for when breaking new territories, and the secret to The Jezabels’ rise. The event is organised by MusicNSW and Sounds Australia along with APRA, which is hosting the workshop from 12pm - 2pm at its offices at 16 Mountain Street, Ultimo. RSVP is essential; email siobhan@musicnsw.com.

MTV AWARDS: RATINGS, TWITTER, RECORDS

The MTV Video Music Awards in New York attracted 12.4 million viewers in America — the biggest audience for MTV since it began measuring viewership. And that moment when Beyonce rubbed her tummy mid-performance and let the world know she was pregnant sparked 8,868 tweets per second. Twitter said that rate was a record for the service.

Beyonce’s rub overshadowed everything else that happened during the awards, including Lady Gaga’s much hyped opening number as a greasy, leather-jacketed male. Gags was still in character when she gave Britney Spears an

THINGS WE HEAR * Researchers from the University of WA have found ecstasy can be used to treat blood cancers such as lymphoma, myeloma and leukaemia. The idea was first mooted six years ago at the University of Birmingham. * Australian guitarist Orianthi Panagaris, who famously was fret person for Michael Jackson, has landed a similar gig in Alice Cooper’s band. * Twilight vampire Robert Pattinson gave some money to a busking tramp in L.A. He later emerged from a music store with an electric guitar for himself and a red acoustic for the busker, to replace his tatty axe. * Someone was bound to do it: heading to Aus next year are Video Games Live, who play the theme music of iconic video games.

* Radio website Radioinfo reckons Fairfax and Macquarie Radio Network are close to finalising a deal on selling Fairfax Radio to MRN. Fairfax was pissed off with what MRN offered, but both sides have softened their stance. * Influential US blogger Perez Hilton twittered for Kimbra to perform at his CMJ festival party in New York. * One of the victims of America’s Hurricane Irene was Sebastian Bach, whose house of 21 years, featured on MTV Cribs, was totally demolished. * X Factor UK contestant Derry Mensah is Britain’s dumbest mugger. He was robbing a passenger on a train when a friend rang.

Mensah told him he was alighting at Selhurst station in ten minutes. The muggee told

We has internets!

www.thebrag.com Extra bits and moving bits without the papercuts 12 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

award for her video legacy – and tried to kiss Brits, who pulled back giggling, “I’ve done that before.” Spears turned up at the media room after her win, posed for three photos and left after 20 seconds. Someone tried to run onstage during Jay-Z and Kanye’s performance but got stopped by security. When picking up an award, Katy Perry joked, “Now this is the time when you wanna interrupt me Kanye,” referring to his infamous intrusion of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech two years ago. The new category of “video with a message” went to Rise Against's ‘Make It Stop (September’s Children)’, about suicide among gay teens.

EVERGUIDE GOES NATIONAL

The Everguide iPhone app, website and mobile site, which launched in Sydney and Melbourne in May, has gone national, with 18,000 listed events. So not only can you find a way to the 7,500 Sydney events, but you can plan ahead when you travel to other capital cities including Canberra, Hobart and Darwin (with directions as well). Everguide’s new features include ‘Near Me’ – where it locates where you are and finds the events nearby. Users can also add comments and upload photos to events.

GREEN DAYS

Roundhouse Entertainment celebrated the 10th anniversary of its A Day On The Green franchise with a slap-up party at the Sofitel in Melbourne, at which artists, winery owners, co-promoters and publicists were flown in from around the country and abroad. Mushroom Group’s Michael Gudinski, who co-owns Roundhouse with Mick and Anthea Newton and Premier Artists’ Frank Stivala, called the concept “a revolution in the Australian industry”, and recalled how the Newtons were one of the handful of marriages that emerged from “the Mushroom family”. Mick Newton in turn thanked Gudinski, Stivala and Phil Jacobsen for the advise they gave in turning the ADOTG brand from one Victorian winery to a national success story which has entered the NZ market and expanded to DVDs, CDs and merchandising.

NEW WEIRD AUSTRALIA'S VOLUNTEER NETWORK

In its third year of supporting the Australian underground and experimental music, New Weird Australia has set up a Volunteer Network, where volunteers with an affinity for that genre of music collaborate to develop the project. They’re looking for coordinators to oversee the website, events, tours, publicity, videos and artist development.

the cops, who were waiting when Mensah arrived. Result: nine months in jail. * Tupac’s mum is denying claims by his former band that they and she smoked his ashes at a beach celebration of his life. * Coffs Harbour's 106.3 2CS FM ran a Give Me 5 For Kids appeal which raised $35,000 for the Coffs Harbour Base Hospital to purchase equipment to assist babies and young children when they have breathing problems. * Digital radio trials in Canberra will be extended to July 31 2012, with 666 ABC Canberra joining the trials. * Darwin Entertainment Centre axed the October 23 show by US singer Taylor Dayne — they figured most of Darwin would be at the Cold Chisel show on that night.

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f you’d sat him down a few years ago and told Paul Ridge that in the first seven months of 2011 he’d be the only Australian artist to hold the #1 spot on the ARIA Album Chart, he would’ve laughed it off. Yet when we speak at the end of August, his fourth LP The Life Of Riley not only holds that title, but has also just gone Gold and received a J Award nomination. “Six years ago I wasn’t even getting played on the radio,” Ridge, better known as Drapht, points out. “I’m on cloud nine, and it’s something I still can’t stomach. I think I’ll only be able to stomach it when the touring dies down and I’ve got time to chill out and think about what’s happened over the last 12 months.”

For Drapht, that’s still some way off. His Party Party Party tour is growing by the day, with the number of dates nationwide currently around 20, spread over a six-week period.

He’s also making a point of visiting places that few other #1 artists make it to; Dampier, Mackay and Yamba are just a few of the regional dates announced so far. “I’m heavily involved with my social networking sites,” he explains, “and those are the places that we get the most feedback from.” Regional tours are hardly a new thing for Drapht, largely because he finds the crowds who experience less live music seem to enjoy it more. “They’re so hungry and so involved in the actual show, and so appreciative of what they’re seeing,” he says. He cites his last show, in Cairns, as a prime example.

Despite it being a fly-in, fly-out visit with 10 hours in transit – that’s each way – from his home in WA, he’s chalked it up as one of the best shows of his career. Things nearly went awry though, with a fan dislocating his knee as he came over the barrier. “I looked down and this kid’s leg just had shit popping out of

Drapht Clean Living

everywhere – or at least there was bone in positions that it shouldn’t have been in. It was a pretty terrible sight,” he recalls. “I mentioned it on Facebook, and the kid wrote on the comments that he was OK… He can’t wait for me to come back!”

We also talk about my last Drapht experience, his show at this year’s Splendour in the Grass. One on-stage comment stood out for me, that Drapht was participating in Dry July, and he’s quick to open up about it, confessing that “I’m actually not drinking any more [at all].” Despite being on the Party Party Party tour, and regardless of what the film clip for his latest single ‘Bali Party’ may imply, this isn’t a month-long fundraiser for Drapht any more – it’s a very serious attempt to get his health, and his life, in order. Because while a lot of artists sink a couple of drinks before a show, in Drapht’s case it was getting a little out of hand. “I just felt like I was relying on booze too much,” he explains. “Some of the shows – well, all of the shows – that I did in the past, I would have four beers before I went on just for a sense of Dutch courage, and to be comfortable.” Psychologically, he says, it was beginning to take its toll. “I hated

“I hated the fact that I relied on something.

I want to feel like it’s totally me 100% up there. I don’t want to feel like I need a substance to get me through.”

By Nils Hay

the fact that I relied on something, and I wanted to wipe that out of my whole psyche. I want to feel like it’s totally me 100% up there.

I don’t want to feel like I need a substance to get me through.”

Then there were the health implications. As a result of his sugar intake (of which the drink was a significant factor), Drapht has been battling stomach issues for years, and the only real solution was to cut the sugar out of his diet – and the alcohol with it. It came to a head this year, on the back of a hectic touring schedule which resulted in plenty of drinking.

“I was drinking a lot … obviously because I was getting a lot of free booze on my rider, and it was just something that came to my attention,” he explains. “I was feeling like shit, I wasn’t performing well enough, I wasn’t switched on with my interviews and that all came down to my stomach and my brain that was affected by the sugar.” Hangovers, chocolate and other sugar hits would bring on the brain-fog and render him almost unable to string a sentence together – the touring lifestyle that he had worked so hard to achieve was conspiring to bring him undone.

But now, two months into his abstinence, Drapht’s willpower is holding strong. “I tour with some of my close friends and they’re drinking like fucking camels in and out of each city we attend, and I’m the only one that doesn’t drink – and I was the biggest drinker out of the lot of them!” he says. Having started drinking around age 13, and a big drinker for much of his life, Drapht’s had to undergo a big mental shift, but he’s proven up to the

“I am two lesbians in a man’s body”- EDDIE IZZARD 14 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

challenge – and importantly, he hasn’t had to give up the party. “[After] the Cairns show, I didn’t get home ‘til after three in the morning, and I was completely sober – that was no substances whatsoever, no drugs, no alcohol, and I’m pretty proud of that.”

But what of that Dutch courage? “That was the hardest thing to grasp,” he admits. “I’ve done three shows sober. The first one was River Sessions in Mackay, and that was one of the worst shows that I’ve ever done. I just wasn’t comfortable up there. I wanted to get off as soon as I got up there, because I was constantly [thinking] that I needed something else to help me along.” It was the same story at Splendour; after ten years performing, Drapht was – for the first time ever – nervous about going on stage. “I was constantly talking myself out of it. While I was in the middle of songs, I was talking to myself like, ‘You’re going to fuck up. You’re going to fuck up. You’re going to fuck up.’ And I would eventually screw up my lyrics, something that I never do.”

He’s turned the corner though, and after his success in Cairns, he’s not only comfortable without the pre-show drinks, but incredibly proud that what he’s bringing to his shows now is 100% him, completely lucid and unassisted. “I’m getting better and better each show, and more comfortable with the fact that I don’t need alcohol any more,” he says. He’s already got that ARIA #1, the Gold record and the J Award nomination, but for Drapht, things are only going to improve from here.

What: The Life Of Riley is out now on Ayems, through Sony Music Where: The Enmore, Sydney (lic/all-ages) With: Muph & Plutonic, Thundamentals and Layla & Dazastah When: Friday September 16 More: Also appearing at Coaster Festival with John Butler Trio, Little Red, Something With Numbers, Jebediah, Bag Raiders, Horrorshow and more on Saturday September 17 at Gosford Showground, Gosford

HELP SAVE TONE - Wed 7th -

NIGHT RIDERS all star 80’s funk flashback

- Thurs 8th -

Popfrenzy presents SONGS FIRST SHOW WITH NEW LINE UP, w Tiger Choir

- Fri 9th -

SYDNEY SOUL WEEKENDER All vinyl, All soul, all night

- Sat 10th -

LAST MONTH OF SHOWS Please help save Tone by supporting our last month of shows while we find a new venue www.tone.net.au

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Space Is The Place presents

SAMIYAM (Brainfeeder) w EL GUSTO, ROLEO, PRIZE, ONETALK

- Sun 11th Grindin and Main Ingredients

ELZHI (Detroit) w BIG VILLAGE LABEL SHOWCASE, HAU (Koolism), OLOGY, FRENZIE

@tonesydney BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 15

The JD Set Art vs Science Go Electro Blue By Liam Pieper

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musical chops to reinvent and revitalise the classic tunes of Icehouse.

he exact date of the birth of Jack Daniel had been lost in the (boozy) mists of time, so the team behind The JD Set are claiming the entire month of September to celebrate as a precaution. For his 161st birthday this year, they’ve arranged a night inspired by and devoted to the classic Australian rock band Icehouse, featuring one of the biggest acts on the local tour circuit: Art vs Science.

Icehouse (originally called Flowers) were one of the most celebrated Australian bands on the pub circuit until 1980, when their debut album Icehouse received critical acclaim and rocketed up the national charts. Fronted by the legendary Iva Davies, they ended up selling over nine million albums, with eight releases hitting the top 10 and over thirty top 40 singles, including ‘Crazy’, ‘Electric Blue’ and the unofficial national anthem, ‘Great Southern Land’. BRAG tagged along as Dan Williams from Art vs Science caught up with Iva for a chat on songwriting, inspirations and how music has changed in Australia across the generations.

“I used to think that I wrote as an observer, not about things that happened to me or affected me,” Iva says. “Now, as I’ve been looking back as we’ve been reissuing the recordings, I realise they were a lot more autobiographical than I’d first intended, [and] it varies from song to song and time to time. Sometimes just a sound will inspire an idea, sometimes it will be specific to an instrument.”

The years have given Iva time to reflect on the

For the younger artists like Dan, this is a chance to get up close and personal with a musical hero; a chance that Iva himself had when he played alongside David Bowie, Roxy Music and Brian Eno. Iva notes that even with the proliferation of musical choice available these days, heaps of kids keep calling back to the classics for their kicks. “There’s so much more to choose from these days… The irony is that the 25 year old generation seem to be discovering ‘old school’, so I daresay that, [if I were 25 now], I might be listening to exactly what I was when I was that age anyway.”

work he did back then, and it turns out that the themes behind the songs run quite deep. For example, when asked whether his famous lyric about the Blue Mountains in ‘Great Southern Land’ is based on experience, he responds, “There’s no reference to the Blue Mountains in the song. There is reference to ‘mountains’, in a generic sense. I believe that the geography of this country – especially the mountain ranges – is the gauge of the true antiquity of it. To appreciate the ancient nature of the place, you just have to think about the time that erosion has

taken to form such a landscape.”

Iva’s legacy can be heard in the lyrics of a whole generation of songwriters, including the artists paying tribute to Icehouse at the JD Set. Joining the lads on this great experiment will be two of Australia’s greatest young frontwomen, Kate Miller-Heidke and Patience Hodgson of The Grates, as well as Tim Derricourt, the guitarist and co-vocalist of experimental pop outfit Dappled Cities. Together with the guys from Art vs Science, they’ll bring their considerable

And with Icehouse just announced to play the Meredith Music Festival, rumours are running hot that Davies might grace the JD Set with a little of the original magic himself… He doesn’t confirm or deny, but reminisces fondly on playing shows back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. “In Sydney it was a choice between the Bondi Lifesaver and the Royal Antler… The venues would be jammed, sweat dripping off the walls and everyone just knew how to have a great time.”

Who: Art vs Science, Kate Miller-Heidke, Patience Hodgson (The Grates), Tim Derricourt (Dappled Cities) and Purple Sneakers DJs What: The JD Set celebrates the music of Icehouse Where: Upstairs Beresford When: Thursday September 15

Brous Brous Almighty By Caitlin Welsh

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ophia Brous is already a little notorious in Melbourne music circles for being the youngest-ever director of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, taking the role at just 22 after returning from a stint at the New England Conservatory in Boston and promptly recruiting everyone from Paul Grabowsky to Kram and members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to come and perform. Now that she’s making thoughtful, widescreen, complex pop music – her eponymous self-titled EP is out later this month – she’s already resigned herself to being asked forever about why she “switched” from jazz to pop.

“I’m not really that concerned by those boundaries, in a way,” she muses. “It’s funny, people always reference the jazz with the music that I make now, and definitely it’s a very big influence. Everything we ever do or say is a culmination of everything that’s preceded it in our lives, and I threw myself into listening to so many different kinds of music, and I loved so much music – it’s interesting how that synthesises itself when you’re writing your own stuff. I really just go with whatever a song is suggesting.”

Her time in Boston certainly did influence her atmospheric EP, which glows with rich Lee Hazelwood reverb, cinematic arrangements and mad, shimmying flashes of exotica. “I was in the jazz department, but there was this thing called the contemporary improvisation department and I learned so much about, like, exotica, and all kinds of stuff – and film music,” she explains. “There was a class I

took there, [with] a teacher there named Ran Blake who was an amazing and eccentric character from Boston, an amazing pianist, and he was really obsessed with film noir music, and I was really inspired by that, and got really interested in that kind of music as well.”

But as much as she obsesses over sounds and atmospheres, Brous is a songwriter first and foremost, and speaks often of stripping songs back to their essential structures and stories, building the extraneous details like choirs and string embellishments back on top once she’s sure the bones are good.

“So often at the centre of those [classic film] songs are folk songs and stories, this sense of storytelling… they have these huge and epic production techniques, but at the core of it, there’s this space,” Brous says, explaining that that’s where the song “lives”, if you will. “I love that music, mostly because there’s something really immersive about it… That’s one of the things that you learn from studying jazz – there’s the song, but then there’s how you arrange the song.”

After her technical jazz grounding she’s also rediscovered her passion for letting her voice loose. “I love to sing, I have to say. I love it,” she gushes, laughing at her own dorky enthusiasm. “The live shows are partly exhausting, but I always come off stage really energetic, just buzzing, ready to play a show! ...But we’ve just finished.” Reports of her live shows have always emphasised her onstage charisma, her “swagger”, and the power of that voice: part choirgirl and part brassy nightclub belter. But live performance also allows Brous to get back into the heart and soul of the song in a way that busy studio arrangements don’t allow. “It’s a really different version to what we have on the record, because we don’t have all those parts there, those choirs and everything,” she says of playing the EP tracks live. “And then I love doing just solo acoustic or a duo, because it’s amazing how suggestive a song can be without all the different parts added to it. The songs don’t quite feel like they’re living until we play them live.”

What: Brous EP is out September 23 With: PVT, Gareth Liddiard, Papa vs Pretty, The Vasco Era, Bleeding Knees Club, Lanie Lane, Oscar + Martin, Big Scary and more Where: Changing Lanes Festival @ Devonshire Street & surrounds When: Saturday September 17, from midday Also: Tuesday September 6 @ The Vanguard

Ganglians Found Sounds And Sad Slackers By Oliver Downes

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un fact: Sacramento has one of the highest unemployment rates in the United States.

Given that, it’s perhaps not so surprising that friendly local psychedelic popsters Ganglians are somewhat preoccupied by the realities of life under late capitalism. ‘Drop The Act’, the track which opens their euphoric third full-length effort Still Living, is nothing short of a slacker call to arms, singer Ryan Grubbs hollering with frenzied glee: “this is a sad, sad song / for all you sad, sad people / why don’t you pick up the phone / and tell me what you’re gonna do?”

Recovering from the flu contracted on a recent tour, guitarist Kyle Hoover is chipper about the band’s situation. “Worklessness, joblessness, feeling as though you should be doing something with your life but are completely unable to do so. On [‘Drop The Act’] I know that Ryan’s trying to capture an ‘inspire our generation’ [vibe], but ... there’s sort of like a mocking sort of feel, like, ‘Yeah! Let’s get together and do nothing, guys!’”

A double irony, as in a few short years Ganglians (a play on ‘Gangly Aliens’ or ‘Gang of Aliens’ – take your pick) have compiled a small but impressive discography, their most recent effort being preceded by the sprawling lysergic spatter of Monster Head Room as well as their self-titled debut. Coming together over a shared love of Brian Wilson’s sixties songwriting (particularly the creepily beautiful Smiley Smile), Hoover also cites The Millenium’s Begin – “the most perfect studio pop record of the sixties” – as a vital touchstone.

Integral to Ganglians’ take on hooks and harmonies is their incorporation of found

sounds and samples, lending their songs a cinematic edge. “[We] like to give it that element of escapism,” says Hoover. “When you circulate that sound collage stuff, it makes it feel like you’ve created your own little universe ... we use [samples] for that purpose, [establishing] atmosphere ... But on [tracks] like ‘Things to Know’, they’re just plain silly – like you know, where the motorcycle builds up and he’s like, riding off into the distance.

While Still Living is rife with tongue-in-cheek touches, Ganglians are just as capable of offering songs up straight from the heart. “’California Cousins’ and ‘Sleep’ are much more personal songs,” says Hoover, “especially for Ryan, he was dealing with relationship issues and whatever else ... Half of the album is us getting together and jamming stuff out; half the [songs] were probably written in one night,” he explains. “Then there were songs like ‘Sleep’ that took us like weeks to figure out how we wanted it to work. It’s kind of a bit all over the place.”

Despite his recent brush with the lurgy, Hoover is keen to get back on the road – anywhere’s better than Sacramento. “We’ve been stuck at home, I’m at my folks’ house and Ryan’s able to couch surf wherever we are, but there’s a large period of time where we’re both jobless and homeless. We’re like, ‘When can we get on tour again so we don’t have to worry about life!’ That said, we’ve always both known that the best part about being in a band is writing a record and being in a studio and recording,” he says.

“It’s the most magical experience.”

What: Still Living is out now on Popfrenzy

“I’ve done a bit of Latin in my time...but I can control it ” - EDDIE IZZARD 16 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

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FIRST & ONLY SYDNEY SHOW IN 12 YEARS

CUSTARD

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...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead rail Of Dead’s latest album is their best work, but it’s not the one they’ll be remembered for. At the risk of pissing off a large group of people, their 2002 breakthrough classic, the one that made them famous, Source Tags & Codes was a pretentious record; worse, it was art rock pretense. Lauded beyond holding capacity, and totally weighed down by its own gravity; intense, and best taken so very seriously. Sayeth Pitchfork: Serious, intense post-something noise rock, made by and for intense dudes.

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years on Interscope Records and subsequent departure ultimately gave us the wonderful Tao Of The Dead. “There was a lot of interesting things about what [Interscope] did, and they did what they... they were very good at... they were very businesslike,” stumbles Jason. “[But] they lost the whole key element: that it’s not about business, it’s about music, it’s about art, y’know? ...It’s kinda one of those things where you’re happy and you’re fortunate that there are a group of people that are going to work with your lofty ideas.

I’ll take their live set over their records any day.

The chaos and uncertainty of their shows is jawdropping fun to behold – their dramatic presence is bigger than you feel, and there’s the added bonus that the sheer volume drowns out those trite, serious lyrics. If one were to, oh, take the live band part out of the equation and go by their recorded output, one would expect Jason Reece to be a doctrinaire, humourless, Fugazi-totin’ fundamentalist ideologue. But he’s none of these things. He has a sense of humour.

“You just have to definitely know how it works,” he says, of doing time with a major label. “It’s a bank, and they’re giving you a loan. Treat it like that and you’ll be fine. We did it as an experiment – it opened some doors, definitely, but I think it ran its course, and that’s what it came down to. We were like, ‘Okay, we’ve reached a certain point.’ No one was in love with each other anymore.” Intended or not, their departure from Interscope was very nicely timed with the quite dramatic disintegration of traditional structures of music distribution. “I think we were one of the first bands that sort of realised that you don’t need a major label in order to put out records. I mean it helps to get support no matter what, but you need a good vision, and hopefully the music will get you through, and get you to where you need to go.

Maybe the humour developed recently, but what matters is this: the band’s five

“The major label is a bank, and they’re giving you a loan. Treat it like that and you’ll be fine. We did it as an experiment – it opened some doors, definitely, but I think it ran its course...”

LAST MONTH OF SHOWS Please help save Tone by supporting our last month of shows while we find a new venue www.tone.net.au 18 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

/tonesydney

@tonesydney

“I feel like the major labels are still deciding who’s on top,” Jason continues. “Lady GaGa is still huge, y’know, she’s on a major label, and Beyonce – and it goes on and on... But it kind of just makes it harder for rock bands. I guess that in the end, for a rock band, it’s more smart to be on your own independent label and to get out of the whole pop mainstream trying to cater to that whole world, you know?”

Trail Of Dead’s response was to form Richter Scale Records – and after three puzzling near-misses, they got everything right with the release of Tao last February. Jason and cohort Conrad Keely have been developing their live sound as a four-piece unit since then. “It feels like we definitely have it together to make it a big sound. I know that the last time I came to Australia we had two drummers and a piano player – we were a pretty big band at the time.

I feel like we’re a little more confident about it, there’s no room for error. ...Or there’s more room for error! Who knows?”

A total highlight of Tao (although blogging fans will disagree) is the opus ‘Strange News From Another Planet’, with its centrepiece ‘The Ship Impossible’. “Songs like ‘Radio Cosplay’ or ‘Summer Of All Dead Souls’ – those songs stand out on their own,” Jason explains.

“When it comes to ‘Strange News From Another Planet’, we play the whole thing as a continuous song. I feel that from the whole record, that’s the one that needs to be played as a whole piece.”

In the wake of prior releases that unwittingly reeked of conceptual intent, it’s ironic that Tao Of The Dead was intended as a concept album.

Ironic, too, that listening to an album deemed ‘prog rock’ and ‘conceptual’ doesn’t make me want to kill myself the way that the idea itself does. But Jason is keen to point out that his use of the word ‘progressive’ isn’t an attempt to make Mike Oldfield seem cool. “It can be so many different things. We’re more thinking in the sense of maybe The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Who – where you’d write a tune, y’know, you’d write a hook in a song instead of this continuous ‘jam band’ vibe. There’s something to come back to; you’re not necessarily going to be completely distanced from it,” he explains.

“You don’t need to take a lot of psychedelics to follow the music.”

What: Tao Of The Dead is out now through Richter Scale Records With: Further, Grand Fatal Where: Manning Bar, Sydney University When: Saturday September 10

Photo by Ben Garrett

Dead Serious By Dermot Clarke

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Jonathan Boulet Loud Beats By Rick Warner

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n his early very twenties, and with one successful solo album already under his belt, Sydneysider Jonathan Boulet has finally moved out of his parents’ place – “Thankfully!” he quips. But despite taking that giant leap away from the nest, not all the creature comforts of home have been shunned. The garage-cum-studio in the north-western suburbs where he recorded his 2009 debut album is still intact – and when it came time to record his sophomore album, there was nowhere else he would rather be.

“It’s so much easier,” he explains, when asked why he didn’t opt for fancier digs. “You can just sit there and dick around on something that you don’t really need to, and you might get something good out of that, or you might not. If you’re in some big fancy studio, you’d be paying by the hour. [This method] allows you to just flow creatively and not worry about time constraints.” And Boulet is getting pretty accustomed to not worrying too much about time. The band’s album (despite recording the entire album solo, Jonathan constantly refers to Jonathan Boulet as a collective ‘we’ and not an ‘I’) was completed in May, but has been waiting

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in the wings as Modular Recordings organise a simultaneous domestic and international release set for the end of the year. They are also contending with The Case Of The Missing Artist; having sourced some cool cover art, Boulet admits that their management are having trouble locating the guy responsible. “When he’s travelling, no one sort of knows where he is…”

When the album is eventually released, Boulet reveals that the new direction may not be to everyone’s liking. “I don’t know how people will take it,” he says. “It’s more of the loud stuff.

Hopefully we can just keep pushing it louder and heavier, if we can.” A direct reflection of his punk rock roots, Boulet cites hardcore bands like Refused and Thursday as his influences instead of the expected pop wizards like Brian Eno or David Byrne. I ask if the new album pays some secret homage to hardcore? “Definitely,” he replies. “That’s where we started. I like to think that that’s where I came from. That’s how I started doing music so I always want to still be in that. There’s such a good thing that comes with the heavy scene. It used to be really communal – really about the music.”

“I don’t know how people will take the new record. It’s more of the loud stuff. Hopefully we can just keep pushing it louder and heavier... That’s where we started.”

This love of heavy music makes for an entertaining Jonathan Boulet live show, too. Their brand of pop is driven by a strong percussive backbone (Jonathan is also the drummer in Sydney band Parades), which leads to heavy, stomping reworks of the studio work – perfect for an outdoor festival. As the winter fades and another Australian summer looms large, Jonathan seems upbeat about how their new music will translate to the stage. “Since the beginning of the live shows, we’ve always been pushing toward louder and bigger – it doesn’t matter if it’s at festivals or not. It does help for the festivals though, because everyone just wants to hear loud beats and wants to dance, which is great for us because that’s all we pretty much do – just loud beats.”

The conversation drifts back onto punk music (and his love of Sacramento hardcore punks Trash Talk), before moving to what it was like for him growing up in suburban Sydney. Raised in the greater north-west, I put it to Jonathan that he probably should’ve been a footy player or a hard-trance kid. “No, I stayed well clear of, like, The Tav [Castle Hill Tavern] and The Mean Fiddler and all those places,” he laughs. Instead, the young Boulet took up skating – but the title of ‘skate rat’, a seemingly innocent description dreamt up by his label A&R, is now an annoying thorn in his side. When I tell him that I’m not going to bother with skating questions for this interview, he’s notably relieved. “Thank you – thank you so much!” he laughs again. “It was the Modular guys’ fault. They put [‘skate rat’] in the first bio that we had. You know, as it’s like a ‘point of interest’, and I didn’t hear the end of it from my friends. Like, the skating question, everyone is always like, ‘So is skating an inspiration for your music?’ and I’m like ‘Shut up! I skate every now and then, so what?’

The band’s summer festival schedule is filling up quickly; already booked are Brisbane’s Bigsound music conference, Newcastle’s Fat As Butter festival, Stonefest in Canberra, as well as the massive New Year’s extravaganza Pyramid Rock Festival. While I assumed that all festivals everywhere were a chance for bands to rekindle old friendships and get stupidly drunk with each other, Jonathan quickly dispels the big party myth. “Some people are really open to meeting and some people aren’t – they kind of want to be in and out and don’t really care.” Now that seems crazy. Who doesn’t want to party? “A lot of the bigger names have probably done it too much, and are just over it. They probably just want to hang in the hotel.” Hopefully Jonathan Boulet and band have a few more years in them before that sad fate eventuality occurs.

With: Empire Of The Sun, Flo Rida, The Living End, Naughty By Nature, Sparkadia, Cloud Control, The Jezabels, British India and more Where: Fat As Butter @ The Foreshore, Newcastle When: Saturday October 22

MOONSHAKES Every Tuesday / Bands & DJS / FREE ENTRY!

6TH SEPT Raw Africa A collection of afrobeat / african psych inspired sets by members of Djanimals, Domeyko Gonzalles, Decoder Ring, Whip Cream Chargers and others.

13TH SEPT Daisy M Tully Sooners Alex Fox

20TH SEPT Astral People Presents

Winter Coats James Domeyko Virgo Rising.

27TH SEPT Moon Holiday Fox Giraffe Season $5 Jack n Coke / $5 Vodka / $4 Boags Draught Facebook.com/moonshakes

www.theflindershotel.com.au, 63 Flinders St BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 21

Akron/Family Set Sound Free By Luke Telford

A

kron/Family are psychedelic in the most personable sense of the word, trading in the kind of amplified freak folk that circumvents much of that genre’s less fortunate idiosyncracies.

The late Trish Keenan of Broadcast defined the idea of psychedelia as a world “obtainable by questioning what we think is real and right, by challenging the conventions of form and temper� – and it’s an articulation which rings true for Miles Seaton, Akron/Family’s bassist and vocalist. Sitting in his family’s living room in Seattle, WA, Seaton comes across as quietly affable. His sentences are alternately clipped and labyrinthine, punctuated occasionally by gently bemused laughter. “[Her description is] pretty close to right,� he says. “I did have some hallucinogenic experiences when I was quite young, and they had me questioning if up was down. Just having that experience of questioning the world – that definitely has something to do with my definition of ‘psychedelic’.�

This perceptive restlessness pervades Seaton’s approach to music, acting as a stylistic catalyst to the part that he plays in Akron/Family as well as how he approaches sound in his everyday life.

From the brisk, bristling prog of ‘Everyone Is Guilty’ from the band’s 2009 outing Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em

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22 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

Free, to the heady tribalism of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Ed Is A Portalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; from 2006â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Love Is Simple, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear that this is a band who are not content to take traditional melody and song structure at face value. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I definitely try to set sound free as much as possible from agenda, and then try to suffuse it with as much character and personality and truth as I possibly can when Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m making music,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Things like reading John Cage or listening to abstract compositions or freeform music; Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had the good fortune of [having] those guide me to try to hear music in every day life. I really try to hear music everywhere.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also something that hallucinogens did; they turned ordinary sounds into music and ordinary images into paintings.â&#x20AC;? Â This is a challenging way to approach music, and accordingly, the styles and ideas traversed by the band on record are dizzyingly diverse and occasionally overwhelming. Live, their goal is to transpose as much of this giddy experimentalism onto the audience as possible by way of schizophrenic sets performed with precision and volume. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our performances are incredibly interactive; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just a presentation,â&#x20AC;? Seaton says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re energetically trying to confront people and encourage them to question their role in a situation.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so much about performing that I really love.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to quantify, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s this palpable feeling of connection to people around me that I really love.

I love performing rock music. I like making loud sounds. I love the feeling of sounds that are too loud peaking against my ears.â&#x20AC;? Â True to the traditional modus operandi of a psychedelic rock band, Akron/Family are also intrepid improvisers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; always a brave move for anyone prone to the brutally flippant scrutiny of indie rock critics. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ideally, we try to improvise as much as possible within the framework of a show.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s improvisation and not just jamming. All of us are good enough musicians that we can kind of jam, but I feel like improvisation takes guts, yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;know?

Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gotta kind of jump off, and sometimes that shit sounds bad!â&#x20AC;? he laughs.

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The title of Akron/Familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new record, S/T II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey Of Shinju TNT, alludes to a nebulous narrative concocted by the band to symbolise a kind of spiritual and essential return to form. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a story of us fighting internal complacency,â&#x20AC;? explains Seaton. The eponymous character, Shinju TNT, was borne out of the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experiences writing and collaborating with local musicians while living and travelling through Japan in late 2009 and 2010. Internet folklore has it that much of the album was concocted in an isolated cabin on the side of an active volcano; a novel idea which certainly fits with the recordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme of eruptive, catalytic rebirth. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shinju TNT was the weird totemic reference to this idea that we had of being reborn within ourselves. This idea of getting back to the explosive radiant energy that all of us really identify with in performance and with music,â&#x20AC;? he continues. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were so inspired by this explosive energy that we felt there creatively with all of the artists that we collaborated with, that it was really almost this shorthand reference for us [to] think about this character Shinju TNT. It was the cosmic birth and journey of this character, which was... Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s us freaking out, drinking too much coffee, being wild, and just going with it.â&#x20AC;? Â Although the title of the record borders on the absurd, the music is among the most accessible and beautiful theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve released. Seaton insists that the success of the album stems from the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s refusal to take its themes too seriously. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We definitely looked at it and were like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;This thing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this is ridiculous!â&#x20AC;&#x2122; But what do you do, make some sort of literal, dry reference to everything?â&#x20AC;? he asks. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plenty of white people telling stories about their lives, you know? I feel like itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s job or a performerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s job to point to magic in the world, that can easily be drained out. Life breaks you down, and I think art =should really ennoble the human experience as much as possible,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One way to do that is to allow yourself to be ridiculous!â&#x20AC;?

What: S/T II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey Of Shinju TNT is out now on Spunk Records Where: The Annandale Hotel When: Saturday October 1

TRIPLE J PRESENTS

TRIPLE J’S TRIBUTE TO NICK CAVE featuring the talents of

ABBE MAY - BERTIE BLACKMAN - DAN SULTAN - JAKE STONE - KRAM - LANIE LANE - MUSCLES - ADALITA - ALEX BURNETT - URTHBOY* - LISA MITCHELL - JOHNNY MACKAY WEDNESDAY 16 NOVEMBER - ROYAL THEATRE, CANBERRA THURSDAY 17 NOVEMBER - ENMORE THEATRE, SYDNEY SATURDAY 19 NOVEMBER - PANTHERS, NEWCASTLE*URTHBOY NOT APPEARING tickets from

CANBERRA - TICKETEK.COM.AU

tickets from

SYDNEY - TICKETEK.COM.AU

tickets from

NEWCASTLE - MOSHTIX.COM.AU

BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 23

arts frontline

free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com

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

five minutes WITH JESSE WILLESEE pondering if the props were organic to the character, and then dress the room poorly!

Where’s your heart right now – Sydney or LA? My biggest connection to LA is my sister Kit, an actress living alone in that monkey town. I suffer for not being able to work with her, she is the best performer I’ve worked with. And her personal wardrobe is impeccable. She has over 100 hats! I made a blog all about it called Kit Willesee Has One Hundred Hats.

Sydney artist, photographer, poet and performer Jesse Willesee is one super-busy dude, and someone we’ve kept an eye on in these pages for a while now. Recently back from shooting his new short film in the States, he’s got loads on just this month – a Fringe show, an installation at the main stage of Changing Lanes right before headliners PVT, and a new production of his photography/ art event Seven Hundred Photos, where seven simultaneous fashion shoots are set up for anyone with a camera to come and snap away at. We pinned him down for a few minutes to catch up.

Is there anything you’re not interested in doing? There’s plenty I don’t do! That’s why my installations or the group shows like Seven Hundred Photos are so collaborative.

I’m no good as an art department. People I’ve worked with on the hotel shows have a room transformed in two hours. I’d take two hours

What was new/inspiring/exciting about your latest jaunt to the States? Tell us about your film! I filmed around Portland, Seattle and Big Bear Lake in California. The film needed a lot of pine trees and lakes. It stars my sister Kit. Nothing was rehearsed until we were on location, though the lead character had been heavily developed to give backbone to the improvised scenes. It is called The Fish Still Sleep In The Lake.

What’s the plan for this instalment of Seven Hundred Photos? New artists, basically! Not one show has looked or felt like its predecessor - they take on their own unpredictable moods on the night. The event has an excitingly shambolic nature, as we do not intervene in the artist ideas for the rooms, so if someone wants to sit naked in the dark blaring Pet Sounds, we let ‘em!

What’s your favourite thing about the Seven Hundred Photos concept, and what about it do you think lends itself

to multiple reiterations of the event? It’s a uniquely modern concept that has only been possible for a few years. Ten years ago eight out of ten people didn’t have a camera with them at all times. I look at this digital photography saturation in a positive light – and I give people something to shoot.

The original show was me directing all seven rooms like a theatre production. Then I opened it up to other artists, so it’s an entirely different show every year.

What’s the deal with the Changing Lanes installation? Have you picked the photographers who’ll be taking part yet? I picked a troupe of female photographers who applied through the Yen [magazine] site. It’s a live photo shoot/slash pizza party on stage before the main musical acts. I’m basically the writer and director of these installations.

I know what I want the scenes to look like so I’ll work with artists or designers to achieve the look and feel of the original idea. Mostly I work with well-dressed friends who wear their own clothes. I like this as the clothes will always be true to them as characters.

CHANGING LANES

Changing Lanes Festival has decided to throw 20+ artists into the creative mixing bowl that will be Devonshire St after FBi has its way with it. One highlight will be Movement Stax: a GIANT ROTATING PYRAMID where artists like SMC[3], Sprinkles and Numskull will create an original character in their own unique style. If you want to get along, just tell us something that could be improved by being giant and rotating (keep it PG, please!) and you might pick up a double pass.

WITHOUT WALLS

We know you paid good money for that designer T-shirt with holes all in it, and hey, we were as surprised as you when it fell apart after one wash. If you’ve learned your lesson, come along to Without Walls Volume 3, a night of “wall-less, law-less” art on Thursday September 8 at aMBUSH Gallery in Waterloo. Five talented Sydney artists will be custom designing limited edition t-shirts on the night, and we are giving away two of ‘em; one gorgeous Mia Oatley design for the ladies and for the boys, a rad collab effort between man-ofthe-moment Sprinkles and shirty heroes Half-Star. To win, just email us your contact details and shirt size, and tell us your favourite sprinkle-dusted foodstuff.

What’s going on with you for the rest of 2011? It’s pretty crazy right this second. I have a poetry performance at Fringe Festival with a band of jazz musicians, some of whom may or may not also be in Thirsty Merc. I’m working on a five-minute comedy called Phoebe Walks the Dachshund and in postproduction on The Fish Still Sleep In The Lake. We’re taking Seven Hundred Photos to Melbourne soon, too.

MINCHIN VS ORCHESTRA II: THE RECKONING

Grab your canvas bags, black eyeliner, top hat and tails, because Tim Minchin Vs The Orchestras is back with a vengeance in early 2012. After selling out the first round of local shows in March this year and then smashing his way through an arena tour in the UK, Minchin is once again smushing comedy-rock up against the best classical ensembles in the country for all you uncultured convicts to enjoy. Whether you missed out last time or are clamouring for a second go, hop to it immediately because tickets are already on sale through Ticketmaster. He hits the State Theatre on February 3.

ART & ABOUT 2011

HARDY HA HA

Australia’s favourite foul-mouthed vegan Hamish Blake fetishist, Marieke Hardy, has a hilarious book out that goes by the name of You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead, which is almost certainly true. She’ll be appearing “in conversation with” TimeOut Sydney music editor Andrew P Street at Dymock’s on George St this Thursday September 8; she’ll also be reading from the book, taking questions and signing copies. For RSVP info and whatnot, check out the Facebook event.

We’ll have more coverage of the best public art festival out, Art & About 2011, in our next few issues, but for now, there have been a couple of exciting announcements this week.

First is the artist lineup for the fifth Laneway Art – seven amazing projects, from new work by yarnbombing queen Magda Sayeg, to inflatable furniture, and optical illusions the size of buildings. Then there’s also camera store Foto Reisel’s Foto Rally on September 24, a sort of photographic scavenger hunt with more than $4000 worth of prizes on offer.

You can register to take part online at www.fotoreisel.com.au

KANE HIBBERD’S ROCK SNAPS

Music photographer Kane Hibberd has an amazing exhibition on at Mart Gallery – he’s spent a few years in the photo pit for various publications and as official photographer of the Soundwave Festival, and also took out second place in the inaugural NME Music Photography Awards last year. Snaps on show feature artists from Metallica and Dave Grohl to Peaches and Cut Copy. Mart Gallery, 156 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills, until September 20.

DATE DAVID & MARGARET (SORT OF)

BIZARRE BAZAAR

Our favourite new pop-up market seems to also be the whole of Sydney’s favourite new pop-up market. Over 500 people wandered, sipped, danced, snapped and most importantly, bought, at the last one; it’s a big favourite with those fashionable folk down at VOGUE Australia, too. The next one is this Thursday, September 8, at theclub in Kings Cross; presented by A Series Of Fortunate Events and featuring some sweet DJs and the return of the crowd-pleasing photobooth, it’s the best place to snap up a no-one-else-will-have-it piece by the next big thing in fashion.

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Believe it or not, David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz have been reviewing, raving, ranting and agreeing to disagree for 25 years now. If you laid all the earrings Margaret’s ever worn while rolling her eyes at David’s tolerance for silly cinema end to end… well, it’s a lot of earrings. At The Movies is running a contest that could win you an invite to the 25th Anniversary Episode taping, which we’re assured will be “star-studded” – make a trailer for a fake film you think the duo would like to review, and the top ten will win a double pass to the taping; the winner gets to go to dinner and, of course, a movie with Margaret and David. More info at bit. ly/atmcomp.

TIGER TRANSLATE

The annual global showcase Tiger Translate is on again for 2011, and the call out for submissions is on right now. The event aims to provide an opportunity for Australian emerging artists to have their work seen by a whooooole bunch of the right people, and the finalists, as well as the winner, will be featured in the massive invite-only event on November 23.

(That’s last year’s winning entry up there, by Will Sun.) The theme this year is “Growth” – interpret that as you will. For info on how to submit your entry, check out www.tigerbeer.com. au/translate.

THE 5TH ANNUAL SYDNEY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 8TH – 11TH SEPTEMBER 2011

Q&A

SUPER

Eat your heart out, Captain America

By Tony Phan Rainn Wilson in Super Profane

FESTIVAL DIRECTOR

Stefan Popescu Is there a common thread running through this year’s selections?

This year’s festival is celebration of all things counterculture and everything that we are told not to like, but can’t help but be drawn to. We have Burroughs and his drug and queer culture, Better This World and Molotov cocktails, Dragonslayer and its skate-or-die culture…

Is there anything from last year’s festival you felt you had to try to top? Life and Death of a Porno Gang was a really controversial title… so that was going to be a hard one to beat for this year, but we managed to get Profane. I also try and have an “experiential” film - a large cinematic experiment - one that you have to be there for alongside a big audience and you’ll most probably won’t see again - last year that was Enter the Void and this year we have Trilogy (the first three Star Wars side by side).

Which film is most likely to have people walking out? Profane because it deals with a Muslim sex worker in a spiritual crisis. Love / Sick because some people might have visceral reactions to some of the films and possibly Reality Bites, because we have some confronting documentaries including one about the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, which also features a NY cop who shares a lot of his crime scene photos.

I

t’s starting to become a sub-genre of superhero films: everyday folks with big dreams ms and/or consciences (but no actual ctual superpowers) donning spandex ex to fight crime. For Super’s Frank D’Arbo, AKA The Crimson Bolt, wearing ng his hero suit is as significant as Lady Gaga’s next fashion adventure enture – I wear, therefore I am. Frank’s ’s costume is his second skin and, d, in that guise, he has the power to o push his world the right way round.

G

IV

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A W AY

Super is the Kick-Ass for the weirder, more mature, and more re spiritual spectators. It ticks all the boxes of the conventional superhero erhero film, but offers much more. Director ector James Gunn, whose zombie-schlock schlock 2006 directorial debut Slither has grown a cult following, has had d this film in the works for a while now. ow.

“Before I directed Slither, I wanted nted to show people I could direct and thought a short film might be the he way to do it,” he explains. “So I started rted writing Super as a short film but ut as I did, it took on a life of its own. There were no initial fireworks and there here was no big, grand idea but as I wrote it, the characters took hold of me.

The short film became a feature, re, and the story became about something thing far more than what I originally thought it was.”

Indeed, the character-driven plot Indee lot is gels Super together. Burgerwhat g rgeripping protagonist Frank (Rainn flippin nn Wilson, best known as Dwightt Wilson Schrute from The Office's US Schru incarnation) is inspired by divine incarn ne visions and soon joins forces with vision comic book seller Libby, AKA Boltie (Ellen Page), to punish lawbreakers eakers wife-stealers with elaborate and w te homemade weapons. Wilson and home Page, who were memorably last ast screen together in Juno, exude on scr xude naturalistic style that suited the a natu grounded-in-reality story – so Gunn groun seized the opportunity and worked orked them to the bone.

“The sscene where Libby tells Frank wants to be his sidekick, and she w all the dumb flips – Ellen does a n was physically exhausted,” he recalls. physic lls. “I pushing her more and more, kept p ore, so was difficult for both of us.. [And] that w the sc scene where Libby and Frank ank sit in ccostume by the blue trashcan shcan looking for crime was so incredibly lookin dibly We actually had to mess with cold. W colour of the film so the actors the co ctors didn’t look blue.” whole movie was quite difficult “The w ifficult [to sho shoot],” he adds. “I once went ent dinner with a trapeze artist from to dinn Cirque Du Soleil. I was like, ‘What What do you feel when you’re out there ere

swinging around?’ And he told me swing he felt nothing but fear, because that h was just afraid of falling the whole he wa time. I never really understood that until I made Super.” guy u marginalised protagonist in a As a m quirky indie film, it would be safe to assume that things end bleakly for assum Frank; but like the best superhero Frank films, it’s as much about discovering what’s within yourself as it is about ghting baddies. “I think we’re all fightin given superpowers, it’s just whether choose to use them or not,” we ch muses Gunn. “For instance, there are muse a lot o of people who have been given superpower of ‘plumbing’ but who the su running around L.A. trying to use are ru superpower of ‘acting,’ which they the su very cclearly don’t have. I’d love to have ‘can’t-get-AIDS’ superpower, or ‘not-make-a-baby-at-will’ superpower. ‘not-m not worth having a superpower if It’s no you h have to wear sunglasses inside X-Men’s Cyclops] and look like a [like X douchebag for the rest of your life.” douch

What’s the under-the-radar film people should really try and see?

Definitely Last Days Here (for the documentary aficionados) and A Man Called... Rainbo (for the comedy/weird cult film freaks).

Five years in, what have you learned? Don’t judge filmmakers on the types of films they make the weirder the film the nicer the filmmaker is.

Alternately, the “nicer” or more palatable the subject matter of the film, the more psychopathic the filmmaker generally is.

What would you like to see happen to SUFF in the next five years?

We would like to expand and diversify, maybe into something like SXSW. We would like to retain the same passion, cultural integrity, programming tenacity and uncompromising politics, yet still be able to pay for festival operations – and at least one salary.

Run Bitch Run

What: Super, dir. James Gunn Where: Sydney Underground Film Festival When: September 8 (Opening Night) & September 10 More: suff.com.au

MAD BASTARDS GIVEAWAY!

WIN!

A

re you a fan of gutsy Australian cinema? Do you like thoughtprovoking stories about individuals in marginalised communities? Do you enjoy supporting characters that turn up in the hour of need… to ask for cigarettes?

Are you into awesome Australian music like The Pigram Brothers and Alex Lloyd?

The correct answer is yes, and luckily it’s all wrapped up in one neat little Mad Bastards-shaped package for you. Thanks to those mad – um, lovely fellows at Paramount we have five Mad Bastards prize packs to give away, each with a copy of the film on DVD and a soundtrack CD.

To be in with a chance, tell us in 25 words or less about your maddest mate. Email freestuff@thebrag.com

BRAG :: 429 :: 05:09:11 :: 25

Transparency [THEATRE] Suzie Miller brings her controversial work home By Dee Jefferson

H

er name might not be as immediately familiar as, say, Tom Holloway or Lally Katz, but Suzie Miller is one of Australia’s hottest playwriting exports at the moment. Alongside Holloway, she’s carving out an international career with visceral, emotional dramas; her most recent play, Caress/Ache (about touch and emotion) recently underwent development at London’s prestigious National Theatre, and will premiere through groundbreaking physical theatre company Frantic Assembly (who brought their electrifying production of Bryony Lavery’s Stockholm to Sydney Theatre Company in 2010).

Katherine Tonkin and Suzannah McDonald

Smashed [THEATRE] Revisiting Lally Katz's raw look at youth and friendship By Simon Binns

I

n 2005, when Lally Katz’s play Smashed debuted in Melbourne, there seemed to be a rigid divide between the Melbourne and Sydney scenes. As Clare Watson, director of the show, recalls, “It was very much [the feeling that] there were Melbourne folk and Sydney folk, and never the two should meet.” In the past half a decade, however, the situation seems to have become a lot more fluid. “Now there seems to be much more crossover between collaborations and artists and theatre companies… and Lally’s a good example of that,” Watson says. Sydney has seen the benefit of this crossover this year, with Katz’s Neighbourhood Watch premiering at Belvoir to sell-out audiences and rave reviews; now, one of her earlier plays is being reworked for the Griffin Independent season, bringing Watson and the rest of the creative team along with it.

The story of two ‘besties’, Hazel and Ruby (played by Suzannah McDonald and Katherine Tonkin), Smashed is an investigation of female best-friendships. The pair are on the verge of adulthood and the future’s bright, but it seems they might be flying too close to the sun.

Watson had collaborated with Katz several times before they came together to work on Smashed. The play was originally sparked by a news story Watson saw about a horrific car accident. “There was a girl who was facing charges in court for a drink driving accident where she’d killed her friend,” she explains.

“The friend had stuck her head out the window to vomit and had hit three parked cars and died, so they were trying to work out what kind of culpability the friend who was driving had.”

With this admittedly horrible story as a starting point, Watson and Katz started talking about the intricacies, difficulties and fun of female best-friendships – in particular, remembering the vagaries of their adolescent relationships.

They quickly decided that they wanted to develop a show and set about finding actors who could help them do it. “Very early on we got Katherine Tonkin and Suzannah McDonald onto the piece, and much of the work was made from the rehearsal room,” recalls Watson who clearly had a great time making the show. “It’s a really fun way of working,” she adds with a smile.

With extra distance from their teenage years, coming back to this show half a decade later has seen the play shift and change. “The main change is that hangovers are a lot worse than they used to be,” laughs Watson. As far as the play goes, though, the changes seem to be more subtle.

“The script has stayed the same and the general aesthetic has stayed the same… but there’s been a mood shift,” she explains. “The whole piece fits much more in… nostalgia’s not quite the right word, it’s like a yearning for what’s been lost.”

Just as we must all be teenagers, we all have to grow up, and Watson has tried to instil a sense of that into this iteration of the work. “We’re accepting the fact that here we are as women in our thirties, and this is about the process of looking back and considering the paths that we’ve chosen and then in that kind of multiverse-theory way, being really wistful and yearning for the paths that we could have chosen and haven’t.”

It's a great opportunity for Sydney audiences to see an early work of a now-established playwright produced by the original team who made it so successful many years ago – now there’s no need to be wistful for the missed experience.

What: Smashed Where: SBW Stables Theatre, Darlinghurst When: Previews September 7–8; season from September 10 – October 1

Right now, however, Miller is in Sydney for the Australian premiere of her thriller Transparency – roughly two years after its international premiere at Northern Ireland’s Ransom Theatre, and roughly six months, she estimates, before Peter Carstairs’ screen adaptation is due to go into preproduction.

Set in a small country town over a hot Christmas season, Transparency revolves around two couples whose lives are powerfully affected by the disappearance of a local toddler. For one couple in particular, a lot more hangs in the balance than the life of the missing child – and the ensuing searchand-rescue mission will call into question everything they thought they knew about each other and their relationship.

Transparency had its genesis in Miller’s previous life as a children’s rights lawyer, including extensive (and harrowing) research into underage perpetrators of serious crimes.

“Issues around rehabilitation – is it possible, how do you guarantee it has worked, what responsibility does a child have for its actions?” she explains. “And the whole idea that if we say it takes a village to raise a child, where does the village go wrong when a child [commits a crime] – rather than asking ‘Why is the child like that?’ You either believe that a child is evil, or you believe that they’ve been made evil.”

When the play premiered in the UK, it provoked explosive responses – to Miller’s initial surprise. “In the UK I found that more people believe that you can be born evil, than [in Australia]; because of the Jamie Bulger case, they have really strong views about innate evil. But it’s interesting, because there was a very similar case in Scandanavia, and the exact opposite happened: these children had killed a child, and [those] people thought, well, it’s a tragedy, but are we going to throw two more lives away? And they decided to keep these two children in the community and rehabilitate them, and resource them against what had happened to them in the past. I

think Australia probably falls closer to the Scandanavian model.”

On another level, however, Transparency is about the far more quotidian issue of honesty and truth within relationships. “I think it’s a myth to think you really know the people that you’re with that well; all of us have our own secret lives,” Miller says. “There’s also that question of what does it cost you to tell the truth sometimes? Is it more damaging than not?”

Miller wrote Transparency in 2008, at which point she was juggling a part-time legal job with her writing. Shortly after winning the Kit Denton Award (for ‘Courage in Writing’) it was optioned by Carstairs (himself a former lawyer), and picked up by Ransom Theatre – at which point Miller’s writing career took off and she was able to quit law. These days she is mostly based in London, where her husband is a human rights barrister.

“I think I’m just a storyteller,” Miller says of her career shift. “I used to write all the time before I went to law school, and then [that] just kind of took over my life for a little while. But I’m fascinated by people and characters – I can talk to anyone for hours, I’m just so fascinated by what makes them tick.”

What: Transparency by Suzie Miller Where: Seymour Centre When: Now until September 17

Boxing Day

[THEATRE] A playful new show about that day-after-Christmas feeling. By Emma Salkild

A

fter a full day of rehearsals for their upcoming show Boxing Day, actress Holly Austin and director Scarlet McGlynn meet me at the East Village Hotel in Darlinghurst. Munching on peanuts and pizza, I hear their laughter before I’ve sat down. The two of them perfectly balance one another: McGlynn is incredibly articulate and oozes calm, while the bright-eyed Austin cracks jokes and jumps around in her chair. “Every day has been a lot of fun,” she says. It’s easy to see why the 30-year-old actress has been cast as Boxing Day’s cheeky ten-year-old protagonist Freya, who lives in a sleepy seaside town called Rainwood in Tasmania. While the vivacious little girl loves Pictionary, Pig Latin and ‘80s slasher movies, all she really wants for Christmas is her family to be celebrating together.

has been portraying a child. “Kids have a beautiful honesty to them,” she says simply.

“They have a great way of calling a spade a spade. Adults can complicate things, and that’s the hardest thing as an actor, to just strip everything back and return to your instincts and don’t overthink things.”

“Freya is at that breaking point where she knows Father Christmas doesn’t exist,” Holly says. “She starts to see the inner workings of her family and who they truly are. Watching this vulnerable young girl change and face the world is sad but riveting and exciting.”

“All three of the performers are captivating to watch,” McGlynn explains. “Holly is great because she gets so involved in her work and has done so much research. A lot of people ask why we haven’t got a ten-year-old playing the character, but we didn’t want that because Holly has an emotional maturity that she brings to the role, and we’re tackling some big themes in this play such as grief, lies, honesty and family secrets. Also,” she adds, “having an adult play a child is inherently playful.”

This coming-of-age story has been in the pipeline for over two years; the initial inspiration came from a photograph of a young girl lying on the wall of a tidal pool, taken by a Scottish artist called Rona Lee. Since then, writer Phil Spencer, along with McGlynn and Austin, have been developing the show. For Austin, the biggest but most exciting challenge 26 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

Austin appeared as Rosencrantz in Hamlet at the Sydney Theatre Company earlier this year and, even in a supporting role, completely stole the show. In Boxing Day she is teamed up with AFI award-winning actress Annie Byron (STC’s Hedda Gabler, Calendar Girls) who switches between portraying Freya’s 9-year-old best friend and 70-year-old grandmother, and Alan Flower (Rake, Version 1.0) in the role of Freya’s dad – an oil-rig worker who’s glued to the TV whenever he’s home.

“There’s so much pressure surrounding Christmas to make it a day of celebration,”

Holly Austin as Freya in Boxing Day

Holly muses. “Christmas Day is often when everything gets whipped up and the following day is the day of reckoning, and this is true of this play. It really sucks you in. It’s sad saying goodbye to your childhood but it’s the next step to the big, adult world.”

Despite much prodding for more plot details, the girls are careful not to give too much away – just that audiences can expect some kind of mystery, and a rich story that cleverly mixes comedy and drama. “Any good comedy is also

very dark,” McGlynn says. “In any of those high points in life where there is tragedy, comedy is also present and I think that’s very true of this piece as well. It will have you sitting on the edge of your seat.”

What: Boxing Day Where: Old Fitzroy, Woolloomoolloo When: September 14 – October 1 More: rocksurfers.org

OPEN DAYS 10AM-3PM SEPTEMBER 10&11

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Arts Snap

Film & Theatre Reviews

At the heart of the arts Where you went last week. Photos by Tim Levy

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

13 Assassins

stand out. The story is actually pretty simple, but the balls-to-the-wall finale must surely go down as one of most exciting prolonged battle sequences ever filmed. 13 Assassins was already a stylish and moody historical drama; that sequence pushes it close to greatness.

Joshua Blackman ■ Film

THE CHANGE-UP

not pretty?

PICS :: TL

Opens September 8

25:08:11 :: metalab :: 10b Fitzroy Pl Surry Hills 83541398 ■ Film

13 ASSASSINS Opens September 8

motion / pictures

PICS :: TL

Sick of transforming robots, grumpy apes and patriotic heroes? Prefer stylish swordplay to a jumbled mess of incoherent CGI? Seek out 13 Assassins, a violent samurai epic from Japanese director Takashi Miike. Best known in the West for shockers like Audition and Ichi the Killer, Miike is so prolific that Assassins is not even his most recent samurai effort (that’d be Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, which premiered this year at Cannes). Being adept at dishing out the fake blood in a variety of sadistic ways, it’s no surprise that this movie is a trifle violent, but it’s also an energetic period piece with strong echoes of Kurosawa, which culminates in a 45-minute barrage of flailing swords and clever character development.

25:08:11 :: Gallery A.S. :: cnr Commonwealth St & Hunt St, Surry Hills

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

SYDNEY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL September 8 – September 11, The Factor y Theatre, Marrickville Martha Colburn's Dolls Vs Dictators (2011)

Comparisons to The Seven Samurai are obvious – even the structure is the same – though it’s also a remake of Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 film. Set in the 1840s, in the twilight of the samurai era, we follow midranked samurai Shinzaemon Shimada (Koji Yakusho), as he assembles a motley crew of 12 assassins to take down the evil Lord Naritsugu (Gorô Inagaki), brother to the Shogun, ruthless murderer of the people. The first hour is all setup – the veteran soldiers musing on honour and bushido while formulating their attack plan. Miike cleverly keeps the details of their scheme off screen, making it more of a thrill when they unleash their blades (and more) on two hundred of Naritsugu’s soldiers trapped within a small township.

On their way to battle they bump into the thirteenth assassin – a flighty wanderer found hanging in a net from a tree – and he gives the katana-swinging proceedings some levity. With this many characters, almost inevitably, some of them become interchangeable; but the leads, including Yakusho and Yûsuke Iseya as the mischievous Koyata (recalling Toshiro Mifune’s Kikuchiyo in The Seven Samurai)

Near the beginning of The Change-Up, there’s a scene where Jason Bateman’s character wakes up in the middle of the night to change his baby’s diaper. What follows is one of the most grotesque special effects shots I’ve ever seen in a movie. The film cuts to a close-up of the baby’s sphincter, the flesh either side of it undulating like one of the eggs from Aliens. Moments later, a torrent of toxic waste-coloured poop is gushing right into Bateman’s face; a second torrent soon follows, squirting right into his gaping mouth. I identified with Jason Bateman more than I ever have at that point – except it wasn’t a CGI baby taking a dump in my mouth, it was the whole movie, and The Change-Up continued shovelling poop into my mouth for the next hour and a half.

Bateman plays buttoned-down suburban dad Dave, and Ryan Reynolds his carefree, womanising buddy Mitch. The two both secretly envy each other’s lives, and for reasons too convoluted to go into but involving public urination, they end up switching bodies. This frees Dave up to chase hot chicks, and Mitch to play at being a dad while generally treating Dave’s long-suffering wife (Leslie Mann) like shit. Olivia Wilde also appears, but doesn’t get much to do in a role that mostly amounts to eye candy. It’s like the filmmakers were hoping that a talented cast of comic actors would be enough to distract from the puerile script and its lack of laughs, but that’s not the case. All four of the leads are great, but they deserve a hell of a lot better than this.

The problem with The Change-Up isn’t so much that it’s dumb, but that it has so little respect for its audience that it lets gigantic continuity errors just sail by. For example, there’s one scene where Leslie Mann’s character has explosive diarrhea, moaning something like ‘I gotta lay off the Thai food’. If you were paying attention, though, you’d have noticed that, a minute before, she and her family were eating a roast chicken dinner, so basically, the whole gag was cut and pasted from somewhere different, and they were just hoping you wouldn’t notice. That’s pretty damn sloppy, and indicative of the movie’s attitude as a whole. For the record, though, the roast chicken gave a hell of a performance – probably because, out of everyone, it seemed the least embarrassed to be involved in this movie.

Alasdair Duncan

The Change Up

W

e can’t emphasise enough what an important event this is on the local arts calendar.

It’s now in its fifth year of bringing the weird, wonderful, confronting and completely unexpected to Sydney screens. Last year saw Sydneysiders both applauding and storming out of one of the most notorious indie films of the year, Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers, and the SUFF isn’t about to start pulling its punches now; our pick is the moving The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, a must for fans of Throbbing Gristle and bizarre love stories alike. Check out our coverage on p.25, and hit up suff.com.au for programs, tickets and more info.

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See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

DVD Reviews

THE

Extras, extras...

SUPER POWERED

I KILLED MY MOTHER HEARTBEATS

CREW OF

Madman Entertainment Released August 31 anada’s Xavier Dolan is barely into his 20s, but he has already directed and starred in two features – I Killed My Mother, and its follow-up, Heartbeats. Both of them tell stories that draw on the adolescent experience – one dealing with troubled family relationships and the other with young love – and both feel as though they contain heavy elements of autobiography. In that sense, they’re no different from a lot of stories told by talented young people, who, lacking significant life experience, have to look inside themselves for inspiration. On the basis of this, you might assume that Dolan’s films are shallow and solipsistic, but that’s definitely not the case.

While both are flawed in some ways, both display a distinct lightness of touch and sense of humour, and watching them, you feel you’re getting a rare insight into the development of a singular filmmaking talent.

OUTCASTS

C

In I Killed My Mother, Dolan plays Hubert, a high school student whose mother (Anne Dorval) has a hard time accepting the fact that her son is gay. In the rare moments of calm between their tit-for-tat shouting matches, there is tenderness and understanding in their relationship; but when he is shipped off to boarding school and away from his boyfriend (François Arnaud), it’s war. Hubert has a narcissistic streak, and the film takes a pitiless view of him – it asks us neither to judge or sympathise with him, but

SOCIAL

RETURN!

just to observe him as he makes his messy way through the waters of adolescence. It’s not perfect – the shots are often static, and the supporting cast a little flat – but all the same, it’s a real and credible exploration of the way families behave during tough times.

2010

BAFTA

Heartbeats takes a far more simple and stylised approach, but is also the more sophisticated of the two films. Dolan and Monia Chokri star in it as best friends who are both infatuated with the same boy – a listless, blond Adonis played by Niels Schneider. He basks in their attention, but gives away no hint as to his actual sexual preference, and as the love triangle deepens, the strain on the friendship begins to show. Heartbeats is a beautifullooking film, which takes two greatly over-used cinematic tropes – montage and slow motion shots – and makes them seem somehow fresh again. It’s reserved yet sensual, with a colour palette that pops and a soundtrack that mixes classical and contemporary music to great effect. Dolan has been called a young Wong Kar Wai, and given the promise of Heartbeats, the comparison is definitely clear.

TELEVIS

ION AW ARD BEST DR AMA SERIES

Alasdair Duncan

Street Level

Michael Hing and Gen Fricker photo by Doug Cosgrove

With Michael Hing and Genevieve Fricker

T

hey love their comedy at the University of Sydney, with funny alumni including the world-conquering trio Axis of Awesome and countless shows that tour to international fringe and comedy festivals. The Best Damn Comedy Show Ever (Manning Bar, September 8) is therefore one of the hottest tickets at the Verge Arts Festival; it’s headlined by Greg Fleet and also features bright young things Genevieve Fricker and Michael Hing, both of whom have solo shows at the upcoming Sydney Fringe. We made the mistake of asking them to interview one another.

Hing: Okay, so, you do musical comedy and also stand up, what do you like more?

Genevieve: Musical comedy I guess. Because I have a really nice guitar. My turn. So, what’s your new show about?

Hing: It’s mostly about poor life decisions I’ve made, like, y’know, dropping out of med school, and... playing World of Warcraft.

Genevieve: Sure, we’ve all made bad decisions – like that time you got drunk at The Comedy

Store and asked me out.

Hing: Why would you bring that up?

Genevieve: That was really awkward. It was like you’d never asked a girl out before.

Hing: I’ve been described as an Asian Justin Vernon…

Genevieve: You are, at best, an Asian Michael Cera. I’d wager you’ve never felt genuine happiness or joy.

Hing: Y’know what, Fricker? I started the best comedy room in Sydney and have been running it week in, week out for three years, but do I get to perform at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival?

Genevieve: Invited to perform. Handpicked out of a thousand contestants. No big deal.

Hing: I spent three fucking years producing sold-out shows at that festival, and you come out with your little guitar and photogenic hair and everyone loses their fucking minds.

Genevieve: Is this because I got into the Raw final and you didn’t? Is this because I’m on triple j sometimes now? Why can’t you just be happy for me? I’m happy for you when you get your little gigs.

Hing: I was nominated as the best comedian in Sydney by TimeOut magazine. I don’t need your pity. Why don’t you write a song about how I made you what you fucking are?

Genevieve: Because unlike you, Michael, I write jokes. I don’t whore out my personal problems on stage for one out of a hundred people to find funny. Do your nerd fanboys keep you warm at night?

Hing: Do your piles of money keep YOU warm at night? You corporate harpy!

Hing: Genevieve Fricker’s broad, commercial show where she probably plays a guitar and wears a cute dress and everyone fucking loves her is on at 8:30pm at the Factory Theatre September 14-17.

Genevieve: Michael Hing’s barelyhumourous cavalcade of half-jokes and sad tableaux is on 8:30pm at the Factory Theatre September 14-16.

RLD! O W R U O YO uper powers following T N I G N I with ft with s CRASH ffenders le characters young o nd wild City… of weird a e gang of d th rl o o w w T w f Gotham s e o e n y a le o w h e In Seri w th a folk going torm, face cal towns a freak s lo d e rg a h c the superMisfits box set also available. Includes limited edition collector’s cards of the 5 main characters illustrated by Australian artists.

As seen on ABC2

OUT NOW on DVD from abcshop.com.au

and other leading DVD retailers

BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 29

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK GIRLS

Father, Son, Holy Ghost Inertia The impossibility of the Holy Trinity is familiar to Christopher Owens; the principal songwriter of San Francisco’s Girls fled his upbringing in the Children of God cult to make hardcore-inspired California tunes.

For their second full-length album, the band have aimed at the preposterous, seeking to unify the slick product and glory of heroes like Queen with the nailed-dry songwriting of Townes Van Zandt. It works – and it is very, very good.

By turns familiar and freaky, this record refuses to sit still or play nice.

It’s hard to resist the sunny ‘Honey Bunny’, as the surf guitars and gentle vocals swoon into a delicious bridge before giving way to a foot-stomping end. Rest assured that in spite of their eschewing much of the off-kilter steps of debut Album, the trademark weirdness is still in place.

This is most obvious as the crunching excess of a Black Sabbath-like riff abruptly shifts to the gentle woodwind denouement of ‘Die’. While Owens still writes about the most obvious of topics – girls – the oddness continues even during the most seemingly upbeat moments. During ‘Saying I Love You’, for instance, the guitars jangle about from above, as we look down with Owens to observe a vitiated lover with, “There goes my baby / Hard on the street”.

The mix of Owens’ restrictive childhood influences (no pop records, only music that appeared in films) with the sound of an emboldened band pushing itself creates some brilliantly tense and unexpected moments. Towards the album’s close we’re tripped up once more, as the honeyed vocals belie the sadness of the lyrics: “Too many times I’ve fallen in love / I guess the next time I’ll just have to give it another try.”

Benjamin Cooper

MALE BONDING

WILCO

NERO

NEON INDIAN

LITTLE DRAGON

Endless Now Sub Pop

The Whole Love Warner

Welcome Reality Mercury/Universal

Era Extrana Popfrenzy

Ritual Union Peacefrog/EMI

I’m pretty sure I dryretched when I saw the promo sheet for Endless Now – the poor lads have been dubbed ‘post-pop-punk’. Seriously, what is that supposed to mean? Is it post poppunk? Like this is a musical evolution beyond New Found Glory? Or perhaps post-pop punk? Like the band just listened to a bunch of Wang Chung records, which transformed them into anti-social, three-chord rebels?

(That’s actually completely plausible.) ...Deranged marketing aside, the three-piece’s sophomore LP is much more a continuation of their 2010 debut Nothing Hurts than it is anything postpunk-pop-esque.

In the end, Endless Now reminds you of bands that mastered lo-fi indie rock almost two decades ago, and did it better.

At this stage in their career, Wilco are in danger of falling into the Pearl Jam trap of steadily releasing records that try to bolster great ideas with slightly uninspired sketches. But while The Whole Love is indeed too long, and sags in the middle, the pieces that prop it up are particularly strong.

Opener ‘Art Of Almost’ recalls ‘Kidsmoke’, but uses Can instead of Neu! as a point of reference. It splutters to life with reeling synth drones and circuitous percussion, blooming into a musique concrète textural wash.

There’s a tidal swell to the swirling arrangements and push/pull dynamics that feels genuinely exciting. We’re led through convoluted funk and moody ambience to a Krautrock stampede laced with guitar shredding, and it never feels dull or indulgent.

‘I Might’ follows; a glorious, vintage Wilco rollick, accentuated with a passive-aggressive keyboard earworm and creaking bass. But by the time the chipper ‘Dawned On Me’ sets in, you should be twigging to the schtick – the central arc is Wilco at their most mundane. To their credit, each of these tracks is superbly arranged, particularly the eloquent fingerstyle guitar and sympathetic room acoustics shared by ‘Black Moon’ and ‘Rising Red Lung’, but these are countered by the precious alt-country plonk of ‘Capitol City’ and ‘Whole Love’. The record finishes on the quietly stunning ‘One Sunday Morning’, which centres on a melody designed to tug gently at your sappier tendencies.

It acts as a stylistic reprisal to the first track, holding your attention with a shifting arrangement that leans into heady ambience and back again. A beautiful twelve minutes.

The Whole Love is a reluctant success, in that it convincingly bookends comforting (read: boring) classic rock with more adventurous arrangements and songwriting.

Rick Warner

Luke Telford

With producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Jawbox, Sonic Youth) at the helm, this album is deeply entrenched in early ‘90s indie rock aesthetics; fuzzy guitars and drowsy, reverb-drenched vocals are the constant. Album opener ‘Tame The Sun’, with its garage rock riffs and languid My Bloody Valentineesque vocals, kicks off proceedings well, and ‘Can’t Dream’ is catchy as hell, and the best representation of the sloppy, carefree sound they are pushing. But without much breadth in their songwriting scope, the songs do begin to all sound very similar. Acoustic ballad ‘The Saddle’ is a refreshing point of difference, while the impressive sixminute ‘Bones’ manages to blend all of the band’s shoegaze, punk and pop influences into one blistering track.

There’s neither elation nor dissatisfaction when Endless Now concludes. The songs are a fun listen, which is exactly what the band is aiming for, and there’s nothing obviously wrong with them. They are unfortunately − for the most part − just unremarkable.

Dubstep's sure come a long way from the menacing UK 2step garage sound that grumbled out of the underground all those years ago. Nero has always fallen between the genre cracks, maintaining a steady presence in the dubstep / DnB scene, but with their debut record they’ve shown not only that they can reference dubstep without drenching everything in high-pitched wobbly reverb, but that they have a keen sense of melody too. Welcome Reality is a futuristic, dystopian landscape of sound that nods to electro, disco and house influences.

Lead single ‘Me And You’ drips with bombast, featuring a bass line that feels more like a stadium rock riff and lends it an infectious energy, while ‘Innocence’ is anything but – its throbbing bass grimaces and snarls against Alana Howard’s crooning vocals, and shows a stylish restraint that makes those dubstep drops all the more powerful. Meantime, the electro tracks are titanic in sound and soaked in grandeur – ‘Fugue State’ and ‘Doomsday’ are full of dramatic, choppy synths that wouldn’t be out of place on a Justice record, and show that Nero have more than just a few wobbles up their sleeves.

Alan Palomo AKA Neon Indian came to the fore with his 2009 debut LP, Psychic Chasms, which won him a spot in numerous top 10 and year-end lists. Worthy praise indeed, but earned on the back of the re-appropriated ‘chillwave’ fad – a tag that unfortunately went from buzzword to punchline in a matter of months. Neon Indian and many of his contemporaries were regarded with sceptical eyes, curious to see if they could remain relevant after the wave had broken. Thankfully Palomo, much like his fellow pioneers Washed Out and Toro Y Moi, has proven himself to be much more than just another buzzband.

But while ‘Crush On You’ tries to fuse the '80s pop sound with a modern dubstep breakdown, it falls disappointingly flat – it might have looked good on paper but it comes across as confused, and the shuddering screeches in the breakdown become tired, fast. Similarly, ‘My Eyes’ tries to tackle too much at once, and underwhelms instead.

Recorded while living in Helsinki, Finland, Era Extrana (Spanish for ‘Strange Era’ or ‘She Was Weird’, depending on context) finds Neon Indian in a much darker soundscape compared to his upbeat debut. While his signature 8-bit flutterings still abound (think Sonic the Hedgehog running through a whole line of gold rings), they are now laid subtly underneath a more muscular shoegaze influence, evidenced particularly in ‘The Blindside Kiss’.

Lyrically, Palomo crafts an atmosphere of isolation and uncertainty that is at once unsettling but comforting in its familiarity, with lines like “It’s the closest you can get to feeling like you’re at the edge of the earth…” adding a pleasant tension to the whole record. Overall, though, the sound moves fluidly from Monster Movieesque dream-pop (‘Era Extrana’), to M83-style synth-scapery (‘Halogen, I Could Be A Shadow’), to signature Neon Indian slow-disco (‘Fallout’).

Welcome Reality is grandiose and devastating when it keeps things simple. Thankfully, the epic nature of the better tracks means you don’t really notice the few times that the ball gets dropped…

Era Extrana reveals Neon Indian to be an artist completely sure of himself and his sound. This record will no doubt earn Palomo another round of well-deserved top-10 and year-end listings.

Marissa Demetriou

Digby Woods

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK RICHARD IN YOUR MIND SUN Rice Is Nice If you want to sell records, the accepted methodology has always been to hone a sound, polish it and give each record some time to spew singles. AC/DC did it, Kings of Leon are doing it and, with their latest album SUN, Richard In Your Mind refuse to.

In only three albums, the Sydney band have learned the lessons that took names like Neil Young ten: if you

32 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

put your music first, people will follow – even if you’re breaking all of the industry’s rules.

Following last year’s critically lauded and Australian Music Prize-nominated My Volcano, RIYM have taken another evolutionary stride: layers of electronics and samples have been reeled in from the directionless experimentation of My Volcano, in favour of a more focused and condensed approach. Like all of RIYM’s work, SUN is unashamedly inspired by both '90s indie and '60s counter-culture, the acid trip dreamscape and child-like vocals of ‘Vision’ at odds with the lethargic 7am lullaby, ‘Tear Filled Ocean'. ‘Dimension’ is on the lazy end of the trip as well, echoed snare beats driving moaned

vocals under reverbed keys – but it’s their revelry in the playfully upbeat that sees their most assured victories, the blissful ‘Maybe When the Sun Comes Down’ and ‘She Took The Sun Away’ unabashedly smile-inducing. Once the opening three tracks clear though, the album floats in chilled lethargy; not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s the dip that makes this the lesser younger brother to last year’s My Volcano.

Equally as comfortable in serene indie-pop territory as they are amongst floating stoner sessions, SUN reveals Richard In Your Mind as a band with the freedom and capability to explore their whims.

Max Easton

Although Little Dragon are now three albums into their career, the band and their enigmatic frontlady Yukimi Nagano have only really come to the fore of late – due partly to collaborations with Gorillaz and David Sitek, as well as Nagano absolutely killing it on SBTRKT’s ‘Wildfire’. After such stellar cameos, Ritual Union had a name to live up to.

Like overseas tap water and most Nic Cage films, the band’s sound is familiar yet inexplicably strange at the same time. There’s something in Gothenburg’s water to thank for both Nagano’s lithe pipes and the band’s eclectic use of synthesisers and percussion, which in unison manifest into an oozing marriage of R&B, electronica and …weird. Sometimes it’s as if Nagano is using her voice not as a voice but as an instrument, making the album feel like a sedative as you’re lulled into hypnosis by its perpetual, synthetic plod. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but when SBTRKT’s ‘Wildfire’ showcases the gusto this pocket rocket has, you can’t help but think it’s exactly what some songs on Ritual Union lack.

Thankfully, Little Dragon pull you out of this potential trance the only way they know how: with moments of sheer brilliance. ‘Summertearz’ (forgive the name), is a subtly beautiful cut that trots pleasantly along its almost-dissonant synth backbone and Nagano’s multiple vocal layers.

‘When I Go Out’ features two minutes of instrumental jazz shuffle, topped by shimmering strings that even Vangelis would be proud of. And ‘Crystalfilm’ is a shadowy exploration into a dark jungle, with just the clothes on your back and a dim gaslamp to light your way: “Who is sneaking in, sneaking in on me?”

Little Dragon’s third offering meanders down the same foible-laden path as before, with flourishes in all the right places.

Rach Seneviratne

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

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming RYAN ADAMS - Love Is Hell Pt. II MSTRKRFT - Fist Of God

BEIRUT - The Rip Tide BEACH HOUSE - Devotion

BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 33

gear guide a beginner's guide to...

WITH STEVE SMART MASTERING ENGINEER @ STUDIOS 301

Subtractive Synthesis I

Now, imagine the signal flow like this: our signal starts with our oscillator. Simply put, the oscillators make the noise. A standard analogue synthesiser usually has an oscillator that produces at least three types of waveform – Saw, Pulse and a sub-oscillator that produces the same tone 1 or 2 octaves below the first two waveforms. These waveforms can be produced simultaneously, and their volume is controlled by either a mixing fader or knob.

By themselves these oscillators may sound a little ‘thick’ and droning, a little like a loud computer hum; this is the ‘whole tone’ from which the subtraction begins.

Generally the first stop in ‘shaping’ your sound after the oscillator is the low pass filter. A low pass filter removes frequencies over a certain range from your sound – beginning with high frequencies and working their way down the spectrum, hence the name: low pass.

This brings me to the next core module of a subtractive synth: the VCF (Voltage Controlled Filter) section. The standard analogue VCF section features real-time slider controls for the frequency (this is where you select the frequency at which the filter will start to operate); resonance (a peak accenting a certain frequency, usually used to make 'blip', 'blop', 'bloop' noises as you adjust its range); envelope (this controls how quickly the filter will engage); and LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator), an oscillator which produces a waveform that is pitched below an audible rate and used to effect other parts of the sound without the need for a ‘hands on’ adjustment.

FILTER IT OUT

‘THAT’ BASS WOBBLE

t’s a tricky name for a piece of cake. In a nutshell, subtractive synthesis refers to a simple standard signal chain of basic synthesiser components – oscillators, filters and envelope generators.

OSCILLATE WILDLY

LFOs are the key to how the ‘wamp-wamp’ dubstep sound is achieved – by routing (there is normally a switch on the synth to do this) an LFO (producing a sine or triangle wave) to the frequency control, while increasing and decreasing the rate of the LFO. LFO’s can give a fairly static patch a fluid, evolving sound through filter, pitch and amplitude modulations.

‘Subtractive’ refers to the selective removal of frequencies from the original waveform.

ATTACK, DECAY, SUSTAIN, RELEASE

After the filter section, you will usually find the VCA (Voltage Controlled Amp). The VCA is usually controlled via an ADSR Envelope (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release). Not just the name of a Simian Mobile Disco album! This is where the sound, length and articulation of the sound is shaped to resemble something other than a robot, e.g. slow attack and decay times for bowed string sounds, fast attack and decay sounds for plucked string sounds.

– Dylan Hoelzl, synthesis guru

thurs

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Getting Started My interest in music came from my 1. father; he was always fooling around with instruments. In 1978, I spotted an ad in the newspaper for an audio engineering course at the Academy Of Sound Recording Engineers – I went along, took one look at the 16-track Neve desk, and immediately felt connected. After two years there, I started at the recording department of CBS records (later to become Sony Music). I was the senior record cutting engineer when I left in 1991 and moved to Studios 301 to be a freelance mastering engineer – where I remain to this day.

The Music You Work On You Am I, Grinspoon, Empire Of The 2.

Sun, PNAU, The Presets… The amount of different types of music I’ve worked on would make most people dizzy. I often get asked what I listen to at home, but the truth is it’s usually what I’ve been working on that day. At home I’m no longer listening to it as a mastering engineer, but listening to it as a music lover.

Inspiration I’ve been inspired musically by 3. many artists – Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Hendrix, The Stones, Floyd, Meshugga and Q.O.T.S.A to name a few. Playing and listening to music is a primal instinct; the soul just can’t live without it. I have to

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Your Studio Studios 301’s mastering studio has an impressive array of equipment, everything from the classic unmistakable musical tone of the 1968 EMI TG Equalizers, to the liquid silk of the Sontec Equalizer and the dreamy warmth of the API Equalizers. As far as compressors are concerned, I use Neve, Manley, Masalec and Focusrite, as well as a few tasty custom-built bits. Most of my processing is in the analogue domain, but I also use digital precision filters and notch equalization, as well as, occasionally, the up-front transparency of digital compression. I use only the best equipment when I work on peoples’ music, because quality is paramount and they deserve it.

With that said, the piece of equipment that I rely on the most is my ears.

Studios 301: 18 Mitchel Road, Alexandria Web: www.studios301.com Phone: 9698 5888

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GHOST Big Dumb Kid

pinch myself sometimes when I think of the incredible people that I have been fortunate enough to work with. People like Nick Launay, whose passion for the amazing work he does is overwhelming, and Daniel Denholm, whose musical genius and sonic landscapes are inspiring. The quality of producer / engineers in this country is second to none.

10 September

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gear reviews

Tips From The Top WITH

Mark Crowley pits the old against the new

AKAI MPC In a time before Macbooks were considered an acceptable additional appendage to the human body, electronic musicians would go to a range of drum machines and samplers to begin their musical productions. Of the sampler units, a number of names have become an institution amongst producers to this day – but perhaps none so highly regarded as the Akai MPC series. Sample-based masters all turned to the MPC as the weapon of choice, with big names in hip hop production like J Dilla, DJ Shadow, Dr. Dre and Kanye all using the MPC’s capacity to sample audio and replay the sound snippets in new arrangements.

TIMELESS DESIGN The original MPC60 was released in 1988 and was in part designed by Roger the original manufacturer THE CLASSIC Linn, of the Linn Drum (think New Order/Duran Duran electronic

VS.

drum sounds). It introduced a number of fundamental design principles that exist in MPC models to this day: velocity sensitive pads for triggering sampled sounds, MIDI-based step sequencing software built in for arranging music into sequences or songs, and the famous MPC ‘swing’ setting.

IT’S ALL IN THE SWING The ‘swing’ setting as it's used in the MPC is an equation used by the MIDI sequencer to introduce a level of ‘error’ into the sequencing playback – an attempt to emulate the feel of a live drummer or performer, rather than the robotic perfection of a computer. While the MPC’s swing may never truly achieve the goal of sounding as natural as a human performer, it definitely has an idiosyncratic feel to it, which came to define much of early hip hop’s distinctive danceable grooves.

THE DEFINITIVE Released in 1997, the MPC2000 offered some

of the easiest to control sample recording and manipulation tools available – far in advance of most PCs at the time. Samples could now be recorded at a CD-quality 16-bit, 44.1 kHz sample rate in stereo or mono. All the necessary edit tools are here: tune, pitch shift, truncate, looping, key placement, velocity effects and more. A whopping (in Windows 1995 terms) 2MB of built-in memory could be expanded to 32MB for storing sample sounds on board, with the ability to reduce the fidelity of samples via re-sampling to get that authentic lo-fi crunchy sound.

TETRIS TIME MPC’s were all programmed via a small green LED screen – in many ways the equivalent of programming with a Gameboy. It seems very primitive by modern standards, but the proof is in the pudding: if Dilla can make ‘Donuts’ with one of these bad boys, then the rest of us just aren’t trying hard enough.

THE CHALLENGER

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS’ MASCHINE In 2011, we are now all multiple computer- and tablet-owning cyborgs (sort of), and the 32MB of memory and limited processing power of an MPC2000 doesn’t look quite so weighty compared to the terabytes now within our control... Enter Native Instruments’ software/ hardware groove box combination: ‘Maschine’.

UNION OF MACHINE + MASCHINE Maschine marries the much loved feel and workflow of an MPC series groovebox with the simplicity and usability of a software application – exploiting the near-endless processing power of your PC or laptop. The hardware component of the Maschine offers 16 highly sensitive drum pads (sound familiar?), sequencing controls, two backlit cklit LED displays, parameter control knobs and the weighty claim that every feature of the software application has a discrete,

direct parameter controller on the hardware – meaning you could perform without referring to the computer screen, should you choose to.

The Maschine controller must be connected via USB to your computer to operate; it essentially uses a software application as the ‘brain’ for the drum machine. The advanced and updatable processing power of your home PC means you can now do things with Maschine that were literally impossible on a self-contained device.

CLASSIC SAMPLES Before you even plug in an external source to sample, Machine ships with a sizable 6GB of sample content pre-prepared by Native Instruments Instrumentts and external sample producers – Abbey Ab bb Road, Scarbee and Goldbaby all feature. The software GUI is clear, hi-res and significantly easier to sequence from and edit samples with when compared to an sa a LED D screen.

BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE For those who've spent years on MPC or Roland SP models, you can even import all your original patterns and samples directly into Maschine, with a program/sample import feature from most major line grooveboxes.

Coupled with vintage downshifting sample modes that emulate the MPC60, you’ll never notice the difference.

THE PERFECT HOST One of the other advantages of using a computer is the wide range of third party software instruments you can collect – and recent updates for Maschine have allowed the ‘hosting’ of them within the Maschine GUI. This means you can program synthesisers or instrument lines to accompany your beats from other developers directly within the Machine GUI, or from their hardware controller – just one other improvement that, with the rest, combines to make your laptop with Maschine one of the easiest and most enjoyable drum machines ever.

Ben Feggans CHIEF MASTERING ENGINEER @ SONAMAX STUDIOS Probably the most difficult task as an artist – after creating a decent track – is making it sound good. Providing your track has decent sounds to begin with, the final result mostly comes down to having a balanced mix. When listening to music day in and day out in a mastering environment, the goal is to make each song sound decent on a wide variety of playback systems. You are at the mercy of the mix presented, and there are often common problems that arise which are easy to resolve at the mix stage. Here are some tips to get your mix sounding better: Get the bass and low end right first.

This is the foundation of most popular music. Figure out what you want to drive the mix, either the kick or the bass, and put most of the low frequency energy there. The kick may sound really thin in isolation, but when you put the bass with it, the track has a solid bottom end as the two sounds work together.

Remove the low frequencies from all other sounds, including effects. A high pass filter at 100-200Hz will often do the job. This leaves room for the kick and bass.

The most sensitive area of the human ear is the midrange. Leave space for the most important elements of the mix here – mainly the vocals, snare and lead sounds. Use volume automation in order to bring different elements in and out of focus.

Use panning to create a place for each instrument in the mix, but ensure the main centre image of the track is solid.

Avoid spreading vocals too wide as they will lose impact.

Sonamax Mastering Studios www.sonamax.com.au

www.studios301.com facebook.com/studios301 02 9698 5888 adam@studios301.com Leon Zervos Mastering clients include: Beastie Boys, Robyn, Muse, Jonathan Boulet, Phrase and The Living End Mastering from $150 per song.

BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 35

The Minor Chord

The all-ages rant bought to you by Indent.net.au and Janette Chen

Remedy

More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

VALE HONEYBOY

Title Fight

David “Honeyboy” Edwards, one of the very last of the original country bluesmen, has died just one month after he retired from the stage. He was 96, or thereabouts.

It’s said that Edwards was with Robert Johnson the night he was poisoned and died. About the only man still standing in terms of real blues veterans is T Model Ford, who was also Johnson's companion.

MORE LOUTALLICA

Lou Reed has shed further light on the Lulu project with Metallica that’s due out on October 31. “We had to bring Lulu to life in a sophisticated way, using rock,” said Reed, “and the hardest power rock you could come up with would have to be Metallica. They live on that planet.

We played together, and I knew it: dream come true. This is the best thing I ever did. And I did it with the best group I could possibly find.” The teaming was originally going to do a remake/remodel of some of Reed’s earlier work. some high schools so I’m kind of busy – but it’s good! I’ve been here a few times so I kind of know the feel, which is nice, you know?”

HORNS UP!

It seems the metal-heads and hardcore fans in the all-ages scene will be kept busy this weekend. Friday night, September 9, will see Pennsylvanians Title Fight fill The Metro Theatre with their melodic hardcore, in the Sydney leg of their first Australian tour – they’re coming here off the back of their recent release, the bluntly-titled Shed.

Title Flight will be supported by hardcore acts Touché Amoré, Break Even and Endless Heights.

Adelaide’s punk-hardcore outfit Stolen Youth will be playing a few last Australian shows before heading off to Europe, after they dropped their album Dark Century earlier this year. They’ll be swinging by to rock Black Wire Records on Friday September 9, with a little help from some hardcore Sydneysiders Nice Guys, 10 Paces and Firearms.

Californian extreme-metal band Suicide Silence will be tearing it up at the UNSW Roundhouse this Saturday September 10, on tour to support their new album The Black Crown. Or if you’re a metal fan who appreciates a more intimate venue, Black Wire Records will be hosting a night with Idylls, Dining In Tuscany, Islands, and Extreme Misanthropy Crew.

REVOLUTION IN THE AIR

But if metal and hardcore is all just a bit much for you, there are a couple of smaller festivals we can all be getting ready for in the meantime. Since organisers pulled the plug on Soundwave Revolution, acts such as Panic! At The Disco, All Time Low and Yellowcard will be leading the charge at the aptly-named 'Counter Revolution' mini-festival. The new order brings with it a change in venue, from Parramatta Park to Luna Park, although the date of September 25 remains. Tickets have been released already, so snap some up and join the uprising!

THE ALMOST @ BIG EXO

For a date in the diary closer to the present, the Big Exo Day will be heading to Parramatta Park on September 17. The day promises visual and performing arts, rides, and skating, as well as a lineup that includes previous Australian Idol winner Stan Walker, hip hop artist Trip Lee, and Sydney’s pop-rock favourites New Empire.

Headlining the festival will be Floridian alternative rock group, The Almost. I had the pleasure of speaking to Aaron Gillespie, lead vocalist and frontman of the band.

When asked what other acts they were looking forward to seeing play on the day, Gillespie explained, “I just love to meet people in general and you know, we haven’t really played with many of these acts so I think it’d be great to just meet people and kind of mingle out here, you know? We love the country, we love the culture.”

The Almost only have a few days in Australia before they begin playing their shows, and it seems that Gillespie has already filled up his diary. “I’m leading worship at some churches and also playing

The band will soon be heading into the studio to record some new material, and we discussed some of the new approaches to writing and recording they were hoping to achieve on this album. “Part of me wants to [record] as much as we can live, but I’m not sure how that can happen.

We’re trying to do a very straightforward rock’n’roll album, as opposed to, like – a lot of things these days are so calculated and niche, you know? So we’re just going to make a very, very front-and-centre, rollyour-windows-down rock’n’roll album. We’re about halfway through writing it at this point. We’re really excited.” Gillespie splits his time between writing rock for his band and writing worship material as a soloist.

When asked about the creative differences, Gillespie explains, “It’s very different.

[There's] something that I have never done before with this worship record that we did; we actually co-wrote all the songs, which is a neat thing, something which I had only recently gotten into.”

Gillespie has helpful and heartfelt advice for you young, hopeful musicians too. “Do it because you mean it. Make it real. It’s a really popular thing to be, you know, a musician. It’s kind of almost like a clothing style, if you will; everyone has to be in it, or if you’re not, you want to [be]. I think the best advice I can give is to do it because you mean it, as opposed to it just being something that you do.”

For another dose of the Minor Chord, tune into FBi 94.5 at 5pm on Wednesday afternoon, or hit up indent.net.au for all the deets on the shenanigans of the Indent team during their regional NSW tour!

ALL-AGES GIG PICKS FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9 Title Fight, Touché Amoré, Break Even, Endless Heights Metro Theatre

Stolen Youth, Nice Guys, 10 Paces, Firearms Black Wire Records, Annandale

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10 Suicide Silence UNSW Roundhouse

Idylls, Dining in Tuscany, Islands, Extreme Misanthropy Crew Black Wire Records, Annandale

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17

Big Exo Day: The Almost, Tedashi, Trip Lee, Pro, This’L, KB, Stan Walker, Tiger Town, New Empire, Reggie Dabs, Graveyard, Seasons, Revival Ashore, Vices, Nazarate Vow, Jonnday, Drawing North, Capree, Samantha Kate, Jake Nauta, Kappa, Luke Robinson, Kids and Cousins Parramatta Park

Send all ages listings & info to theminorchordradio@gmail.com 36 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

Still on Metallica, remember how we jokingly wondered recently if the band – during their “coming back to the ‘80s shows” – would go on radio to plead with fans not to trash venues like they did back in the day? Well, in the lead up to the band playing Yankee Stadium on September 14 as part of the Big 4 tour with Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, a business person in the city is worried that there’ll be riots so has asked that the police detail for the gig be doubled.

THOSE BIG CDS

There was an article in the Australian Financial Review the other day about the rise of vinyl sales. We smiled for two reasons; one, because vinyl is and always has been a grand, sacred and hugely romantic thing. And two, the journalist felt the need to explain for those who had no knowledge whatsoever of such items exactly what they were: “The long playing albums (LPs)...” LOL, LMAO, OMG etc.

JIM JONES ON THE UP

If appearances count – and we certainly believe that they do – things sure seem to be on the up escalator for The Jim Jones Revue. Not only were Fox Sports using their tune ‘Shoot First’ during a broadcast of English footy last week, but on August 29 they played The Late Show with David Letterman to a massive US audience.

ANT IN HIS BONNET

We like folks who speak their minds.

Folks like an angry Adam Ant who in Uncut magazine in the UK got stuck up 1985’s Live Aid (which we didn’t mind at all really, what with a Sabbath reunion, George Thorogood teaming with Albert Collins, and Dylan being joined by Keith Richards and Ron Wood etc) and organiser Sir Bob Geldof: “Doing that show was the biggest fucking mistake in the world. Knighthoods were made, Bono got it made, and it was a waste of fucking time. It was the end of rock’n’roll, [and] now hippies run the world, like fucking Glastonbury... I hate hippies.”

Jim Jones Revue

ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is 13, the debut effort we mentioned last week by Scott “Wino” Weinrich’s new mob, Premonition 13. With its Motörhead-meets-Saint Vitus, sub-Sabbaff, '70s, mammoth-wrestling-type sound it cuts a fine figure indeed. Also spinning is the excellent new comp of the Ups and Downs: Out of the Darkness – Sleepless, Singles & Other Stories. We’ve been listening to a lot of The Church lately, and this stuff sits very comfortably next to them.

TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS The Doomsday Festival is back. The event which showcases Australia’s finest sludge, doom metal, psychedelic, heavy stoner, post-rock and experimental bands debuted in 2009 and last year featured San Franciscan stoner rock doom merchants Acid King. Headlining Doomsday 2011 will be US beasts Cough who are making their first ever trip to Oz. Metal bible Terrorizer magazine raved “Thank Electric Wizard, Black Sabbath and a LOT of weed for making this band possible”. On October 15 they’re leading the Doomsday charge at The Sando with Clagg, Pod People, Summonus, Looking Glass, Daredevil, Mother Mars, The Devil Rides Out and Rituals Of The Oak. www.facebook.com/DoomsdayFestival Damo Suzuki and the Holy Soul along with Machete Moon, NHOMEA and DJs are playing at Goodgod on Liverpool Street on Saturday September 17.

On October 8, Decline of the Reptiles, Chris “Klondike” Masuak (of Radio Birdman, Screaming Tribesmen and Hitmen fame) and The Dunhill Blues are on the Love Boat cruise on Sydney Harbour. Decline of the Reptiles are being filmed for a documentary on the day as they work on their new record, while

Masuak is briefly back from his adopted home of Spain to launch Workhorse, his second effort with power trio, The North 40. The boat departs Pyrmont Wharf B (just behind the Maritime Museum) at 11.30am. Drinks at pub prices, too.

The Sydney Underground Film Festival is on from September 8 – 11 at The Factory Theatre, and there are two movies that should be of interest to Remedy readers. One is called Last Days Here, a documentary about former Pentagram singer Bobby Liebling, who lives these days in the basement of his parents’ house in suburban Maryland. The film looks at the man, the band, the music and, of course, why Pentagram weren’t bigger than Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax put together. The other film is Heavy Metal Picnic, which screens along with director Jeff Krulik’s earlier effort Heavy Metal Parking Lot. Picnic is a celebration of metal madness that focuses on the 1985 Full Moon Jamboree in Maryland – “the farm party to end all farm parties”. There’s something about Maryland then, eh? For more info go to www.suff.com.au.

Come say hi at www.facebook.com/remedy4rock

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

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

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

off the album and a stuttering international release schedule, Big Boi now almost comes through as an underground hero, an artist wrung through the machine who just wants to express himself, and share it with the people. He just wants to share raps about ladies, cars and Atlanta, guys!

BIG BOI

The Enmore Theatre Saturday August 27 Is Big Boi one of the best rappers in the game? Is there even a rap game anymore, soaked out as the field seems to be with a constantly brewing storm of novelty?

Between the low pressure of lackadaisical brag lists of the current battling kings, and the high fronting of the blog-approved slurpee’n’rape set, rap got rained out this season. But it is a lovely thing to see a performer effortlessly play through the deluge – and everyone at the Enmore got to see such a show last Saturday.

Who would have thought that Big Boi, the pitbull rearing gangsta half of oddball duo Outkast, would come across as such a blue collar stalwart at this point in his career.

Even as his partner whooped and holla’d through a preppy Prince recital, Big Boi has stuck to his guns – songs about ladies, songs about cars, songs about enjoying life in Atlanta, and a few songs about guns.

After label troubles fumbled his most recent release, in a hash-up that left Andre 3000

YOU ME AT SIX, WE THE KINGS UNSW Roundhouse Sunday August 28

Pop-punk: a scene where twenty-something bands lament sixteen-year-olds’ problems and shift the majority of their units to thirteen-year-old girls. So it makes complete sense that it’s also a scene where anxious parents pace back and forth at the entrance of venues, having just escorted their underage son or daughter to the gates. The Roundhouse was thick with fretting mums and dads, craning their necks each time the doors swung open, hoping to catch a glimpse of the assumed mayhem inside this all-ages gig: UK pop-punk darlings You Me At Six were in town, co-headlining with Florida’s We The Kings.

We The Kings had giant pictures of themselves on the banner they draped across stage. Blatantly bubblegum pop, they take aim directly at the lucrative girl-crush cash cow – and despite all the trappings of a rock band, have more in common with Taylor Swift than anything else. Lead singer Travis Clark is a walking, talking cliché, spouting such transparencies as “You guys look so beautiful tonight!”, “Hell yeah!” and “Are you ready to party?!” to the hordes of screaming fourteen yearolds – and it all got way too creepy when he started telling his pubescent fans that “you guys look so sexy. I just want to

Forget the tabloids and hype and outrage and scandal that accompany many bigger names in rap – Big Boi is pushing buttons, and they are all programmed to make people boogie. And it has to be said, as the Australian dollar creeps ever closer to the American, so to do we slowly close the gap in numbers of gals happy to show their butts on stage for the attention. Congrats. I bet Big Boi slept with the one in the stripes.

Matt Roden

make-out with all of you”. Their saccharine pop efforts like ‘Sweet Valentine’ and ‘Say You Like Me’ left me thinking that all the lip piercings and tattoos in the world can’t veil soulless lyrics mimicking has-been Monkees scriptwriters...

You Me At Six, thankfully, were the exact opposite. Shucking off their slick, overproduced album sound, they delivered a raw, more powerful stage show. From the outset the energy was palpable, as lead singer Josh Franceschi encouraged the crowd to surf in, shaking hands with whoever made it over the fence. Songs like ‘Safer To Hate Her‘ and ‘The Consequence’ got early circle pits going, but it wasn’t until the crowd started chanting “Stay-with-me!” that the place erupted. The band tore through that soaring fan favourite, which sent bodies colliding and devil’s horns skyrocketing, and was a moment of clear elation for the band. ‘Fireworks’ and ‘Liquid Confidence’ from their 2010 album Hold Me Down got a run late in the game, before they finished with their most successful single to date: ‘Underdog’, which even had some of the crowd forming human pyramids in appreciation.

I think the band themselves summed it up best, though: in a post-show tweet, drummer Dan Flint wrote “Holy shit. Sydney that was insane... #bestshowoutsideofuk”.

Rick Warner

ABBE MAY, HOOTENANNY

until Abbe hits the stage and salutes us with two big bottles of booze. She slings on her Fender Jag, and takes control of the night.

Yeah, men can rip riffs and howl into mics but where are the rockin’ women? The answer is Western Australia.

Her set is loaded with new songs.

Thrillingly, what sounds bruising on the record is drawing blood through the Annandale’s PA. ‘Mammalian Locomotion’ and ‘Design Desire’ are delivered with inebriated intensity during which the band polishes off a bottle of Irish whiskey. I’ve seen musicians sneak drinks between songs before, but Abbe May and her band sneak drinks between power chords.

Things get a bit chaotic. Midway through the simmering ‘Carolina’, Abbe boards the bar, cocks her guitar to her shoulder like a machine gun and sonically guns us down.

(On a dare from Hootenanny?) More guitar gags follow until the last song ends in a fun-lovin’, sloppy mess. While the drum set gets toppled, Abbe triumphantly waves goodbye – with another bottle in her hand.

Annandale Hotel Thursday August 25

I arrive at The Annandale to the bluesy punk sounds of WA’s Hootenanny, a female duo dressed like Davey Crockett and an American Indian. They sing silly songs, effectively taking the piss out of rock while making it sound gigantic; the Indian roars like a bratty Janis Joplin while pulverising the drums like John Bonham. Hootenanny remind us that filthy good music and fun can feed on each other. They end the set telling us, “Abbe May is lovely and she’s going to gun you all down.” Anticipation builds.

The lights dim as three men in black jeans with dishevelled faces grab instruments and launch into ‘Universes’, a cut from Abbe’s new album Design Desire. They jam out the bassline with splatters of thick fuzzy wah

38 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:08:11

And so after a brief, rousing and rote introduction from his hypeman, Big Boi hits the stage aaaand pretty much just raps for an hour. With backing by guitarist, drummer, DJ and a pair of tracksuited trumpeters, it all vibes low-key on the production side of things, but tight in terms of performance.

Big Boi’s delivery is as quick as anyone performing today, and the guy tongue twists his way through verse after verse – no Andre 3000 on stage renders Outkast songs down to quick mega-mix bites, with the audience providing the sing-along choruses in Dre’s absence. Trumpeters shuffle between bursts, video clips are blazed up in the background and the crowd jumps and bumps and throw their A’s up and apologise to Ms. Jackson and just generally have a great time. This is a fun show.

Tylor Broyles

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BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 39

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

verge festival party profile

It’s called: The Best Damn Comedy Show Ever @ Verge Festival It sounds like: Waves of hipsters bursting out of their jeans with unrestrained, uncontained belly laughs.

Acts: Greg Fleet, Jon Dore, Matt Okine, Gen Fricker, and Michael Hing bring the Verge Festival 2011 dangerously close to cool.

Sell it to us: Comic heavyweights at Sydney Uni team up with Australian and international superstars to get the Manning Bar crowd so high on happy that they won’t notice the strain in their smiles… Part of the Verge Festival, consider this an entree to a feast of other fantastic events, including Uncontainable installation art, underground film comps, Theatresport battles and dramatic performances.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: There’s nothing like sore abs to remind you of the LOLs the night before.

Crowd specs: Verge is all ages, except for events in licensed venues (like Manning).

Wallet damage: Comedy $15! Whole bunch of other stuff FREE! Where: Manning Bar, The University of Sydney (Camperdown campus)

times new viking

PICS :: KC

When: 7pm, Thursday September 8

caitlin park

PICS :: CG

25:08:11 :: Tone :: 16 Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills 9267 6440

the bedroom philosopher

PICS :: CG

24:08:11 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney 9267 3787

liam finn

PICS :: TL

27:08:11 :: The Vanguard :: 42 King St Newtown 95577992

26:08:11 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney 9267 3787 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: CAI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE POPOV :: NATHAN IEL DAN :: GRIFFIN :: ASHLEY MAR TITO:: SAM WHITESIDE

40 :: BRAG :: 428: 05:09:11

the vines

PICS :: KC

andy bull

PICS :: KC

26:08:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

27:08:11 :: The Metro Theatre :: 624 George St City 92642666

MED! IR F N O C T S U J E C N ST APPEAR A E U G T E R C E S L IA V ERY SPEC

ART vs SCIENCE PERFORM THE MUSIC OF

KATE

MillerHEIDKE

with special guests

TIM

Derricourt FROM DAPPLED CITIES

plus the Purple Sneakers Dj’s

Patience

HODGSON FROM THE GRATES

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15 – UPSTAIRS BERESFORD, SURRY HILLS, SYD FINAL TICKETS ON SALE NOW $30+BF FROM MOSHTIX.COM.AU FOR MORE JOIN THE JD SET ON facebook.com/JackDanielsAustralia

Know when to unplug. Drink Jack Daniel’s responsibly.

JACK DANIEL’S and OLD NO.7 are registered trademarks. ©2011 Jack Daniel’s.

Tennessee Whiskey Alcohol 40% by Volume (80 proof). Distilled and Bottled by Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg (POP. 361), Tennessee.

BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 41

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

party profile

falcona fridays

It’s called: Falcona Fridays It sounds like: The best music policy in Sydney.

Acts: Kid Kenobi, Cassian, Gus Da Hoodrat, M-Phazes, Alison Wonderland, Future Classic DJs, Nina Las Vegas, Joyride, The Hump Day Project, Hey Now, Hobogestapo, F.R.I.E.N.D/s DJs, Starjumps and more!

Three songs you’ll hear on the night: Phil Collins – ‘Sussudio’; Gotye – ‘Somebody That I Used to Know (Rufus Remix)’; Eddie Murphy – ‘Party All The Time’ And one you definitely won’t: Havana Brown’s latest single.

Sell it to us: Voted the top nightclub in the country the last two years, Falcona Fridays’ home Kit & Kaboodle sits atop the iconic Sugarmill. Each Friday sees a mixed bag of the Falcona Agency’s best, and special guests, throwing down proper old-school disco, hip hop and party jams.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: How lovely and good-looking all the staff are.

Crowd specs: Well, you won’t find many kids wearing flat brim caps and singlets, that’s our promise to you!

Wallet damage: 10 spot on the door, or free on guestlist. Hit up guestlist@ falcona.com.au Where: Kit & Kaboodle @Sugarmill, Kings Cross

husky

PICS :: KC

When: Every Friday 8pm - dawn

karoshi

PICS :: CG

25:08:11 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney 9267 3787

pigeon parallels

PICS :: CG

24:08:11 :: Tone :: 16 Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills 9267 6440

gurrumul

PICS :: AM

26:08:11 :: Tone :: 16 Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills 9267 6440

27:07:11 :: Upstairs Beresford:: 354 Bourke St, Surry Hills 9357 1111 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: CAI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE POPOV :: NATHAN IEL DAN :: GRIFFIN :: ASHLEY MAR TITO:: SAM WHITESIDE

42 :: BRAG :: 428: 05:09:11

abercrombie hotel 28:08:11 :: Abercrombie Hotel :: 100 Broadway Ultimo 92113486

PICS :: AM

ghostwood

PICS :: AM

29:09:11 :: Sydney Opera House 92471666

THURS 15 & FRI 16 SEPT Sydney Opera House – Studio with THE SYDNEY SYMPHONY FELLOWSHIP STRING QUARTET w w w . s y d n e y o p e r a h o u s e . c om

( 0 2 ) 9 2 5 0 7 7 77

‘It’s clearly a record filled with enchantment and it’s going to weave its spell on you, too.

Noonan’s voice, bare and beautiful against Zac Hurren’s intimate soprano sax and Stephen Magnusson’s expert jazz guitar, shines like a midnight star’

SUNDAY HERALD SUN

#1 jazz album in Australia

W W W. K AT I E N O ONA N . C OM FAC E B O OK . C OM / K AT I E NO ONA N

first seed ripening OUT NOW BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 43

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead

Brous

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10

Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown

...And You Will Know Us

By The Trail Of Dead (USA),

Matt Jones The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Songs on Stage Performers Competition Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Steve Tonge O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm Strip!, feat ex-BNO from Scruffy’s Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 8pm Swingtanic Sextet, Charmers The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (presale)–$63.80 (dinner & show) 9pm They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Tuesday Night Live Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free Zoltan Coogee Bay Hotel free 9pm

JAZZ

Jazzgroove: Aaron Michael Quartet, Jeremy Sawkins Organ Trio 505 Club, Surry Hills $8 (member)–$10 8.30pm Song Fwaa, BAZ, Pen Island Hermann’s Bar, Sydney Uni $10-$15 8pm

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 7 ROCK & POP

80s Alive: The Night Riders, DJ Demitri from Bondi Tone, Surry Hills $10 7.30pm Bayou Band Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8pm Brad Johns Dee Why RSL Club free The Corellians, Maux Faux, Ming Kings Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $8 8pm Dappled Cities, Winter People Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm David Agius Northies, Cronulla free 7.30pm Gary Johns Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Hayley Warner Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm In Pieces The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Jager Uprising: Aurora Live The Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm JP O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm

Live and Local: Chris Neto, Niki Thorburn, Shady May Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $15 8pm Mike Bennett The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Musos Jam Live at the Wall, Leichhardt free 7pm Nicky Kurta Summer Hill Hotel free 7.30pm Red Sky, Call To Colour, Camazots Sword Is Detonate Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Simone Felice (USA), Catherine Traicos The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm The Study: Claire, Burning Violet Bridges, Static Silhouettes, Charles Buddy Daaboul Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 7pm The Tom & Dave Show Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm Upside Down Miss Jane, Maux Faux, Suckerpunch Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm

JAZZ

The World According to James 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm

Further, Grand Fatal

$39.50 (student)–$46.50 (+ bf) 8pm MONDAY SEPTEMBER 5 ROCK & POP

Bernie The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Bobby Singh, Sandy Evans, Brett Hirst Trinity Grammar School, Summer Hill 7.30pm Steve Tonge Coogee Bay Hotel, Beach Bar free 9pm

JAZZ

Century Dog 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm Latin & Jazz Open Mic/Jam Session: Rinske Geerlings, Daniel Falero, Philip Taig, Pierre Della Putta The World Bar, Kings Cross free 7pm Phoebe Carden Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Dinki Di Acoustic

The Hive Bar, Erskineville free 6.30pm

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 6 ROCK & POP

Brous, Daisy Tulley The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm The Listening Room - Open Mic The Vault, Windsor free 7pm

Dappled Cities

“Before birds get sucked into jet engines, do they ever think, `Is that Rod Stewart in first class?’ ” - EDDIE IZZARD 44 :: BRAG :: 428 : 05:09:11

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

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 8 ROCK & POP

Ben Abraham The Vanguard, Newtown $15 6.30pm Black Mustang, Scatterfly Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor free 8.30pm The Conscious Polot Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 9pm Crossroads Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 8pm Dean Haitani Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm Elevate Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10.15pm Gilbert Jannali Inn free 8pm Greg Byrne Toxteth Hotel, Glebe free 8pm Hot Damn: The Novocaines, Critics, Ashes Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst $12-$15 8pm Insert Coins: Camden, Brackets, Various DJs Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10 6pm LA Vampires, Holy Balm, Kirin J. Callinan, Guerre Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $20 (+ bf) 8pm The Living Chair Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 9.30pm Mandi Jarry Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Neotokyo, Mercury Sky, Pecking Order, Beyond Thought Annandale Hotel 7.30pm

Perpetual Motion, Ether, The Fontaynes, Theo Miller Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm River of Snakes, Dunhill Blues, Unity Floors, Blackbear The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville 8pm Songs, Tiger Choir Tone, Surry Hills $12 8pm Sparkadia, Imaginary Cities (Canada), The Trouble With Templeton Metro Theatre, Sydney $34.90 8pm Speakeasy The Whitehouse Hotel, Petersham 8pm White Brothers The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Young Romantics Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm

JAZZ

Daniel Weltlinger in Souvenirs: A Tribute to Django Reinhardt The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf)–$73.80 (dinner & show) 9pm Lionel Robinson Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Rafael Jerjen Concept 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (member)–$15 8.30pm

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9 ROCK & POP

3 Skins Orange Grove Hotel, Leichhardt free 8pm

Ben Salter The Vanguard, Newtown $15 (+ bf) 8pm Black Label, Thug, Blow Live at the Wall, Leichhardt $12 8pm Blackbird Hum Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm Boom! Bap! Pow!, Saloons, Erin Marshall, Kristy Lee Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 5pm Bridge Over Troubled Water - A Tribute to Simon and Garfunkel The Basement, Circular Quay $35 9pm Bridie King, Maz Mazak, Flora The Eastern Lounge, Chatswood$15 (presale)–$18 7.30pm Damien Leith Penrith Panthers, Evans Theatre $42 7.30pm Dead Letter Circus, Jericco, I Am Giant Windsor Function Centre $15 (student)–$25 8pm Eagle & the Worm, The Frowning Clouds Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $12 (+ bf) 8pm Emma Hamilton Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $18 8pm Fiona Leigh Jones Duo Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Ian Moss Brass Monkey, Cronulla $39.80 7pm Kill City Creeps, The Priory Dolls Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Leadfinger, Hell Crab City, Lobster Prophet, The Escapes Valve Bar, Tempe $10 8pm

Songs

wed

07 Sep

★ WED SEPT 07 ★

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

THE

08 Sep

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

Feat: ANNDYK(electro) + J-TRICK(dirty dutch) + LEONZ(electro house) + dj SONO(house)

★ THU SEPT 08 ★

fri

09 Sep

(5:00PM - 8:00PM)

(9:15PM - 1:00AM)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

sat

10 Sep

LAUNCH

HIDDEN DRAGON $15 entry / $10 concession

thu

SATURDAY NIGHT

Sep

$8 ★ FRI SEPT 09 ★

CHAMPION SOUND

sun

11

Comedy

SUNDAY NIGHT

$10

★ SAT SEPT 10 ★

SUBSONIC MUSIC F E AT. S I M O N BA K E R & BO R I S B R E J C H A

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

★ WED SEPT 14 ★ THE

HIDDEN DRAGON $15 entry / $10 concession TICKETS: GOBOOKEM.COM BOOKING: ADMIN@BIGTREEARTISTS.COM

450 PARAMATTA RD PETERSHAM 9560-1488 BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 45

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

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10 ROCK & POP

Hungry Kids Of Hungary Let Me Down Jungleman, Brave the Burrito, Being Amazing, Intentions Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 9pm Lost Animal, Jonny Telafone, Asps, Four Door, Young Romantix Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $10 7pm Mad Season Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 9.30pm The Marshalls The Loft, Darling Harbour 8pm New York, New York - A Tribute Show: Damien Lovelock, Rob Younger, Link, Carrie Phillis & the Downtown Three, Shaggin Wagon Woolooware Golf Club 8pm Nova Tone Customs House Bar, Sydney free 7pm

46 :: BRAG :: 428 : 05:09:11

On The Street: Lighthouse Keepers Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $22 (+ bf) 8pm Otis Redding 70th Birthday Celebration: Johnny G & The E-Types Notes Live, Enmore 8pm Pawno Winter Party: Pawno Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor $5 8pm Reno Nevada Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville 9pm Sydney Sacred Music Festival: Rhythms Of Life - Nafas Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $25 (+ bf) 8pm Sydney Soul Weekender Tone, Surry Hills 8pm Title Fight (USA), Touche Amore, Break Even, Endless Heights Metro Theatre, Sydney $49 (+ bf) 7.30pm

The Walk On By, Bronwyn Adams, Whipped Cream Chargers Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm The Wharf Sessions Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company, Walsh Bay 10pm Tone Defeat: Berlin Wallflower, Forgetting Sundown, Blacklion, Broken Young Annandale Hotel $10 7pm Wolfden: The Ruminaters Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst $10 8pm

JAZZ

Bernie McGann Quartet The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale 8pm Darryl Beaton and the D1 Cartel 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 (member)–$20 8.30pm

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (USA), Further, Grand Fatal Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $39.50 (student)–$46.50 (+ bf) 8pm The Abstractionists Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm Bastardfest: Blood Duster, Psycroptic, Extortion, I Exist, Pod People, The Dreamkillers, Claim the Throne, Bane of Isildur, Ouroboros, Chaos Divine, Ruins, Daemon Foetal Harvest, Anno Domini, Enforce, Dawn Heist, Ignite the Ibex Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $27 (+ bf) 12.30pm The Beatels Blacktown RSL Club free Black Mustang, Aver, Dangerous Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Bronze Chariot, Three Wise Monkeys, Captain Kickarse & The Awesomes, A Lonely Crowd, Pirate Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Daemon Foetal Harvest The Valve, Tempe 8pm Dead Letter Circus, Jericco, I Am Giant Mona Vale Hotel $30 8pm Diesel Rooty Hill RSL Club $41 8pm Funk N Grooves Festival: The Cat Empire, Amy Meredith, Muscles, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Sammy

Jo, Vula, Oxford Hustlers, Graeme Cordery, King Tide, Muph & Plutonic, Lanie Lane Tyrrel’s Vineyard, Pokolbin $85 2pm Funky Dory Live at the Wall, Leichhardt $10 8pm Josh Pyke

Ian Moss Brass Monkey, Cronulla $39.80 7pm Josh Pyke, Emma Louise, The Paper Kites Metro Theatre, Sydney $44.70 (+ bf) 8pm Myth & Tropics, Fun Machine, Kato

gig picks

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free (early bird) 8pm Little Scout, Convaire, Parades Notes Live, Enmore 8pm Matt Price Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Mick On Wheels Bald Rock Hotel, Rozelle free 7.30pm The Neil Diamond Tribute Burwood RSL Club $15 8.30pm Northern Soul Weekender Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $20 (+ bf) 8pm On The Street: Ups & Downs, Knievel, Worker Bees Annandale Hotel $25 (+ bf) 8pm Rand and Holland, Garbage And The Flowers, Bud Petal, Psychic Date 402 Hibernian House, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm The Rebel Rousers St Marys Band Club free 9pm Revolution Rock â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Joe Strummer Tribute Night: The Rumjacks, Will Wagner & The Smith Street Band, Steppin Razor, Isaac Graham The Vanguard, Newtown $15 6.30pm Ritam Galama Fest: The Corps, Liberation Front, Rukus, Obviously Your Superher, No Such Luck Valve Bar, Tempe 6pm Rolling Stoned Richmond Inn free 9.30pm Sparkadia, Imaginary Cities Waves Nightclub $28.90 8pm Suicide Silence (USA) Roundhouse, Kensington $57 (+ bf) 8pm Sydney Sacred Music Festival: Sacred Tapestry

up all night out all week...

Jezebel Kro Bar, Bondi Junction free 8pm Jonny Rock Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Kira Puru & The Bruise The Vanguard, Newtown $25 (+ bf) 6.30pm Max Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Russian Circles Hermannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Darlington $34.70 (+ bf) 8pm Satellite V Marrickville Bowling and Recreation Club $10 7pm Screaming Sunday Annandale Hotel 12pm Sparkadia, Imaginary Cities (Canada), The Trouble With Templeton Penrith Panthers $26.50 (+ bf) 8pm Thomas Ford, Polar Knights, Dunhill Blues Valve Bar, Tempe 3pm

Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $25 (+ bf) 8pm Twoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Company Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Hernandez Cafe, Darlinghurst free 7.30pm

JAZZ

Lily Dior and the Soul Contenders 505 Club, Surry Hills $15â&#x20AC;&#x201C; $20 8.30pm One Night Stand: The Danny G Felix Project, Gerard Masters, TaikOz, Sam Zema The Basement, Circular Quay $15â&#x20AC;&#x201C;$63.80 (dinner & show) 7.30pm Steve Barry Trio The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale 8pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9 Ben Salter The Vanguard, Newtown $15 (+ bf) 8pm Boom! Bap! Pow!, Saloons, Erin Marshall, Kristy Lee Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm Eagle & the Worm, The Frowning Clouds Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $12 (+ bf) 8pm

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10 Josh Pyke, Emma Louise, The Paper Kites Metro Theatre, Sydney $44.70 (+ bf) 8pm Myth & Tropics, Fun Machine, Kato Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free (early bird) 6pmÂ

JAZZ

Blues Sunday: Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 3pm Briana Cowlishaw Camelot, Marrickville 8pm Finn Bald Rock Hotel, Rozelle free 6pm The Subterraneans Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 7pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Cronulla RSL free 12.30pm

ROCK & POP

Bridge And Tunnel (USA), Paper Arms, Lungs, Between The Devil & The Deep Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 7pm The Casualties, Rumjacks, Topnovil Manning Bar, Sydney Uni 7pm The Idea of North, Lee McAlistair Lizotteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Restaurant, Dee Why $40â&#x20AC;&#x201C;$82 (dinner & show) 12pm Jess Pollard Opera Bar, Sydney free 8.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Armandito & Trovason Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith $22 (member)â&#x20AC;&#x201C;$29 3pm

Little Scout, Convaire, Parades Notes Live, Enmore 7pm Ben Salter

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 6

Simone Felice

Brous, Daisy Tulley The Vanguard, Newtown 8pmÂ

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 7 Dappled Cities, Winter People Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Simone Felice (USA), Catherine Traicos The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 8 LA Vampires, Holy Balm, Kirin J. Callinan, Guerre Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $20 (+ bf) 8pm Songs, Tiger Choir Tone, Surry Hills $12 8pm

HT G I N Y - $25 A D 0 2 R Shows $ U y m T l p n 0 o SA 1 From 8pm & SAT 10 SEPT

Sparkadia, Imaginary Cities (Canada), The Trouble With Templeton Metro Theatre, Sydney $34.90 8pm Little Scout

TAHIR Thank God Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re Here, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Habibâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; from Fat Pizza, The NRL Footy Show, Housos.

BRUCE GRIFFITHS Astonishing one line genius, writer for Good News Week, Enough Rope, Jason Alexander â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Seinfeldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

JAMES ROCHFORD â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Crowd Favourite â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Nova 969.

FIONA Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;LOUGHLIN â&#x20AC;&#x153;...has a gorgeous stage presenceâ&#x20AC;Ś a fearless,

SAT 17 SEPT

funny, extremely appealing show.â&#x20AC;? The Age. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Radioactively funny. 5/5â&#x20AC;?.

JEREMY KEAST â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from the ABC hit show â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I Rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

STEVE PHILP

Tropfest MC 8 years running!!

SAT 24 SEPT

DAVE EASTGATE Fresh from 5 star Edinburgh fringe shows, reviewed as â&#x20AC;&#x153;f*#%ing beautifulâ&#x20AC;? Academy award winner Robin Williams.

JOEL CREASEY One of Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s youngest, brightest and most sought-after ht ftt comedians, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Utterly brilliant: switched on, quick, pacy and lots of fun.â&#x20AC;?Radio 3AW. CLINT PADDISON

"

$ & ' ( &

)

+ 0

1

)

Buy tickets @ happyendingscomedyclub.com.au or at the door if not sold out.

154 BROUGHAM ST, CNR WILLIAM ST, KINGS CROSS

BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 47

48 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

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

brag beats

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

five things WITH

SIMON CALDWELL

Growing Up Like most people who grew up in the 1.

70s, I had to make the most of my parents’ record collection and Countdown. When I lived in London in my late teens, I was lucky enough to have a flatmate with a great funk and soul collection. I guess that’s when I connected with music.

Inspirations As far as live music goes, it’s hard to go 2. past jazz, funk and soul music as the most inspiring for me. I’m not so interested in rock bands and lead singer posturing. When it comes to DJs, I get inspired by those who really push musical ideas while still rocking a dance floor (if required). Creative mixers like Derrick Carter, Claude Young and HMC have pretty much always amazed me with their skill, as have Q-Bert and Mixmaster Mike, among others.

Halfway Crooks returns to the grimy but endearing haven of Phoenix Bar this Saturday September 10, where usual suspects Captain Franco, Levins and Toni Toni Lee will indulge their penchant for hip hop party jams all night long. Expect a mix of old school gems and new school candy spanning everything from West Coast G-Funk to New Jack Swing and down low to the Dirty Derrrrrty South! Word, dog. Entry is moderately priced at $10, with first bounce at 10pm.

Trevor Parkee, Kid Dolphin and The Continental (with Chris on visuals). Now I work with Mad Racket, alongside Ken Cloud, Jimmi James and Zootie. We’ve been running parties together for almost 13 years now.

PLAYGROUND WEEKENDER 2012

The Music You Make I play a pretty varied selection. I’m 4. always liking the deeper side of house and Music, Right Here, Right Now There are always plenty of good things 5. happening, as well as plenty of pretty crappy things... There’s always lots of great music, and plenty of crap. You need to work out what you think is good, and then go to it, support it.

Sydney producer and DJ Beni will unveil his debut album House Of Beni on Modular Records in a few weeks’ time. Renowned for his work as part of the now defunct Riot In Belgium, Beni has built up his credentials as a solo producer over the past few years, with single releases on the Kitsune label and remixes for Tiga, Digitalism, Fischerspooner, La Roux and Alex Gopher.

Beni has recruited plenty of big guns to guest on his debut LP, which will feature vocal contributions from the likes of Sam Sparro, Hercules and Love Affair’s Nomi, Prince Terrence of Hussle Club and Mattie Safer, formerly of The Rapture.

There are also production credits for Kim Moyes of The Presets and Van She’s Nicky Nighttime.

Beni is hitting the road to promote the release, and will be representing at the Changing Lanes Festival in Surry Hills on Saturday September 17, as well as at Stereosonic in November.

HALFWAY CROOKS

Your Crew I’ve worked with a few crews over the 3. years. First it was All Funked Up, alongside

techno, stuff that has some “soul”.

BENI ALBUM + TOUR

With: Baths (US), Ghostpoet (UK), Lunice (CAN), Mitzi, SBTRKT (UK), Electric Wire Hustle (NZ), Tiger & Woods (ITA) and more Where: Musica /Tumbalong @ Tumbalong Park When: Saturday October 22 More: Also playing SASH Sunday with a surprise international guest at The White Horse in Surry Hills, on Sunday September 11

XZIBIT TOUR Hip hop heavyweight Xzibit returns to Australia at the end of this year, and will perform at The Factory Theatre in Enmore on Saturday December 10. Renowned for anthemic cuts like ‘Multiply’, ‘X’ and ‘Get Your Walk On’, Xzibit enjoyed his first major success when he joined the Australia-bound Snoop Dogg (who you can catch at Fuzzy’s NYE event, Shore Thing) on the Dr. Dre-produced hit ‘Bitch Please’. The Dre connection continued with ‘What’s The Difference’, ‘Lolo’ and ‘Some L.A. Niggaz’ on Dre’s seminal Chronic album, which led to Xzibit’s inclusion on what is arguably one of the more infamous hip hop tours of all time, Up In Smoke, alongside the likes of Snoop, Eminem and Ice Cube. Something of a pop cultural icon, Xzibit may also be familiar to you for his appearances in films such as 8 Mile, XXX:State Of The Union and Derailed, and for his work hosting MTV’s Pimp My Ride. Word has it that Xzibit is currently locked down in the studio at work on his comeback LP, due out in 2012; perhaps he’ll preview material at The Factory in December. You’ll have to go to know, playas…

Following Good Vibrations’ move to December, the festival ‘musical chairs’ continues with the announcement that Playground Weekender will move back a few weeks to March 2012. In an attempt to circumvent the oppressive heat that has coincided with the festival in previous years, Playground Weekender will now shift from February, to be held Thursday March 1 – Sunday March 4. “We decided to change the dates to March as it is a wee bit cooler but still hot, instead of potentially roasting like the previous few years,” the Weekender Head Honcho declared in an official statement, displaying an alarming proclivity for Kiwi parlance in the process. He subsequently added that the festival lineup will be revealed in the “very near future”.

Xzibit

Apparat

SUBSONIC MUSIC FESTIVAL

The highly anticipated annual Subsonic Music Festival returns for its third edition from Friday December 2 – Sunday December 4. This year’s lineup features acclaimed German producer Apparat performing an exclusive show backed by a live band, alongside Jurassic Five’s Chali 2na, Hermitude, Thundamentals and Tiki Taane with DJ Sambora from Shapeshifter. What about the techno artists you say? Phil Keiran, Traum Records’ Max Cooper, Sydney favourite Alexkid, Stil Vor Talent’s Channel X and renowned proponents of spacey minimal Minilogue will all be performing extended sets, with plenty more to be announced. The Subsonic Music Festival is held in the picturesque world heritage site of the Barrington Tops Mountain Valley Resort – the organisers literally book out the entire luxury resort for the weekend! – which is a three hour drive from Central. Given that early bird tickets have already sold out, we urge you not to wait and grab your moderately priced $100 second round tickets now via www.subsonicmusic. com.au. (Adding to the ‘value for money’, we must add that this festival is a BYO affair.) The general consensus around town is that anyone remotely serious about dance music – and an alternate festival experience – must attend this event, which was hailed last year by inthemix as “more perfect than you could imagine a festival in this country being”.

Enough said!

197 OXFORD ST ( DARLINGHURST )

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dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

SAMIYAM

PASH MANN FROM KONTRAST DJS Growing Up My family always had a 1. strong passion for music, but

also involved with the booking/PR company Be Ukraine.

neither of my parents were musicians. My father used to be a professional dancer back in the days of former USSR. He had an old “belt drive” turntable and a huge collection of vinyl records, so our house was always filled with good vibes.

The Music You Make At the beginning of this year I 4. produced my first single ‘Mastigia’.

Inspirations By the time I was 18, I found 2. myself heavily obsessed by the fascinating world of music, and I started collecting vinyl myself.

Most of my collection consists of German and Swedish-based labels like Ideal Audio, Confused, Spiel-Zeug and Kaliber. My all time favourite release is Depeche Mode – ‘Everything Counts’ (Oliver Huntemann & Stephan Bodzin Remix) Your Group At present I’m working with 3.

Joey Tupaea, running a monthly event in Sydney called Kontrast.

We recently had an event with Vincenzo, which was a great success for us. We’re aiming to bring only the best of international and local artists to our events. I’m

REBOLLEDO SUPER VATO Celph Titled

CELPH TITLED

American hip hop tycoon Celph Titled will headline a triple bill at The Gaelic Club on Sunday October 2 alongside Action Bronson and Brad Strut.

The Florida native teamed up with Diggin’ In The Crates’ (D.I.T.C.) multiplatinum producer Buckwild for his debut album Nineteen Ninety Now, which dropped at the end of last year.

The LP was generally well-received, and was described by one reviewer as “fun, battle-ish, masculine braggadocio type of shit I used to listen to back in high school”, with Celph singled out for his “ability to write deeper and more thought-provoking rhymes.” As for the other drawcards, New York emcee Action Bronson self-released the cult-championed Dr. Lecter earlier this year in March, while Brad Strut is a member of Melbourne crew Lyrical Commission, and worked with Mark Brandon ‘Chopper’ Read on the track ‘Chop Chop’, for the soundtrack to the movie Trojan Warrior. Presale tickets to the tripleheader can be ordered online.

Rebolledo is set to release his first full-length album, Super Vato, on Matias Aguayo and Gary Pimiento’s label Còmeme next month.

The Mexican artist, whose sound is a pungent hybrid of house, techno, electro and avant-pop suffused with Latin flavour, has built up a sizeable cult following on the strength of his singles ‘Bo Jack’ and ‘Guerrero’ and his remixes for Aguayo, Zombie Nation and Von Spar, along with his collaborations with Superpitcher as Pachanga Boys and with Pitch and Jörg Burger under the name The Three Lions, for Kompakt Records.

Rebodello has previously released several records on Còmeme, and has enlisted an extensive cast of collaborators for his debut LP, including Aguayo, Raquel Wolff, Superpitcher and newcomer Philipp Gorbachev.

WARP CHARITY ALBUM

Pioneering electronic label Warp Records have compiled a charity album, Kinshasa One Two, with all profits to go directly to Oxfam’s relief work in the Congo. Conceived by Damon Albarn’s DRC Music (a collective featuring Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Actress and Dan The Automator, along with 50 Congolese musicians), the album was crafted in the Congo this July over the course of five days. “Every day in DRC there are hundreds of thousands of people who

I’ve also finished my second track ‘Nill’, which will be available online soon. The two tracks are completely different in style; the first one is more techno/electronic, while the second is more chilled out and minimal. You’ll hear a variety of sounds during my set, as I combine a traditional DJ set up with a Xone 4D – this enables me to spin old favourites topped with digital sounds from Ableton Live.

5.

Music, Right Here, Right Now There are a lot of good things happening right now in Sydney.

Promoters are booking quality acts from all over the world, and the techno scene is gradually crawling back up from the underground. This year is going to be epic!

With: Funk D’Void, Laurent Dupre, Joey Tupaea & Joey Kaz and more Where: Kontrast pres. Funk D’Void @ The Burdekin, Oxford St When: Saturday September 10

need Oxfam’s support to access education, clean water, sanitation and basic hygiene,” says Oxfam’s Pauline Ballaman. “Not only will DRC Music shine a light on the incredible musical talent coming out of the country, it will raise much needed funds for Oxfam’s invaluable work here and focus the world’s attention on Congo once again, seeing it as a place of inspiration, creativity and hope.”

Kinshasa One Two will be released on October 3 through Warp Records.

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We quite like green eggs and ham. We’ll take them in a house, with a mouse, in a box and with a fox. In related news, SAMIYAM is an L.A.-based glitch-hop producer and is coming to Sydney for a night of fun at the soon-to-close Tone in Surry Hills. He’ll be joined by friends El Gusto, Roleo, Prize and Onetalk this Saturday September 10.

If you want to go, which you should, send us a stanza of the Seuss poem employed for this giveaway... Two double passes are up for grabs!

MANTRA

Melbourne-based MC Mantra has been turning heads in the Aussie hip hop world since his 2010 debut, Power Of The Spoken.

With mic skills to kill, and lyrical wit to get you lit (?), we’re counting down the hours until his sophomore album is released this September 9. In support of his upcoming record, Mantra will be embarking on a huge national tour, which will see him spittin’ his intellect in Sydney on October 29 at The Annandale Hotel. Hilltop Hoods and Bliss ‘n’ Eso fans: this is an absolute must. BRAG have a double pass for you and a homie to get yourselves down there. If you’re keen for one, just tell us the name of Mantra’s latest album.

RU C.L.

KONTRAST FT FUNK D’VOID

Veteran Scottish producer Lars Sandberg, who releases under the monikers Francois Dubois and Funk D’Void, will headline Kontrast upstairs at the Burdekin Hotel on Oxford Street this Saturday September 10. Sandberg deals in deeper, prog-influenced tech soundscapes and has chalked up releases on Soma Records, Bedrock and Cocoon over the course of an accomplished career that has also encompassed remixes of Underworld, Laurent Garnier, New Order and Kevin Saunderson. Personally, I’m a sucker for Funk D’void’s collaboration with Andy Cato from Groove Armada, ‘Blood’ – and there’s an old podcast of his that was recorded from a set with Vincenzo at Moog nightclub in Barcelona a few years back that has been a mainstay on my iPod ever since I first heard it. New listeners who are after a distillation of Sandberg’s DJ

Gold Fields

RU C.L BRIMSTONE & FIRE

Melbourne hip hop and dancehall producer Rueben Campbell, a.k.a.

Ru C.L, has just released his second album, Brimstone & Fire; an LP that was lauded by our sister mag in Melbourne, Beat, which gushed “It’s got horns coming out the ying yang, a bass line that commands respect and, without a shadow of a doubt, some of the tightest rhymes I’ve heard in a while”. Ru C.L will be bringing Brimstone & Fire to the Beach Road Hotel in Bondi on Thursday September 15 for the official album release party, where he’ll be supported

by DJs Nick Toth and Bentley.

inclinations ought to seek out his Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi. 04 compilation, which lived up to the high quality of the antecedent installments in the short-lived mix series by just about matching the efforts of Ewan Pearson, Luciano and Alex Smoke. Support comes from Melbourne DJ/producer Laurent Dupré, Pash Mann, Joey Tupaea, Joey Kaz, Tom Brereton and Amy Fairweather. Entry is $15 before 11pm.

SCUBA DJ-KICKS

Hotflush label main man Paul Rose, aka Scuba, has been enlisted to mix the latest mix in !K7’s long running DJ-Kicks series, due out in late October. Featuring a healthy helping of exclusives from his camp including new music from Addison Groove and Boddika, the mix treads the line between the UK bass music scene in which Scuba came up and the techno sounds dominant in his current home of Berlin, traversing cuts from Marcel Dettmann, Recloose and my man Jichael Mackson, the self-coined ‘ping of kop’.

“For me, ‘An We Drop’ by Addison Groove is one of the key tracks,” Rose said of the mix. “It’s a fusion of two things: that urban, UK kind of sound, and something more techno. It sums up what the mix and my music are about.” Scuba’s DJ-Kicks compilation will be released on October 17.

SAMIYAM

GOLD FIELDS DEBUT EP + TOUR

Hailing from former mining stronghold Ballarat, emerging outfit Gold Fields are gearing up to release their debut, self-titled EP through EMI on September 16. Gold Fields hit the ground running when their debut song ‘Treehouse’ was plucked off triple j Unearthed and instantly added to high rotation, and proceeded to snare support slots for the likes of Crystal Castles on the back of a sound that combines “pounding drums, rhythmic basslines and herky-jerky dance moves”. Their debut release will feature a new remix of ‘Treehouse’ from Melbourne uber-producer Gloves, as well as recent radio staples ‘The Woods’ and ‘Moves’. In addition to a spot at Parklife, Gold Fields will play a headline show at Oxford Art Factory on Friday October 11, with support from Brisbane garage-pop proponents millions.

360 IS FALLING & FLYING

Melbourne emcee 360 is gearing up to release his sophomore album Falling & Flying at the end of the month through EMI. The album arrives in the wake of two successful singles, The Whitest Boy Alive-sampling ‘Just Got Started’, and the Josh Pyke-assisted ‘Throw It Away’, and features production from Styalz Fuego and M-Phazes, along with a 2-track collaboration with Melbourne solo artist Gossling. 360 will be embarking on a national tour with a three-piece backing band to promote the release, and will perform an allages show at The Annandale Hotel on Saturday November 12.

Elzhi Master Chillin’ By Jade Lloyd

E

lzhi – pronounced Elz-i, not El-zee (that was his old name) is ready to show Australian hip hop fans what he can do on his own. Last here as part of acclaimed rap group Slum Village, the American MC flew the coop and is successfully making a name for himself as a solo artist. With a wellreceived homage to Nas’ classic album Illmatic – naturally titled eLmatic – released this year, we managed to get him on the phone during a studio session in Los Angeles.

What is the biggest difference between playing a gig there and playing in Australia, where hip hop isn’t quite as dominant?

The only difference is you may not see as many ladies at a hip hop show in America.

But in Australia and New Zealand last time, I definitely recall seeing a lot of ladies at the show.

And is that a good thing?

Of course! Totally! You want everyone to be able to feel your music, you know? You want all the different nationalities to be feeling it. I recall the last time we was there, the energy was high. There was a lot of hype, it was real good. So I can’t wait to come back and see that again.

Last time you were here as part of a group.

What can we expect from your solo set?

Oh man – expect a lot of live energy, expect a great time, great songs and a great performance. It’s just gonna be a real feelgood atmosphere. When I do shows, I like to make it feel like a celebration, something that everyone can get involved with, not just myself.

Be prepared for an experience!

Do you prefer performing solo?

I like performing by myself nowadays. It’s pretty

cool to be able to pull off an entire show by myself, and still have enough energy to hop off stage and actually kick on with people after your show.

Let’s rewind a little and give people some background. When did you first start rapping?

I first started rapping at the age of eight. My name was Master Chillin’ – I took the word MC and made it stand for something for me, y’know?

That’s a great name! Why the change?

Through the years I changed my name to suit eras. But before my name was Elzhi it was Elzhe. But you know me, tryin’ to be different – because there was a Jay-Z, I changed it. Once I did that I thought, ‘Wow, that sounds cool’, and all the people around me thought I should have kept it. Later on I realised that Elzhi in Hebrew means ‘god’s spirit’.

Are there any more name changes planned?

Elzhi is the final name. I might freak it a little bit and add more to it – kinda like how a Transformer might add on to become a big robot. I might add on some things, but it is here to stay.

Your current album is an homage to Nas. Why him?

I feel like Illmatic is one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time, and as soon as one of my DJs came up with the concept of eLmatic I just feel like it all made sense. I had no choice but to make it.

What does Nas think?

I haven’t heard from Nas myself, but my manager spoke with his management team

“I like performing by myself nowadays. It’s pretty cool to be able to pull off an entire show by myself, and still have enough energy to actually kick on with people after.”

and he’s been told they absolutely loved the mixtape... It’s me paying homage, so if I can do that and get respect from the person I’m paying homage to then that’s a real blessing.

that want to be a part of my album, as well as people who sing or MC. I don’t wanna give out too much, but it should be incredible, and better than what I’ve put out thus far.

Were you worried about how his devoted fanbase would react?

Nah, it’s not intimidating. When I did that, I approached it from a fan’s standpoint; I think Nas fans know that I’m a fan of that same record. So they know that I’m just showing love and respect for it in my own way, and I think they appreciate it. And in fact I know that they appreciate it, through their comments on Facebook and Twitter.

Any clues on what it’s gonna sound like?

When I do an album or any kind of product, I definitely wanna show some kind of elevation and keep it fresh. I don’t want my last project soundin’ like my project before last. The sound that I’m going for now is kinda hard to describe – you’re just gonna have to hear it.

It’s definitely different.

Let’s talk new stuff…

I’m in the studio, working on new material, trying to put out an album by the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Be on the lookout! I’m working with a lot of names. I’m working with The Alchemist right now; there are a few other people that I’ve reached out to and that I respect on a production level

Will we get a sneak peek of the new stuff at the shows?

It’s gonna be eLmatic material, with a few tricks up my sleeve. I don’t like to spoil it for the people. I like to keep surprises.

With: Big Village (showcase), DJs Ology & Frenzie Where: Tone When: Sunday September 11

Mantra Speaking Volumes By Birdie

A

lot’s happened in the last year since Mantra, AKA Rob Tremlett, dropped his debut solo record Power Of The Spoken. Large-scale tours and life as a working artist have taught the rapper more about the industry and his own abilities than he’s ever known before.

“I was definitely in a different headspace writing this album, because I picked up so much making my first one,” explains Tremlett of his second record, Speaking Volumes, which comes out later this week. “There is a sense of being a lot more comfortable admitting to the world that I don’t know everything, that I don’t hold the answers to life, that I’ve learned so much in the last year and that there’s still plenty left to learn. A lot of the album is about being contemplative and questioning the things that have happened in my life, as opposed to maybe just laying down my stance on things and that’s it. I think it’s possible to confidently profess that no, you don’t know everything. I’ve realised that the music industry is definitely not the scary monster that I imagined it would be, even though navigating the business side of things is a necessary evil. As long as that’s not entering your mind when you’re making music, though, you’re fine.”

Playing heavily on Tremlett’s mind as he worked on the album was the bittersweet memory of an old friend who passed away as a teenager, but who served as the number one catalyst in the birth of Tremlett’s hip hop career. Mantra dedicated second-to-last track ‘For You (ft. Mark Pearl)’ to him – a song which the rapper claims he struggled with up until now. Sometimes it’s just about timing…

“I’ve been trying to record it a few different times over the last few years, and it just never really worked out for some strange reason,” Tremlett says. “We tried this new version for the album with Mark on the chorus, and it turned out to be amazing. It just sent shivers down the spine as soon as we listened back to it. The guy that the song is about was a friend of mine who encouraged me to start

“I’m a lot more comfortable admitting that I don’t know everything, that I don’t hold the answers to life, that I’ve learned so much in the last year and that there’s still plenty to learn.” rapping in the first place; I remember we had so much fun being 16 and making hip hop beats. He was stabbed and killed in Southbank when he was only 17, and the guy that did it was the same age. The whole thing was totally random and unprovoked.

It’s sad because not only was he taken, but I feel like I owe a lot to him as well in many ways. Sometimes I think that it’s because of him that I’m doing this thing that’s become my entire life, and he’s not around to see it. He was meant to be here doing it with us, and enjoying this life with us.”

Still, Tremlett is stoked mates like Drapht, Urthboy, Illy, M-Phazes, El Gusto and Mista Savona did get to put their stamp on Speaking Volumes – he even recruited Swedish rapper Promoe, of Looptroop Rockers. “Having Promoe was a massive deal for me; I’ve always looked up to him, and have enjoyed his music for a long time!” enthuses Tremlett. “I knew ‘Self-Destruct’ would be a perfect track for him, so when he was so enthusiastic to jump on it, I felt a huge sense of pride! Everybody on the album has become a close personal friend to me; they’re all people I respect artistically.” But it’s the lead single ‘Got Me Wrong (ft. Parvyn Kaur Singh)’ which has hijacked the triple j airways.

Tremlett tells me that working with Kaur Singh was one of the highlights in the making of the record, too. “Having Parvyn on the single was amazing. She is this vocalist with an amazing Hindi-style of singing, I’m just totally in awe and stunned at her talent! Of course I have to mention people like Drapht and Urthboy and really everybody on the album – all of these

people are my favourite artists in the country.”

Often referred to in Aussie hip hop circles as your favourite rapper’s favourite rapper, Tremlett has been lucky to avoid the sophomore album curse. Although he had much less time on his hands to finish the record, he claims the ideas came pouring out this time around. “It took me ages to release my first album,” Tremlett recalls.

“I did a bunch of touring as well throughout the whole thing … and even though that was awesome, it meant that I’d be squeezing in flights in between the dates to head back to Melbourne and keep recording. I put a deadline on myself very strictly for this album so I knew I had to utilise my time a lot more, which made me very motivated and focused. I’ve noticed that over the last couple of years with my solo stuff, people that I’ve looked up to in the scene for a long time have been returning the respect back to me,” he says. “When people describe you as their favourite hip hop artist or one of the more talented emcees in the country – it’s nice to know people have that opinion of you. There’s been a lot more interest in what I’m doing since my music got exposed to the wider Australian hip hop market. Like, putting [lead single] ‘Got Me Wrong’ out there, I found the response has been more immediate and more eager straight away from people and media like triple j. There’s a feeling as though people have been waiting for this album, in a way.”

What: Speaking Volumes is out Friday September 9 through Obese Records Where: Level One, Newcastle / The Annandale When: October 28 / October 29

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Deep Impressions Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

S

eminal Detroit techno pioneer Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir is heading down under for the first time in October, and will play in Sydney at new venue The Spice Cellar at Martin Place (which is set to open its doors shortly).

Sometimes forgotten amid the likes of Derrick May, Carl Craig and Kenny Larkin et al, Shakir comes across as an elusive and enigmatic figure. The self-described “invisible man of techno” has refused to promote his work in European markets, and has released most of his material on his own Frictional label. He has frequently referred to himself as the janitor of Juan Atkins’ Metroplex Records, though he now admits that much of his invisibility is his own doing.

As for his music? Shakir’s tracks prefigured plenty of contemporary electronic music trends, from wonky to the modern disco edit, and showcase a live, ‘hip hop-ish’ approach to crafting electronica. He also recorded on Mo Wax as part of the first Urban Tribe project, alongside Kenny Dixon Jr (aka Moodymann), Carl Craig and Sherard Ingram. For those unaware of Shakir, your first stop should be Frictionalism (1994-2009), a triple CD collection of his productions that was released last year on Dutch label Rush Hour. Shakir is notoriously unafraid of playing hip hop and pop music in his DJ sets, and he once sampled the B-52’s – but you can also expect a serious dose of straight-up Detroit techno come October 29. Whatever he drops, it should definitely be an experience, and one that’s not worth missing. Presale tickets are available now through Resident Advisor.

Luke Slater’s Planetary Assault Systems project will release a new album, The Messenger, in late October. The press release promises a strongly club-focused album – which is hardly surprising, right?

– with Slater reportedly carefully testing all of the tracks and subsequently editing them in typically meticulous fashion.

Beginning with the track ‘Railer (Further Exploration)’, which supposedly eases the listener in with a "bubbling ether”, the release purportedly traverses dark techno soundscapes thereafter. Slater’s output as Planetary Assault Systems has never disappointed, and I don’t expect the trend to be bucked with The Messenger. I highly recommend the previous album, Temporary Suspension, which was also released on Ostgut Ton, if you have not wrapped your ears around it yet. And if you have, a relisten may be in order as we prepare for the forthcoming LP from a bona fide techno pioneer.

The problem with having one’s finger on the pulse of the technosphere is that occasionally, considering we get the stories prior to them officially breaking, there’s a change to the event after we go to print. Such was the case with the Gregor Tresher tour announcement in last week’s mag. Unfortunately in techno touring land, things don’t always go to plan, and Tresher will not be touring in October. But before you get too downcast, I can confirm that

LOOKING DEEPER

Adultnapper

MONDAY OCT 3 Adultnapper Favela

SATURDAY OCT 15 Marcel Dettmann & Ben Klock Chinese Laundry

SATURDAY OCT 29 Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir The Spice Cellar

DECEMBER 2 – 4 Subsonic Music Festival Barrington Tops

Ransom Note boss Adultnapper will be taking Tresher’s place and performing at Favela on Monday October 3, in a long weekend bash also featuring a strong local contingent. Adultnapper is the moniker of North American producer Francis Harris, a man renowned for crafting intelligent and imaginative – some have even used the term ‘surreal’ – dancefloor grooves.

Whatever way you work the semantics, the Adultnapper discography speaks for itself, and comprises over 40 EPs and remixes for respected labels like Pokerflat, Mule and Get Physical. He’s also known for his Sycophant Slags project with Mr. C of The Shamen, and has remixed Layo & Bushwacka! and Ellen Allien. As for the ‘Adultnapper’ moniker, Harris elucidates: “The whole philosophy of Adultnapper is the depersonalization/fictionalization [sic] of yourself, so he’s supposed to be like a character out of a graphic novel of sorts. He’s hyper-political, kinda crazy, schizophrenic, and I think the music has that sort of vibe to it. It’s always a little bit weird, a little bit off-key.” Which is just the way we like it.

Now this is a compilation to really look forward to: Wagon Repair, the Canadian label of Mathew Johnson, is going to release a compilation of 15 previously unreleased tracks next month called All Stars, the label’s first compilation since Jack Off in 2008. The release features Dinky, Mike Shannon, Konrad Black, Deadbeat and The Mole, with the track listing having a distinct ‘hometown’ Canadian flavour to it. All Stars seems like a worthy title – this ought to be a goodie.

Luke Slater

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

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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.

Y

ou should be gearing up for the impending SAMIYAM show this Saturday night. It’s the LA-based producer’s second visit to our town, and the first show he did here was heavy. The tour comes on the back of his second full-length, Sam Baker’s Album, that dropped on the Brainfeeder imprint earlier in the year. The close friend of Flying Lotus makes some genius heavy electronic funk, and spacedout, blunted beats – it’s hip hop from the future. There’s a prior record, Rap Beats Vol 1, from 2008 that’s also worth getting your hands on if you can track it down. Brought to you by the good people at Space Is The Place, SAMIYAM is supported by the allstar local lineup of El Gusto (Hermitude), Roleo, Prize and Onetalk. In addition this will be one of the last parties to go down at Tone, who sadly announced their pending closure last week – from Monday September 19, Tone as we know it is no more, so there are plenty of reasons to get yourself along.

There’s buckets of new music coming through the pipeline. The new Zed Bias album is almost here. First tracks out are ‘Phoneline (ft. Roscoe Trim)’ a badass bass monster of a groove, and ‘Fairplay (ft. Jenna G)’, which has a distinct, classic Zed Bias, UK garage flavour to it. The new record from this long-time producer who just keeps on innovating is called Biasonic Hotsauce – Birth Of The Nanocloud, and features collaborations with Skream, Mark Pritchard, Toddla T (whose debut album Watch Me Dance this column has been raving about recently), and Sam Frank. The full album is out September 26 through Tru Thoughts.

Fans of downtempo, rare groove, Latin and funk will no doubt hold musician/producer/ straight wizard Quantic (AKA Will Holland) in high esteem. Well, The Best Of Quantic has just dropped, and it spans one of the most remarkable bodies of work of any producer or artist anywhere, ever. The two discs take you through his early years as simply Quantic, The Quantic Soul Orchestra period that heavily involved Alice Russell, the Latin-dub flavoured Flowering Inferno and his most recent incarnation, while living in South America, as Quantic and his Combo Barbaro. If, for some reason, you’re not across Quantic, you’re really missing a scene-shaping artist. I would expect new fans and old to be flocking to this release in droves.

A man who has no doubt been heavily influenced by Quantic over the years is German producer Mr Confuse. This guy is hot on the dancefloor funk and jazz scene and he’s got a new record, Do You Realize, out through Legere Records. Much like Quantic, you can expect heaps of soul to come through in this man’s compositions.

His 2009 EP, Do It Right Now, is worth going back for as well, if any of that sounds like your bag.

The duo Tiger & Woods have recently emerged as a couple of the best deep house and disco producers around. You can pick up a generous handful of their vinyl releases on their first CD release, Through The Green (on Running Back Records). These guys make excellent music to play out and about, especially during the warm-up set. And the pair will be in town for the upcoming Musica /Tumbalong event on Saturday October 22.

His legions of fans will be happy to know

ON THE ROAD SATURDAY SEPT 10 SAMIYAM TONE

SUNDAY SEPT 11 Elzhi TONE

SATURDAY SEPT 17 The Herd, Sietta Metro Theatre

Public Opinion Afro Orchestra Oxford Art Factory Goldie Chinese Laundry

THURSDAY OCT 6 Booker T. Jones Metro Theatre

THURSDAY OCT 13 Electric Empire Upstairs Beresford

SATURDAY OCT 22 Musica /Tumbalong Tumbalong Park

Liberators, Afro Nomad The Basement

SATURDAY OCT 29 London Elektricity Arthouse

that Mayer Hawthorne’s sophomore album now has an October release date.

The Detroit vocalist/producer/musician/ DJ blew the international soul scene apart in 2009 with his debut A Strange Arrangement, and became a lot of people’s new favourite artist in the process.

He’s without a doubt one of the most cherished new acts in the game. The new record is titled – in Mayer’s endearing tradition of invoking etiquette from bygone eras – How Do You Do. It’ll be released through Universal, who have reached out to our beloved Stone’s Throw to bring Mayer to the big leagues.

Sydney based emcee The Tongue has been busy cooking up a new mixtape, aka The Sextape. Clearly with carnal matters on his mind, the recording is “mainly concerned with sex, but also touches on marriage, love, gay rights, groupies, STDs, etc." (Soul Sedation understands this release will not be accompanied by a video release of the same nature.) The tape contains beats from Redman, J Dilla and J Cole, and also a new original work from the rapper entitled ‘Two Girlfriends’, which does come with accompanying video. You can find it all at thetongue.com.au.

New Zealand’s leading lights of electronic soul Electric Wire Hustle return to the country next month for quick round of shows.

You can catch them at the Musica event (along with Ghostpoet, Lunice, SBTRKT, Tiger & Woods and more) in Tumbalong Park on October 22, on Stradbroke Island at the Island Vibe Festival on October 28-30, or down at Melbourne’s Roxy on October 27.

And fresh from playing Glastonbury, Melbourne four piece Electric Empire will appear at Upstairs Beresford on October 13. You can pick up their vinyl releases through the Soul Togetherness/Expansions UK labels, and anyone into funk, soul and RnB will want to get down – the band mix all of that with a healthy dose of the gospel tradition.

Mayer Hawthorne

Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 53

club guide

send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

club pick of the week Elzhi

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11

Tone, Surry Hills

Elzhi

Big Village Showcase, Ology & Frenzie, Hau $28.60 7pm MONDAY SEPTEMBER 5 Scubar, Sydney Crab Racing free 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Jazz DJs free 7pm

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 6 Scubar, Sydney Backpacker Karaoke free 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Coyote Tuesdays $10 The World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic Pablo Calamari, Andy and Mike free 8pm

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 7 Bank Hotel, Newtown Girls’ Night DJ Emme free Home The Venue, Sydney I Heart Unipackers DJs The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Student Nights DJ Moussa free The Ranch Hotel, Eastwood The Hump Day Project –

54 :: BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11

Patriot Party Try T, Joey Kaz, Dim Slim 9pm Scubar, Sydney Schoonerversity free 3pm Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney Sincopa free 7pm The Whitehouse Hotel, Petersham The Hidden Dragon, Andy K, J-Trick, Leonz $10 (conc)– $15 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Glovecates, Rubio, Robust, Deckhead, Pipemix, Pablo Calamari free 8pm

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 8 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Drop free 8pm The Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney Tenzinm Cadell, Zannon, DJ K-Note free 8pm Ivy, Sydney Ivy Live The Groove Academy faturing Muma Megs free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Retail Therapy 8pm Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn The Novocaines, Critics, Ashes $12-$15 8pm Scubar, Sydney Everything Under The Sea free 7pm

The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Urby, Chappers, Dan Bombings, Teen Spirit DJs free (student)–$5 9pm

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9 Arthouse Hotel, Sydney RnB Superclub G-Wizard, Troy T, Lilo, Def Rok, Eko, MC Jayson $20 9.30pm The Bank Hotel, Newtown Friendly Fridays DJ Beth Yen free The Burdekin, Darlinghurst In The Moment djritchie, Rosey, Axl_Max, Guest DJs free 8pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Liquid Sky 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Dubstep Invasion 2 ShockOne, Glove Cats, Cyberman, Hydraulix, Beunos Diaz, Shadowboxer $15 (early bird)–$25 10pm Cohibar Guest DJ, DJ Mike Silver free Goodgod Front Bar, Sydney Yo Grito! King Opp, ilky Doyle, Daniel Darling, Chalmy Sing free Goodgod Small Cub, Sydney Dreamcatcher’s Dream Time Dance Party DJ

Dreamcatcher, DJ Sling Dusty, Ron Radge $10 10.30pm The Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney DJ Cadell 5pm Gypsy Lounge, Darlinghurst Warp Speed Various DJs 9pm Home The Venue, Sydney Sublime DJs Jacksons On George, Sydney Ultimate Party Venue Resident DJs free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Falcona Agency DJs 8pm The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Resident DJs free Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Friday I’m In Love DJs free 12am Scubar, Sydney Jagermeister Fridays DJs free 7pm Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney Mixtape free 6pm Tone, Surry Hills Sydney Soul Weekender DJs Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Eve J Smoove, Robbie Santiago, Lyrics, MC Deekay free 9pm Vegas Lounge, Darlinghurst Teen Spirit 11pm The Watershed Hotel Bring On The Weekend! DJ Matty Roberts free The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM North East Party House, Bloods, Surprise Wasp, I Know Leopard, Bud Petal, Dumbsaint, Alps, MUM DJs $10-$15 8pm

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10 Arthouse Hotel, Sydney Vamp Music 9.30pm Bank Hotel, Newtown DJ Abel, DJ Lok 9pm The Big Top at Luna Park, Milsons Point Joe (USA) $76.45–$137.80 8pm Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst Kontrast presents Funk’Dvoid, Laurent Duprie, Kontrast DJs Candys Apartment Disco! Disco! Vengeance, Ladooda, Stalker, Leanzy, Leigh Westren 8pm Caringbah Bizzo’s Seduction, Oakes, Lennox 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Micky Slim (UK), Sam Scratch, A-Tonez, Mattt, T-Boy, Nic Scali, obscur3d, Mr Belvedere, DJ Eko, King Lee $15–$25 9pm Civic Underground, Sydney Lucy, Ben Dunlop, Defined By Rhythm $25-$30 10pm Cohibar DJ Matty Roberts free Dee Why Hotel Kiss & Fly 9pm Empire Hotel, Annandale Let There Be Hip-Hop Izzy n The Profit, Jae Druitt, Ayeone, 6 Pound, Mirrah, Morganics, Kinetic $10 8.30pm The Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills Northern Soul Weekender DJs $23.90 8pm Home The Venue, Sydney Homemade Saturdays DJs Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park Above & Beyond (UK) $83.95 (+ bf) 8pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Ultimate Party Venue Resident DJs free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Miss T, Gabby, Cassette, Alison Wonderland 8pm

Simon Baker The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Resident DJs free Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Trashbags Barretso (Chile), Hack The System, Redial, Smacktown, Obey & Ray $23.50 9pm Perry Park, Alexandria Odyssey Day Festival Nick Forrest, Dylan See, Raffi Lovechild, James Gielis, Shae Martin, John Dekker free 12pm Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst Halfway Crooks Levins, Franco, Toni Toni Lee $10 10pm Scubar, Sydney Every Saturday DJs free 3pm Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney MJ, Drew Mercer free–$10 9pm Sun Studios, Alexandria Tortured Warehouse Party Barbara Tucker, Quentin Harris $63.40-$135.30 6pm Subsonic Secret Warehouse Subsonic launch party feat.

Simon Baker and Boris Brejcha Tone, Surry Hills Space Is The Place Samiyam, El Gusto, Roleo, Prize, Onetalk 10pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Voyeur Charlie Brown, Robbie Santiago, Jo Funk, Joe Amoroso Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills Jam Party Kato, Pinnacle Sound System, Fun Machine, Myth and Trpoics 6pm Water Bar – Blue Hotel Saturday Night Deluxe DJ Alex Almeida free The Watershed Hotel Watershed Presents…

Skybar The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham Chris Arnott,

James Taylor, Ben Morris, Mitch Crosher, Brendan Fing, Moneyshot, Reno, Discopunx, Andy Webb, Mike Who, Pipemix, Bermuda P, Shamozzle $15-$20 8pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11 Bank Hotel, Newtown DJ Kitty Glitter free Fake Club, Kings Cross Spice After Hours Kali, Murat Kilic $20 4am Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Sneaky Sundays 8pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Aphrodisiac Resident DJs Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross East Sundays Stu Turner, NAD, Mr Belvedere, Murray Lake, Pat Ward, Special Guests 6pm Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst Defekt! Zwelli, Drachemann, Ghost of Muttley, pHybian, Elm3r Krudd free 5pm Scubar, Sydney Sundays free 3pm Tone, Surry Hills Elzhi, Big Village Showcase, Ology & Frenzie, Hau $28.60 7pm Upstairs Beresford DJ Sammy Jo $23.60 4pm The Watershed Hotel Afternoon DJ’s DJ Matty Roberts free The White Horse, Sydney S.A.S.H. Sunday International Guest (Cocoon), Simon Caldwell, Hoffy & Noodles, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace $10 12pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Deepend James Taylor, Alley Oop free 9pm Barbara Tucker

club picks up all night out all week...

James Taylor

Civic Underground, Sydney Lucy, Ben Dunlop, Defined

By Rhythm $25-$30 10pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Trashbags Barretso (Chile), Hack The System, Redial, Smacktown, Obey & Ray $23.50 9pm Tone, Surry Hills Space Is The Place Samiyam, El Gusto, Roleo, Prize, Onetalk 10pm Secret warehouse Subsonic launch party feat.

Simon Baker and Boris Brejcha

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 7

Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Falcona Agency DJs 8pm

The Whitehouse Hotel, Petersham The Hidden Dragon Andy K, J-Trick, Leonz $10 (conc)–$15 8pm

SUNDAY SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10 SEPTEMBER 11

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 8

Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst Kontrast presents Funk’Dvoid, Laurent Duprie, Kontrast DJs $15-20, 9pm

The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Urby, Chappers, Dan Bombings Teen Spirit DJs free (student)–$5 9pm

The White Horse, Sydney S.A.S.H. Sunday International Guest (Cocoon), Simon Caldwell, Hoffy & Noodles, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace $10 12pm

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9 Chinese Laundry, Sydney Dubstep Invasion 2 Shockone, Glove Cats, Cyberman, Hydraulix, Beunos Diaz, Shadowboxer $15 (early bird)–$20 10pm

Boris Brejcha

4 DAY INTERNATIONAL MUSIC, ARTS AND LIFESTYLE FEST IVAL MELBOURNE AUST RALIA JANUARY 27-30 MASSIVE INTERNATIONAL LINEUP INCLUDING: RECORDS, RECORDS, ISRAEL) LOUD(NANO U.K.) OTT (TWISTED MUSIC, UK) GERMANY) TIPPER (TIPPER KOZE(KOMPAKT, SUNDANCE, SERBIA) TALPA/THE RIDDLER (TESSERACT/ MUSIC, GERMANY) PROTONICA(IONO RHINO, BRAZIL) JAMES MUNRO (FLYING PRODUCTIONS, USA) ROBERT RICH(SOUNDSCAPE IN GLITCH, TORONTO ILL GATES(MADE AIR, AMERICA) GLITCH MOB (GLASS NETHERLANDS) PETER HORREVORTS(KANZLERAMT, ROBOT RECORDS, UK) HEDFLUX(BROKEN MUSIC, USA) DOV (MUTI

AND MORE...

Sep

10

PRESENTS

UK

SOUNDCLOUD.COM/FUNKDVOID

OUTPOST/SOMA

LAURENT DUPRÉ (LAUS/ITECH) PASH MANN (BE UKRAINE) JOEY TUPAEA & JOEY KAZ (KONTRAST DJS) TOM BRERETON & AMY FAIRWEATHER (CUBE) $15 GUESTLIST BEFORE 11PM $20 AFTER 11PM BOOKING ENQUIRIES vipkontrast@gmail.com kontrastclub.blogspot.com

kontrast

THE BURDEKIN 2 OXFORD STREET DARLINGHURST SYDNEY

MUSIC / ART / LIFESTYLE / PERFORMANCE RELAXAT ION / HEALING / CAMPING EXPERIENCE ONE OF AUSTRALIA'S MOST LOVED FEST IVALS!

EARLYBIRD TICKETS ON SALE NOW

www.rainbowserpent.net BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 55

snap snap

wham!

25:08:11 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

PICS :: DM

hot damn

PICS :: SW

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

27:08:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

mum

It’s called: Patriot Party! ft. The Hump Day Project It sounds like: Electro, house, hip hop, a bit of dub and non-stop rock.

Who’s spinning?: The Hump Day Project (Troub lemakers Music), TroyT (Superfest), Joey Kaz (KONTRAST DJS) & Dim Slim.

Sell it to us: HUMP Wednesday is getting politic ally incorrect – get Prince Harry all over the place and make the paper s in the morning. Come as your country of origin. Get your flags, get your body paint and show us who is the world’s best party rock nation!

Three records that’ll rock the floor: Justic e – ‘Stress (Nero Edit)’; The Chemical Brothers – ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl (The Hump Day Project remix)’; Lil Jon – ‘Bia Bia (AYJAY’s Hoover-Dub remix)’ The bit we’ll remember in the AM: None of it. It’s a f*cking student party.

Crowd specs: People who want to get loose, rock out and have some killer fun.

Wallet damage: FREE plus kickass drink ls: $4 Spirits & $6 Vodka Mother (9pm – 11pm), $4.50 Schoospecia ners, $5 Strongbow Cider, $5 Cocktails + $5 Heineken ALL NIGHT. Where: The Ranch Hotel – cnr Epping and Herring Rds, Eastwood.

When: Wednesday September 7 from 9pm

PICS :: TP

party profile

patriot party

the exchange hotel

PICS :: DM

strike 26:08:11 :: The Exchange Hotel :: 34-44 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93601375 56 :: BRAG :: 428: 05:09:11

PICS :: AM

26:08:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

28:08:11 :: Strike Bowling :: 122 Lang Road Moore Park 1300 787 453 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: CAI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE POPOV :: NATHAN IEL GRIFFIN :: ASHLEY MAR :: DAN TITO:: SAM WHITESIDE

BRAG :: 428 :: 05:09:11 :: 57

snap snap

sash

PICS :: AM

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

28:08:11 :: The White Horse Hotel :: 61 Princes Highway, St Peters 9519 8967

wham!

PICS :: NT

propaganda

It’s called: WHAM!

party profile

25:08:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

It sounds like: A whirlpool of every sound together and/or if disco, techno, hip hop andsince cavemen hit sticks house had a love child.

Acts: Chris Arnott (Vacation Records), Jame s Taylor, Ben Morris, Mitch Crosher, Brenden Fing, Moneyshot, Reno, Discopunx, Andy Webb, Mike Who, Pipemix, Bermuda P, Sham ozzle Three songs you’ll hear on the night: N.W.A – ‘Straight Outta Compton’; A1 Bassline – ‘Stabs’; Andy Martin – ‘Cosmic Owl’ And one you definitely won’t: Anything follow ed by the words “dubstep remix”!

Sell it to us: This is one of Sydney’s most-loved clubbing institutions.

Bring your friends down for a night you won’t remember, but will never forget! Don’t have friends? It’s the perfect place to meet ‘em!

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Probably an urge to sell everything you own and join nothing, but you’ll have the cult of WHAM that will be inexplicable to anyone who hasn’t attend ed…

Crowd specs: Sexy pseudo-nerds, hip hop hooligans and straight-out club rats!

Wallet damage: $15 before 10pm, $20 after Where: The World Bar, 24 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross

big boi/theophilus london

PICS :: GP

When: Every Saturday night from 8pm

luke fair

27:08:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958 PICS :: DM

jacques renault

27:08:11 :: The Civic Hotel :: 388 Pitt St City 80807000 58 :: BRAG :: 428: 05:09:11

PICS :: AM

27:08:11 :: Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Road, Newtown 9550 3666

:: KATRINA CLARKE :: CAI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE POPOV :: NATHAN IEL GRIFFIN :: ASHLEY MAR :: DAN TITO:: SAM WHITESIDE