The Brag #431 by The Brag

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IN 3 MON ONTTHS ONT

It’s possible at Shillington College

Less than two years ago Alex Beveridge was a surf instructor and worked in surf retail. Although he loved surﬁng (clearly) he’d always wanted to do something more creative and decided that graphic design was just the thing. Not long out of school, the idea of studying for another 3 years just wasn’t appealing for Alex. Fortunately, some friends had told him about a design college called Shillington and the rest, as they say, is history.

www.shillingtoncollege.com.au facebook.com/Shillington.FB twitter.com/Shillington_ Sydney O Melbourne O Brisbane London O Manchester O New York

At Shillington you are able to study our Certiﬁcate IV graphic design intensively for 3 months full-time; eating, sleeping and breathing it for 40 hours a week. Alternatively there’s our 1 year part-time course where you can study 2 evenings a week. The part-time course starts in February each year.

Our objective has always been to ensure that our students graduate with an in-depth, practical knowledge of design theory and the Adobe Creative Suite. All of the student briefs are realistic and are completed within hours or days rather than weeks or months. The end result is an outstanding portfolio of work and the studio skills that allow for a smooth transition from the classroom to a real studio. When Alex started to apply for jobs he was called back after every interview and before long had landed his dream job at Surﬁng World Magazine, even though they were advertising for an experienced designer. He’s happily been working there ever since.

Alex is just one of the many students who come to Shillington with no previous design experience that have found full-time work in the industry soon after graduating. We’ve had nurses, plumbers, djs, dancers, accountants, musicians... you name it. Aside from the full-time Certiﬁcate IV course, there is also a 16 week Masterclass which is for practising graphic designers wanting to expand their design skills and improve their portfolio. So, if you’re working in a job you don’t love every day, maybe now is the time to think about a change. For more information visit come to our open night on Friday 14 October 6-7pm L3, 50 Margaret St, Sydney - 02 9299 1166

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

He Said She Said WITH

PHEBE STARR

y father is an old-fashioned country boy, and my mum is a hyperactive modern day women. We lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere and we didn’t have much money to spend on the newest technology. I taught myself how to play music on a secondhand Casio keyboard; my first recordings were made improvising with the classical radio station when I was eight or nine. My parents weren’t musos, but my mum taught me to be fearless and experimental, and occasionally when we were cleaning the house I would hear my dad’s incredible voice – he was too proud to sing in front of anyone.

ask, and he’s the nicest person I have ever met! Our newest recruit on bass is Ben, and apparently he sexy-dances on stage. He has long hair and the ladies love him.

The first time I heard The Cure’s ‘Love Cats’, I remember it really spoke to me. Music is something that can encourage and inspire anyone without asking permission first. Bjork, The Cure, Prince, Johnny Cash, Goyte, Sia, Feist and Beck are some artists who’ve made music that has left me changed.

I love Sydney, and Australian music in general dominates! I’ve been here for four years now; at first it was overwhelming, and hard getting started and connected. I think we do need to foster our younger developing and rural musicians – there’s so much talent out there. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to see and experience some of it!

My sidekick Lee has had a huge impact on my taste in music and introduced me to a heap of new sounds; I call him The Synth Kid. It’s been an incredible journey finding a lineup that I’m happy with, but one by one – I think through divine intervention – I have found three incredibly talent and loyal musicians who have basically become like family to me… Tom is magic on drums – he can play anything I

Seeker Lover Keeper

EDITOR: Steph Harmon steph@thebrag.com 02 9698 9645 ARTS & ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Dee Jefferson dee@thebrag.com 02 9690 2731 STAFF WRITERS: Jonno Seidler, Caitlin Welsh NEWS: Nathan Jolly, Chris Honnery ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alan Parry SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Cai Griffin, Ashley Mar, Daniel Munns, Thomas Peachy, George Popov, Nathan Tito COVER DESIGN: Sarah Bryant

REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Simon Binns, Michael Brown, Liz Brown, Bridie Connell, Bridie Connellan, Ben Cooper, Oliver Downes, Alasdair Duncan, Max Easton, Tony Edwards, Christie Eliezer, Murray Engleheart, Henry Florence, Mike Gee, Chris Honnery, Nathan Jolly, Alex Lindsay Jones, Peter Neathway, Hugh Robertson, Matt Roden, Emma Salkild, Romi Scodellaro, Rach Seneviratne, Luke Telford, Rick Warner Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this address 8a Marlborough Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9552 6333 fax - (02) 9319 2227 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Publisher, Editor or Staff of The Brag. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Stephen Forde : accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Art Work, Ad Bookings Thursday 12pm (no extensions) Ad Cancellations Tuesday 4pm Published by Cartrage P/L ACN 104026388 All content copyrighted to Cartrage 2003 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get The Brag? Email distribution@furstmedia. com.au or phone 03 9428 3600. PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: www.spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204 Win a giveaway? Mail us a stamped and addressed envelope, and we’ll send your prize on over...

10 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

With: Lime Cordiale, Bears With Guns, Nikki Thorburn, Little Blak Dress, The Spoon Collectors and more Where: Frolic Festival @ Trackdown Studios, Fox Studios in the Entertainment Quarter When: Saturday October 1

WE <3 SLK

Seeker Lover Keeper make the kind of music that makes you feel warm and content and believe that maybe there is a god, and your anarchist, athiest ways have led you down the wrong path in life, what with all the rock music and the tattoos and the swearing and such. Well luckily you can clock up some serious church-time without having to commit to anything on November 24 at St. Stephen’s Uniting Church (on Macquarie St). Don’t worry, this isn’t that evening service I dragged you to last Good Friday – it’s the national Seeker Lover Keeper tour, and it’s titled ‘Heavenly Sounds’. Try this line on Throsby: “Did it hurt, when you fell from heaven?” She’ll marry you.

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

ADVERTISING: Matthew Cowley - 0431 917 359 / (02) 8394 9492 matthew@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 8394 9027 les@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Meaghan Meredith - 0423 655 091 / (02) 8394 9168 meaghan@thebrag.com GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Conrad Richters - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance & parties) INTERNS: Sigourney Berndt, Greg Clennar, Erin Holohan

I make synth-pop-jazz. Pink Lemonade was my debut EP, released earlier this year. It’s got everything from fat double bass lines and electronic drums to Japanese cats. I’m looking forward to releasing some of the new tracks I’ve been working on, too. Someone told me the other day that we play Yacht Rock – I’m not even sure what that is, but I’m totally into yachts.

DEEP SEA ARCADE

Deep Sea Arcade have been threatening to drop the perfect piece of surfy-pysch-pop on the nation for quite some time now. They almost did it halfway through a set at the Hopetoun a few years ago, but the lack of wheelchair access apparently made it the wrong time... Well, now they have finally done it – the track is called ‘Girls’, and it’s the first from their 2012 debut album which will be coming out through Ivy League. They’ll be playing the song at The Annandale on November 11 – and when they launch into that amazingly infectious chorus, they will be playing you, too.

mentioning which is kinda like a cross between colonial rum-swilling shanty-folk, and regular acoustic pastoral folk. It’s called Cosmo Jarvis, and there’s a song called ‘Gay Pirates’ which seems to not even be an anti-piracy song, but one which perfectly sums up this new, exciting genre. ...What? Cosmo Jarvis is a UK singersongwriter-actor-director-composer, not a genre? And ‘Gay Pirates’ has already been all over triple j and YouTube recently? Even Stephen FRY has Tweeted about him? And he’s playing October 12 at GoodGod? …Sigh. I miss chillwave.

FLOATINGME

FloatingMe is comprised of members from Scarymother, Karnivool and Cog, and I’m not sure which member I’m most scared of. Possibly the one holding a blade to my head as I type this, threatening to end me if I don’t mention their ‘Breaking To Breathe’ tour, which hits the Annandale Hotel on October 15. Oh yeah, and ‘Breaking To Breathe’ is at radio now, so request it please, or I’m not sure who will be writing next week’s column... It could be Richard Wilkins. Or Molly. Or Kathy Lette. Especially Kathy Lette.

Papa vs Pretty

EVEN THE DRONES MAKE MISTAKES

The Drones are embarking on a national tour in support of their first ever live DVD (A Thousand Mistakes, out October 7), which features six years of live performances from every corner of the globe (you knew that globes had corners, right? Read a book...) The guys are playing The Metro on October 29, and it will be louder than your neighbours’ fighting and probably a lot more literate. Less broken crockery, though.

SHE LIKES OLDER MEN

When British India first starting playing, back when The Cops and Red Riders ruled the innerwest, their name was perfect; they blended Britpop with vaguely sitar-y riffs. But like The Beach Boys, they kinda screwed themselves when they wanted to expand past this sound... Good thing the resultant sound speaks for itself. Their latest single is called ‘She Likes Older Men’, which is perhaps the most universal theme in existence, and they are playing the Gaelic Theatre on November 12 to convince you to download it – it won’t be available in any other formats, so you totally should.

COSMO JARVIS @ GOODGOD

Hey guys, I have been reading a bunch of blogs, and there is this new, hip genre they keep

PAPA VS VASCO

Not to put too fine a point on it, but The Vasco Era and Papa vs Pretty might just be the two best live bands in the country. (Sorry every other band – we like you too.) If they ever played on the same night in the same city, I think my brain would implode from trying to arrive at a logical decision in which mere logic need not apply. Luckily the next time this occurs I don’t have to make a heart-wrenching choice, as they are both playing the same venue: Manning Bar on October 28. Get to Sydney Uni early, and help me tie cans to the back of the Dean’s car.

GIG OF THE WEEK SUN 2ND OCT 8PM $25/$20

FRI 30TH SEP 9PM $10

THURS 29TH SEP 8PM $15/$12

Destroy All Lines

Presents

FRI 30TH SEP 10PM $20

Go Commando DJ’S Adam Watts + Digital Damage + JimJam + Juan Valasco + Kam

WE COME OUT AT NIGHT

SAT 1ST OCT 9PM $10

Thieves + Louis London + Tim Fitz + Dj’s Esteban + Rabbit Hole DJ’s SUN 2ND OCT 10PM $10

Loose Ends Matt Vaughan + Vinyl Richie + Avra-Cybele

RISING High Energy House, Vocal, Uplifting

Dan Murphy, Johan Khoury, Mark Alsop, and Rado

Rabbit Hole Presents..

OFF WITH YA HEAD

PHOENIX

DJ’S

SAT 1ST OCT 8PM $10

LIVE

Closure in Moscow + Missouri Breaks + Sound of Seasons + Marlow

Shafaati + Tommy Kelly

The Khans + The Lockwoods + Vuleps Vulpes + Colonies + Taylor King

SAT 1ST OCT 5AM $15 SUN 2ND OCT 5AM $15

FIFTH BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA! LIVE Hand of Mercy + Pledge This! + The Turning Tide + Outsider

LIVE

Street Talk + Bloods + Jubliants DJ’S

Monday - Friday 10am - Late

Wacks + Ben Lucid + Del + Mizz Clarence + Cries Wolf + Rocobop + Nickles + The Hetro Life Partners

Saturday - Sunday 9am - 6am Sunday Recovery 9am – late Happy Hour 5-7 every day

BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 11

rock music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

Jack Ladder

AL MARX FROM THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS Your Crew Our crew is just our friends, really. Kinda 3. boring. Melbourne has a ridiculous amount of bands, so naturally they’re all pretty much musical. When we want a DJ or someone to play with, we just get mates. Spread the love, kids.

4.The Music You Make We don’t think about what style we’re trying to emulate or who we need to impress. The music we make just falls out of our heads. It’s just part of our philosophy; music shouldn’t be pre-conceived because then it’s not music, it’s wank. Music, Right Here, Right Now The music scene is very tough for 5. anyone not playing Top 40s. For a long

Growing Up My dad had a mammoth sound system, 1. so my earliest musical memories are of him

Inspirations Neil Young’s the big guy. He’s all heart. 2. My sister had a spare ticket when he played

playing tracks ridiculously loud and stomping his right foot in time. He gave me an intense fascination with sound, and a rather novel music taste. Rock operas were massive in the Marx household.

at The Bowl in 2003, so I went. He blew my mind. He actually did change my life, and I’m happy to say that even at the risk of sounding like a wanker.

time, the major labels have given people what they know will sell and what they think we should hear, which has resulted in the gentrification of the music scene. We’ll be feeling the fall-out from this for generations. But still, there’s great music out there – you just have to look. With: Kempsey, Love Migrate, The Ganaschz, Push/Pull, The Nectars and The Evergreen Trail Where: Mum @ The World Bar When: Friday September 30

by now. They are pretty perfect. In other news, both acts are playing Sound Summit with a host of others, which falls across the same few days as This Is Not Art in Newcastle – for our TINA & Sound Summit special, head to pp. 34–41.

BROUS ALMIGHTY

Despite going under the stagename Brous (pronounced ‘Bruce’, as in that uncle that was banned from your family get-togethers ever since he called your mum’s lasagne ‘vomitific’ and then urinated in the pool), this Melbourne lady has won a bunch more accolades than you ever will, thanks to her adventurous, moody, swooning croons. She launches an incredible self-titled debut EP on November 18 at FBi Social (at Kings Cross Hotel – and this is the last week we are explaining that!), so you should go along and mispronounce her name along with everyone else.

FROLIC FESTIVAL

Okkervil River

OKKERVIL RIVER SUPPORTS

Okkervil River is a religion for certain staff members around the BRAG offices, so when news of their tour came in a few months back, we has to stop the presses (or at least yell out “stop the presses!!!!”) for about an hour while we played various songs from their back catalogue. Same thing happened this week, when we learnt that Mike Noga from The Drones would be the support act for theie October 18 Metro Theatre show. So if you notice any mistakes in this week’s issue, blame Mike Noga.

JACK LADDER

FALCONA SHOWCASE @ OAF

GINGER SURF-ARI

MOON DUO & FABULOUS DIAMONDS

Jack Ladder has a deep voice and writes songs that have minor chords throughout and don’t have key changes or backwards guitar solos. Boo! That’s Nick Cave’s trick and he invented it and he owns it and I cannot believe Jack Ladder has the gall to dare to be a singer-songwriter with a sonorous voice... Ignore his excellent new record Hurtsville, and instead throw plastic cups at him when he plays October 1 at Sydney Uni’s Manning Bar, with Ghoul in support. ...And then help me tie cans to the back of the Dean’s car.

They say don’t judge a band by their promo pics, but we’re pretty certain that Jinja Safari traipse around the coastal bushland in loin-cloths and head-pieces, stopping their incessant tribal dancing every now and then to set a campfire, pull out the djembes and nylon-stringed guitars, and write a new song. A bunch of these songs have landed on their latest EP Locked By Land which the guys are touring, stopping in at The Metro Theatre on November 11 to beat drums, wave branches and play that Toto-means-Graceland music that we love so very much. They just signed a deal with Co-Operative music, too. Huzzah!

Frolic Festival returns in 2011 to host a collection of new, up-and-coming artists from all over Australia. It’s an indie feast of a day, with 18 acts taking to three stages from 11am-11pm. Frolic will take place at Trackdown (Building 125) at Fox Studios, with a delectable lineup that includes the likes of Lime Cordiale, Bears With Guns, Nikki Thorburn, Little BlaK Dress

JACK LADDER

Some people will tell you that Tim Rogers changed his name to Jack Ladder to avoid confusion with another Aussie musician… I’m here to tell you that that is an untruth. The name change came about because Jack Ladder is in fact a superhero, changing the world one gig at a time while reminding us all that love, kindness, heartbreak and music all have a place in this world. Jack Ladder, along with newfound sidekicks Ghoul, will be spreading this message (and playing tunes from his latest LP Hurstville) at Manning Bar on Saturday October 1. If you’d like a double pass, tell us why you’re in need of saving…

OH MERCY

Paul Kelly and BRAG have a lot in common; we’ve both done all the dumb things, we both know how to make gravy and most importantly we both love Oh Mercy. And why wouldn’t we? These kids have shown some serious talent and have some serious good looks, both of which they’ll be showing off (along with the always amazing Brous) at Oxford Arts Factory on Friday October 14. If you want in, just email us the puntastic name of Oh Mercy’s latest album. and The Spoon Collectors. Limited tickets are available for $20 through Moshtix, or at the door. Go frolic! Go frolic!

HAPPY B’DAY, GOODGOD!

October 1 at Goodgod was already huge; it’s their birthday and to celebrate they’d wrangled The UV Race, Super Wild Horses, Belles Will Ring, The Twerps, Holy Balm, Melodie Nelson, Fishing and more, but now they have added the debut performance from Sarah Kelly’s new band – and if Good Heavens is one fifth as good as redsunband were, they will be the best band in Sydney. The group also features ex-Wolfmother members and Piers from The Laurels, so expect a whooshing, swooshing, shoegazing awesome-fest. And for more on GoodGod’s birthday celebrations, which take over the whole long weekend, skip along to page 24.

THAT TIME OF YEARLING

Sydney’s Dead Letter Chorus have got a wonderful new album out called Yearling, which sort of picks up where The August Magnificent left off, but with a few less jam-outs, a few more love songs, and the promise of another album launch – this time on October 1 at FBi Social, with Sleepyhands and The Trouble With Templeton in support. Buy two tickets, and find someone to hold hands with.

If you drop into Oxford Art Factory on September 30, you’ll be treated to a showcase from Falcona that’ll feature a slew of bands and DJs that they look after (dress, feed, reassure, read to, hold their hair while they’re vomiting, book gigs for etc.). Those performing on the night include Cadillac, Mrs Bishop, Furnace and The Fundamentals, Alison Wonderland, Starjumps, Kristy Lee and the Falcona DJs. It’s free entry too, so come along and convince the DJs to play either ‘Shoop’ or ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’.

When I think of Moon Duo, I imagine Buzz Aldrin practicing his first man on the moon speech, only to have Neil Armstrong lock his capsule door and race out ahead of him, fumbling some tautology-riddled speech about leaping over kind humans. Turns out Moon Duo is Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shjips) and Sanae Yamada, who are heading down under for the first time ever to play Oxford Art Factory on September 29 with Melbourne’s Fabulous Diamonds – who really should be world famous

The Snowdroppers

THE SNOWDROPPERS @ SYDNEY BLUES & ROOTS

The Snowdroppers seem to think we’re in the roaring ‘20s and that every room they play at is some kinda sleazy speakeasy, full of loose broads and sailors rum that’ll put hairs on your chest. Let’s never tell them otherwise. They have a new 7-inch single out called ‘I’ve Been So Lonely Now Since You’ve Been Gone’, and they’re set to play Sydney Blues and Roots Festival in Windsor on October 27 and 28, with Baby Animals, Watussi, Jeff Lang, Folk Uke and more. There’s also a December 9 date at The Metro Theatre, but that’s aaaaages away…

“Keep your candles burning. Make her journey bright and pure, that she will keep returning always and evermore.” - NICK CAVE 12 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 13

The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Industry Music News with Christie Eleizer

Lifelines Recovering: Jessie J’s foot is taking much longer to heal from surgery; she tearfully had to scrap plans to join Katy Perry on her US tour. In Court: US guitar hero Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society won a restraining order against a neighbour who is “deemed mentally ill” and has been stalking him, including leaving a sacrifice outside his front door. Sued: 50 Cent by Vasti Ortiz, who says she was attacked by one of the rapper’s workers after he invited her and other women back to 50 Cent’s mansion in Farmington, Connecticut. Fiddy wasn’t at home at the time.

FLOYD HITS ONE MILLION IN OZ

Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon has notched up its 14th platinum in Australia (for sales of one million), EMI Music Australia said last week. The announcement was made just as EMI released a remastered version with previously unreleased out-takes, as well as the Discovery box set of 14 studio albums. This will be followed in mid-November with a deluxe version of Wish You Were Here, a best-of called A Foot In The Door, and the February 24 release of The Wall deluxe editions.

YOUR MUSIC, YOUR PROPERTY

The second of the Association of Artist Managers’ Executive Seminar series is titled Your Music, Your Property. Lynne Small (PPCA) and Karl Broadie (APRA) will discuss how their collection agencies can work for you. Rob Scott (InSynch Music) and Danielle Lott (UMusic) are among those advising young managers on finding sync opportunities, and when to accept a deal. Brett Oaten (Brett Oaten Solicitors), Simon Moor (Kobalt), Michael Szumowski (Alberts), Damian Trotter (Sony|ATV) and Linda Bosidis (Mushroom Music) will expand on how publishers have reinvented themselves, set up new models and work more effectively for their clients. It’s being held on Tuesday October 11 from 6.30pm – 9.30pm at Notes in Newtown. See aam.org.au for costs and more.

GAGA HEADS EURO AWARDS; SIA, GOYTE NOMINATED

Lady Gaga leads the nominations for the November 6 MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast – she’s up for six. Bruno Mars and Katy Perry got four, and Adele, Justin Bieber and Thirty Seconds To Mars got three. Duking it out for Best Song are Perry’s ‘Firework’, Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’, Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep', Mars’ 'Grenade’ and Jennifer Lopez’s ‘On The Floor’. In the Best Live category are Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Perry, Gaga and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Goyte and SIA are in the new World Wide Act category.

ROADRUNNER SIGNS AMITY AFFLICTION

Roadrunner Records signed The Amity Affliction to a global deal. The act, whose Youngbloods debuted at #6 on the ARIA charts, will record the follow up with Youngbloods' producer Machine (Lamb of God, Cobra

Starship, Suicide Silence). “Ever since I can remember being in Amity, we’ve been dreaming big – big tours, big shows, big crowds – but never in our wildest dreams did we ever think something this big would come around,” frontman Joel Birch said of the signing. Amity, who formed in QLD, have sold out six shows of their Australian tour next month. They play Europe, UK and the US between October 23 and December 16.

STAND-ALONE SOUND SUMMIT GROWS BIGGER

After eleven years as part of TINA (This Is Not Art), Newcastle indiefest Sound Summit has gone on its own. Co-director Kirsty Brown tells us that TINA’s fostering of the summit was valuable, but it was time to be stand-alone to expand its workshops and live performances (which are at almost 50 this year, over the four days of the October long weekend). See www. soundsummit.com.au (or pp. 40-41 of this week's BRAG). Brown says that down the track, Sound Summit will introduce more hands-on masterclasses and highlight more areas where arts and the music collide.

BREAKTHROUGH FUNDING FOR INDIGENOUS MUSICIANS

The third round of funding for ‘Breakthrough: Emerging Indigenous Contemporary Musicians Recording’ has opened. Two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians or bands will get $25,000 to produce high quality recordings of original tracks that are suitable for commercial broadcast. “We have a wealth of home-grown talent here in Australia, but it can be difficult for emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians to gain the exposure they need to take their music to a wider audience and achieve commercial success,” Arts Minister Simon Crean said. Past recipients are Rockhampton alt-country Busby Marou, Cairns-formed The Medics, Newcastle/

THINGS WE HEAR

* Kasabian have blabbed that they’ll be here for Big Day Out, and Canada’s recently reunited Tea Party, who last week revealed they could make $1 million from selling their website name to US rightwing fruitloops at The Tea Party, may make it here early 2012. (Why not? Their leader Jeff Martin now lives in Byron Bay…) SEAsian band Evaline, who just signed with Shock, head here early in the new year. And expect Radiohead to be on the “they’re coming!” wish lists, after Thom Yorke revealed they are about to embark on a world tour. * The Seven Network last week previewed some of its new shows to advertisers and media buyers – and alas, no new music content aside from The X-Factor, which last Monday topped ratings with 1.452 million viewers. * Mick Jagger says he has no problems with Maroon 5’s ‘Moves Like Jagger’ – except that the original video had too much footage of him and he asked them to tone it down. Keith Richards had songs written about him, including Nils Lofgren’s ‘Keith Please Don’t Go’, and there are at least seven about Brian Jones, including Psychic TV’s ‘Godstar’, The Drovers’ ‘She’s As Pretty As Brian Jones Was’ and The Who’s unreleased ‘The Man Who Died Every Day'.

Sydney hip hoppers Street Warriors and desert reggae/blues/metal group The Iwantja Band, from South Australia’s the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands – all of whom were up for Deadly Awards this year. Two scored record labels. This year’s assessment panel is Christine Anu, Stephen Pigram and Graham “Buzz” Bidstrup. Successful artists can apply for up to $10,000 in additional mentoring and promotional support. More info can be found at www.arts.gov.au/breakthrough; applications close at 5pm on Friday October 28.

TAKE PICS AT STEREOSONIC

QANTAS’ BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE?

NSW live music venues generate the most amount of money, followed by QLD and Victoria. Ernst & Young’s first national study’s The Economic Contribution Of The Venue-Based Live Music Industry In Australia estimated that the Australian live music industry injected $1.21 billion into the national economy in the last financial year. It has 15,000 full time jobs, drew 41.97 million patrons to 328,000 gigs at 904 venues. These figures — along with Live Performance Australia’s earlier estimate that the entire live entertainment sector generates $3 billion, and a Victorian study that live music drew more people to gigs than AFL games — mean that the music industry can now demand that the different governmental levels can do more for musicians, like offering a fund from alcohol tax to help music careers, making it mandatory for international tours to have local support acts, and changing tax rules to generate private investment in the live sector.

We’ll know this week if Qantas will offer the same baggage allowance to musicians as Virgin did after a pow wow with AMIN. Music Victoria’s CEO Patrick Donovan sent them a letter on September 7 asking. Donovan told us that apparently a reply was still in the mail late last week — presumably not as a result of a phone call to Qantas corporate communications by Michaela Boland, who did a piece on it in last Thursday’s The Australian in which Mark Seymour called the issue “a nightmare” and Holly Throsby admitted she’d burst into tears a few times at airports. The Australian piece quoted The Australian Music Industry Network estimate that 65,000 musicians collectively spend anywhere between $10–$20million a year on domestic flights.

COLDPLAY BEST FESTIVAL ACT

In the wake of two awesome sets at Glastonbury and T In The Park, Coldplay were voted the best UK festival headliner of 2011, in an online poll conducted by BBC 6 Music. They got 22.7% of votes, compared to The National who came in second with 14.2%, and Muse who came third with 13.9%. Coldplay drummer Will Champion admitted that playing big shows and music festivals gave him anxiety dreams: “The whole band ... walk off and I’m left carrying the can, just playing a drum solo. Awful.” * Will Kimbra play Perez Hilton’s party in New York in October? She ain’t saying, but she will be in L.A. around that time… * Dublin music store Opus ii has banned customers from playing Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ when trying out pianos. (It’s already banned Beethoven’s Fur Elise and anything by Michael Nyman, who wrote The Piano soundtrack). Meantime Tramco nightclub drew flak from the local Rape Crisis Centre over a promotion where patrons who handed in their undies got a free drink. * Faced with a protest at their show by a hate-mongering church over the homoerotic video for ‘Hot Buns’, Foo Fighters turned up early and played a specially-written ‘Keep It Clean’ for the placard-holders! * Spicks and Specks continues to draw viewers: 1.074 million last week. * Has Justin Bieber been making late night calls to reality star-turned-model Kendall Jenner while his squeeze Selena Gomez was away on tour? * With former Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein QC back in the headlines to head the government’s media inquiry, The Australian recalled what a Bruce Springsteen fan he is. When asked to represent Bruce over a copyright matter in 1985, Finkelstein agreed only on the condition he join The Boss onstage to sing backup vocals on one song. Alas, the Victorian Bar put the squelch on that.

Nova radio, the Stereosonic festival and Strongbow are teaming up for StereoStar. It’s a quest to find five official photographers at each of the festival’s shows. Winners will also score $1000 each for their efforts, while the clicker voted the best wins $5,000. Entrants have to upload five party pix and explain their vision for shooting at the festival. For more details, see www.stereostar.com.au

NSW LEADS LIVE SECTOR

SEC, LIZOTTES WIN AT CATERING AWARDS

The Sydney Entertainment Centre and Lizottes’s Sydney won at the state finals of the 2011 Restaurant and Catering Awards for Excellence. The SEC won Best Venue Caterer (beating finalists including Allphones Arena), and was also a finalist in best caterer at an event. SEC GM Steve Romer paid tribute to his catering team headed by food and beverage manager Dave Watts and executive chef Gavin McKevitt: “The (SEC) has placed a strong emphasis on providing fresh and creative catering at a standard well above expectations, so we’re delighted to have our efforts recognised among other industry leaders.” Lizottes’s in Dee Why won Best Entertainment Restaurant for the Sydney metro area. Co-owner Brian Lizotte said, "We wanted to create a venue where we would like to go, where the focus is on great food, good service and highlighting some of the spectacular performers this country has to offer.”

REACTION TO R.E.M. SPLIT

Fellow musicians responded quickly to R.E.M.’s announcement that they were splitting up, talking of how the band inspired other players and never dumbed down. Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes posted a link to a live version of ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’ with the simple message “RIP R.E.M”. The Futureheads wrote: “You won’t find better indie-rock records than pageant, reckoning murmur green” (sic). But Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai sniffed, “R.E.M. were the most overrated band on the planet and their singer is the rudest person I’ve ever met.” Ethan Kaplan, owner of the R.E.M. fan community Murmurs and former Senior Vice President of Emerging Technology at R.E.M.’s record label Warner Bros. Records, suggested that changes at the label and the new pressure to get records out may have been part of the reason. He told Rolling Stone, “I can understand that after how hard they worked for how long, the thought of going back to ‘paying dues’ with new label staff, in a very weird industry, was too much.”

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A Leap Forward By Bridie Connellan

“W

hen did we forget about a onesie? You can do a legspread and your modesty is protected. One. Done.” It’s good to know that Connie Mitchell thinks practically about her onstage garments. Amidst a chirpy vocabulary of “darlings”, “dudes” and “amazeballs”, the frontwoman for Sydney dance smash Sneaky Sound System is all smiles, fresh off a plane from Ibiza and ready for a sly Monday beverage. But then, with a brand spanking new album and a return to the homeland from a long stretch abroad, Mitchell has every reason to be a bubble of joy. With partner in crime Black Angus (aka Angus McDonald) in one hand and the reigns to the world in the other, Mitchell is fluffing her ‘fro and smoothing her sequins ahead of the October release of Sneaky Sound System’s third album. Their first release through Modular, From Here To Anywhere is both a hark back to the original infectious hooks that Sneaky Sound System splashed back in the mid-2000s and a leap forward in dance-pop for the duo, a maturation in sound since the band lost their third arm Daimon Downey “amicably” in 2009. It was a transient type of recording this time round, an on-the-fly whirlwind series of sessions between hotel rooms, planes and studios from Sydney, London and Paris to Naples, Moscow and Ibiza and back again; McDonald describes the record as “a postcard from various dancefloors around the globe”, where the pair would find space to be creative wherever they could.

“The original plan was to collaborate with lots of people, but the ideas were flowing so freely that we ended up writing it all in a few months,” he says. “I tried to keep the production as simple as possible so Connie’s vocals could take centre stage, and we spent a lot longer living with the songs, test-driving them and letting them take their natural course. We were brutal at editing anything we deemed superfluous.” 2011 has been a year of vigorous reinvigoration for Mitchell and McDonald, the pair making a splash initially with their single ‘We Love’ back in May and following it up with a guerilla film clip for ‘Big’ on the Vegas strip. Despite toting that classic SSS disco drive, the new tunes are all Depeche Mode up in here – a vibe that’ll be made even more juicy when David Bascombe, the original producer for Depeche Mode’s 1986 LP Music For The Masses, mixes an acoustic version of ‘Big’ in coming weeks. But although their sound has grown in scope and depth, the duo have hardly lost their minxy edge; the film clip for ‘We Love’ totes silhouettes thrusting, cocks (roosters), melons, Eiffel Towers and other various objects of cheeky innuendo that are sure to raise a few eyebrows from prudish viewers. “Is it not the most sexy thing you’ve ever see in your life?” laughs Mitchell. While they both admit to being reasonably blushy on first watch of the clip, Mitchell’s infectious giggles over the public’s reaction give away her love of “a bit of raciness”. “I do have to tell you, when we got the first draft of the clip, it was hardcore. Even we thought [it

SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM

was] borderline. Both our mouths dropped open – and you know you’re in trouble when the first thought that comes into your mind is, ‘What is my grandmother going to think?’” And McDonald agrees: “The so-called ‘raunchy’ bits were shot after we left the shoot in London, so it was a bit of a surprise when we got the first edit,” he says. “But if commercial television can give it a G rating, then it’s pretty safe to say it ain’t exactly scandalous. Each to their own.”

Mitchell assures me that such adventurousness is all part of the Sneaky process; she amused both herself and McDonald in her innovative and almost field recording-esque approach to this album. From singing in a fishtank to crawling along a long corridor to achieve the desired sonic effect, the vocalist left no experiment untried – and spooked her counterpart in the process. “Connie was really into creating different characters for each track, and sometimes it felt like she was crossing over. It was intense – she can be a very intense creature a lot of the time, it’s amazing to watch,” McDonald says. “We both knew exactly where we wanted each song to go and would push each other to breaking point at times – that’s when most of the magic would happen, when one of us was about to break. There was a lot of trust from both sides, but it was exhausting at times. It was the first time we really owned every single bit of every song together.” Since the release of their ARIA awardwinning, double Platinum, ridiculously-loved debut Sneaky Sound System and its similarly

“We’ve been so much in the public eye for so long, we really wanted to come in under the radar... But when we do kick off a proper tour – my God, that better be OUTSTANDING! There better be lasers, there better be dancing girls, smoke machines, pyros, and me arriving in a chopper...”

popular follow-up 2, Mitchell and McDonald have managed to kick out a bucketful of the biggest dancefloor anthems in the last decade of Australian beats, including ‘UFO’, ‘Pictures’ and ‘I Love It’. But with two albums that were Just Plain Massive on Australian shores and international dancefloors, the challenge to craft something fresh without alienating fans could have been, well, rather testing. “All we know how to do is make music that comes naturally to us; to make music we love,” says McDonald. “There was no master plan, no target audience, no clear directive except to capture whatever we were feeling at that time. To us, [From Here To Anywhere] is a leap forward. Time will tell what everybody else thinks.” With a small run of homecoming gigs to start them off, Sneaky Sound System are easing back into chart consciousness with all the grace of a crafty key change. “We’ve been so much in the public eye for so long, we really wanted to come in under the radar rather than make it wizz-bang,” says Mitchell. “But when we do kick off a proper tour – my God, that better be OUTSTANDING! There better be lasers, there better be dancing girls, smoke machines, pyros, and me arriving in a chopper.” With Ibiza, London, Russia, Dubai and Naples temporarily in their rearview mirror, a pit-stop home and a catch-up beverage with buds is just what McDonald and Mitchell need right now; but hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, these two are far from turning off the projector. “The record is called From Here To Anywhere [because] it feels like we’re just finding our feet now, and the possibilities for the future are endless... It’s a new phase for us, and we are very excited about where the road might take us,” says McDonald, whose band has surely had their fair share of peaks and troughs. “We’ve definitely been on one hell of a journey.” What: From Here To Anywhere is out October 7 on Modular, through Universal

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The Jezabels Take On The World By Caitlin Welsh

f there’s anyone out there who still thinks of The Jezabels as “the band who did that disco biscuit song”, they’re in for a bit of a shock when they pick up the Sydney group’s long-awaited debut record. The title track opens Prisoner with a droning organ fanfare that would make the Phantom of the Opera blush and takes a full minute to build, leading into the crash of doomy drum fills, throbbing synths and howling guitars that announces without room for debate: The Jezabels are here for your soul. “It’s pretty weird,” admits guitarist Sam Lockwood with a sheepish laugh. “We’re sort of um-ing and ah-ing about that one. We actually held Lachlan [Mitchell, the producer] back, because he always says we need to go harder, and add more layers… He wants us to go full black metal. And the opening is pretty black metal. But I’m really happy. We could only put that song first because it wouldn’t really fit anywhere else on the album.” Lockwood has the highest praise for Mitchell, their longtime producer; he thinks those blackmetal leanings and that incongruous fondness for sparkling pop makes him the perfect fit for the band. “He’s gotten us from the start, and there have never been any problems with ego... I can’t

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speak highly enough of that guy. He’s amazing.” The Jezabels have been unusually measured and thoughtful in their approach to recording and releasing their music. While playing every festival they could get their hands on, they drip-fed EPs to the increasing, and increasingly adoring, masses: The Man Is Dead in February 2009, She’s So Hard in November that year, and Dark Storm in October 2010. The latter debuted at #1 on the Australian iTunes charts on its release; by the time the band played the GW McLennan Stage at Splendour this year, they had amassed such a following that the tent packed out, with hundreds of punters peering in from way out of earshot. “I didn’t know what to expect – we’d had some feelings about the show, and we were expecting it to go well,” says Lockwood modestly. “But we hadn’t played in a while, and it definitely exceeded all of our expectations. We didn’t really know the extent of how well it went until people started talking about it afterwards – [to us] it felt like a normal festival show, just a bit busier!” Arguably their biggest achievement, though, has been building a passionate fanbase in their home country, sowing the seeds of one overseas, making and selling four releases, quitting their day jobs to play packed venues – and doing it all while remaining independent. (The Jezabels now have a local publishing deal, are signed to a label in Europe and are looking for one in America, where they’ve toured several times.)

“We can still pull off some songs quietly, but it’s starting to get to the stage where we’ve gone past the smaller shows – we need big sound.” But the band have had their share of humbling experiences – as packed and high-energy as their shows at home are these days, they’ve had gigs overseas where they were playing to just a few dozen people. “The last [international] tour we did, we did our own [headline] shows and sold out a few, which was amazing. We did 300 tickets in Chicago, and in Boston we sold out too. We even went to a small part of Canada and sold 30 or 40 tickets – which is pretty good for a small band from Australia with no label backing…” The tour before that was smaller and rougher still, he says, but even then they didn’t lose perspective. “You can’t really look at it any other way than saying, ‘This is great. We’re in Canada, playing shows.’ So I think that perspective has helped us a lot.” Plus it stops them from getting used to the huge, atmospheric sets they’re starting to play over here. “We sort of threw ourselves into that world,” he says, of the small venues of that tour. “And we can still pull off some songs quietly; we’ve got the nice versions of them. But it’s starting to get to the stage where we’ve gone past the smaller shows – we need big sound. When we go overseas we get thrown back in to the world of the smaller venues, which is great, because anything challenging always makes the big shows... easy. You have support people doing sound, there’s a big system, and the foldback sounds great. So if you’ve done a few harder shows with the smaller ones, it makes everything easier.” The Jezabels’ grand, theatrical music does deserve an equally epic space – frontwoman Hayley Mary’s soaring voice seems to demand a stadium just on its own. And after years of small shows, five-song EPs and taking it slow, Lockwood says the band were champing at the bit to get into the studio and put together a fulllength record. “It was pretty stressful – we had some really strong time restraints,” he recalls. “We were told in October last year that the album had to be done by June, and we only had three and a half very vague ideas for songs. But by the time January came around we started writing and went really hard at it, and by April we had the songs in their skeleton structure – at least twelve of them. It’s always a great process, but it’s the most stressful thing ever. Especially towards the end; you leave the day after being in there for thirteen hours. We started going crazy, getting cabin fever. It’s only natural,” he says. “But then you look back, and it’s just the best time in the world.”

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What: Prisoner is out now through MGM With: Empire Of The Sun, The Living End, Flo Rida, Naughty By Nature, Sparkadia, Cloud Control, British India and more Where: Fat As Butter in Newcastle When: Saturday October 22 More: Also playing at Homebake on Saturday December 3 at the Domain, with Grinderman, Pnau, Gotye, Drapht, The Church and more

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Public Opinion Afro Orchestra Get Opinionated By Nils Hay

hen you’re on the road as part of a 17-piece band, the opportunities for mishaps, lost instruments and general logistical disasters seem rife, but David Marama – singer and guitarist in Melbourne’s Public Opinion Afro Orchestra – gives a pretty glowing report following the group’s morning trip to Katoomba. “I think that the past three years have got us to the point where we seem to be [touring] slightly more easily than we did in the past. Things seem to be more easy to organise in terms of saying, ‘Yes, we can be there on time.’” He’s quick to admit that for manager (and trumpet player) Tristan Ludowyk, it might be a bit of a nightmare, but he and the rest of the band are taking the travel in their stride. And while he may be viewed as the elder statesman of the group (and with plenty of experience managing bands himself), Marama is all too happy to cede organisational control to Ludowyk, who appears to have taken on the role of director and accountant too – along with his position in the band’s renowned horn section. “He’s the busy man that I can pretend to be,” he jokes. Like a number of the group’s members, Marama was born in Africa – Malawi, to be more accurate

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SNOWDROPPERS SARAH MCLEOD (THE SUPERJESUS) KIM CHURCHILL WATUSSI THE FLOOD TIM CHAISSON (CANADA) THE BREWSTER BROTHERS BONDI CIGARS PERRY KEYES BAND DOM TURNER & IAN COLLARD CHASE THE SUN ANNE MCCUE BAND

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– before the regime of the day forcibly expatriated his family. Only 11 at the time, he recalls the situation well. “We were stripped of everything we had; no citizenship, no property. My father’s accounts were frozen in Kenya. We arrived in Tanzania penniless.” Fortunately, the Tanzanian government of the time was accommodating – but the comparison to our country’s own immigration situation, albeit indirect, is quite clear. “If someone were to say to us ‘You’ve got no passport, go back’ or ‘Go to Malawi to get your passport’ or ‘Go elsewhere’, I don’t know what we would do.” Around the same time, Marama also developed his love for music, sparked by mainstream influences like The Beatles, as well as jazz and, obviously, African music. One inspiration in particular was the father of Afrobeat, Nigeria’s Fela Kuti, who straddled the line between musician and political figure. “When Fela came up with stuff like ‘Lady’ and ‘Shakara’, it just blew us apart,” he recalls. “But Fela’s influence in terms of the political direction, regarding the regimes et cetera, and his struggle for the people, they just caught up with us and politically I think we became aware of what was happening up there [in Nigeria].” The universality of Fela’s message struck a chord with many Africans, Marama included. “It was during the time of the liberation of South Africa too, so it connected well, both with us – youngsters – and people who were already in the political spectrum.” It also influenced his motivation for making music, an ethos that carries through to the POAO. “I believe that music has to tell a story and also, I think that there’s a courageous part, where we have to be a part of the day’s declarations – what’s happening with the economy, society and progress ... [While we were in Tanzania], we found ourselves really saying things that didn’t always work well for the governments, but [we were coming] from the grassroots, so obviously you don’t lose much by saying what’s correct.”

“Music has to tell a story and also, I think that there’s a courageous part... We found ourselves really saying things that didn’t always work well for the Tanzanian government.” This approach was particularly strong on the group’s 2010 debut Do Anything Go Anywhere, and has continued with the release of a new 7-inch single, ‘Mr Clean’, one of several new tracks recently recorded by the band. There are more songs in the works – the makings of a follow-up album, in fact – but when you have 17 people involved, these things can take time. Marama gives me a rough outline of the band’s creative process: “We come up with most of our songs from the girls singing or Tristan having an idea of what the brass is going to sound like. We get together for a couple of days to jam, sing and get it going, and then we get the brass section later, when we’re more certain of the arrangement.” From there, it’s often a case of agreeing upon and working in the lyrics – which is not always an easy task. “There’s a lot of debate going on – we sort of have a democratic dialogue going in there where, at the end of the day, we have consensus,” he explains. It may sound simple on paper, but I’m assured there’s a lot to it. “We have a couple of songs that we haven’t finished because either we are thinking the direction, in terms of the message that it’s sending, is not right yet, or we need to tighten up a bit on the beat – maybe it’s too jazzy rather than African. The arrangements are there,” he continues, “we just have to tighten it up to the point where we say, ‘Yes, that’s it.’” In the midst of all these in-studio deliberations, the band has been doing some touring through September, which culminates with three performances at the Bellingen Global Carnival at the end of the month. Marama speaks highly of the group’s last trip to the festival. “We loved it – we were just there with the people and rocking away.” He reveals this year’s shows also feature some of the newly-recorded songs that the group have been working on; “a new menu”, as he puts it. Too many cooks? No – just extra flavour. With: Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Jon Cleary & The Philthy Phew, Band Of Brothers, Dubmarine, Mama Kin and heaps more Where: Bellingen Global Carnival @ Bellingen Showgrounds When: September 30 – October 2

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The Trews The Canucks Of Antigonish By Bridie Connellan

ome things are just wonderfully Canadian, and most of them ended up at this year’s Toronto Beer Festival. Molson and Lebatt brews, inconvenient bursts of rain, and The Trews. “It was amazing – the clouds split for an hour or so while we were on stage, and as soon as we finished it starting raining again,” laughs guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, a bit before midnight. “Somebody up there likes us.” More than somebody, to be fair. Hailed lavishly as ‘The greatest rock band of their generation’ by American music mag Performer, the Nova Scotia pop-rock group has rolled out four albums since their first single ‘Not Ready To Go’ hit radiowaves back in 2003. With their latest LP Hope & Ruin released in May this year, Colin MacDonald, John-Angus MacDonald, Jack Syperek and Sean Dalton have certainly come a crop since naming their band One I’d Trouser in the early 2000s, c/o Monty Python. The foursome’s brand of U2-esque rock has seen them share stages with the The Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, Guns N’ Roses, KISS, Cheap Trick and, most recently, Kid Rock. “That guy knows how to throw a party, I’ll tell you that,” MacDonald says. “He’s definitely still living the life he’s singing about.” The Trews are back home temporarily from a summer swathe of festival spots, and they

couldn’t be happier about where they’re at. After a live album in 2009 and a subsequent hit ‘Highway Of Heroes’, the group took some creative downtime, like all good Canadians, and headed for a lake. Trekking about 20kms outside Kingston, The Trews found themselves in the quaint town of Bath, Ontario, a Canadian hamlet where the main drag heralds ‘The Melon Patch’ and ‘Main Street Creamery’ on hinged signs. Next to Lake Ontario, the band were granted use of legendary Canadian rock band Tragically Hip’s studio ‘The Bathouse’, if only to potter around. “[Gord Sinclair] sort of leant us the space to demo and get some ideas ready for the next project, and that turned into the record itself,” MacDonald explains. “It wasn’t a big corporate stress thing with lots of schedules and deadlines and budgets; we were happy to get away from that.” With the aforementioned beer festival as their most recent patriotic act, MacDonald and his compadres successfully achieved the task to “hug a moose, pour a beer, cut down some trees” whilst making an album close to home. While the drummer Sean Dalton is from Newfoundland, an island off Nova Scotia, the other three members grew up in Antigonish, “a very small town of about 5000 people”. Growing up in such a small community in the highlands

offers every opportunity for a tale of generational music-making and stereotyped folklore, but McDonald is quick to assure me that the band had but one crucial creative trigger: teen angst. “I think we were much more inspired by boredom,” he says. “When you’re a teenager you sort of see everything as sucking, no matter where you are. We weren’t hockey players, and that’s sort of the only accepted crowd in a town that size. We just did our own thing.” But McDonald holds his home town close, letting a smile seep through his voice as the names of childhood haunts are tossed around, including Crystal Cliffs, an unbelievably lovely coastal nook nestled in the

north. “We used to go swimming there after school! I just took it for granted, and now that I live in a concrete jungle, I get down there and I feel like I can breathe easier. I guess you just can’t see things that way when you grow up in a place, can you?” What: Hope & Ruin is out now on Bumstead, through Code One Where: The Great Northern, Newcastle / Old Manly Boatshed, Manly / The Brass Monkey, Cronulla When: September 28 / September 30 / October 1

Neon Indian Sounds And Stories By Bridie Connellan

Dead Letter Chorus Running Wild By Amelia Schmidt

lan Palomo is en route from North Carolina to Atlanta, spending the most part of his Sunday with his head hanging out a car window trying to take in a bit of the Southern countryside. No stranger to landscape, the Mexican-born lad took a life sabbatical to Helsinki last winter where he holed up amidst bleak 20th century gothic architecture for some serious inspiration. “It was a really good place to lose myself for a little while,” he explains. As the brain and beats behind electronic sensation Neon Indian, Palomo’s wee Euro-jaunt was an unexpectedly creative one, where the winter solstice allowed the man only one or two glimpses of the sun in six weeks. “I didn’t really go there with a the task if writing a record; I just started feeling it there, and it ended up unfurling.” Neon Indian was introduced to us two years ago as the darling of the blogosphere, with Pitchfork awarding his bedroom fuzz the title of Best New Music of 2009. With the release of Psychic Chasms, the project was roped in to the silly brand of ‘chillwave’, alongside Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, Animal Collective et al, all of whom grabbed a hell of a lot of online buzz from here to [insert random US regional town]. But with a fresh studio sound on his sophomore release Era Extraña, it’s difficult to broach the C-bomb with Palomo without embracing a journalistic cliché – but it’s still worth asking what the apparent frontrunner of ‘hypnagogic pop, glo-fi, chillwave’ now thinks of the whole thing. “I don’t know – I mean, I think the fact that a lot of the records that have come out of [the genre] are quite diverse reiterates the fact that everybody was coming from different places to begin with. Electronic music has been going strong for around 40 years, so it was a little presumptive to brand everyone as the same thing. But if

it’s going to help one kid get a result, then I can’t really see a complete issue with it.” The culture of home-production saw Palomo emerge with a unique brand of dreamy synth awash in muted vocals and audio collages; a lasagne of electronica acknowledged but not regurgitated on Era Extraña, where he “didn’t want to just write another lo-fi record”. Pulsing with warps, blips and tight danceable licks, his sophomore record suggests a savvy electronicist stepping into a studio for the first time. For a 23-year-old, this kind of creative control is pretty damn impressive – but Palomo is quick to challenge the idea that his sound is still quite young. “‘Young’ can imply naïve or haphazard and the continued search for a sound, but if there’s any genre that wasn’t carved out of certain circumstances then I’d be keen to hear it, you know?” he says. With creativity at the forefront of Neon Indian’s concerns, it’s all about storytelling through lights and music. The film clip for first single ‘Polish Girl’ is a post-apocalyptic Daft Punk nightmare, viscerally stinging the pupils and ensnaring the eardrums. Directed by Tim Nackashi and The Creators Project, this video art is but a preview of the live spectacle in store when Palomo and friends hit the stage, collating and curating one engulfing Neon experience. “The narrative [of a performance] is more fascinating than people coming together to play some instruments. [I like to] treat my work as a thing that touches different sensory points, as visual as it is audible. It’s just more… immersive,” he explains. “I like to create narratives, rather than just following my own.” What: Era Extraña is out on Popfrenzy Records

here’s a spine-tingly kind of goodness that comes from listening to a boy and a girl in perfect harmony, the timbres of their voices perfectly matched, singing love songs together with an unselfconscious sincerity. It’s a feeling that you get from Damien Rice or The New Pornographers – and it’s a feeling you get from Sydney’s Dead Letter Chorus, who have hit new heights in perfect indie folk pop with their second full-length release, Yearlings. When we speak, front-lady Gabby Huber is in Kangaroo Valley; her man has whisked her away for her birthday to drink wine and play Monopoly. It’s no coincidence that this kind of whimsical couple adventuring is as delightful as Dead Letter Chorus’ music – Cameron Potts and Gabby Huber are partners in music as well as life. Yearlings is a polished work, thanks both to the help of Canadian producer Les Cooper, and a new vision from the band themselves. “In terms of this album, it was more of a conscious decision for us to be more succinct in our songwriting and our arrangements,” explains Huber. “We wanted to write something that was a little easier to digest; something a little simpler than our last release [The August Magnificent], and we wanted to take it down more of an indie-pop route, veering away from our folky roots.” It’s quite a delicate genre distinction, but one that Huber is happy to explain: “With our last album, it was definitely more folk because we sort of focused more on our lyrics, more on telling a story. With this album, we focused on the structure of songs and really went a different way with our drumming. We wanted [the songs] to be a little bit more short and sweet, tapping more into a pop-centric mentality.” Although the new direction moves away from improvisational moments and jam-outs and more towards standard song structures, fans will be pleased to know that the resulting musical simplicity allows the broader album narrative to shine through as a strong focus. “We’re still writing about the same ideals – relationships

and everyday emotions – as the last album,” Huber assures me. “We realised that there was a pattern with all the songs, that they were all to do with relationships – the ups and downs, the ins and outs – so we kind of put the tracklist in a pattern that made it seem like the beginning, middle and end of a relationship.” It’s a wonderful journey that the band takes the listener on, full of hope and happiness (‘Yellow House’, ‘Run Wild’), as well as more delicate, sombre emotions and reflections (‘Gently Weeping’, ‘I Belong With You’). It was also the first time that Dead Letter Chorus were guided by an external producer. “It was like having a sixth member of the band,” Huber recalls happily. “It was nice to have someone who was a bit more omniscient to step in with his own style. It took the album along a different way.” Well respected in his home country, Cooper’s Canadian flavour was an unsurprising choice for the band, who have experienced some exciting (and muchdeserved) success in Canada over the past year. “We went there last year for a few months, and we showcased at the East Coast Music Conference and Canadian Music Week,” Huber explains. “We toured from the east through to the west and it was amazing – we’d never toured overseas, and to go to such a vast land... “The folk-rock thing is pretty massive over there and the response to that genre is pretty great,” she explains. “No matter where we seemed to go, even though people hadn’t heard our music before, they were really receptive and we sold a few albums – and we’re planning to go back again!” But look Canada, we’ll fight you for these guys: you can borrow them for a little while, but don’t steal Dead Letter Chorus from Sydney. What: Yearlings is out now on ABC Music, through Universal With: Sleepyhands, The Trouble With Templeton Where: FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel When: Saturday October 1

“There was a thick set man with frog eyes who was standing by the door. And a little bald man with wing-nut ears was waiting in the car.” - NICK CAVE 22 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

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 :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 23

GoodGod Small Club The First Year By Max Easton

oodGod Small Club has come a long way since its humble beginnings at the back of a fledgling Spanish restaurant. After growing a small but loyal following for their backroom club nights, co-owners Jimmy Sing and Hana Shimada took over the lease and transformed the underground relic into one of Sydney’s most thriving music venues. This October long weekend marks the one year anniversary of GoodGod as we know it now – and in honour of the landmark, BRAG sat down in one of the front bar booths to chat with Jimmy Sing about the creation and continuance of this most unlikely of venues. What was the initial plan for GoodGod? Jimmy Sing: The dream of this was to create an oasis getaway which would be like another world. We hoped to create a feeling for the venue, where it wasn’t doing anything in a particular way but just created its own world that was GoodGod, [a world] with a sense of fun and friendliness. It’s obviously quite a strange space for a venue – what did you have to work through to get it up and running? JS: It’s all been a very organic process. We were struggling with the flow of the interior at first, but that’s become one of its big positives; these booths in the middle which you have to weave your way around to get to the back actually end up giving it a bit more adventure. When we opened we didn’t expect to be doing that much live music either; when you step into that back room, you don’t think it’s the best room for a venue. We looked at it and went, ‘Oh, it’s got all these poles in it and it’s got a low ceiling’ …But again, I think that makes it an out-of-the-ordinary space. It’s been a tavern/ cabaret restaurant since the ‘60s, so it had this amazing party vibe with the crazy mosaic tiled walls. Some of that heritage from when it was the early Spanish Quarter is really nice.

“I find it to be a really passive thing to watch a band and get pushed straight out the door like the movie’s finished. People understand that it doesn’t have to be that way here.”

GoodGod seems to have a habit of booking acts on the rise. Was that always your intention? JS: We wanted to create a space where you can take a punt on any night, where it could be any type of music, but where any of it will be exceptional. A part of that is about curating something that has a GoodGod thread running through it.

getting back into the habits of the ‘80s and ‘90s – going to a pub to see live music – so it’s pretty obvious that you’ve got to make something interesting of it. We want a space that has some value to it.

So what do you look for in a band when you’re booking the venue? JS: Just that feeling that they’re doing something unique, that they’ve got character and that they can inspire people. That’s the main thing, and it’s what everyone looks for. These days you do actually have to be giving something to people that’s special; people are

One year on, is the current GoodGod model how you saw the venue initially? JS: We always wanted to set up a space that didn’t have a genre-specific music policy. As our tastes change, and as the tastes of the people around us change, I feel that we can morph with them. At the moment we’re really enjoying the way that the nights flow. You get

Each time Major Lazer have been in town, GoodGod have had Skerrit Bwoy and Diplo wreck the place with the realest daggering Australia has ever seen. the after-work crowd coming through from the city getting punch-jugs and something to eat from The Dip, then at eight o’clock, you’ve got bands going through until 11 or 12, and then a club night starting after that, and the dance floor out front… So it’s really different to running a straight venue where doors open at eight o’clock and you hope the crowd stays for the headliner. I suppose GoodGod is really different to other venues, where you’re shuffled out the door the moment the final set finishes. JS: Yeah, and that’s one of our pet

challenges. We dream up all these different ways to orchestrate that – to captivate people to stick around after and talk about the bands, or talk with the bands, or have a dance. I find it to be a really passive thing to watch a band and get pushed straight out the door like the movie’s finished. It keeps getting better now that people understand that it doesn’t have to be that way here, so now people who usually come for bands at eight o’clock are staying ‘til three and having a wild time of it. It’s definitely been one of our aims to break through the idea of what seeing a band is supposed to be like.

Canyons’ first Sydney show was back in 2008, when GoodGod was just a monthly club night whose entry required a membership card and adherence blue & white dress code.

Royal Headache’s over-capacity album launch last month showed us that their urgent, honest music might fast be outgrowing the venue... But they’ll probably return.

or its first birthday this October long weekend, GoodGod have curated a series of shows designed to highlight the many faces of the venue, featuring many of the people that have helped make the venue what it is today. We asked Jimmy to tell us a bit more about each celebration. FRI

BIRTHDAY BASHMENT

With: Gappy Ranks (UK), Guerre, Toni Toni Lee, Hoops, Levins, Bad SEPT Ezzy & Kween G, K1 and more Jimmy Sing: This is one that really reflects the diversity of GoodGod. You’ve got the indie, R&B loop-master Guerre, with Gappy Ranks, a Jamaican dancehall artist from the

UK, K1, who are these African-Australian hip hop dudes, the girls from Hoops, Levins DJ-ing and more. Even in that night there’s a real mix of people coming from different scenes, but it’s going towards this future bass music, dancehall and hip hop vibe. SAT

GOODGOD SMASH HITS

With: The UV Race, Super Wild Horses, The Twerps, Belles Will OCT Ring, Melodie Nelson, The Atom Bombs, Holy Balm, Fishing, Good Heavens, Catcall (DJ set) and more JS: There are 12 bands playing, and they’re all bands we’re really excited about now. If you look at the lineup, there’s not one particular

headliner, but together they add up to make something great – and that’s why I’m doing this, to get bands together that excite us. The whole idea is to pull together artists that we reckon will be big in twelve months; 12 or 18 months ago, we had bands like Seekae, Cloud Control, Eddy Current and Royal Headache playing here, and now they’re doing great things… I reckon these bands are the next rung. SUN

GOODGOD ALL-STARS

With: GoodGod House Band, plus Oscar + Martin, Donny OCT Benét, Yo Grito DJs, Slow Blow & Charlie Chux and more JS: Sunday is our actual birthday, so this party

sees all of our club nights coming together. The GoodGod house band is one of my favourite projects that’s ever been associated with us. It’s run by Daniel Stricker from Midnight Juggernauts, who puts together a band to play garage covers of old house and dance classics from the ‘80s and ‘90s. For this one in particular, Stricker has himself curated a whole bunch of different vocalists from various bands, and that will be really special. I can’t give away any hints, but I think people are going to be really excited about it – he’s gone all out. It’s a really good example of something that would only happen at GoodGod, and it’s because of the people involved in producing stuff here. It’s going to be unreal.

“I am a crooked man and I’ve walked a crooked mile. Night, the shameless widow, doffed her weeds, in a pile.” - NICK CAVE 24 :: BRAG :: 429 :: 12:09:11

COMPANY PARTY 2 SUNDAY OCT 2 LONG WEEKEND SILENT DISCO (PROPAGANDA VS TEEN SPIRIT DJS), JAMES TAYLOR, ALLEY OOP, DUBSTEP FROM THE WALL CREW, SPECIAL K, ADAM ZAE, HYDRAULIX & SAIKO, ZWELLI, DJ RABBLE, JO GADGET, ELLA LOCA

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$15 / 8pm general entry - Members bring your card THE WORLD BAR 24 BAYSWATER RD KINGS CROSS

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BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 25

arts frontline

free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com

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

five minutes WITH VESPER WHITE AND

MISS NIC

What are your backgrounds in the scene? MN: I've been performing for about seven years. I started off as a go-go dancer, then gradually joined the main stage for larger performances. It helped that I had been featured in many publications, calendars and websites thanks to all my tattoos – it helped me build this unique identity in the show world. VW: I trained in ballet, Russian character and theatre for years before finding burlesque. I received my kick-start from the Sugartime crew, and was given my first performance opportunities at 34B. I’ve since relocated to Melbourne to chase shows and productions – so it will be wonderful to return to my hometown!

rack out the fake blood and the industrial-strength eyeliner: the ladies of Gorelesque are bringing their horrortastic burlesque-variety night to Newtown’s Vanguard this week, with a unique mix of live theatre and film, and a lineup of beautiful terrors and terrible beauties that includes Glitta Supernova, Betty Grumble, Betty Blood, Becky Lou, Lux St Sin, The Strawberry Siren, BB Le Buff, Herbie Strangelove, Rod Lara, Luna Eclipse, Bettie N Page, and MC Renny Kodgers – and, of course, the founders themselves: Vesper White and Miss Nic. How did Gorelesque start? MN: I’d always been a fan of horror, gore and shock theatrics, and I teamed up with Vesper White after being placed on the same bill a few years back. It was refreshing to meet a like-minded person in such a small community. I decided the burlesque world in Australia needed a little bit of a shake-up; I essentially wanted something that gave me the freedom to express myself – and being such geeky B-grade movie fans, we thought what better to combine the art of burlesque with a spot of horror? As a performer I have always been interested in horror and mess. For example, I have an act, Twin Peaksinspired, where the main character is found dead wrapped in plastic; it’s one thing to see it in a movie or on television, but it’s another to see it portrayed on stage. VW: I’m a little less of a performance horror

Any suggestions for punters looking for costume inspiration? MN: I want to see people taking the SFX to the limit! The more gory the better!! VW: I love seeing all the crazy Halloween fans come out of the woodwork. To celebrate, we have a competition at every event to crown our best-dressed couple: Gorehound King and Queen. Sashes, tiaras with werewolf fingers – the whole shebang. We’ve got sponsors coming out of our eyeballs this year and so much free shit to give away – so frock up, rock up and show us your best zombie!

fiend, I prefer acts that incorporate fetish or some comic aspect that’s a little left of centre. But this eclectic mix of performers is what makes this annual event so unique.

ONE MOMENT PLEASE

Former local and expat Mark Whalen, aka Kill Pixie, returns home this week to launch an exhibition of new works, a series of prints, and his new book – at Joseph Allen Shea’s Gallery A.S. Having started on the streets of Sydney, Whalen is now collected by institutions like Artbank and the National Gallery of Australia – but his style remains unmistakable: line-based characters in absurd situations, otherworldly terrains, and bright colours. His upcoming show, One Moment Please, opens Thursday October 6 from 6-8pm at the former Paramount Pictures building (cnr Commonwealth and Hunt Streets, Surry Hills). gallery.as

ANIMATE/GRADUATE

Hot on the heels of presenting a kickarse program of the best local and international award-winning animation, through their Sydney International Animation Festival, UTS are announcing the addition of their brandnew Bachelor of Design in Animation. Covering drawing, character design, and special effects, the course is heavy on giving students hands-on experience through industry collaborations, field trips to the leading animation studios, and a series of electives allowing students to specialise. All of which means, you know, you’ll probably get a JOB at the end of your degree! To check out course details, hit up dab.uts.edu.au/ animation

SYDNEY GUILD

Brand-new Sydney-based curatorial collective Sydney Guild are launching their first show this week. Titled Sundown, the exhibition features works by fantastic creature Justin Shoulder (whose V performance was our highlight at Underbelly Arts Festival in July), Julia Holderness and Susie Pratt, Mikala Dwyer, and the Guild members themselves: Amelia Wallin, Christopher Hodge and Hossein Ghaemi. Expect photography, film, objects and installation – all themed around the idea of creating and exploring landscapes, within the confines of the gallery. Opens Wednesday October 12 from 6-8pm at The Paper Mill. thepapermill.org.au

Justin Shoulder: Pinky

WHAT IS SOIL EROSION?

Local funny lady Claudia O’Doherty (Monster of the Deep: 3D) is taking her latest show, What Is Soil Erosion, on the road – which is good news if you like your humour surreal and deadpan. Premiering at Sydney’s Imperial Panda Festival earlier this year, WISE has since played at Melbourne International Comedy Festival, this year’s Edinburgh Fringe 26 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

John Carpenter’s creepy seminal 80s horror-fest The Thing is getting the prequel treatment this month, with a little help from the super-sweet Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World) and Aussie expat Joel Edgerton. Winstead plays paleontologist Kate Lloyd, who is called on to analyse the contents of an extraterrestrial ship found buried in the ice of Antarctica. When a routine procedure on an apparently dead organism goes wrong, the alien life form escapes and starts infecting the group of researchers, one by one. The Thing is in cinemas from October 13. Thanks to Universal, we have four double passes to a preview screening on October 10, at Event Cinemas on George St. To get your hands on one, tell us one other film Edgerton has starred in.

What: Gorelesque When: Saturday October 1 Where: The Vanguard, Newtown More: gorelesque.com.au

Jane Bodie’s This Year’s Ashes, Rachel and Claire Fuller are setting up shop at Griffin’s SBW Stables HQ, with late opening hours and a selection of treats channelling vintage cricket uniforms and classic cricketing texts, Darlinghurst summer livery pieces, and a long pour of debauchery courtesy of nostalgiariddled nights at Barons and Judgement Bar in the early 2000s. Find them there from October 7 – November 19. bams-and-ted. blogspot.com

SYDNEY FILM CENTRE

With independent and repertory cinemas closing down or being bought out by larger chains, a posse of fearless film-loving femmes have mustered to insist that Sydney get its own ‘film centre’ – along the lines of Film Linc in New York or ACMI in Melbourne. The collective includes producer Jan Chapman, Margaret Pomeranz, AFTRS CEO Sandra Levy, Sydney Film Festival CEO Leigh Small and outgoing Sydney Film Festival Director Clare Stewart. Lord Mayor Clover Moore is behind the project, as are a flotilla of actors and directors, from George Miller and Cate Blanchett to Guy Pearce and Jane Campion. In fact, everyone who loves film. Stay tuned (and of course clap your hands if you believe in dreams).

BLACK CHERRY B'DAY

The ladies of Black Cherry are outdoing themselves in October with a massive birthday bash to mark five years of presenting the best bands ‘n’ burlesque parties in Sydney. Expect three rooms of roots and rock, cheap drinks all night and the return of the Green Fairy Absinth Bar, Jungle Rump live rock’n’roll karaoke, a sausage sizzle – and a lineup that includes The Beards and The Rumjacks, DJs Jane Gazzo and Stu (Zombie Ghost Train), and burlesque beauties Anna ‘Pocket Rocket’ Lumb, Lux St Sin, Briana Bluebell and Frankie Faux. Wrangling the talent, and taking sass patrol duties, is longtime Black Cherry babe and MC, Lauren LaRouge. Mental note: Saturday October 15 from 8pm at Factory Theatre, Enmore. Tix and full lineup at factorytheatre.com.au

PEEPSHOW AR

If you’ve spent some time in New York or Paris, you might have noticed savvy locals and tourists using apps that allow you, by looking at your surroundings through your phone ‘lens’, to see exactly where the nearest train/metro/subway stop is. This is Augmented Reality (AR) technology – and while Australia is still catching up, Queen Street Studio are leading the way with a brand-new app called Peepshow, which allows punters to explore the 2010 postcode through an augmented lens, and discover its hidden secrets – from galleries and graffiti walls you never knew were there, to the stories behind the local icons (including our personal fave, the Crown Street dog). QSS launch the app with a bang on the weekend of October 15-16. For more info, hit up queenstreetstudio.com/ PeepShowAR

THE THING

Festival and London’s Soho Theatre. The secret to its success seems to be a winning combination of titillating factoids about soil, and insights into O’Doherty’s failed career in television. Its Sydney run will be hosted by Belvoir Downstairs theatre, from October 18 – 30. Book at belvoir.com.au

BAMS&TED AT STABLES

Hot on the heels of their themed vintage pop-up stores Edge Of Love and Edward Scissorhands, the ladies of Bams&Ted are plunging into the world of theatre, through a cute collaboration with Griffin Theatre Company. To coincide with the season of

COMEDY LOUNGE

Sydney’s newest comedy lounge is… The Comedy Lounge. Held at Surry Hills institution Lounge Café (277 Goulburn Street) every Monday night, it's just six weeks old, but already pulling talent like Daniel Moore and Dave Bloustien (Monday October 3) and Sam Bowring and Claire Hooper (October 10), and rising stars Smart Casual (October 17). Shows start at 7.30pm but the venue opens at 5pm – which is when smart kids turn up for the happy hour ($10 pizza and $5 drinks). Entry is $10 / $8 concession, which gets you up to seven short and sweet comedy spots. cafelounge.com.au

Pamela Rabe & Hugo Weaving

STC 2012 MAIN STAGE

Sydney Theatre Company unveiled an Australian-centric 2012 Main Stage season on Friday, dominated by works written, directed by and starring our best talent. There are some foreign influences, however – we’re looking forward to the return of Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed (Once and for all we’re gonna tell you who we are so shut up and listen), the Sydney debut of Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre, and the Simon Stone/Andrew Upton adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s 1976 psychological drama Face To Face, which will star Kerry Fox (An Angel At My Table). Other tentpole productions include Les Liasons Dangereuses, starring Hugo Weaving, Pamela Rabe and Justine Clarke; and the Australian premiere of Sex With Strangers (following its rave season earlier this year at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre) starring Jacqueline McKenzie. For the full program, see sydneytheatre.com.au

BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 27

MAGIC TRIP

Dir. Alex Gibney & Alison Ellwood lllwood USA

OCTOBER 5-9 at Chauvel / Dendy Opera Quays / AFTRS Theatre

Sydney is long overdue its own dedicated documentary festival; cue the arrival of Antenna, who are punching out of the corner this month with an outstanding lineup of local and international documentaries – all making their Sydney or Australian premieres. There’s also a special Australian Competition section, short docs and a student section, and a retrospective screening of Chris Marker’s seminal experimental doco, Sans Soleil. The festival opens on October 5 at Dendy Opera Quays, with Robert Nugent’s highlyanticipated Memoirs Of A Plague, and closes on October 12 at the Chauvel, with Philip Cox’s crowdpleaser The Bengali Detective. Below, we’ve hand-picked five films we recommend; for the full lineup, head to antennafestival.org

In 1964, 196 Ken Kesey, the author orr One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s of On o’s Nest, set off on an LSD-fuelled ed d cross-country road trip to New cross w York's World Fair, accompanied ed by renegade group of counterculture a rene cu ulture truth-seekers that included truthNeal Cassady, who had been n immortalised in Jack Kerouac’s immo c’’s On Road (and who was the d driver The R river painter of the psychedelic and p c Magic Bus). This self-acclaimed me ed 'Merry Band of Pranksters' intended te ended make a documentary about to ma utt their trip, sshooting footage on 16MM, M, the film was never finished but th d and has remained virtually the footage fo tu ually unseen. Directors Alex Gibneyy unsee (Enron: The Smartest Guys In (Enro n The Room) and Alison Ellwood have Room avve been given unprecedented access cccess to this raw footage by Kesey's s family and have restored overr 100 hours of film and audiotape. This film is worth seeing for this archival rc chival footage alone; it's a bonafide slice footag slice American history. RH of Am m

MATCHMAKING MAYOR Dir. Erika Hnikova Czech Republic / Slovakia

If you’re a single lady in Sydney, then this film is going to make you feel a whole lot better about the supposed ‘man crisis’; if you’re already hooked up, it’s going to make you goddamn grateful you’re off the market. By turns hilarious, fascinating and creepy, Matchmaking Mayor looks at a small town in Eastern Slovakia where the Mayor (a former general, it must be noted) has very definite social and religious ideas about the importance of marriage and procreation. Having secured the town a new pool and a new town hall, he’s got his heart set on making matches between the area’s 70-odd singles – and his strategy is a weird, retro mix of television dating shows, blue-light discos, and perhaps even the dark days of eugenics… Sure, holding a dating night is harmless enough – but the more the mayor (and the men of the village) open their mouths, the less appealing the whole thing seems. You can’t help feeling that the women in Zemplinske Hamre know exactly what they’re doing: they’re holding out for something better. Laughs aside (and there are plenty), this is a fascinating look at a culture where gender equality and tradition are struggling to find an accommodation. DJ

MY PERESTROIKA Dir. Robin Hessman UK / USA / Russia

The sheer honesty and simple humanity in Hessman’s film is carried by five former schoolmates who grew up as the last generation of Soviet children brought up behind the Iron Curtain. The freeness and intimacy with which this eclectic mix of friends speak and share their lives makes for an enthralling portrait of life in a slow, insulated Russian town. Each speaks of the somewhat optimistic transition from the growth of Lenin’s Communism through the breakup of the Soviet Union to the election of Vladimir Putin as President. We are invited to see life in Russia through a lens bereft of narration, animation or bias and we are taken through a veiled past with the help of rare home-movie footage from the 1970s and ‘80s, popular media and propaganda footage – not to mention a great soundtrack. RH

POOL PARTY Dir. Beth Aala USA

With Morgan Spurlock (The Greatest Movie Ever Sold) as executive producer, Pool Party is both an indie music wet dream and an urban history lesson. Brooklyn native Beth Aala uses the story of McCarren Pool, an iconic site in the Brooklyn suburb of Williamsburg, as a microcosm for the larger story

of how Williamsburg has been transformed by gentrification. Just like everything else in New York, there's nothing 'average' about McCarren Pool. To start with, it should probably have been called McCarren Ocean, because it is the size of a football field and can hold 6800 bathers (that’s a capacity of more than 500 football teams). The pool opened in 1936 but was closed in 1983 at a time of economic recession, and became a breeding ground for gangs, junkies, graffiti artists and the homeless. It lay crumbling and abandoned for nearly 25 years, until some artists decided to make it a venue for three magical summers of free concerts.

A W AY

Aala introduces us to long-term residents, community activists and music industry hipsters who guide us through the pool’s history, weaving stories of local culture with music and performances by Aesop Rock, the Beastie Boys, Black Lips, the Breeders, Deerhunter, The Hold Steady, the Liars, Les Savy Fav, Matt and Kim, MIA, Sonic Youth, Tall Firs, the Ting Tings, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yo La Tengo, and more. Consider this your perfect summer pep-rally. RH

INTO ETERNITY

Dir. Dir Michael Madsen Denmark / Finland / Sweden Den This Thi is a chilling, visually impressive and mentally imp arousing documentary about aro Onkalo, the world’s first On permanent nuclear waste per disposal plant, currently under disp construction in Finland. con How do you tell human beings 100,000 years in the future 100 that tha they are standing near a giant gia underground tomb filled with poisonous radioactive materials and that they should ma go no further and definitely not dig? dig g One surly professional considers using the image of con on the screaming face from Edward Munch’s famous painting ‘The Scream’ as a marker to communicate the universal symbol for danger and pain. But would that really get the message across? Will people in the distant future still have the same emotions? Another nuclear expert suggests it would be better not to provoke any awareness of the plant, try to forget it exists and hope nobody ever finds it. Sweeping cinematography takes us into the bowels of the plant under construction and combines these haunting images with the static, sterile offices of the men and women in charge of Onkalo’s construction. How do you build something to last 100,000 years when nothing the human race has created has even lasted one tenth of that amount of time? Finnish filmmaker Michael Madsen is not in short supply of tough questions. He probes (and often confounds) his grimfaced interviewees – scientists, technicians and legislators – in search of answers that lie beyond the technicalities involved in creating post-human architecture. Delving into the ethical and spiritual aspects of the issue of nuclear waste, Into Eternity is itself a letter to humanity and challenges us to conceive our own future. RH

COSMO JARVIS C

osmo Jarvis – the man behind the world’s first nautical homoerotic love ballad – comes to Sydney this October, straight off the back of releasing his album Is The World Strange Or Am I Strange on September 30. Best known in ‘the cyberspace’ for his Stephen-Fry-endorsed single ‘Gay Pirates’, Cosmo is far from a one-trick pony, with a bunch of instruments in his repertoire, and a skillset that includes acting, directing, composing and producing. He’s just 21, and Brian Eno finds him fascinating. How irritating.

Cosmo will be repping his skillz at Goodgod Small Club on Wednesday October 12; but if you’d like to get up close n personal with the future of music, we have a chance for two lucky readers (and their better-halves) to meet Cosmo in person and watch an exclusive live studio performance on Monday October 10 at 3pm. Winners will also get a copy of the deluxe version of Is the World Strange or am I Strange which includes a DVD of 18 of his short films.

To get your hands/ears/eyes on all this, email freestuff@thebrag.com with the name of one other single from Cosmo's latest album. 28 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

Pool Party - photo by Bao Nguyen

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FESTIVAL OF DANGEROUS IDEAS Jon Ronson October 1-2, Sydney Opera House

ydney Opera House’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas drops its annual mind-bomb this weekend, with a series of devastatingly intelligent talks and discussion panels tackling the thorny dilemmas of modern living. Expect a squadron of dambusters, from legal minds and political thinkers to philosophers, authors and journos, academics and think-tankers, entrepreneurs and social changemakers. Big names like Julian Assange, Jonathan Safran Foer, Kate Adie and Slavoj Zizek sit alongside young guns like GetUp’s Simon Sheik, Slutwalk’s Clem Bastow, and performance collective Applespiel. Everything from kids’ diets to the right to die will be put under the microscope. Below we offer up an opening salvo of hot-shots from the lineup. For the rest, see sydneyoperahouse.com/FODI

Psychopaths Make The World Go Round By Michael Brown

ocumentarian, journalist, keyboard player and author of The Men Who Stare at Goats, Jon Ronson touches down at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas this weekend to explain why Psychopaths Make the World Go Round. In his latest book, The Psychopath Test, Ronson became an amateur psychopath sleuth in search of psychopaths from all walks of life, utilising psychologist Robert Hare’s Psychopath Checklist (PCL) which claims to identify psychopaths based on a score against a set of twenty personality traits, and life history. “It turned me a bit psychopathic,” says Ronson of Hare’s checklist. “I think it’s something to do with this need we have for sureness in the world. We can’t handle the fact that people are kind of confusing, and actually you can’t know another person. And that’s maybe why the checklist is so empowering, because you want to be able to reduce people to something definable – in a world where actually people aren’t definable.” Ronson’s body of work has encompassed some pretty indefinable types – subjects on

the fringes of madness and rationality. In Them: Adventures with Extremists, he met religious extremists, KKK clansmen, and recurring character David Icke, the former UK sportscaster turned conspiracy theorist, who believes the world is under the thumb of 12-foot metamorphosising lizard men.

All Women Are Sluts

Clem Bastow explains Slutwalk to Sydney By Caitlin Welsh

Clem Bastow

The media coverage of the events, and some of the attendees, often suggested that Slutwalkers were marching for their right to be sluts or to reclaim the word as a positive term, rather than for agency over their own bodies and the right to justice rather than judgment.

In The Psychopath Test Ronson sizes up his subjects – hospital inmates, former political leaders, CEOs, conspiracy theorists – against Hare’s criteria, but admits that it’s an imperfect science. For instance, why do psychopaths commit suicide? “If they display no anxiety and no remorse, or guilt, why then do they sometimes commit suicide? And I said that to Hare, and he went, ‘I dunno. It’s just a funny old thing isn’t it?’ It goes to show one should always caution against trying to shove somebody too hard into a box. Any kind of checklist can be tyrannical. Even psychopaths, in the end, are multifaceted human beings.”

“We really tried to distance ourselves from that idea of reclaiming the word," says Bastow, "because I think that just tripped up a lot of people in semantics. It was supposed to be more of a focus on putting an end to victimblaming and that sort of rape culture, and as part of that, getting people to think about language – if they use that word, why do they use it? For us the whole reclaiming idea was secondary, even third or fourth down the list… There were people who were marching because they never wanted to hear that word again."

Aware of the human biases in diagnosis, Ronson warns us to be wary of experts. “Obviously I write a bit about experts in this book. You put an expert on the TV, or in the dock in the courts, or in a financial institution, and we just believe them; it’s like we’re desperate to believe experts all the time.” In the course of his research Ronson met with Paul Britton, who became the UK’s first real criminal psychological profiler almost overnight when, whilst working as a clinical psychologist in a hospital, local police called him in to consult on a local murder case. He profiled the murderer to a tee. “There was a long time when he was massively respected as the last word on his discipline,” says Ronson. Then Britton got it wrong – and often. “He was so sure of himself. People are kind of tricked by people who appear very sure of themselves,” he says. Ronson himself is now called-on as a layman Psychopath Expert; after all, he’s written a book. “I’m thinking, um, if I’m (laughs) given the key to the gates to the garden of expertise, then it’s a pretty fucking easy gate to open.” Talk: Psychopaths Make The World Go Round – featuring Jon Ronson; chaired by Lisa Pryor When: Sun Oct 2, 2:30pm Where: Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House

Mike Daisey

On the Agony and Ectasy of Being Steve Jobs By Michael Brown

ost of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas’ panel titles sound like senior high school debate topics – but there’s one you won’t find articulate Year 12s discussing in a classroom any time soon: All Women Are Sluts. The title is a nod to the Slutwalks that were held earlier this year in cities across the globe, from Sydney and Melbourne to Mexico City and Paris. It all began in Toronto, where a police officer advised a group of college undergraduates that to be safer on campus, “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised”. Since then, the Slutwalk movement has expanded like a brand, taking on different meanings in each city, and for each walker. Melbourne journalist and local Slutwalk coordinator Clem Bastow, who will speak on the All Women Are Sluts panel, says, “I think in-between the original Toronto one occurring and the rest of the world catching on, [Slutwalk] sort of mutated a little bit – we wanted it to be

hen Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple earlier this month, his public letter of resignation was addressed not only to the Apple Board of Directors, but also to ‘the Apple Community’. It is this community, says Mike Daisey, that need to know where their Apples are coming from. A master monologist and gonzo storyteller, Daisey has created around 18 monologues over 15 years, including recent works Monopoly and The Last Cargo Cult (which played at Sydney Opera House last year and included an inspired scene of bankers being thrown into volcanos), both of which skewer the human cost of financial profit. Continuing this theme, his latest monologue – The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs – investigates the darker side of the Apple success story. He’ll be returning to the Opera House with a season of the show, as well as storming the stage at the Festival Of Dangerous Ideas in a talk entitled Sleeping With The Enemy: Collaborating With Corporations Sells Out The Human Race. In the process of investigating Apple’s manufacturing practises, Daisey found himself in the ‘special economic zone’ of Shenzhen, China, posing as a businessman to get inside Foxconn, the birthplace of Apple devices. Getting in was easy. “I’m not a spy. I’m a large person. I don’t speak Mandarin,” says Daisey. But what he found was not easy to take. “What I didn’t expect was the widespread dehumanisation… I interviewed tens and hundreds of people regularly working 15 to 16 hour work days, seven days a week, forever,”

30 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

a lot more inclusive than I think some of them had been, in terms of the kinds of people they were targeted at.”

One of the “stumbling blocks”, as Bastow puts it, was that often people were technically in favour of the ideas being put forward by the Slutwalk movement but were put off by the aggression or potential for exploitation tied up in those four little letters. Nor is she in fact a huge fan of the title of her FODI panel; but she’s more than familiar with the power of shock. “I think that’s one of those explosive statements (a little like calling an event Slutwalk) that is there to engage debate,” says Bastow. “And I think that’s great – I think sometimes you do need to rattle people a little bit to make them realise that these things are worth talking about and need to be talked about, because I think that sometimes they can come under the guise of fairly heavy-handed intellectual rhetoric, and some people are kind of loath to engage with that... But once you’ve grabbed their attention, you feed them the real message, and I think that’s what we did with Slutwalk.” Panel: All Women Are Sluts – with Clem Bastow, Samah Hadid, Catherine Lumby When: Sat Oct 1, 4.30pm Where: Playhouse, Sydney Opera House

says Daisey. “While I was in the country a worker at Foxconn died on the assembly line after working a continuous 32 hour shift. I met people who had nerve damage from using solvents that are actually nerve toxins, to clean iPhone screens.” Taking stock, Daisey says, “the effort of globalism to centralise on wherever it will be cheapest for the corporation, and the way the corporations have no human agency or responsibility, really leads to pretty shocking situations.” Someone shared with Daisey an email from Jobs, which said, “I think that Mike doesn’t appreciate the complexity of the situation.” But it appears he does. “Rotating people on their lines so that they do not wear out their joints – that does not cost money, it just requires that someone care. And at the moment, no one cares,” says Daisey. “Our corporations – Sony, and Dell and Apple – they don't care either. The reforms are all about management; they’re just about how you treat people as human beings. You would just have to care." Talk: Sleeping With the Enemy: Collaborating With Corporations Sells Out the Human Race – featuring Mike Daisey; chaired by Richard Glover When: Sat Oct 1, 2pm Where: Studio, Sydney Opera House More: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs runs from Sep 24–Oct 2 at The Studio

Jon Ronson photo by Barney Poole

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Arts Snap

Film & Theatre Reviews

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

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

high farce, particularly with the arrival of Darren Gilshenan’s undercover policeman, Truscott. His Truscott is a fascinatingly unpredictable creation that’s by far the best reason to see Loot. He’s always slightly off-kilter, blustering through the plot with a warped intellect and a startling edge of brutality. At times it feels he’s not doing Orton but Gilshenan, though in this case, that makes him the freshest element in what could otherwise be a rather tired concoction. Geoffrey Rush in The Eye Of The Storm

■ Film PICS :: CG

25th anniversary auction

THE EYE OF THE STORM Released September 15 Patrick White’s novels are notoriously difficult to film, but Fred Schepisi and screenwriter Judy Morris have cut The Eye Of The Storm down to its most essential elements, and their adaptation is one of the best Australian films in recent memory. Schepisi, in fact, has not made a film in Australia since 1988’s Evil Angels, so The Eye Of The Storm represents something of a return home for him, and it was worth waiting for. The film tells the story of a pair of siblings who gather at their mother’s bedside as she nears the end of her life, but it’s also about greed, manipulation and the million ways that families have of tormenting one another, and in the broader sense, about the changing face of Australia in the 1970s.

14:09:11 :: First Draft Gallery :: 116-118 Chalmers Street, Surry Hills, 9698 3665

PICS :: KC

insert coins

Charlotte Rampling stars as Elizabeth Hunter, the matriarch of a wealthy family – a once-proud woman, she is now essentially bedridden, but still finds ways to rule those around her with an iron fist. Learning that she does not have long to live, Elizabeth summons her adult children back from overseas – Geoffrey Rush, as the foppish actor Basil, has been treading the boards in London, while Judy Davis, as Dorothy, is licking her wounds after her marriage to a wealthy Parisian ended badly. These three central cast members are all extraordinary in their roles. Rampling plays Elizabeth at various stages in her life, and through the nuance of her performance alone, is able to depict her through all of its stages. Davis is one of those actresses you can’t take your eyes away from, and she’s great as the brittle, girlish Dorothy, while Rush is characteristically great as the proud but pathetic Basil.

08:09:11 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93323711

PICS :: KC

changing lanes

The film is beautifully shot, its Sydney setting looking luminous, while the score, by Paul Grabowsky, draws on both jazz and classical music, bringing key scenes – including the aftermath of a tropical storm – to glorious life. The supporting cast is also excellent. Alexandra Schepisi plays Elizabeth’s nurse, Flora, her big grin and broad country girl accent putting her at odds with the Hunters, while veteran actors John Gaden and Robyn Nevin play small but pivotal roles as the family’s lawyer and his wife. You won’t necessarily like these characters – especially the dysfunctional Hunter children, as they circle their dying mother and fret about their inheritance – but the film is excellent all the same.

17:09:11 :: Everywhere :: Surry Hills

Arts Exposed

Alasdair Duncan

City of Sydney presents

ART & ABOUT: FESTIVAL OF PUBLIC ART Until October 23 Launching last Friday with a huge public party in Martin Place, Art & About is set to transform Sydney this month with lashings of colourful public art – from regulars like Laneways Art and the Sydney Life photography gallery in Hyde Park, to Kaldor Projects and Michael Landy’s Acts of Kindness installation in Martin Place, and the giant crafty romper room that is Hyde Park North’s Happy Talk pavillion. It’s going to be over before you know it, so get in amongst it and get your fingers dirty. artandabout.com.au 32 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

Gnome of Narrabeen by John Fryz. Sydney Life. Image courtesy City of Sydney

What's in our diary...

■ Theatre

LOOT

Until October 23 / Drama Theatre (SOH) The years haven’t been kind to Joe Orton. In 1966, Loot was a shocking attack on Establishment values. Today, he’s closer to Oscar Wilde than Guy Fawkes. It’s Orton’s wit that endures, not his radicalism, despite the Sydney Theatre Company’s attempts to proclaim the contrary. Marketing fluff aside, STC knows exactly what they’re doing with Loot: it’s meant to be a mainstream comedy, and for the most part, it does its job extremely well. The first 20 minutes groan under the weight of endless one-liners, with the play faring much better once it moves from duelling epigrams into the realm of

Opposite Gilshenan, William Zappa makes an endearingly beleaguered straight man, and Robin Goldsworthy’s criminal chappie is a pitch-perfect anchor for the increasingly ludicrous plot. Goldsworthy also scores the best of Victoria Lamb’s spot-on period costuming. Richard Cottrell’s masterful direction keeps the plot careening along without spinning out of control. It’s not quite as impeccably brilliant as his work on Tom Stoppard’s Travesties, though that can be chalked up to the superiority of Stoppard’s script and a few lacklustre performances among Loot’s supporting cast. It’s a half hour too long, but Loot is more than solid enough to satisfy its target audience. It’s hard not to wonder, though, how Orton would feel about his satire becoming one of the more comfortably conservative offerings on the Sydney stage. Perhaps he’d be glad that other playwrights had taken up his baton and were shocking audiences elsewhere; or perhaps he’d be appalled that we’ve become so inured to horror that his tale of murder, grave-robbing, normal robbing and police corruption has lost its power to offend. Pierce Wilcox ■ Theatre

THEY CALLED HIM MR GLAMOUR Until October 9 / Belvoir Street It’s hard to review Mr Glamour without giving too much away. Half the fun of the show is discovering the work in the moment. It’s not really the sort of show that I can give a handy 50-word plot summary of. Instead, it’s a complicated work that questions our expectations of a night at the theatre and the desires that lead us there. It’s also a cleverly written one-man script by Gareth Davies who also performs the work and directed by Thomas M. Wright (whom you might better know by the name Baal). The Black Lung Theatre and Whaling Firm’s first show in Sydney, Mr Glamour is an insight into their history, and the irreverence for – and questioning of – conventional theatre that inspired their early shows, often held above small bars in Melbourne. One thing people are guaranteed to talk about is the extraordinary set design, by Wright and Peter Trott, which conjures up the detritus of a farmhouse. It’s full of meaningful junk (as Davies will inform you) but most impressively of all, it is orbited by what seems like at least 10,000 light bulbs. The perfect house, indeed, for Govin Ruben’s swelling lighting design. It is without doubt that Davies is a phenomenal performer. For just over an hour, he cleverly navigates the sort of performance that he has become known for: one that seems to constantly hover over the brink of disaster. What is less clear is whether or not Davies is as skilled a writer. There are times when the script is perfect, effortlessly deconstructing the theatrical medium with a casual line. At other times it’s hard to tell whether the dick jokes are satirically brilliant or in fact just dick jokes. Then it’s hard to tell if that’s the point. Unfortunately, there’s not adequate scope in this review to fully tease out these questions. Suffice to say, it’s complex and you’ve got to see it. Henry Florence

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

DVD Reviews Lost boys...

MAD BASTARDS

SNOWTOWN

Paramount Home Ent Released September 8

Brendan Fletcher’s feature debut is a story about men and the ways that they both do and don’t relate to eachother. The film charts the journey of TJ (Dean Daley Jones), an ex-convict with a violent temper, as he travels from Perth to the remote Kimberley to connect with Bullet (Lucas Yeeda), the son he has never met – and whose grandfather Tex (Greg Tait), a kind-hearted and quietly-spoken outback police officer, is the only stable figure in Bullet’s life. The central trio are strong and credible in their roles, saying as much with their many silences as they do with their words (especially impressive given that none have acted in films before). Some of the most poignant scenes revolve around Tex’s fledgling men’s group, which invites locals to open up about their “marriage problems, alcohol problems, all that sort of thing”. Not much is said, but Tex’s quiet compassion shines through, and Tait gives the standout performance of the film. With its theme of fathers and sons trying to connect, Mad Bastards has strong echoes of 2009’s Last Ride. Both films use the beauty and brutality of the Australian landscape to their advantage, and both are about men who find themselves at odds with society. Broome musicians The Pigram Brothers collaborated with Alex Lloyd to compose a series of songs for Mad Bastards, drawing on blues, roots and folk, and the dusty, beautiful music enlivens the film’s road trip scenes. Mad Bastards is not necessarily a happy or upbeat film, but it’s way less of a downer than many of its Aussie contemporaries, and on that basis, is worth checking out.

Madman Entertainment Released September 21 Call me shallow, but when it comes to stories about grisly murder, I like there to be an air of glossiness and unreality to the whole thing. Think CSI: Miami. Sure, the dead bodies are gross and the whole thing is generally pretty icky, but the flashy effects and the endless shots of David Caruso raising his sunglasses put you at a remove from the grim realities of death and decay. Justin Kurzel’s debut feature, Snowtown, deals with a series of grisly homicides – drawing on the story of John Bunting, South Australia’s infamous ‘bodies-in-barrels’ killer – but it’s the polar opposite of CSI in just about every respect. It’s grim, gritty and washed out, its story unfolding in a dishwater-grey suburban hellhole populated by a seemingly endless array of paedophiles, murderers and other such characters. Some critics have called the film poetic, but I’m going to assume that’s code for slow and unwatchable. (I kept hoping that Caruso would appear and say: ‘It looks like we have this guy … over a barrel’. Needless to say, that didn’t happen.) To be fair, Snowtown isn’t objectively bad, but I also don’t ever want to see it again. Though it’s a true crime story, its real focus is not on the killer, but on his protégé – and while the decision to depict young Jamie as a blank slate may have been a deliberate one, Lucas Pittaway doesn’t portray him all that engagingly, and as a result, the film never really draws you in. Compare Snowtown with another recent Australian movie, Animal Kingdom – both feature teen protagonists adrift in a world of violence and uncertainty, but where Animal Kingdom crackled with energy and life, Snowtown is just a downer. Alasdair Duncan

Alasdair Duncan

Street Level With Greedy Hen

s creative duo Greedy Hen, Katherine Brickman and Kate Mitchell have been kicking around together for six years, making playful, collage-tastic works of art, and craft-heavy animations for bands like Cloud Control, The Middle East, Washington, Josh Pyke, and The Panics. Their most recent adventures include taking part in I Can Draw You A Picture’s ‘micronation’ experiment at Firstdraft, and making a film clip for the world’s first kitten rock band. This week, they’re opening their first ever solo exhibition, at Surry Hills’ Chalk Horse gallery.

So, six years - does it seem like it’s been that long? The show marks six years but we’ve been bouncing ideas around for much longer than that! Time has that odd way of speeding up as you get older, til you get ancient, and then it slows down again. Well that’s what we imagine; we’re not there yet but we’ll keep you posted. What have you learned in that time? Doing Greedy Hen is like going on a choose your own adventure with someone else. You might end up in quicksand or on the secret level, and you’ve got someone else there along for the ride. Somehow we’ve come to trust that it will work out in the end – and it always does. Why did you two decide to start working together? We met years ago studying art and then, quite organically, we started working together kicking ideas around; and then Greedy Hen became a reality and everything just snowballed from there. What’s the starting point when you’re addressing a brief? Sometimes a client will come to us with a very definite idea of what they want; other times it’s a very flexible and open dialogue. Kate usually ‘feels’ something and Katherine will have a ‘clear vision’ of what it is. Then we bounce ideas around like ping pong, until it’s on its way. We work best when a client lets us run loose and we’re free to move in whatever direction we want. Or better still, when there’s no client and it’s an art project. Having said that, making art that wraps around music is pretty awesome. As little kids we used to bully our siblings to watch music film clips on rage instead of morning cartoons – and now we get to make them!

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What’s the idea behind your Chalk Horse show? The basic premise is based on a Super-Fiction: What would Greedy Hen be like if we were a band? At our studio we make a lot of album artwork and tour posters, and we direct music clips for a variety of bands and musicians – so we thought we’d see what it would look like if the tables were turned and we were our own heroes.

TIX $25-$35*

(including a free Little Creatures beer for patrons over 18!)

What can punters expect to see? Visually, the show is predominately art prints. We made an album cover, wrote a track list of ten songs, then we created an artwork for each of those ten songs. So in a way it was kind of like working backwards: starting with a song title and coming up with an idea as to what that song would look like as an artwork. There is no sound or music whatsoever – we leave the void to the viewer to fill in. Sometimes your imagination is so much bigger than reality. What’s the best album artwork of all time? We’re constantly amused by all of the album artwork for that devil-may-care band The Beets. We love their Crayola-core cover art. Pretty, pretty good. What: Greedy Hen present Debut Album When: Opens Thursday September 29 from 6pm, runs til October 8 Where: Chalk Horse / 8 Lacey St, Surry Hills More: greedyhen.com / chalkhorse.com.au

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Braeg guid

Fa ke I t Con vin cin gly

By Alasdair Duncan Writer and Chaser co-founder Dom Knight appears at this year’s NYWF with a formidable task: he and his fellow panellists will have just one hour to save Australian TV. “We’ll be discussing the trend towards stale, cheap, bland television and why it’s hard to get new ideas and voices onto our screens,” he tells me, “and then we’ll be throwing around some ideas for the kind of thing we’d like to see. Like any good one-hour format, it will end in a surprise twist and then a cliffhanger designed to keep audiences watching for NYWF Saves Australian TV In Another Hour. But without wanting to give too much away, we’ll be trying to find a way to guarantee that The Renovators never makes it back onto Aussie TV screens!”

In 1997 a young Novocastrian called Marcus Westbury founded This Is Not Art, by pulling together several existing student and youth media festivals, and adding a few new ones. He took the name from a prominent piece of graffiti on the side of a building. Almost 15 years on – and many hands, hearts and heads later – the graffiti is gone, but TINA is grown into a thriving hub for discussions, workshops, panels, gigs and parties, auspiced by Newcastle’s Octapod Association, and incorporating Electrofringe, National Young Writers’ Festival, Crack Theatre Festival, and Critical Animals. Almost every event is free, making TINA not only the largest but the most delicious feast for creatives that we can think of. We’ve attempted to chart a little bit of that for you in the following pages the rest is up to you. So get cracking!

Knight sees the yearly NYWF as a vital outlet for young creative types in Australia. “There are lots of things that are unique and really rather wonderful about it,” he tells me. “Firstly, unlike every other writers’ festival, it not only features but is programmed by young people. Secondly, it doesn’t just showcase writers in the panels for members of the general public, but a lot of the sessions are directed towards an audience who are interested in becoming writers. There’s plenty of practical career advice on offer for those who want it. And of course there’s plenty of fun, esoteric theorising as well. And thirdly, most of the attendees come up to Newcastle for the weekend, which gives lots of opportunities for relaxed, looser evening events, like the annual Ball and Spelling Bee.” In terms of career advice for aspiring young comedians, Knight says, “Get involved in anything you can – comedy open mic nights, writing articles for practically no money just to get your name in print, trying to make stuff to put on YouTube and forward around to your friends – anything to build up the flying miles to the point where you can at least convincingly fake knowing what you’re doing.

The annual NYWF bonanza runs the gamut of zines, comics, blogging, screenwriting, poetry, spoken word, hip hop, journalism, autobiography, travel and food writing, comedy, songwriting and prose. So digesting the NYWF program can seem, at times, like making it through James Joyce’s Ulysses: epic, sometimes baffling – ultimately rewarding. To help us this year, we picked the brains of one of Sydney’s leading literary ladies: Alice Gage (founder and editor of the Ampersand literary journal, and founding member of the I Can Draw You A Picture collective). Or do what I did, and just hang around with five smartarses with an unusually low fear of getting arrested, and ride their coat tails to glory.” Knight will appear on several panels with fellow comedian Lawrence Leung. Surely, with the two of them in the same room, some kind of bitter comic rivalry will ensue? “Not at all,” Knight laughs. “Lawrence is a talented, experienced stand-up comedian, so there’s no doubt whatsoever that he’ll be funnier. As a writer, I’m generally forced to promise a witty email reply in around 7 to 10 days. Also, our company produced Lawrence’s TV shows so I’m committed to ensuring that he looks as devastatingly hilarious as possible, which is why I’ll be slapping my thigh and saying ‘good one!’ even when he just says ‘um’.”

FIND DOM AT: Panel: Would You Rather? Fri Sept 30, 4.305.30pm Festival Club (The Great Northern Hotel, 89 Scott St, Newcastle East)

Panel: The Sincerest Form of Flattery Fri Sept 30, 7-8.30pm The Royal Exchange (34 Bolton St, Newcastle East)

Panel: Culture Jamming in the Digital Age Sat Oct 1, 11-12.30pm Elderly Citizen’s Centre (Cnr Morgan and Laing Sts)

L AWRENCE LEUNG

Panel: NYWF Saves Australian TV in an Hour Sat Oct 1, 2-3.30pm The Royal Exchange (34 Bolton St, Newcastle East)

Panel: Comedy Writing: Tough Crowd Sat Oct 1, 4-5.30pm Blackhall House (Pivot Studios, 22 Newcomen St, Newcastle East)

Tiger Blood National Young Writers Festival? The NYWF provides a forum for young people to debate, collaborate and get inspired by ideas. It’s very much focused on the future of writing, and doesn’t have the perceived snootiness of more established writers’ festivals, so these young writers tend to party harder and pick up more. I know couples that found their (um, creative) soulmates in Newcastle. As someone who has carved out a niche in the world of TV comedy, what advice would you give to a young person who is keen to do something similar? I think it all starts with having a great idea. Producers aren’t interested in your first idea. They are interested in your best idea. Have you ever faced any comedy disasters in your career? Yes. But I get over it. I have Tiger Blood. The Spelling Bee sounds a bit mortifying – as you’re chairing, do you have any tips for potential participants? The last Spelling Bee I hosted at the NYWF was brutally competitive with a lot of smashed egos – if you are serious about chasing the glory of being the best speller at the festival, then I suggest training hard by playing Scrabble every night until the event.

By Alasdair Duncan Lawrence Leung is a young comedian with tiger blood in his veins – Australia’s Charlie Sheen, albeit slightly less fond of cocaine and hookers. He is an accomplished stand-up comedian and radio presenter, and is the creator of ABC comedy series Lawrence Leung’s Choose Your Own Adventure and Lawrence Leung’s Unbelievable. At this year’s National Young Writers Festival, he will talk about the ups and downs of comedy writing, attempt to save Australian TV, and school participants in the art of spelling.

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Is Australian TV in need of saving? Why? Australian TV does produce a few odd gems every year, but what was the last Australian TV show you bought on DVD that you had to own? There are budgeting and commercial constraints, as we don’t have the population size of the UK or the USA, but does this mean we have to keep repackaging an endless merry-goround of recycled formats? Is there more to TV than chefs, renovations and underworld figures? In more general terms, what would you say is the importance of events like the

NATIONAL YOUNG WRITERS’ FESTIVAL

What word do you consistently misspell? I always mix the vowels in ‘calendar’ and ‘period’, which is why my menstrual cycle is always late.

FIND LAWRENCE AT: Event: Spelling Bee Sun Oct 2, 4-6pm Festival Club (The Great Northern Hotel, 89 Scott St, Newcastle East) Panel: Would You Rather? Details above.

Panel: NYWF Saves Australian TV in an Hour Details above. Panel: Comedy Writing: Tough Crowd Details above.

ALICE PICKS:

SCREENING AND Q&A: MORON2MORON Sun Oct 2, 2-3.30pm Royal Exchange (34 Bolton St) With: Tom Doig Alice says: This is very funny. Tom Doig and Tama Pugsley cycled 1,423 kilometres from a place called Moron to a place called Moron, and they are both morons. I am also quite partial to a good travel doco. PANEL: CULTURE JAMMING IN THE DIGITAL AGE Sat Oct 1, 11-12.30pm Elderly Citizen’s Centre (Cnr Morgan & Laing Sts, near Hunter St Mall) With: Iain McIntyre, Dominic Knight, Tom Civil Alice says: I think we need to be constantly mobilised and geared up to make fun of broader social structures. I also love Tom Civil. ANNUAL ZINE FAIR Sun Oct 2 from 11am King Street Carpark Alice says: This always has an amazing selection of artist books and publications.

FIND ALICE AT:

PANEL: DON’T PRESS SEND: EDITOR-WRITER RELATIONSHIPS Fri Sept 30, 2-3.30pm Customs House (1 Bond St) With: Amelia Schmidt, Voiceworks editorial committee, Paul Donoghue Alice says: As an editor, I constantly feel like an arsehole because I don’t get back to everyone that sends me submissions. Because of compounded guilt, every few months I will write back to one person with seventeen pages of feedback. This is not a good system. Editing is very time consuming and I wish I could spend more time communicating with people that submit. On the other side of the table, guys, my name is in my email address. Don’t start the email with ‘To the editor’. Not a good look. PANEL: SUPER SAD TRUE POMO LOVE STORY: WRITING EARNEST FICTIONAL ROMANCE IN THE IRONIC AGE Fri Sept 30, 4-5.30pm Customs House (1 Bond St) With: Naomi Stekelenberg, Matthew Lang, Chad Parkhill, Haylee Karens Alice says: I’m a sentimental enthusiast absolutely, with a good streak of cynicism. I’m an enthusiastic sentimental wisecracking fence-sitter. In terms of who writes good love stories for now? Nick Coyle always writes incredible tales of love and loss in his theatre and poetry.

BEST OF THE REST

O ctap od A s s o c iatio n pres e n t s

STIVAL E F ’ S R WRITE ANIMALS G N U AL YO ONAL AL | CRITIC I T A N V | INGE TRE FESTI R F O R A ELECT RACK THE C PRESENTED BY

MEDIA PARTNERS

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By Bridie Connellan “It was a windy day and the water was choppy, so the swell was up to a metre – which is, you know, not big for an ocean liner, but we were just on a catamaran for two people. We went out for three minutes, went to turn around and the wind blew us straight over. We spent about 15 minutes getting the boat up, pointing it in the right direction and BANG! The wind threw us right over again. This happened about three or four times and spent about half an hour sitting on the upturned boat because we couldn’t fix it…” For three performances during Crack Theatre Festival, Dan Koop will be hanging out in a kidney-shaped pond, hearing tales about seawater. It’s a performance piece he developed during this year’s Underbelly Arts Festival (The Stream / The Boat / The Shore / The Bridge). For TINA, Koop and photographer Max Milne will be taking up residence on a life raft afloat Newcastle’s Foreshore Park ‘lake’, taking

“What we’re looking at is marine stories, water stories, river stories, but instead of sitting on a park bench talking to people, we’re going to get on the water, close to the water.” Crack took a chance on Koop’s allegorical use of social interaction, encouraging him to ‘do crazy’ if the mood struck. Koop is “pushing that little fear in him called OH&S”, allowing his ideas to fully expand when punters actually get in the raft. “At this stage it’s not all about the spectacular, necessarily; if someone has a really calm, quiet reflective moment, that might be our time to just paddle around the lake in a calm way. But there might be the odd salty dog who has a tale and wants to get wet...” Koop’s passion for public art feeds his research at RMIT, where his investigations into social rituals and performance have developed an important appreciation of audience participation. “I’ve been an audience member longer than I’ve been an artist. When I think about the audience I can’t assume who that person is, I can’t even start to guess about their history, their preferences, even the mood that they’re going to be in. I’m quite into this notion of art being quite temporal,” he says.

INSOMNIA CAT CAME TO STAY

Established in 2007, Crack is now an indispensible part of TINA; if you want nudity, hilarity, jelly wrestling and debauchery, then you’ll want to make the Crack House your nest for the fest. To the left, we profile three shows you shouldn’t miss; below, we look at the best of the rest. Across the three performances, Koop and Milne are sure to attract a wide range of audience reactions – good and bad. “I think that’s the fun part,” Koop admits, “you get ‘Good Audience Members’ and you get ‘Bad Audience Members’. The ones who are ‘Bad’ are my favourites; they’re the ones who are testing your boundaries as an artist. We could have a rival boat, or a flotilla – and if it ends up being a battle at sea, I guess that’s what we’re going to have to do to protect our pond. You can print that. That’s a challenge.” What: The Boat When: Fri Sept 30 – Sun Oct 2 @ 11am (3hrs) Where: Foreshore Park Lake (Wharf Rd)

Sleepness nights with Crack Insomnia Cat had its debut with a four-night run in Adelaide, and will come to Crack Theatre Festival off the back of a short run at Melbourne Fringe. Since its first permutation, a full creative team has come onboard, including director Danny Delahunty. “He has given this largely autobiographical work a bit of distance and stopped it from becoming an introverted, selfindulgent mess,” Fleur laughs. With her theatre company Quiet Little Fox dedicated to discussing health and mental health issues, Fleur is wary of using theatre as a selfindulgent form of therapy. “When doing this kind of work there’s a lot of potential to make something for yourself rather than something the audience will enjoy. The other danger is that issue-based theatre can come across as talking down to people, so you’ve got to go about it in a unique, unusual and unpatronising way.”

By Emma Salkild Due to a full day of rehearsals, the interview with Melbourne-based theatre-maker Fleur Kilpatrick begins just after 8:30pm. Even though the softly spoken director/writer/performer comes across as eager to talk, it’s hard not to be conscious of the time; after all, Fleur has a strict regime to combat her long-term battle with insomnia, and one of the rules is: no stimulating conversations or thinking about work after 9pm. Fleur’s latest one-woman show, Insomnia Cat Came To Stay, explores society’s relationship with sleep and how a lack of rest can affect a brain. Presented as a stage documentary that is part true story and part waking dream, the show is based on Kilpatrick’s personal journal entries

written during an 18-month stint of extreme insomnia. “In the space of a week I would just sleep one night for only a few hours,” she recalls. “I was at the most awake during the night and then catatonic during the day.” “Insomnia Cat is a very meandering, rambling and manic beast of a script,” Kilpatrick admits. The resulting multi-media production includes live music and hand-drawn animation (by animator Thomas Russell) that will not only be projected against the sets but also Kilpatrick’s striking crimson hair, long-draping white costume and alabaster skin. “The animation makes sense because there is so much imagery,” she explains. “It’s an onslaught of storytelling of all the different thoughts that come to someone through the night – and the animation complements this perfectly.”

Applespiel-er Rachel Roberts goes solo at Crack.

HOPE YOU HAVE A LOVELY DAY By Henry Florence You may well know Rachel Roberts as part of tireless performance collective Applespiel (who just seem to keep popping up everywhere, from Underbelly and Sydney Fringe to Sydney Opera House’s Festival Of Dangerous Ideas). Rachel’s been spending some time this year stepping out of that world and throwing herself headlong into producing a solo work. We caught up with her to ask her a few questions about Hope You Have A Lovely Day and the jam-packed weekend that is the Crack Theatre Festival. What made you want to do a solo work? I applied for (and was accepted into) the Shopfront Youth Theatre artist-in-residence program for 2011 – Artslab. Throughout this six-month residency period, myself and five other young artists are creating solo works to be presented in a season at Shopfront in November. As well as being provided with space to create, rehearse and present in, we are being mentored in creative processes, dramaturgy, producing, etc. This is my first real foray into solo work, and I’m finding it very

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challenging (but also a great learning experience). I’m used to working as an actor with a director and an ensemble, or in a collective with Applespiel. This is new, uncharted territory (For me. Not for the world. This has all been done before.) Where did the idea start? The idea is not so much about birthdays as it is about resistance. The little kernels of ideas that emerged in my residency application were about the individual resisting a cultural norm or tradition, and what then occurs through a forced interaction. Since the initial stages of development through Artslab, the show has been presented as a work-

It seems with RUOK Day done and dusted and a slew of other mental health campaigns on the horizon, Australians are becoming more open to public discussions of mental health issues. But for Kilpatrick, not all responses to her work have been positive, with some applying the term ‘issuesbased’ in a pejorative sense. “Fifty-five per cent of the population will experience some form of insomnia during their lives,” she continues. “It’s a very universal experience but people don’t talk about it and there’s very little research on it. If there’s something out there that’s affecting that many people it’s our role as theatre makers to talk about these experiences.” What: Insomnia Cat Came To Stay When: Sat Oct 1 @ 11pm / Sun Oct 2 @ 12pm Where: The Crack House (Suite 40, Lvl 3, Market Square, Hunter St Mall)

in-progress and has been evaluated and reflected upon and is now going in a different direction. But for Crack, I’m taking the birthday scenario for one last hurrah. Is it autobiographical at all? Yes. In some ways that is important, and in many other ways it’s not important at all. It’s not about my birthday. It’s about something else. Is this your first Crack? I tried to go to Crack in 2009 and instead stayed in bed ill all weekend. I then made it to Crack in 2010 with Applespiel to perform in ‘Applespiel’s Morning Breakfast Commercial Radio Show’, which was incredibly fun. I met other artists who I wouldn’t have met otherwise, and have been offered work since because of all the casual networking that gets done whilst drinking ginger beer and sitting on a pool-chair in a crowded room full of prom dresses. I love that Crack requires you to be flexible and accommodating as an artist, due to the shared resources and everyone being pushed for time and space. It forces a sense of community to emerge and it’s wonderful. What: Hope You Have A Lovely Day When: Thurs Sept 29 @ 4pm, 4.30pm, 9pm, 9.30pm Where: The Crack House (Suite 40, Lvl 3, Market Square, Hunter St Mall)

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29 Performance: Awful Literature Is Still Literature I Guess 5.30pm @ The Crack House (Suite 40, Lvl 3, Market Square, Hunter St Mall) With: Applespiel Applespiel are one of Sydney’s most exciting, prolific and talented young performance collectives, and their star is well and truly in the ascendant – including a coveted spot at Sydney Opera House’s Festival Of Dangerous Ideas. Premiering at Underbelly Arts Festival Awful Literature sees Applespiel digesting the trashiest of modern literature, and regurgitating it into a performance that includes readings and feats of balance, coordination and endurance. FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 Performance: Five Foot Five 5-7pm @ The Crack House With: Genevieve Fricker and Tom Walker, and Sexy Tales Comedy Collective, The Improvlab Crew, Beige Brown, Paulo Som, Chai Morrison, and Leah Landau. Hosted by funny lady Gen Fricker and Tom Walker, this afternoon variety show will feature bitesized offerings from the Chrack 2011 lineup – and you, if you dare! SATURDAY OCTOBER 1 Performance: The Remix Project 7pm @ The Loft (Lvl 1, 7A Wolfe St) With: Emiline Forster With award-winning short films and performances at Reeldance Festival and the Melbourne and Adelaide Fringes, dancer/ choreographer/filmmaker Emiline Forster is one to watch. For Crack she’s inviting punters to digitally create choreography for her by remixing clips of her dancing. SUNDAY OCTOBER 2 Party: End of Days Dance Party From 7pm @ Festival Club (Great Northern Hotel, 89 Scott St) With: The Last Prom! and the Nationwide Jelly Clash This apocalyptic dance party features the messy antics of the Nationwide Jelly Clash, and is headlined by pop-mash-up cover outfit The Last Prom – doubtless still sweaty from their appearance at Canberra’s You Are Here festival – who will take you on an epic adventure into an ‘80s glam rock underworld.

FROM THE CRACK COORDINATORS

This year we have a massive lineup of artists mashing up the boundaries of theatre and performance. Umbrella Theatre Co, Gideon Paten Griffiths, Caz Eccles and Dan Koop are experimenting with site specific works all over Newcastle, making the everyday strange and beautiful. Applespiel, The Sexy Tales Comedy Collective, Catalyst 5, Newcastle’s Tantrum Theatre Company and Fleur Kilpatrick are using experimental and innovative performance practise to tackle pertinent topics. Building 25 are wiping down some wiki surfaces with there own brand of literary cleansing in Anyone Can Edit Phaedra, and Renae Shadler’s Cybentity takes you from being Facebook friends with ‘Polly’, through to a secret location only open to those brave enough to follow. For the full lineup of free workshops, panels and performances go to cracktheatrefestival.com

The Boat – photo courtesy of Catherine McElhone, and Underbelly Arts Festival 2011

THE BOAT

messages in bottles and sharing stories of the high seas with audience members.

HIGHLIGHTS

Dan Koop sets sail for TINA

CRACK THEATRE FESTIVAL

By Greg Clennar Using Gameboys, ‘80s computers and other artifacts of long-gone eras, Melbournebased chiptune producer cTrix adds new and innovative dimensions to the electronic music fold. Melbourne tech-enthusiast Aday was running the lazer show off a wireless laptop at a rave when the two met, and the conversation quickly turned to electronic experiments and motion-tracking technology – your usual 4am-on-Sunday-morning chat – and the idea for ‘The Human Drum Machine’ was born. The Electrofringe program describes the project as “an exploration of image recognition and its power to sequence notes and musical phrases in real time”, which revolves around audience interaction. We caught up with cTrix to find out what that all means… A lot of your music is composed with retrograde technology. What do these older systems offer that newer ones don’t? cTrix: Reliability – seriously! I use a huge audio computer for my day job and run into all kinds of weird problems, and get caught

ELECTROFRINGE THROUGHOUT THE FESTIVAL Game: Treasure Hunt! With: Luke Calarco (The Human Theramin from 2010’s Electrofringe) The world is in danger! How can you help? Pick up a treasure map and make a team with laptop-owning friends to find electro-clues in hidden USBs all over Newcastle!

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 Showcase: Electrobinge 8pm - 12am @ Festival Club

up in silly details. I know a Gameboy, Amiga or Atari 2600 will just power up and start working in a few seconds! I love the huge raw waveforms they produce and how all the channels mix together cleanly. There is no processing or effects to hide behind either, so it keeps you honest – and the limitations of working with only three or four sounds at a time is also a fun challenge. Chiptunes seem to be enjoying a bit of a resurgence at the moment – last year’s Electrofringe had an awesome array of 8bit artists, and Melbourne’s just announced its first ever Blip Festival. Why do you think the scene’s expanding? We’re living in a world of overproduction, and many punters enjoy the idea of bringing it back to basics. It doesn’t get more basic than three channels of square waves and some pseudo white noise plugged directly into a mixer! The old 8bit and 16bit computers are also the soundtracks of many people’s childhoods, so they enjoy hearing it out – and I think many people enjoy getting their old “toys” to make cool new sounds, too. Finally, the software is readily available on newly designed carts and disk drive controllers,

With: cTrix, Joe Mariglio, Paul Heslin, Charles Martin+Christina Hopgood, Robert Jarvis, James Annesley, Tristan Courtney, Ollie Bown and Rainbow Chan Premier local, national and international acts bring you a smorgasbord of audiovisual performances to challenge and pleasure your palate. BYO appetite for everything from glitch to a George Foreman grill. Sound Sculpture: Song Birds 4.30 - 5.30pm @ Pacific Park With: Joe Mariglio Songbirds are a type of wind-activated

Marauding The High Screens

SODA _ JERK By Jonno Seidler Soda_Jerk, the sibling tag-team who boggle the mind with their audiovisual delights, hit Electrofringe this year with a re-jigged and updated version of their 2006 project, Pixel Pirate II. An exploration of the limits and challenges to intellectual property law via a flagrant misappropriation of over 300 samples from famous films mashed up a bit like an Avalanches record, Pixel Pirate II: The Director’s Cut sees Elvis, Moses, The Hulk and, er, Martin Sheen together in what could be the most expensive lawsuit of all time… We caught up with the Berlin/Sydney sisters to pick their brains on all things borrowed. Pixel Pirate II is a fascinating concept for an audiovisual project. How did it all come about? The project emerged as a response to the ever-increasing stranglehold that copyright law is exerting over the history of recordings. For us, what is at stake with these laws is whether cultural history should be shared and reshaped, or owned and controlled by a minority. There’s this great slogan from George Orwell’s iconic sci-fi text 1984:

so anyone can buy the composing software, retro-fit it and start writing. Could you tell us a little more about The Human Drum Machine? It’s all based around an open source system called ReacTIVision. We’ve mashed together a system which means you can run around a room holding up cards with shapes drawn on them, and it’ll play different sounds depending where you stand and what shape you’re holding. Except instead of making the IDM-inspired tunes that are often showcased alongside such technology, we’ve got beat sync so we can trigger kick loops, acid basslines, funky guitars, piano grooves and vocal parts depending on what you pick up and where you stand – it’s going to require audience participation! The session is about showing how easy and fun it is to combine image recognition and sequencing software. What are you looking forward to most about this year’s Electrofringe? Geeking out with everyone. Electrofringe brings tons of like-minded people together and creates an environment where intense conversation runs wild. I’ve met a lot of jaded

electro-acoustic sound sculpture, capable of both listening to their environment and producing sound. Mariglio will perform complex, emergent patterns with masses of these songbirds, woven into a physical network of sound and space.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 1 Workshop: Songbirds 10am - 2pm @ Crack House (Suite 40, Level 3, Market Square, Hunter Street Mall) With: Joe Mariglio Joe performed with his Songbirds on Friday; on Saturday, you can learn to make them yourself!

younger artists in Australia who don’t know what to do with their ideas, in comparison to places like New York, London and Germany. I think events like Electrofringe are vital to showcase the innovation and ideas of Australians, to the world but to each other. And what can we expect from your set at the Electrobinge showcase? Hopefully some massively chunky grooves and beats coming off some first gen handheld consoles of yesteryear. I was hoping to fix the beer-operated Theremin I took to Electrofringe last year, but I spilt beer on it (go figure) and it stopped working. Either way, it should be some dance floor funky times. Sorry – no dubstep. What: Aday and cTrix: The Human Drum Machine When: TAFE Worksheds, Hunter Street Where: Saturday October 1, 2-5pm More: Electrobinge showcase @ The Festival Club (The Great Northern) on Friday September 30

Forum: The Hackerspace Movement 1-2pm @ Elderly Citizens’ Centre (Laing Street) With: Angus Gratton and Adam Thomas from Make Hack Void Hackerspaces are DIY creative communities; physical spaces with a technological bent. Members work on art and technology projects, share ideas and knowledge, and host workshops and tutorials. Members of Canberra’s newly minted Hackerspace, Make Hack Void, will explain this global hotbed of radness, and how you can get involved.

DATE TBA (BUT PROBABLY SATURDAY)

BEST OF THE REST

THE HUMAN DRUM MACHINE

cTrix vs Aday

Game: Super Secret Sound Map Mission (Aporee Spree) Late at night @ a secret location that’ll be revealed on Twitter With: Lauren Brown Secret Sound Mapping Missions for Radio Aporee Maps. BYO sound recorder; recording sites will be revealed through twitter. Follow @sheseesred for the duration of the festival to be involved…

“Whoever controls the past controls the future, whoever controls the present controls the past”. We view sampling as a form of cultural warfare waged along those lines. For us, sampling is an ethical practice. We share the ideals of the free culture movement, and believe everybody has the right to participate in the creative construction of culture. Did you run into your own intellectual property issues once you began screening Pixel Pirate II? The project is part film essay, part B-movie and part activist call-to-arms, so it was pivotal that we engage ideas of intellectual property both conceptually and formally in this work. Narratively, it pits a team of pixel pirates against the evil tyrant Moses and his “Copyright Commandments”. Materially, it is constructed entirely from audiovisual samples pirated from more than 300 different sources. Of course the fact that this project has an – at best – “tenuous” relationship with the law is largely the point. It is a demonstration of sorts; on one hand, a protest, on the other, a demonstration of the possibilities of the remix. The use of music in the piece is quite revelatory, particularly in regards to how certain scenes are set on a loop and counterpoised against one another. What were the selection criteria for putting something like Holst’s ‘The Planets’ up against Run-DMC?

The audio, like the visual samples, at times serves as a kind of shout-out to different histories of the remix. Obviously we really look to hip hop turntablists and producers as some of the key pioneers of samplebased practice, so a lot of hip hop tracks are dropped throughout the work. Similarly with the video samples, we draw on aesthetics and techniques of historical remix forms such as the scratch video editing of the ‘80s, or the found footage film work of artists such as Bruce Conner and Craig Baldwin. Also, characters like Monkey and the Ghostbusters do have a kind of nostalgic resonance for us, but others like Bette Davis, Elvis Presley and Ronald Reagan flashback to an entirely different era of film history. One of the things that we’re interested in is the way that each person’s specific viewing history programs them to respond to the work in different ways. How do you think that the issues for artists who want to sample and re-imagine past works can be resolved in the digital age – if at all? What interests us about the digital medium is the huge capacity for the multiplication and mutation of culture. The present approach of copyright law is fundamentally unequipped to deal with the acute shape-shifting characteristics of digital culture. It’s caught up in the past, and this is why in the film we depict these laws as archaic.

This is a massive undertaking. What’s the most difficult bit? Matching up the audio samples with the visuals, sifting through hours of footage, or something entirely different? Our practice is very research-based. We generally begin with a particular concept and then let the shape of the project emerge organically from the materials that we uncover. So improvisation is very much at the core of the way that we work; we are always conscious of allowing the direction of the project to shift in response to the discovery of new samples. On the plus side, no constraints means you can do crazy stuff like having Elvis turn into The Hulk, right? Yes, in Pixel Pirate II the Elvis Presley is scientifically transformed into The Incredible Hulk, so he can better fend off the action heroes MGM has sent to thwart his assassination of Moses. It does sound far-fetched, but perhaps not so much more unlikely than when Elvis Presley played a member of the Indian Kiowas tribe in Flaming Star, later reprising his role as an American Indian in Stay Away Joe... Yikes. What: Pixel Pirate II: The Director’s Cut Where: Festival Club / The Great Northern Hotel When: Sunday October 2, 2.30-3.30pm More: www.sodajerk.com.au

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Precious Jewels

FABULOUS DIAMONDS By Benjamin Cooper

OVERVIEW

Sound Summit is an annual celebration of independent and innovative music, involving forums, showcases, workshops, panels and parties. Founded in 2000, the festival has had a rich history of unearthing local talent, and bringing some of the world’s most eclectic and interesting artists along for the ride. 2011 marks the first year of Sound Summit’s independence from This Is Not Art, and it’s flourishing; produced by Kirsty Brown, Chris Hearn and Brooke Olson, almost 50 bands have been booked in its largest lineup ever. “In 2011, Sound Summit celebrates the idea that more than ever, music does not exist in a vacuum, but rather is supported by and realised through numerous cultural, creative and collective pursuits,” Olson says. “At the 2011 event we’ll be exploring the intersections between fan, artist and the broader music community by opening up discourses about independent music via academia, art, distribution, journalism, radio, print, performance and new venue models. It’s all really about being equipped with the skills to do it yourself!”

SPACE SUMMIT By Steph Harmon As well as a vastly expanded live music schedule and a split from this year’s This Is Not Art festival, 2011’s Sound Summit brought with it the addition of a third co-director, who has helped Kirsty Brown and Chris Hearn curate and execute this year’s program. Brooke Olson’s name would be familiar to any who’s musical tastes lie left of field; she hosts FBi Radio’s experimental hour of sound, ‘Sunday Night At The Movies’. But it was another project of hers that she’s carried into her new role as Sound Summit co-director: in 2008, Olson set up Marrickville’s hallowed Dirty Shirlows space with six others, after becoming frustrated trying to find spaces that would house events which existed out of the mainstream. “Running a completely independent, volunteer driven, underresourced community space has its ups and downs,” she explains. “It’s definitely equipped me with the skills needed to work on an event like Sound Summit – although it’s still a little weird adjusting to having a budget!” One of the clearest influences that Olson has had on this year’s program is ‘Space Summit’, a brand new mini-forum which will focus on artist run music initiatives and independent space collectives from Sydney and beyond. During the day-long event, collectives like The Red Rattler, Bill & George, Firstdraft, Serial Space, ReNew Newcastle, NAVA’s ‘We Are Here’, Space Syndicate and 107 Collective will be discussing the importance and logistics of hosting independent music in new, underground spaces which “foster and generate new emerging music and art communities in a supportive and accessible (and generally not-for-profit) environment.”

Something is lurking within the music of Fabulous Diamonds. There is a sense that Jarrod Zlatic and Nisa Venerosa are not so much ‘making music’, but have rather managed to tap into some ancient vein of sound that bristles along with a vital urgency. The listener will frequently be unsure of what direction the band is taking; the only known quality is that something significant and potentially disturbing is happening in your headphones. Depending on where you Google or to whom you speak, Fabulous Diamonds can be labelled psych-folk, or worse still: the ubiquitious ‘post-punk’. When questioned as to whether the unceasing need to categorise their music annoys her, Venerosa just laughs. “All those kind of labels are cop-outs. We get called heaps of stuff – some people insist that we’re dub!” When pressed, though, she admits she doesn’t have a huge problem with it. “I don’t know how to label us, so I guess I can’t blame other [people] for trying.” The band have just finished recording their third full-length album, working again with producer Mikey Young from Eddy Current Suppression Ring, who produced the band’s most recent LP, Fabulous Diamonds II. The minimalism of the band’s album titles has tended to flow through into their recording techniques – but this time, the band were forced to shift from jamming it out in a residential backroom. “We were having some issues working out where to record,

because the last album was recorded at my old house, near the Queen Victoria Markets [in Melbourne]. It’s such a commercial space around there so we could just play for hours, working on it without worrying about noise complaints. This time I didn’t have a house for us, but then Mikey sorted it,” Venerosa explains. After recording in nearby Carlton’s John Curtin Bandroom (“Mikey’s mate there is such a chiller, and he let us leave all our gear set up upstairs, and for pretty damn cheap too”), the duo are bringing their new tunes to a Sound Summit showcase, where they’ll be supporting Moon Duo. Venerosa’s had pretty positive past experiences of the festival, involving some hazy but much-treasured recollections of 2008’s visit that involved “getting an actual hotel room, which is rare and always nice – and partying with Naked On The Vague on the balconies. “Newcastle is just so relaxing,” she enthuses. “Every

Tales From Space

When I mention the power of the PA at The Cambridge Hotel (which last year forced me to shove clean cigarette filters in my ears to stop the bleeding during No Anchor’s set), Venerosa shrugs off my concern with typical nonchalance. “When we tour the States [through Fabulous Diamonds’ US label Siltbreeze], a lot of the shows are in gallery spaces, so we just usually have a shitty vocal PA. I usually have no idea what we sound like, ‘cause there’s no foldback – but people are dancing, so it must be alright.” With: Moon Duo (US), Horse Macgyver, Collarbones, Superstar, Rat King Where: Showcase @ The Cambridge Hotel When: Friday September 30 More: Also playing with Moon Duo at Oxford Art Factory on September 29

Japanoise

Fringe spaces have always been crucial to the emergence of new artistic mediums, communities and cultures; their flexibility and independence facilitates the kind of D.I.Y risktaking and skill-sharing that’s essential to the creation of new ideas. “Independent space collectives support culture on the fringes before these cultures become universally recognised or economically viable,” Olson explains. “Many artists cut their teeth in these environments before moving on to bigger things.” She talks of the commonality between squatting spaces from the ‘90s, like the old Midnight Star in Tempe and SquatSpace in Broadway, and Lanfranchi’s (R.I.P), Serial Space and Dirty Shirlows, most of which rose out of a community’s frustration over the lack of available space in Sydney. “Most of the shows, politics, performances – and dare I say, audiences – just don’t belong in a commercial venue or gallery,” Olson says. “Previously, places like Jura Books and Maggotville [now shut down] developed because these communities needed somewhere to meet, talk politics and play. Places like Black Wire in Annandale and, now in its last days, Vox Cyclops in Newcastle offer no bullshit, straight up, bare bones shows, coupled with vinyl from independent and obscure local and international bands.” But it ain’t easy being indie. “[The spaces exist under a] constant fear of closure due to rising rent prices, exhaustion, authorities and confused neighbours, as well as limited recognition by funding bodies, Council (although this is really shifting), and other official organisations,” she explains. “But without them, I personally feel like Sydney would pretty much be screwed.” What: Space Summit forum Where: Emma Soup / 523 Hunter Street, Newcastle When: Sunday October 2, 10:30am – 5:30pm

MONO By Greg Clennar Resonant orchestral layering in post-rock operas seems to be a common aesthetic direction of the Japanese experimental music scene – aka Japanoise. Whether the melodies are drenched in reverb and guitar-heavy drone or coated with atmospheric psychedelia, the sound produced is impenetrable to say the least. Tokyo-based quartet MONO are certainly no exception, and their emotion-stirring, instrumental post-rock has evolved a lot since their 2000 debut Under The Pipal Tree. Guitarist and glockenspiel specialist Takaakira Goto attributes the sonic change to a more sentient approach to songwriting. “I think we’ve become more conscious of the sound we want to create, as well as our strengths and weaknesses as a band. Each album has been a stepping stone that has taught us something we needed to learn to get to this point.” Starting out as a guitar-laden, shoegazeinspired act, citing Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine as two of their earliest influences, MONO have effectively eschewed any formula since then, adopting a sonically operatic, symphonic approach to recording that fizzled any pre-existing generic limitations. When asked what inspired MONO to create this type of music, Goto replies as many artists would: “A combination of things... Life, being on the road, the world, our personal journeys and stories – basically, whatever moves us.” He’s also quick to quash rumours that he has issues with people referring to MONO’s music as ‘post-rock’, stating for the record, “I’m just

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time I go there the place seems to get better and better.”

grateful if they can feel a connection to it, no matter what they call it.” The band’s creative juices are still flowing, with Taka revealing that there’s a new MONO album waiting in the wings. “We’ve just finished composing songs for the new album, and we are now practicing daily to prepare for an early recording next year.” But if the recordings are intense, MONO’s live shows fall nothing short of spectacular, capturing the emotional climaxes of their music through thick walls of sound that often leave audiences in tears. “There is an interchanging of energies at the live show that we cannot replicate anywhere else,” Goto says. “I wish I had a way to explain it. When we are on stage and people are responding to what we’re doing, everyone in that room is meditating on the same thing.” No strangers to Australian shores, MONO have a headline slot at this year’s Sound Summit, which they’ll follow with an intimate show at Manning Bar next week. And Taka tells me that they are relishing the opportunity to play here again. “We’re looking forward to visiting the country… I remember the Australian audience as very friendly and welcoming.” A little different to the Japanese crowds then, whose reception of MONO’s sets are reportedly far more restrained. “Audiences outside of Japan tend to be more vocal and expressive at shows – but I think these are just cultural differences.” With: Chrome Dome, Bare Grillz, Caught Ship Where:Showcase @ The Cambridge Hotel When: Sunday October 2 More: Saturday October 8 @ Manning Bar with No Anchor and Sleepmakeswaves

Night People

WE T HAIR By Bridie Connellan “We’re all broke, poor dudes who don’t have much money. We’re all more dedicated to art and music than finding somewhere else to live. We all pay the bills, and that’s all that matters.” For Shawn Reed, DIY is so much more than a cliché. Reed is the braintank behind Wet Hair, a by-product of the now defunct psych-rock foursome Raccoooo-oon, and a result of the visual artist’s need to create. With a 12-inch, three cassette tapes, two LPs, and a host of split 7-inch releases, Wet Hair’s third album Vogue Spirit included old bandmate Ryan Garbes and new bassist Matt Fenner. “We didn’t live in a place where you could become famous, where there was anything to achieve – it was just what you wanted to achieve on your own behalf,” he says, of little ol’ Iowa. “The mentality of DIY is not even a political thing for me, it was just necessary. It’s not any different than my dad being a self-employed carpenter or my grandad being a self-employed farmer. I grew up to be self-sufficient.” Reed grew up on the Mississippi River, a Huck Finn chestnut that extends to Mark Twain having actually lived in his hometown. Floundering in various college DIY punk and hardcore music scenes in the mid-to-late ‘90s, Reed and his transient projects have always fostered creative underground activity that subverts the norm of rural regionality. “Even in a town so small, there’s always these liberal pockets where people are interested in something different,” he says. Reed is also the founder of Night-People Records, a label/collective cultivated in the shadows of Iowa City. Citing John Cage, Andy Warhol, art nouveau and art deco as major influences on his creative approach, Reed’s admiration for line-crossers is to be expected considering his own varied output. “I guess the things that really bridged the gap between music, art, performance, and media are almost like a... lifestyle,” he explains. With influences more diverse than a Salvos cassette pile, Reed expresses a hefty respect for acts like avantelectronic industrial Mancunian crew Throbbing Gristle and post-noise Detroit trio Wolf Eyes, also throwing kudos to the bands of the Paper Rad lo-fi scene of Providence, who specialised in comic zines, MIDI files and video art. As his latest and most rapidly expanding musical project, Wet Hair’s psychedelic ‘acousmatic’ swirl of sounds breathes Suicide, Can, Velvet Underground, The Doors, Electric Prunes or even a well-fuzzed New Order, looping, swooping and tripping like a synthy cigarette drag. But Reed is adamant their throwback sound hardly milks that dirty word ‘genre’, claiming instead that Wet Hair aim simply to live in the moment. “I can see the functionality of genre, and I can understand, like, mining genre as art for art’s sake, but at the same time there’s a lot of ‘retro’ music that is really trying to be a particular sound of a past era. Obviously we use a lot of old instruments that draw on the past, but we want to be a contemporary band. We’re a band of 2011.” With: RIP Society, Bedroom Suck & Spring Break Showcases Where: The Clubhouse / The Croation Club, Wickham When: Saturday October 1, goes all day

HIGHLIGHTS

SOUND SUMMIT

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29 Exhibition & Gig: Night-People Exhibition Launch / Opening Night Party 6:30pm – Midnight @ Emma Soup (523 Hunter St, Newcastle) With: Shawn Reed and Ryan Garbes from Wet Hair, plus live sets from The Nugs, Mere Women and Black Vanilla (RnB supergroup boy band featuring members of Guerre, Collarbones & Marseilles). Wet Hair is Shawn Reed and Ryan Garbes, and Reed also runs Night-People Records. This exhibition takes in the handmade, original tape, vinyl and tour artwork from the legendary Night-People Records label. FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 Tour: Get To Know Newcastle! All day / see the Sound Summit iPhone app! With: Renew Newcastle Renew Newcastle is an urban renewal scheme which pairs creative industries and communities with otherwise empty buildings. Get to know Newcastle and the Renew projects by bike or on foot; just look for the buildings with the flag icon on the FREE Sound Summit app, and choose your own adventure! Workshop: Mastering – A Masterclass 3:30pm-5pm @ Croatian Club (Albert St, Wickham) With: Greg Wadley (University of Melbourne, 4ZZZ) Greg Wadley explains the mysterious process of mastering a record and why it is essential for every release. He will demonstrate the mastering process live, and answer your general mastering questions. SATURDAY OCTOBER 1 Panel: Music Industry 101 11:30am – 1pm @ Emma Soup (523 Hunter St, Newcastle) With: FBi Radio, Indent, APRA, MusicNSW and more Learn everything you need to know about the Aussie music industry from the best of the best. Featuring a social media 101 introduction and expert advice from print publishers, APRA, FBi and the music industry itself, this workshop is designed to help you land on your feet! Open Day: FBi Open Day, presented by FBi, Coopers and Music NSW 1pm-2pm @ Emma Soup (523 Hunter St, Newcastle) With: FBi and MusicNSW The FBi Music Open Day is being held in Newcastle this month, and everyone’s welcome - bands, musos, managers and all. Bring along four or five copies of your tunes on CD to hand over, and make sure you include a short bio, a track list, your email address and any upcoming gig dates. SUNDAY OCTOBER 2 Panel: DIY 3 – It’s Not All About The Music 12:30pm-2pm @ The Lass O’Gowrie (14 Railway Street, Wickham) With: Shawn Reed (Wet Hair/NightPeople) / Romy Caen (Sound Series) / Tom Smith (Serial Space) / Emma Taylor (Emma Soup) Four panelists, each involved in multidisciplinary projects which bring together music with other artforms, discuss how different scenes (visual art, music, political, academic, etc) can converge and make newer and more interesting scenes. Niche groups and cliques can often be small; can everyone work together and make them overlap and grow by sharing ideas? Workshop: Build Your Own Synth 1:30pm – 4:30pm @ TAFE Worksheds (Hunter TAFE, 590-608 Hunter Street) With: Cubisteffects / $25 entry Create your very own basic synthesisernoisemaker from one CMOS chip. Learn the basics of analog synthesis, and how to unlock a wealth of oscillators and drones using cheap and easy-to-find IC chips. At the conclusion of the workshop, you’ll walk away with a dual oscillator squelch machine that’d make Bob Moog proud! Super limited capacity, so first in best dressed; email workshop@soundsummit. com.au to register your place. Chill Bro’s Afternoon 2pm – 6pm @ The Lass O’Gowrie (14 Railway Street, Wickham) With: Anonymeye, Angel Eyes and The Singing Skies Your body and mind ravaged by the weekend, enjoy the dulcet tones of Anonymeye, Angel Eyes and the Singing Skies in the relaxed surrounds of The Lass.

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BRAG EATS

News Bites

BRAG'S WEEKLY GUIDE TO FOOD

If you’re following the Drambuie campaign for The Premise, then you’ll know that they just picked a winner AND revealed the secret location of the winning bar design: on a pontoon that’s docked in front of Mrs Macquarie Chair. We’d like to be cynical, but it does rather up the ante: a money-can’t-buy location with killer views, and a water taxi service thrown into the mix. The winning bar concept came from design duo Simon Connett and Matilda Swan; it’s called The Dispensary, and will be fully operational for three weeks from Thursday to Saturday nights, starting October 6. thepremise.com.au

BEER GARDEN

Coopers are bringing their greener brand of beer garden back to the Sydney Night Noodle Markets in

Coopers Sustainable Beer Garden Hyde Park this October, complete with solar panels, a raintank/irrigation system, their own Chinese herb garden – and beer. Lots of beer. The only thing missing is nasty additives and preservatives. If you can cope without those, then this is the place to go to grab a cold one to wash down your Nasi Goreng. Head to Hyde Park any weeknight from October 10 – 21.

HMAS VAMPIRE

As part of the Crave festival, our friends at Fish & Co sustainable seafood café have teamed up with the National Maritime Museum to present a sustainable seafood banquet, on board former navy destroyer HMAS Vampire. Besides noshing out on Coorong yellow eye and Spencer Gulf prawns among other things, you get to tweet about eating on a heli pad. Your food guru for the night is internationally renowned sustainable

Tom Kime

seafood chef Tom Kime, head chef and owner of Fish & Co. The dinner happens October 19, and costs $75. If that’s in your purview, book through 9298 3655 or bookings@anmm.gov.au

RUGBY ISLAND

Having made a splash (har har) in 2010, the Island Bar is returning to Cockatoo Island this summer – starting with a special edition: the Brancott Estate Rugby Island Bar. Coinciding with the Rugby World Cup, the bar will feature a giant 20-foot LED screen and serve Brancott wines, plus delicious pizzas fresh from the bar’s wood fired oven. The Brancott Estate Rugby Island Bar opens on Saturday October 8 for the quarter-finals weekend, and will screen all semi-finals on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16, as well as the Bronze Final on Friday 21 and the Final on Sunday October 23.

3 Dates In Glebe Glebe is ready for romance – if you can find the right date. By Robbie Miles

ou’d think there'd be a legion of women who’d love to be wined and dined around Glebe on a weeknight, and you’d probably be right... I just don’t have their numbers. After a late-breaking cancellation and amidst a cacophony of “this isn’t a date, right?”, some very supportive friends offered to be my sherpas through all things Glebe. Saturday Night – The Roxbury Hotel “Mmmm…” was the only sound I could get out of Jess, film student and $10-steak aficionado. Luckily, I had my own steak to keep me busy. Every first and third Saturday of the month, the Swingtime Australia dance school takes over the back room at The Roxy, and dapper dancers rock their best vintage threads and moves. A table near the bar affords a good view of them without the music interrupting conversation. It’s a joy to behold; many of the Swingtime troupe use these social dances to practice some of their gravity-defying aerial manoeuvres. (After dinner we knocked back enough drinks to make us both think it looked easy...) My favourite Roxbury bartender, Oscar, always has a goldtoothed smile on his face, the beers are cold and the crowd are kind to strangers. A great place, and not at all awkward for a first date. (“It’s not a date,” Jess reminds me). Whatever. Tuesday Night – The Different Drummer / Timbah / Friend In Hand “It looks like a French brothel from outside – but, y’know, a classy one.” My friend Anil is not entirely wrong, but fails to account for The Different Drummer’s romance factor: with three floors you’d never know were there and a nice upstairs balcony, there are plenty of nooks and crannies to get lost in amongst the exposed brick. Add some soft music, and softer lighting, and Different Drummer is a sweet spot for taking that special someone for a drink. After Anil and I knock back a couple of quiet beers in the back courtyard, my real date – my old friend Erin – arrives, clearly with cocktails on her mind. Bar manager Nick clearly loves his work, taking the time to describe his concoctions: a ‘Bloody Jerry’ – this month’s special – which muddles Sailor Jerry Rum with blood orange (sweeter than I normally like my booze, but Erin loved it), followed by a sneak preview of next month’s special; a gin-based lemony alchemy-in-a-glass called a ‘Corpse Reviver No. 2’. Easily the best drink I’ve had all year.

THE ROXBURY HOTEL

SATURDAYS WOXBURY YUM CHA! DUMPLING BANQUETS SATURDAYS 12-5

$5 ASIAN BEERS / $4 BUBBLES 42 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

Appropriately lubricated, Erin and I set out in search of Timbah, a recent addition to Sydney’s burgeoning small-bar-with-goodfood set. After being straight-up lied to by our iPhones, we spot a rather large sign with an arrow at the corner of Glebe Point Road and Forsyth Street, directing us towards an oasis of polite staff and cheerful chalkboard signage – and a magnificent acoustic cover of The Smiths’ ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’. We’re a little late to order mains, so we go for a trio of dips (eggplant, chickpea and harissa) with fried polenta, a roast pumpkin salad with grilled haloumi, and corn fritters with grilled chorizo. The pumpkin salad is a highlight, as the smokiness of

the grilled haloumi is perfectly offset by the sweetness of the pumpkin. Priding themselves on their wine list, Timbah offer four reds and four whites by the glass – but if they’re out, you get to choose the next bottle! We gleefully put ourselves at the mercy of the staff and enjoyed a very nice cabernet sangiovese – but I get the feeling that anything you order is going to be pretty good. Being a weeknight, Timbah closes at 9 (they're open til midnight on Friday & Saturday). In dire need of more drinks, we split for the Friend in Hand, hoping that the cockatoo hadn’t yet gone to bed. For those of you unfamiliar with the pub – yes, they have a live cockatoo that sits on the bar and speaks. Alas, it was too late, so we made do with chirping at each other over a few beers. The sheer number of random items decorating the walls and roof (kayak, gas mask, and ceramic kitten...) means that you’re never stuck for conversation. It being a school night, we return to our own separate homes promising to reconvene for breakfast. Wednesday Morning – Clipper Café We’re seated near the front door, and the morning sun, airy space and comfy cushions soothe my throbbing skull. A fresh-squeezed juice and a latte with a heart in the foam make me feel human again, and the homemade baked beans with poached eggs fill the hangover-shaped hole in my soul. Erin had a deceptively simple avocado and tomato on toast, very fresh and tasty. The staff are very attentive and the service was quick... Next time I’ll sit outside and watch the street.

LIEBE IN GLEBE THE ROXBURY Hot tip: Swing dancing demonstrations and lessons every first and third Saturday of the month. Address: 182 St Johns Road Web: roxbury.com.au

DIFFERENT DRUMMER Hot tip: Cocktails and tapas. Happy hour is from 6-7.30pm everyday with two for one cocktails. Address: 185 Glebe Point Road Web: differentdrummer.com.au

TIMBAH Hot tip: Wine (by the glass) until 9pm weeknights and late on weekends. Address: 1/375 Glebe Point Road

THE FRIEND IN HAND Hot tip: Life-drawing classes on Tuesdays, crab racing on Wednesdays and comedy on Thursdays. Address: 58 Cowper Street Web: friendinhand.com.au

CLIPPER Hot tip: Great coffee and bread, and mains from $7-$15 from 6am-6pm. Address: 16 Glebe Point Road

Timbah photo by Meaghan Meredith

THE PREMISE

BRAG EATS

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FLYING FAJITA SISTERS

food review

CAFÉ GIULIA [CHIPPENDALE]

65 Glebe Point Road

lying Fajita Sisters are celebrating summer by offering one of BRAG’s

lucky readers a dinner for two, to the value of $120. That’s 80 tortillas. But if you’re feeling brave, you might want to mix-it-up with a little trucha ahumada y palmitas (smoked trout with palm hearts and salad greens in a sherry vinaigrette, with pomegranate seeds and toasted pepitas) or some banana-leaf tamales (chicken mole or pulled pork) with black beans, Mexican rice, salad, picarillo and salsas. If you and three friends pitch in an extra $5 each, you can even do a Banquet. MATHS! To get your hands on this mouthful of marvelous, tell us what appetiser you’re ordering. flyingfajitasistas.com.au

Despite its prominent position on the corner of Abercrombie and Meagher Streets in Chippendale, Café Giulia is the kind of place that you could walk or drive past hundreds of times without noticing. But once you’ve exchanged a little banter with the friendly staff, navigated your way through the nearoverwhelming variety on the expansive blackboard menu and secured a table amidst the bustling stretch of the café’s interior, it’s difficult to forget. There are many gems in this café’s crown, with crowd-pleasers sitting alongside more inventive fare. The baristas are consistently great, pulling coffee provided by The Coffee Roaster, based in Alexandria. They’re also licensed, pouring tasteful wines and boutique beers after 12pm. The Canadian-style french toast ($14.90) is something of a favourite, served with banana caramelised in sugar, a spire of cool mascarpone, and lashings of bacon (at your discretion). Wallowing in cinnamon and maple syrup, it’s the kind of breakfast your doctor would click her tongue at, but the alluring way the cheese coolly

levels the dish’s salty sweetness will have you repeatedly ignoring her advice. For a subtler early morning sweet, try the café’s signature Belgian waffles ($15.90). Vertiginously cratered, they are accompanied by yoghurt blended with mascarpone, and unspeakably sublime rhubarb compote, slow-roasted with vanilla bean and brown sugar. The breakfast special ($18.90) is similarly stunning. Layers of bacon, hollandaise and spinach are interspersed with soft, Arepainspired corn, spanish onion and chive fritters. Served with perfectly poached eggs, it reads like a culinary curiosity, but the first mouthful shatters any cautious preconceptions. The fresh pear, beetroot, apple and ginger juice ($5.90) needs to be experienced firsthand for its true majesty to be understood; much safer is the house-blended chai ($3.90) – simple, sweet and comforting. Another Giulia signature is the salmon breakfast ($16.90), comprising two poached eggs atop homemade hash browns (also locally grown), with dill mayonnaise and generous rosettes of that beguiling smoked fish. It resembles a work of art and can pose an enormous challenge when hungover, but is worth every single penny.

It’s quietly reassuring to learn that much of the veg served at Giulia comes directly from a small farm in Windsor owned by a Maltese family with whom Giulia’s proprietor has something of a sustainable arrangement; he buys the veggies they grow, and they put his composting scraps to use, all of which is carried back and forth in the same crates – and the café also participates in local composting program Sustainable House. This all comes as something of a surprise; given the current craze for all things organic and sustainable it’s something that you would expect Giulia to be shouting from the rooftops, but that’s just not their style. It may be curiously hidden despite its prominent locale, and appear overwhelming to the uninitiated, but Giulia is one of the city’s finest cafés that will never fail to impress. – Luke Telford Where: Cnr Abercrombie and Meagher Streets, Chippendale Hours: Mon-Fri 6.30am-5pm; weekends 8am-3pm (and yes, they’re even open this Monday, from 8am-3pm) Web: cafegiulia.com

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stay classy DINNER 7 NIGHTS corridorbar.com.au. 153A King st. Newtown BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 43

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK HTRK

Work (work, work) Mistletone Presenting their first piece of work since the suicide of their bassist Sean Stewart in early 2010, HTRK (pronounced 'haterock') have finally released their second full-length album Work (work, work) – and it’s far more sinister than anything they’ve done before. The London-based Australian duo have created a piece of art that is dark and disorienting, dense velvet curtains hiding any light while cigarette smoke clouds the air. HTRK’s second album may occupy the overt sexuality of a Berlin brothel, but Work (work, work) is also laced with heartbreaking and distressing emotion.

‘Slo Glo’ slides along a dark corridor, dirty jerks of piercing sound bouncing off the mirrors that line the walls. First single ‘Eat Yr Heart’ is distressed and heavy, dark baselines like an augmented heartbeat, while ‘Skinny’ is a hazy dream sequence; Jonnine

Standish’s ghostly vocals float along while shocks of dark drums jaunt through the dark. ‘Bendin’’ creates a delicate balance between cloudy keyboard resonances and an array of stabbing synthesised knives, slicing their way through the sheer veil of sound. ‘Work That Body’ is a panic attack waiting to break its way through. The song possesses an almost silent restraint, an explosion of anxiety that slowly builds but never eventuates; each sound circulates around the others, trying to avoid touching. Driven by undercurrents of desperation, ‘Body Double’ is sombre and regimented, trying to force more time to pass between now and the past; “It’s just business, baby,” Standish drawls out between heavy breaths. Work (work, work) can feel like a taxing listen, its dismal demeanour often getting overwhelming. But it’s exactly this that continually draws in its prey. There is a familiarity with its dark hedges that will

keep you coming back for more, fighting against all the cobwebs that try so hard to hold you at a distance. Alexandra Duguid

THE HERD

THE KOOKS

KASABIAN

LIL WAYNE

TINAWIREN

Future Shade Elefant Traks/Inertia

Junk Of The Heart EMI

Velociraptor! Sony Music

Tha Carter IV Young Money/ Universal

Tassili Co-Op/Universal

Protest music was one of the many casualties of the increasing fragmentation of modern society. It’s impossible to imagine era-defining events like the Vietnam War or the Civil Rights movement without their soundtracks of Hendrix, Dylan, Neil Young et al., but the disappearance of a single, monolithic mainstream led to the disappearance of an identifiable counter-culture. And Australians have never protested much anyway – we’re relaxed and comfortable, and it’ll all work out in the end… right? For the past decade, The Herd have called all sides of Australian politics and society to account more than most other local musicians or bands, but their particular genius is that they do so under the cover of kickass songs. ‘Salary Cap’ couples a vicious, Middle Eastern-influenced beat with an in-depth analysis of income disparity, and ‘Red Queen Theory’ eviscerates Julia Gillard over what, with other lyrics, would be a killer party anthem. It’s a delicate balancing act, but one that The Herd have been managing for years. Both Urthboy and Ozi Batla are in top form, but it’s Jane Tyrrell who steals the show nearly every time she takes the mic. Her singing on ‘Grandma’s Song’ is full of heartache and despair, but then her verse on ‘Salary Cap’ is pure badass. And the production adds a real sense of continuity throughout, despite Sulo, Unkle Ho and Traksewt sharing the duties between them. It’s a testament to the vision of The Herd collective that eight incredibly talented individuals don’t branch off in eight different directions – one of those rare occasions where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A terrific album; the lyrics are insightful, the beats monstrous. It gives new meaning to the term ‘political party’. Hugh Robertson

Through the quagmire of post-dub-hipelectronica-folk-confusion-hop that music bloggers are lapping up unabashedly, it was quite refreshing to hear that The Kooks had put out something new. But while the twee, snotty charm that only Luke Pritchard and his clan can pull off persists, they’ve been plagued with the same third album syndrome that their fellow countrymen have fallen victim to (RIP Noah and the Whale, Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party…). Junk Of The Heart is overthought, overproduced and overdone to a ridiculous extent; I’m sure that if you dug and clawed your way through the thick layers of glossy, crisp production you might find a song that The Kooks wrote, but boy – this is not the way shit should go down. The Kooks’ 2006 debut Inside In/Inside Out revelled in the aesthetic of an album essentially made up of demos – really fucking good demos. The lo-fi production and that lazy swagger was what made the world fall in love with The Kooks, but remove that ad hoc spontaneity and you are left with Junk Of The Heart. All we need from The Kooks is acoustic guitar and that inviting, lovedrunk voice of Pritchard’s, but instead they throw bombastic piano trills and five-part harmonies at us – it’s quite disconcerting, and immensely disappointing. ‘Taking Pictures Of You’ is the Michael Bolton song that Michael Bolton didn’t write, and hearing The Kooks swear in ‘F**k The World’ is as deliberately ‘cool’ and simultaneously cringe-worthy as when Mia Freedman writes about “indie culture”. In an interview, Luke Pritchard admitted the band had become quite “stale” before recording their third album, and maybe that’s just what this is; The Kooks have passed their use-by date. Rach Seneviratne

I don’t think anyone thought they’d be writing about the depth and intricacies of a Kasabian album, ever. But it’s clear now that their 2004 synth and drum machine-fuelled self-titled debut – good for drunk yelling, but little else – was just a foot in the door; every successive release digs deeper into the cavernous imagination of principal songwriter Sergio Pizzorno. And what a weird and wonderful place that is. If 2009’s West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was their dark experimentation with the brown acid, Velociraptor! is Kasabian coming out the other side relatively unshaken with a story to tell. Opening with the sexy spy thrill of ‘Let’s Roll Just Like We Used To’ and the lead single ‘Days Are Forgotten’ (brooding glam with a delightfully overdone falsetto), there are still shadows and lecherous characters – but album number four is at its best when the sun shines through. The title track is just under three minutes of aggression, rolling strings and Tom Meighan’s ever-confident vocals, and sliding it between the album’s longest and most claustrophobic songs is a key play in lightening the tone. And that there's space still remaining for these impressive bookends – the Morriconegazing ‘La Fee Verte’, and the stadium rock meets eastern mystic strings of ‘Acid Turkish Bath’ – exemplifies what these lads can do with just 50 minutes of your time. 'Neon Noon’ ends the album with a swirling ballad, something of a Kasabian staple, although this time rebooted with synths rather than gospel singers and grand piano – a nod to their early days, perhaps? While it lacks the cod-concept album cohesiveness of West Ryder…, there aren’t too many bands who can convincingly update prog space rock for the pop charts. Leicester’s favourite sons journey to both the dark and the light side of the moon.

When Tha Carter III leaked two weeks before its release date, Lil Wayne shrugged it off and recorded an entirely new album from scratch – and that album has now sold nearly four million copies. Weezy is a prodigious talent and is always pushing boundaries, even when they are a spectacular failure (see Rebirth, his ‘rock’ album) – but much of Tha Carter IV seems restrained in a way that he never has been before, and is somewhat diminished as a result. Tha Carter IV is probably his strongest album to date, actually working as a whole rather than a collection of singles. But the individual songs aren’t up to his usual standard, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that Weezy seems bored with yet another song about sex, or weed, or sex and weed. While there is some variation in the instrumentals, Wayne’s vocals remain the same – full of tremendous wit and wordplay, but nonetheless limited by the couplet form he favours. He gets by on his way with words, but too often it’s the guest MCs who provide the real spark, with Tech N9ne, Andre 3000, Nas, Bun B and Busta Rhymes all showing up their host. The best moments on this album occur when Weezy departs from the minimalist thuggery that we have come to expect, and instead tries a different style. ‘Abortion’ has an actual melody (!) and is lifted immeasurably by its gospel sample, while ‘She Will’ has extraordinary space behind it, allowing itself room to breathe, and sounding like the lost track from Kanye’s Fantasy.

Deep Impressions Invada Records The sample refrain of “no place like home” on the album opener is spot on; putting a new Katalyst record in the player does feel like something of a homecoming. His third record, Deep Impressions puts its best foot forward first with 'Day Into Night', one of the most truly beautiful Katalyst arrangements yet, featuring NY vocalist Stephanie McKay. It’s a real heartstopper, a tearjerker and, if I had to pick just one, the jewel in this record’s crown.

44 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

Tassili is their fifth record, and it cleaves closely to the inimitable formula set by their previous work: traditional Tuareg song structures augmented with bluesy, thin electric guitars (their tone is so clean and plangent you’d swear they were strung with fencing wire) and acres of empty space in the mix – an aural reflection of their beloved (and indomitable) Sahara. There’s really only two big changes here: group leader Ibrahim Ag Alhabib has ditched the female backing vocalists from the latest incarnation of Tinariwen, and he's invited some external hands to record with them. The choices are judicious: TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone trekked out to Algeria’s Tassili n’Ajjer plateau to help record the album, and lend an appropriately light touch to songs like ‘Tenere Taqhim Tossam’ and ‘Iswegh Attay’. Nels Cline of Wilco and Gregory Davis and Roger Lewis of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band also collaborate, but recorded their parts at home – and although each sounds lovely, there is a certain palpable disconnection between the parts on those particular songs.

Tha Carter IV is a really good listen as a whole, but lacking any genuinely standout tracks. Still, after a couple of really bad albums, it’s great to see Weezy F. Baby back doing what he does best.

This record is at its best at its most simple: the sound of a group of well-seasoned musicians and nomads, recording jams in the open Sahara air, giving musical expression to the heartache and ecstasy of a life of struggle and freedom through beautifully sparce desert blues.

Hugh Robertson

Chad Parkhill

Mitch Alexander

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK KATALYST

If you’ve never heard of the Tuareg desert blues collective Tinariwen before, I encourage you to Google them – they have an absolutely fascinating story, and one that amply explains why they took over twenty years to record their first proper album. (Hint: wars are involved.)

Mr Clean guests up next on ‘Black Dragon’, with a contribution that’s a little on the Evil Nine/Aesop Rock tip, but with added horns. ‘Pot Or Pills’ references those early Dope On Plastic compilations, as do ‘It’s A Blast’ and ‘Number One’ later in the record; fans of Katalyst circa2000 will feel right at home here. The next one that grabs me is ‘The Clapping Song ft. Coin Locker Kid’ – a worthy single, it reinterprets Shirley Ellis’ ‘Clapping Song’ from way back in ’65. This tune is a tonne of fun – Coin Locker Kid’s inclusion adds a real California backpack rap vibe.

an interlude, ‘Beware’ is incredible, showcasing the Sydney producer's mastery of sounds and production techniques – your speakers will get a deeb sub bass workout. ‘Prince Of Cool ft. Jane Doe’ is another excellent deep and soulful joint that shines late in the record; it wouldn’t have been out of place on the recent SBTRKT album, with Katalyst playing around with that flavour-of-the-moment future synth sound.

Although almost short enough to be

Tony Two Tone

This new album feels much more like the sequel to Katalyst’s sampleheavy debut Manipulating Agent than What’s Happening did. It’s all a case of going back to the roots.

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

BISHOP ALLEN - Grrr... ROYAL HEADACHE - Royal Headache GRIZZLY BEAR - Veckatimest

GANG GANG DANCE - Eye Contact SHEARWATER - Rook

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up all night out all week . . .

RES EATEST PLEASU O OF LIFE’S GR MARRYING TW

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

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09 Yeshe Lizotte’s Central Coast Lot 3 Avoca Dr Kincumber

Lizotte’s Newcastle 31 Morehead St Lambton

W W W. L I ZOT T E S.CO M.AU 46 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

16:09:11 :: The Metro Theatre :: 624 George St 9550 3666

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e Kings with The SEP Nat Col & Th 29 Agents of Peace

Lizotte’s Sydney 629 Pittwater Rd Dee Why

kimbra

kit & kaboodle long weekend

party profile

SEP

09 Spy Vs Spy

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SEP 08 Dragon

It’s called: Kit & Kaboodle Long Weekend It sounds like: Unicorns making love

Acts: Gus Da Hoodrat (Bang Gang), Alison Wonderland, Kid Kenobi, Hey Now, Pearshape (live), Upskirts (live), Tokyo Denmark Sweden (live), Boats Of Berlin (live), Hobogestapo, Ennio Lee (live), Triforce (live), Fox (live) Kristy Lee, Backhanderz, Jubilants (live), Isbjorn, Andy Walsh and Liz Bird. Sell it to us: Kit & Kaboodle has got your long weekend covered: three huge nights, three massive lineups, spread across two levels of awesomeness. Get in early and party til late. DJs, live bands and jams-aplenty. Oh hai FUN! The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Most likely nothing – the true mark of a solid long weekend. Crowd specs: Boys in girls' jeans, girls in boys' tees, bedraggled festival go-ers & long weekend revellers. Wallet damage: $10, or free on guestlist Where: Kit & Kaboodle / 33-37 Darlingurst Rd, Kings Cross When: Falcona Fridays – September 30 / Kit & Kaboodle Saturday – October 1 / Park Life Kick On – October 2.

S : KATRINA CLARKE :: GEORGE

OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER

POPOV

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

Caitlin Welsh

KIMBRA

Oxford Art Factory Friday September 16

Oxford Art Factory Saturday September 17

The Liberators have a solid live reputation, but as exponents of a kind of funk, they're fun without being particularly enlivening. Only a few staunch groovers really bother to shuffle about; it becomes hard to get into the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flow when even they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bother doing much except count bars in between horn filler. With no vocalist tonight, and minimal guitar or percussive flourishes, it feels a tad workmanlike as anticipation builds for the African (via Melbourne) explosion promised from the main event. Three women, resplendent in shimmering traditional African garb, own the stage as they take it in turns to tease and stun us with their feats of jiggling movement. First Lady Kuukua Acqua is down on her haunches, legs kicking and stretching out to impossible lengths â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s later revealed that she is, amazingly, the mother of both the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rapper 1/6th (2009 Hilltop Hoods Initiative Winner) and fellow vocalist Lydia Acqua. At the urging of the baying crowd, Lydia strides forward, swiftly halting and swivelling on the spot to commence her coordinated attack on the crowd via controlled movements, alternating her dancing buttocks. We are all transfixed on the spectacle of movement, momentarily forgetting the music â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;till the blare of the horns and woodwind focuses our attention on the band again. But Public Opinion Afro Orchestra are not just a band, and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not just an act; theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re simply the most fun white people have ever had in this room. In a city and on a street more commonly known for its dismissive attitude toward strangers, these Melbournians get the hippy mums and the chin-stroking hipsters moving and swinging one another down the front. When some flat-cap lads reference their own inadequacies by mocking the MCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dance moves, he flips the whole affair by flashing a winning grin from the stage and encouraging them to dance harder and wackier. The lads enthusiastically give over to guileless flailing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the whole room erupts into limbs and beats.

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Striding onstage with bright red lips and a short, fluffy fairy princess dress, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to believe Kimbra Johnson is just starting out down the headlinetouring road. Having been moved to the Metro because she sold out Oxford Art Factory, and then selling out the Metro too, Kimbra has one very pervasive number one single to thank for Sydney (among other places) cottoning on to how awesome she is. But the girl with the shoulder-shrug from Gotyeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Somebody That I Used To Knowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; has a bit more to offer than that â&#x20AC;&#x201C; shown in part by her not attempting to recreate the song live, despite a few audience requests. She owns the stage from the moment she kicks off with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Settle Downâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, and has the audience wrapped around her little finger from the get-go.

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Papa vs Pretty and PVT topped off Changing Lanes with the Proper Rock Show atmosphere that had been missing a bit from the sunlit main stage most of the day. PvP did so with windmilling, virtuoso guitars and gleeful rockstar abandon, and PVT, after an interminable wait, ground out their throbbing oddness with just enough of a grungy, muscular edge to refocus the crowd and send them off on a note of transcendence: tipsy, a little burnt and so fucking stoked about Australian music right now. This is the absolute best way to start the summer â&#x20AC;&#x201C; more essential than Essential, and hopefully with more staying power.

Romi Scodellaro

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But with half a dozen of my favourite local acts on the main stage in one afternoon, and a smorgasbord of sandwich bars and convenience store junk food literally four steps to my left, the main stage won. Camerasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; noirish rock is best served at dusk or later, but they put on a lunchtime show that had curious travellers standing at the mouth of the Devonshire Street tunnel trying to peer casually over the graffitiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d fence. Big Scary drew a big crowd, who danced to the pulsing bass kick of plaintive anthem â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Falling Awayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as if it were a four-to-thefloor rave beat, bless their hearts. (The beaming, faultless Jo Syme remains my favourite drummer in Australia right now.) The Vasco Era have discovered writhing, sophisticated melody and lost none of that raw grit with their new material â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it was a little sad to see longtime setcloser â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Honey Beeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; move to the top, as settling-in punters were less willing to shred their vocal cords along with Sidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wild refrains, but they just keep getting better so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to mind. The only drag was the usually-incomparable Gareth Liddiard, who was on the wrong stage at the wrong time and possibly at the wrong festival â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it wasn't the ideal environment for his spare, tumbling poetry, and he knew it.

Something about the whole set-up felt a bit stagey and inorganic â&#x20AC;&#x201C; moreso than your average gig at least. She had a costume change after â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Cameo Loverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and before the encore, and the brevity of the set reflected her lack of back-catalogue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t either of these things. The music veers all around, from R&B to jazz to moments of pure pop, and while the varied pace is a lot of fun, it lacks a little depth when her voice becomes the only unifying theme. She sings beautifully, and her songs are awesome, but one is left feeling that we can still get a lot more from the 21-year-old. Kimbra doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite seem to have found her own voice yet, but all that means it that the followup record and associated tour will be something to look forward to.

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After about an hour of Changing Lanes 2011: Surry Hills Edition, I realised why it felt familiar â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it was like the sunnier, chattier, drunker little sister of the dearlydeparted Essential Festival, which was also held on Devonshire. I remembered this feeling especially: at the back of my mind, I knew there was another stage up at the Madison, and I thoroughly intended to go to there. (I wanted to check out smooth-flowing hip hop self-deprecator Ellesquire, for one thing). I did make it into the Gaelic at the beginning of the day â&#x20AC;&#x201C; before there was a queue snaking out of it that hinted at the Basement Stage clusterfucks of Laneway Sydneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first few years â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to check out the effervescently bratty pop of Spookyland and the powerhouse blues-garage-soul of Kira Puru And The Bruise. Keep an eye out for the latter especially; her Sharon Jones-meets-Ella Fitz pipes, flirty menace and whip-tight, black singlet-clad band are an entertaining slice of badass that had an early-arvo room thrashing merrily along.

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Devonshire Street, Surry Hills Saturday September 17

She and her band (who are as kookilyattired and too-cool-for-school as she is) deliver a really fun show. Kimbraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice is just as good live as recorded, and she really throws her all into performing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; her quirky, stilted little dance moves are a delight to watch. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very cute, very energetic and plays it very cool throughout the tight set â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but that may be why, in the end, the evening left me feeling a little cold.

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CHANGING LANES FESTIVAL

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

party profile

pan magazine launch It’s called: PAN Magazine Issue 2 launch party, hosted by The Wall at the World Bar It sounds like: A magazine live, and for your ears. People reading, bands playing, fun being had… Who’s playing? Dead China Doll, Broadcasting Transmitter (feat. Luke O’Farrell from The Laurels), Quaoub Sell it to us: PAN do an amazing job creating an ad-free and beautiful arts and cultural read with nice things to tickle both your eyes and your brain. So we thought we’d throw them a party. And we invited you. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: All the memories you need will be captured, bound, printed and owned in your new specially-priced copy of PAN issue 2, available on the night. Crowd specs: A mix of literary wiz kids and mid-week music lovers. Wallet damage: $10 gets you multiple bands, live readings, DJs and more! Where: Art on The Wall @ The World Bar / Kings Cross

mum

PICS :: DM

When: Wednesday Sept 28, doors open upstairs from 7pm

PICS :: GP

15:09:11 :: Notes :: 75 Enmore Road Newtown 9557 5111

bluejuice

montero

PICS ::GP

james edgar francis

PICS :: CG

16:09:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

15:09:11 :: The Standard :: Level 3, 383 Bourke St, Surry Hills 9552 6333

13:09:11 :: The Standard :: Level 3, 383 Bourke St, Surry Hills 9552 6333 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: CAI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE POPOV :: IEL DAN :: GRIFFIN :: ASHLEY MAR SAM WHITESIDE

48 :: BRAG :: 431: 26:09:11

art vs science

PICS :: KC

pajama club

PICS :: KC

15:09:11 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney 9267 3787

15:09:11 :: Beresford Upstairs :: 354 Bourke St Surry Hills 9357 1111

BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 49

The Minor Chord

The all-ages rant brought to you by Indent.net.au and Dom O'Connor

Simple Plan

ALL-AGES GIG PICKS

o here we are – just wrapped up with another school term and leaping into the sunny T-shirt weather of a new spring. Here we are, and we want to hear some music. Well, this is The Minor Chord telling you to get your punk vibes on this weekend, whether you hyphenate with a -pop or a -core. For those of you who managed to snap up some tickets, you’re set to see Simple Plan on Saturday night at the Enmore – make sure you bring your pre-teen memories of hiding in your room and singing all the words to ‘Welcome To My Life’. The Canadian poppunkers come to Sydney off the back of a world tour to mark their latest album, Get Your Heart On!, which was just released two months ago. With the help of Natasha Bedingfield, the lead single ‘Jet Lag’ has been getting lots of airplay, and will no doubt make an appearance come Saturday. You’d be hard pressed to find a better pop-punk Sydney support for Simple Plan than Tonight Alive. With their debut album What Are You So Scared Of? set for release on October 13, the trio are ready to hit the road. After supporting Simple Plan on the Australian leg of their tour, they’ll be embarking on their own album tour adventure around the country, before heading Stateside to woo the Yanks. (Just quietly: they’ll also be headlining this year’s Indent tour, playing a string of all-ages dates around regional NSW and the Metro Theatre). Sharing support duties for Simple Plan’s Aussie tour, before repping their own new album around Australia, are pop rock outfit New Empire. Symmetry, their longawaited second album, is fresh off the press this month. For those in search of a gritty-energy, sweat-and-spit vibe, Black Wire Records in Annandale will be hosting a night with the Hard-Ons, one of Australia’s most successful independent punk rock bands of the ‘80s and early ‘90s. With cult followings in lands as far as Spain and Greece, not to mention here in our very own city, these guys are sure to pack out the intimate venue and send fans spilling onto the streets. Also playing on the night are Melbourne punk duo DEAD, and local grind-core two-piece thedowngoing. Michael Crafter (former vocalist for the likes of I Killed The Prom Queen, Bury Your Dead and Carpathian) will also be performing solo material from his latest release, The Long Way Home. Rounding off the bill is Melbourne grindmetal four-piece Lazerface.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 1

Simple Plan, Tonight Alive, New Empire Enmore Theatre (sold out) Hard-Ons, DEAD, thedowngoing, Michael Crafter, Lazerface Blackwire Records, Annandale

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 11 Jinja Safari Metro Theatre Jinja Safari

After nearly selling out their Mermaids & Other Sirens tour, Jinja Safari will be back on the road again with the recent announcement of their Locked by Land tour. The new release, which comes out on October 28, will consist of a mixture of previously released EP tracks, new songs, and bonus material, including remixes by Sydney’s Fishing and Melbourne’s Butcher Blades. The band have done incredibly well for themselves over the last 18 months, supporting acts like Boy & Bear and Art vs Science, and getting on big festival bills such as Big Day Out, Falls Festival and Splendour in the Grass. The tour is also a celebration of Jinja Safari being the first act to be signed to the Australian arm of UK label Cooperative Music, home to Bloc Party, Fleet Foxes and Phoenix. Sydney folks will be able to catch them at The Metro Theatre on November 11 – and if you get in quick to buy a ticket, for a limited time you will also receive a free download of their single, ‘Moonchild’. And that’s another week in all-ages gigs from us. In the meantime, tune into FBi 94.5 at 5pm on Wednesday to let The Minor Chord keep you company, and hear all you need to know about the all-ages scene. See you there!

Tonight Alive

Send all ages listings & info to theminorchordradio@gmail.com 50 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

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SATURDAY NIGHT

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02 Oct

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03 Oct

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g g guide g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week

SATURDAY OCTOBER 1

The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm The Listening Room - Open Mic The Vault, Windsor free 7pm Luna Tart, Glitta Supernova, Shady Lady, Sye McRitchie Notes Live, Enmore 8pm Matt Jones The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Moon Holidays, Fox, Giraffe Season Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst free 8pm Nikolai Demidenko City Recital Hall, Sydney 7pm 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 They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Tuesday Night Live Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm

JAZZ Super Wild Horses

GoodGod Small Club, Sydney

GoodGod Smash Hits:

The UV Race, Super Wild Horses, The Twerps, Holy Balm, Belles Will Ring, Melodie Nelson, Fishing, Kill City Creeps, The Atom Bombs, Guy Blackman $20-$25 (+ bf) 7pm MONDAY SEPT 26 ROCK & POP

Alice Cooper (USA), Syndicate Enmore Theatre $99–$141 8pm Bernie The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Every Time I Die (USA), The Acacia Strain (USA), The Word Alive (USA) Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $39.80 (+ bf) 8pm Jonathan Jones The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 5pm

Reckless The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free–$5 9pm

JAZZ

James Ryan Trio 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm John Hill Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Carolyn Woodorth Springwood Sports Club free 7pm Chris Brookes, Massimo Presti, Helmut Uhlmann Kellys On King, Newtown free 7pm

Dennis Aubrey, George Sich, Starr Witness, Russell Neal Orange Grove Hotel, Lilyfield free 7pm

TUESDAY SEPT 27 ROCK & POP

2 Fold The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free–$5 9pm Adam Pringle and Friends Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Daniel Allars, Lady Tre The Basement, Circular Quay$15 (+ bf) 8.30pm Jimmy Bear

Jazzgroove: The Scott Erichsen Quartet, Memory Of Elements 505 Club, Surry Hills $8 (member)–$10 8.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Nathan Cole, Josh Muncke, Aussie Boy, Andrew Denniston Dee Why RSL free 6.30pm The Snakemen, Carolyn Crysdale Kogarah Hotel free 7pm

WEDNESDAY SEPT 28 ROCK & POP

Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Bullpup Estate, Dirty Dezire, Huckleberry Hastings The Valve, Tempe 7pm Chains Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm David Agius Summer Hill Hotel free 7.30pm Gemma The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Godiva, Ming Kings, Sucker Punch Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $8 8pm Guineafowl, Toucan Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Jager Uprising: Vale Of Ah, The Nocturnals Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm Jamie Lindsay Northies, Cronulla free 7.30pm Lonesome Train The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm Musos Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt free 8pm Old Man Crow Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm Replika Duo O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm The Study Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 7.30pm A Tribute to Mama Cass: Casey Donovan The Basement, Circular Quay $35 9.30pm

Alice Cooper

The Wall – PAN Magazine Launch: Dead China Doll, Kirin J. Callinan, Broadcasting Transmitter, Quaoub, DJ Trent Marden, Glovecats, Tongue In Moo, Toddy Trix, Tony Why, Pablo Calamari, Ella Locha, Mike Who The World Bar, Kings Cross free-$10 7pm The White Bros The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Zoltan Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free

JAZZ

The Doig Collective 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm Kristy Garrett Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Legends of New Orleans: Allen Toussaint & Friends, Jon Cleary & The Philthy Phew, Dirty Dozen Brass Band Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $59–$88 8pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Carolyn Woodorth Blaxland Tavern free 6.30pm Daniel Hopkins Taren Point Hotel, Taren Point free 7pm Monii, Russell Neal Coach & Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm The Smith Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Warren Munce, Matcham Caine, Andrew Denniston Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 6.30pm

THURSDAY SEPT 29 ROCK & POP

Andy Mammers Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Brackets Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Cambo Observer Hotel, The Rocks 9.30pm Crossroads Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 8pm Dave Agius Dee Why Hotel 8pm Dave White The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Decadent Society: Holiday Sidewinder GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $10 8pm

Ernest Ellis & The Panamas, Nantes Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $12 (+ bf) 8pm Fabels, Lyyar, Dora Maar and Bag O’ Bones The Imperial Hotel, Erskinville $5 8.30pm Glenn Richards, Dan Luscombe, Mike Noga Brass Monkey, Cronulla $20.95 7pm Glenn Whitehall Edinburgh Castle Hotel, Sydney free 7pm Greg Byrne Toxteth Hotel, Glebe free 8pm Hot Damn!: Hand Of Mercy, Pledge This!, Turning Tides, Outsider Spectrum, Darlinghurst 9pm Hue Williams Lane Cove Club free 8pm Icehouse, Lime Cordiale Penrith Panthers, Evans Theatre $56.50 7.30pm Jamie Lindsay Duo Maloneys Hotel, Sydney 9.30pm Jordan Millar, I Am Apollo, Hello Vera Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $10 8pm The Living Chair Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 9.30pm Matt Jones Northies-Cronulla Hotel 9.15pm Michael McGlynn Greengate Hotel, Killara 8pm Microwave Jenny The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm Moon Duo (USA), Fabulous Diamonds Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $23.50 (+ bf) 8pm Musos Club Jam Night Carousel Hotel, Rooty Hill free 8pm Mutiny Music: Baecastuff, Tim Rollinson Notes Live, Enmore 8pm Nicky Kurta Mill Hill Hotel, Bondi Junction 7pm Pat Drummond Pioneer Tavern, Penrith 12pm Phil Spiller Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Red Sky, Moth, Become the Catalyst, Saendragon The Valve, Tempe 7pm Renate Nguyen Band Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Speakeasy The Whitehouse Hotel, Petersham 8pm Tom Trelawny O’Malleys Hotel, Kings Cross Tone Defeat: Through A Glass Darkly, Ouster, Sex In Mexico, Cascade Annandale Hotel $10 7.30pm The Trews (Canada) The Vault, Windsor free 8pm Young Romantics Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm

“He peeled his shadow off in strips then kneeled his shadow on some steps.” - NICK CAVE 52 :: BRAG :: 431 : 26:09:11

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

JAZZ

Dave Halls The Basement, Circular Quay $20 (early bird)–$25 (+ bf) 9pm Lionel Robinson Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Marsala 505 Club, Surry Hills$15 (member)–$20 8.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Clem Gorman, Matcham Caine, Andrew Denniston Red Lion Hotel, Rozelle free 7.30pm Dave Wilkins The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8.30pm Wani Ardy, Dan Crestani, Starr Witness, Neck of the Woods, Helmut Uhlmann Mars Hill Café, Parramatta free 8pm

FRIDAY SEPT 30 ROCK & POP

2 Of Hearts Red Cow Inn, Penrith free 8pm Bang Shang a Lang Bayview Tavern, Gladesville free 8pm The Beaut Utes Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Bender Richmond Inn free 8pm Blind Guardian (Germany), Black Majesty, Eyefear Metro Theatre, Sydney 8pm Classic Rock Show Eagles, Doobie Brothers & Best of West Coast Rock: The Barry Leef Band The Vault, Windsor $20 9pm Dave Agius Duo Austral Bowling Club 8pm The Doors Experience Moon Duo

Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Down Thunder Vineyard Hotel free 9.30pm Evie Willie Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta $15 8pm Falcona Showcase: Cadillac, Mrs Bishop, Furnace & the Fundamentals, Alison Wonderland, Starjumps, Kristy Lee Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm The Flaming Stars Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville 9pm Funkin’ Around Kro Bar, East Leagues Club free 8.30pm Genevie Chadwick, Zoe Elliot, Daddy Longlegs & The Swamp Monkeys, V Tribe The Manly Fig$12 (student)–$15 7.30pm Glenn Richards, Dan Luscombe, Mike Noga Notes Live, Enmore 7pm Harbour Master Chatswood RSL free 5pm The Hitmen, Hell Crab City, Buzzard Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm Hue Williams Lane Cove Club free 8pm Juke Baritone, White Knuckle Fever The Vanguard, Newtown 8pm Keith Armitage Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm King Tide Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Late Shift The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm Mad Season 9.30pm Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free

Mandi Jarry Duo Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee 7pm Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm The Marshalls The Loft, Darling Harbour 8pm Melody Black, Dark3ell, Familia, Sirens of Lo Annandale Hotel 8pm Mental As Anything Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $53–$116 (dinner & show) 8pm Millennium Bug Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL free 10pm MUM: The Fearless Vampire Killers, Kempsey, Love Migrate, The Ganaschz, Push/Pull, The Nectars, The Evergreen Trail, MUM DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10 8pm No Anchor, Dora Maar, Ghastly Spats, Double Good DJs Cozy Castle $8 8pm Not Like Horse, Everything Handed Down, Fringo The Valve, Tempe 7pm Pete Hunt Chatswood RSL Club free 8pm Taylor King, The Khans, The Lockwoods, Colonies Wolfden @ Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst 9pm Tessa & the Typecast Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Tone Rangers Kingswood Sports Club free 7pm The Trews (Canada) Old Manly Boatshed$18.40 8pm The Trip, The Early Birds (NZ), Ed Worland & The Green Teas, Matt Nugent

Glenn Richards

Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills 5pm Vegan Mosquitos, Great Apes, Broke Down Engines Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Wet Hair (USA), Kitchen’s Floor, Chrome Dome, Raw Prawn The Red Rattler, Marrickville 8pm $10

JAZZ

Super Swing Session 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 (member)–$20 8.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Matthew Flood, Brett Gedge, Alex Johnson, Samantha Johnson, Russell Neal Ryans Hotel, Thirroul free 8.30pm Steve Tonge The Belvedere Hotel free 7pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 01 ROCK & POP

The Aerial Maps, Lazy Susan Notes Live, Enmore 8pm Akron/Family (USA), Richard In Your Mind Annandale Hotel$44 (+ bf) 8pm The Aretha Franklin Experience: Shauna Jensen and the Bods The Basement, Circular Quay $23 (+ bf) 9.30pm The Baddies, Punk Rock Disco Town & Country Hotel, St Peters free 7pm The Bird’s Robe Collective: Unitopia, Anubus, Sleepmakeswaves

BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 53

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com The Factory Theatre, Enmore $27 (+ bf) 7.45pm Chemical Transport, Stone Monks, Divide & Conquer, Starlight Theatre Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst 8pm Closure in Moscow, Vangate, Sounds of Seasons, Marlow Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor free 8pm Convaire, Long Island Sound Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Darling Harbour Fiesta: Osvaldo Chacón, Renegado, Watussi, Mucho Mambo’s Tito Puente Tribute, Amandito, Victor Valdez’s Real Mexico, Waldo Fabian, Club Havana Band, Salsa Kingz, El Orqueston, Ritchie Valdez, Black Rio Various Venues, Darling Harbour free 5pm Dead Letter Chorus Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst 8pm Deni Hines Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $53–$116 (dinner & show) 8pm Gilbert Whyte Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Goodgod Smash Hits: The UV Race, Superwild Horses, The Twerps, Holy Balm, Belles Will Ring, Melodie Nelson, Fishing, Kill City Creeps, The Atom Bombs, Principal Blackman Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $20-$25 (+ bf) 7pm Grand Atlantic, We All Want Too Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm

Harbour Masters Trio Kro Bar, East Leagues Club free 8.30pm Hard-Ons, Dead, The Downgoing, Michael Crafter, Lazerface Black Wire Records, Annandale $10 7pm all ages Hit Machine Rooty Hill RSL Club free 8pm The Hitmen, The Lazys, Jessamine Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders, Ghoul, Teeth & Tongue Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $20 (+ bf) 8pm Jericco Live at the Wall, Leichhardt $15 8pm John Vella Duo Riverwood Inn free 8pm Kirk Burgess Manly Leagues Club free 8pm Milkmaids, Lower Coast Skies, The Serpentines, Gods Of Thunder, Grievyre, Jack Nash, Groin Gravy The Valve, Tempe 3pm Money Killed Jonny, Ye Luddites, David Beniuk Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Peter Long Picton Hotel free 8pm The Potbelleez Mona Vale Hotel $20 (+ bf) 8pm Rebecca Johnson Band Carousel Inn, Rooty Hill free 9pm The Robertson Brothers Blacktown RSL Club free 10pm The Saloons, Bell Weather Department, Jane Gazzo Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills 6pm

Skyscraper Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Simple Plan (Canada), Tonight Alive, New Empire Enmore Theatre $62.70 (+ bf) 8pm sold out Soho Strays The Manly Fig $12 (student)–$15 7.30pm Southland Jannali Hotel free 8pm The Spilt Drinks Palm Beach Golf Club $10 7pm Storm Cellar The Riverside Inn, Airds 8pm Suvi Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm The Trews (Canada) Brass Monkey, Cronulla $19.90 7pm Twin Set Kingswood Sports Club free 8.30pm Two Tribes Royal Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Witches Masquerade Ball: Spiral Dance, Ms Penny Tickle Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $60 (member)–$80 7pm Ziggy - The Songs of David Bowie: Paul Capsis, Jeff Duff, Christa Hughes, Steve Balbi 8pm State Theatre, Sydney $89 (+ bf)

JAZZ

Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 5pm Soundgun 505 Club, Surry Hills $15–$20 8.30pm Swing City Dance Palace: Swing City Big Band, Emma Pask North Sydney Leagues Club, Cammeray $25 7pm

L2 Kings Cross Hotel

Wednesday 28 Sept

Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Hernandez Cafe, Darlinghurst free 7.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Beecroft Bush Dance Beecroft Community Centre $12 (member)–$17 8pm Mystery Guest! The Belvedere Hotel free 9pm Renate Nguyen, Helmut Uhlmann Terrey Hills Tavern free 8.15pm The Shack: Daniel Champagne, Genevieve Chadwick, The Mutual Acquaintances Tramshed Community Arts Centre, Narrabeen 7.30pm Tall Pop Syndrome The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm

SUNDAY OCTOBER 02 ROCK & POP

Finn Home Tavern, Wagga Wagga 9pm Gangajang Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Goodgod All-Stars!: Oscar & Martin, Donny Benet, The Goodgod House Band, Hole In The Sky DJs, Slow Blow DJs, Jingle Jangle DJs, Love King DJs, Dynamite Sound DJs, Yo Grito DJs, Perfect Snatch, YES DJs, Blackmail DJs, Long John Saliva, Joe Gadget Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $15 (+ bf) 8pm Harbour Master, Pete Hunt Waverley Bowling Club free 3pm Jezebel Kro Bar, Bondi Junction free 8pm Paul Greene, Hue Williams Club Umina free 7.30pm The Pigs Empire Hotel, Annandale 6pm Stir Crazy Riverstone Sports Hotel free 2pm

Beni Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst Darling Harbour Fiesta: Osvaldo Chacón, Renegado, Watussi, Mucho Mambo’s Tito Puente Tribute, Amandito, Victor Valdez’s Real Mexico, Waldo Fabian, Club Havana Band, Salsa Kingz, El Orqueston, Ritchie Valdez, Black Rio Various Venues, Darling Harbour free 5pm David Raleigh, Nathan Leigh Jones, One Together Notes Live, Enmore 8pm Ex Curia, The Scenic Road, Seven Steady The Valve, Tempe 2pm

We Come Out At Night: Closure in Moscow, Missouri Breaks, Sound of Seasons, Marlow Spectrum, Darlinghurst $20 (guestlist)–$25 8pm

JAZZ

Blues Sunday: Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 3pm The Peter Head Trio & Friends The Harbour View Hotel free 4pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Cronulla RSL free 12.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Helmut Uhlmann Palm Court Hotel, Corrimal free 2pm Shane MacKenzie Cohibar free 2pm Tom Trelawny The Belvedere Hotel free 5pm

Teeth And Tongue

www.fbisocial.com

Friday 30 Sept

LAUGH YOUR TITS OFF

Saturday 1 Oct

DEAD LETTER CHORUS

7:30pm $19.40 oztix

6pm FREE

8pm $15.30 oztix

Thursday 29 Sept featuring comic superstars:

Jordan Millar

Flutter Lyon Art +

Cam Knight Dave Eastgate Dave Jory Toby Coleman Sam McCool

‘Everything’ Ep Launch

Audio-visual performance by

8pm $10 door

with rising stars

I Am Apollo

Dane Hiser Michele Betts Christina Eakins 54 :: BRAG :: 431 : 26:09:11

Focaleland a live broadcast set from

Teeth & Tongue!

The Trouble with Templeton +

Sleepyhands Midnight - 3am Late Night DJs FREE

aBillion (Ep launch) +

Frames

Hello Vera

McInnes

gig picks up all night out all week... 7 9 , : , 5 ; : Akron/Family

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MONDAY SEPTEMBER 26

Glenn Richards, Dan Luscombe, Mike Noga Notes Live, Enmore 7pm

Alice Cooper (USA), Syndicate Enmore Theatre $141 8pm

MUM: The Fearless Vampire Killers, Kempsey, Love Migrate, The Ganaschz, Push/Pull, The Nectars, The Evergreen Trail, MUM DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10 8pm

Every Time I Die (USA), The Acacia Strain (USA), The Word Alive (USA) Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $39.80 (+ bf) 8pm

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 28 Guineafowl, Toucan Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm The Wall – PAN Magazine Launch: Dead China Doll, Kirin J. Callinan, Broadcasting Transmitter, Quaoub, DJ Trent Marden, Glovecats, Tongue In Moo, Toddy Trix, Tony Why, Pablo Calamari, Ella Locha, Mike Who The World Bar, Kings Cross free-$10 7pm

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29 Ernest Ellis & The Panamas, Nantes Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $12 (+ bf) 8pm

Wet Hair (USA), Kitchen’s Floor, Chrome Dome, Raw Prawn The Red Rattler, Marrickville 8pm $10

SATURDAY OCTOBER 1 Akron/Family (USA), Richard In Your Mind Annandale Hotel$44 (+ bf) 8pm Dead Letter Chorus Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst 8pm Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders, Ghoul, Teeth & Tongue Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $20 (+ bf) 8pm

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Moon Duo (USA), Fabulous Diamonds Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $23.50 (+ bf) 8pm

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 Falcona Showcase: Cadillac, Mrs Bishop, Furnace & the Fundamentals, Alison Wonderland, Starjumps, Kristy Lee Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm

NICHE PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

AN E AN EVENING V E NING NING O OF F D DISCO/ ISCO/ HOUSE, HO H O USE, USE, D DUBSTEP, U BSS T E P, HIP H I P HOP, HO H O P, P, TFIELD ELECTRONICA LLEF LE EFT FIELD E FIELD ELECTR L E C T R ONIC O N IC CA & FUTURE F U T U R E SSOUL OUL

BRACKETS 30 SEP Guineafowl

ALL LIVE EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT 8PM TIL MIDNIGHT BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 55

56 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

BRAGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture

brag beats Inside

Gappy Ranks + club guide + club snaps + columns

k c o r o g n o C

Form A Line

BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 57

dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

he said she said WITH

LUKE MCD [VIC]

As a DJ I’ve travelled the world and played gigs I dreamt of from an early age, including Love Parade in 2008 (thanks, Murat). My record label Smash Bang Records has taken me even further. Making music with friends and taking it to the stage has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career.

Luke McD

My production has always stayed a hobby, and DJing has kept me out of the common workforce. With diverse tastes and a dancefloor customer satisfaction focus, I seem to enjoy entertaining as much as the music I play. The music I’ve released is hard to categorise, but I like it and plan on writing more in the future, when I’m working even less for a living.

y old man was a big music fan and used to go out dancing all night, according to mum. When I was 15 he chaperoned me and a mate to a gig, put his earplugs in and sat back row while we drank beer and slammed our heads into the front barrier. What a legend. I played trumpet at

KIT & KABOODLE LONG WEEKEND

King’s Cross nightspot Kit & Kaboodle has announced its program for the long weekend, which is laden with noteworthy local DJs. This Falcona Friday, the likes of Bang Gang’s Gus Da Hoodrat and Alison Wonderland – recently signed to EMI on the strength of her impressive showing in the ‘She Can DJ’ competition – will both be spinning, along with live performances from Pear Shape and Jubilants. The live motif is ramped up on the Saturday, with Upskirts, Tokyo Denmark Sweden and Boats of Berlin all performing, before the onus shifts back to DJs on Sunday for post-Parklife revelry, with Kid Kenobi, Hey Now and more.

Gappy Ranks

school and still pull it out at gigs when it suits. My brother introduced me to dance music with his vinyl collection back in 1992. A stand out tune for me was ‘Playing With Knives’ (1991) by Bizarre Inc (later known as Chicken Lips).

WARM SUGA AT THE CLUB

Self-described “wanging sexy”, RnB, hip hop and booty bass jam celebration Warm Suga returns after a year-long hiatus in the confines of The Club, located on Bayswater Road in King’s Cross. The re-launch party is slotted for this Friday night, with none other than DJ Carl Alley aka The Soul Controller wheeled out to headline proceedings, with support from Roger’s Room and Grass, as well as Pages and the Strip Club DJs. Patrons are encouraged to dress up “MTV style” – use your imaginations on that one.

LUOMO PLUS

Finland’s Sasu Ripatti has released his latest album under his Luomo alias, Plus, his first

Sebastien Tellier

I think music has gone in its usual rotation, and come back to what I love the most. I’m excited that house music is making a comeback. I also think Sydney has stepped up over the last couple of years to offer some great parties like S.A.S.H, often outdoing Melbourne’s efforts. Who: Le Brond, Glitch DJs, Alan Thompson, Kerry Wallace, Matt Weir Where: S.A.S.H @ The White Horse in Surry HIlls When: Sunday October 2

since 2008’s Convival. The most obvious difference between Plus and its predecessors lies in the use of vocals. In the past, Luomo has used guest vocalists on a ‘per track’ basis, working with the likes of Apparat, Cassy, Robert Owens and Jake Shears. On Plus however, the relatively unknown Chicago Boys are the sole vocalists throughout the whole album, giving the release a more coherent mood in comparison to Convival, which featured a revolving door of a whopping eight guest vocalists! With the omnipresent Chicago Boys, Plus has the feel of a more robust Junior Boys effort (and no, this comparison is not lazy journalism based on titular similarities), with the yearning introspection of the JB’s superseded by a more upfront electro-pop sensibility that does not betray Luomo’s dancefloor roots. With plenty of catchy hooks and infectious underlying grooves, Plus is a highly recommended album that is out now on Moodmusic. And for anyone who enjoys this release, investigate Ripatti’s disparate work under the aliases Vladislav Delay, Sistol and Uusitalo for evidence of his tremendous production range.

JAILED: GUCCI MANE

In this week’s tabloid watch, we can report that Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane has been sentenced to six months in jail after admitting to pushing a woman out of a moving car. The incident, which happened earlier this year, saw Gucci allegedly push the female passenger out after meeting her in an Atlanta shopping mall, inviting her to breakfast (smooooth!) and attempting to offer her money to ‘relocate’ to a hotel with him (ummmm – perhaps not so smooth – though that’s easy to say in hindsight…). Gucci then pushed her out of the car after she refused (OK, it’s getting more and more difficult to defend the guy), and the woman was treated in hospital for “soreness and pain”. Unfortunately, the mishap isn’t Gucci’s first brush with the law: he’s been in jail twice in the past, once for assault. The man isn’t a bad rapper (we’re talking on a sonic, rather than moral level obviously), having only last month released the often excellent collaborative album Ferrari Boyz with fellow Brick Squad member Waka Flocka Flame.

ADULTNAPPER PARKLIFE LANDS THIS SUNDAY!

Tickets are somehow still available for this year’s Parklife Festival, which happens on Sunday October 2. Parklife is being held at Kippax Lake, Moore Park from midday until 10pm, with a lineup that comprises Gossip, Lykke Li, Santigold, the reformed Death From Above 1979, Duck Sauce, Digitalism, The Streets, Simian Mobile Disco, Magnetic Man, SebastiAn, Diplo, Mstrkrft, Sebastien Tellier, Little Dragon, ‘forgotten man’ Mylo, Wolfgang Gartner and Tensnake, who is also playing a DJ set at The Civic Underground on Sunday night. A rather large weekend to be had, no?

Subsonic Music continues to develop its long weekend ‘end of the line’ party brand with a bash at Favela on Monday October 3 headlined by Ransom Note boss Adultnapper, who will be supported by an extensive range of locals including the Glitch DJs. Adultnapper is the moniker of North American producer Francis Harris, a man renowned for crafting intelligent and evocative dancefloor grooves who has never previously toured Australia. Adultnapper’s sonic CV comprises over 40 EPs and remixes for respected labels like Pokerflat, Mule and Get Physical, and he’s also known for his

GAPPY RANKS

Here are the facts. Fact 1: GoodGod Small Club is soon to celebrate their first birthday with a huge three day party. Fact 2: GoodGod throws rad parties. Fact 3: The guest of honour of night number one, on Friday September 30, will be none other than Gappy Ranks. Fact 4: Gappy Ranks is one of the hottest reggae-rap-R&B acts around. Fact 5: He’s got an adorable English accent! Fact 6: BRAG has a double pass to giveaway. Fact 7: You could win said double pass by telling BRAG the craziest fact you know.

Jon Convex

SILKIE + JON CONVEX

Two of the breakout acts of 2011, Silkie and Jon Convex, are representing in a double headline bill for Niche Productions at Oxford Art Factory this Saturday October 1 that will traverse the peripheral margins of dubstep and techno. This year, Convex stepped out of his famed Instra:mental duo to present two singles on Martyn’s 3024 label, which added a tech-infused sensibility to his usual minimal drum ‘n’ bass output. London-based producer Silkie, meanwhile, is a staple of the Deep Medi label and a leader of the AntiSocial Entertainment crew. Generally recognised as one of the leading lights in the dubstep scene, Silkie’s recent release City Limits Volume 2 was described by Resident Advisor as “one of the most diverse albums to be released at almost completely 140 beats per minute in a long time”. $20 tickets are available online, otherwise it’s more expensive on the door – the choice is yours, maestro.

Sycophant Slags project with Mr. C of The Shamen. He’ll be flanked by an array of local talent spread over two levels; one floor is replete with a glass roof for those who wish to enjoy the daylight while they dance, while the vampire arena offers a Funktion 1 soundsystem for those who want to shut out the sun and enjoy the beats. Simon Caldwell, The Bump DJs, Franchi Bros, Marcotix, Trinity and Jordan Deck will all be playing from midday, with music running ‘til 1am (which gives you some chance of pulling yourself together before fronting up for work on Tuesday). Entry is only $10 before 3pm.

“Here’s a perfect description of me, six foot one, and dark and lovely” - BIG DADDY KANE 58 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

WAY-2-FONKY & BLUNTED PRESENT

“Sounds of New York”

THURSDAY 20TH OCTOBER 2011 SUPPORTED BY

OXFORD ART FACTORY 42 OXFORD ST (LIVE)

PAPER PLANE PROJECT

TICKETS: $40 + B/F VIA MOSHTIX TIME:DOORS OPEN 8PM LATE

FRENZIE KATO BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 59

dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

Gus Da Hoodrat

DJ CARL ALLEY AKA THE SOUL CONTROLLER Growing Up My parents listened to early ‘70s soul, 1. R&B and funk, and I pride myself on having an extensive repertoire of music and knowledge of where today’s music originates. Music was always around me growing up, whether I knew it or not. Listening to particular tracks can bring up a memory or a feeling – it’s like a timeline of my life.

on local talent mixed with big name artists, while State To State, with DJ Peril, was based around two DJs with similar involvement in the scene but who come from different states. Still, both CDs contain a mixture of R&B, hip hop and dancehall. I build my sets around these three genres, occasionally throwing in a classic or switching it up with some Latin.

Inspirations Music, Right Here, Right Now I have no particular favourite artists – to Educating and truly entertaining a crowd 2. 5. me, music is so open and there’s so much to is only done by a handful of DJs these days. like that you can’t limit yourself to one group or one era. I’m a fan of live music, funk bands and artists that bring something different and fresh. As for other DJs, the same applies. I want to be able to listen to something that is uniquely them. Your Crew I involve myself with other DJs who 3. share my passions and beliefs; DJs that push new music and educate a crowd, making a certain track a hit rather than waiting for it to chart before they play it. I still work for myself, DJing and promoting, and have done so for a long time. It has its ups and downs, but it all XXX Xbalances out in the end.

The Music You Make My last two releases were very different from each other; Soul Control focused a little

HTRK

The art form is regressive; any clown can grab Serato (or its equivalent) and a laptop, string a few commercial hits together and start DJing – even a jukebox would spit out more of a variation. At the end of the day, music is a business and success is measured in record sales and numbers through the door, meaning today’s crowd is constantly just fed mainstream pop. Thankfully, this also creates a demand for niche artists, to play to people that want to hear something other than the same top 40 tracks all night. What: Warm Suga Grand Opening With: Roger’s Room, Grass, Pages and more Where: The Club, 33 Bayswater Road, King’s Cross When: Friday September 30

50 EPs, four full albums and hit tracks such as ‘Hit Girl’, ‘Hypnotized’ and ‘Aqualight’. There’s a long list of locals stepping up to support Seb, including Ben Morris, Shamus and Nukewood to name but a few. Presale tickets go on sale this Wednesday September 28, with the event scheduled to run from 9:30pm till 6am.

ICE CUBE TOUR UPDATE

As reported previously, the iconic rapper/producer/ actor/screenwriter/film director Ice Cube cancelled his September tour of Australia “due to issues that were no fault of Ice Cube and his agency” (as per the official press release). New dates have been announced, with Cube now set to tour Australia in April 2012. All ticket holders are entitled to a refund, or have the option to hold the ticket for April 2012, with the precise Sydney date to be revealed in next week’s Brag.

FALCONA VIP

Falcona HQ must have “Huge Hangover” scrawled in their schedules for Tuesday October 3, following the long weekend they have planned at Kit & Kaboodle. On Sept 30, it’s Falcona Friday, with Gus Da Hoodrat, Alison Wonderland, and live sets from Pear Shape and Jubilants; the next night you can check out Upskirts, Tokyo Denmark Sweden and Boats of Berlin; and on the Sunday, kick on after Parklife with Kid Kenobi, Hey Now, HoboGestapo and a bunch more. Falcona are offering up three VIP memberships which will entitle you and a friend to free entry at the venue any night of the week, with a free drink on arrival each Friday. You’ll also get a $50 bar tab thrown at you to be redeemed at your leisure... If you want one of these precious little prizes, tell us your favourite VIP story!

S.A.S.H

Those with a penchant for daytime clubbing are in for a treat this weekend. Not only is Adult Napper playing on Monday at Favela, but the S.A.S.H crew are returning to their usual haunt of The White Horse in Surry Hills on Sunday for some daytime house and techno that commences at midday. Guests include the afro-sporting Melbournian DJ Luke MCD, who has always impressed on previous visits to Sydney, along with locals Le Brond (emerging from the exile of fatherhood to show he can still spin records with the best of them), the Glitch DJs, Alan Thompson (who also owns an excellent café near to the White Horse on Reservoir St), and S.A.S.H residents Kerry Wallace and Matt Weir. Entry is $10 all day, with special all-day tickets that include transfer and entry to the newly-launched Spice Cellar club, also available from the door.

Marco V

HTRK ANNOUNCE TOUR

Melbourne-born, London-based duo HTRK are embarking on their first Australian tour for over five years, and will perform at GoodGod Small Club on Thursday November 24. The two-piece’s live show conflates electronic/noise/avant pop/rock, and the press release eloquently offers that HTRK are “known for their subtlety of gesture and stubbornly languorous performances” [your humble author nods vacantly, then fumbles frantically for a dictionary]. HTRK have just released a new album Work (work, work) on Matthew Dear’s Ghostly International label, a brooding release that was made in the aftermath of the suicide of the group’s former bassist, Sean Stewart. The album was applauded by Dusted Magazine for not being a maudlin emotional statement, described as a “strangely detached LP rather than overly grief-ridden one”. Presale tickets to HTRK’s Sydney show are available online now.

Seminal producer Brian Eno continues his recent period of studio productivity with the release of a new EP, Panic Of Looking, on the revered Warp label in early November. Like his recent album for Warp, Drums Between The Bells, it features Eno singing the words of poet Rick Holland. It’s comprised of six previously unreleased tracks which, according to a press release, “continue the exploration of how lyric & song-writing are perceived in the post-everything era”. Panic of Looking will be available on vinyl, CD and digital, bearing a cover illustration from Eno himself, who is an extremely talented man; for an entertaining and

comprehensive account of his many exploits, you must read the excellent Eno biography, On Some Faraway Beach by David Sheppard.

KINK FT SÉBASTIEN LÉGER

KINK returns to its old stomping ground, The ArtHouse on Pitt Street, on Saturday November 19 with a headline set from Frenchman Sébastien Léger. A producer with a proclivity for ‘tougher’ tech sounds, Léger is also the man behind the Mistakes label, home to the likes of Format:B, Ramon Tapia and Popof. Aside from being a DJ and a record label boss, Léger also has a hefty back catalogue of productions to his name that encompasses

GODSKITCHEN THIS WEEKEND

A reminder for anyone after some serious large-scale clubbing action this weekend: tickets are still available for Godskitchen on Sunday October 2. There’s not a significant overlap with Parklife – Godskitchen only starts at 10pm – so it is conceivable that those with the ‘stamina’ will be able to do both... The Godskitchen lineup comprises Dutch trance kingpin Marco V and his compatriot Richard Durand, plus Englishmen John Askew – responsible for the albums Lower the Tone and Z List Uber Star – and Ben Gold. You’ll get a sleep-in, too; Monday’s a public holiday!

“Big Daddy Kane is on the mic and I’ma tell about a minimum length, of rhymes of strength and power, so listen to the man of the hour” - BIG DADDY KANE 60 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

HTRK photo by Conrad Standish

ENO’S PANIC OF LOOKING

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Gappy Ranks Music For The World By Joe Laney

“R

eggae music is from the people, for the people,” affirms Gappy Ranks. The London native’s voice, peppered with Jamaican intonation, crackles across the long distance line. “I grew up in Harlesden in London’s north-west and it’s 90% Jamaican, so reggae music played not only a big part in the household, but also in the community. I inherited it,” he explains. And born to a Jamaican father and a Dominican mother, the culture of London’s Caribbean diaspora resonates in the man’s music. “Reggae music is a reflection of however the people of the world are feeling. It’s not always a happy world we live in – there’s so much evil – but all these evil things can never outweigh the good things. Reggae music touches on everything, the good and the bad, because it’s music for the world.” Gappy Ranks currently stands as the UK’s biggest reggae export. He’s signed a publishing deal to

Greensleeves Records, Britain’s longest running reggae and dancehall label, whose output is shared by such heavyweights as Yellowman, Vybz Kartel and Elephantman. And he’s spread his sound globally, playing extensively at clubs, festivals and sound clashes throughout Europe, the USA, Asia and the Caribbean, with his debut Australian tour fast approaching. But the real testament to his music is the fact that he is as well respected in Jamaica as he is in Britain; put simply, for anyone with even a passing interest in contemporary reggae, Gappy Ranks is a big deal. MCs that emerge out of inner-city London are often tied to its grassroots grime scene, but Gappy maintains that reggae music was the seed the sowed it all. “It’s not that I don’t want to explore or record songs in other genres, but reggae brought most of these genres. I believe you have to understand the beginning to understand everything that came after it.

Reggae was the beginning. Reggae brought grime, jungle, dubstep, hip hop, everything.” His love for the roots led him to Put The Stereo On, the debut full-length album which introduced listeners to Gappy’s lyrical flow over Jamaica’s iconic Studio One riddims. That’s the same studio that was influential in shaping the careers of the legendary Bob Marley and Lee “Scratch” Perry. “I remember from early ages my father playing Studio One songs within the household,” reminisces Gappy. “It was important for me to go back to my childhood and those Studio One songs to find myself as an artist.” Put The Stereo On came about through his ties to producer Chris Peckings, known and respected for his revival style. “It was 2008 and I was in Peckings Studio, who have the rights to the Studio One beats. They initially approached me with dancehall riddims, and it wasn’t until they were recording some Studio One songs that I said to them, ‘Yo, you need to give me some of them Studio One riddims. It’s those riddims that I’m capable of.’” It turned out he was more than capable – the album rallied a frenzy of rapturous praise, with BBC1 reviewers and internet bloggers alike commending Gappy’s reworking of the classic sounds. Many touted it as the reggae album of 2010. “I like to think of that album as a time capsule,” he reflects. “I unlocked all of my childhood emotions and memories. Up until that time I’d faced a lot of things; I’ve faced homelessness, I’ve done the 9-to-5 grind working at factories. You can’t take those memories away, and I wanted to keep [them] on lock by encapsulating them in the essence of reggae music.” This year’s follow up LP, Thanks and Praise, sees Gappy Ranks embrace more contemporary club-orientated sounds. “Going back to the Studio One songs and my childhood allowed me to find myself as an artist, so I could apply my methods to different genres. I’m versatile; I can apply myself to a dancehall riddim or a grime riddim or a hip hop beat.” Indeed, Gappy’s first break came through the genre-bending collaboration with Platinumselling Chicago rapper Twista and bhangra hip

“You have to understand the beginning to understand everything that came after it. Reggae was the beginning. Reggae brought grime, dubstep, hip hop, everything.” hop crossover producers Kray Twinz, on 2005’s ‘What We Do’. “It’s part of the journey. Thanks & Praise says just that. It says who I am now and where I’ve come from. I’m not perfect – I’m far from it – but everyday I’m maturing, and this album gives thanks and praise to those who have helped me mature, both as an artist and as a person.” Set to headline GoodGod Small Club’s first birthday, this will be Gappy’s first trip down under, but he asserts that it doesn’t matter where he performs. “I like to think I’m in debt to the world for delivering this music that I have, and that’s what keeps me going. I’m always reaching for more, I’ve always kept that hunger, that edge. No matter if it’s Jamaica, Japan or Australia, you’re going to get the same Gappy Ranks and the same emotions.” And he hints to what punters can expect from the show: “I’m very versatile within my shows, so you’ll hear a range of different styles. I’m very emotional and interactive with my crowd; I’d like everyone that comes to my shows to go away with a feeling that they know who I am. That’s the most important thing – communication. That’s what we’re trying to do in the reggae music business, that’s our job,” he says. “I always try my best to bring people together.” What: GoodGod Birthday Bashment With: Guerre, Toni Toni Lee, K1, Levins and more Where: GoodGod Small Club When: Friday September 30

Congorock Tribal-Flavoured Electro-Punk By Marissa Demetriou

occo Rampino, aka Congorock, is the Italian electro rock wunderkind that came roaring into our consciousness on the same wave that brought us Crookers, Cyberpunkers and The Bloody Beetroots amongst others. Best known for the tribalflavoured dancefloor banger ‘Babylon’, and for producing killer remixes for the likes of Mark Ronson and Swedish House Mafia, Rampino has maintained a steady presence in the scene even after the glow of all things electro started to flicker ever so slightly. And the South Italian-born, Los Angeles-based Rampino has been head down in concentration, focused on bringing us more of that uniquely rambunctious sound that inspires something between a head bang and a hip shake. “I’ll have a new single coming out this fall, and after that a full album,” he tells me on the eve of an Australian tour that will see him in Sydney this weekend. “Everything is in the works at the moment, and I am really excited about the way it’s coming along.” Having reworked classics by Romanthony, Rex The Dog and Spagna (just to name a few), Rampino is cheekily elusive about what’s coming up next. “I’m also currently working on a couple of remixes; I’m really selective about them now. Remixing is fun, but I want to give priority to my own music these days,” he explains. And having collaborated with some of the biggest names in the electro scene, like fellow compatriots Bloody Beetroots as well as Fools Gold and MSTRKRFT, Rampino is keen to keep the collaborations coming. “There are a lot of artists in the dance scene I really like, both on the musical and human level. I’d like to collaborate with Wolfgang Gartner at some point, or maybe with Laidback Luke,” he says. Although he came from punk-inspired roots and played in bands at the start of his musical career, it felt like a natural progression for Rampino to move into electro. “I’ve always

been into loud and aggressive music; that’s probably why I’ve listened both to punk rock and hard dance music since I was a teenager. I played in bands for about ten years, when I was at high school and at university, while still loving electro” he says. “When I quit my bands, I found myself alone with my computer, so I thought it was the right time to give my passion for dance music a start. Everything happened so quickly because I had a strong music background, so it was kind of natural to write my own music as soon as I started DJing… It was still a challenge though”. With tunes that have such a distinctive stamp – African-inspired percussive beats and tribal-sounding grooves brought to thundering basslines – it’s no surprise that Rampino’s inspiration is a mixed bag. “I try to get inspiration from anything around me, and from different styles of music. When I write my basslines, I think about my old punk collection, trying to steal the best of it. Dance music, like punk rock, is based on sounds that are both simple and powerful.” And with a name that so perfectly reflects his sound, I can’t help but ask what inspired it. “It comes from an old reggae song from the band Sound Dimension. I really like how the two words sounded, so I merged them into a single word that briefly gives an idea of my sound, which is a mix of tribal grooves and abrasive sounds,” he explains. It’s certainly been a while since the first wave of Italian electro hit, during which the sound of EDM has taken a decidedly bass-heavy direction, with dubstep exploding into the mainstream. Rampino acknowledges it as an exciting new wave of young talent and a forward-thinking scene that still has plenty to offer, while dispelling any ideas about electro retreating into the shadows. “I see a lot of new styles coming in, like dubstep and moombahton. It’s definitely an exciting moment for electronic dance music right now; I see all

“ When I write my basslines, I think about my old punk collection, trying to steal the best of it. Dance music, like punk rock, is based on sounds that are both simple and powerful.” new kinds of people raising the bar in the level of production,” he says. “These new producers are really talented and have a really confident approach with software and computers, just because they’re younger and have been messing with that stuff since they were children,” he explains. “I think dance music still has lots to say.” After touring with Stereosonic festival last year, Rampino will bring his explosively energetic sets to a smaller stage this time around, with a string of club shows – and he can’t wait to throw some new tracks at us. “My selection will be more eclectic, because clubs have just a different vibe than outdoor festivals,” he says. “The Australian crowds are pretty crazy, so I really look forward to seeing the reaction to my new productions that I’m going to test over there.” With: Three Fingers, Dance Club DJs, Mattrad, Awkward Boys, John Glover, Stomp The Drugs, Lowrise, Symphony Youth Where: Soho Bar When: Saturday October 1

“Rappers stepping to me they want to get some, but I’m the Kane, so you know the outcome, another victory” - BIG DADDY KANE 62 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 63

Deep Impressions Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

wiss melodic techno producer Sam Geiser, aka Deetron, who is Australia-bound to play the Stereosonic Festival in November (and hopefully a sideshow) will mix the next instalment in the Balance compilation series. As with all the Balance mixes, Balance 020 is worth buying on spec, but there’s a delectable subtext to this double CD that should resonate with any chin-stroker who’s had a digital vs vinyl debate at some point in their life (I’m pretty sure anyone with pretensions to DJing is guilty of this offence). Disc 1 was mixed digitally, with additional production and editing in Cubase and Wavelab, while Disc 2 was recorded with three turntables and an Allen & Heath mixer – and some very special dubplates. The tracklist apparently reflects that inherent choice of medium: Disc 1 begins with classic Autechre before traversing cuts from likes of DJ Koze, Ricardo Villalobos and Move D, while the second ‘vinyl’ disc comprises material from I:Cube, Mathew Jonson, Radio Slave and an unreleased track from Deetron himself, ‘Croque’. “This compilation is a celebration of the gorgeous format that is vinyl and a praise for the endless possibilities the digital world has to offer,” Deetron avowed. Balance 020 will be released in early November on Balance Music and distributed through EMI. Long-running Sydney club brand Mad Racket will celebrate its 13th birthday on Saturday October 29 at Marrickville Bowling Club, with a headline set from Recloose, one of the Racketeers’ favourites, who has performed for them at their Sydney Festival Becks Bar night in years past. Recloose burst on to the scene when he was signed to Carl Craig’s canonical Planet E label after he slipped a demo into Craig’s sandwich when working at a café (it’s an old story but a good one nonetheless, that’s worth recycling every once in a while). Recloose has since performed as a turntabilist for Craig’s Innerzone Orchestra, while releasing acclaimed albums on labels such as Sonar Kollektiv and Peacefrog and developing a ‘chameleon-like’ sonic palette that conflates jazz, techno, funk, soul, house and down-tempo influences. Basically, it’s music that’s enjoyed just as much by Tony E over at Soul Sedation as your humble columnist here. As ever, Racket residents Jimmi James, Simon Caldwell, Ken Cloud and Zootie will also be spinning, with presale tickets available for $30 through Resident Advisor. The Macro label’s Macrospective compilation, which I’ve raved about

LOOKING DEEPER

Soul Sedation

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

Azealia Banks

MONDAY OCTOBER 3 Adultnapper Favela

SATURDAY OCTOBER 8

Glimpse Marrickville Bowling Club

SATURDAY OCTOBER 29 Mad Racket ft Recloose Marrickville Bowling Club Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir The Spice Cellar previously, is now available! The release will feature two discs, mixed by cofounders Finn Johannsen and Stefan Goldmann respectively and featuring many of the memorable cuts that can be found in the Macro back catalogue, including productions from Raudive, Ricardo Villalobos and even the nowdeceased disco pioneer Patrick Cowley. Both guys give a nod to the old school by mixing completely off vinyl, providing some quality supplementary evidence for people to invoke in the abovementioned ‘digital vs vinyl’ debate. The twist is that both mixes use the exact same set of tracks, but each is sequenced and mixed differently. Johannsen’s mix is apparently more of an off-the-cuff affair, done in one take, while Goldmann has been a bit more meticulous in his mix of the same pool of tracks. It will be interesting to see whether this is at the expense of immediacy – you often create magic when mixing live that is not as easily cultivated through a carefully planned studio mix. At the time of print, it had emerged that hugely respected American deep house producer John Roberts will be performing in Melbourne in December, alongside Octave One and Fritz Kalkbrenner. As yet, no Sydney dates have been announced for any of the trio, but an educated guess would say all three will also represent in Sydney – one can but hope we get to see them together on the same bill. If not, it may be worth making the trip south, as Roberts’ live show is supposed to be the biz.

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.

K, before we even get started, pull this clip up on YouTube: Azealia Banks, ‘212’. It’s some mind-blowing stuff, and to this column’s mind, the most hectic breakout sound since MIA emerged with her monster track ‘Pull Up The People’ way back in 2004. Banks is an incredibly impressive 19-year-old emcee from Harlem, NY. She’s ruder than Amanda Blank, and as raw as pretty much anyone you’ve ever heard. The interplay of vocals and beats on ‘212’ - produced by Canadian beat wizard Lunice - creates some next level energy. Soul Sedation feels Azealia could have a big future ahead of her. There’s yet more revolutionary sounds coming from Captain Planet and his fulllength album Cookin Gumbo. The Brooklynbased producer is on fire; he’s released a string of EPs, and they’re all worth tracking down. CP takes all manner of world sounds, samples them and builds loops to turn them into storming dancefloor tracks. The beauty of this release is that you get to hear his downbeat work as well, which is equally as amazing on a whole different tip. Ignore this album at your peril – seriously – it’s out through the Bastard Jazz label. Lack Of Afro has also stirred the pot with the release of his sophomore record This Time. UK-based producer Adam Gibbons fuses soul, breaks, funk and Afro sounds on this new record, and coaxes some incredible vocals from his guests. Wayne Gidden’s vocal on ‘A Time For’ is an exceptional starting point for what is an album that stands on its feet as a full and well-rounded release. It’s equal parts Nigerian funk horns, Motown soul and modern British jazz-fusion (heads up fans of Part Time Heroes style). There’s no need to hit skip until the last track fades out. Singer/songwriter Fink has also released new music: ‘Berlin Sunrise’ and ‘Perfect Darkness’ are the lead tracks of his forthcoming record; the latter song is a broodingly beautiful piece of work. Fink shows no sign of slowing down there. To local and not-so-local gigs: UK dancehall/ reggae star Gappy Ranks is in the country this week on the back of his new album Thanks & Praise. Born in London but of mixed Dominican and Jamaican heritage, the singer was nominated for a MOBO last year. If you like what you hear it’s worth going back and checking out his debut Put The Stereo On as well. Ranks plays Goodgod Small Club this Friday September 30. Having recently released his third album, Katalyst appeared at the Ivy Pool last week on a school night (certainly strange bedfellows there). The official Sydney album launch of Deep Impressions is going down on October 27 at a venue yet to be announced (it’s a “secret show”).

Recloose

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com. 64 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

Parisian producer Onra is also joining us in a couple of months. His 2010 record Long Distance was a remarkable piece of work, picking up the new beat movement

ON THE ROAD THURSDAY OCTOBER 6 Booker T. Jones Metro Theatre

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13 Electric Empire Upstairs Beresford

SATURDAY OCTOBER 22 Musica Tumbalong Park

Liberators + Afro Nomad The Basement

SATURDAY OCTOBER 29 Oxford Art Factory

London Elektricity Arthouse Hotel

FRIDAY DECEMBER 2 Mulatu Astatke Factory Theatre

FRIDAY DECEMBER 9 Hermitude The Standard

where Flying Lotus only recently left it and spearheading the sound into soulful new territory. If you like beats, if you like disco, if you like electronic soul, then make sure you check this show out. It goes down Thursday November 3 at the Oxford Art Factory. Look out for Onra’s forthcoming November followup release, Chinoseries 2. Dubstep and techno come together at the Oxford Art Factory on October 29 as Silkie and Jon Convex join us from the UK. Silkie records on Mala’s Deep Medi label, and Jon Convex is one of the wizards behind the Instra:mental outfit, responsible for some amazing excursions into the world beyond the existing fringes of DnB and electronic on the Autonomic podcasts, with D:Bridge. The Shine On Festival is coming round again, as it does every Spring. The lineup for this relatively new weekender keeps on getting bigger every year; this year looks like: Shapeshifter, Wax Tailor, Dafrix, Hermitude, Joelistics, Opiou, Sietta, The Bamboos, The Red Eyes and Tijuana Cartel among many, many others. It’s held on the Rainbow Serpent site in Beaufort, Western Victoria, over the weekend of the November 18-20. And last but certainly not least: Ethiojazz figurehead Mulatu Astatke is returning to Sydney after the success of his debut tour (not that long ago). He’ll showcase his take on all things jazz and African at the Factory Theatre, with the Liberators, Russ Dewbury and Toon on support. That one goes down Friday December 2.

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

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BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 65

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

club pick of the week Lykke Li

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 26 Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale Monday Jam free 8pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Stereosonic Warm Up Party LMFAO (USA), Redfoo, Skyblu $40 (+ bf) 9pm Scubar. Sydney Crab Racing 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Open Mic Jazz Pipemix free

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 27

SUNDAY OCTOBER 2

Kippax Lake, Moore Park

Parklife

Gossip (USA), Lykke Li (Sweden), Duck Sauce (USA), Santigold (USA), Death From Above 1979 (Canada), Katy B (UK), The Naked & Famous (NZ), Crystal Fighters (Spain), SebastiAn (France),

Example (UK), Digitalism (Germany), Adrian Lux, The Streets (UK), Simian Mobile Disco (UK), Magnetic Man, Nero, Diplo (USA), MSTRKRFT (Canada), Sebastien Tellier (France), Little Dragon (Sweden), Mylo (Scotland), Wolfgang Gartner, Tensnake (Germany), Kimbra, Gold Fields, Bon Chat Bon Rat, Donny Benét and more $138 (+ bf)–$239 12pm 66 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel DJ Willie Sabor and Friends 6pm The Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Coyote Tuesdays free 8pm Vault Nightclub, Scruffy Murphys Frat House DJs free 11pm Scubar, Sydney Backpacker Karaoke 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic Mike J,Ping Pong Tiddly, Karaoke free

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 28 Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee Palace Uni Night DJs free 9pm Cargo Lounge, Sydney Menage a Trois 5pm Home Nightclub, Sydney I Heart Unipackers DJs The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Student Nights DJ Moussa free Scubar, Sydney Schoonerversity 3pm Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney Sincopa free 7pm Theloft, Sydney Piano Man 6pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall – PAN Magazine Launch Dead China Doll, Kirin J. Callinan, Broadcasting Transmitter, Quaoub, DJ Trent Marden, Glovecats, Tongue In Moo, Toddy Trix, Tony Why, Pablo Calamari, Ella Locha, Mike Who free-$10 7pm

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29 Australian Brewery, Rouse Hill Spring Slumber Theme Party One Love Dub-Step & Oakes & Lennox downstairs Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Drop free 8pm Cargo Lounge, Sydney Thursday’s I’m In Love! $5 5pm Darlie Laundromatic, Darlinghurst D&D’s Beat Kitchen Dave Fernandes, Dean Dixon 6pm Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney Tenzin, Cadell, Zannon, DJ K-Note free 8pm Hugos Bar, Kings Cross Ben Ahston, Jack Fuller, Linda Jensen, Moonchild Ivy, Sydney Ivy Live 5pm Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale Indie Warhol DJ M.I.T., Young Romantics, Hancocks Basement free 8pm Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn $12-$15 8pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Flaunt Samrai, Peter Gunz, Trey, New Era free 9pm Scubar, Sydney $5 Everything Thursdays DJs Star Bar, Sydney Thirsty Thursdays 8pm

Theloft, Sydney Thursdays at Theloft Nad, Stu Turner, Mr Belvedere The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Urby, Chappers free (student)–$5

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 ARQ Sydney DJs free 9pm Arthouse Hotel, Sydney RnB Superclub $20 9.30pm The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross Addiction 9pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Movement DJs free 8pm Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee Aqua Friday 6pm The Burdekin, Darlinghurst DJs 9pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Liquid Sky D.U.I., Snatch, Nightmare, Durty Mindz $10$15 8pm Cargo Lounge, Sydney Good Fridays Rogers Room, Ember, Bangers N’ Mash, Kid Crookes, Docey Doe 5pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Culture Shock, The Qemists, Slice, Linken & Vertigo, Zwelli vs Yayogi $15-$25 10pm Cohibar Guest DJ, DJ Jeddy Rowland, DJ Anders Hitchcock free Goodgod Small Club, Sydney A Birthday Bashment! Gappy Ranks (UK), Guerre, Hoops, Levins, K1, Toni Toni Lee, Dynamite Sound, Bad Ezzy & Kween G, Kato, Judgement & Sing, Firehouse, Max Gosford, Splitter, Gonzo, Huggz, Shantan Wantan Ichiban $20$25 (+ bf) 8pm Factory Theatre, Enmore Hot Dub Time Machine Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney DJ Cadell 5pm Gypsy Lounge, Darlinghurst Warp Speed Various DJs 9pm Home Nightclub, Sydney Sublime DJs Jacksons On George, Sydney Ultimate Party Venue Resident DJs free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Gus Da Hoodrat, Alison Wonderland, Pearshape, Jubliants, Kristy Lee, Andy Walsh, Isbjorn $10 8pm Live at the Wall, Leichhardt Ebb N Flo, Kaha $15 8pm The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Resident DJs free Oatley Hotel We Love Oatley Hotel Fridays DJ tone free 9pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst An Intimate Night With Falcona Cadillac, Mrs Bishop, Valar, Furnace & the Fundamentals, Alison Wonderland, Starjumps, Kristy Lee free 8pm Pontoon, Sydney DJ Nic Philips free 9pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Club Onyx Membership Night Peeping Tom, Dim Slm, DJ D, Teknix free 9pm Scubar, Sydney Jagermeister Fridays DJs 7pm Settlement Bar, Sydney Spoilt Robbie Lowe 6pm Shark Hotel, Sydney Pulse8 Jono, Guest DJs free Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney Mixtape free 6pm Space, Sydney Zaia Savvy, Edo, D’Kutz, EmTee, Ming, Ace, Flipz, DJ Sefu, MC Suga Shane, Arbee, Suae, Pulsar, Askitz, Jinkang vs Tezzr vs Rhe3, MC D 9.45pm St James Hotel, Sydney Club Blink DJs 9.30pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Eve 9pm

Vault Nightclub, Scruffy Murphys DJs free 11pm The Watershed Hotel Bring On The Weekend! DJ Matty Roberts free The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM The Fearless Vampire Killers, Kempsey, Love Migrate, The Ganaschz, Push/Pull, The Nectars, The Evergreen Trail, MUM DJs free-$15 8pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 1 ARQ Sydney Dance Dance Dance $15-$25 9pm The Burdekin, Darlinghurst DJs 9pm Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee Endless Summer Launch Party Candy’s Apartment, Kings Cross Shake!Shake!Shake! Stressless, Disco Volante, Zomg Kittenz, Moowho $15$20 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Jody Wisternoff (UK), Rodskeez, Peking Duk, Jeff Drake, Chris Fraser, Offapia, J-Mac, Joe Barrs, King Lee, The Brothers Grimm $15-$25 9pm Cohibar DJ Anders Hitchcock, DJ Mike Silver free Establishment, Sydney Sienna G-Wizard, Troy T, Def Rok, Eko, Lilo 9pm Hollywood Hotel, Surry Hills Motion Dean Dixon, Dave Fenandes, Burn-Hard, Northern Soul Poster Boy $5 8pm Home Nightclub, Sydney Homemade Saturdays DJs Ivy Changeroom, Sydney History of Hip Hop Kato, Bad Ezzy, Levins, Toni Toni Lee Jacksons On George, Sydney Ultimate Party Venue Resident DJs free Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kit & Kaboodle Saturdays Upskirts, Tokyo Denmark Sweden, Boast Of Berlin, Backhanderz, Liz Bird $10 8pm Metro Theatre, Sydney Glitter Ball DJ Pagano (UK), Nina Flowers (USA), Dallas Della Force, Decoda Secret, Kitty Glitter, Dan Murphy, Adam Love, Alex Taylor $45 (+ bf) 11pm The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown Resident DJs free Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Oatley Hotel Saturday Night Live Desperate Houseblokes free 8.30pm Picnic Warehouse Picnic One Night Stand feat. Canyons Q Bar, VIP, Vegas & 34b, Darlinghurst GhettoBlaster $10 9pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross The Suite Charlie Brown, Troy T, Steve S, Adamo free 9pm Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney MJ, Drew Mercer free–$10 9pm Space, Sydney Masif Saturdays Toneshifterz, Bloweapon, Steve Hill, Suae, Pulsar, Nik Fish, Amber Savage, Arbee, Hardforze, Peewee, Matrix, Xdream, Cadell, Charlie Brown, Tony Shock, VLN, Mike Hyper, Tezzr, Joey V 10pm St James Hotel, Sydney SFX DJs 9pm SOHO Bar, Kings Cross Danceclub presents Congo Rock, John Glover and Danceclub DJs Theloft, Sydney Late at Theloft Mike Who, Disc

club guide

club picks up all night out all week...

send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com Jockey Hansom, Devola, Murray Lake free Vault Nightclub, Scruffy Murphys DJs free 11pm Verge Bar, The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney In-House DJs free The Watershed Hotel Watershed Presents… Skybar The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham! James Taylor, Wongo, Matt Formosa, Tigerlilly, Jack Bailer, Twenty97, Ennsu, Venuto, Rabble, Temnien, Joe Gadget, Nate Perry, Scuba Stu

SUNDAY OCTOBER 2 The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney Sisqo, Tickels, Willi, Fresh, Rkays, Rocboi, Manny, Qrius, Lyriks, Flips VS Dseev $30$50 (+ bf) 9pm Basement Level, 58 Elizabeth St, Sydney Spice Murat Kilic $20 4am Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Living Room free 6pm Cargo Lounge, Sydney Stick It In 3pm Civic Hotel, Sydney Tensnake (Germany) 8pm Gaelic Club, Surry Hills Celph Titled, Action Bronson, Brad Strut $40 (+ bf) 8pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Renaissance Dave Seaman (UK) $25 (+ bf) 9pm Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Goodgod All-Stars! Oscar & Martin, Donny Benet, The Goodgod House Band, Hole In The Sky DJs, Slow Blow DJs, Jingle Jangle DJs, Love King DJs, Dynamite Sound

DJs, Yo Grito DJs, Perfect Snatch, YES DJs, Blackmail DJs, Long John Saliva, Joe Gadget $15 (+ bf) 8pm Home The Venue, Sydney Homesexual White Sophie Ellis Bextor, Anthony Callea, Jayson Forbes, Alex Taylor, Adam Love, Dan Murphy, Kitty Glitter, Dom de Sousa, Justin Scott $55-95 (+ bf) 11pm Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park Godskitchen Marco V, Richard Durand (Holland), John Askew, Ben Gold $58.70 10pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Sneaky Sundays Resident and Guest DJs 8pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Aphrodisiac Resident DJs free Kippax Lake, Moore Park Parklife Gossip (USA), Lykke Li (Sweden), Duck Sauce (USA), Santigold (USA), Death From Above 1979 (Canada), Katy B (UK), The Naked & Famous (NZ), Crystal Fighters (Spain), SebastiAn (France), Example (UK), Digitalism (Germany), Adrian Lux, The Streets (UK), Simian Mobile Disco (UK), Magnetic Man, Nero, Diplo (USA), MSTRKRFT (Canada), Sebastien Tellier (France), Little Dragon (Sweden), Mylo (Scotland), Wolfgang Gartner, Joker & Mc Nomad (UK), Feed Me (UK), Tensnake (Germany), Kimbra, The Aston Shuffle, Flux Pavilion (UK), Yacht Club DJs, Harvard Bass (USA), Gold Fields, A-Tonez, Bon Chat Bon Rat, Donny Benet,

Elizabeth Rose, Ember, Fake DJs, Glove Cats, DJ Guillotine, Light Year, Ninalasvegas, Nukewood, Oakes & Lennox, Randall Stagg, Roger’s Room, Rubio, Rufus, Sam Scratch, The Immigrant, Tortoiseshell$147 (+ bf)–$239 12pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Parklife Kick-on Kid Kenobi, Hey Now, Hobogestapo, Ennio Lee, Triforce, Fox $10 8pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Sessions DJ Tone free 7pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Hold Tight Simon Caldwell, Victim, Paul Fraser, DJ Huwston, Swindle $10 (presale)–$15 8pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Sundays Long Weekend Charlie Brown, Pierre Gerrad, Jo Funk, Dim Slm free 9pm Scubar, Sydney Sundays at Scubar 3pm The Spice Cellar Grand Opening Vincenzo, Simon Caldwell, Murat Kilic, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace 10pm Star Bar, Sydney Star Sundays 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Company Party 2 Silent Disco (Propaganda VS Teen Spirit D), James Taylor, Alley Oop, The Wall DJs free-$15 White Horse Hotel, Surry Hills SASH Long Weekend feat. Luke MCD, Le Brond, Matt Aubusson & David Choe (Glitch DJs), SASH DJs

Hoops

Firehouse, Max Gosford, Splitter, Gonzo, Huggz, Shantan Wantan Ichiban $20-$25 (+ bf) 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Gus Da Hoodrat, Alison Wonderland, Pearshape, Jubliants, Kristy Lee, Andy Walsh, Isbjorn $10 8pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 1

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29 Australian Brewery, Rouse Hill Spring Slumber Theme Party One Love DubStep, Oakes & Lennox downstairs $10 7pm

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 Goodgod Small Club, Sydney A Birthday Bashment! Gappy Ranks (UK), Guerre, Hoops, Levins, K1, Toni Toni Lee, Dynamite Sound, Bad Ezzy & Kween G, Kato, Judgement & Jimmy Sing,

Chinese Laundry, Sydney Jody Wisternoff (UK), Rodskeez, Peking Duk, Jeff Drake, Chris Fraser, Offapia, J-Mac, Joe Barrs, King Lee, The Brothers Grimm $15-$25 9pm Beach Palace Hotel, Coogee Endless Summer Launch Party

Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park Godskitchen Marco V, Richard Durand (Holland), John Askew, Ben Gold $61.70 10pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Hold Tight Simon Caldwell, Victim, Paul Fraser, DJ Huwston, Swindle $10 (presale)–$20 8pm The Spice Cellar, Basement Level, 58 Elizabeth St, Sydney Grand Opening Vincenzo, Simon Caldwell, Murat Kilic, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace 10pm White Horse Hotel, Surry Hills S.A.S.H Long Weekend Luke MCD, Le Brond, Matt Aubusson & David Choe (Glitch DJs), S.A.S.H DJs

SOHO Bar, Kings Cross Danceclub presents Congo Rock, John Glover and Danceclub DJs

SUNDAY OCTOBER 2 Civic Hotel, Sydney Tensnake (Germany) 10pm Gaelic Club, Surry Hills Celph Titled, Action Bronson, Brad Strut $40 (+ bf) 8pm

Jody Wisternoff

BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 67

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

party profile

mike simonetti

PICS :: GP

spice cellar

It’s called: The grand opening of The Spice Cellar It sounds like: Unique European undergroun d house music Who’s spinning? Vincenzo (Poker Flat, DE), Simon Caldwell, Murat Kilic, Luke McD, Matt Weir and Kerry Wallace Three songs you’ll hear on the night: ‘Retur n of Sha’ – Vincenzo, ‘Safety Ghetto’ – Murat Kilic, 'What Flower' – YokoO & Matt Weir And one you definitely won’t: Anything to do with David Guetta, Deadmau5 or Armin Van Buuren

Sell it to us: Good crowd, hot sound system , new club The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Hopefully you will still be rocking it on the dancefloor in the AM; we don’t usual ly close until after 9am. Crowd specs: Down-to-earth and musically-ed ucated people who know how to party. Wallet damage: Complimentary with guest list before 12am, then $20 Where: The Spice Cellar / basement LVL, 58 Elizabeth Street, CBD When: Sunday October 2, from 10pm

guti

PICS :: CG

16:09:11 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney, 9267 3787

propaganda

PICS :: DM

17:09:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958

girlthing

PICS ::CG

goldie 17:09:11 :: The Exchange Hotel :: 34-44 Oxford st, Darlinghurst 93601375 68 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

PICS :: DM

15:09:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

17:09:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex Street Sydney 82959958 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: CAI S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE POPOV :: IEL GRIFFIN :: ASHLEY MAR :: DAN SAM WHITESIDE

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FIND US ON

BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11 :: 69

snap sn ap

hot damn

15:09:11 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93316245

celph titled

the herd

17:09:11 :: The Metro Theatre :: 624 George St City 92642666

It’s called: Celph Titled, Action Bronson and Brad Strut It sounds like: New York underground hip hop at its finest, from a wellrespected veteran and one of the latest lyricis ts taking the world by storm, one meal at a time! Plus the return of an old school legendary local emcee!

Who’s playing? Celph Titled with Blacastan, Action Bronson and Brad Strut Sell it to us: If you’re sick of cheesy R&B clubs and commercial rap spots, then you need to get your butt down to the Gaelic Club to witness New York’s finest wordsmiths in action! The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Hopefully, where you live. It’s a long weekend, so expect a big night! Crowd specs: Lovers of real, raw undergroun d hip hop, boom-bap beats and dope lyricism. Wallet damage: $40 (+bf) Where: The Gaelic Theatre When: Sunday October 2

ra x

PICS :: GP

party profile

17:09:11 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney, 9267 3787

PICS :: SW

14:09:11 :: ivy :: :: 320-330 George St Sydney 92403000

strike

PICS :: AM

17:08:11 :: Civic Underground :: 388 Pitt Street Sydney 80807000

wham!

PICS :DM

17:09:11 :: Strike Bowling Bar :: 22 The Promenade, King St Wharf 1300787453

17:09:11 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700 70 :: BRAG :: 431 :: 26:09:11

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

PICS :: GP

ro sham bo retirement

PICS :: GP

she can dj final

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

NICHE PRODUCTIONS AND VOID PRESENT

HOLD TIGHT! SUNDAY DJs 2/10/11 VICTIM OCTOBER PAUL LONG FRASER WEEKEND SIMON OXFORD CALDWELL ART HUWSTON FACTORY & SWINDLE

DUBSTEP + UK FUNKY + FUTURE BEATS $10 FROM MOSHTIX PRESALE, $15 ON THE DOOR B4 MIDNIGHT & $20 AFTER

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