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World class design education needn’t take forever. It should be well planned, continually adapted to the times and presented by passionate professionals. That’s what happens at Shillington College and we have the record to prove it. Our students are taught by outstanding designers and are getting top design jobs. Starting with no prior experience they graduate with a professional portfolio and an in depth knowledge of the design programs. Enrolling now for February intake. The college will be open from 5.45 to 7pm on Tuesday 17 January with a 45 minute presentation starting at 6pm. Check out the facilities, meet the lecturers, chat to some graduates and get the low-down on the course. Bookings are not required to attend the Open Night.
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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
ZEAHORSE
T
he moment where playing a recorder just didn’t do it for me anymore is one of my key memories growing up. I was raised in a family who were completely accepting and supporting of whatever I did. There was no pressure to compete, only to succeed within myself, which gave me a freedom to explore what I could create with an instrument rather than following a set of rules. I really admire bands who work hard without relying on anyone else to pull their weight for them. Bands like Nunchukka Superfly, Dead and No Anchor who manage, tour and promote themselves are a big inspiration. Their DIY attitude also allows them to bypass the commercial bullshit that most bands get stuck in. We started off as friends before we made music, so our friendship is always more important than the music we make. I guess the main connection we have is that we approach our music with an open mind. Anyone can put forward an idea without feeling nervous that it may not work, ‘cause if it sucks, we will all explain in a very polite manner that it sucks. I would say that when it comes to music, we’re all very opinionated, but I think you have to be
Caitlin Park’s Milk Annual was pretty much the best thing to happen in 2011, and the Sydney songwriter/producer is joining psychrock band Sister Jane, ‘80s flirts Magnetic Heads and epic folkies The Maple Trail for the Broken Stone Records Roadshow, which swings around the country throughout February, stopping at The Standard on February 23. Don’t miss this.
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
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, Robbie Miles, 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: We’ll be back in the office on Tuesday January 3 Editorial: Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Artwork, 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...
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With: Scattered Order, Domeyko/Gonzalez, Kasha, Svelt, The Ovals, Nakagin, Rayon Moon, Kris Keogh and loads more Where: Wormwoodstock – absinthe, psychedelia and camping @ secret location, 1.5 hours from Sydney... When: January 27–29
BROKEN STONE RECORDS’ LABEL SHOWCASE
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, Alex Christie, Antigone Anagnostellis
There seems to be a lack of community between music-makers in Sydney. I think some bands need to loosen up and enjoy themselves; it all seems too uptight to me. Music, to us, is about the vibe, and bands like Scattered Order, Narrow Lands, Dora Maar and Ghastly Spats are fully vibin’.
Paddington Uniting Church, the only venue where you can sin all you like, then wash it all away… Winter People are supporting, so get along early.
New Order
ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alan Parry SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Ashley Mar, Daniel Munns, Thomas Peachey, George Popov
to have any focus on what you want to achieve. Over the last year we’ve made a few changes. Our guitarist Max moved to Tasmania, and this has led some people to think that we may have broken up. We have had a year of downtime, but we used it to write and record an album. I think we have focused more on our songwriting within the album; there is less fluff and more concrete. We don’t play live nearly as much anymore, which means our shows are a tad more polished, heavier, and generally more fun for us. Wear earplugs.
LOU BARLOW TOUR
NEW ORDER SIDESHOW
We all went a little crazy at the beginning of last month when Future Music Festival announced that the legendary New Order would be headlining. And we went a whole lot crazier at the end of last week when we found out they’d be playing a sideshow. If you’re hanging around outside Hordern Pavilion on Wednesday March 7, you’ll get to hear wind-swept snippets from classics like ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ – and if you’re hanging around inside the Pavilion on the same date, chances are you snapped up tickets. They go on sale this Monday January 23, and it will sell out quick. If you want to double up, the huge Future Music Festival is being held on Saturday March 10 at Royal Randwick Racecourse, and also features Swedish House Mafia, Fatboy Slim, Tinie Tempah, Skrillex, Friendly Fires and other acts that have absolutely no place in rock news at all.
I have it on extremely good authority that the best Dinosaur Jr. song is ‘Back To Your Heart’, and guess what? It’s a Lou Barlow jam. He’s the melodic half of the Barlow/Mascis partnership, as his spin-off band Sebadoh aptly proved (buy Bakesale). Lou Barlow will be playing The Annandale on April 16 like the absolutely scrappy genius he is. Request the Mascis songs. He loves that.
Sures
CASS MCCOMBS TOUR
Californian singer-songwriter Cass McCombs is a weird one – his songs are all solemn and moody, and then he’ll crack a joke in the middle. It’s like a funeral director wearing South Park boxer-shorts. Exactly like that. He hasn’t made it to Australia yet, which is an oversight that Mistletone will be correcting on February 18 when he plays at the Standard with support from Songs. We also hear that he is so wary of the music business that his label Domino Records had to hire a private investigator to follow Cass and take the promo shots for his sixth (and brilliant) album, Wit’s End. Can’t imagine that helped things, really…
UNWRITTEN LAW & HATEBREED SIDEWAVE
Got that bubbling, unspecific anger that society won’t let you take out on your loved ones anymore? Well, rage it out at Hatebreed’s Soundwave sideshow on February 28 at Newcastle Panthers – the brutal hardcore legends will be joined by CroMags, BioHazard and Hellyeah for a night filled with double-kicks, black tees and maybe a little romance (‘romance’ to be read with a death-growl). Tickets on sale now.
WOMADELAIDE MK III
WOMADelaide has put the finishing touches on its already packed lineup, so if all you needed was a little more AWESOME to get you over the line to the Botanic Park in Adelaide from March 9-12, well, here it is: Dirty Three, Baaba Maal, Electric Wire Hustle, Pajama Club, Mad Professor and
more are joining a monumental list of names that includes Bonobo, Blue King Brown, First Aid Kit, Gurrumul, Penguin Café, Tinariwen and heaps more. They mean it when they say ‘world music’: there are bands coming from Finland, South Africa, Romania, Burundi, Chili, India and some other countries you didn’t even know existed. You should extend yourself more. Go to Adelaide.
GRANDADDY!
When Grandaddy’s second record The Sophtware Slump came out, The Independent said it was “easily the equal of OK Computer.” It’s a silly comparison which I think was based more on the thematic elements (computers, innit?) than the actual music, which is far more playful/bittersweet/indie/light than Radiohead’s perpetual mope. Anyways, frontman Jason Lytle is playing two solo shows at The Vanguard on February 11 and 12, and considering he has written about 50 legitimately great songs, we suggest going to both of them.
OLIVER TANK
Oliver Tank’s excellent song ‘Last Night I Heard Everything In Slow Motion’ was a university assignment and, like most university assignments, it resulted in him winning a trip to Iceland via FBi’s Northern Lights competition to play Iceland Airwaves alongside Sinead O’Connor (not to be confused with the guy from Boy and Bear), Yoko Ono, Björk and many more. He’s taking advantage of his newfound profile by launching an EP this February 9 at
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
It’s not an overstatement to say that The Standard’s one of the best new venues that Sydney’s spat out over the past few years. And this month they went one better with ‘Neighbourhood Watch’, a regular Friday and Saturday night specially curated with the best of local talent. They’ve already booked some total gems – Glitter Canyon, Fait Accompli, Let Me Down Jungleman – and this weekend is another killer. Head down on Friday January 20 and you’ll be treated to some Guerre, Flume and Albatross post-RnB action – and if you’re there the next night, Betty Airs, Sures and Bloods will be serving up some of that lo-fi surfy punk that we all love so much.
BRAND NEW SHOW
AKMaL A-LIST ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS
“An explosion of laughter and entertainment” The Daily Telegraph
“No one wanted the show to stop... he seemed to own the stage” Sydney Morning Herald
THE OLD FITZROY THEATRE
Tue 17th - Sun 22nd Jan - 9pm/8pm (Tue) 7pm (Sun) Tue 24th - Sun 29th Jan - 9pm/8pm (Tue) 7pm (Sun) Tue 31st Jan - Sat 4th Feb - 9pm $28 Adult, $25 Concession Cheap Tuesdays $21 All tickets Bookings: 8019 0282 www.rocksurfers.org This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, it’s arts funding and advisory body. Tamarama Rock Surfers Theatre Company is supported by the NSW Government through ARTS NSW.
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rock music news
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
five things WITH
SOUNDGARDEN
RAINBOW CHAN timbres and crunchy harmonies. I love hearing everyday objects or sounds being sampled and turned into musical ideas, because they create lush, organic textures within an electronic setting. Generally, anything that sounds slightly odd yet beautiful will engage me. I like slowburners that require your attention and multiple listens.
3.
Growing Up I grew up in a musical house 1. that encouraged late night piano practice, much to the annoyance of our neighbours. But my parents were mostly suckers for pop and golden oldies, so I grew up listening to a lot of Roy Orbison and Del Shannon. As a child, I
Your Crew Guerre is pretty much my Asian male musical doppelganger; we like similar music and get yum cha together. Apart from that, Marcus Whale from Collarbones, Sean Lockhart and Scissor Lock gave me a DJ lesson recently, and Sam Weston from Albatross mixed and mastered my single ‘Sweet Tooth’. I’ve also learnt from and shared musical ideas with the multitalented Sui Zhen, with whom I will be touring this month.
loved Cantopop sensation Aaron Kwok, and I honestly thought I would marry him one day. I also watched and sang along to Playschool songs, probably when I was much too old for them…
The Music You Make I make my music the DIY 4. way in my bedroom studio,
2.
where I experiment with loops, glockenspiels, music-boxes, kalimbas, vintage toys and field
Inspirations I’m inspired by strange
recordings. I also have a small, no frills-style keyboard from my childhood which provides surprisingly warm and synthy sounds for my music. I like to weave glitchy Gameboy sounds, pitch-bent samples and looped vocal harmonies into intricate pop songs. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. I’ve gained a lot from the local music scene the last year, especially through the venue Tone, which brought a lot of like-minded musicians together. I’m also really looking forward to my first tour to launch my single ‘Sweet Tooth’. The Sydney show with Sui Zhen will be at FBi Social, which is nice because FBi Radio sent me to Iceland earlier in the year – it’ll be fun to celebrate my launch with them! What: Rainbow Chan’s ‘Sweet Tooth’ and Sui Zhen’s ‘Little Frog’ double single launch With: Sui Zhen, Moon Holiday Where: FBi Social When: Friday January 20
A lot of bands will claim they were at the forefront of the grunge scene; most of them weren’t. But if Kurt Cobain was a fan of your work AND it was your success that helped iconic record label Sub Pop find its feet, then you can totally claim that badge. We’re not talking about some fantasy band, we’re talking about the grunge-alt-rock royalty that are our cover stars, Soundgarden. They’re here for Big Day Out and BRAG’s got a two double passes to see them do what they do best at their sideshow on Wednesday January 25 at Sydney Entertainment Centre. If you want in, just email us the name of your fave Soundgarden song.
ROXETTE
Swedish pop duo Roxette were lined up to play two shows on Thursday February 16 and Friday February 17 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, but due to how fun it is to belt out ‘The Look’, ‘June Afternoon’ and ‘Joyride’, they sold out both these nights and had to add a third, set for February 25. We’ve got three doubles to the February 16 show to give away, which means you could be one of the luckies who get to experience live the wonder that is ‘Fading Like A Flower’ (which, incidentally, is the winner of the coveted ‘Greatest Key Change Of All Time’ title in the inaugural Spontaneous BRAG Awards Ceremony, which took place only moments ago). To win tickets, tell us the name of Roxette’s most recent album.
Roxette
CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME
Tiny Ruins
TINY RUINS & THE VIETNAM WAR
Q: How many Vietnam vets does it take to change a light bulb? A: You wouldn’t understand, you weren’t there. I’ll be telling this joke and many others at The Vanguard on March 23 when Tiny Ruins (buy her Some Were Meant For Sea record; it’s all shades of gorgeous) and The Vietnam War (Auckland-based, Flying Nun-esque jangly rock) show Australia how to do music properly, in a way not seen since Crowded House/TOFOG.
Chairlift
I liked Thee Oh Sees the first time I ever heard of them, mainly because phonetically their name reminds me of Sandy Cohen kicking Newport arse and taking names (also that one thing he sang at karaoke when he and Kirsten were fighting). This noisy-psychy San Fran band have been in Australia quite a lot over the past few years, so it seems the plan of going to their shows and reacting favourably is totally working. If we keep the momentum rolling this Thursday January 19 when they play The Annandale, maybe they’ll be back before the ink dries on the corrected spelling I helped you with on the back of that tour T-shirt you bought...
Slow Club
CAGE THE ELEPHANT
Riding the wave of pachyderm cruelty that has been sweeping our nation lately, Cage The Elephant are heading back to Sydney and are bringing a pure ivory-keyed piano, even though they don’t have a pianist – that’s how anti-elephant these Americans are [citation needed]. Saturday January 28 at the Enmore Theatre is when/where they will be playing their Big Day Out sideshow – and these guys kick butt live. Go to.
TAKING BACK THE GLORY
If you only write two band names on your backpack with white-out this summer, make sure they’re New Found Glory and Taking Back Sunday, who are coming to Australia this April
SLOW CLUB
If Peter, Paul and Mary were more cute and less pious, they would be Slow Club (also, either Peter or Paul would have to go; these Brits are a two-piece). Listen to ‘When I Go’ for the sweetest ‘let’s get married’ song since ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice.’ Then go to their show at GoodGod Small Club on March 1, get sloppy drunk, and tell vocalist Rebecca Taylor how much their music changed you inside. Girls love that kinda thing! (Girls don’t love that kinda thing). Slow Club are being supported by Achoo! Bless You and Palms, the brand new project from Red Riders’ Al Grigg and Tom Wallace – and girls certainly do love that kinda thing, amiright!? ...Tickets are on sale now.
CHAIRLIFT SIDESHOW
You know the episode of The Simpsons when Lingu, the robot that corrects grammar, malfunctions after absorbing a string of poorly-constructed sentences? Well, that’s what just happened to the Internet after I searched for Brooklyn electro-cute warriors Chairlift’s 2008 debut album Does You Inspire You. The album is quietly MGMT-ish, but their latest single ‘Amanaemonesia’ suggests a sharp right turn into the snythdrenched African jungle for album #2 (Something, due early this year). Find out more at their January 31 show at Oxford Art Factory (the Rock Box, as Triple M would no doubt call it); support comes from so-hotright-now Elizabeth Rose. They are both totally playing Laneway festival too. Nice.
with a sweet double bill to end all other sweet double bills, except some of the other sweet double bills Soundwave have planned. Tickets go on sale this Friday (January 20, unless I’m looking at the Mayan calendar again), and the show happens April 7 at the Big Top, Luna Park.
DEAD MEADOW TOUR
Washington, DC-born, Los Angeles-based noise merchants Dead Meadow have taken back their drummer, finished off an album, and are making the arduous trip from the heyday of 1970s psych to Australia in 2012 – April 6 at The HiFi, to be precise. They’ll be supported by something called Pink Mountaintops, which turns out to be the new project from Black Mountains’ Stephen McBean. Bring your kaleidoscope and your earplugs. And your kaleidoscopic earplugs [patent pending].
SOSUEME
Those party merchants at Sosueme have booked Dream Delay, Feeding Edgar and Outerwaves to play their next shindig at Oxford Art Factory, which is set for this Saturday January 21. Joyride, Furnace & The Fundamentals, Hobophonics, F.R.I.E.N.D/s DJs and Starjumps will be spinning too, and tickets are just ten bucks at the door – which opens at 8pm.
“In her bloody footsteps speculators prance. Men of dreams are praying for that second chance,” - ALI CAMPBELL 12 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 13
The Music Network
themusicnetwork.com
Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
THINGS WE HEAR
* US-based gig website Concert Boom has three Australian dates listed for Bruce Springsteen in Aug/Sept. Meantime, promoters of Splendour In The Grass tweeted that neither Radiohead or Stone Roses are playing their mid-year event. Radiohead are apparently looking at November… * Katy Perry’s preacher dad Keith Hudson has been slammed by the Anti-Defamation League for a sermon during which he reportedly told the congregation, “You know how to make the Jew jealous? Have some money, honey. You go to LA and they own all the Rolex and diamond places.” * Frontier Touring axed Madeleine Peyroux’s March tour after “poor ticket sales.”
US DEAL FOR HILLTOP HOODS
Hilltop Hoods and their own Golden Era Records have signed with Fontana to release their sixth album Drinking From The Sun in the USA. Fontana is an independent marketing, sales and distribution company for the Universal Music Group, and the deal includes key catalogue titles. The first single off Drinking From The Sun, ‘I Love It (ft. Sia), has already gone Gold in Australia, and will be released in the States on January 17. Ron Spaulding, President of Fontana, met the group on an Australian visit “and was blown away by the sheer quality of music they were producing. Coupled with their success in their native country, we are excited to introduce them to the United States.”
NATIVE TONGUE: THREE MORE
Native Tongue music publishing has made three more additions to its roster. Perth’s Split Seconds, one of triple j’s Next Crop acts, are finishing off their debut album this month. Native Tongue’s Kate Mills says, “We see Sean [Pollard, frontman] as a tremendous creative talent, and his ability to craft compelling and honest songs is an undeniable indication that he will be a prolific career songwriter.” Two international signings, by its London-based International Manager Jaime Gough, are the genre-shifting Neon Indian (aka Mexico-born, Texas-based producer Alan Palomo) and San Francisco’s Hanni El Khatib, who describes his sound as “knife fight music.”
FUSE DISTRIBUTING PATTON’S IPECAC
Fuse Music is the new Australian distributor of Mike Patton’s Ipecac Records. The label was set up by the Fantômas, Tomahawk and Peeping Tom singer (and of course formerly Faith No More and Mr. Bungle), and former Alternative Tentacles label manager Greg Werckman. Kicking off the deal are Patton’s The Solitude Of Prime Numbers, NY experimentalists The Book of Knots’ trilogy Garden of Fainting Stars, Retox Ugly Animals, Italian producer Daniele Luppi, Malos Hábitos (Bad Habits), Melvins’ Sugar Daddy Live and the dark jazz of Bohren & der Club of Gore's Beileid. Patton is here this month for the Sydney Festival.
ROCK MUSIC IS BAD FOR YOU
A 29-year old Texas woman insists that Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails inspired her to try and burn down her parents’ house.
* Club DJs and TV stars The Stafford Bros move to Los Angeles in March. * Fancy your chances singing with US metalcorists Killswitch Engage? They’re recording after parting ways with long-time singer Howard Jones, and are accepting audition tapes via KillswitchEngage.com for a replacement. * Has 50 Cent gone too far in his feud with Jay-Z? In the past he’s niggled him, saying Jay-Z was unknown outside the US until he teamed up with Beyonce, and that he (Fiddy) wanted to have kids with Beyonce. Now he’s posted fake photos of the glam couple’s kid. In hip hop circles, it’s a given that feuds do not extend to children. * After seven years and two albums, Perth’s The Panda Band have split, citing “irreconcilable differences”. Apparently their music spoke to Christina Paz on Christmas Day, and warned her that ma and pa were conspiring to sodomise her and chop her up. So naturally she got in first by trying to set the place on fire.
BEYONCE BABY A DEVIL?
Forget that Beyonce and Jay-Z’s new spawn Blue Ivy Carter is the youngest person to appear on the US charts, after Jay-Z rushed out a new single ‘Glory’ (officially credited to him “and featuring BIC”) featuring the baby’s first cries and coos. What’s more important is the warning from social network junkies that the kid is really the devil. Blue, ya see, stands for 'Born Living Under Evil'. Ivy means ‘Illuminati’s Very Youngest’ or ‘Illuminati’s Victorious Youth’. Jay-Z has, according to the conspiracy theorists, been long-suspected of devil worship.
A GOOD YEAR FOR INDIES
2012 could prove to be a good one for Australian indie acts, says the Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR). In its latest newsletter, it tells its members to keep an eye on a number of issues this year. The High Court’s ruling on the 1% cap – where radio only has to pay 1% of its ad revenue a year to record labels, despite how much music it plays – could mean the cap gets scrapped, and millions of dollars more may go to labels. Also, the long overdue review of the government’s funding body, the Australia Council, could finally see contemporary music getting a decent share. Thirdly, if the local regulations authority passes the Universal/ EMI merger (which, it’s argued, could give the merged company too large a market share), there could be a huge repercussion on the Australian music biz. Finally, AIR plans to support the movement lobbying commercial radio to play more local music.
SCA EXPANDS RADAR
Southern Cross Austereo is expanding its digital platform Radar. On the weekend it launched as a TV channel with an emphasis on playing new Australian music, with Ella Hooper (Killing Heidi/ Verses) as its host. Over the coming weeks, it will also roll out a full, multi-platform format – a first for the company – including FM radio, online, mobile and social media.
INDENT GETS $110,000 FUNDING One of MusicNSW’s initiatives, Indent, received $110,000 in funding from the
state government to help young people through NSW stage their own all-ages, drug- and alcohol-free music events. These include all-ages festivals, music video competitions, band nights and competitions. “The Indent project is a key skills development opportunity for any young person interested in finding out more about the music and entertainment industries,” said NSW Minister for the Arts George Souris. Indent will distribute the funds in the form of Partnership Grants and the continuation of their national tour in 2012. Getting the $5000 Event Development Grant were Youth of Bland Shire, West Wyalong; Youth Entertainment Reference Group, Campbelltown; The Loft, Newcastle; Outback Indent, Broken Hill; and Momentum, Music and Media, Bega. 15 associations got the $2,500 Grass Roots Grant. Indent will provide further assistance to young people wanting to find out more about the all-ages industry through the launch of ‘X Festival: A Do-It-Yourself Guide To Running Music Events’, the annual Open Day miniconference which is being held this year on March 9, and the continued annual workshop program. Last month Indent also moved its digs to 6/66 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst. See indent.net.au for more.
SAE INSTITUTE OPEN DAY
Lifelines Married: Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry, 66, and former PR girl Amanda Sheppard, 29, on a beach on the Turks and Caicos Islands, Caribbean. She used to date his son Otis. Hospitalised: Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis, for surgery to remove a crushed sesamoid bone and correct a detached flexor tendon in his foot. A US tour scheduled to begin this week was pushed back to April. Hospitalised: Godsmack’s Sully Ema for knee surgery, due to an old sports injury. Ill: Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is battling leukemia. Suing: Iconic ‘60s band Velvet Underground took action against the Andy Warhol Foundation to stop the yellow banana design that Warhol did for their debut 1967 album from being used in covers for iPads and iPhones.
SAE Sydney's first open day for 2012 happens this Saturday January 21 from 11am-3pm. It's for any members of the public who want to pursue a career in audio, film and entertainment; you can meet the admin team, the teaching staff, and experience the studios. For more information email sydney@sae.edu, or just rock up on the day: 55-57 Wentworth Ave, Surry Hills.
that.” All submissions to WJO Distribution should go to: Checked Entertainment, Shop 68 Salamander Bay Shopping Centre, Salamander Bay NSW 2317. All enquiries to onlinedigital@checkedentertainment.com
FBI RELEASE ODB’S FILES
JMC ACADEMY OPEN DAY
Former Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard was “heavily involved” in “murder, car-jackings and the sale of drugs and illegal guns”, according to his just-released FBI report. ODB died of a drug overdose in 2004. The FBI file, running to 93 pages, claims a link with the Bloods gang, and lists his arrests for attempted murder of a police officer, injuring a child, common assault, refusing to pay child support and the illegal possession of body armour.
9TH ANNUAL OZHIPHOP AWARDS Voting has started on OzHipHop.com for the 9th annual OzHipHop Awards. The nominations process closes on January 22, finals commence the next day, and winners are announced on February 6. Votes can be cast only by its 60,000 members, not music industry execs. Categories cover albums, film clips, mixtapes, producers, graff, DJs and journalists.
WJO LAUNCHES CHECKED ENTERTAINMENT DIGITAL
WJO Distribution has launched Checked Entertainment Digital to allow artists to digitally release their material and still get label services. It will upload to iTunes, Bigpond Music, Universal’s Get Music and Sony’s Bandit.FM (more to be announced), and give acts access to their distribution to radio, Nightlife and AirIT, and pay monthly. Managing directors Drew Doran and Will Osland say, “Many aggregators simply put the tracks up on digital stores without backing it up with other offers to help support the release. Our offer changes
JMC Academy are opening their doors for prospective students to check out the grounds and facilities this Friday January 20. Take a campus tour, get an overview of your course of interest, and speak with current students and the heads of the Music, Audio, Animation, Film & TV and Entertainment Business Management departments. Register at jmcacademy.edu.au; JMC Academy is at 41 Holt Street, Surry Hills.
SWEDISH FILE-SHARING GROUP RECOGNISED AS A RELIGION
Billboard ran a piece on a Swedish filesharing group that considers itself a spiritual organisation. Its leader, Isak Gerson, 20, claims the Swedish government recognises it as a religious community. His Church of Kopimism has 3000 members who meet each week to share files of music, films and other content that they consider holy. Billboard says Gerson, a philosophy student, has also been involved in the Pirate Party’s youth organisation.
WEB SHERIFF VISITS SYDNEY
The self-styled Web Sheriff, aka intellectual property lawyer John Giacobbi, visits Sydney this week. Eleven years ago, he set up websheriff.com as a digital rights management and brand protection service for the music industry. It advocates the softly-softly approach to online leaks, and “engages” fans to stop the illegal use of copyrighted material, making a distinction between over-eager fans and professional pirates.
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Story by Christine Lan
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Soundgarden and a group of likeminded Seattle bands – Mudhoney, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees and Alice In Chains – inspired the grunge movement that emerged during the mid-’80s, and went on to find commercial success in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Relentless in their experimentation with alternative metal, hard rock and psychedelia, Soundgarden also boasted an indomitable frontman in Chris Cornell, who raised the rock vocalist bar with his powerful wail and those darkly enigmatic, existentialist lyrics. Between their formation (’84) and acrimonious break-up (’97), Soundgarden released five studio albums, scored a number one record with Superunknown (’94), won two Grammy Awards (for ‘Black Hole Sun’ and ‘Spoonman’) and sold over 20 million albums. To the delight of their diehard fans, the Seattle grunge legends reunited 13 years later. As Thayil asserts, their performance at The Showbox was “a powerful experience” that confirmed their confidence in the band’s reunion. “We played a few shows and there were promoters interested, and people who wanted us to play at Madison Square Garden,” he explains, “so we thought, ‘Look, we’ve had fun playing these shows – we should go on tour’. The interest was reciprocated.” The reunion was also inspired by the group’s desire to underline Soundgarden’s catalogue and legacy. During their 13 year break, Thayil was able to reflect on the scope
that Matt has with Pearl Jam and Chris with his solo tour, so while they were on tour, Ben and I would work on guitar and bass and arranging songs,” Thayil explains. “We’re getting close to the end of this record. We’re still writing new material, but we’re close to recording and tracking the basic instruments and lead instruments for a number of the songs, so we hope that we can complete the record sometime after Australia.”
BLACK HOLES AND BIG DAYS OUT of the band’s influence in the ’90s. “Meeting a number of underground and indie bands coming up that were inspired or influenced by us without being imitative or derivative was really encouraging and satisfying to me,” he admits. “Bands like the Japanese band Boris or the band Ohm, Sleep and High On Fire... I love these guys.” How much fulfilment does Thayil derive from knowing Soundgarden’s place in history, as one of the most influential, generation-defining bands of the ‘90s? “I love that,” Thayil expresses. “All the bands that are coming up now, I love these bands – I think they’re inventive and interesting, and to know that they were fans of ours, that’s a great feeling. Of course we had similar feelings in the late ’80s and early ’90s when we had an influence on Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins and Alice In Chains. Nirvana were just one of our favourite bands for so many years – it’s amazing to think that they were inspired or influenced by us. When we read in Rolling Stone that Billy [Corgan] had felt that way about our early records... that was fantastic. “To influence your peers – not just bands that are popular, but bands that you like yourself – it’s like, ‘Wow, I like what these guys are doing’ and
they’re saying ‘Hey, thanks – we like what you’re doing’... That’s a great feeling. It’d be disappointing if we were influencing pop acts or dance bands or knuckle-headed rock – that would bum us out – but to have an influence on people that we respect and enjoy is definitely fulfilling as an artist, performer and writer.”
saying, ‘Hey, you guys gotta see this band that’s out there opening for us – these guys are like a cross between Nirvana and The Who!’,” Thayil recalls. “Chris, Matt [Cameron] and Ben were like, ‘Wow, these guys are great.’ We had the opportunity to bring You Am I to the US, and they did their first US tour with us.”
Returning to our shores for Big Day Out 2012, Soundgarden will be headlining Australia’s largest touring music festival for the third time. Even after all these years, Thayil is quick to recall many fond memories from those ’94 and ’97 Big Days Out. “I remember the first time we played, one of the exciting things was meeting the guys in Björk’s band, who were great guys, just wonderful,” Thayil enthuses. “And of course the Ramones – to meet, and hang out with the Ramones all the time... We went on to tour with the Ramones here in Lollapalooza. And of course the Breeders, Smashing Pumpkins... and on our next tour, we played with Prodigy and Urge Overkill.”
Not content to just play their hits, Soundgarden have been writing new material over the past year, after new ideas began emerging during rehearsals of the old material. “In the course of playing together in a room, it’s very natural for us to kind of improvise and jam and come up with ideas. So while we were working on ‘Spoonman’ or ‘Limo Wreck’ or ‘4th Of July’, we’d throw up some other riff and someone else would respond. It became obvious that we had that kind of relationship where we were naturally creative with each other, so we decided that we should commit to making an album. Initially, you walk on tip toes – you’re not sure if people are feeling the same way that you are – but then you get pleasantly surprised when they all feel the same way.
One of Thayil’s fondest memories from Soundgarden’s time in Australia is discovering You Am I, who supported them during their 1997 tour. “I remember running back into our dressing room and grabbing Chris and Ben [Shepherd], and
“The first songs were written about a year ago, and we recorded in March, but of course our recording sessions are broken up schedulewise because of the commitments
“It’s amazing to think that Nirvana were inspired or influenced by us. When we read in Rolling Stone that Billy Corgan had felt the same way about our early records... that was fantastic.”
Cornell has said that writing songs without bottles of Jack Daniels has led to longer and more cohesive sessions. “I think in some ways they’re very similar, but in some ways they’re much better,” Thayil affirms. “The way that they’re similar is that there’s a way in which we respond to each other musically. It’s different because we are older. Ben, Matt and I still drink beer, but we wait till after rehearsal,” he laughs. “When you’re younger, you’re probably drinking beer as soon as you wake up. We’re grown up now.” Thayil tells me that the new album will be full of dark psychedelia. “We were always working on redefining what ‘heavy’ meant. We always thought that you could take the distortion off the guitar and still do a song that’s heavy by the mood or feeling that you evoke or can create. We’re still trying different approaches to songs and ideas, and trying to bring out that dark psychedelia, that heaviness that we were known for. You’re not gonna see a party album or a pop album – we’re the record that someone puts on when they want people to go home. We’re not the record that you put on to get everyone dancing.” With: The Bronx Where: Sydney Entertainment Centre When: Wednesday January 25 More: Soundgarden are playing the huge Big Day Out festival on Thursday January 26 at Sydney Showground, alongside Kanye West, My Chemical Romance, Odd Future, Foster The People, Das Racist and loads more
“My arms enfold the dole queue. Malnutrition dulls my hair. My eyes are black and lifeless with an underprivileged stare,” - ALI CAMPBELL 16 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
Photo by Danny Clinch
n April 16 2010, Soundgarden played their first 21st century gig at The Showbox in Seattle. On the guest list were Eddie Vedder, Built To Spill’s Scott Plouf, Exene Cervenka of LA punk legends X, and Mudhoney’s Mark Arm and Matt Lukin. “It was the first time we’d played in 13 years, and we were playing in front of an audience who were primarily friends, relatives and peers,” says lead guitarist Kim Thayil. “This is what constituted our audience for most of the shows in our early days. … It was fun to be playing for the guys in Mudhoney.”
LV L 3 , 3 8 3 B O U R K E S T S U R RY H I L L S
L I V E M U S I C , V I S U A L A R T, T H E AT R E , CO M E DY, B U R L E S Q U E & B O O Z E
THU 19 JAN FRI 20 JAN HINDU TATTOO
Neighbourhood Watch
INSTALLATIONS BY MATT FEDER AND SARAH MURPHY
HINDU TATTOO IS THE RESULT OF AN EPIC FOUR MONTH JOURNEY THROUGH INCREDIBLE INDIA. A VISUAL DOCUMENTATION OF ITS ROUGH AND OFTEN D.I.Y APPROACH TO TATTOOING.HINDU TATTOO DISPLAYS IMAGES OF PILGRIMS TATTOOS AND THEIR TATTOOERS AT WORK. TAKEN ALONGSIDE THE SACRED GANGES RIVER, AND THROUGH THE HECTIC STREETS AND BAZAARS OF INDIA .
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Death Cab For Cutie Cracking The Code By Simone Ubaldi
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ooking back over more than a decade in the music industry, Nick Harmer sees a life well lived. While his band has risen to prominence as one of America’s most beloved indie rock mainstays, the Death Cab for Cutie bassist has travelled the world ten times over. But it’s a small world, he explains, and everywhere he goes he runs into old friends. “It’s just really exciting to be part of this international community of people, of musicians, where you can sit backstage at a festival on a nice sunny day and have a long conversation with someone about touring and travelling, and know that they really understand where you’re coming from,” Harmer says. “I’ve really come to embrace and enjoy that feeling of camaraderie that you have with people who have chosen to make music with their life.”
With the release of their latest project last November, the remix album Keys and Codes, Death Cab have extended their social and professional network even further. Taking tracks from their critically lauded 2011 album Codes and Keys, the band asked an eclectic group of electronic artists to have their way with the Death Cab sound. “We’ve talked about doing something like this for a long time, but for whatever reason, the source material never really seemed like it would lend itself to that kind of project,” the bassist explains. “When we finished Codes and Keys, and we could see how the record was made in Logic – sort of a modular recording process anyway, with parts and pieces clicked together – it seemed pretty natural to unpack
“You feel like being a successful musician is so big and so impossible sometimes, but here we are, ten years later, still doing what we love.”
that and give it to someone for whom that’s their forte. We wanted to see what different artists would get excited about, and what interpretations they would have with the sounds we created.” Although Codes and Keys itself was a more synth-oriented effort for the guitar-loving quartet, the remix project threw them into radically new waters. They worked with artists including Yeasayer, chameleon-like LA producer Dillon Francis, UK house/hip hop producers The Two Bears and Melbourne’s Cut Copy, and the results are surprising. With tracks ranging from Pet Shop Boys-inspired pop disco to swinging funk to spacious drum ‘n’ bass esoterica, the Keys and Codes remixes are nothing if not far away from Death Cab. But just because it isn’t their style doesn’t mean they can’t appreciate it. “Not every one of the remixes on the EP would be what I consider my favourite thing ever, you know – but the ones that works for me, I love them,” Nick says. “While I don’t really listen to a lot of that remix/dance culture of music out of my own aesthetic choice, when these remixes were coming back I was blown away at how much I really did enjoy them. In fact, there’s a couple of remixes – like the Cut Copy one and the ‘Some Boys’ [RAC Maury mix] one – which really showed me the song in a new way. They didn’t feel like something I had been a part of to begin with, and that was a really powerful moment, to be removed enough from the music so that you lose the sense of yourself making it – that was exciting. I think they’re super exciting because I know it came from us but I don’t feel like I’m ever listening to my own band anymore.” For Nick, the remix project falls into the same process of artistic evolution that defines Death Cab For Cutie. The band has always been curious about how their music intersects with other art forms, especially film, television and video art, with their work appearing everywhere from The O.C. and Six Feet Under to Twilight – a highly commercial form of exposure that has never embarrassed the group. “Our fans always have the albums to come back to, or they can come see us live, but there are a multitude of ways to explore our music and I like to be a part of encouraging that rather than limiting it.”
Death Cab’s willingness to experiment contributed to the fresh sound of their most recent record. While producer and guitarist Chris Walla insisted on recording live to a 24-track analogue tape to make the 2008 album Narrow Stairs, his new fixation with computer-based recording programs meant the band could experiment more with overdubs and digital composition for its follow-up, pushing them in a significant new direction. “The overwhelming majority of the demos that Ben brought to us for Codes and Keys were written on acoustic guitar or piano, but even the early ideas Chris had for recording had some synth in there,” Nick explains. “All of the instruments we play are still present in Codes and Keys, but we use them more texturally. They seem to be a little more skeletal and decorative than they have in the past.”
Death Cab have been touring the last album for almost a year, and are happy with how well the old and new material hangs together live. They’re lucky, Nick says, that everything they’ve tried so far has worked out so well. “You feel like being a successful musician is so big and so impossible sometimes, but here we are, ten years later, still doing what we love. We just concentrate on what is right in front of us. We still have ideas and we still have a lot of energy and we still love making music together, and I think we’ll keep doing it until there’s nothing there any longer, until we’ve run out of steam,” he smiles. “I’m excited. I just want to see what tomorrow will bring.” What: Codes and Keys and the remix album, Keys and Codes, are out now through Warner Where: The Enmore Theatre When: February 24 (sold out) / February 25
Yuck
The Simple Things By Joshua Kloke
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our arms. [But] I don’t know if we’re treated that much differently. We’ve also gone on tours with bands and friends of ours that are much older than us – so when you’re touring, it doesn’t really feel all that different.”
aniel Blumberg appreciates the value of rest and relaxation. After an exhaustive year of touring North America and Europe in support of Yuck’s self-titled debut, Blumberg is at home in London, celebrating the simple things in life. “I like waking up and making coffee,” he tells me. “There’s lots of bad coffee in America.” But disparaging the awful roadside coffee one must endure during an American tour is about as far as Blumberg will delve into the past year. Although 2011 was huge for his band Yuck, with the unpretentious and engulfing swarm of their fuzz-rock debut turning heads upon release (and making its way onto many year-end lists), Blumberg sounds distant and distracted when asked about the past twelve months. For all his ability to rest and relax, he isn’t one to reflect. “It’s so strange,” he says, speaking slowly. “We came off tour, which literally started in January, and that was only a week and a half ago. It’s strange talking about something that we did a year and a half ago – I was 19 when some of those songs were written! [But] we still consider
ourselves very fortunate that so many people have gotten into it.”
“We didn’t really talk much about what we were going to do. We weren’t necessarily going for consistency. There wasn’t any deadline or anything. We were simply writing songs.”
Blumberg also finds it difficult to speak about the songs on Yuck; it’s as if he’s said all he can about them. “In a lot of artforms, it’s like that; [art] is about presenting things to people so that they’re surrounded in the right context. We might have taken the long-winded road in some ways, because – especially in Britain – people really latch on to things that can often just be a shortcut… But as a music fan, I’m not really drawn to music like that,” he says. “Thinking about playing live, we’ve been doing it [so much] in such a short period of time that if we were talking at a different time, I’d probably have a different response. I might be talking about a new song that I can’t wait to play live, or maybe I’d be talking about who we were supporting that night. Sometimes it can be such a distant world…” Even when asked about the formula for Yuck, and its nearsublime balance of pop hooks and distortion,
Blumberg can only hazard a guess as to why things worked out as well as they did. “We hadn’t really written songs together before. We didn’t really talk much about what we were going to do. We weren’t necessarily going for consistency. There wasn’t any deadline or anything. We were simply writing songs.” The band’s age could play a role in how overwhelmed they seem, and how unable Blumberg is to comprehend exactly why they’ve been so successful; with the majority of the band only just 21, many of the members weren’t able to enjoy a drink in the American venues they were playing. But the frontman isn’t convinced that their youth has affected them too much. “I think there’s lots of young bands out there,” he says. “The first tour we did this year was with Smith Westerns. We were all in America, and at the time all of us were 20 – and you have to be 21 to drink in America. So we were treated a little differently, showing our IDs and getting these big black stamps on
As the kind of band that benefitted from a ton of blog hype surrounding the release of Yuck, it was easy to imagine them as just another flash in the pan – but Yuck aren’t keen to read too much into that. Keeping a level head while moving forward – and, of course, while seeking out life’s simple pleasures – is what will keep these fuzz rockers in business. “There are so many good albums being made. This year in particular, there’ve been so many albums released that I love so much. I don’t know what we’re meant to feel, but when we finished recording our album, we didn’t really dwell on it … I don’t know if ‘surprised’ is the right word, but it’s something,” Blumberg says, trying to comprehend his band’s success. “We went on tour with Unknown Mortal Orchestra, who’re one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen, and they were supporting us. I don’t know what makes people get excited; it’s cool, but I also don’t really know what I’m supposed to think about it. Maybe if we’d been doing it for years and years and had tons of records and people had been dedicated to coming to the shows, then maybe I’d feel differently. There’s never been a point where we say to ourselves, ‘Oh this is great, what we’re doing.’ It’s more just showing up to a new town, and going to find the best coffee shop.” What: Yuck is out now through Fat Possum With: EMA Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Thursday February 9 More: Also playing at Laneway Festival @ Sydney College of the Arts on Sunday February 5, with M83, Feist, Chairlift, Givers, Laura Marling and more
“Nobody is perfect and perfection is so rare for only fools go rushing in where angels wouldn’t dare,” - ALI CAMPBELL 18 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
A-LIST ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS
Two Thumbs Down &
A Raspberry
Keystone Festival Bar
Hyde Park Barracks Museum. January 8-28. 14 nights | The hottest live bands and DJs
Version 1.0 A work in progress. You be the judge as Kitty Flanagan tries out material for her new show about stuff that peeves and irks her, stuff that deserves two thumbs down and a raspberry.
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THE OLD FITZROY THEATRE
Wed 18th - Sun 22nd Jan - 7pm/5pm (Sun) Wed 25th - Sun 29th Jan - 7pm/5pm (Sun) Wed 1st - Sat 4th Feb - 7pm $28 Adult, $25 Con. Cheap Tuesdays $21 All tickets
Bookings: 8019 0282 rocksurfers.org This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arts funding and advisory body. Tamarama Rock Surfers Theatre Company is supported by the NSW Government through ARTS NSW.
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Sydney Festival: 1300 668 812 sydneyfestival.org.au/keystone
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Billy Ocean
The Power Of The Melody By Lachlan Kanoniuk
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Organised Chaos By Benjamin Cooper
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s he coughs down the line from Reykjavik, Magnus Trygvason Eliassen insists he’ll be fine for his group’s upcoming show as part of the Sydney Festival. The man better known as Maggi pulls percussion duties in Icelandic band Amiina, and explains between wheezes that “it’s getting a bit cold here, and my cough is probably just because I smoke too much or something…” The mind-bending prospect that is Amiina performing live has been slowed-down a little by a string of parenthood. “We have three babies now,” Maggi says, of the band. “No, wait! We actually have five babies now, I’m lying to you,” he laughs. “It was me that was on [paternity] leave the longest, and I only have one child. Oh, also – I should say that I don’t smoke at my house!” Amiina began life as a string quartet providing the orchestral backing for Sigur Ros’ albums () and Takk. Maggi joined following the release of their 2005 EP AnimaminA, coming from a background of “avant-garde craft jazz” – and it’s a fondness for jazz that endures. “I would like to do more of that, but right now we’re so busy,” he says. “Some famous people that make movies are making documentaries about our tour, which is weird!” Documentarians and Sydneysiders alike will be given a treat edging on the epic when Amiina inhabit The Famous Spiegeltent for a couple of shows. The Icelanders will be soundtracking the films of German silhouette animator and director Lotte Reniger, which for all their familiarity to the band still offer significant challenges. “We’ve done [live film scoring] before,” Maggi says, “but [this time]
we’re adding all these new things. We’ll be doing a film we haven’t done before, and in Australia we’ve got five or six additional people... There are some really weird bass tones that we create, and given the circumstances it can be really hard to play, ‘cause we have to tune the computer, which is very hard. Having extra people will help, because it’s so complex and so hard to get exactly right. But we are rehearsing so much, always trying to work harder.” The Sydney Festival shows will also be an opportunity to show off their new material, something that Maggi announces with great relish. “It’s true – we do have a new song on us.” But as it turns out, there are many burdens to the carrying of new music. “We have actually promised ourselves, and a lot of important people, that we will play at least three new songs in Sydney. We will do it.” The industrious trip to Australia will see the band trek further south for Hobart’s MONA FOMA festival, at the personal invitation of the owner of the Museum of New and Old Art’s collection. David Walsh, the man behind MOFO, “apparently really likes us and what we do,” Maggi says. More importantly, he’s able to facilitate Icelandic art in Hobart because “he’s a very rich man, and he is also a crazy guy.” Walsh’s abilities do not extend to working logistical timetabling miracles, though: “We’re missing all of her shows,” Maggi laments. “Doesn’t matter if we’re in Sydney or in Tasmania – no PJ Harvey for us.” Where: The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park/ Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith When: January 24 – 26 / January 27
Ali Campbell’s UB40, time has not forgotten Billy Ocean. “It shows you how good it’s been, because I haven’t been off the road since then, I’ve kept going,” he says. “The response and reaction has been so good, that here I am still out here wondering what I’ve started.” With a career which has generated number one hits on both sides of the pond, multi-Platinum records, and a multitude of awards (including a Grammy), just how does Billy quantify his success these days? “I can look at that in the lounge room and say to myself, ‘Yeah, well done,’ but it doesn’t stop there, does it?” he muses. “If I stop and say that I’ve done it all, then it means I have no more to give. Far from it – I still feel as though I have a lot more to give.”
“When I go into the studio to make music, when I go into the stage, I give 110%, I don’t give half,” he continues. “I love going into the studio – for me it’s like going into a different world. There’s nothing as fulfilling as making a beautiful record … [If] it’s something you enjoy doing, then your personality comes out on it. If the end result is something good, then I think it can transcend; people can hear the honesty of what you’ve done. I try and make music that gives me the vibe of when I hear other people’s music. You might hear a Rolling Stones record, and you know the vibe is in there; you might hear a Stevie Wonder record, or a Marvin Gaye record. So when I make a record, I want it to be nothing less than what I hear and feel on other people’s records. If I can get that same vibe on my own record, then I know I’m on the right track.” At the crest of his success, Billy famously took time away from the spotlight, to remove himself from the follies of the music industry. “I took the time out to be with my family. My kids were growing up, and there’s daddy travelling all over the place, having a lot of fun. I can’t exactly say I was having the sort of fun I am having now,” he says. “In those days, as you could imagine, I was trying to sell myself; everything was very pressured and I was getting a lot of success. But with success, people fall out, and things start to go a little contrary. When things started getting contrary, and the decision was spending time with my family or staying in that confusion, I though the easiest thing to do was to pull out.” But judging by the success of his seemingly perpetual comeback tour, which saw Billy perform in Australia for the first time ever in 2009 and will see him return this month with
With: Ali Campbell’s UB40 Where: State Theatre When: Wednesday January 25
Cage The Elephant No Rest For The Wicked By Peter Hodgson
“S
orry man, we literally just got off stage so there’s, like, tons of people yelling,” cautions Brad Schultz, guitarist with Kentucky’s Cage The Elephant. I’m not sure exactly what was happening backstage while Brad was trying to talk, but it was obviously awesome. Picture that scene in Almost Famous, when William Miller calls his mum from tour; as we talk I picture Schultz wedged into a corner by the phone with a finger jammed in his other ear, occasionally deflecting a bump from a bandmate playing soccer with a cantaloupe or similar. So, Big Day Out for the band’s first ever Australian tour – that’s pretty neat, right? “Oh yeah man, we’re so excited. The Big Day Out festival is up there with Reading and Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza and all that stuff. It’s one of the festivals that you dream about playing. There hasn’t been a fuckin’ – [background cheering] Australia has a fuckin’ great scene, and the Big Day Out is one of the last travelling festivals.” I ask what other BDO bands Schultz is interested in checking out, but the question is lost in the clatter. “I’m looking forward to seeing Melbourne,” Schultz replies. “You always hear about Melbourne being one of the most liveable cities in the whole world. And when we first fly in, we’re going to be in New Zealand, and everybody always hears about how beautiful New Zealand is...” One thing bands always seem to take away from the Big Day Out is the sense of it being a big, movable summer camp, with spontaneous
jams, epic cricket tournaments, and lifelong friendships. And Schultz is keen to get amongst it. “We’re going to make the weirdest creation of music on this tour. We’re going to mix with every band and make the ultimate jam band.” Cage The Elephant recently contributed a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll’ to Chimes Of Freedom, an album of Dylan covers released to raise funds for Amnesty International. It’s a song that’s always been close to the band’s hearts. “Matt (Schultz, vocalist) is a huge Bob Dylan fan, and that song personally is one of my favourite Bob Dylan songs, so it was an honour to be able to do that. You come from a small town like Bowling Green, Kentucky like we did, and you get the opportunity to do a Bob Dylan song like that – it’s amazing.” I ask Brad if Dylan was much of a personal touchstone for him and, as the partying in the room becomes more raucous, he tries to answer. “What was that? I’m sorry. Oh yeah – Bob Dylan was one of the greatest storytellers to ever live… We’ve always been a band that wants to tell a story about different views of life and put it into a story, instead of just… you can write songs and just kinda have a … like… train of thought on a piece of paper [something very loud and obviously hilarious happens in the background], but to take that and then built it into a story – Bob Dylan was one of the greatest… uh… songwriters to ever…”
On the subject of cultural icons, Cage The Elephant were recently featured on an episode of the new Beavis & Butthead. Show creator Mike Judge is a fan of the band, who he met while they toured with the Foo Fighters last year (Dave Grohl ended up playing a few of their sets, when drummer Jared Champion was sidelined by a burst appendix – but that’s another story). Unlike many who’ve been summarily eviscerated by the couch-surfing duo, Cage The Elephant seemed to get off quite lightly. “It was hilarious,” Schultz says. “I remember watching that show when I was
13, 14, 15. It’s kinda surreal to be on the show you grew up watching...” And with that, the background festivities become too appealing to ignore, and Schultz politely takes his leave. With: Soundgarden, Kanye West, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Foster The People, Das Racist, Best Coast, Battles and loads more Where: Big Day Out @ Sydney Showground When: Thursday January 26 More: Also playing at the Oxford Art Factory on Saturday January 28
“My arms enfold the dole queue. Malnutrition dulls my hair. My eyes are black and lifeless with an underprivileged stare,” - ALI CAMPBELL 20 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
Aminna photo by Bryndis Bjornsdottir
Amiina
istening to the incredible pedigree of pop classics contained within the canon of iconic British pop sensation Billy Ocean, you gather the sense that these tracks have built up an infallibility to the cultural cringe that behests the work of many of his contemporaries. ‘Caribbean Queen’, ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’, ‘When The Going Gets Tough’ – all these tracks hold true as beacons of the pop form, shining as strong today as they did before Billy made his retreat from the industry in the early ‘90s. “Melodies, melodies. People love music, people love melodies,” Billy tells me through his impossibly charismatic Trinidadian cadence. “This new generation, they hear a lot of music made by machines. But once they hear songs that are really true to the form, with nice melodies, they love it just as much or they love it more. I see a lot of young people at my concerts, obviously the older generation too. But the audience is very mixed sometimes; the young people are there because they want to hear melodies, they want to hear songs.
Steel Panther Lock Up Your Daughters By Lachlan Kanoniuk
“I
f I’m wrong, I’ll only let two chicks suck my dick instead of the normal five. That’s how serious I am. Just wait. I ain’t wrong.” It’s the Tweet that sparked one of the biggest local music stories of the year: Steel Panther drummer Stix Zadinia broke the news that the Van Halen-headlined Soundwave Revolution was no more, meaning Steel Panther would not be hitting our shores last year as planned. Luckily for us, the band will be making an appearance on the massive Soundwave 2012 bill, bringing their latest LP Balls Out in tow. “That was [during] his trip to rehab actually,” frontman Michael Starr says of the Tweet. “He’d been up for, I dunno, he says two days, but I think it was 14 days he was up straight. And he was just Tweeting – Tweeting the whole time. It was the perfect time for us [to have a tour cancelled], because it gave us time for him to recoup, and to put the finishing touches on Balls Out. Everything worked out. The only bummer is that we didn’t get to play with Van Halen.” Still, with Van Halen out of the mix, the Soundwave stage is set for Steel Panther to take the crown as reigning hair metal champions – not that they’re out to replace Diamond Dave. “You know dude, I don’t think anyone can do that – that’s just the way it is. Van Halen is Van Halen. Our job is just to go take over the world with Steel Panther, maybe fill the void in a way – we’re gonna bring some fucking extra juice to Soundwave with our style of music. Our style of music is a little bit different than everybody else’s, in that we talk about what’s really going on in the world – like, who doesn’t want to hire an Asian hooker, you know what I mean? That kind of stuff. I really think that element is missing in today’s music. We wanna bring that with us to Australia, and really rock some balls.”
“The girls that are backstage and like to fuck are the kind of girls that not only spread diseases, but they also spread the word of heavy metal. So that’s where we want to infiltrate – the vagina of Australia – and work that magic.” It’s the first time Steel Panther has headed Down Under, but it seems they’ve got their game plan sorted. “The best thing for us to do is just lay down the groundwork with most of the slutty girls out there. Because the girls that are backstage and like to fuck are the kind of girls that not only spread diseases, but they also spread the word of heavy metal. So that’s where we want to infiltrate – the vagina of Australia – and work that magic,” the frontman declares, with Patton-like resolve. Balls Out follows on from 2009’s Feel The Steel, but it doesn’t exactly chart what you would call lyrical growth. “Both Balls Out and Feel The Steel are about partying and fuckin’, straight up, that’s what they’re about. Really, to say that we’ve changed what we sing about, what we talk about – no, I think the [only] difference you’ll hear is that we’ve put more songs on it, because we told the label, ‘Fuck you, we’ll put more songs on it’,” Starr says. “Then what we did, instead of saying, ‘Oh, what would Bon Jovi do?’ we started saying, ‘What would Steel Panther do? We’re Steel Panther now, what are we gonna do?’ “We had so many new experiences, like playing on the road, playing in Europe and Canada,” he continues. “I think that really inspired our guitarist Satchel – because he writes most of the music – it inspired him to write a bit differently. Then the content of the songs, I dunno if they’re that much fucking different, but at least they’re a little more worldly.” One of the album highlights is ‘17 Girls In A Row’, a track which opens with Starr wailing the memorable line “I fucked 17 girls in row last night / And ten of them gave me head”. I ask Starr how much truth is behind the song... “Unfortunately for me it’s a metaphor, because I didn’t write that,” he answers. “Stix wrote the words for that one, that’s his champion – he’s the one that did 17 girls. But I gotta tell you just out of a little animosity, they were all fucking ugly. When you’re fucking 17 girls in a row, it’s
definitely not about quality.” When Tiger Woods visited Australia in 2009, his world of “transgressions” famously became unstuck. But don’t expect Steel Panther to meet a similar fate. “Well the cool thing about us is that what we do – fuckin’ chicks and partyin’ – is out there for all to see, where Tiger Woods was undercover. Which is why we wrote the song [‘Just Like Tiger Woods’],” Starr explains. “It was so cool for him to have this facade of this prim and proper golf dude, but on the side, behind closed doors, he’s fucking hookers and lying and cheating and just doing heavy metal shit. Steel Panther will definitely get involved in that type of behaviour, but it’s not going to be a surprise. It’d be a surprise if we went over there and started playing golf and wearing polo shirts.” With: Alter Bridge Where: The Enmore Theatre (lic., all-ages) When: Tuesday February 28 More: Also playing at the sold out Soundwave with System Of A Down, Marilyn Manson and more, at Sydney Showground on February 26
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BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 21
arts frontline
free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com
arts, theatre and film news... what's goin' on around town and more...
five minutes WITH MATT
FEDER & SARAH MURPHY
A
How safe do you reckon it is to get tatts done by side of road? Haha, if you tried to do tattoos here, by the side of the road or by Darling Harbour you would probably get arrested. But they do have tattoo shops in India that are similar to western-style shops.
fter a five-year hiatus, and their recent epic, four-month trip through India, tattoo artist Matt Feder and designer Sarah Murphy are back in Australia to launch Hindu Tattoo, an eclectic exhibition based on their documentation of India’s DIY tattooing culture. Matt is a largely self-taught painter and tattooist; Sarah is a graduate of London’s prestigious fashion and design school Central Saint Martins. In 2009 they travelled to India for the first time, and became fascinated by religious tattooing; in 2011 they returned, to document the street-side tattooists and their work.
Did you yourselves get any ink? Not this time, but I did get an offer to join a group of Sadhus (Hindu holy men). The process involved cutting out the middle of my ear with a knife and inserting a large plastic hoop; I had to decline when one Sadhu whipped out an old blade he was keeping in a blood-soaked handkerchief.
Can you explain what Hindu Tattoo is all about? We want people to experience the colours, sounds and smells of India, with an allout assault on the senses! Like many religions, Hindus have sacred places to visit to pay respect to the deities – and they have a multitude of deities to choose from, one for every emotion. Hindus flood in their thousands to bathe in the holy rivers of India, and some pick up a tattoo along the way: a mark of respect, a seal of commitment – aesthetics aside, it’s the act of getting the tattoo done that matters in this case. What got you into this project? It was the tattoos, 100% – Matt’s been collecting tattoos for the past 10 years and started tattooing recently. The street tattooing in India just blew us away, it was like stepping back in time; it was just so raw that we had to document it! What was the biggest challenge in the project? Stopping people in the crowded
streets and trying to communicate that the tattoo on their arm is cool and you want to photograph them. Once the sign language and broken English made sense, they were usually happy to strike a pose! Other than that it's been hard work painting and making decorations for the show, but the end result is a culmination of our appreciation for Indian folk art.
What will people see when they come to the show? Over 30 10x14 and 12x18 inch photographic images, most of which are in custom-painted frames. The images are of street tattooists hard at work, the people they have tattooed and their tattoo machines and flash. The custom-painted frames take inspiration from Indian rickshaws, trucks and signage, which are awesome. We also have some Indian tattoo machines on show, mini installations, decorations, a stall selling screen-printed posters, Hindu Tattoo booklets and cheap tees, and a few surprises in store! What: Hindu Tattoo When: Thursday January 19 from 6pm Where: The Standard / Lvl 3, 383 Bourke St, Surry Hills More: thepits.co / wearethestandard.com.au
Jester Smilez and Dear Bobby, with special guests Ballsy BergMan and Vinnie Bradley. For more man-trouble than you can handle, head to The Standard (Lvl 3, 383 Bourke St, Taylor Sq) on Sunday January 29. galleryburlesque.com
Artwork by Benjamin Portas
TREASURE HUNT #SYDFEST
If you feel like a pirate this week, you’re in the right place: Sydney Festival have designed a treasure hunt just for you, with a brand-new laptop at the other end of the trail. HOW? Download the Sydney Festival app, check out the ‘play’ tab on the home page, and look for instructions for the first of eight real-world challenges that have to be completed within certain deadlines. TECHNOLOGY, right!?! If you complete a challenge you get a ‘Treasure Hunt Badge’, and if
LA SOIRÉE
The lovechild of La Clique co-creator Brett Haylock, La Soirée features many of that show’s favourites, plus a few new ones and a dash of local flavour, in the same mix of circus, sideshow, neo-burlesque and cabaret that has been taking the world by storm since 2004. Currently at Sydney Opera House, the show features David ‘Bath Boy’ O’Mer, Captain ‘Incredible Rubberman’ Frodo, The English Gents, Ursula Martinez and the fabulous British-Nigerian baritone Le Gateau Chocolat. We have THREE doubles to the show on Friday January 27 at 10pm (the pants-down late show!); to get your hands on one, tell us who the person pictured is...?
CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY
The Celebrity Autobiography concept is the brainchild of Eugene Pack, who realised there was a lot of comic potential to be mined from the memoirs of the stars. It’s been going now for a few years, with sell-out seasons in LA and New York. (To see why, google ‘Kristen Wiig reads Suzanne Somers’). And now it’s come to Sydney Opera House, featuring a rotating lineup of actors and comedians (including James O’Loghlin and Jeremy Sims) reading from the tomes of Bieber, Britney, Stallone and more. We have THREE doubles to the show on Friday January 27 at 9pm – to get your hands on one, tell us whose autobiography you’d most like to read. you do this five times, it unlocks the final ‘Ultimate Challenge’, with an Ultrabook from Intel up for grabs… sydneyfestival.org.au/app
TAXIS OF AWESOME
A celebration of typographic errors, mateship and comedy, Sydney’s Axis Of Awesome are bringing 5th Anniversary Sow (sic) to the Factory Theatre this week, with support from local comedian Michael Hing. If you’ve somehow avoided their brand of musical mashup comedy so far, go to YouTube and type in ‘4 Chord Song’. The Axis have had a decidedly good year, touring Europe, the UK and America – finally returning to Sydney (for the first time in 12 months) for just one show/ sow. Bastards. Friday January 20 from 7pm, tickets through factorytheatre.com.au
WASHINGTON
Music and arts get hot and heavy this week at MART gallery, where Brisbane illustratorcum-graphic designer Benjamin Portas is opening an exhibition of his work for globetrotting chanteuse Megan Washington – from album/EP and tour artwork to rare prints taken from the international release of I Believe You Liar, and his ‘Insomnia’ work, which has inspired the set-design for Washington’s upcoming Sydney Festival show. Washington runs January 20-25 at MART gallery / 156 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills. benjaminportas.com.au / martgallery.com.au
BIZARRE BAZAAR
Fashion and music will have a threeway with retail therapy when Faker headline the latest instalment of regular pop-up fashion market Bizarre Bazaar – back where it all started, in Sussex Lane. Besides being full of all the usual one-off, handmade and boutique goodies from jewellery, object, textile and fashion designers, it’s also the launch of thisisfortunate.com, a new portal dedicated to helping BB’s regular stallholders sell their wares online. To see what’s in store (har har) head along Thursday January 19 from 5pm, Sussex Lane (near Erskine Street, CBD). bizarrebazaar.info
CASUAL COSMOLOGY
IT’S JUST EVERYTHING
If you’re feeling non-discriminatory this week, you’re in good company: Kenzie Larsen (of Some Film Museums and handmadetshirtsbykenzie. 22 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
GLOBAL ARTLAB
While the rest of us were getting our sleep/drink/ sunkicks on over the summer break, Paddington’s Global Gallery turned its digs into an artists’ studio, inviting photographer Ali Nasseri and street artists Vexta, Deb, Justin Feuerring, Glenn Purcell and Sam Clouston to make themselves at home, muck in, and make some art. Two months later, they’ve got some tees/ paintings/illustrations/photos to show for it. Check ‘em out this Friday January 20 from 6-9pm @ Global Gallery / 5 Comber Street, Paddington. globalgallery.com.au
OH BOY OH BOY!
After a brief hiatus after the closure of Tone, Gallery Burlesque is busting back out this year with their upcoming event Oh Boy Oh Boy, dedicated to all things boylesque. Flexing their pecs on the night are Matthius The Libidinous, Herbie Strangelove, Manik Jonez, Defy, Raven, Jamil, Tall Paul, Rod Lara, Lucas Glover,
Photographic still from Michael Waite's Silent and Still
CELEBRATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY
The Australian Centre for Photography launches its five-day photography festival this week, celebrating every genre and permutation, from seminars on portraiture and photomedia art to a session on managing the industry, an exhibition of prints made from antique negatives (see above), and free screenings of Hopscotch docos Oceans and Waste Land. The festival kicks of Saturday January 21 and closes with a late-night gallery opening on Wednesday January 25. Aspiring and emerging photographers need to put the ACP Open Day in their diary (Sun Jan 22), and tech-heads need to get along to the Industry Day (Tues Jan 24) to check out the latest photographic equipment. acp.org.au
© Michael Waite Man in Kimono 2011
If you like day-glo, cats, triangles and Brits, you’ll like the cut of Chrissie Abbott’s jib; besides doing album covers for Patrick Wolf and Little Boots, she also makes plates with cats and mugs with cats, cats cats cats, and generally makes you feel like you’ve fallen through a wormhole into ‘70s psychedelia. She’s opening a solo show at China Heights this week; cats aren’t mentioned, but since the exhibition will take in "the origin, structure and space-time relationships of the universe,” we’re optimistic. Casual Cosmology opens Friday January 20 at China Heights (Level 3, 16-28 Foster St, Surry Hills).
com fame) is opening a solo show called It’s Just Everything – an experimentation with composition and perspective, encompassing drawings, photos, and a video featuring seafood and play dough. “It is not really about anything explicitly,” says Kenzie, “it is more about me hanging out in my studio composing big piles of objects and then pouring paint on them and then drawing pictures or taking photos of the sculptures and throwing the sculptures away.” Opens Thursday January 19 from 6pm at 55 Sydenham Rd, Sydenham.
Squabbalogic
Vincent Moon
[THEATRE] Extraordinary Days By Barlow Redfearn Michael Falzon and Rachael Beck star in Ordinary Days
[FILM] Music To Go By Luke Telford Ordinary Days, written by American playwright and composer Adam Gwon, perfectly fits the Squabbalogic bill: a stripped down fourhander with a piano, about appreciating the simple things in life. “Adam Gwon has written an incredible piece of theatre, which on the surface may appear mundane, but there is such a complexity to the characters and their journeys,” says Moody, who stars in the play. “It’s very simple, with quite a static set; our primary focus is on the characters and making them really identifiable to the audience. A lot of what they go through is extremely universal.”
O
ne of the great things about Sydney is the presence of independent theatre – and at present, there’s a wealth of resourceful independent theatre companies staging challenging productions across this city. Occupying a smaller niche in this set is Squabbalogic, an indie theatre company dedicated to musical theatre – a genre usually dominated by big-budget Broadway spectaculars. Founded in 2006 as a vehicle for co-founder Jay James Moody’s creative talents, Squabbalogic has made its mark with quirky and irreverent Off-Broadway gems, from Reefer Madness and Forbidden Broadway to their critically acclaimed production of the genre spoof [Title Of Show] – and their latest offering, the Off-Broadway hit Ordinary Days. “We don’t have the budget of things like Phantom of the Opera or Wicked,” says Moody, “and it seems like these days a lot of these big Broadway shows really seem to coast by on their amazing costumes, props, sets, and all this electronic whizbangery. But if you take all that away, some of the shows are pretty thin – so we like to pick shows that come at it from the opposite angle, where its all about the story and the characters.”
Set in New York City, with the bulk of the action taking place within the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ordinary Days tells the story of four New Yorkers and their ordinary experiences living in an often extraordinary city. When it premiered on off-Broadway in 2009, notoriously picky New York Times critic Charles Isherwood marked Gwon as a promising newcomer, describing his lyrics as “crisp, fluid and often funny,” capturing “with stinging clarity that uneasy moment in youth when doubts begin to cloud hopes for a future of unlimited possibility.” “We like to find shows that really connected with their overseas audiences,” says Moody. “They might not be the flashiest shows but there’s something in them that speaks to people, and we feel these are shows we should be sharing with [Sydneysiders]. On the interaction between Sydney's large and lo-fi theatre scenes, Moody offers, "We’ve got these huge shows coming through like Mary Poppins and Hairspray – but there’s a huge surge in independent small-scale theatre, and these shows that are popping up are filling a void in musical theatre with interesting and quirky shows that people who wouldn’t usually go and see theatre are coming to see. I mean, you can only see Annie so many times.” What: Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon When: January 19 – February 19 Where: Darlinghurst Theatre More: darlinghursttheatre.com squabbalogic.com
I
ndie filmmaker Mathieu Saura (aka Vincent Moon) is best known for co-founding La Blogothèque’s Take-Away Shows — a simple but stunning series of 200-orso shorts that has left an indelible mark on the history of music film, and inspired countless others to take a similar approach (most prominently, Sydney’s Shoot The Player). Each film is an intimate sketch of a musician or band of note that takes them out of the conventional performative context and captures them playing music in unlikely spaces — compacting Grizzly Bear into the claustrophobic bathroom of a tiny Parisian apartment, for example, or lining Kurt Vile and the Violators up like buskers along a leafy Parisian alley. The films are captivating, and sometimes supremely gauche, but they invariably throw curious new light onto our favourite music and the people who make it. “It’s definitely exciting to challenge people and push them into areas where they might be slightly not at ease,” says Moon, “but it’s never a provocative act, more a game with our own limits. ‘Professional musicians’ tend to be less comfortable there, maybe because their role clearly defines a performance space.” Moon claims there are no set rules for himself or the musicians he films, and that there’s no explicit objective beyond capturing the music. “People tend to see it as a concept sometimes, but that’s not my point,” he says. “I am not interested in concepts — [that’s] for marketing [acts], and I am not part of that, I hope.” His laissez-faire attitude extends to his preparation for each Take-Away Show: “[I’m] improvising, not preparing much at all — as little as possible actually,” he tells me. “I don’t give much direction to the musicians, and there is no strict rule – you always have to adapt yourself to the environment.” This informality extends to the locations Moon uses. Often the shots are breached by a bemused audience of passers-by, who clearly have little idea of what’s going on. “I do one or two takes – the first moment as much as possible. People pass by, it’s life, it’s everyday moments. The music is not more important than the kid in the background, crying; we are all on the same level, and we learn from that, hopefully.” Some of the films work better than others: on stage, husband and wife act Wildbirds & Peacedrums are exhilarating, throwing themselves into their tuned percussion and
Back To The Eighties
vocal peals with alacrity and passion. Moon filmed their set in the boxing ring of America’s oldest sparring gym – a situation that visibly unnerved them, and brought fresh nuances to the lyrics Don’t run / You see, I’m lost without your rhythm. “I liked the idea of having both of them facing each other on a ring and playing their music in such a way,” Moon explains. “Then again, I think it’s not a very good film. The concept is too much.” On the other hand, Moon's shoot of the eerily defiant dirge ‘Sponge’ by Vic Chesnutt in a dark Paris warehouse is visceral and emotionally powerful, as the crippled singer’s grizzly, grittily-rendered face floats in and out of frame, obscured by the shadowy forms of bandmates. “I am interested in losing information in the frame, [in] playing with the darkness and not revealing what people expect to see, so you can imagine by yourself, as a viewer, what’s happening much more,” Moon says of the shoot. “Vic was not shy. I was probably much more so at the time. He was very intense, [with a] very powerful energy. He impressed me a lot on that day. I didn’t move as I usually did. I thought I just wanted to look at him forever.” What: Vincent Moon in conversation at Sydney Festival, with an intro and post-chat Q&A moderated by Shoot The Player's Amelia Tovey. When: Sunday January 22, 5pm Where: Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre Tickets: $15 from sydneyfestival.org.au/moon
When pets get prehensile...Gremlins
[FILM] Hayden Orpheum Loves Retro By Dylan Behan
C
Gremlins – image © 1984 Warner Bros Entertainment Inc.
remorne’s Hayden Orpheum has started showing nostalgic Sunday double features again, reigniting a tradition many of Sydneysiders thought died when the Glebe’s Valhalla closed down in 2005. It’s part of a new monthly series called 'I Love Retro', which late last year brought us all three Back To The Future movies in a row (a bit like staying in and watching Channel Ten on any given night, except without ad breaks and in much better quality). It all started accidentally, when the Orpheum’s General Manager noticed that a one-off private screening of Bratpack classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off happened to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the film – and suggested the cinema pair it with The Breakfast Club, in a special John Hughes double-bill. Three-hundred-or-so people turned up, partied down, and a series was born. According to Theatre Manager and series programmer Alex Temesvari, upcoming double-bills are set to dig even deeper into the '80s sweetspot, pairing Dirty Dancing with Princess Bride, Labyrinth with Dark Crystal and Goonies with Lost Boys. In the meantime, however, the third instalment of I Love Retro will revisit an '80s genre that has since been killed off by the studios: the PG-rated horror-comedy.
First up in the double bill is Gremlins, a Christmas fable set in small-town USA, with an underlying moral about pet-ownership responsibility. Written by Chris Columbus (of Goonies, Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire fame) and directed by Joe Dante (anyone remember The ‘burbs?) Gremlins has aged into a slapstick masterpiece – even though the critters in question do look like puppets the whole way through. Beetlejuice, meanwhile, showcases Michael Keaton and director Tim Burton at the height of their dark comedic powers. Keaton is almost unrecognisable as the immortal exorcist clown, while Burton’s creative genius hits a peak before he settled into remaking Disney fluff, monkey movies and Broadway musicals. Oh, and there’s a teenage Winona Ryder in her first major role as an angsty Goth (a role she would thankfully outgrow to become one of the biggest dramatic stars of the next two decades). Both these films are throwbacks to the era of Ghostbusters (released the same day as Gremlins), The Addams Family movie (with a great song by MC Hammer) and Michael Jackson’s epic music video for ‘Thriller’; a time when the studios made horror flicks using puppets and stories, not computers and focus groups; an era when family
entertainment also amused the parents, and kids' movies weren’t all sequels involving wizards, secret agents or talking animals. Yes, the special effects have dated hideously (check out the chunky stop-motion sand worms in Beetlejuice), but we wouldn’t want it any other way. Besides the nostalgia factor of I Love Retro, new digital projection systems and recent HD restorations mean that films like Back to the Future look jigawatts better now than they did at the cinemas the first time around
(I should know: as a ten-year-old I saw the second BTTF on the big screen a dozen times). Even better: you get to watch them in the red-velvet, Art Deco surrounds of the Orpheum, one of Sydney’s last independent cinemas. What: Double bill – Gremlins and Beetlejuice When: Sunday January 22 from 7pm Where: Hayden Orpheum, Cremorne Tickets: $20 from orpheum.com.au
BRAG :: 445:: 16:01:12 :: 23
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.
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's Babel
Babel – photo by Jamie Williams
■ Dance
BABEL PICS :: TL
on the down low
January 9-14 / Sydney Theatre Live music, acapella harmonies, theatre and dance – all these come together in Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Babel, an epic synthesis of his stylistic and substantive concerns of recent years. Using the biblical story of Babel as the narrative backbone, and 18 dancers and musicians from different corners of the world, Cherkaoui builds, sequence by sequence, a treatise for how we are more connected than divided, despite cultural differences and language barriers – from ‘talk’ episodes about the science of motor neurons, to physical comedy sketches that demonstrate the universality of body language and tone of voice.
05:01:12 :: The Standard :: Lvl 3 383 Bourke St Surry Hills 9331 3100
flickerfest opening night
PICS :: KC
Some of the most memorable sequences are the more obscure ones, where the forms of the dancers takes priority over any “meaning”, and we find ourselves hypnotised by the choreographed movement on stage. In general, the piece moves from a more regimented and controlled style of dance (including a memorable opening sequence built on the kung fu fighting forms that Cherkaoui previously explored in Sutra), towards the primal, sweaty mess of the latter sequences. The choreography is characterised by Cherkaoui’s fluidity and sense of physical comedy, and duets that alternately demonstrate conflict, courtship and symbiosis. (There are also some fun moments where Cherkaoui uses his dancers as lego blocks, to build larger creatures.)
06:01:12 :: Bondi Pavilion :: Queen Elizabeth Dr Bondi Beach 8362 3400
Arts Exposed What's in our diary...
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Babel is that such a hot and heterogynous mess of different cultures and styles has been harnessed into something so effective. You don’t come out thinking maybe we’re all in the same boat – you come out feeling it. Dee Jefferson
INSERT COINS #3
■ Comedy Thursday January 19 from 6pm Oxford Art Factory Get off your couch, out of your fetid loungeroom and into Oxford Art Factory, for the third instalment of Insert Coins – a new monthly dedicated to recreating your pinball playdays, milk bar fantasies and buck-hunting heydays – while also satisfying your crushing desire for alcohol and addiction to PS3/X-Box. Expect candy, alcoholic milkshakes, ‘80s and ‘90s chunes, over 20 arcade games – and a special pre-release of The Darkness 2 on ten screens, ahead of its February release. $10 on the door gets you all the fun your thumbs can handle; get there from 6pm to make the most of your dollartimez.
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Antony Gormley’s sculptures – five rectangular prism structures of different dimensions but identical volume – are cleverly integrated into the piece as a moveable feast of set-design and props, the dancers tipping them over and moving them within each other, around each other – even spinning them around the stage. More than a mere gimmick, they separate dancers, bring them together and provide jumping-off points for different episodes.
BRIGHT CLUB Jan 11, 18 & 25 / Famous Spiegeltent The learned learn new tricks at Bright Club, which takes Sydney University academic types, puts them through a crash stand-up course with comedian James O’Loghlin and throws them on stage to mine their academic field of excellence for laughs – all hosted by O’Loghlin and with a special guest closing spot by Keating! The Musical’s Mike McLeish. Bright Club’s first instalment proved that it goes beyond a novel concept, delivering a fully-fledged and incredibly unique entertainment experience. It just may
have founded academicomedy. No other comedy show will start with Descartes puns underscored by ukulele, and end with Mike McLeish theorising on the causality between male libido, lack of foresight, internet porn, and printer paper usage. Doctor of Arts Dominic Santangelo, selfaccompanied on soprano ukulele, brought a brilliant song that pondered what a Doctor of Arts would prescribe for an ailing patient, in a tightly-written set carried by Dominic’s warm and charismatic presence. PhD candidate Mark Sutton deserves a Distinction for adapting his expertise, American Literature 1608-1865, into the story of America growing up, personified at one point as an emo teenager. I think Sutton has done this before, but if he hasn’t he should do it more. The School of Business’ Charles Areni, specialist in gender stereotypes, expertly attacked the age-old comic adage of the difference between men and women, roving the stage confidently. The academics passed with flying colours, their stagecraft presumably pre-honed, as closing act Psychophysiology PhD James Heathers said: standing in front of an audience that doesn’t want to watch you is nothing new – he calls it lecturing. Peter Neathway ■ Dance
ANATOMY OF AN AFTERNOON January 9-16 / Sydney Opera House Martin Del Amo and Paul White have brought a masterpiece to life with their staging of Vaslav Nijinsky’s controversial ballet, The Afternoon of a Faun. Re-named Anatomy of an Afternoon – for largely irrelevant conceptual reasons – this oneman ballet is a fascinating and daring piece of modernist dance. First staged in 1912 to a score by Claude Debussy, this informal ballet depicts a strangely erotic encounter between a faun and some mischievous nymphs by an enchanted lake. The encounter – performed by multi-award-winning Australian dancer Paul White – is ambiguous and bizarre, with the narrative expressed exclusively through White’s movement. In his fight to depict the curious faun, White contorts his body in such a peculiar manner that without even a single prop or fixture he expertly manages to express Nijinsky’s abstract fable. Anatomy of an Afternoon is performed to a new score by Mark Bradshaw which is played live on stage by three static musicians – but besides this the stage is solely White’s. Only a truly courageous and uninhibited dancer could perform this piece, and to be truthful, only a courageous and uninhibited audience should watch. More than anything Nijinsky’s ballet is a celebration of the beauty of the male form. White is three-quarters naked for the bulk of the performance and as he moves faun-like upon the stage he showcases this beauty in a quite remarkable way. Barlow Redfearn
See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews
Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.
■ Theatre
I AM EORA January 8-14 / CarriageWorks As Bay 17 slowly filled to capacity, a light misting of eucalypt smoke emanating from a 44-gallon drum left of stage, the significance of staging a show like I Am Eora at a place like CarriageWorks was difficult not to contemplate. Though Redfern has had its shell gentrified in recent years, its spirit remains adamantly connected to its indigenous history – a fact suggested by the show’s quietly striking opening, in which a besuited man silently removes shoes, socks, tie, belt, shedding layers to reveal his naked, ochre-decorated body beneath. Devoid of overt narrative but held together by a loose exploration of archetypes represented by original Sydneysiders Pemulwuy (the warrior), Barangaroo (the nurturer) and Bennelong (the interpreter), I Am Eora is a strange collage of music, performance, dance and spoken word. There were some riveting moments: Wilma Reading’s cheeky performance seemed to capture the no-nonsense persistence of generations of indigenous women in the face of white repression, a fact embodied by NSW Member for Canterbury Linda Burney, who gave an extraordinary recitation of her 2003 inaugural address to State Parliament. The show was perhaps unavoidably patchy, however; the opening Pemulwuy section veered towards the shrill, an incendiary performance from Radical Son sitting uncomfortably with the furious rap of Nooky. However, Jack Charles’ closing monologue as an aging Bennelong, riven between two cultures, followed by a characteristically moving performance from Frank Yamma closed proceedings on a note of such unobtrusive dignity that it was possible to at least temporarily overlook the flaws of the whole. Oliver Downes ■ Theatre
L’EFFET DE SERGE Jan 8-11 / Seymour Centre L’Effet De Serge (which translates as The Serge Effect) is an incomplex and inspiring portrait of one man making art, a minute at a time. We pass time with Serge (Gaëtan Vourc’h), a man living in a basement making minute-long performances in his living room for an audience of one friend, every Sunday night. In a prologue, Vourc’h, before becoming Serge, inhabits the character of an astronaut, as he explores and reveals Serge’s basement with a tiny lamp in the darkness, as if on an alien planet. The effect of echoed breathing and speech, from the huge illuminated astronaut headgear in otherwise total darkness, gave the prologue an ethereal quality, stylistically separate from the realism of the rest of the show. The show proper focuses on Serge in his apartment, in a series of vignettes of everyday life and the performances he shares with his friends. Serge’s micro performances create wonder from very little – a piece of music imaginatively combined with a laser, car headlights, or a remote control box with a sparkler, creates a magical effect.
Non-actors populate the roles of Serge’s friends, with the show’s creators, Vivarium Studio, enlisting new friends in each city. Director and conceiver Philippe Quesne’s work plays on the ambiguities of illusion and truth, real and false, and the use of non-actors plays toward this blur. Their engagements with Serge’s performances and eccentric hospitality had the unscripted ring of truth, without construct, in a constructed setting. Serge had an effect on me; if only we could have spent more than 75 minutes together. Peter Neathway ■ Cabaret
MEOW MEOW'S LITTLE MATCH GIRL Until January 29 / Famous Spiegeltent Having interviewed her (but thus far never seen her in the flesh) I was immensely curious to see what Melbourne-based international cabaret sensation Meow Meow would do with the covetable tentpole show for Sydney Festival’s Famous Spiegeltent – a position previously occupied (and sold out) by such nowinfamous shows as La Clique and Smoke & Mirrors (both of which weren’t my cup of tea – so, you know, what were the odds?) But Little Match Girl is wonderful; it’s entertainment with a capital E – for Extrovert (which, chip packet in hand and legs akimbo as she wades through and over her audience, Meow Meow certainly is), Effervescent (in the brash and bubbly way that champagne swigged from the bottle can be) and Evening gown (a red sequined spangly affair, that doesn’t stay on for long). From the minute she pokes her head through the curtains, Meow Meow is sizing her audience up as a target for her whirlwind of words; by the time she’s exploded the lighting system, about ten minutes in, she’s proved herself a veritable whirling dervish of doubleentendre. She makes good use of the ‘lights out’ gimmick (for so long, in fact, that you begin to think she might do the whole thing this way), including a sequence in which she commandeers iPhones from audience members, to light her. It is during this sequence that her co-star Mitchell Butel is revealed, at first posing as an audience member, but gradually becoming entwined in the show, in the role of Meow Meow’s Biggest Fan. A friend was complaining that Meow Meow has a reputation for starting but never finishing a song, rolling around on the floor, smoking on stage (not unlike Cat Power, apparently). Well yes, she does this; but she also finishes quite a few stellar numbers, from the sweetly melancholic to the rah rah anthem ‘What will happen to the tots?’ Even better, she holds us in the palm of her hand and twists us around her little finger; when she’s droll we laugh, when she’s melancholic we sigh – which, given that her moods change on a dime, is no small feat.
Come work with us! The Brag is seeking a new Advertising Sales Representative to add to our energetic and youthful team!
Dee Jefferson
Meow Meow – photo by Prudence Upton
A fantastic opportunity exists for the right person to join one of Australia’s leading music titles.
experience. A mobile phone and car allowance adds to a great package with all the usual benefits.
A knowledge of and passion for of all things Sydney - bars, clubs, pubs, music, entertainment is essential. Applicants with sales experience and/ or existing contact base who can hit the ground running are preferred.
Plus, you get to work in a cool, inner city location with one of Australia’s foremost youth marketing companies and publishing teams.
A retainer and generous incentives are offered, commensurate with
This is an excellent opportunity for the right, self motivated and hard working person to break into the music industry!
Got what it takes? Email resume and cover letter to jobs@furstmedia.com.au Meow Meow in Little Match Girl The Brag is part of Peer Group, Australia’s foremost youth marketing company and Furst Media, Australia’s biggest streetpress company
See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 25
Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK THE BIG PINK Future This 4AD/Remote Control
Future This is a large scale, technicolour pop record. Don’t be surprised if it’s frikkin’ huge.
As one might expect from The Big Pink, their new album sounds simultaneously cool as fuck, and very expensive. Alan Moulder mixes the songs in his trademark style – all sweetness and harshness – as treated shoegazey guitars collide with punchy electronica. Singer Robbie Furze has that very fashionable melodic wail you hear in everyone from Band Of Horses to Bloc Party; it’s the vocal sound of populist alternative rock, just like Eddie Vedder clones used to be in the ‘90s. So: lots of style, not a great deal of substance and very little originality. It should be loathsome, yet Future This is actually quite fab; it succeeds thanks to the sheer exuberance displayed within its grooves.
PROFESSOR GREEN At Your Inconvenience Virgin It would be far too easy to compare Professor Green with Eminem. The insistently nasal rap style delivered at impossible speeds; the don’t-reallycare-who-I-offend attitude; and now, apparently, the need to air family grievances. But Professor Green, when he’s hitting the right notes, manages to be witty and deliciously cutting without any of that tiresome shock value attached. His follow-up to 2010's Alive Til I’m Dead, Professor Green’s latest still knows how to work a sample with effortless flair – ‘Spinning Out (ft. Fink)’ reworks The Pixie’s ‘Where Is My Mind’ under a flow about the pitfalls of fame (which he's fairly uncomfortable with, it would appear). Songs like the title track are where Green really shines; he's right at home showcasing his acrobatic vocals and filthy lyrical style (“putting my cobra inside of Anna Kournikova”). ‘Trouble (ft. Luciana)’ is a slinky number with an irresistible drum n bass refrain, and her kittenish vocals perfectly match Green’s rhymes as he takes it down a notch from his usual breakneck speed. While lead single ‘Read All About It (ft. Emeli Sande)’ is a great powerballad track, complete with soaring female vocals and a heartfelt ode to a troubled past, one of these would have sufficed rather than the handful we get, each with the same over-earnest theme and a different guest vocalist (‘Today I Cried’ could have been left off altogether). At Your Inconvenience ends up a frustrating album; when you finally cut through all the pleading, angst-ridden balladry, Green's wit and cheeky style keep things afloat – but only just. Professor Green sums it up perfectly himself: “What I did on the last one, times two”.
Opening track ‘Stay Gold’ is a mighty anthem – it would sound great played alongside MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular highlights like ‘Time To Pretend’. ‘Hit The Ground Superman’ is almost as good – when the chorus hits, you already know a festival anthem is unfolding before your ears. More complex stuff follows in the form of ‘Give It Up’, which stretches its cat-like limbs over a mutated soul/funk backdrop, where Philly strings and horns come and go in choppy stop-start samples. Even when the machinery takes over, like in ‘Rubbernecking’, there’s still something to keep the listener engaged – in the case of this track, it’s yet another winning chorus, plus synths and megagated drums that rise to the song’s rather epic challenge. There’s even some quite moving melancholy in final track ‘77’, where Furze intones “77 ways to say no” over rising synth washes, falsetto sighs and
JOHN CALE
PATRICK WOLF
ERASURE
Emporer’s Nightingale !K7/Longtime Listener
Extra Playful EP Domino
Brumalia EP Speak N Spell
Tomorrow’s World Mute
It’s been a long time since 1992, when Nick Hallam and Rob Birch thrilled listeners worldwide with the imaginative mash-up of rap and dance music that was their smash record Connected. The title track alone made the album worthwhile – it was such a damn perfect song, with Birch’s sharp lyrics layered brilliantly over those mesmerising beats. So what the hell happened? Nonstop touring, for one. Thoroughly sapped of their creative energy and making a series of disastrous business decisions (producing Robbie Williams’ debut record? Really?), the MCs faded out of the public eye for nearly a decade. I’m happy, then, to report that with the release of their seventh proper LP, Emperor’s Nightingale, Stereo MCs seem to have finally got themselves connected to what made them such a special act in the first place. ‘Boy’, with its jazzy piano, sampled horns and slow-building synths rising in the background, is really a quite inspiring track, with Birch’s vocals sounding strong and assured. The MCs burst into Massive Attack territory with the throbbing basslines of ‘Phase Me’, and ‘Sunny Day’ throws down a gauntlet of muscled-up beats and rapid-fire raps. But nothing on the record stands up quite like the slick and brilliantly hypnotic ‘Manner’; I dare you to not dance to this sleek masterwork of house-y goodness. These are the Stereo MCs we knew and loved back in the day, and it’s a real treat to hear them at the top of their game again.
Made famous by the few years he spent as a crucial member of the pioneering avant-garde rock band The Velvet Underground, John Cale continues his solo work with a five track EP, Extra Playful.
Brumalia picks up, quite literally, where 2011’s Lupercalia left off – revisiting the latter’s single ‘Together’. Thematically, and atmospherically too, it feels like a sequel, linking back to the previous release as much as it strides forward.
Like Cale himself, this piece of work is puzzling. It is neither as weird as one might expect from such an eccentric underground figure, nor is it accessible enough to grant him a wider audience. The music here may not challenge the listener, but it won’t leave them unstimulated either.
The albums’ titles offer a hint to their content (Lupercalia was an ancient spring festival; Brumalia a celebration of the god Bacchus and all the wine, dancing, craziness and liberation he represents) – although the significance of the reference can be overstated. If anything, this collection of songs feels like less of a party than the last. There’s still a sense of optimism, but in a more down-tempo, coming-of-age kind of way, sounding like a call to arms for some adventure of heroic significance or holy war.
Opening track ‘Catastrofuk’ is a bland, uninspired, ordinarily written rock song that sounds like an old man presenting what he perceives to be young, edgy rock music. Ironic, then, that this is the man who in his youth contributed so greatly to some of the most confronting and exciting rock songs of the last hundred years. ‘Hey Ray’ is a lot better, and Cale sounds much more comfortable. A spoken word verse gives way to a multi-layered, melodic chorus. Weird, scratchy guitar noises and studio effects add subtle character to the track, as Cale gives us a satirical history lesson. Thankfully, the three other tracks on Extra Playful follow this formula and the results are pleasant and, as the EP title suggests, even playful. Cale hasn’t done anything new here, he doesn’t say anything that hasn’t been said before, the lyrics aren’t especially personal or introspective, and the execution isn’t particularly masterful. That’s not to say it isn’t enjoyable – it is – but it feels more like light entertainment than an artistic form of expression. Roland Kay-Smith
Thomas Bailey
As a stirring disco track demanding action and solidarity, ‘Together’ sets the tone (and validates its presence) here; Wolf’s simple, solemn rendition of the patriotic hymn ‘Jerusalem’ hammers it home. Then again, looking for religious and mythical references on this EP is no difficult feat. A guardian angel appears (cue eerie strings) in ‘Bitten’, whispering “don’t give up now” to an adventurer who’s lost her wings. Crafting intelligent pop songs that are theatrical to the point of camp, or simply soul-searingly passionate, is Wolf’s game, but he’s been criticised in the past for cluttering his music with too many convoluted ideas and references, and just too much gosh-darn trying. With Brumalia, those elements are still there – we certainly get a sense of the epic, and for listeners who want to delve into lyrical references and meanings the storytelling side of things becomes that much richer – but I wouldn’t call it cluttered or self-indulgent. Brumalia is eminently listenable, and often dancefloor-friendly too. Jenny Noyes
Marissa Demetriou
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK Street Music Independent
Following up their 2009 EP Dreamstate, Sydney five-piece Only The Sea Slugs have released a mini-album as unique as their band name. Street Music is the second release for this eclectic band, and they’ve obviously been spending the time between them honing a well-developed signature sound that's theatrical and almost vaudevillian. Think Squirrel Nut Zippers but with more guitars and less kook; their self-described ‘dark swing’ is
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Matt Thrower
STEREO MCS
If you’re anything like me, there was a brief period in the Naughties where you stopped in your tracks and wondered to yourself, ‘Whatever happened to Stereo MCs?’
ONLY THE SEA SLUGS
plaintive piano notes. It’s an atmospheric finale to one of the most likeable, crowd-pleasing alt-rock records since, well, Oracular Spectacular.
both melancholic and enchanting, with some hypnotic tempos. Street Music was self-produced, and cleanly engineered by Kerry Newland, with stand out tracks like ‘She Said’ showcasing some dirty guitar and grim vocals. ‘Moonpark’ is a woe-filled dance number which has been picked to soundtrack the teaser trailer for the upcoming Australian short film The Only Damage. That Only The Sea Slugs would be scoring already doesn't come as much of a surprise; their melodic tunes evoke eclectic visions even without the help of a videographer. Another highlight, ‘Simple Intricacy Of My Paranoia’ is an unexpected but successful blend of rap and indie guitars.
While the album has its share of moodiness, it’s not all doom and gloom. There's a comedic element and an obvious love of music and performance that shines through the mishmash of genres and the strong, brooding vocals of frontman Sasha Mishevski. With Street Music, Only The Sea Slugs have created an edgy and ambitious release that’s heavy hearted and a bit quirky, with zero sappiness. The extended EP is tight, weighing in at 25 minutes – expect to see its second half, Street Music Part 2, a little later in the year. Street Music is a beautiful procession of inspired indie rock – atmospheric, reflective and superbly produced. Juliette Gillies
Has it really been 26 years since Oh L’Amour? Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, better known to their legions of fans as Erasure, can honestly be hailed as one of the most successful synthpop bands of all time. From their 1985 debut Wonderland to 1988’s The Innocents – and from 1992’s remarkable celebration of ABBA songs, Abba-esque, to the delicate beauty of 2005’s Nightbird – Erasure has soldiered on through highlights and low, selling in excess of 25 million records. Tomorrow’s World, their 14th studio album, harkens back to the heady days of the early ‘90s with style and panache, and in the process happens to be one of their most exciting releases of the last decade. Bell’s voice is in fine form, his trademark falsetto soaring to astonishing heights as Clarke backs up the proceedings with a plethora of heady, pulsing beats, surging synths and flowery rhythms. Exploring the ageold themes of regret, recollection, reflection and epiphany, Tomorrow’s World is, all told, a hopeful record, focusing not on what has passed; rather, its heart belongs in the future. Things kick off with the joyful strains of ‘Be With You’, its club anthemfeel transporting the listener back to the diva-led tracks of 1992. Bell and Clarke revisit their Chorus-era days with the wonderful and bounceeliciting ‘I Lose Myself’ and ‘Fill Us With Fire’, while the stirringly soulful ‘When I Start To (Break It All Down)’ brings to mind their work on 1987’s brilliant The Circus. Erasure has always been a soul band with electronic sensibilities, and this record reflects that ethos perfectly. With their hearts on their sleeves, they’ve demonstrated that they still have stories to tell – and they still tell them beautifully. Thomas Bailey
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... THE CAVE SINGERS - Invitation Songs NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - Murder Ballads NICKI MINAJ - Pink Friday
NICK DRAKE - Way To Blue DRAKE - Take Care
BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 27
Remedy More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart
JIM JONES REVUE
The Jim Jones Revue brought their supercharged ‘50s rock’n’roll mania to the Annandale in fine style, with a sense of Little Richard-type frenzy that’s glaringly lacking in so many if not virtually all of their contemporaries. As a unit they might be new to the game – although singer Jim Jones is something of a veteran with his time in Thee Hypnotics in the ‘90s, amongst other things – but they clearly understand the music as much as they love it. They seem to know that it’s not just about playing in a certain manner, but driving the sound too. And for the second time in a month, someone raved about the Godheadness of The Gun Club from the Annandale stage. First it was Off!, and tonight the Reverend Jim Jones. No complaints here on either occasion. Our only suggestion was that Jones do some song-linking raves about meeting Jerry Lee Lewis, the first record being bought and the like, as Bruce Springsteen used to do so powerfully. In any event – if rock really is selling by the truckload, then The Jim Jones Revue should be set for many lives.
are back! Celebrating Sydney’s best music, art, eats, events, collectives, performances and people.
TONY IOMMI
This ain’t good at all, but then it’s not necessarily a death sentence either: master Black Sabbath axeman, Tony Iommi, has lymphoma, a form of cancer. The good news is it is in its early stages, and is treatable. But the news hits as the reformed Sabs work on a new album and prepare for a mammoth world tour.
THE STATS
According to the latest Nielsen SoundScan stats, rock outsold RnB almost two-to-one (and in the case of rap, more than three-to-one) in 2011. On the one hand, it’s most welcome news for us here at Remedy – although maybe the figures include Coldplay, Adele, Lady Gaga and even The Bieber, given there was no “pop” category; but realistically it’s puzzling given the clear social and cultural dominance of modern RnB and rap, so sadly we feel it would a little unwise to use this as a gauge of popularity. Glaring case in point: the small crowd of hard workers Airbourne at the Big Day Out in 2011, followed minutes later by the near arena-filling mob for Bliss n Eso on the adjacent stage. And we’re still recovering from seeing a car that had Beyonce or some such crap blasting from it outside one of AC/DC’s Black Ice shows. Almost as curious looking at the Nielsen stats, was that metal sold just under three times
what jazz did, and jazz don’t have a Metallica to boost their numbers. All just too weird, man.
HIGH ON FIRE
Metal Gods High On Fire have begun work on their next album, quite fittingly in Salem, Massachusetts – former witching capital – with Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou acting as producer.
POISON IDEA
The back catalogue of Poison Idea, the world’s biggest real punk band – and we mean that quite literally – is being reissued on vinyl from late January. The first shot is the singles compilation, Darby Crash Rides Again – The Early Years. Being able to get a new vinyl copy of their drunken opus of revenge, Feel The Darkness, is one sweet thing, we reckon.
HARD ONS REISSUE
The Hard Ons’ reissue series that we mentioned a while back is slowly coming together. Each release will be a doubledisc effort, along with a monster ten-disc boxed set including several DVDs.
THIN LIZZY
You might have heard the recent report that as many as 700 Thin Lizzy songs that have never seen daylight have just been unearthed and may be the subject of a new boxed set. These things have ended in tears before, so we’re not getting too excited. We’re betting that a fair portion of the stuff (if not all of it) is demos and rehearsals rather than a “lost” Lizzy slab. But man would we like to be wrong. Apparently Phil Lynott, who it’s said was the band’s loving archivist (which to us is a bit like saying Bon Scott used to decline party invitations in order to say home and catalog photos of AC/DC) presented a friend with 150 tapes containing the songs spanning the decade from 1971–1981 before he passed in 1986.
RIP LARRY
Latter-day Iron Butterfly and Captain Beyond guitarist Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt has passed away. He was 63. After his stint in Butterfly, he and the band’s Lee Dorman re-teamed to form Captain Beyond, with early Deep Purple frontman Rod Evans. Their self-titled debut was a killer dedicated to Duane Allman, but the follow-up for some reason went a complete 180 and sounded like bad Santana.
ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is The Hoodoo Gurus’ Stoneage Romeos – which for us was their original and best. These days, some three decades on, they manage to successfully straddle being a) keepers of the real rock-underground keys, both spiritually and practically, from The New York Dolls and The Stooges to The Velvet Underground and Radio Birdman, and b) one of the last remaining beer-barn acts – for want of a better, more fitting term – in the country, with a virtual jukebox filled with killer sing-along pop anthems. No mean feat. Also spinning is Can’s Tago Mago, which really is music from its own unique dimension, and has zero to do with Chuck Berry or any other traditional touchpoint. It stood out like dogs’ balls at the height of the space-sonics craze when Pink Floyd, Hawkwind and Amon Duul ruled on release in 1971, and still does to this day. And much of its cosmos-tripping qualities have as much to do with their lost tribe rhythms as the actual instrumentation.
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TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS Blackie from The Hard Ons is doing an in-store performance at Repressed Records in Newtown on January 28 at 7pm, with support from a special guest.
Dead Meadow
Here’s the bill for ComaFest, a grand celebration of all things stoner and big rock which is being held at the Sandringham on Saturday January 28: Karma to Burn, Agonhymn, Don Fernado, Throwdown, Mother Mars, Arrowhead, Van, Broozer, Sotis and Birdmouth. More acts are still to be announced. Yay! The mighty Dead Meadow return in April, with support from The Pink Mountaintops (who are the campfire hippy side of Black Mountain). On April 6 they’re at The Hi Fi Bar.
Send stuff to remedy@ozemail.com.au by 6pm Wednesdays. Pics to art@thebrag.com www.facebook.com/remedy4rock 28 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
live reviews What we've been to see...
METRONOMY
Manning Bar, Sydney University Thursday January 5 No matter how many times they return to Australia with exactly the same shtick, the flashing, syncopated LED breastplates that Metronomy have made their own personal brand will never get old. Sure, with their new album boasting some more expansive, less punk-funk-y gems, they’re not getting the same workout they did in the ‘R-A/ D-I-/Ooooooh’ glory days of yore, but they hang about just the same.
accolades from near and far, they’re relaxing into their roles as the forerunners of British indie, and what benefits most is their sound. Replicating those yawning synths and deep bass sounds that made cuts like ‘We Broke Free’ so hot on wax, the band fly through both new and old material with aplomb, the nicest moments being when they slow it all down and show off their classic inclinations with ‘Everything Goes My Way’ and the cute bossa of ‘Some Written.’ The loudest cheers are still reserved for ‘Heartbreaker’, but it’s got nothing on the new stuff.
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A solid live band who perform with gusto and guts. Metronomy are growing up fast.
With The English Riviera, Metronomy made a clean break from sounding like an even naffer Bloc Party and floored everyone with serious, intense musicianship. It shows in spades tonight, with the wide expanses of ‘The Bay’ and ‘The Look’ benefitting from the now-permanent lineup of Totally Animated African Man Playing Bass (Kele Okereke doppleganger of the year), and Indie Rock Drummer Girl Perennially Slamming The Skins. That these two rhythm section members are indeed very cool is perhaps offered in direct contrast to frontman Joseph and keyboard/sax/ clarinettist Oscar, who remain tech nerds at heart no matter how big this band gets. The way the four interact is quite hilarious – but they’re certainly on the money.
25 JAN
JA Marou 28 Busby N
Local s presents Live & e’ tt zo Li 01 Night FEB ck ‘N’ Food Trivia 02 Think Ro FEB
02 4368 2017
OAST C L A R T N E C ’S E LIZOTT
s presents Live & 18 Lizotte’ JAN Andrew Winton JAN
Last time Metronomy were in town, the sophomore record hadn’t dropped and they looked a bit uneasy. Now, after a solid year of touring and
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:: GEORGE POPOV OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER
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s presents Live & 25 Lizotte’ JAN Busby Marou JAN
BEIRUT
Sydney Opera House Thursday January 5 The first two records from the Santa Fe-born globetrotter Zach Condon were inspired by his travels, fusing elements of world music – the Balkan stomp of 2006’s The Gulag Orkestar, the Parisian chansons of 2007’s The Flying Club Cup – with his lyrical imagery and soulful, luscious voice. But it’s his most recent record, The Rip Tide, that’s brought him to the Opera House, a record inspired not by travel, but by a long stint spent settling down with a house, a wife, and a dog. And watching him tonight, there’s no denying that the scruffy boy-genius has indeed grown up. The last time Beirut was in Sydney it was 2008 at the Manning Bar, and Zach Condon was 22 years old, and very drunk. The set that followed was a ramshackle affair; energetic, sure, but lacking the glue required to tie together his disparate ideas. (I've still got a strong image in my mind of Condon waving his hipflask at the brass players as though it were a baton, with his swaying back facing the half-amused, half-disappointed crowd.) Condon ended up citing exhaustion when he cancelled European tour dates after that visit – an echo of his hospitalisation during a 2006 tour – so these days, he’s put some rules in place: never longer than two and a half weeks on the road, a day off between shows, minimal interviews, and far less whisky. And it’s that version of Beirut that we’re treated to tonight: extremely sober and extremely talented instrument-swapping musicians, with their prodigiously gifted ringleader behaving himself front and centre. Beirut as a full band have been together a while now, and they sound phenomenal. The swaying accordion and bursting brass section – trumpets, trombone, and an energetic sousaphone – blast out of each song, with
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My So 27 Barry Leef’s –
Jonno Seidler
Condon’s rich, warm, wavering baritone flying above it like the sales of a ship. The setlist is balanced between the three albums, while touching on EP tracks like ‘Elephant Gun’ (Lon Gisland), ‘The Shrew’ (March Of The Zapotec), and ‘My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille’, from the Holland EP which is credited to Realpeople, Condon's former solo project. It could be the pressure of a seated sellout show, it could be the austerity of their surrounds, or it could be the fact that Zach’s family have flown out to witness the milestone, but Beirut seem a little tightlywound tonight. Zach’s banter is clipped, his brass guys barely crack a smile, and the accordionist and drummer continue to run away with songs (‘Mount Wroclai’, ‘Forks and Knives’) before those mournful, stunning harmonies have a chance to truly take hold. “Quite a surprise to play at the –" Zach awkwardly starts, before his band rudely interrupts him with the opening bars of ‘East Harlem’, winning a laugh from the audience. But the nerves add to the frontman’s undeniable charm, which sits somewhere between Bernard Black’s Irish scallywaggery and a cheeky country boy rolling up his trousers to steal figs from your father's tree. The most tender moments are of course the quieter ones, as when Zach hides behind the piano for 'Goshen’ (goosebumps!), or dwarfs a ukulele on ‘The Penalty’ and ‘Postcards From Italy’. When the band is in full swing, like on set opener ‘Scenic World’ and highlights ‘Mount Wroclai’, ‘The Gulag Orkestar’ and ‘Nantes’, it’s mesmerising, staggering, overwhelmingly uplifting – but I can’t shake the feeling that the perfect Beirut gig would be one that straddled the diligence and majesty of the Opera House show on the one side, and Manning Bar's loose, casual joy on the other.
Steph Harmon
Local
27 JAN
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ike McCarthy nday Lunch w/ M Su zy La 29 JAN
cal presents Live & Lo s e’ tt zo Li 01 FEB Katie Noonan 02 Elixir FEB
02 4956 2066
CASTLE LIZOTTE’S NenEt W ralia” Restaurant in Aust
tertainm “Awarded Best En
Live & Local Lizotte’s presents 18 JAN Bruce Mathiske JAN
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JA Winton 20 Andrew N
JAN nnors 21 Graeme Co JAN nnan 22 Israel Ca Local JAN s presents Live & 25 Lizotte’ JAN JAN Ian Moss 27 28 JAN arou 29 Busby M Local FEB s presents Live & 01 Lizotte’ FEB s Cowboys 02 Bodaciou
Lizotte’s Sydney 629 Pittwater Rd Dee Why
Lizotte’s Central Coast Lot 3 Avoca Dr Kincumber
Lizotte’s Newcastle 31 Morehead St Lambton
W W W. L I ZOT T E S.CO M.AU BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 29
snap sn ap up all night out all week . . .
party profile
wormwoodstock It’s called: WORMWOODSTOCK It sounds like: DIY Who’s playing? Anto Christ & Casio Ono (DJ), Brackets, Document Swell (VIC), Domeyko/Gonzalez, Dreamtime (QLD), Feathers (QLD), Gelido, Ghost_, God K, Gold Model, Golden Disko Ship (GER), Jasmina Machina (GER), Jusgo Mosh, Justice Yeldham, Kang Gang, Kasha (ACT), Kris Keogh (NT), Lizards, Loz Nonsense (DJ), Nakagin, Nhomea, No Art, Oscillateur, Proximity Butterfly (CHI), Pyramid Scheme DJs, Rayon Moon (VIC), Red Hymns (VIC), Svelt, Scattered Order, Spaceticket, The Fighting League (ACT), The Walk on By, The Ovals (VIC), Thomas William, Trjaeu (VIC), Wild Dog Creek (VIC), Wizard Bong, Yolke (VIC) & Zeahorse. Sell it to us: An indie-fest or doof it ain’t... The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Remembering is for memories. You just woke up in your tent; there’s some ambient/glitch playing; time for Nepali breakfast in the sun, grab a water pistol for the high-noon western gunfight... Crowd specs: Sure, they can wear specs. Wallet damage: $45 (+bf) from greentix.com.au Where: Shhh... (Near Sydney.)
mum
PICS :: TP
When: January 27 from 1pm – January 29 til 3pm
blood orange
PICS :: KC
06:01:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700
flying lotus
PICS :: TL
05:01:12 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Sydney 9267 3787
06:01:12 : The Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666
noize
It sounds like: Morrissey, Bloc Party, Blondie and Grizzly Bear; all the music your parents never understood, much like your sexuality. Who’s playing? Noize DJs, Lola Siren, Son Of Neil, Brendan Maclean, Seabas Sell it to us: Noize is Sydney’s newest queer indie night, and once a month we’re gonna make sure that it is all about queers, beers and shaking rears, with a gay mix of bands and DJs for girls who are boys, who like boys to be girls, who do boys like they’re girls, who do girls like they’re boys… The bit we’ll remember in the AM: That you had a gay old time. Crowd specs: You will be surrounded by vests, sequined suspenders, skinny jeans, mustachioed men and waif-like boys. Wallet damage: $15 door / $5 dollar drinks Where: The Gaelic Theatre / Devonshire Street, Surry Hills When: Friday January 20
:: KATRINA CLARKE :: S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) POPOV :: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER RGE GEO :: Y CHE PEA MAS NS :: THO :: ASHLEY MAR :: DANIEL MUN
30 :: BRAG :: 445: 16:01:12
dresden dolls
PICS :: GP
party profile
It’s called: Noize – Queer Indie Bash
07:01:12 :: The Enmore Theatre :: 18-132 Enmore Rd Newtown 9550 3666
adventure into design THINKING | MAKING | CONNECTING
Billy blue ‘LIVE’ Open Day Saturday FEB 4 – must RSVP Enrol now on 1300 851 245 or join us at www.billyblue.edu.au Think: Colleges Pty Ltd, ABN 93 050 049 299 trading as Billy Blue College of Design, RTO No. 0269, HEP No. NSW5028, CRICOS Provider Codes: NSW 00246M, QLD 03107J, VIC 03252M.
BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 31
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
pick of the week World's End Press
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18
Beach Road Hotel, Bondi
World’s End Press, Guerre free 8pm MONDAY JANUARY 16 ROCK & POP
Bernie The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Mandi Jarry Coogee Bay Hotel free 9pm Mondo Cane Sydney Festival @ State Theatre, Sydney $69–$79 8pm The NOW now Group Show: David Haines & Joyce Hinterding, Orsola & Charles, Rod Cooper, Vijay Thillamuthu Hardware Gallery, Enmore 6.30pm Rockin’ With Ra Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm
JAZZ
Cope St Parade, Geoff Bull 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 32 :: BRAG :: 445 : 16:01:12
Jim Gannon Dee Why Hotel free 6.30pm Monday Jam: Danny G Felix & Djay Kohinga The Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway free 9pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK Esther Lamb, Sarah Cherlin, Nick Domenicos, Brent McGregor, Che Julianna Barwick
Fisher, Helmut Uhlmann Kellys On King, Newtown free 7pm Singer Sonwriter Contest Grand Final: Shadows at Play, Gene Fehlberg, Kath Cox, Belinda Robinson, Samantha Johnson, Bryan Farley, Lance Whear, Russell Neal The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (+ bf) 7.30pm
TUESDAY JANUARY 17 ROCK & POP
Adam Pringle and Friends Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 7.30pm Asa, Asa & Fefe Sydney Festival @ Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $45–$50 8.30pm Beth Orton (UK), Sam Amidon Sydney Festival @ City Recital Hall, Sydney $55–$65 8pm Fatoumata Diawara Sydney Festival @ The Idolize Spiegeltent, Parramatta $30 7pm Gabriel Lynch, Edward Deer, Caitlin Harnett, Achoo! Bless You The Factory Floor, The Factory Theatre, Enmore $10 (+ bf) 7pm Julianna Barwick Sydney Festival @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North, Sydney $38 7pm Matt Jones Trio The Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney free 10pm Mondo Cane Sydney Festival @ State Theatre, Sydney $69–$79 8pm Peggy Seeger (USA), Bob & Margaret Fagan Notes Live, Enmore $37.75 8pm The Songwriter Sessions Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 7.30pm Steve Tonge The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free Young, Hard and Solo: iOTA Sydney Festival @ Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $50– $55 9pm
JAZZ
John Hill Dee Why Hotel free 6.30pm Tina Harrod Jazz band, My Goodness McGuinness Jazzgroove Summer Festival @ 505 Club, Surry Hills $8–$15 8.30pm World In The Basement The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (+ bf) 7.30pm
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18 ROCK & POP
400kw Monsters, Paper Champion, Cast Iron Pinata, Witch Fight Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Another Door Opens, Taylor Hogan, Rattlesnakes & Romance Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm Asa & Fefe Sydney Festival @ Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney $52 8pm Backlash Liverpool Catholic Club free 8pm Ben Finn Duo Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm Beth Orton (UK), Sam Amidon Sydney Festival @ City Recital Hall, Sydney $55–$65 8pm Co Pilot The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm David Agius Trio The Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney free 10pm David Knight, Tom Rule Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm
The Dead Marines Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Fatoumata Diawara Sydney Festival @ The Idolize Spiegeltent, Parramatta $30 7pm Gemma The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Jagermesiter Presents: Another Door Opens, Taylor Hogan, Rattlesnakes & Romance Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm Jamie Lindsay Northies, Cronulla free 7.30pm Jimmy Vargas and the Black Dahlias Blue Beat Bar & Grill, Double Bay $10 10pm Larissa McKay Old Manly Boatshed free 8.30pm Live & Local: Crescent Collective, Gabriel Lynch, Iron Bar Hotel, Tortured Willow Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $15 8pm Luke Dixon Summer Hill Hotel free 7.30pm Modern Murder Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm Musos Jam Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt free 8pm The NOW Now Festival: Thembi Soddell, Jim Denley with Geoffery Barnard & Sam Pettigrew, Tetras (Switzerland), Amanda Stewart & Joe Cummins with Cor Fuhler & Fin Ryan, Lawrence English with Ben Vida (USA), Black Cracker The Red Rattler, Marrickville $15-$20 (+ bf) 6.30pm PJ Harvey (UK) Sydney Festival @ State Theatre, Sydney $112-$118 (+ bf) 8pm sold out Secretive George, Dali’s Angels, Hello Vera, Fun Machine FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $8 8pm Stormcellar Tamworth Wests Legends Bar The Study: Chopper & The Honeybox, Oliver Goss, Frances Casey Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills free 8pm Tubular Bells for Two Sydney Festival @ Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $30 8.30pm Tune-Yards Sydney Festival @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North, Sydney $38 7pm Vince Martin Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm World’s End Press, Guerre Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Xamper Phi, Black Rose, Glass Chain, Broken Young Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Young, Hard and Solo: iOTA Sydney Festival @ Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $50– $55 9pm
JAZZ
Jimmy Vargas & The Black Dahlias Blue Beat, Double Bay $10 9.30pm Jo Elms Dee Why Hotel free 6.30pm Matilda Abraham 505 Club, Surry Hills $10–$15 8.30pm Velvet & Gravel: Pugsley Buzzard, Lisa Otey (USA) The Basement, Circular Quay $30 (+ bf) 9.30pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK Daniel Hopkins Taren Point Hotel free 7pm Gavin Fitzgerald, Ken Stewart, Sarah Cherlin, TAOS Coach & Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm Renee Jonas, Nathan Cole, Greg Sita
Cookies Lounge and Bar, North Strathfield free 8pm Russell Neal Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 6.30pm Steve Smyth Rock Lily, Pyrmont 8pm
THURSDAY JANUARY 19 ROCK & POP
AA Bondy Sydney Festival @ The Idolize Spiegeltent, Parramatta $30 7pm Andy Mammers Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Bridie O’Brien Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $15 8pm Bruce Mathiske Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $45 12pm Cambo The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Cambodian Space Project (Cambodia) The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (+ bf) 9pm Dave White The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Hot Damn!: The Mission In Motion, Ladies & Gentlemen, The Critics, We Rob Banks Spectrum, Darlinghurst $20 8pm Johnathan Devoy Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm KORT Sydney Festival @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North, Sydney $48 7pm Major Raiser… Raiser: Polographia, Albatross, Fox, Violet Pulp, Major Raiser DJs GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $10 8pm Michael McGlynn Greengate Hotel, Killara free 8pm Mye Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm Nicky Kurta Dee Why Hotel free 8pm Nouvelle Vague (FRA), Moriarty Sydney Festival @ Keystone Festival Bar, Sydney $52 8pm The NOW Now Festival: Nick Sun & Jordan Dorjee, Hermione Johnston (NZ), Yuri Nezovic with Anthony Guerra & Aemon Webb, Gooble Gobble, Joseph Derick with Rory Brown & Kyrre Laastad, 12 Dog Cycle The Red Rattler, Marrickville $15-$20 (+ bf) 6.30pm Open Mic Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7pm PJ Harvey (UK) Sydney Festival @ State Theatre, Sydney $112-$118 (+ bf) 8pm sold out Planet Love Sound, Tehachapi The Vanguard, Newtown $10 (+ bf) 6.30pm Rust, Liberation Front, Seek The Silence, Dividers, Cloud Four, Lost In Verona Valve Bar, Tempe 6pm Sam & Jamie Trio Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free Speakeasy The Whitehouse Hotel, Petersham 8pm Stormcellar Tamworth Wests Diggers Bar Stray Birds, Pocket Of Stones, Chris Rose The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills $13.30 8pm Sydney Sound Big Band Rockdale RSL Club free 8pm Thee Oh Sees (USA), Straight Arrows, The Gooch Palms Annandale Hotel $25 (+ bf) 8pm
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Tiff & The Kids, Susan Hurley & The Hurricanes, Yoni & The Diamonds The Factory Floor, The Factory Theatre, Enmore $10 (+ bf) 7pm Tony Williams Pioneer Tavern, Penrith South free 12pm Tubular Bells for Two Sydney Festival @ Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $30 8.30pm Vince Martin, Tommy Moeller The Vault, Windsor 8pm Vultures: The Owls, Briscoe, Capitol, Mushu, DJ Skar, DJ Finlay The Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway free 8pm Young, Hard and Solo: iOTA Sydney Festival @ Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $50– $55 9pm Zoltan Northies, Cronulla free 9.15pm
JAZZ
Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau Duo Sydney Festival @ The Concourse, Chatswood $60– $70 7.30pm Lionel Robinson Dee Why Hotel free 6.30pm The Subterraneans featuring Rai Thistlethwayte Blue Beat Bar & Grill, Double Bay $20 9.30pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Kim Cannan & Earthen Melodies Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $29 6pm Sarah Cherlin, Nick Domenicos, Russell Neal Kogarah Hotel free 7pm
The String Contingent, Lucy Wise 505 Club, Surry Hills $15-$20 7.30pm
FRIDAY JANUARY 20 ROCK & POP
AA Bondy Sydney Festival @ The Idolize Spiegeltent, Parramatta $30 7pm Akinga Bankstown Sports Club free 9pm Alpine, Geoffrey O’Connor, March Of The Real Fly Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $15 (+ bf) 8pm Andy Mammers Trio PJ Gallagher’s Parramatta free 9pm Axis of Awesome, Michael Hing The Factory Theatre, Enmore $27-$32 (+ bf) 7pm BhangLassi, Vicious Dickens Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Butterfly Boucher, Katie Herzig The Vanguard, Newtown $15 (+ bf) 6.30pm Caitlin Harnett, Ollie Brown, Fire Tree Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta $10 8pm Cogel, Sleepyhands The Factory Floor, The Factory Theatre, Enmore $10 (+ bf) 7pm Cover Notes Duo Vineyard Hotel free 9pm Dan Lawrence Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm
Dan Lissing Duo Crows Nest Hotel free 6.30pm Dave Phillips O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 8pm Dave White Experience Crows Nest Hotel free 11.15pm Expatriate GoodGod Small Club, Sydney free 1pm Fallon Bros Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 5pm Fatoumata Diawara Sydney Festival @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North, Sydney $38 5pm Guerre, Flume, Albatross The Standard, Surry Hills $5 (+ bf) 8pm The Gypsy Bangles, Frank Sultana Band, Kegen Deboheme Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm The Hands, Professor Groove & The Booty Affair Blue Beat, Double Bay $10 10pm Harlequin Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill free 8pm Heath Burdell Northies, Cronulla free 9pm Hue Williams Avalon Beach RSL Club free 9pm Iluka Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm Incredibly Strange Creatures, Jack Nash, Cast Iron Pinata, Slamdance, Thrashed Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Jeff Duff & Friends Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Jessica Mauboy, Stan Walker Mounties, Mount Pritchard 8pm
Alpine Katie Herzig, Butterfly Boucher The Vanguard, Newtown $15 (+ bf)–$50 (dinner & show) 8pm Kill Appeal, The Licks, Neon Hearts, DJ Alley Cats The Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway free 9pm The Kill Devil Hills, Dan Brodie & The Greiving Widows, The Floors, The Handsome Young Strangers
Annandale Hotel $18 (+ bf) 8pm Killer: The Tillegra Damned, Another Minute Past Midnight Club 77, Darlinghurst $12 8pm KORT Sydney Festival @ City Recital Hall, Sydney $48–$58 9.30pm La Vista Petersham RSL Club free 8.30pm
The Last Waltz Revival The Vault, Windsor 8pm Luke And Ben Duo Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 9pm Luke Dixon Mill Hill Hotel, Bondi Junction free 7.30pm Mandi Jarry Trio Kirribilli Hotel free 8pm Mark Travers Castle Hill RSL Club free 8.30pm Matt Jones Duo Narrabeen Sands Hotel free 7pm Midi In The City: Alphatown, Luke Killen, Holotropic, Methodixxx, Xanthopan, We-D, Raine Supreme, Drox, Androsound, Oliver Gurney, McBean Valve Bar, Tempe 12pm Movement: The Vaudeville Smash Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm MUM: Hey Big Aki, Rockets, Rargo, High Tea, MUM DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm Neighbourhood Watch: Guerre, Flume, Albatross, Bernie Dingo The Standard, Darlinghurst $5 8pm Neill Bourke Castle Hill RSL Club free 6.30pm Next Best Thing Sutherland United Services Club, Carringbah Bizzo’s free 7.30pm Nicky Kurta Town Hall Hotel, Balmain free 9pm Noize - Flaming Indie Bash: Lola Siren, Mumbles, Power Puma Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $18.40 (+ bf) 8pm
wed
18 Jan
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
thu
19 Jan
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
fri
20 Jan (5:00PM - 8:00PM)
. y a d o t e t a r b Cele . w o r r o m o t n i a g Live it a
(9:30PM - 1:30AM)
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
sat
21 Jan
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
SATURDAY NIGHT
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
sun
22 Jan
SUNDAY NIGHT
(8:30PM - 12:00AM)
Australia Day isn’t just about freedom and wide-open spaces. We’re not just celebrating our diverse blend of cu cultures. And it’s not just about friends coming together for a all-day eat-a-thon. We celebrate on 26 January because an ttomorrow, we get to live it all over again. To find out about celebrations near you, visit australiaday.org.au BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 33
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com The NOW Now Festival: The Rodney J Cooper Blues Trio, Eric Normand & Phillippe Lauzier (Canada), Sabine Vogel & Christine Abdelnour with Hermoine Johnston, Open Space, Pollen Trio The Red Rattler, Marrickville $15-$20 (+ bf) 6.30pm Pluto Jonze, Elizabeth Rose, Polographia, DJ Bambalam Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 5.30pm Rancid Tribute Night: Sydney City Trash, Topnovil, Roland K Smith and the Sinners, The Profilers Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm Rear View Mirror Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 10pm Remixes Kingswood Sports Club free 7.30pm Rob Henry The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Ryan Enright Parramatta RSL free 5pm Steve Tonge PJ Gallagher’s Drummoyne free 10pm Tim Kendell Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Trilogy, Garry Johns The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 5pm Tubular Bells for Two Sydney Festival @ Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $30 8.30pm Tune-Yards, Jonti, Domeyko/Gonzalez Sydney Festival @ Keystone Festival Bar, Sydney $42 8pm Unforgiven Metallica Show Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm The Winstons Level 1, East Leagues Club free 8.30pm The Wire, Super Florence Jam, The Author The Square, Haymarket $15 8pm Wolf Call: Mother & Son, Wailing Wall, Madelaine Lucas, Flash & Crash DJs GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $10 9pm Yes I’m Leaving, Crouching 80s Hidden Acronym, Kang Gang Blackwire Records, Annandale $5 7pm all-ages Young, Hard and Solo: iOTA Sydney Festival @ Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $50– $55 9pm Zoltan Richmond Club free 8.30pm
JAZZ
James Morrison The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf) 9pm Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau Duo Sydney Festival @ City Thee Oh Sees
34 :: BRAG :: 445 : 16:01:12
Recital Hall, Sydney $55–$70 7pm Professor Groove & the Booty Affair, The Hands Blue Beat Bar & Grill, Double Bay $10 (+ bf) 8pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Bill Burke and Fred Coon, Lindsay Haisley and Cheryl Dehut, Russell Neal Gaelic Club, 1st Floor, Surry Hills free 7.30pm LJ Panthers, Glenbrook free 8pm Pete Hunt Collaroy Beach Hotel free 5.30pm Tim Edey (IRE), Brendan Power (NZ), Jim Conway’s Little Wheel Notes Live, Enmore $37.75 7pm
SATURDAY JANUARY 21 ROCK & POP
Addison Road, Alotta Presha, Freida’s Boss, DJ Skar The Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway free 9pm Andy Mammers Rydges Cronulla free 5pm Back to the 80s The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf) 7.30pm Backtrack, Iron Mind Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt 8pm Betty Airs, Sures, Bloods The Standard, Surry Hills $5 8pm The Black Diamond Hearts Club Golden Sheaf Hotel, Double Bay free 9pm Blue Venom Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Bob Dylan Tribute Show Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Bonic, M.S.D., Chelsea Gibson The Factory Floor, The Factory Theatre, Enmore $12 (+ bf) 7pm Brad Johns Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Carl Fidler The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 5.40pm Contraban Notes Live, Enmore 8pm Craig Calhoun Blue Beat Bar & Grill, Double Bay $10 10pm The Damned (UK), Kill City Creeps Metro Theatre, Sydney $64 (+ bf) 8pm Dan Sultan, Busby Marou, Kasey Chambers Sydney Festival @ Old Kings Oval, Parramatta free 7.30pm Darren Jack Band, Swamphouse
Empire Hotel, Annandale $15 8pm Dave Tice and Mark Evans Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Down Thunder Carousel Inn, Rooty Hill free 8.30pm Ed Kuepper Sydney Festival @ The Idolize Spiegeltent, Parramatta $30 7pm Fab Two Petersham RSL Club free 8.30pm Fallon Bros Brewhouse At Doonside free 7.30pm Fatoumata Diawara Sydney Festival @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North, Sydney $38 5pm The Flaming Stars Rockdale RSL Club free 7.30pm Franky Valentyn Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 9pm Guttermouth (USA) Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills $33.70 8pm Happy Hippies Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free 6.30pm High Noon, Bayside Wreckers, Broken Thought Theory, Hometeam Caringbah Bizzo’s 8pm Ian Moss, Nick & Leisl Lizotte’s Sydney $51-$121 (dinner & show) 6pm Jimmy Bear The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm Karoshi, Making, Purr & Leafwrist Dirty Shirlows, Marrickville $10 8pm Kurt Williams Rosebay Hotel free 8.30pm Lambchop (USA) Sydney Festival @ City Recital Hall, Sydney $55–$65 9.30pm The Last Cavalry, Chloe Harrison, The Fix Chix, Eevie Nicole The Square, Haymarket $15 8pm Lawrence Baker Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 5.30pm The Local Brew Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm London In Terror, Sinnister Valley, Omina, Flatliner, Clipped Wings Valve Bar, Tempe 4pm Luke Dixon Rock Lily, Pyrmont free 10.45pm Mandi Jarry Northies, Cronulla free 5.30pm Mark Da Costa, The Blacklist Crows Nest Hotel free 11.15pm Mark Travers PJ Gallagher’s Drummoyne free 10pm
Matt Jones Northies, Cronulla free 9pm Michael McGlynn Castle Hill RSL Club free 8.30pm Mick Aquilina Regents Park Sporting & Community Club free 6.30pm Milhouse, Cross My Heart, Here Goes Nothing, Anything For Now Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta $10 8pm Mr James Band Ramsgate RSL, Ramsgate Beach free 8pm Neighbourhood Watch: Betty Airs, Sures, The Bloods The Standard, Darlinghurst $5 8pm Nicky Kurta Duo Narrabeen Sands Hotel free 8pm The NOW Now Festival: Sound Walk with Anthony Magen, Robbie Avenaim & Nartin NG, Jenny Hval Trio (Norway), Toshimaru Nakamura with Dale Gorfinkel & Sam Pettigrew, Christine Abdelnour & Ryan Kernoa (France), Gail Priest & Tony Osborne with Ian Pieterse & Jeremy Tatar, Laura Altman & Peter Farrar with Humungus Pony The Red Rattler, Marrickville $15-$20 (+ bf) 6.30pm The NOW Now Festival: The Splinter Orchestra, Phillippe Lauzier with Reuben Derrick & Alex Spence Jarvie Park, Marrickville 3.30pm Pop Fiction Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL free 9pm Rave On Club Merrylands free 7pm Ron Ashton Guildford Leagues Club free 10pm Sam Amidon Sydney Festival @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North, Sydney $38 7pm SFX: Feed Her To The Sharks, Pledge This!, Brooklyn, Arteries St James Hotel, Sydney $12$15 9pm The Shy Guys Level 1, East Leagues Club free 9pm Sietta, Oxblvd, Die For You, DJ Lancelot Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 7pm Skyscraper Stacks Taverna, Darling Harbour free 5.30pm Skyz The Limit Kingswood Sports Club free 8.30pm Steve Edmonds Band Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 9.30pm Steve Tonge The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm The Sweet Jelly Rolls Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 8pm Sosueme: Dream Delay, Feeding Edgar, Outerwaves, Furnace & The Fundamentals, Joyride, Hobophobics, Starjumps, F.R.I.E.N.D.s DJs Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $10-$12 8pm Sydney Symphony Orchestra Sydney Festival @ The Domain, Sydney free 8pm Toot Toot Toots, The Maladies, Roland K Smith The Vanguard, Newtown $16 (+ bf)–$51 (dinner & show) 8pm Tubular Bells for Two Sydney Festival @ Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $30 8.30pm Vibrations at Valve Band Competition: April Falls, The Keep Secrets Valve Bar, Tempe 12pm Whitest Boy Alive, New Navy, Future Classic DJs Sydney Festival @ Keystone
Woollen Kits
Festival Bar, Sydney $52 8pm sold out Woollen Kits, Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys, Constant Mongrel, Singing Skies The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe $10 8pm Yardvark, The Walking Who, Radio National Spectrum, Darlinghurst 8pm Young, Hard and Solo: iOTA Sydney Festival @ Playhouse, Sydney Opera House $50– $55 9pm
JAZZ
Jive Bombers Club Five Dock, Five Dock RSL free 8pm The Sun Chasers 505 Club, Surry Hills $15–$20 8.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Well Co. Café / Wine Bar, Leichhardt
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Ceara Fox Hollywood Bar & Café, Hoyts Broadway free 6pm Fred Coon, Hawk Brooklyn, Benja William, the Pug, Sarah Cherlin, Nick Domenicos, Russell Neal Salisbury Hotel, Stanmore free 3pm Fred Coon, Simon Figliuzzi, Hawk Brooklyn, Russell Neal Royal Exchange Hotel, Marrickville free 7.30pm Yong Bloods: Neville K, Helmut Uhlmann Terrey Hills Tavern free 7.30pm
SUNDAY JANUARY 22 ROCK & POP
41 Strings: Nick Zinner Sydney Festival @ Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $40–$65 5.30pm, 8.30pm Backtrack, Iron Mind Bowman Hall, Blacktown 8pm Blue Sunday featuring Dauno Martinez Blue Beat, Double Bay $10 8.30pm Brian Gillette Ramsgate RSL, Ramsgate Beach free 2pm Bruce Mathiske Lizotte’s Sydney $45 12pm Dave White Duo Northies, Cronulla free 2.30pm Deadwood 78, Roland K & The Sinners Botany View Hotel, Newtown free 7pm Fatoumata Diawara Sydney Festival @ Sutherland Entertainment Centre $43–$48 8pm Flyte The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm James Scott The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm Kill Appeal, Rattlesnake, Brendan Jacquet Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 7pm
Kurt Wagner Sydney Festival @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North, Sydney $48 5pm Mandi Jarry Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free 5pm Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7pm Matt Jones Trio Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 4.30pm Mick O’Shea and Friends Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Monsieur Moon Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm The Naked City: Jay Katz, Miss Death and Coffin Ed The Vanguard, Newtown free 6.30pm Neill Bourke O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 5pm The NOW Now Festival: Your Intestines, Toshimaru Nakamura & Alice HuiSheng Chang with Harvard Volden & Monkia Brooks & James Waples, Utter, Andrea Parkins (USA), Stasis Duo, Jeff Henderson & Simon Ferenci with Eric Normand & Chris O’Connor The Red Rattler, Marrickville $15-$20 (+ bf) 6.30pm Pete Cornelius The Vault, Windsor 8pm Pod Brothers Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free 1pm Rob Henry The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 6pm Sam Amidon Sydney Festival @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North, Sydney $38 7pm Screaming Sunday Annandale Hotel $15 12pm Sharron Bowman Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 12pm Stormcellar Tamworth Wests Legends Bar The Tom & Dave Show Northies, Cronulla free 6pm Tubular Bells for Two Sydney Festival @ Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $30 5pm Youri Blow Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $20 7pm Zoltan Harbord Beach Hotel free 6.30pm
JAZZ
The Peter Head Trio Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Ceara Fox Level 1, East Leagues Club free 6pm John Vella Oatley Hotel free 2pm Kurt Williams Waverley Bowling Club free 3pm Ted Nash Collaroy Beach Hotel free 2pm Young Bloods: Naomi Crain, James Snyder, Russell Neal Avalon Beach RSL Club free 6,30pm
gig picks up all night out all week...
Tune-Yards
jan
25
Cassette Kids + ELIZABETH ROSE + TOUCAN
EXPATRIATE 01 + SPECIAL GUESTS FEB
MONDAY JANUARY 16
Major Raiser… Raiser: Polographia, Albatross, Fox, Violet Pulp, Major Raiser DJs GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $10 8pm
Mondo Cane Sydney Festival @ State Theatre, Sydney $69–$79 8pm
TUESDAY JANUARY 17 Julianna Barwick Sydney Festival @ The Famous Spiegeltent, Hyde Park North, Sydney $38 7pm
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18 World’s End Press, Guerre Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 6pm
THURSDAY JANUARY 19 AA Bondy Sydney Festival @ The Idolize Spiegeltent, Parramatta $30 7pm AA Bondy
Thee Oh Sees (USA), Straight Arrows, The Gooch Palms Annandale Hotel $25 (+ bf) 8pm
FRIDAY JANUARY 20 Alpine, Geoffrey O’Connor, March Of The Real Fly Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $15 (+ bf) 8pm MUM: Hey Big Aki, Rockets, Rargo, High Tea, MUM DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm Neighbourhood Watch: Guerre, Flume, Albatross, Bernie Dingo The Standard, Darlinghurst $5 6pm Tune-Yards, Jonti, Domeyko/Gonzalez Sydney Festival @ Keystone Festival Bar, Sydney $42 8pm
SATURDAY JANUARY 21
the 08 Fumes FEB
THE MISSION 15 IN MOTION FEB
+ I AM GIANT
FEB
22
The Damned (UK), Kill City Creeps Metro Theatre, Sydney $64 (+ bf) 8pm Ed Kuepper Sydney Festival @ The Idolize Spiegeltent, Parramatta $30 7pm The NOW Now Festival: The Splinter Orchestra, Phillippe Lauzier with Reuben Derrick & Alex Spence Jarvie Park, Marrickville 3.30pm Woollen Kits, Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys, Constant Mongrel, Singing Skies The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe $10 8pm
SUNDAY JANUARY 22
+ THE HELLO MORNING
CABINS + THE CAIROS (UK/POP FRENZY)
FEB
29
SLOW CLUB
+ SONGS
41 Strings by Nick Zinner Sydney Festival @ Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $40–$65 5.30pm, 8.30pm
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36 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
BRAGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
brag beats
immortal technique
inside
azari & III
obie trice
nadastrom and more also: + club guide + club snaps + columns
BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 37
dance music news
free stuff
club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
five things WITH
OFWGKTA
PEKING DUK Your Crew We first heard electro in 2010, and got our 3. first taste of nightclubs that played electro and techno. We had mates showing us new shit all the time, and that really helped us get into it. Production-wise, our homie Ben Colin played (and still plays) the biggest part in everything we do as Peking Duk. That dude has the finest tuned ear in the cosmos; he is our father, and taught us everything we know. The Music You Make The tunes we make are our take on electro 4. and house, with massive influence from rock and hip hop. Shit goes the same in our sets too. We love cheekily dropping original recordings of rock and hip hop that people might not normally hear in a nightclub or festival setting. Music, Right Here, Right Now The music scene has never been 5. better. Dance music dons are all starting to
Growing Up Both our dads used to try getting us into 1. old rock tunes like Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan,
Inspirations We get inspiration from everything and 2. anything. Good food, parties and people all
Rolling Stones etc. At the time it didn’t mean much, but probably sub-consciously it did a lot. These days we can listen to that shit all day.
play a big part in making us giddy for writing tunes. The music from artists like Sebastian, Wu-Tang Clan, The Strokes, Justice, Boys Noize and Jan Driver will always get us wet.
produce albums for industry heavyweights and collaborate with live bands and hip hop artists. In the end, the dance scene is getting pushed across all demographics in some way or another. Also, now anyone can get into making tunes. Kids don’t need to pay thousands to get into a studio for recording anymore; now all they need is a laptop and headphones. With: Nadastrom, Yolanda Be Cool, The Mane Thing and loads more Where: Courtyard Party @ The Ivy When: Thursday January 26 (Australia Day)
ODD FUTURE
Remember last year when Odd Future toured and blew our collective minds? So elusive were those hip hopping, roughhousing, equipment-trashing punks that we had to change the name of our mag to The SWAG in order to score an interview. Tyler, The Creator, Hodgy Beats and co. enjoyed Australia so much that they’re heading back to our shores for this year’s Big Day Out, which is being held on Australia Day at Sydney Showgrounds. And maybe Earl will be free by then? They’re doing a sideshow at The Enmore Theatre on Tuesday January 24 – if you want to get your hands on a double pass, just email us with the collective’s full name.
JOHN DIGWEED KRS-One
KRS-ONE
Legendary hip hop figure KRS-One (an acronym for Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone) is set to tour Australia for the first time, and will perform at The Enmore Theatre on Thursday April 5. Born Lawrence Krisna Parker and raised in Brooklyn, KRS began his career as the founder of Boogie Down Productions in the mid1980s, winning attention for his politically conscious lyricism that earned him the nickname ‘The Teacher’. Despite having over 20 published albums to his credit, The Teacher’s legacy stretches beyond his music; in addition to lecturing at over 500 universities in the United States and publishing three acclaimed books, KRS-One has also established the Stop The Violence Movement, influenced the creation of the West-Coast All-Star antigang anthem ‘We’re All In The Same Gang’, and established the Temple of Hip Hop, for the spiritual exploration of hip hop’s culture. Tickets go on sale nationally on Thursday January 19.
CESARE VS DISORDER
Subsonic returns to GoodGod Small Club this Saturday January 21 for a joint venture with Techno Tuesday, headlined by Italy’s Cesare Marchese, aka Cesare vs Disorder. Charismatic Brazilian DJ Anna Leevia, a regular at Berlin nighspots Club Der Visionäre and the now defunct Bar25, leads a strong support cast that also includes the Glitch DJs. Cesare vs Disorder is a resident DJ at renowned Berlin club Kater Holzig, and returns Down Under for the first time since his performance at the inaugural Subsonic Music Festival back in ’09. Since that tour, Cesare’s club credentials have continued to grow markedly; he’s released on labels like Vakant and had his tracks featured on Sven Vath’s Sound Of The Tenth Season Cocoon mix, Konrad Black’s Watergate compilation and, most recently, Damian Lazarus’ Get Lost Vol.4 on Crosstown Rebels. It’s a timely period for Cesare to be touring, as he’s about to release an EP with Inxec, Konrad Black and Cesar Merveille, and is apparently getting set to release his debut artist album in the middle of the year. The revelry commences from 10pm, with $15 presale tickets available through Resident Advisor.
ROBOPOP AT FBI SOCIAL
Robopop returns to the new home of FBi Social this Friday at 11.30pm. To celebrate the union, affable FBi presenter Shag, Ping Pong Tiddly, Kill the Landlord and the self-coined ‘princess of bounce’ T-Rompf will be exploring an assortment 38 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
of pop, hip hop and indie-pop cuts from the past twenty years in their DJ sets. Though entry is $10, you can halve that figure if you’re an FBi member
– so for those who haven’t yet joined the local community radio station, sign up through the FBi website and expand your horizons, man.
Progressive don John Digweed returns to Australia to play a day party at Greenwood on Saturday February 11, where he’ll be flanked by fellow international Butch. Digweed has long been associated with his Bedrock brand – which, depending on the context, refers to either his record label, a promotional brand or Digweed’s studio production partnership with Nick Muir. His club pedigree includes his well-documented partnership with Sasha, his mix compilations for Global Underground, Northern Exposure and Renaissance, and remixes of William Orbit, Underworld and New Order, the latter of whom are heading here for FMF 2012. Local support is headed by Sydney stalwarts Robbie Lowe and Simon Caldwell, with presale tickets now on sale.
PEVEN EVERETT
Mad Racket returns to the Keystone Festival Bar at Hyde Park Barracks on Australia Day Eve, Wednesday January 25, with a bash featuring Peven Everett, a multi-talented musician and a prominent figure in Chicago’s house and RnB scenes. In clubbing circles, Everett is best known for his collaboration with Roy Davis Jr on the UK garage hit ‘Gabriel’, and the muchadored deep house cut ‘I Can’t Believe I Loved Her’. Support will be provided by Racketeers Jimmi James, Zootie, Ken Cloud and Simon Caldwell, with the duo of Cloud and Caldwell set to continue the party by DJing at The Spice Cellar after the Keystone event.
Shades Of Gray
SHADES OF GRAY
Local production duo Shades of Gray, comprised of Nick West and Schwa, are back in Sydney to play a few gigs in support of their debut album Soul Machine, which dropped at the end of last year on the pair’s own Beef Records label. They will play a live set at The Spice Cellar on Saturday February 25 alongside Garry Todd, RifRaf and more, and are also slotted for the soonto-be-announced annual Chemistry Mardi Gras bash.
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BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 39
dance music news
free stuff
club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
five things WITH
RNB SUPERCLUB
ROBOPOP DJS Growing Up Michael Jackson was 1. moonwalking, Michael Jordan
guests, but our main mission is good, dirty PARTY.
was flying, Michael J Fox was time travelling and Michael Bolton was wondering why lovers can’t be friends. It was a simple time, when 3G was more likely to be a local gang, and dubstep basically didn’t exist.
The Music You Make We basically play every song 4. you pretend to hate but love to
Inspirations Our inspirations cross time. 2. We’re not all about retro – just cheesy pop goodness! Anyone who put out a Christmas album last year, wears hotpants, references candy in lyrics, is named Beiber, or has ever had Ludacris on a guest verse is basically artistic genius as far as we’re concerned. Your Crew ROBOPOP DJs are a 3. ramshackle collective of cheesypop playing, party-loving funbuggers. The ROBOPOP door revolves for the club regulars (T-Rompf, Ping-Pong Tiddly and Kill the Landlord) and special
sing to after a few voddys, mixed in with every other song you did love in high school, mixed with every other song by Beyonce. If it’s been in a top 10 or a shitty Dance Now compilation, it’s going on our dancefloor.
always here. We’re here to take it out of the bedroom and onto the dancefloor, where it should be. Whether it’s bubblegum, pop-hop or indie-pop, we don’t discriminate. What: ROBOPOP – Relaunch party! Where: FBi Social When: Friday January 20, from 11.30pm
Tickets are still available for the gargantuan Future Music Festival, slotted to take place at Randwick Racecourse on Saturday March 10. For anyone who has recently emerged from an extended period of social hibernation in the mountains, replenishing moral fortitude and reflecting on the things that matter in life, here’s the lineup [deep breath now]: New Order, Friendly Fires, Gym Class Heroes, Mark Ronson v Zane Lowe, John O’Callaghan, Oliver Huntemann, Knife Party, Professor Green, Swedish House Mafia, Fatboy Slim, Paul van Dyk, Hercules & Love Affair, Azari & III, The Juan Maclean, Benoit & Sergio, Gareth Emery, Jamie Jones, Frank Ocean, Alex Metric, Holy Ghost!, Jessie J, The Rapture, Sven Vath, Horse Meat Disco, Skrillex, Tinie Tempah, Die Antwoord and The Wombats plus more. For more information, hit futureentertainment.com.au; tickets to the festival are on sale now.
NOT ANOTHER DISCO PARTY
ADULT DISCO FT JOHN TALABOT
Performing at the forthcoming Laneway Festival, Spanish producer John Talabot will play a sideshow Adult Disco at The Civic Underground on Saturday February 4. Talabot first attracted attention through his release ‘Sunshine,’ which came out on the Hivern Disc label, and has proceeded to release on labels such as Young Turks and Permanent Vacation. His reputation has continued to grow thanks to remixes for The xx, Affkt and Aufgang on Infine Records. He’s also just dropped a new EP, Families. Support on the night comes from Future Classic DJs, Tornado Wallace and Francis Inferno Orchestra.
RÖYKSOPP SIDESHOW
As part of their maiden tour of Australia, Norwegian duo Röyksopp will play a Big Day Out sideshow at the Enmore Theatre on Friday January 27, the same night Miss Kittin is also performing a BDO sideshow across town at Oxford Art Factory. (Kittin is playing later on, so the gigs are compatible for those wanting to do the doubleheader...) Röyksopp’s debut album Melody A.M. was released way back in 2001, and was a landmark record that spawned the hit singles ‘Epple’ and ‘Remind Me’, which featured a memorable vocal performance from Erlend Øye who would later go on to form the Australia-bound Whitest Boy Alive. Röyksopp’s sophomore release was also commendable, with the likes of The Emperor Machine and Jacques Lu Cont remixing singles like ‘49 Percent’ and ‘What Else Is There?’. They’ve since released the LPs Senior and Junior which, while devoid of obvious singles, are still well worth investigating.
MODESELEKTOR CANCEL TOUR
Popular crossover electronic Berlin duo Modeselektor have announced that they are postponing their Australia tour, which was to include a performance at the Playground Weekender Festival. Promoter Novel Tours posted the following message online: “We are sorry to announce due to unforeseen 40 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
Def Rok
Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. Trends come and go but POP is
FMF 2012
John Talabot
If you think 10th birthday parties are all about screaming kids and balloon animals, think again. RnB Superclub’s 10th Anniversary Tour started in November and shows no sign of slowing down. The tour is taking the RnB Superclub DJs to some of the hottest clubs around the nation to get the beats dropping and the booties shaking, and BRAG’s got three double passes to the Sydney Superjamm, which happens at The Establishment on Wednesday January 25, featuring DJs Def Rok, Lilo, Regz and Troy T. To get your hands on a double pass AND a copy of the slick 10th Anniversary album, tell us what you did on your 10th birthday.
Local impresarios Jensen Interceptor, Softwar, Slow Blow and R+R headline the inaugural Not Another Disco Party at the Civic Underground on Friday January 27. Jensen Interceptor is one half of Light Year, and is primed for a forthcoming release on the notorious Bang Gang 12-inches imprint, while Softwar are similarly gearing up for an imminent release on Future Classic. In addition to the music, the party is fancy dress with a theme
of ‘colour me badd’, while there’s also the promise of free giveaways, jelly and ice cream as an extra incentive.
BONOBO PLAYGROUND SIDESHOW
Already announced as part of the Playground Weekender lineup, Simon Green, aka Bonobo, is set to tour Australia for the first time with a six-piece band that includes vocalist Andreya Triana. Bonobo will also play a sideshow at The Metro Theatre on Friday March 2. Signed to the Ninja Tunes label on the strength of his debut LP, Animal Magic, Bonobo has accumulated a back catalogue of acclaimed albums that lead up to his most recent – and in many critic’s eyes, most accomplished – album, 2010’s Black Sands. Tickets to Bonobo’s Metro sideshow are available through metrotheatre.com.au
CROOKS
New electro party Crooks takes over the confines of Ruby Rabbit on Oxford Street this Friday, for a bash featuring the Bang Gang DJs, the irrepressible Kato, We Can Solve Mysteries, Midquad and Crosses. ‘What can we expect from these DJs?’, I hear weary readers asking themselves. Well according to the official Crooks press release, “the craziest, mashed up, broke down, electro-dub-junglehouse-newwave-bootyrocking beats.” Doors open 9pm.
Rogerseventytwo
circumstances the upcoming Modeselektor ‘Monkeytown’ tour including Playground Weekender has been postponed until later in 2012. Stay tuned to wearenovel.com.au for more info soon”. The news will come as a gross disappointment for fans of Modeselektor’s recent Monkeytown LP, which included collaborations with Thom Yorke – yes, he of Radiohead fame – Busdriver, Anti Pop Consortium and Miss Platnum. But let’s not kick cans – this year has plenty to look forward to beyond Modeselektor... [He shakes his head, choking back sobs, before hurling his glass of brandy into the fire.]
TODD TERJE
Currently enjoying a white-hot production streak – ‘Ragysh’, anyone? – Norwegian producer Todd Terje has started his own label, Olsen, with Smalltown owner, DJ and promoter Joakim Haugland. The label will officially launch this week with the release of an EP by Terje himself entitled It’s The Arps, a pertinent title given that each of its four tracks were constructed solely using the ARP 2600 synthesiser. While on Terje, he’s also contributed a “dub-touched and powerfully grooving” remix of Roxy Music’s classic ‘Love Is The Drug’, which will be released at the end of the month as a 12-inch that also includes a blissed-out Balearic version of ‘Avalon’ from Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, the latter of whom will be performing at the Keystone Festival Bar for Future Classic on Saturday January 28.
ROGERSEVENTYTWO
Dutch producer Roger van der Zwan, aka Rogerseventytwo, headlines a co-pro between Dance Club and The Usual Suspects at Soho this Saturday. Signed to the Fool’s Gold imprint, Rogerseventytwo was responsible for the ubiquitous club smash ‘You Take Me Higher’, which sat perched atop of the ARIA club charts for over 10 weeks straight, shrouding myriads of would-be challengers with insouciant superiority as Aussie listeners demonstrated an insatiable appetite for the Dutchman’s sonic prowess. Representing in support of Rogerseventytwo will be locals Moonchild, Dance Club DJs, Three Fingers, Mattrad and John Glover, with entry $20.
Immortal Technique The Revolution Will Be Live By Hugh Robertson
I
t says much about Felipe Coronel that during our 45-minute interview almost no mention is made of the music he has put out under his stage name, Immortal Technique – some of the most impactful, intense hip hop you will ever hear. Throughout his recordings, Coronel employs his deep knowledge of the mechanisms of power to eviscerate American foreign policy, organised religion and a hypocritical fourth estate, while at the same time drawing on his experiences growing up in impoverished Peru, his teenage years in Harlem in the 1980s, and the year he spent in prison, constructing raw, intensely personal narratives about and for the poor and disenfranchised all over the world. His lyrics are uncompromising, berating all Powers That Be, asking searching questions of our leaders, and aggressively asserting his independence as an artist, an activist and a cultural force to be reckoned with. It’s this last point that distracts our conversation from Coronel’s music; the past decade has seen him emerge as the leader of an everexpanding circle – a movement, really – of like-minded revolutionaries, as devoted to a greater understanding of the historical forces of oppression and subjugation as they are to the small, measurable efforts that can be made to improve the lives of some of the poorest people on Earth. “There is a movement. It’s a little bit more than just music. If it wasn’t, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation!” Coronel says with a laugh. “The fact that I can make [my progressive lyrics] into a tangible thing, that my words have a backing, that they move in a certain direction – they influence people and capture their minds.”
At the same time, Coronel is quick to defend at least the theory of the flashy, hyper-consumerist aspect of hip hop culture that so dominates Top 40 radio and music TV. “The way Afrika Bambaataa and them explained it to me was that, realistically speaking, these two sides have always existed in some sort of uniformity to the cause of hip hop. In the past, when slaves worked on a plantation, they sang songs,” he explains “They didn’t sing songs because they liked being there, they sang songs because they felt as though it would make the day go by better. And so that’s where hip hop has this multi-dimensional faction, where you have people who rhyme about the truth the way that the griot, or the truth-teller would. But you also have people who say, ‘You know what? I’m dying, my people live in misery. We don’t want to hear [from the griot] every day.’ ...The same way we might rhyme about a car we all love, or we might rhyme about lifestyles that the vast majority of poor people will never have. It’s nice to dream about it.” With: Akir, Poison Pen Where: The Metro Theatre When: Thursday January 19
“If he’s offended you, he’s done his job. He’ll tell you about the crack in the street, about starving families, homeless people around the world – the type of shit that is real.” And more than that, they get results. Coronel’s most high-profile cause is a combined orphanage, primary school and medical centre in one of the poorest parts of Afghanistan, which removes a handful of children from almost certain death or a life of slavery. That the project was begun with a $10,000 endowment from Coronel is a source of tremendous pride for him, and not only because the money was all his own, made as an independent recording artist. “This IS possible, we CAN make this happen,” Coronel insists. “If a rapper who doesn’t have any background whatsoever in building orphanages, or building a school, or funding this – if someone who isn’t a multi-billionaire can do this, and can do this in another country with such horrific standards of living and so many security concerns – then what’s to stop me from succeeding? That was the message of the day when we came back: ‘What’s to stop you from succeeding here?’ “I’ve always felt the calling to be able to express myself about things that were not only disturbing to people, but that also carried some kind of moral fabric,” he continues, “that say something about the way we live our life in our society. It’s not perfect, but I’m not here to create a perfect scenario for people to analyse. You can only break it down so much before you have to see it for yourself.” As Coronel explains, the persona of Immortal Technique, of an outsider speaking truth to authority and empowering a subjugated audience, has a long history in hip hop, which can be traced back to the tradition of the griot in West Africa. A griot is a wandering bard, a repository of a shared oral tradition famed for a razor-sharp wit and a formidable knowledge of local history and current events. “Sometimes his words are very harsh,” Coronel explains, “but they represent the reality of what’s going on. If he’s offended you, he’s done his job. He’ll tell you about crack in the street, about starving families, homeless people around the world – the type of shit that is real, but you may not want to hear about at that point in time.” All of this is in service to what Coronel calls “the cause of hip hop,” which he defines as “the advancement of people’s culture, the re-claiming for people who lost their culture and who survived slavery and all other forms of indentured servitude that followed, and a cultural genocide; to try and take back a little of what they had.” Coronel already has foot soldiers in Australia – the five thousand plus members of the ‘Bring Immortal Technique to Australia’ Facebook group that have kept the faith for years. BRAG :: 444 :: 09:01:12 :: 41
Nadastrom Bring The Noise By RK residency in Baltimore and was really digging the sounds of the day, and was releasing some cool records and stuff.” It was as if by fate that a friend asked if Dave knew Matt, who was looking for feedback on some mixes. That was around the summer of 2006 and from there, the boys started sharing music, thoughts and ideas. Since then, their determination to make something special of it has only gathered pace. “At that time,” Dave says, “the Dubsided thing came along, and we started releasing on the label. Right now, both of us feel like we have such a wide background – I played in punk bands for years and Matt has an interesting background as well. I really have to give it up to the early DC/ Baltimore scene around 2000, because there were so many crazy parties. There was such a range of things going on, and we grew up on that.”
D
ave Nada and Matt Nordstrom are a spectacular and capable duo. Their project’s name requires no explanation, and their music speaks for itself. “Matt and I met through a mutual friend, who’s a DJ and club owner here in Washington DC,” says Nada, born Dave Villegas, of the embryonic stage of a fruitful
relationship. “I’d known him for quite some time and we had crossed paths a couple of times – we went to a lot of the same raves and punk shows. Especially in the ‘90s, there was a big punk and rock scene here in the US. It was a great time. By the time the millennium turned, things were getting real, and by the middle of the decade I had a
The lads bring all of those old ideas into their productions, adding their own unique sound to the mix while being influenced by the current music they favour. “With the music we’ve been remixing and producing lately, it has been a real opportunity for us to do music that isn’t constrained – we can do hip hop and hood music, or something totally different. Our music is easy enough to work with, so we might fuse Latin or techno; bringing your own sound is like having an open platform.
“With the latest EP we did for Scion [Records], things sound a little more like techno,” he continues. “We’ve also done some other stuff that has a raw kind of drum and bass style – different vibes and feelings, that’s what we’re about. It’s not about slowing down a house record for us; we’re about energy, and we grew up on all kinds of music. We can flex even more, even with different tempos. We’re not just in the 130bpm range.” The lads are chuffed about their pending return to Australia, which will see them playing the Ivy Courtyard on Australia Day – and they’re bringing with them some pretty special new tunes. “Between the two of us, we like to keep it pretty simple. For the gigs in Australia, we’re going to be showcasing tonnes of new music,” he says. “We want to bring the bass music in general. After coming off tour with Skrillex, we feel like that vibe has rubbed off a lot on us; it was bringing this amazing energy, and that is the sort of energy we want to bring to our shows in Australia. There’s plenty of exclusive stuff, and the two of us really want to bring the noise. It’s going to be a great party!” With: Yolanda Be Cool, Starfucker DJs, Bombs Away, Dance Club DJs and heaps more Where: Courtyard Party @ The Ivy When: Thursday January 26 (Australia Day)
Nic Scali Just Add Spice By Rick Warner
S
ikkim, a remote Indian state tucked away in the Himalayas, is translated as ‘Paradise’ in the native tongue of the area’s Lepcha people. It’s a place surrounded by imposing snow-capped crags and glaciers, tempered by the therapeutic calm of the area’s hot springs. Sydney DJ Nic Scali has spent most of December there and is looking rather relaxed when I meet him at the somewhat less picturesque surrounds of a dank Surry Hills pub. “One month probably wasn’t enough, but I needed to come back and work.” He laughs as he describes his holiday, but when I ask him how his day went, work didn’t really enter the picture... “I went to the Picasso exhibition at the Gallery of NSW and then went to the beach after, making the most of this weather.” Such is the life of the student-by-day/DJ-by-night. Having started like so many DJs before him playing electro-house in its heyday five or so years ago, it was a summer in Europe that opened his eyes to a broader musical palette. “During my first trip to Europe, that really got me into the style of music that I’m into now. [Before that], I didn’t know that much about techno and house.” Since then, Scali’s been plugging away within the Sydney underground club scene and owes a lot to Spice, one of Sydney’s strongest techno brands, for bringing him up. “I started playing the Afterhours, which is a great introduction. It’s a great vibe always.” Spice Afterhours is the long-running 4am-12pm party that’s a staple for the allnight punters not ready to head home, but it’s also well-known as a nursery for Sydney’s up-and-coming DJ talents. After a year of early morning sunrise sets, Scali has graduated to score a residency at Spice’s new home, The Spice Cellar in Martin Place, which he’ll be headlining this Saturday night with Gabby,
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another of Sydney’s underground fraternity. In the Spice Cellar’s short career as a venue, it’s already hosted the likes of Claude VonStroke, Deetron and Guy Gerber – and there’s an excitement in Nic’s voice when he talks about the brand. “Spice has the crowd that want to be there. It’s known for doing the underground parties.” Underground it may be, but he sees grander things for the small but resilient Sydney scene. “[It’s] getting a bit bigger now. You see it at the bars around the Cross and that sort of thing.” When quizzed about the contents of his iPod, Scali begins to rattle off a varied catalogue of music, from Afrobeat to bass music (“Artists like Shackleton and Pinch. I like listening to that kind of stuff. On a night time bus ride through India, it’s very appropriate.”) to Van Morrison, but when it comes to his DJ sets, he keeps it simple. “There’s so much stuff I’d like to play,” he says before a pause, “but then if I give myself free reign I have trouble programming a nice fluid set. So I try and limit the stuff I burn onto CDs.” “I really like groove-based music,” he continues. “I really like establishing a rhythm that flows through the whole set. I’m not too melodic.” And what about the club itself? “Spice has got an awesome vibe. It’s a small club where everyone is down. They understand the music; they’re there for a party, no frills. Good music is the main feature there, which is great.” With: Gabby, Murat Kilic, Garry Todd and more Where: The Spice Cellar When: Saturday January 21, from 10pm
Azari & III
Bringing Sexy Back By Rose Callaghan
I
n a scene that continues to largely be dominated by and cater to heterosexual males, with every music video featuring some perky girl shaking her bits in a bikini, it’s refreshing to come across a group like Azari & III: unashamedly camp and bringing back vintage house in a truly sexy way. Their rise to acclaim has been a rapid one. ‘Reckless With Your Love’ followed the release of 2009’s haunting ‘Hungry For The Power’, and quickly became last summer’s dance floor anthem in all the best kind of clubs. This year’s re-release of the track came with a controversial clip, which only heightened the stream of attention focused on the act. The storyline follows a vapid businessman engaging in hedonistic pleasureseeking in his high-rise office, watching porn and being visited by a dominatrix whom he eventually murders. Naturally this was deemed inappropriate for TV, and the band was forced to make another version. “They wanted to play something [on TV] and they were like, ‘Well if you get rid of the violence and the pill-popping…’” Alphonse Lanza (aka Alixander II) tells me over the phone from the UK. “And we were like, ‘Well, we’re not going to have a video then.’ “The only thing that was censored was the anal sex that the guy was watching. Without anal sex, how could it be as fun?” asks Alixander. “And it’s OK to have violence and cannibalism?” chimes his bandmate and vocalist, Cedric Gasiada. “It’s kind of like weird...” According to Alixander, Azari & III’s self-titled album deals with “humanity being in decline right now”, and deals with some intense subject matter on songs like ‘Hungry For the Power’ and the newest single, ‘Manic’. “We like to have meaning; we don’t want to constantly sing ‘set me free’,” Cedric says. “If we go through things in life, we like to talk about them.” “Desire in her eyes tells me that she wants me, but then I realise - she’s a schizophrenic,” they sing in ‘Manic’, which delves into what’s seen as ‘normal’ and what is not. “At every party there is that one freak who is about to get ejected or their
face smashed,” Alixander says. “It’s a hate-on for normality. ‘Hey, you think you’re normal? Well you’re more fucked up than we are.’” Although Azari & III has risen from obscurity practically overnight, that doesn’t mean they’re going to relinquish control of their careers. “It’s kind of the beginning of our band, having to deal with a lot of things really quickly, having people pushing us into situations that we don’t even know if we want,” Alixander explains. “I’m not that person who’s like 21 years old, who wants to live like a bum just to be known. We just want to express ourselves; it’s not about getting laid. We find getting laid harder now – we used to get laid a lot more before we were famous. “We used to [get lots of sex],” he continues. “Now it’s like, ‘Oh, well they probably get sex all the time, so maybe I won’t’. But if you’re just a really good-looking dude with a big dick walking down the street.... If you’re up on a stage people are like, ‘Well he probably fucked ten guys before me’. Stop thinking so much and just drop ‘em!” Alixander says, while Cedric laughs hysterically in the background. Judging from feedback from those lucky enough to catch Azari & III’s flamboyant live show during their last trip Down Under for VIVID Sydney, attendees at Future Music Festival this year are in for a treat. The band have already been getting acquainted with some of the performers with whom they’ll be sharing the FMF lineup. “We just met Skrillex in Toronto not too long ago, y’know he’s playing,” Cedric says. So, he’s a nice guy? “…He’s a bit of a douche.” With: New Order, Friendly Fires, Swedish House Mafia, Hercules & Love Affair, Fatboy Slim, Chase & Status, The Rapture, Skrillex and loads more Where: Future Music Festival @ Royal Randwick Racecourse When: Saturday March 10
Obie Trice A Shady Past By Andrew ‘Hazard’ Hickey
“R
eal name, no gimmicks,” he said in one of hip hop’s great opening salvos – and with that, Obie Trice announced himself to the world. Of course having his introduction facilitated by a titan, in the form of Eminem, didn’t hurt either; his emergence on Shady Records coincided with the release of the blockbuster 8 Mile and the unleashing of 50 Cent. Bolstered by the megastar associations, and featuring the catchy hits ‘Got Some Teeth’ and ‘The Set Up’, 2003’s Cheers went gold on the Billboard chart in the USA, debuting at #5.
“I’m very family oriented,” Obie Trice says from chilly Detroit, as we talk holiday plans. “There’s a little something missing with the passing of my mother recently, but we’re trying to stay in the spirit around here.” Some artists wait until further in their career before they get introspective, but since Cheers, Trice has been an open book. On album cut ‘Don’t Come Down’, he speaks of the sometimes rocky relationship he had during his formative years with his recently-departed mother. For him, though, the sharing is just part of who he is. “It’s something I don’t even really think about it,” he says. “It just comes to me. If the music moves me in that direction, I’m gonna express myself in that way. I don’t mind sharing that stuff with the public. I’m a sociable kind of guy anyway.” Sociable indeed; Obie’s penchant for mischief is reflected in the liquor-soaked titles of his LPs.
While record label politics always threaten to intervene, the bond between Obie and his former labelmates is still tight. “Shady, Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, G-Unit; these guys will forever be friends of mine,” he says. In addition to the lifelong relationships, the major deal has afforded him the opportunity to build on the name recognition he’s already established. “It’s definitely been an experience and a help also to have been on Shady – and to get my music distributed internationally in stores on my own, that’s a great feeling.” Ten years after signing with Shady, he will be joined by fellow Detroit natives D12 on the same stage at Heatwave. “I can’t wait to get there and touch the people and reach the people,” Obie says. “It’s exciting to be able to come there. I can’t wait.” With: D12, Tech N9ne, Mastacraft, Kerser & more Where: Heatwave (Day 1) @ The Enmore Theatre When: Wednesday January 18 More: Heatwave (Day 2) is being held on Thursday January 19 @ The Enmore, and features Kid Cudi, Chamillionaire and CrazyTown, plus local supports. Both are licensed/all-ages, with tickets on sale now.
“I still have that determination to create music, and a talent to create good music – great music, actually. It’s still there. I don’t think I’ll ever lose that.” Heading to Australia for the upcoming Heatwave festival, Obie Trice joins a loaded lineup that features Kid Cudi, Tech N9ne, D12 and Chamillionaire – but his first visit to our shores was way back in the glory days of Shady. “They gave us this ritual thing at the hotel; the Aborigines did this ritual dance where they had spears, they were chucking the spears at our crew. It was real cool – I got my first taste of Australia.” The picture of Obie, D12, G-Unit and co. being greeted by Aboriginals is quite a trip, but that particular Aussie jaunt was the site of another milestone. “I got a gold plaque [for the single ‘Got Some Teeth’], I went Gold over there. I really enjoyed Australia.” Following what in hindsight was quite a landmark release in Cheers, and its 2006 sequel Second Round’s On Me, Obie exited from the spotlight – while it’s not heavily publicised, he has a bullet still lodged in his skull from a 2005 shooting incident. It was only until the 2009 release of Special Reserves, a collection of unreleased, pre-Shady recordings, that his name was brought back to prominence. A city with a rich musical history, you could think of no better breeding ground for musicians than Detroit. “Being in Detroit, being in the hip hop scene around the city, being able to be a local and then being able to take my talents international – that was a blessing for me.” It would be understandable to lose your hunger after your big moment, but that’s not the case for Obie. “I’ve calmed down a lot over the years,” he says. “A lot of different things have changed for me personally and career-wise, but I still have that determination to create music, and a talent to create good music – great music, actually. It’s still there. I don’t think I’ll ever lose that.” These days, Obie Trice is getting set to release Bottoms Up, his third studio effort which has been led by the single ‘Battle Cry’. While he’s no longer with Shady Records, the album will still be released under the Universal Music umbrella, on his own Black Market Entertainment imprint. “I just turned the album in, actually. It’s scheduled for release February 28.” In addition to maintaining the major label backing, Obie has kept ties with his heavyweight mentors. “I’ve got Dr. Dre doing production on the album, and Eminem is doing production on the album and performing also. We’ve got a song together on the record. I’ve got the late, great MC Breed on my album; luckily before he passed we did a record together, and I decided to keep that for [my] record.” He sounds equally passionate about his work with some newcomers. “I’ve also got a lot of up-and-coming producers that I’m working with, like No Speakers – you’ll hear a lot about them in the future. “It’s a real solid album,” he continues. “I’m proud of it. Being able to work with Dr. Dre and Eminem – it’s still family, even though I’m not on Shady anymore – it’s a great, great feeling.” BRAG :: 444 :: 09:01:12 :: 43
Deep Impressions Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery
Sasu Ripatti
Soul Sedation
Soul, Dub, Hip Hop & Bottom-heavy Beats with Tony Edwards Soul Sedation goes live every Wednesday night on Bondi FM (88.0 or bondifm. com.au). Tune in 10pm 'til midnight to hear a deep and soulful selection of the tunes covered here, and plenty more that I don't have room for.
Gotye
ON THE ROAD FRIDAY JANUARY 27
Stepkids, Electric Wire Hustle Keystone Festival Bar Kanye West Entertainment Centre
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 24 Mayer Hawthorne Metro Theatre
MARCH 2-4
Playground Weekender Wiseman’s Ferry
“I
like the idea of the club, of techno music, all that. But mostly only in theory. In practice most of it falls too cheap on me.” So muses outspoken Finnish producer Sasu Ripatti, who released a new album, Vantaa, under his Vladislav Delay moniker late last year; a release that I highly recommended to those with a penchant for atmospheric – and at times abrasive – sounds. (In other words, I’d classify it as a ‘challenging’ listen.) An assortment of submerged soundscapes that only reveal themselves after a few listens, Vantaa is ultimately an album of real force and visceral impact, which necessitates involvement rather than suggesting the listener merely disengage and ‘zone out’. In other words, it rewards a close listen through your Bose™ noise-cancelling headphones. And if that description doesn’t pique your curiosity, then I dare say the man's own personality and candid demeanour should – let’s throw to Sasu, as he well and truly buries the ‘Berlin as an underground artistic utopia’ myth: “I’m hoping this EasyJet techno tourism would (sic) ease up a bit. Right now it’s quite disturbing to visit the city, or play shows there. Unless you go very far away from the centres you end up feeling like you’re in a Disneyland, which is not my preferred surrounding.” A rather refreshing counterpoint to the standard platitudes from DJs playing the PR game, no? Given his rather harsh thoughts on Berlin, I shudder to think what Sasu would say if he ever toured Australia – but let’s not be deterred, promoters! Husband and (model) wife duo Dapayk & Padberg will perform live at the Spice Cellar on Saturday January 28. Dapayk, known to his friends and inner circle as Niklas Worgt, has been producing minimal cuts since the mid-‘90s, but it was only a decade on that he began producing with his partner Eva Padberg. Any thoughts of a self-indulgent lovey-dovey snore-fest were well and truly dismissed with the release of the brooding cut ‘Black Beauty’, a melancholic ode to the gradual eradication of the traditional DJ modus operandi of vinyl. The two are currently gearing up to release their third full-length album, Sweet
Dapayk & Padberg
LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY JANUARY 21 Cesare vs Disorder GoodGod Small Club
FRIDAY JANUARY 27 Miss Kittin Oxford Art Factory
SATURDAY JANUARY 28 Dapayk & Padberg The Spice Cellar
Gabriel Ananda The Vault, 122 Pitt St Nothings, on Stil vor Talent, and have just dropped a lead-off EP, Fluffy Cloud, which has been described as “Machine funk par excellence”. As for their live show, anyone fearing – or indeed hoping for – a subdued starry-eyed twosome should look elsewhere for entertainment. As Worgt said recently, “Normally, a computer live act is pretty boring for the audience. The only way to get out of this is to interact with the crowd. So depending on how wild they get, it defines how wild we get.” That sounds like a challenge to me! Also representing on the night will be Berliner Nicone, who is fresh from dropping the collaborative Romantic Thrills album with Sascha Braemer. Puerto Rican impresario DJ Sneak has mixed the latest instalment in the fabric compilation series, fabric 62. The mix was apparently recorded live – something that used to be commonplace (see the Luke Slater fabric for instance) but has become an anomaly in the Ableton-programmed mixes of the present day. In traversing cuts from Christian Burkhardt, Basti Grub and Alex Tepper, Sneak’s mix is said to encapsulate the bouncy house sound that he is renowned for. “I am very proud, excited and confident this mix will entertain for many years to come,” said the self-proclaimed “house gangsta”, adding, “As long as I’m alive, house music is not dead!” Where is Sasu when you need him?! Fabric 62 will hit shelves on the very first day of March. Fresh from a hugely successful year in 2011, Cuban-born producer Eric Estornel, who produces under the monikers Maetrik and Maceo Plex, is set to release a live album recorded at the Cocoon closing party in Ibiza in early February. The hourlong set is a mixture of Maetrik’s own productions, which comprise pulsating techno, groove-laden house and facetious tech house – such as crowd favourite ‘Crush On Me’ – along with a few of his remixes of other artists. With Estornel strongly rumoured to be making his second trip Down Under later this year, following his criminally under-appreciated performance at a Deep As Fu*k warehouse party back in ’09, this release should provide a teaser for what to expect from him if/when he touches down in Australia.
Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com 44 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
I
t's Soul Sedation's first column back for 2012, and with summer now in full swing, we expect you’ve caught a good bunch of shows already. Our tent was up at Peats Ridge Festival for a fantastic four nights over NYE. Gotye impressed with his midnight set, the full band leaving him the sole task of focusing on his vocals and banter to great effect; a cloudless night saw thousands screaming ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ at the top of their lungs. Interestingly, one of the songs he chose to perform live was ‘Thanks For Your Time,’ something of an interlude track from his second album, Like Drawing Blood. Salmonella Dub, at the other end of the scale, were truly woeful – it hurts to be that honest because I’ve always been a big fan, but those guys really need to assess what they’re doing with their band. Stanton Warriors were quite on point and rocked the Big Top, despite the fact that they’ve been around the block more than a few times. But the stealer of the DJ lineup was A-Trak, who smashed it up, winning over everyone from indie folk fans to diehard dance heads. The first week of 2012 was a massive one for the hip hop, soul and reggae fraternities, as the Easy Star All Stars, Aloe Blacc and Pete Rock all played their own headline shows in Sydney. This column heard especially good things about Pete Rock’s performance at Upstairs Beresford. To new music: the Part-Time Heroes have released a new track, ‘So’, to telegraph the release of their new album due out later this year. ‘So’ is a jazzy vocal, Gilles P-style recording, reminiscent of both Alice Russell and The Cinematic Orchestra. Sydney Festival is in full swing now too. Interestingly, a Jägermeister venue has been added to the Honda Festival Garden in Hyde Park alongside the Spiegeltent, so there’s a couple of different rooms to see acts in there this year. Next week Niche Productions present the Stepkids and Electric Wire Hustle show at the Keystone Festival Bar on Friday January 27. Stepkids are a new Stone’s Throw signing, but quite far from a typical Stone’s Throw sound. EWH you have had the chance to catch multiple times now, and you should do so again, because those guys just seem to get better and better live. Kanye plays the
Kanye West Entertainment Centre on the same night, but I know where I’ll be headed... In big news, US hip hop royalty KRS-ONE is coming through Australia this year for the first time ever, playing the Enmore Theatre on Thursday April 5. One of the most respected emcees in the game, his career kicked off in all the way back in ‘86 and he’s since filed 20 albums. Far from pushing the sounds of shallow gangsta rap, KRS is something of an elder statesman in the hip hop game; in fact Rolling Stone once called him the “conscience of hip hop.” Local boys True Vibenation are Soul Sedation’s pick for the biggest movers and shakers of 2012. Their debut album, The Sunshower Phenomenon (out through Big Village Records), has moved the Aussie hip hop juggernaut forward just that little bit more, bringing Afro, soul and funk into a genre that takes criticism for its homogenisation at times. This excellent album, which has already earned itself tripe j Hip Hop Show 'album of the week', is launching at the Annandale Hotel this Saturday January 21. True Vibe will be supported by Loose Change, Paper Plane Project, L-Fresh, DJ Migz and DJ Bentley – and there’s a free exclusive remix CD on offer with all pre-purchased tickets. And don’t forget that US soul star Mayer Hawthorne plays the Metro Theatre on Friday February 24, on tour for his second album, How Do You Do. Tickets to that are on sale now.
Mayer Hawthorne
Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com
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club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week Kid Cudi
MONDAY JANUARY 16 Goldfish, Kings Cross We Owe You One 6pm Scubar. Sydney Crab Racing 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Jazz DJs free 7pm
TUESDAY JANUARY 17 Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel DJ Willie Sabor 8pm Goldfish, Kings Cross We Owe You One 6pm Parramatta Town Hall Terabithia Dannie Riel, Suae, Pulsar, Emmkay, Stevie S, Pop The Hatch, Steve Play, K-Aos, Frantic, Maetex, Inception, MC D $25-$60 (+ bf) 5pm all-ages Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney Frat House free Scubar, Sydney Backpacker Karaoke 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Coyote Tuesdays DJs free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Tuesdays Mike J, Nacho, Smithers, Zwelli 8pm
Enmore Theatre
Heatwave Festival WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18
Obie Trice, Tech N9ne, D12 and more $55 (+ bf) 7pm lic. all-ages THURSDAY JANUARY 19
Kid Cudi, Chamillionaire, CrazyTown and more $69 (+ bf) 7pm lic. all-ages 46 :: BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18 Enmore Theatre Heatwave Kid Cudi (USA), D12 (USA), Tech N9ne, Obie Trice, Crazy Town, Chamillionaire $55 (+ bf) 7pm The Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst Hip Hop DJs free 8pm Goldfish, Kings Cross We Owe You One 6pm GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Trivial Tyson Koh, Marcus King, Daniel Stricker, Kirin J Callinan free 10pm Keystone Festival Bar, Sydney Sydney Festival Asa & Fefe $52 8pm Keystone Festival Bar, Sydney Sydney Festival Devola, Kristy Lee free 11.30pm Kit & Kaboodle Supper Club, Kings Cross Resident DJs 8pm Ruby Rabbit, Darlinghurst Resident DJs 9pm Scubar, Sydney Schoonerversity 3pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Zayler, Brown Bear, Tongue In Moo, Jitter, Pablo Calamari, Double Goose, T-Bo, Mindquad $5 9pm
THURSDAY JANUARY 19 Arq Sydney Burlesque Going Gaga 9pm The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney Lounge DJs 8pm Cargo Lounge, Kings St Wharf Dance The Way You Feel 6pm Enmore Theatre Heatwave Kid Cudi (USA), D12 (USA), Tech N9ne, Obie Trice, Crazy Town, Chamillionaire $69 (+ bf) 7pm The Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst Hippies from Hell DJs free 8pm Goldfish, Kings Cross We Owe You One 6pm GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Major Raiser… Raiser Polographia, Albatross, Fox, Violet Pulp, Major Raiser DJs $10 8pm
Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney Resident DJs free 8pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Jatali – Rio De Carnivale DJs 9pm Ivy, Sydney Ivy Live DJs free 6pm Kit & Kaboodle Supper Club, Kings Cross Resident DJs 8pm The Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway Vultures DJ Skar, DJ Finlay free 8pm Low302, Darlinghurst Thursday Switch DJs free 9pm Metro Theatre, Sydney Immortal Technique, Akir, Poison Pen $59.70 8pm Oxford Art Factory Insert Coin(s) presents The Darkness II DJs $6.80 (+ bf) 6pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Flaunt Resident DJs 8pm Ruby Rabbit, Darlinghurst Resident DJs 9pm Spectrum/ 34B/ Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn DJs $15-$20 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Urby, Chappers, Dan Bombings free (student)–$5 8pm
FRIDAY JANUARY 20 Arq Sydney Gagarazzi Justin Scott, Jimmy Dee 9pm The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney This is RnB G-Wizard, Def Rok, Troy T, Lilo, MC Jayson $15 9.30pm Bank Hotel, Newtown Resident DJs free 6pm The Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst Consuela Geographical Aka Custard, Squarepeg, Dkline, Bassizm, Scott Kilpatrick, Martin Stace free 9pm Candy’s Apartment, Kings Cross Button Down Disco Pretty Young Things, Nightare, Stress Less, Lebronx, Hoodlmz, Acid Mouth, Say Oh!, MissingNo 8pm Cargo Lounge, Kings St Wharf Kick On DJs Chinese Laundry, Sydney Haters, Royalston, Brown Bear, Day Trip, Scoops, Mark Bionic $15-$20 10pm Civic Underground, Sydney Volar Resident DJs 10pm Cremorne Hotel Mega DJ Tiger free 10pm FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel Robopop Shag, Ping Pong Tiddly Kill The Landlord, T-Rompf $5-$10 11.30pm The Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst Cleric, Angel free 8pm The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills Noize – Flaming Indie Bash Lola Siren, Mumbles, Power Puma $18.40 8pm Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney DJ Cadell 5pm Hotel Chambers, Martin Place F**k Me I’m Famous Resident DJs $15 9pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Rat Pack DJs Jacksons On George, Circular Quay Resident DJs 9pm Kit & Kaboodle Supper Club, Kings Cross Falcona Fridays Kristy Lee, Starjumps, Hobophonics, In The Mix DJs $10 8pm Kong’s Jungle Lounge, Bondi Junction W!ldlive Fridays Resident DJs $10 10pm Marlborough Hotel, Level 1, Newtown Resident DJs 9.30pm
Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Retro Hotel, The Bristol Arms, Sydney Short Skirts & Loud Shirts free 5pm Ruby Rabbit, Darlinghurst Crooks Bang Gang, Kato, We Can Solve Mysteries, MindQuad, Crosses $10-$15 9pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Payday Fridays Resident DJs 8pm Selina’s Nightclub, Coogee Bay Hotel Resident DJs 8pm Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney James Fitzgerald free 6pm Space, Sydney Zaia Resident DJs 9.45pm Tunnel Nightclub, Kings Cross Why Sleep? DJs $10-$15 10pm The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM Hey Big Aki, Rockets, Rargo, High Tea, MUM DJs $10-$15 8pm
SATURDAY JANUARY 21 The Annandale Hotel True Vibenation $10 (+ bf) 8pm Arq Sydney Dance Dance Dance DJs 9pm The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney Armageddon Outsource feat, Chloe La Kiss, Micky D, Nick Nova, Joey Kaz, A-Ron, Teflon, Scotty Stylez, MC Daze $15$20 9pm Bank Hotel, Newtown Resident DJs free 6pm Candy’s Apartment, Kings Cross Big Guns DJs 8pm Cargo Lounge, Kings St Wharf Kick On DJs Chinese Laundry, Sydney Plump DJs (UK), Bitrok, A-Tonez, The Audiophilez, Ben Korbel, Bella Sarris, Mia Lucci, Tom Yum, Joe Barrs $15-$20 9pm Civic Underground, Sydney Sweet Taboo Resident DJs 9pm Cremorne Hotel Mega DJ Tiger free 10pm Dee Why Hotel Kiss & Fly Saturdays DJs 9pm Establishment, Sydney Sienna G-Wizard, Troy T, Lilo, Def Rok $20 9pm The Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst Horne Dogg free 8pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Musicology Tobie Allen (UK), Nick Blair, Levi 5 Star, Hannah Gibbs, Tom, Johnny Gleeson, La Fiesta Sound System 6pm Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Cesare vs Disorder, Anna Leevia, Glitch DJs, Chris Honnery, MSG feat. Marcotix $15 (+ bf) 10pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Music by Dolso DJs 8pm The Imperial, Erskinville Greg Downey, Binary Finary, Ruby, Raptor, Nick Arbor, Nathan Cryptic, Zac Slade, Rossco, Thomas Knight $25 (+ bf) 9.30pm Ivy, Sydney Pure Ivy Saturdays Ember $20 6pm Jacksons On George, Circular Quay Resident DJs 9pm Kit & Kaboodle Supper Club, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Resident DJs 8pm Marlborough Hotel, Level 1, Newtown Resident DJs 9.30pm Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Sosueme Dream Delay,
club guide send your listings to: clubguide@thebrag.com Feeding Edgar, Outerwaves, Furnace & The Fundamentals, Joyride, Hobophobics, Starjumps, F.R.I.E.N.D.s DJs $10-$12 8pm Retro Hotel, The Bristol Arms, Sydney Short Skirts & Loud Shirts free 8pm Ruby Rabbit, Darlinghurst Resident DJs 9pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Lounge Welcomes 2012 Joey Kaz, Dim Slm, Jo Funk, Disco Kid, Stevie J, Troy T, Charlie Brown, Steve S, Adamo 8pm Selina’s Nightclub, Coogee Bay Hotel Resident DJs 8pm Shelbourne Hotel, Sydney Club Troppo MJM, Drew Mercer free–$10 9.30pm Soho, Potts Point The Usual Suspects Sandro Silva, Nukewood, Rogers Room, Brenden Fing, Here’s Trouble, Lights Out, Jack Bailey, Axle, Barfly $16 9pm Space, Sydney Masif Saturdays Resident DJs 10pm Spectrum, Darlinghurst Kittens DJs $5-$10 11.30pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Gabby, Nic Scali, Garry Todd, YokoO $20 10pm Tunnel Nightclub, Kings Cross ONE Saturdays DJs $10-$20 10pm Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills Sietta, Oxblvd, Die For You, DJ Lancelot free 7pm Valve Bar, Tempe Midi In The City Alphatown, Luke Killen, Holotropic, Methodixxx, Xanthopan,
Plump DJs We-D, Raine Supreme, Drox, Androsound, Oliver Gurney, McBean 12pm Valve Bar Courtyard, Tempe In The Mix Sydney Forum Party Young Jase, Smokin’ Joe Mekhael, Claire Morgan, Dave Stuart, Oli G, Andosound, Mike Big FX, Zeus, Paul Danger, Andrew Wowk $5 12pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham Mowgli (ITA), James Taylor, Kato, Illya, Raye Antonelli, Foundation, Harry Cotton, Danny Lang, Pipemix, Temnien, Adam Bozetto, Mitch Crosher, Jeremy Joshua $15$20 10pm
SUNDAY JANUARY 22 Arq Sydney Sunday School Dirty Dancing 9pm Bank Hotel, Newtown Fag Tag 2012 Jimmy D, Kitty Glitter, Scott Tanner, Dan Murphy free 2pm Basement Level, 58 Elizabeth St, Sydney Spice Murat Kilic, Sam Roberts $20 4am
The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills Beresford Sundays Resident DJs free 5pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Martini Club 6pm Gypsy Nightclub Sensation Sundays Resident DJs $10-$15 11am Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Sneaky Sundays Summer Sneaky Sound System, Dangerous Dan, Jonny Pow!!, Flight Facilities 8pm Jacksons On George, Circular Quay Aphrodisiac Resident DJs 5pm Kit & Kaboodle Supper Club, Kings Cross Easy Sundays Resident DJs 8pm Name This Bar, Darlinghurst Sunday Sets Andy Wright vs Brendan Clay, Dykzei, Chris La Sek, Mike vs Ed 6pm Ruby Rabbit, Darlinghurst Resident DJs 9pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Sundays – Cocktail Party Fresh, Alfio, Resident DJs 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Dust Nic Johnson (Ibiza), James Taylor, Alley Oop 7pm
club picks up all night out all week...
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18 The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Zayler, Brown Bear, Tongue In Moo, Jitter, Pablo Calamari, Double Goose, T-Bo, Mindquad $5 9pm
Oxford Art Factory Insert Coin(s) presents The Darkness II DJs $6.80 (+ bf) 6pm
FRIDAY JANUARY 20
MindQuad, Crosses $12$15 9pm
SATURDAY JANUARY 21
THURSDAY JANUARY 19
FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel Robopop Shag, Ping Pong Tiddly, Kill The Landlord, T-Rompf $5$10 11.30pm
Chinese Laundry, Sydney Plump DJs (UK), Bitrok, A-Tonez, The Audiophilez, Ben Korbel, Bella Sarris, Mia Lucci, Tom Yum, Joe Barrs $15$20 9pm
GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Major Raiser… Raiser Polographia, Albatross, Fox, Violet Pulp, Major Raiser DJs $10 8pm
The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills Noize – Flaming Indie Bash Lola Siren, Mumbles, Power Puma $18.40 8pm
Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Cesare vs Disorder, Anna Leevia, Glitch DJs, Chris Honnery, MSG feat. Marcotix $15 (+ bf) 10pm
Metro Theatre, Sydney Immortal Technique, Akir, Poison Pen $59.70 8pm
Ruby Rabbit, Darlinghurst Crooks Bang Gang, Kato, We Can Solve Mysteries,
Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Sosueme Dream Delay, Feeding Edgar, Outerwaves, Furnace & The Fundamentals, Joyride, Hobophobics, Starjumps, F.R.I.E.N.D/s DJs $10-$12 8pm
Cesare vs Disorder
The Spice Cellar, Sydney Gabby, Nic Scali, Garry Todd, YokoO $20 10pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Wham Mowgli (ITA), James Taylor, Kato, Illya, Raye Antonelli, Foundation, Harry Cotton, Danny Lang, Pipemix, Temnien, Adam Bozetto, Mitch Crosher, Jeremy Joshua $15-$20 8pm
BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 47
snap
the exchange hotel 06:01:12 :: The Exchange Hotel :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93601375
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teen spirit
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up all night out all week . . .
crooks
slowblow 'black metal'
It’s called: CROOKS It sounds like: Dirty, crazy, mashed-up, broke -down, electro-dub-junglehouse-newwave-booty-rocking beats. Does that cover it? Who’s spinning? Bang Gang, Kato and a whole heap of other dirty DJs providing the filthiest electro beats. Sell it to us: Good-looking electro kids packe d into Sydney’s coolest venue, and gyrating wildly at each other to the only DJ sets worth catching that night. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Maybe none of it if you GET CROOKED but for those who party on to tell the tale, not only are you slammed with Australia’s biggest and baddest in electro but you’re also part of the official launch of something that’s buzzing in the Sydne y scene right now. Don’t miss it, you’ll regret it. Crowd specs: Fur, lace, torn fishnet, big heels, oversized singlets, knuckle tatts, too skinny jeans, Vans. The pretty peopl e will come out to play in their trashy-chic best. Wallet damage: $15 door / $10 promoter codew ord…don’t know a promoter? Well you should (facebook.com/CROOKSclub ). Where: Ruby Rabbit / 231 Oxford Street Darlin ghurst. When: Friday January 20
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party profile
06:01:12 :: Q Bar :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93601375
propaganda
PICS :: DM
06:01:12 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney 9267 3787
chinese laundry
PICS :: AM
05:01:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700
07:01:11 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 82959958 48 :: BRAG :: 445: 16:01:12
:: KATRINA CLARKE :: ASHLEY S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER PEACHEY :: GEORGE POPOV :: SAM WHITESIDE MAR :: DANIEL MUNNS :: THOMAS
BRAG :: 445 :: 16:01:12 :: 49
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07:01:12 :: Spectrum :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93601375
bass mafia
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kittens launch
PICS :: SW
up all night out all week . . .
oaf 2nd annual sleep over
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hot damn
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07:01:12 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 82959958
06:01:12 :: The Ivy :: 320/330 George St Sydney 92403000
05:01:12 :: Q Bar :: 34 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93601375
It’s called: ROBOPOP It sounds like: Your 16th birthday party, with a drink in hand and a babe/dudebabe on your arm. Who’s playing? Shag (FBi Radio), Ping Pong Tiddly, Kill The Landlord, T-Rompf – Sydney’s best POP DJs. Three songs you’ll hear on the night: Anyth ing Beyoncé, anything Perry, anything Ludacris. And one you definitely won’t: Anything dubst ep. Sell it to us: After a HUGE demand, we’re back in a new home and looking to turn it into the biggest pop party in town – in fact it’s the only pop party in town! At FBi Social, we can have the best pop tunes without feeling like a douche at Club Retro. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Chupa Chups stuck in hair, ringing stuck in our head, love stuck in our hearts. Crowd specs: Indie kids, hipster kids, gay kids, straight kids, city kids. Everyone loves Robopop. Wallet damage: $10, or $5 before 11.30pm and for FBi members! Where: FBi Social / Lvl 2, Kings Cross Hotel When: Friday January 20 / 11.30pm til bust
50 :: BRAG :: 445: 16:01:12
the argyle
PICS :: AM
party profile
robopop
07:01:12 :: The Argyle Hotel :: 18 Argyle St The Rocks 92475500 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: ASHLEY S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER PEACHEY :: GEORGE POPOV :: SAM WHITESIDE MAR :: DANIEL MUNNS :: THOMAS
MAKE IT HAPPEN... CERTIFICATE, DIPLOMA & DEGREE COURSES IN:
Film Production Audio Production Electronic Music Production
OPEN DAY
SAE Sydney – January 21st, 11am - 3pm 55-57 Wentworth Ave Sydney 2000
O F N I E R O FOR M ae.edu.au www.s EDU AE
0S CALL: 180
SYDNEY – MELBOURNE – BYRON BAY – BRISBANE – ADELAIDE – PERTH CRICOS: 00312F (NSW) 02047B (VIC) 02431E (WA) Please contact relevant campuses for further information regarding open days, tours, course programs and FEE HELP options.
29 JAN - 4 MAR