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

five things SONIC NOMAD FROM WHITEHOUSE Inspirations A lot of my favorite musicians are from 2.

‘90s bands, like Tom Morello and Zac De La Rocha from RATM. Tom was an innovator of the guitar like Hendrix was for the ‘60s/’70s, and Zac made me feel his passion for agitating the system – he’s such a clever lyricist. My first ever album, however, was by Queen; I thought Freddie Mercury was an absolute legend, and I still do. FNM, RHCP, Run DMC, NWA and Public Enemy have all inspired me, and more recently Kanye West, Bruno Mars, John Legend and The Roots.

3.

1.

guitar for the sake of campfire sing-alongs to Creedance, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Beatles, The Eagles and Eric Clapton, but when I was around 16 I started to take the guitar more seriously, and began to pen my own songs.

The Music You Make We went into Gadigal Studios thinking we 4. were going to make a contemporary Indigenous

Music, Right Here, Right Now The musical landscape in Australia at the 5. moment is pretty bland and mono-cultural, with the exception of a few iconoclasts; there are too many love-gone-wrong songs and party anthems. Since 2006 we’ve been hearing more representations of the Indigenous voice in hip hop, but I still feel there is an abyss when it comes to conscious music being made to the level of Midnight Oil, at their 1980s peak.

What: A Funky Intervention is out now on Gadigal Music, through MGM With: Yung Warriors Where: The Roxbury, Glebe When: Saturday July 28

SHADY LANE ALBUM LAUNCH

Oh Mercy

Shady Lane are named after a Pavement song and are therefore exempt from any criticism.

You wouldn’t want to criticise them anyway considering their incredible new record Built Guilt, which is an utter mindfuck in a brilliant, poppy way. They’ll be launching the album on Friday August 3 at Brighton Up Bar, with Fishing and Megastick Fanfare supporting. $10 presale, $12 at the door. Do it!

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OH MERCY

Alexander Gow, the romantic renegade who fronts/is Oh Mercy, explains that his band’s third album – which comes out on August 24 – was named Deep Heat because he was trying to think of what he would call an ‘80s dub compilation. (He overlooked Dub Zero, but Deep Heat is good enough.) Although it’s a far cry from that Skrillex chap you seem to love so very much, the record has a bunch more groove and swagger to it than the last one – but I’ll discuss that with you when we see each other up the front of The Standard on September 29, where he’ll be launching the thing.

MUMFORD ALBUM!

“Mumford and Sons return with Babel” sounds like a recently recovered tale from an ancient scripture, but it is in fact much more holy than that: it’s news that the UK folk-faces are releasing their second record (Babel) on September 21 this year. This gives you less than a month to learn every lyric, misconstrue a bunch of them, and then quiz Marcus Mumford about the misheard words at The Entertainment Centre on October 18.

PSEUDO ECHO

“Best loved Aussie electro-pop pioneers, Pseudo Echo are back!! 2012 marks the band’s 30th anniversary and they’re ready to celebrate, armed with their first new single since the ‘80s, and also announcing they’ll be hitting the road for a national tour in August to promote their new single, ‘Suddenly Silently’.” That’s from the band. We’re just gonna jump in and add this: “You know that band who does ‘Funky Town’? Let’s get drunk and go watch that band who does ‘Funky Town’ do ‘Funky Town’! Yeah?

Friday August 10 at Oxford Art Factory.”

AUNTY MEREDITH

Enter the ballot for Meredith Music Festival which is now open at mmf.com.au, because the annual BYO boutique festival in Victoria (December 7–9, $279 plus booking fee) has just announced riverboat queen Grimes and

Aussie power pop geniuses Sunnyboys as the first two acts confirmed to play. Tell me that sitting in the sun drinking a beer you didn’t pay eleven dollars for and watching The Sunnyboys play ‘Alone With You’ isn’t a good way to ring in the second week of summer… Summer, you guys! Summer’s coming!

TIM HART DOES A SOLO

You know what they say: it’s what you do in the downtime between drumming for Boy And Bear that truly maketh the man. We always thought that a peculiarly specific and clunky adage, but now that Tim Hart has announced his debut record Milling The Wind is to be released on August 17 and will be brought to The Vanguard on September 21, it all makes sense. It sounds homespun and Garfunkel-y, too, if case you were worried his solo stuff was some kinda thug life, beez in the trap departure.

ALBARE

“Hey, come and see my mate Stingray play guitar – he is seriously the best, man, he shreds but it’s, like, tasteful shredding, you know?” ...No. You come and see Australian jazz maestro Albare play guitar with his full band of Grammy-nominated players at The Basement on August 30, and perhaps bring Stingray along for that dose of ‘this is what actual guitar sounds like’ that anyone who shreds really needs. Tickets are on sale now.

BOWDITCH RETURNS

Clare Bowditch is totally going through the internal investigation/ new age portion of her career, which is great news for listeners. 2010’s Modern Day Addiction was about the whir whir whir of modern city life with its machinery and magazines and margaritas(?), but it was a step removed as a result. The follow-up – The Winter I Chose Happiness – is all purging and questioning and decisions to be happy; she wrote in the open letter that accompanies the record, “Is it even actually possible to record an album on the topic of happiness without using wind-chimes of ‘whhhhOOOOOOsh’ing sounds even once? It is my duty… to try.” Well, she nailed it, as you’ll be able to hear for yourself when the record comes out September 14. She plays The Factory Theatre on September 28, too.

Xxxx

Growing Up Thanks to my fairly musical family, I grew up listening to a lot of Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd and Midnight Oil, plus old-school hip hop and punk music.

My uncles and friends introduced me to

Your Band Our crew is a multicultural and multitalented group that we playfully refer to as a ‘kinky Koori Kurry with Wasabi on the side’.

The ‘kinky Kooris’ are me on vocals and didg and my cousin Al Morris on guitar; the ‘Kurry’ section is our Sri Lankan-born rhythm section: Dinesh ‘D-Man’ Ekanayayake on bass and Chaminda ‘Cha-Cha’ Samaraweera on drums.

The ‘Wasabi on the side’ is Japanese-born Jun ‘DJ Moto’ Mayamoto. We formed in late 2006 and we feel like an extended family now, a melting pot of multicultural goodness.

RATM-style album – but when we met with Sean Carey (ex-Thirsty Merc guitarist) as well as Matt ‘Mo The Song Doctor’ O’Connor, we had another thing coming. Between Sean and Mo, the script completely flipped, and from day one of recording we had reinvented ourselves. It was a bit daunting and a bit of a head fuck, but the guys rose to the occasion – and what we pulled off was more like ‘70s funk a la Sly & The Family Stone layered with ‘80s electro snares and kicks a la Cameo, with a Gil Scott Heron-esque spoken word rap as the vocal delivery.

Oh Mercy by Aaron Farley

WITH

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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

ASH GRUNWALD

he said she said WITH

CORY FROM MEZZANINE sense that you won’t want to get flogged again, but more in a way that makes you intrigued and willing for more punishment. We play loud guitars but enjoy both the noise and the nice, a loud/ quiet mentality passed down by generations.

I

remember exactly when the musical light bulb switched on over my head: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?. That was day dot for me. I don’t think I had ever been exposed to anything with significant distortion before, as my parents were into UB40 and Simply Red (which I still can’t bring myself to hate to this day). I guess distortion is the gene that I needed to unlock.

Inspirations change year by year. As you get older they tend to get more sophisticated, but the most basic and primal are really the ones that last. For me it’s again related to distortion: who does it the best, or in the most interesting way? Thurston Moore/Lee Ranaldo, Peter Buck, Steve Albini, Johnny Greenwood – these are the guys who inspire me every day.

We all became friends before we became bandmates, so I guess we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Like any healthy relationship we have fights and send each other to the dog house, but in the end we patch things up and have make-up sex.

Music-wise, we aim for an uneasy aural flogging. Not in a

Being in a band in 2012 makes being on the dole look like a private villa on the French Riviera. I don’t want to whinge too much here, because I love playing music and releasing records and touring, and would quite happily sell my kidneys to fund the next tour – but in reality, it is tough. The shit always floats to the bottom though, doesn’t it? If you’re not into it 100% it shows, and your band won’t make it. To commit to the music industry these days is a big ask, and thankfully there are still great bands all over the country willing to do that.

What: Vile Horizons EP is out now on Gun Fever Records, through Firestarter Distribution Where: The Lansdowne, Broadway / The Forbes Hotel, Sydney When: Thursday July 26 / Friday July 27

COSMO JARVIS

Cosmo Jarvis is best known for his hilarious song/video ‘Gay Pirates’ – which is one of the sad side-effects of having millions of people watch one of your videos when you’ve actually released three whole albums full of pop goodness. The latest, Think Bigger, is the best yet, and to celebrate that fact Jarvis will be playing four super small Sydney shows: Wednesday July 25 at 1pm in The Loft courtyard of UTS for 2SER; Friday July 27 at The Roxy Hotel in Parramatta (as part of the 48Hour ECO Film Awards); Sunday July 29 at Bucklers Canteen, Bondi; and at the super intimate loungeroomy The Newsagency in Marrickville on Monday July 30.

Sleigh Bells

Ash Grunwald has a dubstep side project. That’s not what this giveaway is about, but we couldn’t help but mention it because it proves what we’ve been saying for a while now: everybody has a dubstep side project these days. Everybody. The more typically blues-and-roots-focused Melbournite is touring his new album, the brilliant dance- and hip hop-infused Trouble’s Door, next month, and he and his partner-in-grime, Fingers Malone, will be launching it at the Mona Vale Hotel on Saturday August 18 as part of a regional tour. A guy called Fingers would put on a hell of a show, amirite? To win a double pass, just tell us the name of an Ash Grunwald song that’s made it into triple j’s Hottest 100. (Trouble’s Door is out now through Shock.)

HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE

What have you and your siblings done with your lives? If your answer isn’t “played in an insanely rhythmic brass band to international acclaim”, it might be time to re-examine that family business.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is made up of eight brothers who’ve been playing instruments since they were three years old, cutting their musical teeth on the Chicago streets and New York subways before hitting the big time. The utterly captivating, ridiculously funky Ensemble are returning to Sydney following their white-hot appearance at last year’s Harvest Festival, for a headlining slot at Oxford Art Factory on Sunday July 29 – supported by Melbournian soul masters Saskwatch, it’s a Splendour In The Grass sideshow that somehow still has a few tickets left. To grab a double pass, tell us the name of the brothers’ famous jazz musician father.

King (another good thing from Newcastle) and Family, who are from Sydney. $10 pre-sale (via Greentix), or $12 at the Red Rattler door – and Sound Summit itself is being held from September 27-30 around Newcastle. Stay tuned!

ENTER SHIKARI

Enter Shikari seem to have a reputation for destruction. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that their frontman Rou Reynolds tears around the stage trashing speakers, diving into crowds (with scant regard for the OH&S laws that hold this country together), and generally breaking himself and other things, too. Touring off the back of their third album A Flash Flood Of Colour, the guys hit Sydney on September 21, playing the UNSW Roundhouse and possibly breaking stuff too. Not in a Fred Durst way.

Regina Spektor

SPLENDOUR SIDESHOWS

MASSIVE DAY OUT

Tickets will probably have sold out by the time you’re reading this, but if you have just arrived in Australia, first of all, welcome. Secondly, the Big Day Out lineup is massive, featuring Red Hot Chili [sic] Peppers (they aren’t doing a side show at all!), The Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire Weekend, Band Of Horses, Sleigh Bells, Animal Collective, Against Me!, 360, Foals, Jeff The Brotherhood, Off!, Jagwar Ma, Delta Spirit, Every Time I Die, B.O.B, House vs Hurricane, Adventure Club, Gary Clark Jr., Alabama Shakes, Logo, Death Grips, The Bloody Betroots, and Childish Gambino, who we put last just to mention Community. Tickets are $165 flat (no booking fee bullshit) from bigdayout.com, or for $265 you can get the Like A Boss ticket, which is VIP, basically. The Sydney show is at Sydney Showgrounds on Friday January 18 – pen it in!

The following Splendour sideshows are still on sale, but selling very quickly – so if you wanna get along, rush, rush, rush: Django Django, August 2, Oxford Art Factory; The Smashing Pumpkins and Wolfmother, July 31, Entertainment Centre; The Afghan Whigs (with Here We Go Magic), July 26 at The Factory Theatre; Friends, Howler, Zulu Winter, July 25, OAF; Electric Guest, July 31, OAF; Youth Lagoon, Sures, Bearhug, July 28, OAF. Hurry up now, y’hear?

Little Scout

REGINA SPEKTOUR

The line “Hey, remember that time when you OD’d? Hey, remember that other time when you OD’d… for the second time” is funny and flippant and brutal and pretty much sums up what you’ll get from a Regina Spektor song/ record/show, as you’ll be able to see for yourselves on December 10 at Sydney Opera House. Her new record is called What We Saw From The Cheap Seats and it features the incredibly epic and poetic ‘All The Rowboats’, which is going to be an absolute treat live if she can make those gunshot sounds with her mouth. She’s quirky but New York/ Russian quirky, which is so cute and warm that when she kicks into the cold, sad ‘Samson’ you will feel like your world collapsed. Tickets on sale now.

INGRID MICHAELSON

Ingrid Michaelson is one of those artists whose music you can la la la over or plonk in obvious places on episodes of Grey’s Anatomy – until you actually listen to her new record Human Again and realise how bleak she can really get. There are breezy love songs, sure, but the orchestral, darker ones are where it really gets raw. September 14 at The Metro Theatre will be either la la la fun or staggeringly heartbreaking. Depends what kinda night you’re up for, really.

APOCELLOPTICA

Picture yourself in a rehearsal room. You’re in a metal band called Apocalyptica. You’re all in black T-shirts, so it’s going pretty well. Then one member pops through the door with a gleam in his eye… and a cello. This is one of those Sliding Doors moments, but luckily you embrace the cello,

recognising its sonorous qualities as working well in a genre which regularly attempts to sonically scrape the bowels of hell. It becomes part of your signature sound, in fact, to the point where you’re asked to tour Australia because no ocean can hold you back. You’ll be at The Hi-Fi in Sydney on August 31. Hope the show goes well!

SOUND SUMMIT LAUNCH

Sound Summit is the best thing in Newcastle now that Daniel Johns has moved away. Sydneysiders yet to experience its power are invited to the launch of their 2012 program on Saturday August 4 at Red Rattler. At the launch they’ll reveal the festival’s international headliners, and treat you to sets from Woollen Kits (from Melbourne, and their debut album is shaping up to be in many end-of-year lists. Google ‘Out Of Whack’: scrappy, slack, power pop), Rites Wild (Adelaide), Rat

LITTLE SCOUT

Little Scout are making huge waves overseas, which is really no surprise seeing as their garage rock/surf pop/ girly-harmonies-everywhere sound is so damn undeniable right now. They are playing FBi Social on September 7, which will sell out in a heartbeat. Listen to their new single ‘Go Quietly’. It’s how every song should sounds.

“I hear you taking out your garbage. I hear you loving your girlfriend. I hear you loving yourself too. I hear you flushing your toilet” - REGINA SPEKTOR 12 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

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The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR

* Nicki Minaj tweeted that she’ll be here in October; Coast FM in WA was so pissed off that Madonna decided not to extend her world tour to Australia in January (she didn’t think she’d sell enough tickets) that the station yanked her records off its playlist; we might still see drummer Travis Barker here with Blink 182 in February. He’s forcing himself to get over his fear of flying. * Australia’s Songl subscription music service will relaunch next month. * Three months after singer Tom Hartney quit, bass player Quang Dinh is also departing Little Red to focus on his new band Naked Bodies. * Michael Jackson was in debt of $500 million when he died, but his estate has almost paid them off, by making $475 million since then. * Oz hip hop scene veterans Def Wish Cast warned on triple j that a rising breed of Australian hip hop acts see their music as only for white fans. * The mayor of Claremont, Perth threatens legal action against BDO and Soundwave returning to the Showgrounds, as the festivals previously went over the noise limits. * The Sydney Festival is negotiating with Intel to upgrade its partnership, after the unanticipated success of the brand’s inaugural year as app sponsor.

WOMEN DOMINATE UNDER-30 RICH LIST

Five of the Top 10 of Forbes’ Under 30 Rich List are female musicians. The list is topped

by Taylor Swift, 22, whose fortune of US$57 million comes from sales of four million copies per album, a $1 million price tag for each show, and a range of endorsements. #2 was Justin Bieber, whose $55 million fortune also swelled from his investments in start-up companies such as Stamped, Tinychat and Spotify. The rest of the list were Rihanna ($53m), Lady Gaga ($52m), Katy Perry ($45m), Adele ($35m), Kristen Stewart ($34.5m), Lil Wayne ($27m), Taylor Lautner ($26.5m) and Robert Pattinson ($26.5m).

KILLROCKSTAR BIG DOG OPENS U.S. OFFICE

Tour promoter KillRockStar Big Dog Entertainment has opened an office in Los Angeles. It will be run by Derek Johnson, who worked with Media Talent Group, Creative Artists Agency and Live Nation. In Australia, the company has brought Michael Panetta (Melodic Music Management) aboard as business development manager. Acts they’ve toured recently include Sublime, Aqua, Showtek, Unwritten Law, The Dead Kennedys, HED(pe) and Mickey Avalon.

UNFD SIGN IN HEARTS WAKE

UNFD have signed Byron Bay metalcore merchants In Hearts Wake and will release their debut album Divination on August 31. Recorded in Michigan, USA by Josh Schroeder, it features guest vocalists and comes with a DVD featuring the ‘Divination Diaries’, the clip for their first single ‘Traveller (The Fool)’, and a Making Of feature which vocalist Jake Taylor wrote, directed and produced.

EMI, COMPASS CUT DEAL

Country label and management company Compass Brothers Records has signed a distribution agreement with EMI Music Australia. The first release under the new deal is from Chelsea Basham, for whom Compass MD Graham Thompson has also taken over management.

BRANSON TO BUY BACK VIRGIN? Richard Branson put his hand up to buy back Virgin Records, which he sold to EMI in 1992. There was much speculation in the past week that to get European regulators over the

14 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

The Medics

Lifelines

Split: Black Eyed Peas member DJ Poet and Melbourne model Lucy McIntosh, after they got engaged two years ago.

Marrying: Arctic Monkeys guitarist Jamie Cook proposed to pin-up model Katie Downes. They met in 2006 at a party in Liverpool.

Eloped: Robert Plant revealed that he and Patty Griffin eloped to Texas last year.

fear that Universal’s US$1.9 billion buy-out of the EMI merger could make it too powerful, Universal would have to shed some of its labels, including Virgin. Branson has already picked Patrick Zelnik, head of French indie Naïve, to run it. Zelnik, co-president of Euro indie association IMPALA, stunned some in the indie sector by saying he approved of the Universal/EMI deal. But unsubstantiated reports late last week suggested that Universal had offered to shed other indies including Chrysalis, Ensign and Sanctuary, and help other indies pay to buy them.

PINK’S SIXTH #1

Pink landed her sixth #1 single in Australia with ‘Blow Me (One Last Kiss)’ – ranking her alongside Abba, Dean Martin, Roy Orbison and The Rolling Stones. Chart historian Gavin Ryan says Madonna is still at the top with 11, then Kylie Minogue (10), Delta Goodrem and Black Eyed Peas (8), Eminem (7) and Rihanna (7).

NEWCASTLE VENUES UNITE FOR SAFETY

Five Newcastle venues formed themselves into the Newcastle Entertainment Precinct (N.E.P) to tackle anti-social behaviour. MJ Finnegan’s, The Cambridge Hotel, Queens Wharf Brewery, Fanny’s Nightclub and King Street Hotel will introduce initiatives in coming months. The ID Scanning System will be installed in all five at a cost of $40,000, and bans on offenders may be extended to all five as well. Michael Hogg, licensee of Queens Wharf Brewery, said it was important that problem cases realise there was a moral code to adhere to.

BLUE BEAT CELEBRATES

After a quiet opening a few months ago, late night music venue and bar Blue Beat is throwing a party for the industry and patrons on August 1. The 380-capacity venue was set up by Christopher Richards (The Basement) and Nicholas Rice (Bar Broadway, The Marquee). It's gotten the thumbs-up from visitors including Natalie Cole, Chris Botti and the Sade band, and James Morrison raved, “If I had my own club, I’d want it to be like Blue Beat”.

WANNA PLAY ROCK THE SCHOOLS?

Rock The Schools has put out its annual call to emerging bands to apply to be part of the 2013 tour. Four bands will be contracted for the five-month program, each group travelling for four to six weeks, performing at a different school each day. Organisers say it’s a great way for a band to tighten up, expand its following and lift its profile on social media. “In the underage market specifically, word-of-mouth is the strongest marketing tool, and this tour allows the opportunity to tap into that market whilst also creating a learning platform for the students,” said tour manager Leah Hopcroft. See rocktheschools.com.au, and follow the links.

WANNA PLAY SCORCHER FEST?

SCoRCHeR FeST showcases 40 bands over three stages, with 80% of the bill made up of local bands, and the rest of touring acts. Acts

can make up to $25 per ticket from the ticket promotion package which they purchase.

The festival, now in its tenth year, hits Sydney on Saturday December 22 at Valve Bar in Tempe. Go to scorcherfest.com.au

INDENT WORKSHOPS

Ahead of the regional Indent Tour in November/December, Indent is hosting free music industry and event management workshops in August, to give young people the skills to run their own music events, from booking bands to budgeting. For full info, go to indent.net.au

TELSTRA ROAD TO DISCOVERY: ENTRIES NOW OPEN Now in its tenth year, Telstra Road to Discovery travels Australia from mid-August to October looking for unsigned acts. Years back it uncovered a shy 14-year-old from Darwin, who won and went on to great success: Jessica Mauboy. Entries are open for performers and songwriters (with a special one for acts who don’t travel). Full details can be found at telstra.com/trtd

AUSSIES PAY 52% MORE FOR DOWNLOADS

Consumer watchdog Choice says that Australians pay 52% more than Americans for downloaded music and games, as well as for computer software and hardware.

Choice was making a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into IT Pricing and calling for fairer pricing; it says that current pricing discriminates against regional and low-income households. Choice dismisses arguments from retailers that local factors including wages, rent and transport cause prices to go up: they sniffed that with iTunes, local companies have no overhead.

FINALISTS FOR INDIGENOUS AWARDS

Fast-rising NE Arnhem Land band East Journey, Queensland’s The Medics, Troy Cassar-Daley and Busby Marou, NSW’s Last Kinection, NT’s Gurrumul Yunupingu and Shellie Morris, Melbourne’s The Black Arm Band and Darwin-born Sydney-based pop singer Jessica Mauboy are among the finalists in the National Indigenous Music Awards. The ceremony is to be held in Darwin next month. For the full list, see nima.musicnt.com.au

SOUND SUMMIT’S SYDNEY LAUNCH

Newcastle’s Sound Summit Festival will unveil its international headliners at a oneoff Sydney event. Held at The Red Rattler, Marrickville on Saturday August 4, acts performing are Woollen Kits (Melb), Rites Wild (Adel), Rat King (Newcastle) and Family (Syd). Sound Summit runs Thursday September 27 to Sunday September 30.

SARAH MCLEOD ON THE RADAR Sarah McLeod has been named co-presenter of Radar Rock, Triple M’s new networked rock show, which plays new and unsigned acts, and music from established artists spanning the last 12-18 months.

Hospitalised: DMX, with concussion, after losing control of a four wheeler riding down a hill outside his home in South Carolina.

Recovering: Passion Pit singer Michael Angelakos, who has bipolar disorder, which forced them on a short break to “minimise further disruptions”.

Suing: Florida’s DJ Mixx claims Usher took his half-finished track ‘Let’s Go’, added lyrics, and made it ‘Hey Daddy’, off the Raymond v.

Raymond album.

Sued: Live singer Ed Kowalczyk by the rest of Live (or rather, the band’s company which holds their trademark), for using the name Live when he tours.

In Court: An appeals court has questioned the death penalty for body builder John Riccardi, who 30 years ago killed guitarist Dave Navarro’s mother, who was his ex-girlfriend, in a jealous rage.

In Court: New York clothing designer Dwayne Walker wants $7 million in unpaid royalties from Jay-Z, for designing their Roc-AFella label logo.

Died: Perry Baggs, 50, drummer and songwriter for Jason And The Scorchers, at his Tennessee home after a long battle with diabetes.

Died: Deep Purple/Whitesnake keyboard player Jon Lord, 71, of cancer.

Died: Motown studio musician and Funk Bros’ Bob Babbitt, of brain cancer. He played bass on Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’, The Temptations’ ‘Ball Of Confusion’, ‘Inner City Blues’ by Marvin Gaye and Edwin Starr’s ‘War’ among many others.

Died: US pioneering female country singer Kitty Wells, 92.

CROWDFUNDING: HOW TO WORK THE CROWD

More music and arts folk are turning to crowdfunding as a cost-effective way to fund projects. Last year, almost $1.5 billion was pledged on platforms around the world. The Australia Council has commissioned a pilot program involving research. Caroline Vu of the Council’s philanthropy arm Artsupport and its digital content officer Elliott Bledsoe will be hosting a forum on how to run successful campaigns (targets, pitching etc.) and what to do if it goes wrong, where they will also outline findings of research by Queensland University of Technology Creative Industries. It’s being held on Monday July 30 at The Opera Centre, Surry Hills, 5.30–7.30pm; register online at crowdfunding-syd.eventbrite.com

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Michael has suffered from a very difficult case of manic depression, or bipolar disorder, since he was 17, but it was only recently that he opened up about it. “It was kind of obvious and it makes life a lot easier to just say it,” he explains. Last week, the band cancelled six North American concerts that were scheduled for later this month, citing the frontman’s mental health. “Manic depression isn’t exciting,” he tells me. “It’s not romantic. It’s the worst thing in the goddamn world to deal with when you have timeframes, when you’re travelling and when you’ve had a date set for months and you’re just not functioning. It’s impossible.”

Although the singer may not have always been fully transparent about his condition, there’s always been a bleak undertone to Passion Pit’s lyrics. On their sophomore album, this is taken a step further. “Most of these songs are about people, told by a person – me – who is seriously delusional,” says Michael. “I became obsessed with ensemble casts, theatre-to-film adaptations, and developing several characters’ life stories in an hour and 45 minutes in one single room. I had gotten tangled up in many issues involving my fiancée that I wanted to visualise in some way.

Dark Matter By Callum Fitzpatrick “I applied these nonfiction stories to songs, and it just felt so fucked up.

There are songs that make some of my friends uncomfortable, but they see how much it helped me. It was extraordinarily therapeutic, drawing myself out; dripping with flaws and uncertainties, while the people around me basically either helped or worsened the situation. Sure the lyrics are dark, but it’s ultimately a triumphant record. I made it out alive and everyone is intact. I am very grateful.”

It’s surprising, then, that no matter what headspace Michael finds himself in, his music never follows his lyrics down this dark path. He has always had an undeniable knack for manufacturing summery, uplifting tunes that belie their subject matter.

“It’s just something that happens,” he says. “I like things that are pretty – I love gorgeous textures more than I love pulsating beats or anything.

But most importantly, I’m more of a melodist than anything else. The melodies will always come first, and then the dark material comes later.”

This is nowhere more evident than in the album’s lead single, ‘Take A Walk’, which contrasts those trademark shimmering synths with a narrative depicting Michael’s family issues over the course of two generations.

“The men in my family never spoke of money; they were the tight-lipped breadwinners. They provided. They suffered greatly and worked honestly, except for the third character in the bridge: he’s a present-day family member who stole money from his son, and I imagined him telling his wife and it being rather disastrous.

“That interested me – this emasculating confession, which is so damaging, especially if the lying has gone on for most of the marriage,” Michael explains. “But these men are my blood. And as ‘Take A Walk’ is the first song on the record, it alludes to a genetic disposition and a lineage.

But when the song is over and I proceed to become fully transparent, I’m liberating myself. I’ve reacted against the pattern. I learned from their mistakes by being open and admitting where I’ve gone wrong.”

Musically speaking, Gossamer picks up where 2009’s Manners left off, but it also sees Passion Pit taking on some soul influences that weren’t as evident in their earlier work – especially in ‘Constant Conversations’, which presents a slow, dawdling, almost RnB jam.

Michael says this stems from a new maturity and confidence that arose from more time in the studio and experience on the road. “I was emotionally very, very young when I made Manners,” the singer admits. “I was also rather naive, but that only rendered a more interesting approach to recording back then, so I just went with it.

After touring and lots of studio work I started getting more of an idea of what I wanted. I also became more familiar with the gear, but I still distanced myself from it enough to make sure I had perspective.”

This second album is the subject of high expectations, after the success of Passion Pit’s muchhyped debut – but this doesn’t seem

“Manic depression is the worst thing in the goddamn world to deal with when you have timeframes, you’re travelling, and you’re just not functioning.

It’s impossible.”

“I think people greatly exaggerate the notion of the second record,” Michael adds. “If an artist fails at a second attempt after having decent success early on, they can just go back, start over and try again. At one point something had to have worked for them, so there is still hope. Maybe the formula didn’t work or they were in a bad place, but it’s not the end of the world like every single journalist makes it out to be.

Things move so quickly now, and all you really need is one single to ‘hit it’, which I find rather sad – but hey, that’s me. Apparently I find lots of things sad.”

Looking to the future, Michael says he hopes for “lots more positivity”, and he wants the band to keep doing what they do best: pushing out stadium-pumping pop. They’ll be doing just that when they land Down Under to headline this year’s massive Parklife festival. “Passion Pit is not a project attempting to reinvent the wheel,” he says. “It’s a project that is optimistic about the notion of pop, our general perception of pop, and how it can change or improve.

The band and I work really hard, so we’re hoping it all goes well and we start having more fun instead of freaking out. We work too hard for that.”

What: Gossamer is out now through Sony With: The Presets, Nero (live), Justice (DJ set), Tame Impala, Robyn, Chairlift, Plan B, Chiddy Bang, Wiley, Hermitude, Parachute Youth, The Presets and loads more Where: Parklife @ Centennial Park When: Sunday September 30

“You’re like a big parade through town You leave such a mess but you’re so fun” - REGINA SPEKTOR 16 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

Xxxx

to be fazing Michael at all. “I think second records are where you either find your real, core audience or you expand exponentially on a commercial level. I don’t think this is a bad record, so I think it’ll probably be one of the two. I’d be happy with either.

A

t face value, you’d expect the mastermind behind shimmery pop outfit Passion Pit to be as chirpy as the infectious melodies and catchy hooks he crafts. But dust off some of that sherbet coating, and you’ll find that Michael Angelakos has been battling some serious mental health issues for quite a long time.

What’s more, these struggles can be found laced through the veins of the group’s new album, Gossamer.

“Essentially, the record is about instances that occurred during a horrific manic episode that lasted far too long,” Angelakos explains. “I don’t remember much of it, and I had to be told what had happened and what I had said. It was just devastating. I could barely live with myself.”

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Band Of Skulls Head To Head By Lee Hutchison

“You can think you don’t want your songs to be [on commercials], but that might be a little foolish. We’ve got an open mind about how people get to hear us... There’s such a thing as being overprotective.” getting caught up in the hype? “Yeah, in the first six months, because everything was happening for the first time,” Marsden answers. “But after that, everything becomes normal… Now we just try and beat our own records, set our own standards, and do better than we did last time.”

W

Cricket Ground. Their rise to notoriety seemed sudden from the outside, but to Marsden it was part of a much more steady climb. “We had a definite shot in the arm at one point, where we went through the gears quite quickly. But as a band we’d been working for a long time, so we were prepared for it – or as well prepared as we could have been,” he laughs. “But it was kind of exhilarating at the time.”

Their need for a break is understandable when looking back at the band’s recent history. Since releasing their debut LP, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, in mid-2009, Band Of Skulls launched into a world tour that took in Austin’s SXSW and Australia’s Splendour In The Grass.

The same year they supported Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on their tour of the American Midwest, The Dead Weather at the London Roundhouse, and Muse at the Lancashire

The band formed back in 2004, but their debut LP didn’t materialise until five years later – and its release was a tense time for all of them.

“When we put the album out, we didn’t know what was going to happen. It was more of a relief that we’d gotten to a place where we could find an audience... It was great to get the ball rolling finally.” They need not have worried – the release brought with it success, recognition and more opportunities. Was the band ever at risk of

Our conversation continues down the festival route, with Marsden reflecting on their recent Coachella gig. “We had two weekends in a row and we were there pretty much the entire first weekend, so saw lots of great bands. We really took full advantage of our laminates.” And yes, they managed to catch the infamous Tupac hologram. “It was kind of eerie because he was interacting with the other performers. I hear it wasn’t so high tech though, that it was an old fashioned trick. More smoke and mirrors than anything else.” While it’s good for a novelty, the frontman hopes that holograms aren’t here to stay: “It’d be a challenge in terms of earning potential,” he laughs.

In Australia, Band Of Skulls’ single ‘I Know What I Am’ is recognisable not only from the charts but

Marsden rarely sees the finished product anyway, so these publishing deals have little effect on him. “I don’t really watch television,” he laughs, explaining that others who use the band’s work commercially often give it a whole different feel. “It’s someone else’s interpretation that’s happening in the background of a separate storyline. You can’t choose who buys your records, either. There’s such a thing as being overprotective – there’s a danger of that as well, if you keep your music all to yourself…

You want to share it with people, get it out there.”

With: The Laurels Where: The Factory Theatre When: Friday July 27 More: Also playing at Splendour In The Grass, held July 27-29 at Belongil Fields, Byron Bay.

The Black Angels Wildest Dreams By Michael Hartt

T

he whistles and bangs of fireworks can be heard down the phone line as I talk to Alex Maas. It’s July 4 in Austin, Texas and The Black Angels’ singer is taking a break from festivities to talk about the progress on the followup to 2010’s Phosphene Dream, and his band’s upcoming appearance at the second instalment of Harvest Festival.

Debuting in 2005 with their self-titled EP, the quintet have established themselves as one of the leading lights in American psychedelia across three albums and a handful of singles and EPs. Beginning recording sessions in January, the band has, to date, 30 tracks under consideration for inclusion on their next release.

As Maas explains, having an abundance of tunes to choose from is a blessing. “Any time you’re in a creative moment you sit there and you just try and document everything, you just let it spill out and then you take a step back and think, ‘OK, what’s this? What’s that? How do you make sense of all of this?’ That’s kind of the spot that I’m in right now,” he says. “I believe in every single one of these tunes. We’ve been sitting here trying to work out our top 15 or top 20, and it’s tough. You kind of look at your songs as little pieces of yourself.”

and in its place listeners heard a softer, more introspective side to The Black Angels. Maas says that what they’ve written during the current sessions shows another side of the band again. “You evolve as a band and you evolve as a person, and I want to continue to grow,” he explains. “If you listen to Revolver and Sgt Pepper’s, there’s a lot of evolution in there. If you hear these [new] songs, it’s going to sound like The Black Angels – take that however you want to take it. When I listen to these songs, it has this feel to it and it’s hard to describe. The songs that we released on Record Store Day were a different direction but to me, they still had our touch on them. The songs that we’re working on now sound completely different to the songs we released on Record Store Day, and I want to continue to put out things that are new and interesting, for people who give a shit about our music.”

The most recent Black Angels release came in the form of the Record Store Day 7-inch ‘Watch Out Boy’/’I’d Rather Be Lonely’. Both tracks stepped away from the garage rock sound that was prevalent throughout Phosphene Dream,

With so many great songs to choose from, a double album hasn’t been ruled out. “We’ve thought about that a lot recently, because we have so much material. If you look at a record like Siamese Dream or you look at a record like The White Album, every single song on there is great,” Maas says. “[But] if you’re putting out 30 songs, it’s very trying. For one, it’s difficult in terms of, what are you going to play when you go out on tour? Are you going to play all 30 songs? Do you play your five favourite then your five favourite from the last three records? I don’t know.

“I believe in every single one of these tunes. We’ve been sitting here trying to work out our top 15 or top 20, and it’s tough.”

“I don’t know if, realistically, that makes a lot of sense,” he continues. “Not only from a touring perspective, but if you talk to a businessperson they’d probably say that’s a bad idea – not that business should interfere in that at all. What I do know is that I want to give people who give a shit about our music the best songs that we have available, and then not make them wait as long as they did for this next record, if they are waiting...” Indeed, the lengthy gap between Black Angels releases is something that Maas really hopes to curtail in the future – but it’s a tricky

venture for all involved. “One thing I’d like to be doing with our band is to be releasing something every three months,” he says. “That’s going to be really difficult on the people that work for us and it’s going to be kind of difficult on us, and it’s going to be hard for people to keep up with it – but I just want to get it out there, even if it’s for free.”

While there’s no concrete release date yet for any new Black Angels recordings, one thing that is a definite is the group’s appearance at Harvest Festival in November – the second time the group have visited Australia after touring mid-2011. The Black Angels are no strangers to festival curation themselves, having staged Austin Psych Fest in their hometown for the past five years, and Maas is happy to be a part of the Harvest bill. “I’ve always wanted

to see Beck and never have. I know it’s the obvious thing to say [but] that’s an artist I would love to work with. He’s such an active player.

He’s transcended time with his music. If you listen to his drumbeats and his samples and his vocals, just his concept of songwriting is great.

I’m looking forward to seeing our friends The Dandy Warhols too. The lineup’s insane – the people who are behind the festival obviously have great taste!”

With: Beck, Sigur Rós, Ben Folds Five, The Dandy Warhols, Liars, Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane, Santigold, Grizzly Bear, Beirut, Ozomatli, Fuck Buttons, Chromatics and more Where: Harvest Festival @ Parramatta Park When: Saturday November 17

“They try to remember but still they forget that the heart beats in threes just like a waltz. And nothing can stop you from dancing” - REGINA SPEKTOR 18 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

Xxxx photo by Xxx

hen I speak to Russell Marsden, the vocalist and guitarist behind Southampton’s Band Of Skulls, he’s enjoying some well-deserved down time. “We’re in England at the moment. We’ve had a few days off, the first this year actually. It’s been quite nice to be home for a while. It’s definitely time to reground and get ourselves ready, so we’re making the most of it.”

January last year saw Band Of Skulls take a break from touring, but not from work. Marsden (vocals, guitar), Emma Richardson (vocals, bass) and Matt Hayward (drums) headed into a studio in Rockfield, Wales and, after almost a year of recording, they emerged with their sophomore album: Sweet Sour. Then came more touring, including a support slot for The Black Keys on their North American tour, and a set at this year’s Coachella Festival. The band is currently prepping for the looming European festival season – and another visit to Australian shores for their second Splendour In The Grass.

“Getting to go back to Australia with a new record is very exciting for us,” Marsden says.

also from a 2011 advertisement for Nissan. The same track also featured in Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock, while others have appeared on large and small screens, including True Blood, Twilight: New Moon, Gossip Girl and The Hangover Part 2. I ask Marsden how these types of deals come about. “It’s a mixture,” he replies. “The label will take our music to people who are making a movie or shooting a show and pitch it. Then if someone’s interested, we often get asked.” In the increasingly fast-paced and crowded music market, this type of exposure can be priceless for a young band. “The music industry is changing quite a lot, and how people first hear about music is often in this way… You can think you don’t want your songs to be out there in that way, but that might be a little foolish. It’s so difficult for a smaller band like us, so we’ve got an open mind about how people get to hear us.”

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The Good Ship What Shall We Do With Eight Drunken Sailors? By Krissi Weiss

T

wo years after their unassuming debut created a suggestive ripple of enthusiasm across the nation, Brisbane-based pirate folk-rock band, The Good Ship, have released their second album: O’ Exquisite Corpse. Although they began as a sideproject, a host of festival appearances and a small cough of YouTube viral success has seen the rambunctious eight-piece settle into

a solid lineup and a united passion for their theatrical, melodically complex, and generally debaucherous songs.

“We’ve had lots of members come and go over the years, but the ones that stick around are the ones with that passion,” explains Geoff Wilson (of mandola, mandolin, percussion and shouting duties). “The lineup that we have now is the

longest lineup we’ve had in the history of the band. If someone is away the rest of us start to miss each other, and we actually miss the social aspect of being in a band together. I don’t know how it works for other bands, but having that friendship really works for us. We’re like a really big dysfunctional family.” It seems that The Good Ship’s success thus far has been entirely organic, and almost a little accidental. Wilson laughs at this suggestion (as he does often, with a maniacal – yet charming – cackle). “You’re right with that word ‘organic’,” he says. “It grew legs and started walking on its own, and became more and more of a juggernaut.”

The defining elements of any Good Ship show are their attention to detail, their melodramatic stage presence, and their chaotic performance.

The fourth wall is utterly smashed by the band’s desire to engage with the audience, and there is certainly no shoegazing or sullen apathy allowed of any bandmembers on gig night.

“You can’t just be a musician; you have to be an entertainer,” Wilson says. “Those of us in the band who are less musically inclined have overcompensated by being stupider onstage and more larrikin-y, being more of a performer.

We’re not just putting songs in front of people; you have to put an act in front of people.

That might be a visual aspect of what you wear, or how you behave on stage – or for some people how you behave when you’re not on stage, because you’re running around being

an idiot in the audience.”

While these frenzied performances are never to the detriment of musicality, it’s a risk that the band are thoroughly aware might not always pay off. Some musicians will take on a character when they perform, while others simply allow the intoxication of the stage to enhance certain parts of their personality. Wilson suggests that, for him, playing live involves a little of both. “You get on stage and you step outside of yourself,” he explains. “I don’t think I lose my personality, but I do highlight specific parts of it. In that 45 minutes you exaggerate the parts of yourself that you hope are the entertaining ones; I run around like an idiot and jump up on the bar and do that stupid stuff, and the audience has to expect that from us. It’s not just about standing behind the footlights on the stage and having a barrier.

“I bet there are people who watch us and think we’re dickheads and there are people who watch us and think we’re cool, but you’ve just gotta hope you get more people that appreciate what you do, and less who think you’re a dickhead.”

What: O’ Exquisite Corpse is out now With: Doc Holliday Takes The Shotgun, The Heavies When: Saturday August 4 Where: GoodGod Small Club

fun.

Young & Free By Travis Johnson

I

n many ways, a band’s first album is the easiest. There are no expectations, no weight of prior achievement, and you can pretty much do whatever you want and hope that somebody out there likes it. It’s the second album that gives you grief, bringing with it the axiomatic threat of the sophomore slump... But then again, when you’ve been gigging around the traps for as long as multiinstrumentalist Andrew Dost and his New York-based pop trio fun., it all comes a little bit easier.

“We’ve made so many albums with different bands, and we’ve all been playing music for ten years now – each of us – so it didn’t even really feel like a sophomore album; it just felt like another album,” he explains. “I think at this point we had a very clear vision of what we wanted to do and what we wanted it to sound like, so we just went to work. We didn’t even really think about a sophomore slump, we just wanted to make a great work of art – and that’s all we really set out to do.”

And they’ve succeeded. Scoring the top position on the ARIA singles chart for their infectious (and ubiquitous) single ‘We Are Young’ (feat. Janelle Monae), the band’s second album, Some Nights, is a hugely enjoyable slice of pop, mixing hip hop beats (courtesy of producer Jeff Bhasker) with a full, rich sound, and vocal stylings reminiscent of early Queen. Dost acknowledges that the album represents a definite step forward for the band. “With the first album, we were still trying to get to know each other,” he says. “Nate [Ruess, singer], Jack [Antonoff, guitarist] and I all knew each other, but we didn’t really try to write together, and when you do that you kind of have to create your own language and you have to learn to communicate.”

Some Nights was recorded on both the east and west coasts of the United States, a process that Dost found invigorating rather than disruptive.” We went together to a cabin in upstate New York for about a week, and we wrote maybe half the album there,” he recounts. “Then we went to LA, started recording ‘We Are Young’ and got that into a state we were happy with, and then we went back a week or two later to really dive into the entire album. So that was nice; we had a lot of distance, and a lot of motion.

Between New York and LA we were always moving, and we were always trying to get perspective on the songs and see them from a lot of different angles. It was really nice to be working and then to fly on the plane and listen to mixes and try to figure out what to improve.”

“Part of making the first album was just learning to write songs together. This one was less about learning each other, and more about focusing on the songs,” Dost says. “It was a little bit clearer and a little bit more direct, and maybe even a little bit more inspired, because we were only worried about trying to write great songs and get to the core of those songs. I think a lot of the development was interpersonal, but we grew a lot as writers along the way as well.”

What: Some Nights is out now on Fueled

By Ramen, through Warner Music With: Boy In A Box Where: The Metro Theatre (all-ages) When: Wednesday July 25 More: Also playing at Splendour In The Grass, held July 27-29 at Belongil Fields, Byron Bay.

The Menzingers The Epitaph Effect By James Nicoli

W

Released earlier this year, Menzingers’ third album, On The Impossible Past, is awash with anthemic punk rock and retrospective lyrics, and delivered with a real honesty and passion. Recorded at Atlas Studios in Chicago, it was the band’s relationship with producers Matt Allison and Justin Yates that really helped them realise their vision.

“They’re becoming really, really good friends of ours,” says May. “[Matt Allison] is so good at getting out of us what we need. He just has such a grasp on those things, he’s just such a good person. We spent probably ten hours [a day] with the recording, and in the night we’d just sit around and drink shitty beers and talk about music and life, and I think we ended up becoming best friends. He’s just an incredible person that I’ll hopefully know for the rest of my life. Matt definitely affected the way the record came out.”

Getting away from their hometown to record in another city saw The Menzingers drawing inspiration from their new surroundings, and able to focus completely on the task at hand.

“Chicago’s such a great place,” May says. “It’s about 13 hours drive from Philadelphia so all of the things in our life, our normal life, were not distracting us … which was so important for this record.”

The recording process for On The Impossible Past has certainly paid dividends for The Menzingers – and according to May, the new songs have been going down just as well at the shows. “When we play the new songs there’s a huge response – even more so than the older songs sometimes,” May says. “It’s been received really well.”

What: On The Impossible Past is out through Epitaph With: Pennywise, Sharks Where: UNSW Roundhouse (lic., all-ages) When: Saturday August 25

“In Prague I knew I’d been a witch, burnt alive, a pyre of Soviet kitsch” - REGINA SPEKTOR 20 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

Xxxx

hen the call from The Menzingers’ Tom May finally comes through, it becomes instantly clear that the guitarist and vocalist is at the end of a very long day of publicity. Yet as soon as our conversation turns to his band’s upcoming Australian tour, May speaks with the enthusiasm of a man who’s truly excited to grace our shores once more. “Last time we had a lot of fun just hanging out and going to the beach, and trying to find out as much about Australia as we could.” According to May, the Pennsylvanian natives have ensured that this time they’ve scheduled in enough down-time between shows to check out more of the scenery – particularly the beach. “Besides playing at the shows, which were so much fun last time, that’s what we are really looking forward to coming to Australia for.”

Kicking off in August, the tour will see The Menzingers supporting legendary punk rock veterans, Pennywise. “We haven’t played with them before and we’ve never met them but, I mean, we grew up listening to them,” May says.

“It’s like a dream come true – it’s going to be awesome.”

Things have changed a lot for The Menzingers of late. Originally born out of the Pennsylvanian pop punk scene, the band slowly carved out a name for themselves with the release of two full-length albums and a bunch of EPs and singles. Their straight up, heart-on-sleeve punk rock tunes won them more and more fans, but it was in May of 2011 that things really picked up. Having caught the attention of Epitaph boss Brett Gurewitz, The Menzingers were handpicked by the man himself to join the infamous label. “A lot has changed,” admits May, reflecting on the past year. “We’re getting more and more opportunities than we were getting before, our record seems to be a bigger deal than any of the records that we had before – people seem to really enjoy it at the moment…

We grew up listening to all the bands on Epitaph and it was always like a joke with our friends: ‘Oh yeah, maybe someday we’ll get signed to Epitaph...’ And we did! So it’s still pretty surreal.”

Toby Martin Casting Shadows By Benjamin Cooper

T

o be very clear from the get go: Toby’s Martin debut solo record Love’s Shadow doesn’t sound a bit like his other band, Youth Group. That’s not to say he’s left them behind, though – quite the contrary. After returning from living in New York for a stint, the practiced songsmith moved his family to a house immediately across the road from Youth Group’s guitarist Cameron Emerson-Elliott. “We all totally sing ‘Kumbayah’ together of an evening, in a large circle of knitwear,” Martin laughs.

The songwriter’s vocals and colourful characters are the particular highlights of Love’s Shadow, which was co-produced by Tim Kevin and sees Martin step away from the indie rock territory so thoroughly trod by his other band. But ultimately, he explains, it was really just a matter of timing.

“If Youth Group had made a record last year, a lot of these new songs would be on it; I was writing about what I was interested in at the time,” he says. “The main change is the production and arrangement, which are entirely different [from Youth Group]. The lyrics are foregrounded, they have more space, and they have more attention drawn to them. Overall there’s less musical dynamics, which means the lyrics have to carry the dynamics of the stories I’m telling.

The lyrics are fairly present in the music, and I’m okay with that.”

because I’ve played headline shows that people have had a good old chat through. To be playing songs that hadn’t even been released yet, and in such a stark, acoustic style – it was really nice to have everyone being so respectful.”

The upcoming shows will be a chance for fans to see tracks from Love’s Shadow at what Martin believes will be their fullest. “I’ve got a little band together for the first time as a solo dude.

I literally cannot wait to play a full gig together as a group – it’s going to be great fun,” he says.

“There are definitely advantages to being a solo dude, like turning up at the airport with just a guitar strapped to my back. But you miss out on the camaraderie. Important questions have to be asked, such as who do you have a beer with after the gig? Thankfully a band resolves any such issues, and they sound great too.”

What: Love’s Shadow is out on July 27 through Ivy League With: Magnetic Heads Where: The Vanguard When: Friday July 27

Martin is uncomfortable, however, with the idea that he may have embraced a character-driven concept when writing the songs. “I’ve never been the kind of songwriter who writes songs with a particular intent,” he says. “I’ve always been the kind to let the songs emerge really instinctually.

With this album I didn’t think, ‘Okay, I’m going to make a record with a whole bunch of characters’.

I’d love to be able to do that one day, but the truth is that as the songwriting process went on, my favourite tracks were the character ones.

There were a whole bundle of tracks that were less character-driven and they didn’t end up being on the record. I think the tracks give the whole package a nice personality.”

“There are definite advantages to being a solo dude, but you miss out on the camaraderie.

Important questions have to be asked, such as who do you have a beer with after the gig?”

‘Postcard From A Surfer’ was offered as an online pre-release single, and enjoyed a particularly organic development. “It was a really different song for me to write. In some ways I was in an odd place: I was on the Gold Coast in Queensland, and wretchedly hungover. I was thinking some fairly negative thoughts, which I then proceeded to jot down. A year later I was in our apartment in New York and the rest of the song just came to me. I sat down and wrote it in its entirety in an hour. I think because it had been fermenting for an extended time it ended up emerging fully formed. It’s definitely one of my favourite tracks because the process was so mysterious in its evolution, even to me. I think that your brain has to be in a particular place for thoughts like that to emerge – though I’d love to be able to write like that all the time. It might take a while,” he laughs.

The album has been finished for some time now, following final mixing by Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Silver Jews). Nevers was recruited via the marvels of technology, and some good old fashioned manners. “I particularly like the sound of the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy record Master And Everyone, which Mark worked on. I managed to get his email address and sent him a track and a polite request for him to listen. Next thing I know he emails back to say he’ll do it. I remember thinking, ‘I cannot believe it was that easy!’ So for two weeks I’d wake up every morning with a birthday present of a new mix in my inbox. It was a beautiful little process.”

The real test of the new material happens when Martin takes the show on the road. He’s not completely unprepared though, having opened for Seeker Lover Keeper on their tour of churches late last year. “Those were completely unlike any solo shows I’ve ever done in my life,” he says. “I’ve done a few solo shows but they’ve always been in small bars, or at parties for people I know. These were quite big venues, so it was a whole new thing for me, and the audiences were just lovely. They were very quiet, which was a new experience for me too. I thought the whole tour was amazing, particularly

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five minutes WITH BRYCE

I

f you saw Dan Ilic and Brendan Maclean’s ‘Monorail’ film clip for A Rational Fear, you’ll recognize Bryce from his cameo role as ‘befuddled punter #1’ – but he also arranged the music. Rather than assume he was indoctrinated in the womb via Cole Porter songs, we thought we’d find out what really happened, ahead of his new one-man show – The Bryce Is Right. It turns out it was a combination of piano lessons, school concerts and roles in high-school musicals Fiddler on the Roof and My Fair Lady.

HALLIDAY

What was the inspiration for this show?

Originally it was just a funny title but then I started thinking about what it is to be ‘right’.

Then I got interested in why people are often incapable of admitting they’re wrong.

I researched it a lot and I went and tricked

Who makes your list? I talk about David Icke and other conspiracy theorists and people who predicted the world was going to end, like Harold Camping. There’s schadenfreude in making fun of these people who we dismiss as nutters but I also try to point the finger at myself and the times I’ve been totally off the mark. That’s the through line but I wander off the path a lot. I talk about Facebook, Kony, Shakespeare and funny figures of speech. Really if you want to hear some jazz standards, show tunes and some original numbers then you should come but if you want that plus a whole lot of madness tying them together this show was written for you.

Give us a playlist to help get us in the mood for the show (please): Tom Waits’ ‘Emotional Weather Report’; Ben Folds Five’s ‘Philosophy’; the cast recording of Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly’s Matilda the Musical; watch any of Reggie Watts’ appearances on Conan to see somebody much better at using loop pedals than me; and listen to Shirley Bassey’s rendition of ‘Nobody Does It Like Me’. Which will be in the show. But I’m not Shirley Bassey. Or Trevor Ashley.

Name three things that blew your mind, creatively: Ben Folds Five’s self-titled album – when I was 14 I was given a copy, I’ve been in love with it ever since and I know every note of it; Tim Minchin – he is a masterclass on everything I’ve ever wanted to do; and the DVD of the 2006 Broadway revival of Sondheim’s Company – it changed the way I think about theatre. This production didn’t have an orchestra, all the actors accompany themselves on instruments, and it’s seamless.

That seamless transition between playing and acting is partly what I’m trying to emulate with The Bryce Is Right. I wander away from the piano a lot but use a loop pedal to keep the music going.

We know you’re too deep to care about awards like the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes… so we’ll just talk to you about the merits of The Kid With A Bike – such as the fact that Cécile de France stars alongside a plucky young co-star, and the fact that it’s made by the Belgian Dardenne Brothers, who have a serious knack for sucking you into their dramas before you’re fully aware what’s happening. Their latest is about a young boy who teams up with a hairdresser-witha-heart-of-gold to find his father and his bike.

Thanks to Madman, we have five copies of The Kid With A Bike up for grabs – if you want one, email us with your postal address and the name of one other film featuring a bike.

What: The Bryce Is Right, showing in a double bill with Quiet Companions Where: New Theatre / King St, Newtown When: July 25-28, 8pm nightly More: brycehalliday.com

As depressing as it is that Whit Stillman’s toetapping musical comedy Damsels In Distress isn’t getting a cinema release in Sydney, you’re gonna have to content yourself with the oldschool pleasures of Ginger & Fred, in Dendy Opera Quays’ Winter Wonderland classics program. Whit would approve. They’re showing two classics: on Monday July 30 you can catch The Gay Divorcee (1934), the second-ever teaming of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, featuring that number to Cole Porter’s ‘Night And Day’; and on Monday August 13 you can catch Swing Time (1936) – arguably their best film – involving mistaken identities, unrequited love, and more joy than you can shake a topper at. Films screen at 10am with a 6.30pm repeat session, and tix are a mere $9.

DAVE HUGHES

'Twilight Lovers' from Stories For Girls

Everyone loves a good comeback tour, just ask John Farnham (Michael ‘Lord of the Dance’ Flatley – not so much). Latest to join the comeback club is Australian comedy veteran Dave Hughes. The full-time smartarse is equally well known for his appearances on TV shows The Project and Before The Game as he is for the laconic drawl, bulging eyes and cheeky wit that lend him the air of an eternal teenager.

Having recently debuted at his 15th Melbourne International Comedy Festival (but who’s counting), Hughes’ Comeback Tour hits the Enmore Theatre on Saturday September 15 and tickets are on sale now via ticketek.com.au

R&R ALTERNATIVE MARKET

Get out in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans! The Sydney Rock ‘n’ Roll and Alternative Markets are rollicking into town again, setting up shop at Manning House and Manning Bar on Sunday August 12.

50 stalls selling rock’n’roll-abilia ranging from alternative and vintage fashion for men and women to collectible CDs, DVDs and books will be on offer alongside a vintage vehicle display, children’s activities, food and live music from acts including The Toot Toot Toots, Spurs for Jesus, The Drey Rollan Band and Jordan C. Thomas. Entry is via gold coin donation (extra points if you’re able to find another dime to put in that jukebox, baby). facebook.com/ rocknrollmarket

AROMA FESTIVAL

Follow your nose (or the trail of patriotic Olympic-happy Brits) to The Rocks Aroma Festival this Sunday July 29 for their annual Mecca of coffee, chocolate, tea and spiceoriented goods – from cappuccinos and chai to baklava and to-die-for hot chocolate. Once again, the Aroma Festival’s 100-odd stalls will be divided into four zones: The Latin Quarter (think Xocolat-laced Mayan Coffee), The Continent (Espresso! Biscotti! Gelato!), The Orient (chai meets yum cha) and The Oasis (Turkish coffee and baklava). Even better, this year they seem to have imposed a price cap of $2 per coffee… Formulate your plan of (twitchy) attack at therocks.com

STORIES FOR GIRLS

Sydney-based photographer Tina Fiveash has an enviable body of work that straddles the commercial, fine arts and pop-culture universes, and two decades-worth of photography. She’s best known for her gender and sexuality-themed works (most notably the awesome agitprop Deborah Kelly collaborations Hey Hetero! And Big Butch Billboard) but her upcoming show will feature some of her recent excursions into lenticular photography (like those things where Jesus is awake or sleeping, depending on where you’re standing) and animations, as well as cuts from her '90s series Stories For Girls, in which she created girl-on-girl romantic scenarios for a queer ‘50s Australia that never was, and her more recent portrait series with local burlesque babe Lillian Starr. July 27 – August 15 at Platform72 (72 Oxford St.)

YULETIDE QUEER

If you like your art queer and sexy – or your erotica queer and artistic – and with lashings of Victoriana, this is hands down the party for you: photographer-turned-entrepreneur Cat Dowd (aka Cat ‘O Nine Tails) is celebrating the 5th birthday of her queer erotica site Shot With Desire (sort of like Suicide Girls for Sydney) with a huge bash at the Arthouse Hotel. Headlined by former Gurlesque host Glitta Supanova and regulars Fancy Piece, the lineup will also include poledancer Matty Shields, go-go dancer Fifi La Frug (Solid Gold Hell), mistletoe, kissing, crinolines, and something called ‘Spanking Snow Elves’. Sounds like an excuse to dress up and win prizes, and we love dressing up and winning prizes. Winter Wonderland takes place Saturday August 4 – earlybird tickets via eventbrite.com.au 22 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

POSSIBLE WORLDS

Oh Canada! The Possible Worlds Film Festival is returning to Dendy Newtown and Opera Quays from August 13-19, with a handpicked lineup of Canadian films. If you missed them at Sydney Film Festival, this would be a good chance to see doco The World Before Her and Official Competition contender Monsieur Lazhar ahead of its cinema release; if you like hockey, violence and Seann ‘Stifler’ William Scott, head for Goon, based on a true story but co-written by Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg. For top-notch arthouse fare, seek out Beyond The Walls and Marecages, and for indie cinema, seek out Ingrid Veninger’s award-winner I Am A Good Person/I Am A Bad Person. Gamers: you need to see the doco Indie Game. Bam, you’re welcome. Full lineup at possibleworlds.net.au

YOUNG BLOOD

Fresh design meat will be on display at the Powerhouse Museum this weekend for their annual Young Blood Designers Market, featuring emerging talent across the spectrum, from textiles, homewares and fashion to jewellery, object design, furniture, lighting, and all of the good things – at pre-fame prices.

We’re coveting the cheeky, surrealist Victorian prints of Anika Cook’s Gently Unfurling Sneak (pictured left), Zeppochair’s flatpack customisable cardboard creations, Kenan Wang’s geometric lampshades, Fruitsuper’s chunky silicone rings, kyotap’s structurally draped dresses, and Das Monk’s graphic tees. That’s just the tip of the iceberg – and $6 gets you access to the markets and the Museum’s current exhibitions. July 27-29 from 10am-5pm, more info at powerhousemuseum.com/ youngblood

Twilight Lovers – photo © Tina Fiveash

SWING TIME

Bryce Halliday – photographer Hannah Farrant-Jayet

Where did you train? After high school I spent a year doing odd jobs, playing in bands and doing amateur musicals. I wanted to study acting and music so AIM’s Music Theatre course seemed the place to do both. I’m generally quite unfit for getting a real job.

myself into making that the theme of the show!

Why does being wrong feel so right?

KIDS! BIKES! DVDS! WIN!

MAGIC MIKE The Male Stripper Movie With A Heart Of Gold

By Alicia Malone

(L-R) Adam Rodriguez, Kevin Nash, Channing Tatum and Matt Bomer in Magic Mike

Tatum and co-star Matthew McConaughey get serious

WILL GUYS WANT TO SEE IT?

Photo © Warner Bros. Pictures – photographer Claudette Barius

Soderbergh: The male characters are going through issues that all men have to confront, about what they want. Men tend to define themselves by what they do, and so if you’re dealing with a character who’s trying to figure that out, then there’s something there for guys, too. When we tested the film the female scores were not significantly bigger than the male scores. I mean, guys liked it. The trick is, I think, getting them to come – but we’ll see what happens.

Manganiello: I think if you’re a smart single guy, you’re going to go see this on a Friday or Saturday night – because guess who’s going to be in the theatre?

Tatum: And if you’re really smart, you’ll wear a fireman’s outfit, and you just might go home with a few numbers – or even better, someone.

THE SERIOUS SIDE (YES, REALLY)

“I

just can’t believe we’re doing press for a stripper movie! It’s really hard to be serious…” laughs Steven Soderbergh. The Academy Award-winning director, who is as famous for his big budget blockbusters (see Oceans 11 et al, Traffic and Contagion) as his indie films (The Girlfriend Experience, The Informant!, Bubble), is in LA doing publicity for Magic Mike, a dramedy about strippers that was conceived and produced by actor Channing Tatum.

Based on Tatum’s pre-Hollywood experiences working as a male stripper, Magic Mike takes a look at both the ridiculously fun and the dark seedy side of the business.

The actor pitched the idea to Soderbergh while the pair were shooting Haywire, and once the director was on board it didn’t take long to line up a hot cast of male actors willing to put their bodies on the line – including Alex Pettyfer, Joe Manganiello (of True Blood), , Matt Bomer (of TV’s White Collar) and Matthew McConaughey.

“I was very nervous, yeah,” McConaughey admits. “Going out on the stage to dance, even if you’re not taking your clothes off, is kind of nerve-racking. Then knowing you have to strip down, it’s very nerveracking. But after doing it once, I wanted to get up there and do it again. That was a lot of fun.”

“I just respect these guys so much for jumping into the thong with both feet and out onto the stage,” says Tatum, “because I’ve done it before, and it was still nerve-racking for me. I can’t imagine what these guys had to go through. Everybody just committed. Every single person up here just went for it, and I wish we had time in the movie to show everybody’s dance, because everyone worked so hard on them.

It’s a humbling thing to get up there and you’re left with very little to the imagination, in front of almost 300 people.”

For Manganiello, stripping was like “coming out of a blackout; like waking up the next morning with blood on your hands and not

knowing what happened. You’d be sitting in your thong, sweating, thinking ‘What did I just do?!’”

there would be no competition. “We were like, ‘Okay, the best I can do is get second place.’”

“It was an exercise in complete commitment,” agrees Bomer.

“Steven said to us early on, ‘Jump off the cliff and I’ll catch you.’ He’s the kind of director that you believe when he says something like that.

We were all completely terrified, but you have to go all the way or you’re going to be in real trouble. I think this whole experience opened all of us up in some way. I remember being at my sister’s wedding reception a month after we wrapped and I’d had a few drinks, and all of a sudden I was doing body rolls on the dance floor. I realized, ‘Matt, it’s time to let go. You can’t take this with you. It’s already been captured on film.’”

“A very, very distant, distant second place,” adds Manganiello, “Chan is in a dancing movie; we’re in a dryhumping movie.”

The stars had to endure some intense dance training to learn the moves, including that all-important stripper staple, the body roll. But after seeing Tatum (who previously starred in Step Up) do his routine, McConaughey says they realised

But Tatum says the daunting experience bonded the cast in a unique way. “Most movies, when you’re done with your scene you go home. That’s not what happened here. You wanted to see the others do their routine and do it well and kill it. Every time anybody came off stage you went back and high-fived them and told them what really worked. It really became a weird team, in a way – a very weird, strange team. I want to do strip competitions, guys. Can we do that?

Can we enter some competitions, strip-offs?”

What: Magic Mike, Dir. Steven Soderbergh When: Opens July 26

Tatum: I think everybody either knows somebody or has experienced it themselves, where you’re like, ‘Okay, what do I do now?’ You have the dreams that you want to do and then you have to do other jobs until you can get to that dream. Magic Mike, and I think a lot of these guys, just sort of fell into stripping and it was fun, and years just sort of ticked on as the party was happening. Then all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Wow, it’s seven years later and I don’t really have very much to show for it. I’m not any closer to my dream.’”

ON HANGING OUT IN G-STRINGS Soderbergh: Channing had a great phrase about all of that. I felt [that] if everybody is dressed like that [on set], every conversation is funny – anybody who starts having a serious conversation while they’re wearing a thong, it’s going to be funny. But [Channing] said that when [he] first got into it, [his] mantra was, ‘It’s only weird if you make it weird.’

McConaughey: I had to put on the thong and kind of walk around and try to have normal conversations.

You have to talk about football or what you ate last night, something.

Then that’s what’s funny. Channing would be there just talking about what’s going on in the scene with Soderbergh. He’s in his red thong, just working it out, behind the scenes producerial work. What’s weird about that?

BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 23

Applespiel Make a Band…

[THEATRE] …And Take On the Recording Industry By Benjamin Cooper & Dee Jefferson

O

ver the last two years, ex-Wollongong performance collective Applespiel have staked out a claim to being Sydney’s hardest-working, most prolific and entertaining theatre-makers, via a swag of works for Tiny Stadiums, Underbelly Arts, This Is Not Art, Next Wave, and Performance Space’s NightTime touring program, among other things (the apex of which was probably having their morality twister ‘Snail Piece’ programmed at Sydney Opera House’s Festival Of Dangerous Ideas).

They recently returned from presenting their Tiny Stadiums show Executive Stress/ Corporate Retreat at Adelaide Fringe – and they’re about to take a reworked version of it to Edinburgh Fringe. In between, they’ve been madly working to get their new piece, Applespiel Make A Band and Take On The Recording Industry, ready for Performance Space’s SHOW ON season.

Even more than Snail Piece or, say, their Underbelly Arts show Awful Literature Is Still Literature I Guess, the concept of this show really is in the title – but why did Applespiel decide to form a band? Many of the collective's rotating roster of members (for this show, totalling eight) already are or have been in bands, and all of them could relate to the adolescent fantasy of becoming a rockstar. “Playing gigs in front of our friends was never going to have the right effect – we needed to do a bit more,” explains Applespiel's Simon Binns. “So we figured we could inhabit this form that is the music documentary, and by doing that we could kind of get up close to that [dream].”

“We’ve created a lot of work that looks at the processes behind things,” adds Emma McManus, citing Applespiel’s Morning Breakfast Commercial Radio Show (first performed at the You Are Here festival in Canberra and subsequently at This Is Not Art), wherein they examined the power of radio shock jocks through the format of their own live-to-air radio show.

For Applespiel Make A Band, the group will create a music documentary of their (fictional) band in front of the audience – live and in real time, including playing instruments, doing interviews, operating four video cameras, and splicing in a small amount of pre-recorded footage of a demo gig they did at the Lewisham Hotel (“people seemed to actually enjoy the songs,” Binns interjects. “We brought some not-metal to the venue"). Audience members can watch this unfurl on-stage, or watch the ‘polished’ on-camera version on screens above the stage. “We really are doing this almost choreographed dance where we are moving between cameras, moving between interviews, and moving between being in character and ‘in the band’ and back to being behind the camera,” says Mark Rogers. “It involves constant movement on everyone’s part to make it all work.”

The idea came from the group's various experiences of watching music documentaries as fans. “The documentary is a method by which bands create myths around themselves,” Binns suggests. “It’s not just about their live shows and their music – they get to tell this broader story about themselves, about how they all grew up, magically met each other... that’s part of a band’s ‘success’ as much as anything else. And by inhabiting the form of the documentary and this myth-making machine, [we’re] inviting a critique of these people who we hold up as role models. We’re suggesting that if we put anyone through the right sort of machine, they can be a rockstar too.”

“It’s looking at why people have those kinds of fantasies,” says Rogers, “like the rock band idol phenomenon. It’s interesting to study. You don’t have to like bands to like this idea.”

What: Applespiel Make A Band and Take On The Recording Industry Where: Bay 20, CarriageWorks When: July 25 – 28 More: performancespace.com.au

Jeff Dunham and Walter

Jeff Dunham [COMEDY] Finding The Line By Alasdair Duncan

F

or a comedian, the ability to deal with hecklers is a vital skill. Effective engagement with the more belligerent elements of your crowd can make the difference between walking off-stage with your head held high or slinking off in shame; depending on the circumstances, it’s been known to make or break careers. In this respect, stand-up comic and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham finds himself in a somewhat unique position: when audience members get a head full of steam, it’s often the puppet, not Dunham himself, who takes the heat.

“I do come across that situation every once in a while,” he admits with a laugh, recalling a recent incident during a corporate gig. “I was making fun of the boss, but I wasn’t paying much attention to his wife, and she’s the one I really should have been watching out for. The point came where she’d had enough, so she launched herself onto the stage, put her finger right in the dummy’s face, and started shouting at him. She was really shouting, and she was dead serious.

People laughed and it was really awkward, and eventually she stumbled back off the stage and the poor boss was just sitting there with his head in his hands, and the show went on.”

Physical confrontations like this are a rarity for Dunham at this point in his career, where he’s more often playing in arenas than intimate clubs.

But he’s always ruffled feathers, thanks to the often wilfully offensive tone of his comedy. He insists, however, that he is an equal-opportunity offender, and that those who are paying attention will realise that his number-one target is always himself – as evidenced by his cameo appearance in cult comedy show 30 Rock.

“They were doing an episode that had a bad ventriloquist in it and somehow thought of me!” he says, chuckling. “They just wanted someone to play this very goofy part, and the thing I loved

Applespiel

about it is that I was making fun of them, but also myself. I’m a man who gets up on stage with a doll and makes it talk – that’s not a serious profession, and I don’t take myself at all seriously.

People get upset at me for picking on certain things, certain groups, but I always ask them to take a step back and watch my entire show. I make fun of myself more than anybody else.”

And Dunham says there are lines he won’t cross to get a laugh. “Disasters where a lot of people were hurt or killed, or any kind of abuse … those things for me aren’t funny. Child abuse, spousal abuse – there are too many victims of that kind of thing, and those are areas I would just never go to.” At the same time, he says, there are universal subjects that everybody laughs at. “Marriage, children, health, being fat – these are things that a lot of people confront on a daily basis, and you know you can go to and joke about. If you make jokes about a bad marriage or a divorce, there are probably a few people who will be stung by them, but the majority will laugh, and when it comes to something like that, I’m okay with it.”

Dunham will return to Australia next month with his Controlled Chaos tour. “For anybody who’s seen my show before, it’s not going to be the same,” he says. “We’ve just finished shooting a new special which is due to come out in October, and actually a lot of that new material will actually be in the show that I bring down to Australia. It’s stuff that people have never seen before, and it’s going to look and feel completely different. More than anything, though, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

What: Jeff Dunham’s Controlled Chaos Tour When: Friday August 17 Where: Sydney Entertainment Centre More: ticketmaster.com.au

Pin Drop

[THEATRE] Panic In the Theatre. By Rebecca Saffir

here is no terror in the bang, only the anticipation of it. So said the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. When I recite this to Tamara Saulwick she shrieks with glee. “That’s a great, great, great reference! It’s the space before the gun gets fired that I was interested in. It’s that kind of crisis.”

T

things, the selected recordings from the dozen or so interviews Saulwick conducted with individuals about their experiences of threat. Working with Melbourne Playback Theatre – who create improvised shows in which a group of performers act out real-life stories from audience members – was the inspiration for this avenue of investigation.

Saulwick’s solo performance work, Pin Drop, entangles live and recorded interviews and sound, movement and lighting to explore the territory of dread and fear. It’s something of a departure for her, and only the second solo work in approximately two decades of performance practice.

“It got me really connected with the idea of people’s personal stories and how powerful they can be on stage,” says Saulwick. “Their voices are embedded right throughout the work, so there is a bit of a sense that this is a populated space with these disembodied voices which sometimes come through me or sometimes I’m accompanying them.

There’s a sense that they’re with me.”

“At one point I kind of went, ‘Well, what work would I make if I stepped out of working in situations where a collective aesthetic is what we’re working through; what would it be that I would make?’ Even though I still work very collaboratively, it’s very much driven by my agenda.”

Discussing the creation of Pin Drop certainly reinforces the notion that there’s no such thing as a one-person show. Saulwick worked extensively with her movement coach, production designers and sound designer to create “a very technical and precise show… and in a way it’s a duet between the sound operator and me.”

That sound operator and designer is responsible for manipulating, amongst other 24 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

Fear is an incredibly subjective experience, with each individual’s phobias and triggers deeply embedded in their own psyche and history. But Saulwick says that hasn’t precluded strong and visceral reactions from audiences so far.

“People are excited by it, they hear the stories and they get it, because we all have a relationship to this territory. But how we are within it is so amazingly different from one person to the next. I heard stories where I went, ‘Wow, wow, I could never have done that!’” she says. “I think we’re drawn to this stuff, we’ve been telling scary stories since we were little kids, and I think it’s how we process our fears.”

Tamara Saulwick in Pin Drop

But Saulwick is at pains to point out that Pin Drop isn’t about exploiting those fears or horrifying her audience. “The one thing I didn’t want to do in this show was depict acts of violence. I feel like we get fed that every other day in all the cop shows on TV, so this was really about how we negotiate that space when we’re trying to figure out ‘Is this real, is this not real…?’ You know, maybe it’s a gun, maybe it isn’t, how am I going to respond?”

I tell Saulwick that my persistent fears are large black birds (another Hitchcock reference) and having my home broken into while I’m

in it. “Oh yeah,” she says. “I’m someone who keeps the doors locked at night. And I think that’s what you do when you watch this show, you orient yourself in relation to the stories you’re hearing. You recognise yourself in it.”

What: Pin Drop – showing as part of Performance Space’s SHOW ON season Where: Bay 20, CarriageWorks When: August 1-4 More: performancespace.com.au

PERFORMANCE SPACE

SHOW ON TURN UP | TUNE IN | PARTICIPATE 25 July-4 August at Carriageworks

Featuring works from Force Majeure, Applespiel, Back to Back Theatre, Tamara Saulwick and more! performancespace.com.au

BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 25

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.

Anna Paquin: less Sookie, more sooky in Margaret

PICS :: KC

12:07:12 :: aMBUSH Gallery :: 4 James St Waterloo 83990707

ooh lala

PICS :: KC

13:07:12 :: 34B Burlesque :: 44 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93601375

vna issue #19 launch

13:07:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 8-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 93323711

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

White Elephant Dance Party x Swap Meet Wednesday July 25 from 7.30pm The Wall @ World Bar

This could be yours...

26 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

■ Dance

From July 12 @ Palace Verona & Cremorne Orpheum

Until August 18 / Drama Theatre, SOH

MARGARET

PICS :: NA

always on vacation

■ Film

Support Kings Cross small bars and the Siamese this Wednesday by heading to The Wall for their White Elephant swap-meet/ dance party thing; in their words, “bring a unique, bizarre, antiquated oddity and swap it for someone else’s weird crap.” Graphic designers Georgia Perry and Joanna Frank (aka Frank + Perry) will be making their DJ debut, and when the music stops, that’s your cue to SWAP. The kids at the Wall have provided the following inspiration points: a very large shell; Hulk hands; a lute; clip-on rollerskates; a taxidermied squirrel; a Mexican translation of Pinocchio with sexy illustrations … and so on. See you there, we’ll be the one carrying the small porcelain farmer with a bunch of carrots.

The backstory of Kenneth Lonergan’s plagued sophomore feature threatens to overshadow the film itself, and more interesting details are revealed the closer you look at it. For starters: it is being released seven years after shooting began; it has been the subject of at least two law suits (at least one of which involves Lonergan) about the final cut of the film; it stars Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Allison Janney, Matthew Broderick and Kieran Culkin (who recently appeared in the Sydney stage season of This Is Our Youth); it is produced

by Scott Rudin (The Social Network, No Country For Old Men), Sydney Pollack and the late Anthony Minghella; and it has an (exquisite) soundtrack by Nico Muhly (also recently in Sydney, for Vivid LIVE – where his considerable talent as a composer was overshadowed by Sufjan Stevens).

Then there is the fact that Martin Scorsese (who described a 2006 cut of the film as a ‘masterpiece’) and his longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker tried to rescue Lonergan from an agonising editing process by doing their own cut – one of at least three extant cuts, alongside Lonergan’s and another by editor Dylan Tichenor (There Will Be Blood; Magnolia).

It’s one of Lonergan’s cuts showing in cinemas now – and at 150 minutes, the sprawling, symphonic narrative gives you every sense of how the filmmaker might have gotten lost. Many great performances and characters compete, with a powerhouse cast relegated to peripheral roles in the vortex surrounding 17-year-old high-school student Lisa (Paquin), as she attempts to deal with the guilt of being responsible for the death of a middleaged woman. Lonergan leaves little to the imagination, taking us through Lisa’s full cycle of experience and emotions, through long discursive tracts of dialogue, and through peripheral characters’ reactions to loss, conflict and guilt – from Lisa’s absentee father (played by Lonergan) and career-driven actress mother (played by Lonergan’s wife, J. Smith Cameron), to her teachers, friends and expanding web of acquaintances. Meanwhile, this thick narrative web is interlaced with literary and dramatic references, from Shakespeare to Gerard Manley Hopkins and opera.

Looking at this version of the film, you can feel Lonergan gunning for his personal Ulysses – something better suited to four hours than 150 minutes. He is simply not a ‘silver bullet’ filmmaker; as per his Academy Award-nominated debut feature You Can Count On Me, he is interested in representing the messy complexity of human interaction and relationships, rather than single-issue/character, easily reducible plots. And his instincts, in both films, are on the money – these are fascinating characters; not always likeable, and frequently frustrating to the point of alienation – but not quite. Margaret makes you want nothing so much as to see the ‘director’s cut’ version.

Dee Jefferson

TERRAIN There’s an apocryphal saying that writing about music is like dancing about architecture. It’s meant to imply that using one artistic medium to explore another is somehow an absurd and impossible enterprise. Of course, anyone who’s seen contemporary dance in the last 50 years will tell you that some extraordinary material has sprung from the inspiration of architectural forms (and word has it there’s been some excellent music writing, too). You can dance about anything if you’re good enough, even something that never moves. Or, in the case of TERRAIN, something that has been constantly moving since the dawn of time.

Artist-in-residence Frances Rings’ first full-length work for Bangarra Dance Theatre draws its inspiration from the landscape and ecology of Kati Thanda, or Lake Eyre. The 65 minutes feel sustained by a consistent, pulsing heartbeat as the dancers push and pull at each other’s limbs, rolling onto, over and through arms and legs extended and suspended in space. Rings’ choreography has the effect of distilling and somehow eking out time, which is important in a work that takes an ancient landscape as its subject.

The dancers of Bangarra are truly ensemble artists, with each performance in support and service of every other. Their strength, grace and artistry is first class; there is also an innate understanding of storytelling you might be hard pressed to find amongst Bangarra’s Australian peers. TERRAIN is at its strongest when it ventures more boldly into this narrative territory: the movements Shields and Scar linger long in the mind. Rings has something she wants us to talk about, and TERRAIN is a beautiful and arresting contribution to that conversation.

Rebecca Saffir ■ Film

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES In cinemas from July 19 Christopher Nolan’s previous Batman movie, 2008’s sprawling The Dark Knight, was not only a near-unprecedented financial success, but also proved that the comic book-based blockbuster could have something on its mind other than tights and fisticuffs. Naturally, expectations are riding extremely high for The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan’s third and final tale of the Dark Knight Detective; but those worried by the precedent set by Sam Raimi’s ludicrous Spider-Man 3 can rest easy – Nolan has done it again.

Set eight years after the events of the previous movie, Rises finds the mean streets of Gotham City in the throes of an uneasy peace; after Batman took the fall for District Attorney Harvey ‘TwoFace’ Dent’s crimes, an Act was passed in Dent’s name allowing the police unprecedented powers of arrest and detainment. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), meanwhile, has hung up the cape and cowl and gone all Howard Hughes,

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.

haunting the now rebuilt Wayne Manor and speaking only to his loyal butler Alfred (Michael Caine, somewhat underused).

When a group of terrorist mercenaries fronted by the brutal Bane (Tom Hardy) take over Gotham, claiming to represent the oppressed and disenfranchised, the Batman re-emerges to defend the city he has made his raison d’etre.

As talented as Hardy is, he had some mighty big shoes to fill stepping into the key adversary role previously inhabited by the late Heath Ledger’s Joker. It’s to Hardy and Nolan’s credit that Bane is about as far from a retread of that character and performance as possible.

While the Joker was the anarchic ‘yin’ to Batman’s authoritarian yang, Bane is a strictly-disciplined tactical genius, and the first Nolan character we’ve seen who poses a genuine physical threat to Bale’s now ageing, out-of-practice Caped Crusader. Hardy’s hulking physique sells Bane as a genuinely terrifying villain,

although his choice of accent and the mask he wears throughout do make him sound distractingly like Darth Vader doing a Winston Churchill impersonation.

Like Nolan’s previous Batman films, The Dark Knight Rises is by no means flawless; it’s overly long and takes itself rather too seriously, although Anne Hathaway’s snidely seductive Catwoman adds some much needed levity to the proceedings. There are so many new and returning characters that some of them get lost in the shuffle, although Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s turn as idealistic cop John Blake makes a particular impression. Nonetheless, as several finalact plot twists bring the series neatly full circle, one can’t help but marvel at what Nolan has managed to do in creating a thoughtful, visually spectacular trilogy where none of the parts feel superfluous.

Rob Newcombe

Street Level With Jess Olivieri

T

he next instalment of the MCA’s monthly ArtBar mash-ups will be curated by local performancemaker Jess Olivieri, whose collaborations with Hayley Forward under the moniker Parachutes For Ladies have showed previously as part of Primavera, Tiny Stadiums and Performance Space seasons.

What is your background and training as an artist? I went to art school, the now sadly defunct UWS. I began making performances that took place inside installations in 2007. In 2008 this moved into performances that responded to architectural space, when I made ‘Small States’, on a residency in Berlin with Hayley.

This is our video of men clicking and ‘dancing’, in this amazing neo Nazi building foyer. I have then gone on to make musicals that are not musicals and dances about death that are not dances and credit my collaborators as the Parachutes for Ladies.

What blows your mind, creatively speaking?

I’m pretty into movie musicals; as a kid I used to tape them when they were on TV and then watch them all weekend on repeat. My favourite is West Side Story – it has informed quite a few of my works (including the abovementioned ‘Small States’). Jerome Robbins was an incredible choreographer, and the music of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim is movie-musicals at their best.

Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway go toe-to-toe in The Dark Knight Rises

What’s on the menu for ArtBar? The loose idea for the evening is ‘Hi Friends’, cheekily addressing the theme of the Biennale and the role of artist as curator. I have invited my peers to take over the spaces within the MCA: David Capra will be welcoming people with his giant hand from The Ministry of Hand Shakes; you can then enjoy a Karaoke Massage from Teik Kim Pok; the amazing ladies from POST are performing an excerpt from their upcoming show; WRONG SOLO (Brian Fuata and Agatha Gothe-Snape) will be presenting a

T

wentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment want you to take a break, put your feet up and relax this weekend – they’ll even provide the entertainment. All you gotta do is tell us the name of one other American comedy (not listed below), and you’ll be in the running to win the following slice of funtimez:

You recently did a piece at Brisbane’s Gallery Of Modern Art that involved the staff wearing tap shoes – what was the inspiration behind that? Hayley and I were thinking about the bolshie title of the exhibition, Contemporary Australia: Women and wanted to respond to the idea of hierarchy, which often comes up in discussions of the representation of women within art institutions. We worked with the staff at GOMA to create three works [including Cannon], in which we invited the Gallery Attendants to wear tap shoes, to invert their roll as invisible guard. It was a live performance for the duration of the exhibition as well as a video.

What: MCA ArtBar Where: Museum Of Contemporary Art When: Friday July 27 from 7-11pm More: mca.com.au/series/artbar/

S AY W EA IV G

WIN AN IPAD + COMEDY DVD PACK

reverse lecture; you will be able to make your own friendship rock under the watchful eye of Kenzie Larsen; and Shane Haseman will be giving tours throughout the gallery. There will be a special appearance from the Aura Australis Women’s A cappella Choir, a secret shamanic appearance by Sarah Rodigari that you have to see with your own eyes, and Raw Prawn will close the evening with DJs on the Sculpture terrace 'til 11pm.

Elijah Woods and Jason Gann star in Wilfred

- Wilfred: Season 1 on DVD: The US remake of the cult Australian TV show about a washed-up and post-suicidal lawyer who sees his next-door neighbour’s dog as a man in a dog suit, starring creator Jason Gann and Elijah ‘Frodo’ Woods.

- The Big Year on DVD: A comedy about competitive bird-watching from the director of The Devil Wears Prada and starring Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin.

- The Sitter on DVD: Writer-director David Gordon Green cuts loose Pineapple Express-style in this comedy starring pal Jonah Hill as the worst babysitter ever, on the gig from hell.

- A 16GB third-generation iPad.

WIN!

PLUS ten runners-up will receive a pack of all three DVDs.

©2012. 20th Century Fox. All Rights Reserved.

Email your postal address and answer to freestuff@thebrag.com by Monday July 30.

BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 27

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK GASLIGHT ANTHEM Handwritten Universal

Handwritten is so overflowing in its epicness that it may take the listener three of four spins before they start to appreciate how big the damn thing is.

I’ve always been wary of records that open with their lead single – I’m fearful that the band will blow its load too soon, and the rest of the album will be limp in comparison. So when I learned that the brilliant new single ‘45’ from Gaslight Anthem’s fourth album Handwritten was also the opening track, I was concerned. I love this band, you see.

I’ve been in love with them from the beginning, and I’ve loved them more and more with every record they’ve released. So the last thing I wanted to see was a sign that these giants of alternative rock may have stumbled.

Fortunately, my concern was unwarranted: this album is better than anything they’ve done before.

DAPPLED CITIES

TOBY MARTIN

When Dappled Cities played at last year’s Harvest Festival, they debuted a series of new numbers that, while sounding perfectly solid, made for an odd contrast with classics like ‘Fire Fire Fire’ and ‘Holy Chord’. A perennially undervalued band, on their new LP Lake Air the five-piece appear to have ditched the quirky art-rock elements that won them the initial hype, instead jumping headfirst into the indiedance pool they dipped their toes into with ‘The Price’ from 2009’s Zounds.

Recorded in Paris, LA and Sydney, the album was co-helmed by younggun US producer Jarrad Kritzstein, and finds Dappled at their poppiest – although they always knew how to do pop very well. Yet the record sadly lacks a spine-tingling epic like ‘Wooden Ships’ or a gorgeous, subdued slowie like ‘Peach’. This time, it’s all about muscle-flexing basslines, glossy keyboards and made-for-triple j beats; longtime fans will likely frown at the lack of the fabled Rennick/Derricourt six-string magic.

Taking on the majority of lead vocals, the ever-lovable Tim Derricourt makes full use of his characteristic ‘meowing’then-soaring tenor, while partner-incrime Dave Rennick appears to have mostly retreated to guitar/backing vocal duties. Naturally, there’s no denying the brain-wormy hookiness of earmarked tunes ‘Run With The Wind’ and ‘Born At The Right Time’ – yet the pneumatic treble of ‘Real Love’ with its echoes of vintage Air (‘Sexy Boy’ meets ‘Radio #1’), ‘Love Connection’, and the damnirresistible ‘Work In The Mould’ arguably pack more punch.

Bristling with effortless harmonies and cleverly-constructed melodies, Lake Air is an excellent pop album that could finally take Dappled Cities to the next level they’ve been working so hard to get to – but serious fans won’t find anything new here.

Denis Semchenko

Toby Martin’s debut solo album is infused with the richness of the strings that comprise his bow: grandson of Australian poet David Martin; Australian country music doctoral student; frontman of Youth Group.

Penned between Sydney and New York, Love’s Shadow is a concept album of sorts, its tracks presenting how the inner reality of world-weary, mildly misanthropic protagonists affects the way in which their outer world is experienced. And for the most part, it’s a concept executed effectively. Geographies ranging from Kings Cross (‘Nylex Nights’) to New York (‘NYC Misses You’) via Surfers Paradise (‘Postcard From Surfers’) and Victor Harbour (‘Happy Where I Am’) are easily identifiable, and united by the clamorous air of desperation that Martin depicts as dominating their landscapes.

The songwriter channels great thought into his music without it feeling overwrought, maximising the effectiveness of catchy, bright melodies and sensitive lyrics by trying to keep them simple – a feat harder to achieve than it sounds.

Gentle piano- and guitar-centric arrangements have an equally deceptive low-fuss sound; a legacy of instrumental layers being built around pre-recorded acoustic guide versions of each song. Martin is at his best when he is his most restrained, with the payoff clearest in the standout track ‘Lead You In’, where the economic poignancy of lyrics such as “The harbour is deep / I’m on my way to the bottom / I’ll take your hand / And lead you in” is most clear – even more so when compared to other lines on the album, whose effortful rhyming detracts from their content.

An impressive album that convincingly conveys how a bleak inner world can cast a shadow over any locality.

Andrew Geeves

Sure, some might prefer the comparative lo-fi attitude of their debut, or the The-Clash-frontedby-Springsteen influence of The ’59 Sound, or the heartland rock of the excellent American

THE LAURELS

Love’s Shadow Ivy League

Lake Air Hub/Inertia

From beginning to end, the whole record is epic; every line is a lifechanging epiphany, every riff seems played on bloody knees from the peak of God’s fiery mountain, and every chorus is a national anthem sung to 10,000 saluted cigarette lighters as they march towards salvation. ‘Biloxi Parish’ is this generation’s ‘Bobby Jean’, ‘Too Much Blood’ is a grunge song backed with real emotional weight, and ‘45’ has the chorus of the year. But each song here is killer, and every fan will have their own favourites.

Plains is the Sydney band’s first album in their six-year career, and it’s every bit as convincing as their live show, improving on it in some ways. It’s sumptuously recorded and meticulously arranged, but still feels loose and warmly informal. Instead of assaulting you with a stereo wash, the guitars surround you like a forest.

They wash over you on ‘Tidal Wave’, they lean in menacingly on ‘Changing The Timeline’. On ‘The City is Coming Down’, they crackle and corkscrew in a way that will make your inner J Mascis/Kim Gordon weep with glee.

What’s disappointing is that none of it sounds new. This is part of the charm of the songs – they sound familiar even on the first listen – but nasal Lennon-isms and pitch perfect guitarwash homages have a pretty short shelf-life after you’re done trainspotting influences. See if you can place where the melody on ‘One Step Forward (Two Steps Back)’ is lifted from; it’ll drive you mad, I guarantee.

Plains is a near perfect throwback to ‘80s/’90s shoegaze guitar bands.

If you like Ride, Swervedriver, My Bloody Valentine, early Oasis, or even Souvlaki-era Slowdive, then this could well prove to be just your slice of baklava.

Idea Of Happiness may not be the grand return that many were expecting after a fouryear break for Van She. Three of its 11 tracks are instrumentals, and the rest feel so slight that they are at risk of up and floating away on the gentlest breeze. That may sound like a criticism, but it’s not really.

This is an album without very much on its mind, its primary concerns involving getting a buzz on and dancing in warm summer winds.

Singer Nick Routledge admitted that much of Idea Of Happiness was conceived while sitting on a beach in the Caribbean drinking rum and listening to yacht rock, and as such, lyrics like “I feel Calypso” are about as deep and existential as it gets.

The arrangements on this album are pretty top notch – the synths glitter and sparkle like sunlight on a calm sea, and the swivel-hipped beats invite you to dance with a cocktail in hand. The opening four tracks are easily the strongest – the title song, ‘Calypso’ and ‘Jamaica’ all set a carefree island-hopping vibe, while ‘Sara’ harks back to the new wave pop of Van She’s first album.

In a sense, these guys feel like kid brothers to artists like Cut Copy and Friendly Fires: ‘Tears’ nips at the heels of Pala’s blissed-out Balearica, while ‘The Beat Of The Drum’ is like Zonoscope’s 15-minute closer ‘Sun God’ cut down to size. This record isn't as accomplished as either album I’ve just mentioned, but it doesn’t feel the need to be.

Idea Of Happiness is here for a good time and doesn’t demand anything back from you – and taken on that level, it’s pretty damn enjoyable.

Alasdair Duncan

Luke Telford

Gold & Red Tenzenmen/Music-Fix Youthful as they are, Nikko excel at the art of a sad ballad – as second LP proper Gold & Red ably attests. Following on from 2010’s debut The Warm Side, the Brisbane quartet have shaken off the postrock influence and refined their signature sound: uniquely Australian; sparse yet colossal; melancholy yet visceral. Anchored

by Blair Westbrook’s powerful drumming and Sam Whiting’s thundering bass, these nine tracks are essentially sordid life stories married to deliciously maudlin music.

28 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

Beginning in a stately manner with the desolate, apocalyptic ‘The Child’, G&R takes the listener to a place Nick Cave and Gareth Liddiard once trod. The entire first half is practically flawless: ‘About The Spirit’ channels the much-missed Devastations’ darker moments, and ‘Dark Eyes’ makes great use of ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’-style harmonica, before collapsing into an intensely cacophonous outro.

Vocalist and chief songwriter Ryan Potter sings of ruined love, bitterness and resentment in his now-matured low baritone, while Jackson Briggs’ superbly laconic slide guitar evokes barren landscapes outside the coastal line – occasionally mimicking the feel that The Triffids’ Graham Lee conveys via his pedal

steel. Nikko’s secret weapon, violinist Adam Cadell (who also plays with Potter in experimental/drone outfit The Scrapes) weaves his lines into the arrangements in a different manner to ace bow-wielders like Warren Ellis or Charge Group’s Jason Tampake, creating moments of subtle melodic grace. Unafraid to experiment – they even “do” Dead Can Dance on the sinister, Middle Eastern-flavoured ‘Gold & Red’ – the band save the best for last with the beautifully forlorn ‘Losing The Meaning’.

Nikko have crafted a resolute grower, and one of 2012’s top Australian albums – somewhere, Rowland S. Howard is smiling.

Denis Semchenko

HEY GERONIMO Hey Geronimo EP Independent

Idea Of Happiness Modular

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK NIKKO

Roland Kay-Smith

VAN SHE

Plains Rice Is Nice

A live set from The Laurels is something of a treat. It’s loud. There are lots of guitars. The guitars sound good.

You can’t hear the vocals too well, but that’s beside the point given that heavenly morass of six-string. The band is well rehearsed. Their songs are tidy and they’re delivered with enough rangy, lackadaisical conviction to forgive the quiet pall of hypnotic sameyness that settles in after about half an hour. If you were born a decade too late to bask in the zenith of shoegaze, then witnessing this four doing their thing makes you feel slightly less like you really missed out.

Slang – but Handwritten showcases a great band finding their own sound, and playing only to their strengths.

This is what happy sounds like; pure, unpretentious and highly enjoyable guitar-pop. While “EP” can often be code for “we didn’t have enough filler for an album” or “no-one would buy it if we called it a single”, that’s certainly not the case here. Each of the five tracks is killer, showcasing a different facet of the Brisbane band while steering well clear of the “look at all the things we can do” syndrome that plagues most first releases.

‘Why Don’t We Do Something?’ is a catchy-as-chicken-pox delight that almost dares you not to sing along.

Considering the brilliance of their music video – a home-made riff on iPhone games – you’ve probably heard this one by now. But ‘Carbon Affair’ is by far my favourite; a handclapping, Gidget-Goes-Bondi effort that made me want to buy a hulahoop. It effortlessly shifts from Beatles to Beach Boys and back again, with jangly guitars and well-matched vocals. It’s okay to be bubblegum as long as you're unashamedly good bubblegum (like Grape HubbaBubba), but there's much more going on here than that. The clean, tight production matched with idiosyncratic instrumentation keeps it pop, but far from mass-produced.

Although a little on-brand with the retro-surf feel, ‘Dreamboat Jack’ benefits from some synth experimentation and the best chorus of the lot. ‘I Got No Money’ is the most straight-faced rock song, at least at first, but by the third chorus it’s just as infectious as the others as your feet begin to tap along.

Rounding out the EP, ‘Co-Op Bookshop’ belongs on the soundtrack to a Wes Anderson film – in a great way.

Buy it, learn the words, and shout the songs back at them at their shows.

Robbie Miles

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

FIONA APPLE - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser...

NICO MUHLY - A Good Understanding MATTHEW DEAR - Black City

WAVVES - King Of The Beach BLINK-182 - Dude Ranch

snap sn ap

live reviews

up all night out all week . . .

What we've been to see...

THE MESS HALL, REGULAR JOHN Annandale Hotel Friday July 13

oaf's 3rd official hat party 13:07:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 93323711

insane in the brain party profile

It’s called: AC presents Insane In The Brain It sounds like: Ska, gypsy rock, jazz-fusion and blues.

PICS :: KC

The last time I saw The Mess Hall was many years ago, in the wild and heady days of university. The two-piece was shrieking and caterwauling about Sydney with determined abandon; they had fantastic hair and oodles of well-readbut-good-bloke charm. To a young and somewhat messy lad from the country they also had something even more arresting: fantastic suits. Here were guys who played as though hell itself was reaching out to claim them, yet managed to fix up and look sharp for their guests.

The blues was in safe and solid hands back then; I was curious to see if that was still the case.

audience, who nod along furiously with only slight interruptions to accommodate the guy at the bar who’s pouring one beer on his mate’s head for every two that are purchased. The band themselves are not all that concerned with anything except the tunes, man.

Outros become intros and songs slide together as all the hair on stage sweats up and flops about. The most interesting moment comes via 2007 track ‘Pulse’, when Kurzel pushes an array of pedals to give him the drive so desperately desired for this more techno-led single. But of course the fans are all there to lose their collective shit to 2005’s ‘Pills’. The beat is furiously bashed out, as the crowd of necks start to dread the weekend’s recovery from certain whiplash.

Benjamin Cooper

Tonight’s openers are the Marrickville rattlers Regular John. There are some missteps (at one point the frontman’s vocals drop out completely for a lengthy period, for instance) but overall it’s robust – without being particularly engaging. Having witnessed a number of psych-out performances in the last few weeks that managed to embrace the form and the audience (see: Damo Suzuki + Holy Soul, The Laurels), it seems a shame that tonight’s jam bobs about without any real menace.

Cec Condon wraps his lanky form around the drum kit, as his brother in rock, Jed Kurzel, straps on a guitar.

The Mess Hall have never been ones for fanfare, and who can hold that against them? Certainly not tonight’s

Who’s playing? Edema Ruh (EP launch), Ibis Nixon And The Cowboy Zealots, General Pants And The Privates, and The Rusty Spring Syncopators.

Sell it to us: From the crusty blues of the quirky 1920s-style Rusty Spring Syncopators to the wild gypsy reggae of the General Pants And The Privates mob, AC presents an evening of pure entertainment. What’s more, we’ll be showcasing Ibis Nixon And The Cowboy Zealots, who will bring you the most devilish, funky jazz on the planet – and lest we forget, headlining the evening are the notorious, foot-stomping, Eastern-Euro flavoured Edema Ruh, launching their highly anticipated EP! The bit we’ll remember in the AM: A rock’n’roll rollercoaster.

Crowd specs: All 18+ are welcome to lose their minds with some brainmelting, sense-numbing tunes.

Wallet damage: $15 on the door.

Where: Goodgod Small Club / 55 Liverpool Street, Sydney CBD When: Wednesday July 25, from 7pm N ATKINS

HA PHOTOGRAPHER : NAT

THE GATE PRESENTS SOUND / LIGHT / STONE: SINGLE TWIN, JORDAN IRELAND, TASH PARKER, SEAWORTHY AND CHARGE GROUP York Street Anglican Church Saturday July 14

catcall

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Armed with a simple ethos – to bring live music to the North Shore and Western Suburbs – The Gate has quietly cultivated a strong following with a focus on unusual venues, small capacities and genre-specific events. Their success was reflected in the inaugural Sound / Light / Stone series, held in the heart of the CBD within the delicate surrounds of York Street Anglican Church.

04:07:12 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi Beach 9130 7247 :: NATHAN ATKINS :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: ELKE OWENS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE IEL CLARKE :: ASHLEY MAR :: DAN PEDRO XAVIER POPOV :: ROCKET WEIJERS ::

In this perfect setting for music whose subtlety would be overpowered in a more typical bar venue, the audience were treated to a new collaboration between Seaworthy and Charge Group.

Beginning with a tape loop of water drips and splutters, a mixture of violin, guitar, Turkish melodies and delay pedals were underpinned by a haunting minor-chord progression played on the church organ.

Echoing the sparse soundtracks of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, the instrumental’s languid pace and length mitigated its emotional punch – this collaboration demands a visual accompaniment of sorts.

Swiftly following was the Gotye-approved Tash Parker, performing solo for the first time in a year. Her breezy folk-pop perfectly complemented her girl-next-door stage presence. Despite raising a chuckle

with a Sesame Street cover, Parker’s twochord ditties blurred into each other with predictable song structures and a lack of vocal personality; her impending move into visual arts may yield more inspired output in the future. Cutting a completely opposite figure was the enigmatically shy Jordan Ireland – formerly of beloved Townsville troupe The Middle East.

Playing all new material, Ireland freely wound between Springsteen-like fuzz anthems, atmospheric interludes and the sparse folk of his previous work. A defiantly messy set with sudden stops, song sketches and looping issues showed Ireland stretching his craft and audience preconceptions alike; expectations should be high for an official release...

Closing the evening was an ensemble performance from Marcus Teague’s Single Twin. Initially performing solo, Teague fully embraced his unique surroundings, slowly stepping away from the mic for ‘My Silken Tooth’s repeated refrain of 'In my mind you are beside me singing'. Even with an accompaniment of four multi-instrumentalists, ‘Fish In New Leaves’ and ‘The Blow (Fell Out The Window)’ fell a little flat, begging for a dynamic live reappraisal. It was only when he pulled out a new, grooveladen track mid-set that the band’s full potential was finally realised – yet it was Teague’s off-the-cuff banter that proved the highlight. With topics ranging from banana lounges and online shopping to 27-inch phones, perhaps Single Twin would benefit if Teague let loose more of his idiosyncrasies musically.

Alister Hill BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 29

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rabbit hole's 1st birthday

millions & step-panther

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14:07:12 :: FBi Social :: Kings Cross Hotel 248 William St 9331 9900

mum

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13:07:12 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney 8084 0587

the folk informal

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13:07:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 9357 7700

van she

PICS :: AM

11:07:12 :: FBi Social :: Kings Cross Hotel 248 William St 9331 9900

14:07:12 :: The Metro:: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

mum It sounds like: Some awesome new bands and unpretentious house party DJs playin’ gritty blues rock, soul, indie punk, indie classics and ‘80s dancefloor hits all night long!

Who’s playing? Whipped Cream Chargers, Narrow Lands, Bradley Cork and the Folklore, Mantra, King Rizz and Callithump.

Sell it to us: Great bands, DJs playing tunes you actually want to hear, $1 chili dogs, $5 beers, tequila and sangria. All super tasty – it kinda sells itself!

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: We can’t guarantee you’ll remember much, but you will probably have some clues when you wake up on Saturday – like the distinct smell of tequila, three EPs you bought from bands, and a mess of beards, tattoos, skinny jeans, Chelsea boots, crop-top band shirts, nose piercings and two-tone hair.

Crowd specs: Beards, tattoos, skinny jeans, Chelsea boots, crop-top band shirts, nose piercings, two-tone hair.

Wallet damage: $15 – or free for students before 10PM. Where: The World Bar / 24 Bayswater Rd, Kings Cross When: Friday July 27, from 9pm

30 :: BRAG :: 469: 02:07:12

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party profile

It’s called: MUM

12:07:12 :: Annandale Hotel :: 17 Paramatta Rd Annandale 95501078 :: NATHAN ATKINS :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: ELKE OWENS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE IEL CLARKE :: ASHLEY MAR :: DAN RO XAVIER POPOV :: ROCKET WEJERS :: PED

PICS :: GP

up all night out all week . . .

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Remedy

up all night out all week . . .

More Than The Cure Since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

LAX

Oh to be in West Hollywood next month.

The original lineup of LA’s X are reforming for a show at the Roxy on August 17, where they’ll perform their Los Angeles album with special guest Ray Manzarek of The Doors, who not only produced said album but played keyboards on it as well.

BDO GOES OFF!

Are we excited about the Big Day Out? You bet! Off! are on the bill!

RIP THE LORD

Very sad about the passing of former Deep Purple keys man, the ever statesman-like Jon Lord, after his battle with cancer. He was 71. We’ve long held the view that his droning work in Purple – particularly on Machine Head – did as much for shaping metal’s tone as the guitar work of Sabbath’s Tony Iommi.

PICS :: AM

clubfeet

DREAM SYNDICATE

This is mostly pretty exciting. The Dream Syndicate, who for us were one of the real diamonds of the early ‘80s ‘paisley’ scene (even though they were more about Sister Ray-era Velvet Underground than The Byrds), are reuniting to mark the 30th anniversary of Days Of Wine And Roses.

Where it falls over for us is the lineup, which will be main-man Steve Wynn (recently in Oz as part of the Dig It Up! juggernaut) along with original drummer Dennis Duck and slightly latter-day bassist, Mark Walton – but rather than master drone axeman Karl Precoda, guitarist Jason Victor (from Wynn’s current unit, The Miracle Three) will be on lead duties, which is kinda disappointing. So it’s a bit like the Velvets reforming to do the Nico record without John Cale’s electric cello.

11:07:12 :: GoodGod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney 8084 0587

STATUS QUO PICS :: NA

rescue ships

Some squares are outraged by Status Quo doing an advertisement for Coles, complete with guitars in the shape of the same large red hands as the campaign’s logo. Us? You had to ask? We love it! If John Lydon can do ads for butter and Bill Burroughs and The Stooges can team up to (almightily) plug Nike, then Quo can do ads for Coles.

13:07:12 :: Red Rattler :: 6 Faversham Street Marrickville 9565 1044

FLIGHTS OF FANCY

So Aerosmith are pushing the line that their forthcoming November album, Music From Another Dimension, will be a backto-the-roots thing. Please. OK, so they got their original classic sound producer Jack Douglas involved – but as we’ve said so many times before, recapturing a moment in time is like snaring lightning in a bottle. There ain’t no rewind button for instinct and hunger.

REBELLION

Enormous punk festival Rebellion is on again this year in Blackpool, UK from August 2-5, and the bill is, as always, a monster.

It includes Rancid, Public Image, Social Distortion, Stiff Little Fingers, Buzzcocks, Ruts DC, The Only Ones, Slaughter And The Dogs, The Boys, Snuff, The Slackers, Conflict, The Subhumans, Agnostic Front, TV Smith and The Valentines (doing the best of The Adverts), The Stupids, 7 Seconds, Vice Squad, UK Subs, 999, The Varukers, Chelsea, Heavy Metal Kids, Menace, our very own R.US.T, The Vibrators and dozens more. rebellionfestivals.com

SEVEN-INCH

It seems you don’t have to be AC/DC or The Sex Pistols to have your singles command a packet on eBay or the like: a White Stripes seven-inch recently sold for a cool $13,000 at auction. It was one of just 15 copies and featured ‘Lafayette Blues’ and ‘Sugar Never Tasted So Good’. Jack White himself tried to flog the same item for just $6 at a show in Detroit, and had no takers.

PIGSKIN HEART

David Lee Roth has to be the smartest, most quotable ranter in the game – and he was firing on all cylinders recently when he addressed speculation that Van Halen are set to play the Superbowl in February 2013: “First of all let me say this – be still my pigskin heart. That honour has not been bestowed upon us at this time, though it is one we would accept in a NY minute. Having heard VH blaring through stadium speakers on any given Sunday – more like every given Sunday – the idea of playing there live would be like, ‘Okay, now we’re in the game’. Playing at the Superbowl is a veritable holy grail of musical recognition, a highly prized rite of passage for artists. Not a spiritual rite with snake pits or Hebrew school or anything, but it’s up there.”

SAVAGE HEART

Traditional rock’n’roll evangelists The Jim Jones Revue have a new album out in October, titled The Savage Heart.

CHARLIE MEAN

Charlie Sheen might be back in the TV game but he sure hasn’t lost his edge, if the following remark (which he allegedly made when Slash had his mitts imprinted in cement in the walk of fame in Hollywood) is any guide: “It’s quite fitting that Slash is getting a star on the very street Axl Rose will one day be sleeping on. This star is going to be stepped on more than the coke we did in the '80s.”

faker

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The Jim Jones Review

12:07:12 :: Rock Lily :: The Star 80 Pyrmont Street Pyrmont

ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is Weedeater’s God Luck And Good Speed, which has the sludgey wallop of early Electric Wizard and the southern beer-houndness of a dangerously late night with Lynyrd Skynyrd. A ball-tearer.

11:07:12 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi Beach 9130 7247 :: NATHAN ATKINS :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: ELKE OWENS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE IEL CLARKE :: ASHLEY MAR :: DAN PEDRO XAVIER POPOV :: ROCKET WEIJERS ::

The Jim Jones Review by Steve Gullick

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TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS Johnny Casino is bringing his Spanish rock’n’roll circus Johnny Casino Y Los Secretos to town. The outfit was roped together for Big Johnny’s last tour of Spain – and had so much fun they decided to reconvene down here. The shows will be launching the new Casino double-gatefold seven-inch ‘Ahora Es El Momento/Now Is The Time’, which was recorded in Australia and Spain, and features two new Casino-penned tunes

and a cover of Spencer P. Jones’ ‘Trick My Boat Wrong’, plus Nic Nicotine’s ‘I Let You Down’. Tour dates are August 9 at Wollongong’s Fairy Meadow Hotel with Smasheddy Bash and Bulldoze All Bowlos; August 10 at The Square with Hell Crab City and The Dunhill Blues; August 11 at Manly Fishos with 4 Barrel Hemi and Brown Esky; and August 12 at the Sando with Tombstone Ramblers and The Escapes.

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

Pics to art@thebrag.com www.facebook.com/remedy4rock BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 31

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send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

WEDNESDAY JULY 25

The Shins

Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park

The Shins

(USA),

Husky

ROCK & POP

Bernie The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Open Mic Night Hard Rock Cafe, Darling Harbour free 8pm Unherd Open Mic Downstairs, The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm

JAZZ

Eddie Perfect & The Renovators 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8.30pm John Watson Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Monday Jam Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Russell Neal, Senani, Stephanie Poleson, Ross Bruzzese, Massimo Presti, Chris Brookes Kellys on King, Newtown free 7pm

TUESDAY JULY 24 ROCK & POP

Adam Pringle and Friends Downstairs, Sandringham

32 :: BRAG :: 472 : 23:07:12

Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Carl Fidler The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm Communion: Michael Kiwanuka (UK), Ben Howard (UK), Tim Hart (UK) The Factory Theatre, Enmore sold out 8pm Songwriters Association Open Mic Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt free 7pm The songwriter Sessions Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 7.30pm Steve Tonge Duo O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 10pm Zoltan Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 8.30pm

JAZZ

Jazzgroove: Coffin Bros, Glenn Doig Big Band 505 Club, Surry Hills $8 (conc)–$15 8.30pm Jo Elms Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Justin Stewart Riverside Theatres, Parramatta $37 7.30pm all-ages

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Andrew Denniston, Maxine Kauter, Under The Purple Tree, Mirrors in Iceland, Tommy D, Carrie, The Backyard Bandicoots Taverners Hill Hotel, Leichhardt free 7pm Russell Neal, Laura Bishop, Fiona Carrall, Oliver Goss & Jono Lim

The Abstract Brotherhood 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8.30pm Peter Head The Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm World Music Wednesdays: Os Fosforos Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

$83.50 (+ bf) 7.30pm MONDAY JULY 23

JAZZ

Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks free 7pm

WEDNESDAY JULY 25 ROCK & POP

Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Bernie Segedin Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Blackie, Steve Lucas, Michele Madden Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm Co Pilot The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Dan Lawrence The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Dan Spillane Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm Friends (USA), Howler (USA), Zulu Winter (UK) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $44 (+ bf) 8pm Fun (USA), Boy In A Box Metro Theatre, Sydney $44.30 (+ bf) 7pm all-ages Insane In The Brain: Edema Ruh, Ibis Nixon and The Cowboy Zealots, General Pants and The Privates, The Rusty Spring Syncopators GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $15 7pm Jim Ward (USA), Jen Buxton Annandale Hotel $22 (+ bf) 8pm Live & Local: Ruben Luxton,

Blackie, Steve Lucas, Michele Madden, Foo Foo Fa Noo, Mo Fkn Mayem Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 7.30pm Greg Sita, James Ray Younan & Chris Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 6.30pm Live & Local Open Mic Night Royal Hotel Bondi free 8pm Russell Neal, Darren Paul, Jonno Read, David Mark, Richard Murphy Evening Star Hotel, Surry Hills free 7pm TAOS, John Chesher, Gavin Fitzgerald Coach & Horse Hotel, Randwick free 7pm Under the Purple Tree, Black Diamond, Brad Myers Cookies Lounge and Bar, North Strathfield free 6.30pm

THURSDAY JULY 26 ROCK & POP

The Afghan Whigs (USA), Here We Go Magic The Factory Theatre, Enmore $60.50 (+ bf) 8pm Anatta, Poet and the Thief, Hey Baby, April Falls, Snaketide Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Brass Knuckles Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8pm C-Major Lil Darlin, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm Deep Sea Arcade Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 8pm Foundation Day: Canyons, Sticky Fingers, Frames, The Khanz, Castlecomer, Kristy Lee, DJ Joyride, Sky Squadron, Conrad Greenleaf

UNSW Roundhouse, Kensington free 11am Frank Sultana & The Sinister Kids, Papa Pilko & The Binrats, Blackbear The Vanguard, Newtown $18.80–$53.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Hot Damn!: Buried in Verona, Hearts Like Wolves, Arteries, The World In Cinematic Spectrum, Darlinghurst 8pm Jack White (USA), Lanie Lane Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park $86.50 (+ bf) 7.30pm Jed The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Johnathan Devoy Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 7.30pm Kirk Burgess Sackville Hotel, Balmain free 7pm La Macha Negra, Dangers, Whipped Cream Chargers, Reckless Vagina, Spirit Valley Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst 8pm Lana Del Rey (USA), Oliver Tank Enmore Theatre $72.60 sold out 8pm Live & Local Open Mic Night Peakhurst Inn free 8pm Lo-Fi Collective: Robin Clare, Fraudsters The Standard, Darlinghurst 8pm Metric (Canada) The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $48 (+ bf)–$62.90 (incl CD) 8pm Mezzanine, The Vernons, Karl Williams Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Musos Club Jam Night Carousel Hotel, Rooty Hill free 8pm The Sculpures, Bec & Ben, Caution Forces Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Shezbot, Stonearc, Through A Glass Darkly, Black Matches Annandale Hotel $10 8pm Steve Tonge Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Up Close & Personal Acoustic Artists Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Vice Party: Mere Women, No Art, Making FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst 8pm

JAZZ

Afro Moses: The Spirit of Bob Marley Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $20 7pm Arabesk, Yeshe Blue Beat, Double Bay $15 (+bf) 9pm Be-Bop & Beyond: Coffin Brothers, Bernie McGann Quartet The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale 8pm The Cellar Jazz Jam: Phil Stack Trio & Guests The Spice Cellar, Sydney free 9pm John Watson Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Peter Head The Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm Saxxy Horn Open Jazz Jam: Rinske The White Horse, Surry Hills free 6.45pm

The Subterraneans 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Andrew Denniston Ettalong B/C, Ettalong free 7.30pm Helmut Uhlmann, Paul B Wilde Marc Hill Café, Parramatta free 7.30pm Russell Neal, Nick Domenicos, Spencer McCullum Kogarah Hotel, Kogarah free 7pm Under the Purple Tree Horse & Jockey Hotel, Homebush free 7.30pm

FRIDAY JULY 27 ROCK & POP

After The Beatles 1970 – 1980 The Basement, Circular Quay $35 (+ bf) 7.30pm A-Live Customs House Bar, Sydney free 7pm Band of Skulls (UK), The Laurels The Factory Theatre, Enmore $49.50 (+ bf) 8pm Blaq Out: Sick Section, DJ Hellraiser, Horrorwood Mannequins, The Damned Humans The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney $10 (+ bf) 8.30pm Chasing Karma Engadine Tavern free, 9.30pm Chris Stretton Richmond Inn free 8pm CJ Wilson City Hotel, Campelltown free 8pm Dave Phillips Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Dirty Deeds: The AC/DC Show O’Donoghues Hotel, Emu Plains free 8pm Don McGlashan (NZ) Notes Live, Enmore $20 (+ bf) 8pm Fair Trade Not Free Trade: Liberation Front, Sweat and Shame, Brigit Murane, Fez, Stackhat, Captain of the Rant The Red Rattler, Marrickville $10 7.30pm Fallon Brothers Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm Father John Misty (USA), Mosman Alder, Melodie Nelson Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst sold out 8pm Flyte Fringe Bar, Paddington free 8pm Harbour Masters St George Leagues Club, Kogarah free 8pm The House of Shem (NZ) The Standard, Darlinghurst $30 (+ bf) 8pm Hue Williams Avalon RSL free 9pm Iluka, Georgi Kay, Duan & Only Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Inslain, Avarin, Sabretung, Metreya The Square, Haymarket $10 8pm JConnexion

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pick of the week

Calling Mayday, Mirrors In Iceland, The Loose Tongues Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $15 8pm Musos Jam Night Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt free 8pm Orca! Straight Ahead!, Opie Will Brake Your Heart, Beyond Coda, Polar Knights Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Replika O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm The Shins (USA), Husky Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park $83.50 (+ bf) 7.30pm Speck, David Sattout, Maxine Kauter Band The Vanguard, Newtown $15.80–$50.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Ungus Ungus Ungus Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Velociraptor, Palms, Family Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Vineyard Hotel free 9.30pm Jenny Biddle, Shelley & Robertson, 2GT The Manly Fig $12 (student)–$15 7.30pm John Vella Chatswood RSL free 5pm Jonathan Jones The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 5pm Kelly Hope Baulkham Hills Sports Club free 8.30pm Kurt Williams Figtree Hotel free 8.30pm Lana Del Rey (USA), Oliver Tank Enmore Theatre sold out 8pm Live & Local Open Mic Night: Mal, Bill Neill, Baz, Troy Thompson Band, Hold The Phone, Intransit Georges River Sailing Club, Dolls Point free $7.30pm Local Resident Failure, Cash No!, The Decline, Chris Duke & The Royals Hermann’s Bar, University of Sydney, Darlington $10 8pm Mezzanine, Lepers & Crooks, The Water Board The Forbes Hotel, Sydney 8pm MUM: Narrow Lands, The Whipped Cream Chargers, Group, Deathsquare, Callithump, King Rizz, Bradley Cork & The Folklore Mantra, 10th Avenue, Cries Wolf DJs, Wet Lungs, Cass, Glenn Be Trippin, Swim Team, Reg Harris IV The World Bar, Kings Cross free $10-$15 8pm Original Sin INXS Show, Swingshift Cold Chisel Show, Pleasure & Pain Divinyls Show Moorebank Sports Club, Hammondville free 8pm Peter Northcote Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Reckless The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free-$5 9.30pm Roots: Bunt, Kids of Yesterday, Jono Willis & The Ten Inch Experience Spectrum, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Sound Series #24: Té, Shisd, Rishin Singh, Kynan Tan AV Union, Leichhardt $8 7.30pm Sound Stream Kingswood Sports Club free 8pm Splendour in the Grass (until July 29): The Smashing Pumpkins (USA), At the Drive-In (USA), Jack White (USA), Bloc Party (UK), Hilltop Hoods, The Kooks (UK), The Shins (USA), Mike Snow (SWE), Gossip (USA), Explosions in the Sky (USA), The Dirty Three, Azealia Banks (USA), The Afghan Whigs (USA), 360, Wolfmother, Kimbra, Lana Del Rey, Missy Higgins, Spiderbait, Tame Impala, 50 Years of Dylan, Gypsy & the Cat, Ladyhawke (NZ), Metric (CAN), DZ Deathrays, Mudhoney (USA), Django Django (UK), Howler, Band of Skulls (UK), San Cisco, Lanie Lane, Last Dinosaurs, Electric Guest, Big Scary, Muscles, Angus Stone, Michael Kiwanuka, Seekae, Fun (USA), Yacht Club DJs, Friends, Blue King Brown, Yuksek (FRA), Jinja Safari, Bertie Blackman, Youth Lagoon (USA), The Beautiful Girls, Ball Park Music, Pond, Tijuana Cartel, The Rubens, Ben Howard, Bleeding Knees Club, Zulu Winter, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Shihad (NZ), The Medics, Kate Miller-Heidke, Here We Go Magic (USA), Husky, Emma Louise, Mosman Alder, Father John Misty, Chet Faker, The Cast of Cheers, Parachute Youth, Wolf & Cub, Gossling, Canyons, Danny T, Ninalasvegas, Nice & Ego, Sampology, Beni, Alison

Wonderland, Gloves, Alley Oop, Flume, Luke Million, Harris Robotis Belongil Fields, Byron Bay (sold out) 11am all-ages Toby Martin, Magnetic Heads The Vanguard, Newtown $18.80 8pm Urban Gypsies Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $25 7.30pm Velociraptor, The Oceanics, Morgan Joanel, DJ Kristy Lee Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 8pm West Tigers and Red Letter Day Management Present: Homeground Heroes Band Competition Semi Finals Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Zuzu Angel, Chi Chi & The Go Gos Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm

JAZZ

Keyim Ba Blue Beat, Double Bay $15 (+bf) 9.30pm Miles Thomas Trio, Pen Island, Casey Golden Trio The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10 (student)–$20 8.30pm Renee Geyer, Cilla Jane Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $54–$96 (dinner & show) 7pm Sonido 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 (conc)–$20 8.30pm

SATURDAY JULY 28 ROCK & POP

24 Live @ the Square Underground Music Festival: Red Fire Red, Blue River Saga, The Poet & the Thief, The Night, Kasandra, Mimi Gilbert, Hot Potato, From Afar The Square, Haymarket $15 2fold The Orient Hotel, The Rocks, free-$5 9pm After the Beatles 1970-1980 Sutherland Entertainment Centre $44.90-$49.90 8pm The Australian Fleetwood Mac Tribute Show James Squire Brewhouse, Sydney 8pm Ava Torch, Jordan C Thomas, Mavis And Her China Pigs The Factory Floor, The Factory Theatre, Enmore $12 (+ bf) 7.30pm Bee Gees Night Fever - Bee Gees Show The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf) 8pm The Bondi Music Festival 2012: The Joe Kings, The Snifferdogs, The Liberators, Smoke & Silver, Red Slimn, Bandintexas, The Barefoot Band, Bonney Read, The Khanz, Blackbird Hum, Tales In Space, Bondi Jam, Earth 2 Audio, Kinetic Method, Skank De Ville, Jason & The Lyrebird, Lily So, The Eigh Thousanders, Triage, Sketches and Rhyme, Hazy Cloud Joel Rapaport, Jordan Oliver, Tony Gibson, Camera 4, The 20XII Projekt, Geoff Drover, The Paragraphs Beach Road Hotel, Bondi 12pm The Crawford Brothers Ruth Cracknell Room, Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay free 8pm Dan Spillane The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm Dave Tice and Mark Evans Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Filthy Creatures Annandale Hotel $5 7.30pm Grey Ghost Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory free 8pm

Half Pints, Witch Fight, Prevailing Disorder, Feskit Value Bar 12pm Home Grown: Vtribe, Leisure Bandits, Righteous Voodoo The Vanguard, Newtown $18– $53 (dinner & show) 8pm House Vs Hurricane, While She Sleeps, Northlane, Heights The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $25 (+ bf) 8pm Iron Bark Rock Carousel Inn, Rooty Hill free 8.30pm JConnexion Picton Hotel free 8.30pm Jeff Lang Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $39 8pm Joey & the Boy Brighton RSL Club, BrightonLe-Sands free 8pm John Field Duo Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Kirk Burgess Hollywood Bar and Cafe, Hotys Broadway free 6pm Kittens: Voltaire Twins, Tales in Space, Kitten DJs Spectrum, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Live Cover Bands Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm Live & Local Open Mic Night: Under Cover Panania Hotel, Panania free 8pm Max Power Yardhouse Hotel, Haymarket free 9pm Mouth of Metal, Defenders of the Faith – A Tribute to Judas Priest: Point of Entry, Infinite Black, Resonator, Skuldogory Value Bar, Tempe 7pm The Nuts Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm Original Sin INXS Show Unity Hall Hotel, Balmain free 8pm Remember the Time Tribute to Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston: The Kami’s, Nassar T, Sam Boutros Notes Live, Enmore $25-$49 (+bf) 7pm Riz Hallowes Hoyts, Moore Park free 5.45pm The Road Runners, Firebird Matraville RSL free 8pm Rosetta (USA), We Lost the Sea, City of Ships (USA), Dumbsaint, Nuclear Summer, Adrift For Days, Islands Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $15-$25 5.30pm Saskwatch, Deer Republic, Bec and Ben, Georgi Kay, DJ Joyride Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm Saturday Night Live: Wonderbrass Oatley Hotel free 8.30pm SFX: Drawing North, Summers Mixtape, The Great Lakes St James Hotel, Sydney $15 9pm Snow Big Deal: Dead Farmers, The Fighting League, No Art, Danger Beach, Cat Cat, Pop Singles, Knee Chin, Family, Housewives, Radiant DJs, Popfrenzy DJs GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 7pm Spit Roasting Bibbers Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Toni Childs (USA) State Theatre, Sydney 8pm Undercovers Trio Fringe Bar, Paddington free 8pm Youth Lagoon (USA), Sures, Bearhug The Factory Theatre, Enmore $37 (+ bf) 8pm allages Yuksek (FRA), Rufus Oxford Art Factory, Darlington $41.80 8pm

JAZZ

Briana Cowlishaw 505 Club, Surry Hills $20 (conc)–$25 8.30pm Campbell Rozelle Markets free 10.30am Kafe Kool Supper Club, Fairfield RSL Club free 7pm The Kamis, Mike Champion Notes Live, Enmore $25 7pm Leonie Cohen Trio The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10 (student)–$20 8.30pm Louisiana Roadshow Blue Beat, Double Bay $15 (+bf) 9.30pm Peter Head The Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks free 5pm Waiting for Guinness, Papa Pilko & The Bin Rats Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $25 9pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Well Connected Cafe and Wine Bar, Leichhardt free 7.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Anthony Hughes Oatley Hotel free 2pm

SUNDAY JULY 29 ROCK & POP

Ace Karaoke Brighton RSL Club, BrightonLe-Sands free 8pm Adam Martin, Brittany Cairns, Rachael Rigg The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney $25 (+ bf) 6pm allages Annandale Music Markets

Annandale Hotel free 11am Blues Sunday: Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm David Agius Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Dwayne Elix & the Engineers Marrickville Bowling Club free 4.30pm Eye Of The Tiger Riverstone Sports Hotel free 12pm Glenn Cunningham Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 8pm The Hoo Haas Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Jay Hoad The Vanguard, Newtown $18.80–$53.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Jeff Lang Coogee Diggers 8pm Kirk Burgess Fringe Bar, Paddington 4pm Kuki Lil Darlin, Darlinghurst free 4pm Kurt Williams Moorebank Hotel free 3pm Live & Local Battle of the Bands Bexley North Hotel $5 3pm Mojo The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 4.30pm Pete Hunt Waverly Bowling Club free 2pm Roland K Smith, The Delivery, The Ramalamas Petersham Bowling Club free 8pm Salsa Night Hard Rock Cafe, Darling Harbour free 8.30pm Sydney Blues Society Botany View Hotel, Newtown free 7pm

Vibrations at Valve Band Competition: Fluid The Tenth Circle, The Accidents, Out of Context Valve Bar, Tempe 1pm White Bros The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm William Chen The Concourse, Chatswood $50 2.30pm all-ages

JAZZ

Few Angry Villagers, Gene Fehlberg Rozelle Markets free 10.30am Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (USA), Saskwatch Oxford Art Factory, Darlington $44 (+ bf) 8pm The Peter Head Trio & Friends The Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm Victor Valdes Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $20 6.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Jazz Band Cronulla RSL Club, Cronulla free 12.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

2 Picks No Sticks, Rebecca Moore, Tasman Formosa Corrimal Hotel, Corrimal free 3pm Opera Foundation Australia – Lady Fairfax Scholarship Finals Concert: Anna Dowsley, Stephanie Gooch, Naomi Johns, Lorenso Rositano, Siobhan Stagg, Luke Stoker Verbrugghen Hall, Sydney Conservatorium of Music 4pm Russell Neal Salisbury Hotel, Stanmore free 2pm

wed

25 July

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

thu

26 July

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

fri

27 July

(5:00PM - 8:00PM)

(9:30PM - 1:30AM)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

sat

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

July

SATURDAY NIGHT

28

(9:00PM - 1:30AM)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

sun

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

July

SUNDAY NIGHT

29

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 33

gig picks up all night out all week...

THURSDAY JULY 26

FRIDAY JULY 27 Band of Skulls (UK), The Laurels The Factory Theatre, Enmore sold out 8pm

The Afghan Whigs (USA), Here We Go Magic The Factory Theatre, Enmore $60.50 (+ bf) 8pm Jack White (USA), Lanie Lane Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park sold out 7.30pm Metric (Canada) The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $48 (+ bf)–$62.90 (incl CD) 8pm Mere Women, No Art, Making FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst free 8pm

Father John Misty (USA), Mosman Alder, Melodie Nelson Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst sold out 8pm Lana Del Rey (USA), Oliver Tank Enmore Theatre sold out 8pm Mezzanine, Lepers & Crooks, The Water Board The Forbes Hotel, Sydney 8pm MUM: Narrow Lands, The

Whipped Cream Chargers, Group, Deathsquare, Callithump, King Rizz, Bradley Cork & The Folklore Mantra, 10th Avenue, Cries Wolf DJs, Wet Lungs, Cass, Glenn Be Trippin, Swim Team, Reg Harris IV The World Bar, Kings Cross $10$15 8pm

TUESDAY JULY 24 Communion: Michael Kiwanuka (UK), Ben Howard (UK), Tim Hart (Boy & Bear) The Factory Theatre, Enmore sold out 8pm

Toby Martin, Magnetic Heads The Vanguard, Newtown $18.80– $53.80 (with dinner) 8pm

WEDNESDAY JULY 25

Velociraptor, The Oceanics, Morgan Joanel, DJ Kristy Lee Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm

Friends (USA), Howler (USA), Zulu Winter (UK) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $44 (+ bf) 8pm The Shins (USA), Husky Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park $83.50 (+ bf) 7.30pm Velociraptor, Palms, Family Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm

Father John Misty

Metric

Snow Big Deal: Dead Farmers, The Fighting League, No Art, Danger Beach, Cat Cat, Pop Singles, Knee Chin, Family, Housewives, Radiant DJs, Popfrenzy DJs GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 7pm Youth Lagoon (USA), Sures, Bearhug The Factory Theatre, Enmore $37 (+ bf) 8pm all-ages

SUNDAY JULY 29 Jay Hoad The Vanguard, Newtown $18.80– $53.80 (dinner & show) 8pm

SATURDAY JULY 28

Roland K Smith, The Delivery, The Ramalamas Petersham Bowling Club free 8pm

House Vs Hurricane, While She Sleeps, Northlane, Heights The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $25 (+ bf) 8pm

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (USA), Saskwatch Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $44 (+ bf) 8pm

www.fbisocial.com

L2 Kings Cross Hotel

Thursday July 26

Saturday July 28

Tuesday July 31

VICE PRESENTS:

THE MAZE

Canvas Presents:

MERE WOMEN NO ART MAKING

LITTLE NAPIER LONG ISLAND SOUND THE BUS VIPERS

8pm // FREE

8pm // $10 at the door

(ALBUM LAUNCH)

Friday July 27

RAINMAN + CALSKI DAILY MEDS + L-FRESH THE LION + MOTHERSHIP 8PM // $10 + BF at Rainman Music // $15 at the door 34 :: BRAG :: 472 : 23:07:12

HANDS UP! ZIP-LOCK-FRESH TUNES AND BEATS SO LOW YOUR VISION WILL VIBRATE DJ’S STAGGMAN & CLOCKWERK 11:30pm to the Death // FREE

Music, Art and You! 18th Biennale Artists Jesse Cox with Cal Lanes, Jonathan Jones and Erin Manning 7pm // Free

Metric by Justin Broadbent

Youth Lagoon

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

brag beats

the gospel according to

skryptcha skrypt cha inside

+ elton john vs pnau

+ jody wisternoff + the bloody beetroots + z-trip

also: + club guide + club snaps + weekly column

BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 35

dance music news

free stuff

club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Alasdair Duncan

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

RAINMAN Your Crew Rainman is just me, a solo artist – but 3. that said, I counted about 22 people who contributed in some way to the tunes on the latest album, Bigger Pictures. In terms of production for both albums, the core has always been myself and Sammsonite (The Optimen). We’ve known each other for over ten years now.

The Music You Make My music is a reflection of someone 4. who grew up listening to a lot of ‘90s hip hop alongside a wide spectrum of other music; someone who takes an interest in the world, and likes looking at bigger pictures. In terms of the live show in Sydney, it’ll be myself on raps and Calski punching in samples and drums live on pads, and rocking the mic.

1.

Growing Up There was a wide mix of music when I was growing up, from blues, reggae and Afrobeat to folk, rock and pop, and my older brothers got me into hip hop. My dad and my brothers were pretty into making mixtapes, which was my first taste of being actively involved with music, I guess – more as a DJ or selector, but I also got into writing as a kid.

Hip hop suited those things well, from DJing to sampling and rapping.

Inspirations The two big things that hit me the most 2. are great lyrics and really soulful music.

I heard a lot of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Rodriguez, Paul Kelly, Marvin Gaye and Jimi Hendrix as a kid, and they’re all in there – but in terms of hip hop, there’s too many to mention. There was this specific moment I remember though, that I talk about in my track ‘Darlin’. I was in either grade five or six and had picked up Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back tape. I was on the couch with headphones on and ‘Rebel Without A Pause’ just clicked with me; the raps, the production, everything. I’d listened to it before but something changed at that moment, and I was absolutely loving it.

Music, Right Here, Right Now Getting music out has never been easier 5. and that’s awesome – though the flipside of that is it can make it harder to be heard amongst it all. Jimblah and Pretty Lights have definitely been on high rotation for me in the last week, but beyond that, too many to name!

What: Bigger Pictures is out now on Born Fresh, through Obese Who: Rainman and Calski, Daily Meds, L-Fresh The Lion, Mothership Where: FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel When: Friday July 27

BLOODY BEETROOTS FOR BIG DAY OUT

Remember that summer when you couldn’t go near a festival dance tent without incurring a bloody nose and low-grade heading loss? Yahhuh, that’s the last time The Bloody Beetroots were in town. The party-starting Italian electro crew returned this month with a brand new single, ‘Rocksteady’, and it’s about as rollicking as you would expect. DJ Mag recently premiered the video, which Beetroots founder Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo described, not inaccurately, as “girls, shotguns, ‘70s muscle cars, dust”. The single is the follow-up to the storming ‘Church Of Noise’, which featured vocals from The (International) Noise Conspiracy’s Dennis Lyxzén. It’s been a little while since we’ve seen them, but Rifo and his partner in crime Tommy T will return in storming style for the Big Day Out tour next year, so prepare to have your mind and eardrums blown again. Other dance and hip hop highlights on the bill include Kaskade, Crystal Castles, 360 and Childish Gambino, joining Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Animal Collective and many many more...

Simon Caldwell

LOOSEKABOOSE

The ever-reliable Urban Dictionary’s entry for ‘kaboose’ reads: “Slang word for butt, ass, booty. Usually referring to the more voluminous kind. See also caboose and cabooty”. Whatever name you prefer to attach to your hindquarters, a party entitled Loosekaboose promises plenty of opportunities for jiggling that junk. The legendary Loosekaboose night will hit GoodGod Small Club on Friday July 27 for its fourth incarnation this year. Renowned DJs Annabelle Gaspar, Phil Smart and Simon Caldwell will be on the decks, pumping out the smooth tunes and beats that’ll accompany you as you shake your patootie almost as if it were a Polaroid photograph. To be in the running to win one of two double passes, send in three other LOL-worthy synonyms for one’s derriere.

GIRL UNIT COMES TO CHINESE LAUNDRY

Londoner Phillip Gamble began his DJ career under the name Girl U No It’s True several years ago, but for reasons possibly related to the difficulty of screaming that at curious punters across the decks, he likes to shorten it to Girl UNIT. His tracks are a hyperactive, glitched-out mix of dubstep, house, electro, garage and hip hop, with chunky synth chords chopped up and sprinkled over jerky beats and deep, ominous bass. He so far has four EPs to his name on the Night Slugs label, the latest of these being the brain-melting Club Rez EP. This Saturday July 28, Girl UNIT plays his first ever Australian show at Chinese Laundry, alongside Nukewood, J-Trick, The Slips, A-Tonez, Cassette, Spenda C and many more. (There’s a Milli Vanilli song called ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ but that’s neither here nor there, and if you meet Girl UNIT, don’t ask him about it. He’s had enough of that.)

Zombie Disco Squad Seth Sentry

ZOMBIE DISCO SQUAD IN SYDNEY

Zombies are known for being a pretty damned inconsiderate bunch, forever shuffling around looking for braaaaains to eat without any thanks whatsoever – it’s about time they started pulling their weight and giving a little back. Thanks to Zombie Disco Squad, this long overdue outreach between zombies and regular people has finally taken place. ZDS, otherwise known as west London producer Nat Self, specialises in off-kilter house, ghetto tech, disco and hip hop, and has brought these sounds around the world, from the most salubrious corners of clubland to the seediest. ZDS’ debut album, Brains, was released earlier this year on Jesse Rose’s Made To Play label, and you can hear it for yourself when the album tour brings him to Australia later in the year.

Catch Zombie Disco Squad at Goldfish, Kings Cross, on Saturday September 22.

S.A.S.H WAREHOUSE PARTIES

A new chapter in the story of S.A.S.H has arrived. The crew, beloved for their regular Sunday sessions, have announced a brand new series of warehouse parties to be held monthly at a bunch of secret venues around Sydney. The first of these takes place on Friday August 3 at an undisclosed location; on the day of the event, partygoers will be given the address of a ticket collection point, and then directed from there to the venue. It’s all extremely secretive, but worth it for what promises to be a night of epic dancefloor good times. The party will play host to a variety of DJ talent – Mike Monday will get behind the decks, as will S.A.S.H favourite Gabby, recently returned from a stint in Ibiza, with Co-Op and Carlos Zarate also bringing their skills into play. Even better than all this, the event is BYO! Tickets are available through Resident Advisor, and they are selling fast.

36 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

HIP HOP LEGENDS

This September will see some of the biggest names in underground hip hop come to Australia as part of the Hip Hop Legends Tour.

Organised by Sydney’s premier hip hop store, Lopez Records, in conjunction with Get Busy Productions, the tour sees many seminal artists arriving in this part of the world for the very first time. Foremost among them is Das EFX, the New York City duo whose unique flow gave them a series of #1 hits in the early ‘90s, and made them favourites of the likes of Dave Chappelle.

Fellow New Yorkers Black Sheep join them on the bill – as part of the Native Tongues collective along with De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, this duo scored a hit with their infectious track ‘The Choice Is Yours’. Also appearing is Tony Touch, the DJ and producer whose list of collaborators over the years includes Wu-Tang, Snoop and Cypress Hill. The tour hits The Metro Theatre on Sunday September 30, and tickets are on sale now.

SETH SENTRY

Young Seth Sentry has enjoyed a series of hit singles over the last couple of years, starting with the infectious ‘Waitress Song’ and leading right on through to ‘My Scene’ and ‘Float Away’. This September, the Melbourne MC will take things to the next level with the release of his debut album. Sentry is an avid gamer, so when he set up his own label, he decided to call it High Score. This Was Tomorrow will be High Score’s first release – the album has been described as a “grand and ambitious gesture from a humble and entirely creative artist”, and general consensus is that it signals the official arrival of a big new talent. Sentry will tour the country in support of the album’s release; you can see him in Marrickville at The Factory Theatre on Friday October 19.

OBESE RECORDS RECORDS PROUDLY PROUDLY PRESENTS PRESENTS THE THE NEW NEW ALBUM ALBUM OBESE

IN STORES & ONLINE 27/07/12

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES Sydney Launch: 03/08/12 @ The Standard [18+] Melbourne Launch: 03/08/12 @ The Workers Club [18+]

“A Skryptcha show is a rare delight – Hip Hop with plenty of spark, with the power to challenge and inspire audiences.”

ALEKSIA BARRON (Street Press Australia)

OBESERECORDS.COM | FACEBOOK.COM/SKRYPTCHAMUSIC BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 37

dance music news

free stuff

club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Alasdair Duncan

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

he said she said WITH

PHIL SMART

I was surrounded by music from day one, with a music professor and conductor father, and a composer/lyricist mother. I started playing instruments very young and pretty much had a go at playing everything along the way – I spent a lot of time at music camps, with access to every instrument imaginable.

When I was a teenager I was more into punk and thrash – skateboarding music – as well as mod stuff like The Jam, which was the first piece of vinyl I ever bought.

As I got a little older I discovered bands like Joy Division, then New Order and even Pop Will Eat Itself, who were starting to use more electronic elements in their music. These days it seems most of the dance music I like is German, and I particularly like Michael Mayer as a DJ, as well as the whole Wolf + Lamb, Slow Hands thing.

I also enjoy the work of people like Matthew Dear, who are pushing things forward with a blend of electronics and more song-based structures.

The Junkbeats crew are amazing, brought together by a collective spirit and love of music. We all lived together in Byron, and would go

Kate Simko

bodysurfing at Tallows or the Pass twice a day and make tunes and hang out together for the rest of it… That crew has pretty much scattered to the four winds now and I’m mostly flying solo, except for my man Jimi Polar in Sydney.

It’s been a while since I’ve made any music, unfortunately. A lot of it was with the Junkbeats crew, some sort of mutant cross of swung house with tech elements and random programming experiments. I’ve been getting a strong urge to get back in the studio lately…

As for DJing, I’ve always liked to play a diverse range of music in my sets, aiming to create a journey and weave a story through the music.

There is definitely a lot more mediocre stuff to wade through these days, but the true masters still shine bright. It also warms my heart to see so many quality gigs happening in Sydney, after spending so many years trying to keep it moving forward. It’s good to see Mad Racket still flying the flag, the Subsonic crew going strong, and things happening at the Abercrombie like Strange Fruit – as well as Loosekaboose, of course.

VAKULA

If the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear mention of the country Ukraine is Chicken Kiev, then you’ve obviously never heard of Vakula (or Tchaikovsky, for that matter). As tasty as chicken breast ensconced in garlic butter and then deep-fried is, it struggles to hold a torch to the man christened Mikhaylo Vityk.

Rising to prominence through his residency at Moscow’s infamous Propoganda club, Vakula helped redefine Eastern European house music with the likes of Nina Kraviz, and through releases on underground labels like Quintessential, Meakusma and Firecracker. On Saturday July 28, Vakula will trade Moscow’s grandeur for the homeliness of Marrickville Bowling Club, and will be joined by Mad Racket DJs Ken Cloud, Jimmi James, Zootie and Simon Caldwell for an unmissable evening of wow.

To get your mitts on the double pass we have up for grabs, simply name another famous person from Ukraine.

Vakula

With: Annabelle Gasper, Simon Caldwell Where: Loosekaboose @ GoodGod Small Club When: Friday July 27

HILLTOP HOODS NEXT WEEKEND

Hilltop Hoods have been announced as part of the Falls Festival lineup for later this year, but before that happens the much-loved Aussie hip hop group will be setting off on a tour of their very own. The group recently released their sixth album, Drinking From The Sun, to great acclaim – the single ‘I Love It’,

featuring Sia, was a pretty huge hit, and the album also had the distinction of being the one that finally dislodged Adele’s 21 from the top spot on the ARIA charts. The Hoods’ Speaking In Tongues tour brings them to the Hordern Pavilion on Saturday August 4. Sydney crew Horrorshow will be the main support act on a bill that also features Shepparton MC Briggs, whose debut The Blacklist was released on the Hoods’ own Golden Era Records.

Âme

GOLDEN CAGE PRESENTS: KATE SIMKO AND CHLOE HARRIS

Chicago native Kate Simko grew up with a passion for electronic music, attending raves in the ‘90s and DJing dance and hip hop tracks on Northwestern University’s radio station while a student there. Over the past decade, she’s crafted a series of highly idiosyncratic techno tracks, blending rich, hypnotic textures with driving bass lines and infectious grooves, and has had releases on the revered Ghostly International and Spectral imprints. Simko brings her live show to Australia for the very first time next month, co-headlining a show with Seattle’s Chloe Harris. You can see them at Civic Underground on Saturday August 11, alongside Robbie Lowe, Sam Roberts, Gemma Van D and Garth Linton. Tickets are available now through Resident Advisor.

NEW ALBUM FOR FLYING LOTUS

The staff at Pitchfork must be sucking furiously on their inhalers in an effort to stave off hardcore asthma attacks right now: Los Angeles beat-maker Flying Lotus has just announced the release of a new album later in the year. And not only that – it has Thom Yorke on it! Due for release in October, Until The Quiet Comes is the follow-up to the highlypraised Cosmogramma, and has quite an array of guest vocal talent on it. Aside from Yorke, who sings on ‘Electric Candyman’, the album features contributions from Nika Randa, Thundercat, Laura Darlington and Erykah Badu, who appears on the song ‘See Thru To U’. There are 18 tracks in total, and lest you were worried that he had decided to suddenly go dubstep or start making LMFAO-style bangers, Fly-Lo assures fans this is primarily music for headphones rather than raves.

38 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

OCTAVE ONE BACK WITH LIVE TECHNO SHOW

Detroit’s Octave One have been staples of the Motor City’s electronic music scene since releasing their debut 12-inch, ‘I Believe’, on Derrick May’s Transmat label way back in 1990. In the decades that followed, the group have released a steady stream of high quality techno tracks, and remixed the likes of Massive Attack, Joey Negro, Inner City, Steve Bug, Rhythm Is Rhythm and DJ Rolando. Octave One’s core members are siblings Lenny and Lawrence Burden, but their revolving lineup often features contributions from their brothers Lynell, Lance and Lorne.

They are unique among many of their Detroit brethren in that they tour as a live act rather than as DJs, and if you missed them on their last tour Down Under, never fear: you can catch them at Goldfish on Saturday September 15.

BERLIN’S ÂME AT SPICE CELLAR IN OCTOBER

There are already a slew of great shows to look out for in the coming months, and now there’s one more to add to the pile – German duo Âme have just announced that they will be heading our way for a show at The Spice Cellar on Saturday October 13.

The duo of Kristian Beyer & Frank Wiedemann co-founded the influential Innervisions label along with their good friend Dixon, and have been active for the better part of a decade; they’re responsible for a string of releases on the revered Sonar Kollektiv stable, the latest of these being this year’s Live EP, which featured live remixes of tracks by Underworld and UNKLE as well as one by Âme themselves. Supports have yet to be announced, but there are limited presale tickets currently available through Resident Adviser – and it’s probably a good idea to get in quickly.

Elton John vs Pnau Mix Masters By Alasdair Duncan some bizarre reason, he chose us,” Mayes says.

“We knew we wanted to create something that would amaze him, but the great thing was that he never specified to us the kind of record he wanted, or gave us instructions – he left the door open and gave us total carte blanche. That was great, because had he given us any limitations, we would have had them on the back of our minds the whole time and it would have spoiled things.”

The reality of his offer really sunk in the first time that Pnau visited the warehouses where Elton John’s archive material is stored. “He has two warehouses – one’s full of artwork, and the other’s full of recordings – and they’re an amazing thing to behold. They’re highlyorganised, as most things are in Elton John’s world. The guy who runs them is incredible – he’s been working with Elton for 45 years, goes on tour with him all the time, and just knows everything there is to know.” Of course, that carte blanche only extended so far: there was a very strict look-but-don’t-touch policy when it came to the recordings. “We didn’t touch any of the master tapes,” Mayes says with a laugh. “I wouldn’t want to be responsible for that! Some had already been transferred to digital, some we had to get done, but it takes an expert to work with 40-year-old master tapes. They have to be baked in an oven, and if you mess the baking, that’s it. You only get one chance.”

T

he lads from Pnau were surprised, to say the least, when Elton John decided to take them under his wing. They were a couple of dance music upstarts from Sydney; he was a pop superstar with a decades-long career – yet when he heard their self-titled album, he was so smitten that he essentially adopted the pair.

“One day we got a call out of the blue from Elton, telling us he loved our album,” producer Peter Mayes explains. “We found out that he was in Sydney, so of course we asked if we could meet up with him. It was a bit daunting,” he continues. “I mean, he’s a superstar, but when

you meet him you feel you’re sitting there with a friend. Not long after that meeting, he signed us to his management company and we ended up moving to London.”

Sir Elton acted as a guide and mentor for the pair, with so great a belief in their music that he made them an unprecedented offer: access to all of his master tapes in order to create the ultimate Elton John remix album. Mayes and bandmate Nick Littlemore were blown away by the offer, but also a little nervous. “He could have given this job to anybody in the world, and for

With such a daunting amount of material facing them, Pnau decided to focus on the years between 1970 and 1976, often regarded as Elton John’s most fruitful and creative phase.

“He really could do no wrong throughout that period,” Mayes says. “He was releasing two to three albums a year, touring constantly, and America really embraced him. It seemed like the ideal place to start.” The collection they eventually crafted, Good Morning To The Night, goes way above and beyond your typical remix album. Putting the songs together wasn’t a matter of just taking an existing vocal and adding a new beat – over many months, Pnau isolated vocal and instrumental elements from across hundreds of different Elton John tracks, and stitched them together into eight all-new house and disco compositions. It’s a record from an alternate reality, brought into being by a pair of seriously dedicated studio nerds.

“He could have given this job to anybody in the world, and for some bizarre reason, he chose us... We wanted to amaze him.”

“Finding elements that would fit together would sometimes be a challenge,” Mayes says, “because there’s such a huge range of tempos and keys in his music – more so than any other artist, I would say.” The pair worked painstakingly, cutting up every note and individually pitching it to make sure it worked as part of the overall composition. Finding vocals was the hardest part, simply because there’s not as much leeway to manipulate them digitally, but the pair found a way to make it work. “The title track is an example of how all the vocals sound seamless, but are actually stitched together from a lot of sources,” Mayes says. “The verses and choruses are from ‘Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters’, which is one of my favourite Elton John songs, and a lot of the other elements are from a song called ‘Tonight’ – but lyrically, they fit together perfectly.”

The biggest challenge came in presenting the finished material to Elton John himself – but to the pair’s great relief, he was thrilled with what he heard. They even teamed up recently to play a festival show in Ibiza. “He doesn’t really play festivals, and it was a younger crowd so I think he was a bit nervous,” Mayes says. “The set was split up into three parts – at first it was him solo at a piano playing his hits for half an hour, then we played half an hour of the record, then we played a Pnau show for half an hour. It was three sets, basically. He was sitting behind his piano, alone, in front of 50,000 people, and they loved it – they were chanting his name between songs, like a football match or something. He loved it. It was a really good gig for everybody, but especially for him.”

What: Elton John vs Pnau’s Good Morning To The Night is out now on Universal

Skryptcha The Graduation By Alasdair Duncan

I

t may be his second album, but rapidlyrising Sydney hip hop star Skryptcha considers Mindful to be the record that announces his arrival to the world. The opening track ‘Graduation’ comes stuffed with rollicking instrumental hooks and audacious rhymes, telling the story of where the young MC has been thus far, while signalling his readiness to play with the big boys. “I’ve done so much already, but I think it’s all been a bit of an apprenticeship,” he says. “I really do feel like things have started to come together now, and feel a lot more complete. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs but they’ve made me into the person I am now, the artist I am now. I feel I’m worthy of being on that top level now as an artist. Above all, that song is really an explanation of all the things that have come together to get me to this point.”

Skryptcha’s lyrics ruminate on the state of the world, as well as the place he occupies in it, with an uncommon ease and honesty. On tracks like ‘Work Out’, he lays the practicalities of his life bare, rhyming about the need to work a day job while pursuing a creative path. “I’ve been doing both for quite a few years now, and I did all throughout this album,” he tells me. “It’s a lot of work, man! It’s non-stop. You wake up before

“Things have started to come together... I’ve had a lot of ups and downs but they’ve made me into the person I am now, the artist I am now. I feel I’m worthy of being on that top level.”

dawn and you go to work at one job, then you come home and straight away you start work on the next.” There hasn’t been too much free time in Skryptcha’s life over the last two years or so, but now, with this album coming out, he is able to pause for a minute and enjoy the fruits of his persistence. “It’s a good feeling to be able to come home with a clear head,” he says, “especially when you’ve gone through hard times and a lot of work.”

Over the last couple of years, Skrptcha has seen many of his friends move west to pursue jobs in the mines, a reality which made for one of the album’s more powerful tracks, ‘The Sun’. “I’ve got a whole bunch of mates who left chasing that dollar,” he explains. “At the time when I wrote that song, it was the peak of the mining tax battle. It was something that really struck a chord with me, seeing these few greedy people running the whole country, the CEOs of those big companies taking control.” He realised that behind all the politics and money and big business, there is actually a human element, a generation of young people whose lives are being changed in all sorts of ways. “I just wanted to tell a bit of a story through the eyes of an average bloke who has gone to work in the mines to make a better future for his family,” he explains. “I was interested in the way that political row would impact on the average person.”

The rich, soulful sound of Mindful comes courtesy of producer Illmind (50 Cent, Eminem), who worked on the album in his Brooklyn studio. Collaborating with him was something of a dream come true for Skryptcha.

“There was a very particular sound I was looking for on this album – a soul sound with a lot of heavy bass – and he’s really the king of that sound with his crazy bass lines and really nice samples. I hit him up online and he was happy to work with me, so I managed to plan a trip to see him as part of a visit to the States last year, which was awesome. I spent a bit of time with him in Brooklyn. It was really good to build a human relationship, and not just be people who knew each other over the internet.”

Skryptcha only had a short time in Brooklyn, but did his best to soak up all the borough has to offer. “I stayed there for a few nights, in a little hostel kind of thing in the Bushwick Projects,” he tells me. “If you went a few hundred metres up into Bushwick, that maybe wouldn’t be the best place for a little Aussie fella to be – but around where I was, there was a really cool, arty vibe; there were little hole-inthe-wall bars and restaurants, really cool stuff.”

The first night he was there, he went to a gig at the legendary (and now sadly defunct) hip hop venue Southpaw. “I went along there to see Freddie Gibbs and Big Crit, who are two amazing artists. It was pretty sick just to be a spectator at a gig in Brooklyn.”

Skryptcha didn’t get to perform in America while he was there, but hopes to do so in the future, insured by the Stateside success of

acts like Bliss N Eso. “They’ve done big tours throughout the States, touring with big US artists and playing to big US crowds, not just Aussie expats, and they seem to be pretty positive about the whole thing. I’ve heard them talking about their experiences and they had a great time – honestly, it sounds pretty doable,” he says. “I don’t doubt that people like Bliss N Eso can compete on an international scale – their skills are top class, and as long as you’re bringing skills like that to the rest of the world, you’ll get respect for sure.”

What: Mindful is out on July 27, through Obese With: True Vibenation, Jackie Onassis, Those Crooks Where: The Standard When: Friday August 3

BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 39

Jody Wisternoff

Z-Trip

Balancing Act By Andrew ‘Hazard’ Hickey

Z

ach Sciacca is not content with simply pioneering the mash-up movement and winning more DJ titles than he has records to spin. The DJ known as Z-Trip has summited a seemingly insurmountable party peak: he has spent the last year touring with LL Cool J. “[It is] seriously amazing, dude,” he intones down the line from LA, ahead of a trip to Australia that will see him judging the national Red Bull Three3Style DJ final.

“J is one of the last true MCs who came up right out of the old-school. This is a guy who I grew up listening to, and he still has the total package. He still has amazing breath control and delivery – I mean, he still even looks like he’s 18!”

The relationship between electronic music and hip hop is one that’s constantly changing, and it even manages to afford occasional challenges to someone as well versed as Trip.

“To link up [in the way we have] is validating, I think, for both of us,” he says. “J is a super humble and super open guy, so there’s a lot of room to have fun.

Sometimes we’ll be working

together and trying to figure out, ‘What can we do to completely turn this song out?’ And our advantage is that the live show has a DJ and an MC, but actually working together to make some authentic hip hop. Too often people see these fakers up there, so when there’s two veterans up there killing it in a traditional way, but using current styles and technology, it looks and feels different. Every night I leave the show thinking I’ve done the best I could; I know that we turned out the crowd the best we could. It’s inspiring for both of us man, it really is – no two shows are ever the same.”

The recent collaboration has re-energised Z-Trip, and the excitement in his voice is palpable. After spending a large amount of 2009 with a residency at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, he is mindful of the importance of staying creatively active. “I feel sorry for the guys who do residencies of their set in Vegas all the time. They’re constantly playing the same sets to the same crowds, but I like to mix it up a bit more. Sometimes I like being able to rock with good MCs and do a traditional hip hop show, because there’s a lot of satisfaction that comes from being that authentic. But if I only did that I’d miss out on playing huge festivals, or working in different styles that I wouldn’t be able to get away with in the small clubs. It keeps me well-rounded and vital which is great, because a lazy DJ is never fun to watch – period.”

Those are words of wisdom ahead of the Red Bull Thre3Style national final, which goes down in a matter of weeks. The finalists will be given 15 minutes to play a selection covering at least three music genres; the winner will nab a cool $2000, and be flown to Chicago to represent Australia in the world championship.

With Z-Trip as a judge, he warns that posers had best stay away from the decks of The Metro Theatre. “Make sure you’re flipping the technology and doing the work. You don’t have to be up there scratching, but work the fucking gear because those decks are an instrument,” he advises. “It’s inspiring to see people trying to create, and pushing the envelope of what we can do. The brilliant thing about DJing is that it’s not age specific – it’s skill specific. I’m hoping to still be picking the right tunes when I’m 120 years old, even if I have to scratch with a prosthetic arm!”

W

hether he’s flying off for a gig in Costa Rica or heading home to Bristol to take his son to the doctor, it’s all in a day’s work for Jody Wisternoff. The touring DJ and family man juggles these duties and more with the assurance of a music industry veteran – which is what he happens to be. “Family life, man... and I was up in the studio ‘til late as well,” the affable Wisternoff says, when asked about what he’s been up to. “Trying to mix the two together is quite hard, but it’s all good.”

His days of working on tracks until odd hours of the morning and waking up at midday may be behind him now, but the DJ and producer enjoys the change of pace. “It’s kind of pleasant, actually; you can’t spend your life being a vampire,” Wisternoff chuckles. Indeed, he’s found little time to stop since first embarking on his wild music journey at the age of 13, and dropping out of uni to pursue his music dream.

From his first break at the 1986 DMC World DJ Championship, to becoming an important part of the rave scene – and the co-founder of the influential label Way Out West – he has followed his own path to success, which will soon lead him back to Australian shores.

Having headed Down Under several times in his career, Wisternoff is looking forward to having more time to enjoy the sights next month. “I’ll be flying into Perth, actually, which is a really pleasant way to enter Australia, because it’s so quick from Singapore. Usually it’s like, hit Singapore, go to the outdoor beer garden for a while, then get on another eight-hour flight after a twelve-hour [flight].” As a travelling DJ, he has

the perk of heading to our shores once a year if he can, along with all the other destinations he hits throughout the course of a touring cycle.

When we speak, Wisternoff is enjoying one sole day at home with the family before heading back out on the road for a show in Mexico. “A day is long enough to wash your underwear and see the kids and the wife,” he jokes. “It kind of resets the batteries. It would be nice to stay a week, but a day is better than nothing.”

It doesn’t stop there either; he spends the time between touring working in the studio on new remixes and tracks. Wisternoff has evolved with the dance scene, but while he enjoys new technology, he remains faithful to the old-school.

“I seem to get more results from hardware synths at the moment. I’m more into the handson way. It’s really fun as well, it’s not like you’re sat behind a computer working; you’re just jamming with instruments. It seems to bring out more magic.” Fresh from releasing his solo debut Trails We Blaze, Wisternoff is prepping a remix for Bristol band The Other Tribe and their song ‘Skirts’, as well as a new single with collaborator Pete Josef. “I have loads of stuff on the go. I think that’s how it is for most people that make music – you have about 30 tracks bubbling [at a time]. Some of them make the grade, others don’t, but you always think ahead,” he says. “You work on things in little bits on the laptop while you’re travelling, then it’s back to family life. It’s a nice kind of balance, really.”

Where: Chinese Laundry When: Saturday August 25

With: Butcher (Brisbane), Typhonic (Sydney), Flagrant (Melbourne), Ryley (Adelaide), Zeke (Perth), and three-time Australian DMC champion DJ Perplex What: Red Bull Thre3Style national final Where: The Metro Theatre When: Friday August 10

The Bloody Beetroots Rifo’s Modern Life By Andrew ‘Hazard’ Hickey musical scientist with a flair for marketing who has carefully engineered the Bloody Beetroots’ brand, from on-stage presentation to recorded work, including 2009’s chart-storming fusion of dance, rock and pop, Romborama. “It comes from the preciousness of the Italian commedia dell’arte,” he says, of the Beetroots’ public image.

“Although the current masks remind me more of Spiderman or Venom, its use is a direct theatrical reference.” Rather than an add-on, Rifo sees the visual presentation of Bloody Beetroots as integral to their identity. “The visuals and music go hand-in-hand and they constantly evolve and are directly proportional to each other.”

On a higher level, Rifo sees Bloody Beetroots as an extension of his personal creative journey – it’s not just a ‘music project’. “It is my way of relating with everything,” he explains. “Everyone should expand their horizons and should be able to answer all the questions that life offers every day. My work and all the different projects I have are a vision for the person I am and what I want to be. I will never stop evolving.”

A

s prominent and acclaimed as The Bloody Beetroots brand has come to be, the people behind it have remained mysterious in the dance community – in no small part because they make their public appearances in those trademark black venom

40 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

masks. Add to this their mash-up of classical music, old-school electro and ‘70s punk, and it’s quite the intriguing package.

The mastermind behind it is Italian producer (and art-school graduate) Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo – a

Last in Australia for a DJ set at Stereosonic 2011, Rifo is bringing the Beetroots to our shores this coming January for the just-announced (and huger than ever) Big Day Out, hopefully with a new studio album under their belts – but definitely with a new live show. In terms of what we can expect, he says it will be totally different this time. “I always try to create a synergy between me and the audience. Creating a vibe by getting and reading the vibe back.”

As you’d expect from a marketing maven, he has

a strong take on our local audience: “Australia has a young dance music crowd, which often means they are open to change and more intelligent and versatile about their music.”

Rifo has endured a fairly hectic touring schedule over the last two years, trotting the globe not just as Bloody Beetroots but also in solo mode and with the BB Death Crew 77 sideproject alongside Tommy Tea and Battle (“It’s me playing lots of instruments, Battle playing drums, Tommy playing swooshes on Kaoss Pads, and everything is controlled by Pro Tools,” he explains). “Travelling gives you the opportunity to expand your horizons by making your mind more versatile and focused,” he says of the experience.

But live is one thing, recording is another – and it’s in the studio that Rifo is able to truly express himself. “The studio and production allows me to tell the stories of my life. I live, I compose, I produce, I release.” While he comes across as quite the auteur, he says he enjoys the collaborative process. “I love producing alone, but this [new] album has a lot of collaborations on it so it will be a new experience. I am open for socialising,” he says with a chuckle.

With: The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Killers, Animal Collective, Kaskade, Crystal Castles, Sleigh Bells, Foals, Vampire Weekend, Band Of Horses and more Where: Big Day Out @ Sydney Showgrounds When: Friday January 18

Xxxx

Thre3Stylers By Benjamin Cooper

Deep Impressions Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

Ricardo Villalobos

hilean techno colossus Ricardo Villalobos has announced that he will release a new album, entitled Dependent And Happy, on the label that has been the home of so much of his classic material: Perlon Records. If anyone still doubts the influence and pulling power of Villalobos, then the gargantuan serpent of a line that stretched several hundred meters back from the entrance of Berlin’s Watergate nightclub last Saturday reaffirmed the man’s iconic standing in the techno milieu. While Dependent And Happy will technically be Villalobos’ first album since 2004’s Thé Au Harem D’Archimède, he’s remained prolific throughout the ensuing years with several ‘quasi’ albums (indeed, given the length of the average Villalobos track, the running time of his EPs are often more akin to what one expects of a full-blown album proper). Examples of Villalobos albums masquerading as singles and EPs includes the releases Salvador, Fizheuer Zieheuer, Vasco and of course his Fabric 36 compilation, a mix that was laden with exclusive cuts. Dependent And Happy will comprise 14 previously unreleased tracks, spread over a five-vinyl set. A CD edition will also be available, although it will have a slightly abridged tracklist.

C

Loosekaboose returns to GoodGod Small Club this Friday with a lineup comprising some of Sydney’s finest techno impresarios. Revered veterans Annabelle Gaspar, Phil Smart and Simon Caldwell will each be throwing down until the early hours of the morning. As Caldwell’s pedigree is well-documented on these pages – indeed, the man has penned guest Deep Impressions columns in the past – we’ll turn our focus to Gaspar, who is a stalwart of the Sydney underground party scene and a founder and resident of the legendary Bad Dog parties. A record collector since the ‘80s, her sets can traverse anything from house and techno to hip hop, electro and disco, so it’ll be interesting to see what direction she takes things on Friday night. The third of Loosekaboose’s headlining triumvirate, Phil Smart, is the force behind the Australian chapter of Burning Man, Burning Seed, and has twice been voted into DJ Magazine’s prestigious list of the world’s Top 100 DJs. Tickets are $20 on the door, or cheaper if you purchase in advance.

he plays Mad Racket on Saturday, in support of Ukrainian DJ and producer Vakula. Vakula initially showcased his jazz-influenced take on deep house with releases on labels like Uzuri and Doppelschall before upping the ante with a prolific 2011 that included an EP on the always intriguing Canadian label Archipel.

Vakula dropped his debut artist album earlier this year, released under the name V for Seattle’s Nuearth Kitchen, before quickly dropping another album, Vedomir, which hit the shelves only a few months back. Anyone after an economic Racket warm-up option should look no further than the No Frills Techno bash at One22, which is free entry before 11pm and a comparatively hefty $10 thereafter.

Rod Modell, who produces under the pseudonym of DeepChord, will release a new album next month, titled Sommer.

Modell is known for trading in dub techno frequencies, and his forthcoming LP is said to offer a lighter and more ethereal feel to the dark intensity that characterised his aptly-named previous LP, Hash Bar Loops.

The warmer mood of the imminent album is similarly reflected in the title Sommer (German for ‘summer’), though one has to remember that a European summer is punctuated by periods of intense rain and darkness, especially when compared to the all-conquering Australian summers. In short, there should still be plenty of dark and dubby cuts to keep the DeepChord faithful satisfied. Sommer will be available through the Glaswegian imprint Soma records, which is overseen by techno dons Slam.

DeepChord

Caldwellians will have another opportunity to catch their man spinning on his ‘home turf’ of Marrickville Bowling Club when

LOOKING DEEPER FRIDAY JULY 27 Loose Kaboose GoodGod Small Club

SATURDAY JULY 28 Vakula Marrickville Bowling Club No Frills Techno One22, 122 Pitt Street Strange Fruit The Abercrombie

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 41

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

club pick of the week Girl Unit

SATURDAY JULY 28

Chinese Laundry, Sydney

Girl Unit (UK), J-Trick, The Slips, Spenda C, DJ Moto, Nukewood, A-Tonez, Cassette, King Lee, Eggo $15-$25 9pm MONDAY JULY 23 Scruffy Murphys, Sydney Mother Of A Monday DJ Smokin Joe free 8pm The Sugar Mill, Kings Cross Makeout Mondays DJs free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Jazz DJs free 7pm

TUESDAY JULY 24 Empire Hotel, Kings Cross Tight Resident DJs free 9pm

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Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel Salsa DJ Willie Sabor free 8pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket Bounce free 10pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross We Love Brazil @ Coyote Tuesday Resident DJs $10 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Jam Jam DJs free 9pm

WEDNESDAY JULY 25 The Bank Hotel – Velvet Room, Newtown

Lady L, Resident DJs free 9pm The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross Money Talks DJs free 10pm Epping Hotel DTF Resident DJs free Flinders Hotel, Surry Hills Hip Hop Resident DJs free 8pm Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale Frat House Frat House DJs free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Base (USA), Shudder-X, KPC, Hoodlm, Kyro & Bomber, 2Busy2Kiss, Fingers, Clockwerk, Skinny, Nanna Does Smack $5 9pm

THURSDAY JULY 26 The Cool Room, The Australian Brewery, Rouse Hill National DJ Competition – Final Heat Cheyne Egelton, Adrian Tomiak, Joy Mariathas, Blake Roebuck, Jon Faeber, Ben Hayes 8pm GoodGod Front Bar, Sydney Girls Gone Mild Eliza & Hannah Reilly free 8pm The Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney The Greenwood Thursday Nights Resident DJs free 8pm Gypsy Lounge, Darlinghurst Naked Resident DJs 9pm Ivy Poolclub & Changeroom, Sydney Changeroom Thursdays Shantan Wantan Ichiban, Elly K, Yogi & Husky 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Resident DJs free 8pm Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn Hot Damn DJs 9pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Rock The Spot Victor Lopez, Skae, Lou Lou, Redbak, Losty $10 9pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Swag Thursdays Resident DJs 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Shag, Gillex, Ali, Nickels, Dan Bombings free (student)-$5 9pm

FRIDAY JULY 27 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway Totally Barry Bad Barry DJs free 9pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Movement / Niche DJ Comp Round #2 DJs free 8pm Burdekin Bar – Underground Floor, Darlinghurst Significant Others LeOCh, Ezequiel, Steve Dee, Edoardo Perlo, Tezzel vs Paulo M free 9pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Beach Party! Nightmare, 2Busy 2Kiss, Hoodlmz, M9, Towers, Detektives, Pash’n’Hop, Donald Crump, Aaron Daly, Dime, Get Rad, Rocco, Priest, Audio Trash, Homeslice, Wrecks, Wiggah, Scope, New Age Bullshit, Blak & Yella 9pm Cargo Lounge, King St Wharf Kick On Fridays Resident DJs free 4pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Dubstep Invasion Tour Phetsta, Glovecats, Neon Stereo, A-Tonez, Detektives, Donald Crump, Disarmed $15-$25 10pm Club 77, Darlinghurst Motorik! Light Year, Maelstrom, Jensen Interceptor, Wordlife, The Finger Prince, CSMNT61, Vivi free-$10 10pm

Epping Hotel Flirt Flirt DJs free GoodGod Front Bar, Sydney Yo Grito! Yo Grito! DJs free 9pm GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Loose Kaboose! Annabelle Gaspar, Phil Smart, Simon Caldwell, Trinity $15 (+ bf) 10pm Home The Venue, Sydney Sublime Peewee Ferris, MC Suga Shane, Matt Ferreira, Jonh Young, Flite, I.K.O. 9pm Ivy Changeroom, Sydney Love Gun Fridays Tina Turntables, The Apprentice, Hooligan 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross KK Fridays Falcona Agency DJs 8pm Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Oatley Hotel We Love Oatley Hotel Fridays DJ Tone free 8pm Omega Lounge, City Tattersalls Club, Sydney Unwind Fridays DJ Greg Summerfield free 5.30pm The Oxford Hotel – Underground Bar, Darlinghurst Step Back Cliques, Four Door, Tuff Sherm, Tyson Koh $10 (+ bf) 10pm Pontoon, Darling Harbour Perfect Resident DJs free 9pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross My Studio Nacho Pop, Dim Slm, Digital Mouthm Mike Ruckus 8pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney Frisky Friday DJs free 6pm The Shark Hotel, Sydney Puls8 DJ Jono, Guest DJs free 9pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Ben Korbel, Disco Punx, Andy Webb, James Taylor $10 10pm Stoned Crow, Crows Nest Bangers & Mash free 8.30pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Eve Resident DJs 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM Narrow Lands, The Whipped Cream Chargers, Group, Deathsquare, Callithump, King Rizz, Bradley Cork & The Folklore Mantra, 10th Avenue, Cries Wolf DJs, Wet Lungs, Cass, Glenn Be Trippin, Swim Team, Reg Harris IV $10$15 8pm Zink Bar, Cronulla Far Out Friday Derek Turner 7pm

SATURDAY JULY 28 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway Strange Fruit Strange Fruit DJs free 9pm BJs Nightclub, Bondi Junction DJ Shane Taylor 10pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Ritual Teez, Sherlock Bones, Danger Mouse, Dirty Mindz, Worimi, Matty Bixx,

Shadowplex, Sharkbait, Dime 9pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Girl Unit (UK), J-Trick, The Slips, Spenda C, DJ Moto, Matt Nukewood, A-Tonez, Cassette, King Lee, DJ Eggo $15-$25 9pm Club 77, Darlinghurst Starfuckers Starfuckers DJs 10pm The Cool Room, The Australian Brewery, Rouse Hill Saturday Nights DJ Koffee 8pm Establishment, Sydney Sienna – Ladies Night Resident DJs 8pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Roy Davis Jnr (USA), Husky, Seamus, 2Phat Jackin DJs, Johnny Gleeson, Tom Kelly $20 6pm Green Room Lounge, Enmore Vinyl Solution DJ Nic Dalton free 8pm Home The Venue, Sydney Homemade Saturdays Resident DJs $20 9pm Ivy, Sydney Ivy Saturdays Chardy, Oh Glam, Baby Gee, Tass, Bad Ezzy, Starjumps, Crazy Caz, Trent Rackus, Matt Nugent, Max Bon De Veire, Joe Redd $20 8pm Marrickville Bowling & Recreation Club Mad Racket Vakula (Ukraine), Ken Cloud, Jimmi James, Zootie, Simon Caldwell $35 (+ bf) 10pm Mynt Lounge, Werribee In The Mix Awards Tour 2012 Andy Murphy free 10pm Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Nevermind, Darlinghurst Swagger’s First Birthday Mya (USA), DJ Booth, Half Nelson, Boyonce, FML $25$35 9pm One22, Sydney No Frills MSG, Marcotix, TnA free-$10 10pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Yuksek (FRA), Rufus $41.80 (+ bf) 8pm Secret Warehouse, Sydney Off The Block Warehouse Party Previous Experts, The Bondi House DJs, Koolade, Patrick Curda, DJ Brevil $25-$40 10pm Soho, Potts Point The Usual Suspects Doorly (UK) $20 9pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Jaded & James Petrou, Robbie Lowe, Murat Kilic, Nic Scali $20 $10pm Stoned Crow, Crows Nest Mr Belvedere free 8.30pm Tunnel Nightclub, Kings Cross ONE Saturdays Resident DJs $10-$20 10pm Whitehouse Fashion Institute, Surry Hills Winter Music Shivers, James Petrou, Jaded, Cassette, Shaun Broughton, Sam Arellano, Johnny Toth $55 1pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Cakes Keesh, Blaze Tripp, Oakes & Lennox, Nukewood, Chris Arnott, Pablo Calamari, Adam Bozzetto, Doug Masters, Wongo, Brown Bear, Mike Rukus, Garage Pressure $15-$20 8pm

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

SUNDAY JULY 29 The Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H. Sundays Marcotix, Mike Witcombe, Dan Baartz, U-Khan, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace S.A.S.H. DJs $10 2pm The Beresford Hotel, Surry

Hills Beresford Sundays Resident DJs free 5pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Martini Club Sundays Martini Club, Tom Kelly, Straight Up Steve free 6pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Sneaky Sundays Sneaky Sound System, Resident DJs 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings

Cross Easy Sundays Resident DJs 8pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Sets DJ Tone free 7pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice After Hours Murat Kilic $20 4am The World Bar, Kings Cross Dust James Taylor, Alley Oop free 9pm

club picks up all night out all week...

WEDNESDAY JULY 25

Mya

The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Bare (USA), Shudder-X, KPC, Hoodlm, Kyro & Bomber, 2Busy2Kiss, Fingers, Clockwerk, Skinny, Nanna Does Smack $5 9pm

FRIDAY JULY 27

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Ronnit Sternfein tel 03 8414 9710 or email ronnit@beat.com.au

Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Movement / Niche DJ Comp Round #2 DJs free 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Dubstep Invasion Tour Phetsta, Glovecats, Neon Stereo, A-Tonez, Detektives, Donald Crump, Disarmed $15-$25 10pm Club 77, Darlinghurst Motorik! Light Year, Maelstrom, Jensen Interceptor, Wordlife, The Finger Prince, CSMNT61, Vivi free-$10 10pm GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Loose Kaboose! Annabelle Gaspar, Phil Smart, Simon Caldwell, Trinity $10-$15 (+ bf) 10pm The Oxford Hotel – Underground Bar, Darlinghurst Step Back Cliques, Four Door, Tuff Sherm, Tyson Koh $10 (+ bf) 10pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Ben Korbel, Disco Punx, Andy Webb, James Taylor $10 10pm

Soho, Potts Point Dubspects Presents Doorly (UK) $20 9pm

SATURDAY JULY 28

The Spice Cellar, Sydney Jaded & James Petrou, Robbie Lowe, Murat Kilic, Nic Scali $20 $10pm

Goldfish, Kings Cross Roy Davis Jnr (USA), Husky, Seamus, 2Phat Jackin DJs, Johnny Gleeson, Tom Kelly $20 9pm Marrickville Bowling & Recreation Club Mad Racket Vakula (Ukraine), Ken Cloud, Jimmi James, Zootie, Simon Caldwell $35 (+ bf) 10pm Nevermind, Darlinghurst Swagger’s First Birthday Mya (USA), DJ Booth, Half Nelson, Gay-Z, Boyonce, FML $25-$35 9pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Yuksek (FRA), Rufus $41.80 (+ bf) 8pm

The World Bar, Kings Cross Cakes Keesh, Blaze Tripp, Oakes & Lennox, Nukewood, Chris Arnott, Pablo Calamari, Adam Bozzetto, Doug Masters, Wongo, Brown Bear, Mike Rukus, Garage Pressure $15-$20 8pm

SUNDAY JULY 29 The Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H. Sundays Marcotix, Mike Witcombe, Dan Baartz, U-Khan, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace S.A.S.H. DJs $10 2pm

SOCIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS WANTED Can you take photos?

Like going out?

Join The Brag!!!

We are after one more dedicated, keen and reliable social photographer to join the team and help us capture the essence of the Sydney scene on our Snap pages.

Yuksek

Photo by Sam Whiteside

You MUST: ■ Be available most evenings ■ Own camera & gear ■ Have a car ■ Be over 18 years of age (we’ll check!)

■ Not be creepy Please send your application to: tim@photodoco.com

BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 43

snap

the wall

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

halfway crooks

PICS :: AM

11:07:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 9357 7700

brookes brothers

PICS :: AM

14:07:12 :: Phoenix Bar :: 34-44 Oxford St Darlinghurst Sydney 9331 3100

dr octogon

PICS :: KC

14:07:12 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999

14:07:12 :: Strike Bowling :: King St Wharf Darling Harbour 1300 787 453 :: NATHAN ATKINS :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: ELKE OWENS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE IEL CLARKE :: ASHLEY MAR :: DAN POPOV :: PEDRO XAVIER

44 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

ant j steep

PICS :: AM

strike

PICS :: AM

12:07:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 93323711

14:07:12 :: The Spice Cellar :: 58 Elizabeth St Sydney

HEY BIGGIE & TUPAC. YOU SHOULD’VE SORTED IT OUT WITH LASERS. LASER TAG ALL GROWN UP $5 LASER TAG FOR FACEBOOK FANS. FACEBOOK.COM/STRIKEBOWLING.

STRIKEBOWLINGBAR.COM.AU

BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12 :: 45

snap up all night out all week . . .

flashback friday

12:07:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 9357 7700

party profile

propaganda

PICS :: DM

It’s called: Feel Good Inc. presents Flashback Friday!

It sounds like: Your mum’s cleaning playlist.

Who’s spinning? Feel Good Inc. DJs. Three songs you’ll hear on the night: ‘Funn el Of Love’ – Wanda Jackson; ‘Just What I Needed’ – The Cars; ‘Would I Lie To You’ – Charles & Eddie And one you definitely won’t: The closest you’ll get to ‘Bangarang’ will be Bananarama.

Sell it to us: Rock The Boss til midnight: rock-s cissors-paper our bartender to get your drinks half price. Then kick someone’s arse at ping pong or darts, sing along with your mates ‘til you’re hoarse, or break out those ‘running man’ moves you’ve been saving up for that special occasion.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Trying way too hard to sing every word to ‘99 Luftballoons’ before remembering you don’t actually know German.

Crowd specs: Karaoke queens, former dance -off competition winners, and maybe your dad.

Wallet damage: Free entry all night.

Where: Phoenix Bar / 34 Oxford Street, Darlin ghurs

t

knxwledge

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When: Friday July 27, from 9pm

alex smoke

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14:07:12 :: GoodGod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Sydney 8084 0587

nic fanciulli

PICS :: GP

14:07:12 :: One22 :: 122 Pitt St Sydney

:: NATHAN ATKINS :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MUNNS :: ELKE OWENS :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEORGE IEL CLARKE :: ASHLEY MAR :: DAN POPOV :: PEDRO XAVIER

46 :: BRAG :: 472 :: 23:07:12

broken thought theory 13:07:12 :: Brighton Up Bar :: Level 1/77 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9361 3379

PICS :: KC

14:07:12 :: The Goldfish :: 111 Darlinghurst Rd Potts Point 8354 6630

IN CINEMAS AUGUST 2 IN 3D