+ CUB SCOUTS + SWIMWEAR
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John Butler Trio (NYE Midnight Set) Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings (usa-nye sEt) tHE bLacK sEedS (nz) fRiEndLY fIreS dj Set (uk-nye sEt) kRaFty kUtS Vs A.sKilLz (UK) tHE hERd (aus) Kaki King (USA) Blood red Shoes (UK) Unknown Mortal Orchestra (USA) Electric Wire Hustle (NZ) King Tide (AUS) mAt. mChUGh & THE SEPERATISTA SOUND SYSTEM (aus) 65DaysoFstatic (UK) Deep Sea Arcade (AUS) Gold Fields (AUS) Gossling (AUS) Will & The People (UK) Chapelier Fou (Fr) The Medics (AUS) NorthEast Party House (AUS) HatFitz and Cara (aus) Tuka (AUS) The Cairos (AUS) The PreaTUREs (AUS) Battleships (AUS) Lime Cordiale (AUS) Daily Meds (AUS) JONES Jnr (AUS) Tigertown (AUS) MicroWave Jenny (AUS) also featuring — The Return of The Dub Shack Plus many more artists to be announced...
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rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly
on the record WITH
R.L JONES (EX-THE MIDDLE EAST) The First Record I Bought: My girlfriend in Year 7 bought 1. me a gift voucher for Sanity Music for my birthday. She was cool as hell, I couldn’t compete with that madness – I think I’d gotten her a bar of white chocolate for Valentine’s Day earlier in the year. So when her birthday rolled around I went to the local shops to fetch her a masterpiece present. After freaking out in all the girl sections of Target and Big W, I went to spend the same Sanity voucher on a CD for her: a hot copy of Britney Spears’ chart stopper ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’. I walked out confident I’d ensured my first kiss. I may have spun it in my Discman a few times late at night before I went to bed before handing over the goods – and from then, I was hooked on music forever. The Last Record I Bought: This guy Sam Rowe lives in 2. Malanda (where all the milk comes
3.
The Last Thing I Recorded: I’ve been sitting in my room 4. getting fat and working on a record on the side for about eight months. Right now I’m up north writing and recording for Bree Tranter’s record.
Spiritualized
Hopefully our records will come out at the same time so people can compare them and pick which person is better at music. The Record That Changed My Life: It’s A Wonderful Life by ‘Sparklehorse’. For a long time I chose to be ignorant of any details surrounding the making of this album; I didn’t want to know anything about Mark or his life. I had made up all these imaginary histories about the stories and the people in it. I imagined Mark was like the kid that got sad when he was in his room playing at age five, ‘cos his mum had made him afternoon tea and it meant heaps to him ‘cos he was hungry. Then I found out he was really a pretty sad guy. I have tried to talk about its effect on me before, but I just sound like an idiot. It’s just damn good. I listen to it maybe 3-5 times a week.
5.
With: Bearhug, Shady Lane Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Saturday September 8
is gonna be there, though. Finding this out is your next mission. Go!
SCREAMADELIC
You know every single good genre of music? Primal Scream perfected them all, sliding gracefully from Byrds/Love psych to acid dance business to Stones swagger to eerie Lost Highway to our favourite genre of music: live-at-the-Enmore-greatest-hits-music. It’s a specific genre, and Primal Scream are coming here to play it on December 5. Also, they’ll be playing songs from their almost-finished album, which features guitar work from My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields. Eep! (Tickets on sale now through Ticketek.)
PUBLISHERS: Adam Zammit & Rob Furst EDITOR IN CHIEF: Adam Zammit 9552 6333 adam@peergroupmedia.com EDITOR: Steph Harmon steph@thebrag.com 02 9552 6333 ACTING ARTS & ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Dijana Kumurdian dee@thebrag.com 02 9690 2731 STAFF WRITERS: Alasdair Duncan, Benjamin Cooper NEWS: Nathan Jolly, Chris Honnery ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Nohmon Anwaryar, Anna Brown, Katrina Clarke, Saskia Eisermann, Julia Garvan-Kaminskaya, Daniel Munns, Thomas Peachy, George Popov, Rocket Weijers, Pedro Xavier COVER PHOTO: Sures (Matt & Jonas) and The Preatures (Izzi & Gideon), taken by Ken Leanfore
HUSKY RETURN
Husky are currently in Germany, touring off the back of their holy-shit-Sub-Pop-signedus! debut album, Forever So. But they’ll be back in October, and are stopping by Oxford Art Factory to play a show for you and a few hundred of the people you bump into everywhere. It goes down on October 21, and its aim is to celebrate their lovely, lilting single ‘Tidal Wave’ – and tickets are on sale now through Moshtix.
ADVERTISING: Ross Eldridge - 0422 659 425 / (02) 9690 0806 ross@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 8394 9027 les@thebrag.com GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Conrad Richters - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) INTERNS: Natalie Amat, Verity Cox, Siobhan Graham, Charis Lynn REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Benjamin Cooper, Alasdair Duncan, Christie Eliezer, Murray Engleheart, Andrew Geeves, Chris Honnery, Nathan Jolly, Anna Kennedy, Sheridan Morley, Jenny Noyes, Hugh Robertson, Rebecca Saffir, Romi Scodellaro, Jonno Seidler, Rach Seneviratne, Roland K. Smith, Laurence Rosier Staines, Luke Telford, Rick Warner, Alex Sol Watts, Krissi Weiss, Caitlin Welsh Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this address 8a Marlborough Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9552 6333 fax - (02) 9319 2227 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of The BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Stephen Forde : accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial: Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Artwork/ad bookings: Thursday 12pm (no extensions). Ad cancellations: Tuesday 4pm Published by Cartrage P/L ACN 104026388 All content copyrighted to Cartrage 2003 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get The Brag? Email distribution@furstmedia. com.au or phone 03 9428 3600. PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: www.spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204 Win a giveaway? Mail us a stamped and addressed envelope, and we’ll send your prize on over...
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Bushwalker
SPIRITUALIZED
“All I want in life’s a little bit of love to take the pain away” could be the greatest opening line to any album ever recorded, and Spiritualized’s 1997 magnum opus Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space certainly doesn’t let up from there. In fact this band’s entire career is fairly undeniable, and the best way to absorb it is by sitting in Sydney Opera House on December 2, watching them pluck highlights from their back catalogue, plus choice cuts from their new, most-accessible-yet record, Sweet Heart Sweet Light. Tickets range from $49 to $76, available from the Opera House. Just knock on the sails.
THE SAINTS
Everyone bangs on about how The Saints invented punk music (and if you don’t include the first Beatles record, they totally did!), but we at BRAG feel their real masterstroke was the jangly, pun-tastic 1985 hit, ‘Just Like Fire Would’. The Australian legends are releasing a new eleven-track record named King Of The Sun on September 24, which is good news for those who feel that summer is dragging its heels a bit this year. The band play Homebake on December 8, too – and with 16 albums worth of material to draw from, they probably won’t get to that obscure B-side you keep posting on our Facebook wall.
SFK FTW
A couple weeks back, we saw Something For Kate play a very packed out, fire-hazardy Annandale show, performing a handful of songs from their forthcoming record Leave Your Soul To Science (out September 28) – and dammit if the new songs didn’t sound like vintage pre-Powderfinger-aping Something For Kate, with math-rock sections, shifting time signatures and that pre-emo emo sound we used to love so dearly. They’re back! Catch them on October 12 at The
Metro Theatre to see what we mean. Tickets on sale now.
TOTALLY COERCE
Coerce and Totally Unicorn come from “different sides of the post-hardcore coin”, so they tell us. Of course, this simply means that Totally Unicorn play short blasts of humorous hardcore, often while naked, while Coerce take the whole thing a little more seriously. Personally, we’re more interested in this posthardcore coin. What’s printed on either side? Is it a black coin? Are the edges sharp, or fuzzed-out? Ask them all these questions and more at their double-headlining double-kicking show at the Sandringham on October 19.
THE SLIPS
We finally did it, Team BRAG! All your surveillance, sleuthing, searching and sly sob stories have resulted in us tracking down Amandah from Operator Please to find out what she’s up to nowadays. Turns out she has guested (not a word, but should be) on the new single from The Slips, ‘Make It Out Alright’, which is out this week. The band launch the single at Upstairs Beresford on September 29. We don’t know if Amandah
BUSHWALKER
So, the gorgeous talented babe from Songs has teamed up with the gorgeous talented babe from Fabulous Diamonds and the traditionally handsome talented lad from Kes Band to record an album under the name Bushwalker (the album’s called First Time – cute/sexy!), and it is as droning, haunting and psychedelic as you’d expect. The record sounds great, but we imagine it will sound even more majestic live – a hypothesis we will put to the test at their album launch on Friday September 7 at Brighton Bar, with Model Citizen and the brilliant Raw Prawn in support. Also, they have a song called ‘Bath Sex’. Yup!
Xxxx
from), and he preg tests about a hundred cows a day. He made this EP about three or four years ago called The Food Chain, and he goes
by the name Dragging Pianos. I listen to that thing a whole bunch. The First Thing I Recorded: Me and my brother shared a room our whole lives, until he got married a few years back. Dad got a drum kit for us ‘cos we had ADHD; when we were seven and eight respectively, we set the kit up in our room and set up the family boom box to record the drums to tape. While one of us was ready on the kit the other, like a boxing ring announcer, would introduce him, and a ten-minute drum solo would ensue. Days, maybe entire weeks we would do this back and forth until we nailed a solo for the ages. Everything I have written and recorded since then has been on a slow decline right the way down to hell compared to those lofty heights.
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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
SOLA ROSA
he said she said WITH K IRSTY TICKLE FROM
LITTLE SCOUT been lucky enough to get to know a lot of very clever local musicians over the years, and when they create something incredible it has a domino effect on the people around them. Little Scout is me, Mel, Miro and Patrick. Mel and I are sisters and Patrick went to school with our brother, so I’ve known him since I was ten years old. Miro came around a little later, and now we are one big mess of a family. We recorded our first LP, Take Your Light, with the help of Jonathan Boulet. It was such a positive experience for everyone involved. This time around, though, we have been producing it ourselves, and have had the pleasure of Lars Stalfors mixing, who works with The Mars Volta. There is something very organic about going into the studio as a band and being in total control of what makes the cut.
M
el [Tickle] and I were both exposed to a lot of music when we were young. My parents used to wake us up every Sunday morning by blasting music through the house – usually The Beatles or Ry Cooder. My folks aren’t musicians, but they love music and had a killer vinyl collection. I have this distinct memory of my mother going
to bed one night and dad putting on some music and us all dancing around the table in a conga line together. My music taste is pretty broad. I studied classical music, so I still listen to a lot of that, and as a band we try to keep pretty up-todate. But friends inspire me the most. We’ve
I’ve been checking out more warehouse gigs lately. There’s such a great network of DIY gig spaces in Sydney – Dirty Shirlows, Red Rattler etc – and the bands involved are making weird and wonderful sounds. I think what is most important in the music scene in Australia is that we just keep supporting each other. What: ‘Go Quietly’ is out now With: Bearhug, Light Giant Where: FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel When: Friday September 7
My Disco
PAUL KELLY’S CONVERSATION WITH GHOSTS
Usually interactions of the spiritual kind leave you feeling chilled to the bone – but based on his track record, we’re pretty sure Paul Kelly’s new project, Conversations With Ghosts, will only induce comfort, nostalgia and joy (except for those death and mortality themes…) For his newest venture into all things musically brilliant, Kelly has teamed-up with Australian National Academy Of Music (ANAM)’s resident composer James Ledger, recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey and musicians from ANAM to create a stunning new musical program based on texts from Kelly, Les Murray, W.B. Yeats and Lord Alfred Tennyson. The affair will take place at The Capitol Theatre on Wednesday October 10, and we’ve got two double passes to give away. If you want one, tell us your favourite Paul Kelly tune. of the sun, which I truly hope isn’t the case because spring is coming and your singer Emily Lubitz’s beautiful voice and folk songs sound better when bathed in natural light. Let’s discuss this at one of your shows at The Vanguard on October 6 and 7.
RUFUS + WASHINGTON
Here’s how you get a Rufus Wainwright support slot: a) Perform a stunning rendition of his track ‘Sometimes You Need’ from his latest Ronson-produced record, Out Of The Game; b) Field a call from his management, asking you to open for him (along with already confirmed support act/Wainwright bandmember Krystie Warren) at Sydney Opera House this Sunday September 9; c) Be Megan Washington. Tickets on sale now.
VELOCIRAPTOR
This press release is so amazing, we’re just going to print it wholesale: “Velociraptor are gearing up to simultaneously release an album AND tour, a feat so bold it has many pundits questioning both their sanity and
Francisca Valenzuela
GOODGOD TURN TWO, HAVE PARTY
It seems like only two years that Goodgod Small Club opened its doors, which is possibly because it was. A lot has happened in those two years and to celebrate their general awesomeness (and their second birthday), Goodgod are hosting two full-venue parties: the first of which happens on Saturday September 29, featuring My Disco (launching their Wrapped Coast 12-inch), The Laurels, NO ZU, The Fighting League, Songs, Client Liaison, Daniel Darling, Tyson Koh, Bloods, Yo Grito DJs and Wolf Call DJs, plus more bands to be announced. (The second party night is filled with all those dancey people that stand behind machines, not instruments, and have no place in the testosterone-fuelled world of rawk news – check the dance news pages up the back of the mag for that lineup).
PURA VIDA
Seekae
SEEKAE X 3
Seekae are playing three shows at The Basement this week – September 6, 7 and 8 – which is a monumental achievement for a band who make music as willfully weird as these three guys. If you are yet to listen to their album +Dome, it’s a headtrip of downbeat electronica that sounds even more amazing live. Get to all three shows. You’ll enjoy it, we promise.
their management’s general competence... The band are incredibly excited that anyone outside Brisbane has bothered to book them, and had this to say about their anticipation for the upcoming October tour: ‘Tour? What tour? Why the fuck doesn’t our manager tell us this shit?’” The Brisbane band play Goodgod Small Club on October 4 in support of the album (actually a mini-LP, whatever that is), which was named after their upcoming feat of a tour: The World Warriors.
IN THE BALL PARK
Bouncy Brisbane band Ball Park Music are playing The Metro Theatre in Sydney on October 27 in support of their forthcoming album Museum, which is out October 5 – making that the second album they have released within the last 12 months. (What’s
happened to kids these days? Back in the ‘90s, the term ‘slacker pop’ meant something.) Loon Lake are supporting, too, in case this show wasn’t tempting enough – and tickets are out now through Ticketek.
TINPAN ORANGE
Hey Tinpan Orange. Nothing rhymes with your band name, which is why this news piece takes the form of conversational prose and not confessional poetry. I see you’ve announced a national tour in support of new album Over The Sun (out September 15), a title which can be read as someone (yourselves, perhaps) physically flying over the sun, which I assume is a metaphor for that feeling of unbridled glee that sometimes hits when you make good music. It can, however, also be read as someone (yourselves, perhaps) being tired
Sydney is about to be inundated with Latin fever when the Pura Vida Roadshow hits in late September. There is no vaccine (ugh, sorry), but then you wouldn’t want to avoid this massive lineup, which includes AfroPeruvian electro stars Novalima, Colombian psych band Malalma, Chile’s DJ Bitman, Brazilian DJ collective Sistema Criolina – and our personal pick, the delightful (and babin’ [but that’d be sexist to point out]) Francisca Valenzuela, who makes piano-driven pop music which is twisted through a Chilean filter, making it both impossible to deny and impossible to describe. Go to her October 3 show at BlueBeat; tickets through Moshtix.
“Their house is a museum, when people come to see-em. They really are a screa-um the Addams Family.” 10 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
My Disco photo by Stephanie Bailly
NUDITY IS BAD?
“Anyone who gets offended by topless girls or same-sex kissing is missing out on a lot. The joke’s on them, because there must be a lot of beautiful things they can’t enjoy in life.” So say Perth indie synth pop group Voltaire Twins, about the fact that the video for their latest single ‘Young Adult’ was banned by YouTube – as if that explainer isn’t gonna make us rush to Vimeo (who haven’t banned it) and immediately watch it a dozen times. They’ll be launching their new EP Apollo – from which the single was pulled – on Saturday September 15 at Spectrum. BYO nudity and same-sex kissing.
If you’ve heard Sola Rosa’s new album Low And Behold, High And Beyond, chances are you thought summer had arrived early. The funky-fresh beats from this New Zealand band will be inspiring you to ditch your day job for the open road before you can say ‘free spirit’. After the international success of 2009’s Get It Together, Sola Rosa are hitting our shores for the first time since 2010, and they’ll be joined by special guests L.A. Mitchell and Cherie Mathieson when they hit The Standard on Thursday September 13. Melding hip hop, reggae, jazz and soul together better than your favourite local community festival lineup, they promise to get you dancing. To win a double pass to their Sydney show, simply tell us the name of one of the bandmembers.
THURSDAY SEPT 20TH
METRO SYDNEY
TIX WWW.METROTHEATRE.COM.AU / WWW.TICKETEK.COM.AU / 02 9550 3666
‘Beard, Wives, Denim’ outNOW on
RECORDS BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 11
The Music Network
themusicnetwork.com
Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
Lifelines Expecting: Wes Carr (who just launched his new project Buffalo) and actress wife Charlotte Gregg, their first. Dating: Russell Brand and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, after meeting at the Olympics closing ceremony rehearsals. Married: Adele secretly married boyfriend Simon Konecki, British reports say. Marrying: Patience Hodgson and John Patterson of The Grates revealed they’ve been an item for seven years, and are marrying at the end of the year. Split: After a few months, John Mayer has dumped a devastated Katy Perry. Recovered: Gyroscope guitarist Zoran Trivic is back on his feet after a motorbike crash four months ago left him with two broken legs. The band returns to live action in Perth on September 12, for a benefit show for Dana Vulin, a 26-year-old who fell victim to a violent attack in her Perth home. Ill: Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix faces surgery for a nodule on his left vocal cord. Ill: Duran Duran had to cancel the final dates of their US tour because Nick Rhodes continues to battle a lingering viral infection. In Court: Two Ivy nightclub bouncers charged over the assault of 19-year-old Nicholas Barsoum last August were found not guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company by a NSW District Court jury. Christopher Vacic was acquitted, and his co-accused, Menelaus Hendra, was convicted of the lesser charge of assault. The prosecutor claimed Barsoum was attacked by five bouncers after he returned to the club to confront the bouncers who had hit him as he was thrown out earlier in the night. Vacic was filmed holding him down while others punched, kicked, choked and stomped on him; he claimed he was doing it in self defence and protecting his colleagues. In Court: Kanye West won a lawsuit against Vincent Peters who accused him of stealing the words of his song ‘Stronger’ from his own song, also titled ‘Stronger’, which he’d given to West’s manager. West said that both songs had been borrowed from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who came up with the maxim “That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
GARRETT LAUNCHES ‘LABOUR LOVES LIVE MUSIC’
Last Thursday, Peter Garrett launched a new campaign called Labor Loves Live Music at Venue 505 to support small bars, festivals and new live music venues, and fight overregulation of the industry by local government. He said such a campaign was needed to support emerging artists: “We urgently need strong live music venues.” He added, “Our city should have heaps of places available for musicians of all genres to play. Even in a digital world, being on a stage in front of an audience is essential for most musicians to express their craft and build an audience, and of course make a living. Unfortunately, over-regulation is killing our live music venues.” Stray Birds and Chuck’s Wagon played. Campaign spokesperson and Leichhardt councillor Darcy Byrne said, “Without changes to council controls, the live music industry in the inner city is at risk of being killed off all together.” Labor councillors and local government candidates are fighting for planning controls that protect venues from “vexatious complaints, particularly from residents that move into neighbourhoods where venues have long existed”; the introduction of a ‘good neighbour’ policy so residents and venues can mediate and negotiate without resorting to 12 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
costly legal battles; and changes to the NSW government’s planning laws that require better building standards in areas with music venues.
SOUNDS AUSTRALIA SEEKING LIVE MUSIC COORDINATOR
National export initiative Sounds Australia is searching for a passionate supporter of live music to join as Live Music Coordinator. This three-days-a-week role will focus on growing the venue-based live music industry, and working with government, the music biz and the hospitality industry. Key focuses will be advocacy, strategy and resource development, education, and relationship development. Applicants must be well-versed in the domestic music market and experienced in music industry roles. A network of music biz contacts is important, as is experience in the creation of live music programs and advocacy development. For a full job description, contact Kathryn Williams at kathryn@apra.com.au or phone 02 9935 7913 by Friday September 21.
DR DRE IS THE HIGHEST PAID MUSIC CELEBRITY…
Producer and rapper Dr Dre is the highest paid music celebrity: his fortune of US$110 million placed him at #4 in Forbes’ 20 Highest Paid Celebrities list. The list was topped by Oprah Winfrey ($165m) followed by film makers Michael Bay ($160m), Steven Spielberg ($130m) and Jerry Bruckheimer ($115m). Other music types on the list include radio presenter Howard Stern at #7 with $95m, Simon Cowell at #9 with $90m, Elton John at #11 with $80m, and Britney Spears, who tied with Tiger Woods at #20 with $58m.
…WHILE DRUMMERS ROLL IN THE DOSH
Ringo Starr is the richest drummer in the world, according to celebritynetworth.com. The Beatles skinbasher is worth $300 million. He is followed by Phil Collins ($250m), Dave Grohl ($225m), The Eagles’ Don Henley ($200m) and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich at #5 with $175m. Behind them are The Stones’ Charlie Watts, U2’s Larry Mullen, Queen’s Roger Taylor, Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer and Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith at $90m.
THOUSANDS TURN OUT FOR SANDO RALLY
An estimated 3,000 rolled out to protest the closure of Newtown’s Sandringham Hotel. Venue spokesman Ross Waraker told this column it was gratifying to see so many fans “come out in support in a peaceful and forceful rally”, adding that the police and the council had also been supportive. Bankers were not included in the love-in, however. When Doc Neeson switched The Angels ditty to warble “Will I bank with you again?”, the crowd shrieked, “No way, get fucked, fuck off!!!” Late last week, the Sando was still waiting for the bank to come and talk to them about the $3.7 million debt and to stop its sale, although advertisements for the venue have already appeared in the financial press.
THE PREATURES AT MERCURY
Mercury Records Australia signed Sydney’s The Preatures. Mercury GM Peter Karpin told us he spotted them (then The Preachers) this year at Oxford Art Factory and was enchanted immediately. “Their songs have strong melodies, and singers Gideon Bensen and Isabella Manfredi have star quality.” The act is managed by Andy Cassell of Winterman & Goldstein.
CHANCE WATERS GOES PERMANENT
Sydney-based urban act Chance Waters (the artist previously known as Phatchance) was signed by Shock imprint Permanent Records. His single ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ is on high rotation on triple j, and is #9 on the Most Added national radio chart. An album is due later in the year.
PEATS RIDGE LAY-BY
With New Year’s Eve still a few months away, Peats Ridge is again giving consumers the option to lay-by tickets and pay them off in instalments. Registration for the initial lay-by payment open on August 30, with three further instalments to be made by October 14. Festival director Matt Grant reckons, “We don’t want people missing out because they can’t get all the money together at once, so we try and make it a bit easier for them.” They can be purchased through oztix for $340, plus lay-by admin fees.
SEXIER NEW AIR SITE
Indies association AIR has updated its air.org. au site. It’s combined its old industry-focused site (AIR members news, sign-up, royalty info and other non-sexy things) with their charts/ awards site (blogs, feature artists, interviews,
THINGS WE HEAR
* New gay icon and Voice winner Karise Eden has scotched rumours she’s a lesbian by telling Who she is dating a musician: “a lovely, lovely man”. * Aussie music film The Sapphires, which has pulled $8.1 million in Oz, will be released in NZ on October 4, the UK on November 2, and the US next year. * Rammstein are being blamed for inspiring the Maryland school shooting in the US. An American newspaper trawled through the social media profile of Bobby Gladden, 15, who’s up for attempted murder after firing on a 17-year-old schoolmate, and found he was obsessed with the band. * The ACT government is considering a scheme where Canberra venues will share information on troublemakers, and ban them from all venues. * Guy Sebastian’s ‘Battle Scars’ has gone Gold and is creating waves thanks to Lupe Fiasco’s involvement in the track, sexy things). Publicists, journalists, labels and managers are invited to send news to Nick O’Byrne (nick@air.org.au) or Joanna Cameron (joanna@air.org.au).
POP GETS SAD
Just months after scientists provided pop music is louder and more boring than 50 years ago, a new study published in the Psychology Of Aesthetics, Creativity, And The Arts journal suggests songs have become sadder and more melancholy. The AV Club study, by Glenn Schellenberg and Christian von Scheve, analysed the tempo and mode of the 40 most popular songs in each year between 1965 and 2009. Happy songs are fast in tempo and in major mode. Sad ones are slower and use minor modes. The minor mode ones almost doubled over 50 years while the amount of “happy” tracks dropped. Their reasons: tracks are longer, there's an increasing amount of female artists (apparently females are more depressing?), and consumers want more
while Justice Crew’s ‘Boom Boom’ has been certified double Platinum. * Both Foo Fighters and Florence + The Machine announced at the end of their sets at the Reading Festival that they are going on a lengthy hiatus. * Two members of Pussy Riot, who are being pursued by Russian cops, have fled the country. * After last year’s Meat Loaf fiasco, is the Australian Football League going for just local acts for its Grand Final? The Temper Trap are touted as one. * Blues rocker Dallas Frasca was spotted hanging out with Slash. * AC/DC’s Brian Johnson launched his own radio show on the BBC last week, where he talked about the music that inspired him (Led Zep, ZZ Top, Alex Harvey), with a fair whack of balloon juice about racing cars too. * After the collapse of Allans Billy Hyde, local guitar makers Maton and Cole Clark told The Age they’ll focus on export and independent retailers. choice, and see melancholy songs as more sophisticated, and up-tempo ones as “juvenile”.
‘CAPTURED’ PAIRS ACTS AND FILM MAKERS
Six emerging film makers and six emerging bands have been paired to make six videos or short films for Captured, as part of Sydney Fringe. Heath Media (behind The AU Review) announced the acts as thrashabilly Doc Holiday Takes The Shotgun, indie-folk duo Riley And Donna, indie-rock siblings Tigertown, alt-rockers Upskirts, electroist FOX and rockers Stone Parade. Film makers are James Brettell, Turk Lees, Kim Sargenius, Sam Cupitt, Fin Lizzy and Jeremy Graham.
CAITLIN PARK WINS SOYA
Sydney-based Caitlin Park is the music winner of this year’s Qantas Spirit Of Youth Awards. She will work with producer Lee Groves and Daniel Johns, attend CMJ in New York, and receive $5000 and 12 months of mentorship.
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Coming Up
‘INSOUCIANT’
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BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 13
I
t’s been just five years since Oxford Art Factory was born, and it didn’t take longer than a couple of weeks for it to become an incubator for Sydney’s up-and-coming artistic and musical talent, an awesome venue for some huge internationals, and one of our favourite watering holes in the city. OAF’s housed some massive names in the past few years – The Dead Weather, Ariel Pink and The Brian Jonestown Massacre among others – and earlier this year the venue was even awarded the dubious honour of being stood up by Lana Del Rey. “Sold out in record time, the hype was ridiculous, then she cancels her maiden world tour three weeks out?! Ouch, that really hurt!” laments founder/owner Mark Gerber. “But Lady Gaga was and still is one hell of a score, as was Jack White... So, really, the lowlights quickly fade away.” Indeed, Gerber counts himself lucky to have one of the greatest jobs around. “I love the variety that each day and night brings. My daytime world controls all the strings of the nighttime machinations, which I tend to and observe with pleasure. It’s really great to see it work and work well: it makes me proud of the team I’ve put together to run my vision. They rock!” As for his dream show? “Todd Rundgren on vocals and guitar, Jimmy Page on guitar, Grimes on synths and keyboards, Alicia Keys on keys and vocals, Darryl Hall on guitar and vocals, Mark Piccles [Tin Sparrow] on drums and Mitch Crum [Thieves] on bass, along with the full Dexys horn section and the OAF All Star Dancers – all playing Todd Rundgren songs. Now that would be a cool gig to be at.” It might take a while to lock that one in, so in the meantime OAF’s asked some of their favourite acts to party with you in celebration of their first half-decade. Entry is free, there’ll be prizes and drink comps, and BRAG might even put together a good old-fashioned pass-the-parcel... Come party with us!
BETH and MATT from SURES
What’s the best night you’ve had at Oxford Art Factory? We went to OAF’s third birthday party, which was pretty crazy: there were dudes running on stage naked, people throwing toilet paper around, and heaps of people were playing stacks-on with the couches. Plus Parades headlined, which is a rarity these days. Who’s the greatest person you’ve met at OAF? One time Murray from The Wiggles was there. We didn’t meet, but we locked eyes for a second. What did you do for YOUR fifth birthday? When Simon was a kid, before his birthday every year he used to get so excited about Maccas ice-cream cake and presents he would throw up. Massive party animal. What’s the best birthday party you can remember? Matt was at a Harry Potter party in kindi. They all got put into houses by a sorting hat, which was the house phone on speaker under a hat. It made him Cho Chan. There was butterbeer and pumpkin pasties and they had a game of Quidditch, too. What’s the worst? One time at a friend’s birthday party everyone was climbing a trampoline that was upright. It fell and crushed everyone. Then we had Pokemon cake, and I hate Pokemon. Why should we come to OAF’s fifth birthday? Because Simon’s single and he’s ready to mingle.
MC and SWEETIE from BLOODS What’s the best night you’ve had at Oxford Art Factory? [MC]: We recently played a show with DZ Deathrays and shit got wild – all three of us ended up playing tambourine on stage for the entire Velociraptor set, which meant everyone on the lineup for the night was on stage at the same time (Shane and Simon from DZ play guitar in Velociraptor). That was a pretty sweet night! Seeing Wavves and Youth Lagoon this year was also pretty mad. Who’s the greatest person you’ve met at OAF? [MC]: Probably all of the Dum Dum Girls that time we played with them. They’re so hot/cool/amazing that we pretty much all froze on sight of them. DAYUM GRRLS! What’s the most peculiar use of space you’ve seen at OAF? [MC]: I once saw the art space there used as a carnival refreshment stand. They
OAF
We’re Gonna Party Like It’s Their Birthday! DANIEL from KILL CITY CREEPS Who’s the greatest person you’ve met at Oxford Art Factory? Met this dude named Bruce there one time who claimed to be the greatest martial arts fighter of all time. I believed him. What’s the most peculiar use of space you’ve seen at OAF? I saw a sweaty guy getting a tattoo in the clear glass space under the stairs. He looked like he was in pain, but I think he got through it. Poor fella. What did you do for YOUR fifth birthday? Drove my Knight Rider car, had a lolly hunt, ate some cake and watched a WWF Royal Rumble. I think the Ultimate Warrior won. What’s the worst birthday party you can remember? I remember some of the ones in the later years of high school ended really badly... bad choice of beverages. Why should we come to OAF’s fifth birthday? To sing ‘Happy Birthday’, to have some drinks, have a chat, dance around a bit, have a laugh, dance some more, watch some bands, make some friends, make some enemies, have some more drinks, make friends with your enemies, heckle the band, say G’day to the bouncers, have a smoke, come back inside, dance some more, cheer for the band and have a deep and meaningful in the toilet with a complete stranger who suddenly isn’t a stranger no more. You may even meet your life-long soul mate.
were giving away free popcorn and fairy floss. I feel like this should be a thing that happens more often. What did you do for YOUR fifth birthday? [Sweetie]: My fifth birthday party had a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party theme. My mum tried to search for the perfect five-yearold’s girly party hat, but couldn’t find anything to suit. So instead she took down an old mosquito net, decorated it with ribbons and colourful plastic jewels, and turned it into this amazing colourful tulle sparkly-mess hat! There was fairy bread, and I’m pretty sure I wore a pair of fairy wings, too. Wins all around! Imagine you’re making OAF a birthday mixtape – what’s on it? [MC]: I’d keep it classic. Kick it off with a bit of Warren G’s ‘Regulate’, keep the mood flowing into a bit of Dr Dre – ‘Let Me Ride’ – followed by something a little more dramatic, like Danzig’s ‘Cry Little Sister’. Then I’d bring the mood back up with ‘Brass Monkey’ by Beastie Boys, and then cap it all off with ‘Rebel Girl’ by Bikini Kill.
JACK, IZZI and GIDEON from THE PREATURES What’s the best night you’ve had at OAF? [Izzi]: Definitely my first. I was finishing a late shift at work down on Foster Street, and my best friend called me. “You’ve gotta come to this place,” she said. It was Oxford Art Factory’s opening night, and I’d never seen anything like it. The place had brought together a group of people that before then had little or nowhere to go, or had divided allegiances to smaller places. I suppose you call that creating a scene. What’s the most peculiar use of space you’ve seen at OAF? [Izzi]: Sydney artist Grohl painting a naked girl in The Glass Box. Disgusting/shocking/ amazing/beautiful! What’s the best birthday party you can remember? [Izzi]: I remember one year my dad made mini pizzas with little faces on them for all my friends. They were delicious.
And what’s the worst? [Jack]: My 18th. I was on a mission from God to finish my own bottle of Jack Daniels. I did it, so I don’t need to re-attempt that mission for a while. Imagine you’re making OAF a birthday mixtape – what’s on it? [Jack]: Whipped Cream Chargers’ ‘Jesus Hound’, ‘60 Feet Tall’ by The Dead Weather, and anything by Roland S. Howard – probably ‘Pop Crimes’. Why should we come to OAF’s fifth birthday? [Gideon]: Killer bands, free entry, and a whole lot of chunder in the little boys room.
What: Oxford Art Factory’s fifth birthday With: The Preatures, Kill City Creeps, Group, The Shooters Party, Sures, Bloods, Spirit Valley, Sweet Teeth, Reckless Vagina and Whipped Cream Chargers + Friday I’m In Love DJs, BRAG DJs and The OAF Gallery DJs Where: OAF! When: Saturday September 15 – and it’s FREE!
“They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky. They’re all together ooky, the Addams Family,” 14 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:08:12
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BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 15
Nitin Sawhney An Evening With... By Krissi Weiss
N
itin Sawhney is the true definition of a prolific artist. He’s responsible for nine solo albums, four collaborative LPs, work with Paul McCartney, Brian Eno and Nelson Mandela, and more film, theatre and dance scores than can be counted (and he’s the beneficiary of more awards for the three aforementioned categories than needed to sink a ship). That’s not to mention his four honourary doctorates, with a fifth coming this week – something that Sawhney says he feel humbled by to the point of confusion and guilt. Rounding out that list are a host of writing, directing and acting credits under his belt; while trawling through his overwhelming body of work, you start to get an idea of the creative pulse that pushes through Sawhney every minute of every day. With an upcoming run of intimate band performances in Australia showcasing his rich and diverse atmospheric work (as well as a few DJ sets), Sawhney is looking forward to the opportunity to play the music that he says colours his life so much. “When I perform live with the band it’s pretty much focusing on the album material,” Sawhney explains. “I’ve written nine albums now, so I have a pretty big back catalogue from which to get my
favourite material. Also I’m coming out there to DJ, which will be a lot of fun. I’m a resident DJ at Fabric in the UK, and do a fair bit of it through Europe, so that is something I really love to do.” Taking on so many different styles of music from all around the globe, and presenting them in such varying formats, begs the question of how he is able to shift creative gears with such ease. “When I’m making music, I always have to draw on my own feelings as a cathartic experience,” he explains. “But I guess if I’m working on a music score then I am working within the vision of the director and I’m trying to find their motive. When I was scoring the Alfred Hitchcock project [The Lodger], I had to make assumptions about his intentions for the film and the psychological motives of the characters. Whereas if you’re working on an album it’s very much an expression and a dynamic approach to your own history, and during that process something comes out that resembles a body of work that you wish to share with the world. I think as a musician and a composer you are always searching for the perfect soundtrack to your life, and along the way you are evolving that with the people you collaborate with and the people that you just meet on your journey. All of it is interesting and relevant, and music is the perfect language within which to explore that.”
“You have Michelangelo who said that the sculpture was already hidden in the stone, or John Coltrane who said that improvisation was like a bird he wanted to catch. This myth – that we are creating – is just that.” When asked about his current projects, he muses on the upcoming play he has been writing, Einstein Tagore. Sawhney is using the medium of theatre to contemplate the connections between the scientific and the spiritual – namely quantum physics, Hinduism and spirituality as a whole. “When you look at people like Galileo and Copernicus, they were at odds with the orthodox, religious views of the time,” he says. “There has always been opposition within scientific discovery and religious assumption. Assumption is based on faith and scientific discovery is based on evidence. But that doesn’t mean that science is always right either, because there are still a lot of assumptions within science about how the universe works. As we discovered from what we know about dark matter or about the Higgs boson, new information can overturn the discoveries that came before. Today’s quantum physics is yesterday’s science fiction. “Think of the notion of quantum entanglement,” he continues. “The idea is that you have two particles that behave in exactly the same way regardless of how far apart they are, and I haven’t met a physicist who can explain how this can be. Time and space are irrelevant because they have a system of instant communication between them. You have these things that suggest there is a true fabric to the universe, but then you have someone like Richard Dawkins who claims that science proves that there can be no religious elements. I think we would be very arrogant indeed to think that our limited brains and minimal senses can possible fathom the intricacies of the universe as though it is some easy-to-solve puzzle.” Sawnhey is unstoppable on this topic, and it is easy to want to hear more about his spiritual views in light of scientific fascination. He talks with a comfort, warmth and grace that beguiles the listener, and after a long period of hypothesise he returns to music, managing to unite these seemingly diverse ideas. “Music for me is about following intuition,” he says. “I mean, you have [Johannes] Keppler who talks about the music of the spheres, so you kind of have this notion that the universe is more than what we can see; that we only understand what is within our dimension to understand. Music is a way of manifesting or having a connection with divine intentions. As a musician you are a medium through which the universe manifests itself. You have Michelangelo who said that the sculpture was already hidden in the stone, or John Coltrane who said that improvisation was like a bird he wanted to catch, so there is this notion that something is already in the air. This myth – that we are creating – is just that: we are merely uncovering the soul of emotion that exists in everything, and we are just an extension of that.” What: An Evening with Nitin Sawhney Where: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House When: Tuesday September 4 16 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
Released 7 September 2012 Available at Abicus . Beatdisc . HUM . JB Hi-Fi (all stores) . Landspeed Records . Leading Edge Music Taree . Malibu Music . Music Bizarre Phoenix Music . Plum Music . Red Eye . Richmond Records . Sandy’s Dee Why . Stop ‘n’ Rock . Title (Surry Hills & Crows Nest)
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King Cannons Carrot vs Sticks By Krissi Weiss
K
ing Cannon’s frontman Luke Yeoward really built this band from the ground up – from busking on street corners as a ten-year-old, playing covers on a bangedup hand-me-down acoustic guitar with a hat at his feet, to dropping out of school in his early teens to play punk music and work in his dad’s sawmill. It’s the stuff that romantic tales of rags to riches are made of, but the rags are never as enchanting as the movies make it seem – and the riches are always a long time coming. Yeoward and his band crossed the shores from New Zealand to Australia, and over the past few years, King Cannons slowly began to cement their place as a formidable, anthemic, genre-hopping rock band. With debut album The Brightest Light in tow, King Cannons are heading out on their most extensive headline tour to date. “Nothing ever gets done as quickly as I’d like it to, and patience isn’t one of my virtues,” Yeoward says, as he discusses the album’s writing and recording process. “In the beginning of 2011 I came back from holidays over Christmas, and I had a meeting with the gang and said that I didn’t want to
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Larkin provided engineering skill and motivation, but one of his most important contributions ended up being his talent behind the kit. “The process was really great and also really tough,” Yeoward says. “We like to set up in one big room and play together live, but of course if you’re gonna do that you need to achieve a few standards and have a tight rhythm section, along with weaving the magic. Luckily Tom was there, because our poor drummer at the time couldn’t really keep up, and towards the end of the year we ended up having to get rid of him.” Friendship is invaluable in any band; cramped quarters, a lot of work for little reward in the early days and creative trust all rely on some semblance of a connection between band members. That connection, however, can also bring tension. “Our original drummer, Josh [Matthews], is a friend of ours, a pivotal King Cannons member,” he begins. “But when you form a band in New Zealand, you form it out of whoever’s around at the time. We weren’t anything great; we were nobody. We’ve all worked so hard as a band, everyone else was growing and growing and Josh was, well, like the fat boy in a running race. He was trying and putting in the time, but wasn’t physically able to deliver what was needed, in the studio and on stage. The consistency wasn’t there and it was a really tough thing for me to say – to say to your best mate who’s moved halfway around the world with you and believes in you, ‘Hey man, this isn’t working. For the future of the band I have to let you go.’ It was a tough thing, but you can either do it or you can’t and if you can’t, well, you’ve just gotta fuck off. There was nothing easy about it, but for the sake of the rest of my group, the future of the band, and my career, I can’t let something like that bring the band down.”
“To say to your best mate who’s moved halfway around the world with you and believes in you, ‘Hey man, this isn’t working.’ It was a tough thing, but you can either do it or you can’t, and if you can’t, well, you’ve just gotta fuck off.” With a host of musical projects behind him, Yeoward has worked hard to get to this position. Music isn’t just a passion for him – he feels compelled to make it, against adversity – and King Cannons seems to be a real home for him, musically and personally. “I like to think that with anything I’m doing currently, there’s always this little carrot in front of me that I’m chasing,” he says. “In King Cannons we like to think that we could play any type of music we wanted – [we could] really be ourselves and have true expression not confined by a scene or a particular genre. We can make folk music or reggae music or rock music or whatever we want, and this band, or this vehicle, is the fasted moving vehicle I have ever had to get close to that ever-moving carrot. I like to think that we’re always trying harder, our hardest, that I’m not in stagnant water or plateauing, because things only start to get watered down from there. You’ve got to have the ambition to change your life, to get out of your comfort zone, and [you’ve got to] make sure you’re always striving towards that. It’s just something that was bred into me.” What: The Brightest Light is out now on EMI With: All The Young (UK), The Hello Morning When: Friday September 7 Where: The Annandale Hotel
Oh Mercy photo by Aaron Farley
Instore and online now!
incorporate any of the old songs we had lying around from the past few years, the ones in the back catalogue that didn’t make the cut for the EP. I didn’t want to start flogging dead horses, so I decided I would stay home from work and treat writing music like a day job. I stayed at home for months and wrote a song a day, or every couple of days. We had a ratio where one song was good and four songs were crap so I wrote a lot of material, honed it down and recorded some demos, and then mid-2011 we were in Sing Sing Studios doing about 75% of the record with Tom Larkin from Shihad.”
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Macy Gray She’s Got It Covered By Zoë Radas
F
rank Zappa – prolific iconoclast and king of weird, multi-genre music – built his own studio, The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, for many of his recordings before his death in 1993. A small and innovative space, which housed the famous ‘echo chamber’, it is still operating to this day under the management of Zappa’s widow Gail and son Dweezil, whose dedication to authenticity has ensured much of its set-up is just the way Zappa senior left it. It was in this studio that Macy Gray, five-time Grammy Award nominee (and one time victor), recorded her latest album, Covered. The distinctive and highly respected artist is heading to Australia to promote the release, which sees her presenting 16 of her favourite songs in her own matchless way, and she’s pretty excited to be playing two of the biggest venues in the land: Sydney Opera House, and Melbourne’s newly gussied-up Hamer Hall.
“The last time I was there I think we performed on [Australian Idol], and we rocked around a few radio stations. But I didn’t do a live performance,” Gray explains over the phone. “Before that was way back, like 2003.” Since
then, Gray has released four studio albums, collaborated on multiple tracks with a myriad of other big names, acted in a number of films, opened her own music academy and raised her three – now teenaged – children. Not exactly putting her feet up. On a reel of behind-thescenes footage taken during Covered’s recording, she mentions how fabulous Zappa’s studio was to work in, and it’s this that I ask her about first. “Oh, it’s awesome,” she says warmly, with that same slow, overstated articulation of her singing voice. “It’s just, like, a perfectly built studio. You get the sound from the studio, the wood inside; the way [Zappa] built it, it’s so perfect. You’ve got to see it, it’s pretty amazing.” Hal Willner, who produced the album, is a devotee of the way Gray prefers to record: with all musicians playing live together in the one room, as opposed to the more common method of isolation. “Well [recording live] is how they used to make records,” Gray explains, “so it’s the natural way to do it. You actually get a way better performance because you’re live, and you don’t want to be the one that messes up. It’s a way better way to record for me. It’s way more immediate.” Gray had wanted to record an album of covers for a long time, but no label she’d been with had ever considered it a viable project. It wasn’t until she signed with 429 Records last year that her plan could be realised. “They thought it was a good idea, and I played them some of the music that we were going to record and they liked it. It’s kind of the right people, who want to do what you want to do.” What Gray wanted to do was rearrange a pretty eclectic bag of tracks, including Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’, and Arcade Fire’s ‘Wake Up’. The instrumentation and approach to vocals and their phrasing is markedly different from each original, making these tracks true reinterpretations rather than just rehashes. ‘Wake Up’ in particular, the song which accompanied the recent film adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s gorgeous story Where The Wild Things Are, is very apt for Gray; she’s always encompassed something of a childlike bearing. “Oh, I love the lyrics to that song,” she says. “What it’s about and the way [Win Butler] sings it is so awesome; it was really the lyrics of that song for me. It has that rebel yell in it. I just like it,” she concludes.
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The openhearted mien extends to Gray’s behaviour; she connects with her fans in ways some musicians would never dream of. During recording for Covered she put her telephone number up on her site, so that admirers could ring up and chat. The idea came from the studio’s father himself. “I was out with Frank Zappa’s wife, and she said that he got a hotline in the studio. He’d put the phone number on his records and whenever he wasn’t busy he’d pick up the phone. And I thought that was the coolest thing, that people would just call through,” she says with real wonderment. “So I put up a Skype number. I was doing it for like two weeks straight; I would set an hour aside during the day to talk to people.” It’s almost like ChatRoulette, but less dicey… one would hope. In addition to her upcoming tour dates, a major studio film which Gray has narrated is due to be released in October. “It’s called Paperboy,” she says. “Nicole Kidman’s in it, and John Cusack... It’s a pretty great movie!” With the cross-medium work continuing to roll forth, Gray certainly doesn’t look to be resting on her laurels any time soon – and her upcoming shows promise to be a lush affair encompassing all of the soul, humour and verve that her fans have come to love. What: Covered is out now on 429 Records Where: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House When: Sunday September 16
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“I was out with Frank Zappa’s wife, and she said that he got a hotline in the studio. He’d put the phone number on his records and whenever he wasn’t busy he’d pick up the phone. And I thought that was the coolest thing... So I put up a Skype number.”
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Ingrid Michaelson Digging Deeper By Jack Franklin
I
ngrid Michaelson’s most recent album, Human Again, is a departure for her. Gone is the twee, cutesy jangle pop that pigeonholed her, and saw her soundtracking shows like Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill. Replacing it is a darker, fuller sounding record with less earworm pop-hooks to be found – a record that rewards multiple listens. “In life we change and we grow, we experience different things, big moments; things happen that shift us for the worst or the better,” the New York native tells me. “As a writer and an artist, something is either added to you or something is taken away from you, and it changes you... I am not the same person I was last year, I am not the same person as when I wrote my first song.” So when Michaelson started to work on new material, she had a mission in mind: “I wanted to change my sound. I’ve had a lot of success with TV commercials and things like that, and I feel like out of all my songs – I have probably written close to 50 or 60 songs that are out there – out of all of those there are four that get licensed over and over again. And people judge me on two of those four. I get put into this box – this is the kind of music you make, this jingly, happy stuff – but those are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot more going on.” “On this record I wanted to dig deeper,” she says. “I don’t want to be just seen as the girl that writes the cute little songs… You can’t
keep doing the same thing over and over again. Well, you can, but it gets boring. So I wanted to embrace the idea of thinking bigger, not being as contained.” The album is bigger and with far more orchestration, which can be credited to her working with producer David Kahne (Regina Spektor, Paul McCartney, The Strokes – he even worked on the Goonies soundtrack). “At the beginning of the recording, which was ongoing for about nine months, David said, ‘I want to know why you don’t sing live on your records; you are very contained and safe. When I see you live you really go for it.’ I had never realised I was doing that, so I took it as a challenge and it sparked all these new ideas in me – and I wrote the entire record in the span of four months.” Michaelson was also inspired by changes that had taken place in her life, changes which gave the album its title. “I fell in love and married somebody. What makes you more human than that?” she asks. “Somebody that makes me feel alive and part of the human race. I think that when you find real love there is something really final about it that is also really frightening because, ‘I am with this person and I am going to die with this person.’” Although she was the daughter of a sculptor and a composer, Michaelson had a very musically sheltered upbringing. All she knew until she was a teen was her parents’ choice
– classical, some Beatles, some hymns (though not a religious family) and some ‘50s musical soundtracks. “I didn’t know anything!” she laughs. “I remember my friend loaned me a Madonna tape, when I was 12 or 13. Up until then I had subscribed to what my parents had said, which was, ‘All pop music sounds the same’... [But] I listened to that tape over and over. A few weeks later I got a radio
for Christmas… I listened to it and my head exploded – there is so much music out there!” What: Human Again is out through Sony Music Where: The Metro Theatre (lic. all-ages) When: Friday September 14
Fabulous Diamonds Positive Tension By Lachlan Kanoniuk
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The Medics Take The Cure By Alasdair Duncan
T
he Medics formed in Cairns but, feeling frustrated by the confines of the small town, the young musos made the move south to Queensland’s capital. The city’s music scene can be quite small and incestuous – if somebody is in one Brisbane band, they’re in three or four – and I ask drummer/vocalist Jhindu Lawrie what the experience has been like so far, and whether or not they’ve been welcomed. “We definitely have,” he says. “I mean I’m not in half a dozen bands yet, but give it time!” Since their arrival, they’ve made friends with many in the local scene. “We know the Last Dinosaurs boys, for instance, and then there are a few other bands throughout Brisbane that we’ve gotten to know really well over the last two years. It’s really nice to be part of a community like that.”
The Medics’ single ‘Griffin’, with its heartfelt lyrical cry of “he’s just a boy”, is a powerful song, and it has a powerful video to match, telling the story of a young indigenous boy running afoul of the law. The clip was shot in Brisbane’s notorious Boggo Road Gaol, and its themes resonate powerfully with the band. “We had a lot of pitches, but that was the one that most fit with the meaning of the song,” Lawrie explains. “A lot of aboriginal youth these days are in bad situations – they end up going to gaol and crashing cars and things like that – and the clip reflects that in a really interesting way. It means a lot to me personally, and to each one of us in the band – and honestly, I’m really glad now it’s out that it’s been meaningful to other people, too.” With: The Darcys (CAN) and I, A Man Where: Spectrum When: Wednesday September 12
Recorded in a relatively short period of time in mid-2011, Commercial Music saw release this August. The long gestation period, however, is all part of the duo’s ethos. “I’m not sure how it works with other bands, but I know that for Jarrod and I, there’s always been that turnaround in terms of when we record to when we release,” Venerosa says. “We’re both busy, plus there’s agreeing on artwork and mastering, and getting mixing done. It always seems to be this huge, long process.” With two untitled LPs full of untitled tracks preceding the release of Commercial Music, it’s easy to perceive the utilisation of song names for the first time as a statement in itself. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. “It’s not anything that was preconceived. We just had titles for these songs that seemed to fit, and titles just seemed to be something that we wanted to do this time. We didn’t even think about it much at all. Then we thought, ‘Oh great, now everyone’s going to talk about titles because we haven’t had them before.’ There’s always a thing people talk about, and this time around the titles are the ‘thing’. That’s our fault, I guess,” Venerosa relents.
Throughout their career, Fabulous Diamonds have enjoyed more than a few choice support slots for international acts, covering an eclectic spectrum of genres. As Venerosa explains, the slots come not so much from Fabulous Diamonds’ wish list, but from the resounding admiration of the respective act. “I’ve always thought that Jarrod and I were more of a band’s band, as in other bands like us more than other people. A few weeks ago we supported Miike Snow at The Palace [Melbourne]. The only time I’d heard of that band was when Russell Crowe tweeted about us ages ago, saying something like ‘check out these bands’ – speaking about us and Miike Snow. Then I was thinking, ‘Who the hell is Miike Snow?’ Then they asked us to support, when we’re from totally different worlds. It was really bizarre,” she says. After all, the team behind Miike Snow includes Bloodshy & Avant, who have songwriting credits for acts like Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears – whereas Commercial Music is anything but. “I don’t think the audience felt that much for us, which we were expecting. They were all waiting at the barriers for Miike Snow, staring at us, glancing at their watches and phones. But the guys from Miike Snow told us they thoroughly enjoyed it. When we’ve supported all these acts, it’s come from the acts choosing us.” With their musical output defined by an underlying tension, I ask whether that energy is reflected in their creative partnership. “Jarrod and I have an interesting relationship,” Venerosa says. “We’ve been together for a very long time – I think it’s nearly eight years or something, I’ve lost count. Often we’re fighting... There’s often tension, but sometimes we’re feeling good. I don’t know if you can hear that in the songs. It’s like all bands, I’m sure – you fight, and then you don’t.”
What: Commercial Music is out now through Chapter Music With: Half High, MOB, Boynoisez, DJ Fortune Bullen Where: The Square, Haymarket When: Saturday September 8
“So get a witch’s shawl on, a broomstick you can crawl on. We’re going to pay a call on the Addams Family.” 22 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
The Medics photo by Hailey Bartholomew
The Medics’ debut album, Foundations was released a couple of months ago now, but they are still giddy with excitement at getting it out there in the world. Earlier this month, it won the band three top titles in the National Indigenous Music Awards – for Album Of The Year, New Talent Of The Year and Song Of The Year. “The response has been pretty good,” Lawrie says. “Way more than I actually thought we would get, and I’m very happy with it. I know a lot of people in different cities, and just to have them contacting me and telling me how they’re enjoying the album, and how many of their friends are liking it… It’s crazy to think about it, but the response has been really nice.” Foundations is already a triple j favourite, its songs familiar to many around the country, but it’s the new fans Lawrie is most looking forward to getting in front of. “We’re about to go out on tour and I’m really looking forward to hitting a lot of the small towns, getting the album to people who haven’t heard it yet. That’s what I’m most excited about.”
The songs on Foundations have a big and bold quality, indie rock bursting with energy and enthusiasm, but beneath the blustery arrangements there’s a real sadness and reflectiveness to the lyrics. As Lawrie tells it, this is not a conscious decision, or some kind of reflection of the band’s collective subconscious – it’s just how they like to do things. “Each song is quite personal for all of us,” he explains. “I guess I don’t think too much about it – we don’t go into it too deeply. But if there’s something big on our minds, an issue that’s really got us going, you can be sure it will end up in one of the songs.” The writing process in The Medics, he says, is very spur-of-the-moment. “We all write songs individually, but we’ve started doing it in pairs, trying different ways. It’s becoming quite different now and I’m really excited at some of the new techniques that are coming in.”
elbourne-based duo Fabulous Diamonds possess a strangely assured and idiosyncratic dynamic, one that applies to all aspects of their work. Navigating a razor-thin line between hypnotically soothing rhythms and overbearingly tense tonal swirls, the outfit have steadfastly established themselves as one of the country’s most respected young acts. Ahead of launching their third album, Commercial Music, vocalist/drummer Nisa Venerosa spoke to us about her at-times tense creative partnership with Jarrod Zlatic, and their decision to finally embrace titles.
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arts frontline
free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com
arts, theatre and film news... what's goin' on around town and more...
five minutes WITH BENJA
HARNEY
How did you get in to using paper, how long have you been doing it, and why is it your preferred medium? I've been working with paper for over seven years now while running my freelance business, Paperform. We had a rudimentary class in paper construction when I was studying graphic design. It's such an approachable medium and I was instantly hooked. There is something about creating a three-dimensional form from a flat sheet that intrigues me. Paper offers unlimited avenues of exploration, and technical precision is at the core of my practice.
P
Are you immune to paper cuts these days? I rarely get them, to be honest. It’s the scalpel that you have to watch out for! What have you got in store for us at the QVB? Is it your biggest project so far? I can’t wait to see the installation in place: this is by far the biggest-scale project I’ve worked on. The brief was something floral, so we have created huge hanging sprays of flowers and
What was the process? Because of the scale and safety requirements for a job like this we have had to use a production company. They have fabricated the flowers to the huge scale they needed to be after I supplied them with the templates for each design. The QVB installation is all about celebrating spring. What’s your favourite thing about spring in Sydney? I think the excitement of spring time brings everyone out of hibernation. Can’t wait to get back in the ocean! What else are you working on at the moment? I’ve got lots of jobs on the go at the moment. I’m about to shoot a stop motion film and I’ve designed some visual merchandising elements for a fashion brand. I’m looking forward to seeing them installed. I also have a solo exhibition coming up at the end of the year, so that’s a big goal to work towards. Can’t wait! What: Spring To Life Where: QVB, Sydney When: On display the entire month of September, from 10am–5pm More: Live music, pop-up flower markets, free floristry workshops and more. Details at qvb. com.au
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD Writer/director/ composer extraordinaire Behn Zeitlin wants to take you on a miraculous journey with his new fantasy drama, Beasts Of The Southern Wild. Set in a fictitious part of the southern bayou, Beasts sees a six year-old girl called Hushpuppy forced to find her own way during an impending natural disaster. Searching for her long-lost mother, Hushpuppy’s vivid imagination invents apocalyptic scenes, masterfully directed by Zeitlin in frame-by-frame detail. It’s hard to avoid Pan’s Labyrinth comparisons here, but why would you want to? Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and the Camera d’Or at Cannes, Beasts is set to amaze Australian audiences from September 13. We’re giving away 15 in-season double passes, so if you want to awaken the beast within, just tell us your favourite apocalypse fantasy.
GOOD GIRLS GONE BAD SEX.VIOLENCE.BLOOD. GORE
The title of this play is so titillating that I didn’t even have to make up a headline (thanks, guys!) But even more exciting is the play itself. Stephen Nicolazzo has gotten some of Sydney and Melbourne’s best performers together for his staging of Singapore playwright Alfan Bin Sa’at’s sex.violence.blood.gore, a play so challenging it had to be performed for the first time in secret. Nearly-nude cast members play nymphomaniac Geography teachers; posh, colonial ladies acting on lesbian fantasies; Japanese soldiers and their male prostitutes; and a ghostly amalgamation of a gang-bang porn star and the first Prime Minister of Singapore. Presented by MKA and Tamarama Rock Surfers, the climactic play will run at The Old Fitzroy Theatre for five shows only from September 4–8 from 8pm. Don’t miss it. Get your tix at rocksurfers.org
CAN DOGS DO KICKFLIPS?
A local alternative to those overly-informative TED Talks, TOD Talks: Ideas We’re Thinking Of is a night of that tackles the real issues of our generation: with PowerPoint presentations! Featuring local hilarity from across the Sydneysphere – artist and Cab Sav-er Kenzie Larsen, comedian Matt Banham, triple j presenter, Pedestrian writer and blogger Max Lavergne, his co-presenter at Pedestrian’s Walkthrough podcast Sophie Braham, and Alex ‘Grimelord’ Morris – TOD Talks takes on the big questions like, “Will there be dogs in the future?” and “Could sweet kickflips hold the key to sustainability?” For the answers to these questions (definitely) and the meaning of life (possibly), with Madonna microphones (potentially), and lots of laughs (hopefully?), dust off your thinking cap, put it back under the bed,
Doc Holliday Takes The Shotgun
and rock up to The Wall @ The World Bar on Wednesday September 12, from 7:30pm.
QVB IN BLOOM
Hang up your coats and jackets – spring’s here! And what better way to celebrate the change of season than with a fiesta of all-things floral in one of Sydney’s best buildings? Artist Benja Harney will fill the QVB dome with a huge paper installation, including large-scale flowers, leaves and hovering bees as part of Art & About Sydney. There’ll be a pop-up flower market on the ground floor, as well as fresh blooms given away every week. Musical performances, free floristry workshops and verdant displays are also on hand to tickle your sonic and olfactory senses. The installation and markets will be open from 10am–5pm for the entire month of September. Hit up qvb.com.au for all the details.
SYDNEY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL
Are you bored silly with all the Batmans, Bournes and bogans in your regular cinema? Looking for something a little more offbeat when you go to the flicks? Get ready to indulge your weird and wacky side with the Sydney Underground Film Festival. Running from September 6–9, the festival opens with Tim And Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie and finishes up with Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America. There’s plenty more in between with film subjects running the gamut of Wikileaks, donkey love, James Franco’s psychotic alter ego and werewolf presidents. There’s sure to be something to pique your interest at one of the three cinemas at The Factory Theatre. Swing by suff.com.au for tickets and the full program.
MUSIC CAPTURED
Has your life been missing something a little naughty? Needing a night of musical teasing and artistic performance? Well don’t fret, because 34B Burlesque’s Good Girls Gone Bad is returning to tick all your boxes, and then some. Featuring diabolical debutantes Ember Flame, Frankie Faux, Maple Rose, Lauren La Rouge, Heidi Hoops, Holly J’aDoll and Baby Blue Bergman, plus DJ Swami on the decks, it’s sure to be an evening of “wild, wanton and lascivious” fun. Mark Friday September 14 in your diary and grab your pre-sale tix from qbar.iwannaticket.com.au
PERFECTLY CROMULENT
So, you’re pretty psyched that it’s beer-garden weather again, huh? We already know that when the weather’s nice you don’t need an excuse to get out, but we’re going to go ahead and make it a whole lot worse. All through spring The Comedy Store is playing host to nine of Australia’s best stand-up comics who’ll perform hour-long sets for less than 40 bucks a pop. Wil Anderson claims he’s ‘Wilarious’, Hannah Gadsby wants a wife, Cal Wilson is all ears and Charlie Pickering takes one giant leap. Oh, and Tom Gleeson, Denise Scott, Peter Helliar, Merrick Watts and Dave Thornton will be there, too. The spring season kicked off on August 30. Head to thecomedystore.com.au for the full details.
CHIPPENDALE BEAMS
Crocheted tree trunks, live performances, and industrial back streets lined with artworks, sculptures and installations – sounds like a pretty great way to spend an afternoon, right? What if I told you it’s all for free? Beams – a creative arts festival involving more than 350 local artists – is being held for the first time this year, and will take full advantage of the labyrinthine streets of cityfringe suburb, Chippendale. Balfour St and the surrounding area will be festively decorated, and the seedy underbelly of historical Chippendale won’t be ignored, instead being celebrated with grimy, site-specific art. The festival will run on Saturday September 22 for one day only, so don’t miss it! More at beamsfestival.com.au
Last year, as part of Sydney Fringe, Captured teamed up six directors with six exciting new acts and asked each team to make a music video, the only catch being that they have two months to make it and be shorter than five minutes. The contest was such a hit (because who doesn’t like music videos?) that it’s returning for 2012, with prizes including goodies from Soundcloud and Rode mics, and a spot for the winning video on ABC’s Rage. This year’s musos include thrashabilly cuties Doc Holliday Takes The Shotgun, Newcastle folksy duo Riley And Donna as well as Tigertown, Stone Parade, The Upskirts and electronic act FOX. The directors behind the sure-to-be awesome shorts are Fin Lizzy, James Brettell, Jeremy Graham, Kim Sargenius, Sam Cupitt and Turk Lees. The films will premiere in midNovember. Go to capturedsydney.com for updates on prizes and progress.
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op-up books and dioramas aren’t just for kids, and the man who’s finally proven it is artist and reigning master of paper craft, Benja Harney. World renowned for his scalpel skills, the Sydney-based paper engineer has carved out his own niche, crafting a campaign for Lego, designing an Hermès Christmas window, and even producing a book for Kylie Minogue. Most recently he’s been working on his biggest installation to date, a large-scale floral work for Art & About Sydney titled ‘Spring To Life’, which will fill QVB with an enormous homage to the verdant season.
You’ve worked with some amazing artists, bands, designers and publications. What are a couple of your favourite projects to date? There have been so many projects now it’s honestly getting hard to remember them all! I think what stands out most are all the creative and talented people I have collaborated with along the way. I’m very proud of the pop-up book I worked on for Kylie Minogue last year: one of my main goals when I set out was to have a pop-up book published. That deadline was a real challenge.
insects in QVB heritage colours. It has been a very enjoyable collaboration.
Three dancers. Three actors. Unpredictable results.
CONVERSATION PIECE Choreographer and Director LUCY GUERIN
25 AUGUST – 16 SEPTEMBER
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Your Sister’s Sister Slow And Steady Wins The Race By Kit O’Connor & Dee Jefferson
Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt in Your Sister’s Sister
L
ynn Shelton was 40 before she made her directing debut, and on her fourth feature she had her breakthrough moment with the bromantic comedy Humpday, which won her the Special Jury Prize at Sundance 2009. Created by Shelton specifically as a vehicle for writer-director-actor-producer Mark Duplass, Humpday was the start of a loose collaborative relationship between the two that led to Shelton’s fifth and most recent feature, Your Sister’s Sister. Starring Emily Blunt, Duplass and indie actress-to-watch Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister’s Sister revolves around a “love” triangle between one guy and two sisters who are each responding to loss in different ways. It combines Shelton’s trademark low production values
and improv-laced performance with a bigger budget, more polished audiovisual sensibility, and more complex characters. Shelton always knew she was destined to be a story teller – it was just the specifics that took a little time to iron out. Training first as an actor (her screen credits include small roles in ultra-indies Nights And Weekends, The Off Hours and the forthcoming Duplass-produced Safety Not Guaranteed), she was initially intimidated by filmmaking. “I remember trying to decide if I wanted to apply for acting graduate school or filmmaking graduate school and I was just too intimidated [by film],” she says. “All I knew was that it costs millions of dollars and I figured as a director you’d have to be responsible for somebody else’s millions of dollars, and it just terrified me.”
She eventually arrived at filmmaking via a discouraging stint as a working thespian in New York, followed by enrolment in a graduate photography course at the School Of Visual Arts, where she learned to edit and made her first short films. “I was 39 when I got the opportunity to make my first feature,” Shelton says. “That’s when I came into my own as an artist because I needed all the skill-sets I developed along the way: the relationship to acting and photography and editing [and] then also growing in maturity, and finally being ready and confident to lead a team.” The original concept for Your Sister’s Sister was brought to Shelton by Duplass and, as with Humpday, the film was heavily devised. “I give [the actors] the parameters of a certain plot line Home (written and directed by the brothers, and shown at Sydney Film Festival this year) and the time-travel dramedy Safety Not Guaranteed (produced by the Brothers Duplass, starring Mark, and opening in October). What was the inspiration for this film? I guess I wanted to do a very simple comedy with characters who were coming from life stations that were specifically not funny. The film itself is very funny, I think, but you’ve got three people who are all very screwed up for some fairly serious reasons.
Mark Duplass with co-stars Blunt and DeWitt
Mark Duplass Over the last decade, fraternal filmmaking team Mark and Jay Duplass have carved out a niche in American independent cinema with a slew of projects, whether writing, directing, producing or acting. These days, they’re known as the
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go-to guys for getting films made without heaps of cash: hands-on producers who pitch in to get things done, and galvanise others to do the same. Often cited as part of the vanguard of the American indie genre ‘mumblecore’, recent Duplass projects include the unexpectedly sweet latebloomer comedy Jeff Who Lives At
What made you pitch your idea to Lynn Shelton? We were a great creative fit on our first film together, Humpday, and I knew she was the right fit [for this story]. Also, I wanted a female director to help mine the sisters’ relationship in a way that I never could. What was it like working alongside Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt?
and a specific structure to work within and then I give them a tremendous amount of freedom in terms of the actual words that they use and how they want to find their way through the beats of the scene,” Shelton explains. Given this loose approach, it seems particularly miraculous that the film was shot in just 12 days, but Shelton has honed this way of working down to a fine art, in no small part due to her years working as an editor. “[During shooting] I am kind of tracking in my head – ‘Do I have everything I need in there somewhere between these three or four takes?’ – and then there’s some part of my brain that says, ‘Yeah, it’s in there somewhere, you can move on.’ It is a very efficient way of working. And then I got the extra validation on Fuckin’ awesome. Sorry for swearing, but it’s how I feel. Those girls are so immensely talented, loving, open, and smart. They were stepping into an existing process that Lynn and I had curated on Humpday and they were just so humble and generous and excited. It made for a great collaboration. How much of the movie was improvised? While the scenes themselves were highly mapped out, every piece of dialogue in the film is improvised.
the sets of Madmen and New Girl, where the crew were like, ‘You’re really fast, you really know what you need, and you know when you have it and you know when to move on.’” At a point where her career is taking off, and opportunities and projects are flowing her way, Shelton seems nevertheless unlikely to take the Hollywood route. “I’ll work with other people probably, and probably some bigger projects, but I’ll always come back and keep making these intimate little pieces because there is something so incredibly satisfying about working in this way.” – K’OC & DJ What: Your Sister’s Sister When: In cinemas September 6
Ordinary People, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Manhattan, etc. I also love documentaries: Hoop Dreams, American Movie, Sherman’s March. What about people? Richard Linklater really inspired me when I was in college, as I was in Austin at the time. I learned from him that you can wear jeans and a t-shirt and still be a relevant filmmaker. Also, the process of John Cassavetes was big for me and Jay.
Neither actress had much improv experience. Did that put more pressure on you to guide them? Not at all. Emily’s first film, My Summer Of Love, was also improvised, so she was actually pretty experienced. Also, they had seen Humpday and knew the drill fairly well.
You once said to a journalist, “If we went and had a beer, you’d be telling us private stuff about yourself, just ‘cause that’s what we’re interested in.” Have you always been so interested in people? I think it’s in our DNA. We’ve always been obsessed with people – normal people and their peculiar, specific problems. Don’t know why.
What kind of films did you watch growing up? I love all the adult/family relationship dramas from the ‘70s and ‘80s:
Do you think the ‘mumblecore’ label has aided or hindered the directors it encompasses? Hindered! I hate that word! – DJ
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Monsieur Lazhar [FILM] One Man Show By Tim Milfull
The Bedroom Philosopher [COMEDY] So Hungover By Michael Brown
D
espite the name of his alter ego, Justin Heazlewood, aka The Bedroom Philosopher, doesn’t spend much time at home. Since confusing hipsters Australia-wide with his hit ‘Northcote (So Hungover)’ from 2010’s Songs From The 86 Tram, he’s compiled his first book, The Bedroom Philosopher Diaries, a journal that traces his journey on the frontlines of music, comedy and festival touring around the country.
Mohamed Felig as Monsieur Lazhar
F
rench-Canadian writer-director Philippe Falardeau had an improbable start to his career when he won a filmmaking contest for a local TV show. Twenty years later he’s accumulated a slew of accolades and released several features, the latest of which, Monsieur Lazhar, has earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Monsieur Lazhar centres on an Algerian immigrant who fakes his way in to teaching a class of primary school children whose teacher has just committed suicide. Based on the play of the same name by his friend Evelyne De Chenelière, Falardeau was charged with an impressive task: adapting a one-man stage play into a full-length film.
“I’ve adapted two books: one for my former film, It’s Not Me, I Swear, and Monsieur Lazhar was a play.” Falardeau says. “I think there are inherent qualities in literature that are more powerful because they ask the reader (or in the case of a play, the audience) to add to what’s being presented to them. If you read a book, what you’ll basically do is make your own film, and it’s doubtful that any film will beat the film that you made in your mind. So, if I adapt a book, I’m forced to deal with real objects, with real people, real locations, and by definition it will limit the potential of the work.” When I go to see a film, I am moved by stories that mirror reality, and are grounded and rooted in some kind of reality, so I try to do that in my own films. It doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate more impressionistic or poetic work. But that’s what I try to do: I’m more in the school of Ken Loach or Mike Leigh than other filmmakers.”
While researching for the film, Falardeau visited local schools and was struck by their stringent regulations, and these became issues he felt he needed to address. “When I went back to school to do the research, that’s what struck me: you know, the evolution of the school system, the many rules and regulations, and the curriculum. The point I wanted to make was that I know why we have these rules and regulations – especially about physical contact with children – but I think we’ve gone a little bit overboard. We should let the teachers invest in their own classes as they see fit. Yes, there will be some bad teachers, but we should give teachers more leeway.” But Monsieur Lazhar isn’t only about the challenges faced by a teacher; Falardeau is also telling a story about children in a very traumatic situation. “Francois Truffaut had a very interesting analogy after doing Small Change and working with children. He said working with children is like preparing a helicopter shot: putting in the rig takes a long time, and then you have to fly the helicopter, and it takes hours to prepare one shot. But once you’re up there filming, it’s amazing what you can have in such a short period of time. Working with children is the same thing. It’s a lot of preparation, but once they’re prepared and ready and the camera is rolling, what can happen is amazing.” What: Monsieur Lazhar When: In cinemas Thursday September 6
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Falardeau was initially attracted to the play because of the sophistication of Lazhar’s gradually unfolding back story. “I’m just struck by the complexity and the richness of this main character, because he is an immigrant, but he is not about immigration. Most of all, I’m compelled by his humanity, and I was
forced to imagine the other characters around him because it’s a one-man show. It was just very minimalist and you had to imagine the other characters – in a way, I was already scriptwriting. The most challenging part was to find some dramatic tension that would sustain the attention of the audience for the whole movie. This came when I had the idea of the young boy, and his relationship with the teacher who had committed suicide.”
The entries in Heazlewood’s Diaries are testament to his tongue-in-cheek humour: there are impromptu break dance competitions, tram concerts, and an account of sexily complying with an empty “take it off!” heckle from a male punter (followed soon after by “that’s enough” from the same punter). In an early anecdote, Heazlewood recounts triple j engineer Jim Trail telling him, “It’s when people haven’t got you worked out that you’ve got their full attention”. Are these the sage words behind The Bedroom Philosopher’s approach? Is he keeping us guessing to keep us attentive? “Yeah, I think from a live point of view that’s always excited me,” he says. “I suppose a lot of comedy is just winking at the audience and letting them in on the joke at all times. Anything that hints at underestimating the audience’s intelligence – I was always really against that,” says Heazlewood. Since breaking out with his triple j hit ‘I’m So Postmodern’ in 2005, Heazlewood has walked the divide between music and comedy, now adding publishing to his repertoire: “In this day and age, I figure there’s money to be made in book publishing surely, if not music. Red hot industries,” says Heazlewood, laughing. “I did professional writing at uni – creative writing – before I did anything else, so it’s always sort of been there under the surface. And I read [Dave Eggers’] Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius when I was 21, and it just blew me away.” It seems the next Bedroom Philosopher Diaries may feature tales from the road at writer’s festivals, not music and comedy festivals. “Well someone gave me a tip-off that the writer’s festival scene is just red-hot. You get put up in expensive hotels, and treated like gods and, like, get flown around the world. Compared to the whole comedian and music festival scene where you’re not on the poster, there’s no accommodation, no one knows why you’re there and you get paid a hundred bucks – I’m like, I think I’m in the wrong industry.” Back in Sydney this week to launch the E-book, and in typical musical-comedy form, he’ll be keeping audiences on their toes. “I’m
pretty much just playing all new stuff, actually. I’ve stripped my band back a bit so it’s just drums and bass, and doing some more hip hop kind of stuff,” he says. “I’ve got a sort of Beastie Boys-style song called ‘Cars 2’ – it’s about a girl breaking up with you after watching Cars 2.” This new direction includes bringing Sydney's Spod into the producer’s seat on the next Bedroom Philosopher album. “I just really want to make the Australian Odelay,” says Heazlewood. “Spod’s like an even bigger Beck fan than me. As far as telling a producer you want to sound a bit like Beck, with Spod it’s like, ‘Oh, I’ve actually got the exact fuzz pedal he used on this song on Mellow Gold’. It’s sort of like going straight to the source. I guess I’m just trying to do different stuff all the time and that’s all part of it – you actually expect everything to be a bit different.” What: The Bedroom Philosopher East Coast E-book Tour With: Zoe Coombs Marr, Sabrina D’Angelo, Body Poet and SPOD Where: Goodgod Small Club When: Thursday September 6, 8pm
Passout [ART] The Art Of Getting Wasted By Alasdair Duncan
“T
hey’ve just pulled over three people in a Lincoln Town Car!” Jesse Willesee is telling me, a note of genuine excitement in his voice. “One of them has a great Hawaiian shirt on, and he’s kinda fat, and his friend has a ponytail, moustache and a baseball cap with flames on it. They’re riding around with a girl who looks like Eminem’s mother, they have a bunch of Xanax and codeine with them, and the girl, for some reason, has cocaine all over her.” When I called Willesee for our interview, he was midway through watching an episode of COPS. The long-running reality show is an ongoing obsession of his, and he’s attempting to explain the appeal. “People think that it’s just crappy reality TV, but I think it’s exactly what TV is supposed to be.” Much like COPS, Willesee’s art is grounded in the real and the seedy, and his upcoming art show pushes these themes to their limits. Passout: The Art Of Getting Fall-down Drunk is all about people at their lowest. Part installation, part fashion show, Willesee will pack Pott’s Point venue The Backroom with models in passed-out poses, then invite guests to ogle them, photograph them, and interact with them in any ways they damned well please. “I’ve done shows before with models posed around a space, but I wanted to take that to a new level,” he says. “I searched Google for pictures of passed-out people, for inspiration, and found a huge number of images – way more than I was 28 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
expecting. They were great images to borrow from: I guess that was really the seed of this exhibition.” Photos like these are a frequent feature of Facebook’s news feed – preserved forever as reminders of weekend excess – and Willesee’s show draws on this recent phenomenon of documenting debauchery. Though some argue that the current generation is more hedonistic and liable to risk-taking than those who came before, he argues that there are just more people around to take photos now. “I hear stories about my dad and his brother and the things they would get up to, and it’s not all that different from now,” he says. “I mean, I think part of that is to do with the fact that we’re Australians as well. People are always fighting and getting thrown through windows. Australians have always been pretty wild. That’s a sign of the culture, to be able to party hard.” The show is inspired by the real-life drinking culture of King’s Cross, a subject that’s been frequenting the news lately, thanks to violence in the area and the proposed tightening of licensing laws. But Willesee insists that any relationship between his show and the current situation is coincidental. “The controversy around the show has mostly come out of timing because [the issue] has been in the news,” he says. “We ended up on the cover of MX the other day, in light of all the law reforms. The show
Jesse Willesee’s Willesee s Passout was never intentionally designed to draw on that, it just happens to coincide with it. I feel like, as an artist, it’s my job to reflect on the times.” Willesee’s last show, 22 Girls Smoking Weed, was shut down by police, although he tells me he’s fairly confident that that won’t happen this time. “It’s not like these people are actually passed out,” he says. “It’s art, it’s a performance. It’s not real life. I’m sure
the police will come, through – as they often seem to – just to check it out.” What: Passout: The Art Of Getting Fall-down Drunk Where: The Backroom, Pott’s Point When: Thursday September 13, from 8–10pm Also: Performances by Buzz Kull and New Brutalists from 10pm
Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.
In cinemas September 6 After establishing his name with idiosyncratic comedies, Quebecois director Philippe Falardeau has turned his talents to emotionally-charged naturalism with the compelling classroom drama Monsieur Lazhar. Based on the one-man play of the same name, the Oscar-nominated, Frenchlanguage feature handles grief, loss and displacement with subtlety and sensitivity. The tranquillity of a Montreal primary school is ruptured one winter morning when a young student discovers his teacher’s body hanging from the classroom ceiling. Bachir Lazhar (Mohamed Fellag), an Algerian immigrant, soon arrives and is hired to fill the vacant post. Lazhar’s traditionalist methods initially rankle with his precocious students as he attempts to relieve them of their grief while dealing with his own dubious place in a new city. Falardeau’s direction keeps plot progression to a minimum, instead focusing on the confused and grief-stricken faces of children confronted all-too early by the frailties of the adult world. The observational cinematography and lingering editing bring a meditative naturalism to the classroom setting, and by portraying the viewpoints of both the adults and the children, Falardeau eschews heavy-handed judgement, and creates a balanced perspective through subtle glimpses of nuance and emotion. Central to the film’s impact are the performances of Alice (Sophie Nélisse) and Simon (Émilien Néron), the children most deeply affected by their teacher’s death. Nélisse’s remarkable performance as the mature and forthright Alice is worth the price of admission alone, whilst Fellag’s stand-up comedy roots lend his character the perfect balance of awkwardness and empathy. It’s an honest and moving film, but there’s something amiss in Monsieur Lazhar’s conclusion. The protagonist remains guarded and distant throughout, and with little understanding of his background, it’s difficult to sympathise and engage with his plight, leaving you feeling somewhat detached. At its core, Monsieur Lazhar is a frank and perceptive examination of the irrational yet politically-correct manner in which teachers are compelled to treat children, and the emotional tightrope they’re forced to walk. Rufus Richardson ■ Film
CHINESE TAKEAWAY Released August 30 Chinese Takeaway is a heartwarming story about a hermit who rejoins humanity and an exile who finds hope in a foreign land. I deliver this summary with a sigh, not because the film is bad – it’s not – but because there’s not much else going on under the bonnet. Middle-aged bachelor Roberto (Ricardo Darín)) runs a tiny hardware store in Darín suburban Buenos Aires with all the bonhomie of Ebenezer Scrooge on December 24. His spare time is spent visiting the grave of a mother he never met, planespotting by the airport perimeter, and scanning the papers for articles about absurd and inexplicable deaths which he cuts out and pastes into a scrapbook. He also spurns the advances of old flame Mari (Muriel Santa Ana), even after she declares her love for him and cooks him bone marrow stew. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in the cinema as I counted down the seconds for something to spark this joyless sack of shit into action. Cue a sliding-doors meeting with Jun (Ignacio Huang), a young Chinese man whose fiancee has died in – yes – an absurd and inexplicable fashion back in Fujian Province. Arriving in BA to seek out his last remaining relative, Jun has an argument with a taxi driver and is thrown onto the street, directly in front of our planespotting hero. Against his better judgment, the curmudgeon
takes the clueless foreigner under his wing and tries to help him find his long-lost uncle. Despite the impenetrable language barrier (and the improbable lack of initiative to buy a dictionary) they develop a rapport and ultimately give one another a new lease on life. It’s a modern fairytale, told with efficiency by writer-director Sebastián Borensztein, but it doesn’t warm the heart as much as it should. The denouement lacks catharsis as Roberto takes too long to be affected by his houseguest’s kindness. In fact, he takes the whole damned movie to give the guy any cred whatsoever! This renders his Damascene conversion to being a good bloke just plain annoying. But if you’re taking your grandmother to a 10am session, Chinese Takeaway is perfect. She’ll find it sweet, and you’ll be sustained by the film’s bizarre Argentine/ Mandarin combo, which serves to lift it out of the chocolate box just enough to make it interesting.
eugène atget
24:08:12 :: Art Gallery NSW :: Art Gallery Rd Sydney 9225 1700
Nikos Andronicos ■ Film
KATH & KIMDERELLA Opens September 6 Kath & Kimderella co-star – and serial purveyor of the budgie-smuggler-shrouded mansack – Glenn Robbins recently described the TV adaptation as, “The Shire with good music.” He was certainly right about the first part, although Kath & Kimderella’s use of The Pussycat Dolls’ ‘Don’t Cha’, oh-so-hilariously juxtaposed against the grotesquery of Gina Riley’s gaudy outfits, suggests that he may have been being facetious about the second. Since debuting their outer-suburban horror show as a sketch on Big Girl’s Blouse way back in ‘94, Kath & Kim creators Riley (Kim) and Jane Turner (Kath) have been busily strip-mining the show’s one-joke premise (which, like The Shire, can be boiled down to “bogans LOL”) across four series and a telemovie. Kath & Kimderella arrives after a merciful five-year break, during which Turner and Riley obviously spent about as much time thinking of new gags for the characters as this reviewer did – which is to say, none whatsoever. As the movie opens, the mother-daughter pair are both experiencing marital difficulties: Kath’s “hunk of spunk” Kel (Robbins) is in the throes of a chronic Masterchef addiction, and Kim’s gotten it in to her head that she can do better than the adoring but oblivious Brett (Peter Rowsthorn). When Kath wins a trip to the tiny Italo-Spanish kingdom of Papilloma, Kel’s fear of flying lets Kim and “secondbest friend” Sharon Strzelecki (Magda Szubanski) tag along. From here, the plot largely serves as a reminder of why the term “farce” is not generally employed in a positive sense; Papilloma’s tin-pot monarch Javier (Rob Sitch, dialling up his trademark smarm well past safe levels) mistakes the Fountain Lakes crew for royalty and plans to restore Papilloma’s fading fortunes by marrying Kim off to the crown prince. A series of contrived fairytale references and tedious cases of mistaken identity (and sexuality) follow, while the downtrodden people of Papilloma, evidently sick to death of the “it’s nice, it’s unusual” bit, prepare for revolution. As always with Kath and Kim, at least 90 per cent of the humour derives from people mispronouncing words or speaking in tortured rhyme (their middle-class doppelgangers Pru and Trude, as well as a terribly embarrassed-looking Richard E. Grant). The other ten per cent, sadly, derives from a notionally pro-marriage equality subplot that completely hamstrings itself by being delivered almost entirely via mincing, leather-clad stereotypes and gay panic jokes. Filmed largely in the spectacular Italian seaside village of Positano, the best that can be said for Kath & Kimderella is that it looks as though the cast and crew would have had a lovely time filming it. Rob Newcombe
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At the heart of the arts Where you went last week...
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Arts Exposed What's in our diary...
THE HOURS LAUNCH The Tate Gallery, Glebe Friday September 7 from 6pm What’s cooler right now than street art, illustrations, and customdesigned t-shirts? Street art, illustrations, custom-designed t-shirts and booze, of course! Local canvas-jockeys Brad Eastman (Beastman) and Numskull, and curator-about-town Marty Routledge, saw a gap in the Sydney art scene. They wrangled a bunch of their arty friends together, and after three years of scheming, they’re finally launching The Hours, a new collaborative art team-slash-collective who plan to produce rad, kinda low brow stuff, as well as put on events from time to time. In store for you at the launch will be the work of 24 hand-picked Australian artists – including Ben Frost, Jumbo (top), Miso, Kyle Hughes-Odgers (bottom), and Beastman and Numskull themselves – who’ve been asked to create artwork inside the confines of a circle. Is it supposed to look like a clock face? Is it just supposed to look awesome? I dunno, but you should probably go to the launch Friday September 7 to find out. The exhibition will also be open from 2–6pm on September 8 and 9, and the artworks will be available to buy from thehours.com.au once the exhibition’s over. BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 29
Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK RY COODER Election Special Warner Music Slide guitar wizard, musicologist and master-ofgroove Ry Cooder is 65 years old this year. And he knows his history, both musically and politically. On Election Special he combines his seasoned musicianship with the voice of a man who thought he'd seen it all but never thought it could get this bad, and delivers a refreshingly explicit set of protest songs about the political climate in the United States. This ain’t no ordinary soapbox. Roll up for some superb politically-charged blues, roots and rock’n’roll, delivered with a passionate and satirical eye.
By way of some spectacularly cool Americana, Cooder tells you that you should care about this election as much as he does, and his sardonic lyrics capture the moment perfectly, while shying away from nothing. There are songs from the
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
CHICKS WHO LOVE GUNS
Centipede Hz Domino/EMI
Moon Eater Independent
Centipede Hz is a momentous record for a number of reasons. It’s the first since the breakthrough of Merriweather Post Pavilion in 2009 and, as such, is quite hotly anticipated. It also marks the return of Deakin (aka Josh Dibb), expanding the collective to a quartet once again. Musically, it feels like something of a step backwards, almost as though the change in lineup brought with it a dynamic that necessitated reverting to familiar old tricks. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and finds the group synthesising the gritty experimentation of the past two releases with the exuberant ‘band’ feel of their mid-period work. Panda Bear is playing drums again, and Deakin is on baritone guitar. The material was written collectively at full volume in a small room, and the record brims with the infectious energy that environment can sometimes lend. ‘Moonjock’ and ‘Today’s Supernatural’ sound stadium-sized despite their intricate signature changes and spiny electronics. The scribbles adorning the hollering chorus of ‘Monkey Riches’ tip an already infectious piece of music into bewildering delirium. Deakin’s first songwriting contribution, ‘Wide Eyed’ is strident and affirming, while PB’s superlative ‘New Town Burnout’ is a clear pinnacle. What’s wonderful about the record is how catchy it is. For all its tangential structures and fizzing animosity, it’s full of earworms that settle in firmly moments after the first listen, and don’t readily leave. The one thing that may mar the record for some is the weight given to Avey Tare’s songs. Depending on your taste, you might find yourself wishing Centipede Hz boasted even one more Panda Bear tune.
The girl on the cover of Chicks Who Love Guns’ latest EP Moon Eater stares unfocused. Her distracted smile intimates nothing, but her eyes confide that she doesn’t understand the joke, awkwardly laughing along with the people who stamped a giant moon on her forehead as she slept. Whether an intentional metaphor or not, amidst the noisy garage rock celebration of the Sydney five-piece’s third EP, there's an overwhelming feeling of selfconsciousness that mirrors the cover art. The EP opener, ‘Shin-Okubo’, addresses a timeless theme: the difficulties of interacting with the fairer sex. The raw guitars hang loosely around an ominous rolling bassline, capturing the interplay heard in late Nirvana records – and the chorus lyric of “I get the feeling I’m a joke told by an idiot” is just one of the coolest fucking lines I’ve ever heard. Drummer Xavier Diekman introduces a disco beat in the title track, while the rest of the band do their best to emulate a pissed-off Franz Ferdinand. But it all sounds a little in jest when vocalist Cass Navarro drawls “death to your disco song” within his lament about jilted love. ‘Quicksand’ sees the band expand on their sound, with some Lee Ranaldo-esque guitars leading into a catchy-as-fuck chorus full of aggression and energy, while album closer ‘Leech’ is a sloppy and raucous number more aligned with the dirty buzz of their previous EPs.
Animal Collective’s best work may be behind them, but Centipede Hz is a sterling and vital entry in their catalogue all the same.
Chicks Who Love Guns have already proven that they have the energy and riffs to destroy a stage, but Moon Eater offers a glimpse of something more. Both aggressive and self-conscious, the band has become a little less obvious – but they’re still throwing your guitar against a wall while downing a Coopers.
Luke Telford
Rick Warner
point of view of Mitt Romney’s put-upon dog, an embattled Barack Obama, a down-and-out voter duped into supporting the right wing, a beleaguered Democrat fundraiser, and – most bitingly of all – a cheerfully racist tea party financier. This is all delivered through a filter of down home blues, Nashville country, cruisey bluegrass and Stonesy groove rockers (no surprise, since Cooder is probably responsible for a great deal of Keith Richards’ ‘70s sound). As usual, Cooder does pretty much everything here except for the drums (handled by his son Joachim), and the result is a ramshackle, soulful combo of who-knows-how-many guitarists and mandolinists, all playing with commanding reserve. Occasionally perfunctory but never boring, Election Special stands up next to Cooder’s Paradise & Lunch (1974) but eclipses it for sheer anger and energy. The material might date quickly, but that
12 Bar Bruise Flightless The debut album from Melbourne garage-psych maniacs King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard sounds like a punk band hurtling through space. Their palette includes flangers, skittering spring reverb, delay pedals, screamed backing vocals and overheated mixing desks. It’s almost absurd how stunningly noisy this album is – getting into Raw Power territory – but it is faultlessly exciting and sounds like a band operating on all cylinders, including some they MacGyvered on their own.
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Laurence Rosier Staines
TIM HART
THE PRESETS
Milling The Wind Island/Universal
Pacifica Modular
Tim Hart’s debut release is imbued with the whimsy of traditional folk music: with this album, he is telling stories. His point of difference is that they hold fast to the author’s agency – they are directly from him, the storyteller. The Boy & Bear drummer has stepped out from behind the snare to present a solo effort of lowgrain and lithe story-smithing. Milling The Wind does not skimp out on candour. Hart rides a dirt bike through both arid and verdant terrain, and conveys these textures with a keen ear for miss-upon-first-listen detail. The opening track, ‘Architects’, bursts with a torrid pace of fingerpicking on the banjo and, in Hart’s words, “is a shot at people who love guns.” His alto tones course through fields of harsh Australian weather (‘So Come The Rain’) and self-deprecation (‘White Man/Our Share Of Decency’), and grapple with faith: “They teach you to be not of this world, when the world is where I live” (‘He’s Alright’). Fellow Boy & Bear bassist Jake Tarasenko lent his flute skills, while lead singer Dave Hosking is here on backing vocals. Hart also employed the production of Mike Myers, the multi-instrumentalist from ex-Townsville band The Middle East. Myers’ touch is nimble and decisive on this record, adding flurries of colour and dissonance to otherwise linear chord progressions. Hart has charted new ground for himself with this rueful and rollicking album, but there remains ample room for him to develop vocally and instrumentally; the album in its totality lacks a little distinction in its overall delivery. Hart could strive for more definition to sonically ground his stories.
Robag Wruhme The Olgamikks Nachtdigital
The Presets may not be the first band you’d associate with deep, philosophical thinking, but on their third album, Julian and Kim definitely seem to be in reflective mode. The lyrics on Pacifica are filled with references to getting older and considering one’s place in the world.
Not so long ago, Gabor Schablitzki, aka Robag Wruhme, was best known for his output as half of the now defunct Wighnomy Brothers. That changed in 2011, when Robag dropped two serene solo releases: a mix compilation, Wuppdeckmischmampflow, and an artist album, Thora Vukk.
‘Youth In Trouble’ is about kids and the nefarious mischief they get into – as seen, presumably, from the vantage point of various festival stages over the last few years. ‘Ghosts’ takes a more sombre approach, its lyric about how the “shiniest stars won’t shine forever” suggesting that the pair are wondering what will happen when their dominance of those same festival stages is over.
His latest release, The Olgamikks offers a snapshot of his abilities from a third, overlapping standpoint: that of Robag the remixer. This collection begins on a somewhat wistful note with his rework of Modeselektor’s ‘The White Flash’, as the vocals of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke hover atop plangent strings before the mix melds into something more evocative of a nightclub groove. From there we go sublime, as Robag captivates the listener through the distinct soulful minimalism of his various refashionings.
In the short term, though, this is not something they need to worry about. Apocalypso, The Presets’ big breakthrough, was packed with fist-pumping electro beats, but also displayed a keen synth pop sensibility – Pacifica is a fitting follow-up, retaining certain key elements of that last album, but stretching the band’s sound and songwriting in new directions. There’s the aforementioned ‘Youth In Trouble’, which opens the album on a note of deep, almost disorienting Severed Heads-like techno. 'Promises' finds the pair at their most unselfconsciously joyous, packed with chiming bells and falsetto "ah-ah-ahs", while ‘Fall’ is a chemically-assisted love song, backed with shimmering, pulsing synths. The second half of the album gets more into club music territory, but the sleek, minimal kind of club music, as evidenced on ‘Adults Only’ and ‘Fast Seconds’.
Milling The Wind is an affecting and candid solo folk effort from Boy & Bear’s Tim Hart.
Pacifica contains nothing as hard or as aggressive as ‘My People’ or ‘Are You The One?’, which may be a problem for some fans, but it shows that The Presets are keen to try new things rather than repeat themselves – and in that sense, it’s a big success.
Elle Kennard
Alasdair Duncan
Robag’s remix of Kollektiv Turmstrasse’s ‘Heimat’ is one of the many highlights that follow, offering a tranquil ascension into classicalinfluenced arrangements that float over the trademark wonky bottom-end that he injects into his productions. The alchemy between wobbling bass, intricate melodies and distorted vocal snippets is a constant throughout Robag’s oeuvre, and is on show in his reworkings of Gui Boratto and Claude Vonstroke. The final remix featured on the compilation, his remodelling of Audision’s ‘Yellow Sunset’, features layers of delicate harmonies that befit the track’s title – this is a sunset you will revisit many times over, but not before renavigating many of the other lush sonic contours collated on The Olgamikks. Robag Wruhme’s immaculate sonic craftsmanship ensures that this serene collection of his remixes can be enjoyed in different settings – from the bedroom to the café to, of course, the nightclub floor. Chris Honnery
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD
doesn’t matter because it’s about immediacy. The album is essentially perfect for anyone who cares about American politics and American music. And let’s face it, we all should.
Berserk feedback squeals dot all aural corners; guitar sounds that resemble interstellar ray guns crop up at the starts and ends of songs. For reference points I might go to The Reatards or The Ramones, with delay pedals fuzzed-out and distorting all over the shop, but the seamless integration of pop hooks, toy keyboards and relentless garage rock recalls elements of Iggy Pop’s Arista albums, albeit with some parts played by a groovy alien stuck in an echo box. Mental. If I’m dwelling on the general sound too much it’s because the lyrics are frequently indecipherable. This isn’t really a bad thing, but it is occasionally difficult to keep things dynamic when it’s all overloaded microphones without many clear vocal
propositions. They throw in dialogue from antiquated US Army reports, slow and insane surf blueses, cruisy bubblegum (a la the excellent title track) and harmonica jams that liken them to an unhinged, incoherent Yardbirds. With some great ‘50s backing vocal parodies on ‘Uh Oh, I Called Mum’ (“mumumumumumum”), an ocker pastiche (‘Footy Footy’) and a near-fatal tavern brawl (‘Cut Throat Boogie’), this is the sort of crazed suburban spacepunk that we never knew existed but now desperately need. This will kill any listener with a migraine, but in all other scenarios you will be jumping around and destroying things. Laurence Rosier Staines
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... CAT POWER - Sun GRIZZLY BEAR - Shields TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB - Beacon
SOMETHING FOR KATE - Echolalia BURIAL - Burial
bold n brassy big bands!
hot shot dancers! cuckoo cabaret!
CHRISTA HUGHES THE
COPE STREET PARADE
GRAMOPHONE MAN
+ MANY OTHER GUESTS
SUNDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER 6PM
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snap sn ap
live reviews
up all night out all week . . .
What we've been to see...
There are many things about Housewives that feel broken. It’s tough to tell whether the singer is bored or uncomfortable. The guitars are artfully out of tune, and the communication between members is askew, too: once the set picks up pace, the singer grabs one of the guitarist by the shirt as if to pick a fight, only to kiss him when they collide. Each of these deficiencies is a blessing, though – this band is good fun. Swinging a Fender Jaguar from her neck with self-conscious determination, Bonnie Mercer uses an array of pedals and two amps to build viscous clouds of glowing guitar drone. Her performative affectations are endearing (a friend proclaims that a side-fringe like hers would lend him similar super powers), but the music is good, particularly when gear malfunction forces Mercer to wrest her tapestry into uncomfortable new spaces. By the light of two candles, Half High build heady, surreal dreamscapes for
OBITS, BLOODS, GOOCH PALMS The Annandale Thursday August 23 The girl drummer/boy guitarist combo has become kind of a ‘thing’ lately, or so it would seem after seeing Newcastle’s Gooch Palms open for Obits last Thursday. (See Sydney band Bec And Ben for a similar formula.) Gooch Palms would undeniably be killer at a house party or a packed-out pub show, but were lost on the sparse and tired-looking crowd nursing their beers and dawdling nonchalantly in front of them. It was the first time Obits had come to Sydney, but the turnout for their supports was a little disappointing – and if a frontman partially disrobing won’t get the crowd going, I don’t know what will. Even Bloods, with their Veruca Salt-meetsHuggy Bear brashness and Pretty Girls Make Graves vocal parts failed to rouse much of a response. Thankfully, though, by the time Obits came on, a crowd had begun to build and an atmosphere had been established: both of which are requisite for Obits’ surf-tinged post-hardcore to read properly. I had high expectations of former Drive Like Jehu frontman Rick Froberg’s voice (particularly
I was told Pete Swanson played for just over half an hour, but his set was so intricate, intense and absorbing that it felt much longer. Set up on a table in the middle of the floor, he uses the rhythm presets of a pin matrix synth, along with battle-scarred pedals and tape delay, to coax a monolith of postindustrial noise into the Rattler’s dimly lit space. Coming to terms with the snarling shapes corralled by this system, I was frequently struck by the (admittedly silly) idea that they were glimpses into some vicious higher plane. Given the way he responded to the music’s progressions and evolutions, it seemed like Swanson was almost as much a spectator as we were, only just managing to sculpt form out of the otherworldly chaos.
nikko It’s called: Nikko's Gold & Red LP Launch It sounds like: Warren Ellis, Michael Gira and Johnny Cash drinking themselves to death in an outback pub. Who’s playing? Nikko (Bris), Solkyri, Day Ravies, Sucks Sell it to us: Over the past half-decade or so, Nikko have travelled the barren plains of the Australian outback, searching for the new sound. Gold & Red, their latest full-length offering, echoes desert storms and falling trees. Its lush interplay of strings, drums, guitar and piano are a soundtrack for tales of broken relationships, unspoken desires and the coming apocalypse. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Not much. Your psychic slate will be wiped clean by heavy doses of guitar doom, lyrical misanthropy and apocalyptic percussion. Destroyed. Erased. Improved. Crowd specs: Beer-swilling shoe-gazers with an ear for murder ballads and country-flavoured doom. Wallet damage: $12 Where: FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel When: Saturday September 8, from 8pm
Luke Telford
since I’ve been known to say, “If his voice were a person, I’d marry it”), and he definitely didn’t let me down. If it were possible for me to be any more excited about the upcoming Hot Snakes tour, this would have done the trick. But it’s not. Their set was a mixed bag of songs from all of their records, including ‘I Can’t Lose’ from their 2009 7-inch and ‘The City Is Dead’ from their newest, Let Me Dream If I Want To. I’m willing to admit I was a little biased toward the more punk rock songs: the bulk of the show felt a little over-the-hill rocker until they built up to ‘You Gotta Lose’ and ‘I Want Results’ from last year’s album Moody, Standard And Poor. ‘Widow Of My Dreams’ was the first song of their short encore and was a total crowd pleaser. Not only are the guitar parts infectious, but they were flawlessly delivered by guys who are undeniably pros. Dijana Kumurdian
obits
PICS :: JGK
The Red Rattler Friday August 24
the listener to amble through warily. Ascending melodic eddies bring disorienting textures which recede to confronting voices and dark, furrowed tones. Excellent black and white projections – of cobwebbed crawlspaces and hypnotist’s patterns – lend a subterranean air that suits the music well. It ends weirdly. One of duo just walks off the front of the stage with his glass of wine, leaving the other to snuff her candle out solo.
party profile
PETE SWANSON, HALF HIGH, BONNIE MERCER, HOUSEWIVES
23:08:12 :: Annandale Hotel :: 17 Paramatta Rd Annandale 9550 1078
The Red Rattler Saturday August 25 It’s a rare occurrence to go to a gig and see the highlight play first, but that's exactly what took place here. Openers Raw Prawn delivered the best set of the evening, all before 10pm. Kicking things off with their gritty lo-fi garage pop, frontman Alex Kiers sings, “Do you like it? I like it” – and you can tell he really does. The crowd does, too. Before long the head nods have slowly progressed to foot taps, and after an awesome cover of ‘Secret Agent Man’ some people are actually dancing (albeit cool dancing). Their catchy and repetitious-in-a-goodway dead-panner of a track ‘Wrong Place, Wrong Time’ established itself as one of the highlights of the set, contradicting its title completely. Sarah Mary Chadwick, launching her debut solo LP Eating For Two, had unfortunately been placed on entirely the wrong bill. After Raw Prawn had worked the crowd up to have fun on a Saturday night, Chadwick brought us all back down to Earth, and fast. Plugging her electric guitar into a solo amp, Chadwick howled through her set to a sea of turned
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backs. Puzzled by her role in the night’s proceedings, the crowd’s disinterested conversations grew louder than her voice. DIY slacker-pop trio Bitch Prefect attempted to amp things up again, but failed to deliver much of a punch. Opener ‘Holiday In America’ was catchy and fun, but the vocals made it sound more like a permanent residence than a vacation. Vocalists Scott O’Hara and Liam Kenny fell prey to the all-too-common (but no less grating) fake American accent throughout their set. Flickers of promise seemed to spike early, with the final two thirds of the set flailing in a pit of out of time drone-riffs and nasally choruses. Still, they managed to deliver a heartbreaking ode to losing at the races, the chorus promising “I’ll do better next time.” Closing their set with the somewhat ironically titled track ‘Bad Decisions’, the song is riddled with error – including the strong possibility of a guitar competing in the wrong key. A disgruntled punter aired the crowd’s frustrations best, yelling “Learn your instruments!” The night seemed to close on the opposite note of how it began. Next time I see Raw Prawn on a menu, I hope it’s served as the main course. Erin Bromhead
kate miller-heidke
PICS :: KC
RAW PRAWN, SARAH MARY CHADWICK, BITCH PREFECT
24:08:12 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666 :: NOHMON ANWARYAR :: ANNA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER KIA EISERMANN :: JULIA GARVAN-KAMINSK AYA :: DANIEL SAS ERS :: PEDRO XAVIER :: BROWN :: KATRINA CLARKE :: GEORGE POPOV :: ROCKET WEIJ MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY ::
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snap sn ap
24:08:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 9357 7700
expatriate
PICS :: PX
mum
PICS :: TP
up all night out all week . . .
25:08:12 :: The Standard :: 3/383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 9331 3100
party profile
bang!
the jungle giants
PICS :: RW
fanny lumsden
PICS :: PX
25:08:12 :: FBi Social :: Kings Cross Hotel 248 William Street Kings Cross 9331 9900
22:08:12 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Road Bondi Beach 9130 7247
It’s called: Bang! It sounds like: A fresh, new live music party on every Thursday. Who’s playing? Upcoming bands include Kingswood, Little Bastard, The Cairos, The Tongue, Ellesquire, Underlights and loads more. Sell it to us: It’s gonna be a huge live music party every week, featuring some of the hottest bands going around. Drink specials sweeten the deal with $5 beer, cider, spirits and bubbles, as well as $7 meals all night. Free entry before 9pm, $10 after. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: How fucking good The Annandale’s looking since its renovations, and the shit-hot lineup of bands rocking its infamous stage. (And maybe a bit of mosh neck.) Crowd specs: Anyone looking for a cheap, easy and fun way to spend a Thursday night, and people who like Thai food. Wallet damage: Free before 9pm / $10 after. Where: The Annandale Hotel
die! die! die!
23:08:12 :: The Standard :: 3/383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 9331 3100
PICS :: PX
a night on the town
23:08:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9332 3711
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PICS :: PX
When: Thursdays from 7pm, kicking off on October 4
:: NOHMON ANWARYAR :: ANNA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER KIA EISERMANN :: JULIA GARVAN-KAMINSK AYA :: DANIEL SAS ERS :: PEDRO XAVIER :: BROWN :: KATRINA CLARKE :: GEORGE POPOV :: ROCKET WEIJ MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY ::
Remedy
More Than The Cure Since 1989 with Murray Engleheart
ADDICTED TO LOVE
The late, great Ian Rilen’s final slab with The Love Addicts, Family From Cuba, finally gets to see the light of day next February/ March. The packaging alone is probably the most elaborate that’s ever been produced in this country: it’s a CD-sized hard cover book packed with photos and reminisces – a wonderful testament to Australia’s answer to Jerry Lee Lewis. And the music itself? Well, let’s just say that despite Ian’s legendary status with X and Rose Tattoo, The Love Addicts were one of the most underrated rock‘n’roll bands in the country. If anything is going to change that poor positioning, this is it. It’ll certainly remove that pesky third nipple, at least.
out in October, their second for the year, titled Psychedelic Pill. It was recorded immediately after their Americana effort and will be a twin disc affair, in order to squeeze in some jammy rambles.
YOU REALLY GOT JIM
Former Led Zep guy, and more recently one of Them Crooked Vultures, John Paul Jones clearly still isn’t interested in dwelling on his hammer-of-the-gods past. He’s currently working with Norwegian electronic noiseniks, Supersilent, who are anything but.
Shel Talmy, who famously produced the ground breaking '60s recordings of The Kinks (among many others), has attempted to clear the air about Jimmy Page’s involvement in Kinks’ metal-foreshadowing classic, ‘You Really Got Me’. “Jimmy Page did not play the solo on ‘You Really Got Me’, which I’ve said about 5,000 times to people who insist that he did,” he told Finding Zoso magazine. “The reason I used Jimmy on The Kinks’ stuff is because Ray [Davies] didn’t really want to play guitar and sing at the same time. In fact, Jimmy was playing rhythm guitar.” As far as we’re concerned, rather than killing off the mystique, this simply adds to it (given the hard centre of that song was always the riff rather than the solo, gloriously gnarly as it was...).
ZEP-XCESS
ALIVE AFTER DEATH
THOR NO MORE
Still on Zeppelin, while there’ve been plenty of books written about their added awesomeness, we reckon that Trampled Under Foot: The Power And Excess Of Led Zeppelin by master UK writer Barney Hoskyns will blow all others clear outta the water. It’s out on September 6.
NEWROSIS
The mighty Neurosis will have a new album out on October 30 titled Honor Found In Decay, which is again produced by the man whose whereabouts we recently questioned, Steve Albini.
SPACE SHAKEY
Neil Young has had a long and varied career and his new(ish) album, Americana, saw he and Crazy Horse doing their tail dragging rock‘n’roll thing to the oldest-of-old-school American tunes. But while his efforts on electric guitar have always been a quest to do on strings what John Coltrane did on sax, ol’ Shakey has never really been an actual space cadet. That is until the recent passing of astronaut, Neil Armstrong: NBC News’ website initially ran the story with the headline “Astronaut Neil Young, First Man To Walk On Moon, Dies At Age 82'. Meanwhile, Mr Young and da Horse have another record
Never ones to let a lack of a new recording material impede their commercial output, Iron Maiden are at it again with the (admittedly) very cool limited reissue vinyl picture discs of their first records. The process starts on October 15: Iron Maiden, Killers, The Number Of The Beast and Piece Of Mind will all be out before the year’s out. Powerslave and the live opus, Live After Death, will emerge in January with Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son out the following month.
POWER OF THE RIFF
With the time difference, you might still be able to make it for the last part of the Southern Lord label’s The Power Of The Riff festival. The first show was in LA on August 11 and was headlined by Sunn 0))) with OFF!, Dr.Know, Repulsion, Noothgrush, Eagle Twin, Power Trip, Ancestors, Alpha & Omega, Gaza and more. The second is in New York over two nights on September 1 and 2, with the first night including Pentagram, Agnostic Front (blasting through Victim In Pain and United Blood), Poison Idea, (the totally underrated) Negative Approach, Alpha & Omega and Power Trip. The second show will feature Sunn 0))), Winter, Repulsion, Coffinworm and more. Awesome. Iron Maiden
ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is The Gaslight Anthem’s Handwritten, on which they present more of themselves rather than just cutting and pasting the work of others. Brian Fallon quite rightly cements his position as the new (old) Springsteen and the next (young) Paul Westerberg. We particularly approve of their last-gang-in-town vibe and the fact that they seem to really mean it.
TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS Turbonegro return for the Meredith Festival in December, and will be doing a sideshow on December 6 at the Hi-Fi. The glory that is Spiritualized – who as you already know are playing at Meredith – will also be doing it with style and grace on December 2 at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
Send stuff to remedy@ozemail.com.au by 6pm Wednesdays. Pics to art@thebrag.com www.facebook.com/remedy4rock
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In a case of two parts almost making a whole, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo is bringing his band to Australia in October, with SY bud Steve Shelley as part of the outfit. They’ll be at the Oxford Art Factory on Saturday October 20. Meanwhile, their Sonic Youth comrade, Thurston Moore, will be at The Hi-Fi on Friday October 26...
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g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
Rufus Wainwright
JAZZ
Matilda Abraham 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8.30pm Pure Bohemia Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $25 8pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9 Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
Rufus Wainwright (USA), Krystle Warren (USA), Megan Washington $119-$139 (+ bf) 8pm MONDAY SEPTEMBER 3 ROCK & POP
Bernie The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Monday Jam Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm
JAZZ
A Little Thing We Call Jazz The World Bar, Kings Cross free 7pm Ambre Hammond 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$20 8.30pm Lionel Robinson Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm
Hotel, Newtown free 8pm An Evening With Nitin Sawhney: Nitin Sawhney (UK) Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $39-$64 (+ bf) 8pm Carl Fidler The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm Mandi Jarry Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 8.30pm The Songwriter Sessions Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 7.30pm Songwriters Association Open Mic Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt free 7pm Sons Of Mercury Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10pm
JAZZ
Russell Neal, Massimo Presti, Disco Bill Kelly On King, Newtown free
Jazzgroove: The Drips Hards, The Fantastic Terrific Munkle 505 Club, Surry Hills $8 (conc)–$15 8.30pm Jo Elms Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 4
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
ROCK & POP
Adam Pringle and Friends Downstairs, Sandringham
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Andrew Denniston Merton Hotel, Rozelle free 7.30pm Darren Bennett, Wally Byrne George IV Inn, Picton free 7.30pm
Russell Neal, Peter Williams Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks free 7pm
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 5 ROCK & POP
Aimee Francis and Friends Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Astrosphere, Hidden Ace, Revival, Copper Tongue Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Bernie Segedin Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Dan Spillane Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm David Agius Summer Hill Hotel free 7.30pm Gemma The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm The Grey Man Fundraiser: Is it Her, Van Bogan, These Vagabond Hours The Standard, Darlinghurst $30 (+ bf) 7pm Jay Parrino Northies, Cronulla free 7.45pm Lucy B & the B Sides, Emmy Bryce, Miss Little
Carolyn Woodorth Royal Hotel, Springwood free 8pm Folk Club Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Greg Sita, Will Teague, The Factory Wall Cookies Lounge and Bar, North Strathfield free 6.30pm Helmut Uhlmann, HiddenAce, Luke Robinson, Adib Azahar, Stuart Jammin The Loft, UTS, Ultimo free 6pm Russell Neal, Lincoln Davis, Mark Bishop Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 7pm TAOS, Gavin Fitzgerald Coach & Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6 ROCK & POP
Andy Mammers Dee Why Hotel free 7pm Bang Bang Rock & Roll, Matt Purcell & The Blessed Curse, Alphabet Cities, Teen Axe Annandale Hotel $10 (+ bf) 8pm The Bedroom Philosopher, Zoe Combs Marr, Sabrina D’Angelo, Spod (DJ set) Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm Ben Finn Duo Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill free 7pm CalliThump, The Flight, Hattie Carroll The Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Cambo Oberserver Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Cath and Him O’Malley’s Hotel, Kings Cross free 9.30pm Dan Spillane Northies–Cronulla Hotel – Sports Bar free 9.15pm Edward Deer, Jess Chalker, La’I The Vanguard, Newtown $13.80–$48.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Elana Stone Band, The Widowbirds, James Walsh (UK), Conrad Greenleaf Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7pm Equator: Papa Pilko & The Bin Rats, Beth ‘n’ Ben, SideShow Annie The Eastern Lounge, Roseville $15 (presale)–$20 7pm Hot Damn!: Closure in
Moscow, Ghosts On Broadway, Far Away Stables, Who Invited The Wolf Spectrum, Darlinghurst $15 (guestlist)–$20 8pm Hue Williams Club Belmore free 6.30pm Jonah Matranga (USA), Let Me Down Jungleman, Achoo Bless You, Billy Demos, Nick Van Breda Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $17.60-$20 8pm Mandi Jarry Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Matt Jones Band Bull & Bush, Baulkham Hills free 8.45pm Michael McGlynn Greengate Hotel free 8pm Millennium Bug The Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney free 10.30pm No Dice Paradise: Dan Tramonto, Meare Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Outlier Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10pm The Oyster Murders, Hello Vera, The Falls FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Paul Hayward’s Live Punk Rock Karaoke Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Ricki-Lee Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 (+ bf) 8pm Sam and Jamie Trio Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Seekae, Kangaroo Skull, Thomas William The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf) 7.30pm Thraxas, Visitor Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm The White Bros The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm
JAZZ
George Washingmachine 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8.30pm Jalsa Creole Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $20 7pm Kim Lawson Quartet The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $15 (student)–$20 8.30pm Lionel Robinson Dee Why RSL Club free 7pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 8pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Joanne Hill Corrimal Hotel free 7.30pm Steve Tonge The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8.30pm TAOS, Spencer McCullum, Nick Domenicos, Eva-Maria Hess Kogarah Hotel free 7pm
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 7 ROCK & POP
Andy Mammers Duo Cronulla RSL free 7.30pm The Arachnids, Vangate, Disco is Dead Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Audio Vixen, Jess & Jen Notes Live, Enmore $15 (+ bf) 7pm Australian Nickelback Show Ettamogah Pub, Kellyville free Ben Finn Cronulla Sharks Leagues Club free 7pm Big Shots - Duelling Pianos Show Club Five Dock free 8pm Black Diamond Hearts Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7.30pm Bushwalking, Model Citizen, Raw Prawn Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $12 8pm Celebration Mix Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10.30pm Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes, Kira Puru & The Bruise Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 (+ bf) 8pm Dan Lawrence, Rob Henry Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Dave White Experience, Heath Burdell Dee Why Hotel free 7pm DJ Idol Richmond Inn free 8pm Donny Benet, Fishing Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm Foo Fighters Show Bull & Bush, Baulkham Hills free 10pm Geoff Rana Novotel – Brewery Bar, Olympic Park Greenthief, The Truth Is, Teal The Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Harlequin Duo Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill free King Cannons
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pick of the week
The Vanguard, Newtown $18.80 8pm Musos Jam Night Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt free 8pm Steve Tonge Duo O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9.30pm Two To Tango: The Fabergettes, Little Lovers, Annie McKinnon, Jay Katz Annandale Hotel free 7pm Vice Magazine Launch: Drunk Mums, Bloods, Cabins DJs, Cries Wolf DJs, Handgames DJs Goodogd Small Club, Sydney free 8pm Watsup The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Yes You, Cub Scouts Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Ian Moss Brass Monkey, Cronulla $39.80 7pm Ignition The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm James Walsh (UK), Ginger and Drum, Declan Kelly, Devola Upstiars Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm Keith Armitage Castle Hill RSL free 9.30pm King Cannons, All The Young (UK), The Hello Morning Annandale Hotel $17 (+ bf) 8pm KP Northies, Cronulla Hotel – Sports Bar free 9pm Little Scout, Bearhug, Light Giant FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $11 (+ bf) 8pm Mandi Jarry Trio Kirribilli Hotel free 8pm Mark Seymour Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $54–$124 (dinner & show) 8pm Matt Jones Duo Side Bar, Sydney free 8.30pm MUM: Gung Ho, Let Me Down Jungleman, My Little Underground, Mowgli, Yoko Oh No, Thomas Covenant, Kochanski, MUM DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm My Reply, Strangers In The Dark, Rascals & Runaways, Xater Bay Sydney Livehouse @ Lewisham Hotel $12 8pm Nat Col & The Kings, Minnie Marks The Vanguard, Newtown $15.80–$50.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Neill Bourke Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm The Nickelback Show Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill free 9pm Nicky Kurta Stacks Taverna, Sydney free 5pm Ollie Brown (UK), Peter Hollo, Programs Serial Space, Chippendale 7.30pm Ranis Fire, Kay Proudlove, Beat Miesters, Brad Cork The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe $10 8pm Reggae Sessions: Alotta Presha, Jesse Morris & The 3 Beans, Frieda’s Boss Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 8.30pm Roots Spectrum, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Ryan Enright PJ Gallaghers, Drummoyne free 10pm Sabotage: Gypsie & The Gentlemen, Sabotage DJs The Forbes Hotel, Sydney $10 9pm Sam and Jamie Band, David Agius Duo Crows Nest Hotel free 6.30pm Seattle Sound The Cool Room, Australian Brewery, Rouse Hill free 8pm Seekae, Kangaroo Skull, Thomas William The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf) 7.30pm Shadow Boxer – Angels Show Blue Cattle Dog Hotel, St Clair free 9pm Shihad (NZ), The Snowdroppers, Upskirts Metro Theatre, Sydney $25 (+ bf) 8pm Sleepmakeswaves, Bon Chat Bon Rat, Marlow, Steering By Stars The Standard, Darlinghurst $11 + bf) 8pm Spenceray Duo Sportsmans Hotel, Blacktown free 9.30pm Starling, Steve Kilbey, Restless Leg Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $15 8pm
Steve Edmonds Band Catho Pub, Catherine Hill Bay 8pm Suite Az Miranda Hotel free 9.30pm Sunset Riot, Vanity Riots, Aimee Francis Band, Rattlesnake The Square, Haymarket $12 8pm Swingshift Cold Chisel Show Colyton Hotel free 9pm Waiting For Guiness Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $25 7.30pm Zoltan Revesby Workers, free 9.30pm
JAZZ
Jacam Manricks Band The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $15 (student)–$30 8.30pm Stories by Starlight: Candy Royalle, Sloppy Joe, Betty Grumble & Ember Flame The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $19-$23 (+ bf) 7.30pm The Strides 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 (conc)–$20 8pm White Balloon Day Charity Concert: Sally Street, Kniki Blue Beat Bar & Grill, Double Bay $25 9pm
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8 ROCK & POP
Allied Rock Blue Cattle Dog Hotel, St Clair free 8.30pm Angie Dean Piano Lounge, Castle Hill RSL free 6.30pm Ben Finn Terrace Bar, Castle Hill RSL free 9pm The Brand New Heavies (UK) Metro Theatre, Sydney $66.30 (+ bf) 9pm Carl Fidler, Syeve Tonge Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm Dan Lawrence Sir Joseph Banks hotel, Botanty free 7pm Dave Tice and Mark Evans Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Dave White Experience Crows Nest Hotel free 10pm Dirty Deeds Avca bowling Club free 8pm Dystrophic, Rose From Ruins, Exekute, On Shoulders Of Giants, To Engineer An Exorcist Valve Bar, Tempe 12pm Fabulous Diamonds, Half High, Mob, Boynoisez, DJ Fortune Bullen The Square, Haymarket $12 8pm The Fires, Raprager, The Cashmere Revolution, No Illuminati, Cleanskins, Phader, Genevieve The Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Flux Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7.30pm Greenthief Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt 8pm Hue Williams Smithfield RSL free 8pm Ian Moss Brass Monkey, Cronulla $39.80 7pm Joe Moore, Marcus Corowa The Lair, Metro Theatre, Sydney $23 (+ bf) 7pm allages John Field Duo Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Junk, The Prospects, South Devine, Nova Sky The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe $10 8pm
Kittens: Missing Children, Little Napier Spectrum, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Kristina Olsen (USA) Notes Live, Enmore $34.70 7pm Los Capitanes, Shanghai, Godswounds, Triangle Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm Margaret Urlich Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $47–$89 (dinner & show) 8pm Michael Nat Col & the Kings Fitzroy Hotel, Windsor free 8pm Nicky Kurta Hillside Hotel, Castle Hillfree 7pm Nikko, Solkyri, Day Ravies, Sucks FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $12 8pm No Art, Hira Hira, Nite Fields, Post Paint Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $5 8pm One Hit Wonders The Marlborough Hotel free 10.30pm Patrick Wolf (UK), Brous The Studio, Sydney Opera House sold out 8pm Peppermint Jam Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill free 8.30pm Pleasure & Pain Divinyls Show Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 10pm Red Ink, Elliot The Bull, Will And The Indians, F.R.I.E.N.D/s Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm Reel! B!g Dog, Dave Mason, Dog Trumpet, B!G The Vanguard, Newtown $28.80–$63.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Replika Brewhouse, Marayong free 8pm RL Jones & The Phoney Mexican Diner, Bearhug, Shady Lane Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm Rob Henry Sports Bar, Northies Cronulla Hotel free 9pm The Royal Artillery, Seismic Toss The Forbes Hotel, Sydney $10 7.30pm Seekae, Kangaroo Skull, Thomas William The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf) 7.30pm Six Fears Seven, Scarlet Groove, Stellar Addiction, SteelSwarm Sydney Livehouse @ Lewisham Hotel $12 8pm Skydreams Festival: Darren Cross, Regular John, The Holy Soul, East River, Broadcasting Transmitter, Whipped Cream Chargers, Reckless Vagina, Super Liquid, Electric Matrimony, Fox, Jules Ferrari, Luke O’Farrell, Quaoub, Broken Chip, B Deep, Ombudsman, J Cliff, Oracle DJs, Enjoy Hermann’s Bar, University of Sydney, Darlington $15$20 3pm The Smith Street Band, Restorations (USA), Hoodlum Shouts, Milhouse Annandale Hotel $15 (+ bf) 8pm Sosueme: Feeding Edgar, Hattie Carrol, Hobophonics, Rumfoord, DJ Tash The Standard, Surry Hills $10 (+ bf) 8pm Soulganic Cocktail Lounge, Castle Hill RSL free 10.30pm Steve Edmonds Band Hornsby Inn 8.30pm Stormcellar Baldrock Hotel, Rozelle 8pm
These New South Whales, Beef Jerk, Bad Jeep Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Tigers & Rogues, Thunder Thief, 51 Percent, Terra Lexus Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Tongue & Groove Oatley Hotel free 8.30pm Vanity Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket free 10.30pm Xavier Rudd, Yeshe Enmore Theatre $61.60 (+ bf) 7.30pm all-ages
JAZZ
Baby et Lulu Camelot Lounge, Marrickville sold out 7.30pm Briana Cowlishaw Quintet The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10 (student)–$20 8.30pm Emma Pask 505 Club, Surry Hills $20 (conc)–$25 8.30pm Jazz Nouveau Supper Club, Fairfield RSL Club free 7pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 5pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Well Co. Café / Wine Bar, Leichhardt free 7.30pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK Andrew Denniston, HiddenAce, Kandee, Brad Myers, Lloyd Kerr Ettalong B/c free 7.30pm Matt Toms The Belvedere Hotel free 9pm Sean and Miss Bow Cookies Lounge and Bar, North Strathfield free 8pm
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9 ROCK & POP
Andy Mammers Mill Hill Hotel, Bondi Junction free 3pm Antoine O’Malleys Hotel, Kings Cross free 5pm Bryen Willems & The Boogie Boys Marrickville Bowling Club free 4.30pm Chuck’s Wagon Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Dave White Duo Northies Bar, Northies Cronulla Hotel free 2.30pm David Agius Harbord Beach Hotel free 6.30pm Johnny Gretsch’s Wasted Ones Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt free 6pm Lanie Lane Brass Monkey, Cronulla sold out 7pm Mahalia Barnes, Liza Ohlback, Jo Elms Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $34 8pm Marty From Reckless Sports Bar, Northies Cronulla Hotel free 6pm Patrick Wolf (UK), Brous The Studio, Sydney Opera House $53.90 (+ bf) 8pm Rufus Wainwright (USA), Krystle Warren (USA), Megan Washington Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $119-$139 (+ bf) 8pm Sarah Paton, Rob Henry, Brad Johns Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm
Steve Edmonds Band Beaches Hotel, Thirroul 5.30pm Sunday Blues Jam: Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 8pm Take It To The Valve Fest: Carmeria, Dinkibike, With Confidence, Sweet Sounds, Pixels & Sound, All That, Soul Survivors, Spiral Conspiracy, Retina Valve Bar, Tempe 12pm Tripping Billies Sunday: Big Blind Ray & The Wailing Wall The Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 1pm Tripping Up The Stairs Mean Fiddler Hotel, Rouse Hill free 12pm Ward’s Express, Stormcellar The Towradgi Beach Hotel 3pm The White Brothers Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill free 1pm
JAZZ
The Peter Head Trio & Friends Harbour View Hotel, The Rocks free 4pm Strings Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $20-$25 6.30pm Sunday Arvo Jazz Harold Park Hotel, Glebe free 3pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK Aimee Francis Salisbury Hotel, Stanmore free 2pm Don’t Think Twice: Piers Twomey, Zoe Elliot Annandale Hotel free 6pm Two Tribe Oatley Hotel free 2pm
wed
05 Sept
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
thu
06 Sept
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
fri
07 Sept
(5:00PM - 8:00PM)
(9:30PM - 1:30AM)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
sat
09 Sept
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
SATURDAY NIGHT
(9:00PM - 1:30AM)
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
sun
10
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
SUNDAY NIGHT
Sept
(8:30PM - 12:00AM)
BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 37
gig picks
up all night out all week...
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 4
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6
An Evening With Nitin Sawhney (UK) Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $39-$64 (+ bf) 8pm
Bang Bang Rock & Roll, Matt Purcell & The Blessed Curse, Alphabet Cities, Teen Axe Annandale Hotel $10 (+ bf) 8pm
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 5
The Bedroom Philosopher & The Awkwardstra, Zoe Coombs Marr, Sabrina D’Angelo, SPOD (DJ set) Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm
Vice Magazine Launch: Drunk Mums, Bloods, Cabins DJs, Cries Wolf DJs, Handgames DJs Goodgod Small Club, Sydney free 8pm
Seekae, Kangaroo Skull, Thomas William The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf) 7.30pm
Patrick Wolf
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 7
Elana Stone Band, The Widowbirds, James Walsh (UK), Conrad Greenleaf Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 6pm
Bushwalking, Model Citizen, Raw Prawn Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $12 8pm Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes, Kira Puru & The Bruise Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 (+ bf) 8pm Donny Benet, Fishing Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm King Cannons, All The Young (UK), The Hello Morning Annandale Hotel $17 (+ bf) 8pm Little Scout, Bearhug, Light Giant FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $11 (+ bf) 8pm MUM: Gung Ho, Let Me Down Jungleman, My Little Underground, Mowgli, Yoko Oh No, Thomas Covenant, Kochanski, MUM DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm
Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst $5 8pm RL Jones & The Phoney Mexican Diner, Bearhug, Shady Lane Goodgod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8 Fabulous Diamonds, Half High, Mob, Boynoisez, DJ Fortune Bullen The Square, Haymarket $12 8pm
The Smith Street Band, Restorations (USA), Hoodlum Shouts, Milhouse Annandale Hotel $15 (+ bf) 8pm
Shihad (NZ), The Snowdroppers, Upskirts Metro Theatre, Sydney $25 (+ bf) 8pm
Nikko, Solkyri, Day Ravies, Sucks FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $12 8pm
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9
Sleepmakeswaves, Bon Chat Bon Rat, Marlow,
No Art, Hira Hira, Nite Fields, Post Paint
Patrick Wolf (UK), Brous The Studio, Sydney Opera House $53.90 (+ bf) 8pm Xxxx
The Smith Street Band
Steering By Stars The Standard, Darlinghurst $11 (+ bf) 8pm
THU 6TH SEPTEMBER
FRI 7TH SEPTEMBER
SAT 8TH SEPTEMBER
THE OYSTER MURDERS +
LITTLE SCOUT +
+
+
NIKKO + SOLKYRI + DAY RAVIES +
HELLO VERA THE FALLS
8PM
$10 at the door
BEARHUG
LIGHT GIANT
[album launch]
SUCKS
8PM $11 + BF from Oztix $15 at the door
8PM
ACID STAG DJ SET
HANDS UP!
ACID STAG DJ’S
$12 at the door
“THROW DOWN TIL YOU THROW UP” DJ’S STAGGMAN & CLOCKWERK
8PM $11 + BF from Oztix $15 at the door
level 2, kings cross hotel 38 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
8PM $11 + BF from Oztix $15 at the door
www.fbisocial.com
brag beats
BRAGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture inside
fritz kalkbrenner + sasse + black sheep
also: + club guide + club snaps + weekly column
todd terry
brings the house down
BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 39
dance music news
free stuff
club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
MOODMUSIC SHOWCASE
five things WITH
RYAN HEMSWORTH (WEDIDIT/CAN) doesn’t just feed into the sub-sub-genre of the moment. Music is my full-time thing, so I’m trying to not waste time on stuff that isn’t going to help catapult me. The Music You Make My music has been given every label, 4. from RnB to ambient to pop. The sub-genres have ranged from cloud rap to chill trap, and the dudes I perform with and work with deal with the same confusing labels. I’m not offended or anything; I think it’s good if people can’t easily compartmentalise your sound. Up to this point, my releases have ranged from loud stuff for the club to quiet stuff for headphones, and I’m all about embracing the weird world of music right now. So at my shows I play a bit of everything: my own material and remixes, but also new and old rap, dance music from around the world, and soundtracks. It’s a big mish-mash, but I always try to keep it dancey.
Thinking of hanging up your well-worn party hat in search of some greater meaning of life? DON’T DO IT! THAT HAT IS SO GREAT! Also, you can wear it this Saturday September 8 when Berlin label Moodmusic heads to Sydney to show us how they do it. The showcase promises to be a wonderment of house, electronic and IDM DJs who will hold you against their collective bosom and lull you back into life’s true sense of fulfillment: dancing your butt off. The label’s founder, Sasse, has commissioned some pretty impressive releases over the past 15 years, including his own debut LP Made Within The Upper Stair Of Heaven and the forthcoming EP from Sydney’s DJ Trinity, This Dream – featuring Alexkid. Both Sasse and Trinity will be heading down to One22 for the showcase, along with labelmate Mike Buhl and the CO-Op DJs in support. If you want in, let us know the name of your favourite Moodmusic release.
Music, Right Here, Right Now I feel like we couldn’t be in a better 5. place as music consumers. We have access
Growing Up I’m not going to pretend I was raised in 1. this fascinating musical household with lots of cool records spinning around me as a kid. I grew up listening to Sugar Ray and enjoying the soundtracks of my Nintendo 64 games. As I got older I borrowed my brother’s Radiohead CDs, and after that I borrowed my cousin’s rap CDs. My main influence was the internet, though. The music blogs I scavenged through in high school served as my education.
2.
Inspirations Rappers and producers who take chances with their music, like Lil B, Shlohmo
GOODGOD’S 2ND BIRTHDAY: MINI-FESTIVAL FUN
The last weekend of September is Goodgod Small Club’s second birthday, and to celebrate they’re throwing a mini-festival, the second night of which falls on Sunday September 30
and Hudson Mohawke. I like risk takers because everyone has access to the same software, so to make something unique in this day and age is really special. Mohawke is an inspiration when it comes to mixing – making snares hit as hard as punches – and Shlohmo always proves it’s okay to play dark music in the club.
to anything from the past – it’s just one download away – and we’ve got artists who are now influenced by all this different music that’s come over the past few decades. This creates the obstacle of having to prove yourself and stand out more than ever before, but it’s a healthy challenge. My local scene has been specific to a sound that isn’t quite mine – more focused on rock and folk. So I’ve been going to cities like Montreal and Toronto for shows, which are big enough to hold a lot of open-minded people.
Your Crew I’m running with a few different crews: 3. Green Ova in Oakland, Wedidit Collective in
With: Dro Carey, Albatross, Wordlife and more
LA, The Villa in Montreal. I’m happy to work with any kind of artist – rapper, producer, DJ – if they’re making forward-thinking music that
When: Saturday September 15
and features a lineup comprised of members from all of Goodgod’s resident club nights (the first night is the band night – read about it in rock news up the front). Headlining is the big occasion Goodgod House Band, who perform rock covers of dance classics, and last year featured Ed Banger’s SebAstian
Baths. And pooch.
Where: Astral People’s 1st Birthday @ Goodgod Small Club
on stage lending his vocals for a rendition of ‘Scatman’. DJs Slow Blow, Same Old Scene, Toni Toni Lee, Pelvis, Levins, Joey The Saint, Jimmy Sing, Jingle Jangle, Bad Ezzy, Perfect Snatch, Shantan Wantan Ichiban and Bad Jackson will all be spinning, while Melbourne’s “cyber shaman of left field groove,” Michael Ozone, will also be throwing down. Presale tickets are currently available online.
Jon Covex
MIKA VAINIO
Mika Vainio, who was half of the now defunct Finnish experimental unit Pan Sonic, is gearing up to release a new album entitled Fe3O4 – Magnetite. Vainio, whose often abrasive sound can be described as industrial minimalism, contributed one of the standout cuts on a high quality Popol Vuh remix compilation that was released in 2010, and also unleashed a series of “slate grey metallic collisions” on last year’s guitarheavy Life (…It Eats You Up), which dropped on the Editions Mego imprint. Magnetite was recorded in Berlin over the last year, and explores the interplay between absolute silence and noise. Or, to put it in Vainio’s own words, “For me, music is a method to understand and examine both the world and myself. To achieve this, I want to go to the micro-level of sound, to taste the tones of neutrinos. I think this is the key element in my musical approach.” Fans of left-field experimental electronica, and of producers such as Fennez et al, should seek out Magnetite when it’s released later this month.
URTHBOY ALBUM + TOUR LAND OF THE GIANTS: TYCHO, BATHS, PREFUSE 73 & SYNKRO
On Saturday November 24, Strawberry Fields and Astral People will present the inaugural Land Of The Giants, an event featuring a quartet of headliners who all challenge electronic music mores. San Francisco-based Tycho began his foray into electronica with 2002’s The Science Of Patterns EP followed by 2004’s LP Sunrise Projector, and has the distinct honour of being the artist behind the Ghostly International’s label first release. Tycho will be bringing his full band live/visual show for his debut performance in Sydney. Baths will also be touring Australia for the first time, with the youngster having made a name for himself through productions that offer lush melodies, stuttered beats and a playful eclecticism. Meanwhile Prefuse 73 is the experimental non-de-plume of Scott Herren, who releases almost exclusively on the esteemed Warp level, while Synkro uses classic two-step and dubstep frameworks as the basis for his unconventional works, and has remixed the likes of The xx. Tickets are available from Tuesday September 4, via Ticketek.
40 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
Urthboy has announced that his fourth album, Smokey’s Haunt, will be released on October 12 through Elefant Traks. While Hermitude and Count Bounce have been exclusive producers of all previous Urthboy material, Smokey’s Haunt will be the first Urthboy album that they have co-produced entirely. Lead-off single ‘Naïve Bravado’, which also features Daniel Merriweather, has been doing the rounds on the airwaves and the laptops, garnering plenty of – legal – downloads on its way to iTunes Single Of The Week. Urthboy will be touring in the lead-up to the album’s official release, and will take to the stage of Oxford Art Factory on Friday September 21. He will be joined by longtime collaborators Elgusto (Hermitude) and Jane Tyrrell, with support from acclaimed Indigenous Australian hip hop outfit The Last Kinection.
COMPOUND FT JON CONVEX
Englishman Damon Kirkham, aka Jon Convex, will headline the fourth instalment of Compound this Saturday September 8 at Goodgod Small Club. Kirkham released his first album as Jon Convex, Idoru, in July on his own label, Convex Industries – but he remains best known for his output as one-half of Instra:mental, his duo with Alex Green (aka Boddika). Kirkham only started releasing records as Jon Convex last year, most of which traversed the electro-tinged dubstep-influenced techno that has characterised his more recent work with Green. He’ll be showcasing these sounds for three hours, as he throws down ahead of Zeus, Aaron Andrew, Linesteppa and Community. The revelry commences at 11pm, with the price of admission $15 on the door.
ELEFANT TRAKS, NEW WORLD ARTISTS & UMBRELLA PRESENTS
FEATURING JANE TYRRELL & ELGUSTO
NAÏVE BRAVADO TOUR 2012
FRIDAY 21 SEPTEMBER OXFORD ART FACTORY WITH THE LAST KINECTION | YUNG WARRIORS The new album Smokey’s Haunt out October 12th. Signed preorders and bundles available now at www.elefanttraks.com Tix urthboy.oztix.com.au | Details at www.urthboy.com
BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 41
dance music news
free stuff
club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
on the record
WITH TEN THOUSAND
FREE MEN & THEIR FAMILIES Leading Edge. Either way, awesome. The Last Record I Bought I am going to give this the old 2. double answer once again. I’ve recently brought home Sunshine & Technology by The Smith Street Band and Bitch Prefect’s Big Time. Both records are entirely worth the money if you’re thinking about it.
work could not be counted with all the digits available on my body... In terms of my music – which involves me singing and/ or screaming along to a selfprogrammed Game Boy backing track – the last thing I recorded was a little ditty called ‘The Drinking Song’. It will feature on my next, yet-to-be-titled chipmusic EP, due out in the coming months.
The First Thing I Recorded The Record That Changed This is a hard question. I think 5.My Life 3. the first of my own material that While on the subject of Limp I recorded was guitar noodling with delay. Original as hell! Later came raps about Star Wars over general MIDI backing tracks, written in Guitar Pro. This project later expanded to include friends who rapped about Pokemon and Animorphs respectively. Big shouts to my dear friends Alex and Josh (aka MCs Missingno, and Elfangor’s Secret).
1.
The First Record I Bought I remember trying to buy Silverchair’s Frogstomp, but my mother wasn’t having a bar of it. It came out in what,1995? I would have been well under ten years old, so having
‘Suicidal Dream’ as a track title wasn’t going over with her. I think we ultimately resolved the situation with me taking home either The Cranberries’ No Need To Argue, or Backstreet Boys’ Backstreet’s Back from
4.
The Last Thing I Recorded My workmate Ken singing aloud with his noise cancelling headphones on. Man, the amount of times I’ve heard him sing along to Limp Bizkit’s ‘Break Stuff’ at
Bizkit’s fantastic ‘Break Stuff’, I will state that Significant Other was a record that changed my life. It taught me that no matter how many times Limp Bizkit worked with Deftones’ producer Terry Date, they were never going to be as good as Deftones... What was the question? With: Itch-E & Scratch-E, Ben Drayton, Avra Cybele and more Where: Sydney Fringe opening night party @ The Hub, Newtown When: Friday September 7
JERU THE DAMAJA
Serious ‘heads’ – a term used to describe true hip hop fanatics – go pretty damn mental for Jeru The Damaja. The producer, MC and label-head gained a herd of followers back in 1994 after his debut release, The Sun Rises In The East. Produced almost entirely by DJ Premier, it was dubbed one of greatest hip hop records of all time. The out-and-out east coast innovator, best known for his distinctive brand of ‘90s boom bap, is heading to the Oxford Art Factory on Thursday September 13, for a huge night supported by Dialectrix, Frenzie, Jackie Onassis and DJ Mathmatics, and hosted by Shantan Wantan Ichiban. Thanks to Way-2-Fonky & Joint Adventure, we have two double passes to give away. Hit us up with your favourite Jeru tune for your chance to score.
SASSE Kerser
Moodmusic main man Klas Lindblad, aka Sasse, will spin at One22 this Saturday September 8 as part of a Moodmusic label showcase. A long-time aficionado of Chicago house music, Linblad was a resident at renowned Frankfurt club Robert-Johnson in its early years, before relocating to Berlin where he now shares studio space with Ewan Pearson and Martin Dawson. While Sasse has released on labels such as Bedrock and Poker Flat, it is for his work building the Moodmusic imprint that he remains best known. Moodmusic celebrated both their 15th birthday and their 100th release last year, and that figure continues to grow, with Sasse having dropped his third LP, Third Encounter, through the label only last month. Sydney’s Trinity & Beyond have carved out their own piece of Moodmusic history by having their EP This Dream signed to the imprint. With This Dream having just been released, it is appropriate the local production duo will also be performing live, with Co-Op DJs and Mike Buhl rounding off the lineup.
Hernan Cattaneo
CHINESE LAUNDRY IN SEPTEMBER: SHARAM, TIEFSCHWARZ ET AL
KERSER @ THE ANNANDALE
Campbelltown emcee Kerser has announced that his sophomore LP, No Rest For The Sickest, will be released on November 2. Kerser’s debut album, The Nebulizer, had the distinctly dodgy honour of becoming the only release that JB Hi-Fi has ever had to stock behind the counter, because so many fans were swiping it. The retail stores had better bolster their security, as No Rest For The Sickest is said to recapture the raw aggression, tight production and “razor sharp delivery” of its predecessor. In the lead-up to the album’s release, Kerser is playing a preview at The Annandale on Friday September 14, with Nino Brown, Fortay, Rates and Jaydee in support.
THE ASTON SHUFFLE
Canberra DJ/production troupe The Aston Shuffle have announced a series of dates to coincide with their soon to be released (as in, September 7) new single ‘Can’t Stop Now’, which is a harbinger for the Shuffle‘s sophomore album, which is set to drop in early 2013. The album will be the follow-up to the Shuffle’s debut LP, Seventeen Past Midnight, which dropped last year and featured ‘Your Love’, a cut that was hailed by the cuttingedge authority that is Rolling Stone as “the best dance single to come out of Australia in a decade.” Rolling Stone had better brush up on their superlatives, as the forthcoming LP is said by the band’s press release to be “as heart-on-sleeve as it is hands-in-the-air... The Aston Shuffle’s boldest statement to date”. They will play The Standard on Saturday October 20. 42 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
SOUNDS ON SUNDAY RETURNS TO GREENWOOD
One-time Sydney clubbing institution Sounds On Sunday is set to rise from the ashes this summer, relaunching with a four-room bash on Sunday October 7 at its spiritual home of the Greenwood Hotel in North Sydney. Illya, James Taylor, Shamus and Thug Records’ Carlos Zarate are all set to spin at the return jaunt of what was once one of Sydney’s foremost weekly club events, which will run over four rooms of the venue from 1-10pm. There’s even bigger things in the pipeline for S.O.S at Greenwood in the coming months, such as a party featuring Sebastien Leger, Guy J and Miguel Campbell along with a stacked local lineup – but more on that when the details come to light. In the meantime, presale tickets for the first Sounds On Sunday in yonks can be purchased online for just $30.
Chinese Laundry has unveiled its full September program and, as per usual, there’s a panoply of international drawcards catering to different sonic persuasions. From the UK’s John 00 Fleming kicking things off on Saturday September 1 through to Tiefschwarz spinning the following Saturday, and Hernan Cattaneo’s return Down Under on Saturday September 22 alongside Fritz Kalkbrenner (following their poolside frolic – see the news item to the left for more on that…), there’s plenty of drawcards for dancers throughout the coming month. Canadian prog figurehead Luke Fair will be playing on Saturday September 15 alongside Canberra’s Jaytech, while September concludes with a slot from Grammy Award-winning producer Sharam on the final Saturday of the month. Best known for his role as half of the DJ duo Deep Dish, the Iranian-American producer has remixed David Guetta and Timo Mass, and refashioned Eddie Murphy’s #2 1985 single, ‘Party All the Time’ with his cut ‘PATT’.
JAY SHEPHEARD @ SPICE CELLAR
Deep house proponent Jay Shepheard will play a live set at The Spice Cellar on Saturday December 1. The Englishman announced himself with the breakthrough success of his creatively-titled debut EP Black Label 19 on Compost a few years back, and has since collaborated with the likes of Glimpse and Robert Owens, releasing on labels like Diynamic, Buzzin’ Fly and Four:Twenty (more than just a sausage roll business). In addition to his association with some of the prestige labels in clubland, Shepheard also launched his own boutique label Retrofit in February of 2010, which was picked as a Label To Watch in 2011 on Beatport.
CATTANEO & KALKBRENNER’S ENCORE SHOW
Chinese Laundry snared the dual international headliners of Argentina’s Hernan Cattaneo and Germany’s Fritz Kalkbrenner for its first ever pool party, an afternoon romp at ivy Pool Club slotted from 1pm on Saturday September 22. The event sold out quick smart, but there will be an encore performance in the evening at Chinese Laundry. Kalkbrenner, who will be performing prior to Cattaneo’s four-hour set, is arguably best known for laying down the vocals of his brother Paul Kalkbrenner’s hit track ‘Sky And Sand’ from the Berlin Calling soundtrack. Kalkbrenner recently released his first commercial mix CD on the Suol label, a compilation which showcased his love of all things soulful (see Owusu & Hannibal), as well as his deep appreciation of hip hop – evinced by cuts from RJD2 and Dilla – apposite to some quality deep minimal courtesy of Lawrence. He and Cattaneo will be backed up at Laundry by The Hump Day Project, Robbie Lowe, A-Tonez, Devola, Whitecat, DJ Just 1, Goodfella, Murray Lake, Cheap Lettus. Doors open at 7.30pm.
Todd Terry Master At Work By Alasdair Duncan
T
odd Terry’s musical career began in the melting pot that was ‘80s New York. One of his most distinct memories of the time is of hearing Afrika Bambaataa’s classic track ‘Planet Rock’, and realising the possibilities that electronic music had to offer. “We were listening to a lot of freestyle records back in the day, but that was the first electronic track that really stood out to me,” he says. “I was at Club 1018 in New York and saw Jazzy J play it, and it was interesting to me how the drums were so tight.” He began producing his own records soon after, and this track was the blueprint. “When I did ‘Alright Alright’, I definitely had the ‘Planet Rock’ thing in my mind. I just wanted to make a jam like that! That’s always been one of my things, to keep up with what’s out there and to have something like what they have.”
From here on, Terry quickly rose to the status of a superstar DJ, whose productions would define house music for generations to come. For many, his signature hit is his remix of Everything But The Girl’s ‘Missing’, a radical reworking that turned the acoustic track into a majestic club anthem. That track is just the beginning though – in fact, Terry has produced so many remixes over the years that he struggles to remember them all. “Just the other day I was looking through my old work, and there are certain things I have no recollection of,” he laughs. It was a prolific period after all, and things were moving very fast. “The remix game was there, so I took control of it as much as I could,” he says. “There are some I did that I thought could have been bigger, as big as ‘Missing’, but it doesn’t always work out that way.” Over the last two decades, there have been a lot of changes in terms of available technology and gear, but in Terry’s view the biggest has been the shift from analogue to digital. “I mean, that’s just made a giant world of difference,” he says. “It used to take me all day to time-stretch a record, and now it takes five minutes. I feel like I’m making more records now just to keep up with the market. Everyone can make a record now, so there’s a lot of competition. Back in the day, it was me and seven other record labels; now it’s me and 7000.” As prolific as ever, Terry has many releases due out in the immediate future. “I have a single coming out called ‘Symphony’ and a collaboration with J Paul Getto, as well as with some new, different artists. I like to have as many different things on the table as possible. I feel as though that’s my freedom, if I can do something different every now and then.”
“It used to take me all day to time-stretch a record, and now it takes five minutes. I feel like I’m making more records now just to keep up... There’s a lot of competition.” If you’ve been paying attention to Terry’s recent output, you may well have noticed that his reworking of The 2 Bears’ ‘Ghosts & Zombies’ has a much harder sound than his typical productions. But as to whether this signals a new direction for him, he is unsure. “I don’t ever see that I’ll mellow out,” he says. “I’m happy for things to keep getting harder, but ultimately, every record’s different. I’ll be doing ten records and do a different thing on each one.” When it comes to remixes, catering to an artist’s individual sound is of foremost importance to Terry, although this can sometimes make remixing a hit-or-miss job. “You have time pressure on you because you have to get it done and get it out there,” he says, “and sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don’t. For the next record I’m doing with The 2 Bears, we’re going to work on production together, and you’ll hear the difference right away.” In years gone by, Terry was adamant in his insistence that production is his true work, with DJ gigs just something on the side that pay the bills. In recent times, though, his attitude has softened a bit. “DJing is definitely a way of life for me now,” he says. “Before, I’d be able to make half the money in productions and half in DJing, but these days I make it all in DJing and give the productions away. I release a hundred records a year and I can get 40 DJ gigs – it’s just keeping the flow going, keeping it out there… I get kids coming into my fanbase who are new fans – they’re kids who never heard of me from back in the day, but who heard a production of mine on Beatport. It’s all about keeping up with the sound that’s out there and doing a lot of collaborations, because that’s what keeps me strong and creates new fans.” Terry’s early tracks were some of the first to mix house beats and hip hop, and before letting him go, I have to ask if he sees his legacy reflected on the charts today. “I love all the Usher and Chris Brown and Ne-Yo records,” he says. “They’re not house records, though – they’re pop-driven records. They’re using the ideas I had back in the day but taking them somewhere else. They’re good songs, good party tracks, but I don’t see what I was doing reflected in them.” Where: Goldfish, Kings Cross When: Friday September 7 BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 43
Puttin’ On The Fritz By Benjamin Cooper
The young German singer, musician and producer’s current run of European dates marks the live return of his distinctively soulful vocals and hooks to the dancefloors of the continent and beyond. He admits to the slightest of jitters about the release of his new mix album Suol Mates on independent Berlin label Suol. “It’s definitely not as painful as last time I released an album. I think this time around I’m just a bit more curious, as I’m waiting to see what people think of the choices I’ve made – the album features many more live instrumentations, with live guitar play and many more vocals than I’ve done before. I can honestly say I have no fear, but I am curious to see how people react.” In the past, Kalkbrenner has worked often with his brother Paul and childhood friend Sascha Funke; his first recorded appearance was on the single ‘Forms & Shapes’ on the latter’s 2003 debut album, Bravo. At the moment, however, it seems necessary for the trio to keep it separated. “Right now we’re all doing similar projects, but we’ve agreed that we will not work together because we are all just relentless in our work ethic. We would send each other crazy!” Kalkbrenner says. They’ve still retained an element of collaboration, though. “We do meet in the evening to have a beer and show each other’s production off. But we only discuss the results of what we’ve made, because we made a conscious decision to craft our albums without the influence of the others in the group.
F
ritz Kalkbrenner has just gotten off the plane and is running low on time and options. “I’ve actually only walked in the door from the airport just now,” he says in a flurry, looking around his studio for a lost piece of gear for his live show. “I went to Ibiza in Spain yesterday to play a show, and I had to rush back to Berlin for a hometown show tonight. At the moment things are quite intense because my second album is coming out soon, but it’s a very interesting time for me too. I think that the intensity will be good for my music – at least I hope it will!” With the release of his 2010 debut album Here Today Gone Tomorrow, Kalkbrenner established himself as a rare commodity: an artist able to simultaneously weave his down-tempo and sustained crooning with crisp house beats. It was undeniably fresh work, marked by the influence of American contemporaries like J Rocc and Roy Ayers, while retaining its own individual style thanks to the richness and power of Kalkbrenner’s voice.
“There is always room to argue, when two producers come together,” he continues. “My brother will mean well, but then he’ll be asking, ‘What about extending this break a bit longer?’ or ‘What about changing the kick-drum ratios at this point?’ It can get to be a little bit much, but both of us appreciate each other’s contribution. Ultimately we’ve been in the game long enough to know when to call the other one out on any bullshit, which is good.”
Sasse
The Finnish Line By Krissi Weiss
F
innish music producer Klas Lindblad creates under a few monikers: Sasse, Freestyle Man, Cocamoto Exclusivo, Morris Brown, Sassomatic, Thirsty Monk and Winston Fletcher. While his music is often filed under the IDM category (Intelligent Dance Music; who can say that with a straight face?), a better description has him producing electronic music in a space where house, electro, techno and Italo disco collide. Based in Berlin, Lindblad has grown artistically within the teeming underground German electro scene. As Sasse, three albums, several singles and a host of remixes via his own label Moodmusic have flittered in between the typical life of a producer/ DJ: non-stop touring. “I came only once before to Australia and it was really good fun. I met so many lovely people and I was amazed by the great club scenes in Melbourne and Sydney,” Lindblad enthuses, ahead of a tour that will see him here this weekend for a Moodmusic showcase. “Yes, international DJing means a lot of hours on planes, but I would never complain – it’s part of this wonderful job.” ‘Producer’ can mean so many things these days, from a creative visionary to a button pusher, to someone who dabbles in PR and finance. Lindblad muses on the different hats he wears in his craft: “When I started, a producer was a producer. Nowadays a producer also has to be a DJ, promoter and a businessman as well. It’s really changed in the last ten years with the whole social media explosion. I try to keep my different roles very strictly separated, so that when I hit the studio I’m 100% concentrated on just the production side of things. Being a DJ helps you a lot as well in the studio; I love getting inspired by my
weekend travels, and coming into the studio on Monday morning to create something fresh.” Taking on the role of label owner has furthered Lindblad’s need to embrace the business side of the new creative economy. “I think nowadays it’s more important than it ever was to have an understanding of the business,” he explains. “There are so many ways of pursuing an artistic career. I’ve been very fortunate to have started early enough and, with the right balance of creativity and smart economics, I’ve been able to keep my artistic freedom. I think the business and creative side keep feeding each other very nicely. When I’m not touring I tend to be lazier in the studio, so the more I’m touring, the more fun I have in the studio as well. It’s surely harder now to be a new artist and try to find your way to make a living out of the music scene. But hard work always pays off, so as long as you think positive and set your goals straight, you’re in the winning team.” With a charming party-hardy attitude, Lindblad seems to have the obligatory Euro-DJ-inAustralian itinerary while he is here: enjoying a bit of Melbourne and Sydney before his weekends blow up into gigs until dawn, immersing himself into Australian hospitality and hanging out with friends. Work is still on the agenda too, with studio time scheduled with some long-time friends and Melbourne DJ Mike Buhl – and after leaving Australia, he is planning to keep the stream of releases from Moodmusic flowing. “I’ve got two singles lined up on my label Moodmusic and on My Favorite Robot Records from Canada in September and October, and my tour schedule is filling up nicely – so there are many great nights ahead and lots of travelling,” he says. “I’m also planning a compilation album of my earlier works for the Autumn – trying to keep myself busy!”
And if he ever needs another opinion, there’s always a host of producer friends dotted throughout his city. “Most of my male friends are producers themselves; it seems everyone I meet in Berlin is fascinated by the process of music production, which is fine – but sometimes I just need to get away. Sometimes I threaten to my friends that I’m going to move to the Belgian coast,” he laughs, “but this time I’ll just come to Australia instead!” With: Hernan Cattaneo (ARG) Where: Pool Party @ ivy Pool Club (sold out); encore at Chinese Laundry from 7.30pm When: Saturday September 22
With: Trinity (live), Mike Buhl, Co-Op DJs Where: Moodmusic @ Chinese Laundry When: Saturday September 8
Black Sheep The Hip Hop Legends Tour Andrew Hazard Hickey Titus – weaved his buttery, slick flow around the dense, jazzy production of Mista Lawnge, and the whole thing just oozed style. But after the success of classic singles like ‘The Choice Is Yours (Revisited)’, they retreated to the shadows before releasing the darker Non Fiction in 1994. Dropping albums independently in the ensuing years, Black Sheep have lived up to their moniker as outsiders who follow their own path. Carrying the Black Sheep mantle on his own these days, a revitalised Titus (aka Dres) is ready to face his Australian fans head on. In his first official tour Down Under, the solo Black Sheep will be joined by fellow ‘90s rap icons Das EFX and Tony Touch for the Hip Hop Legends Tour. “I’ve only been to Australia once in my life, and the memory that’s been imprinted is that I can’t wait to get back,” Titus says. “The people there, they get it – they’re very supportive. It’s great to see how far hip hop has come and how it’s been so embraced all the way on the other side of the world.” He’s looking forward to performing Black Sheep classics amidst some tracks from his new group Evitan, a collaboration with A Tribe Called Quest member Jarobi.
F
rom the moment they hit the hip hop scene in 1991, Black Sheep remained a unique entity – and although they never reached the lofty heights of Native Tongues counterparts like A Tribe Called
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Quest, they have certainly left an indelible mark. Their debut album, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing, represents a high point of what was arguably one of hip hop’s most creative periods. Frontman Dres – real name Andres
As both a purist and a fan of the genre, Titus’ goal with every gig is to give the audience a quality hip hop show. “I think I’m a much better MC today than I was even 20 years ago, and I enjoy sharing that with people.” The tour will also be something of a reunion with his longtime friends Das EFX. “We used to do a lot of shows in the ‘States with Das when we were
coming up. Their talent is tremendous, and people are in for a great show.” Along with great music, Titus says punters can expect a down-to-earth approach from all involved: “Everyone’s very approachable; there’s no pretentiousness.” He doesn’t believe in putting up a barrier between himself and the audience, and thinks that you get back what you give. “One of the things I’ve learnt throughout my career is that I’m not special; I’m fortunate. I think some artists get that mistaken and actually think they’re special. Everyone’s special in their way.” Throughout his career Titus has been able to skilfully balance rap braggadocio with selfanalysis. “Everyone’s quick to express struggle – and don’t get it twisted, there’s a place for that – but it’s also important to be well-rounded. For every rainy day, there’s a sunny day,” he says. “That’s what I challenge my peers to do; to show things that are a little more than one-sided.” Much of his artistic progression has come from not trying to play catch up with the other artists out there. “We had such great success with the first album that it kind of illustrated to me that I can be significant and I don’t necessarily have to do what everyone else is doing. I learnt really early that I was good enough, so I stayed focused on that, and kept that in my heart.” With: Das EFX, Tony Touch Where: The Metro Theatre When: Sunday September 30
Xxxx
Fritz Kalkbrenner
Deep Impressions Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery
Kollektiv Turmstrasse
A
fter an all-conquering debut Australian tour 18 months ago, Hamburg duo Christian Hilscher and Nico Plagemann, who go about their business as Kollektiv Turmstrasse, will once again bring their live show Down Under, this time to the intimate confines of One22 on Saturday December 1. With a sound that traverses melodic-minimal, house, techno and ambient influences, Kollektiv Turmstrasse have established themselves as one of the foremost live outfits in clubland, and have remixed the likes of Dominik Eulberg and Hot Chip. For anyone contemplating catching the Kollectiv lads, a word of warning: last time Kollectiv Turmstrasse played in Sydney they packed out a much larger venue than One22, and with first release presales already sold-out at the time Deep Impressions was whisked off to the presser, you’re strongly advised to jump online and secure your attendance by snaring a ticket today. You have been warned. Detroit producer Luke Hess will drop his second album, Keep On, later this month through Omar-S’ label, FXHE. Hess has been releasing cerebral “eyes-down dub techno” since the mid-noughties, with releases on a range of imprints including his own DeepLabs label. Though his last album, 2009’s Light In The Dark, was picked up by dub techno monolith
Echocord, his relationship with Omar-S began way back in 2007 on the FXHEreleased EP 01. Keep On features guest appearances from the mysterious ‘Papa Smurf’ and Hess’ brother Jeff, and has apparently also received a bit of Omar-S’ magic touch during the mixing stages. Berlin-based Danny Berman, who produces under the monikers Red Rack’em and Hot Coins, will return Down Under to headline the next Mad Racket bash on Saturday September 8 at Marrickville Bowling Club. Berman has built up a following through his Smuggler’s Inn podcast series, which is peppered with his own original edits and a string of releases on labels like Tirk, Untracked, Home Taping and Undertone. Berman oversees his own label, Bergerac, through which he released his critically acclaimed debut album, The Early Years. In addition to his own productions, which traverse a palette of house, techno and disco influences, Berman has crafted remixes for Tricky, Joubert Singers, The Revenge and Ron Basejam. When discussing his own sonic sensibility, Mr. Rack’em said, “The common thread running through my taste is stuff generally sounding a bit offkilter. Mad, offbeat, untight drums, deep Detroit synths, heavy but funky bass, deep, hypnotic, cerebral stuff.” Rack’em will be flanked by resident racketeers Ken Cloud, Jimmi James and Simon Caldwell, with presale tickets available online for 35 crabs. This one is for the hundred of dancers who sweated it out to Steffi at Goodgod Small Club last Saturday. The Dutch DJ, who made a name for herself as a resident at Berlin’s legendary Panorama Bar, will release a new three-track EP on Ostgut Ton, entitled Schraper, before the month of September is out. My sources at Ostgut Ton – Sven Marquardt etc – claim the forthcoming release will showcase a much tougher side of Steffi’s production than the housier sounds that permeated Yours & Mine, with the title track’s metallic rhythms no doubt influencing her decision to call the release Schraper, which is Dutch for, uh, 'scraper'. And that’s not all on the Steffi front. In addition to venturing Down Under and crafting the Schraper EP, Steffi has been busy with Third Side, her collaboratiion with The Analogue Cops. There are mutterings among the club cognoscenti that Third Side will release a full-length album before the end of the year – let’s hope this whispering turns out to be well-founded!
Luke Hess
LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8 Sasse One22
Mad Racket ft Red Rack’em Marrickville Bowling Club
THURSDAY OCTOBER 4
Subsonic End of the Line The Abercrombie
SATURDAY OCTOBER 20 Funk D’Void
Funk D’Void Chinese Laundry
Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 45
club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8
The Cool Room, Australian Brewery, Rouse Hill We Love Thursdays Resident DJs 8pm Goodgod Front Bar, Sydney Girls Gone Mild Hannah & Eliza Reilly free 8pm Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney Greenwood Thursdays Resident DJs free 8pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Media Thursdays Murray Lake, Tommy Oh, Fingers 7pm Oxford Art Factory – Gallery Bar, Darlinghurst No Dice Paradise Dan Tramonto, Meare free 8pm Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn Hot Damn DJs $15-$20 8pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Rewind Samrai, Moto, Manny, Naike, Trey & MC Abe Strike, Chatswood The Alley DJs free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Propaganda DJs free (student)-$5 9pm
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 7
Tiefshwarz
Chinese Laundry, Sydney
Tiefschwarz (GER), Fear Of Dawn, Chris Arnott, Whitecat, Devola, Goodfella, Athson, Antoine Vice, Aboutjack, Murray Lake, King Lee, Wrecks $15-$25 9pm MONDAY SEPTEMBER 3 Scurffy Murphy’s Haymarket Mother Of A Monday DJ Smoking Joe free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Jazz DJs free 7pm
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 4 Establishment, Sydney Spring Salsa Latin 8 Salsa Orchestra, DJ Willie Sabor, Av El Cubano, DJ Mikem, Coco Man free 8pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket We Love Goon Tuesdays DJ Podgee, DJ Smoking Joe free 8pm Sydney Opera House – Concert Hall An Evening With Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney (UK) $39-$64 (+ bf) 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings 46 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
Cross Coyote Tuesday Pure Series Launch Party Resident DJs free-$10 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Jam Andy & Mike, Jonno free 8pm
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 5 The Argyle, The Rocks DJ Huw Longman, Kristy Lee free 6pm The Bank Hotel, Newtown Lady L’s Wednesdays DJs free 9pm Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst Dysco Gardland, Bad Ezzy, FM $10 8pm Epping Hotel DTF Resident DJs free 8pm Ivy, Sydney She Can DJ 2012 Final Alley Oop, Cassette, Dusk, Elly K, Fingertips, Girl Audio, Hannah Parker, Juliet Fox, Leah Mencel, NatNoiz, Minx, Alison Wonderland $20 (+ bf) 5pm
Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale Frat House DJ Alley Cats free 8pm The Marlborough Hotel – Cellar Bar, Newtown Student Night – Frat Party DJ Pauly free 9pm The Ranch, Epping Hump Wednesdays Resident DJs free 8pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Cream Resident DJs free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Asthon, Solicita, Clockwerk, Brothers Grimm, Zwelli, King Lee, Matt Ferreira $5 8pm
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6 The Argyle, The Rocks Elly K, DJ C’est CHIC free 6pm Banjo Patterson Inn, Jindebyne The Potbelleez DJs 7pm
Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway Totally Barry Bad Barry DJs free 9pm The Argyle, The Rocks Anthony Casa, John ‘The Owl’ Devecchis, Tikki Tembo free 6pm The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross Get Funked Fridays Resident DJs 9pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Movement DJs free 8pm Burdekin Bunker, Darlinghurst Do Something Good Hentai, Benny Green, Benj, Andrew Bennett, Justin Power free 8pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Vamp Music Wax Motif, Vengeance, Sherlock Bones, Bass Thiefs, MooWho, SMS, Pretty Young Things, LA Tech, Aaron Smith $10-$15 9pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Bass Mafia Drumsound & Bassline Smith (UK), Spenda C, A-Tonez & Kid Sample, Hydraulix & Bassriot, Mitch Lowe (NZ), Mike Hyper, Nemo $15-$25 10pm Civic Underground, Sydney The Seed 2.0 Resident DJs 9pm Club 77, Darlinghurst Club Blink Anniversary Party Club Blink DJs 9pm Club Tarantula, Darlinghurst Warp Speed 1 Year Anniversary Bzurk, Guillotine $10 (+ bf) 9pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Gimme Five Resident DJs free 9pm The Eastern, Bondi Junction Deep Frydays Simon Caldwell, Kato, KoolAde, Oliver Gurney Epping Hotel Flirt Flirt DJs free 8pm FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel Acid Stagg free 11.30pm Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale Swarm Alex Bau (GER), Mookie, Martin Stace, Scott Kilpatrick, Vic Zee, Abel, Oliver Gurney, Andrew Wowk, $ Money $20-$30 9pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Musik Matters Todd Terry (USA), Johnny Gleeson, Illya, Dave 54, Liam Sampras, Phil Hudson, Phil Toke, Nick Andrews $35 (+ bf) 6pm Goodgod Front Bar, Sydney Yo Grito! Yo Grito! DJs free 9pm
Goodgod Small Club, Sydney Same Old Scene Tyson Koh, Valerie Yum, Sex Azza Weapon, Power Suit $10 11pm Ivy Pool Club, Sydney Moonshine Launch Future Classic DJs, Alley Oop, Graz, Magic Happens, Rocco Rainmundo $20 9pm Jacksons On George, Sydney DJ Ivan Drago, DJ Rain Julz free 9pm The Marlborough Hotel – Cellar Bar, Newtown DJ Simon Laing free 9pm Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Oatley Hotel We Love Oatley Hotel Fridays DJ Tone free 8pm Omega Lounge, Level 2 City Tattersalls Club, Sydney Unwind Fridays DJ Greg Summerfield free 5.30pm One22, Sydney Paradise City AC23, Garage Pressure, Juzlo, TeeFreqs $10 (+ bf) 9pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Croatianship Launch DJs $30-$40 9pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket Frisky Friday DJ Podgee free 6pm Secret Warehouse, Sydney S.A.S.H. Secret Warehouse 002 Surprise International, Mike Whitcombe, Mesan, Hannah Gibbs, Matt Weir, Kerry Wallace sold out 9pm Space Nightclub, Sydney Zaia Resident DJs 9.45pm Spanish Club – Level 2, Sydney Into Deep 3 Anthony Matthews, Josh Night, Coltek, Jedi Jay, DJ Hamish $10 9.30pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Toni Toni Lee, Morgan, Andy Webb, Pink Lloyd, Dreamcatcher $10 10pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross LIVE Fridays Bow Wow (USA), DJ Willi, Nemz, Daniel Berti, Nik Nak, Tony C, Bennet, MC Deekay, Rocamic, J. Dwight $30 (+ bf) 8pm Valve Bar, Tempe Beats & Pieces DJ Trena, DJ Sub Bass, Legobreaks 7pm The Watershed Hotel Bring On The Weekend! DJ Matt Roberts free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM Gung Ho, Let Me Down Jungleman, My Little Underground, Mowgli, Yoko Oh No, Thomas Covenant, Kochanski, MUM DJs $10$15 8pm
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway Strange Fruit Strange Fruit DJs free 9pm The Argyle, The Rocks Elly K, Alice Quiddington, Phil Hudson free 6pm The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney Flirt Flirt DJs $10 9pm Bella Vista Cruise Ship, King St Wharf No. 9, Sydney Harbour The Escape Boat Party Krish Titan, Nick Arbor, Thomas Knight, Byjon $40 7.30pm Blue Beat, Double Bay HyperColour, The Insidious 6ix $10 (+ bf) 7pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Disco! Disco! Sherlock Bones, SMS, Mum Genes, Disco Volante, Stalker, Slip & Slyde, Monkey Bones, DJ Kole, Blow Out DJs $20 9pm
Cargo Bar, King St Wharf Kick On Resident DJs free 6pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Tiefschwarz (GER), Fear Of Dawn, Chris Arnott, Whitecat, Devola, Goodfella, Athson, Antoine Vice, Aboutjack, Murray Lake, King Lee, Wrecks $15-$25 9pm Club 77, Darlinghurst Starfuckers Starfuckers DJs 10pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Yellow Sox Resident DJs free 9pm The Cool Room, Australian Brewery, Rouse Hill Saturday Nights At The Brewery DJ Koffee 8.30pm Establishment, Sydney Sienna Resident DJs 8pm Fakeclub, Kings Cross Tribe Tarantula DJs 9pm FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel Hands Up! Staggman, Clockwerk free 11.30pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Hed Kandi – The Spring Ball Alex Taylor, Dave 54, Phil Hudson (UK), Frankie Romano, Johnny Gleeson, Shaun Warner, Tim Whitney 6pm Goodgod Small Cub, Sydney Compound #004 Jon Convex (UK), Zeus, Linesteppa, Aaron Andrew, Community $15 11pm The Green Room Lounge, Enmore Vinyl Solution DJ Nic Dalton free 7pm Ivy, Sydney Ivy Saturdays Rob Pix, Trent Rackus, Tass, Baby Gee, Jo Redd, Stu Turner, Rob K, Pat Ward $20 8pm Jacksons On George, Sydney DJ Simon Laing, DJ Michael Stewart free 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang! Isbjorn, Mr Belvedere, David Neale, Playmate, Devola, Pat Ward, Handsome, Kristy Lee 8pm The Marlborough Hotel – Cellar Bar, Newtown Resident DJs free 9pm Marrickville Bowling & Recreation Club Mad Racket Red Rack’em (UK), Ken Cloud, Jimmi James, Zootie, Simon Caldwell $35 (+ bf) 10pm Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Nevermind, Darlinghurst Swagger Swagger DJs 10pm One22, Sydney Moodmusic Records Showcase Sasse, Trinity, Mike Buhl, Co-Op DJs $15$25 10pm Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst Halfway Crooks Captain Franco, Levins, Toni Toni Lee $10 10pm Q Bar, Darlinghurst Clint & Michelle Throw A Party DJs $5 (+ bf) 11pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross The Suite Resident DJs 8pm Soho, Potts Point Usual Suspects Nom De Strip, Brenden Fing, Lights Out, Pablo Calamari, Bounce Crew DJs, Mike Rukus, Sushi, 14th Minute, Barfly 10pm Space Nightclub, Sydney Masif Saturdays Resident DJs 10pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney The Residents Carlos Zarate, Murat Kilic, Robbie Lowe, Mike Whitcombe $20 10pm The Watershed Hotel Watershed Presents… Skybar $20 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross
club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com Cakes Sangers And Ra, Kraymer, Daniel Farley, Nukewood, Smokin Joe Mekhal, Astrixx, Raye Antonelli, Ben Morris, The Mane Thing, Dimou, Go Freek, Tokoloshe, Al Erskine $15-$20 8pm
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H Sundays Jimmy2sox, Kato, Nick McMartin, Travis Hale,
Kerry Wallace, Matt Weir $10 2pm The Argyle, The Rocks Random Soul, Michael Wheatley free 4pm The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills Beresford Sundays Resident DJs free 3pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Martini Club Tom Kelly, Straight Up Steve free 6pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Sneaky Sundays DJs 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Circus Party Resident DJs 8pm Oatley Hotel
Sunday Sets DJ Tone free 7pm Q Bar, Darlinghurst Daydreams Daydreams DJs 4.30am Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Sundays DJ Troy T, Resident DJs 8pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice After Hours Robbie Lowe, Murat Kilic $20 4am The Watershed Hotel Afternoon DJs Resident DJs free 4pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Soup Kitchen Majazz, Deli, Junior & Ethan Winzer, Coutlette free 7pm
club picks up all night out all week...
She Can DJ finalists
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 5 Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst Dysco Gardland, Bad Ezzy, FM $10 8pm Ivy, Sydney She Can DJ 2012 Final Alley Oop, Cassette, Dusk, Elly K, Fingertips, Girl Audio, Hannah Parker, Juliet Fox, Leah Mencel, NatNoiz, Minx, Alison Wonderland $20 (+ bf) 5pm
The Spice Cellar, Sydney Toni Toni Lee, Morgan, Andy Webb, Pink Lloyd, Dreamcatcher $10 10pm
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8 Goodgod Small Cub, Sydney Compound #004 Jon Convex (UK), Zeus, Linesteppa, Aaron Andrew, Community $15 11pm
The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Asthon, Solicita, Clockwerk, Brothers Grimm, Zwelli, King Lee, Matt Ferreira $5 8pm
Marrickville Bowling & Recreation Club Mad Racket Red Rack’em (UK), Ken Cloud, Jimmi James, Zootie, Simon Caldwell $35 (+ bf) 10pm
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 7
One22, Sydney Moodmusic Records Showcase Sasse, Trinity, Mike Buhl, Co-Op DJs $15-$25 10pm
Chinese Laundry, Sydney Bass Mafia Drumsound & Bassline Smith (UK), Spenda C, A-Tonez & Kid Sample, Hydraulix & Bassriot, Mitch Lowe (NZ), Mike Hyper, Nemo $15-$25 10pm The Eastern, Bondi Junction Deep Frydays Simon Caldwell, Kato, KoolAde, Oliver Gurney free 9pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Musik Matters Todd Terry (USA), Johnny Gleeson, Illya, Dave 54, Liam Sampras, Phil Hudson, Phil Toke $35 (+ bf) 6pm
We has internets!
Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst Halfway Crooks Captain Franco, Levins, Toni Toni Lee $10 10pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney The Residents Carlos Zarate, Murat Kilic, Robbie Lowe, Mike Whitcombe $20 10pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Cakes Sangers And Ra, Kraymer, Daniel Farley, Nukewood, Smokin Joe Mekhal, Astrixx, Raye Antonelli, Ben Morris, The Mane Thing, Dimou, Go Freek, Tokoloshe, Al Erskine $15-$20 8pm
The Hub, Newtown Free For All Fringe Festival Opening Night Itch-E & Scratch-E, 10kfreemen, Ben Drayton, Avra Cybele, Future Of Blame, Corey Mumbles free 5pm
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9
Ivy Pool Club, Sydney Moonshine Launch Future Classic DJs, Alley Oop, Graz, Magic Happens, Rocco Rainmundo $20 9pm
Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H Sundays Jimmy2sox, Kato, Nick McMartin, Travis Hale, Kerry Wallace, Matt Weir $10 2pm
Extra bits and moving bits without the inky fingers.
www.thebrag.com BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 47
snap
fred everything
PICS :: PX
up all night out all week . . .
wasted years
PICS :: TL
25:08:12 :: The Goldfish :: 111 Darlinghurst Rd Potts Point 8354 6630
late night tuff guy
PICS :: TL
25:08:12 :: Q-Bar :: 34-44 Oxford St Darlinghurst Sydney 9360 1375
slowblow
PICS :: KC
25:08:12 :: Civic Underground :: 388 Pitt St Sydney 8080 7000
triple j's house party
PICS :: SE
24:08:12 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587
24:08:12 :: The Hi-Fi :: 122 Lang Road Moore Park
It’s called: Chinese Laundry Saturdays It sounds like: Deep luscious tech house in the Cave with Tiefschwarz and The Bad Apple Crew, big electro in the Laundry, and swagger in the Sand Bar. We’ve got something for everyone. Who’s playing? Tiefschwarz, Fear Of Dawn , Whitecat, Chris Arnott, Murray Lake, Antoine Vice, King Lee, Devola, Goodfella and more. Three songs you’ll hear on the night: Tiefsc hwarz – ‘Issst’; Fear Of Dawn – ‘Rock This Out’; Hot Since 82 – ‘Harmon’ And one you definitely won’t: Anything that features Pitbull. Sell it to us: wikipedia.org/tiefschwarz. If this needs any more selling, it's probably not for you. The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Not much ! Hopefully just flashes of bits of conversations you regret, and shared dance floor moments with strangers. When you piece it together you’ll realise you just exper ienced one of the best nights out you’ve ever had. Crowd specs: Everyone’s welcome at Chine se Laundry. Well, unless you have an un-ironic rats tail, in which case we have scisso rs at the door. Wallet damage: $20 before 10pm / $25 after Where: Chinese Laundry / Cnr King St and Sussex St, Sydney When: Saturday September 8
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jody wisternoff
PICS :: AB
party profile
tiefschwarz
25:08:12 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999 :: NOHMON ANWARYAR :: ANNA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER KIA EISERMANN :: JULIA GARVAN-KAMINSK AYA :: DANIEL SAS BROWN :: KATRINA CLARKE :: IER :: GEORGE POPOV :: PEDRO XAV MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY ::
SHOWCASE
EVERY SUNDAY AFTERNOON
SASSE TRINITY
(LIVE)
SATURDAY 8TH SEPT ONE22 // REAR OF 122 PITT ST – SYDNEY TICKETS $ 15 // $20 // $25 DOOR
PROPER HOUSE MUSIC
MIKE BUHL CO-OP DJs SUPPORTED BY THE
BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12 :: 49
snap
illy
PICS :: AB
up all night out all week . . .
25:08:12 :: The Hi-Fi :: 122 Lang Road Moore Park
It sounds like: A warm, melted, deep-fried Mars Bar. Who’s playing? Simon Caldwell, Kato and more. Sell it to us: Get down and dirty or kick back in style – it’s all possible. This is East Sydney's only quality deep house night, so don’t expect to hear that track everyone else plays six times a night. Or anything by LMFAO.
player haters ball
PICS :: TL
It’s called: Deep Frydays
25:08:12 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587
The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The track that went brrrmmm and made your “special zones” feel a bit more special. Oh, and the club. It looks amazing! Crowd specs: Eastern-suburbs and inner-city folk who like quality house music on the deeper side. And people who appreciate DJs who’ve got moves. Wallet damage: Free entry. Where: AND @ The Eastern, Bondi Junction
propaganda
the cool room
PICS :: NA
When: Friday September 7, from 9pm
PICS :: DM
party profile
deep frydays
23:08:12 :: Australian Brewery :: 350 Annangrove Rd Rouse Hill 9679 4555
girl thing
25:08:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford Street Darlinghurst 9332 3711 PICS :: KC
jimmy2sox
24:08:12 :: The Spice Cellar :: 58 Elizabeth St Sydney 9223 5585 50 :: BRAG :: 478 :: 03:09:12
PICS :: TL
23:08:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 9357 7700
:: NOHMON ANWARYAR :: ANNA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER KIA EISERMANN :: JULIA GARVAN-KAMINSK AYA :: DANIEL SAS BROWN :: KATRINA CLARKE :: IER :: GEORGE POPOV :: PEDRO XAV MUNNS :: THOMAS PEACHY ::
DVDs and BLU RAY Available In Store and Online September 5th While stocks Last