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Real truths with Cub Sport
The acts you need to know about in 2019
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THU 25 – SUN 28 APRIL 2019 · 1 ( * # # 1# ·
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Credits Publisher Street Press Australia Pty Ltd Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast National Editor – Magazines Mark Neilsen Group Senior Editor/National Arts Editor Maxim Boon
ABBA new year
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January Issue
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January Issue
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BRING ME THE HORIZON Experimenting with love
Real truths with Cub Sport
The Music
The acts you need to know about in 2019
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Films, TV shows and albums to look out for this year
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T h e s ta r t
t’s a hopeful start to the new year for ABBA fans — of which I am one. Last year the legendary Swedish pop quartet announced they were set to release their first new material since breaking up in 1982. However, the release date came and went and the songs did not eventuate. That new ABBA music is now expected some time this month. It would take more than the space here to explain the joy ABBA have brought me over the years — it’s serious fandom. But, don’t insult me by thinking because I like ABBA I must also love the Mamma Mia franchise. Please. That karaoke crap is for amateurs. While I have been known to enjoy the occasional ABBA tribute band (and yes, it’s true that I once chided one such act for not knowing the correct choreography to Ring Ring), I prefer my ABBA covers from more unlikely sources. British electro duo Blancmange delivered what is likely to forever remain the greatest ABBA cover of all time. Their version of The Day Before You Came dropped in 1984 and was the first to truly revel in the epic drama of ABBA’s later material (most people opted for cheesy knock-offs of ABBA’s early poppier period). It came at a time when ABBA music was considered poison, banished from radio and TV, and only heard in the darkest recesses of underground gay clubs where Lay All Your Love On Me had remained an evergreen floor-filler. Another British electro duo were the act to have the most chart success with ABBA covers until Cher decided to jump on the bandwagon last year. Erasure, featuring Depeche Mode founder Vince Clarke, released an EP of ABBA songs in the early ‘90s (scoring a massive hit with Take A Chance On Me ) that kicked off an ABBA revival that was boosted by ABBA-drenched mid-‘90s film hits Muriel’s Wedding and Priscilla Queen Of The Desert. However, the best ABBA tribute exists in the form of NZ label Flying Nun’s ABBAsalutely set from 1995. The likes of 3Ds, Garageland, Tall Dwarfs, Headless Chickens and members of The Chills tackle Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Super Trouper and more. The highlight being Superette’s shoegazey take on Knowing Me Knowing You (fun fact: Superette’s Ben Howe now heads up Flying Nun). Other favourite ABBA covers that will fill the weeks until the new ABBA material arrives include Leather Nun’s queer post-punk take on Gimme Gimme Gimme, Dev Hyne’s Happy New Year (a hard to find version he did as Lightspeed Champion), Camera Obscura’s indie flip of Super Trouper, Ghost’s metallic I’m A Marionette, John Grant’s heart-breaking Angel Eyes (with The Czars) and Portishead’s chilling SOS. Also on that playlist due to expert use of ABBA samples are Fugees’ Rumble In The Jungle (with A Tribe Called Quest) and Madonna’s Hung Up (with Stuart Price). Within this month’s pages, we hope to get your new year off to a great start with our top tips for the best non-ABBA things to look out for in 2019. Happy new year, all.
Andrew Mast Group Managing Editor
Our contributors
This month 10
Editor’s Letter
This month’s best binge watching
Shit We Did: Body Electric Guest editorial: Accredited Professional Coach Viv Fantin
Bring Me The Horizon Now with responsibility on their shoulders
The rise of the microparty How small parties get elected
4K TV What is it and is it worth it?
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Joseph Earp
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based in Sydney and the former editor of The Brag. His interests include horror cinema,
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Joseph is a freelance critic and sub-editor
horticulture, post-punk, bad television, Southern Gothic fiction, and greyhounds. Delta Goodrem once called him “intriguing”.
Smino, The Growlers
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Neneh Cherry
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Acts to watch in 2019 Keep an eye on these folks
He tweets @Joe_O_Earp and is blocked there by Ryan Adams.
38 Nick Moir
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Album reviews
Nick has been a professional news photographer since 1993 and has been specialising in shooting storms and fires since the late ‘90s. He is a staff photographer at The Sydney Morning Herald and co-founded Oculi photo collective. He has won two Walkley
Here are the TV shows, movies and albums we’re vibing on for 2019
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Parcels
26 Punk in 2018 The year that punk broke barriers
Bring Me The Horizon poster
The Big Picture: Nick Moir
Julia Holter, Brent Faiyaz
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Awards, a World Press Photo Award and
The Arts
placed second in the Places category of the 2018 Nat Geo Photographic Awards.
Sydney Festival
41
Flickerfest
44
National Gallery Of Australia’s Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces
45 Viv Fantin
Your Town
Viv is a recovering perfectionist and accredited personal coach who works with music
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industry people. She has seen all kinds of crazy as a publicist and is now passionate
Backyards How to make the most out of yours during the warmer months
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Masego
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Cub Sport
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about stress management and on the neverending quest to find the perfect work–life
48
This month’s local highlights
50
Your gigs
52
The end
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balance. She loves chai tea, music, reading and sitting in a dark cinema on a hot day. For more info visit nextactcoaching.com.au.
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Here’s Luluc-y Prodigal indie-folk oufit Luluc are returning home this month and bringing recent third album, Sculptor with them. The now Brooklyn-based duo are starting the national run in their old Melbourne stomping grounds with a show on 11 Jan.
Florence + The Machine
Hope springs Florence + The Machine drop into Oz from 12 Jan with their fourth studio album, High As Hope. It’s their first visit in three years and they’re playing some suitably huge headline shows around the country, as well as making an appearance at A Day On The Green.
Luluc
Greta Van Fleet
Keeping Mum’ Everyone’s favourite folk rockers, Mumford & Sons, are back in the country for the first time since 2015 this month. They’ll be here with last year’s Delta set and special guest Michael Kiwanuka from 15 Jan.
Haiku Hands
Meet Fleet Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Greta Van Fleet are living up to their name and fast making an impression on the world’s listeners. We’re next on the domination schedule, with the four-piece coming our way for four shows starting from 29 Jan.
Mumford & Sons
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True Detective
Stream dreams
This month’s best binge watching
Black Monday
True det The third season of HBO’s True Detective is set to premiere this 13 Jan. Keeping up the show’s trend of pulling in some serious A-listers, this season sees Oscar winner Mahershala Ali struggling with the decades-long repercussions of a case gone bad.
Showtime’s new satire goes “back to October 19, 1987 – aka Black Monday, the worst stock market crash in the history of Wall Street”. Oscar nominee Don Cheadle is Maurice Monroe, a coked-up “black Moses” who wants to “put the ‘brother’ in Lehman Brothers”. With the help of fellow outsiders Dawn Darcy and Blair Pfaff, portrayed by Regina Hall and Andrew Rannells, he just happens to devastate the DJIA along the way.
Streams from 21 Jan on Stan
Bloom The Jacksons
Hit the road, Jacks Since the Sydney Summer Series wasn’t enough to quench the nation’s need to boogie, The Jacksons, Kool & The Gang, The Pointer Sisters, Village People, Sister Sledge and Sounds Of The Supremes are going on the road this 12 Jan as well.
A year after a flood takes the lives of five people in a small Australian town, the townspeople discover a mysterious plant that seems to reverse the ageing process. This seems like blessing to Ray (Bryan Brown), who’s slowly losing his wife Gwen (Jacki Weaver) to dementia, but the two soon discover that miracles come at a price. The six-part drama also stars Phoebe Tonkin and Ryan Corr, with John Curran and Mat King directing. Streams from 1 Jan on Stan
Oh hai
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
They’ve just wrapped a year that included performances at Listen Out and Splendour In The Grass, two UK/European tours, and a run with Bloc Party. Now multi-talented collective Haiku Hands are kicking off 2019 in Brissie for their debut national headline tour.
The second half of the new Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt finally drops this month after Netflix teased the world with the first six episodes back in May last year. Unfortunately,
Southern cross country
this fourth season has also been announced as the show’s last, so even though there’s talk of a finale film to wrap up any loose ends, this
After killing its debut run last year, touring festival Under The Southern Stars is back for round two starting 12 Jan. The line-up is crazy stacked - we’re talking Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I, British India, The Superjesus and then some.
will be the final binge sesh that everyone’s favourite mole woman slings our way. Streams from 25 Jan on Netflix The Superjesus
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Glass
Plot tryst The characters from M Night Shyamalan flicks Unbreakable and Split have been combined in one super hero-themed thriller like a weird, twist-heavy Marvel Universe. Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson and James McAvoy are all back for Glass, which hits cinemas Jan 17. Kali Uchis
App of the month: Drops Feel like learning a new language? Sick of that annoying Duolingo owl hassling you every day while you guiltily mute your notifications? Language app Drops could be your new favourite phone obsession. Drops uses images and games in fiveminute-a-day bursts and offers 31 languages. Konichiwa.
Podcast of the month: Race Chaser Race Chaser is the podcast that discusses, dissects and provides insider info into the world of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Hosted by Alaska and William, both iconic queens who previously competed on the show, it’s full of hilarious and relatable takes. The library is open, hunties.
Leon Bridges
Go you good thing After dropping his second album in May last year, Leon Bridges is finally coming to Australian stages this month. The Good Thing tour kicks off 14 Jan in Melbourne before heading up the coast to Brisbane and Sydney.
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FOMO FOMO’s name is crazy on the money in 2019. Starting in Queensland this 5 Jan, the festival will roll around the country with the likes of Nicki Minaj, Kali Uchis and Rae Sremmurd, not to mention local legends like Carmouflage Rose.
Sh*t we did
Heat beats
With Maxim Boon
It’s the playlist that stops the nation, triple j’s Hottest 100. Australia’s democratically selected fave songs of 2018 will be announced noon sharp, 27 Jan as usual. Remember, you’ve got until 22 Jan to have your say, so make sure you get your votes in pronto.
Nick Cave
Body Electric “Dance like nobody’s watching,” so the saying goes. But pish to that. Pish I say! Why dance with no audience when you can dance in front of hordes of screaming fans? And what’s more, there’s no advanced training required. Just a can-do attitude, a passion for pop bangers, and a dash (or dollop) of exhibitionism. For these are the three key
Cave dive National treasure Nick Cave (not to be confused with National Treasure hunter, Nick Cage) is travelling the country for a series of open audience discussions and piano performances beginning 5 Jan.
ingredients found in each and every member of Melbourne-based amateur dance troupe, Body Electric. Launched just over a decade ago by local dance coach and choreographer Jade Duffy, Body Electric has since grown into a legendary institution. Hundreds of ordinary folk travel to Body Electric’s Collingwood studios each week to bust their grooves to iconic chart toppers. At the end of a 16-week semester, Body Electric’s final performance delivers a grand spectacular attracting literally thousands of attendees. Each group – of which there are 10 in total – not only dances up a storm but sports a different theatrical concept, complete with sequined-spangled costume. You may not find fortune, my friend. But by jingo, you might just find fame treading the boards of Body Electric.
The Verdict I originally signed up to Body Electric to widen my social circles and push myself out of my comfort zone. But I had wildly underestimated the experience I would eventually grow to adore. This is the third semester I have danced with Body Electric, but by far the performance with the highest stakes. For the first time, the final gig would be gracing the stage of iconic Melbourne venue The Forum, with an audience capacity of more than 2000. A cheerleader and gridiron theme (think Bring It On, only camper) would be the backdrop for a sassy yet sharp rendition of Britney’s Piece Of Me. The choreography was daunting, and at times I doubted I’d ever get
My my my!
the hang of it. But after nearly four months of rigorous (and not so rigorous) drilling, I was ready to unleash myself, in full cheerleader
We know her as the political pop artist MIA. But before that she was Maya and even further back, Matangi. Matangi/Maya/ MIA, Steve Loveridge’s documentary about her journey from refugee immigrant to international artist, hits cinemas 10 Jan, following her run of festival shows kicking off late Dec.
drag, on Melbourne’s unsuspecting public. The result: for one night, I attained pseudocelebrity status. After the show, audience members asked for selfies, I may even have signed an autograph or two. It’s a thrill I have rarely experienced and frankly, I’m addicted. Someone point me in the general direction MIA
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of Australia’s Got Talent…
Make 2019 count: A coach’s guide to setting meaningful goals Well and truly in ‘new year, new me’ territory, music industry coach Viv Fantin helps us take a step back and look at the importance of making sure our goals are meaningful.
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Step 1: Think small goals
k, let’s get this bit out of the way. Resolutions — do they work? Sorry to disappoint, but not usually. The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that they’re so damn hard to keep. Plus we pin all our hopes on the “magical” date of January 1 to kick them off. We charge forward with resolutions, some of them completely over the top, many drunkenly shared with friends and others kept in the private vault. But, as I know from experience, anyone can make a New Year’s resolution. Not everyone can keep them. Like most of us, I used to start each year with a lengthy and exciting list of things I planned to do. And then spend the next twelve months basically not doing them. If you’ve said something like, “Next year I’m going to be more creative!”, “Next month I’m going to get fit!” or (my favourite), “This year I’m going to stress less!”, maybe you can relate? Oh, my intentions were there, and initial efforts were admirable. But as more and more time went by, other stuff got in the way and I realised I couldn’t be bothered. Truth is, the whole ‘new year, new me’ thing has never really worked for me. I would get all carried away, with these ridiculously unrealistic resolutions, with no plan, and then wonder why, come February, nothing had changed. In the coaching biz this is called ‘set and forget’. Old habits return, and life goes on. Resolutions seem like an awesome idea — how can setting ambitious plans for your next year of life be a bad thing? But they have a pretty lousy success rate. And that’s because most resolutions are poorly thought out and way bigger than the person can realistically handle. Expectations are usually over the top, and the enormity of pulling off those big resolutions can end up with motivation dwindling as you fall short. The problem isn’t that we’re not capable of sticking to our resolutions-it’s that we need to do a better job making resolutions that are realistic, actionable and achievable. So, I’ve ditched resolutions in favour of small goals. But how we do make those goals stick? As we head into ‘resolution’ season, it’s worth having a think about what’s gotten in your way before. Can you jump into your way-back machine and remember the goals you set last January for the year ahead? No? If you’re like most of us, you may have developed a convenient amnesia on this front. Typically, the reasons our goals aren’t kicked can be broken down into two categories: factors you can control (shit didn’t happen for reasons XYZ), and factors you can’t control (the ‘shit happens’ category). Did you ditch your goal or was it never that important to you anyway? Or maybe the goal was too big or not clear enough? It’s definitely worth trying to figure out what happened so this time around is different. For some people, the ‘idea’ of change is far more appealing than the actual process of making it happen. When push comes to shove, some folks simply don’t want (whatever it is) enough or just aren’t ready to put in the hard yards. Here’s some tips to help you get where you wanna be, one small change at a time.
For starters, big sweeping goals are often so daunting they’re overwhelming. Scrap that list of 15 New Year’s resolutions and focus on two or three things you really, really want to achieve in your life or career (or both).
Step 2: Be (really, really) specific
Large, vague goals almost always backfire. Instead, try and focus on a concrete goal and word it accordingly. Statements such as, “I’m gonna get fit,” are open-ended and not very specific. But by re-wording that goal to, “From January the 1st, I will go to the gym three days per week before work for a onehour session,” you’re starting to get more specific. The more detail, the better.
Step 3: Break your goal into small and manageable chunks
“Resolutions seem like an awesome idea — how can setting ambitious plans for your next year of life be a bad thing?”
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Once you are clear on your specific goal, the next part of the process is to break it into actionable steps. This part of the process is really important for maintaining momentum and motivation. Avoid the demotivation trap by being really clear on the sub-steps you’ll need to take to accomplish your goal. That way, you’ll be able to see and measure your progress, which will motivate you to take the next step.
Step 4: Have a goal reality check and a buddy
With smaller, more realistic goals, you’re more likely to succeed, so check that your goal isn’t completely over-the-top and unachievable. As you pull off your smaller goals, you’ll gain the motivation to keep going and will gain more confidence to attempt larger goals. Get a buddy on board to help with accountability.
Step 5: Be flexible and ready to adjust
Ok, the wheels have fallen off. Now what? Reflect back on what got in the way. Is there anything you could have done to change the outcome so far? Maybe the goal was too large. Or perhaps you didn’t have all the resources, info and support you needed. Even if you weren’t able to reach your goal completely, what did you manage to achieve? Give yourself credit for what you were able to pull off, no matter how small.
Step 6: Make your goals SMART.
This step is really important. Next time you set a goal, consider if it’s SMART. And by that, I don’t mean intelligent! I mean is it specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed. A really important thing is to focus on the WHY, as this identifies what your motivation is to set the goal and make the change. Is your goal something you really WANT to change, or something you feel you SHOULD change? There’s a big difference. Here’s to meaningful change, one small step at a time. Happy new year! Coach Viv XO
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Guest Editorial
H W ’ AT S O N
ENSEMBLE OFFSPRING, SYDNEY FESTIVAL & CASULA POWERHOUSE ARTS CENTRE PRESENT
SUPPRESSION DAM
A collaboration between three internationally acclaimed experimental music ensembles performed within the soaring industrial spaces of CPAC's Turbine Hall.
SAT 12 & SUN 13 JAN
WHAT A LIFE!
WELCOME CHOIR
Experience rock history through the eyes of one of Australia’s most celebrated photographers. Q&A: Sat 19 Jan 1-2pm
is for EVERYONE, regardless of gender, experience, ability, etc. If you enjoy singing out loud to the radio or in the shower, you will LOVE the Welcome Choir!
12 JAN - 24 FEB
SUN 6 JAN & 3 FEB
ROCK PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONY MOTT
WWW.CASULAPOWERHOUSE.COM OPEN DAILY
ART LAUNCH DAY! SAT 19 JAN • 2PM
Join us for nibbles and drinks as we launch THREE big art exhibitions, What a Life! Rock Photography by Tony Mott, Jumaadi and Looking Here Looking North.
GALLERY ENTRY IS FREE!
HEAD TO THEMUSIC.COM.AU TO FIND OUT WHO WE VOTED AS THE BEST OF 2018
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As English rock heavyweights Bring Me The Horizon unleash their new album, frontman Oli Sykes talks to Brendan Crabb about divorce, tragedies and icons. Cover and feature photos by Justin Borucki.
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hen The Music arrives at Sony’s Sydney offices to preview Bring Me The Horizon’s new album amo, photographs of major names like Delta Goodrem, and Michael Jackson tour plaques line the walls. Ushered into a large boardroom to hear the record, streaming charts buzz away featuring the likes of 5 Seconds Of Summer, Post Malone, Amy Shark and yes — Bring Me The Horizon. The scenario reinforces that this is the chart-dominating company they’re keeping nowadays. If it wasn’t already apparent to some, the British deathcore/metalcore upstarts turned stadium rock candidates are officially a very big deal. “Yeah, I guess so,” 32-year-old singer Oliver Sykes says of suggestions they’re really playing in the major leagues now. “It still doesn’t feel like it in a way, we’re just doing our thing. But the fact you went and listened to our album at Sony, the support we’ve been shown and how excited they are about the record, it makes you think, ‘Fucking hell, we’ve got some responsibility on our shoulders here.’” And amo (or ‘love’ — more on that later), their sixth full-length, could seemingly elevate this band with already major ambitions to that elusive next level. “This whole album’s completely different to anything we’ve done before,” Sykes suggests. While first single MANTRA emphasised the LP’s rock inclinations, elsewhere the follow-up to 2015’s mega-selling That’s The Spirit flirts with strings-drenched drama, ambience, grime, pseudo-EDM and glitch-pop. There’s also collaborations with human beat machine Rahzel, Cradle Of Filth screamer Dani Filth and electronic artist Grimes. Overall, a broad sonic palette somewhat removed from the band’s humble heavy music origins in the industrial, former steel city of Sheffield, England where Sykes still resides. It’s proposed that the new material sounds akin to a group who have that creative tunnel vision; not following others and doing what they wish creatively. “I think we’ve had to, you know? There’s not really anyone else out there in our genre or world that inspires us. I don’t think there has been anyone in the past decade, or two really, that has really made us be like, ‘Wow, let’s be like that band. I want to follow in their footsteps,’ or, ‘They’re doing it right.’ So we’ve just tried to figure out our own path and our own way. Looking to other genres and stuff, and seeing how other genres manage to produce progressive music, or icons still. “Because I really do feel like rock is the only genre that hasn’t really produced any icons in the past three decades. It’s still Ozzy, Metallica and all these bands headlining festivals, there’s no one coming along and taking the crown and stuff like that. I do feel like it’s partly down to rock’s sheer, for the most part, sheer resistance to progress, to do something different and to let other people on our record or (other) instruments in. There’s such a stigma attached to that, that rock has to be a certain way. “We’re in an age now where we’re experiencing new things in every other aspect of life, when it comes to every format of media and stuff, we’ve got virtual reality, we’ve got all these things. There’s so much we can do, and we’re doing it now. And it doesn’t make any sense to me why we wouldn’t do that for music when you can. We have these sound banks... We have this plethora of samples, synths and everything, and it’s so much easier to be able to do all this stuff. Why would you not? For us, we’re just trying to carve our own little path out and go our own way.” This ethos has spawned a burgeoning fanbase and MANTRA was nominated for a Grammy. The lead-up to
“There’s not really anyone else out there in our genre or world that inspires us.”
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amo’s release has been marred by tragedy as well though, a fan dying at the band’s sold-out show on 30 November in London. “It was just a horrible thing,” the vocalist reflects. “It was frustrating because we had so little information on it, and we didn’t even really have an idea until the following day that it had actually happened. It was the first time anything like that has ever happened at one of our shows. “It just sucks. We’ve been in close contact with the family, talked to them a lot and we’re doing everything we can for them. I guess the only solace that we can take is he really loved our band, and if he died being somewhere, seeing one of his favourite bands... it’s still not the best way to go, but... it’s just one of those things, it was a very bittersweet end to the tour. There’s not a lot you can say about it; it wasn’t due to any over-crazy moshpit or whatever, and security was amazing.” Lyrically, amo sees Sykes exorcising personal demons — even if he initially resisted writing about the peaks and valleys of love and relationships. The frontman underwent a divorce, before soon remarrying. “This all happened during the past 18 months, which I’m aware of is quite crazy. Even for me, it’s weird,” Sykes quips. “After we finished That’s The Spirit, during that time I was married... And maybe like halfway through that time period I found out that my wife was having an affair, and it had been going on for quite a long time. I was completely oblivious to it. It was a massive shock obviously. “For most people getting married, getting divorced and getting married again probably happens over ten, 15 years, definitely not less than two. You very slowly fall out of love, or something happens or whatever and things dissipate or whatever, very slowly, to the point where you don’t really see what’s going on, it just happens. But when it happens that quickly, for me, it was almost like being out of my body. Seeing all the cogs turning, and I was like, ‘Jesus Christ, love is such a crazy thing,’ like how it can go from literally being besotted with someone, and then the next day realising that you never wanted to see that person again, and realising they had lied to you. It was like, how was I so sure things were perfect for me, and the next day I’m realising that everything’s wrong?” Ultimately, Sykes determined that writing lyrics for him is therapeutic. “You come to a point where it’s almost a bit of a disservice if I don’t talk about this, if I try to make something up, or do a concept album or whatever. But I’m like, ‘What the fuck am I going to talk about?’ I’m not interested in politics, I’m not interested in anything like that, and I can’t make up stories. I have to sing about ‘this happened to me’ for it to sound real.” On a less personally draining note, amo also features the piss-taking, purist-baiting track heavy metal — which, among other notions, appears to troll detractors who bemoan Bring Me The Horizon not playing the aforementioned style of music these days. Sykes admits to having formerly been “the most polarising band in England”, although most members are largely accustomed to such backlash. The cut’s genesis is somewhat steeped in the prospect of that lone punter, amid a sea of positivity, who will still inevitably lambaste them. “I guess it’s just a song about the weird and wonderful journey of our band. We’re one of the very few bands that’s managed to progress as much as we have and actually have our fanbase grow, and it not all fall on its arse. I do think our story’s very interesting, that if you go back and listen to our first album and to what we’re doing now, it’s just quite trippy.”
amo (RCA/Sony) is out this month. Bring Me The Horizon tour from 10 Apr.
Microparties: what are they and why are they becoming a dominant force in Australian politics? The recent Victorian state election brought the issues of microparties and preference dealing back into the news. If you’re wondering what a “microparty” is — or why Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party has two seats in the Victorian Senate — Tom Hawking has the answers.
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icroparty” is a new and sometimes ambiguous term. Historically, any party that isn’t Labor, the Liberal/National coalition, or whoever’s filling the role of Australia’s “third” party has been referred to as a “minor party”. The term “microparty”, by contrast, has come to describe a specific breed of new party, one that has thrived off preference deals and online word-of-mouth. These are often single-issue parties, fielding relatively few candidates. They encompass the entire political spectrum, from the Socialist Alliance on the left to the farright Australia First. Their issues of choice range from the fairly mainstream (the Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party) to the lunatic fringe, both the relatively harmless
(the Pirate Party) and decidedly unpleasant (the anti-vaccine Health Party and the Islamophobic Love Australia or Leave Party).
Why do they have so much influence at the moment?
One word: preferences. Historically, preferences have generally been passed from minor to major parties along broad ideological lines: left-wing minor parties sent their preferences to Labor, and their counterparts on the right sent theirs to the Coalition. Microparties, however, tend to direct their preferences to one another. This means that the votes for a variety of microparties can be “aggregated” into votes for a single microparty candidate, which may be enough to get that candidate elected, even if he or she only got a tiny proportion of the primary vote. This phenomenon means that microparties have often been accused of “gaming the system”, and the federal Senate’s preferential voting system was altered before the 2016 election to abolish group voting tickets. Some states, however, still retain the pre-2016 system.
Why have they come to prominence now?
There are a number of reasons. It’s long been fairly easy to register a political party in Australia: you need 500 signatures, a written constitution, and you’re good to go. But getting visibility and votes for your new party has become significantly easier since the rise of the internet and, specifically, social media — several microparties started as Facebook groups. Combine this with an air of general dissatisfaction with both major parties — their share of votes in elections, both state and federal, appears to be in a longterm decline — and you have a perfect environment in which small parties can prosper. There’s one name that keeps cropping up in the discussion of microparties and preference direction: Glenn Druery. Popularly known as “the preference whisperer”, he has made preference deals his trademark. Druery rose to prominence with the notorious 1999 “tablecloth” election in NSW, in which he developed many of the tactics that would eventually bring stunning success for his Minor Parties Alliance in the 2013 federal election. In the recent Victorian state election, Druery worked his magic for (god help us) Derryn Hinch, delivering the bearded Kiwi rabblerouser two Senate seats.
How they are affecting the balance of power?
Small parties have certainly held the balance of power before, at both state and federal levels. The nature of
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the Senate, in particular — only half of its members are elected in a normal election — means that it’s been rare for an incumbent government to have an absolute Senate majority. However, the balance of power has generally been held by a single third party — the Greens, and before them, the Australian Democrats and the DLP — and/or a couple of independents. This meant that there was still a degree of predictability as to a government’s chances of getting its legislation through the upper house. The sudden abundance of microparties means that this is not necessarily the case; to get legislation through the Senate, a government needs to appeal to, and negotiate with, a variety of crossbenchers, many of them political neophytes. (The federal Senate, for instance, currently contains a record 19 crossbenchers, representing seven parties.)
What does this mean for the two-party political status quo?
The continuing decline in votes for both major parties means that large, diverse and constantly shifting crossbench Senate contingents are most likely here to stay. It seems unlikely that we’ll ever end as a genuinely multiparty state; our governments will ultimately continue to be Labor or Coalition controlled governments for the foreseeable future. But the days when a party could even hope for an absolute majority in both houses are probably gone. The microparty explosion is likely to have the greatest effect on second-tier parties. The Greens, for instance, experienced unprecedented success during the 2000s by commanding large crossbench contingents in state and federal Senates. The Victorian state election showed that the Greens are vulnerable to being targeted by an alliance of right-wing microparties.
What does this mean for Australia in the long term?
It could mean more changes in voting legislation; the states that haven’t adopted the federal Senate’s abolition of group voting will probably do so sooner or later. And it could also mean that it’ll eventually get harder to form a political party and/or to run for election. Some states have already adopted measures to this effect — the 2014 South Australian state election, for instance, required each candidate to put up a $3,000 bond, up from $450 four years earlier. Whether this is a good thing or not depends on your view of the validity of mandates delivered by preference deals. Diversity of opinion is certainly welcome, but can that diversity be said to reflect that of the electorate if some Senators have been elected despite receiving minuscule portions of the primary vote?
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Coming in 2019
Hockey Dad There’s nothing better than a bit of Hock rock and you better believe when album three hits we’re gonna spin those Wingdang doodles all night long.
We’ve put our ears to the ground, and heard all we can on the grapevine to bring you this list of the best music, films and TV hits coming your way this year.
Ali Barter Word on the street is that Ali Barter’s followup to her killer breakout, A Suitable Girl, is going knock expectations flat on their asses.
Albums
Alex Lahey Lahey’s coming back with another jangly stack of glorious, inescapable hooks and from the sounds of it they’ll be ready to snag your ears around May.
Selected by The Music staff. Written by Sam Wall. Weezer Funky recent single Can’t Knock The Hustle has our ears pricked for their longawaited Black Album, out 1 Mar. Hasta pronto, Weezer. Tame Impala Kevin Parker has said he’ll be “very disappointed” if the band aren’t rocking a new album by next summer and same really. Grimes Some thoroughly weird shit has gone down since Art Angels and we’re pretty keen to see Grimes channel it. Rihanna It’s been a long wait since ANTI but the drought ends now. With two 2019 albums rumoured from Riri, it’s raining more than ev-ah. The Distillers It’s been 16 years since Coral Fang and we’ve got a lot of pent-up thrashing to vent. Slipknot Dust the masks off, Maggots! There’s no set date but the nine-headed beast returns in 2019 and it’s going to be heavy. Chance The Rapper Chance would be a fine thing. A follow-up to Coloring Book would be even finer. Adele Look, it’s Adele. We have no doubt her next number is going to break hearts and make charts. Cardi B Cardi B dropping hints at a new album in 2019? You gotta believe me when I tell you, I said like it like that. PP Arnold If one good thing came out of 2018 it was the glorious return of PP Arnold. It sounds like no one’s willing to sit on this next one for 50 years. Northlane Northlane’s Good Things sets have us massively hyped for new tunes, but then we’re never not hyped for new Northlane. Allday If nothing else, we’re very excited to read his next ‘track-by-track’. @alldaychubbyboy spins a good yarn.
L-FRESH The LION Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Put your fists in the air where they’re meant to be — there’s new L-FRESH on the way. Cool Out Sun Cool Out Sun’s funky AF self-titled cut was easily one 2018’s most slept on. They’re giving you a second chance, people. Help them help you.
Didirri Whispers in the underground say that later this year Didirri’s releasing his. wait, debut album? How is that only just happening? Weird. Banoffee New tunes from Banoffee means new looks from Banoffee and we want them both. Give them to us, please! POND Nick Allbrook’s mad genius seems to have hit its full, glitter-faced stride lately and whatever POND drop come autumn is bound to make a splash.
Dean Lewis The lead single toppled Drake in the ARIA charts. Damn thing went quadruple platinum. Gonna be BIG.
City Calm Down Last year’s Echoes In Blue was a massive leap forward for the new-new wave outfit and we expect the next one will be exponential. DZ Deathrays With any luck, album number four will see OG Red Wiggle Murray Cook inducted as a fully-fledged Deathray. Dro Carey It is always worth checking out what wild basement bangers the Sydney producer has smuggled back from the darkest timeline. The Teskey Brothers Not many debuts get the reaction Half Moon Harvest did, let alone self-produced indie releases. Safe to say there’re a few people keen hear number two. Hatchie The Levi’s Music Prize-winning artist first tipped her debut was on the way when she dropped Adored in October and we’re extremely down for more shoegaze dreamscapes.
Bag Raiders Well thank your shooting stars, it’s been a full nine years since their self-titled debut but the legendary BRaiders are dropping a new album. The Smith Street Band Lads beware: after the universally beloved More Scared Of You the Smithies are coming back with another set of anthems. Vampire Weekend Still no solid word on when ‘Mitsubishi Macchiato’ (working title) is actually going to land but it was “94.5% done” in May. So, soon we assume. Mark Ronson The man’s only gone and made a break-up album full of “sad bangers” with everybody from Miley to Kevin Parker. Bring on the #theheartbreakera. LSD Labrinth, Sia, Diplo — together as one. That is some serious chemistry. Forget the afterschool specials, LSD’ll cure what ails ya.
Polish Club After their recent brass section tour it’s become clear that the only thing with more horn than Polish Club is the general public for Polish Club.
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Washington Sugardoom cometh! Well, it’s not called that anymore, but according to an interview with Zan Rowe, Washington’s third album is absolutely dropping early this year.
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M-Phazes The amount of music M-Phazes has had his hand in over the years is ridiculous, but soon we’ll cop the first collection of his own work since 2013.
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Highasakite Only one month’s worth of sleeps to go until Uranium Heart. The latest from the dramatic Norwegian indie-pop outfit is out 1 Feb. Broods The NZ siblings are giving off real ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ vibes with their new album Don’t Feed The Pop Monster. Everything’s looking “peach” this 1 Feb. The Cat Empire The Cat Empire are a fusion institution at this point and if lead single Barricades is anything to go by Stolen Diamonds will make a sparkling addition to their canon this 15 Feb. The Beasts There could never be a Beasts Of Bourbon without Spencer P Jones and Brian Hooper. To mark their loss, Perkins and co will return with Still Here on 15 Feb as The Beasts. Methyl Ethel Jake Webb has said the group want to take their hyper-catchy surrealist pop to the next level with Triage. No clue how they’ll pull that off, but finding out this 15 Feb will be a trip. Hilltop Hoods Clark Griswold was sick. Leave Me Lonely was sick. When 22 Feb rolls around The Great Expanse is going to be sick. Dear Seattle The young indie-punks’ 2017 EP was seriously impressive. We predict their fulllength debut this 15 Feb will come packing some of the biggest festival singalongs of the year. Yak The wheel of fashion spins in a constant 20-year cycle, so they say, and Yak’s spoke is rising. This 8 Feb their sharp, grungey rock will bare its teeth in Pursuit of Momentary Happiness.
Films
Clockwise from left: Albums - Cardi B, Ali Barter, Didirri (photo by Kane Hibberd); Films - Margot Robbie (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man (to feature in Avengers: Endgame), Daisy Ridley as Rey (to feature in Star Wars: Episode IX); TV - Ryan Corr (Bloom), Millie Bobbie Brown as Eleven (to feature in Stranger Things S3), Chris Pine (I Am The Night)
Selected by Anthony Carew Once Upon A Time In Hollywood In 1969 Los Angeles, a TV actor and his stunt double try to find fame. 50 years after the Manson Murders, Quentin Tarantino - after the misstep of The Hateful Eight - uses them as a dramatic element in his ninth film. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Damon Herriman.
The Souvenir Part 1 & 2 Cult English auteur Joanna Hogg seems primed for a breakout with this two-part coming-of-age tale, starring the mother/ daughter Swinton act, about a film student who becomes romantically involved with an untrustworthy older man in the early ‘80s.
Avengers: Endgame Fresh off shattering records for the mostviewed trailer, Endgame will try and distract people from the fact that the last two Avengers movies were bad. Basically 30 contractually-obligated Hollywood stars with Anthony and Joe Russo at the helm, all those superheroes who died last time didn’t really die. And the universe gets saved or whatever.
The Goldfinch John Crowley’s Brooklyn follow-up marks the first-ever to-screen translation of a Donna Tartt novel, making it feel like an instant event. With Ansel Elgort, Aneurin Barnard, Ashleigh Cummings and Nicole Kidman, it tells the tale of a young man who falls into underground art dealing after surviving a terrorist bombing at an art museum.
Star Wars: Episode IX JJ Abrams is back with Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac for something involving lightsabers and dark sides. The revived Star Wars films have all been good, but now the franchise also serves as a forum for a greater critical discussion of toxic masculinity in the guise of horrifying fanboi entitlement.
Wendy Seven years after his Oscar-crashing debut Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin finally returns with a years-in-the-making, wildly-ambitious project, long shrouded in secrecy. With an unknown cast, it reportedly tells a story where “a young girl is kidnapped and taken to a hidden ecosystem, where a tribal war is raging over a form of pollen that breaks the relationship between ageing and time”.
TV
Selected by Guy Davis
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Bloom If you could take a sip from the Fountain of Youth, would you? Ok, let me rephrase that: if you could take a sip from the Fountain of Youth and turn back the clock to when you looked like Aussie Vampire Diaries star Phoebe Tonkin, why wouldn’t you? Sounds good, sure, but naturally there are complications in this homegrown series airing on streaming service Stan, and co-starring up-and-comers like Ryan Corr and all-Australian legends like Bryan Brown and Jacki Weaver.
Stranger Things S3 How effective is the whole Stranger Things phenomenon? So effective that a trailer for the Netflix series’ upcoming third season, which will undoubtedly once again pit its young heroes against some form of smalltown spookiness, didn’t even need to show any footage – it simply tossed out the titles of the episodes and let the fans’ imaginations run wild. The Brothers Duffer have done such a superb job of evoking ‘80s pop culture that our interests are positively piqued.
Euphoria Hey, what’s the matter with kids today? I dunno, but maybe Euphoria, HBO’s US adaptation of an acclaimed Israeli series about “drugs, sex, identity, trauma, social media, love and friendship” — all seen through the eyes of an unreliable, drug-addicted teen narrator, played by the gifted actor-singer Zendaya Coleman — can provide some hint.
I Am The Night With Wonder Woman 1984 pushed back to 2020, audiences are just gonna have to wait a while for their next team-up of director Patty Jenkins and actor Chris Pine (aka The Best Chris). Or are they? The duo joins forces again for this hard-boiled tale of intrigue and murder in post-WWII Los Angeles, reportedly inspired by the Black Dahlia case.
Black B*tch Why has it taken us this long to find a starring vehicle for Deborah Mailman? She’s been enhancing movies and shows for decades, but the six-part ABC political drama Black B*tch (working title, apparently) is the gifted Mailman’s first lead role in a series. She plays a charismatic activist appointed to the Senate by embattled prime minister Rachel Griffiths. High-stakes ambition, betrayal and treachery ensues.
Devs Not a lot is known about this one as yet, but all you really need to know is that it’s set in the cutting-edge tech milieu of San Francisco, stars the mightily talented and charismatic Sonoya Mizuno of Maniac and Crazy Rich Asians fame and is the television debut of novelist, screenwriter and filmmaker Alex Garland, who has Ex Machina and Annihilation to his name. To quote tasteful Simpsons drunkard Barney, just hook it to my veins.
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Get lucky Parcels bassist Noah Hill checks in with Bryget Chrisfield to chart the Byron Bay-bred quintet’s rise from living on “fried potatoes on toast with paprika for breakfast” when they first arrived in Berlin to working with Daft Punk and counting Milla Jovovich — who stars in one of their videos — among their fans.
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it was fried potatoes on toast with paprika for breakfast. That was the lowest moment, yeah. I look back on it with fondness, but I’m really happy I’m not there now.” The contrast between what Hill describes and the natural paradise Parcels chose to move away from could not be more stark. Check out their Tieduprightnow music video, which Hill reveals “was all filmed in Byron, like, ’round the corner from all of our houses”. The clip features picturesque coastline, lifesavers, Speedos and even a Chiko Roll. We can’t help but wonder whether international journalists ask them about this Australian delicacy. “No, they don’t really seem to get the aesthetic of it, really, as much as we’d like — the kind of Australianness of it; they just see it like a fun, surfy, happy-go-lucky music video, I think,” he laments. “But the concept was really for us to be in the Australian landscape, but kinda passing though it in a way, ’cause that’s how we feel when we go back — we’re not really a part of Australian culture as much as we used to be and we’re a little bit outside of it, ’cause we’ve been living over here for so long. And we’re kind of looking at, you know, all the wilderness and the culture of Australia from an outside perspective, but I don’t think that was really achieved, in the video.” We’re tipping that watching it must be like receiving a postcard from home for the band, then. “Pretty much, haha, I prefer not to watch it.” They just released their self-titled debut album in October, but Parcels had already col-
“We’ d heard rumours that [Daft Punk] were coming, some people were saying that they were coming and, yeah! We were pretty excited, but also it’s kinda too big to even believe.”
Pic: Antoine Henault
t the time of The Music’s chat, we find Parcels bassist Noah Hill “back at home in Berlin”, the German capital that houses Berghain, which is guarded by notoriously ruthless bouncers. Given that the exclusive club’s dress code is all-black and alternative, with blond hair generally a no-no, we’ve just gotta know whether Hill has ever passed through Berghain’s doors. “I have,” he laughs. “I kind of knew what I had to wear. I mean, I went at — I think I ended up lining up at 5am or 6am, after already partying a little and so the fear was kind of lost at that point.” Good tunes, though, hey? “It’s, like, the best.” But Hill admits joining the Berghain queue “is a high-pressure situation and I don’t really like to do it a lotta the time, ’cause you can’t go in there with your friends; it’s, like, always a solo mission. I’ve kind of lost the enjoyment of it, but it’s fun the first few times.” So how did he conceal his long, blond
surfy locks? “My hair was tied up inside a beanie, make-up on, collar around my neck,” he chuckles. When Parcels first relocated to Berlin, they didn’t take a lot of musical equipment over with them, Hill tells. “We pretty much sold all our stuff in Australia and then bought new things when we moved here, and that was the fun part about it: when we got to Berlin we were all buying new instruments, and finding places to rehearse, and kinda starting from scratch again.” So just how grim were their lodgings at first? “The first three months we were staying in Airbnbs together just sharing, like, a onebedroom apartment between five of us. It was pretty tight.” Just the one bathroom, then? “Yeah,” he confirms, “so we really got to know each other in those first three months. It was a pretty tight-knit unit at the beginning and luckily we just became super-close rather than, you know, hating each other. “And then I remember my first house in Berlin, I was living with Louie [Swain, keys] and that was really grim. And we didn’t have heating in the winter and it was a dirty, very typical Berlin place and cheap rent; like, it was our own two-bedroom apartment and all the boys would be coming and going, and people would be sleeping on the floor, and those first two years were pretty funny.” On what kind of rations they were living on when times were particularly tough, Hill recalls, “I remember, like, for a lot of mornings
laborated with Daft Punk on their track Overnight (which the band performed on Conan in December of last year) back in 2017. The story goes that the funky French robot duo — GuyManuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter — attended a Kitsune party Parcels performed at and were instantly impressed. On whether the band knew Daft Punk were in the house before they went on stage, Hill casually offers, “We’d heard rumours that they were coming, some people were saying that they were coming and, yeah! We were pretty excited, but also it’s kinda too big to even believe, but we never would’ve imagined what would’ve happened next, you know. It was my first time in Paris and our first show and, yeah! We had no idea what was to come.” Reflecting on the series of events that led to this Byron Bay-bred quintet spending a couple of weeks collaborating with Daft Punk in their Parisian studio, Hill hesitates, “I think it’s hard to — it’s definitely luck, it’s a whole bunch of things. We were pretty lucky, we were the right band at the right time and knowing the right people, and for them to do what they wanted to do at that time — which was probably to, you know, mentor a young band; it all just kinda came together.” In terms of what the takeaways were from these sessions, Hill shares, “The big thing’s probably the kind of core aspect of songwriting; making sure that the song is good before you kind of dress it up with frills and bows, you know; making sure the simplicity — the very core of it — is a good song. That’s something that they were aware of, through all genres. Always when we were in the studio they’d be pulling up songs from everywhere, they have such a good musical understanding and it was always about the kind of essence of the song and just pure songwriting.”
Parcels tour from 9 Jan.
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
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Back row: Idles; Middle row: A Swayze & The Ghost; Bottom Row: VOIID
“There’s nothing more desirable to us than a scene that is allinclusive and free of a bullshit attitude.”
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
1977 was a crucial year for punk. Jessica Dale explores if 2018 could be just as important in the scene’s history. This article contains discussion of sexual assault. If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.
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n 2007, Spin Magazine dubbed 1977 “the year punk exploded”, demonstrated on their front cover with a very meta image of Sex Pistols’ frontman Johnny Rotten squeezing at his face. A formative year for the scene and the worldwide communities that followed, 1977 saw the release of albums like Never Mind Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, Blondie’s Plastic Letters, Ramones’ Rocket To Russia and Leave Home, and the rise of bands like Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Slits, The Clash and X-Ray Spex. Closer to home, it was acts like The Saints and Radio Birdman informing the Australian wave. The US offered some of the ‘80s most influential acts, with groups like Black
Flag, Fugazi, Bad Religion and X. Given the arid conditions for female-led punk groups during the decade, it’s unsurprising that the 1990s gave way to the Riot Grrrl movement, led by acts like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Huggy Bear and Sleater-Kinney. The late ‘90s and early 2000s led to a surge of pop-punk, while the influence of SoCal punk reached around the globe. Florida punk saw a peak in the mid-’00s with bands like Against Me! and Fake Problems, while the late ‘00s and early ‘10s gave way to a more emo-focused trend. 2018 offered a potentially evolutionary year for punk. #MeToo’s effect is showing and has the potential to influence a new generation of Riot Grrrls, perhaps creating an even more inclusive scene than its first ideation. Emo might not be a trend that many may wish to subscribe to, or even admit that they liked in the first place, but it has had its influence — is it possible that its heightened lyrical vulnerability could be the new, and staying, trend in punk for 2019 and onwards? IDLES won’t call themselves a punk band; in fact they even detest the inference of it. But listening to the five-piece from Bristol in the UK, it can feel hard to find another sonic home for them. With their brash and fast-paced sound, it would be easy to miss the thing that makes IDLES special — a stark, honest and, at times, brutal lyricism
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that challenges societal norms and toxic behaviours. Danny Nedelko, perhaps the breakout track for the band from their 2018 album Joy As An Act Of Resistance, tackles immigration and racism. June speaks tenderly of frontman Joe Talbot’s stillborn daughter. There’s references to Margaret Atwood in Mother from their 2017 debut album, Brutalism, the song bridging with the lines: “Sexual violence doesn’t start and end with rape/It starts in our books and behind our school gates/Men are scared women will laugh in their face/Whereas women are scared it’s their lives men will take.” “Best band in the world right now, by a country mile,” declared one fan on the band’s Facebook page. “Most important album for a whole generation.” It’s a broad call, but considering the current state of post-Brexit vote UK, maybe Joy As An Act Of Resistance does have the potential to be at least a defining album for this generation and a reference point for the next. Closer to home, this year’s BIGSOUND summit offered some of the local scene’s best up-and-comers. Tasmanian group A Swayze & The Ghosts had The Foundry full and heaving, with frontman Andrew Swayze walking through the crowd, bashing a tambourine one moment and addressing the country’s political state the next. They continued to pack out rooms for the rest of the
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week. Brisbane four-piece VOIID quickly became the talk of the town following their set at The Zoo. Only three years into their tenure as a band, the group have quickly made a name for themselves with their live act and blistering tracks like Silly Girl and Twin, self-described as “a four-piece of hellish girl-shriek guaranteed to make your face melt and your boyfriend cry”. “The scene is definitely getting better but there is still room for improvement,” says drummer Jasmine Cannon when asked if the punk community is an inclusive one in 2018. “It depends where you look, but that goes for pretty much any and every genre of music and the scene that comes with it. 2018 has definitely been heavy with calling out problematic acts and problematic supporters, hopefully that’ll carry on in 2019 and the years to come. “There’s nothing more desirable to us than a scene that is all-inclusive and free of a bullshit attitude.”
IDLES tour from 24 Jan. A Swayze & The Ghost play Party In The Paddock on 9 Feb. VOIID play The Foundry on 12 Jan and Mountain Sounds on 15 Feb.
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The Big Picture
Nick Moir The experienced Aussie photojournalist and regular Fairfax Media contributor has just been recognised by one of nature photography’s most prestigious platforms, the National Geographic Photographic Awards. He talks storm chasing, climate change and braving the elements for the perfect shot.
This image is part of a photo essay titled Last Day On Earth, visually chronicling the extreme weather events you found while storm chasing in Tornado Alley. Where does the fascination with photographing the elements at their most wild come from? I grew up in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney where severe storms and bushfires are a common phenomena, but it wasn’t until I started chasing in the late ‘90s that I became fascinated by the complex organisation of storms when they become supercells. They become sky engines, and if you are in the right position you can see its moving parts working together, the final expression of synchronicity being a tornado. Creating this collection required you to shoot in extremely difficult conditions. How did you prepare and what was your most intense experience while making this series? Generally, the most challenging feature of storm chasing is the hours of driving involved. For example, I’ll be chasing and my target area will be roughly two hours away and that’s before the storms have even started. I expect to be in the car for about ten hours and that’s a local storm chase. Probably the most intense experience on this last series was ‘hook punching’ the rain and hail being wrapped into a tornado in Wyoming, earlier this year in May. To get into an area where you could see the tornado we had to drive through winds of over 100kph with 7cm hailstones. As you can imagine, the noise is deafening. It’s a bit of a leap of faith as you are putting a lot of confidence in the mobile radar data, which shows where the tornado should be.
Thunderbird In The Dust, 2018
A companion series, Burned, captures the strangely beautiful destruction of bushfires. These two collections seem to be making a commentary on environmental extremes, along with a sense of the apocalyptic. Do you want to communicate a message through your shots? Many people think I am making a statement about climate change, however I am not. I leave the convincing to qualified climatologists. There have always been storms and fires and I am trying to convey the titanic powers involved when they get big and mean. It is not surprising that they were given god statuses by ancient cultures. However, I do hope that apart from the individual images being great to look at, that they will be a historical cataloguing of the events if things do continue to decline.
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The shot opposite, Thunderbird In The Dust, was just recognised by the National Geographic Photographic Awards, taking out the runner-up gong in the ‘Places’ category. What does it mean to you to be counted among the world’s most accomplished natural world photographers? Most of the competitions I enter are for professional press photographers, so to take an award which thousands of amateurs also enter is gratifying. These days, the true obsessives are the amateur photographers who chase the natural world at their own expense, gaining knowledge for pure enjoyment.
Holt the phone Julia Holter tells Hannah Story about her attempt to answer a question posed by German philosopher Friedrich Hülderlin- via Heidgger and Adnan — “What are poets for in these destitute times?”
W
hen she was putting together her
know? It’s confusing and I think that there
latest record, Aviary, Julia Holter
are these ambiguities that exist that are hard
was reading a collection of short
to
stories by American-Lebanese artist and poet
appreciate
when
there’s
so
much
noise happening.
Etel Adnan, Master Of The Eclipse. She says
“I guess in the end what I’m really getting
the book “resonated” with her, inspiring her
at is love, and what is love and empathy? Just
to ponder a question first posed by German
in general, there’s so much disagreement on
philosopher Friedrich Hülderlin in the 18th
what is a good sound, what is a bad sound, or
century, and elucidated by Martin Heidegger
what is true goodness and what is badness,
in 1946, “What are poets for in these desti-
in a world where people are denying what
tute times?”
empathy is.
“That resonated with me feeling not sure
“There are a lot of political views for
what my purpose was as a musician in this
instance that are very prevalent right now,
world of insanity,” Holter says.
including that of a lot of the US government,
The whole record feels like an attempt to
that is inherently denying empathy and the
peel apart that question, using different and
existence of it. There’s not a lot of empathy,
sometimes grating sonic elements to try to
there’s not a lot of belief in humans being
reflect a sense of dissonance.
equal, and [there is a belief in] some being
Holter tries to explore that dissonance
better than others, so all of these things are
musically, using rich synthesisers, organ
going through my mind and I think a lot of
sounds, and strings, inspired by such dis-
people’s minds about what is empathy?
parate sounds as Vangelis’ Blade Runner
“Somewhere in there there’s also this
soundtrack, the music of Alice Coltrane, and
question for me of what is a good sound and
the ‘hocketing’ technique used in medieval
a bad sound, and I’m not sure how all these
music, “when different voices interrupting
things connect, but for me in the end, yes, it is
each other creates a rhythmic effect”.
maybe as cheesy as I’m trying to find love in a
The record then is an attempt to unpack
world that’s falling apart. What is true empa-
the ambiguity in ‘goodness’, in what is
thy? What is true like listening, and over time,
deemed good, musically, and in the world
there are these obviously different ideas of it
at large. “There’s a lot of things that I like in
and that’s maybe why I’m looking to the past
music that are also a little painful. I really like
to understand.”
the sound of instruments in Every Day Is
Holter says she has lately been looking to
An Emergency . it’s like a grating sound, the
history — both of her parents are historians —
‘hocketing’ between the high pitches in that
to “understand a little bit about the patterns
track, but I also really enjoy that sound and
of human society, and try to do better. We
I enjoy listening to it. And I think that we’re
always fall into cycles so how do we steer our-
complex as humans and we enjoy things,
selves away from certain tendencies?”
but also they bring us pain and pleasure, you
Honest to god Brent Faiyaz is all about honesty. In the country for a run of dates this month, here he speaks to Cyclone about why Australia be poppin’, embracing life in LA and making global music.
Sonically she’s putting her interest in the past into practice, mashing together techniques from the past and present “for poetic purpose”, the hyper-futuristic synth sound of the original ‘80s Blade Runner pushing up against the different, seemingly infinite, approach to the harmony of medi-
T
eval music.
he rising avant’n’b star Brent Faiyaz (aka Christopher Brent Wood) is touring Australia — and, with the announcement generating major buzz, his shows have already been upgraded to larger venues. But it won’t be Wood’s first Antipodean trip. Indeed, the singer-songwriter “vacationed” here in 2017. “Nobody knew who I was and they still fucked with me,” he says elatedly. Wood has epic memories of simultaneously celebrating the festive season and summer — a novelty for an American accustomed to a wintry Christmas. “I was in Melbourne for a little bit and them clubs was poppin’’til five in the morning, and I was out in Sydney and them clubs was poppin’’til five in the morning — I’m like,’What the hell?’ It’s crazy out there!” As such, Wood is “hype” to be returning to what he considers “a second home”. “It’s gonna be lit,” he rhapsodises. “I’ve never performed live in Australia, so I’m excited just to see how the crowd receives this, honestly.” The charismatic Wood spent his formative years in Columbia, Maryland, learning to play keys and vocalise. After moving to Charlotte, North Carolina with his family, the teen pursued a career as a SoundCloud rapper. However, one time, a dude messaged him, suggesting he focus on singing. Initially flummoxed, Wood heeded that advice
Aviary also attempts to find a position between the ‘loudness’ of contemporary life, the chaos in always being online and connected, and a need for quiet. “In making this record I definitely, I did not come to it with a clear concept, I was just like I need sound to immerse myself in, like cathartic sound, and I don’t know what the answer is. My record is not the answer for people who need silence, but I don’t know what I’m even doing. I’m just doing what I guess I needed to do. I don’t know to deal with the cacophony so this is my response
Pic: Dicky Batho
to it.”
Julia Holter tours from 18 Jan.
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All you need is Addicted to house music, love and being a global citizen, Masego speaks to Cyclone ahead of his Laneway shows.
T
he mercurial Jamaican-American Masego (aka Micah Davis) — singer, rapper, saxophonist, producer and lowkey comedian — presented one of 2018’s most romantic and sensual albums in Lady Lady. Now this bohemian, who first toured Australia behind his break-out jazz bop Tadow in 2017, is returning to charm Laneway. Davis is a traditional instrumentalist who revels in digital-era fusion. Speaking from the road in Europe, he regards music today as an “endless journey”. His father in the US Air Force, Davis came of age in hip hop-obsessed Virginia. But, with both parents also pastors, and Mum the church’s music director, Davis was raised strictly on gospel. He taught himself to play the drums using YouTube — the platform then exposing him to myriad other influences. Davis went on to learn piano and, crucially, saxophone — the latter to impress a teacher. Meanwhile, he was given a trove of vinyl by his grandfather. “I would just dig into those and read the back of them like they were library books.” Davis became enamoured of the stylish Harlem jazz legend Cab Calloway. He likewise studied Michael Jackson’s showmanship via documentaries. Plus, he absorbed Jamie Foxx’s stand-up comedy. As a collegiate Davis hosted jam sessions.
In time, he invented his own playful genre, “TrapHouseJazz” — blending Southern hip hop, neo-soul and house — for 2016’s The Pink Polo EP. In fact, Davis was introduced to underground house by friends from Chicago, initially digging its synths. “I used to love those topline solos over songs.” Yet, as he travelled, Davis was intrigued by global dance music culture. “It made me understand why overseas the stamina at a party is a lot longer than in the States. In the States, a party might end at 1am; 2am, if you’re lucky. But, overseas, some things can end at five in the morning; 11 in the morning, if it’s Germany. So I just understood that house music had this rhythm to it that was kind of addictive... I felt like I wanted to dive more into that energy and that essence.” Davis has established vital connections — with DJ Jazzy Jeff an early champion. After he shared clips of his sax-playing on Instagram, Sounwave, the chief producer at Top Dawg Entertainment, reached out. Sounwave guided Lady Lady’s (Andre 3000sampling) avant’n’ B title-track. Davis credits the Compton native — “a selfless, loving guy” — with easing him into his adopted home of Los Angeles. “He told me so many stories. He took me to this random beach
in California one time and was like,’Look out there and just gather some inspiration — clear your head.’ He tried to teach me so much as well that I wasn’t even ready for what he was teaching me; introduced me to certain artists and put me in rooms with much more famous people than myself. I still had my autograph book — like I was still very young and just eyes wide.” Lady Lady chronicles Davis’ exchanges with women — and self-realisation. (The R&B queen Kehlani guests on 24 Hr Relationship.) Davis, 25, has been “reflecting” on what he discovered about himself from completing his debut. Indeed, he openly expresses contradictory desires for sexual freedom (the trapsoul Lavish Lullaby ) and romantic commitment (the soft jazz Black Love ). “I think it’s the honesty of saying that — you know, I’m not painting myself as this perfect gentleman, and I’m not painting myself as this hand-tatted rapper with a bunch of women. It’s just saying that I’ve had all these emotions, and that I’m an emotional person — I’ve learned that — and that I’ve had a lot of conversations to understand relationships and understand what different modern relationships look like and what makes them work. So it’s just a reflective piece, saying that I love’love’, for sure. I’m
definitely a sap! I’m a lover of love, and the purity of it, because I’ve seen it and I know that it actually exists. [But] I also love people with honesty and their own freedom... So it’s kinda embracing everyone’s personal journey, I think.” Beyond being a lover, Davis aspires to be a “global citizen” — engendering goodwill with his music amid political turmoil. (Of President Trump, he rues, “I’m not even in the States long enough to know what that man is doing.”) And Davis promises fans a #peakMasego encounter at Laneway when he appears with his band. “You can just expect a custom show — like every show, I change it for that particular area, so I see it as my journey to give everyone a unique experience. So I’ll probably make the show up on the flight there. But you can expect some instruments, you can expect me being extremely tall, and you can expect some type of singing.”
Masego tours from 30 Jan. Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
prepped in the Dominican Republic, the LP charts his artistic evolution and personal journey (the transportive, saxladen LA is a mood). “I think, more than anything, I learned to keep the music that you create true to yourself, because that’s what people are gonna identify with,” Wood, newly 23, reflects. “It’s like, the more honest that you are about who you really are, and what you come from, is how people are gonna receive you. So I learned that you’ve gotta be the most honest you are about where you come from and what you do and the shit you be on — and that’s what people are gonna gravitate towards.” Recently, the balladeer followed with the Lost EP, capturing the vibe of hanging out. “I think honestly it was just as true to life as it could possibly get,” he observes. “I was going to the studio later that night and just recording based off what I was experiencing that day — and I think that’s exactly what that project came out as.” Wood is industrious. On the side, he fronts the group Sonder with studio-types Dpat (noted for helming Wiz Khalifa’s Remember You, featuring The Weeknd) and Atu. Then he’s a member of Lost Kids, a label collective of divergent creatives. “It’s a whole wave,” Wood says. Today, the grassroots auteur cites as his primary influence DMV hip hoppers like Maryland’s Q Da Fool, signed to Roc Nation. He’s fascinated by how regional musical phenomena “translates” worldwide. “I’m on some local, everyday shit, with the people that I grew up with, and I’ll take that and I’ll make a song and then it’ll go crazy on some global shit — like people that are in Europe and London and Australia. They’ll listen to it and they’ll hear something completely different from how I felt when I was making it. But I’m just realising the impact that it has, more than anything.”
— and the stranger, Ty Baisden, became his manager. Wood developed a layered sound that, while paying homage to the spectrum of’90s R&B and neo-soul, remains modishly experimental. In 2016, he premiered with the EP AM Paradox, evoking a sumptuous Prince on the cult single Poison. Along the way, Wood relocated to Los Angeles, embracing its dramatic change of pace. “I’m out on Fairfax [Avenue] right now and you have things out here like [people] wildin’ on the motorcycles, doing shit — just a lotta stories busting out here,” he hollers down the line. “Honestly, I love it, though. I like the fact it’s so hectic. I guess the fact that it’s so active, on the day-to-day, on the business end, got me so inspired on the creative end. Anytime where it’s really active, I’m really inspired creatively.” The mainstream latched on to Wood when in 2016 he connected with GoldLink, another prodigy from the so-called DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) axis, for the hit Crew (alongside Shy Glizzy). “My manager knew GoldLink’s manager and I knew about GoldLink around the way. He was poppin’ in my area, so we just kinda did the record like that. It was smooth — like, we’re from the same area, we’re gonna do a record and see where it goes. And it went crazy.” Wood joined GoldLink on stage at Coachella and Crew was nominated for a Grammy (Best Rap/Sung Performance). The soulster also quietly contributed to Syd’s solo record, Fin. Late in 2017, Wood released his debut album, Sonder Son, independently. Partly
Brent Faiyaz tours from 3 Jan.
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Connected by love 2018 has been a year of personal and artistic breakthroughs for Tim Nelson of Cub Sport. As the band prepares to release their self-titled third album, Nelson tells Joel Lohman his personal and artistic growth are deeply connected.
“W
e made so many changes as a band and in our personal lives,” Nelson reflects on the year that was. “The thing that feels so different to me is that I created the whole thing on the other side of coming out. It kind of feels like the first body of work I’ve written entirely as myself. I keep learning more and more about myself by delving into this album and pulling apart what I’ve written.” So how has this newfound openness and connectedness affected Cub Sport? “I do less out of fear now,” says Nelson. “Whenever we’re making a creative or business decision for Cub Sport, we always try to make sure we’re doing it out of love for what we’re doing and because we believe in it - rather than being reactive or acting out of fear. I feel like that has opened us up and we’re on the right path.” Cub Sport has always made largely upbeat, life-affirming indie-pop music. Nelson says before now, it hasn’t always reflected his internal world. “I feel like I’ve been so cynical for such a large part of my life,” he says. “I never thought I’d talk about this stuff the way I do now. It took starting to live life more for myself rather than trying to please people around me. I didn’t really think I had it in me for a long time because I was being told that who I really am was unacceptable. So it took breaking away from that and retraining my subconscious to not hate myself.”
Nelson says he sometimes feels his self-critical nature creeping back in, but on the new album he’s better at ignoring it. “It doesn’t feel overthought or anything to me,” says Nelson. “Sometimes you have to use a bunch of words that might come across as cheesy from time to time, but I feel like it’s really important for me to communicate it, so I just do it [laughs].” Having reached this point of honesty with himself and others, how does he view his younger, more conflicted self? “I was so full of fear,” Nelson says. “I had such a phobia and so much shame. I was so scared by everything and that closed off my connection to inspiration. There were so many parts of my life that I was trying to sweep under the rug. If I spotted my insecurities in other people, that made me uncomfortable because there was so much I had yet to acknowledge about myself and my own struggles and so I’d brush a lot of stuff off as sarcasm. I just really didn’t like myself. For me, it’s about self-acceptance and learning you are who you are for a reason. Being less judgmental of yourself and others helps that more negative side dissipate.” Having emerged through the other side with a fresh batch of songs, Cub Sport have taken the somewhat unusual step of making this, their third album, self-titled. “I think this one feels like the first time I’ve really captured a confidence and creative identity that feels like a self-titled album,” says Nelson. “It’s been building to this. It felt like the right time and the right songs and the right part of the story to be self-titled.” Cub Sport is an album infused with the kind of warmth and open-heartedness that can only come from hard-won self-acceptance. “I feel like the more open I’ve become, I’ve become more receptive to what I really vibe with creatively, so I think that flows into the music,” he reflects. Nelson experienced the ultimate union and celebration in August, when he married bandmate Sam Netterfield. Having been best friends and bandmates for years, Nelson says once upon a time he wouldn’t even have dared to dream about his current married life. “I had so much shame and fear and internalised homophobia that I had to work past,” he says. “So I decided that we should just be friends, which we did for a few years. In retrospect it seems so clear that we were very much in love the whole time. We had to transition into feeling ready to move forward and accept and love who we were together. If someone told me when I was 17 how it would turn out I would have thought it was too good to be true. It’s been really hard at times, but I wouldn’t change any of it. I feel like it’s all happened to us for a reason - so we can hopefully inspire other people who find themselves in similar circumstances.” Nelson says that although it was a difficult and deeply personal journey, he never really felt alone. “I’m really lucky to have amazing friends who are another sort of family who helped me grow and become less judgemental of myself. A big part of our purpose as a band now is to make music for anyone struggling with any aspect of their identity - their sexuality or anything else - to remind people that you’re good and there are people who will understand and love you somewhere.”
“A big part of our purpose as a band now is to make music for anyone struggling with any aspect of their identity their sexuality or anything else - to remind people that you’re good and there are people who will understand and love you somewhere.”
Cub Sport (Cub Sport Records) is out this month.
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What the 4K? If you love TV, you’ve undoubtedly come across the term ‘4K’ before. But how many of you actually know what it means? Here Mitch Knox asks, ‘What the 4K!?’ to see whether it is worth forking out for the tech.
N
“If you go to Aldi and buy a cheap TV for 200 bucks, it’s not going to be the same as going to JB Hi-Fi or Harvey Norman and spending $6,000 on a 4K television,” he says. “One of the reasons for that is the refresh rate. “A cheap TV might have a refresh rate of 60Hz, so that’s 60 frames a second of being refreshed; your high-end expensive ones, their refresh rates are normally about 200Hz. So that is a big thing for TV. “If you think you’re going to spend a lot of time watching high-quality, high-definition footage, you should go for a TV that has a high refresh rate.”
peted as the latest big thing in
home entertainment. Cult and classic films, TV shows and
video games alike are being remastered in the format (local streaming service Stan has announced it will be hosting the entire James Bond film franchise remastered in 4K from January, for example, while a litany of other 4K re-releases are on the horizon), and retail shelves are lined with crystal-clear in-store displays touting its many apparent benefits. With most brand-name models still costing anywhere from $1,000 to upwards of $10,000, we had to ask whether it’s worth sinking your hard-earned dollars into this nascent technology — or whether this is just another fad (remember 3D TVs?) with a useful life shorter than its warranty.
Essentially, veteran videographer and photographer Michael Cranfield tells The Music, the ‘4K’ moniker boils down to the resolution packed into these machines — 3840 pixels wide (hence the name) by 2160 high, four times more overall than Full HD. “The height [in Full HD] is 1080, and the
“The main difference is that the more lines that you have in the screen, the more information can be contained. The picture’s much sharper, it’s much clearer, with better colours and deeper blacks.”
entertainment isn’t likely to be a flash in the pan for consumers or broadcasters — at least here in Australia — for a couple of reasons. Firstly, he explains, “as you get up in those
because of the size of the files”.
What are the benefits for broadcasters?
“When I’m shooting at full tilt, at the highest possible settings on my 4.6K camera...
Most of the spoils of 4K seem to land on the consumer side of the equation but adopting the technology is not without benefit to broadcasters, Cranfield says. At a minimum, it’s about ensuring each station is on par with their rivals — “There’s a certain amount of competition to keep up with the Joneses,” he says — but, beyond that, it’s just good business sense, because 4K is an ideal way to make Australian viewers — or, at least, a large segment of them — very happy campers. “I would imagine that probably 80% of our population are sports-mad,” Cranfield says. “They love watching sports. So in a sporting scenario, say, like cricket, where you’ve got subjects spaced quite far apart, television, you’d look at a cricket game and go, ‘Who’s that out on the boundary? I can’t tell.’ But with 4K, the resolution is so much better, you can go, ‘Oh, I reckon that’s so-andso.’ So, for a sporty nut who loves that kind of stuff, you find that would be great. “But then you get to things like 8K, and then it just starts to look hyper-real,” he continues. “It doesn’t look normal anymore.”
if I put a 256GB SSD drive in my camera, I get four to six minutes’ recording time,” he says. “So those files are enormous. “And, then, you’ve got to edit it — and when you’re editing files of that size, you have to have a computer that’s got serious, serious grunt to put that together. That’s just 4.6K, so I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to edit 8K quickly, efficiently and economically. So, I don’t think that 4K’s going to go anywhere in a hurry.” Part of the reason for this, Cranfield says, comes down to the fact that, simply put, Australia just doesn’t have the necessary infrastructure to accommodate something as demanding as 8K (yet). Hell, from the sounds of it, we can barely handle 4K as it is — but maybe we’ll get there by the time you’ve saved up enough dosh to buy one. “Foxtel have only just started broadcasting in 4K,” he says. “If you’ve got crappy ADSL2, you’re not going to be able to receive 4K into your television from Foxtel. It’s just going to be too slow, because the amount of data that has to come down the pipe is just so horrendously large that an ADSL2 pipe is not going to handle it, so you need the NBN — and, of
width is 1920,” he explains. “With 4K, the width of it is 3840, and the height is 2160.
ing abroad, this latest development in home
tent is exceptionally time-consuming, just
you can get that extra detail. On a standard
What is 4K TV, anyway?
However, Cranfield says, even with the 8K experimentation and evolution happen-
higher-quality televisions, to produce 4K con-
o matter where you look, 4K — or Ultra HD — seems to be trum-
fact we literally just mentioned the term ‘8K’.
course, that’s a whole other story.
Wait — 8K? Already? Man, is it even worth investing in a 4K TV? If you’ve been burnt before by buying some newfangled tech that was trumpeted as ‘the
OK, but. $10,000? For a deeper black?
next big thing’, only to find a few months later that everyone had moved onto something else, it’s understandable that you might baulk at the notion of taking another leap of
According to Cranfield, “There’s 4K and then
faith, especially given the wild price range 4K
there’s 4K.”
TVs still tend to occupy at retailers and the
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Smith has a rich musical heritage, his grandfather playing bass for Chicago blues legend Muddy Waters. The youngster joined his parents performing in the church
Rush the growler
band after Dad bought him drums. Then, at seven, Smith started rapping, following a cousin. In his teens, he picked up production skills, attending college in Chicago — its scene popping with Chance The
Rapper’s
ascendance.
Smith developed his own mode of soulful yet bouncy hip hop, influenced by Kanye West and Southern trailblazers such as OutKast’s Andre 3000. He established himself with 2012’s buzz mixtape, Smeezy Dot Com, plus EPs. Smith also guested on Noname’s mixtape Telefone and SABA’s album Bucket List Project, both artists ongoing collaborators.
Crucially,
he
co-founded Chicago’s Zero Fatigue collective, among its members Booker and the soulstress Ravyn Lenae — a
Ain’t no swan song
fellow Laneway headliner. He values his crew for grounding him. “It’s cool. I feel like it’s important, ‘cause it’s people that have seen you kinda have the desire to go be bigger than who you are and
Back Down Under for Laneway, Smino tells Cyclone that 2019 will see him doing “shit in a bigger and better way”.
N
help people. It’s people who saw you actually working hard and building your sound. They can tell you in the future if you’re getting beside yourself or just keep your head level when you’ve got people around you that actually didn’t know you or [weren’t] familiar with you. A lot of artists get on and they move straight to LA by themselves, get a whole new slew of motherfuckin’ people around them, and they just change; the music changes, a lotta shit changes... But I ain’t really had no desire to do no real shit like that.” In early 2017, Smith presented the acclaimed Blkswn, tell-
elly put St Louis, Missouri, on the hip
ing his truth about the black American experience. He opened
hop map back in the late ‘90s. But,
T-Pain’s Acoustic Tour and the iconic ‘rappa ternt sanga’ added
today, the rapper, singer, drummer
a verse to a remix of Blkswn’s popular single Anita. This past
and producer Smino (aka Christopher Smith
November, Smith dropped an innovative second album, Noir,
Jr) is leading a fresh wave from the mid-west-
led by the groovy LMF. He describes the LP as looser and more
ern city — even while based in nearby Chicago.
instinctive than the “in-depth” Blkswn. “I just feel like music’s
And that wave will hit Laneway this summer,
been going through a place where it’s just real ‘feel’-oriented,”
with Smith’s second Australian run.
he ponders. “I was just experimenting with that aspect this
Serendipitously, Smith connected with
time, more so than trying to be extra-personal and deep and
his Hot In Herre forebear very recently — out
heartfelt. I just wanted to make some good sounds.” The inge-
in California. “I actually just met Nelly, like,
niously titled Tequila Mockingbird ventures into dub-reggae.
two nights ago in LA on some crazy shit,” he
The streaming fave reflects contentedly on 2018. Smith
shares. “Really crazy. I never met Nelly before. I
travelled widely and encountered idols like Erykah Badu. “I’m
met him at a club. I was drunk and it was ran-
really looking forward to doing [music] strategically [in 2019],
dom and it was just like, ‘Damn, that’s tight as
‘cause now it’s kinda like we know what it’s doing, so we can
hell!’”
plan the moves out a little more and do shit in a bigger and
A mellow Smith is taking a break from
better way.” He’s anticipating his first TV appearance.
rehearsals with his band. Smith laughs at the
The most debated artist in 2018 was Smith’s hero West
suggestion that he could be a disciplinarian
with his music, politics and tweet storms. Smith still “loves”
band leader like James Brown, fining musi-
Yeezy but admits even he’s confused. “I feel that [he’s] eat-
cians for missteps. Indeed, his players are
ing too much of that Kardashian soup — he’s tripping!” Smith
“solid”. As it happens, Smith toured here last
laughs. “He’s eating that Kardashian stew or that Get Out pow-
year behind his official debut, Blkswn (black
der, whatever he got goin’ on — or whatever he had goin’ on.
swan), co-headlining with his Windy City
I don’t know what the fuck... But, yeah, Kanye’s an interesting
production cohort Monte Booker. Smith was
person, though. He always makes motherfuckers pay atten-
“squinting hard, trying to catch the accents,”
tion to him — no matter whether it’s good or bad. He don’t care
he confesses. “It was cool. All the shows sold
whether it’s good or bad. He just wants attention.”
out and it was just a crazy experience, man. Good-ass food, cool-ass people — you know, it was beautiful. And I’ve seen some little black swans in person — that shit was tight.”
Smino tours from 30 Jan.
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Ahead of The Growlers’ tour Down Under this month, Anthony Carew talks to frontman Brooks Nielsen about discovering music by getting high, making art instead of looking at butt cheeks and brunches, and just doing what he can with the things he has.
G
rowing up in OC, Growlers frontman Brooks Nielsen was into martial arts and sports, up until he “got turned off by how into it” his dad got. “My dad acted so disgustingly that it psyched me out, and I just quit,” Nielsen recounts. “So, I started skateboarding, surfing, boogie boarding, hanging out at the beach all day, with all the shit kids of Dana Point.” One thing he wasn’t into, growing up, was music. “I didn’t like music,” Nielsen says, amazingly. “It was all around me; I’d hear it in videos, in films, my friends were playing it. But no one was going to get me to like it, there was nothing they could say to make me care. My priority was how I was going to sneak out of the house and do something illegal, when I was next going skateboarding. I didn’t really notice [music] was there until I started getting high in high school, and I was forced to sit down, and stop, and think, and listen for a second. Then, when I understood it, it was instantly: I need to be making it, not finding it.” Since 2006, Nielsen has been making music with The Growlers, who’ve minted a distinctive formula of surfy, psychedelic garage-pop across seven albums, endless shows, and seven editions of their annual LA festival Beach Goth. In the band’s early days, Nielsen offers, they “drank too much”, and there were often scuffles. “There’d be people who’d like to show how tough they were by getting in a fight at a Growlers show. Guys who’d push their way into the crowd, shove girls around, talk shit, rush the stage; I fuckin’ hate them,” he remembers. Over the years, their crowds have grown, and mellowed. They have loyal fans, but, Nielsen thinks, they don’t have obsessive fans, nor have they ever provoked internet outrage. “I don’t know if anyone’s really paying attention, in this day and age,” he chuckles. “I don’t know if anyone has the atten-
tion span to actually really care about anything that comes across their plate as they’re swiping through life. We’re making music naturally, almost ignorantly. We’re just trying to make as many songs as we can, make records, play shows. I don’t feel like much has changed. But, I don’t really follow internet culture, so I’m only clocking that — whether it’s fans complaining or fans saying they appreciate us — from a distance.” Being on ‘the socials’ is something that Nielsen avoids, personally. “I’ve just never had it, never done it. And when I do see it on someone else’s phone, it’s not something I’m attracted to, I’m not about to dive in. The things that most people seem attracted to, I just don’t care. They seem almost like the definition of idiotic, to me. I don’t really care about those things. And, it’s partly to protect myself. I’m supposed to be making art, not scrolling through a phone looking at butt cheeks and brunches and people’s insecurities. I feel a lot healthier for avoiding it. I’m not interested in looking at other people’s lives, I’m trying to find enough time to pull off mine.” Instead, Nielsen’s more concern with keeping the band “sheltered from outside influences”, so that the music keeps coming and remains fresh. He doesn’t take influence from other people’s music, isn’t a voracious listener, and feels detached from the contemporary musical climate. Instead, Nielsen just listens to “’70s reggae” when running, and the “oldies station” in his old car. “I’m just really in love with singers, when the arrangements were all to just lift up the singer,” Nielsen offers. “I think Sam Cooke’s a beautiful singer, Bob Marley’s a beautiful singer. I love Little Richard, I can listen to him any time without getting tired of it.” What kind of singer, then, does Nielsen think he is? “Like all art that I do, there’s not a whole lot of skill or a whole lot of talent, but I’m doing what I can with the things I have,” he says. “The only way it feels good singing is when you’re not trying. That goes for writing and singing, any time it feels totally natural, like I can just zone out and not worry about it, that’s when I know something’s good.”
The Growlers tour from 10 Jan.
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
Second bite of the cherry Hip hop, soul and feminist icon Neneh Cherry returns to Australia for the second time next January to spread her message of self-empowerment through expression. Here she tells Cyclone how she cultivated positive anger for new album Broken Politics.
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he Swedish pop icon Neneh Cherry heralded the hip hop soul movement with 1989’s seminal debut Raw Like Sushi — a manifesto on street feminism. Some 30 years later, she’s considering the nuances of global political disarray with Broken Politics. And Cherry’s message is one of self-empowerment through expression. “I’m not always so completely sure about what it is I’m exactly trying to say,” she admits from her London base. “I’m just trying to say something, you know? Sometimes I find it quite difficult to actually specifically be like, ‘Oh, this is this and this is that,’ because it’s a journey.” Today this inherently intersectional thinker is recognised as a trailblazer, even as she transcends most music scenes. Cherry’s back story is extraordinary. She was born in Stockholm to the visual artist Monika “Moki” Karlsson and Sierra Leonean drummer Ahmadu Jah. Her mother wed the American jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, the family leading a bohemian, international lifestyle. Cherry’s beloved stepfather introduced her to the punk band The Slits on tour. An independent teen, she settled in the UK, eventually fronting Rip Rig + Panic. On meeting her life partner, and key collaborator, Cameron McVey, she worked on Massive Attack’s Blue Lines. Signed to Virgin, Cherry busted out with her B-girl bop Buffalo Stance, preceding Raw Like Sushi. The rapper/singer was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy. She ventured into trip hop, and indie, on Homebrew, while engaging The Notorious BIG for a remix of the track Buddy X. But, after 1996’s Man (and its hit 7 Seconds with Youssou N’Dour), Cherry apparently retreated into domesticity. In fact, she cut occasional collabs and pursued side-gigs. In 2012, Cherry aired a covers set, The Cherry Thing, with the Scandinavian outfit The Thing — calling it “a kind of free jazz project”. This invigorated her. Cherry connected with Kieran Hebden, feted as the IDM producer Four Tet, for the “liberating” Blank Project — a tech-jazz album thematising personal loss. Cherry established a momentum. Hebden was keen to reunite. And so they headed to New York to record Broken Politics. If Blank Project was about interiority, then Broken Politics initiates a discussion. The title, Cherry notes, serves as “a headline”. Topically, she ruminates on the plight of refugees in Kong, co-produced by Massive Attack’s 3D. But Cherry isn’t doctrinal. “I was reflective and very affected from just being a human in the world right now and having feelings of confusion and sadness and anger and disillusionment and worry, but also love and hope. So all these things were sort of [the] fall-out from a political climate. The natural thing for me is to, not just go into myself in a kind of isolated way, but to go internally to try and process some of those things. The songs are asking a lot
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of questions — because I think also consciously I wanted to reach out. I felt that Blank Project was very much a record that was kind of an outpour and it had an urgency and it was slightly anxious, in a way, while with this record it was more like, ‘Ok, how do we go on?’ I mean, always for me, that place of making music and writing is where I’m trying to figure things out. It’s where I have those conversations with myself and I guess, at the same time, [I was] maybe making a record that’s less self-examining — not examining myself, but the environment more.” For Cherry, fulfilling Broken Politics was illuminating. The vocalist didn’t necessarily come to any major conclusions, but she empathised more deeply. “Maybe the conclusion is also about resisting; [knowing] that times are really weird and questionable and a lot of things are happening that I’m in huge disagreement about, but also having a sense of that we’re gonna make it somehow. That feeling of cultivating even positive anger; some sort of hope.” Though Cherry visited Australia for promo in the ‘90s, she first toured in 2015. This summer, she’ll return with a new six-piece band. Rather than performing a ‘best of’ show, she’ll be focussing on Broken Politics (“almost only — I mean, not completely, but nearly”). Cherry’s children have followed her into music — indeed, her youngest daughter is the rising R&B star Mabel — even though contemporary artists often struggle to sustain themselves financially. “Selling records, and making money out of selling records, unless you’re Beyonce or someone, is pretty hard,” Cherry sighs. However, musicians can now circumvent corporate models. “I love the fact that anybody can put out music.” Still, Cherry frets about emotional wellbeing in the digital age. “Obviously, there’s an incredible pressure — I watch Mabel with the social media and it feels like a 24/7 dialogue. Sometimes I feel concerned that it’s just constant... You wake up and the first thing you look at is your phone.”
Neneh Cherry tours from 15 Jan.
Adrian Eagle
VOIID
The Merindas
What a voice, and what a way to use it. The world needs to make Adrian Eagle a megastar, his music is pure soul balm. Eagle pushed a message of peace, love and health right from the start with his breakout single and video, 17 Again. The track gained massive exposure in equal parts for Eagle’s beautiful vocals and for bravely sharing his journey from being an overweight teenager with life-threatening mental health issues to finding a place of self-love and positivity. Since then the young soul singer has won an SA Music Award for Best New Artist, supported Hilltop Hoods in Europe and the UK and collaborated with them on Clark Griswold, the lead single from their upcoming album. He had his own debut national headline tour in August/September, and then turned around and did it again in October — capping the year with Falls appearances. 2019 has Eagle written all over it.
VOIID have been on an exponential rise since 2017’s Pussy Orientated. The four-piece “hellish girl-shriek” started 2018 with a show at The Foundry where The Music’s Taylor Marshall said it was clear that they would take “over the world one gig at a time”. By the time July rolled around, they’d dropped three withering singles from their upcoming debut, further establishing their talent for making face-melting, ‘90s-fuelled punk for the new era. They were also one of the first bands announced for BIGSOUND 2018, where word quickly spread that VOIID weren’t to be missed or fucked with. August they took Twins on the road and September they hit the road with Clowns. Physically, they’re starting this year the same way they did the last, with a show at The Foundry. In every other way, they’ve moved miles ahead.
The Merindas might have formed as “Australia’s first Indigenous Motown tribute act”, but the duo aren’t looking to the past much these days. Jawoyn woman Candice Lorrae and Noongar woman Kristel Kickett have relocated from Perth to Melbourne since they got their first break at the launch of The Sapphires in 2012. They’ve also brought their sound out of ‘60s Detroit and into the present with an innovative blend of dancehallheavy electronic, R&B and electro-tribal pop. Their hyper-positive first single, We Sing Until Sunrise, has shown it’s a concoction that will either start a dancefloor or escalate the one you’ve got, and the full record is planned for early 2019. They will also be joining Mojo Juju at Yaluk-ut Weelam Ngargee Festival.
The Gametes
Pagan
The story goes, The Gametes aren’t a band so much as the product of misguided chemical testing by the Takiyama Corporation to create a wholly unique new audiovisual marketing strategy. The band back this absurdist origin story to the hilt, and suitably, the ‘weirdpunk’ outfit seem to have arrived fully formed out of nowhere. They only played their first show in early 2017, but the EP they released a few months later confidently swept through everything from surf-rock and post-punk to narrative-based supernatural spaghetti western. Last year’s full-length follow-up, The Astronomical Calamities Of Comet Jones, leant in even further, the group creating a full-scale sci-fi epic — and one of the most wildly idea-rich releases of the year. Their “illegitimate father and CEO, Mr Takiyama” must be proud, people are definitely buying what The Gametes are selling.
Secret’s out. Pagan wrapped their first international tour last month. They played 12 shows through the UK and Europe and now the world is going to be hip to the deadly metal rockers’ charms. This was the cap on a massive year of firsts for the outfit. They also went on a national headline run in August, and released their very-much raved about debut, Black Wash, in July. A lot of people had been waiting a long time to get their hands on that record, a desire driven to obsession by lead singles Death Before Disco and Silver, and it definitely didn’t disappoint when it arrived. We’re sure they’ll be taking a quick rest to start the year, but whatever they do in 2019 is going to be on a whole new level.
Acts to watch in 2019 It’s that time of year again, the time when the lists are cleared, the slate cleaned and people stop talking about what blew them away last year and start wondering what’s going to blow up in this one. Here’s a few acts we think might turn out to be powder kegs on legs in 2019.
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Clockwise from top: Eilish Gilligan, Denise Le Menice, Pagan, Hollie Joyce, The Merindas, CLEWS, Vacations, San Mei, Adrian Eagle
Hollie Joyce
Void Of Vision
Anybody who’s seen Hollie Joyce live usually hits the same basic steps post-show; find her on Spotify/Bandcamp/etc immediately; listen to Poster Girl until it stops making sense; be totally dumbfounded that there isn’t more; despair. Support spots with acts like Cousin Tony’s Firebrand, Ryan Downey and Angie McMahon kept her busy last year but word is she’s got new material coming in 2019 and when it does there will be no stopping her.
Void Of Vision have been working away at the follow-up to their 2016 debut and the recent lead single suggests it’ll cause a pit or two when it lands. Jack Bergin says he’s taken a step back and a close look at his own values to find a more brutally honest place to write from. If someone had said VOV could get more brutally anything a few months ago we’d have had our doubts, but here we are.
Eilish Gilligan Eilish Gilligan has been someone to keep an eye out for ever since her debut solo single The Dogs in 2016. Judging by the reaction to her latest tracks SMFY and Patterns, very soon it’s going to be impossible to miss her. Every one of her textured pop gems is implausibly sharper and more polished than the last, and her showcases were among BIGSOUND 2018’s most raved about. Big things are inevitable.
Vacations With their breezy mix of jazz-bent indiepop and barefoot shoegaze, Vacations are well on the way to being the newest Newy crew to conquer the globe. 2018 saw them join 123 Agency, debut at SXSW, release their first full-length album and head off on a national and then UK/Europe tour. That’s a ridiculous amount of activity, and they don’t look to be slowing down. In fact, they boot overseas again next month to play 29 dates around the US.
The Native Cats The Saturday Paper’s Andy Hazel recently called Chloe Alison Escott and Julian Teakle one of “Australia’s most quietly remarkable bands”, and it seems that this year the wider Australian community has taken notice. Since their fourth album, John Sharp Toro, came out last February, the duo have taken their hypnotic bass loops and vital lyricism (“Burn the branches back onto the trees/Burn the colour back into the leaves”) from Tassie to the Opera House to the Supernatural Amphitheatre and back. Seems the cat’s out of the bag.
Denise Le Menice It’s starting to look like Ali Flintoff could dip a toe in absolutely any genre and take to it like a duck to water. Fronting BOAT SHOW, Flintoff’s output has so far included two lauded albums of acerbic, fast-paced punk. With Dream Rimmy, she leant towards heavy, atmospheric shoegaze. Now she’s making “very cheesy pop anthems” with her new solo project Denise Le Menice and damned if they’re not awesome as well.
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Slagatha Christie Hands down, best name out there right now. Outside of that, Boys’ Club is a genuine punk anthem. That it’s just the first song on Slagatha Christie’s recent first EP, Thomas The Skank Engine, is extraordinary. That the second is Angry Reacts Only — “Choo choo, motherfucker, it’s a free ride coming to an end” — is doubly so. If this is SC’s jumping off point, the sky’s the limit.
San Mei Something about San Mei’s guitars sounds like they should be too heavy for her dreampop soundscapes, like they’ll fall straight through the atmospheric synths and plummet back down to reality. They never do though, and however easy Mei makes that balancing act sound, her ability to keep those layers in harmony is getting her a lot of well-deserved attention following her latest EP.
CLEWS In less than 12 months they’ve signed with Unified and Wonderlick, dropped their cracking debut single Museum, captured the rest of the industry’s attention at BIGSOUND, released a follow-up single, Crushed, and gone touring with the likes of Holy Holy and Albert Hammond Jr. These Mollymook sisters have harmonies that can’t be beat and they are coming up fast.
Cool Out Sun If you haven’t heard of them yet, House Of Beige collective Cool Out Sun are probably the most lowkey supergroup in Australia. N’Fa (1200 Techniques), Sensible J (REMI) and Nui Moon released their self-titled joint debut last October and it was without a doubt the smoothest collection of afro-funk rhythms and rhymes of the year. They’ve got a second one slated for 2019 and we predict it will be excellent.
Check The Guide on theMusic.com.au for more details.
Album Reviews
As the nation grappled for many years with the notion of same-sex marriage, Cub Sport’s Tim Nelson and Sam Netterfield led by example and got engaged in 2017 as the debate raged on. Despite a ‘wannabe desire’ to be seen as progressive, the fact remains that Australia was one of the last countries in the West to legalise same-sex marriage. Luckily the Cub Sport betrothed didn’t have to endure a long engagement and were married in August last year. Amid this, it’s reassuring to see that Cub Sport attracts a diverse crowd of fans who are simply there for the music. It is in this context that the new self-titled Cub Sport album has its genesis. While previous album BATS offered immersive pop confection that was a touch introspective, Cub Sport reaches so much deeper. Deflecting the temptation to be political, Cub Sport deals an album that focuses on more personal concerns. An album overflowing with a lush profusion of same-sex love songs with broad demographic appeal is surely in itself though a sign of the times. The opening track Unwinding Myself finds Nelson really laying it all out and lyrically coming to terms with and understanding himself. It’s a strong and brave opening as Nelson sings without the accompaniment of his band. Once they start to chime in, they bring soft, fuzzy synths that sway to a gentle R&B and disco groove. Personal growth continues to be a strong theme across the album, with cuts like Light II and Trees delivering chilled meditations on life and Nelson’s dreams for the future. Come Out introspectively contemplates the situation many in the LGBTIQ community eventually must confront.
Cub Sport
Cub Sport Cub Sport Records
HHHH
Toro y Moi
Outer Peace Mistletone / Inertia
HHH½
Over the past decade Chaz Bear, under his Toro y Moi moniker, has steadily been honing his craft over many releases, each one presenting a refined and pretty sophisticated vision of electronic pop music. Typically filed away under chillwave, there is a funky, disco-house bounce to Outer Peace that packs plenty of feel-good summer heat to make it pool party ready. Although we have been pushed and pulled to the bump and grind of these beats for many years now, Bear’s slick production makes these familiar templates feel fresh and fun. It’s electronic pop that reflects the times and just feels perfectly contemporary.
Maggie Rogers
Heard It In A Past Life
Across this release, Cub Sport are at pains to demonstrate that romance isn’t dead. Much of this album is just so hopelessly romantic in tone, even the most jaded would feel uplifted. Nelson’s vocals coo and swoon dreamily in falsetto with declarations of unfettered love that positively burst with joy and hope. The innocence of Summer Lover, which longingly reminisces about the joys of summer holidays by the beach, is Cub Sport at their absolute sweetest. Video, which features Aussie rapper Mallrat, moves in a similar vein but bounces irresistibly with happiness in its heart. There’s a realness about this album with the delivery of lived emotions, perhaps best exemplified by the tender ache of As Long As You’re Happy. Sometimes proves to be a highlight as it paces through a gentle swell of emotions before bursting into action with a proper, life-affirming dancefloor stomp. Limousine chugs to a house beat as Nelson wearily contemplates the implications of the band’s growing fandom: while their schedule keeps them busy, the back of a limo offers respite and the opportunity for reflection. ‘Love is Love’ and Cub Sport makes sure that cupid squarely takes aim at their listeners’ hearts. Guido Farnell
Bring Me The Horizon
Two People
amo
EMI
First Body
RCA / Sony
Liberation
HHHH
HHHH
HHH
The last few decades of popular music have reminded us of the value of drums. It is a strange thought that, for some, the rhythm that plays behind a vocalist is merely “the beat”. The lesson is one Maggie Rogers has learned well. Drums define this record. Perhaps the heartbeat driving what we put in our ears is fundamental to why we listen to music at all, or perhaps Rogers’ achievement with this record is to convince us of that. Regardless, the pulse of Heard It In A Past Life is near enough irresistible. Do yourself a favour and surrender.
Synth-laden electronica isn’t what comes to mind when thinking of Bring Me The Horizon, yet opener i apologise if you feel something comes out of leftfield and sets a very haunting and eerie vibe to their sixth album. Single MANTRA is one of only three “heavy” songs on the album as it dips between its heavy roots and a new wave of deep, dirty synth-pop. Throw away your preconceptions of the band as the songs are experimentally different and very catchy. The album deserves to be given the time to let the changes sink in. This fresh direction is a new world and it’s looking sweet.
Two People’s debut record First Body draws its strength from simplicity. Born of former Snakadaktal members Phoebe Lou and Joey Clough, the duo are a sombre, murmuring descendent of their previous band. Two People dived into their past in order to bring this record to life. Lou and Clough made their first album together when they were just 14, and Phone Call revisits their teen romance, providing a rare, intimate and honest retrospective. Two People have effortlessly built diverse and thoughtful musical landscapes, without distracting or becoming overwhelming.
James d’Apice
Emily Blackburn
Guido Farnell
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Belinda Quinn
2019
Sydney Festival
Brace yourselves Sydneysiders: a world-class array of theatre, dance, circus, cabaret, music and art is descending on our fair city this month, playing venues Sydney-wide from 9 Jan.
Home Truths This year’s Sydney Festival is a celebration of the city, the place we all call home. But it’s also offering a chance to reflect on the meaning of belonging, the things that drive us apart and those that bring us back together. Maxim Boon speaks to Festival Director Wesley Enoch and several of 2019’s featured artists about building their stories on strong foundations.
S
trike up a conversation with an artist and it won’t be long before they start talking in metaphors. When it
comes to art’s emotional and psychological subtleties, metaphor becomes the equivalent of translation, carrying across meaning from one mindset, one culture, one realm of understanding to another. The semantics an artist chooses to unriddle their thinking can also be revealing. As we discuss the philosophy behind his 2019 program, Sydney Festival Director Wesley Enoch speaks of foundations, of windows, of using tools. Perhaps it’s little wonder that the architect of the city’s flagship arts event should speak in the language of a builder. Entering his second year at the helm of Sydney Festival, Enoch says he hopes the program constructs “safe spaces”, although that’s not to say 2019’s fest will steer clear
Home. Jacques-Jean Tiziou
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One Infinity. Pic: Amber Haines
Home. Pic: Hillarie Jason
of difficult subjects or political conflict, he
national audiences. Partly, this is thanks to
someone else was sitting where you’re sit-
and their identity, whether that’s national or
insists. “It’s not an apologist position. We’re
Home’s flexible ambiguities. The show is
ting, that they were your exact age and
personal, is really important.”
not saying, ‘Oh yeah, I know things are really
largely wordless, but far from making its
thought of that place in similar terms but
bad, but here’s something so you can forget
content aloof, the absence of any explicit
with a completely different mindset: it was
about it.’ It’s got a few more teeth than that
cultural references or dialogue makes space
their home, the place where they felt they
I think. We’re saying, ‘Here are the tools to
for local passions, bringing a potent emo-
most belonged. In that strange way, we are
deal with these situations.’ It’s not enough
tional power to the fore.
always sharing spaces with these ghosts.”
O
ne such call for change is at the heart of Man With The Iron Neck, by physical theatre company Legs
to just accept the world as it is. We have to
“You’re seeing all of the different lives
Enoch has also been contemplating
keep questioning it so we can build a bet-
that maybe lived in that structure, past and
the meaning of home. As with his inaugu-
ter one.”
present — or maybe they’re future possibili-
ral season last year, his mandate in 2019
Bond was compelled to confront that grief
has not merely been
through his art. But as a First Nations Aus-
to bring exciting inter-
tralian, this drive also came with an added
Geoff
national works to Auss-
sense of urgency; it’s estimated that suicide
Sobelle is also a builder, but of a less
ie audiences, but to
rates within Indigenous communities are six
abstract variety. In Home, one of the
ensure the diversity of
times higher than the national average. “I
our homegrown stories
remember thinking. ‘Fuck. It’s gotta fucking
are also proudly rep-
stop. This has just gotta fucking stop,’” Bond
resented. This balance
says. “Feeling the need to address this issue
between imported and
in some way, well I’m a theatre-maker, so
local work is vital to
using that soapbox to create something that
the
actually can be a part of the healing and
A
merican
theatre-maker
major international imports on Sydney Festival’s 2019 bill, Sobelle quite literally builds a house on stage. Through a complex choreography of cutting-edge stagecraft and precisely positioned actors, the show charts the “life-cycle of a structure”. “One of the biggest inspirations was the theatre itself. As an actor, I feel at most at home in a theatre and I was thinking about how wild it is that we occupy the theatre for just a short amount of time, and
“It’s not enough to just accept the world as it is. We have to keep questioning it so we can build a better one.” – Wesley Enoch
festival’s
mission,
Enoch says. “There’s relationship
On The Wall. After experiencing first-hand the suicide of a close relative, aerialist Josh
bring some change by encouraging people always
a
between
to talk about it felt really important. Because this subject is so shrouded in taboo.”
bringing in internation-
Collaborating with acclaimed writer-
al work that challenges
actor Ursula Yovich, who wrote the script for
us in terms of content,
the production, Bond has drawn on his own
explains. “I made this piece for a very specif-
in terms of form, aes-
experience of suicide and counterpointed it
ic theatre in New York. And so I approached
thetics, different ways
with the story of The Great Peters — an early
the process of making it being very clear
of working. But that’s
20th-century circus star who wowed crowds
of the how and why and what of what I’d
useless unless we see
with an astonishing trick: he could throw
yet it becomes this shared space,” Sobelle
want to do. It was also a theatre in Brooklyn,
ties. It’s hard to say and it’s supposed to be
how it informs local artists and local prac-
himself from a bridge, a rope tied around
which I don’t know if you know, is a place
ambiguous. What I thought was interesting,
tice. To see them side by side in equal mea-
his neck, and survive. The result is a produc-
that’s gone through a lot of gentrification
we’re always sharing space. Even if you’re in
sure is very important. Also, there are certain
tion that pairs the physical daring of aerial-
in recent years. So that immediately got
a brand new building, the land that you’re
cultural and artistic ambitions that local art-
ism with a deeply moving narrative. “Making
me thinking about housing and the con-
on — someone lived there before you. And
ists have for our country that are very direct.
this show really threw up a lot of questions
cept of home — whose home is this? Who
someone will most likely live there after you.
Whereas in international work, those cul-
for me about our mortality and the risks
belongs here?”
Wherever we are, where we work, where we
tural ambitions for our country are so indi-
we take. And also the context of those risks;
Since opening in New York last year,
visit, where we live, we exist with the marks
rect all we can do is look at it objectively,
whether that risk is intentional and what is
Home has already toured to several coun-
of the people who came before and we
from the outside looking in. With Australian
the intended outcome is,” Bond explains.
tries beyond the US, including Australia
leave marks for the people who will come
work, we are innately in the middle of it, as
Yovich’s role as playwright would pres-
where it had its Down Under debut at the
after,” Sobelle says. “We’re a very myopic
an audience member, as a community. I’ve
ent her with a unique challenge, manag-
2018 Brisbane Festival. While its original
animal, human beings. We think in narrow
always liked the idea of balancing program-
ing duel responsibilities as both dramatist
iteration may have been site-specific, the
terms. We understand what home means
ming in that way because festivals are about
and stenographer of real, lived experiences.
show’s exploration of belonging and shelter
to us in the immediate, but we can’t really
prototyping change. To witness that change
While she had not been directly impacted
has easily resonated with respective inter-
hold in our head that a generation ago,
manifest in an artist’s vision for their culture
by the suicide of a loved one, her cultural
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Man With The Iron Neck. Pic: Brett Boardman
Dust. Pic: Amber Haines
connection to the crisis made the experi-
Haines, Dust has a pointed political message
The antithesis of the same multicultural
so advanced, and that’s wonderful, but it’s
ence of creating Man With The Iron Neck
at its core. “It’s about the idea of inheritance
debate can be found in Gideon Obarzanek’s
also isolated us in a way. I think theatre-
a profoundly affecting one. “I think any First
and the fact that we’re born into a world
One Infinity, a collaboration with Australian
makers have to ask the question: why does
Nations people you come across, we’ve all
that’s been designed and predetermined
recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey, Chinese
this performance need to happen? Why do
experienced it to some degree. For me it’s
by those who have come before us,” Page
musician Wang Peng and Beijing Dance
we need to be here together as a group to
been a real personal journey,” she shares.
says. “We have very little capacity or agen-
Theatre. This beautifully immersive produc-
do this? Because arguably there’re many
“The piece itself isn’t explicitly based on any-
cy to alter or shift those systems and those
tion is built on the bedrock of clear cultural
other ways of achieving the same result. For
one in particular; it is a completely fictional
structures that we are born into and have to
dialogue that at once celebrates our distinc-
me, the live space is about privileging the
imagining that’s based loosely on truth. But
abide by. But I guess what we’re trying to do
tive differences while embracing the shared
live-ness of things, that’s the space that I’m
the stuff that I’ve put in there, the reasons
is hopefully create a sense of potentiality in
humanity that binds us together. The audi-
interested in. It’s not just about performers
why I think suicides are so high within my
this idea, that maybe we
being present. It’s about the experience of
community, that’s based entirely on fact and
can reassess, or we can
the audience members being there.”
reality. It’s difficult to separate yourself from
reframe
relation-
The subtext of the work is perhaps
that. Even though this story is so remote
ship to some of those
less insistent than Dust’s, but Obarzanek
from my personal experience growing up,
systems. Can we col-
believes this gentle tonality, paired with the
it definitely draws from my experience now,
lectively move towards
democracy of the audience’s involvement, is
as a black person living in this country.”
perhaps evolving, shift-
Premiered at the Brisbane Festival last year, its second season in Sydney will bring an important story to the stage that has
ing,
or
our
transcending
some of them?” Given
the
com-
“We’re born into a world that’s been designed and predetermined by those who have come before us.”
an important political comment, nonetheless. “There’s a sense of wonderment or a search for meaning or understanding that occurs when we’re part of something larger
nationwide relevance. But it will also be an
plexities and anxieties
important moment for Bond personally. “I’m
that are in orbit around
36 now, and I was like 20 when I first began
the current geopolitical
thinking about this show, so it was prob-
status quo, Page hopes
ably one of the very first show ideas I ever
Dust will connect to
had. And I quite clearly remember thinking
these
at the time, ‘I’m a young fella, and as I get
concerns,
his
relax. You brace yourself when you have to
older and more experienced and whatnot,
audience with plenty
go back outside. When we were in Beijing
I’ll have other ideas.’ But it’s funny how that
to contemplate. “I think
with one of the audience test groups, there
yarn has stayed with me for so many years,
what we’re really curi-
was a moment, a contrasting moment away
and how it’s coming full circle now.”
ous about is just inviting
broader
– Kyle Page
social
leaving
than our individual selves. Much of the piece was made in Beijing, and it’s an intense city very much like Chicago or Delhi or New York. When you come into a room and you close the door, there’s almost this sigh of relief that you can finally let down your guard and
from the large city and that intense energy,
the audience along for the ride, hoping that
ence members are folded into the make-up
where we were able to divest ourselves of all
they will go away with a sense of empower-
of the performance, tasked with repeating
those things simply by listening and doing.
pair of new pieces by Townsville-
ment, or even just a curiosity that perhaps
simple gestures from their seats. The effect
So, I think One Infinity is particularly relevant
based company Dancenorth explore
we can reimagine the world and look at the
is powerfully galvanising and surprisingly
in very busy, urban places, because it’s kind
a different Australian story. Through
way that we relate to the world and relate to
spiritual.
of a refuge from that world.
the medium of contemporary choreogra-
one another,” Page shares. “I’m hoping the
“It’s an antidote in some ways to the
“I think there’s something that comes
phy and live music, Dust and One Infinity
audience will be inspired to question some
fragmentation of community and doing
through in the work that draws on Chinese
reveal how movement can investigate con-
of the social, cultural, political and personal
things together in a secular society,” Obar-
culture, about balance and harmony and
cepts that far exceed traditional storytelling,
systems and structures that are in place,
zanek says of the audience’s participation.
meditation. That is particularly useful. We
examining two very different yet inherently
and whether they serve us now as perhaps
“It certainly fulfills a role that probably would
can all learn from that I think, especially
linked perspectives on multiculturalism,
they did in the ‘50s. Perhaps they did serve
have been done in a more religious context
right now, at this point in time.”
migration, dispossession and what it means
our grandparents, but do they now? We’re
in the past, whether that involved singing
to belong.
simply asking the question regardless of the
or dancing or reading. I think in some ways,
answer; it’s where that leads the audience
theatre is always evolving and responding
that we’re really curious about.”
to its environment. Technology has become
A
Created by Artistic Director Kyle Page and
Associate
Artistic
Director
Amber
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Sydney Festival runs from 9 Jan.
rl e s
Wi
lli
These Creatures. Pic: Mathew Lynn
D i re c t o r C h a
a ms
.P
i c: Ma t
hew Lyynn
Creature feature Aussie filmmaker Charles Williams doesn’t much care for rules. He tells Joseph Earp about storytelling on a shoestring budget and why the kids are alright.
“What we’re really doing is stigmatising people who are genuinely suffering and making them synonymous with people who may just be ‘shitty’.”
T
“Tight probably doesn’t cover it,” Williams says. “It was all favours. Everyone on the film worked for free and most of what could be called the ‘budget’ was sponsorships I organised with different partners. I still haven’t paid off the money I put in. So, like a lot of shorts, it was really made by the generosity of everyone involved — which I’m incredibly grateful for.” The budgetary restrictions — not to mention the age of the young lead — also affected the length of time that Williams had to shoot the film. Days were short and Williams only had five of them, plus one rushed, sweaty day of pick-ups. “When you have a cast of people under 15, child labour laws dictate that you can only shoot six hours,” he says. “Then, of course, there’s weather problems, working with bugs, animals, road closures, and a number of decayed and dilapidating locations, one of which was bulldozed just as I came to do pick-ups. So the shooting days went very quickly.” That might make All These Creatures sound rushed, or the kind of lo-fi product that tends to characterise a lot of the work of emerging filmmakers. In fact, more than anything, the result is profoundly considered. Nothing seems slapdash, from the tight direction and emotional intensity of the script to the gently devastating finale. Powerful and considered, the film boasts a kind of emotional intelligence that’s rarely seen even in big-budget Hollywood affairs. Yet perhaps most impressive of all is All These Creatures’ depiction of mental illness. Tempest’s father, Mal, played with halting, uneven grace by celebrated performer and NIDA star Mandela Mathia, is struggling with thoughts that he can barely understand. Paranoid and angry, he lashes out at his friends and family, isolating himself ever further from the people trying to help him. But despite it all, Mal is no villain; no one in the short is. They are just people, all of them: confused, scared, and utterly
here’s an old adage in the film industry: never work with children or animals. All These Creatures, the Palme d’Or-winning short from celebrated Australian filmmaker Charles Williams, touring nationally as part of Flickerfest, seems determined to prove this wisdom wrong. The film is stuffed with animals, from an ill-fated dog to a small, invasive army of pissed-off beetles. Its human cast is almost exclusively populated by adolescents, chiefly the young lead Tempest (played by Yared Scott, and voiced, in poetic narration, by Melchisedek Nkailu). “It was almost a laundry list of what is ill-advised,” Williams agrees. “But it was a calculated risk. It’s what this movie needed, and I felt painting ourselves into a corner with some of these choices would result in something pretty special — if we managed to pull it off.” An elegiac, elliptical tale of childhood and mental illness, All These Creatures is a profoundly visual experience. The film pulses with its own teenage heat and with a strange, particular kind of melancholy. In that way, it calls to mind the best work of philosopher-filmmaker Terrence Malick, or the dream-like visual poetry of Wong KarWai. Not, mind you, that it’s the obvious aping of a more successful director’s style, as so many shorts can sometimes turn out to be. All These Creatures speaks in a precise, deeply nostalgic language all of its own. Williams wrote the short quickly, over about a month, just after the birth of his daughter. It is the crystallisation of themes that have been rattling around his head for years: sickness, childhood, memory, regret. “I’d been toying with a way to get these obsessions of mine into a film for a long time, but never found a way to make it work,” he explains. “Or maybe I was a bit ashamed to.” Most shorts are shot on a tight budget, but All These Creatures was pulled together on little more than a wing and a prayer.
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human. “No one knows for sure which part is the sickness and which part is just you,” Tempest considers at one point, fearing for his father’s health and concerned that he might be losing his own mind. “The challenge of rendering [mental illness] honestly and cinematically seemed kind of impossible,” Williams admits. “For a long time it was a real struggle for me, trying to traverse the landscape of ‘mental illness’ but also the grey area about where that leads. “For example, like everyone, I couldn’t get away from all the Trump news at the time, and there was a lot of talk about him being mentally ill: lots of psychiatrist weighing in without ever actually meeting him. Then the head of the DSM weighed in and said something to the effect of, ‘Trump isn’t mentally ill. He’s doing great. He’s not suffering. It’s not an illness to have a bad personality. He may be a piece of shit, that doesn’t mean he’s sick.’ “It’s an important sentiment, especially now when it’s very in vogue to label people we don’t like as ‘mentally ill’, really just to make ourselves sound more sophisticated... What we’re really doing is stigmatising people who are genuinely suffering and making them synonymous with people who may just be ‘shitty’.” That’s really the key to All These Creatures. It’s not a film that seeks to demonise those who might be suffering. In its quiet, cathartic way, it has an empathy and humanity all of its own. And it’s a stirring call for understanding, at a time when society can tend to undervalue forgiveness.
All These Creatures plays from 12 Jan at Bondi Pavilion, part of Flickerfest 2019
The art of the feels The emotional riches of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood will be on full display at the National Gallery Of Australia’s summer blockbuster, Love & Desire: PreRaphaelite Masterpieces From The Tate. The NGA’s director Nick Mitzevich tells Maxim Boon why this is the most significant exploration of this movement ever staged Down Under.
P
erhaps it’s unsurprising that an exhibition of lyrical and seductive artworks is titled Love & Desire, but the National Gallery Of Australia’s summer blockbuster of Pre-Raphaelite masterworks, on loan from London’s Tate Gallery, could also be characterised by a different pair of nouns: romance and rebellion. More than 100 works, by 21 artists, have been loaned to the NGA, in what represents the most ambitious, not to mention well-heeled, showing of PreRaphaelite artworks ever staged on Australian shores. “The curators have been very thoughtful in their selection for this show. These aren’t just representative works, but true masterpieces of the movement,” explains NGA director Nick Mitzevich. “These paintings, tapestries and writings are truly emblematic of the major themes being explored by the Pre-Raphaelites.” The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a collective of English artists, poets, designers and philosophers who banded together in the mid19th century with a shared vision to shake-up the art world. They intended to disrupt what they viewed as a stagnant status quo; rejecting the pervasive Mannerist styles that held up the elegant yet aloof Classical compositions of Raphael and Michelangelo their ultimate goal. Founded by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelites revelled in the sensuality of nature, creating artworks that shunned the mechanistic and by rote, in favour of a far bolder range of expressive and emotional possibilities. The Brotherhood believed in the agency of the individual and the importance of original thinking. But above all, they believed art should reflect the full gamut of human experience, that it should explore the spiritual, the romantic and the dramatic in ways that would immediately move and connect with a viewer. “This show is an unparalleled collection that defines the movement, but these are also the finest examples of work by the individual artists themselves. Of course, people are going to be lured in by the paint quality and the trickery of illusion and the sheer romance and seduction of these works, but they’re also going to be captivated by these major examples that define who each of the exhibited artists were,” Mitzevich adds. Indeed, two of the exhibition’s biggest showstoppers are perhaps the most famous
Pre-Raphaelite paintings ever created. This will be the first occasion these two beloved works from the Tate’s collection — John Everett Millais’ Ophelia (pictured below) and John William Waterhouse’s The Lady Of Shalott — have left the Tate’s walls at the same time. But it’s not only these revered paintings that will be putting visitors to the NGA in a romantic frame of mind. A companion program, aptly titled Summer Of Love, will enhance the popular appeal of these paintings with signa-
package that will allow one lucky couple to get hitched in front of their favourite Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece. The Summer Of Love events add a frisson of pop-culture zest to the show, which as Mitzevich explains, is perfectly on brand. “One of the mandates of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was to make art popular. They worked with printers and publishers to make their work widely accessible — I think the most direct equivalents today would be Instagram and Facebook. The Pre-Raphaelites made work that was deliberately accessible, made for mass distribution; in their hearts they were populists. When we craft a public program around it, it makes absolute sense to take inspiration from the works’ popular spirit. ‘Accessible’ can be such a dirty word, but if you ensure that there’s great credibility and that the works are of excellent quality and they tell a fascinating story of that moment, then we’re really encouraged by widening the narrative of this movement through contemporary culture. I truly believe, if the Brotherhood was still around today, they’d think it was the most reasonable extension of their philosophy.” But in addition to the simpatico resonances with the Pre-Raphaelite spirit, Mitzevich also acknowledges that events such as Blasko’s performance offer a valuable opportunity to attract new audiences to the NGA. “Galleries are part of leading a cultural agenda; what the NGA does goes far beyond just staging exhibitions and making catalogues. We have a mandate to amplify the voice of the artist, and hanging the works for the public to see or printing beautiful catalogues are just two ways to do that. People digest culture and art in many different ways, so I want to make sure if you’re at the NGA you have an amazing and seductive and appealing experience, if you’re online you’re intrigued and fascinated by what we do, or if we’re on tour you’re motivated to find out where we are showing. So these additional activities in orbit around the main show, are really important for ensuring there are as many entry points as possible for as wide an audience as possible.”
“The Pre-Raphaelites made work that was deliberately accessible, made for mass distribution; in their hearts they were populists.” ture events like Summer Lovin’ which will see TV presenter and host of The Bachelor Osher Gunsberg offering romance tips at an alfresco picnic, and an intimate performance with ARIA-Award winner Sarah Blasko, who will deliver a oneoff acoustic set to just 40 audience members within the exhibition’s galleries. There will even be a giveaway wedding
Love & Desire: Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces From The Tate is at the National Gallery Of Australia until 28 Apr.
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WITH THE LEADING GLOBAL SPECIALIST IN CREATIVE MEDIA EDUCATION
N E X T C L A S S E S STA R T I N F E B SYDNEY CAMPUS - CHIPPENDALE
ENROL NOW
SAE.EDU.AU | 1800 723 338 *Conditions apply, see sae.edu.au/win-a-trip. AU residents 16+ only. Starts 20/10/18. Ends: 11:59pm AEDST 15/2/19. Limit 1 entry /person. Draw: 373 Ewingsdale Rd, Byron Bay NSW 2481 on 20/2/19 at 5pm AEDST. Winner at www.SAE.edu.au from 25/2/19. Prize: 1x trip for 2ppl to the winner’s choice of 1 SAE Creative Media Institute campus (from the following 3 options: London - UK, Paris - France or New York - USA) valued at up to AU$10.5K. Promoter: SAE Institute Pty Limited (ABN 21 093 057 973) of Australian Headquarters, 373 Ewingsdale Rd, Byron Bay NSW 2481. Permits: NSW. LTPS/18/26262 ACT. TP18/01370 SA. T18/1252
Pic by Josh Groom
Twilight At Taronga
With an amazing amphitheatre and stunning Sydney skyline backdrop, summer concert series Twilight At Taronga returns in 2019. Things will kick off with Aussie alternativerock royalty You Am I and Magic Dirt on 1 Feb and go right through to a Comedy Gala on 9 Mar featuring Dave Hughes, Cal Wilson and more. In between you’ll find the likes of Vera Blue, Aloe Blacc, Do Re Mi, The Waifs, Hoodoo Gurus, perennial Twilight At Taronga favourites Bjorn Again and many more. Not only will you get a quality night of entertainment, but all proceeds from the shows go back into Taronga’s ongoing conservation and research work.
It’s barbie season, baby! Chances are you’ll be spending a lot of time in the garden, and we don’t mean tending to the tommies. Here’s a few tips to ensure your backyard boogies are all sizzle no fizzle this year.
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us
tra
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nb
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Doing the hard yards
Pimp your yard Summer’s here and the great outdoors is calling. But if the ol’ backyard hasn’t seen any action in a while, don’t call your landlord yet because, yo dawg... Lauren Baxter just pimped your yard.
Motor on
Freudian slip
Bar-BQ pit
Judgement day
Cooler. Ice box. Chilly bin. Portable ice chest. Whatever you call it, we can all agree the esky is a mighty creation and a staple for any backyard. Factor in the summer heat, our general state of lethargy and the fact walking is for chumps and hey presto. Motorised esky. Rock up to any party on this and we reckon you’ll be the coolest cat there (results not guaranteed). Now just google, “How to do a burnout on an esky?” and onwards noble steed.
Is there anything more dignified than getting sudsed up on hot summer’s day in a backyard full of plastic furniture, surrounded by mates and gliding majestically down a tarpaulin, praying something stops you before you hurtle into the fence? Ahhh, the humble Slip N Slide. No summer backyard party is complete without one. Here at The Music, we’re petitioning for it to become an Olympic sport: bonus points for creative delivery.
A BBQ, a bar and a fire pit. Ok, technically three items but really, we’re talking the entertaining essentials here. It’s what backyard dreams are made of. A BBQ because what kind of pimped yard doesn’t have somewhere to grill a thick slab of meat (or some tofu, vegans don’t @ me). A bar because this is thirsty work. And a fire pit because how far have we really come from those caveman days?
If movies have taught us anything, there’s really a myriad of ways we could potentially meet our demise. Zombies, alien invasion, divine judgement: take your pick. When push comes to shove, Michael Stipe was right. It is the end of the world as we know it. And if you want to feel fine, you’re gonna need an Apocalypse Bunker. A significant investment sure, but what are you going to do when the aliens come knocking and Jeff Goldblum is nowhere in sight huh? Start stockpiling.
Red 49CC Motorised Esky, $649 @ assassindirtbikes.com.au
Wham O XL Triple Wave Rider Slip n Slide, $37.59 @ rebelsport.com.au
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Firepit Tripod with Hanging Grill, $59 @ barbequesgalore.com.au; Retro vintage bar, $200+ @ gumtree.com.au
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Xtreme Bunker Complex, US$1,009,999 @ risingsbunkers.com
Party at your place
Sensible Antixx craft all manner of events that breathe new life into venues. We asked them how you can to the same in your own backyard.
Quality over quantity Recognising what you’re doing with your party is really important. Is this a one-off for the history books? Your annual New Year’s bash? Did you draw the short straw on hosting a full-tilt family reunion? Once you’re able to conceive your event’s ambition, you can then tailor how you go about accommodating that audience. Consider the party you and your friends would want to go to, breaking down components of that unique experience will organically create a point of difference your block hasn’t seen yet.
Hot tips You know what’s a bb-beautiful way to spend a summer evening? Chucking a few snags on the barbie, drinking some beers and not having to clean the kitchen after. While the art of the bbq is a relatively easy one to master, here’s some ways you can step that shit up (on the cheap) and impress your mates next time they’re ‘round.
Who do I want to come vs who’s actually coming? Getting people to actually attend (and not just click ‘attending’) can be tricky. Confirming your nearest and dearest early for example is how you can naturally expand exposure and reach. Think of those as pre-sales, everyone has a +1, if not more, and your immediate besties have more power than anyone in creating word of mouth. In this scenario you’re the promoter, having muso’s or entertainers contributes to the event and shouldn’t be the main event itself.
You do make friends with salad You know what looks real fancy with pretty much no effort? Lettuce tell you, it’s a Caprese salad. Slice some tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella then just lay them on a plate. Chuck some
What does my party have that others don’t?
basil leaves, olive oil and some salt and pepper on top and you are good to go.
Sofar Sounds, Parlour gigs and our own Any Rhythm Sundays are great examples of what you can do with backyard events. Take a leaf from one of those books and make it your own! You can also pimp your humble abode; projecting images or silhouettes makes the place lit (#dopepun) and replacing the goon sack on the Hills Hoist with fairy lights is a nice touch. Don’t be afraid of offering things to do too, you don’t have to push quoits or bocci but leaving them out invites more than standing on the driveway with a tinnie.
Cob to it
Who am I going to piss off?
You know what people love? Cob loaf. And frankly, what’s not to love about bread that also serves as a serving bowl and is
No one fixes a bridge until someone falls off it. Recognising your events pitfalls before they happen enables a smooth crossing for everyone. Who has the potential to get pissed off? House mates, neighbours, council or worse; the 5-Ohno. Sound check where you’re leaving your sound levels, have plenty of bins around and do a quick Google search on council regulations. You want to be having a good time too, and dealing with Sergeant Fun Police can be a real drainer for everyone.
filled with dip? Slice the top off a cob loaf, pull the stuffing out, tip in some dip and bask in your culinary glory.
Something for everyone We live in a really progressive world, so don’t be selfish in what you’re offering. Consider equality and diversity in your line-ups/playlists and even in your invites. Broadcast a range of musical flavours (not just Drake’s full catalogue) and even experiment with something a little new. Being authentic is to damn important, there’s no point fronting something you’re not... People see through that shit real quick and if you’re looking to give people a good time, you’re better off nailing what you do then faking what you don’t.
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When in doubt, chuck some beer on it Here’s some ways to use beer to your advantage at a bbq — clean the barbie; try your hand at cooking a beer-can chicken; create a tinnie pyramid; add a swig to your burger patties. It’ll have ‘em barbe-queueing, trust us.
For the latest live reviews go to theMusic.com.au
Fairgrounds Festival @ Berry Showgrounds. Photos by Peter Dovgan.
With summer officially starting, so too do the summer festivals, with Fairgrounds’ main day of action coinciding with the first day of the
warmest season. The festival featured the likes of Courtney Barnett, The Breeders, Billy Bragg, Sampa The Great, Wil Wagner and many more, with plenty of cross promotional vibes as artists jumped up on stage at each others’ sets.
Courtney Barnett
“It’s in the most beautiful setting on the south coast of NSW, and it has one of the best vibes of any festival we’ve ever been to.” – Hannah Story
Paul Kelly @ The Domain. Photo by Josh Groom.
Paul Kelly brought his Making Gravy Christmas
show to Sydney this year, with a stellar support-
ing line-up of Angus & Julia Stone, Alex Lahey, DD
Dumbo and Angie McMahon with summer storms not even drowning spirits.
Sampa The Great
“The weather was not on our side tonight, but we donned our ponchos, grabbed a drink and made the best of it – it was all gravy, baby.” The Used
– Melissa Borg
Good Things @ Parramatta Park. Photos by Hayden Nixon.
Northlane
A new entrant to the festival
calendar, Good Things celebrated its inaugural run with a line-up of heavy rock, punk, emo and more
“The Australian summer festival circuit could certainly use a rock festival a la Good Things.”
featuring The Used, Northlane, Stone Sour, The Offspring and many more.
– Brendan Crabb
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Reviews
Valve 871 George street, Sydney City BASEMENT
FRI 4TH 8PM
LEVEL ONE
FRI 4TH 10PM
BASEMENT
SAT 5TH 8PM
LEVEL ONE
SAT 5TH 10PM
BASEMENT
SUN 6TH 5PM
“LATHAM’S GRIP” IN ROCK SHOW WITH MANY SPECIAL GUESTS
THU 10TH 8PM
BASEMENT
FRI 11TH 8PM
SUPPORTED BY JORDAN SALEM AND MANY MORE
“DISPARO” SPACE HUG FUNDRAISER
FRI 11TH 10PM
SAT 12TH 8PM
LEVEL ONE
SAT 12TH 10PM
WITH “STRAIGHT TO A TOMB”, “FAT MONICA”, “HUMAN FAILURE”, “RIDE FOR RAIN”
PRIVATEFUNCTION ROCKY WATER PROMOTIONS PRESENTS
“NOTHING LIKE YOU”
REGGAE SHOW
WITH SUPPORT FROM MANY SPECIAL GUESTS “SEA BETWEEN” PRESENTS
SYDNEY’S PREMIER ALTERNATIVE CLUB NIGHT FEATURING BEST ALTERNATIVE DJ’S AND PERSONALLY RECOMMENDED BY IAN ASTBURY OF “CULT”
DEEPSPACE MONTHLY PSY
WITH DJS INNSEXX, SINISTER SEQUENCE, FLOW THEORY, ZAC SLADE, VERTICAL TRANSPORT AND MANY MORE
www.valvebar.com.au
LEVEL ONE
SAT 19TH 10PM
“LIQUID JOY” PRESENTS
FRI 25TH 8PM
JENGYZPRESENTS
LEVEL ONE
BASMEMENT
THU 17TH 8PM
BASEMENT
FRI 18TH 9PM
LEVEL ONE
FRI 18TH 10PM
METROPOLIS TOURINGPRESENTS
BORED METAL/ NU-METAL/ ALTERNATIVE DJ NIGHT BASEMENT
SAT 19TH 9PM
For band bookings please email valvebar@gmail.com
NEW AGE, MUSIC, EXHIBITION AND MUCH MORE
ACOUSTIC SESSIONS WITH SUPPORT BY MADY DISBARY, JOHN DAVEY, KEALOANA
“DEAD LIPS” AT VALVE BAR
WITH “STACY GACY” ,”THE GREAT EMU WAR CASUALTIES”, “THE DEAD RIDERS”, “TO LOS ANGELES”
DROP ZONE - HIGH SCHOOL REUNION
BASEMENT
FRI 25TH 10PM
WITH“SAVATIX”, “WEIGHT OF THE WORLD”, “DYSFUNCTION” AND GUESTS
INDIE SHOW
WITH SUPPORT FROM “COOKS AND BAKERS” AND GUESTS ELEMENTS OF TECH AND BASSPRESENTS
DNB PARTY
WITH GRADATE (JAPAN), WEEDSNATHCA, RITUAL, THIERRY D, KOVEX B2B AVIAN, XAN MULLER ROCK LIKE THIS PRESENTS
FREQ NASTY (USA)
WITH LOCAL SUPPORTS
BASEMENT
VALVE BAR PUNK FEST
LEVEL ONE
HI TECH PARTY
BASEMENT
“PAST PRESENT”PRESENTS
SAT 26TH 1PM
SAT 26TH 10:30PM
WITH VENDETTA 7TH, DAVE PSI, DAVIEBONES, ROYALS, MIXEN VIXEN, AUTOCLAWS, BEN ELEVEN, SEVERE, CRIMINAL CONTROL, MC NIGHTWIZARD
SUN 27TH 5PM
REBEL SOUNDS
BASEMENT THU 31ST 8PM
WITH “PIST”, “CREAM SODA”, “BLACK RATS”, “OBAT BATUK”, “OPERATION IBIS”, “PENALTIES”, DJ SIRMIK SKIN, GILES, JASE
FEAT HEDONIST, XYLOCAINE, JAWCEP, VALAC, NAPOLEON, SHOWBOAT, SEVERE
BASEMENT
THU 24TH 8PM
GOOD VIBE TRIBE PRESENTS
WED 16TH 8PM
THE RESURRECTION
HARDCORE HEAVEN
BASEMENT
WITH “MALAIKA”, “M’LEIGH”, “NAT & BELLE”
GABBER CENTRAL PRESENTS
BASEMENT
SUN 20TH 5PM
DANI EL-RASSI
SUN 13TH 5PM
ROUND 2TH ATVALVE BAR
FEATMUSIC BY KORN/SLIPKNOT/ DEFTONES/LINKIN PARK/ TOOL/SYSTEM OF A DOWN AND MANY MORE
SANCTUARY WITH A TWIST,
BAR & VENUE
BASEMENT
“PABLO PACE BAND”PRESENTS
WITH “KING TIGER ZERO”, “HALFWAIT”, “MADAM WONG”, “CHUNKY MALLOWS” LEVEL ONE
BASEMENT
“REGULAR BASIS”
WITH “THE RAVENS”, “APOLLO’SGARAGE”, “AMISH TECH SUPPORT”, “ZENITH 17TH” BASEMENT
valvebar@gmail.com
WITH“RUKUS”, “TOPNOVIL”, “IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE” AND MANY MORE WITH MELIFIOUS, SARIN, BRAINGAMES AND MANY MORE
THE BEST AND THE BURDEN TOUR
WITH “SUPER TUMMY”, “TUNNEL VISION”, “JOSH SADKOWSKI”
“PLANET HOLIDAY” ROCK PARTY WITH SUPPORT FROM MANYSPECIAL GUEST
facebook.com/valvebarsydney
Want more news, reviews and interviews? Head to the new look theMusic.com.au
The Music
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january
This month’s highlights
Fall all over
‘Pies in flight
Magpie Diaries
Alt-country outfit Magpie Diaries, led by Dashville founder Matt “Magpie” Johnston, have dropped their debut full-length and are taking it on a massive two-month tour. Wrap your ears around Sanctuary at Brass Monkey on 11 Jan and Sly Fox the following night.
If you didn’t manage to nab a ticket, or you just can’t get enough of the great line-up, you can check out these Falls fest sideshows.
Bring the thunder Thunder Fox are bringing their eccentric brand of funk to Oxford Art Factory on 24 Jan to celebrate the release of their latest single, Squeedup. They claim to “cause sonic copulation, worldwide”, if that’s your sort of thing.
Soccer Mommy
2 Jan, Oxford Art Factory Toto Thunder Fox
3 Jan, Hordern Pavilion The Vaccines
4 Jan, Metro Theatre
Prog fans rejoice! Progfest is making its way around the country again, stopping at Factory Theatre in Sydney on Jan 27. With bands from all over the world, including The Ocean, Monuments and SNVFF, the event promises riffs. Many, many riffs.
Keep rollin’ Touted as ‘the world’s biggest hip hop festival’, Rolling Loud only has a few artists currently announced, but they are certainly big - Future, Lil Uzi Vert and Tyga are all heading to Sydney Showground on 27 Jan, with more to be announced. Skrrt skrrt.
Lil Uzi Vert
SNVFF
What’s the prognosis?
Bishop Briggs
4 Jan, Oxford Art Factory
Paul Dempsey. Pic: Cybele Malinowski
Life is strange Paul Dempsey has been a busy bee this year, but this 17 Jan, he takes a quiet moment to play a solo acoustic show. It’s the first time the Something For Kate frontman has done so in Sydney for four years so catch him at Factory Theatre while you can.
Dermot Kennedy
10 & 11 Jan, Metro Theatre & Factory Theatre
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Your town
SATURDAY 26 JANUARY 2019 PARRAMATTA PARK
+ S N O O L L A B R I A HOT S E L C I H E V C I S S A CL N IO IT T E P M O C B M BBQ LA
T N E M IN A T R E T N E LIVE
PROJECT + YOTHU YINDI & THE TREATY KY NIFO + IC R + TS IS RT A EY N D SY N WESTER LE RYDER, A D G IN D U CL IN S CT A CK O AUSSIE R WILSON, STEVE GRANT WALMSLEY, ROSS S AND MORE! IE Z O TO N A CH E TH , EY LB KI
S K R O W E IR F + D O RIDES, FO u a . m o c . a t t a m a r r a p ausday Presented by
Venue Partner
Media Partners
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Accommodation Partner
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january
Event Partners
the best and the worst of the year’s zeitgeist
The lashes Front
Back
It’s-a me!
A whole new world
Yassss (cake) kween
Fortnite fail
Stone speaks out
WTF weather
Charles Martinet, the living
Aussie streaming service
We already adore Nicole
legend who is the unmis-
Stan snagged a major coup
Byer more than words can
Rapper 2 Milly and Fresh
Orange Is The New Black
We assume it hasn’t gone
Prince Of Bel-Air star Alfon-
star Yael Stone has accused
takable voice of computer
last month by securing the
unnoticed that the weather
express for her hilarious
so Ribeiro have both sued
Aussie actor Geoffrey Rush
game icon Mario, has just
this summer has been
rights to all of Disney’s mov-
hosting on surprise Netflix
Epic Games, makers of Fort-
of sexual harassment when
pretty goddamn cooked.
snagged a Guinness World
ies, including Marvel and
superhit Nailed It. But
nite, for allegedly ‘stealing’
the pair starred opposite
From droughts to bush fires
Record. His performance on
Pixar titles, so you can see in
just when we thought we
their iconic dance moves,
each other in a 2010 pro-
to floods and storms, the
the recently released Super
the new year with a sweet,
couldn’t love her more, she
including the unmistakable
duction at Sydney Theatre
whole country has been
Smash Bros Ultimate is his
sappy CGI masterpiece
goes and launches a new
hip-swingin’ of Ribeiro’s
Company. Rush denies
taking a lashing thanks to
100th to date.
(or five).
Drag Race podcast ‘heart
character Carlton Banks.
the allegations.
climate change.
eyes emoji’.
The final thought
Words by Maxim Boon
Screw resolutions. In 2019, I want a New Year’s revolution.
O
k, I know writing about New Year’s resolutions in the January edition seems like the lowest of low hanging journalistic fruit, but it’s a topic that bears discussion in these troubled times in which we live. Because if there’s one thing more inevitable than magazine articles about New Year’s resolutions being pub-
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lished in January, it’s that the vast majority of us who vow to make a change will no doubt ditch the ‘new me’ a couple of well-intentioned weeks into 2019 (and that’s probably an optimistic projection). So why is it so damn easy to fall off the resolution wagon? Well, it’s likely due to the fact that the stakes for most resolutions are rarely very high. Most self-improvement projects, whether it be joining a gym, giving up meat, or kicking those naughty vices we indulged in over the Chrissie break, are usually motivated by vanity or subscribing to perceived ideals of healthy or virtuous living. It probably doesn’t help that those same vices are also usually the go-to coping mechanisms we turn to in times of stress or disappointment, such as, oh I dunno, when we let our resolutions lapse. Let’s be real, the predictable derailing of our New Year’s improvement projects are largely inconsequential — aside from the monthly payments for the gym membership you never use. But what if the repercussions of us letting our resolutions falter were a little more severe? What if the comeuppance of being less resolute was the end of human civilisation? While it may be true that vowing to do more yoga or promising not to drink on a school night is unlikely to avert global catastrophe, taking stock of how our day-to-day habits influence
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The End
and impact the environment is something that may well pull mankind back from the brink of extinction. 2018 was a year of record-breaking climate extremes. Whereas the spectre of global warming was once merely a prophesised nightmare (backed up by a hell of a lot of verified science), we are now staring squarely down the barrel of a worldwide environmental disaster that has already cost billions of dollars and scores of lives. And yet, despite the overwhelming evidence and the pleading of top climatologists, the most powerful governments in the world (including our own) refuse to acknowledge the scale of the unfolding crisis. Or in some cases, that there’s any crisis at all. Challenging the systemic failures that enable global warming to continue unabated can feel like an overwhelming task, one so big that an individual’s actions would surely have little impact. But small changes can make big differences. We saw this in 2018 with the vast reduction in plastic shopping bags and other single-use plastics. It may not seem like much, but it’s proof positive that individual agency can contribute to a larger movement, which in turn can make a lasting difference. So, in 2019 I urge you not to make a flippant and easily shrugged-off resolution, but rather join a revolution. Let’s help humanity kick its bad habits.
presents
2019 LINE-UP INCLUDES ALINA BZHEZHINSKA QUARTET Poland/UK AMJAD ALI KHAN & THE ASO India ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO Benin ARTONIK THE COLOUR OF TIME France BALOJI DR Congo/Belgium BCUC South Africa CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL WOMEN’S CHOIR Australia CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS France THE CORRESPONDENTS UK DANNY KRIVIT USA DUOUD Tunisia/Algeria FATOUMATA DIAWARA Mali HARTS Australia JOHN BUTLER TRIO Australia KAIIT Australia/PNG KHRUANGBIN USA LA DAME BLANCHE Cuba LAS CAFETERAS USA MARÍA PAGÉS COMPAÑÍA YO, CARMEN Spain THE ORIGINAL GYPSIES France SHANTEL & BUCOVINA CLUB ORKESTAR Germany SILKROAD ENSEMBLE USA TAIWU ANCIENT BALLADS TROUPE Taiwan TARA TIBA Iran/Cuba TEEKS New Zealand TKAY MAIDZA Australia YOHAI COHEN QUINTET Israel + MANY MORE! PLUS: The Planet Talks Program, Installations, Street Theatre, Taste The World Program, Artists In Conversation, Global Village, Workshops, KidZone and more!
8-11 MARCH 2019 BOTANIC PARK ADELAIDE WOMADELAIDE.COM.AU
TICKET S
ON SAL E
NOW!
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December