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BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13 :: 5
rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Nick Jarvis and Natalie Amat.
five things WITH
JACK MILAS OF HIGH HIGHS moment I’m really into the album Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk, and I first heard that on our last US tour in a van in the middle of nowhere, Idaho.
the end, and that definitely comes through on the record, but it always came back to wanting to write classic songs.
Your Band We met in Sydney in 2008 3. at a recording studio. Oli had a
Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. It’s been such a good year already
big background in production and electronic music and I was a singer and a guitar player. I guess we meet somewhere in the middle and just create. The first record was mostly my bringing Oli weird small guitar and voice ideas and then going from there together. All the new songs we’ve been writing for the second record have been pretty different. All channels are open - Oli has been sending me demos of synths and drum sounds and I’ve been walking around the city singing to them.
– Atoms For Peace, Koreless, Boards of Canada. We just finished up a US tour supporting Vampire Weekend – they put out a beautiful record last week. The scene in New York where we live is pretty exciting. It’s stimulating to be around other great artists. I make an effort to go and see a lot of live music. It can be tough if you’re making quiet music, like we do, at something like SXSW. I find that the new artists that shout loudest are the ones that get heard somewhere like that. We had to remind ourselves to stay true to our vision after SXSW. When we were last in Sydney we had a great time at a Future Classic party at the Civic. You don’t get nights like that in NYC.
The Music You Make Both our EP and our debut 4. record were made in a series of tiny, Growing Up I didn’t grow up in a musical 1. family, but my parents loved music and always supported me playing music. There was a lot of Eric Clapton knocking around…but John
Williamson was probably my favourite artist. My parents used to let me perform John Williamson songs at dinner parties. It was basically me with a ukulele screaming the words. I can’t watch the home videos.
Inspirations I feel like that’s kind of a 2. constantly evolving thing…like I can’t remember the first time I heard Neil Young…could have been any time. He was just always there. At the
tiny rooms in Sydney and New York. It was basically just Oli the whole time, writing, exploring landscapes and discovering sounds. It was a really intense process. We were listening to a lot of 80s stuff by
Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Wednesday June 5
ESKIMO JOE
Thanks to all your generous crowdfunding, fans, Eskimo Joe have enough dosh to record their next album, due later this year, but before then they want to take you on an acoustic tour of their back catalogue with their Winter Warmers tour, kicking off in Sydney at Newtown’s Paddington Uniting Church on June 26. Tickets on sale now.
EDITOR: Nick Jarvis nick@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 ARTS EDITOR: Lisa Omagari lisa@thebrag.com 02 9212 4322 STAFF WRITERS: Benjamin Cooper, Alasdair Duncan, Jody Macgregor NEWS: Nick Jarvis, Chris Honnery, Natalie Amat
RACHAEL ZELLA
Classically trained pianist and guitarist Rachael Zella is bringing her ethereal voice and sixpiece band the Blackbirds to the Vanguard this Wednesday June 5 to launch her debut record No Stranger. In support, two actors moonlighting as musicians (or is it the other way around?) Terry Serio (Keating, the Musical) and Alistair Powning.
ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alan Parry SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Daniel Boud, Katrina Clarke, Ella Cochrane, About Last Night aka Lincoln Jubb, Kate Lewis, Henry Leung, Ashley Mar, Amath Magnan COVER DESIGN: Sarah Bryant ADVERTISING: Ross Eldridge - 0422 659 425 / (02) 9212 4322 ross@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 9212 4322 les@thebrag.com PUBLISHER: Rob Furst GENERAL MANAGER, FURST MEDIA: Patrick Carr patrick@furstmedia.com.au, (03) 9428 3600, 0402 821 122 DIGITAL DIRECTOR/ADVERTISING: Kris Furst kris@furstmedia.com.au (03) 9428 3600 GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Katie Davern, Blake Gallagher, Naomi Russo gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag. com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Natalie Amat, Katie Davern, Mina Kitsos, Blake Gallagher, Naomi Russo REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Nat Amat, Shannon Connellan, Simon Binns, Katie Davern, Marissa Demetriou, Christie Eliezer, Chris Honnery, Kate Jinx, Lachlan Kanoniuk, Jody Macgregor, Alicia Malone, Chris Martin, Hugh Robertson, Jonno Seidler, Rach Seneviratne, Simon Topper, Rick Warner, Krissi Weiss, David Wild Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this NEW address 100 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9212 4322 fax - (02) 9319 2227 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of The BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Luke Forrester: accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial: Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Artwork/ad bookings: Thursday 12pm (no extensions). Ad cancellations: Tuesday 4pm Published by Furst Media P/L ACN 1112480045. All content copyrighted to Cartrage P/L/ Furst Media P/L 2003-2013 DISTRIBUTION: Wanna get The Brag? Email distribution@furstmedia. com.au or phone 03 9428 3600. PRINTED BY SPOTPRESS: www.spotpress.com.au 24 – 26 Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville NSW 2204 Win a giveaway? Send us a stamped, self-addressed envelope and we’ll mail your prize on over...
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NO BULLSH#T CORDIALE
Deap Vally
DEAP VALLY
Brag is presenting Deap Vally’s Splendour sideshows because we want to have their babies; we’ll even forgive them the ridiculous spelling of their band name. We’ve no idea how two people can raise such a righteous rock’n’roll storm of spit and bile, but what we do know is that we want to be there when they play Oxford Art Factory on Thursday July 25 – tickets on sale 10am Tuesday June 4.
Band of brothers Leimbach et al, Lime Cordiale, are back with a new outlook (and single), both with the name ‘Bullsh#t Aside’, proving that hash tags aren’t just for Twitter – they’re also useful for record titles. It’s the first taste of their forthcoming EP, relatably titled Falling Up The Stairs (c’mon, who hasn’t?), which is due out in August. Catch them playing a free gig at the Upstairs Beresford on June 22, before a proper show at The Standard on July 5. Hit up Moshtix for tickets.
ANNANDALE HOTEL SAVED
Contrary to reports earlier in the week, iconic Sydney live music venue the Annandale Hotel isn’t going to be turned into flats, nor will it sit abandoned as a sad indictment of gentrification (like the Hopetoun) – it’s been bought, but by a publican, so we can expect more awesome beery nights of amplified rawk. Leichhardt Mayor Darcy Byrne said saving the Annandale is the first step in plans to turn that stretch of Parramatta Rd into a live music precinct – fantastic news, but too late for former Annandale owners Dan and Matt Rule.
FBI SOCIAL
This week at the venue where radio becomes three dimensional, there’s ethereal songsmith Amy Rose and guests on Thursday night (more on her below), while on Friday night things get a little more street with reggae/ funk singer Alphamama and Daily Meds/ Big Village rapper/singer Billie Rose. Then on Saturday have your mind blown by instrumental post-rockers Solkyri with friend Seims and Setec.
WORLD’S END PRESS
Are they Melbourne’s answer to !!! or The Rapture circa Pieces of the People We Love? Find out for yourself when World’s End Press bring their disco-punk-funk vibes to Brighton Up Bar for a three night residency in August – Friday 2, Thursday 8 and Thursday 15. Before that happens, you should be able to get your hands on their debut LP – stay tuned here for more news on that.
FLEETWOOD MAC
Have you heard the ‘Rumours’? It’s probably ‘Second Hand News’ by now, but many a Fleetwood Mac fan’s ‘Dreams’ will come true this November when the iconic band ‘Go Their Own Way’ back to Australian shores with Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Tickets go on sale at 9am Thursday June 13, or join My Live Nation for the Friday June 7 presale, for shows at the Entertainment Centre on Sunday November 10 and Hope Estate Winery in the Hunter Valley on Saturday November 16.
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rock music news
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Nick Jarvis and Natalie Amat.
five things WITH
CASSANDRA WILSON
PHIL OF HAILER with Angus (bass/vocals). The three of us have been at it ever since. Others have flown by Hailer but the one that stuck – Pete (guitar) – joined the band in 2010 when we started to tour our previous record, Good Canyon. We love playing with Royal Chant and Dead Radio. We share a healthily diverse taste in music… however we all have some sensibilities that keep us in common glowing warmth.
4.
The Music You Make We make open minded rock’n’roll music…most likely psychedelic indie rock in today’s parlance. We recorded with Pete (our guitarist) at Audile Studios in Sydney, and the record was mixed by Nick Stumpf in Brooklyn, USA (Caveman, French Kicks). Our live show is how we have built our reputation…we take names. We’re always open to following a musical moment wherever it needs to go, which makes for interesting shows that never ever repeat.
Growing Up My mother’s classical music tastes rubbed right on up against my Dad’s rock records. He listened to a lot of British invasion stuff – Beatles, Kinks, Stones, Faces, etc. Quite a mix when floating down shagpile hallways.
1.
hearing Sgt. Pepper’s and it sounded three-dimensional…still does. Of the new frontier we love Tame Impala, Ty Segull, Kurt Vile, Deerhunter, Grizzly Bear, Father John Misty. Ah well, just about everything inspires a reaction…life is holy – art is just an afterthought.
Inspirations Our musical heroes are Bob Dylan, 2. Neil Young, Velvet Underground, Radiohead,
Your Band The band formed many moons ago, back 3. in 2004 on the hallowed campus of Sydney
Nick Cave, Spiritualized, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Tom Petty, Wilco. I recall first
University. I was studying the same degree as Scott (drums) and we both shared classes
Music, Right Here, Right Now The music scene is great at the moment 5. – a lot of talent coming to fruition. The best
Seasoned Mississippi-born jazz and blues songwriter Cassandra Wilson embarks on her first trip to Australian shores in over a decade this June. The iconic diva will be accompanied by a full band of accomplished jazz musicians, playing songs from a career spanning almost 30 years. Wilson makes her Sydney Opera House debut this June 15 as part of Music at the House and we’ve got one double pass to give away. To be in the running, just answer the following question: which magazine crowned Wilson “America’s Best Singer” in 2001?
BORIS
Japanese experimental rock/noise trio Boris return to Australia this June, following an outstandingly well-received tour last year. The band will play their seminal drone metal piece ‘Flood’ in its entirety as well as a selection from the band’s extensive back catalogue. If mind-melting Japanese experimental rock floats your boat, you won’t want to miss Boris playing Sydney’s Manning Bar on Friday June 21 – luckily we have two double passes to give away. To win, just tell us the name of one band or artist that Boris has collaborated with throughout the band’s career.
thing about the music scene is the new venues – more places to play means more reasons to get good. We head to the Brighton Up Bar for our new local music fix! Where: Brighton Up Bar / Brighton Up Bar’s First Birthday When: Friday June 7 / Saturday July 6 And: Another Way out now independently
EVAN & THE BRAVE
Maybe you’ve heard Sydney four-piece Evan & The Brave’s new single on rotation on FBi or triple j. Maybe you’ve been seduced by its echoey, lullaby indie-pop aesthetic. If not, you can rectify that when they launch the single at Hibernian House on Friday June 14 with The British Blues.
Udays Tiger
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
PERCH CREEK FAMILY JUG BAND
Do you ever wish you’d been born barefoot and pregnant in the Appalachian Mountains? The Perch Creek Family Jug Band want to help you recreate that feeling of hillbilly chic with a five-piece sound that brings together banjo, washboard, trombone, double bass, harmonica, musical saw and moonshine jug. Catch them, supported by goodtime country gals All Our Exes Live in Texas, at the Vanguard on Sunday June 9, and before that at Katoomba’s Clarendon Guesthouse with Laura Zarb on Friday June 7.
Boris
VAUDEVILE SMASH
Sexy sax solos, disco synths and slickedback-quiff crooning are what Melbourne band Vaudeville Smash are all about, as you can discover on their recently released debut Dancing for the Girl. Alternatively, you can find out in person when they bring their live show, which Beat called “exactly what live music is all about” and Inpress called “an event”, to the UTS Glasshouse Bar on Friday June 21 and the Upstairs Beresford on Saturday June 22. Tickets on sale now.
BUCHANAN
Buchanan are on the road and a fair way from home touring their new album Human Spring. The boys will be rocking the Old Manly Boatshed on Friday July 12, before coasting down to Goodgod on Saturday July 13 on a wave of jangly guitars and analogue dreams. They’ve also released a video with lots of talent show ideas (and their latest single), for those in need of some inspiration.
Patrick James
UDAYS TIGER
More two-piece heavy blues-noise-rock with more than a nod to Jack White, but this time from two dudes from Brisbane. Udays Tiger have just finished putting together their second EP with Neil Coombe, Dead Attention, due on June 14. Apparently legendary rock critic Everett True is a fan, saying “Fucking Udays Tiger man. They understand dynamics… Sometimes it’s enough to get fucked and scream.” Find out what he’s talking about at the Backroom on Thursday June 27 and Friday June 28 at the World Bar.
AMY ROSE
Sydney songwriter Amy Rose deals in fragile electronic pop powered by her emotive, haunting voice. Her new single ‘Running’ may or may not have anything to do with having grown up in a religious cult in Queensland; what we do know is that she’s put together a full band to launch the single at FBi Social this Thursday June 6 with Gordi, Revier and Anna Smyrk and the Appetites – if you miss that, catch her Monday July 15 at Venue 505 on Cleveland St.
BEN OTTEWELL
Ben Ottewell – the one from Gomez with the deep, gravelly baritone – has just put out his first solo record, which critics are calling “not a huge departure…but more low-key, melancholy, and acoustic driven than Gomez.” Catch him locally, supported by Matt Walker at Lizottes
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in Dee Why on Sunday July 7, at Lizottes in Newcastle on Wednesday July 10, at the Basement on Thursday July 11 and at Brass Monkey in Cronulla on Saturday July 13.
COOGEE DIGGERS
Suffering withdrawals from Bluesfest? Don’t despair, for there are three days of blues and roots coming up this long weekend, and you don’t even have to drive eight hours north for it. Bunkerfest at the Coogee Diggers has Ray Beadle (Blues Band & The Silverdollars), Papa Pilko & The Bin Rats, The Perch Creek Family Jug Band, Quarry Mountain Dead Rats, Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk, Max Savage, Isaac Graham, Andy Brown and more spread over three days from 7pm Friday June 7 to Sunday June 9. Tickets on sale now at $34.70 for the weekend.
PATRICK JAMES
One man, one guitar, and a record collection full of (presumably) James Taylor and Nick Drake is how troubadour Patrick James rolls. And that’s how he’ll be rolling when he gets home from a 21 date tour with Emma Louise to play two intimate, acoustic, all ages shows in Melbourne and Sydney. Catch him at Paddington Uniting Church in Sydney on July 5 (tickets on sale now) and pick up his debut EP All About To Change now through Create/ Control.
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Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
it was because his drinking problem had returned. Richie told him not to trash-talk and sources say he couldn’t stand to tour because of Jon’s constant belittling. * Feud #2: actress turned hip hop wannabe Amanda Bynes tweeted she wanted to call her dog Rihanna. Rih responded, “Ya see what happens when they cancel Intervention?” Bynes shot back “Chris Brown beat you because you’re not pretty enough,” before quickly deleting the tweet. * Feud #3: Kelly Osbourne lashed out at old sparring partner Lady Gaga, branding her a “great big hypocrite” for cashing in on the “freaks and geeks” she claims to stand up for. * Ladyhawke is working on an album with Pnau in Los Angeles. * Mötley Crüe’s roller coaster drum set has been dismantled after a May 25 show in the US. Tommy Lee says, “Just wait til ya see what crazy I got for ya next!”
THINGS WE HEAR * Disclosure blabbed to the Herald Sun that they’re here for Parklife. Josh Homme reconfirmed to triple j that Queens of the Stone Age are here in 2014. * The inaugural Vagabond festival, to be held in Kangaroo Valley over the Queen’s long weekend in June, is not going ahead due to slow ticket sales. * Did US rapper Tim Dog really die on Valentine’s Day of a seizure due to diabetes? Media reports suggest he faked his death to avoid paying debts. * MusicNSW is holding a tax workshop on June 18, more details to come. * Feud #1: the public clash between Richie Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi is getting nastier. Sambora initially said he’s not touring with the band because he wanted to take time to focus on his fashion label. Jon hinted
TIËSTO RICHEST DJ AGAIN, DAFT PUNK RISE
to help them record and market 35 releases. It is part of its pilot Recording Initiative scheme. The six labels, including five from Sydney, are Elefant Traks ($50,000), Hub Artist Services ($50,000), Darwin’s Skinnyfish Music ($50,000), Spunk Records ($48,000), Siberia Records ($38,000) and 4-4-2 Music ($17,660). Head of the Council’s music board Paul Mason said they received 65 applications; they were going to choose just three but found more money.
For the second year, Dutch house virtuoso Tiësto was named the richest DJ in the world. He’s worth US$75 million says wealth calculating website Celebrity Net Worth, which last year put his wealth at $65 million. He makes $250,000 a night, and made $20 million last year alone. Rising quickly behind him are Daft Punk who’ve built up a fortune of $60 million each from licensing deals, royalties, music sales and merchandise. Skrillex saw his fortune double in the last 12 months to $16 million from $8 million. At #4 on the list is Paul Oakenfold ($58m), followed by Paul van Dyk ($52m), John Digweed ($45m), Judge Jules ($42m), Armin Van Buuren ($40m), Sasha ($40m), Pete Tong ($32m), Moby ($30m), David Guetta ($30m), Fatboy Slim ($23m), The Chemical Brothers ($20m), Ferry Corsten ($19m), Deadmau5 ($18m), Carl Cox ($16m), Skrillex ($16m), Benny Benassi ($15m) and Pauly D ($15m).
STAFFORD BROS GO DOUBLE PLATINUM LA-based Gold Coast DJ and production duo Stafford Bros’ single ‘Hello’ has gone double platinum. It peaked at #4 on the ARIA chart, going to #1 on its Australian artist, dance and club charts. The track is out in the US in July.
BLUESFEST BRINGS $150M TO NSW, $64M TO BYRON Remember our item about the figures (attendance, food, coffee) for Bluesfest 2013? Now an Economic Impact report undertaken by Lawrence Consulting has been releases, which found that the mega-festival generated spending of:
SIX LABELS GET FUNDING Six record labels have received a total of $253,660 of funding from the Australia Council
* Kingswood teamed with Wonderworld Films for a ten-minute short Spaghetti Western film to accompany single ‘Ohio’. It was shot around Sydney, rural NSW and the Annandale, with guest slots by Seth Sentry, Thelma Plum, Sticky Fingers, Kira Puru, Dan Rule of the Annandale and Reg Mombassa. * Dave Tice will revisit the songs of his early ‘70s metal band Buffalo at a run of dates at Manning Bar on June 7 and 8, and July 8. He’ll be joined by drummer Paul Wheeler, bassist Harry Brus and guitarist Peter Ross. * Australia has banned a TV ad for the Dead Island Riptide video game for its violence. A young couple stuck in a shipwrecked boat on an island infested with zombies blow themselves up when the zombies invade the boat. It ends with a dead man hanging from a palm tree.
* $64.1 million in Byron Shire, $84.2 million in the Northern Rivers and $150.6 million in New South Wales in 2012/13. * Estimated total income (wages and salaries) of $10.8 million in Byron Shire, $15.0 million in the Northern Rivers and $32.8 million in NSW in 2012/13. * Estimated contribution to Gross Regional Product (GRP) of $28.4 million in Byron, $37.3 million in the Northern Rivers and $65.8 million NSW in 2012/13. * An estimated contribution to GRP in Byron Shire ($28.4 million) that represents approximately 2.1% of the total GRP. The impact of visitors to Bluesfest is significant. Gross Indirect Tourism Expenditure (accommodation, food and beverage, retail, attractions, etc.) was $21.4 million to Byron, $28.5 million to Northern Rivers and $47.3 million to the NSW economies. In addition, results from a survey completed during the festival were also released. 51% of respondents lived interstate, 19% were from the Byron Bay or Northern Rivers Region and 5% were from overseas.
METALLICA IN INDONESIAN CORRUPTION ROW A guitar presented to Jakarta governor and heavy metal fan Joko Widodo by Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo was confiscated by anti-corruption investigators. The Corruption Eradication Commission said a message scribbled on the guitar by Trujillo – “Giving back… Keep playing that cool, funky bass” – was code for anticipated kickbacks (to wit, expedite permits for the band’s tour this year). Government officials must report any gifts received from the public and are forbidden from accepting offerings valued at over 300,000 rupiah (A$30). The axe will be donated to a museum or auctioned off.
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APRA HONOURS THE SEEKERS BriBry (IRL)
The Red Paintings
Sun 9 Jun
Fri 14 Jun
The Seekers will receive this year’s APRA Ted Albert Award For Outstanding Services to Australian Music. It will be bestowed on them at the June 17 APRA awards at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. The Seekers were the first Australian band to have international success with ‘Georgy Girl’ and ‘The Carnival Is Over’, and have the record for the biggest crowd in the southern hemisphere, drawing 200,000 to the Myer Music Bowl.
HTC & Speaker TV Presents
Mono (JPN)
Pludo
Dappled Cities
Thu 27 Jun
Sat 29 Jun
Sun 16 Jun
Thu 20 Jun
HTC & Speaker TV Presents
Hardcore 2013 Sat 13 Jul 18+ Sun 14 Jul All Ages
Saint Vitus (USA) & Monarch! (FRA)
Haim (USA)
Hungry Kids of Hungary
JAIN MORALEE TO HEAD UNDERBELLY ARTS
SO LD
O UT
Municipal Waste (USA)
Sat 6 Jul
Nejo Y Dalmata (PUR) Fri 26 Jul
Wed 24 Jul
Fri 19 Jul
ARIA CHART RELEASED A DAY EARLY
Airbourne
DBSTF
Sat 27 Jul
Sat 10 Aug
Hits & Pits 2.0 feat (USA) Sun 17 Nov
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Jain Moralee, former GM and Festival Director of Queer Screen, is new Executive Director of Underbelly Arts, replacing Clare Holland, now Managing Director of FBi. Moralee will work alongside Artistic Director Eliza Sarlos. The Underbelly Arts Lab will take place on Cockatoo Island July 24-31. The team has grown, now comprising Festival Manager Michelle O’Brien, Marketing Coordinator Angela Bennetts and Program Manager Kate Britton.
The ARIA singles, album, Australian and genre charts are now released at 7pm Saturday, from 6pm Sunday. “In today’s fast moving information age we wanted to make sure that we could announce the ARIA Charts at the earliest possible time, giving Australian music fans the most up to date account of what tracks and albums have charted over the past week,” said
ARIA CEO Dan Rosen. The singles charts will be counted off on Take 40 from 3pm. The Chart week (days in which sales are collated) remains Friday to Thursday.
THE ANNANDALE “SAVED” The Annandale is close to being sold to a publican who apparently told the estate agent that live music will continue. Leichhardt Council posted on its website it “has been saved” and “is set to remain an entertainment venue.”
PINK MEDIA BUYS INTO GAY STATION Pink Media Group bought a 40% stake in Sydney gay radio station OX Live. It began broadcasting last year on oxlive.com.au and mobile devices. Ben Mulcahy, Pink Media Group CEO said, “We are delighted to be supporting this long overdue platform. It’s great that we can now reach Sydney and Melbourne via dedicated gay and lesbian radio platforms.”
GLOBAL BATTLE’S NSW REGIONAL FINAL After heats across the state, 15 acts will duke it out at the NSW Regional Final of the Global Battle of the Bands (gbob.com), held on Sunday June 23 at the Southern Cross Catholic Vocational College from 4pm. Students from the College will help deliver the event. The winner goes on to the Australasian Final. That winner will represent Australasia at the Global final, with acts from 30 countries. Prize is US$100,000.
DAFT PUNK EXPLODES WORLDWIDE! Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories sold 1 million copies in its first week, debuting at #1 in Australia (along with 12 other countries) where it went platinum and had the biggest first week album sales since 2007. The album also hit #1 on digital charts in 97 countries. In the UK it is the fastest selling release of 2013. In America Random Access Memories sold 339,000 copies in its first week. The vinyl version is the largest seller on the US vinyl charts. It’s the first album in Billboard’s Electronic/Dance Song chart history to have every song debut simultaneously. ‘Get Lucky’, which was the #1 played and bought single in Australia, sold 2.5 million digitally around the world.
Lifelines Born: daughter Alaia-Mai to Brit boy band JLS star Marvin Humes and The Saturdays singer Rochelle Humes. Hospitalised: Brit rapper Professor Green with a broken leg after being crushed between two cars while he was picking up a hire car — four years ago to the day when he got stabbed, also on a full moon. Hospitalised: Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina on the seventh day of hunger strike to protest her being refused the right to attend her parole hearing. Suing: former Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine is taking action against the rest of the band, claiming they’ve changed the structure of their business set-up so that her 20% royalties are now pushed down to 2%. In Court: The Velvet Underground and the Andy Warhol Foundation reached a confidential settlement over use of the iconic banana album cover of 1967’s The Velvet Underground & Nico. VU’s Lou Reed and John Cale took action after hearing the Foundation planned to license the design for iPod and iPad ancillary products. In Court: rapper Fat Joe might face jail over an ongoing tax evasion case. Died: Marshall Lytle, the bass player for 1950s rockers Bill Haley and His Comets (‘Rock Around The Clock’), lung cancer aged 79. Died: UJ Neil, of Newcastle band Funbusters, organ failure last month, aged 49.
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C
hris Tucker makes quite an impression. He’s been in far fewer movies than you would think, no more than a dozen, but it feels like more because each of his roles is so distinctive. By far the biggest role was as fast-talking Detective Carter in the Rush Hour trilogy, the series that made his name, not to mention his fortune – the third instalment made him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. Thanks to this success, Tucker now works only when he wants to, as in David O. Russell’s eccentric indie flick Silver Linings Playbook. All of this spare time has given him the opportunity to get back to his first love – stand-up comedy. “School was a scary place for me,” he says. “Trying to get my homework done was hard, and I would daydream a lot and get into trouble. I used to host talent shows, and I guess you’d say I had an epiphany when I got my first laugh. I was the last person to figure out that I was funny, but once I knew I could make my friends and teachers laugh, I knew I was in a good place, and that’s what I wanted to do.” At that young age, Tucker idolised comedians like Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor. “Those guys took the path from stand-up to acting in movies,” he says, “and I decided I wanted to do that as well, but the path eventually led back to stand-up, back where I started out.” Tucker’s earliest comedy memories involve watching scratchy bootleg recordings of Eddie Murphy stand-up specials. “When we first got cable down on my street, we didn’t have it, but my good friend up the street did,” he says. “He recorded Eddie Murphy’s Delirious from HBO and brought it down on a VHS tape and let us watch it, which we did, over and over again. When we finally got cable, I used to watch
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Delirious and Rocky 3 over and over again. I got into Richard Pryor a bit later in life, but Eddie Murphy was my first comedy love.” In the early stages of his career, Tucker was something of a loose cannon, making his name with profane and hilarious performances on shows like HBO’s Def Comedy Jam. While time hasn’t exactly mellowed him, he is definitely older and wiser these days. “My goal is for everybody at the show to have a good time,” he says. “If I do cross any lines, well, I don’t think it’s going to be too much. I mean, I talk about my own experiences in the show, and I get a bit of stuff off my chest, but it’s not really about that so much. I tell a lot of stories in the show, I do a lot of characters, and I talk about the state of the world. It’s just about jokes and being funny.” Many stand-up comedians say that they are constantly switched on, always trying out new jokes and bits, but Tucker doesn’t concern himself too much with this. “If I’m not on stage, I’m living my life,” he says. “Something might cross my mind and I’ll try to remember it in some kind of way, and when I get to the comedy club that night, I’ll try and bring it up. I’m not on all day long. I mean, I’m observant and quiet most of the time, and I only turn it on when I get on stage.” It’s important, however, to put as many new jokes as possible in each night’s show. “If it’s fresh to me, I deliver it better,” he says. “I don’t like to do the same routine over and over – I want to feel what I’m saying and believe what I’m saying, because if I feel that way, the audience will believe it too.” One of Tucker’s earliest and funniest Def Comedy Jam bits was based around the idea that America would never, ever have a black president – I’ll spare you a transcript of the whole thing, but look it up, because it’s funny as hell. I ask Tucker if he still reflects on
that joke in the Obama era, and he lights up. “Yeah, I do!” he says. “I have a whole bit about President Obama – it’s really good stuff. Back then, the idea of a black president was really far-fetched, but now we have one. My comedy has evolved in that time, and so have I, and so has the world. It’s cool that I can talk and joke about that now, about how much things have changed.” A few years ago, Chris Tucker travelled to Africa on a humanitarian mission, along with former president Bill Clinton. It was an eyeopening trip, as the pair took in the scope and beauty of the country and its people. All in all, the mission was a wild success… except for the time that Tucker started a riot in Ghana. “We were in a shopping mall, and a guy there gave me a drum,” he says with a nervous laugh. “I didn’t have anything to give him, except for a couple of hundred dollars in my pocket, so I gave him a hundred dollars, and when people saw, it turned ugly. I walked away with the drum, and as I did that, other people started to surround him and a big fight broke out.” At that point, it was clear that everyone had to leave – the secret service stepped in and hustled Tucker to the car, where Clinton was waiting. Needless to say, it was awkward. “The secret service told him what I’d done, and he turned to me and said, ‘Tucker, why’d you do that? You could’ve asked me for change! You almost started a riot here – I wasn’t done shopping!’” If comedy is pain, then on the basis of experiences like this, Tucker has no shortage of A-grade material for his show. From here, our conversation turns to the subject of Tucker’s film career. He appears in movies only intermittently – Silver Linings Playbook was his first non-Rush Hour role
“Bill Clinton said, ‘Tucker, why’d you do that? You almost started a riot here – I wasn’t done shopping!’” since the ‘90s. In the film, Tucker plays Danny, Bradley Cooper’s best buddy-slash-sidekick, who has a bad habit of constantly escaping from a mental institution. “I just thought he was a fun character, because he kept popping in and out of the movie”, Tucker says. “He had a serious side to him as well as a funny side, and I knew I could play both. The timing of the movie was perfect. A lot of people don’t know a lot about mental illness, so it was good to be able to come at that as well.” When Tucker read the script, he approached director David O. Russell directly and asked for the part, and Russell hired him without so much as an audition. “He’s really creative,” Tucker says of his collaborator. “I love the way he works, because he’s so involved – he knows exactly what he wants. It’s great to work with someone like that. “I always look for something different to what I’ve done before. When Silver Linings Playbook came along, I was really interested, because it was a smaller role, but it was a really fun and important one. Something like that was great, because it showed a different side of me. I’m always looking and searching for roles that are different.” Where: The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont When: Monday June 17
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City and Colour “A Jaded Canadian Boy” By Jody Macgregor
O
n the last City and Colour album, Little Hell, former Alexisonfire member Dallas Green played guitar, bass, drums, piano and Wurlitzer as well as singing. But on new album The Hurry and the Harm he limits himself to just guitar and vocals, having put together a band to do the rest of the work. Even with all those other musicians in the room, the result is still deeply personal. Take the first verse of ‘Commenters’, for instance, in which he responds to terrible things people say about his wife on the internet. “She’s a television presenter here in Canada,” he explains, “and when you’re a woman who’s in the public eye people tend to say really mean things about you. For me, I couldn’t care less what people say about me or what they say about my music because as a musician and as a songwriter you can’t honestly assume that by writing a song seven billion people are going to like it. I appreciate that when I write music some people are going to like it, some people aren’t. That’s OK. But it’s the hatefulness and the ignorance with which most people speak to one another on the internet that really gets to me sometimes.” The rest of the song, with a naggingly catchy chorus of “I don’t want to be revolutionary / I just want to find the sweetest melody”, is about not caring how his music is received. “I don’t care if
I make a top 10 list or Rolling Stone wants to put me in the magazine or not, I just want to write a song that I enjoy and hope that other people like it too.” Then there’s ‘The Golden State’, in which he gently asks what the point of singing songs about California is when there are so many of them already. It’s not like sunshine and beaches are that interesting anyway, right? (“I need to see the leaves change and the snowflakes falling,” he sings.) “At the heart of that song is really just a jaded Canadian boy who’s spent 33 hard winters here in Canada. It’s my right now to complain about the weather,” Green says. “It’s obviously ironic and it’s supposed to be mildly tonguein-cheek, based on the fact that I’m asking why everyone is still singing about California, while singing about California. I thought of the idea and I thought it would be a good song and I thought if I made it pretty enough no one would get that angry at me.” Immediately after that playful number comes a much more serious one. ‘Death Song’ was the last thing he wrote before recording began. “‘Death Song’ is a little bit more morbid in title than it is in theme I think. Some people would hear that song or read the lyrics and think that it’s about my death but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about the death of the idea of moving into something else when people stop listening, because I think that you can easily – especially when you’re in a position like I am where I’ve had success and people seem to consistently be interested in the music I write – you can definitely get stuck in the idea that it’s never going to go away.”
What: The Hurry and the Harm out now on Dine Alone
English Rose By Chloe Papas
G
abrielle Aplin started out as yet another kid performing covers of cheesy commercial pop songs on YouTube, belting out Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream and amassing a significant following. But, unlike so many others who are destined to languish within YouTube eternally, Aplin made it out – in a big way. After the songstress began to realise that people were genuinely liking her tunes and style, she released some songs on iTunes, followed those up with a few EPs, and – oh right, she started up her own record label before she even turned 18. But hey, who hasn’t right?
perfect, and I definitely wanted it to be very big and to have the orchestras in there – so I went to town on that. Because of signing with [record company] Parlophone I was able to fund things that I wasn’t able to before, like the strings,” she says.
Fast forward to now, and Aplin has just released her first full-length record, English Rain, which shot right to the top of the UK charts. “I’m feeling really amazing,” Aplin gushes down the phone. “I didn’t have any expectations for the album before it came out, so for it to go straight to number two is amazing.”
Much has already been written about the title of the record, English Rain, and all signs point to a proud Brit. “It was a bit random, it’s just a lyric in one of the songs…then when we put the strings on and the orchestra parts, we realised that I kind of have this English war-time feel. So that kind of brought it together. I think it’s been a really good few years for England, so I think it’s nice,” Aplin says of the mother country.
The record was a year in the making, and the young musician explains that perhaps she had a little too long to work on it. “It actually ended up getting to a point where I’d finished it and I just kept changing things because I had so much time, and then eventually I just wanted to get it out there – but I’m very happy with the finished product!” Aplin released her biggest single to date, a cover of classic ballad ‘The Power of Love’. It’s a stunning cover, stripped back and simple. But English Rain follows a different formula; though Aplin’s signature tunes are present, there is a much fuller sound, a bigger presentation. “I just wanted it to be completely
The lyricism exhibited throughout the record is fairly unpredictable, covering different themes and topics. “It’s mostly stuff that has happened to me or people around me, or things that I understand,” Aplin says. “I feel like I have to personally know something or someone to write about it.”
Australia got a taster of Aplin’s presence and musical style earlier this year when she toured as the support act for fellow UK artist Ed Sheeran, and the crowds embraced her with welcoming arms. And though there are no dates locked in quite yet, Aplin confirms that she is looking to head here towards the end of this year, to give us a proper taste of English Rain. What: English Rain out now through Parlophone/Warner
The King Khan & BBQ Show Blowing Minds By Benjamin Cooper
T
he last time King Khan visited Australia he was at the Sydney Opera House. His show that night with musical brother BBQ (Mark Sultan) has become the stuff of legend. The King Khan and BBQ Show were performing in The Studio as part of 2010’s Vivid, and the only thing frostier than the July weather outside was the reception Khan got from festival co-curator Lou Reed. During the first song Khan ran up to the balcony and got all up in the grill of an expressionless Reed. The Velvet Underground scowler didn’t seem too impressed, and the 80 minutes didn’t further the love between the two. Thankfully, the proles had a damn fine time. A huge party snake flew across the audience, a mini food fight was started from on stage and Khan pulled countless people up to dance the closing part of the set. Reed may have left early, but everyone else walked away with their senses utterly blown. Unfortunately the Opera House and Vivid were none too pleased with the anarchic performance. The next day Khan was warned to tone it down for that evening’s show. He turned in what he considered a subdued performance – the flying snake was replaced with him throwing his guitar into the audience, and food was absent while wine was poured on the floor to remember the recently deceased Jay Reatard. But Khan walked off stage to a livid Sultan, and a highly unimpressed Opera House management. Khan was kicked out of 14 :: BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13
the festival, and the King Khan and BBQ Show was no more. After seven glorious years of mayhem, the Canadians acrimoniously agreed to never play together again. Yet after a year spent apart, it was announced in July 2010 that they’d begun recording together at Khan’s Moon Studios in Berlin. The result was that October’s vinyl EP We Are The Ocean, which featured a cover of the Syd Barrett classic ‘Terrapin’. Since the EP’s release the duo have toured constantly throughout Europe and North America. Khan says that, “we’re enjoying ourselves more than ever. How could we not enjoy ourselves? What we do is aimed at enjoyment, in all its forms.” Given their level of satisfaction it seems strange that they are currently take a break from the road. But they do have a very good reason. “We’re in the process of recording our new album,” a rather groggy Khan says down the line from Berlin. “It has been a long wait to get it to happen, but I feel like we’re really getting it together now.” The new album will be the band’s fourth full-length release, following 2009’s Invisible Girl. Khan promises something new, but nothing mature. “These are all new riffings, but they’re much more refined and intelligent than anything we’ve done before. We’re also having a lot of fun working together again, probably the most we’ve had in a long time. There’s no real rush or pressure. We’re
really savouring every moment, and making things happen at a pace that works for us.” Khan’s grogginess is understandable; it is 9am in Berlin, and he happily admits to having had a good time the night before. “I’m just very drunk right now,” he says. “I know it’s morning, but a friend who survived a near death experience is in town at the moment and we partied pretty hard last night.” The friend in question is obscure soul DJ Jonathan Toubin, who first came to international attention in 2011 when a taxi crashed through his hotel room in Portland. “He was in hospital for a long time, and had all these bones broken; basically, we all thought he was going to be retarded,” Khan says. Toubin made a remarkable recovery, and has since continued to DJ (with the assistance of two hearing aids) at popular haunts like New York’s
Brooklyn Bowl. “He’s walking around and doing really well now,” Khan says of his friend. “He’s got a residency at a bar here, and last night we kinda led each other astray. It was like two dogs sniffing each other’s butts.” Sultan is apparently not feeling the ill effects of the night before, having gone home early to pack for their upcoming Australian tour. “I have yet to pack,” Khan says. “I’m trying to, but I’m still drunk. The important part is that I have my costume for the tour. It’s amazing – very feathery and dynamic.” Where: Converse Get Loud at GoodGod with Palms When: Thursday June 13
City And Colour photo by Dustin Rabin
Although Green’s realistic about the idea that someday people will stop caring about his music, it doesn’t seem to bother him. “Including Alexisonfire I’ve made eight records in ten years and I’ve been able to see the world time and time again. I’ve been to Australia nine times. I’ve done more in my life than I ever thought possible when I was a kid.”
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Killing Joke Post-Punk Polemicists By Benjamin Cooper
J
az Coleman has got a lot to say. The frontman of post-punk act Killing Joke has been building up steam as he waxes lyrical on topics ranging from bee pollination to his contempt for Bono. It’s when talk turns to his home country that he gets particularly direct. “I really don’t like going back to England at the best of times,” he says. “There’re a number of very good reasons why I haven’t lived there in a quarter of a century. The country I grew up in was so different. What it has turned into is an abomination that I can’t stand.” Killing Joke started in 1978 in London, the outlet of Coleman and guitarist Kevin ‘Geordie’ Walker. A year later they released their debut EP Turn to Red/Almost Red on their own Malicious Damage label. The EP caught the attention of legendary BBC DJ John Peel, and twelve months later the band were picked up by E.G. Records (King Crimson, T-Rex).
“Killing Joke – for us, anyway – has always been about having something to process the dreadful trends that occur around us,” Coleman says. “We honestly use the band as a place to debate and argue about the things that we’ve noticed. We knew from the start that our music never had that much commercial appeal. I knew it’d be a struggle that went on for many years, because the advent of MTV culture in the 1980s was never going to have much to do with us.”
“Killing Joke has always been about having something to process the dreadful trends that occur around us.”
The direction of popular music in the next decade saw Killing Joke’s star rise. Many of the bands of the Seattle scene – including Nirvana and Soundgarden – cited the Englishmen as influences. “It wasn’t really until grunge kicked on that the phone started ringing. Just to be clear, though, we’re definitely not bitter about our lot. There have certainly been a lot of laughs. If you’re an artist you can stay in bed all day, if you feel like it,” Coleman laughs.
in 14 days, so it’s interesting that Coleman is resoundingly upbeat. “Well, that’s got a lot do with how I’ve been occupying myself. I’m on an island in Thailand, and I’ve been eating really well and doing a lot of exercise. It feels really good to bash a boxing bag sometimes. The good bit about the boxing is it means you’re ready to throw a few punches at a crazed stage invader, if needs be.”
Killing Joke’s Singles World Tour has taken them through Europe, and across North America. The exhausting schedule included 12 shows
The band is focused on a single task when they take to the stage. “The whole spirit of Killing Joke is about bringing contentious
perspectives onto a common ground. We might have changed, but what we do is still so close to the street that when we all start pulling the fragments come together. Humans now have too many options, and Killing Joke brings (people) together to create a critical force.” Where: Metro Theatre When: Saturday June 8 And: The Singles Collection 1979 – 2012 out now on Spinefarm Records
Thy Art Is Murder Loving Hate By Jessica Willoughby
Y
ou might be forgiven for thinking that deathcore group Thy Art Is Murder is just another local band from Campbelltown. But don’t be fooled – they’re currently ranked in Metal Hammer’s top five ‘must see’ new bands in the world. The five-piece is about to embark on its biggest tour ever – “four months of chaos” across Australia and Europe. Frontman Chris McMahon is blown away by the hype, but he knew the outfit was onto a “winner” when they wrote their latest opus, Hate. “We knew when we recorded it that it was going to be good,” he says. “We thought it might get us overseas and do alright. But it has completely smashed all of our expectations ten-fold. We never thought it would do as well as it has done. We’ve gotten on the biggest labels and are now on some of the biggest tours in the world. We’re even up for a Metal Hammer Golden Gods award for best new band. We’re nominated in the top five, so if we don’t win, I’m not going to be worried. I’m just stoked to be nominated.” Recorded in New York last year, the album saw the band reach feverish heights, signing with label heavyweights Nuclear Blast. A giant leap from their self-recorded debut, The Adversary (2010), their second offering was just about the musicians getting the right ‘mix’ to bring out their best work. “Over the years, we’ve had a couple of lineup changes,” McMahon says. “People just didn’t work with what we’re about and just weren’t on the right track. But now, for the five of us, it’s the perfect lineup. I think if someone were to leave the group at the moment, we would really struggle to replace them. The boys are not only amazing at their instruments, but they’re also good lyricists, so we write all the lyrics together. You get better ideas. Sometimes, I might write something that’s a little too ‘easy’ or someone else can write something that’s a little too ‘tech’
for kids, but we find a happy medium between us. It just all came together on this album. Everyone had a say on everything, from the riffs to the drum patterns, vocals, lyrics and everything. “With the first album, we recorded it ourselves and there were two other members in the band who were dead-set on writing. This time, we did things a little bit differently. We basically segregated Tom (Brown), our guitarist who’s been with us for just over a year, and Sean (Delander) our bass player. They wrote the whole album musically. When we got to New York, we’d sit down for a couple of hours each day and write the songs together as a group. It seems to be the winning formula. It was the best way we’ve done it; when we start writing the new album we’ll structure it the same way. Don’t fuck with something that’s not broken I guess.” Hate was recorded with Will Putney, a talented young producer McMahon says has staked his claim to recording all future releases for the band. “We sat down before we started writing, about two years ago, and we thought ‘…this next album has to be the one’. We wanted to invest a bit of money and actually do it with an amazing producer. “We looked at two or three producers and Will just seemed to stand out. He’s a young producer and he’s done some of the biggest records in the scene over the last two years. When we approached him, he said he actually also wanted to do our first album because he’d been a fan of the band for a number of years. This guy just ticked all the boxes. Now, we’re best friends for life and we want him to do all of our albums.” Where: : Annandale Hotel – All Ages (afternoon) and 18+ (evening) / The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle When: Saturday June 8 / Sunday June 9
Kingswood Rock’n’roll Outlaws By Alasdair Duncan
K
ingswood have rock and roll in the blood. If you don’t believe me, just ask their grade six teacher – a very early lineup of the group played in a primary school cover band. Their crowning achievement was a heartfelt version of Aerosmith’s ‘Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’. How were they to know that, a few years down the line, they would actually be opening for Aerosmith at Rod Laver Arena? I ask singer Fergus Linacre if he or anyone else from the band admitted to their preteen crush, but he insists they played it cool. “Steven Tyler came into our room before the show and said ‘look at this motley crew, look at your hair!’” he tells me with a laugh. “He was carrying on and telling stories about when he was our age and driving around in a flower truck.” The show was Kingswood’s biggest to date, even if playing to an arena crowd was an intimidating experience. “You have people rolling in all the way through your set, and oldies sitting up the back. You don’t know what to expect from something like that.” The boys did manage to ruffle some feathers at the show. “Someone actually emailed us after the gig saying that our language was inappropriate and that we were too rude,” Linacre says. “I don’t know exactly what we said, but he just said that we should all grow up.” He seems baffled that such prudish types would make it to an Aerosmith show. “I mean, Steven Tyler’s wanking the microphone off and chucking a water bottle in his crotch to pour it all over everyone,” Linacre says. “I don’t know what they would have made of that.” Kingswood are all set for a national tour, after which they’ll be heading to Nashville to record their debut album. Before that, though, they have a short film to release. The film, made by the band themselves, is called Some Motherfucker’s Gotta Pay. It started out as a music video for their raucous track ‘Ohio’
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before blossoming into something much bigger and grander. “The song’s been out for ages, but we just kept going and going on the video,” he says. “If we like an idea, we really don’t hold back!” The band dreamed up the idea for their Tarantino-esque film one delirious night as they were driving back from a show. “We were in our van on the way back from Sydney,” Linacre says. “Alex [Laska] and I were up the front, and we started dreaming up a story about three or four gangs who are after a prize, which is called The Cheddar. By various circumstances, all these gangs end up at a bar, where there’s a big shoot-out. The bar scenes were actually shot at The Annandale.” The film features a variety of guest stars – Sticky Fingers are in it, as is Seth Sentry, and Mambo guy Reg Mombassa plays the baddie. “He was the original possessor of The Cheddar, and when he comes back and he’s not happy, he’s as scary as hell,” Linacre says. Where can we expect to see the film? Well, that’s a long story. “We figured it wouldn’t pass any of the classifications for Rage or Channel V,” Linacre says, “but Channel V are quite keen to pick it up based on the preview. They haven’t seen the whole thing yet, and I wonder what they’ll think when they do…” Needless to say, the film features a lot of blood and splatter. “My mum’s really excited to see it,” Linacre says, “but I’ve been preparing her for the possibility that she won’t like it.” She and the Rod Laver Arena couple may want to steer clear, but everyone else should prepare to have their minds blown. Where: Annandale Hotel / Small Ballroom, Newcastle When: Thursday June 6 / Saturday June 8 And: Change of Heart EP out now through Capgun Kids
Xxxxx photo by Xxxxx
From their inception the band were noted for their aesthetic – the sound urgently bled through the speakers, suggesting the space and darkness that would become features of later genres of industrial and metal music. Their album art and the images projected during live shows attracted notoriety due to their shocking and inflammatory nature. The founding four members of the band –
Coleman, Walker, Martin ‘Youth’ Glover and Paul Ferguson – were reunited at the 2006 funeral of former bassist Paul Raven. In 2010 the gang of four recorded together for the first time in 30 years, producing the album Absolute Dissent, which was followed by last year’s MMXII.
Happy Mondays Pills ‘N’ Thrills And Comeback Tours By David Wild
T
he prospect of interviewing Shaun Ryder, lead singer of Happy Mondays and chief hedonist of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s Madchester scene, is a daunting one. A polite note from his people instructs that he will not speak about “controversies from the past”. Anyway, should I broach an unwanted topic of discussion I will surely have in the back of my mind the story of how Ryder once pulled a gun on a journalist who upset him. Ryder is doing his bit to promote the reformation of the original Happy Mondays lineup, 19 years after they disbanded, and their impending tour of Australia. “We’re a lot better now,” says Ryder. “Before, when we were young, it was all about the partying. It was all about the fame, the girls, going to different countries, groupies. The last thing we ever really bothered about was the music.” That may be so, but despite cementing his place in rock folklore with such episodes as walking out of a multi-million dollar contract negotiation with EMI to get a KFC (band code for scoring heroin), Ryder is also responsible for some of the most inventive pop music of the time – songs like the ravey ‘Step On’ (“You’re twistin’ my melon, man”) and the baggy groove of ‘Loose Fit’. The Mondays have reformed twice before and Ryder has always been frank about the reasons – to pay back his vast debts. But now he is finally clear of his financial chokehold, I ask why he wants to do it all again. “Money and boredom, really. And we got asked. We’ve never stopped playing gigs in one shape or form – me, Gaz and Bez have always took the Mondays on and when we got asked to do the full lineup it was brill because these are the lads that wrote the stuff – they wrote their own parts.” Ryder, drummer Gaz (Gary Whelan) and percussionist and ‘freaky dancer’ Bez (Mark Berry) are joined once again by guitarist Mark Day and even Shaun’s younger brother, bassist Paul, who vowed never to have anything more to do with the band after they split for the second time in 2000. (There will actually be one original member missing – although he rejoined for gigs last year, keyboardist Paul Davis, who Ryder recently described as “still fucking raving barmy”, will not be heading Down Under.) The band has been back together touring for a year already – has it been a struggle to keep the peace? “It’s a totally different world,” says Shaun. “We’re all now in our 40s and 50s – there’s a totally different attitude. All those petty things that people had going are just gone.”
“When we were young, it was all about the partying, the fame, the groupies... The last thing we ever really bothered about was the music.”
“You don’t just sing in a band now. If you’re a kid that’s coming along now more than ever you’ve got to do TV... It is sad that you can’t just be a rock‘n’roll band and put an image out, because to get proper success you have to let people in now.” Ryder uses 24 Hour Party People, a semi-fictional 2002 film about the Mondays’ label Factory Records, to explain the chasm between the reality of his alcohol and drug use during the band’s heyday and the part-myth he purposely preserved. “If they wanted an in-depth Shaun Ryder that guy in the movie couldn’t have got out of bed and put his pants on... That portrayal was a caricature. That’s the Shaun Ryder from the Melody Maker and the NME and drunken stunts on TV pop shows. “When I started in this game you were rock‘n’roll, Johnny Cash Man In Black or whatever. You had that, that’s it. The game changes – it used to be rock‘n’roll, now it’s showbiz.” Where: UNSW Roundhouse When: Monday June 10
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Shaun has spent time in Australia before, under the watchful eyes of 10 million or so British television viewers. In 2010, he was runner-up on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, a popular reality show where a dozen celebrities spend time in a bush camp somewhere on the Queensland/New South Wales border and complete challenges to win votes from viewers. Ryder transformed his public perception in a matter of days. To non-Mondays fans he was no longer the druggy who said the F-word on teatime TV in 1997; he became that good-natured bloke who ate a crocodile’s cock. “You don’t really know the perception people have of you when you’re in there. The editors can make someone who’s absolutely fantastic look like a twat and someone who’s a total twat look fantastic.”
Xxx photo by JXxx Xxxx
In admitting he was aware that the primetime show would take him to a new audience, Ryder reveals a shrewd understanding of the fame game but also a reluctance to play it. “I got asked to do [UK Celebrity] Big Brother a few years before but I turned that down – there was never a reason to do it. This time round I had things to plug. The record company wanted me to go in [the I’m A Celebrity... jungle], the management wanted me to go in, my wife wanted me to go in. I didn’t want to go in there ... but I’m glad I did it.” As he sees it, Ryder was just moving with the times. He has always maintained that his image, although based on a version of himself, was cultivated. Punters wanted their rock stars to be wild and excessive, so that is what the Happy Mondays became. Now, punters want to know the real person.
M S M R’s glam yet moody debut album S E C O N D HAN D RAPTU R E out now
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Andrew Stockdale Lone Wolf By Alasdair Duncan
A
ndrew Stockdale has found his happy place. He’s sitting at his house in Bangalow, just outside Byron Bay, looking out at the rolling hills and feeling an overwhelming sense of contentment.
“Byron Bay is a very inspiring part of the world,” he says of the north coast hippie enclave. “It’s just ridiculously inspiring – you could create so much art and so much music continuously here.” He thrives on the nurturing qualities of the area, and the forgiving landscape. “You feel like people who are living in a shack with next to nothing have as good a quality of life as millionaires living on the beach,” he says. “You could fall asleep under a tree here, and it would be a nice tree with a nice view!” If Stockdale has found contentment in his personal life, he also seems to have found it in music. His old band, the gnarly blues rock outfit known as Wolfmother, went through various lineup changes over the years, reaching the point where the singer decided to go it alone. His new album, Keep Moving, is a line in the sand – it features members of various past Wolfmother lineups, but is credited to Stockdale himself. “I’ve seen a lot of bands who’ve continued with only one guy from the previous lineup, and there are a lot of expectations placed on that guy,” he says. “I don’t want to be that guy, and I don’t feel like I am that guy, so I stopped being that guy, you know what I mean?” The level of expectation attached to a solo album is different, Stockdale insists. “When we started Wolfmother, we were really happy that we had a sound and a style,” he says. “We had fat guitars and cool drum fills and I was singing in a high
“Let’s set up some lights and some incense and dress up in some cool clothes; let’s be actors in our own movie.”
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register and things seemed to gel. That sound became Wolfmother – that was the brand, and that was what people expected.” In recent times, the idea of writing songs in the trademark Wolfmother style lost some of its lustre. “I’ve moved on,” Stockdale says. “I don’t want to be a slave, creatively speaking. I don’t want to go into a record thinking, well, the songs need to have these certain ingredients in order for them to work. I don’t need to pull out my big red stamp and go ‘BANG, this is a Wolfmother song.’” Keep Moving is a big, sprawling album, featuring everything from heavier, psychedelic rock tracks to more laid-back acoustic jams. The songs are immediately recognisable as Stockdale compositions, but the atmosphere is a lot more relaxed than either Wolfmother album. Take a song like the acoustic ‘Suitcase’ as indicative of this new approach. “I really love playing that song,” Stockdale says. “It’s got a really relaxing quality to it. I’ve found that I really like writing songs without expectations placed on them,” he says. This freedom in part came about because Stockdale produced the songs himself. He’s spent a lot of time in big LA studios with big producers, he says, and there’s a certain high-pressure mentality that goes along with that. There’s a right and a wrong way to do things, a feeling that the decisions made in the studio will determine your success or failure. “That’s how we walked into the first Wolfmother record,” he says, “that’s how I learned to be in a studio.” Since then, it’s fair to say Stockdale has…chilled out. Much of Keep Moving was made in his home studio, and he tells me that the sessions were all about capturing the energy of playing live. “Going into this, we thought to ourselves, let’s be spontaneous,” he says, “let’s set up some lights and some incense and dress up in some cool clothes; let’s be actors in our own movie and make it up and break the rules.” This set-up, which conjures up visions of Russell Brand’s Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, made for a far more fun and creative recording experience. “We had a
massive producer lined up to do this record, re-record it and do it properly,” he continues, “but I just said to my manager, I’ve got to be completely honest with you, my dream is to self-produce this and put it out as Andrew Stockdale. Luckily they gave it the green light.” With the imminent release of Keep Moving, Stockdale feels he’s landed on his feet as a solo artist. “With the old Modular thing, where the idea was that you’d make a record for three months, you go on tour, you take a break and then you make another record,” he says, “you’d have to be creative, stop being creative, and then be creative again.”
He was no fan of this approach. “I feel now like I can be creative all the time, continuously,” he says. “All our gear is set up right here. I could start writing the next one right now. I feel like I pretty much already have. I feel like recording music is a continual part of life, and I’m just like…I’m at one with it, y’know? Song writing and recording should be a continuum.” Where: With the Delta Riggs at the Bar on the Hill, Newcastle / The Metro Theatre When: Thursday June 6 / Friday June 7 And: Keep Moving out Friday June 7 through Universal
THE BRAG'S GUIDE TO:
SYDNEY FILM
FESTIVAL 2013
MY SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL By Festival Director Nashen Moodley
Movie lovers rejoice for it’s here! This year Sydney Film Festival celebrates its 60th anniversary with 190 films from 55 countries. Can’t decide what to see during the 12-day bonanza of filmic goodness? We’re here to help with our guide to festival highlights.
REEL LIFE ON SCREEN
▼ SFF DOCUMENTARY
By Nick Jarvis
Narco Cultura Photojournalist Shaul Schwarz delves into the horror of Mexico’s drug-driven civil war, following the grisly day to day work of a Mexican CSI agent juxtaposed against LA-based NarcoCorrida musician Edgar Quintero, part of a hugely popular American musical subculture of Mariachi-folk singers who glamorise the violent real-life exploits of cartel leaders. Schwarz explores the sensitive territory behind popular music and culture inspired by the Mexican drug war that makes Californian Latinos feel tough, while south of the border they’re literally picking up the (body) pieces. PROGRAM: INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR: SHAUL SCHWARZ COUNTRY: USA, MEXICO
F*ck For Forest
F*ck For Forest Mistaken For An unobtrusive documentary Strangers crew follow a group of polyamorous neo-hippies who are putting away money to ‘save the forest’ by making and selling homemade sex movies. So far, so good as we follow them around Berlin recruiting new eco-porn stars, dumpster diving, playing awful folk music and putting on (excruciatingly awkward yet hilarious) live sex shows. But when they finally make the trip to the Amazon to find a plot of jungle to save, they might find the local indigenous people aren’t as appreciative of their vague new age hyperbole as they’d expected... PROGRAM: INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR: MICHAL MARCZAK COUNTRY: POLAND, GERMANY
Matt Berninger, frontman of incredible indie band The National, must have been feeling left out – the band comprises two sets of brothers plus Berninger, so he invited his ne’er-do-well younger brother Tom along as they toured High Violet and exploded worldwide. Metalhead Tom’s job was to be a roadie and to document the tour on file - turns out Tom’s not the most organised of filmmakers, but that hardly matters, as what emerges is a haphazard, self-aware and intimate portrait of two very different brothers (with, naturally, an insanely good soundtrack).
The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology Polemical philosopher Slavoj Žižek tackles personal and political ideology in cinema, expounding in his patented motor-mouth fashion on films from Taxi Driver to Sound
of Music from within recreations of the movies’ sets. If you’re seeking inspiration to raise hackles in the SFF Hub’s afternoon Film Club, then look no further. PROGRAM: INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY DIRECTOR: SOPHIE FIENNES COUNTRY: UK, IRELAND
Death Metal Angola Fuck your middle-class angst, suburban death metal fans – no one can summon up more rage and fear into a death growl and blast beat than the civil war orphans of Angola. Filmmaker Jeremy Xido follows couple Sonia and Wilker, who run the Okutiuka orphanage, as they attempt to stage Angola’s first rock music festival, starring bands started at the orphanage as a way of exorcising demons and “clearing the debris of the sounds of war.” PROGRAM: SOUNDS ON SCREEN DIRECTOR: JEREMY XIDO COUNTRY: USA, ANGOLA
PROGRAM: SOUNDS ON SCREEN DIRECTOR: TO M BERNINGER COUNTRY: USA
Death Metal Angola
Looking through the online archive Sydney Film Festival 1954 to Now: A Living Archive (online.sffarchive. org.au), one can see the enormous impact Sydney Film Festival has had on this city’s cultural and artistic life, and on Australian cinema. So many great Australian filmmakers presented their first works at the festival before going on to extremely successful global careers. And through the festival, the Australian audience was introduced to so many great masters of cinema. In its 60th edition, the festival will continue to introduce new filmmaking talents from Australia and around the world, and we’re very proud to present a number of first films throughout the program including the Official Competition. With 192 films from 55 countries, it is difficult to identify a prominent theme of the festival; instead we have several that stand out: sex and sexuality, music, politics, and of course, cinema’s constant preoccupations: tragedy, laughter and love, and all of life in between. We are especially proud to present fiIms from five countries never before represented at the festival: Saudi Arabia, Angola, North Korea, Malawi and Bangladesh. I urge the audience to explore this program, to take chances, and to make new discoveries.
F O R S C R E E N I N G D E TA I L S A N D F U L L P R O G R A M V I S I T S F F. O R G . A U
TEAM BRAG'S SFF SHORTLIST ▼
The Rocket
Official Competition Set in regional Laos, The Rocket tells the distressing tale of ten-year-old Ahlo whose grandmother believes him to be a cursed barer of bad luck. After his family lose their home and are forced to relocate, Ahlo teams up with spirited orphan Kia and her eccentric ex-soldier uncle Purple who is a rice-wine loving James Brown fanatic. To find redemption, underage Ahlo enters the dangerous Rocket Festival in hope of awakening the Rain Gods. Winner of major prizes at both Berlinale and Tribeca, director Kim Mordaunt delivers a confronting expose into damaged rural life that’s brought to life through spectacular cinematographic finesse. Lisa Omagari, BRAG Arts & Culture Editor
Only God Forgives
Official Competition An obvious choice, but how could you not want to see a film that was booed by the audience at Cannes yet collected five stars from Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian, who called it “emotionally breathtaking, aesthetically brilliant and immensely violent”? Nicolas Winding Refn’s beautiful and gory thriller about American expat criminals in Bangkok is likely to be the most divisive film at SFF this year; although most viewers will be going just to see more of Ryan Gosling being a proper bad arse. Nick Jarvis, BRAG Editor
Grisgris
Official Competition African filmmaker MahamatSaleh Haroun’s Grisgris is probably SFF’s most anticipated humanist drama. Set in Chad, the film details the life of a young man who dreams of overcoming economic and physical adversity. At 25, Grisgris has a paralysed leg, but is determined to become a dancer; despite his serious disability he is the toast of the nightclub scene. Arriving on the SFF screen after it’s debut at Cannes, Haroun’s film brings to the fore an extraordinary story of human triumph in a warravaged country on the brink of change. Sarah Bryant, BRAG Art Director
Oh Boy
Official Competition We want you to meet Niko. He’s a uni dropout mooching off his parents – an aimless idler living in Berlin, watching on as his city transitions into a hipster hangout for Gen Y types just like him. The charming yet deadpan Tom Schilling stars as Niko in this beautifully shot slacker comedy from first-time director Jan Ole Gerster. There’s a poetic allure here; the film is shot in black and white, and set to a New Orleans Jazz-dominated score to expose the modern backdrop of a sultry Berlin. Add to this a quirky support cast from some of Germany’s best actors and you’ve got Oh Boy. Ross Eldridge, BRAG Advertising and Content Coordinator
The Unlikely Pilgrims
Foxtel Australian Documentary Prize John Cherry and Kirsten Mallyon’s The Unlikely Pilgrims has been nine years in the making and is set for its world premiere at SFF this year. Taking place on an ancient walk spanning 800 kilometres across Northern Spain, The Camino de Santiago, the film follows four unlikely pilgrims: drug and alcohol counsellor Ronan and three others who have just completed his rehabilitation program. Bi-polar Dave, animal welfare activist Amy and troubled drug addict Chris share with Ronan a journey founded on confronting one’s own physical, spiritual and emotional limits. Les White, BRAG Advertising Manager
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▼ OFFICIAL COMPETITION
MYSTERY ROAD Breaking New Ground By Alasdair Duncan
Aaron Pederson in Mystery Road
I
van Sen’s Mystery Road, which opens this year’s Sydney Film Festival, is many things. It’s a murder mystery and a thriller, but it’s also a film about the meeting point of white and Indigenous Australia. In the film, Aaron Pedersen plays detective Jay Swan, who returns to his remote outback town to investigate the murder of a young girl. Inspired by a real life murder case, it tells the story of the investigation, as it explores tension between the black and white communities in the town. It’s a mainstream film that explores and uncovers some difficult social truths, and Pederson says that it was the role of a lifetime. In fact, writer and director Ivan Sen wrote the part specifically for him. “A few years ago, he mentioned that he had a project in mind for me,” Pedersen says. “We had a brief discussion about it, and I said oh yeah, we can talk about that later. Quite a long time went by, and out of the blue, I got an email from him asking if I was ready to talk about that project.” It turned out that Sen had written the script for Mystery Road. “I told him to send it my way, and immediately, I was blown away by the beauty of the words and the poignant story,” Pedersen says. “We jumped
right in, and within a year, we’d shot it, and now it’s opening the Sydney Film Festival. Ivan’s a very hard worker – he knew the story he wanted to tell and the actor he wanted to use, and he went for it.” Ivan Sen first made his mark with the 2002 feature Beneath Clouds, and since then, has grown into a wordclass filmmaker. Pedersen has nothing but praise for him and his methods. “I’d say Ivan’s like the Dalai Lama,” he laughs. “He’s always calm and never lets anything get to him. He wrote, shot, directed and edited the film, and he composed the music – and he carried himself really beautifully and professionally throughout. He didn’t lose control once. It was such a beautiful thing to see, especially as he was under so much pressure.” If Sen was feeling stressed out, you’d never have known, says Pedersen. “I’ve never worked with anyone like him, to be honest,” he continues. “I’d always say ‘g’day Dalai Lama, how’s it going?’ when I saw him in the morning, and he laughed, but that’s what it was like.” Pedersen himself started out in film in the early ’90s, but his recent roles have seen him more towards television – playing detectives, as it happens, in shows like City Homicide
and Jack Irish. For him, making the jump back to film didn’t feel like a great deal of a stretch. “It’s the same process when you come down to it,” he says, “it’s just that one takes a lot longer to make. Television is shot at a faster pace, so it skills you up a lot quicker than film. Film is slower – you have a little bit more time to develop the ideas. There’s a little more detail in film,” he continues, “but really, they’re the same animal for me. It’s all about storytelling. You have to be definitive about your moments and your emotions.” Alongside Pedersen, Mystery Road features a stellar cast – the likes of Jack Thompson, Hugo Weaving and Ryan Kwanten all feature. Pedersen himself was thrilled to work with such a cast. “They’re all great storytellers,” he says. “It felt right. Ivan’s idea was to make a film that spoke about Australia. He set out to put together a strong story, and I was just very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with a cast like that. I’ve worked with a lot of great actors on TV. It was a delight. Hugo is a very humble man with a great heart, and he’s genuinely sincere. Everyone came to this project with a really good attitude. For me, it was a step in the right direction to work with Hugo!”
People speak about the rise of indigenous filmmaking in Australia, but I’m curious to ask Pedersen what he thinks about that term in light of Mystery Road. Does he embrace it, or feel boxed in by it? “At the end of the day, this film was driven by indigenous people, and it has indigenous content,” he says. “We’re out to entertain people and tell a story, but we want to send people away with a message. The film has a really strong plot – it’s a crime story, a genre film – but there’s also a really strong political undercurrent. It’s all about the relationships between white and indigenous people in this country. You’ve got to understand that how we see Australia is different from how white Australia sees it. We want to tell that story to the world.” I ask Pedersen whether he hopes to collaborate with Ivan Sen on another film, and he says he would jump at the chance. “I’ve been bugging him lately, asking him what’s next,” he says. “I don’t know if it will happen, though. He’s moving up the ladder and I’m sure he’ll be working on the international stage soon.” Pedersen remains touched that the role of Jay Swan was written for him. “That says a lot about what Ivan thinks of me,” he says, “and I’m very privileged to bring his work to life and walk through the world that
W H AT : M Y S T E R Y R O A D F O R O F F I C I A L C O M P E T I T I O N
Mystery Road will open the Sydney Film Festival, but the filmmakers are hoping that it will make its mark internationally. Pedersen says that the purity of Ivan Sen’s story, and his passion for filmmaking, will shine through. “The bottom line with Mystery Road is that Ivan got to make exactly the film he wanted, with no compromises,” he says “He could barely believe it, but that’s what he got to do. I think he’ll be moving up in the world – he’s going to make films all over the world. He has an international sensibility. We made this film for the world – we want people in Australia to see it, but we want to share it with everybody.” “We’ve already started to get audience reactions, and people like it,” he continues. “I’m glad that Australia can make a film on this level. All I want to say is that this film represents our point of view, and that everybody should come along and see it.”
D I R E C T O R : I VA N S E N
C O U N T RY: AU ST R A L I A
G IV EA W AY S
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL! FILMS! WIN! WIN! H
Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch in Prince Avalanche 20 :: BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13
he wanted to create. From the cast and the crew’s point of view, we made something special. I’m not sure if we’ll ever get to work on a project like this again. Everyone worked with a smile, and with genuine love and respect for the project. If I never did anything else again, I’d be happy with this.”
urrah, it’s finally here! Sydney Film Festival kicks off this week and to celebrate we want to treat you! Highlights include documentary William and the Windmill (State Theatre, June 8, 10am) that follows young Malawi-born inventor William Kamkwamba’s intense rise to international attention, and comedy Prince Avalanche (State Theatre, June 9, 9.35pm), the Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch-starring flick about a mismatched pair who spend the summer repainting traffic lines. F*ck For Forest (Event Cinemas, June 8, 2.15pm) documents a neo-hippie charity who raise money for environmental causes through homemade pornos while South Korean drama Pieta (Event Cinemas George Street, June 6, 9.30pm) investigates the lengths people go to in order to survive rampantly capitalist society. And for those interested in the festival’s sounds on screen program we recommend The Stone Roses: Made From Stone (Event Cinemas George Street, June 8, 9.30pm), a film chronicling the psychedelic band’s 2012 reunion tour.
Want in? We have two double passes to a screening of each film. To enter, just email us at freestuff@thebrag. com with your name and which screening you’d prefer. You don’t have long, so hussle!
BR AG ' S GUIDE TO
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2013
SHORTS, OFFICIAL COMPETITION AND FEATURES ▼
PERCEPTION Life As A Hangover From The Past By Shannon Connellan “I like taking risks. I like looking at the parts of ourselves that are not so pretty.” Miranda Nation is a brave director. She recently returned from the Thai-Burma border, staging Shakespeare’s Pericles with a troupe of young refugees at the Mae La camp. Melbourne-based Nation dished out inspiration again with Eli The Invincible, a film made entirely through an after-school program with kids from Melbourne’s northern suburbs who’d never acted before. This time around delving into the world of stripping and motherhood, Nation takes another big risk with her latest short film Perception, a confronting take on mortality and identity debuting at Sydney Film Festival (SFF). Hard-hitting and candidly executed, Perception finds itself a big contender amongst a handpicked lineup of the best new Aussie short films at this year’s SFF, all finalists in the 2013 Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films. Nation’s
sincere drama will battle it out with some serious talent including AWGIE winner Nicholas Verso (The Last Time I Saw Richard), AFI nominee Simon Rippingale (A Cautionary Tail) and Emmynominated actor-now-first-timedirector David Lyons (Record). Originally finding her stage right and left as an actor, Nation’s indisputable directing talent took her from AFTRS to Paris, where she made her first short film while studying at the Jacques Lecoq school on the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship. Inspired by her favourite directors Alejandro González Iñárritu, Lynne Ramsay and Andrea Arnold, Nation is now one of Australia’s most stimulating young artists, winning shiny accolades and screening at festivals in Hamburg, Seattle, LA, Edinburgh and Melbourne. Perception follows the story of Crystal, a complex woman with
many hats to wear (and sadly take off). She’s a mother, daughter, lover, stripper and survivor whose own discernment of her true self is laid bare when she faces her own mortality. Played with devastating honesty and bare talent, Crystal is made the nucleus of the film by Melbournian bright spark Maia Thomas (Matthew Saville’s celebrated feature Noise, Channel Ten series Rush, The Hunter with Willem Dafoe). “To be honest, I always had her in mind,” admits Nation. “I’ve loved her work ever since I saw her in Noise and I just think she’s got something really special and unique about her… I think everyone will be glued to Maia’s performance, she really inhabits the character and I hope people really feel for her struggle.” Nation developed the idea for Perception through a personal interest in people and the multiple parts they play, how many subtle shifts in different roles can reveal just how we might tick overall. “Parts of your
W H AT : P E R C E P T I O N F O R D E N DY A W A R D S F O R A U S T R A L I A N S H O R T F I L M S
THE ACT OF KILLING
Maia Thomas in Perception personality are like these habitual behaviours that are hangovers from the past, that are perhaps not really serving you anymore but they’re familiar,” she says. “It takes something like being faced with your own mortality to see those aspects of yourself, or see yourself clearly.” It takes a keen eye for comprehensive detail to make a solid short, but Nation believes
the key to making a short film like Perception is deceivingly straightforward. “Look, to be honest, I think it’s probably simplicity,” she says. “I’m not sure if it’s something I’m very good at… I feel like I’m trying to cram the whole story of a feature into a short. But it’s a chance to be more experimental perhaps and really to use visual language. I think the short is an art form in itself.”
D I R E C T O R : M I R A N D A N AT I O N
C O U N T RY: AU ST R A L I A
Still from The Act Of Killing
One For The Survivors By Lauren Carroll Harris We’re in a dense, leafy jungle, surrounded by the pure spray and soft roar of a waterfall. An elderly man wearing a black, Moses-like robe, opens his arms wide and smiles benevolently. Pink-bikinied women sway gently. A row of young men come into view, their necks encircled by thin, ragged wire. One approaches the God-like figure: “Thank you, Anwar, for executing me and sending me to heaven. I thank you a thousand times for everything.” Anwar Congo is a war criminal, and this is a scene from The Act of Killing. In this documentary by Danish director Joshua Oppenheimer, Anwar and his fellow murderers joyfully re-enact their crimes in the manner of Hollywood gangster films. Following General Suharto’s coup in Indonesia in 1967, paramilitary groups labelled all his opponents ‘communists’ and embarked on a ruthless killing spree. One million ‘communists’ were ‘exterminated’; the
gangsters responsible were never brought to account and are still in positions of political power. “I found that the perpetrators were all eager to show us what they had done,” says Oppenheimer. “Killer after killer after killer boasted about and dramatised how they killed. And they had this love for American movies. These men were getting old and as they die their stories will die. I wanted to expose this for the survivors of the violence who still have not received justice for these mass killings. What is going on now that these perpetrators think it’s ok to boast? “I said to the gangsters, you participated in one of the most mass killings in history. Your whole society has been shaped by it. Your lives have been shaped by it. I want to understand what it means to you.” Part way through The Act of Killing, something completely unexpected happens and the world of the
documentary and the world of the criminals’ film collide entirely with increasing surrealism. Rarely before on film have war criminals talked this openly about wanting atonement or feeling something approaching remorse. Seldom has hardcore brutality been presented with such unironic, Tarantino-like glee. The movie violence and reallife violence are indistinguishable. And just a few thoughts away from the politicised, sociopathic film fanaticism is the unstoppable psychological consequence of impunity. The personal effects of Anwar’s crimes are inescapable. On the one hand, he’s a dead-set sadist who idolises and animates Al Pacino’s cinema thugs; on the other, he is haunted by nightmares of his own making. Eventually, Anwar comes to play the victims in the dramatisations and depict his own beheading. “The film becomes about how we become lost with Anwar in the process of his remembering his crimes and his own
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disappointments with life,” says Oppenheimer. “It was so easy to kill all those people. The fantasy scene was macabre and it was strange, but it was true. It was pure cinematic truth of murdering men lost in their fantasies.” This way, Oppenheimer avoids the noose of dry documentary cliche, melding journalistic exposé with the aesthetics of The Godfather. The documentary is in turn dreamlike, frank and downright awful in its straight-on look at systemically enforced violence.
DIRECTOR: JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER
“I think making this film became a cinematic, psychic scar tissue for Anwar to process his crimes and his own pain. I have shown Anwar the film; it was intensely emotional for him. He was very disturbed but he didn’t say why because that would be tantamount to admitting his actions were wrong. The world celebrated what he did at the time and the government justified it ever since. He and I sat in silence for a long time after the film finished. And he eventually said, “yes, that was the film I knew we were making.”
C O U N T R Y : D E N M A R K / N O R W AY / U K
THE ICEMAN
Michael Shannon in The Iceman
The Iceman photo by Anne Marie Fox
A Serial Killer In Shades Of Grey By Dee Jefferson No-one has the market in complex characters and anti-heroes cornered more than Michael Shannon – from the morally corrupted law enforcer in Boardwalk Empire to the mentally disturbed construction worker in Take Shelter and his humanist take on General Zod in Man of Steel. It’s no surprise that director Ariel Vromen hand-picked him to play contract killer and devoted family-man Richard Kuklinksi in his biopic The Iceman – and then stuck by his choice through several years of development hell rather than trade the role to a bigger ‘star’. Vromen’s models for his film were nothing less than Scarface, Raging Bull and There Will Be Blood: “Those are movies that have a monster in the centre of them, and you need to find a reason to connect to them,” the director explains, “– not necessarily agree with them, not necessarily love them, but definitely invest in their story.”
It helps that Shannon empathised with Kuklinski (more than Vromen, in fact). The actor first encountered the notorious mob hitman on HBO, when the channel aired tapes of his confessional interviews. “A lot of people when they watch the interviews think of him as a coldhearted, ruthless person – but I didn’t really get that vibe when I saw it,” says Shannon. “I thought he was very sad, and really regretted, more than anything, losing his family – but also doing what he did. I don’t think he was just a cut and dried psycho or sociopath.” For both the director and the actor, the challenge was building enough of a sense of the character’s psychology that an audience could empathise with him, in a limited time-span. “I took a decision not to invest in his childhood,” says Vromen. “In the original screenplay, there was like twenty pages of him growing up… But
I feel like there was a limitation [in this time frame] to how much you could really study his character.” Shannon had to carry this character history in his head, and somehow put in on screen. “Every time I looked at him [in interviews], I saw a little boy who was born with a big heart, and just got the crap beat out of him,” he says. “But he never lost this love that he had in his heart – because [otherwise] why have a family, why get married, why have children? It would have been a lot easier for him to just go around killing people. But he wanted that part of life. And he tried so hard, and in the end it got taken away from him. So to me, it’s kind of an operatic, sad story.” One of the most remarkable things about Kuklinski’s story – and the central dramatic tension in Vromen’s film – is the fact that his wife (played by Winona Ryder) and daughters
never knew he was a contract killer. At home he was a loving husband and devoted father. For Shannon, the two things are not mutually exclusive: “I think there are a lot of people in the world that in order to make money to support their family, do something that is somehow detrimental to other
W H A T : T H E I C E M A N F O R S F F F E AT U R E S
people. I think it’s a fact of life. And so this, to me, is almost like a fable version of that – an extreme version of someone who goes out and is in the finance world, and somehow as the result of the work they do that day, someone loses their house or is broke or lose their insurance. … That’s such a fascinating aspect of humanity to me – that dichotomy.”
DIRECTOR: ARIEL VROMEN
C O U N T RY: U SA
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▼ SFF HUB HOT SEAT
MY SFF HUB By Program Manager Matt Ravier Most film festivals have a bar where you can meet up for a drink after a screening. Taking over Lower Town Hall opposite the QVB, we designed the Hub to be more than coffee, beer and snacks. You’ll find video installations such as Jeff Desom’s Rear Window Loop (a large scale projection remixing Hitchcock’s classic thriller), a bookshop full of movie books, awesome DJs such as New York’s Jim Poe (Republic Music) and a discount box-office where you can buy $10 tickets to films screening at the Sydney Film Festival. A destination in itself, the Hub is home to over 30 events, most of which are free. And because there’s so much on offer I thought I’d help you out with my top five picks.
Francis Ford Question Mark: Ultimate Film Trivia Hosted by comedians Michael Hing and Tom Walker, this trivia night promises more fun than ultimate frisbee. It’s open to film lovers of all shapes and sizes, whether you’re into Dirty Dancing or Donnie Darko. SFF tickets and DVDs up for grabs for those who know their Shining from their Trainspotting, their Fight Club from their Breakfast Club. Free, Thursday June 6, 6pm.
Final Cut: Ladies & Gentlemen Constructed in the editing room over several years, this recycled feature film is made entirely of clips – hundreds of them – borrowed from well-known movies. Together, these images combine to create a whole new film, an archetypal story that’s also a love letter to cinema. György Pálfi is best known for provocative works such as Taxidermia. Following its premiere in Cannes, this is a one-off opportunity to watch his innovative remix which, due to rights issues, may never be released in cinemas. $10, Thursday June 6, 8pm and Sunday June 9, 8pm.
VHS Party Home video revolutionised our relationship with cinema. Suddenly we could own films, watch them in our own homes and even pause during the naughty bits! Josh Wheatley takes a break from his PhD on trash cinema to host a screening party dedicated to the VHS. Worship at the altar of the VCR as we pay tribute to cult cinema on the brink of extinction. Bring your cued up VHS tapes and share your favourite scenes to score free drinks and pizza! Free, Saturday June 8, 8.30pm.
Directors in Conversation: Netzer & Shortland For this Directors In Conversation event, we’ve brought together two of the finest filmmakers working today: Calin Peter Netzer (Child’s Pose), straight from his Golden Bear win at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival, and Cate Shortland, the very talented filmmaker behind home-grown dramas Somersault and Lore. Presented by the Australian Directors Guild, this is a rare chance to learn about craft and creative process from the very best. Free, Wednesday June 12, 6.30pm.
Cinema Burlesque Bobbi’s Pole Studio have assembled a lineup of Sydney’s most talented performers for a night of outrageous burlesque numbers inspired by cult movies. Diesel Darling, Pristina Sparx, Chilli and Oolarlar Lular join pole dancer Matty Shields onstage following the Australian premiere of Exposed, Beth B’s documentary on New York’s boundary-pushing neoburlesque scene. Free, Thursday June 13.
V I S I T : S F F. O R G . A U / H U B F O R F U L L P R O G R A M
Rear Window Loop With Jeff Desom
Freak Me Out Disco With Richard Kuipers
Cinema Burlesque With Vanessa Brecht
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 Rear Window deals with questions of ethical and social responsibility, fractured human relationships and a suspected murder. From his rear window, protagonist Jeff (James Stewart) casts a watchful eye over a select group of neighbours in closeby apartments; zooming in on their daily lives Jeff gains rare insight and plays the part of detective by default. As part of the Sydney Film Festival Hub, artist Jeff Desom is brining Jeff’s view to life in Rear Window Loop. We caught up with Desom to get the low down on what to expect.
Think cult flicks, vintage vinyl and old school dance moves. Welcome to the Freak Me Out Disco brought to you by genre maestro Richard Kuipers. The Freak Me Out program will also include select screenings of grindhouse classics at Event Cinemas throughout SFF for all those gore fans in search of the weird and wonderful. But for now, let’s focus on the music and the SFF Hub where the party be at.
Vanessa Brecht’s Bobbi’s Pole Studio, Australia’s original pole dancing school, is coming to the SFF Hub to perform sassy, steamy, burlesque and pole dance routines inspired by cult movies. The bill includes Diesel Darling, Pristina Sparx, Chilli, Matty Shields and Oolarlar & Her Burlesque Babes so if the shedding of clothes and fit women flicking their legs and nipple tassels about’s just your thang, put this one in the diary!
Why are you so drawn to vintage cult films and can you give me your top five? I am interested in extreme eccentricity in art and aberrant culture in general. What I love about weird vintage movies is not just the strange nature of what’s on screen but the placement of those films within the social and cultural times in which they were made. The thrill of discovering beautiful weirdness in cinema is hard to beat. My top five ‘weird’ films would be: Succubus by Jess Franco, Torture Dungeon by Andy Milligan, Hold Me While I’m Naked by George Kuchar, Wrestling Women Vs.The Aztec Mummy by Rene Cardona, and Lash Of The Penitentes by Ronald Price and Harry Revier.
Tell us about your background in burlesque. Bobbi’s Pole Studio has been teaching pole dancing and burlesque for over 8 years. During that time we’ve trained hundreds of dancers, watched the styles develop and have come into contact with the best in the business.
What’s Freak Me Out Disco all about? All things Freak Me Out are about transporting audiences to strange and exciting destinations. Freak Me Out Disco feverishly presents music from mostly obscure artists who never achieved mainstream success but left us with some of the wildest, most tempestuous and highly danceable sounds ever committed to vinyl. It’s very deliberately an eclectic mix – everything from rockabilly to Bollywood disco.
Cinema Burlesque highlights? That’s a hard one. We really have put together an amazing lineup, from the crazy hostess Chilli Rox, Matty Shields is champion pole dancer and some weird and wonderful acts from some of Sydney’s best burlesque performers covering all genres of cinema… you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll say “what the..?”
Explain Rear Window Loop to us. Rear Window Loop is a large-scale video projection that shows everything that happened in the courtyard of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, Rear Window, as a single panoramic view. What technology was used in the work’s production? I used a compositing software called After Effects for most of it. It was a very tedious process that required me to reverse-edit the entire film and stitch it back together in a way that stayed true to the plot of the original film. How do you think James Steward and Grace Kelly felt when they looked out their rear window? I can only imagine what it must have been like to see the original set with your own eyes. It’s a magnificent piece of art direction. At the time, it was one of the largest indoor constructions ever to take place on the Paramount lot. Despite its scale, the environment feels very cosy. It’s a place you’d want to live in if you don’t mind the prying eyes of your neighbours.
The SFF Hub is… An unknown experience that I’m looking forward to! Still from Rear Window Loop
Why’s burlesque important to Sydney’s creative landscape? Burlesque in its current form is very clever and entertaining. It has come a long way and developed into many different forms, and whether explicit or not, the performers often commentate on society. It’s meant to say something and be tongue-in-cheek, so it’s thought provoking as well as being very entertaining. Plus sexy chicks that know how to move. Everyone can enjoy that right? The SFF Hub is… A fantastic melting pot of interesting people and fabulous shows. Pricilla Sparx
And the moves to match? Years ago I won a bronze medal at the Lansdowne Hotel Disco-lympics with moves inspired by Dirk Diggler’s repertoire in Boogie Nights. It’d be great to see some of that footwork on the FMO dance floor. With the emphasis on ’60s garage sounds I’d be very impressed to see some wild Frugging, Alligator and Monkey Dance breaking out. Any jitterbug exponents that show up will earn my undying gratitude.
Cinema Burlesque Pricilla Sparx photo by freetoeknee
How will audiences react to Rear Window Loop? The size and resolution of the projection is overwhelming. It is as if you were sitting in the wheelchair of Jimmy Stewart. A lot if happening at once, so you’ll never be able to see all the details in a single viewing. As it loops every 20 minutes you can be sure to discover new things every time afresh.
What tracks can punters expect to hear on the night? What about with scorching fuzztone guitar of ’60s garage punk stompers from USA and Australia? Also expect doses of drooling, sleazy bump’n’grind you might have heard at a Dallas strip club in 1964; lewd, lascivious and utterly insane rockabilly that an amphetamine-fuelled combo might have played on the Tennessee honky tonk circuit in 1957. Bollywood disco music, circa 1983. Italian slasher movie sounds, circa 1977. The Cramps! A dash of ’60s Cambodian and Vietnamese rock and some ’70s punk rock killers. Like a mental patient without medication, FMO Disco will go wherever its lunatic impulses dictate.
What are you trying to do with Cinema Burlesque? We’ve got some of the best performers in Sydney that will be showcasing acts that have been inspired by cinema in a range of styles from classic burlesque, to newer, “neo” styles, cheeky pole dancing… and even male pole dancing. And we are really excited to be bringing it all into this unique and exciting space for people who may have never seen anything like this before!
The SFF Hub is… A totally cool place! It’s what the festival has always needed and now it’s here. A great combination of art gallery, wine bar, beer hall, bookshop, venue for filmmaker talks and panel discussions, meeting place and hangout joint. There’s a lot to like about it!
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WHY DID WE DO THIS
THE SONGS
You may have seen the Smokescreen Music Festival teaser campaign, the print and online ads, street posters and café posters.
Given Smokescreen wasn’t a real festival we needed to develop our own headline acts and songs to provide a soundtrack to this campaign. Hence we created super glam-rock band “The Coughin’ Nails” and hip-hop artist “M4-CEMA”.
At first you may have been intrigued, racking your brain to remember if you had heard of the Smokescreen Music Festival before, only to be caught asking your friends or googling ‘who are the Coughin’ Nails?’ when the acts were announced. And then, there was the ‘big reveal’. Smokescreen was actually a campaign devised by Mushroom Marketing to highlight the negative impact that cigarettes have on people’s lives. Yes, there were some disappointed people when it was revealed that Smokescreen wasn’t a new addition to Australia’s diverse music festival roster, but – and it’s a big BUT – every year in Australia more than 15,000 people die of smoking related diseases so getting a wider audience thinking and talking about the issue was our primary objective. Funded by the Australian National Preventive Health Agency, this campaign provided a different way to remind people of the risks associated with smoking. One that might get through to people who are not engaging with current anti-smoking campaigns. Mushroom Marketing created Smokescreen in the belief that it could get people re-thinking the fact that smoking can kill you. Hopefully this further encourages smokers to quit or averts someone from taking up smoking.
WHY FOCUS ON THE MUSIC COMMUNITY It wasn’t that long ago that you could smoke inside live music venues. Even non-smokers had no choice but to ‘suck it up’ once these rooms filled up with second hand smoke.
“Feels like I can’t get you out my system, Guess I should be thankful I’m still here” – Get You Out Of My System - M4-CEMA (2013)
“All I wanted was to be one of the blokes, My arteries are blocked, I’ve had too many strokes” – Very Good Year - The Coughin’ Nails (2013)
CHECK OUT M4-CEMA & THE COUGHIN’ NAILS TRACKS EXCLUSIVELY AT...
Times have changed and we are now reminded of the dangers of smoking through heavy duty anti-smoking television commercials and the gruesome photos on cigarette packs. No doubt they have made a strong impact, but the Smokescreen Music Festival provided a different way to raise the same issues by utilising many of the resources normally associated with promoting Music Festivals to get the message across.
The Coughin’ Nail’s track, “Very Good Year” provides a tongue-incheek look at the stupidity of smoking told as a final lament by the bands chronically ill chain-smoking front man Lemme Dysloli. In comparison, the M4-CEMA track “Get You Out of My System” is a more serious hip-hop song which looks at how you can get hooked on nicotine and the harm it causes not only smokers, but the people around them. Both tracks and their video clips are available at: www.smokescreenmusicfestival.com.au
WHY THE LIVE MUSIC SCENE The live music scene often promotes a culture of freedom and rebellion. Enjoying a great live show should be about ‘having a good time’, but this doesn’t mean that fans need to trash themselves and risk their long-term health in the process. Before outdoor music festivals took off in Australia, most live music was indoors. Hence after smoking in pubs and clubs was banned, enjoying live music became a smoke free experience at many gigs. So our live music scene has its very own interesting history around smoking. We may well see more changes at real music festivals going forward. Maybe a ‘smoke free mosh pit’ is not too far away! Whatever the future, our goal with Smokescreen was to engage with music fans in a different way and get people thinking about the issues again. - So the next time you are out watching a band with your friends you might have a ‘Smokescreen moment’ and think twice about sneaking outside between sets for a cigarette… Your lungs will be very grateful and you won’t lose your prime spot at the front of the stage!!!
This is how the campaign went down…
HOW TO FIND OUT MORE
facebook.com/smokescreenmusicfestival This project is supported by the Australian Government.
To find out more about Smokescreen and to check out the exclusive tracks from The Coughin‘ Nails and M4-CEMA visit: www.smokescreenmusicfestival.com.au www.facebook.com/smokescreenmusicfestival
To get your free Smokescreen App, visit the website or scan the QR code:
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arts frontline
free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com
arts news... what's goin' on around town... with Lisa Omagari
five minutes WITH
TIM LEVY
became addicted to photography then enrolled in a Diploma of Photography at Sydney TAFE, which was insanely technical. After doing various magazine gigs for a while and even teaching photography, I started moving into more commercial work, shooting everything from parties to high-end carpet installations to fashion, portraits, still life, cars – I even produced dog calendars! Personally, I love street and documentary photography. Who influences your practice? In retrospect, I’ve been a long-term fan of painter Jeffrey Smart, while photographers Weegee and Martin Parr are incomparably great. They have both been so prolific, poetic, brave, insightful and humorous.
W
e were swimming in pride last week when we told you that Tim Levy, BRAG’s very own senior photography, won the Head Off Landscape Prize. The Gambler – Las Vegas Is Purgatory was shot on a recent trip to the States from the rooftop of Levy’s Las Vegas hotel and will be on display in Paddington Reservoir Gardens until June 23. We quizzed the Sydney-based freelance photographer on his work and passion. Tell us about your background in photography. I bought a SLR film camera,
And The Gambler – Las Vegas Is Purgatory? Las Vegas is such a wrong place. Topographically, it’s actually quite beautiful, but the gorgeously gaudy city is populated by mild-mannered, fist-pumping ‘winners’ and morose losers trying to catch their tails. Getting all the elements in this photo to me was like a slot machine finally aligning all its wheels. I suppose that taking this photograph was like hitting a jackpot for me in some respect. I wonder what the guy in the photo was dreaming about... being a ‘winner’? Winning the Head Off Landscape Prize means… momentary niche fame and people looking at my earlier work in a different light. On the same night, we also went live with a longterm web project called Photodoco so it was a
‘double bonus’ night. Ironically, the Landscape Prize was awarded at Sydney TAFE where, years ago, the head teacher told me that I would never make it as a photographer as, figuratively speaking, we didn’t see eye to eye. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see him in the crowd so I didn’t get the chance to get in his grill and do what could have been a classic and totally classy, “IN YO FACE!” moment. Otherwise, it was actually a very surprising, humbling experience as I’m very lazy when it comes to self promotion and entering competitions. Finally, what’s it like to shoot BRAG’s social snaps? It’s rare for a magazine to cover and shoot such a broad array of gigs from art openings to bars, bands and festivals on a weekly basis – I can’t think of many other publications in the world that do that. People assume shooting socials is similar to ‘drunk shooting’ their own out-of-it friends on their phones on a Saturday night, but try going to a random place and requesting complete strangers to pose for a photo on a Tuesday night. To quote the brilliant Alfred Eisenstaedt: “It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter.” What: Head Off Landscape Prize Where: Paddington Reservoir Gardens When: Until June 23 More: www.photodoco.com
AN IDEAL DESTINATION
Two Australian photographers are about to present their unique images of Japan from the perspective of their own cultural identity. Caroline McLean-Foldes and Mim Stirling will showcase work at ArtHere Gallery (126 Regent Street, Redfern) as part of Head On Photo Festival. Showing from June 8-20, the pair’s exhibition An Ideal Destination is founded on a mutual background in cinema studies and explores ideas of nostalgia, veneer and the appearance of the past. For more information visit arthere.com.au
NEW ED FOR UNDERBELLY ARTS
Jain Moralee has joined the Underbelly Arts team as new Executive Director. Former General Manager and Festival Director of Queer Screen, Moralee jumps on board ahead of the upcoming Underbelly Arts Lab and Festival to take place on Cockatoo Island in July and August this year. “As a long time admirer of
The Pixel Sounds Festival
PIXEL SOUNDS FESTIVAL! TIX! WIN! Chiptune music, is the latest craze to spring from the underground caves of videogame enthusiasts, where seemingly archaic and limited technologies (i.e. Gameboys!!) are used to create “retrofuturistic” sounds. On Saturday June 8, as part of the 19 th International Symposium on Electronic Art, The Campbelltown Arts Centre and Soundbytes will present the The Pixel Sounds Festival from 7pm featuring performances from Dot.AY, Abortifacient, cTrix, Little-Scale and 10k Free Men; all internationally-renown masters of chiptune. Into your chiptune? We’ve got two double passes to the performance! To win one just email freestuff@thebrag.com and tell us what your favourite Gameboy game was as a kid. the role that Underbelly Arts has played in the Sydney cultural landscape, I am thrilled to be joining the team as Executive Director. Together with Artistic Director Eliza Sarlos, I look forward to continuing the amazing work Clare Holland undertook in steering Underbelly Arts into its bold and bright future,” says Moralee.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS ARTS AWARDS
Renowned actor David Gulpilil and artists Rhonda Dick and Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello have been recognised as tour de forces on Australia’s Indigenous Art map. Gulpili has been awarded the main $50,000 Red Ochre award for outstanding contribution towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts. Photographer Rhonda Dick takes home the $20,000 Dreaming Art award in recognition of her emerging talent. Martiniello, who had become known for traditional weaving in hot blown glass, was one of two recipients of a $90,000 fellowship.
PRODUCT PLACEMENT
“When we hold up our Coke or Nike or Pizza Hut products and take a social media snap showing them off, are we starring in our own ads?” asks controversial Sydney photographer Jesse Willesee. Product Placement, Willesee’s latest body of work, will feature images of models, musicians and cool kids to demonstrate their affection for branded products. Aimed at reflecting society’s pop-cultural consumerism, the exhibition identifies our obsession with making billboards of ourselves across social media channels. Product Placement opens on June 19 at District 01 Gallery in Surry Hills.
SLIDE CABARET FESTIVAL
Slide’s annual Cabaret Festival, running from June 21 to July 4 at Slide Bar (41 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst), is back this year to dish out its second dose of sultry cabaret, burlesque, musical talent and artist talks. And there’s more: this year’s festival includes a new series called TALK. Comprising a dinner and panel event, punters can buy into a two-course dinner for $50 while indulging a lively discussion about what it’s like in the Aussie market for today’s creatives. Catherine Alcorn will mediate said talk between former Adelaide Cabaret Festival Creative Director Lisa Campbell, Director/ Producer Neil Gooding, cabaret star Paul Capsis, and SMH arts writer Steve Dow. slide.com.au for more.
BLINDSCAPE
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FOTO RALLY
Got tickets on yourself when it comes to being snap savvy? Well now’s your chance to register for one of the most interesting photographic challenges in Australia. The Foto Riesel’s Foto Rally is happening on Saturday September 28 in the Sydney CBD – participants meet at a showroom on Kent Street before being given four photographic challenges to complete throughout the day. Participants will have from Sunday September 29 through midnight Friday October 4 to upload their shots to the Foto Riesel website. Encouraging the sharing of creativity and photographic skill amongst participants, the Foto Rally welcomes cameras of all types and is open to all age groups. To pre-register, visit fotoriesel.net.au
After The Battle
ARAB FILM FESTIVAL
The 10th Arab Film Festival Australia will run from June 27 to July 14 at the Riverside Theatres. Screening six feature films and five short films from ten countries, the festival is testament to the resurgence of Arab filmmaking and storytelling in our now world. “The Arab world has been rocked by change and this is what is inspiring and fuelling the new stories we will be seeing on the big screen,” says Festival Co-director Fadia Abboud. Festival highlights include opening night Egyptian film After The Battle by renowned director Yousry Nasrallah, which looks at the aftermath of the Battle of the Camels that happened in 2011, and Sleepless Nights by director Frédéric Jardin, a documentary profiling war stories of a Lebanese militia and a mother longing for her missing son. The festival also includes a free forum discussing Arab male masculinity on screen. For more details visit arabfilmfestival.com.au Xxx
Coming to PACT Centre for Emerging Artists is Blindscape, a hybrid circus and theatre performance set within a 3D virtual sound world. And there’s a catch. The audience will be able to interact with the visceral work by dictating the primary light source for the performance via an iPhone app. Presented by experimental artist
Skye Gellmann, Blindscape aims to dislocate real and virtual boundaries between time space, performer and viewer. Gellmann brings with him a national team including Dylan Sale (game design) and Brisbane artists Thom Browning (sound design) and Kieran Law (collaborator/ performer). Blindscape runs from June 20-29 and more info can be found at pact.net.au
Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town with Lisa Omagari and Shannon Connellan
■ Film
■ Film
THE HANGOVER PART III
THE GREAT GATSBY
In cinemas now
In cinemas now
The Hangover Part III – one word: disappointing. Although a mildly satisfying final to director Todd Phillips’ trilogy, the film’s unimaginative linear narrative and stale blokey humour makes it all but a lacklustre regurgitation of expired gags from ‘over it’ party animals. What started with a bang – Phillips’ Part I was a worthy surprise hit in 2009 with its comedic smarts and, despite offensive anti-Asian jokes in 2011’s Part II, the sequel remained entertaining – has ended with a whimper.
There is a modest brilliance to Gatsby in Fitzgerald’s novel – that’s why he is Great.
We’re off to a semi-intriguing start. The Wolfpack reunite in the hope of rehabilitating man-child Alan (Zach Galifianakis) whose father has just died of a freak heart-attack. He’s off the meds you see, so Alan’s mates, good-looker Phil (Bradley Cooper), nerdy dentist friend Stu (Ed Helms) and brother-in-law Doug (Justin Bartha, who’s practically an extra) stage an intervention and huzzah they’re in luck! The gang are en route to a rehab clinic in Arizona when they’re ambushed by a motorway mob led by crime boss Marshall (John Goodman) who demands they find feisty Asian gangster Mr Chow (Ken Jeong) who stole $21 million in gold bars from him. Thereafter, The Hangover Part III cascades into a lazy splattering of heists, high-speed car chases, robberies and out of place slapstick. Much of the action is dull, uninspiring and garners very few laughs. Interestingly enough, Mr Chow has become central to the film’s tale; perhaps even Phillips himself realised the Wolfpack no longer held enough charm to pack a cinematic punch. And not only is the Wolfpack back – so too is Vegas. Ultimately a trilogy about male camaraderie, a return to the City Of Angels seems fitting to conjure up nostalgic memories of good ol’ times. Unfortunately, Phillips doesn’t pull it off – instead we’re left with the bitter sting of ‘been there done that’. Lisa Omagari
Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms in The Hangover Part III
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal novel owns a subtlety that shouldn’t be compromised by adaptation. The delicacy of language and thematic poise of The Great Gatsby endows Fitzgerald’s work with a profound cultural significance, the value of which audiences the world over have understood since its publication some 88 years ago. Jay Gatsby – his character and the historical context in which he exists – epitomises the author’s reaction to society’s extravagance; Gatsby is a millionaire bootlegger smothered by the opulence of 1920s’ Jazz Age who exposes the shady distinctions between New York’s old and new money.
reproduce a dark milieu of corrupt pasts, confronting presents and uncertain futures? Yes. Does he do all this in line with the novel’s alluring grace? Perhaps not.
Director Baz Luhrmann treats his version of Fitzgerald’s classic with a lavish theatricality. To that end, the novel’s refined subtlety is reconfigured into overstated vulgarity – a mess of hedonistic elitist parties, broken relationships and class feuds – at the behest of Luhrmann’s fetish for spectacle. It works in parts and doesn’t in others. Does Luhrmann stay true to Fitzgerald’s observations of luxury and decadent consumerism? Yes. Does he
But all is not completely lost. The director’s characterisation and cinematographic finesse – The Great Gatsby’s set and costume design is dramatic to say the least – create a filmic landscape all but suited to play host to the cracked veneer of a tragic love story. Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), his long lost love Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), Daisy’s husband Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) and our doe-eyed narrator
■ Film
HAPPINESS NEVER COMES ALONE In cinemas now You love a good shitty rom-com and you know it. You’ve voluntarily waded through Meg Ryan’s nose-wrinkling in You’ve Got Mail. You’ve taken midnight sessions of Head Over Heels and still defend Freddie Prinze Jnr’s perfect, perfect face. And you’ve seen The Holiday. You have. If you’ve survived these, know how undeniably repugnant they truly are and have gone back for seconds, you’ll probably like this film.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton in The Great Gatsby
In this palatable romance, Sophie Marceau finds an unexpected strength in Leading Rom-Com Lady, after countless films as Action Bad Girl (The World Is Not Enough), Battered Wife (Arretez-Moi) and Ethereal Royal Babe (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Braveheart). Marceau shows convincing versatility next to Moroccan-French stand up comedian Gad Elmaleh, finding stable footing as leading man Sacha, who prides himself on his three traits: “No alarm clock, no wedding ring, no taxes.”
Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) rescue Luhrmann’s vision by delivering seminuanced performances. For a director whose work is often judged by its intensity of visual enthrallment, The Great Gatsby might very well be considered a triumph. But for those seeking an honest rendition of Fitzgerald’s incredibly farreaching exposé into economic prejudice and irreparable love lost, this reviewer recommends you look elsewhere. Lisa Omagari
Instead of the quirky, genuinity seen in French rom-coms like Heartbreaker and Priceless, this film seemed predictable and a little half-baked. An unoriginal but indulgently enjoyable film, Happiness Never Comes Alone is a pleasant rom-com with no real surprises, sparked by moments of slapstick, an overabundance of Etta James and a tried and true formula finish. Shannon Connellan
Not your textbook romantic comedy generator, French director James Huth’s first few films Serial Lover and Lucky Luke were refreshingly dark and screwball. This time around however, Huth is a little less original, instead looking to our aforementioned terrible Hollywood rom-coms for his cues. As far as clichéd set-ups go, Happiness Never Comes Alone offers up every repulsive trick in the rom-com book: struggling musician falls for wealthy art dealer. He likes one night stands and has his mother do his laundry. She has three kids and goes jogging. After a scene The Holiday taught us was a ‘meetcute’ (when the two leads stumble upon one another, love at first yadda yadda) they figure out love’s not a straight road etc. etc. kiss. Credits.
See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews
Arts Exposed What's in our diary...
Chip Music Festival/Pixel Sounds Festival
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Saturday June 8 Campbelltown Arts Centre What could Gameboys, Amanda Palmer and floppy disks possibly have in common? They’ve all contributed to the rapidly growing musical phenomenon of chiptune/chip music, a form that creates futuristic-sounding music from limited and obsolete computer hardware. As part of the 19th International Symposium on Electronic Art, the Campbelltown Arts Centre and Soundbytes will present a day of chip music workshops and performances curated by respected chiptune professor Alex Yabsley. Program highlights include workshops on Gameboy music and Piggy Tracker (a multiplatform sample tracker) as well as the Pixel Sounds Festival (kicking off at 7pm) featuring a number of internationally-renowned chiptune connoisseurs. Tix are $8-$15 for the performance and all workshops are free. Bookings essential at campbelltown.nsw.gov.au/PixelSounds.
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Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK THE NATIONAL Trouble Will Find Me 4AD/Remote Control
The National return with an album that is emotionally visceral and vividly resonant. Less angry than Boxer, but also less melodic than High Violet, Trouble Will Find Me makes its own place on the band’s musical spectrum, equal parts tragic and beautiful.
Xxxx Trouble Will Find Me is not an album for sunny afternoons or friendly gatherings, but as a soundtrack to rainy nights and lonely days it’s damn near perfect.
The lyrics are striking yet subtle, and largely concerned with transparency and betrayal. ‘Don’t Swallow The Cap’ renders heart-on-sleeve tendencies concisely – “Everything I love is on the table/Everything I love is out to see” – and ‘Fireproof’ opens with the achingly poetic, “You keep a lot of secrets and I keep none/Wish I could go back and keep some.” In ‘Sea Of Love’ there’s the apologetic
P-MONEY Gratitude Dawn Raid Ent / Dirty Records / Duck Down Music Inc
Kiwi beatmaker P-Money recently moved to New York, so naturally he had to make a classic East Coast boom bap rap record, with samples and guests straight out of 1993. Which isn’t a bad thing – if you’re looking for an antidote to 2013 trap and strip club rap then this is your jam. P-Money’s last outing was 2010’s clubpop success Everything, which has influenced this album perhaps more than he realises – the drum kicks sound somewhat muted and subdued for classic boom bap, and the bass sits in the background, instead of in your face. His background as a DMC turntablist shows through as well, with instrumental interludes like ‘11th Break’ and head-nodder ‘Killuminati’ showing off his scratching techniques. All up, P-Money’s gone for a relaxed vibe for Gratitude, picking smooth-flowed MCs like Roc Marciano, Talib Kweli and Buckshot to keep things chill and conscious. Havoc and Skyzoo sound like the city’s worn them down on opener ‘Welcome to America’, but then M.O.P straight up kill it on The Hardest, possibly the best track on the album. It’s a solid collection, but when lined up against Statik Selektah’s Extended Play, another recently-released East Coast hip hop record which has been getting a lot of play about these parts recently, Selektah’s effort just bangs that much harder when you turn it up loud, and features a well-rounded roster of guest MCs both respected (Raekwon, Black Thought, Prodigy) and blowingup (Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$, Flatbush Zombies). In comparison, P-Money’s submission seems a little subdued.
“Hey Jo, sorry I hurt you but/They say love is a virtue, don’t they”, and with the grandiosely morose ‘Slipped’ the gravelly, “I’m having trouble inside of my skin/I try to keep my skeletons in” leaves a deep impression, while ‘I Need My Girl’ is lovely and devastating all at once. Part of Berninger, Dessner and co.’s gift is that while much of their music is funereal in pace and tone (‘I Should Live In Salt’), it doesn’t drag. Rather, the lyrics may tug at heartstrings, but there remains an airy buoyancy to the instrumentation that lifts the songs to a more exultant place. The shift in direction of Trouble Will Find Me may not be as immediately apparent as
STATIK SELEKTAH
CRYSTAL FIGHTERS
Extended Play Show Off Records / Duck Down Music
Cave Rave Zirkulo / PIAS / Atlantic
Reading the guest collaborator list on Extended Play is enough to give most hip hop fans a positive feeling in their nether regions; a few beads of excited sweat at the very least. Featuring the likes of Talib Kweli, Action Bronson and Raekwon, just to name a few guests who lend their vocal prowess to the record, Statik Selektah has once again pulled somewhat of a Christmas wish list for his fifth studio album. At 18 tracks long, the album title seems more than fitting and one can’t help but wonder if a small handful of tracks might have been better suited to the cutting room floor. Nonetheless, Selektah has provided plenty for hip hop aficionados and newcomers alike to wade through – while hip hop beats seem to be a push-pull of functionality versus providing a creative outlet, Selektah has a gifted touch for them. Striking the balance between showing some creative chops and producing hard hitting yet effortlessly smooth beats, Selektah ensures the aural landscape for his vocalists never tips out of balance. Lyrically, it doesn’t seem to stray too far from the “guns, hoes, bitches, drugs” subject roster but what makes this shine compared to say, the nonsensical, half shouted, half rapped dross that litters the charts is the urgency and storytelling; not to mention clever wordplay in spades. ‘Funeral Season’ ft. Styles P, Bun B and Hit Boy is a thoughtful ode to the rise in homicide during the summer months in ‘the hood’ while ‘The Spark’ ft. Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$ and Mike Posner is a stunning highlight - one of the softer, more reflective tracks on Extended Play but Selektah knows when to apply a ‘less is more’ mantra and it pays off here.
It’s a classic East Coast rap album, but somehow I doubt it’ll be getting blasted from every car stereo north of New York’s 110th street this summer.
‘Extended Play’ shows that Statik Seletktah still brings together rappers that perfectly complement his true-tohip hop beats, and each other; filler tracks excluded, this record has some truly remarkable moments.
Ghostwriter Killah
Marissa Demetriou
The Spanish/English six-piece released their debut Star of Love in 2010 and received a bunch of mixed reviews. Three years in the making, Cave Rave is their latest offering. Although they’ve added a synth or five, it’s hard not to feel like they’ve fallen back on their old tropical formula of summery riffs and pummelling beats with generous injections of heavy electronic bass. Cave Rave opens with ‘Wave’, an aptly named song given the tumultuous layers of glossy synths rolling out continuously. Yet these waves of synths never recede, it’s a constant tirade. The ceaseless assault of synths, runaway drums and tribal chanting proves to be a running theme. There’s hardly any subtlety with this record – it’s nauseatingly gaudy. The shimmering synths and altogether tropical wonderland aesthetic makes Cave Rave the sort of album you hear at a house party in the other room without a DJ. Considering they released the sporadic explosion that is ‘Xtatic Truth’ and the folky/grimy blend of ‘Swallow,’ Crystal Fighters haven’t reached the potential their previous critics had hoped they would. Cave Rave is a jungle of confused sound without any refinement or direction – but that’s not to say it doesn’t have any redeeming qualities. The second half of the shimmery record yields more honest moments with ‘These Nights’ and ‘Bridge of Bones.’ The latter offers a change of pace with its heavy handed keys and wistful lamentations: “It’s been so long out here drifting all alone/lost in a wild place no sign of hope/so I write you with love from the wide ocean.” It’s the most honest and least self-indulgent track on there. Cave Rave is instantly catchy and euphoric even, but it’s lacklustre, despite its soaring melodies. Sharon Ye
with High Violet, but by the time the tempered tone of closer ‘Hard To Find’ plays out, the band sound like they’re nearing an acceptance of sorts. Natalie Amat
PEACE
JACK CARTY & CASUAL PSYCHOTIC
In Love Sony / Columbia
The Predictable Crisis of Modern Life Gigpiglet / Inertia
Less brash than Palma Violets, more accessible than Merchandise, Peace are one of the most talked-about British throwbacks emerging from UK garages. Peace emerged on the blogs last year around September, joining newbies Childhood, Swim Deep and Girls Names on All The Sites. Somehow nabbing the name Peace, the foursome from Birmingham managed to jump a little higher on the immense trampoline of British indies trying to see over the fence.
After playing at SXSW, local folk singer-songwriter Jack Carty follows his 2012 Break Your Own Heart with The Predictable Crisis of Modern Life. The EP is a collaborative project with local producer Casual Psychotic and throughout, with impassioned conviction, Carty reinforces his music’s central themes of failed love and the anxiety of staying true to one’s beliefs.
After a few scattered singles and an EP snared them much Ones-To-Watch acclaim, Peace have finally unleashed their first real go, In Love. Opener ‘Higher Than The Sun’ brims with all the promise of The Next Big Thing, armed with keyed up swelling and singalong chorus. Second single ‘Follow Baby’ takes us straight back to the discman, a youth-fuelled love song that faintly whiffs of Oasis’s ‘Live Forever’, garnished with a little Mystery Jets. Britpop fans might find this one a little thieved, with vocalist Harry Koisser’s pronounced British accent drawling “we’re gonna live forever baby” with all the twangs of a Gallagher. Seventh track ‘Waste of Paint’ even heralds the line “you’re electric, baby, you’re electric”, just to sign the dotted line on this love letter to ‘Morning Glory’.
Brimming with increased maturity and self-assurance, the opening track, ‘What Does Your Heart Say’ tells a narrative of unrequited longing. The braying guitar solo adds a lusty bite as Carty sings, “I can be an island or an ocean that surrounds.” Reflective, unafraid to show his vulnerability, on ‘Tunnel Vision’ we hear the dreamer who refuses to exalt in nostalgia. “I ain’t ever looking back again,” he trills, while delicate acoustic guitars waft in a haze of looped echoes and understated electronic touches. There is a strong personal element to The Predictable Crisis, evident in ‘Strung Along’, a futile romantic encounter where Carty’s tone carries a disdain that is complemented by crunching, grungy guitars.
The best moments of the album come from the built-up ballads like ‘California Daze’, where Koisser’s time to shine is nigh. Four tracks in and we’re head to head with ‘Float Forever’, a straight up tribute to ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ and The Beatles’ ‘In My Life’, which sits dangerously on the fence of homage/ carbon copy. However, this is easily palmed off as an acceptable sort of inauthentic nostalgia and seems to embody that terrible adjective… sundrenched.
Unfortunately, the record’s message is hindered by the recurrent use of TV voice-over commentary. Featured on half the tracks, it’s a clichéd technique over-used by artists like Bright Eyes. This is a minor slight, and on the freewheeling folk anthem ‘Reasons To Be Afraid’, Carty illustrates his talent for combining insightful lyrics, rousing passion and endearing melodies. Coming in at nearly seven minutes, it’s ambitious yet simple, and exemplifies his songwriting talent.
In Love could be the lovechild of The Libertines and Mystery Jets, made while Oasis is watching and The Maccabees supply the wine. A joyful introduction to a talented, learned bunch.
The Predictable Crisis of Modern Life is a step forward in Jack Carty’s evolution into an important singersongwriter who strives to provoke his listeners to reflect on who they are and what they want to be.
Shannon Connellan
Larry Lai
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK
OFFICE MIXTAPE
JAGWAR MA
bass/drums shackles of their previous groups in favour of a more fluid set-up that melds together, amongst other things, indie-dance, pop and psychedelia.
And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week...
Asked recently by the NME if he’d spoken to his former Oasis band mates about getting back together, Noel Gallagher said “we’re too busy talking about fucking Temples and Jagwar Ma”. For a man who’s built a lot of his reputation on being a world-class hater, this is high praise indeed. On the evidence of Jagwar Ma’s debut album Howlin’ it’s also well-justified.
Album opener ‘What Love’ is driven by crunchy, pulsating electronics. Winterfield’s repetitious mantras fade in and out in a shimmering heat haze. Uncertainty follows; its keyboard groove in the verses is augmented by reverb-drenched guitar spikes in the chorus. The beginning of ‘Come And Save Me’ sounds like a long lost Californian pop song from the mid60s, with a big beat and spiraling vocals, underpinned by an angelic chorus. Midway through it dives into a more lucid groove, almost as if the original segues into a remix.
Howlin’ Future Classic
Jono Ma and Gabriel Winterfield (late of Lost Valentinos and Ghostwood, respectively) have broken off the guitar/
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Many of the tracks change forms dramatically through their duration. It can be overwhelming at first, but on repeated listens you become engulfed by the various aural delights and surprises. Howlin’ shares a similar day-glo soaked DNA to Primal Scream’s Screamadelica, The Stone Roses, The Charlatans and Blur’s first album, etc. However, to fob it off as just an indie dance record that sounds like it was released sometime in 1991-93 would be to sell it criminally short. A blissful record that will radiate warmth through the long, cold months ahead. Michael Hartt
DEERHUNTER - Monomania NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! THE PREATURES - 'Is This How You Feel?'
G.O.O.D MUSIC - 'Mercy' ROBIN THICKE - 'Blurred Lines'
live reviews What we've been to see...
BOBBY WOMACK Sydney Opera House Saturday May 25 69-years-old, mostly blind and not long recovered from colon cancer, pneumonia and a coma, Bobby Womack can still rock a stage like nobody’s business – and holy shit, can the man hold a note. His body may be worn down by time and abuse, but Womack’s voice is still one of the strongest and most distinctive to have come out of the golden era of soul. The band is idling on stage for a good few minutes before Womack appears, led by an enthusiastic helper and garbed as a Disco Black Panther – red leather military coat, pants and cap. He stumbles and falls as he hits the stage and concern sweeps the crowd, but once he’s in the semi-circle at stage-front he’s in complete control, launching straight into a glorious rendition of his greatest work, the blaxploitation classic Across 110th Street. A 90-minute tour through Womack’s history follows, taking in a selection of his best compositions, a few tastes from recent
album The Bravest Man in the World, and tributes to his contemporaries like Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke – including a spinetingling version of Cooke’s ‘A Change is Gonna Come’. The enormous band (three back-up singers including Womack’s daughter, two guitarists, two keyboardists, drummer, percussionist, four piece horn section), is made up of consummate professionals, but while they execute each song with skill and finesse, there’s a feeling that they don’t really gel – the soul’s not quite there in the band. Luckily Womack has it in spades – and you’ve got to feel sorry for his back up singers, as his phrasing is so unusual they keep having to cut off their backing vocals as he holds a note for longer than expected or cuts a line short. When they get a chance at solos, though, we get to hear just how powerful their lungs are; the band get their turn at solos as well, but it’s perfunctory. Still, it’s Bobby Womack we’ve turned out to see, and he seems to be having fun being onstage and picking and choosing his way through his favourite songs, to the crowd’s loud appreciation. Here’s hoping his body holds up for a few more decades of recording, because his voice and charisma haven’t dulled a bit. Nick Jarvis
D PHOTOGRAPHER : DANIEL BOU
KRAFTWERK: TOUR DE FRANCE Sydney Opera House Monday March 27 When I heard that Kraftwerk were performing their back catalogue in order at London’s Tate Modern in February this year, I kicked myself for not being in the UK. It’s a sign, then, of how far Sydney’s ascended the cultural ladder that we got the full set of shows only two months later. Excitement levels were high with the promise of eight shows in four days, comprising scenic trips through their best albums followed by a greatest hits set and augmented by 3D visuals. And they didn’t disappoint – the show was immersive, hypnotic and very impressive, a trip inside Ralf Hütter’s obsession with the intersection between man and machine. 2003’s Tour De France is perhaps the most danceable of Kraftwerk’s albums, and certainly one of the more accessible – a tribute to that epic annual race of bicycle and physical mechanics. Archive footage of La Tour accompanied the album’s signature ‘Tour De France’ theme and tracks like ‘La Forme’, ‘Elektro Kardiogramm’, ‘Vitamin’ and ‘Aerodynamik’.
When the 3D visuals came into play they were truly spectacular; in ‘Vitamin’, a cascade of pills and effervescent bubbles came floating out the screen right up to your nose. Between the impressive visuals, though, there was ample time to watch the four grey-haired men on stage rocking out at their neon light synth plinths, dressed in neon-green-lined bodysuits and gently head-nodding, as Hütter looked up every now and then to deliver a pitch perfect vocal line. After a quick spin through Tour De France we took a trip through the decades, with classics like ‘Autobahn’, ‘TransEurope Express’, ‘Computer Love’ and ‘Radioactivity’. Incredibly, even though they’ve been recording for almost four decades now (Autobahn was released in 1974) everything Kraftwerk has ever done still sounds fresh and current. Is it because they were so far ahead of their time? Or because all electronic music, from the 80s to present day, owes them such a huge debt? I prefer to think it’s because their work is timeless – brilliant, simple riffs, repeated hypnotically with restrained elegance. Long live the Robots! Nick Jarvis
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snap sn ap
tales in space
PICS :: HL
up all night out all week . . .
the seabellies
PICS :: KL
24:05:13 :: Brighton Up Bar :: Level 1/77 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9572 6322
the sleep walkers club
the rubens
PICS :: AM
24:05:13 :: FBi Social :: Kings Cross Hotel 248 William St 9331 9900
:: ABOUT LAST S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER TH MAGNAN :: ASHLEY MAR :: AMA :: IS LEW KATE :: NG LEU HARVEY :: HENRY
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NIGHT :: AVERIE
watussi
PICS :: KL
24:05:13 :: The Enmore :: 118-132 Enmore Rd Newtown 9550 3666
25:05:13 :: The Standard :: 3/383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 9331 3100
PICS :: HL
25:05:13 :: FBi Social :: Kings Cross Hotel 248 William St 9331 9900
snap sn ap
live reviews What we've been to see...
up all night out all week . . .
THE TSARS, HATTIE CARROLL, CALLITHUMP, KING COLOUR The Standard Friday May 24 When King Colour opened the show to a handful of spectators, they didn’t seem phased at all. Their Arctic Monkeys-inspired sound doesn’t feel quite enough to fill a room, but their fresh-out-of-high-school eagerness will book them shows. The slow trickle of people meant that Callithump’s twangy guitar set was played to a slightly bigger audience. Relatively new on the scene, they’ve played some solid live shows but their set lacks cohesiveness and still needs polishing. They had some proud parents in the crowd though – big-ups for supporting your creatively inclined children. Hattie Carroll is the reason why people should see support acts. Matt Stewart is an incredible front man. With the first notes, you could see the physical reaction from the crowd. Conversations came to a halt, punters raised their heads, etc, etc. His voice – wow. The five-piece showed a maturity and ownership of their sound that’s rare for such a young band. It was almost surprising to hear those soulful vocals, but it complemented their brand of indie folk well. Their set was really tight; sounding, if I may, radio-ready. Needless to say, by the time the quintet left the stage, the crowd was well primed for The Tsars.
sosueme
‘Names’, the single that they’ve just launched, is played to a crowd already familiar with the catchy tune. The good vibes are carried through to ‘Garden Lounge’ and ‘The Beach’, with these old gems and their fuzzy appeal getting the crowd a little looser and a little rowdier. The audience were enjoying the feeling of being at a house party rather than standing in a room evaluating the hipster cred of the person next to them – they’d drawn a good crowd. The Tsars are first and foremost a live band. Barely saying much, they let their cruise-y psychedelic tunes sprawl outwards to get those bodies moving. They’re a little rough around the edges, but they’re so melodically interesting it’s easy to get past that. If you haven’t heard them already, get acquainted. Sharon Ye
PICS :: ALN
The Tsars have some strange, unkempt charisma that allows them to be forgiven
for mythical debut records that have been in the making for what feels like…forever. But what they lack in albums they make up with a steady presence on Sydney’s live circuit. Their live performance is laid back, jammy and lo-fi. The guitar work is impressive and pulls the instrumentals together in a way that creates some really strong, visceral moments.
22:05:13 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi 9130 7247
moduluxxx showcase gig 25:05:13 :: The Red Rattler :: 6 Faversham St Marrickville 9565 1044
PICS :: KL
the music makers club
PICS :: HL
NG PHOTOGRAPHER : HENRY LEU
24:05:13 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9332 3711 :: ABOUT LAST S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER TH MAGNAN :: ASHLEY MAR :: AMA :: IS LEW KATE :: NG LEU HARVEY :: HENRY
NIGHT :: AVERIE
BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13 :: 29
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
pick of the week Thundercat
SUNDAY JUNE 9
Scruffy Murphys, Haymarket free 11pm Rachael Zella & The Blackbirds The Vanguard, Newtown $15 6.30pm Cali Swag District + more Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm
Baby et Lulu
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Greg Sita + guests Songs on Stage Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 7pm Helmut Uhlmann, Gabriella Brown, Brian Yoo, Miguelito and the Outlaw Ben Hall, Adam Hetherington UTS Loft, Broadway free 6pm Joanne Hill and guests Corrimal Hotel free 7.30pm
BLUES & JAZZ
Dereb the Ambassador World Music Wednesdays The Basement, Circular Quay $5 8pm Musos Club Jam Night Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt free 8pm The Umbrellas Venue 505, Surry Hills $1015 8.30pm World Music Wednesdays The Bassement, Circular Quay, 8pm
THURSDAY JUNE 6
Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst
Thundercat $40 8pm
MONDAY JUNE 3 ROCK & POP
Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney free 9pm Helmut Uhlmann, Chris Brookes, Massimo Presti Kellys On King, 285 King St, Newtown Turn from Temptation, Wunderground, J-Flat Squared + more Liverpool Idol, Collingwood Hotel, Liverpool $15 7pm
JAZZ & BLUES
Buffalo Tales (Wes Carr) + Kita Venue 505, Surry Hills $10 8.30p
TUESDAY JUNE 4 ROCK & POP
Co-Pilot Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Rob Henry Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK Angelene Harris, Groove Sharp, Grace McCarthy, Elias Jordan, Annelise Johnson, Justynn 30 :: BRAG :: 515 : 03:06:13
Harcourt, JimmyFolk Songs on Stage Tea Gardens, Bondi Junction free 7pm The Milk Carton Kids The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $33 8pm
Fresh Sounds Tuesday, Dome Bar, Surry Hills free 7pm Old School Funk and Groove Night Venue 505, Surry Hills free 8.30pm
JAZZ & BLUES
Brassholes Rose of Australia free 8.30pm Dans Les Arbes, Soft Toys 107 Projects, Redfern $8-$15 8pm Delta Jazz Lane Cove Club, Lane Cove free 9.30pm Frances Madden Band Martha Wainwright
WEDNESDAY JUNE 5 ROCK & POP
High Highs Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $34 8pm One Wild Nite
ROCK & POP
Andrew Stockdale Bar on the Hill, Newcastle $35 (+bf) 7.30pm Amy Rose (single launch) FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel Sydney $10 8pm Chris Brooks: Instrumental Guitar Master The Basement, Circular Quay $25 9pm Di Solomon Campbelltown Catholic Club free 6pm Edward Deer The Vanguard, Newtown $10 6.30pm Hot Yogis (all ages) Django Bar, Marrickville 8pm Kamelot Manning Bar, Sydney $59 8pm Kingswood Annandale Hotel, $15 8pm Martha Wainwright Sydney Opera House $5479 8pm Midnight Butterfly, Rocco, A Gentleman’s Agreement + more Balmain Blitz, The Bridge Hotel Rozelle, $15 7pm Pat Cappoci The Basement, Circular Quay $15 7:30pm Sarah Paton Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Wildcatz Scruffy Murphys, Haymarket free 10pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK Peach Montgomery, Ben Hardie and guests Forest Lodge Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm Mandi Jarry Dee Why Hotel free 7pm
JAZZ & BLUES
Muso’s Club Jam Night Carousel Hotel, Rooty Hill free 8pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel free 8pm Tony Malaby and Dave Ades Quartet Venue 505, Surry Hills $1520 8.30pm Stormcellar The Jannali Inn, Jannali free 7.30pm
FRIDAY JUNE 7 ROCK & POP
Alphamama, Billie Rose, DJ LouLou, Daughter of Dynamite FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Andrew Stockdale Metro Theatre, Sydney $40 8pm Axolotl Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 8pm Backsliders The Vanguard, Newtown $23.80 8.30pm Before Ciada, Jacket Fight, Kunvuk, Larry Leadfoot, Turn From Temptation Valve Bar, Tempe $12 6.30pm Big Rich Many Warringah Leagues Club free 10pm British India Entrance Leagues Club, Bateau Bay $29.10 8pm The Blindfolds Lewisham Hotel, Lewisham $13 8pm Bleeding Knees Club Goodgod Danceteria, Sydney $15 8pm Californication: The Red Hot Chili Peppers Show Bull & Bush, Baulkham Hills 10pm Craig Woodward Huskisson Hotel, Huskisson free 8pm Darren Johnstone Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill free 9pm David Agius Duo, Jamie Lindsay Kings Cross Hotel free 7pm Dividers, Born Lion Ivan Drago, Berkshire Hunting Club Hermann’s Bar, Darlington $10 8pm Evil Invaders V feat. Midnight (USA), Portal, Nocturnal Graves + more Manning Bar, Sydney $50 6.30pm The Feral Swing Katz Brass Monkey, Cronulla $20 7pm Flipped Out Kicks Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt $10 8pm Gay Paris Annandale Hotel $15 8pm Gus ‘n’ Ella Vineyard Hotel free 9.30pm Hailer Brighton Up Bar 8pm John Vella Figtree Hotel free 8pm James Scott Avalon Beach RSL free Jazz Nouveau
Revesby Workers Club free 8.30pm Jellybean Jam Campbelltown Catholic Club free 6pm Kim Sanders, Gypsy Madness, Persian Night Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $25 9pm Mike Stern Band, Dave Weckl Blue Beat, Double Bay $45 +bf 9pm Music Makers Club Oxford Art Gallery, free 8pm The Nerve, The Charge & Marlow Spectrum, Darlinghurst $15 8pm Pete Hunt Chatswood RSL free 5.30pm Phat Meegz, Cap A Capo, Everything I Own is Broken, Swine, Riot 9 Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale $8 Q Sound Coogee Bay Hotel free 9pm Reckless, Renae Kearney Orient Hotel, The Rocks free before 10pm Schlam Sydney Livehouse, Lewisham $12 8pm Tom Trewlawny Customs House Bar, Circular Quay free 7pm Totally Unicorn vs Robotosaurus The Standard, Surry Hills $15 8pm Vanity Scruffy Murphys, Haymarket free 10.30pm Waldo Fabian (album launch) + The Gypsy Dub Sound System The Basement, Circular Quay, $20 7.30pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Matt Corby – sold out Enmore Theatre 7pm James Scott Avalon Beach RSL, free 8.30pm Kim Sanders & Friends: Gypsies & Madness Camelot Lounge, Marrickville $20-$25 7.30pm The Perch Creek Family Jugband The Clarendon, Katoomba $20 8pm
JAZZ & BLUES
Catherine Frohlich Bar Petite, Newcastle free 7.30pm Feel Good Friday Jazz Venue 505, Surry Hills free 8.30pm Kekko Fornarelli Trio Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre $20-$30 8.30pm
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Yuki & John Well Co. Café/Wine Bar, Glebe free 8pm
SATURDAY JUNE 8 ROCK & POP
Abbalanche: The Australian Abba Tribute Show The Cube Entertainment Centre, Campbelltown $17 7.30pm Akinga Revesby Workers Club free 8.30pm A-Live Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Altitude Moorebank Sports Club free 9.30pm Andy Bull Goodgood Danceteria, Sydney $15 8pm Band of Men Mounties, Mt Pritchard free 8pm Black Diamond Lily Rock Lily – The Star, Sydney free 10.30pm Crossing Red Lines, Rufflefeather Metro Theatre $16 (+ bf) 7.30pm Ears Have Ears ft. Legendary Hearts, Half High, Collector 107 Projects, Redfern $10 7.30pm Evil Invaders V feat. Sadistic Intent (USA), Archgoat, Cauldron Black Ram + more Manning Bar, Sydney $68.50 10.30am Gang of Youths Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm
HiddenAce The Roxbury Hotel $12 7.30pm Jconnexion Figtree Hotel free 8pm Jimmy Bear, 2 Fold The Orient Hotel, The Rocks, $5/free before 10pm Kick Start Oatley Hotel free 8.30pm Killing Joke Metro Theatre, Sydney $65 8pm Kurt Williams Abbotts Hotel, Redfern free 7.30pm Lime Spiders Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt $20 8pm Loco Carousel Inn free 8pm Mother Mars ‘Steam Machine Museum’ album launch with Yanomamo, Adrift for Days and Bayou The Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale 8pm My Bondi Riot with Fait Accompli, Zeahorse, Bloods, Chicks Who Love Guns, Bec And Ben, Elegant Shiva, The Dark Hawks, The Rumours and more Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 2pm Nathan Cole and Will Teague Riverwood Inn free 8pm Panorama Scruffy Murphys, Haymarket free 10.30pm Phat Meegz, Amateur Drunks, Everything I Own is Broken, Alex Party Cat Croatian Club, Newcastle $5 Rick Fensom Greystanes Inn free 9pm Slumberhaze Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory free 8pm Solkyri, Seims, Setec
tue
04 Jun
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Steve Kilbey & Martin Kennedy The Vanguard, Newtown $30 6.30pm Thy Art Is Murder (All ages) Annandale Hotel, $28.60 2pm Thy Art Is Murder (18+) Annandale Hotel, $28.60 8pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK The Perch Creek Family Jugband Coogee Diggers, Coogee $15 7pm
JAZZ & BLUES
Baby et Lulu Camelot Lounge, Marrickville, $38 7.30pm Finn Edgeworth Tavern, Edgeworth free 8.30pm Jazz Express Penrith RSL Club free 2pm Nai Palm + Support Venue 505, Surry Hills $1520 8.30pm Peter Head Harbour View Hotel free 5pm Snark Puppy Blue Beat, Double Bay $35 9pm
SUNDAY JUNE 9 ROCK & POP
3 Way Split Oatley Hotel free 2pm The Baddies, Capital Punishment Town & Country Hotel, St Peters free 4pm
STATE OF wed ORIGIN 05
(9:30PM - 12:00AM)
thu
06 Jun
Jun
(9:30PM - 12:30AM) (4:30PM - 7:30PM)
fri
07 Jun
(9:30PM - 1:30AM)
BriBry The Hi-Fi, Sydney $17.40 7pm Dry Ryder Tahmoor Inn free 7.30pm Joe Brooks Venue 505, Surry Hills 8.30pm Kurt Williams Duo Picton Hotel free 12pm Modern Daze and Four’s A Crowd Miranda Hotel free 7.30pm Pink Chevy’s Penrith RSL Club free 2pm Phat Meegz, The Disadvantaged, Sleepy, Tom Lawson, Year of Scummery, Alex Party Cat (all ages) Black Rose Books, Newtown 3pm San Cisco Metro Theatre, Sydney $30 7pm Strange Brew
Botany View Hotel free 7pm Three Wise Men Bull and Bush Hotel, Sydney free 3pm Thundercat Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $40 8pm
ACOUSTIC & FOLK
Helmut Uhlmann, Chris Brookes, Massimo Presti Songs on Stage Kelly’s on King, Newtown free 7pm Russell Neal and guests Songs on Stage Red Lion Hotel, Rozelle free 4pm The Perch Creek Family Jugband The Vanguard, Newtown $20 7pm
JAZZ & BLUES
Daniel Hopkins, Russell Neal+ guests Blues Recovery Evening
Star Hotel, Surry Hills free 2pm Dave McMaster Campbelltown Catholic Club free 9.30pm Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra Sydney Opera House $48 +bf 7.30pm Jed Zarb Duo Revesby Workers Club free 8.30pm Mesa Groove Campbelltown Catholic Club free 9.30pm Mike Mathieson Duo Revesby Workers Club free 1pm Peter Head Band Harbour View Hotel free 4pm Ray Beadle Brass Monkey, Cronulla $28 7pm Yuki & John Well Co. Café/Wine Bar, Leichhardt free 7:15pm
AMY ROSE ‘RUNNING’ SINGLE LAUNCH THU 6 JUNE 8PM FBi SOCIAL, KINGS X w/ GORDI, ANNA SMYRK, REVIER
sat
08 Jun
Alphamama
(9:30PM - 12:30AM)
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
R U N N I N G S I N G L E OUT 6 JUNE
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
mon
sun
(2:00PM - 5:30PM)
10 Jun
09 Jun
(8:30PM - 12:00AM)
(7:00PM - 10:30PM)
facebook.com/loveamyrose |triplejunearthed.com/amyrose | soundcloud.com/loveamyrose
BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13 :: 31
gig picks up all night out all week...
MONDAY JUNE 3 Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney free 9pm Buffalo Tales (Wes Carr) + Kita Venue 505, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm
TUESDAY JUNE 4 The Milk Carton Kids The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $33 8pm
WEDNESDAY JUNE 5 High Highs Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $34 8pm
THURSDAY JUNE 6 Amy Rose (single launch) FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel Sydney $10 8pm Kamelot Manning Bar, Sydney $59 8pm
Kingswood Annandale Hotel, $15 8pm
San Cisco
Martha Wainwright Sydney Opera House $54-79 8pm Pat Cappoci The Basement, Circular Quay $15 7:30pm
FRIDAY JUNE 7 Alphamama, Billie Rose, DJ LouLou, Daughter of Dynamite FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Andrew Stockdale Metro Theatre, Sydney $40 8pm Axolotl Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 8pm Bleeding Knees Club Goodgod Danceteria, Sydney $15 8pm Gay Paris Annandale Hotel $15 8pm
32 :: BRAG :: 515 : 03:06:13
Crossing Red Lines, Rufflefeather Metro Theatre $16 (+ bf) 7.30pm
Hailer Brighton Up Bar 8pm
Ears Have Ears ft. Legendary Hearts, Half High, Collector 107 Projects, Redfern $10 7.30pm
Matt Corby – sold out Enmore Theatre 7pm
Killing Joke Metro Theatre, Sydney $65 8pm
Totally Unicorn vs Robotosaurus The Standard, Surry Hills $15 8pm
My Bondi Riot Fait Accompli, Zeahorse, Bloods, Chicks Who Love Guns, Bec And Ben, Elegant Shiva, The Dark Hawks, The Rumours and more Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 2pm
SATURDAY JUNE 8 Amy Rose
Baby et Lulu Camelot Lounge, Marrickville, $38 7.30pm
Andy Bull Goodgood Danceteria, Sydney $15 8pm
Slumberhaze Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory free 8pm Solkyri
FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Thy Art Is Murder (18+) Annandale Hotel, $28.60 8pm
SUNDAY JUNE 9 San Cisco Metro Theatre, Sydney $30 7pm
Matt Corby
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
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mantra + robert babicz + masta ace
thundercat
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dialectrix
p-money feeling grateful
BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13 :: 33
brag beats
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
dance music news Ghostpoet photo by Sophia Spring
club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery
on the record WITH CHRIS
LIEBING
Britain’s Obaro Ejimiwe, AKA Ghostpoet, will return to Australia and headline Oxford Art Factory on Friday September 13 (insert the obligatory Jason Voorhees/Camp Crystal Lake quip here). The tour roughly coincides with the release of Ghostpoet’s recently-released Some Say I So I Say Light album, the follow-up to his Mercury Prize nominated debut Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam. While Ejimiwe disparagingly describes his music as “a chance for me to mumble over quirky sounds,” adding, “that’s me in a nutshell,” the strong listener and critical response to his music – and the comparisons to the likes of Roots Manuva, Burial and Massive Attack – affirms that Ejimiwe is indulging in some extreme self-deprecation in that description. Anyone who listens to Some Say I So I Say Light, which features a range of guests including Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen, This Heat’s Charles Hayward and folksinger Lucy Rose, will surely agree that Ghostpoet’s sound is predicated on much more than mumbling overlay. Support will be provided by Oscar Key Sung, with tickets on sale from 9am Wednesday June 5.
TUKA, ELLESQUIRE
Tuka, one third of acclaimed Sydney outfit Thundamentals, will headline the Newtown Hotel this Saturday alongside Ellesquire and Jones Jnr. Tuka is coming off a whirlwind 18 months following Thundamentals’ Foreverlution release and his solo EP Feedback Loop that dropped at the end of last year with tracks such as ‘Just To Feel’. Meanwhile Ellesquire will be performing cuts from his brand new mixtape The Messtape and his recent album Ready, continuing on from Jones Jr, who’ll be warming up the room after doors open at 7pm.
The First Record I The First Thing I Bought: Recorded: 1. 3. The first album I bought was The very first time I got
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs photo by Stephanie Sian Smith
Survivor Eye Of The Tiger and it’s a funny question, if you ask me if that was inspirational for me. I think at this time it definitely was, because there was quite a lot of energy and drive in the main track, which was used for the Rocky soundtrack. I think it’s that certain kind of energy that I’m still looking for in the music when I play out. The Last Record I Bought: 2. The last record I bought was the remastered works of Aphex Twin on vinyl, and I bought it just because I wanted to have it on vinyl. Besides techno tracks, which I’m buying almost on a daily basis, the last album I bought as a download was the latest Depeche Mode album Delta Machine. This one I bought because I basically buy everything that Depeche Mode releases and I really like it.
THE TONGUE
involved with the world of music production was when I didn’t really make enough money as a DJ yet and I also worked part-time at a music distributor. A colleague of mine was already producing and releasing music together with a friend, so I basically just went and asked him “how do you make music? How do you record things?” They took me to the studio and gave me some basic instructions. I actually had an idea in mind, a short piano riff that I was thinking of, so we sat down and started to do a track. The Last Thing I Recorded: 4. The last thing I recorded was last week, a remix for a Lucy track, which will be released soon. I also mixed down the Black Asteroid remixes for Depeche Mode, even though I don’t know if you can call this “recording” or just “engineering”. When
Aussie hip hop poster boy Xannon Shirley, better known for his output as The Tongue, has announced a nationwide tour in support of his third album Surrender to Victory, which dropped in March on Elefant Traks. Lauded by critics and fans alike, Surrender to Victory featured guest spots from fellow hip hop 34 :: BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13
Ghostpoet
GHOSTPOET
MR. RUCKMAN
The man formerly known as Kade MC, who now goes about his business as Mr. Ruckman, will launch his EP The Born-Again Humanist on Friday July 19 at FBi Social at the Kings Cross Hotel. The EP is due out the following week through Obese Records, and will feature the single ‘Adam & Eve’, which features vocals from Christian Hemara and is currently doing the rounds on triple j. The launch party will feature support slots from Vanessa Raspa, Five Coffees and experimental Sydney MC enkae.
I played out those tracks I was actually quite happy with them. It had been a while since I had actually made some music, so that was pretty exiting. The Record That Changed My Life: 5. One record that comes to mind would be Jaydee Plastic Dreams. I remember that I went out with some friends, the DJ put ‘Plastic Dreams’ on and it completely changed the atmosphere in the club. The track ran for ten minutes and I could not believe it. I thought, ‘wow, this is really amazing, I really have to find out more about this’. There are probably a few other records that were musically even more inspiring for me, but this is definitely one of those tracks I remember listening to for the first time in a club - and that’s quite a long time ago. What: Live three-hour mix at Chinese Laundry When: Saturday June 8
heavyweights Thundamentals, Suffa of Hilltop Hoods, Sky’High, Spit Syndicate and Jimblah. The Tongue’s live show is co-anchored by DMC Champ DJ Skoob, and Shirley will apparently be joined on stage by a range of special guests. The Tongue headlines The Basement on Friday July 19, before backing up the following night with a show at the Mona Vale Hotel.
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
TE.E.D
The sixth instalment in the Crosstown Rebels’ Get Lost mix series will arrive next month courtesy of Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, the extravagant alias of an Oxford producer who possesses a real name that is itself quite outlandish: Orlando Higginbottom. Since debuting back in that sun-kissed spring of ’09, Higginbottom has worked with Damon Albarn and remixed the likes of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Foals. Get Lost VI will be Higginbottom’s first mix CD, spanning two discs with cuts from Axel Boman, Subbanan, Gold Panda and Ame’s remix of Tiga in addition to Higginbottom’s new collaboration with Eats Everything ‘Lion, The Lion’.
snap
love kings
PICS :: AM
up all night out all week . . .
sydney elite force
PICS :: AM
flight facilities
PICS :: HL
25:05:13 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587
26:05:13 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9332 3711
25:05:13 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999
Metro Theatre Friday May 24 Firing his nerf gun across the scrum of sweat-drenched teenagers choking the floor of the Metro, Seth Sentry’s ammunition seems limitless – festival headline slots, a string of sell-out shows, and a rap battle win at SXSW all flanking the release of his debut LP This Was Tomorrow. Sentry has proven he has the chops. “Headshot!” he announces, to rapturous laughter from his devotees, before abandoning his weapon and launching into the impassioned ‘Ink Blot Test’: “Set ‘em up, dead ‘em up, pick a weapon up. Get it done.” With Ellesquire and Thundamentals’ Tuka stirring the sonic cauldron earlier in the evening, joined by appropriatelyattired DJ Ninja, the room’s momentum had snowballed when Tuka offered up his collective’s cover of Matt Corby’s ‘Brother’ to a resounding “oooOOOooh”. DJ Sizzle soon hijacked the decks as Sentry’s sidekick, dropping the epic ode to ignorant bliss ‘Float Away’, punctuated
perfectly by “our mate, Siz” with solid vocal inflections and improvised effects. Dipping into his Waiter Minute EP, Sentry cranked out ‘The Waitress Song’, an anthemic ditty about name-free romances; the house speakers fell victim to the crowd as they sang back every lyric as emphatically as humanly possible. Throwing on an apron and tossing the mic to the audience, Australia’s golden boy proceeded to take orders as a prelude to ‘Thanks For Your Hospitality’, a middle finger to “Shitty staff meals, large bills, no tips...decaf skinny weak mocha lattes in a mug.” After breezing through his other frenzyinducing hits, the ex-waiter left the stage, only to return with local hip hop act Horrorshow, who kept the audience in perfectly synchronised signature hip hop hand dives. Even the too-cool-forthis-all-ages-business comrades at the back ditched dignity for a head-boppin’ hip swing, before Sentry brought all his support acts back for the encore – a rap battle inspired by everyday items offered up by the audience, from a iPhone and hair comb to toiletries.
Mina Kitsos
future classic vivid party
PICS :: TL
SETH SENTRY, ELLESQUIRE, TUKA
25:05:13 :: Sydney Opera House :: :: ABOUT LAST S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER TH MAGNAN :: ASHLEY MAR :: AMA :: IS LEW KATE :: NG LEU HARVEY :: HENRY
NIGHT :: AVERIE
BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13 :: 35
dance music news
free stuff
club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery
FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM
on the record WITH
Mantra
JAMIE 3:26 raw funk, true theme music for a pimp...LOL. Huge fan of his work from the seventies. The First Thing I Recorded: Creating my own music was natural 3. for me...I also enjoyed playing with drum machines. I can’t even recall the very first thing I recorded, but growing up in Chicago, you either made tracks or were a DJ. This is basically how house music even came about... just hooking up equipment and making your own tracks to stand out as a DJ. The Last Thing I Recorded: My last recording session was in Berlin 4. with Tyree Cooper and Rob Stanley...it was our first time jamming out and a dope track was created – we’re currently shopping it now. The Record That Changed My Life: Love Is The Message by MFSB. This 5. song has touched me in many ways; the orchestration of the tune is amazing and the song still moves people to this day. I want this song played at my funeral...because love is what I spread all over, through my music.
1.
The First Record I Bought: ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by The Sugarhill Gang. It was an amazing tune and funny as shit to me as a kid. I played that record to death.
ALEXKID
Subsonic’s End Of The Line long weekend subbrand returns to The Abercrombie to honour the Queen’s Birthday on Monday June 10. French producer and DJ Alex Mauri, who goes about his business under the nom de plume of Alexkid, will be on headlining duties, ahead of a vast support cast of DJs. Mauri is a respected and versatile producer in the underground scene who’s been around for many years, being signed to Laurent Garnier’s F Comm label back in 1997. Since then Mauri’s output has varied, spanning accessible crossover cuts such as ‘Don’t Hide It’ and the Tiga-remixed ‘Come With Me’, his work as part of electronic outfit Dubphonic and remixes of heavyweights like Damian Lazarus and Nina Kraviz. While Mauri commands huge respect as a producer, he is also a formidable DJ who can hold his own against anyone behind the decks, as he has shown in past Sydney performances closing the Subsonic Music Festival in 2011. Mauri heads a lengthy DJ lineup that also features New Zealand’s Phillipa, and will span two rooms of The Abercrombie for a 12+ hour bash that kicks off at midday on Monday and runs deep into the night.
2.
The Last Record I Bought: The last record I purchased was an un-released, extended take of James Brown’s ‘Blind Man Can See It’. Amazing tune and just
What: Boom Boom Says Welcome Back Jamie 3:26 Where: Tatler, Darlinghurst When: Sunday June 9
MANTRA
Smooth-flowed, Melbourne-based rapper Mantra has kicked off 2013 by signing with new label Ten to Two Records and releasing his first song for the label, dropping new single ‘Loudmouth’ and celebrating with a national tour. Mantra hits Sydney on Friday June 14 at the Standard in Darlinghurst, and we have five double passes to give away to the show. To win, just tell us the name of Mantra’s most recent album.
MATTHEW HERBERT
Veteran UK musician and artist Matthew Herbert, who recently toured Australia, will release his new work The End of Silence later this month on his own Accidental label. Herbert is an electronic music pioneer who has remixed and produced artists like Quincy Jones, Björk, R.E.M, Serge Gainsbourg and Dizzee Rascal and performed everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to pop festivals. Herbert’s previous project was his concept album, One Pig, which was made from recordings taken during the birth, life, butchery and consumption of a single pig, reared for meat at a farm in England. Following on from Matthew Herbert’s ‘One’ trilogy, The End of Silence takes the idea of a single sound source to its logical conclusion by utilising a single ten second audio recording of war photographer Sebastian Meyer being bombed by a Gaddafi war plane in Libya in 2011 as the sole source for the whole album. The confronting audio recording was fragmented and atomised into a range of sample instruments and played by Matthew’s band, with Herbert describing the concept album as “a jazz quartet record… now we’re just improvising and playing with texture, memory, meaning and friction as well as the usual tenets of melody, harmony and rhythm.”
Drapht
COME TOGETHER
Tickets are still available for this weekend’s all-ages hip hop festival Come Together, which celebrates its tenth birthday on Saturday June 8 at the Big Top at Luna Park. The lineup features Drapht and Illy, both of whom have new albums in the works, along with The Herd, Spit Syndicate, Dialectrix, Full Tote Odds, Allday, Jackie Onassis, Evil Eddie and Crochet Crooks. Come Together runs from 3.30pm to 11pm, with $60 presale tickets available via cometogether.com.au
MARK DE CLIVE-LOWE
Sally Shapiro
SALLY SHAPIRO
Italo disco revivalist Sally Shapiro has unveiled a remix compilation entitled Elsewhere, which collects an array of remixes inspired by Shapiro’s recent album Somewhere Else. Among the artists who have supplied remixes are chillwaver/pop starlet Nite Jewel, Swedish techno shoegazer The Field, Little Boots, Young Galaxy, Lost Years and Dan Lissvick, while lesser-known names like Mauvais Cliché and Mitch Murder have also contributed reworks. Elsewhere has been available since May 28 (that’s last week, man).
36 :: BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13
Liones, an event team who are closely affiliated with Soul of Sydney, celebrate their first anniversary with a birthday bash this Sunday June 9 at Holland Studios in Newtown headlined by Mark de Clive-Lowe. The New Zealand born producer/DJ is following up the release of his album Take the Space Trane, a joint project with the Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra “delivering big orchestral jazz grooves with a nod to club productions, for a modern, experimental take on the big band sound.” In addition to Mark de Clive-Lowe, the UK’s FunkinEven, Pablo Valentino, Raf Daddy, Linkwood and Steve Spacek of the Warp Records pairing Africa Hitech will all throw down. The revelry commences at 10pm, with more details and presale tickets available via lioness.net.au
GUY J
Israeli producer Guy J has put together the second edition of the Balances’ ‘presents’ compilation series (an offshoot of the popular, long-running Balance series), due out early next month. Renowned for pushing melodic
house, techno and (good) progressive sounds, the tracklisting features thirteen of Guy J’s own reworks of producers such as Henry Saiz, Way Out West and Robert Babicz, who was in Sydney only last weekend. “The idea of my mix for Balance is not to give just a regular mix of 80 minutes but to create, write and produce it,” Guy J asserted via presser. “I wanted to make it more special; to give the people who listen to it something that will be worth the time and creativity.”
COSMIN TRG
Romanian-born producer Cosmin Nicolae, AKA Cosmin TRG, will headline Compound this Saturday June 8 at Goodgod Small Club with a three-hour set. Since announcing himself through his breakout cut ‘Put You Down’, Cosmin TRG has been at the forefront of the UK bass music scene, releasing on Modeselektor’s 50 Weapons label and Dutch imprint Rush Hour. His forthcoming tour follows the recent release of his critically acclaimed sophomore album Gordian, which spans dubstep, techno and experimental house sounds. Support comes from local DJs Community, Subaske and Zeus, with $15 presale tickets available online.
P-Money From NZ to NYC By Jody Macgregor
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ew Zealand hip hop has always been less ambivalent about its American roots than its Australian cousin has; happier to embrace not just the accent but the subject matter and style of their common ancestor.
DJ and producer P-Money, AKA Peter Wadams, is a perfect example. His own path into hip hop came via the live track on DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper, where two turntables and a crossfader are made to sound like Transformers transforming and a bird tweeting. From battle DJing to producing NZ rappers like Scribe (he was responsible for the necksnapping beat on hit single ‘Not Many’) and David Dallas, Wadams has channelled that American sound and style. Now, years later, he’s signed to US label Duck Down and is living in Manhattan, where that DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince track was recorded. Gratitude is Wadams first album for Duck Down, and it kicks off with ‘Welcome To America’ where Skyzoo and Havoc from Mobb Deep spit commentary on what their home is like and what a newbie should watch out for on the streets of Brooklyn and Queens. “I came up with the concept before I introduced it to them,” Wadams says. “It was the first piece of music I made on arriving in New York last year and I thought of that ‘Welcome To America’ concept, of the MCs rhyming as if they were meeting a resident of the city for the first time and giving them the lowdown on what the neighbourhood is like.” Wadams isn’t a straight-off-the-boat rube though, having visited the city several times in the last decade. “I’ve always been drawn to this place,” he says, “its music and culture. But yeah, that was really the gist of the song, an introduction, seeing as it was the first record off the album that I put out there. Kind of like the hip hop community welcoming this guy from New Zealand who makes beats. Roll with us, welcome to the city and the country.”
Xxx photo by JXxx Xxxx
Gratitude is an old-fashioned rap album, with big-name guests like Talib Kweli and Buckshot. Freddie Gibbs and Fashawn feature on ‘Break It Down’ alongside a horn section and funk guitars, sounding like the theme song to a 1970s cop show. Wadams agrees that it’s a very ’70s sound, but, “it’s not Love Boat ’70s, it’s a bit more street.” These kinds of comparisons make for a big break from his last album, Everything, which was mostly club pop with very little rapping, and an R&B title track featuring Vince Harder. Making that album gave P-Money a chance to step back from the boom bap beats he’d been making for rappers and try something different. “It was like a vacation,” he says, “an opportunity to put yourself in a different headspace or a different environment with different rules. And I did learn a lot – tricks with sound and things
“For this album there was a conscious decision to stay within the confines of the hip hop genre and explore that.” I can incorporate – which subtly have made their way into this record. The casual listener might not pick it up, maybe a production nerd might draw some connections between the two records, but yes it was definitely that – a vacation. A chance to come back refreshed and excited about making rap music again, which is exactly where I’m at, at the moment.” The dynamics of dance music, the build-ups and breakdowns, do sneak into and influence parts of Gratitude, but for the most part it’s a straightforward East Coast hip hop album, even though it’s produced by a guy from the North Island. “Definitely for this album there was a conscious decision to stay within the confines of the genre and explore that,” he says. “To showcase my hip hop beats and do an album that was in that one vein. With the Everything record in 2010, that was a period of time when I wanted to get away from hip hop for the most part. I felt like I wanted to try my hand at different genres and tempos and feels, and I really had fun making the album, but the last couple of years I’ve come right back round to square one where I started, which is just making straight-up rap music. That’s what this album represents.” His live show is also about getting back to his roots, with David Dallas joining him for a two-man show in the vein of He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper. “There will be a couple of special guests at certain dates which are yet to be confirmed, but for the most part, it’s gonna be me and Dave. The show’s gonna be centred around me as the DJ and my turntablist, battle side of things, which I incorporate into my DJ sets. I like to showcase scratching and cuts. “We’re gonna have some visual aspects as well, which is really cool. With the technology now it makes it really easy to incorporate video mixing into the show so we’re going to do a bit of that. And Dave’s gonna be showcasing some of the new material that he’s preparing for his next album, as well as doing a lot of tracks that we’ve done together in the past. Should make for a pretty fun night of entertainment, I think.” Where: The Basement When: Saturday June 8 And: Gratitude out now through Dirty Records/Dawn Raid Entertainment/Duck Down Music Inc. BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13 :: 37
HNQO These Are The Breaks By Jody Macgregor
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enrique Oliveira, AKA HNQO – house DJ, producer and head of the Playperview label – comes from the Brazilian city of Curitiba. Watching a tourist commercial on YouTube, the main impression I come away with is that the people of Curitiba are very proud of their public transport system, so I ask Oliveira for a better idea of what kind of city it is. “Curitiba is a city for about three million people,” he explains. “It’s not that big, not that small, but it has its own life, its own characteristics of the city. Like very good public transport. It’s kind of renowned all over Brazil.” This must be how foreigners feel when Melbournites talk about the trams. As far as music goes, Oliveira says that in Brazil – especially southern Brazil – house music is huge at the moment, with places like Warung Beach Club, which calls itself ‘the South American Temple of Electronic Music’, acting as hubs for a thriving scene. But right now Oliveira’s not in Brazil. He’s in Switzerland, taking four days off before heading to Berlin, the next stop on a touring schedule that will bring him to Australia in June. Although he’s seen plenty of the rest of the world, this will be his first time in Australia. Friends who’ve been here before have given him the lowdown on what to expect. “They tell me some good things about it, especially the beautiful landscapes, beaches and also some nice parties going on there,” he says. “Like of course Sydney, Melbourne, they’re pretty worldwide famous so I’ve seen some photos and I know a little bit.”
That’s not been his only source of information about our country, though. “I’m expecting a warm crowd because on my Facebook page I receive a lot of messages from people in Australia saying they are waiting for me there,” he says. “They’re looking forward, excited to see me playing, so I think it’s going to be nice.” Oliveira does a lot of keeping in touch with his fans through Facebook, where the unusually kind-spirited comments are equally split between Portuguese, English and the international language of smiley faces and hearts. “People who like my music sometimes ask questions and I have the potential to answer right away to them; it’s kind of a nice relationship with all the people who like my music. I like to keep that, it’s nice. I love Facebook.” When Oliveira was a teenager, before house music exerted its pull on him, he was into hip hop and was even a b-boy in a local breakdance crew, which he joined after they put on a demonstration at his school. “They were the best crew in town,” he says, “and I started practising with them and dancing together. I think three years [later] I had to quit it because I started working. I also did college – it became more heavy, more and more tasks, I had to quit it and then suddenly I found myself amongst the music, going to clubs and starting to throw my small parties in the city with some friends. Nothing extra special but just for fun, with local DJs.” His own music is built around a nugget of the hip hop he used to listen to as a kid – he name-checks Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, Grandmaster Flash and Jurassic 5, both in the vocal samples he chooses and the breaks. “I like percussion, I like drum grooves, so yeah, definitely the hip hop rhythms inspire me. Sometimes it sounds more hip hop-ish I would say, sometimes not, but I’m definitely always listening to hip hop and just chilling. Or jazz, some blues also. Definitely the percussion – drums inspire me.” Where: Terminal Projekt at Vivid Terminal Bar, Overseas Passenger Terminal When: Sunday June 9
Robert Babicz Polished Rhythms By Alasdair Duncan
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lectronic music titan Robert Babicz releases his long-awaited new album The Owl And The Butterfly this month, bringing together his signature blend of deep techno and melodic house. The rather cryptic title is an attempt to sum up his two-decade journey through music. “I wanted to find symbols to illustrate the process that I’ve been through as an artist, and the owl and the butterfly both have deep meaning for me,” he says. “The butterfly is a symbol of transformation, and the owl stands for wisdom… At this point in my career, I feel like an advanced beginner!” Babicz moved to Germany from his native Poland in the early ‘90s, immersing himself in the burgeoning techno culture and attending parties like the iconic Love Parade. He remembers a sense of freedom in the air at that time and says that, since then, boundaries between electronic music styles have become more rigid and defined. He tries not to let new and current trends influence his own work, but as someone who plays in clubs every weekend, that can be almost impossible. “I hear the DJ playing before me and the DJ playing after me,” he says, “so I hear a lot of new music. In addition to this, I’m a mastering engineer – I work for many different people and different labels, and so I can see trends as they start, I can hear people starting to copy certain sounds or follow certain rules.” While he takes note of what’s going on in the world of electronic music, Babicz is determined to always try and find his own way. “I’m only human, so I take on influences, although I try
not to as much as possible,” he says. “People always ask what kind of music I’m making, what style I’m working in – a few years ago, I decided that the only answer to that question is that I do Babicz Style. I think every musician should just do their own thing, and offer their own personal view. “I’ve always been an individual when it comes to music,” he continues. “I’ve released on many different labels under many different names, but I’ve never been part of a group. That might account for my way of thinking.” Many producers will slave away in the studio for weeks working on new tracks, and then play them in DJ sets to gauge the crowd’s reaction. This is not the case for Babicz, who finds that to be a tedious way of working and instead plays everything live and in the moment. His show is built around an array of synths, and he improvises all the way through the show, constantly dreaming up and refining new ideas on the fly. “I really like to just play along with the machines, with no idea of what’s going to happen,” he says. “It’s very immediate. As soon as I try something new, I can say ‘this was an interesting move’ or ‘this was totally wrong, I should never do this again!’ All the improvising gives me knowledge I can use during the week in the studio. Improvising in my live set is the best musical education I could ever have had.” Where: S.A.S.H Sundays at the Abercrombie When: Sunday June 9
Masta Ace Storyteller By David Wild
I
nfluential Brooklyn rapper Masta Ace’s last album MA Doom: Son Of Yvonne opens with a biographical skit where his 12-year-old self flicks through his mother’s collection of ‘70s soul records: Ohio Players; Curtis Mayfield; Al Green. It paints a vivid and accurate picture of Duval Clear’s (Ace’s birth name) earliest musical experiences. “My mother was just really into her music,” he says. “Earth, Wind And Fire were her favourites. Those were the records that were always on – those were the records that played in the background to my childhood. There are certain records that can transport you to a time and place. We would pick a record and take it over to my friend Brian’s house – we had a little DJ setup there.” Throughout the rest of that highly personal album, Ace says some things he wished he had a chance to discuss with his recently departed mother. “Writing that album was like therapy. It took me back to a time when my mother and grandmother were alive. It kind of bought them back to life.” That LP, released in 2012, came a full quartercentury after Masta Ace’s recording debut on the Juice Crew’s posse cut ‘The Symphony’ by super-producer Marley Marl. Even next to such luminaries as Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap, the then 21-year-old Ace’s easy flow marked him out as an MC of particular skill. “I met Marley Marl at a rap contest that I won in 1986. The first prize was six hours studio time with him but it wasn’t until spring of 1988 that I got 38 :: BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13
to cash in my prize. So I got my studio time and he liked what I had laid down on my demo and he decided to make me a part of his In Control album. “I learned from him a lot about how to use the studio, about production and sound. I watched him mix the LL Cool J album Mama Said Knock You Out. I watched a lot of the tricks he used to make the bass sound heavier and all those things.” In the years between, Masta Ace, sometimes joined by different crews, has yielded seven albums to varying degrees of success. Many of these could be described as concept albums, including 2001’s critically championed Disposable Arts, which follows a young man’s release from prison and subsequent enrolment in the Institute of Disposable Arts. Bringing scenarios and characters to life through his lyrics is something Masta Ace excels at. Eminem, in his 2008 autobiography The Way I Am, praises Ace for his “amazing storytelling skills” and “vivid thoughts”. I suggest that hiding behind a character allows Ace the freedom he needs to say things he might not be able to say otherwise. “I like to hide behind a character – that’s exactly what it is. I get to escape being myself by being this character on the record and I can get my message across without being preachy.” And how does he feel about taking time to make interesting, storyboarded albums in a landscape of substandard mixtapes and single track, shuffle-setting consumption? “I’m happy that cats take the short cut to throw things together because it makes
my albums stand out more. I haven’t heard one artist in particular that is striving to put out proper crafted albums, but there are artists that I like what they’re doing musically, like Joey Bada$$ and Jay Electronica.” Looking back on his 25 years in hip hop, Masta Ace is happy with his lot even if his talent suggests that he deserves more. “I feel like it’s gone the way it was meant to go,” he
concludes. “I’m happy with my contribution to the game – whether millions know about it or not, that’s beside the point. If the fans acknowledge my contribution, then I’m comfortable with that.” Where: The Standard, with Stricklin and Marco Polo When: Thursday June 13
Mantra Loud-Mouthed By Jo Campbell
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elbourne MC Rob Tremlett, AKA Mantra, is back with a new autobiographical single and a new record deal with Ten To Two Records, of Seth Sentry fame. As you’d expect from most Aussie hip hop dudes, Tremlett is loose on the phone, as we discuss the subject of his new single, ‘Loudmouth’, which starts with the words “My teachers always told me I’d never amount to nothing and they may have been right; so I jump on the mic.” “I was definitely the class clown – I still am actually. I just don’t have a class anymore,’ he laughs. “I annoyed the hell out of my teachers. I wasn’t a bad kid, I was just loud and annoying and had a really loud voice and would talk all the time, so even the teachers that didn’t hate me hated me eventually. I’m just thankful that I’m able to do a job where being a loudmouth and a smart ass is part of the job description.” Produced by One Above, ‘Loudmouth’ is the first taste of Tremlett’s upcoming third LP. His output’s grown in leaps and bounds since making a guest appearance on Chasm’s 2008 Beyond the Beat Tape and the hip hop soul vibe of his debut album, 2010’s Power Of The Spoken. His second LP, Speaking Volumes, was dedicated to Hani Ghaleb Jaber and featured
the powerful eulogy For You. Jaber, who was tragically murdered in 2003, had been Tremlett’s original inspiration to take up MCing. “When I met Hani I was making beats and trying to get my mates to rap on them. None of them were into it, but when Hani heard about it he said ‘why don’t you just do it yourself? It’s easy.’ “He was rhyming already, so we started rapping together, and just having someone else there doing it with me gave me heaps more confidence than I would’ve had otherwise. The more I did it, the more I realised I was good at it and it was something I could really pursue.” Although the first single from the impending LP is playful and comedic (he wears a school boy’s outfit in the film clip), Tremlett says he’s keeping on with the introspective, personal themes and subject matter. “There are some lighter moments on this record, ‘Loudmouth’ being a good example,” he explains. “But if anything, I think this new record is more personal than the last one. “I deal with a lot of things I’ve never spoken on before, things that maybe I was scared of or didn’t want to share with the world. But it
felt great getting some of those things off my chest.
inspired by his song about a paper plane that goes to war, Flightpath.
“It allowed me to try out a bunch of new things in terms of writing too. I really challenged myself to head in directions I’d never gone in before, just to see where they took me. I think that process led to some of my favourite parts of the album.”
“Once we did it at a gig in Canberra and there were heaps of paper planes coming at us,” Tremlett says. “After the song finished I could smell something burning and I saw something on fire on the side of the stage! Someone had made a paper plane, set it alight, then thrown it on stage. Shit was real.”
Tremlett is setting off on a tour to promote the single, where he’s planning to set the stage on fire – although not literally, as once happened. Paper planes zooming towards the stage are a quirky, recurring theme at his live shows,
Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday June 8
Dialectrix Stepping Into The Light By Alasdair Duncan
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ialectrix has watched his profile in Oz hip hop grow steadily over the last five years, and the release of his third album The Cold Light Of Day proves he’s one of the scene’s true stars. “The response has been much greater than I expected,” says the Blue Mountains MC, whose new record arrived late last month. “As usual I get nervous about how a release will be taken by the public, mainly because this album has by far been the most eclectic sounding, and in some ways pushed out of what I think people expected.” The album reflects a particularly dark period in the MC’s life – in many ways, The Cold Light Of Day represents a cathartic experience, an opportunity to work through and reassess certain major milestones. “I was mourning the loss of loved ones, while being over-worked and being flooded with stress, and learning to raise a child,” he says. “It was a chaotic time, and I see it far more clearly now than back then.” In retrospect, though the times were rough, they proved inspiring, and the album encapsulates his response to those tough life experiences. The Cold Light Of Day fuses beats and warm organic instrumentation, a sound that Dialectrix honed with the help of producer Plutonic Lab. “Plutonic has been my favourite producer since I was young,” he says of the collaboration. “I was honoured to have the chance firstly to know him, and then to work with him. We’re close mates and we share very similar ideals about music. I could choose other producers but working with Plutonic has helped my sound become unique.” Of all the tracks on The Cold Light Of Day, ‘Fire In The Blood’ is perhaps the most personal for Dialectrix, a product of the dark times he
mentioned. The song is particularly candid in the way it deals with his family relationships. “I was analysing whether I was continuing my family history of violence and alcohol abuse and passing it onto my son,” he says. “The song is about not being happy about the person I was becoming, and feeling like trying to exist in a way that challenges the norm is futile and rage-inducing, and is aiding the aforementioned. I was in a life rut and this track is an accurate snap shot of that time.” It seems to me that Dialectrix is unafraid to get political in his lyrics – ‘What Is The World Coming To?’ from his Satellite EP being just one example – but when I put this to him, he disputes it. “I really don’t like to think that my lyrics are political,” he says, “simply because I know bugger all about the finer points of politics. I am however heavily opinionated, and consider my content socially aware. My songs are like social critiques put forth with the knowledge that these critiques won’t change the situations I’m talking about. “If I was politically-minded and genuinely cared about those things I wouldn’t make music, I would study and try to get into parliament to make an actual difference in the world,” he continues. “I think there’s a certain smugness that comes from musicians who claim to make political music with this notion that they’re making a difference. That’s not me, I just tell it as I see it and hope it has some people relating to certain life issues.” Where: :Plays Come Together at the Big Top, Luna Park When: Saturday June 8 And: The Cold Light Of Day out now through Obese Records
Thundercat Taking It Beyond Level 42 By Benjamin Cooper
T
he last time Stephen Bruner was in Australia he made quite an impression. In February last year he was playing bass for Erykah Badu, during the neo-soul artist’s debut headline tour. By all accounts it was an – ahem – explosive performance. “Last time I was there I set my amp on fire,” Bruner laughs. “I had my amp turned up really loud, and I thought I was doing really well because there were all these people pointing at me. So I’m there, bobbing my head and smiling at the people; you know, getting into it. Then I catch this strange smell, and realised the people were pointing past me. The worst part is it happened at the Sydney Opera House. But the show was still a lot of fun.” Bruner has fond memories of Australia – prior to playing here with Badu he toured with thrash heroes Suicidal Tendencies. At the time, Bruner and his older brother (and drummer) Ronald Jr. comprised the rhythm section of the legendary Californian act. This week Bruner gets shot at his own headline tour, under his Thundercat moniker. Fans of the genre-hopping artist have been begging to see him in action since he dropped 2011’s The Golden Age of Apocalypse. The record was produced by his close friend and frequent collaborator Flying Lotus – another member of the Brainfeeder crew and a darling of discerning music fans worldwide. Thundercat’s debut didn’t just shatter expectations, it obliterated them. Over 37 action-packed minutes the spirits of great soul artists – both past and present – were summoned and marbled with the hustle of Bruner’s innate and tremendous skill as a live musician. There’s undoubtedly oodles of skill and intellect to what Bruner does as Thundercat, but it’s also a whole bag of fun. Bruner says that is no accident, largely because so much of his time is spent doing really fun stuff. “I’m super big on comics, graphic novels, video games and
cartoons,” he explains. “The Marvel universe is probably the most outstanding thing I’ve ever come across. Everybody in there ends up dying a million times, which is awesome.” Is he happy with the recent direction of some of Marvel’s flagships, including his beloved X-Men? “I think it might be getting a little too metrosexual,” Bruner says. “They’ve got Wolverine’s son now, who has two claws instead of three – that choice seems a little lame. Also, the way Wolverine’s costume is now is a bit Skrillex, and Skrillex Wolverine is not what the American people need right now. “Don’t get me wrong,” he continues, “I love Skrillex, and I think what he’s doing is really interesting. But I live and breathe comics, so don’t mess with ‘em too much.” Bruner is in a period of transition. Thundercat’s second album, Apocalypse, will drop this July, and he’s recently previewed some of the new material during selected solo shows in North America. “This is the first time in fifteen years I’ve done live shows solo. I’ve actually spent a whole year touring by myself, which means I get to do a whole lot of different stuff. Sometimes I’ll speed everything up, and then other times I’ll just play the whole thing way slower. Sometimes I might not play at all,” he laughs. “The solo thing can be really crazy – it’s kinda like combining mustard and hot chocolate. It sounds insane, but it just might work.” The maniacal tone will continue during the Australian shows, where Bruner will be joined by drummer Thomas Brigden (The Mars Volta) and keyboardist Dennis Hamm. “It’ll be good to have those guys there, because my overall level of feralness increases a lot when I’m on tour. Some of the things I do freak out my friends.” Where: Oxford Art Factory with Hiatus Kaiyote and Kirkis When: Sunday June 9
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club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week
dOP photo by www.qua.com
DJs $10 9pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Chakra Thursdays Robust, Brizz free 9.30pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Gillex, DJ Moody free for students/$10 9pm
FRIDAY JUNE 7
SUNDAY JUNE 9
Tensnake
Vivid Sydney, Circular Quay
The Terminal Projekt: Tensnake (GER), HNQO (BRA), The Revenge (UK), COOP, Sam Roberts, Alan Thomas $59 4pm MONDAY JUNE 3 Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket Mother Of A Monday DJ Smokin’ Joe free 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Latin & Jazz Open Mic Swim Team DJs free 7pm
TUESDAY JUNE 4
40 :: BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13
WEDNESDAY JUNE 5 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Cali Swag District (USA) Free 8pm Ivy, Sydney Salsa Resident DJs free 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross KIT Wednesdays Resident DJs 10pm The Lewisham Hotel Garbage 90s Night Garbage DJs free 7pm Goodgod Front Bar Doctor Who Trivia free 8pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Whip It Wednesdays DJs free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall $5 8pm
THURSDAY JUNE 6 Bridge Hotel, Rozelle Balmain Blitz $15 7pm Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Hot Damn Hot Damn DJs $15-$20 8pm Goldfish Hotel, Kings Cross Miami Nights Jay-J & Friends Residency free (before 10pm) 9pm Goodgod Front Bar Dip Hop Levins, Joyride, Elston Free 8pm Ivy Pool Club, Sydney Pool Club Thursdays Resident DJ free 5pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Resident DJs 10pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Rewind Resident DJs 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Take Over Thursday Resident
SATURDAY JUNE 8
dOP Main Street, Harper, Matty Whells $20 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Chinese Laundry 17th Birthday Jeff Mills (USA), Chris Liebing (GER), A-Tonez, Methodixx, Andrew Wowk, U-Khan, Front to Back, Fingers, Ra Bazaar, Mike Hyper, Josh Riley 9pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Queen’s Birthday Special The Martini Club, Dave 54, Tom Kelly, Johnny Gleeson, Straight-Up Steve $15 9pm Goodgod Small Club Compound, Cosmin TRG (ROM), Community, Subaske, Zeus $25 11pm Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour Homemade Saturdays Resident DJs $20-$25 9pm Ivy, Sydney John Digweed Garden Party John Digweed (UK), Kerry Wallace, Rodskeez, Raulll, Whitecat, Hannah Gibbs $60 12pm Ivy, Sydney PACHA Sydney, Tommy Trash, Ember, John Glover, Ben Morris, Matt Nugent, Spenda C, Jake Disgrace, Fingers, Kato, Heres Trouble, Deckhead, NAD, Trent Rackus, Adam Bozzetto, E-Cats, GMOD, $40 6.30pm Jacksons On George, Sydney Resident DJs free 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Resident DJs 10pm Marquee, The Star, Pyrmont The Aston Shuffle $30 10pm Newtown Hotel, Newtown Tuka, Ellesquire, Jones Jnr 7pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross The Suite Resident DJs 8pm Soho, Potts Point Usual Suspects 9pm The Soda Factory, Surry Hills Soda Saturdays, 5pm Spice Cellar Mantra Collective Whitecat, aboutjack, Antoine Vice, Murat Kilic, $15 (Free guestlist entry before 12am), 10pm Vivid Sydney, Circular Quay The Terminal Projekt dOP (FR), Jimmy Edgar (USA), Sepalcure (USA), Simon Caldwell, Morgan, Astral DJs $59 4pm The Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Skybar Saturdays Resident DJ $20 9.30pm Whaat Club, Potts Point After Dark DJs $10-15 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Cakes $10-$30 8pm
5 8pm
Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway Strange Fruit free 9pm The Argyle, The Rocks Argyle Saturdays, (free before 10pm), 6pm The Basement, Circular Quay P-Money (NZ), David Dallas (NZ) $25 +bf, 9pm Candy’s Apartment, Potts Point Disco! Disco! SMS, Stalker, Fresh to Death, 2Busy2Kiss,
SUNDAY JUNE 9
5 8pm
Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H Sundays Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend Extravaganza Secret International Guest (FR), Robert Babicz (GER), Gratts, Le Brond, Tricky, Murray Lake, James Petrou, Jay Ivany 2pm The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills
Beresford Sundays Resident DJs free 3pm Candys Apartment Sunday Dirty Sunday Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend, SMS, Robust, Chickflick, Acid Mouth, Intheory, Kinked, Knightwalkers 8pm Crane Bar Restaurant, Potts Point DUST – The Collectives Long Weekend Edition, Lamanex, Glitch DJs, Dust DJs $10/15 10pm Gay Bar, Darlinghurst Resident DJ free 3pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Hedkandi’s Queen’s Birthday Edition Ultan Burke, Phil Hudson, Casa, Frankie Romano, Adrian Benedek $20 11pm Goodgod Small Club Royal Rumble: Goodgod AllStars Back to Back (Queen’s Birthday Eve) Donny Benet, Astral DJs, Slow Blow, Pelvis, Mike Who vs. Shantan, Joyride vs. Radge, Jimmy Sing vs. Silky Doyle, Girls Gone Mild $10 9pm Holland St Warehouse, St Peters Lioness Presents 1st Birthday Party Mark de Clive-Lowe (UK/NZ), Edseven, Henry Compton, Fred Tectonic $20$25 10pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Easy Sundays Resident DJs free 10pm Marquee, The Star, Pyrmont SuperStar Wild Jodie Harsh (UK), Krysten Cummings (USA), Alex Taylor, Chip, Stephen C, JimJam $20-$45 10pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Sessions DJ Tone free 7pm Oxford Art Factory Thundercat (USA), Hiatus Kaiyote, Kirkis $40 8pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Sundays Resident DJs 8pm Secret Disco Oasis Soul Of Sydney Spirit Of House Block Party John Morales (USA), Stephen Allkins, Frenzie, Phil Toke, Soul Of Sydney DJs, $15-$20, 1pm Soho, Potts Point Usual Suspects vs. Loosechange Queens Birthday Long Weekend Gregor Salto (NED), Nukewood, Loose Change DJs, Oakes & Lennox, Lo Tek, Neon Ivy vs Acaddamy, Cheap Lettus, Modest, Ya Jokin, Sticky Bandit, Aeon, Tukind 9pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Secret International Guest, Pink Lloyd, Morgan, 10pm Sydney Showgrounds Dash Berlin #Musicislife World Tour Dash Berlin (NED), MaRLo $79.95 10pm Tatler Boom Boom, Jamie 3:26 (USA), Submarine DJs, Daniel Lupica, Karim Mattha $15-20 9pm Vivid Sydney, Circular Quay The Terminal Projekt: Tensnake (GER), HNQO (BRA), The Revenge (UK), COOP, Sam Roberts, Alan Thomas $59 4pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Soup Kitchen The Soup Kitchen DJs free 7pm
Tensnake photo by Tobias Schneider
Brighton Up Bar Ziggy Pop Tuesdays Guest DJs $5 Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket I Love Goon Resident DJs free 7pm The Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel Salsa DJ Willie Sabor free 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross
Coyote Tuesday Resident DJs free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Chu $5 7.30pm
Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Fresh Fridays Dialectrix w/ DJ SecrtWepn free 8pm Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst Picnic Presents: 6th Borough Project 6th Borough Project (UK), Marc Jarvin, Jungle Snake, Magda Bytnerowicz, Ken Cloud, Ben Fester, Preacha $20-$30 10pm Candy’s Apartment, Darlinghurst Something Wicked DJs Robust, Prolifix, Harper, Audio Trash, Aydos, Oh Dear $10-$15 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Regrooved ft. Neon Steve (CAN), Paul Master & MC Kitch, Joe Barrs, Busta, Cicflick, Perossa, Blak & Yella $15-$25 10pm Goodgod Front Bar, Sydney Yo Grito! Yo Grito! DJs free 9pm Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour The Guestlist $15-$25 9pm Jacksons On George, Sydney $5 @ 5 On Fridays Resident DJs free 5pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Fridays Resident DJs 10pm Marquee, The Star, Pyrmont Mashup Fridays G-Wizard $20 10pm Oatley Hotel We Luv Oatley Hotel Fridays Resident DJ free 8pm Omega Lounge, City Tattersalls Club, Sydney Unwind Fridays DJ Greg Summerfield free 5.30pm The Phoenix Club, Darlinghurst The Wizardry Of Oz Luke Psywalker, Meat Axe, Vertical Transport $20-$25 9.30pm Secret Location Liquidity Warehouse Party Fourthstate, Murda One, Juzlo, Wil Paua, Big Ilge, Moe Siznack, Budspells $15-$20 9pm The Soda Factory, Surry Hills Factory Fridays, 5pm Soho, Potts Point Soho Fridays free entry on guestlist 9pm Spice Cellar SOFT & SLOW Parkside, Pink Lloyd, Dreamcatcher $10 12am Tatler, Kings Cross Luke Million, Yelo Magic, Zeus $20 10pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross TGIF Resident DJs 10pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Think Fridays DJs 8pm $1015 The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM MUM DJs $10-$15 8pm
Deep Impressions
club picks
Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery
up all night out all week...
WEDNESDAY JUNE 5 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Cali Swag District (USA) free 8pm
THURSDAY JUNE 6 Goldfish Hotel, Kings Cross Miami Nights Jay-J & Friends Residency free (before 10pm) 9pm Goodgod Front Bar Dip Hop Levins, Joyride, Elston free 8pm
FRIDAY JUNE 7
Ivy, Sydney John Digweed Garden Party, John Digweed (UK), Kerry Wallace, Rodskeez, Raulll, Whitecat, Hannah Gibbs $60 12pm Marquee, The Star, Pyrmont The Aston Shuffle $30 10pm Spice Cellar Mantra Collective, Whitecat, aboutjack, Antoine Vice, Murat Kilic, $15 (free guestlist entry before 12am), 10pm Vivid Sydney, Circular Quay The Terminal Projekt dOP (FRA), Jimmy Edgar (USA), Sepalcure (USA), Simon Caldwell, Morgan, Astral DJs $59 4pm
Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Fresh Fridays Dialectrix w/ DJ SecrtWepn free 8pm Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst Picnic Presents: 6th Borough Project 6th Borough Project (UK), Marc Jarvin, Jungle Snake, Magda Bytnerowicz, Ken Cloud, Ben Fester, Preacha $20-$30 10pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Regrooved ft. Neon Steve (CAN), Paul Master & MC Kitch, Joe Barrs, Busta, Cicflick, Perossa, Blak & Yella $15-$25 10pm
SATURDAY JUNE 8 Rone photo byTimothy Saccenti
Queen’s Birthday Special The Martini Club, Dave 54, Tom Kelly, Johnny Gleeson, Straight-Up Steve $15 9pm
The Basement, Circular Quay P-Money (NZ), David Dallas (NZ) $25 +bf 9pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Chinese Laundry 17th Birthday Jeff Mills (USA), Chris Liebing (GER), A-Tonez, Methodixx, Andrew Wowk, U-Khan, Front to Back, Fingers, Ra Bazaar, Mike Hyper, Josh Riley 9pm Goldfish, Kings Cross
SUNDAY JUNE 9 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H Sundays Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend Extravaganza Surprise International (FRA), Robert Babicz (GER) Le Brond, Tricky, Murray Lake, James Petrou, Jay Ivany 2pm Goodgod Small Club Royal Rumble: Goodgod All-Stars Back to Back (Queen’s Birthday Eve), Donny Benet, Astral DJs, Slow Blow, Pelvis, Mike Who vs. Shantan, Joyride vs. Radge, Jimmy Sing vs. Silky Doyle, Girls Gone Mild $10 9pm Secret Disco Oasis Soul Of Sydney Spirit Of House Block Party John Morales (USA), Stephen Allkins, Frenzie, Phil Toke, Soul Of Sydney DJs, $15-$20, 1pm Sydney Showgrounds Dash Berlin #Musicislife World Tour Dash Berlin (NED), MaRLo $79.95 10pm
SUPPER SET
Rone
F
rench producer Erwan Castex, who goes about his business under the guise of Rone, will release a six-track mini-album Tohu Bonus next month through Infine, a follow-up to his Tohu Bohu album (which translates as ‘commotion’ in French) that dropped last year. With a background as a filmmaker and soundtracker who also composes music for exhibitions and adverts, Castex sprung to the attention of electronic music fiends – that means you, dear readers – after his tracks were featured on compilations such as Sasha’s Invol2ver and Agoria’s At the Controls. However, it was with the release of his maiden LP Spanish Breakfast in 2009 that Castex truly announced himself, arresting listeners with a distinctive sound that merged melodic flourishes with the cinematic grandeur of Apparat, and the Border Community label at its most blissed out. (Comparisons to the likes of Sasha, Kollektiv Turmstrasse and Max Cooper would also not be amiss.) Over the past four years, Castex has refused to make music that allows him to be pigeonholed within a single genre. Castex’s enterprising approach to his craft is apparent on both Tohu Bohu and Tohu Bonus, a mix of rejigged tracks from Tohu Bohu along with a few new compositions. Those hanging out for this release should be alerted to the fact that Rone also released a new EP only last week, a remix package of ‘Lets Go’ featuring reworks from Four Tet’s pals Rocketnumbernine, Principles of Geometry and Clark. Here’s hoping Castex’s creative outpouring doesn’t slow down anytime soon.
Details of the next edition of Ministry Of Sound’s Masterpiece mix series, helmed by Detroit techno auteur Carl Craig, have been unveiled. The concept for the series, which has previously featured mixes from Andrew Weatherall and Francois K, involves the selector drawing upon separate influences and inspirations across three discs. Each of Craig’s three discs has a distinct theme: the first disc, ‘Aspiration’, is dedicated to tracks that have inspired Craig of late; the second, entitled ‘Inspiration’…well, that really speaks for itself; while the final disc, ‘Meditation’, is comprised entirely of new compositions Craig made exclusively for the release. For those curious, artists featured on the first two discs include Moritz Von Oswald, Derrick May, Lance DeSardi and Moodymann. Craig’s relationship with radio apparently also had a strong influence on his Masterpiece mix, with his press release stating, “even though all of my professional career I’ve been travelling around the world and my scope of music is very global, how I listen to music is still very rooted to how I listen to radio, how it is now, and how it was in Detroit when I was growing up”. Swiss producer Ripperton will release a new album, A Little Part Of Shade, later this month on Joris Voorn and Edwin Oosterwal’s Amsterdam-based Green label. Ripperton first made waves via his Lazy Fat People project, but his solo output
LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY JUNE 8 Chris Liebing & Jeff Mills Chinese Laundry
MONDAY JUNE 10 Alexkid The Abercrombie
SATURDAY JULY 6 Mad Racket ft Deepchild Marrickville Bowling Club
is (in the opinion of your author at least) more interesting, and has attracted the attention of the likes of Radio Slave and Isolee for remixes. A Little Part Of Shade follows 2010’s Niwa, and is predominantly made up of tracks that feature vocal contributions from the likes of Hemlock Smith, Germain Umdenstock and Van Hai. Getting all deep and metaphorical on listeners, Ripperton described the album – via press release – as being “about the part of shade that everyone has…about the private garden.” He stated that this release is “quite the opposite of Niwa. It’s an inside garden. It can be bright or dark or in the middle. It can destroy or help you”… whatever that means. I’m just going to listen to the album, rather than attempting to decipher any more of that garble – which is probably the conclusion that many of you readers who’ve managed to endure this week’s column will have arrived at after bushwhacking through the jungle of jargon and tangents entangled in the above paragraphs. It’s been a fun journey to arrive at this point though, hasn’t it? But it is past time you stopped reading about these releases and actually wrapped your ears around them – so run along now, and see you next week. Ripperton
Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com BRAG :: 515 :: 03:06:13 :: 41
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