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www.ballinabyronairport.com.au Things you need to know. Only open to Aust. residents aged 18+. Ends 11:59pm AEST 1/7/13. Limit 1 entry per person & per email address. Transport to/from event and camping equipment not included. See www.ballinabyronairportcompetitions.com for Terms and Conditions
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rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nick Jarvis and Natalie Amat
five things WITH
DION FORD OF ATOM BOMBS Growing Up We were all raised in 1. various far-flung northern
Your Band Lachlan, Nick and Pete all 3. know each other from the days
NSW coastal towns. Personally, my mother loved Sabbath and Zeppelin, while her boyfriend at the time favoured the Christian radio station that was broadcast from a caravan. That relationship never had a chance.
when they were three of the seven people playing music in their town, and I met them in the city and we traded the sand for gross rehearsal room carpet. We all play in other bands – to us this band is our personal outlet, something we love doing just for the hell of it. Nick Franklin (Atom Bomb’s drummer) has recorded our last two records, plus he records other stuff you’ve probably heard somewhere in the last six months (Unity Floors, Making, Ted Danson with Wolves, Loose Pills, No Art, Eush...he’s a busy guy).
Inspirations Although we’re a surf 2. band, our inspiration is about as un-coastal as you could get. Obviously Dick Dale and the Atlantics get any surf band off the ground, but we’re all fans of heavy music, psych rock and Spaghetti Western film scores. The reverb laden soundtracks that drip over schlocky ’60s horror and spy movies provide an excellent starting point for making things dark and creepy, while still staying fun. That’s the best thing about surf rock – it’s dark and brooding, but you can still dance to it.
The Music You Make There are a lot of good bands 4. within the genre in Australia at the moment, but like us very rarely seem to play. The Narwhals, The Velocettes and Los Huevos all play pretty arse kicking instrumental surf. Overseas, bands like the Ghastly Ones, Phantom Surfers, Bomboras and Man or Astroman all have a pretty solid following. For us, it’s integral to differentiate
ourselves from “surf bands” who sing indie pop with heaps of reverb on the vocals, or a bunch of dads in Hawaiian shirts playing ‘Wipe Out’ at their work Christmas party. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. Sydney music is doing fi ne, there are plenty of good bands, decent places to play and punters seem hungry for good shows, the main struggle is that the people who decide whether live music lives or dies in this city have no connection with it or understand just how integral it is to the vibrancy of the city. Noise complaints and zoning issues don’t seem to stop people putting on gigs in bars, warehouses, backyards or venues though, so I guess we’re all doing something right. With: Dead Radio, Bad Valley, God K, Hailer, Gang of Youths, Good Heavens and Shady Lane at Brighton Up Bar’s First Birthday Party When: Saturday July 6
SPLASHH AT GOODGOD
Last week we got confused – we said that London-based fuzzy psych band Splashh were playing on Thursday June 27 (which is true) at Brighton Up Bar (which isn’t). They’re actually playing Goodgod, so amend your diaries please – and have a poke around thebrag.com for the lovely review of their debut Comfort.
Bastille
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, Natalie Amat, Chris Honnery
TANGO
Tango – it’s the dance of passion, the dance of longing, the dance where you clutch a rose between your teeth and the thorns dig into your gums, but you don’t even notice because you’re so consumed in the dance. Catch eight of Argentina’s greatest Tango dancers when they perform at Chatswood’s Concourse Theatre from July 25-27 with a live orchestra. More at morenadancewear.com.au/tangoshow.
ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alan Parry SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: About LST Night AKA Lincoln Jubb, Averie Harvey, Capital H AKA Henry Leung, Ashley Mar, Amath Magnan 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, Therese Watson, Rachel Eddie - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) AWESOME INTERNS: Natalie Amat, Mina Kitsos, Blake Gallagher, Rachel Eddie, Therese Watson, Charli Hutchison 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
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CASTLECOMER
BASTILLE
Epic rock band Bastille are being loved sick in the UK at the minute – their record Bad Blood is the highest selling debut of the year so far. Maybe you’re one of the 25 million odd people who’s watched the video for breakout single ‘Pompeii’ on YouTube? If so, you’ll be glad to hear that they’re headed our way, to play the Metro on Wednesday August 14 with Tigertown (tickets on sale 9am this Thursday June 27).
ASH
Do you remember the time when you loved ‘Girl From Mars’? The ’90s best power-pop band are back! Ash are coming to Australia to play their boisterous ’96 debut record 1977 in full, packed with classic punk-pop tunes like ‘Kung Fu’, ‘Goldfinger’ and, of course, ‘Girl From Mars’. Catch them on Tuesday August 20 at the Metro – tickets on sale at metropolistouring. com.
SPLENDOUR SIDESHOWS SUPPORTS
Heading along to see Surfer Blood’s Splendour sideshows at Oxford Art Factory on Friday July 26? You’ll be pleased to hear that Sydney’s summer lovin’ Palms and Brisbane’s adorable indie popster Jeremy Neale will be playing in support. Alternatively, if you’re seeing Palma Violets on Tuesday July 30 at Oxford Art Factory you’ll be thrashing earlier on with punks Bleeding Knees Club and Teenage Mothers. Deap Vally will be joined by The Delta Riggs on Thursday July 25, also at OAF, and Everything Everything are bringing Clubfeet and Vydamo to the Metro on Saturday July 27.
NEWTOWN FESTIVAL
Save the date – Sunday November 10; that’s when Camperdown Memorial Rest Park opens up for a day of gold-coin-donation live bands, DJs, markets, food and beer at the 35th annual Newtown Festival! Highlights of last year
It’s the name of a mining town in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and also one of the hardest working local bands in Sydney (who sound like they could be from a rain sodden part of the UK, with their five-part harmonies and Frightened Rabbit/My Latest Novel-ish indie-folk tendencies). Castlecomer have just finished work on their second EP Lone Survivor, which will be out on July 12 through Green Distribution, and you can catch them live shortly after, on Thursday August 1 at Oxford Art Factory (tickets on sale now).
Barn Owl
were the world’s greatest thrash band (Haiku, look them up on triple j Unearthed) and two cute hippy ladies tripping balls and dancing with a hula hoop, so best day ever, basically.
EXHUMED
It sounds like a new \m/ metal festival featuring bands like Anal Corpse and Deathface, but it’s actually a collaborative project by ABC Local Radio across the country to find the greatest bands that never were. If you were in a band back in the day but never sold a record or headlined a gig, then now is your chance to shine. In a nice bit of reverse ageism, all entrants must be aged over 30 and have been in an amateur band of two or more people. Entries close on July 15 – the best bands will be in an ABC TV series. More at abc. net.au/exhumed.
FBI SOCIAL
World’s End Press are bringing the party to your Wednesday lunchtime for FBi Social’s Lunchbreak this week – head to the Kings Cross Hotel for their free 1pm set. Thursday night sees folksy single launches flanked by alt-country and rockabilly, with Christine Jane, Red Cavalry and the Jordan C. Thomas Quartet, while on Friday the band behind our new favourite song and film clip, The Preatures, take to the stage. Your week wraps up Saturday night with baggy-indie lads and lady Virgo Rising, surf-pop dudes Driffs and shoegazey post-punk types Buzz Kull.
BARN OWL
San Franciscan psych-drone duo Barn Owl have a well-earned reputation for channelling their backgrounds in metal bands into “darkly epic doomfolk dronedrift dreaminess” (so says Aquarius Records). They’re bringing all that to Goodgod for an August 7 show – tickets on sale 2pm Monday June 24 through lifeisnoise.com.
U R T N i B S F over 35 acts across 4 stages!
THE PRESETS
SECRET GUESTS & MORE FBI FAVOURITES TO BE ANNOUNCED! MIDDAY - 10pm SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8 "#$ %'(')*+ ,./+267"9$ :/2 ;.,,<)='); > /: ???@:/2)*J2<@6<K BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 9
rock music news
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Nick Jarvis and Natalie Amat.
head to: www.thebrag.com to enter
speed date WITH
TOM BATTERSBY OF BAPTISM OF UZI are so many bands out there that will give you one song, then leave you feeling high and dry. That might be okay for a wild night out, but we find longer relationships are more rewarding. There are exquisite pleasures that come from watching a band develop, or letting a band teach you new things about yourself. When the band and listener are both open to exploring new experiences together, the relationship is more rewarding to both parties.
2.
Keeping Busy We’ve been keeping busy trying to get our live show together. When we were in the studio we went wild with overdubs, but we were kind of writing checks our instruments couldn’t cash, because we’ve brought so many new sounds into our songs. We’ve been trying to figure out how to get the studio sound on stage, which has been a challenge. After our launch, we’re hoping to be in the studio straight way to begin recording our next thing. We’ve been really amazed with the response to this record, and we’re really itching to start recording again.
Best Gig Ever I’m not sure about our 3. best gig, but the strangest gig
1.
What Do You Look For in a Band? Depth is something that is really
important. It’s important to find a band that you can have an evolving relationship with. There
we’ve ever had was supporting The Darkness on their last tour. We played in front of about
SCOTT KELLY
Experimental/progressive metal godfather Scott Kelly (of Neurosis) is bringing his new band The Road Home to Australia for series of gigs showcasing acoustic material from his huge solo back catalogue. He’s also bringing Jarboe, the former keyboardist and vocalist for post-punk legends Swans – she’ll be playing stripped-back versions of Swans songs and her own solo work. Catch them on Friday November 8 at Manning Bar.
SOSUEME AND W.E.P.
Melbourne’s I OH YOU crew will join their impeccable musical tastebuds with the SOSUEME kids for a joint party this Wednesday that’s not only free, but also features a DZ Deathrays DJ set and disco dudes World’s End Press playing live. That’s Wednesday night (June 26) at the Beach Road.
THE AMITY AFFLICATION
The Kite String
GET TANGLED
The Kite String Tangle (AKA Danny Harley) brought his feather light touch to remixes of tracks by Flume and Hungry Kids of Hungary last year and now he’s touring to show off his new single ‘Given The Chance’, a deliciously down-tempo bowl of electro soup with a sprinkle of James Blake-y vocals. Interested parties can catch him hitting the decks at Goodgod’s Danceteria on Friday July 12, along with dreamy glitchpopper (and Of Monsters and Men support) Mammals and Rat & Co. Tickets through Moshtix or on the door.
REVOLUTION INCORPORATED
If you’ve been missing a bit of classic reggae in your life, with horns, skankin’ guitars, positive lyrics and all that good stuff, then get yourself along to a Revolution Incorporated gig. The local band are playing a stack of shows in the lead-up to releasing their first single in October, kicking off with a showcase at Blackbird Restaurant in Darling Harbour this Thursday June 27. 10 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
3,000 people at the Forum in Melbourne, and only about 20 of them had seen our band before. Most of the crowd was just waiting for Justin Hawkins to do his thing, and had no idea what to make of us. Mostly we were hated, but we managed to win a few. Current Playlist Instead of making this 4. section flattering, I will tell the horrifying truth. Our singer is loving the new Daft Punk album, and is trying to figure out how to play guitar like Nile Rodgers. Our drummer is listening to Fleetwood Mac and Toto. I’ve been listening to Bach because I’ve been studying, but I also got obsessed with this song ‘Suburbs Mystery’ by Milk Teddy and listen to that a few times each day. Your Ultimate Rider Ever since I heard about 5. AC/DC having oxygen cylinders backstage, I’ve lusted after that possibility. Also, when we saw Black Sabbath, Tony Iommi had a pretty girl sitting behind his stack the whole show. After each song she’d hand him his drink and give smiles and encouragement. It seemed like a pretty good system. Where: Stray Currents EP Launch at Brighton Up Bar When: Friday June 28
SYDNEY BLUES AND ROOTS FESTIVAL
Twelve-strings, harmonicas, slide guitars and bikie beards aplenty will descend upon the pretty riverside town of Windsor in Western Sydney once again this October, for the annual Sydney Blues and Roots Festival, from October 24 to 27. Catch more than 40 local and international blues and roots acts, including ’90s guitar god Diesel with Melbourne blues legend Chris Wilson, ARIA Hall of Famer Russell Morris, dreadlocked troubadour Ash Grunwald, slide guitar genius Dave Hole, and many, many more. Early bird tickets are on sale now and camping is available – hit sydneybluesfestival.com.au for all the details.
OF MONSTERS AND MEN
The Metro has proven too small to contain Sydney’s love for Of Monsters and Men, who are heading back to Oz to prove there’s more to Icelandic music than Sigur Ros and Bjork. Their third (and final) Splendour sideshow on
Local metalcore legends The Amity Affliction have signed up two Yank hardcore/metalcore bands – Utah’s Chelsea Grin and Orange County’s Stick To Your Guns – as well as locals In Hearts Wake for their massive upcoming national tour. Catch them in Sydney at the Big Top, Luna Park on Sunday October 20 (all ages), and in Newcastle at Panthers on Saturday October 19 (tickets on sale at 9am this Thursday June 27).
Empire Of The Sun
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
As eccentric as ever, Luke Steele and compadre Nick Littlemore have finally released their long awaited, high concept second album Ice on the Dune. The Emperor’s headdress has been stolen by the King of Shadows, wreaking havoc across the world! Join the Emperor and his Prophet as they attempt to get the headdress back with a swathe of shiny synth pop tunes, by winning one of five copies of this theatrical epic. All you have to do is tell us which track David Guetta remixed for the album.
THE GOOD SHIP
Barnacle-ridden Brisbane eight-piece The Good Ship are sailing across the country next month, touching down at The Annandale on July 20 to abuse you with their whiskey-drenched country and folk infused pop tunes. Two lucky sailors and their dates will win a double pass and a merchandise pack, including a t-shirt and the band’s latest offering of heavenly squalor, O’Exquisite Corpse. All we ask of you is to name the original artist who recorded ‘The Rake Song’.
Wednesday July 31 has been moved to the Enmore Theatre. New tickets are on sale now for those who were hibernating and missed out on the first two Enmore gigs. If you were lucky enough to nab a Metro ticket, it’s still valid for GA entry on July 31. Sydney’s own mysterious Mammals will be the support act for the three shows. Húrra! Break out the brennivín and smoked cod to celebrate!
BRAG PRESENTS THE CULT
Incredibly influential UK outfit The Cult gave substance to heavy metal in the late ’80s with their Rick Rubin-produced record Electric, which went platinum and sent them off on an eventful tour with behemoths Guns n’ Roses. For the first time ever, they’ll be performing Electric in full when they come out to Australia this October, and we’re jumping on board to present the Sydney show. Catch The Cult at the Hordern Pavilion on Friday October 4 (all ages), general tickets on sale 9am Thursday July 4.
XXX
DEVIN TOWNSEND
More metal legends are headed our way! Devin Townsend – formerly of the most epic receding-hairline-and-dreads-combo ever, as well as seminal extreme/thrash/death/industrial metal projects like Strapping Young Lad and the Devin Townsend Band – is heading down under with a selection of material from his 20+ albums. Catch Townsend and band at the Metro on Friday October 11 (all ages) – tickets on sale 9am Thursday June 27.
DEF FX
Remember massive ’90s electro-rock band DEF FX? You’ll surely remember their biggest hit ‘Psychoactive Summer’, the soundtrack to 1995? Original vocalist Fiona Horne and bassist Martyn Basha resurrected the band for a tour last year (with Clan Analogue member Ant Bannister and sonic rock guitarist Wiley Cochrane filling out the lineup), and they’re back on the road later this year, hitting the Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle on Friday November 1 and Oxford Art Factory on Saturday November 2. Tickets from metropolistouring.com.
The Stillsons
THE STILLSONS
Around the time the Cork Rebelettes were crushing Kerry in the All-Ireland Senior Ladies Gaelic Football Championships, on the other side of the world The Stillsons (along with most of us, probably) were focused on other things. Now they’re back after some serious studio time last October, playing a string of shows to launch their new single ‘Feel So Young’ ahead of the release of album number three, Never Go Your Way, later this year. The Melbourne musos roll into town, hitting up the Union Hotel in North Sydney on Sunday July 7 to unveil their latest track. And it’s free! Head there from 4pm to catch the music.
PERFORMING THEIR CLASSIC ALBUM ELECTRIC IN IT’S ENTIRETY PLUS ALL THEIR OTHER HITS
FRIDAY 4 OCTOBER HORDERN PAVILION ON SALE THURSDAY 4 JULY FOR EXCLUSIVE PRE-SALE INFORMATION GO TO FRONTIERTOURING.COM FRONTIERTOURING.COM THECULT.US
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Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
THINGS WE HEAR
* Mono had to cancel their NZ dates due to “visa problems” and arrive in Australia straight from Hong Kong. * The Lilyfield house (348 Catherine St) in which Icehouse leader Iva Davies lived for 32 years – the original “Icehouse” in which he wrote ‘Great Southern Land’, the Primitive Man album and Razorback soundtrack – is for sale for $900,000. * British Prime Minister David Cameron quipped that he is trying to find a new “favourite band” after he was banned from saying it was The Smiths – by The Smiths’ Johnny Marr and Morrissey. He made the announcement at a party celebrating the UK music industry achieving its highest ever share of global sales. The new fave band could be Mumford and Sons. When Cameron visited the White House, President Obama told him he wanted a band to play at a party for him, and Cameron recommended them. * Queensland police raided homes of the Gold Coast Finks hunting for bikies allegedly involved in a brawl with their rivals, The Nomads, at the Cooly Rocks On festival. Five will face charges on July 2. A 22-year-old alleged Nomad member was charged with attacking a 61-year-old bystander who filmed the fracas on his mobile phone.
* America’s Ultra Music looks like it’s coming to Sydney in 2014. Harvest Festival promoter AJ Maddah confirmed this November’s bill will be announced on Thursday June 27. * Newcastle’s Fat As Butter promoter Mothership Music’s bid for a camping licence this year has been met with opposition from one resident, saying that the area of Stockton where the camping site will be held won’t cope with the influx of festival goers. F.A.B. thinks it’ll get permission regardless. * Adele and PJ Harvey were among those honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. They were made Members of the British Empire (MBEs). * Macklemore & Ryan Lewis made US chart history by becoming the first duo to have their first two entries to the top of the charts. * Modular Records and FBi Radio’s What We Do Is Secret party at Oxford Art Factory on Saturday July 27 added Kilter, Moonbase Commander, Meare and DJs Mike Who, Kato, Kali (Picnic) and Max Gosford at FBi’s Gallery Bar. * The Break’s show at The Standard on the weekend was rescheduled due to a family illness.
DO THE RICH AND THE YOUNG DOWNLOAD MORE?
nothing: 44% of file sharers were aged under 30. Only 11% were in the 50—69 demographic. TV shows were most downloaded.
Are you more likely to download illegally if you’re wealthier, more educated and younger? That’s the indication of a new study by a group of Australian copyright agencies led by the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA). 30% earned over $100,000 a year, only 14% earned $40,000 and 27% were in the $60,000-$100,000 bracket. 17% graduated from high school, 21% had a TAFE or trade qualification while 25% had gone to university, well above the national average. Of the 1,000 people questioned, 21% admitted to illegally downloading music, movies and TV shows. Those born in the 1980s and after tend to assume that they should get content for
BEHIND THE APRA AWARDS
The APRA awards now have that prominence where artists will fly in just to make an appearance. Franc Tétaz came from his new home in Los Angeles to be its music director, putting together the artists who did wonderful interpretations of the Song Of The Year nominations… Georgi Kay came from London to deliver a much-talked-about rendition of Divinyls’ ‘Boys In Town’… Wally De Backer proved again he’s one of the nicest guys in the biz. Everyone wanted to eyeball him, and he stopped and chatted with everyone…
During The Seekers’ acceptance speech Judith Durham listened in from her sick bed via mobile phone… The Hilltop Hoods were bummed because they forgot to thank manager Dylan Liddy during their acceptance speech (he was in New York at the time)… Rehearsals for the night went smoothly except for when a publicist crashed into a trolley of glasses and sent everything onto the floor.
EARLY SUBMISSION FOR AUSSIES AT SXSW
South by Southwest Music & Media Festival and Conference in Austin is allowing Australian acts to start applying on July 9 for the 2014 meet, rather than wait for August. Its local rep Phil Tripp explains, “Australian artists need extra time to obtain working visas for the U.S., schedule touring dates before and after our times of March 11-16 as well as apply for funding from Federal and State Government contemporary music grant sources well in advance. Plus, applying early puts the smart bands ahead of the queue for critical listening time as compared to those who wait until the last minute to submit when reviewers’ ears are crisped.” SXSW also obtained a special ruling from US Immigration to bypass the expensive visa process if an Aussie artist will not be playing any paid gigs at SXSW, a saving of $2500 to $5000. Up to 300 Australian acts are expected to apply online through sonicbids.com.
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: CAPLICE, WARNER’S OPEN AUDITIONS
While Sony and Universal have The Voice, The X Factor and Australia’s Got Talent to help find new signings, Warner Music Australia is trying another route. Artist manager David Caplice (Human Nature, Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian) will hold open auditions in capital cities through July. Anyone who ticks all the boxes gets a Warner deal. Details on Rumblepop. com. It’s part of Caplice and Warner’s joint venture to find acts for the world. He is exec producing the debut from new Warner signings Bobby Fox and Christina Parie.
DANCE MUSIC FESTIVALS FEUD!
Dance festival promoter Fuzzy announced that Parklife has been dumped in favour of an outdoor boutique event called Listen Out, which hits four cities between September 28 and October 6. This went down like a cup of cold sick with Sydney’s Astral People, who’re bringing their festival OutsideIn back for a second year. In an angry outburst, they denounced Fuzzy as stealing their concept and logo. Astral People’s statement read, in part, “To see others now blatantly rip off what we’re trying to do is not just an insult to us but more so an insult to the intelligence of patrons and music lovers alike,” they wrote. “If you think that copying a logo and rebranding your festival is enough to win over fans then you’re sadly mistaken. Our fans know good music.” Fuzzy’s John Wall responded that he was not out to hurt anyone else’s business, that he believed it would be obvious that the two festivals were vastly different once Listen Out announced its bill, that the logo was aligned to Parklife’s, and that what Fuzzy was doing with Listen Out was what he’d been doing for 15 years.
E HIFI 1300 THO M.AU THEHIFI.C
This Week
Mono (JPN)
Pludo
Thu 27 Jun
Sat 29 Jun
SO LD
O UT
Coming Soon
HTC & Speaker TV Presents
Hardcore 2013
Hungry Kids of Hungary
Sat 13 Jul 18+ Sun 14 Jul All Ages
Sat 6 Jul
Nejo Y Dalmata Fri 26 Jul
(PUR)
Airbourne Sat 27 Jul
Saint Vitus (USA) & Monarch! (FRA)
Haim (USA) Wed 24 Jul
Fri 19 Jul
D-Block & S-te-Fan Sat 10 Aug
Blues & Grooves feat. Phil Emmanuel Fri 16 Aug
& Havana D’ Primera (CUB) Sat 7 Sep
Hits & Pits 2.0 feat The Ataris (USA) + Bad Astronaut (USA) + Snuff + More
Fri 6 Sep
Sun 17 Nov
Alexander Abreu
Anberlin (USA)
ENTERTAINMENT QUARTER, BUILDING 220, 122 LANG RD, MOORE PARK, SYDNEY
12 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
SIMA WANTS TO EXPAND WOMEN’S JAZZ WORKSHOPS
SIMA (the Sydney Improvised Music Association) reported that as a result of its Young Women’s Jazz Workshops, four participants were accepted into jazz at the Sydney Conservatorium. Devised by SIMA and saxplayer Sandy Evans to address the gender imbalance in jazz, SIMA wants to expand the workshops into regional areas. It hopes to raise $25,000 from donations by June 30.
HOUSEFOX STUDIOS LAUNCHES
Sydney funkcore band The Side Tracked Fiasco’s front man Ryan Miller has set up a new rehearsal and recording studio affordable enough for young bands to get experience in studios. Housefox Studios (housefoxstudios.com) is based in Brookvale. Miller’s vision is to help local bands with promotion and exposure via social media, hosting events, a local motion compilation and using Housefox to help connect the music community. He’s contactable on (02) 9939 3708.
AUST GETS INDEPENDENT YOUTUBE FESTIVAL
VIDinc, Australia’s first-ever independent YouTube Festival, will see names who became stars on YouTube, at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday August 18. The stars include American comedians Jenna Marbles and Nigahiga, US musician Keenan Cahill and Australian channel Jayesslee. There’ll be workshops on how Australian businesses can build their own video presence. VIDinc co-founder Ritchie Perera says YouTube gets 11 million unique viewers per month from Australia. See vidinc.com.au.
Lifelines Reunited: Sharon Osbourne has moved back in with Ozzy after the singer convinced her he had been drug-and alcohol-free for months. Jailed: a 51-year-old man in England, for 28 days, for ignoring five injunctions against playing loud music. Neighbours complained each night he’d play, at high volume, the entire Pink Floyd albums The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall and soul ballads by Barry White and Marvin Gaye. Resolved: Beyoncé settled with US video game Gate Five which sued her after she backed away from a deal to create a motion-sensing dance game called Starpower: Beyoncé. At the last minute, she demanded more money, causing a financier to withdraw his investment in the game, and forcing them to lay off 70 people. Gate Five had spent $6.7 million to develop the project, and sued for the $100 million it expected in profits. Beyoncé argued she had the contractual right to pull out because Gate Five didn’t get $5 million in investment. Gate Five contended that it had been closing a $19.2 million when the singer pulled out, and suggested Beyoncé had gotten a better offer from a rival. Sued: an intern who worked at Atlantic Records between October 2007 and May 2008 brought a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and others against Warner Music Group saying he was owed minimum and overtime wages. In Court: Sydney journalist Richard Sleeman, 62, had his case against The Palms on Oxford nightclub thrown out. He claimed that on December 23 2011 he was queuing to get in when a doorman loudly told him he was too drunk. Sleeman denied being drunk, saying that he was rejected because he was considered too old, and that he was humiliated because 20 people overheard the accusation. A District Court judge rejected his version of what happened and dismissed his complaint as “trivial”. In Court: Today FM applied to stop media authority ACMA from investigating if the broadcast of the notorious prank by Hot 30 Countdown hosts Michael Christian and Mel Greig on a London hospital, breached a licence condition - that a licensee must not use its broadcasting service in the ‘commission of an offence’. Southern Cross Austereo stated, “Today FM considers that the ACMA has no power to make such a finding.” ACMA will contest this. Died: a 24-year old woman after she fell during a Stone Roses gig in Glasgow. Police are investigating why she fell – it had been a violent gig, with 24 audience members arrested for anti-social (i.e. bottle throwing) and drug offences. Died: US country singer Slim Whitman, 90, in a Florida hospital. Died: legendary US music critic Chet Flippo, 69. He wrote a book on Hank Williams and was editorial director of Country Music Television.
HTC & SPEAKER TV PRESENTS
SATURDAY 6 JULY SUPPORTED BY
THE GRISWOLDS & SURES
BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 13
Manic Street Preachers Spreading the Good Word By Chris Martin
“I think it’s a class thing. I think there’s a definite working-class vibe to it, about self-improvement and self-empowerment, especially in the South Wales side of it. I also think there’s such a vocal tradition here – it might sound a bit clichéd, but even James was in the school choir, and you can hear that…[the Welsh] really are amazing singers. There were a lot of indie bands with that kind of phased, out-of-tune sort of singer, but that explosion in Wales in the ’90s, every one of them was more from the Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones tradition of just being brilliant vocalists. And it was a really political place to grow up in as well – obviously you had a lot of strikes and discontent, growing up in the ’80s, and it all produced a distinct sort of sound compared to the rest of Britain.” Almost as soon as he mentions class warfare – that battle cry of any musician worth their salt in ’90s Britain – Wire checks himself. “Sometimes I feel like our generation is too obsessed with it,” he says, wary in the knowledge that he’s not speaking to old clichés now, but determined to go on. “We grew up through so much turmoil politically, perhaps we’re still using it as some kind of chip on our shoulder. But for me growing up, it was the whole idea of self-improvement through working-class education. I was lucky enough to get to university and do a degree in politics, and it was all tied in with something: pride in work and dignity. Whether all that stuff really exists anymore, I’m not really sure… But I’m not going to let it go [laughs]. I think all people need a little thing that keeps them inspired. There’s a kind of poetic artistic side to the band and there’s more of a workingclass political side. Sometimes one outweighs the other.” Case in point: 2001, and the Manics’ visit to Cuba to play a concert before Fidel Castro at the Teatro Karl Marx. On the spectrum of working-class grandstanding, it was a bold gesture indeed. The Manics copped heavy criticism for the gig, and Wire still hasn’t decided whether it was a good idea or bad.
“There’s a kind of poetic artistic side to the band and there’s more of a working-class political side. Sometimes one outweighs the other.”
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and Richey. James and Sean were always the musicians – I’m sure they always had a longer-term plan – but at the time it seemed like, coming where we came from, we just wanted to be almost cartoon-like to get noticed. It was quite hard coming from Wales back then; there wasn’t a rich musical history really, so we presented ourselves in what we thought was an extreme way.”
“I’ve never gone, really,” Wire says with mild amusement. “Obviously, all bands end up living in London at one point, and we lived with a manager and stuff [there], but I’ve never moved, I’ve never actually bought a place anywhere [outside Wales].”
Generation Terrorists came and went in 1992, and that should’ve been it. Except it sold, and so did Gold Against the Soul, and so have the Manics’ eight albums since. And here they are today. “I think what changed was the love of music, really, and the love of being in a band,” says Wire. “The fact we’re still together now when all our contemporaries have either split up – or split up and reformed and split up again… I think we were lucky. If we were [starting] a band now, we wouldn’t have the longevity, because you don’t get the chance anymore to grow like we did.”
He speaks as if the possibilities of excess and travel, of long summers spent in the Los Angeles sun, have never even occurred to him. Perhaps it’s because Manic Street Preachers were never meant to last, never meant to be career rock stars. One album, a couple of hit singles, then retire, maybe with a spot reserved for them somewhere up the back corners of Welsh musical folklore. For the young James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore, Richey Edwards and Wire, that was the plan. At first. “That’s true,” laughs Wire. “22, 23 years ago, [it was] as much down to myself, [that] manifesto,
It hasn’t all come easily, of course – and that’s putting aside even the Manics’ most regrettable musical decisions. In February 1995, guitarist Edwards – after a history of depression and self-harm – checked out of a London hotel and went for a drive. He was never seen again. The band kept on, and put out the Mercury Prize-
nominated Everything Must Go in 1996. Almost immediately, the Manics became hot properties of the mainstream – and, unlike most, were not slightly shy of talking about their ambitions. “It’s a really good point, because we were very blatant about the idea of getting into the mainstream,” says Wire. “I mean, it’s hard to explain to people now in what was a totally different landscape. You had a very elitist alternative/indie scene – which we did admire [for] a lot of that music. We grew up quite snobbish ourselves. But then all of a sudden when you realised how big The Smiths were, or The Clash, or you listened to Exile On Main St., we kind of thought…[if you] feel you’ve got something to say then you want to try and reach as many people as you can.” And it worked. Since abandoning their initial get-in, get-famous, get-out plan for crashing the music industry, Manic Street Preachers have risen to the grandest heights of Welsh rock. They’re celebrated by their peers and progeny – Stereophonics, Lostprophets, Super Furry Animals and the rest – for imbuing Wales with a musical voice, and enabling the world to hear it. But what does ‘Welsh rock’ mean to one of its primary figures? That wonderful, tumbling, euphoric sound of south western Britain – from where did it come in the first place?
“So it’s a fine line. I’m not sure – it certainly wasn’t a massive success, but maybe in 20 years’ time I can look back at the pictures and the footage and think it was…at least it was extraordinary. It might have been extraordinarily shit, but at least it was extraordinary.” Like any self-respecting Welshmen, Wire and his bandmates consider themselves huge rugby fans – so much so, their tour of Australia and New Zealand (the Manics’ longest run of dates since early 2012) ties in directly with the British & Irish Lions’ fixtures against the Wallabies. 2-1 to the Lions is Wire’s tip: “a bit of Welsh skill” to make the difference, he reckons. After that, the band will return to the studio to finish off its next two albums – the first, due by the end of this year, has a working title Rewind The Film. “I think we genuinely wake up most days thinking we can communicate with people on a kind of visceral and intellectual level,” says Wire. “We don’t always succeed – God, over the years there’ve been some great records and some average ones – but we wake up with that intent. We’ve been pretty prolific – we’re all sort of hitting 43, 44 now, and we’ve been averaging an album and a load of singles every year and half, every two years. As long as the desire to communicate is there, I think we’ll be okay.” Where: Hordern Pavilion with Hungry Kids of Hungary When: Friday July 5
“Beards don’t kill people. People with beards kill people” - THE BEARDS 14 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
Manic Street Preachers photo by Alex Lake
t’s early on a midweek morning, Cardiff time, and Nicky Wire’s voice crackles down the line from his home just outside the Welsh capital. Over the years, Manic Street Preachers’ success has taken their bassist, lyricist and chief mouthpiece Wire all around the world – from Thatcher’s Britain to communist Cuba – and yet he’s never really desired to depart the workingclass surrounds of his youth.
“I don’t know what it was, really. The whole premise behind it was never to endorse any sort of government. We just felt like…one, we wanted to do something completely different – to launch an album where you can’t make any money selling any albums, because there’s an embargo with Sony/Columbia, they didn’t even sell records there, so it was much more of that Situationist idea of subverting [capitalism]. But then again, it’s certainly caused us a lot of problems over the years, whether it’s visas with America, or going to former Eastern Bloc countries who obviously had a hideous time under communism – they don’t think it was a good idea that Castro turned up to one of our gigs.
F R E E
E N T R Y
28th June 29th June 3rd July
l S
8 P M
T I L L
L A T E
MONKIBLOOD TIJUANA CARTEL THE DELTA RIGGS + MAILER DAEMON
6th July 5th July 10th July
MARTINI CLUB DUTCH SURPRISE HEADLINER + SOSUME DJS + CASSIAN
13th July
BONDI MUSIC FESTIVAL *12PM - TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR
17th July
CLIENT LIASON + SAFIA
19th July 20th July 24th July
KINKSY WATUSSI ALPINE
+ SURPRISE INTERNATIONAL
27th July 31st July
START CUE CLUB FEET + LOIUS LONDON
B E A C H R O A D B O N D I . C O M . A U F A C E B O O K . C O M / B E A C H R O A D H O T E L
BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 15
Laura Imbruglia Treat Yourself By Jody Macgregor
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The Beards Hair-Brained Schemes By Tom Valcanis
hatting while he catches five spare minutes in London, The Beard’s bassist Nathaniel Beard is quietly fuming underneath his luscious double arrowhead beard. Two Sundays ago, the band played the Bearded Theory festival, on the outskirts of Derby in the UK. The problem was that it lived up to its name. It was bearded only in theory.
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“I am concerned that someone whipped up in a frenzy from our propaganda might just hurt the guy or something. We don’t want to destroy the guy’s face; we just want to put a beard on it. We still cultivate an atmosphere of shame so that anyone without a beard feels guilty. We tell them that shame is perfectly natural, and it’s just their body telling them to grow a beard.”
Only one other band on the bill sported a (singular) beard – a member of The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. “Well they can be blamed for that then,” Nathaniel says. “I can certainly blame them for that. For only having one beard.”
The Beards write songs about beards; it’s all they sing about. It’s all they’ll ever sing about. They’re currently writing their fourth album and it’s predictably in tribute to beards. Nathaniel felt uneasy about releasing another set of songs about beards, fearful they might have tapped the well of furry creativity dry.
Nathaniel Beard wants everyone in the world to have a beard. Before I can ask if it’s too lofty an ambition, he snaps, “I think it’s the right level of ambition. You don’t want to dilute your dreams. If you set out to do something, you don’t want to compromise on what that goal is. I personally will not rest until every single person in the world has a beard.”
“We have a lot of ideas coming in,” he says. “It turns out that having a beard provides an unlimited source of inspiration. We’ve got a power ballad about beards, an electro-rock song called ‘There’s A Bearded Man Inside Me’, we’ve got a sort of ’60s pop kind of song which is called ‘Strokin’ My Beard’, and we’ve got a burster of a track called ‘All The Bearded Ladies’.
Even women? “Even the women and the children and all the animals as well,” he declares. “But we’re focusing on humans first.” His first great (human) breakthrough came at the UK’s Great Escape festival. “There were very few beards in the audience but I think we convinced many people to grow beards,” he says. “There were many children in the audience and we convinced them to grow up and grow a beard. I see all children as a potential beard. Once they reach the right age, they’ll remember what they learned in their youth.” Punters at The Beards shows immediately feel the fervour The Beards have for facial hair. They’ll praise the bearded and hold the clean-shaven up as targets for boos and hisses. Nathaniel would ideally make examples of them on stage, but he doesn’t “like getting that close to beardless people.
“I want to tell you right now that it’s not a parody song of Beyoncé’s ‘All The Single Ladies’. We don’t delve into the realm of parody songs, we think that’s for someone else to do. We write original songs about beards.” Nathaniel’s “beard revolution” has no intention of stopping. Outsiders might think there’s a sinister bearded underground poised to take over. It’s far less insidious than the unbearded envisage. “There’s not a secret bearded society,” Nathaniel explains. “There’s just a bearded society, and we’re not hiding from anyone. Anyone can join the bearded society by growing a beard. Of course, this will just soon be known as society.” Where: The Cambridge, Newcastle / The Metro, Sydney When: Thursday June 27 / Saturday June 29
ike most musicians in Australia, Laura Imbruglia has a day job; today she’s found time to be interviewed while at the office where she does admin. Earlier in the week she had to squeeze in more interviews by doing a couple of them on the tram, which was less ideal. “At the end of the second one I had to do a radio ID,” she says. “I lost all anonymity so not only was I the idiot having an interview on the tram, I had to say, ‘Hi, you’re listening to blah blah blah FM and I’m Laura Imbruglia.’ Which is really, really embarrassing.” She’s also found time for study, coming close to the end of a graphic design course that’s proven useful in her music career. “I thought I might be good at it, but then I remembered pretty early on that I had no visual arts skills. So it’s just made me more self-sufficient for my music stuff; I don’t have to pay people to make my concert posters and my layouts for CDs any more.” It’s also helped her come up with ideas for unusual ways to add value to her albums, putting extras in for people who pick up the physical versions. Her previous release came with a comic book and the new album, What a Treat, comes with a double-sided jigsaw puzzle. “It’s been good getting a graphic designer’s brain on for thinking of new and interesting ways to package stuff.”
to make her look like she’d stepped straight out of Teen Wolf. But in spite of completing another album, her third now, Imbruglia doesn’t seem to think much of her achievements. She recently turned 30, the age when many people have the moment where they take stock and wonder why they haven’t travelled the world or finished a novel or had two kids. “I’ve been having that moment for the past five years,” she says, “so it wasn’t like a sudden thing. I regularly have that moment where I go, ‘God, what am I doing? This is not an adult’s life. Where’s my house and car?’ But it’s the musician’s life; it’s pretty hard to have those things. I have been achieving things but they’ve just been musical I guess.” Where: Goodgod with Melodie Nelson, Unity Floors When: Saturday 29 June And: What a Treat out now through Ready Freddie/MGM
She’s also had to come up with new and interesting ways to raise money. Although Imbruglia received a grant to help with the cost of the album’s recording, she thought of an inventive way to pay for promoting her tour. “I put a thing on Twitter saying, ‘In desperate need of cash: will perform sexual favours for cash. By sexual favours I mean I will sing ‘Let’s Get It On’ to you via Skype.’ I was just joking and then I thought maybe I can actually earn money doing that? I created a Bandcamp product and set a fee for filming myself singing songs for people with a personal dedication. I just put it online to see if anyone would buy them and they sold out really quickly. In fact I probably charged not enough for them for the amount of time it takes me to put them together, but I might make them a permanent merch item and up the price.” You can find these videos on YouTube; watching Laura Imbruglia perform a lively rendition of Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ as a birthday present for someone named Grzegorz is entirely worth your time. All the hustle and grind is in aid of an album that’s also worth your time, one that contains a lovelorn duet with Ben Salter (‘Limerence’), a psych-rock song about insects (‘Incest’) and a boot-scooting country-rock number about howling at the moon (‘Awoooh!’). That last one features a video for which Imbruglia spent several hours having makeup applied
Booker T.
Coming Home To Memphis By Simon Topper
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amazing what happened. I wrote an original song with Vintage Trouble called ‘Your Love Is No Love’. We went into the studio with nothing, just like we did back in Memphis at Stax. And within six hours, at two in the morning, we were playing this brand new song! That’s fascinating to me, how that can happen. I’d known these guys for maybe a couple of weeks, and their talent just came out.“
orty-two years is a long career in rock’n’roll. But when it comes to Booker T., who sits atop the highest shelf of soul, funk and R&B legends, that’s not the length of his career. That’s just how long it’s been since he released a record on Stax.
After a Grammy-winning comeback album in 2009, new record Sound The Alarm is his third in recent years, and his first album on Stax in over 40 years. He laughs as he reflects on that number. “Yeah that’s an amazing number, but that’s correct, it’s been
40 years,” he says. “It’s great, like going home. You know, going home musically and physically also. They’re new people but they’re great people, there at the company. It’s emotional for me, because I lost so many people that I had at Stax but now I have new people to take their places. I’m lucky to still be doing it for that company.” He says he returned because Stax has been able to stay more than just a company name. “The feeling is the same. The fact that they wanted me…and at my age I’m lucky to be wanted by a record company,” he chuckles.
“But somehow they’ve kept the feeling of an innovative R&B company that makes new, cool music, and that’s what I’m trying to do for them now. You know, we’re not doing anything that’s so old or has been done before and that’s what we did at Stax this time.” Sound The Alarm is packed with guest artists like Gary Clark Jr., Estelle, Anthony Hamilton and The Avila Brothers, and in an unusual move for a Jones album, many songs feature vocals. “Some of the stuff I wrote, and some of the stuff I came up with together with the people on the album,” he says. “It’s just
While Jones thinks fondly of his time with The M.G.’s, he says he’s enjoying making records more than ever now the pressure is off for him to make a name for himself and he can work with emerging musicians, who he’s aware hold him in high regard. “Yeah there’s reverence, because the M.G.’s were the house band at Stax Records, and made its name as an instrumental group. We came up with rhythms that were new and original, so people are reverent - at first at least. The good thing about it is it’s all based around the Hammond B3 organ sound. That’s kinda the glue that holds it all together.” What: Sound The Alarm out now through Stax/Universal
“No greater crime against the human race than when a father takes a razor to his own son’s face”- THE BEARDS 16 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
BookerT photo by Piper Ferguson
As far back as 1962, a teenaged Booker T. Jones fronted a band that genuinely changed the face of rock’n’roll, Booker T. & The M.G.’s. Playing the Hammond B3 organ out front of the instrumental group, Jones and his young friends were the studio band at Memphis’s Stax Records, recording the early work of Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, The Staple Singers, Sam & Dave and dozens more. The group scored their own hits like Green Onions, were one of America’s first successful inter-racial groups, and were worshipped by the biggest names in music. When he departed for solo success in 1971, Booker T. Jones left an historic legacy at Stax Records.
Primal Scream Into The Light By Benjamin Cooper
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obby Gillespie is a divisive figure, and one who has always been good for a headline. The Scotsman – member of British acts Primal Scream, The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Wake – seems capable of pissing off everyone and anyone. In 2005, Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis asked Primal Scream to sign a Make Poverty History poster, which Gillespie complied with by writing ‘Make Israel History’. (He later clarified that he isn’t antiSemitic, but supports the work of organisations like the Hoping Foundation, who look after Palestinian refugee children.) In 2007 Gillespie earned the ire of the young and loud, when he protested to Islington Council about the live music at the Alma Pub in his suburb of Hackney. At the time his protest was apparently about the quality of music on offer, criticising the repetitiveness of what was blaring out into the wee hours. Yet in recent years he’s toned it down. After years of well-documented obsession with and addiction to drugs and alcohol, the Scotsman is currently five years sober. And, funnily enough, he couldn’t be happier. “I feel great, yeah, really great,” Gillespie says. “I don’t have a problem with other people getting fucked up. By all means, do what you’ve gotta do. But it’s just not for me anymore.”
try to make interesting music, you know? If you were a painter you wouldn’t try to paint the same picture over and over. If you’re going to do that, you might as well work in a factory, because you’re never going to take the idea further. We’re working in a medium that has magical property, that’s what I think rock’n’roll is, and it can go further.” Primal Scream was last in Australia to perform at last year’s Meredith Festival, as well as a string of sideshows. Gillespie has fond memories of that tour, saying that, “the show at The Enmore was great. That was one incredible night.” Sobriety has made touring easier, with Gillespie admitting that he still has plenty of passion to inject into the live shows. “I had feelings before, but I was trying to block them for so long with drugs and alcohol. I’m happy with where I’m at now. I think I’m still quite manic – I think that you can only be any good as an artist if you are manic – but now it all gets left on stage.” Where: More Light out now through Ignition/ Inertia
The press these days only come calling when they want to know about Gillespie’s music. Five years of sobriety happens to coincide nicely with Primal Scream’s first album in five years, More Light. It’s also the band’s tenth studio LP, and in many quarters is being greeted as their finest work since 1991’s Screamadelica. There have been comparisons with last year’s Spiritualized album, Sweet Heart Sweet Light, and some of these are understandable. Both bands have a history of making music to take drugs to – to paraphrase Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce – and they share an ability to shift aesthetics and shatter expectations track by track.
“I don’t have a problem with other people getting fucked up...just not for me anymore” But More Light’s grooves have a direct quality in how they rush and bobble, recalling psychedelia and inviting the listener’s movement in a truly distinct way. Opening track ‘2013’ is the perfect example of this, with guitarist Andrew Innes’s considerable melodic swagger augmented by My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields. “We needed some space rock,” Gillespie says, “and Kevin’s the man for that. Andrew was playing the lead, and we knew that we needed something warped to come in over the top of it. There’s no one better at that than Kevin. He came in, and just got to it. He was supposed to mix the album, actually. There’s a scoop for you,” Gillespie laughs. “No one else knows that. He was supposed to mix it, but he was too busy working on MBV.” More Light saw the band reunite with DJ and producer David Holmes, who first worked with the band on XTRMNTR in 2000. Holmes is Steven Soderbergh’s composer of choice, having previously worked with the American director on Ocean’s Eleven as well as its sequels. The Northern Irishman also has a reputation as a hard taskmaster, which Gillespie says was to the benefit of Primal Scream. “We went up to Belfast with some ideas, just to see what we could get of it,” Gillespie says. “He very much pushed us, and pushed a lot of our ideas too. Some of our ideas he threw out, and that’s great. We can handle it, that kind of directness. I’d love to work with David again.” Gillespie is candid about the band’s reputation as a collective of creative chameleons. “People like to talk about how we vary things, but what it is, is that we’ve got style. And our style is to do it all over the place. If you actually listen to a song like ‘2013’, there are parts in it that go back to (1997 album) Vanishing Point, or even before.
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“I don’t think it’s that big a deal, us changing styles,” he continues. “I’m definitely not saying we’re the same as The Beatles, but think about how they used to do things – they could do ‘Helter Skelter’, then do ‘Honey Pie’, then come out with ‘Yellow Submarine’. “We can do loads of different styles, so we do. I think it’s strange to be making one type of music. That’d be really fucking dull. We just BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 17
Kirin J Callinan Now You’re a Man By Jody Macgregor
K
irin J Callinan may not be “big in America” but he’s definitely of a notable size there. Right now he’s on tour somewhere near El Paso, Texas (“Right near the Mexican border!”). His album, Embracism, is being released there via US label Terrible Records, co-founded by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear, who mixed the record with him. The album has a song called ‘Come On USA’ that sounds embittered and disdainful (beyond your typical Australian dislike of the home of the Black Eyed Peas). But apparently it goes down quite well with the American audiences he’s been playing for. “As much as anywhere else in the world, probably, there’s anti-American sentiment here in America,” says Callinan. “Especially among young people. I played in Austin last night and Houston the night before and Dallas the night before that and played ‘Come On USA’ at every one of those shows.” The song contains an excellent refrain: “I cry when I listen to Springsteen.” It’s about being disappointed in what the USA is compared to the ideals it represents; what he calls “the myth of America.” A part of me is slightly worried that
“Being a male on the road, basically homeless, my self has been centred on my masculinity.” Callinan’s being sarcastic when he name-checks Springsteen, whose anthemic songwriting is a world away from his own dirges and experimentation, but it turns out he does “absolutely love Bruce Springsteen,” as well as the America he sings about, “filled with wonder and big characters.” So that’s all right, then. If you’ve ever seen Callinan performing live you’ve probably seen him standing alone with a guitar and a small army of effects pedals, making his instrument howl and wail while building towering edifices of feedback around it. That’s not what you’ll get from Embracism, however. Working with Kim Moyes of The Presets as his producer, he’s made an album filled with plenty of synth and samples, almost industrial-sounding, but with guitar as its backbone. “Every song, at the centre of it there’s a guitar part,” he says. “I think it’s still a guitar record, I’ve just taken it further.” Embracism opens with a noise that could almost be tap-dancing or fingernails scraping frantically at a wall, which does eventually resolve into a guitar. So yes, he’s taken the instrument pretty far. Something else that’s surprising is how masculine it all sounds. The title track describes boys fighting in the playground, egged on by older students eager to see some blood and flesh and rolling around in the dirt. It only gets more homoerotic from there, with Callinan explaining that when a boy becomes a man, “a man is physical, and a man has to put his physical body to the test.” It would be an unusual song no matter who recorded it, but from someone who used to explore much more feminine subjects, as well as cross-dressing on stage, it’s unexpected. “Being in a relationship made me comfortable exploring my feminine side to the point of crossdressing and whatever else and still having a girl to go back to,” he says. “But being a male on the road, basically homeless, my self has been centred on my masculinity. I made the record in the second half of last year and that was where I was at.” All that manliness and the brash energy of its sound makes Embracism seem like unlikely exercise music, like something that will never get played in a gym but probably should. He calls ‘Stretch It Out’ in particular his attempt to write something “sporty and athletic.” If you’ve seen the videos for the album’s two singles, ‘Way II War’ (which won a j award for Best Video last year) and ‘Embracism’ you’ll have seen that Callinan is a pretty fit guy who doesn’t mind being filmed without his clothes on. When he discovered recently that his father’s family had all been nudists – a secret that popped out by accident during a story told at his uncle’s birthday party – that explained a lot. “[It] was absolutely hilarious. Yeah, and it did make sense. There’s a lot to it, it makes sense of a lot beyond the obvious for me, about what I do as an expression, but it also explains a lot of things to do with my relationship with my whole family.” He does like to lay himself bare in his music, even when he’s keeping his kit on. Between the more unconventional songs he’s placed a couple of heart-on-sleeve ballads, and the album ends with ‘Love Delay’, which becomes a straight-up rock song worthy of Springsteen himself at its climax. Sitting where they do, the more traditional style of these songs makes them seem unpredictable and honest, and gives them a power they wouldn’t normally have.
Where: Terrace Bar, Newcastle / The Standard When: Thursday June 27 / Friday June 28 And: Embracism out Friday June 28 through Siberia/Terrible Records/Remote Control 18 :: BRAG :: 519 :: 24:06:13
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“I like writing ballads,” Callinan admits. “It’s arguably the most natural way of writing for me. The ballads, I’ll write the lyrics, the vocal melodies, and put the music to it, whereas the more abstract, industrial – for want of a better word – songs I guess I’ll usually make them as an instrumental first and then find the words that fit. But yeah, you’re totally right, without the other side it would be half as interesting. It has more depth to it if I have a balance. However, that said, I don’t think the ballads are particularly conventional. They may be more like ‘singer-songwriter’ or something. The lyrical content, I’m coming from a unique place I hope.”
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sleepmakeswaves …and so they kept rising By Krissi Weis “We listen to a lot of electronic music and use it in our sound a lot and it is strange how once there are guitars and a drum kit, people expect the vocals,” bassist and all round nice guy Alex Wilson says. “I think people are taking a chance to check out our music, despite any preconceptions they might have about instrumental rock. I think the way we play a live show and the influences we incorporate into our music are different to the standard we get put within.” An ARIA nomination is a sure fire way to confirm mainstream acceptance, and sleepmakeswaves were awarded that tick of approval in 2012 in the ‘Best Hard Rock/ Metal Album’ category. “We were absolutely blown away, to the point of finding everything ridiculous because it was never, ever on the cards for us that that would happen, it was never part of the game plan,” Wilson says. “We had a great time being there but it’s a strange experience, and in a way it was lovely to get the feeling of being involved in Australian music on that level, but also on some other level, not in a horrible way, but it reinforced how weird it was in the first place. Compared to the other bands we seemed to be coming from such a different place, not a better place, but we felt like the noticeable oddity there.”
T
he most frustrating thing about presenting Sydney’s sleepmakeswaves to a new audience is the vexing and predictable discussion about the fact that they’re an instrumental rock band. It seems strange that despite their slow – but seemingly unstoppable – rise to the top of the post-rock scene (support slots for the likes of Karnivool and Boris were only the
start of their success both here and abroad), the fact that they have no vocals seems to confuse people. It’s certainly not a hindrance for the band, as people seem to be turning on to the fourpiece in droves, but it begs the question – why are people so jarred by instrumental rock music?
The game plan for sleepmakeswaves has changed a lot over their time together, but they aren’t falling into the trap of complacency or, conversely, constant frustration. “It’s better to be satisfied with what you have achieved while being cautiously optimistic about what might be around the corner than to feel dissatisfied because you’re not at the level
of the next band above you,” Wilson says. Very recently, the game changed yet again, with the band joining the roster of UK label Monotreme; the first order of business will be the UK release of …And So We Destroyed Everything on vinyl and as a double CD featuring remix disc …And Then They Remixed Everything. But for now, the focus is on writing new music and embarking on their headline tour, taking in most cities and a generous amount of regional centres (Wilson made special mention of his excitement about playing in Port Macquarie, where there is “a real hospitality and they treat you well.”) This tour is a chance for the group to step out of the support band formula of short sets designed to make a maximum impact. “There’s some stuff from the back catalogue that we’ve never played before so we’ll get that out,” he says. “We want to play those tracks for the people who’ve been with us since the last album, which is going on two years now. We’re also writing a bunch of new music as well so a significant amount of those sets will be stuff that people have never heard before or maybe only at one or two shows. That’s something you get to do on your own headline shows – to pace yourself and create a vibe and an atmosphere and you can get an ebb and flow between different parts of your sound.” Where: The Annandale Hotel / The Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle When: Friday June 28 / Saturday June 29 And: …and then they remixed everything out now on Bird’s Robe Records
Monster Truck
Luminous Fury By Krissi Weiss
W
hen the Red Hot Chili Peppers first told their friends and family what their band name was they must have been met with anything from outright laughter to harsh criticism because frankly, it’s a really fucking stupid name. But it has become synonymous with the men and their music and the same is sure to happen with Canada’s newest (and quite frankly awesome) rock export Monster Truck. Guitarist Jeremy Widerman has endured quite enough questions about the band name and laughs at the Chili Peppers being mentioned as a comparison. “Man I always use that as an example too,” he exclaims. “What a stupid fucking name but now no one flinches when they say ‘Yeah man, I’m going to see the Chilis’.” Starting out in 2009, it has taken a while to release their debut album (with two EPs preceding it) but when Furiosity finally arrived, people took notice; they debuted at number 13 on the Canadian Billboard charts and won a Juno award this year for Best Breakthrough Band – a far cry from their previous few years of trekking around North America in an old bus and playing in backwater bars. “Recognition from the industry and from our peers is such a fleeting joy,” he says. “We relished that night at the Junos and it was good for what it was but it passes. The real asset in winning that award, this is where my cold-hearted business side comes out, was the acceptance we now have with mainstream media in Canada. It was a door opener. I think a lot of people were dismissive of the band just because of the band name, they weren’t paying attention to the rock’n’roll, and they were suddenly forced to cover us.” The rock’n’roll is blistering, aurally assaulting rock reminiscent of Motörhead, RATM and The Black Crowes, but without being held back by nostalgia. It’s this formula that is working for them, as Wilderman knew it would. “There are definitely surreal moments where it’s like we just can’t believe what’s going on,” he says. “But at the same time, at least from my perspective, I truly knew we’d
“A lot of people were dismissive of the band just because of the band name, they weren’t paying attention to the rock’n’roll.” done it right and we’d reached that goal that we knew we could with this album.” After a failed recording session at Sound City Studios with Kevin Augunas, Eric Ratz (Billy Talent, Three Days Grace, Cancer Bats) helped the band achieve what they knew they wanted. The reality is, if they had’ve kept quiet, if Wilderman himself hadn’t been the first to step up and say the album sounded like shit leading to the eventual decision of their label Dine Alone to fund an entire new recording, mixing and mastering session, Monster Truck would probably not be releasing the album in Australia, not be doing so well in the charts and most definitely be Juno-less. Wilderman knows that communication has been the key so far in the band’s success and will be even more important as things continue growing. “Touring together and being together so much can be tough, and to keep things on an even keel I think the key is for us to always have an open dialogue and to bring things up in a way that’s not judgemental or attacking,” he says. “We’re gonna have to investigate this moving forward, I think it’s something that every band has to figure out. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately because I really want us to think about writing our next record and to do that I think you need to have that really fun space and open dialogue where no one is playing against each other.” What: Furiosity is out now through Dine Alone Records/Caroline.
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BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 21
arts frontline
free stuff email: ticketing@bangarra.com.au
arts news... what's goin' on around town... with Lisa Omagari and Natalie Amat
five minutes WITH
Talk us through the 2013 season of the glass cube. I have decided to split season five into two parts with part one consisting of
JAMES KERR
four performances over the month program. Dr Oliver Watts opened the season on Friday June 21 by transporting his artist studio to Oxford Art Factory where he acted as the court portrait artist. Next, I’ll be running a Free Florist in the space over the two-nights from June 28-29. We are also very excited to have Kate Vassallo taking part in season five, with a work that relies on editing, looping and remixing ‘selfie’ videos to mimic the structures of electronic music. Jack Gillbanks will finish part one of the program with a performance that focuses on the notion of developing an ethereal architecture while attempting to shatter the modernist idea of the cube.
that it is important for the program to offer up ideas, images and gestures that people will not be expecting.
Tell us about Free Florist. The Free Florist will be my third Free Fall performance and to the public will not really appear to be any thing other than a florist in the cube. It is a departure from my previous performance works that have relied more on loosely choreographed gestures with both flowers and natural materials. I also wanted to create a work that would not be bound by the cube and in order to do this I will essentially be buying flowers for people I have never met, that they can hopefully take home and appreciate beyond their night out.
This is season five of the glass cube. How has the program evolved and where to next? I decided not to apply a strongly thematic approach to the program and didn’t want to be heavy handed in my position. I feel that the documentation through the YouTube channel has become a very important tool in our ability to bridge the gap between the general public and performance art. I would really like to see Free Fall expand beyond the cube into other areas of the venue as well as potentially inviting more collaborative approaches into the program.
What kind of interaction and reaction will audiences have with the work on offer? I think this season we have a good balance of performances that both invite audience participation and interaction and works that also use the cube as a barrier or stage. I think
What: Free Fall Where: Oxford Art Factory When: June 28-29; July 5-6; July 12-13 More: oxfordartfactory.com
How does Free Fall challenge the notion of the ‘white box’ gallery space? I think that Free Fall is an excellent opportunity for emerging artists and practitioners to test their ideas and to extend their existing practices external to the pressures of the ‘white cube’ gallery space. It offers up a fresh context where the audience is exposed to something new and different. It is inviting and excepting of critical theory and analysis however it does not rely on it as a measure of its success.
Bangarra Dance Theatre is currently presenting an edgy, physically demanding performance at the Opera House, but best be quick to get in on the action because they’re wrapping up their Sydney season very very soon! Blak, choreographed by Steven Page and Daniel Riley McKinley draws on the artists’ urban perspective, telling the stories of Indigenous Australia in a conceptually rich work set out in three separate parts: Scar, Yearning and Keepers. We’ve got one double pass to give away to the final Sydney performance on Saturday June 29. To win, simply email ticketing@bangarra.com.au with BRAG in the subject line.
Oliver Watts, 2012, portrait. Courtesy of Chalk Horse
A
ll your voyeuristic fantasies are about to come true. Well, if you’re an Oxford Art Factory-going performance art enthusiast that is. Free Fall, turns the glass cube at OAF into a stage that plays host to a program of live installations. This may be one of the very few times we’re openly encouraged to stop and stare; patrons can catch a dose of portraiture, floristry, animated ‘selfies’ and experimental movement before and after gigs courtesy of Free Fall’s fifth season. We caught five with curator and artist James Kerr to catch up on all the goings on.
BLAK! TIX! WIN!
GAFFA GETS COSMIC
Make sure you head down to Gaffa Gallery this Thursday June 27 for the opening night of Cosmic Orb Weavers, an installation of sculptures and geometric drawings by emerging artist Michelle Genders. Taking inspiration from today’s electronic revolution and increased knowledge of outer space, the exhibition tells the story of a weaver who traversed two dimensional spaces, “brain buzzing, breathing shallow, eyes flicking. Immersed in maps of data, webs of knowledge and virtual social networks.” gaffa.com.au for more.
Interior. Leather Bar
Margaret Preston, Flapper, 1925
QUEER SCREEN
James Franco! Yum! Thanks to Queer Screen, punters will be able to catch the curly lock-sporting babe in controversial filmmaker Travis Mathews’ latest film Interior. Leather Bar. Mathews’ most recent cinematic feat features scrumptious Franco acting out what the director envisaged where deleted scenes from Richard Friedkin’s 1980 cult flick Cruising – a frightening cinematic masterpiece forced to cut 40 minutes of hard-core gay S&M footage to avoid an X rating. This Thursday June 27 Queer Screen will present a double-billed screening of both Interior. Leather Bar and Cruising at the Oxford Queer Cinema at the Oxford Hotel. Tickets available via daisytickets.com and for more info visit facebook.com/pages/Queer-Screen
AGNSW MODERNS
Everything old is new again. Well, sort of. The Art Gallery of New South Wales is launching blockbuster Sydney Moderns: Art For A New World on July 6, which promises to deliver a retrospective of local modernist works produced between 1915 and 1941. Think a CoFA kids’ delight with a lineup including Margaret Preston, Grace Cossington Smith and Roy de Maistre. Keen for more? AGNSW is running a lecture series presented by collector Claudia Chan Shaw, Craig Judd and Chiaki Ajoka among others who will discuss topics ranging from modern women to art deco and parallel Japanese Modernism. For more details visit artgallery.nsw.gov.au
SAY HELLO FIRST
Oi lads! Courtship. Reckon it’s still worth the effort? Landing at the Old Fitzroy Theatre on July 2 and running until July 27, Say Hello First offers a sexy, sassy and completely outrageous look at the games we play in modern-day relationships. Delivered by emerging theatre company Cupboard Love, co-creators Danielle Maas and Joe Kernahan are set to offer audiences a fly-onthe-wall view at the sometimes absurd ‘rules’ we let govern the way we navigate the dating scene. Tickets and more info available at sitco.net.au 22 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
Story Club
STORY CLUB
Hosted by The Hamster Wheel’s Ben Jenkins, the next Story Club comes to The Raval (upstairs at the Macquarie Hotel) on Monday June 24 with the theme ‘Why Don’t You Make Me’. What’s the deal? Invited orators write a story around the given theme, sit in an armchair, read it to you, then you LOL. This month’s lineup features professional bandana-wearer and occasional columnist Peter Fitzsimons, erotic fan fiction expert Eddie Sharp, Hungry Beast’s Kristen Drysdale, The Checkout’s Zoe Norton Lodge and Patrick Magee of Project 52. Things promise to get “revolutionary”. Tickets available at storyclub.eventbrite.com
LIVE AND DEADLY
It’s time to congratulate Koori Radio 93.7FM for representing Aboriginal Australia for 20 years. To celebrate, Carriageworks is joining forces with Gadigal Information Service to present a month long program, Live and Deadly, comprising art, music and an industry forum designed to engage traditional storytelling and thought provoking debate. And lest we forget about the importance the suburb of Redfern plays in all this. Live and Deadly will explore the iconic moments in Redfern’s colourful history, including Keating’s Redfern Speech, The Apology, the Redfern Riots, Mabo’s victory and the life of The Block. Head to carriageworks.com.au for more info.
THE COURTIERS LIVE ON
Tom Stoppard’s classic Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is coming to Sydney Theatre Company this August. Pairing Stoppard/Shakespeare master Toby Schmitz with rocker/West End Judas Tim Minchin, the Simon Phillips (Arcadia, Love Never Dies)-directed production follows two hapless courtiers that were childhood friends of
Hamlet in their last days, running parallel to the main action of the Shakespearean tragedy. It should be riotously entertaining, dramatic and more than a little absurd. The season kicks off on August 6 and runs until September 14. For tickets and more info head to sydneytheatre.com.au
FOX FORCE FIVE
A new night of film and music is about to land at the Vanguard. Fox Force Five will screen five short films from some of the country’s hottest young filmmakers followed by presenting live sets from bands that will belt out iconic film songs taken from Tarantino and Lynch flicks. Wednesday July 3 will see shorts Emily (dir. Benjamin Matthews), Mathilda (dir. Matt Chuang), The Exchange (dir. Matt Bird) and Inferno (dir. Stephen McCallum), with the fifth yet to be announced. Tunage will be provided by local musos Jodi Phillis, Tim Oxley, Jai Pyne, Damien Lane, Anthea Varigos and Nicole Smede. Tickets available at vanguard.com.au and more info on Fox Force Five at facebook.com/ theFoxForceFive
BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 23
ARTS FEATURES
Man Of Steel The King Daddy Of All Superheroes By Alicia Malone
I
t’s hard to believe that the character of Superman has been around for 75 years. First appearing in a DC Comics book, we’ve seen the superhero in movies, TV shows, artworks, and in costume form on both small kids and adult-sized ones. With a character this iconic, everyone knows about him, the origins of his story and his pop-cultural reign as a globally-recognisable do-gooder. When director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) was approached by producer royalty Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) and writer David S. Goyer to steer the ship on Man Of Steel, he was quite naturally nervous. “We said ‘OK let’s do it!’ and then I sat there like, oh shoot, I have to make a Henry Cavill as Superman in Man Of Steel
Superman movie!” he says, laughing, “It’s scary. More because I’m a fan and I want him to work, I want him to be awesome. He’s the first, the most powerful, and the most mythological. He has all this power in pop culture, whether it’s Roy Lichtenstein or Andy Warhol, everyone has done Superman. And so I guess for me, that was the most nerve-racking point, to say, how do I honour that. And I think the way we did it was just to try and make the most awesome movie we could, one that’s emotional, that’s epic, cinematic,” says Snyder. When it came to the kind of tone Man Of Steel was to have, Snyder was on the same page as Nolan and Goyer. Just as they had done with the character of Batman in their trilogy,
the producing/writing pair wanted to ground Superman within the reality of today’s world. “We tried to pretend that we’d never seen a Superman movie, that we were starting from scratch, as if we’d just found these comic books and thought ‘This would be a great character for a superhero movie!’ “When Chris and David pitched me the movie, the take immediately was grounding him. Finding the why of him and his place in the world. What does it mean to be Superman in our world? What would he change? How would it affect politics or religion if suddenly there was a guy from another planet who could do amazing impossible things? We made a naturalistic Superman, so in that way he’s just more complicated and complex, and by being more complex he becomes slightly darker. He’s not just black and white, he’s got some grey in there. He’s trying to figure out his place in the world. And I think with Superman, the smallest amount of that goes a long way because people have never seen him in that way. To make him real, there has to be nuances,” says Snyder. But despite the ultra realistic take on the character, Snyder insists fans will still recognize the familiar alien superhero. “It’s an origin story done in a way that you’ve never seen, but the mythology is consistent. It is 75 years in the making, so we were not going to say ‘ah whatever, the mythology doesn’t matter.’ We endeavor to make it respectable.”
G IV EA W AY S
With such a well known story and iconic characters, it wasn’t hard for Snyder to attract big name stars to the film. Man Of Steel’s blue chip cast comprises Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Clark’s adoptive parents, Pa and Ma Kent, Russell Crowe as Superman’s biological father Jor-El, Michael Shannon as the villain General Zod and Amy Adams as Clark’s love interest Lois Lane. “Superman is strong enough so I can say to Kevin Costner
REALITY! TIX! WIN!
‘OK, you’re going to play Pa Kent’ and he’s like ‘OK that’s cool!’ Or I could say to Russell Crowe ‘You’re going to play Jor-El’ and he says ‘Wow, Jor-El, that’s awesome.’ Or, ‘Hey Amy you’re going to play Lois Lane.’ I don’t have to explain who they are. Even though we have a different take than they’re used to seeing, they’re still like ‘OK I’m in, how do I make it as cool as I can?’ That’s fun,” says Snyder. The most important casting, of course, was the title role of Superman. Snyder auditioned many actors using an old Superman spandex suit from Christopher Reeve as the ultimate test. When the virtually unknown Henry Cavill walked in wearing it, the director knew he had found his man. “We didn’t care whether the actor was unknown or not. When he put on that suit it was the difference between someone dressing up like Superman, and someone just feeling like Superman. Henry came into the room in his Superman costume and we knew… it was Superman.” Man Of Steel has already been released in the US, to massive box office takings of over $100 million. But reviews of the film have been mixed, some critics praising the realistic take on the character, while others disliking the serious tone, saying Superman is not supposed to be this grim. Snyder doesn’t worry too much about reviews though, as long as his audience is entertained. And, he says, that’s all he wants them to be. “The thing I want people to remember is that we made a giant movie, that’s all things – it’s emotional, it’s a spectacle, it’s also about character – in a story that hopefully honors who he is, the king daddy, the top of the pyramid of all superheroes.” What: Man Of Steel opens in cinemas on Thursday June 27
H Reality
ere at BRAG we understand your obsession with TV and star-studded culture. And just in case you haven’t realised it yet, Matteo Garrone’s latest film Reality will unglue your face from the TV before slapping it with, well, reality. Garrone pulls us into the world of Luciano, A Neapolitan fishmonger who supplements his crappy income by scamming bigwigs with his wife Maria. That is, before Luciano lands a spot as a contestant on a Big Brother-like reality show and consequently gets swept up in Italy’s celebrity mania.
WIN!
We’ve got five double passes to give away and all you have to do is head to thebrag.com to enter. Be prepared to admit who your favourite reality TV idol is though, because that’s how you’re going to win! Reality hits cinemas July 4. 24 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
BodyArt Training
Ink And Get Inked By Denver Maxx
T
he Voice ranks pretty high amongst Australia’s most-watched television programs. Appealing to all walks of life, it is as mainstream as mainstream. But in the midst of this by-the-numbers format is the tattoo-covered and piercing-riddled Joel Madden. “So what?” I hear you asking, but it’s important to remember that it’s only been 20 years or so since tattoos and piercings have wended their way into the mainstream. “The street culture has changed dramatically – tattoos were frowned upon back then, but as times changed they became more accepted and now create new employment opportunities for people with great artistic skills,” explains BodyArt Training master trainer, Richard Anthony.
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BodyArt Training was founded in Melbourne in 1994 and is the only registered training organisation to provide specialised training; the company also follows strict guidelines from ASQA (Australian Skills Quality Authority), which has ensured it retains its reign. Add to this the fact that all trainers are qualified master piercers with a combined 30 years of industry experience, and you’ve got yourself one serious industry competitor. It’s important to remember that just like the music industry, body art was born from cultural tradition – it was never formally
structured like other professional pursuits such as medicine and law. However, in such an over-governed society where you need an official license to practice anything, BodyArt Training has worked with consistent passion to professionalise the body art industry. “Initially it was tough, but we have been involved in this arena for a while, and we work closely with the PTAA (Professional Tattooing Association of Australia), BPAA (Body Piercing Association Australia), relevant Health Departments and are also part of the Artsafe Council.” BodyArt Training provides a wide range of courses from Cosmetic Tattoo, Specialist Body Piercing to Micro Dermal Implanting. The courses have been designed by the likes of Anthony and often simulate real on the job situations to best prepare students to enter the workforce. “Our number one courses are our Specialist Body Piercing Course and our Maintain Infection Control Courses. These are specifically written for potential Body Piercers and Tattooists to help them gain the appropriate skills to be able to work safely and efficiently in the skin penetration industry. In addition, BodyArt Training run a range of small courses appropriate to the body art industry.” Today, tattoos and piercings are almost
commonplace, but it doesn’t mean they lack any edge. Anthony recounts his personal experience: “After 13 years working in the industry there has been a lot of challenging times and crazy characters. Some of the most interesting and artistic work we do are corset piercings for photographic purposes.” And of course, as one would expect, Anthony loves endowing his own body with tattoos and piercings. His favourite piece of body art? “I personally got a new portrait on my leg done by the amazing Teneile Napoli.”
Finally, the master trainer tells us why BodyArt Training should be the first choice for aspiring body artists: “Do what you want to do in life and if that’s body art, then give us a call because this is our passion and has been for the last 19 years!”
What: BodyArt Training More: bodyarttraining.com.au for full list of courses and locations
Arab Film Festival
DC Willans
[FILM] A Renaissance of Arab Screen Culture By Joseph Rana
[VISUAL ARTS] Airbrush Mastery By Shannon Connellan
D
C Willans had painted portraits before, but no one this illustrious. One afternoon, the young UK airbrush artist found himself commissioned by an unlikely patron. “I ended up at Amy Winehouse’s house ’round Camden, randomly. I was doing some work for her in her home, we got talking, I showed her my website and there were portraits in there. She was like, would you do me one? I was like… ‘of course’.” Willans, whose painting now resides in the Winehouse family home, painted the portrait in his signature style, using an airbrush. A lover of detail, Willans aspires to the ranks of Audrey Flack and Chuck Close, the photorealists, who paint realistic depictions through meticulous study of photographs. Willans combines photorealism with a pop art aesthetic, a heavily commercial style which pairs well with his love of famous faces like Marilyn Munroe, Audrey Hepburn and David Bowie. “It’s the challenge of trying to paint something exactly how it is; it was always a fascination for me, trying to get it spot on.” With airbrush in hand, Willans straddles the creative and the commercial, celebrating the very tool many disparaging artists have worked so hard to debunk with unflattering abstraction. But Willans is no naïve newcomer to a brush, painting oil landscapes from the ludicrously young age of nine. His search for the perfect, realist technique would lead him, aged 17, to Australia. “I always wanted my work to look a certain way, I always wanted the softness and the shading like that,” he says. “To see this guy [in Australia] with the airbrush… It was exactly what I’d been looking for for so long.” Willans goes one step further off the canvas to the living, breathing gallery space of human bodies. The natural progression for the airbrush, Willans sprays highlydetailed body art pieces, from exposed muscles to animal fur, all straight on the skin. Willans sprang to the consciousness of Sydneysiders at Jurassic Lounge this past April, exhibiting his work The Changing Faces Of David Bowie, three models painted into three of the Thin White Duke’s most iconic looks. Willans never goes for want of models, with people throwing their kit off to get airbrush. “Yeah people love it ‘ey! Generally I don’t have any problem finding models at all, there’s always a few keen to get on board,” he says. For those yet to delve into the DC Willans experience, Paddington’s Global Gallery will play host to a big, bold exhibition of his work from June 24 – July 7, with DJ sets, burlesque and body art mingling with his
DC Willans’ A Rose Called Marilyn
A
s the Arab Film Festival Australia adds to its 12-year journey another glorious chapter, Festival Co-directors Mouna Zaylah and Fadia Abboud prepare to enliven audiences with films dealing with a range of issues from anger, violence, angst and inequality to gratitude, recognition, faith and peace. “We want to challenge our audience – we want the festival to continue to break down barriers and address the stereotypes even amongst the Arab community,” says Zaylah. “The Arab Film Festival Australia is where these films can be seen and the more a film gets screened, the more encouraging it is for filmmakers to develop their craft and simultaneously grow audiences for the stories [that] come from the Arab world,” continues Abboud.
wall-mounted works. “Basically the whole concept was to have an exhibition which was a little bit more fun and interactive. I mean, with exhibitions, it’s a generalisation, but you walk in, there’s artwork on the wall and that’s pretty much all you’re getting, do y’know what I mean?” Gallery goers can expect to meet some of Willans’ existing catalogue, as well as some brand new works including a canvas graced by a surprise Australian model and an 18th century burlesque pop art piece, to be unveiled by burlesque dancers. Willans’ works will also be best viewed with beats, with sets from Spice Cellar regular Garth Linton, a buddy of the artist. And then there’s Show Night on Saturday June 29 – the full extent of which is best experienced rather than described.
Since its inception in 2001, the Festival has been a driving force in aiding international renaissance of Arab screen culture and film production. Their vision, as Zaylah explains, is to show “Arab films that you can’t see anywhere else, to Arab and non-Arab audiences in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. There is no other public Arab cultural event that is celebrated for bringing diverse audiences together by creating a space where issues are debated, discussed and explored for their artistic, political and social impact.” Although this year’s Festival doesn’t have an official theme, one might find the idea of unity within diversity to be a pretty obvious thread shared by all eleven films on offer. “We have programmed films from different countries of the Arab world, so you’ll see a film from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and a world premiere short film from Australia,” says Zaylah. According to Zaylah and Abboud, there are two standout films that offer alternate representations
of Arab subjects across culture and narrative. The first, Merzak Allouache-directed Algerian film The Repentant tells the story of “a person that is generally feared and never depicted on screen except for the daily news... You have to decide for yourself if this man deserves your pity or your forgiveness,” says Abboud. The second, In My Mother’s Arms, a documentary film from Iraq directed by Atia and Mohamed Al-Daradji. Abboud emphasises that the movie “should encourage you to see a story from the street, from the daily lives of the people that have lived through hell. This is the story of an Iraqi man who plays mother and father to some of the thousands of orphans this invasion has created.” This is not to say that The Repentant and In My Mother’s Arms should be the only films on your radar. Opening and closing night films should also rank high on your must-see list. After the Battle, an Egyptian movie that “delves deep into society’s post revolution trauma” opens the Festival while Rough Hands, a love story from Morocco “closes the festival making you feel like no dream is too big”. In essence, the Arab Film Festival Australia brings to the fore contemporary issues surrounding socio-cultural, political and personal agendas and experiences. “Many [films] talk about the impact of war on individuals and on the environment they live in. There are also films about relationships, clash of class and the challenges between generations. The Festival will quench your thirst and suck you into Arab life, love and realities,” says Zaylah. What: Arab Film Festival Australia Where: Riverside Theatres When: June 27-30 More: arabfilmfestival.com.au
After seeing many a stock standard exhibition, Willans saw an opportunity, tiring of the age old turn up, view, ponder, leave art gallery routine. He found himself frustrated by the limitations of exhibition, wishing for a tad more oomph. “You can only admire something for so long,” he says. “You feel like there could be a little bit more, a little more entertainment value… rather than just turn up, look at the art work, leave.” What: DC Willans Artworks Experience
Where: Global Gallery When: June 24 – July 7; Show Night Saturday June 29 More: dcwillans-artworks.com The Repentant BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 25
Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.
■ Theatre
ANGELS IN AMERICA Until July 27
PRESENTS
Angels in America (Part One: Millennium; Part Two: Perestroika) is the most engrossing, inspiring, epic piece of theatre you’re likely to catch this year. If you can afford it, go see it. If you need more convincing, keep reading. Tony Kushner’s 1993 play won that year’s Pulitzer (and ten-plus other awards) and has entered the theatrical canon as one of the greatest plays of the past half century, tackling a fistful of Grand Themes head-on: AIDS; God; religion; love and the State of America. And yet it’s also very, very funny – as funny as Woody Allen at his most neurotic and philosophical.
And The Silver Dollars EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT!
STARTS JUNE 27 7PM
Ostensibly a story about a young gay couple in New York – Jewish Louis (Mitchell Butel) and WASP Prior (Luke Mullins) – and the love quadrangle they become embroiled in with a closeted, steadfast Mormon lawyer and his Valium-addled wife, Angels in America is also an exploration of the conflict between capitalism and communism, religion and secularism, and fantasy and reality. Prior Walter – camp, dry and selfdeprecating – is dying of AIDS when he’s chosen by an angel (in whom he doesn’t believe) to be a prophet. I won’t spoil the plot, but safe to describe the other key players: ethically bankrupt Republican lawyer Roy Cohn (played with relish and barely-restrained fury by Marcus Graham); finger-snapping uber-queen Belize (played by DeObia Oparei, who gets all the best jokes); and cynical Mormon mother Hannah Pitt (Robyn Nevin). Director Eamon Flack has put together a crack team of actors for Belvoir’s production – their performances are so immersive that you barely even notice the entire play is almost seven hours long (just over three hours for part one and just under four hours for part two). The sound and lighting is elaborate and impressive, in contrast to the strippedback set, a bare tiled room with set pieces being moved in and out under the lights to impress the production’s theatricality upon the audience. The transparency of the production means the emotional impact of the actors’ performance is even more powerful – the first appearance of blood is genuinely shocking, their pain is genuinely moving. It’s exhausting, but very entertaining. Nick Jarvis ■ Film
IN THE HOUSE In cinemas June 27 French director François Ozon’s 13th feature-length film In The House pays tribute to the timeless appeal of the thriller genre. Set in the intimate confines of middle-class French suburbia, the film is based on Juan Mayorga’s play The Boy In The Last Row, and shows the once enfant terrible of French cinema in a more mature repose. Driving the film’s suspense and narrative movement is the teacher-student relationship between disenchanted high school teacher, Germain (Fabrice Luchini) and Claude Garcia (Ernst Umhauer), a fresh-faced sixteen-year-old student. Claude first catches Germain’s attention with a satirical piece on his classmate’s bourgeois family,
The Holy Family. Curious and impressed by the precocious talent on his hands, Germain seeks to foster Claude’s talent by encouraging him to write more. Beginning as a critical observer, Claude ingratiates himself into the family’s dynamic, exploiting their inevitable disappointments. He soon discovers, however, that the bourgeois home possesses many allures – none more alluring than the singular scent of the middle-class woman. He falls in love with the dejected Esther Artole (Emmanuelle Seigner), the Madame Bovary-like housewife, and brings a suspenseful intimacy to Ozon’s screen world – an intimacy that’s deflated by the all-roadslead-to-this ending. In a film marked by robust performances, Umhauer stands out; the actor possesses a Machiavellian innocence that is both sincere and unnerving. Luchini’s performance is also noteworthy – as Germain, he embodies Ozon’s playfulness as a director. During an homage to Woody Allen, one of the film’s most delightful moments, Germain’s harsh criticisms expose In The House’s metacinematic irony. Possibly Ozon’s most accomplished film yet, In The House carries the risible tension of a thriller while relishing in the voyeuristic melodrama’s blurring of art and life that we are complicit in as cinema viewers. Larry Lai ■ Film
SATELLITE BOY In cinemas now Like the scanning of its celestial-viewing namesake, Catriona McKenzie’s directorial debut Satellite Boy is a touch slow. But luckily for us, what it explores is just as beautiful. The film follows the charming story of young aboriginal lad Pete (Cameron Wallaby) who journeys from the vast outback of The Kimberleys to the city with best mate Kalmain (Joseph Pedley). Satellite Boy takes viewers from rural Western Australia, through the beehive-shaped Bungle Bungle Ranges to the flames of a traditional aboriginal fire dance. As much a film about Australia’s majestic landscape as a deeply personal investigation into the hardships and sense of community within aboriginal society (most aptly explored through Pete’s respected grandfather Old Jagamarra played by David Gulpilil), Satellite Boy shows us how a young boy with big dreams can save his abandoned cinema home from the “mining mob” and ultimately, in a more general sense, himself. You’ve got to hand it to McKenzie; she knows how to lead you on a well-shot journey through some of Australia’s most iconic destinations. And after lending her talents to the critically acclaimed TV series, Redfern Now, it’s unsurprising to find her portrayal of aboriginal life to be handled with nothing but modest brilliance. Unfortunately however, like many a coming of age film, there’s a whole lot of dialogue and not much action. Overall a warming and inspirational little movie about beating the odds, Satellite Boy is a great one for the family. Kids will learn from it and if you’re anything like me, you’ll come away with the courage to go after what you really want. Jack Arthur Smith
Satellite Boy
201 MISSENDEN RD, NEWTOWN WWW.MISSPEACHES.COM.AU FACEBOOK.COM/MISSPEACHESNEWTOWN 26 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews
White Noise
TV and DVD news...what's gracing the small screen... With Nick Jarvis
Wild Babies
Vikings Never Mind The Buzzcocks
House of Cards
Niche proudly presents a live performance by
G
ame of Thrones is over for another year! Cue gnashing of teeth, tearing of hair and more wailing about how cruel George R. R. Martin is to kill off more central characters (even if they were the dullest). Where will you get your weekly serving of medieval swordplay, intrigue and sexposition now? White Noise recommends Vikings, a drama series that just wrapped up its first season on the History Channel. The storyline might not be as intricate as George R. R. Martin’s, but Vikings is equally bloodthirsty, with complex characters and the benefit of historical accuracy – as well as at least 75% more beard-plaits than GoT. If over-sexed Nordic dudes and babes with amazing hair sounds like your cup of mead, try it out. One of SBS 2’s more interesting selections this year is cock-eyed English comic Russell Howard’s Good News, which is broad enough to be relatable to an Australian audience (unlike the BBC’s venerable news satire panel show Have I Got News For You, which has been running for 23 years in the UK but is largely incomprehensible to anyone outside the UK press bubble). The show that White Noise wishes they’d pick up, though, is Never Mind the Buzzcocks, another esteemed (though hardly respectable) BBC panel show, from which the ABC’s music quiz Spicks and Specks stole its format. Buzzcocks is infinitely more sadistic, though; hosted for years by misanthropic comedian Mark Lamarr and, later, the brilliantly acid-tongued Simon Amstell, Buzzcocks’ modus operandi is to lure daft pop stars on as guests and then make merciless fun of them, while team captain Phill Jupitus lends patronising fatherly support and fellow team captain Noel Fielding injects good-natured whimsy. Seek out episodes on YouTube by searching ‘NMTB’.
And now, some recent DVD releases worth looking out for… Amour
Out now through Transmission Home Entertainment Michael Haneke’s revered, Palme d’Or winning masterpiece of love and ageing comes to DVD.
Tiny Furniture
Out August 7 on Transmission Home Entertainment If you like Girls, find Tiny Furniture – Lena Dunham’s debut feature that scored her the HBO series. It’s more of the same – the first world problems of middle class 20-somethings…in other words, your life on film.
True Blood Season 5
Out now through Warner Meet the bloodcovered Vampire Goddess Lilith and a brothel of randy fairies in the ridiculous(ly fun) sixth season of Alan Ball’s camp masterpiece.
Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake
Out now through Madman What if Finn was a girl and Jake was a cat? No freakin’ way! 16 new episodes from the greatest show for ten-yearolds (and stoned adults) of all time.
National Geographic: Wild Babies
Out now through Madman Literally everyone in the office just lost their shit over this. Tiny lions, tigers, bears and elephants – oh my!
and the
support by
half shadows tour
& Thomas William
SATURDAY 29TH JUNE THE BASEMENT Tickets available now through thebasement.com | for more details: follow @tokimonsta & NicheProductions.com.au
House of Cards: Complete First Season
Out June 27 through Universal/ Sony A US remake of a British miniseries that really hits the mark, thanks in no small part to star turns by Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, and the directorial hand of David Fincher, House of Cards is a dark, taut political thriller.
Arts Exposed What's in our diary...
MCA ARTBAR Friday June 28, Circular Quay Experimental artist Tully Arnot has guest curated this month’s MCA ARTBAR and hurrah for it’s finally here! Head to MCA this Friday June 28 for a night of visionary worlds and eccentric new realities. Lineup highlights include Chris Petro and Tim Dwyer’s aural manifestations, Christine Sun Kim’s silent opera, an audio tour with Gregory and Watts and a sculptural installation by Charles Dennington. Add to this digital technologies, projections and DJs and you’re set for one unreal evening. Visit mca.com.au/series/artbar for more information. BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 27
Album Reviews
What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK KANYE WEST
Kanye’s feeling Messianic, persecuted and pursued – Yeezus Xxxx is a howl of anguish. Whether you think he’s brilliant, ridiculous, or (more accurately) both, it makes for extremely compelling listening.
In decades to come critics will look back on Kanye West’s career as the greatest pop art project of the early 21st century. Whether he’s playing an elaborate, deep cover part or we really are witnessing the descent of a brilliant artist into megalomaniacal madness, you can’t deny that Ye makes banging beats and is always a fascinating, polarising, contradictory lyricist. Yeezus is so damn angry. For a man who got everything The College Dropout and Late Registration yearned for, he’s still “always looking like somebody stinks.” The beats on
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
ABBE MAY
Australian releases don’t come much more hotly anticipated than Empire of the Sun’s follow up to worldwide success Walking on a Dream. Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore have made us wait nearly five years but it’s like they’ve never been away. Ice On The Dune features more of the same hands-in-the-air synthpop found on its predecessor – if anything, it is more firmly focused on the mainstream market and that is no bad thing. Like the live shows that accompany its release, the duo’s second album is unashamedly brash. The new songs didn’t immediately grab me when debuted at the Sydney Opera House last month but after repeated listens the album’s best tracks worm their way into your memory and press all the right buttons. By the time festival season comes around, they’ll be ripe for a mass sing-along. Among them is ‘DNA’.. Acoustic guitars and breathy vocals at the start tread the familiar terrain of ‘We Are The People’, before a kick drum appears and you realise this could be the band’s biggest radio hit yet. There’s more of the same on ‘Alive’, which uses Steele’s falsetto and a chorus of footy chant simplicity to great effect. The next two tracks, ‘Concert Pitch’ and ‘Ice On The Dune’, are formed from the same mould of catchy melodies and flawless production so that by the time a lull comes about in the middle of the album it doesn’t matter because you’re already hooked. Empire of the Sun have picked up exactly where they left off. Forget about your hipster tendencies towards the obscure and embrace the pomp and pop of Ice On The Dune – you’ll soon love it. David Wild
Abbe May’s second album begins with ‘Hurricane Heartbeat’, a synthed-up sample of her actual pulse. And despite some critical views that Kiss My Apocalypse is the Western Australian at her most obfuscating, this is really her at her most open and raw. On ‘Tantric Romantic’ she puts aside creative stumbling blocks with the killer line “Like when he said I couldn’t make the scene / And I replaced him with a drum machine.” The delicious meter of this fuck-you is all the more tasty given our narrator has just finished confessing her love of Timberlake and K-Pop. The album’s biggest single – thus far – is ‘T.R.O.U.B.L.E’. May summons space throughout the big, mechanically resonant chorus, before creating a crushing claustrophobia in the minimal verses. Despite returning to the song for the lilting hook, it’s the promise of confinement in the verses that provides the darkest pleasure. The swagger continues on ‘Karmageddon’, where May spits, “I think you say whatever you need to / Get your fuck on and somebody to pay for you.” Further down the line, the appallingly-titled ‘Sex Tourette’s’ wobbles and wanders in something of a musical miasma, never really surpassing its promisingly snappy chorus. ‘Napalm Baby!’ packs a similar sense of teetering madness – most obviously in the veering guitar bridge – but anchors it with a dominant and simple riff. The title track is probably the tenderest cut. There’s a wounded quality to the expansive style of May’s vocals here, and it’s augmented by the bass of long time creative partner Sam Ford. This album isn’t what people have come to expect from an artist nominated for an AMP for her bluesy 2011 debut Design Desire. That kind of reaction is probably what May wants most.
Lyrically, it’s all sex and racism – and filled with contradiction at every turn. On ‘New Slaves’ he lambasts Black America for buying into consumerism and “spending everything on Alexander Wang” (without pausing to consider his role in pushing haute couture culture to the working class since Graduation; remember “I don’t see why I need a stylist / When I shop so much I can speak Italian”?). On the raunchy ‘I’m In It’ he references the Black Power sign – but in the context of putting “My fi st in her like the civil rights sign / ... And held it till the right time / And then she came like ‘aaaaaah!’”
Naming his second solo LP Departures invites many ideas of change, both musically and thematically, but nothing is too absolute or obvious here. Certainly, the title track Departures (Blue Toowong Skies) reflects on the passing of Fanning’s father (who died in January, 2011) and also touches on his brother’s 2002 death from cancer and does so in quite a beautiful, ethereal manner, almost gospel-like. Musically speaking the album’s first single, Battleships, is the most Powderfinger-like song on the LP, and while it’s not hard to hear the old band – given his voice was front and centre – Fanning has followed a more electronic avenue this time around, focusing on tighter grooves (‘Call You Home’, ‘Limbo Stick’), funkier climes (‘Drake’, ‘Zero Sum Game’, ‘Here Comes The Sadist’) and more trademark moody balladry (‘Grow Around You’). This is Bernard Fanning, however, whose name and old band have probably already made up your mind whether you’re going to buy this or not. One thing’s for sure, he’s back on the Australian musical landscape and is here for the staying. Bob Gordon
Bliss N Eso are quickly outgrowing Australian hip hop. On their fifth album, the band has embraced expansive production, rock beats, uplifting choruses and popular samples. Circus in the Sky aims for the stars. The unlikely voice of Charlie Chaplin and his speech from 1940 film The Great Dictator starts proceedings in rousing fashion. Daniel Merriweather sings on the soulful ‘Can’t Get Rid of This Feeling’ and ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ takes a funky ‘70s rock riff as a foundation for some downto-earth rhyming about the comfort of familiarity. Both are instantly likeable and it’s no wonder the latter track gave the boys their highest chart debut. B’N’E are still capable of the odd clunky couplet and lyrical cliché – hear Eso on ‘Animal Kingdom’ for example: “I set the kitchen ablaze / And take to the stage like Ricky Gervais ... Tell it like it is in a world gone mad / I paint the town red like my girl on rag”. But these lazy slips are occasional and can be forgiven considering the effort that has gone into the album as a whole. Getting signoff on the Chaplin sample was far from easy as, presumably, was coaxing NYC rap god Nas into contributing. His verse on ‘I Am Somebody’ is as good as any he has committed to record in the last few years. Circus… is humourous too – Australian heavyweights 360, Pez, Seth Sentry and Drapht sound like they’re having a blast together on record for the first time on ‘Reservoir Dogs’ while DJ Izm shows what he can do with some funnies from ‘Loosest Aussie’ Alex Williamson. Bliss, Eso and Izm are classy ringleaders and provide plenty of entertainment under the big top of Circus In The Sky. David Wild
By Benjamin Cooper
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK MAYA JANE COLES Comfort I/AM/ME
London based DJ/ producer Maya Jane Coles has been gradually popping up on festival bills across the globe, collecting accolades such as Queen of the Underground from dance titles like Mixmag, not to mention a neat swag of critically lauded singles and a DJ Kicks compilation under her belt. Thankfully, the wait for an LP from this precocious producer is over, and Comfort showcases the enchantingly melodic, shimmering brand of house Coles has
28 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
honed to perfection. Complex without being pretentious, shamelessly smooth and with a darkly charming landscape that steals the best elements from right across dance music, Comfort is, quite simply, Coles putting her best foot forward. Lead single ‘Everything’ featuring Karin Park is rooted in pure house groove; Park’s vocals are eerily reminiscent of The Knife’s Karin Andersson. Coles tentatively straddles pop sensibilities to great success, with Park’s vocals lending just enough quirkiness and uniqueness to keep it from going too far into mainstream territory. The same ethos is applied to ‘Burning Bright’ featuring Kim Ann Foxman, a track that couldn’t match its title more if it tried. Meanwhile, ‘Blame’ featuring Nadine Shah makes for mournfully beautiful
listening; dub influences creep in and out and Coles keeps this one so elegantly restrained that you can’t help but become utterly entranced as the melody and aching vocals lure you in. Tricky also makes an appearance here on the slow burning ‘Wait For You’, but it’s nowhere near the highlight – especially when you have the stunning, almost jazz-tinged punch to the heart that is ‘When I’m In Love’ featuring Thomas Knights, which follows. Comfort is a debut that keeps on giving; each track oozes a classy, innovative touch that’s fresh and interesting. Resisting hitting repeat is futile. Marissa Demetriou
Nick Jarvis
CITY AND COLOUR
Circus in the Sky Illusive
Departures Dew Process/ Universal
Following the break up of Powderfinger in 2011, Bernard Fanning was in no real rush to put out an album, though there was no doubt pressure for him to do so. Instead he resided in Madrid with his wife and young daughter, no doubt reflecting on what had been and what was to come.
‘Black Skinhead’ sees him teetering on the edge of a breakdown – a directionless spray of bile over the beat from Marilyn Manson’s ‘Beautiful People’. ‘I Am A God’ ends with nearly unlistenable screams over menacing bass. But amidst the fury there’s the (intentionally?) hilarious and crude lines about “Eatin’ Asian pussy / All I need was sweet’n’sour sauce” and demanding that you “Hurry up with ma damn croissants!”
BLISS N ESO
BERNARD FANNING
Kiss My Apocalypse MGM
Ice On The Dune EMI
Highlight ‘Blood on the Leaves’ sees Ye sample Nina Simone’s upsetting, revolutionary lynching tale ‘Strange Fruit’ and juxtapose it (banally) against lyrics about the dissolution of a sexual relationship that bring to mind the themes of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Yeezus are stripped-back, heavy, industrial, electronic; it sounds like Yeezy’s been listening to dubstep, but he’s not raving, he’s ranting. This is not easily consumable pop music by a long shot.
Yeezus Universal
The Hurry and The Harm Dine Alone Records
For all the connotations of a complicated life that Dallas Green puts forward in his music, he doesn’t come across as a twisted artist, wracked by a pain unfathomed by us mere mortals. In fact, in interviews, he seems like a pretty well-balanced individual. He’s just a man who really digs sad songs. There are millions of us out there, and Dallas Green, in his City and Colour guise and with his former band Alexisonfire, has been giving us melancholy folk music to wallow in for a decade now. The prolific songwriter has recorded eight albums (four with Alexisonfire and four solo efforts as City and Colour) over the last ten years with his latest, The Hurry and The Harm released on Dine Alone Records, the same label that’s released all of his solo work from his debut 2005 LP Sometimes. Centred around his acoustic guitar and his lilting voice, The Hurry and The Harm meanders through folky, finger-picking moments that would make Nick Drake proud (the beautiful ‘Take Care’), through to fuzzy, bluesy rock’n’roll assaults (lead single ‘Thirst’). The album isn’t so much a departure from his 2011 album Little Hell but a continuation. All the additional instrumentation that featured on his previous LP is still present, but it feels refined. With studio help from the likes of Bo Koster (My Morning Jacket) and Jeff Lawrence (The Raconteurs), it’s warmer and fuller, with Green’s reverbdrenched vocals playing a starring role. Thematically, the insecurity and doubt that littered his previous work has ceded some ground. Green sounds quietly confident and stronger in 2013 and even gives a shot to the faceless internet haters on the upbeat ‘Commentators’. There’s nothing really new about The Hurry and The Harm but why would you want there to be? Rick Warner
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... PULP - His 'n' Hers DAVID BOWIE - Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars FEVER RAY - Fever Ray
SUPERGRASS - Supergrass BEASTIE BOYS - Paul's Boutique
live reviews
SECRET SOUNDS PRESENTS
What we've been out to see this week...
FOALS WITH SPECIAL GUEST
CONVERSE GET LOUD: THE KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW, PALMS May St Warehouse, St Peters Thursday June 13
Converse sure know how to throw a party. Descending into the steamy narrow room of St Peters’ May St Warehouse, there was pizza being handed around, a never ending supply of Budweiser and Sailor Jerry Dark ‘n’ Stormies, and people already taking to the dance floor to shake it out to some loose rock’n’roll. Oh, plus there were at least ten photographers and videographers circling the room, followed by anxious assistants clutching release forms, for the whole free party was in aid of Converse sourcing material for their next TVC. Not that anyone minded – we’ll all happily take on roles as extras in an advert for a night of free liquor and great tunes. By 9pm folk were already playing up to type, throwing down impromptu dance battles and posing with aplomb, hair whipping about and beer bottles held high. Palms are one of the finer acts to emerge from Sydney’s explosion of scrappy, shambling punk-type bands. Ripping through their still-modest catalogue, Palms
were a lot tighter than compatriots like Raw Prawn and Straight Arrows, and sounded incredible in the tightly packed room, with the catchy quiet/loud dynamic of ‘This Last Year’ a fitting closer to a toasty warm-up set. Canadian hellraisers The King Khan & BBQ Show were coming by the Converse party after playing at Goodgod that night, which meant a bit of a wait for the faithful – luckily there was plenty of beer left to see us through the gap. The jangly punk duo has a well-deserved reputation for causing chaos – their last show at the Opera House dissolved into a food fight and precipitated the temporary break up of the band. Luckily for us, they’ve patched things up and are ready to get loose once more, with King Khan taking to the stage shirtless and garbed in an amazing, sparkling, psychedelic crown and cape combo. I’m sure Converse wanted things to get riotous, and they picked the right band, because they had the crowd howling at the roof and preparing for a very painful Friday morning by the time they’d finished tearing through their set of doo wop punk rock. Thanks for the party, Converse! Nick Jarvis
SAT 28 SEPT SUN 29 SEPT T S O LD O U
ENMORE TICKETS ON SALE NOW FROM USUAL OUTLETS
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FOALS #1 ALBUM HOLY FIRE OUT NOW
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BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 29
snap sn ap
dead air
13:06:13 :: FBi Social :: Kings Cross Hotel 248 William St 9331 9900
PICS :: KC
jess dunbar
PICS :: KC
up all night out all week . . .
pear shape
PICS :: HL
13:06:13 :: Brighton Up Bar :: Level 1/77 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9572 6322
the bellrays PICS :: AH
the black angels the laurels & zeahorse
15:06:13 :: The Enmore Theatre :: 118-132 Enmore Rd Newtown 95503666 30 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
PICS :: HL
14:06:13 :: Brighton Up Bar :: Level 1/77 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9572 6322
14:06:13 :: Manning Bar :: Manning Rd University Of Sydney 9563 6000 :: ABOUT LST NIGHT :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAGNAN :: ASHLEY MAR :: TH AMA :: NG LEU RY HEN :: CLARKE :: AVERIE HARVEY
snap sn ap
pluto jonze
PICS :: ALN
up all night out all week . . .
abbe may
PICS :: AM
12:06:13 :: The Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi Beach 91307247
PICS :: HL
the red paintings
katie noonan
14:06:13 :: The Hi-Fi :: Entertainment Quarter 122 Lang Rd Moore Park 8683 2301
PICS :: HL
14:06:13 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 9332 3711
16:06:13 :: Venue 505 :: 280 Cleveland St Surry Hills :: ABOUT LST NIGHT :: KATRINA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY MAR :: NAN MAG TH AMA :: NG RY LEU CLARKE :: AVERIE HARVEY :: HEN
BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 31
g g guide gig g
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
Kirin J Callinan
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Hammer Head With Lily Dior Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:30pm. $16.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
FRIDAY JUNE 28
The Standard, Surry Hills
'Embracism' Tour
Kirin J Callinan
+ Standish/Carlyon MONDAY JUNE 24 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK
Leah Flanagan + Jordan Leser Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:00pm. free. Songsonstage Ft: Dean Ackerman + Satoru + Helmut Uhlmann + Chris Brookes + Massimo Presti Kellys On King, Newtown. 7:00pm. free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Latin & Jazz Open Mic
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Frankie’S World Famous House Band Frankie's Pizza, Sydney. 9:00pm. free.
TUESDAY JUNE 25 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Old School Funk And Groove Night Venue 505, Surry Hills. 11:20am. free.
THURSDAY JUNE 27 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK Ngaiire Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:00pm. $16. Peter Head Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks. 8:00pm. free.
ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK
8:00pm. $20. World Bar, Kings Cross. 7:00pm. free.
Coopers Live & Local Ft: David Lang + Doggin It + Andy Brown + Jess Dunbar Duo Lizotte's Dee Why, Dee Why. 7:00pm. $10. Darkness Reigns + Akuma'S Kinder + Emily Levelle Valve Bar, Tempe. 7:00pm. free. Gypsy & The Cat Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst, Sydney. 8:00pm. $25. Lunchbreak Ft: Presented By Alberts + World'S End Press FBi Social, Sydney. 1:00pm. free. Mark Travers Orient Hotel, Sydney. 9:00pm. free. Reckless Scruffy Murphy's Hotel, Sydney. 11:00pm. free. Sideways Through Sound 5th Birthday Ft. Sister Jane+ Daniel Darling & The Poltergeist + more Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. free. 8:00pm.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Jonathon Jones The Orient, The Rocks, Sydney. 9:00pm. free. Moonshakes W Fascinator + The Love Junkies + Marlon Zando + Julia Why? The Rider The Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10:35am. free.
Jordan C Thomas Quartet + Christine Jane (Single Launch) + Red Cavalry FBi Social, Sydney. 8:00pm. $10. Musos' Club Jam Night
Carousel Inn Hotel, Rooty Hill. 8:00pm. free. Rory O'Donoghue'S One Man Show Lizotte's Dee Why. 7:00pm. $34. Songsonstage Ft: Peach Montgomery + Satoru + + Guests Forest Lodge Hotel. 7:00pm. free. Songsonstage Ft: Andrew Denniston + + Guests Red Lion Hotel, Rozelle. 7:30pm. free. Songwriter Sessions Ft: John Chesher + Zachariah Sayed + + Guests Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta. 7:00pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Alex Hopkins Open Mic Night Northies Cronulla Hotel. 7:30pm. free. Andy Mammers Dee Why Hotel. 7:00pm. free. Dave White The Orient, The Rocks. 9:30pm. free. Designer Mutts EP Launch + Udays Tiger + Doc Holiday Takes The Shotgun Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8:00pm. $10. Gary Johns Scruffy Murphy's Hotel, Sydney. 10:00pm. free. Geoff Rana Australian Hotel And Brewery, Rouse Hill. 9:30pm. free. Greg Agar Harbord Beach Hotel, Freshwater. 7:00pm. free. Heath Burdell Trio Maloney's Hotel, Sydney. 9:30pm. free. Jordan C Thomas Quartet + Christine Jane (Single Launch) + Red Cavalry FBi Social, Sydney. 8:00pm. $10. Lint + Bin Juice + Hustle Bones + The Make Up Valve Bar, Tempe. 7:00pm. free. Matt Jones Open Mic Night Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 7:00pm. free. Michael McGlynn Open Mic Night Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point. 7:00pm. free. Mick Harvey + Louis Tillet Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 8:00pm. free. Mono The Hi-Fi, Moore Park. 8:00pm. $45.50. Renae Stone O'Malleys Hotel, Kings Cross. 9:30pm. free. Sarah Paton Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. Scott Donaldson Campbelltown Catholic Club. 6:00pm. free. Splashh + Fascinator Goodgod Small Club, Chinatown. 8:00pm. $25.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 26 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK Musos Club Jam Night
Gold Fields
“You should consider having sex with a bearded man” - THE BEARDS 32 :: BRAG :: 518 : 24:06:13
Josh Rawiri
FRIDAY JUNE 28 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK
Josh Rawiri Bar 100, The Rocks. 6:00pm. free. Renae Stone Customs House Bar, Sydney. 7:00pm. free. Songwriting Society Of Australia Showcase Ft: The Belle Havens + Satoru + Ryan Thomas + Gabriella Brown + Pete Scully Mars Hill Cafe, Parramatta. 8:00pm. $15. Sydney Blues Society Ft. Tony Pedros & The Hawks Botany View Hotel, Newtown. 7:00pm. free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Bump City Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:30pm. $25. Feel Good Friday Jazz Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:00pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Amy Mammers Northies Cronulla Hotel. 7:30pm. free. Baptism Of Uzi EP Launch + With Special Guests Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8:00pm. $10. Brendan Deehan Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. Carl Fidler Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. David Agius Kings Cross Hotel. 7:00pm. free. East Coast Band Crows Nest Hotel. 10:00pm. free. Gold Fields Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8:00pm. $17. Guess Who Trio Botany View Hotel, Newtown. 9:00pm. free. Heath Burdell Clovelly Hotel. 8:00pm. free. Hornsby Hotshots - Feat: 8 Live Bands Rocking Out! Ku-ring-gai PCYC Performing Art Centre, Hornsby. 7:00pm. $15. James Fox Higgins Crows Nest Hotel. 6:30pm. free. Joe Echo Trio Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point. 8:00pm. free. Jonathon Jones Orient Hotel. 4:30pm. free. Laura Stitt & John Vella Oceans Bar, Coogee. 7:00pm. free.
Kirin J Callinan photo by Luke Stephenson
pick of the week
Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichardt. 8:00pm. free. Pulp Kitchen And Folk Club Ft: Live Rotating Folk Bands Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5:00pm. free. Songsonstage Ft: Chris Raicevich + Satoru + + Guests The Cat & Fiddle, Balmain, Sydney. 7:00pm. free.
g g guide gig g
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Highland Penrith RSL Club, Penrith. 2:00pm. free.
The Preatures
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Mainline Engadine Tavern. 9:30pm. free. Matt Jones Duo Kings Cross Hotel. 11:30pm. free. Not Onto Us + Under Grey Skies + When Giants Sleep + Until Darkness Falls + The World In Cinematic Valve Bar, Tempe. 7:00pm. free. Reckless Orient Hotel, Sydney. 9:30pm. free. Replika The Winston, Winston Hills. 8:30pm. free. Royal Chant + Skullsquadron + Sounds Like Sunset The Square, Haymarket. 8:00pm. free. Sleepmakeswaves The Annandale Hotel, Annandale. 8:00pm. $18. The Last Waltz Revival Lizotte's Dee Why. 7:00pm. $43. The Preatures FBi Social, Sydney. 8:00pm. $15. Uncovered Scruffy Murphy's Hotel, Sydney. 10:30pm. free.
SATURDAY JUNE 29 ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK Stormcellar Royal Hotel, Bondi. 8:30pm. free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC El Orqueston Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 8:00pm. $22. Keyim Ba (African Dance) Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:00pm. $20. Peter Head Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks. 5:00pm. free. Yuki Kumagai & John Mackie Well Co Cafe And Wine Bar, Leichhardt. 7:00pm. free. Yuki Kumagai &John Mackie + Tony Burkys + Paul Furniss + Martin
tue
25 Jun
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
1927 Lizotte's Dee Why. 7:00pm. $49. Alex Hopkins Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point. 8:00pm. free. Black Diamond Hearts Crows Nest Hotel. 10:00pm. free. Bloodletter + Eymaze + Til Rapture + Cicada + Risen Dred Valve Bar, Tempe. 12:00pm. free. Bounce Scruffy Murphy's Hotel, Sydney. 10:30pm. free. Cambo Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. free. Carl Fidler Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. free. Clubfeet + Panama Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8:00pm. $15. Dennis Val Greystanes Inn. 9:00pm. free. Endless Summer Orient Hotel, Sydney. 9:30pm. free. Greg Byrne Orient Hotel, Sydney. 4:30pm. free. Harbour Masters Engadine Tavern, Engadine. 9:30pm. free. Hazmat + Lethal Vendetta + Abacination + Skuldugory The Square, Haymarket. 8:00pm. $10. Jody + Some Cities + The Bitter Sweethearts Metro Theatre, Sydney.
4:45pm. $10. Laura Imbruglia And Band + Melodie Nelson + Unity Floors Goodgod Small Club, Chinatown. 8:00pm. $12. Lepers And Crooks + Scaramouche + Calling Mayday With Special Guests Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst, Sydney. 7:00pm. $10. Monster Gale + The Men From Uncle + Falling Down The Stairs + Bosom Valve Bar, Tempe. 7:00pm. free. Peppermint Jam Oatley Hotel, Oatley. 8:30pm. free. Pludo The Hi-Fi, Moore Park, Sydney. 8:00pm. $16.40. Rihanna Show South Hurstville RSL Club. 9:00pm. free. Rob Henry Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. The Beards + Little Bastard + Enola Fall Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8:00pm. $26. Virgo Rising + Buzz Kull + Driffs FBi Social, Sydney. 8:00pm. $10.
Martinez & Mike Champion + On Trend Catwalk Fashion - Leather On + Sandra Motallebi + Royal Aquamarine Bar 100, The Rocks. 6:00pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Erin Marshall + Richie Branco Duo Northies Cronulla Hotel. 4:30pm. free. Helpful Kitchen Gods + Sound Object + Sheena Grindheart Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale. 5:00pm. free. Lonesome Train Orient Hotel, Sydney. 4:30pm. free. Marty (Reckless) Northies Cronulla Hotel. 8:00pm. free. Nightbug + Cupid Against Venus Valve Bar, Tempe. 2:00pm. free.
Rob Henry Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:00pm. free. The Regulators Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney. 9:00pm. free. Three Wise Men Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 4:00pm. free. Warchief + Monkiblood + Nativo Soul + Glass Ocean Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst, Sydney. 8:00pm. $5.
ACOUSTIC/ COUNTRY/BLUES/ FOLK
Anthony Hughes Oatley Hotel. 2:00pm. free. Blues Recovery - Feat: The Count Trio + Satoru + Daniel Hopkins + Andrew Denniston Evening Star Hotel, Surry Hills. 2:00pm. free. Jack Derwin + Stephanie Jansen Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7:00pm. $17.
Clubfeet
SUNDAY 30 JUNE JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Peter Head Band Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks. 4:00pm. free. Soulstice Ft: Michelle
STATE OF ORIGIN wed 26
FOLLOWED BY:
Jun
thu
27 Jun
(9:30PM - 12:30AM)
(9:30PM - 12:30AM)
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
(9:30PM - 1:30AM)
fri
28 Jun
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
sat
29
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
SATURDAY NIGHT
Jun
(9:30PM - 12:00AM)
sun
30 Jun
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
SUNDAY NIGHT
(8:30PM - 12:00AM)
BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 33
gig picks
up all night out all week...
TUESDAY JUNE 25
Lunchbreak Ft: World'S End Press Fbi Social, Sydney. 1:00pm. free.
Moonshakes: Fascinator + The Love Junkies + Marlon Zando + Julia Why? + The Rider The Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst. 10:35am. free.
THURSDAY JUNE 27
WEDNESDAY JUNE 26 Gypsy & The Cat Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8:00pm. $25.
Keyim Ba
Designer Mutts EP Launch + Udays Tiger + Doc Holiday Takes The Shotgun Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8:00pm. $10. Jordan C Thomas Quartet + Christine Jane (Single Launch) + Red Cavalry FBi Social, Sydney. 8:00pm. $10.
Gypsy & the Cat
Lint + Bin Juice + Hustle Bones + The Make Up Valve Bar, Tempe. 7:00pm. free.
FRIDAY JUNE 28 Baptism Of Uzi EP Launch With Special Guests Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8:00pm. $10. Gold Fields Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8:00pm. $17. Royal Chant + Skullsquadron + Sounds Like Sunset The Square, Haymarket. 8:00pm. free. Sleepmakeswaves
The Annandale Hotel. 8:00pm. $18. The Preatures FBi Social, Sydney. 8:00pm. $15.
34 :: BRAG :: 518 : 24:06:13
SATURDAY JUNE 29 Keyim Ba (African Dance) Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8:00pm. $20. Clubfeet + Panama Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8:00pm. $15. Laura Imbruglia And Band + Melodie Nelson + Unity Floors Goodgod Small Club, Chinatown. 8:00pm. $12. Lepers And Crooks + Scaramouche + Calling Mayday + With Special Guests Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst, Lepers And Crooks
Sydney. 7:00pm. $10. The Beards + Little Bastard + Enola Fall Metro Theatre, Sydney. 8:00pm. $26. Virgo Rising + Buzz Kull + Driffs FBi Social, Sydney. 8:00pm. $10.
SUNDAY JUNE 30 Warchief + Monkiblood + Nativo Soul + Glass Ocean Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst, Sydney. 8:00pm. $5.
brag beats
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
dance music news xxx photo by CXxx
club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery
five things WITH
Azealia Banks
VANCE MUSGROVE OF THE ASTON SHUFFLE
LISTEN OUT FESTIVAL
As you’ve maybe heard, this year Fuzzy is ditching it’s annual October knees-up Parklife in favour of a smaller, more boutique ‘IDM’ (Intelligent Dance Music) festival (although Autechre, Aphex Twin or any other ‘IDM’ artists are conspicuously absent from the just-announced lineup). Listen Out, which arrives with the tagline ‘Party. Redefined’, will take place at Centennial Park on Saturday September 28. The event is self-described as “the antidote to many of the things you don’t like about big music festivals. It is a carefully handcrafted party, with a killer lineup of the dance music that matters and a philosophy of best, not biggest. Say goodbye to endless timetable clashes, long hikes to the 12th stage and spending your day with several thousand people you can’t relate to.” The lineup features Disclosure (live), Azealia Banks, TNGHT (Hudson Mohawke & Lunice – live), Duke Dumont, AlunaGeorge, Classixx (live), Miguel Campbell, John Talabot (live), Just Blaze, Rüfüs, Touch Sensitive, Laura Jones and more, with tickets on sale from Thursday June 27 from $89.
OUTSIDEIN
Growing Up I have pretty strong 1. musical memories going all the way back, really. My parents are not especially musical and they had pretty average music taste overall, but fortunately they were into a few cool artists so I managed to be surrounded by some good music from a young age – Paul Simon, Fleetwood Mac and Neil Diamond were some of their favourites. I also started playing piano when I was three or four so I can’t really remember a time when I wasn’t all about music.
Xxxx
2.
Inspirations These days inspiration comes from a lot of places; when you make music for a living it’s easy to be inspired by lots of different kinds of musicians – singers, producers, DJs, songwriters... so the list of what’s inspiring us lately is pretty long! Disclosure, Daft Punk, Styalz Fuego, Tame Impala, Clouds, Adapt Or Die, Julio Bashmore,
Duke Dumont, Cashmere Cat, Hit Boy, 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, Jeremih, and the drummer from Def Leppard! Your Group Mikah and I were 3. already DJing and producing tracks before we got together as Aston Shuffle. Mikah was working in a record store in Canberra when I met him, so we connected over music talk right from the start. These days we’re fortunate enough to make a living from our Aston Shuffle stuff, we’re pretty much about music 24/7, which can be a doubleedged sword at times but we wouldn’t persevere if we didn’t love it. The Music You Make As DJs we play a lot 4. of different venues, so you have to be versatile, I guess, and that speaks to where we come from. But the aim is always to smash the room apart, whatever that room might be – we’re always aiming for a pretty high bar.
Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. There’s a lot of focus on dance music at the moment, the EDM scene in America is huge and getting a lot of attention, and the Daft Punk album is the first record in a long time to garner that level of attention and critical dissection. It’s super exciting that it’s a dance act that has managed to achieve that. I think it’s great that they’ve consciously made a very different record to what’s happening with dance music on the whole (especially on a commercial level) and have still managed to absolutely kill it. That kind of risk taking is very inspirational, it’s easy to fall into a mindset of just adhering to whatever else is happening in music, so to see a purposefully different record do so well is hugely inspirational. Where: Chinese Laundry With: Light Year When: Saturday July 6
Not everyone in the festival realm agrees that Fuzzy’s latest venture is the redefining party it purports to be. Astral People and Yes Please were not impressed that Fuzzy announced their revamped festival the day before they were due to reveal their lineup for their own inner city boutique festival, OutsideIn. The organisers issued the following statement: “We are all for competition and companies bringing out new, interesting artists because at the end of the day why we do this is for the love of music… We’d rather people bring out these sort of artists than the same recycled acts year in and year out. It goes back to why we essentially started OutsideIn. To see others now blatantly rip off what we’re trying to do is not just an insult to us but more so an insult to the intelligence of patrons and music lovers alike. If you think that copying a logo and rebranding your festival is enough to win over fans then you’re sadly mistaken. Our fans know good music. At the end of the day we are confident that it’s what will always keep us a step ahead of the others no matter what sort of brand or name is thrown behind it.” That is why we can’t bring you the lineup for this year’s OutsideIn festival – yet.
Salt-n-Pepa
KYSON
Adelaide electronic musician Kyson, currently based in Berlin, has announced that his debut album, The Water’s Way, will be released in September. A triple j Unearthed artist, Sydney dancers are well acquainted with Kyson, as he supported the likes of Kollectiv Turmstrasse when they headlined Shrug at the end of last year. Kyson has also helmed a podcast for Sydney via Melbourne jock Dylan Griffin’s celebrated AU Underground podcast series. Kyson’s forthcoming debut album is touted as melding “elements of a cold European winter with the comfort of an Australian summer,” and will be released on the LA-based Friends of Friends label. The Water’s Way is apparently heavy on Kyson’s own vocals and instrumentation. Kyson will be touring in support of the release, with a full band in tow.
SALT-N-PEPA TOUR
I challenge you to go back and watch Salt-n-Pepa’s videos from the early ’90s – with their nod-and-wink objectification of shirtless dudes and real-talk feminism – and tell me that we haven’t backslid as far as chauvinism goes. Luckily, the original queens of hip hop are back with a touch of raunch and a ridiculously fun live show. Catch them at the State Theatre on Saturday November 9 – tickets on sale Monday July 1 through ticketmaster.com.au.
BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 35
dance music news
free stuff
club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery
head to www.thebrag.com
five things WITH
Mark E
RANDOM SOUL Inspirations You can’t go past anything 2. from Motown – music with soul and an undeniable groove. We’re often inspired by old school sounds, but don’t mind hearing fresh new talent explore new ways of making old school music.
bit of an excursion through these styles, showcasing that we don’t mind going a little left of our main genre, house. Our live set varies depending on the show we’re doing, however we always like to bring a bit more energy to it by having live vocals, keys, effects and a cappellas.
Your Group We started making music 3. Music, Right Here, Right together around 2006, and have Now 5. not looked back. We both gave up There seems to be a revival of our crappy day jobs to pursue the music industry, full throttle. We live and breathe it, three to four gigs a week, five to six days a week in the studio making tunes, running a label, booking tours, and managing venues. You have to do it all these days sadly, but it’s actually nice to have control of a lot of this stuff.
Growing Up For Yogi in the 80s/90s and 1. Husky in the 90s, we both grew up in very musical households,
with Yogi doing music from an early age and Husky’s parents subjecting him to many loud dinner parties.
WHAT WE DO IS SECRET
What We Do Is Secret is a joint party between Modular Records and FBi Radio that will celebrate the community radio station’s 10 years on air with a bash at Oxford Art Factory on Saturday July 27. The event will raise funds for FBi radio, and you should already be aware that the Klaxons will be headlining proceedings with a DJ set in their only Aussie performance outside of their full-band Splendour in the Grass gig. A lengthy DJ support cast will also represent, including Movement, Softwar, Wordlife, Slow Blow and Club Mod DJs, and the DJ smorgasbord has been added to with the addition of the Gallery Bar, a second adjoining room curated by FBi. On the live side, Kilter, Moonbase Commander and Meare will all be playing, while DJs Mike Who, Kato and Kali will be spinning. The revelry commences at 8pm, with $20 presales available online.
GUY J
Israeli house head Guy J has put together a warm, sublime mix for the latest Balance CD (out July 12 through Balance/EMI) and he’s bringing his favourite new records out for a visit next month, stopping by Chinese Laundry on Saturday July 20. More at chineselaundryclub.com.au.
The Music You Make Anything with soul, but we’re 4. never shy of trying stuff. You can find us in the deep house, nu-disco, soulful house, funky/ jacking, hip hop and downtempo sections. Our album is actually a
underground music, and people don’t seem to be afraid anymore to slow down the tempo and focus on a groove, which we see as a great shift, away from the ‘festival, trance house’ that seemed to dominate the scene for a long while. Now there seems to be a resurgence in garage, deep house, dubstep and other genres, which to us spells new artists and new sounds. Out with the old and in with the fresh! Where: Live set at Goldfish, Kings Cross When: Saturday June 29
Off the back of the strong response to his debut EP The Yes!, and his ‘Yes’ single receiving heavy airplay on triple j, hip hop impresario Citizen Kay is embarking on a national tour. Kay honed his craft away from the spotlight in Canberra, but soon built up a substantial following through the unstoppable digital juggernaut that is the blogosphere. It’s been a rapid upward ascension for Kay ever since, and who is to say it won’t continue? Not us! Accompanied by his drummer James, Citizen Kay will headline FBi Social at the Kings Cross Hotel on Saturday July 13.
Cassian
FAT FREDDY’S DOUBLE DROP
Kiwi troupe Fat Freddy’s Drop return to Sydney to play the Enmore Theatre on Tuesday September 3 (in addition to their performance at the same venue on Thursday August 29). The tour follows on from their latest album Blackbird, which was released this very week. Fat Freddy’s Drop explore everything from jazz and blues to Detroit techno and soul in their new album, with leadoff single ‘Clean The House’ giving listeners a taste of the release. Presale tickets available now via fatfreddysdrop.com.
EK AT TATLER
Iconic venue Tatler in Darlinghurst will host EK this Saturday, a party that describes itself as, “the dance party version of a secret underground weirdo cohort.” The DJ lineup comprises Cassian, Jeremiah, HITA, Arta & Powers and Hijinx, who will be peddling accessible club tunes. Cassian has been featured on several Kitsune Maison compilations over the years, having established himself with remixes of the likes of Bag Raiders, The Rapture and Miami Horror. Cassian released his third solo EP last year, The Love Cuts. When asked what he hoped dancers hear in his music, Cassian replied, “Something familiar yet new, definitely something with a strong groove that’s not overly loopy, and a quality in the production that really makes the speakers pop.” EK kicks off at 10pm, with entry $10 before midnight.
TRAPPED LAUNCH
Highly touted Californian duo Tone Of Arc, comprised of Derrick Boyd and his partner, vocalist Zoe Presnick, will perform at Cult at the Burdekin Hotel on Saturday July 20 as part of their debut tour of Australia. The couple recently dropped their debut album Time Was Right, a melange of soft rock, punk-funk, electro-pop and proto-house that evoked the zeitgeist of Ibiza in the ’80s. Boyd had previously released a deep house flavoured album Corpus Animus as Dead Seal back in 2009. He’s since bunkered down in the studio with his other half to create an album that is a genre-defying jamboree, the kind of which Sydneysiders can expect to partake in at The Burdekin in a few weeks. DJs Brohn and Mike Buhl will be spinning in support, with presale tickets available online.
36 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
“Unswerving, mechanistic, intoxicatingly simple” house music is Mark E’s modus operandi; it’s a style he’s been developing since the Hacienda days of Madchester. Check out his re-rub of Womack & Womack’s ‘Baby I’m Scared Of You’ for a delicious taste. Party merchants HAHA have brought him out to play Goodgod on Friday July 5 alongside Simon Caldwell, Magda Bytnerowicz, and residents Dean Dixon and Dave Fernandes, and we’ve a double pass for one lucky punter. Just tell us which UK city Mark E calls home these days.
CITIZEN KAY
Tone Of Arc
TONE OF ARC
MARK E
A new bass heavy hip hop night, Trapped is set to launch at Oxford Art Factory on Thursday July 4. Trapped will unite MCs, producers and DJs, showcasing performances from Big Village head honcho Rapaport, Laxe and Nowhere Society. Rapaport dropped his debut solo album Laughing on the Inside back in ’09, and took out the FBi Radio Iron Lyricist MC battle that same year before returning to the fray last year with the release of his Patterns EP. Laxe AKA Big Dumb Kid was listed among inthemix’s ‘Top 20 Local Producers You Need to Hear’, while the duo of Nowhere Society have made their mark as “chill people who make chill music.” Doors open at 8pm, with entry $10 – or half that if you’re a student.
RUDIMENTAL ENCORE
Following the news that British electronic outfit Rudimental’s performance at The Enmore Theatre on Tuesday September 24 had sold out, Future Music have announced an encore show the following night at the same venue. Rudimental are fresh from releasing their debut album Home earlier this
month, an LP that topped both the iTunes and ARIA charts and traversed DnB, garage, R&B and house sounds. The group first made their mark with the single ‘Feel The Love,’ which was described by The Guardian as “the closest thing Olympic London had to an official soundtrack last summer.” Tickets to Rudimental’s encore performance at The Enmore Theatre on Wednesday September 25 are now on sale.
SETH SENTRY
Australian hip hop artist Seth Sentry will hit the road in support of his recently released single, ‘Vacation’. Sentry is still basking in the success of his debut album This Was Tomorrow, which dropped in September last year, prefiguring Sentry’s festival performances at Come Together, Sprung, and Melbourne’s Big Day Out, and his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, when Sentry became the first Australian hip hop artist to perform on a US late night talk show. ‘Vacation’ is the fifth single taken from This Was Tomorrow, which is available through High Score Records. Sentry will be supported by Grey Ghost and Mantra when he hits the Cambridge in Newcastle on Thursday August 22.
Fat Freddy’s Drop In Full Flight By Nick Jarvis
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hings are pretty busy for the Fat Freddy’s Drop guys right now, with a new album and world tour to fit in between their familial duties. Trumpet player Scott ‘Chopper Reedz’ Towers is helping his young son in and out of the shower while juggling interview duties for Fat Freddy’s, which is “fairly typical” for the band these days, he says – they’ve been going for a while and they’re all a bit older now.
“The party bus tends to go hard for their first week, and then the non-party bus slowly winds up”
The revered seven-piece has been touring its brand of live Aotearoan soul all around the world for 14 years, and in two weeks they’ll depart for another string of 40 back-to-back dates in support of their new album, another slice of exceptional and inimitable soul music rooted in dub and reggae. Blackbird is a concise nine tracks that flow as smoothly as one of their live shows, the rhythms driven by Fitchie’s basslines and the horn section, as Joe Dukie’s sublime vocals float over the top. The new record’s live feel was a conscious decision, Towers says, and a product of the band’s habit of refining songs on the road. “We’ll spend a couple of weeks putting beats together on the keys and MPC, and then we take those bare bones out onto the road to play live,” Towers says. “Then we bring that into the studio and try to pull together a studio version.
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“We really approached this album like a classic 1970s recording session, where everyone was in the room playing at the same time, using big chunks of performances. I’d say the main thing with this album is that the songs flow quite naturally, a lot like our live performances, we’re not trying to force a bridge in there or anything. Our overriding principle is that we have to let the music dictate where the songs go, instead of trying to force a particular genre or style onto each one.” The band returned to their studio Bays just outside Wellington – which they built by hand in an old vinyl pressing plant – to record Blackbird over the course of nine months. Having their own studio allows the band to work at their own pace, Towers says, and to be more like a family.
“It’s really handy [recording at Bays], as most of the band live in Wellington, so they treat it like a nine to five – or, really, an 11 to 11 – job; come into the studio, do the day’s work and leave. It’s like a local drop-in centre, there’s always people coming by and things going on, even when there’s no ‘work’ being done. We eat a lot together – Dobie Blaze, our keyboard player, would have to be the best cook, he’s great at Asian inspired seafood; he makes this abalone wonton that’s beautiful.” The latest tour will take them from Ireland right across Europe and then back to Australia, where they’ll premiere Blackbird live at Splendour in the Grass before a quick trip around the capital cities, a stopover to play Auckland and Wellington, and then it’s back to the Continent for another 17 dates in Western Europe. An enviable life – not that they get much time to take it all in.
“The itinerary comes through and you look at it and start thinking, oh great, we’ll have some time in Paris, or Berlin, or London,” Towers says, “but more often than not you’re arriving in the early morning, setting up and doing the gig and then getting on the bus and leaving. But when we do get the chance to get out and eat the food and see the sights and visit the music shops, we really make the most of it. You can’t complain, getting to travel to Europe all the time.” Fat Freddy’s Drop are renowned for bringing the party with them everywhere they go – anyone who’s seen them live will have witnessed trombonist Hopepa’s famed onstage dancing antics. By the time they hit Australia in late July they’ll be a finely tuned touring machine – but Towers says, by that
stage, the partying might be limited to the stage. “We tour in two sleeper buses, about eight to ten people per bus, so we split into the party bus and the not-so-party bus,” Towers says. “The party bus tends to go hard for their first week, and then the non-party bus slowly winds up to being the party bus. We all have our moments, but we’ve all got kids now so we’re a bit calmer.” Where: Splendour in the Grass / Enmore Theatre, Sydney / Enmore Theatre, Sydney When: Saturday July 27 / Thursday August 29 / Tuesday September 3 And: Blackbird out Friday June 21 on Remote Control
Sundays 16 30 JUNE
Thomas Boogs Gandey Ben Morris Nick McMartin RifRaf Thomas Alan Scuba Stew Jon Jak Matt Weir Kerry Wallace Kerry Wallace
Supper set Supper set
Marc Jarvin Simon Brayford
BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 37
club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week SATURDAY JUNE 29
Tokimonsta
Husky, Liam Sampras, Tom Kelly free 9pm 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 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 28
The Basement
Tokimonsta, Elizabeth Rose, Thomas William $36.80 8pm MONDAY JUNE 24 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 25 Brighton Up Bar Ziggy Pop Tuesdays Guest DJs $5 Newtown Hotel, Newtown Motivo Live art with DJ Raine Supreme free 7pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Haymarket I Love Goon Resident DJs 38 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
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
WEDNESDAY JUNE 26 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Sosueme I OH YOU DJs, DZ Deathrays DJs, World’s End Press free 8pm Ivy, Sydney Salsa Resident DJs free 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross
Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Fresh Fridays Reggae & Hip Hop Party Monkiblood, The Digital Assassin free 8pm Candy’s Apartment, Darlinghurst Something Wicked DJs Robust, Prolifix, Harper, Audio Trash, Harper, Oh Dear Aydos $10-$15 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Tantrum Desire, Kombat, Pop the Hatch, Shudder-x, Brown Bear, Chenzo, Who Am I $25 9pm Goodgod, Chinatown Weekend Special ft. Four Door (12˝ launch), Noise In My Head, Dark Cliché, Del/ Dan, projections from Irit Pollack $5 11pm Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour The Guestlist $15-$25 9pm Hordern Pavilion A$AP Rocky (sold out) 8pm 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 The Faders $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 Secret Warehouse, Marrickville So Local Prince of Thieves, E-Cats, Misfits of Zion 8pm The Soda Factory, Surry Hills Factory Fridays, 5pm Soho, Potts Point SOHO Fridays w/ Kronic,
DZ Deathrays
Skinny, Zannon Rocco, Fingers, Pat Ward free (before 11pm), 9pm Spectrum, Darlinghurst Mute X Roleo EP Release Part, Deadbeat n Hazy, Sweat Collectors, Enkae, DJs Juzlo and Migz $17 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross TGIF Resident DJs 10pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Think Fridays DJs 8pm $10-15 The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM MUM DJs $10-$15 8pm
SATURDAY JUNE 29
SUNDAY JUNE 24
The Argyle, The Rocks Argyle Saturdays, (free before 10pm), 6pm The Basement Tokimonsta, Elizabeth Rose, Thomas William $36.80 8pm Brighton Up Bar DJ Fasmwa presents Prescription $5 10pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Jody Wisternoff, Spenda C, A-Tonez, Fingers, King Lee, Peekz, Shaolin, Cheap Lettus, Sushi $25 9pm Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour Homemade Saturdays Resident DJs $20-$25 9pm Goodgod, Chinatown Shimmy Shimmy Ya Joyride, Nahco Pop, Mike Who, Shantan Wantan Ichiban Jacksons On George, Sydney Resident DJs free 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Resident DJs 10pm
Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross The Suite Resident DJs 8pm The Soda Factory, Surry Hills Soda Saturdays, 5pm The Standard, Darlinghurst Obie Trice, DJ Salam Wreck, Mastacraft $39 8pm The Watershed Hotel, Darling Harbour Skybar Saturdays Resident DJ $20 9.30pm Whaat Club, Potts Point After Dark DJs $10-15 8pm
SUNDAY JUNE 30 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H Sundays Boogs, RifRaf, Scuba Stew, Kerry Wallace, Matt Weir + Supper set by Marc Jarvin $10 2pm The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills Beresford Sundays Resident DJs free 3pm Gay Bar, Darlinghurst Resident DJs free 3pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Easy Sundays Resident DJs free 10pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Sessions DJ Tone free 7pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Sundays Resident DJs 8pm Spice Cellar Spice After Hours w/ Steven Sullivan, Murat Kilic and guests $20 4am The World Bar, Kings Cross Soup Kitchen The Soup Kitchen DJs free 7pm
KIT Wednesdays Resident DJs 10pm The Lewisham Hotel Garbage 90s Night Garbage DJs free 7pm Whaat Club, Potts Point Whip It Wednesdays DJs free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall $5 8pm
THURSDAY JUNE 27 Bridge Hotel, Rozelle Balmain Blitz $15 7pm Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst Hot Damn Hot Damn DJs $15-$20 8pm Goodgod Front Bar Dip Hop Levins and guests free 8pm Goldfish Miami Nights w/ Jay-J,
A$AP Rocky
club picks up all night out all week...
WEDNESDAY JUNE 26 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Sosueme I OH YOU DJs, DZ Deathrays DJs, World’s End Press free 8pm
THURSDAY JUNE 27 Goldfish, Kings Cross Miami Nights w/ Jay-J, Husky, Liam Sampras, Tom Kelly free 9pm
FRIDAY JUNE 28 Chinese Laundry, Sydney Tantrum Desire, Kombat, Pop the Hatch, Shudder-x, Brown Bear, Chenzo, Who Am I $25 9pm Goodgod, Chinatown Weekend Special ft. Four Door (12˝ launch), Noise In My Head, Dark Cliché, Del/Dan, projections from Irit Pollack $5 11pm Hordern Pavilion A$AP Rocky (sold out) 8pm Marquee, The Star, Pyrmont Mashup Fridays The Faders $20 10pm Spectrum, Darlinghurst Mute X Roleo EP Release Part, Deadbeat n Hazy, Sweat Collectors, Enkae, DJs Juzlo and Migz $17 8pm
Jody Wisternoff Goldfish, Kings Cross Random Soul (live), Jay-J, Matt Meler, Tikki Tembo, Tom Kelley, Johnny Gleeson free 6pm Goodgod, Chinatown Shimmy Shimmy Ya Joyride, Nacho Pop, Mike Who, Shantan Wantan Ichiban The Standard, Darlinghurst Obie Trice, DJ Salam Wreck, Mastacraft $39 8pm
SATURDAY JUNE 29
SUNDAY JUNE 30
Chinese Laundry, Sydney Jody Wisternoff, Spenda C, A-Tonez, Fingers, King Lee, Peekz, Shaolin, Cheap Lettus, Sushi $25 9pm
Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H Sundays Boogs, RifRaf, Scuba Stew, Kerry Wallace, Matt Weir + Supper set by Marc Jarvin $10 2pm
N I Q U E
TEMPORARY SALE STORE 309 KING STREET NEW TOWN
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WE’RE HERE FOR A GOOD TIME, NOT A LONG TIME. NIQUE SAMPLE AND STOCK CLEARANCE | CURRENT WINTER COLLECTION 2013 w w w . n i q u e . c o m . a u
BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 39
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up all night out all week . . .
14:06:13 :: The Standard :: 3/383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 9331 3100
LIL B
The Standard Saturday June 15 Lil B, BasedGod, 23-year-old Californian rapper, self-anointed internet guru with 700k Twitter followers who is 100% Gandhi, 100% Ellen DeGeneres and looks like Usher’s ‘swagged out’ younger brother. Oh, and according to him, he’s definitely had sex with your girlfriend. That’s the BasedGod legend and though The Standard was half-full, the crowd was all #based devotees waiting to catch Lil B on his first, long-awaited Australian tour.
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With the crowd chanting “Based God”, Lil B swaggered on stage, opening up with ‘Ellen DeGeneres’. What followed was an experience like no other. The best way to describe the one and a half hour show would be half motivational speech and half music concert, as Lil B recurrently asked, “Do we have any positive people tonight?”
14:06:13 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999
Things got awkward, though, when having invited fans onstage – naturally, it involved being swamped by 30 odd girls – one girl nabbed his sunnies and made off with them. Admonishing the security for failing to protect him, Lil B lost his trademark positivity and went on a five-minute rant. After calming down, he reverted back to his positive vibe, urging the crowd to protect him and protect each other. Despite the hiccup, Lil B performed a stellar set featuring the majority of his better-known tracks. Highlights included the prison-ghetto anthem ‘Connected to Jail’, where Lil B showed his raw side with the constant refrain of “let the bodies hit floor.” ‘Wonton Soup’ had the crowd getting their ‘Cook Dance’ on while Lil B spat out “Swag” with the regularity of a machine gun. He showed his meditative side on the Clams Casino-produced track ‘I’m God,’ a dreamily euphoric number which had the crowd swaying, while ‘Pretty Boy’ possessed the next-level sexual bragging
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fbi radio’s ‘all our friends’ fundraiser 14:06:13 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587
40 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
you’ve come to expect from any half-famous rapper. That’s not to take away from Lil B’s central message of love and respect, which was encapsulated on the more recent ‘I Love You,’ back-ended by a heartfelt impromptu rap. Closing with ‘Total Recall’, Lil B showed his gratitude by sticking around for his fans, who crowded around him, waiting expectantly to take a selfie with the BasedGod. Watching the genuine devotion on display, the night was, as Lil B would say, rare and based. Larry Lai
PHOTOGRAPHER : ASHLEY MAR :: ABOUT S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAR :: LEY ASH :: NAN MAG TH AMA :: LEUNG
LST NIGHT :: HENRY
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Deep Impressions
up all night out all week . . .
Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery
James Holden
RKE PHOTOGRAPHER : KATRINA CLA
MASTA ACE
The Standard Thursday June 13 Last Thursday night, legendary Brooklyn MC Masta Ace returned to our shores for his third Australian tour. A member of the infl uential Juice Crew (oh hai there former members Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap), Masta Ace’s careers spans over two decades and includes eight full-length solo albums. Masta Ace’s DJ Marco Polo kicked things off to a subdued crowd of mostly male hip hop heads until Masta Ace emerged at 11pm, dressed in a camo print offset by a Donkey Kong t-shirt and carrying a microphone bejewelled with his name. Supported by fellow eMC member Stricklin, Ace took fans through his classic hits as well as his newer material. Personal favourites included ‘Saturday Night Live’ off SlaughtaHouse, ‘F.A.Y’ and ‘Beautiful’ off Long Hot Summer, and ‘Acknowledge’ off Disposable Arts.
Ace effortlessly engaged the crowd in between tracks. Highlights from his banter with the audience included narratives of formative experiences growing up in Brooklyn, including a notable tribute to his beloved mum Yvonne who passed away in 2005 and whose record collection was one of Ace’s earliest influences. Another highlight included a ‘call and response’ game inspired by Ace’s childhood memories of rapping along to the radio, during which Ace and Stricklin had the entire venue singing along to a diverse range of crowd pleasers; everything from Aaliyah’s ‘Try Again’ to Biz Markie’s old school hit ‘Just A Friend’, before wrapping up with a high energy rendition of ‘Da Grind’. It was a dynamic, energetic and wellbalanced set which included oldies and new favourites. The Standard didn’t know what hit it, and to quote Stricklin directly, the boys really “raised the Standard” (sorry but I just had to throw that quote in somewhere). It was, as expected, an awesome show from a hip hop icon. Marisa Lugosi
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order Community head honcho James Holden has just released his long overdue second album, The Inheritors. Holden’s first album, The Idiots Are Winning arrived way back in ’06, earning gushing praise from The Guardian as “the most astonishing debut in electronic music since Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children.” Seven years on and the idiots are even further ahead – thanks to Skrillex, Guetta, Swedish House Mafia et al – and the English producer has returned to set the record straight with The Inheritors, named after a William Golding (the guy who wrote Lord of the Flies) novel. “The book is about the idea that the story of evolution is already told, but it picks out an old idea, the characters of the Neanderthals, which you empathise with,” Holden divulged to an online rag. “It fits the idea of the record following some threads that have lead to things in the present, then going back to these threads to follow them in a different direction.” Channeling Krautrock and experimental club influences, The Inheritors evokes the likes of Four Tet and Steve Reich, and is closer in mood to Holden’s DJ Kicks compilation from 2010 than his debut LP. The album features cameo appearances from Etienne Jaumet, who provides saxophone (that was picked apart and dismissed by a less than impressed cohort of mine as “brutal murder”) on ‘The Caterpillar’s Intervention’, and Shimble, who lays down vocals on ‘Circle of Fifths’. Lauded by taste-making website Resident Advisor as “perhaps the year’s most revealing and intriguing album yet,” The Inheritors is not a dancefloor release, but is likely to hit the spot for Holden and Border Community fans. It certainly did for yours truly. London club veteran Colin McBean, AKA Mr. G, will release a double album towards the end of July on Radio Slave’s Rekids label, which is imaginatively titled – wait for it – Retrospective. Over the course of his 14 years in the game, McBean has produced under various pseudonyms such as The Reaver, Mango Boy and Halcyon Daze, along with working with Cisco Ferreira as the techno duo The Advent. McBean took up the Mr. G moniker after parting from The Advent around the turn of the millennium, drawing the title from The Green Goblin of Spiderman fame. (The ‘inspired’ idea apparently being that ‘instead of pumpkin bombs he throws record bombs’; some threats from the Marvel legal team ensured this catch cry wasn’t used in his promo.) G’s evolution as a producer is encapsulated on Retrospective, which collates his tracks from different times and different labels, including cuts originally released on labels such as Phoenix G, Defected, Careless and Duty Free, also throwing in a few unreleased numbers for good measure, including the opener ‘Potion’. A custodian of analogue gear and old-school values, McBean’s productions generally fall
somewhere between ‘house’ and ‘techno’ sounds – I’ll combine the two and call it ‘tech house’ – and are characterised by an omnipresent deep and heavy bass. As McBean says, “I don’t make pretty music,” but when he’s churning out cuts that do the business on the best soundsystems in the world, who cares about being pretty? Another release to look out for in July is the next outing from Swedish producer Andreas Tilliander, a six track release that occupies that glass half full/empty middle ground between robust EP and undersized album, and has been titled simply Mini LP. (What’s with the uninspired album titles fellas?) I suppose listeners are lucky to be receiving another release from Tilliander, after he’s already delivered an interesting LP in his self-titled album, released under the TM404 moniker earlier in the year. That album showcased Tilliander’s penchant for Roland machinery, affirming that there’s still plenty of invention left in the tools responsible for acid house. Mini LP departs from those sounds and instead explores what Tilliander himself describes as “summery piano acid meets darker dubs”.
Andreas Tilliander
LOOKING DEEPER FRIDAY JULY 5 Mark E Goodgod Small Club
SATURDAY JULY 6 Mad Racket ft Deepchild
SATURDAY JULY 20 Juan Atkins The Basement
Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13 :: 41
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chinese laundry
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up all night out all week . . .
15:06:13 :: Marquee :: Star City Pyrmont 9657 7737
15:06:13 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9999
sosueme + i oh you party profile
It’s called: SOSUEME + I OH YOU party.
It sounds like: The crunch of a juicy, juicy apple. Acts: World’s End Press, SOSUEME DJs, DZ Deathrays DJs, I OH YOU DJs, Children Collide DJs and more. Three songs you’ll hear on the night: World ’s Uptown’ and ‘Golden Child’, and anything Yeezy End Press – ‘Second Day . And one you definitely won’t: Any of the tunes from High School Musical. Sell it to us: I OH YOU is joining forces with SOSUEME to bring you one insane night of ruckus and debauchery. Can you handle it? The bit we’ll remember in the AM: When you ran through the streets of Bondi, naked, after it ended. Crowd specs: Just your regular Bondi locals combined with that goodlooking, rowdy bunch of hipsters you love to hate. Wallet damage: FREE ENTRY FOREVER. Where: Beach Road Hotel, Bondi.
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When: Wednesday June 26
maxmillion dunbar
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16:06:13 :: The Abercrombie Hotel :: 100 Broadway Ultimo 9211 3486
15:06:13 :: Goodgod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 8084 0587 42 :: BRAG :: 518 :: 24:06:13
:: ABOUT S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAR :: LEY ASH :: NAN MAG TH AMA :: LEUNG
LST NIGHT :: HENRY