ISSUE NO. 591 DECEMBER 3, 2014
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SYDNEY NEW YEAR'S GUIDE >> P.38
This Week
JUNGL E
The world’s hottest soul collective is coming to Sydney.
S L E E P WAV E
Spencer Chamberlain on losing everything and bouncing back.
I A N A NDER S ON
Jethro Tull’s main man talks us through some rock’n’roll memories.
BIG FREEDI A
This summer, it’s all about the bounce.
LIGHT UP THE DANCEFLOOR
Plus
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ALL DAY I DREAM of australia
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TASMAN IA
NEW SOUTH WALES
dec 28 2014
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dec 30 2014
Until U n til
Until
Until U n til
jan 01 2015
jan 01 2015
jan 03 2015
JUST ADDED
empire of the sun la roux c.w. stoneking the rubens M A R I O N B AY O N LY
IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
ALT-J ÁSGEIR BIG FREEDIA THE BLACK LIPS BLUEJUICE COLD WAR KIDS DAN SULTAN DMAs EMPIRE OF THE SUN GEORGE EZRA GLASS ANIMALS JAGWAR MA JAMIE XX JOEY BADA$$ JOHN BUTLER TRIO JULIAN CASABLANCAS+ THE VOIDZ KIM CHURCHILL THE KITE STRING TANGLE LA ROUX MILKY CHANCE MOVEMENT THE PRESETS REMI RUN THE JEWELS SAFIA SBTRKT SPIDERBAIT STICKY FINGERS THE TEMPER TRAP TENSNAKE TKAY MAIDZA TODD TERJE LIVE TYCHO VANCE JOY WOLF ALICE BOOGIE NIGHTS
ALISON WONDERLAND BADBADNOTGOOD CLIENT LIAISON DJ WOODY PRESENTS ‘HIP HOP IS 40’ AV SHOW SALT N PEPA TWERKSHOP COM E DY
DAMIEN POWER DANIEL TOWNES HARLEY BREEN LUKE MCGREGOR TOMMY DASSALO URZILA CARLSON
tickets on sale now fallsfestival.com
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1ST JANUARY 2015 - 4AM NEW YEARS MORNING SUNRISE CRUISE
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MURAT KILIC JAMES GREVILLE & DECLAN ESAU
ROBBIE LOWE U-KHAN & GERRIT OLIVER
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rock music news welcome to the frontline: the latest touring and music news...with Chris Martin, Lauren Gill and Gloria Brancatisano
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speed date WITH
JAKE WIFFEN FROM DEAD CITY RUINS in March 2015. Our tour starts on the 18th in England and this time we ain’t comin’ back unless it’s to tour Oz.
3.
Your Profile Keeping Busy DCR sounds somewhere between 1970s We have spent the last few months 1. 2. NWOBHM bands like Judas Priest, Saxon, playing shows – we had back-to-back residencies in Melbourne along with various other shows. We just got back from a tour of Indonesia and WA – four shows in WA then ten shows in nine days in Indonesia. It’s brutal over there. We took our mates from Melbourne, Child – they are killer stoner/ blues rock. Next, we are moving to Europe
Current Playlist Mate, the amount of killer bands out 4. there in the world right now is staggering! Here’s but a few of our favourites: Rival Sons, Child, Redcoats, My Left Boot, Crobot, King Of The North, Gypsyhawk, Chainsaw Hookers, Scalphunter, Blackwitch… bloody hell, the list is endless. Saw Blackwitch in Perth –
Your Ultimate Rider Before all the touring I would have said 5. booze and women, but I’m 32 and bloody married now. We learnt after three tours of Europe that you can’t party like you’re Guns N’ Roses – you will just suck. My ultimate rider would just be decent food, a shower and a massage, maybe a wristie off the missus [laughs]. Our rider (if we are graced with such luxuries) is just water, a case of local beer and some decent food. They usually give us pizza. We have seen riders for a few of the bigger bands we have supported in Europe – some odd stuff, but man, if you make it to that level in this game you deserve to ask for a welldone whole pig stuffed with dollar bills floating in champagne. What: Frankie’s Second Birthday With: Cosmic Psychos, The Art Where: Frankie’s Pizza When: Sunday December 7
Ben Howard
Counting Crows
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A BIT MORE BEN COUNTING CROWS
Counting Crows have announced they will return to Australian for a run of headline dates around the country, as well as an appearance at Bluesfest, next April. As well as tracks from a recently released seventh album, the band will also play hits from throughout its 21year career. Counting Crows will take over the State Theatre on Thursday April 9.
KINGSWOOD HIT THE ROAD
Kingswood will hit the road for a huge national tour to kick off 2015. The extensive tour will see the Aussie rock’n’rollers play capital cities, regional taverns and an all-ages show as part of Victoria’s Mordialloc Food, Wine and Music Festival. Kingswood released their widely praised debut album, Microscopic Wars, earlier this year. They’ll hit the Metro Theatre on Saturday March 14.
CAMPFIRE FESTIVAL
The new Campfire Festival, to be held over three days in the Hunter Valley next year, has added a second round of artists to its lineup. Campfire Festival replaces the former CMC
Rocks The Hunter festival, and will be headlined by John Butler Trio. Joining the lineup on the latest announcement are Shannon Noll, Mental As Anything, Wendy Matthews, The Wolfe Brothers, The Wolverines, Kevin Bennett and The Flood, and Christie Lamb. Campfire Festival 2015 will be held at the Hope Estate winery in the Hunter Valley from Friday March 13 – Sunday March 15.
SOUNDWAVE SECOND LINEUP
Soundwave has come out all guns blazing with a huge second lineup announcement. The festival has added an avalanche of new acts to the 2015 bill including Animals As
The Preatures
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Leaders, Bayside, The Devil Wears Prada, Dragonforce, Evergreen Terrace, Fucked Up, He Is Legend, Killer Be Killed, Le Butcherettes, Lower Than Atlantis, Nonpoint, One Ok Rock, Sleepwave, Twin Atlantic and The Wonder Years. They join the previously announced lineup that includes Slipknot, Slash, Marilyn Manson, Fall Out Boy, Judas Priest and many more. Furthermore, it has been revealed that there will be a third announcement before Christmas. Soundwave 2015 will take place on Saturday February 28 and Sunday March 1 at Sydney Olympic Park.
Bombino will return to Australia for a series of shows in February and March. Tuareg guitarist and singer Omara ‘Bombino’ Moctar played a string of festival shows when he visited the country last December, including Falls Festival. This time around he will cover more of the country, with ten headline shows and festival appearances taking him from Western Australia to New South Wales and everywhere in between. Bombino will perform at The Basement on Thursday March 5.
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Mercury Prize-nominated Englishman Ben Howard has added a second Bluesfest sideshow to a 2015 Sydney schedule that also includes a date at Sydney Opera House. The limelight-shy singer-songwriter has hit great heights with his second record, I Forget Where We Were, after breakout 2011 debut Every Kingdom. Next year will mark his second visit to our shores, after a sold-out 2013 tour. Howard has added a Hordern Pavilion show on Saturday March 28, the day before he plays an already sold-out Opera House. Tickets to the new date go on sale 9am Friday December 5.
BOMBINO AT THE BASEMENT
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Black Sabbath and late 1980s bands like Alice In Chains and Guns N’ Roses. All we like to do is play shows and tour. DCR fans share pretty much the same traits, regardless of where on Earth they are from. They like to get crazy, do their best to drink the bar dry and have a bloody good time.
Best Gig Ever That’s a bloody hard one… I’d say either playing in Rome supporting Mastodon to a full house, London supporting Skid Row/Ugly Kid Joe or our hometown show at the Palace supporting Skid Row/Ugly Kid Joe. Worst show? We played on the border of England and Wales on our first tour – we played to two bar staff, no PA, I actually sang through a little practice amp. [Laughs] We had full stacks and they made us turn ’em down so low I basically sung over them. But we did get a bed and a steak dinner so it wasn’t all bad.
killer! Saw Child every night on tour, they kicked my arse.
SMAC TALK
FBi Radio has announced its list of nominees for the 2014 Sydney Music Arts & Culture (SMAC) Awards. Voting is now open for the seventh edition of the awards, with the winners to be announced at a ceremony on Tuesday January 20. The 2013 awards included gongs for Secret Garden (Best Festival) and Cloud Control (Record Of The Year). The 2014 nominees for Record Of The Year are Caitlin Park, Fishing, Seekae, Thundamentals, The Preatures and Jack Ladder & The Dreamlanders. The Best Live Act shortlist includes One Day, The Walking Who, DMA’s, Donny Benet, Little May and Gang Of Youths. Best Song nominees include Mansionair, Caitlin Park, Spookyland, Seekae, The Walking Who and Movement. To see the full list of awards and nominees, and to vote, visit fbismacawards.com.
CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN
Fresh-faced rock’n’rollers Catfish and The Bottlemen will make the trip Down Under from their native Wales for a debut tour in January. Latest single ‘Cocoon’ is all over the airwaves at present, leading to the group’s support slots for fellow UK indie stars The Kooks on their upcoming Aussie dates. While they’re at it, Catfish and The Bottlemen will headline Oxford Art Factory on Monday January 19 with support from Food Court.
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live & local
free stuff
welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town...with Chris Martin, Tori Bedingfield and Kelsey Berry
five things WITH
Grace
MICHAEL SPENCER FROM MYSTIC ALLIES refreshing and his philosophy profound. I’d recommend his book The Music Lesson to anyone, as it’s been a key for me in understanding music. Stéphane Grappelli is also very special to me. When I was 15 I stopped playing violin, sick of boring practice. His music convinced me to play again. Then I read in an interview that he didn’t practise! He would just jam for hours with other musicians. That was very exciting to me.
3. Growing Up I’ve always played music 1. and my mum has been a major influence in that, taking me to violin lessons or concerts like James Brown or Tina Turner. I never liked practising, and would always try to catch up right before my lesson for fear of the teacher
head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
scolding me. In a way, my musical journey has been largely getting back to the state where music is fun and natural. Inspirations I discovered Victor Wooten 2. when I was learning bass guitar in high school. I found his music
Your Band I was obsessed with gypsy music and wanted to start a tuba, accordion and violin ensemble. In looking for the right people I met John Oh, an incredible self-taught blues guitarist, and we clicked. Then John met Baran Yildz, a drummer from Turkey. Baran introduced us to Allen Paramesh, a brilliant classically trained pianist. I played bass for a while, but finally after I gave up finding a tuba player, John Wynne was invited to come in and play bass. That guy is so chill. He just holds that groove down smooth.
The Music You Make Between us we take in a 4. lot of influences, so in addition to the gypsy blues music I originally envisioned, we play reggae, soul, funk and jazz. Sometimes we come in with ideas and compositions and sometimes songs are just created from jamming. We’ve been playing together for over a year now, and I really appreciate having these great guys to play with. Music, Right Here, Right Now 5. I love music but I find it very tough going after gigs. I would generally rather jam at a friend’s place than go out, but really the more you get out and meet people, the more good things come your way. There are a lot of jams in Sydney at the moment, like Tuesdays at 1912 Bar or Wednesdays at the Spring Street Social. They’re a lot of fun. Where: Foundry616 When: Wednesday December 10
GRACE
Grace (AKA Grace Woodroofe) is returning to stages across the country this week with her ethereal soundscapes. Having just wrapped up a tour with Alt-J, the Western Australian singer is launching her single ‘Pluto’ and offering up a taste of the new music she’s been working on with the likes of Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio) and Sam Spiegel (Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Grace is playing Goodgod Small Club on Friday December 5, and we have three double passes to give away. Like Pluto, it promises to be out of this world. To be in the running, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us which otherworldly planet you’d choose to live on.
BEATS 4 BREAST CANCER
Adam Cohen
ADAM COHEN
Frank Yamma
LITTLE BASTARD
Little Bastard will hit the road this summer for a run of headline shows in support of their new single and video clip, ‘Desert Roller’. The single is taken from their critically acclaimed self-titled debut, which also picked up a nomination for the 2014 AIR Award for Best Independent Blues and Roots Album. The upcoming tour will mark the Bastards’ last jaunt before they head back into the studio to work on their next record. Catch ’em on Friday February 13 at Deus Ex Machina.
TWIN LAKES
Newcastle collective Twin Lakes are set to cap off a busy 2014 with another Sydney
Cosmic Psychos
FRANK YAMMA
The multilingual Frank Yamma, who sings his songs in the Pitjantjatjara and English languages and speaks several more, will bring his indigenous roots tunes to Sydney next week. Yamma has recently returned from a mid-year tour of Canada to launch ‘Everybody’s Talking’, the lead single from his new album Uncle, for which a video was filmed in Newtown. The Deadly award-winner and son of Isaac Yamma plays Newtown Social Club on Thursday December 11.
visit. The indie rockers from up north have independently released two singles this year alongside North American showcases at Canadian Music Week and The Aussie BBQ. ‘Wolf Hall’ is their latest cut, and is a taste of Twin Lakes’ debut EP, due for release next year. Catch up with the band at Oxford Art Factory on Friday December 19.
Frank Yamma photo by Matt Day.tif
Canadian singer-songwriter Adam Cohen has locked in a run of intimate dates across Australia next March. The son of the legendary Leonard Cohen revealed he was on the verge of quitting music three years ago, but he returned from the brink with the outstanding Like A Man. Now, on the back of his fifth album We Go Home, the younger Cohen will play live at The Basement on Tuesday March 17, the Blue Mountains’ refurbished Hydro Majestic on Wednesday March 18 and Lizotte’s Newcastle on Thursday March 18.
Organisers of the inaugural Beats 4 Breast Cancer were so overwhelmed with support from the musical community, they had to push the event back from its October date to next Wednesday December 10 at Qantas Credit Union Arena. And for good reason, too – Ali Campbell’s UB40 lineup (with Astro and Mickey Virtue) will fulfil headline duties at the charity event, in their only other Sydney appearance after their sold-out Enmore Theatre show next week. Also on the bill are Timomatic, Justice Crew, Dami Im, Leo Sayer, L-FRESH The Lion, Little Sea and many more. All profits from the concert will go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
THE CACTUS CHANNEL
The ever-growing Melbourne funksters that are The Cactus Channel are bringing their groove to Sydney this week, because Melbourne’s summer is too far away to wait for, they reckon. It’ll be all short shorts and soul at Venue 505 this Saturday December 6, when they roll into town alongside The Liberators.
SHOVELS DIG GRAVES
Frankie’s Pizza is turning two, and to celebrate, the beloved live music venue is holding a free event with Cosmic Psychos and a special edition birthday brew from Batch Brewing Co. The Psychos will be joined by The Art and Dead City Ruins on the back end of their European tour. The night will also be soundtracked by Frankie’s Famous House Band, as well as Dream Team DJs to keep it moving in between acts. Frankie’s 2nd Birthday Party is on this Sunday December 7.
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xxxx Shovels & Rope photo by Leslie Ryan-McKellar
FRANKIE’S TURNS TWO
Shovels & Rope and Shakey Graves will bring their Americana tunes to Australia next year for a co-headline tour. The tour will mark the first trip to Australia for both headliners and will see them hit Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Shovels & Rope is made up of husband-and-wife duo Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, who met when they were pursuing solo careers. The pair released their sophomore album Swimmin’ Time last year. Joining Shovels & Rope will be Shakey Graves – the stage name of Alejandro RoseGarcia. Rose-Garcia will bring his unique blend of ‘anti-folk’ to Australia, showcasing his latest album And The War Came, due out in February. Catch Shovels & Rope and Shakey Graves at the Factory Theatre on Thursday March 5.
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Industrial Strength Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer
THINGS WE HEAR * Which radio person is shivering over the collapse of his family’s business? * Is Beyoncé set to sign a new record deal with Apple? * With plans ablaze for January’s Tamworth Country Music Festival, is there a worry for the 2016 edition because of Tamworth’s dire state of water supplies? * Hilltop Hoods are “uncomfortable” with having a hit titled ‘Cosby Sweater’ with its inspiration, US comic
Bill Cosby, in sexual abuse accusations. * Mushroom head honcho Michael Gudinski, who grew a beard after The Rolling Stones got postponed, shaved it off just before the ARIAs, as he promised to do after the tour was finished. The shave raised $46,000 for the Beyondblue depression support group, The Herald Sun said, which included a hefty donation from another of Gudinski’s touring acts, Ed Sheeran. * In America, Eminem’s new Shady Records compilation, Shady XV, has been launched with a Detroit-inspired ice-cream flavour.
BIGPOND MUSIC, MUSIC HUB CLOSING The Australian digital space for music is shrinking, with Telstra’s BigPond Music Online and Samsung’s Music Hub services both closing this month. BigPond clicks off on Friday December 12, while Music Hub goes dark after a three-year presence on Wednesday December 31. Both companies say that the services will be replaced but so far there is no further information on what the replacements will be.
RECORD LABELS INVEST BILLIONS IN A&R AND MARKETING The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and indie labels’ WIN (Worldwide Independent Network) claim in a new report that record companies invest more in A&R and marketing than any other sector in the music biz. The Investing In Music report states that labels spend US$4.3 billion a year globally in A&R and marketing. The total spend was US$20 billion in the last five years, representing 27% of their revenue since 2011. The report concludes that
* Katy Perry has dubbed herself an honourary Aussie. “No longer will I use straws in my chocolate milk. I’ll use Tim Tams! No longer will I put butter on bread, I’ll use Vegemite. No longer will I eat chicken, I’ll eat kangaroo. Actually that’s disgusting. Why do guys you eat something that’s on your national emblem?” * As part of Swedish film series Experiment Ensam (Experiment Alone), in which one person experiences something that is normally a communal activity, Bob Dylan and band played a show at Philadelphia’s Academy Of Music to just one person, superfan Fredrik Wikingsson. * When The Preatures opened
labels, despite the perception, still play a major role in creating music. Over 7,500 artists were on rosters of major labels in 2013, with tens of thousands more on indie labels. One in five artists on rosters is a new signing.
DIGITAL RADIO FOR UNSIGNED AUSSIE ACTS A new digital radio station, Unsigned Bands Australia, has launched to showcase new Australian music. It is the initiative of the Australian Radio Network and provides a platform for local acts to feature their music, videos, photos and news for free. It also holds a weekly Unsigned Session at The Sly Fox in Enmore, and will run the Battle of the Bands Australia Festival, offering a $10,000 grant and recording sessions to winners.
FUNDING FOR ARTISTS WITH DISABILITIES Funding between $20,000 and $60,000 is available to arts and cultural organisations and disability organisations. The funds range from grants to promote and tour work, to money for new projects. Applications close on Monday February 9. Visit regionalartsnsw. com.au for more details.
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COLD WAR KIDS
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MARDUK & INQUISITION
SUN 28 JUN
BRIBRY
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JOEY BADA$$ & RUN THE JEWELS
SUN 25 JAN ALL AGES
KERSER
THIS WEEK
COMING SOON
FRI 5 DEC
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THE PREATURES SOLD OUT
FRI 9 JAN
GLASS ANIMALS
WED 4 FEB
VIC MENSA
THE HERBS (NZ) WITH ANNIE CRUMMER & PAUA
SAT 10 JAN
TYCHO LIVE
FRI 13 FEB
MODESELEKTOR
for The Rolling Stones in the Hunter Valley, Mick Jagger told singer Isabella Manfredi they were “great” and hugged her, while drummers Luke Davison and Charlie Watts talked drum skins. * The five outtakes from the zebra crossing photo shoot for The Beatles’ Abbey Road album sold at a London auction for £180,000 (A$331,130). * Kurt Cobain’s daughter Frances Bean is producing a documentary on him. * Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo has launched a crowdfunding campaign for his upcoming doco on legendary jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius.
AUSSIE CERTIFICATIONS This week, Hilltop Hoods’ ‘Cosby Sweater’ hit platinum (70,000 units) while Peking Duk ft. Safia’s ‘Take Me Over’ is gold. Among albums, Human Nature’s Jukebox went platinum and The Veronicas’ self-titled album went gold after it debuted on the ARIA chart at number two, marking their return to the chart after seven years.
PREMIER GUITARS LAUNCHES Premier Guitars is a new company that specialises in the sales and storage of highquality acoustic and electric guitars, basses and other stringed instruments, and amps on a consignment basis. It also provides a broking service for guitar owners to offer their instruments for sale to a database of potential buyers. They charge 20% of sales price as commission. Founder John Spence is at sales@premierguitars.com.au.
MUSIC RANKS FOURTH IN AUSSIES’ DIGITAL EXPERIENCE Music ranks number four among Australians as the best digital experience, according to Ernst & Young’s State Of The Nation Report 2014. Top of the list were films and TV, said 26% of the 1,500 people surveyed. Of the other best experiences, video games were chosen by 20% and sports by 16%. Mobile units are the most-used device to access the internet (78% of respondents) with portable laptops and notebooks at 72%. Facebook is the most popular online destination, with 81% of those surveyed spending more time there than anywhere else. See digitalaustralia. ey.com for the full results. Australia is one of the most digitally connected places in the world, with 81% of households with internet access and 77% of people aged 13 and above owning a smart phone. 69% of us check our phones as soon as we awake. Australia is now ranked at number 49 for affordability for digital access. 40% of consumers and 67% of ‘digital thought’ leaders believe Australia runs the risk of being left behind in the digital economy due to government policy.
AWARDS #1: IVY, THE EASTERN WIN WITH AHA NSW The Ivy in the Sydney CBD and Eastern Hotel in Bondi jointly took out the Best Entertainment Venue category at the 21st Australian Hotels Association NSW Awards for Excellence. The Ivy also won Best Social Media Activity, sharing it with the Watson’s Bay Boutique Hotel. The Ettamogah in Kellyville Ridge, which features live music, won Best Family Friendly Hotel. At the ceremony, the AHA NSW announced a $10 million campaign to combat the bad press pubs are getting in the crackdown on drunken violence. The four-year drive, set to kick off in March, will focus on the achievements of awards winners and pubs’ contribution to the state economy, including 100,000 jobs and $1.3 billion in taxes. “Balance and fairness seem lost to the ever-increasing need to pacify vocal minority groups,” said Scott Leach, its president.
AWARDS #2: FESTIVAL WINNERS AT NSW TOURISM The Tamworth Country Music Festival took gold at the NSW Tourism Awards in the Major Festivals and Events category. Bluesfest took silver, and Vivid Sydney bronze. Deni Ute Muster got bronze in the Festivals and Events category.
SAT 28 FEB
DELTRON 3030
THU 12 MAR
DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST
SAT 18 APR
BLACKSTREET
ENTERTAINMENT QUARTER, BUILDING 220, 122 LANG RD, MOORE PARK, SYDNEY
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AWARDS #3: ARIA RATINGS SLIGHTLY UP The ARIA Awards’ return to free-to-air on Ten, with a battery of big-name celebs, resulted
in a slight rise in viewers. 574,000 tuned in to the ceremony, while the red carpet event had 602,000 people watching. Last year, when the event was on Nine’s digital Go! channel, it was watched by 337,000. Spotify’s predictions based on streaming didn’t account for Sia’s wins. Spotify expected Iggy Azalea to get three awards and Chet Faker to also snare Best Album.
INTERN AT SPLENDOUR Byron Bay’s Splendour In The Grass is looking for an intern for six months (February to August). The deadline is Monday January 5. Visit splendourinthegrass.com.
TARONGA PARTNERS WITH THE TICKET GROUP After 14 years, the Twilight At Taronga series at Taronga Zoo has switched its ticketing to The Ticket Group. The partnership, which includes free public transport in the price of the ticket, came into effect from the first week of sales. Taronga said early sales were well above the previous years’ launches, with two concerts selling out, including Bernard Fanning’s on the day of release.
MTV LAUNCHES MTV STYLES SITE MTV Australia has launched a local version of the MTV Style site. It comes after a 74% increase from the 2013 monthly unique visitors to mtv.com.au, with celeb and fashion styles driving a large amount of the traffic. The site is managed by its digital editor Leni Andronicos.
BIG NAMES SING FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN 30 major names, including Bryan Brown, Ita Buttrose, Ian Chappell, Thomas Keneally, Deborah Mailman and Rebecca Gibney, plus academics, human rights activists, religious figures and others, have joined Glenn Shorrock, Mahalia Barnes and John Williamson to record a song called ‘We’re Better Than This’. It’s part of a campaign to release over 700 children held in detention camps on the mainland and offshore. The track was cut in Sydney, and produced by Darren Percival of The Voice fame.
MUSOS PUSH FOR TOUGHER COPYRIGHT PENALTIES Josh Pyke, INXS, Tina Arena, Birds Of Tokyo and The Potbelleez were among the 600 who submitted proposals as the Australian Government asks the public for comments on how to tackle online piracy. The musos explained it had financially hit them, devalued their work and is frustrating to find their work online without their approval. They want tougher laws against illegal downloading and for ISPs to be forced to block activity on their networks.
Lifelines Dating: Kasey Chambers and Gippsland singer-songwriter Harry Hookey made their relationship official by stepping out together at the ARIAs. Ill: 5 Seconds Of Summer drummer Ashton Irwin cancelled a TV show appearance after falling ill again, a month after being hospitalised with appendicitis. Ill: Powerman 5000 suffered from smoke inhalation. They were chilling in their hotel room before a gig when its air conditioning burst into flames. Divorcing: troubled Creed singer Scott Stapp’s wife Jaclyn has filed action citing his heavy drug use, attempted suicides and paranoid texts. In Court: sisters Jahan and Yasmine Yousaf of EDM act Krewella are counter-suing founder Kris Trindl’s US$5 million claim that he was forced out of the group. Charged: San Diego rapper Tiny Doo for violent lyrics on new mixtape No Safety. The charge is against one who “willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct” – in his case, relating to a series of nine California shootings by a local gang. His lawyers say the raps are about life on the street.
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“ A BOUNCING BASS-HEAVY BLEND OF RAP, HIP-HOP, BAILE FUNK AND AFROBRAZILIAN BEATS” ROLLING STONE
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A
ustralians are well-known workaholics. Not only is our average working week longer than in most developed nations, but we are also reluctant to take time off. But what about those who dodge the nine-to-five path and pursue a career in the arts? Surely they’re able to circumvent the hardworking compulsion? Right now, Gold Coast DJs Matt and Chris Stafford – better known as Stafford Brothers – are flying the flag of Australian electronic music around the world. As well as DJing three to four nights a week, the brothers have been making a serious impact on the charts since relocating to Los Angeles last year. It’s easy to picture Matt and Chris enjoying a fairly breezy LA life, involving plenty of Tuesday afternoon spas and Wednesday morning Bloody Marys. We can’t deny this is the case, but staying ahead of the pack in the music biz requires constant effort. “We work generally on the weekends, but we work every day,” says Matt. “Monday to Friday you’re doing everything else, from music production to running the business side of things to looking at other opportunities. We pretty much work 24/7. I was reading someone who said, ‘My job is my life, but I love my life.’ That’s pretty much how I feel about it, too.”
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unreasonable. A chief example is New Year’s Eve – when just about the whole planet seeks some form of entertainment. This New Year’s Eve, Stafford Brothers will headline Harbour Party at Sydney’s Luna Park. Going to work on this international night of mischief is nothing new, says Matt.
featuring Lil Wayne and Christina Milian. In mid-2014, ‘Hello’ was followed by another high-profile EDM collaboration, ‘This Girl’ featuring Eva Simons and T.I.
if it doesn’t, well at least you’re enjoying it. We had triple-platinum success with ‘Hello’ but before that we’d pretty much never been on the radio – and we’d been DJing for over ten years and had a career in touring around the world. You want the record to work on the dancefloor primarily. That’s what’s most important to us.”
“I don’t know really the last time when I didn’t DJ. I was probably in school. I also think, this is what you do, so that’s a big night of the year. If you aren’t booked on New Year’s Eve, maybe your career’s not doing what you want it to be doing.
The brothers are currently working on a new bunch of material, which is likely to see the light of day early in the New Year. “It’s definitely a fresher sound,” says Matt. “It’s a bit more aggressive. It’s got elements of drum’n’bass, some dubstep in there. It’s a total different sort of sound. We have a lot of new records that are in a new vibe. I guess it’s a new chapter.”
“To be honest, I actually like DJing,” he adds. “It’s not a job, so if someone says, ‘Do you just want to go and party, or do you want to DJ and then party?’ I would definitely say, ‘DJ and then party,’ because it’s fun for us. Especially something like this gig. We’ve never done it – I’ve seen it so many times, under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and all that; it’s pretty iconic. So we’re pretty stoked to be doing this show.”
The chief motivator for this stylistic shift was Stafford Brothers’ new home. “Being in America, trap music’s really big here and that sort of stuff,” explains Matt. “We’re working with a lot of hip hop guys as well, and they work with sometimes different beats. So for us, that has definitely been the inspiration. Also, it’s what we love. We’re definitely enjoying listening to that style of music.”
Stafford Brothers have been established touring DJs for the last decade, but it’s only recently that their original productions have started to gather attention. In 2012 they inked a deal with US label Cash Money Records (home to the likes of Drake, Nicki Minaj and Soulja Boy), which led to last year’s triple-platinum single ‘Hello’,
After the hefty success of ‘Hello’ and ‘This Girl’, it might seem imprudent for Stafford Brothers to implement a conspicuous sonic makeover. But Matt disregards any inclination to adhere to mainstream uniformity.
“We’re always putting on songs that we’ve made or recently tweaked and you just see what the reaction is and how it works – and if it works. That comes down to even the sound of the song in a club – is it banging out there? Is it sounding how you think it sounds? That’s definitely something that we’re in a good position to be able to do. I guess [with] bands, they go and write stuff in the studio and they release an album, then go tour it. We’re making the stuff, playing it out a lot and then releasing it.”
“I think you’ve just got to do what you love,” he says. “Just make what you like and if it works, great, and
It might be less than two years since Stafford Brothers got their commercial breakthrough, but they
Indeed, Stafford Brothers’ main distinction is their authoritative command of hotly stuffed dancefloors, so it’s no surprise this has a significant bearing on their creative decisions. The fact that manning the decks is a year-round engagement also means it doesn’t take long to work out whether or not a new tune is hitting the mark.
aren’t production amateurs by any means. The siblings are relentlessly working away at a range of originals, collaborations, remixes and mash-ups. Understandably, this is what they prefer to fill their DJ sets with. “People often say, ‘Do you know what you’re going to play?’ It’s like, ‘I know our opening songs and then we’ll go from there.’ You obviously have songs that you always play – all of those are our own songs. “There’s just so much music being released,” Matt continues. “We go through music – literally every day you’re getting new stuff and at least once a week new songs are added to the SD cards. We’re constantly adding new stuff. I think you have to. You’ve got to stay fresh.” As the saying goes, all work and no play makes Matt and Chris dull boys. Luckily, their job places them in hedonistic surrounds – and they’re not the types to pass up an opportunity to get a bit wild. “We party a lot,” says Matt. “We’re known for partying. In saying that, I just ran the Tough Mudder event. It’s a ten-mile race, 20 obstacles. So while I’ll party on the weekends, Monday to Friday I’m in the gym and staying fit and healthy. I just think life’s about balance, but at the same time I’m always down for a good time. You’ve got to enjoy life.” What: Harbour Party NYE 2014 With: The Potbelleez, Wave Racer, Ganz, Wax Motif, Cosmo’s Midnight, Basenji and more Where: Luna Park When: Wednesday December 31
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Successfully deviating from the straight and narrow is a mighty achievement that comes with an enviable spread of perks. But purveyors of entertainment are often obliged to work on occasions that even the most rigorous workaholics would find
“YOU’VE JUST GOT TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE. WE HAD TRIPLEPLATINUM SUCCESS WITH ‘HELLO’ BUT BEFORE THAT WE’D PRETTY MUCH NEVER BEEN ON THE RADIO.”
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Jungle The Heat Is On By Nic Liney
I
n an information-saturated world, there aren’t many things that are more frustratingly enticing than a hidden identity. Enter Jungle, the soul-saturated London collective responsible for monster hits ‘The Heat’ and ‘Busy Earnin’’, and the music video with that six-year-old breakdancing whirlwind. Despite their viral status, Jungle spent their first year under a cloud of anonymity, without anybody knowing their real names or even what they looked like. Inscrutable press photos compounded the intrigue, suggesting there might be two people in Jungle or there might be 30. A couple of slots at Glastonbury and SXSW, an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and a knockout debut album, and we can finally put a face to the music.
Jungle’s calculated exposure seems rather like a grand master plan, the perfect publicity recipe. “Part of me wishes there had been a grand plan for the whole thing,” laughs founding member T (the whole anonymous thing hasn’t completely worn off, but we’re down to initials now). “I probably would have been able to manage the whole thing a lot better! Everything has just happened so quickly. It all just keeps coming at us left, right and centre, so we’ve just had to take it as it comes.”
show at Splendour in July. Performing live has been a steep learning curve for former bedroom producer T and his offsider J, more accustomed to lamplights than strobe lights. But they’ve taken to the stage like fish to water, getting a killer band together and delivering a vibrant live show. Nowadays, the expanded seven-piece live band keeps swapping instruments, reworking songs on the fly, and generally getting better and better. T likens the education to keeping your whiskers neat.
Sitting comfortably at the forefront of Brit super-label XL – which has everyone from Thom Yorke to King Krule under its umbrella – Jungle’s future is looking pretty bright. They’ve been playing all around the world this year, from Mexico to an explosive
“You just learn your craft,” he says. “It’s like shaving, in a way – if you play 30 festivals over a summer, you learn a lot from that. I guess Glastonbury was the first, ‘Woah, this is bigger than we could have possibly imagined’ moment, but everything is going
pretty relatively. The great thing about festivals is that so many people don’t know who you are and don’t know your music, so it’s your job to go out there and smash an incredible performance, and make people’s eyes open up to you.”
the album for creaking doors and surreptitious dial tones. And the angelic falsetto that floats in and out of Jungle’s tracks? “It changes,” says T. “For three or four tracks I sing and then J takes over. It just depends on whose voice is better in the studio that day.”
Jungle’s approach to their apprenticeship has landed them a string of accolades, premium gigs on the festival circuit and a tour with California girls Haim. But it’s not just the wild performances. There’s something about Jungle’s sound that’s hard to pin down – it’s been labelled everything from P-funk to neo-soul, a capricious cocktail that throws you into nostalgic spasms. In a digital culture that relentlessly presses forward, there’s always the slight risk that delving into retro styles and genres is a surefire way of getting left behind. Everyone remembers MGMT’s dazzling fall from the spotlight after Oracular Spectacular. But T seems unfazed by the suggestion. “The trick is not to think about it too much. You just go with your instincts, what you think is fun, what you think sounds good. Our main thing is that we are really keen to make sounds that people have never heard before. In terms of production, we want to be at the head of the game, doing things that haven’t been done before. But in terms of songwriting, it comes very naturally to us through our influence, so we try to blend our nostalgic songwriting style with our production.”
Jungle’s approach to their music is as holistic as it comes. Their music sounds wistfully like a time before the digital age, but their videos, which have stormed the web, are as much a part of their identity as their instruments are. For T and J, the music is just one part of creating a larger visual soundscape that takes you off to a certain place, memory or image. Escapism is the key.
Production is the name of the game for Jungle, the thing that separates them from the others. A tapestry of synths, foley samples and explosive percussion pushes their songwriting into a whole other plane that’s hard to emulate. T is pretty relaxed with the secrets of Jungle’s production. “A lot of the snare drums are made out of throwing keys on the table or recording yourself eating a crisp,” he says. It’s a mindfuck re-listening to
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What: Jungle out now through XL/ Remote Control With: Oscar Key Sung Where: Metro Theatre When: Thursday January 29 And: Also appearing alongside Banks, FKA Twigs, St. Vincent, Flying Lotus, Little Dragon, Mac DeMarco, Sohn and more at Laneway Festival, Sydney College of the Arts, Sunday February 1
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Jungle will be hitting Sydney in the New Year for Laneway Festival and a sideshow at the Metro Theatre. And bigger is definitely better, according to T. “We didn’t have the full band last time we were there, so this time there’s going to be all seven of us onstage and our light guy. So we’re gonna step up another level and give people something they haven’t seen before.”
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“The great thing about music and film is that it really adds to the drama of a landscape,” says T. “For me growing up, music was something that I always had when I was travelling, even just catching the train or walking through the streets.”
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The Datsuns Sleep Is For The Weak By David James Young
I
t’s just after midnight in Switzerland and Dolf de Borst – lead singer and bass player of New Zealand rockers The Datsuns, as well as the owner of one of the all-time great rock’n’roll names – is in a post-show haze. He and the rest of the band are in the midst of an extensive tour in support of their sixth studio album, Deep Sleep. Despite being over a decade into their career, there are still surprises to be found and unexpected fans turning up at every corner.
“It’s still so strange that we can trek halfway across the world and there are people that know the songs and are buying the records,” says De Borst. “We were in Stockholm recently, and there was a guy that flew over from Russia to see the show. He had every single one of our albums – including the test presses and these production bootleg versions of them. It was really surprising and really weird to me. That’s pretty fucking cool, y’know?” Would a visit to Russia ever be on the cards to make it up to the guy in question? “Probably not at the moment,” says De Borst with a nervous laugh. “Still, who knows? It’s always hard to find good promoters in certain places, but if someone was willing to take a punt and pony up, I’m sure we’d look into it. You can never say never in this sort of thing.”
lineup remains practically untouched and they’ve been as faithful to the write/record/tour cycle as any of the hardest-working bands around. What’s kept the harmonic generator going after all this time? “We started making music for the right reasons,” says De Borst. “We started off in a fairly naïve, fairly innocent way. To us, it was something to break the boredom, something that we really enjoyed doing. We just got a kick out of it – and we still do. I’d like to think that we’ve remained music fans. We listen to a lot of new stuff, and we try not to get too cynical about the whole thing. Another thing is that we’re all living in different cities these days – some of us are even in different countries. That makes the time that we actually do spend together all the more special and all the more important these days.” What: Deep Sleep out now through Hellsquad/MGM With: Front End Loader, Los Hombres Del Diablo Where: Factory Floor When: Sunday December 7
The Datsuns have made a life out of prolific touring and consistent album releases, seemingly never on any kind of downtime. The way the group has gone about those shows, however, differs substantially to how they began. While the band formerly relied on the simple ethos of ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’, De Borst believes there’s a bit more to a Datsuns show these days. “When we were touring our first two records, we had enough material to do maybe an hour at best,” he explains. “They were pretty highenergy shows – we always wanted to make it count. We’ve got six albums out now, so we try and make our shows ebb and flow a bit more. Sometimes, our shows have gone on for up to an hour and 40 minutes. The shows get longer and longer, so we’ve been teaching ourselves how to pace it out, including peaks and valleys, stuff like that. We’re focusing a lot on the last two albums, although we try and include something from every record. I know a lot of people still love our first album [2002’s The Datsuns], but our headspace is definitely more in the new stuff.”
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“We started off in a fairly naïve, fairly innocent way. To us, it was something to break the boredom, something that we really enjoyed doing. We still do.” Deep Sleep, released in October, arrived almost exactly two years after 2012 LP, Death Rattle Boogie. With a more subtle approach to their normally brash and boisterous take on classic rock, the record sees The Datsuns indulge in a touch of The Doors and some more slightly trippy detours. This, as well as the way the songs themselves were created, proved to be quite different for the band – a welcome challenge, if you will.
The Datsuns will continue their tour in support of Deep Sleep into a run of Australian club shows, which they’re greatly anticipating – as they have always done in the past. “One of the first times I really thought that we’d made it was when we packed a room in Melbourne for the first time,” recalls De Borst. “It’s always a pleasure to come back.” Looking at the grander scheme of things, it’s quite easy to view The Datsuns among the few true survivors of the garage rock revival. While many of the band’s peers either imploded or fell off the wagon, The Datsuns never split up, their thebrag.com
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“Normally we just get together and we just see what everyone’s got,” says De Borst. “We pick out ideas, make songs out of them and we pick our favourites again out of that lot. This time around, there was a bit more of a manifesto, for lack of a better word. We wrote songs together for about five or six days, and then recorded the bulk of it about four days after that. We were listening to a lot of obscure prog metal from the ’70s and reading a lot of weird science-fiction comics. We were all on the same wavelength, so the songs themselves came together really quickly.”
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Sleepwave Spencer Chamberlain Starts Again By Gloria Brancatisano or ten years, Spencer Chamberlain stood at the helm of one of the biggest metalcore bands in the world. He’d helped create four albums, two of which went on to be certified gold, scored two Grammy nominations and amassed a legion of fans around the world. But at the end of 2013 all that came to a close, and suddenly Chamberlain was left starting again.
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to come and have already come to me at the beginning of Sleepwave.”
Three years after he took the stage at Soundwave as the frontman of Underoath, Chamberlain will make his return to Australia next year – this time with his new project, Sleepwave, and a fresh outlook on music.
“I’ve always written music, since I was a little kid. I just started writing songs with my friend Stephen Bowman, and I’d do it when I came home from tour just for fun; we’d just pick up guitars and just make noise. Then when we learnt that Underoath was sadly going to call it quits, I remember getting on the phone with him and being like, ‘So you know those ideas we had? Let’s shape them up into songs.’ So I came into it with a different mentality and we sat down together in a different light.”
“To gain it all, you have to risk everything, and a lot of times you don’t have to lose it all but I definitely did,” Chamberlain says. “For ten years I’d put all my chips in one basket and I had to taste dirt before I could stand up again. It’s very humbling and it teaches you a lot about who you are, learning how to start from the bottom again.”
“Being in the position that I was in, all the way to being homeless and flat broke – being a literally starving musician – makes you really appreciate the things that are
One listen to Sleepwave’s debut album, Broken Compass, and it’s hard to imagine the record was written by the same person who fronted a successful metal band. Chamberlain understands there will be fans who disagree with his new direction, but it’s something he accepted before he began this venture. “I feel Underoath was a good ground to jump off of, because people are going to listen to what I have to say now if they liked what I used to say. But after spending ten years doing the same thing, why would I do it all over again? “There are going to be haters because it’s not metal or hardcore or whatever you want to call
Underoath, but why would I do Underoath Part Two with a new group of guys? That would just feel wrong to me. If I’m going to play Underoath’s style of music, I’m going to play that with the Underoath guys.” Having already performed on two Soundwave tours and multiple Australian dates over the last decade, next year’s Soundwave will mark a return to Australian stages for Chamberlain. While he understands things are going to start slow for Sleepwave, he holds every hope that things will take off soon. “I remember looking at the lineup and going, ‘Damn, I wish we were on that.’ As far as Underoath goes, they were some of my favourite tours we ever did. Australia has
always been so good to me, so I’m hoping that it will continue with Sleepwave and us continuing to come back to Australia. “Outside of America, Australia was the absolute hands down best country for Underoath to tour. I just can’t wait to start a new chapter with Sleepwave. It’s the start, so it’ll be a little smaller at first, but after coming back a couple of times I’m sure we’ll be great.” Once a chapter has closed, it’s easy to look back on the past and pick out all your mistakes. After a decade touring the world in Underoath, and then watching the rug pulled from underneath him, having a chance at a fresh start is the only way for Chamberlain to move forward. And he’s ready to make up for missed opportunities.
“If I could go back and meet myself, I would tell him to try to get out more and appreciate things a little bit more, because you’re touring so much, you get comfortable. I felt like I had no time. I would tell myself to make sure I get up and go and look at some of the beautiful places that are right in front of my face.” What: Soundwave Festival 2015 With: Slipknot, Faith No More, Soundgarden, Slash, Marilyn Manson, Incubus, Lamb Of God, Fall Out Boy, Ministry, Judas Priest and many more Where: Sydney Olympic Park When: Saturday February 28 and Sunday March 1 And: Broken Compass out now through Epitaph/Warner
Sleepwave photo by Amber Canterbury
The collapse of Underoath meant a long way to fall from grace, and Chamberlain learnt just how quickly everything can disappear. The moment that really highlighted his downfall was the night when, while sitting at his dining room table with his two gold records hanging on the wall, Chamberlain had to empty out his piggy bank to buy a 99-cent burger. It was the first time he’d eaten in two days.
Sleepwave is not only a new musical project for Chamberlain, it’s a clean slate. The project began while he was still a part of Underoath as a way to let off steam and explore his creativity between tours. But what started out as a bit of fun between friends soon grew into a serious venture.
Ian Anderson The Glory Days Of Jethro Tull By Adam Norris things. Jimmy [Page] and the other guys can just stand about and strum a guitar a bit, that’s all you have to do. But the singer, it’s the whole physical deal, and I think Robert has likely moved on with his life, his music and his fans. He hasn’t persevered with that, the same way as [people] like Sting, who chose to go their own ways after a couple of years of being with hugely successful bands. How long will it be until Chris Martin decides enough is enough with Coldplay and wants to start something new?” Though 11 years have passed since Jethro Tull released their final record (and almost five decades since their first), their legacy as one of the world’s foremost progressive rock bands is unlikely to fade anytime soon, thanks in no small part to Anderson’s involvement and continued solo output. His regret, however, is not paying closer attention when it came to choosing a name.
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It must be said that talking to him is an exhaustive pleasure. His answers cover so much ground that it’s hard to keep track of where your question began, and where his freewheeling reminiscence has led you. Conversation is casually littered with the great names of music, and it’s worth noting this is no idle showboating; Anderson has featured right alongside them. “From the very beginning,” he explains, “I had more of a track record of never staying in one place but always trying something different. Maybe a good example is David Bowie, who commanded people’s attention but never fell into the trap of repeating himself, or repeating the same
character or identity, the same vocal style. I mean, Bowie has an incredible vocal range; he was a very good singer. Still is, likely, though these days, like much of his life, he tends to focus on the Bing Crosby/Frank Sinatra range, and that’s understandable. “As you get older your voice thickens, becomes darker. You perhaps become more suited to some of your work more than others. That’s part of the reason Robert Plant doesn’t carry on with the Led Zeppelin reunion idea. Recognising that it’s hard to do those songs in the same way, you’ll be constantly compared with your younger self. People will be very harsh with those
In the days surrounding this conversation The Rolling Stones have been swinging from stadium to stadium here in Australia (sorry, Broken Hill). After a lengthy discussion
“At the beginning I was quite conscious of being part of something really big and probably quite important. I guess in the middle period [of your career] you tend to just put that behind you and get on with whatever you’re doing today, and not really think about the context. Later in life you’ll go back to that again and re-evaluate your position, the people you’ve met and worked with, the people whose stage you’ve shared as a support band or lowly beginner. In the beginning and end you’re certainly aware of the great moments that you’ve had, the opportunities, including the ones you’ve missed. “If you ask me what those were, the answer is, I can’t think of any off the top of my head. But not playing at Woodstock was not one of them.” He laughs. “The way I see it now, I think that was a very wise career move.” What: Ian Anderson Presents The Best Of Jethro Tull Where: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House When: Thursday December 11 and Friday December 12
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ver the last, say, 60 years, we have witnessed plenty of attempts by musicians trying to reinvent themselves. The reasons for this are legion – sheer commercial incentive, the necessity to alter your performance to suit venues, fickle fans – but surely exasperation at playing the same old sound must be close to the top. Ian Anderson found a rather savvy way to sidestep this from the very beginning. During his days as frontman of Jethro Tull (not familiar? Picture the silhouette of a crazed pirate flautist standing on one leg) and on through his solo career, Anderson has simply never settled for one kind of music.
“I’ve always felt a little embarrassed and awkward about the name Jethro Tull,” he chuckles, “especially after I discovered we were named after a dead guy who invented the seed drill. I didn’t really give it that much thought at the time and after three or four weeks, well, that was the name we were stuck with. The fact it was somebody else’s name, that’s what really bothered me. It’s a bit like being called Robin Hood. If it’s something historical, that might have some useful reference for people in suggesting a certain character, a certain time, a certain context that might be applicable to the music you’re playing. But it didn’t really have much to do with us at all, unfortunately.”
about the trajectory of the Stones’ music (“I don’t think Jagger has had the credit due to him having tried to push the boundaries a little bit,” Anderson says, “but at the same time he recognises that ultimately his legacy is as the guy with the not-sobig-anymore lips and the skinny legs jumping around stages,”), he reminisces about his 1968 performance in The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus. Having played alongside the likes of The Who and The Dirty Mac (a group featuring such names as John Lennon and Eric Clapton), Anderson says the memory remains a touchstone of his early days.
I MAG I N E BE I NG MAD E TO
FE EL L I KE C RAP J U ST FOR
Okay, that’s hard to imagine? But being gay, lesbian, bi, trans or intersex is no different to being born left handed, it’s just who you are. So stop and think because the things we say are likely to cause depression and anxiety. And that really is pretty crap.
GO TO LEFTHAND.ORG.AU TO WATCH THE VIDEO BEING
LEFT
H A N D E D.
STOP t THINK t RESPECT
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Jane Tyrrell This Bird Has Flown By David James Young
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ccording to Jane Tyrrell, every man and his dog has told her to make a solo record. It’s all simply been a matter of time, however: following extensive recording and touring with The Herd and Urthboy, the Novocastrian gave her debut solo performances toward the end of 2013 as part of Elefant Traks’ 15-year anniversary celebrations. Now, after two years of on-and-off work towards the record’s completion, every man and his dog finally have their day.
Echoes In The Aviary is a debut free of jitters or nervous twitches, with resonant, bold versatility and a firm stamp of identity. It’s the end product of demons such as uncertainty and reluctance being battled and ultimately defeated – even if it took longer than expected.
The aforementioned Pike brothers, as well as producers Dustin McLean and Pip ‘Countbounce’ Norman, all assisted in the creation and arrangement of each song on Echoes. Tyrrell herself wrote every song on the album bar one – ‘Stolen Apples’ originally appeared on the 2006 album of the same name by the one and only Paul Kelly. “Toward the end of making the album, Tim [Levinson, AKA Urthboy] asked me to perform with him on that tour [with Kelly],” she says of the cover’s origin. “I figured that maybe it would be the final burst of inspiration that I needed to
get across the finish line. I was suffering a lot from writer’s block at the time, but I was also watching Paul and his band play this amazing two-hour set of beautifully written music. I’d go back to the hotel room, and I’d try and write… nothing was coming out. I started listening to Paul’s music more by myself in order to pull apart his approach and attempt my own take on it. ‘Stolen Apples’ totally blew me away – I thought to myself, ‘This is it. This is what I need to master.’” The man himself gave his seal of approval, and was even present at the song’s live premiere at Melbourne’s Northcote Social Club. It also appears as though his support has not ended there. “I got a text from Missy Higgins the other day,” says Tyrrell with a giggle. “She was over at Paul’s for a barbecue, and he was playing my album. She said he wouldn’t take it off!” What: Echoes In The Aviary out now through Elefant Traks With: Elana Stone, Maples Where: Newtown Social Club When: Friday December 5
Jane Tyrrell photo by Wilk
“I guess I was just waiting for the window of opportunity where I was able to pluck up the courage to make it happen,” says Tyrrell, on the line from her new home in Melbourne. “It was purely practical, to be honest. I also felt as though I had explored everything that I could purely from the perspective of writing hooks and verses. I felt like I wasn’t so much inspired to continue down that path. I wanted to see what I had in me. I wanted to challenge myself.”
“I’ve had a notebook and many vocal sketches that I’ve been building up on my laptop for about eight years – and I failed to utilise any of it,” Tyrrell explains. “I went up to the Blue Mountains in October of 2012 by myself and listened through them, trying to take them in. I wanted to see if there was something there that was worth pursuit, and I just wasn’t getting the hit that I wanted. That’s when I approached the Pike brothers from PVT – they’re the type of guys that have always turned me on musically. I asked them to collaborate with me on some demos, and that’s where the whole album really started.”
Atomic Bomb! Sinkane Pays Tribute By Augustus Welby
W
henever the expression ‘tribute show’ is uttered, it’s generally wise to run a mile. Chances are it’ll involve a bunch of mismatched also-rans playing half-hearted cover versions. Atomic Bomb!, however, is an exception. A feature event at next year’s Sydney Festival, the show takes its name from one of the many mindbending originals written and performed by 1970s Nigerian electronic funk artist William Onyeabor. “Everyone who is involved is a big fan of his music and really respects William Onyeabor,” says Atomic Bomb! bandleader Sinkane (AKA Ahmed Gallab). “So we’re coming in at 100 per cent. Everyone wants to see the live performance at its full effect. We want it to be a really beautiful experience for everybody involved.” Over two nights at the Enmore Theatre, Gallab and his Sinkane bandmates will lead a crack crew of musicians – including Gotye, Money Mark, Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, LCD Soundsystem’s Pat Mahoney and The Mahotella Queens – through a sequence of Onyeabor’s feel-good, synth-heavy jams. With the exception of Gotye, the Atomic Bomb band has already done a handful of triumphant shows in the US and UK. “All of us have taken it very seriously,” Gallab says. “Through that we’ve become a unit. We’re a big family; there’s 14 of us onstage and we really like to play with each other. We were the first people to perform this music live – it was never performed live, ever – so I hope that we’re doing it justice for him, but at the same time it’s turned into our own thing and we’re really happy to be playing music with each other.” Onyeabor’s recording career stretched from the late ’70s through to the mid-’80s. During
that period, he independently recorded and released a series of LPs, all featuring a heavily synthesised mutation of Afrobeat. Listening in 2014, Onyeabor’s output remains unstoppably uplifting and positively futuristic. “It’s pretty genius music if you think about it,” Gallab says. “He was doing what musicians are trying to do now, back in 1977. He recorded everything himself, he played all of the instruments himself and he released the music all himself. That, in 1977, was unheard of and was completely ahead of its time. I would argue that people who are doing it now aren’t even doing it in the same capacity he did. It’s a pretty unbelievable achievement.” The Atomic Bomb! live show came together thanks to David Byrne’s world music imprint, Luaka Bop. Last year, Luaka Bop issued a comprehensive retrospective album called Who Is William Onyeabor? Prior to this, Onyeabor’s ‘Better Change Your Mind’ featured on the label’s 2005 compilation World Psychedelic Classics Volume 3: Love’s A Real Thing, which is how Gallab discovered the Nigerian guru. “His was so far beyond what was my understanding of African music. I was so inspired by it. It’s just beautiful music. It makes you feel good and it’s got a really positive message. And it’s kind of hypnotic – you can’t stop listening to it.” Now based in New York, Gallab is of Sudanese heritage. Both these locations influence the music he’s been making under the Sinkane moniker since 2007. Mean Love, the project’s fourth LP, came out this August. The record makes it pretty obvious that Onyeabor’s upbeat outlook has rubbed off on Gallab. “I really was inspired by the fact that his music sounded deeply African, but had transcended the idea of what African music was,” he says. “It ultimately became something unto itself. That’s something I’ve always wanted to do and William Onyeabor’s been my biggest influence in that regard.”
Common People By David James Young
2
014 has seen Fireworks shaking with winds of change. A door closed for the Detroit band with the departure of long-time drummer Tymm Rengers, who played on every release up to and including Fireworks’ third studio album from the first quarter of this year, Oh, Common Life. “Tymm had things in his life that were just too pressing in order for him to continue on with the band – work and family commitments, mostly,” explains guitarist Chris Mojan. “He did the record with us, and then our friend Teddy [Roberts] came in on drums in order for us to tour. [Tymm]’s still a close friend of ours – he actually still comes out to shows and sees us play when we do gigs back home.” Still, when a door closes a window opens – in this case, the window being Adam Mercer, a touring guitarist and keyboardist who was brought in as a full-time member prior to the recording of Common Life, expanding Fireworks out to a sextet. “Adam’s been with us for about three years now – he actually did Soundwave with us the last time we were out in Australia,” says Mojan. “That was a pretty smooth transition into becoming a fullyfledged member of the band. When we did [2011 album] Gospel, we played a bunch of organ parts and third guitar parts. Adam was a close friend that had those talents and could help pull them off live, so it just made sense.” Although a three-guitar set-up is often seen as one of rock’s greater indulgences – up there with having two drummers – Mojan insists that the somewhat unusual method is how the band has learned to operate. He claims that it’s the factor of adding in something a little extra that lifts the songs from good to great. “We’ve actually always written that way,” he says. “Dave [Mackinder], our singer, is usually the guy that gets a lot of the riffs and the ideas for the songs started. When we’re writing, it’s usually Dave with a guitar on him, with me as well and probably Adam. Gospel was the first record that we decided
that we shouldn’t just pick and choose the guitar parts that we play live. When Adam came in, it meant that we were finally able to play all of the parts together.” February will see the band return as a part of the Soundwave festivities, marking almost exactly three years since Fireworks’ previous run with the festival in 2012. Prior to that, they toured in 2010 through both supporting dates for heavyweights New Found Glory and a string of their own shows that served as a far cry from where they find themselves now. “It was really cool to see that side of touring in Australia,” says Mojan. “We were touring around in a van, playing small halls and community centres. The next time we came, we were doing Soundwave, which is obviously such a different experience. It’s definitely grown for us, and we’re really grateful for that.” Soundwave will also allow Mojan and the rest of the band to come full circle with some of their oldest tourmates. “The Wonder Years are on the tour, and we’re great friends with those guys – we’ve known them probably about seven years. It’s always fun to be in that kind of setting. Soundwave is the kind of festival that takes such great care of its bands, and it’s remarkable that we get to do it with a band that we’ve done the real down-anddirty kind of tours with back home.” What: Soundwave Festival 2015 With: Slipknot, Faith No More, Soundgarden, Slash, Marilyn Manson, Incubus, Lamb Of God, Fall Out Boy, Judas Priest and many more Where: Sydney Olympic Park When: Saturday February 28 and Sunday March 1 And: Oh, Common Life out now through Triple Crown
“Walking through forests of palm tree apartments, scoff at the monkeys who live in their dark tents.” - IAN ANDERSON 18 :: BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14
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Sinkane photo by Martine Carlson
What: Atomic Bomb! The Music Of William Onyeabor as part of Sydney Festival 2015 With: Gotye, The Mahotella Queens, Money Mark, Luke Jenner, Alexis Taylor, Pat Mahoney Where: Enmore Theatre When: Friday January 16 and Saturday January 17
Fireworks
BRAG’s guide to film, theatre, comedy and art about town
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arts frontline
free stuff
arts news...what's goin' on around town...with Chris Martin, Tori Bedingfield and Tyson Wray
head to: thebrag.com/freeshit
WITH
RICHARD WALKER FROM STARTTS Performers will include the Choir of Love (Arabic choral music), the South Sudanese Women’s Performance Group, Bosnian Women’s Blue River Choir, Spanish Speaking Choir, guest artists Annette Tesoriero and Elia Bosshard, plus special guests.
South Sudanese Women’s Performance Group
T
Tell us about the concept behind Let It Be. Let It Be is an enchanting familyfriendly choral singing event. In
the spirit of the festive season, it is about bringing together choirs and performers from all over the world in a celebration of harmony and joy. Choirs formed from refugee and multicultural communities in Sydney will lend their voices to a repertoire spanning continents, cultures and centuries, from Iraqi sacred music to songs of freedom from the world’s newest country, South Sudan. Which community choirs will be represented at the event?
What services does STARTTS provide? Essentially, STARTTS helps refugees deal with their past experiences and build a new life in Australia. Often, surviving war, torture or trauma is only the beginning and the deepest scars are the ones you can’t see. Our services include counselling and group therapy to help people deal with the psychological impacts of trauma, physiotherapy and other body-focused services to deal with the physical impacts, and community development projects to help people rebuild the social ties that are often destroyed by violence. How important are cultural events like Let It Be to fulfilling STARTTS’ aims? People are impacted by trauma
in different ways, and it is important for us to be able to use innovative ways to try to help people overcome that trauma. Cultural events are very important for that. Torture and trauma tend to shatter a person’s identity and sense of self. The act of creating and performing can be crucial to helping people regain a sense of self and of control over their lives. Refugees are too often relegated to a subject for political debate, but can events like this help draw the wider community’s attention to the value of multiculturalism? Absolutely. An event like this is one of the best examples of the kind of cultural expression that can only be found in a society that is as multicultural as ours, and it is a great example of people from all over the world coming together for a common love of music. What: Let It Be Where: Riverside Theatre, Parramatta When: Sunday December 21
SYDNEY FESTIVAL: LIMBO
If you like your cabaret shows with a side of acrobatics, you are in luck. Coming to town as part of Sydney Festival 2015, Limbo is a mix of the sultry, the contortion-y and definitely the unique. Set in an otherworldly plane between heaven and hell, it has managed to sell out shows all across the globe. The show is set to a live brass, hip hop and beats soundtrack by Sxip Shirey. Limbo is playing in the Aurora Spiegeltent from Thursday January 8 – Sunday January 25, and we have a double pass to give away to opening night. To be in the running, head to thebrag.com/freeshit and tell us about the last time you were stuck in limbo.
Limbo photo by Tony Virgo
he NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) is this month presenting Let It Be, a choral event drawing together close to 100 performers from refugee and multicultural communities. We caught five with STARTTS spokesperson Richard Walker.
Limbo
Let It Be photo by Paper Tree Photography
five minutes
ISN’T THIS LOVELY
To celebrate its 50th birthday, the PACT Centre for Emerging Artists will be fi nishing off the year with a three-night presentation of its artist-in-residence video performance, Lovely. Directed by Jackson Davis, a member of the Re:group performance collective, Lovely is a live fi lm performance that recreates the vast fi lmography of Philip Seymour Hoffman, reincarnating him onstage. Using video, choreography, sound and a mix of electronica, the performance has been described as a part love letter, part eulogy to the star. Lovely will play from Thursday December 11 – Saturday December 13 at PACT in Erskineville.
RUSSELL PETERS
One of the biggest comedians on the planet will return to Australia early next year. On his Notorious tour in 2013, Russell Peters set attendance records around the world. It took him to 26 countries with over 200 performances and more than 300,000 fans attending his shows globally. His upcoming Almost Famous tour promises all-new material and Peters’ lightning-fast improv with the audience. Catch him at Allphones Arena on Saturday March 28.
Tim Minchin Aztecs
TIM MINCHIN ON THE STEPS
Australia’s finest musical comedy export, Tim Minchin, will play a one-off concert on the Forecourt of the Sydney Opera House in February. It’ll be Minchin’s first show on home soil in nearly three years, after his 2012 orchestra tour and Homebake appearance, and his only performance Down Under in 2015. Like any musical genius, Minchin has spent the intervening time being generally awesome, writing the music and lyrics for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda The Musical, as well as continuing his acting career. Minchin’s Sydney Opera House appearance will be part of the inaugural week-long On The Steps series. Minchin plays the Sydney Opera House on Monday February 23. Tickets go on sale 10am Friday December 5.
TEQUILA SUNSETS
Russell Peters
THE DARK SIDE OF CIRQUE
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IMB Sunset Cinema
SUNSET CINEMA
IMB Sunset Cinema will return to the historic North Sydney Oval this summer, with a program of blockbusters and cult classics for movie lovers young and old. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 will open the season, showing on the giant inflatable screen on Wednesday January 28. Also on the schedule are The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, Dirty Dancing, Ghost, Top Gun, and Family Friday films including Frozen: SingAlong and Penguins Of Madagascar. The IMB Sunset Cinema runs at North Sydney Oval from Thursday January 22 – Saturday March 28. For the full program and tickets, visit sunsetcinema.com.au/northsydney.
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Tim Minchin photo by Kevin Patrick Robbins
Featuring 22 of the world’s most skilled circus performers, Le Noir is set to bring a calibre of performance and skill never before seen in Australia. The Le Noir troupe, comprising award-winning athletes and former Cirque Du Soleil stars, is coming to Sydney for the first time, and is bringing with it a custombuilt stage, giving the audience spectacular 360-degree views of the show. Guided by impeccable spatial awareness, balance and stamina, each performer contributes to the surreal and seductive atmosphere as they glide through the air, swinging through a blur of hands and feet. Le Noir is billed as an intimate performance focusing on more complex acts with high-calibre performers, exploring emotion through colour, movement and musicians. The season commences on Thursday March 19 at the Sydney Lyric Theatre.
Following the closure of the popular Jurassic Lounge, The Australian Museum will be opening its doors every Thursday evening until the end of January for Tequila Sunsets – a chill night of Mexican food, Latin DJs and a piñata installation by Mexican visual artist Sergio Plata. The museum is currently exhibiting Aztecs, an intriguing look at the rise and fall of the dramatically short-lived Aztec Empire. The exhibit will run until Sunday February 1, showcasing more than 200 priceless artefacts from some of Mexico’s most renowned museums. To cool off and relax during the summer months, the museum will be holding a weekly Thursday event from 5-9pm, where people can socialise after hours and enjoy the exhibition at their leisure. On Thursday December 11, in honour of the Aztecs’ discovery of chocolate, there will be a chocolate and beer tasting night sponsored by 4 Pines Brewery, with special guest Galit Segev. Other discussions will focus on ritual sacrifi ce, astronomy and a feminist critique of the indigenous life before and after the empire’s fall. Tequila Sunsets will run from Thursday December 4 – Thursday January 29.
Asking For It
Kiss & Cry
[COMEDY] From The Waist Up By Tegan Jones
[DANCE] Lend A Hand By Adam Norris
like the thought of being able to pull off a terrible idea,” laughs comedian Adrienne Truscott. One half of New York duo The Wau Wau Sisters, Truscott has been making waves with her latest show Asking For It: A One-Lady Rape About Comedy Starring Her Pussy And Little Else! Dressed only from the waist up, Truscott explores the realm of rape culture by daring to laugh at what is possibly the last comic taboo. Truscott will be performing her provocative show as part of the Sydney Festival, and hopes to do a better job than some of her male predecessors.
amazing how many people come up and say that they could have a laugh about the topic, even from women who have had first-hand experience,” she says. “People have said that it’s given them a chance to find some light in an otherwise dark place. It’s also been really gorgeous how many young male comics have come up and said really great stuff to me.”
“I’m not saying that all comedy has to play by this rule, but in general there’s a fool in the king’s court. The fool is the comic and he’s allowed to take the piss out of the people in power,” she says. “But it’s just a bunch of dickbags already enjoying a pretty healthy dose of power making so-called edgy jokes about various peoples. And it’s not just rape jokes; they’re also saying crazy racist stuff, and it’s just not super-brilliant when you’re the white dude making sexist jokes.
“You know it’s a tragedy if I have to say that ultimately, my pussy is forgettable,” Truscott laughs. “I’ve certainly been accused of being gimmicky, and it’s absolutely a gimmick to make a fun show and to get bums on seats. But it’s also really relevant to the show to see a woman naked, totally comfortable and thinking, ‘Nothing is going to happen to me, I’m in charge of my body right now.’
“I
Kiss & Cry
S
ome of our earliest experiences with theatre and play are shadows cast on the wall, and the role that our hands play in the development of our imagination is an interesting concept. It almost feels like an unrecognised history – the ubiquity of hands sees them largely overlooked. Kiss & Cry banishes that idea, simultaneously shooting and projecting onscreen the often startling beauty of hand-dancing in a performance that has received accolades across the globe. Reconnecting an audience with its creative lineage, however, was far from Michèle Anne De Mey’s thoughts when the troupe began rehearsing. “We maybe thought of history,” De Mey explains, “but in fact when we [perform] we are not thinking about all that.” It must be said that while De Mey’s answers are colourful and considered, English is not exactly her forte. As such, her replies are often oddly poetic, but labyrinthine; never before in an interview have I felt so much like an empty-handed Theseus. “It was a natural moment, and not thinking about [that] idea – we were all together satisfying what we [decided] to do together. It was more [an attempt to] create this long performance piece with hands. We didn’t know it was going to be a success, because it is very personal to create – we think, ‘This [idea may be] interesting.’ But after we think, ‘Yes, this is true,’ all the analysis [comes] afterwards. It was to totally create what we want and what the audience [will] enjoy watching. All sorts of needs [emerge] in making it, in the discovery, the effect of the characters. The poetic is important. [It] is not a dance made for movie, is not a movie made for dance, is not a text in a theatre. Everything was really created together, flow by flow.” What first strikes you about the two performers in Kiss & Cry is the unexpected grace of these characters, and the fact that they are simply hands adds a level of familiar mystery that would not be out of place in a David Lynch film.
It is certainly one of the most unique approaches to dance I’ve seen in some time, and the choreography is incredibly moving, almost haunting – taking something we assume familiarity with and revealing an alternate side. “We [wanted to] create just a little theatre, [with a focus] on hands moving and dancing,” says De Mey. “Sometimes [the hands are a] character, sometimes animal, sometimes more abstract. Also, we try and go inside the [props], create inside [new spaces]. Sometimes the movement of the set [links] thematically to the story. Sometimes, it was anticipating the writer, [to] see what is difficult in the text. Sometimes, we take a song and choreograph in another language. Then we decide, ‘OK, [we have] the hands of a man and hands of a woman, it’s a love story.’ Then we have [projections] with the camera, the hall of memory. This [is the] challenge we created.” Wrapping up this delightful but rather strange interview, De Mey elaborates on the genesis of the production. In the interest of providing an unabridged example of our conversation, the following is a wonderful, verbatim response.
“I didn’t come at it in order to censor their comedy, I just thought that it wasn’t sharp and funny enough for how annoying it was. I’m not saying that my show is funnier than theirs, but I thought I’d just toss my own jokes into the ring,” says Truscott. “I just wondered if there was a way that you could use comedy to talk about rape culture. I’m one of those people who turn to humour when they feel weird and things are tough. Sometimes it’s the absolute perfect way to talk about the absolute hardest, darkest things.” Although Truscott has received some criticism for the show, there have been far more instances of support from audiences. “It’s been
But has Truscott being half-naked in the show proved focal to the point of distraction for her audiences, or is the show so engrossing that the nudity fades into the background?
“I’ve had people say, ‘If she thinks she’s a feminist and that anyone is going to pay any attention to what she’s saying with her pussy out, she’s kidding herself.’ But if I didn’t think that what I had to say was as interesting as what I was going to wear, I wouldn’t have tried to pull this off. Also, it’s a pretty heavy diss on the audience to assume that they would listen to a lady talk for an hour and that all other realities would drop out and they all would just be like, ‘Vagina!’” What: Asking For It as part of Sydney Festival 2015 Where: Seymour Centre When: Wednesday January 14 – Sunday January 18
Adrienne Truscott
“This hand-dancing will see the choreography of cameraman standing onstage, and after then, not recording images and to project at the same time on the screen. And then the dancers not in the life of the theatre, in the movie, on the camera. It’s not under spotlights, on the dance and on the theatre, and they really work together, collective. This is just the really beginning after the first.” Beautiful, poetic, and bewildering. Much like Kiss & Cry itself. What: Kiss & Cry as part of Sydney Festival 2015 Where: Carriageworks When: Thursday January 22 – Sunday January 25
Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular [MUSIC/TELEVISION] Who Are You By Tegan Jones every two minutes if it was real.”
Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular
Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular photo by Lucas Dawson
Davison makes me feel better about being a crazy Doctor Who fan by revealing that he was actually one himself. “I remember watching the first episode! I was a big fan of the first two Doctors, then I went off to school and watched it less, but I always kept in touch with it. As an actor, I remember thinking, ‘God, I’d love to get a part in Doctor Who.’” Not only did Davison get the part in 1981, he unknowingly started one big Whovian family. Fans will be aware that Davison’s daughter, Georgia, not only played the Doctor’s daughter, Jenny, in 2008, but went on to marry and start a family with the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant. “Oh yes, our dynasty,” Davison jests. “I definitely have both my son, and now David’s son, lined up to be the Doctor. It’s kind of cool, and it’s a big shock for people when they see us walking the dog in the park,” he laughs.
W
atch out, Sydney – an invasion is coming. Murray Gold’s Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular will be landing Down Under in January, bringing with it live music, auditorium-stalking monsters and the one and only Peter Davison as host. I was fortunate enough to chat to the Fifth Doctor, and even managed to display some semblance of professionalism. Well, mostly. Being a serious journalist, I’m not afraid to ask
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the hard-hitting questions. This resulted in me immediately interrogating Davison about something that fans have been pondering for three decades – the truth behind the celery on his lapel. The answer is scandalous indeed. “I’m afraid it was fake,” Davison laughs. “Whenever I meet fans at conventions and they’re walking around with real celery they only put on an hour ago, it’s already drooping! They would have literally had to change it
Whenever I speak to people who have been involved in Doctor Who, I always find it fascinating to hear their thoughts on why the show is still so successful after 50-plus years. “I suppose the obvious answer is the fact that they came up with this brilliant idea that the Doctor can regenerate. More than that, I think that part of it is the endless possibilities of science-fiction and a hero with a time machine. You’re not tied to any one place – you finish a
story in one place and next week you may be somewhere 2,000 years into the future or the past. It’s a tremendously exciting genre and the only limits are your imagination.” Jokes and fan-girling aside, we also manage to have a conversation about the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular, which is undoubtedly going to be even more incredible than it sounds. “The music from the show, written by Murray Gold, is going to be played by a marvellous symphony orchestra,” Davison explains. “Also, many Doctor Who monsters from the show will be wandering about the auditorium and interacting with both the conductor and myself whilst trying to scare the hell out of people watching. “The music is of course very powerful. It’s wonderful to hear it being played live, and we’ll also have clips from the show running behind the orchestra. What’s interesting is that, as opposed to when you’re watching it on TV, when the emphasis is on the screen and the music is in the background, in this case the music is in the forefront. You get a real sense of what you’re listening to and the power of a symphony orchestra.” What: Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular Where: Qantas Credit Union Arena When: Saturday Febuary 7
BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14 :: 21
Film Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and bareboards around town
A Thousand Times Good Night
Men, Women & Children ■ Film
A THOUSAND TIMES GOOD NIGHT In cinemas now A Thousand Times Good Night is one of those movies that you choose to watch not because of the storyline, but because of the stellar cast that has agreed to be a part of it. Namely, Juliette Binoche and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. They play Rebecca and Marcus, a couple caught at the crossroads of their marriage and discerning, constantly discerning, where each should go.
There’s no contesting the talent of these actors, so why do you not feel for them the way you should? Is it the characters? Is it the stilted relationship? Is it the linear storyline? Absolutely. There is little to redeem Rebecca to the audience. She’s so ingrained in her work that she barely shows compassion for the people in her life, while Marcus is such a twodimensional character, the only thing keeping your attention is the fact he’s that hot guy from Game Of Thrones.
MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN In cinemas now This may sound overly alarmist, but considering the nature of the work in question, it’s only fair: no film in the medium’s history has been as straight-off-the-bat terrible as Jason Reitman’s Men, Women & Children. The opening credits haven’t even finished as Emma Thompson narrates a brief history of the Voyager spacecraft as a pinnacle technological achievement, before being pointedly juxtaposed with Adam Sandler looking up porn on his son’s computer in a suburban home in Whitepeoplesville, USA. The message is clear: what has our ‘connected’ world done to us? It’d be nice to say the film steadily improves from there, especially in light of its poisonous critical and commercial reception after opening in the US months ago – kicking a dog when it’s down is an ugly practice, and besides, it’d have to get better, right? Alas, that opening salvo proves to be the rule rather than the exception, as the story crisscrosses between the lives of a handful of dead-eyed, iGod-enslaved, middle-class lost souls (played by Sandler, Rosemarie DeWitt, Judy Greer, Dean Norris and Jennifer Garner, among others), whose myriad problems would easily be solved by looking at each other instead of their various screens, which have facilitated bulimia, adultery, bad sex, and worse spelling and grammar.
If nothing else, the imagery is spectacular. Throughout the film, we witness Rebecca capturing two moments: one as a woman prepares for her death via suicide bombing, the other as an African camp is raided. The cinematographic side is nothing compared to the captured images that ring full of emotion and beauty. It’s a shame the characters couldn’t feel the same way.
It’s difficult to keep up with the film’s problems, which apart from the overriding tone of hysterical technophobia, include hackneyed filmmaking (every instance of written communication appears in an onscreen caption like a cartoon storm cloud, and Reitman seems to think that there’s no cliché that a handheld camera can’t fix), questionable depictions of race (one of the very few non-white cast members is Dennis Haysbert as an African-American lothario only a few degrees removed from South Park’s Chef), and only scant instances of recognisable human behaviour. I guess one could commend Reitman for his go-for-broke audacity at diagnosing society’s ills, and – after a filmography of snarkfests like Juno and Up In The Air – that he’s obviously trying to branch out with more earnest fare. On that more upbeat note, I’ll end this review and stop staring at my laptop screen, before it ruins my life even more.
Stephanie Yip
Ian Barr
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler ■ Film
NIGHTCRAWLER In cinemas now In Nightcrawler, a handful of desperate, slimy characters clamour for viewers who remain unseen. Chief among them is Louis Bloom (a scarily gaunt and bug-eyed Jake Gyllenhaal), an amateur crime journalist climbing a dubious professional ladder in Los Angeles by videotaping crime scenes and selling the footage to a local news station run by Nina Romina (Rene Russo), a veteran producer less concerned with Bloom’s lack of ethics than dwindling ratings. No-one, however, beyond the parties involved, is actually seen watching the news. The idea of the viewer being implicated in Bloom’s own voyeuristic tactics is not
a particularly novel one, nor is the premise ripe for a cutting-edge attack on media sensationalism; both Network and Ace In The Hole (for instance) have beaten it to the punch by 38 and 63 years, respectively. Part of this is due to the anachronistic, neo-noir pastiche quality of the LA it depicts (rendered in hues of neon by cinematographer Robert Elswit, best known for his work on Paul Thomas Anderson’s films), which effectively establishes Bloom as living in a movie of his own making, but also neuters a lot of the screenplay’s potential satirical edge and specificity. Still, it’s that very movie-ness that keeps Nightcrawler from being a preachy Way-We-LiveNow sermon, and the film is good cynical entertainment
for the most part, with at least one knockout action set piece and several hilarious, hair-raising long dialogue scenes that highlight the extent of Bloom’s sociopathy. The mood created by writer (and first-time director) Dan Gilroy is simultaneously dread-fraught and beguiling throughout, with Gyllenhaal and Russo obviously vitalised by the sharply etched inhumanity of their characters. But it’s Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) who quietly steals the film as Gyllenhaal’s timid, easily exploited assistant; increasingly aghast at his boss, and in turn a moral compass and audience surrogate, he indelibly stands out amidst the film’s sordid panorama. Ian Barr
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Arts Exposed What's in our diary...
Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing
Playing at the Sydney Lyric Theatre until Sunday February 8 Nobody will be putting Baby in a corner this summer as the stage adaptation of the classic 1987 film Dirty Dancing returns to Sydney. Set in the summer of 1963, the story follows the development of 17-year-old Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman as she learns a thing or two about life, love and dance. Kurt Phelan and Kirby Burgess take on the roles of Johnny Castle and ‘Baby’ Houseman, delivering those classic lines, busting those moves and executing those lifts we’re all too familiar with. For more information and to book tickets, head to sydneylyric.com.au 22 :: BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14
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Dirty Dancing photo by Kurt Sneddon
Rebecca is a war photographer who travels to some of the most dangerous places in the world to capture images unparalleled. That is, until she’s almost killed on her latest assignment. From the moment Marcus addresses her in the hospital, this strain in their relationship is clear. There’s little affection as they speak to one another and there’s much routine that follows. It’s as though he’s been here before – and he probably has. Constantly plagued by the worry that this time she won’t return home, he battles between his love for his wife and the passion she feels for her profession, and protecting himself and their two daughters from the worry and sorrow that comes with Rebecca’s career choice.
■ Film
bread&thread Food & Fashion News...with June Murtagh
SYDNEY’S ULTIMATE BEACH CAFÉ
There’s something almost paradisiacal about Collaroy Beach’s latest culinary hot spot. Pelican Pavilion manages to combine all the idyllic elements stereotypical of an Australian summer, creating a friendly atmosphere in which you can sit back with a fresh, healthy meal and an aromatic coffee, soaking up the sun, breathing in the salty sea air and looking out into the surf. And as that warm summer sun disappears beyond the horizon, the café transforms into a private bar and the perfect location for any summer function. Pelican Pavilion is open now as part of the Collaroy Hotel, located at 1064 Pittwater Road, Collaroy Beach.
ICONIC LONDON FASHION HITS SYDNEY
The bright, bold and funky-as-anything fashion label Lazy Oaf has just arrived in Sydney in the form of a pop-up store at 17 Oxford Street, Paddington, under the Palace Verona Cinemas. The brand has clothed some of the most well-known fashion figures of the year in music, from Charlie XCX to Lily Allen and Odd Future. The store hosts a large variety of men’s and women’s clothing from the summer ’14 and spring ’14 ranges as well as the forthcoming Christmas accessories line. The store is open seven days a week from now until Saturday December 13.
BE STREETSMART THIS CHRISTMAS
This holiday season, a large number of restaurants across the country are joining forces to raise money and awareness for homelessness in Australia. The process is simple – attend a venue participating in
the DineSmart initiative run by StreetSmart, order a meal and then make a small donation of $2, which will be sent directly to refuges for the homeless. It may not sound like much, but in the 12 years the campaign has been in existence, over $2.4 million has
been raised through this small, simple gesture. With an impressive selection of restaurants to choose from (including The Victoria Room, The Apollo and China Lane among many others), this campaign proves how easy it is to make a difference and that a little goes a long way.
FESTIVE TREATS AT HYDE PARK
LL WINE AND DINE 42 LLANKELLY PLACE, POTTS POINT MONDAY-THURSDAY 5-11PM / FRIDAY AND SATURDAY MIDDAY-MIDNIGHT / SUNDAY 11AM-10PM It’s called: LL Wine and Dine
Flavours: Modern Asian cuisine taking influences from China, Japan and South East Asia. The menu changes seasonally and features a special lunchtime Yum Cha menu – with the very popular $30pp allyou-can-eat Sundays with live music and drinks specials. Something to start with: An LL staple is the crispy tofu with a black
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GET DECADENT THIS NYE AT BENNELONG
If feeling classic and classy is somewhere in your list of New Year’s Resolutions for 2015, then NYE at the Sydney Opera House’s Bennelong venue might just be the place to kick things off. The event will be nothing short of spectacular and indulgent, with food orchestrated by celebrated chef Matt Moran and the rest of the ARIA Catering team, and a fine
sesame and tahini sauce, togarashi spices and light fried tofu with a rich thick bed of sauce… delicious. Suitable for gluten-free and vegan diets. The main course: The almond-crusted king prawns are as moreish as it gets, with a chilli salt dusting and perfectly balanced Thai dipping sauce. Room for dessert? Lychee meringue pie: caster sugar meringue stacked with Chantilly custard, rose water syrup, lychees and served with a mango sorbet.
THE BUTLER
Owned by seasoned restaurateurs Hamish Watts and Ben Carroll, Applejack has just opened its fourth venue in three years, The Butler. The site of the bar and restaurant has been home to many classic venues in the past, including the iconic Mezzaluna and distinguished Butlers, both of which the current establishment pays homage to. Award-winning Applejack Hospitality Group executive chef James Privett has drawn up a menu filled with spectacular French Caribbean flavours, further complemented by the extensive range of drinks available. The venue itself boasts clear views of the city and a beautifully decorated interior, giving it a striking balance between classy and casual. The Butler is open now at 123 Victoria Street, Potts Point.
restaurant/bar profile Care for a drink? The Botanical Fling Martini is a favourite at LL… balancing Hendricks Gin, St-Germain Elderflower and Kaffir lime leaf with fresh lemon, it matches our dishes perfectly. Sounds? The Myall High Club and DJ Tim Mall share the stage on Friday nights and our Sunday Sessions. Anything goes music-wise and they are masters at creating a great vibe.
Who’s the cook/bartender? Head chef Jin Kung previously worked in Shanghai and went on to head the kitchen at PaperPlanes Bondi. Eye candy: Interiors were designed by the Barge brothers (owner/operators) and the ‘art’, LL’s famous Wall of Porn, was found hidden in the ceiling and as a nod to the venue’s illicit past, as an adult bookstore fronting an illegal gambling den and brothel.
Sydney will show its creative side this year with The Finders Keepers spring/summer independent art and design markets. The markets offer a unique and diverse range of content, with stalls from over 150 local artists and designers, as well as a lineup of talented musicians and a large selection of creative workshops that anyone can participate in. Furthermore, this year’s event sees the return of Farmers Lane, a dedicated space for food, drink and fresh produce. The Finders Keepers markets run from Friday December 12 – Saturday December 13 at the Australian Technology Park.
selection of champagnes, wines, spirits and cocktails on offer to complement the meals. All these delights will be able to be enjoyed along with prime views of an extravagant light show created by film legend Jack Thompson before those stunning midnight fireworks kick off over Sydney Harbour. Tickets are on sale now through ARIA Catering.
Make us drool: Once a ‘no-go zone’ laneway, Llankelly Place is now a thriving dining destination. Our venue itself is entrenched in the area’s eclectic heritage – once an adult book store named Ecstasy, it was a front for an illegal gambling den and brothel. The floor plan plays on the past, using the intimate spaces as private and moody dining rooms; the vibe is Hong Kong hustle and bustle with cocktail bar, outdoor dining under the retro neon lights of the lane and multiple dining spaces for dining and lounging. The bill comes to: Menus are designed to share, and the average spend per person for three courses and a cocktail is approximately $70. The dishes outlined above come in at $75. Website: llwineanddine.com. au
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Pelican Pavilion photo by Sam Ruttyn
This December, Sydney Living Museums is bringing together some of the finest artisan producers, makers and traders for Christmas Fare: Artisan Food Gifts for Your Festive Table. Featuring a wide range of delicacies including authentic New York bagels, a huge selection of tea blends, delectable cheeses and desserts created with precision and finesse, the market has something for everyone and is the prime location to source all festive food and gifts for the holidays. Christmas Fare is open for one night only at Hyde Park Barracks Museum from 4-8pm on Thursday December 18.
THE FINDERS KEEPERS MARKETS
Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...
ALBUM OF THE WEEK SUNBEAM SOUND MACHINE
xxx
Wonderer Dot Dash/Remote Control
Melbourne musician Nick Sowersby sculpts a dizzying sound under the moniker Sunbeam Sound Machine. His debut album, Wonderer, paints an introspective sonic palette that succeeds by its own modest standards.
The XxxxMelbourne talent makes his full-length debut with a laidback yet arresting sound.
Sowersby bleaches his work in a way that leaves a gauzy glow wrapped around everything, while at the same time injecting a deliberate sense of unease, with off-kilter instrumentals that ooze into the listener’s ear sockets like sad confetti. Shaped in his Collingwood garage, Wonderer is a
hazy 13-track odyssey of light-textured pop hooks that lurk beneath breathy vocals and dollops of distortion. From start to finish, Sowersby serves up a pool of tracks which all manage the same trick – each song is drenched in reverb, with saturated guitar lines drowning the vocals away. Mid-paced tracks like ‘Daibutsu’, ‘Zeds’ and ‘Infinity + 1’ contain viciously atmospheric hooks of mumbled bass, layered experimentation and drum beats that pack a fuller punch. ‘Autumnal’ floats things to the outskirts with a smooth shimmer of synth, before an excellent record fades out to a blissful end in ‘Sailing Away’. Kiera Thanos
ANGELS & AIRWAVES
DAN SULTAN
FOOD COURT
ELLA HOOPER
Having spent his earlier years singing about fucking dogs and inspiring a swathe of horrible bands, Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge finally accepted maturity in 2005 with Angels & Airwaves. Dropping the safe rebellion of pop-punk, DeLonge has now immersed himself completely in alternative rock.
Dan Sultan’s latest EP Dirty Ground draws together a collection of demos and outtakes from his latest Blackbird record, all tracked in a single day. The six songs actually have a lot more in common with The Beatles’ song of the same name, because here Sultan moves away from his soulful rock’n’roll sound to focus on raw, stripped-back folk music.
As their name suggests, Sydney four-piece Food Court offer up easy-to-swallow, bite-sized chunks of lo-fi garage-punk that leave the listener feeling satisfied and contented. However, they’re far from fine dining.
When Ella Hooper from Killing Heidi joined her brother to form the acoustic folk duo The Verses, it was considered a ‘maturing’ of her earlier rock sound. Some 15 years after it all began, Hooper is armed with her solo debut, on which a metamorphosis has occurred again so she sounds like she’s keeping company – at least stylistically – with the likes of St. Vincent and Ladyhawke.
The Dream Walker To The Stars
For the most part, this album sounds like a middle-of-the-road amalgam of Radiohead and U2, with DeLonge’s bubblegum Californian vocals on top. Sore-thumb standouts like ‘Paralyzed’ and ‘The Wolfpack’ are the most fully-formed songs here, compounding well Radiohead’s electronic ambience with U2’s (and Blink’s) well-known expertise in producing catchy arena material. However, the songs on The Dream Walker seem to have been cut too closely from the same cloth. Considering DeLonge’s stated influences (he also mentions Pink Floyd), this album disappointingly doesn’t take any terribly interesting turns. Probably the most interesting thing about The Dream Walker is that it’s a full-on concept album, the spearhead of an artistic project featuring a novel, a comic book series and an animated short film. DeLonge deserves a pat on the back for self-funding this artistic vision, but his album doesn’t display the ambition to match. Nicholas Hartman
Dirty Ground Liberation
The title track is outstanding, an aching ballad co-written with Paul Kelly that manages to be both catchy and relatable. The same cannot be said for ‘Mountaintop’, which was co-written with Paul Dempsey. It sees Sultan’s beautiful, smoky voice pleading with the listener, but it also contains overly simplistic and repetitive lyrics delivered with a quiet hush, making it too sparse. ‘The Same Man’ and the piano ballad ‘Gullible Few’ originally appeared on Blackbird, but the former – written in Nashville – is offered here in an acoustic version. Both are solid inclusions to the collection. Dirty Ground sees Sultan produce some mature, emotional and honest songs that will charm fans who like it best when he plays the humble storyteller. Natalie Salvo
Big Weak Independent/Bandcamp
Big Weak is Food Court’s (also known as the Foodies to those with a taste for them) follow-up to last year’s Smile At Your Shoes EP. Recorded by Straight Arrows frontman Owen Penglis and mastered by Mikey Young of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, this time around the Foodies really deliver. ‘14 Years Young’, the single and opening track, is a tasty treat sure to get fans of the genre salivating. Repetition of the title lyrics instantly gives the song an anthem-like quality. You can almost hear the echoes of the crowd at a live Foodies gig ringing in your ears.
PEPA KNIGHT Hypnotized Vol. 1 Independent
24 :: BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14
Knight, co-convenor of Jinja Safari and known as Cameron Knight by his mum, has crafted an onrushing road train of chillbanging Ayurvedic ambience. Not only does Knight manage to charge all your stresses away, he also threads paralysingly powerful indie-pop melodies between his ringing sitar and the thumping dhol and tabla.
In Tongues sees ten varied songs tackling personal and esoteric themes. They fit under the banner of dark, intelligent pop while also retaining a hard, spiky edge. Among the tracks are Hooper’s previous singles, ‘Low High’, ‘Häxan’ and ‘The Red Shoes’, which give an indication of the enormous jumps between genres and add an edge to this smoky experiment.
PRINTS
Some People Will Listen to Anything Independent Sydney indie band Prints are a throwback to the glory days of post-punk rock’n’roll. They have the potential to embody all the elements we fell for early last decade with the arrival of scene-stealing luminaries Franz Ferdinand and The Strokes. Some People Will Listen To Anything, Prints’ six-track debut EP, establishes their intentions and captures the imagination of what could be achieved on a full-length release. ‘I Thought I’d Hear You Arrive’ begins with a sense of impending doom via an unforgettably dark guitar riff, before opening up into a light and floaty first verse that will have you air-drumming away mindlessly in no time.
The tunes that follow, ‘Red Wine Teething’ and ‘Dripping’, cement the Foodies’ reputation as skilled songwriters with a particular talent for making their style of fuzzy guitar-driven melodies seem effortless.
The eponymous opening track manages to be dreamy, ethereal and commanding before the virtual opera of ‘Low High’. A strange, Brian Eno-like synthesiser noise is dominant here, while ‘Love Is Hard To Kill’ comes across like an old, dusty 45.
Midway through the set is ‘Emergency Exit’. Punchy lyrics and a melodic bassline make this one an obvious standout. Frontman Oliver Badman has the uncanny knack of sounding hopeful and melancholy at the same time. He remains pitch-perfect on the first single ‘Lady Penelope’, and the sentiment continues on ‘Inherently Flawed’ as Badman attempts to navigate the complexities of a modern-day relationship.
While this may not be music you’ll grow old to, Big Weak’s infectious hooks will get under your skin, willing you back for seconds.
Hooper’s debut had a long gestation period and it strives to be many different things, meaning that often this baby works.
For fans of the aforementioned bands, along with The Cure and The Smiths, Some People Will Listen To Anything will fit snugly into your collection.
Natalie Rogers
Natalie Salvo
Natalie Rogers
INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK Pepa Knight, old mate from up the Central Coast somewhere, has just managed to win the Byron Bay small business music store market with his debut album, Hypnotized Vol. 1. I never wondered what incense sounded like, but now I think I know. How enlightening.
In Tongues Independent
The most accessible of Knight’s hippie-pop is ‘Rahh!’, which quite apart from its aggressive title, employs a masterful and overwhelming hook entirely consisting of uplifting “aahs”. On the other hand, ‘Coyote Choir’, while not immediately engaging, slowly comes across as a fitting track for a mandrill to coronate a lion to. I tend to dislike psychedelia, what with it being a wank and all, but Pepa Knight has produced a focused and coherent record with Hypnotized Vol. 1. You can comfortably slot it next to Slipknot’s Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses in your Volume collection.
OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week... THE CURE - Pornography WITHERED HAND - Good News MEG MAC - MEGMAC
EMMA DAVIS - Emma Davis U2 - The Joshua Tree
Nicholas Hartman
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live reviews
up all night out all week . . .
What we've been out to see...
City Recital Hall Angel Place Thursday November 27 The last thing you wanted was for it to end. Sure, there was an encore, and afterwards Obel visited the foyer to pacify her reluctant-to-leave fans with autographs and photos. But in a perfect world we would have remained in Angel Place until dawn, cosy in our comfortable seats, cookies and hot chocolate provided by smiling theatre staff, each enthralled by a performer whose songs are some of the most haunting, evocative and nuanced pieces out there. Listening to the albums is one thing; catching Agnes Obel live is an exercise in astonishment, and before I bring this gushing to a close, I must say that by the end of the night I felt fairly certain that she is one of today’s genuinely great musicians – and still at the onset of her career, at that. Obel emerged dressed all in white, as though she was only stopping by the piano en route to a dojo. She was accompanied by a violinist and cellist, both of whom provided gorgeous loops and harmonies throughout. Angel Place is said to have the greatest acoustics in Sydney (built as it is on an ancient angel burial ground), and before we were even halfway through instrumental opening song ‘Chord Left’, it was difficult to dispute – resonant and
evocative, somehow cinematic. As the applause died down, the two elderly women behind me, who could have stepped straight from a Terry Pratchett novel, agreed. “The sound is very clear, isn’t it, Mary?” “Eh?” “I SAID THE SOUND IS VERY CLEAR.” “It might be in my bag.” This cinematic impression endured throughout the entire night, best exemplified by material from Obel’s sophomore album, Aventine: ‘Pass Them By’, ‘Fuel To Fire’, and the transfixing ‘The Curse’. Such is the rarity of her talent that you were both utterly charmed and focused on the performance, yet found your imagination reeling from impression to impression. Similarly, when she presented covers – Elliott Smith’s ‘Between The Bars’ and John Cale’s ‘I Keep A Close Watch’ – she did something that very few performers can legitimately do: reinvented these songs into something new. The evening closed with a solo version of ‘Smoke And Mirrors’, where the beauty of Obel’s voice and piano found a fitting bookend. Heartbreaking and inspiring, and yes, I’m now a little in love, but trust me – one song and you’ll be smitten, too. Adam Norris
the black seeds + ngaiire
PICS :: AM
AGNES OBEL
28:11:14 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666
UNITED COLOURS OF DRUM & BASS FOURWARD [AUT] SHOGUN / CITRUS / VIRUS / DSCI4
LOCAL SUPPORT —
BRUXISM SECRET PERFORMER (LIVE) BASSRIOT TYPHONIC SAKURA ELLAGATOR
san cisco
PICS :: AM
Hermann’s Bar Cnr City Rd & Butlin Ave Sydney University +
Sunday 14 December 2014 4:00pm until 10:00pm +
$20 On The Door www.hermannsbar.com
27:11:14 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666 OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER
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MAR :: S :: KATRINA CLARKE :: ASHLEY
BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14 :: 25
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up all night out all week . . .
live reviews What we've been out to see...
NAHKO AND MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE, TREVOR HALL, DUSTIN THOMAS The Hi-Fi Tuesday November 25
The good vibes were buzzing and the dreadlocks were swinging at this quasi-Rock The Gate sideshow. The anti-fracking festival had an overtly political bent, and it was imported here whether the audience signed up for it or not. With probably the most infectious smile to ever grace The Hi-Fi, Dustin Thomas kicked the night off by asking everyone to “breathe in and release all that bullshit you left at the door”. His acoustic-meets-beat-boxing style is the kind of thing you’d expect from a weary world traveller who gets by on a smile, a battered guitar and the kindness of strangers. If you like your music with a spiritual streak, ‘Strong Like Jah’ and ‘Awake, Rise, Shine’ will hit the feel-good spot.
kentcore
PICS :: AM
Next up was the inimitable Trevor Hall, whose smoky voice was powerful enough that it barely mattered when he stopped strumming along. His acoustic reggae music has an edge to it, a sense of sadness that adds depth. Older songs like ‘Chapter Of The Forest’ were received well. But newer material like ‘Wish Man’ (prefaced by a story about a homeless man in New Orleans) and ‘Obsidian’ had a stripped-back quality that gave them room to expand and build, and translated live powerfully.
30:11:14 :: Frankie’s Pizza :: 50 Hunter St Sydney
20 minutes into Nahko and Medicine For The People’s set and we were still finishing off a prayer (albeit one accompanied with music), after already having a talk about fracking, the current “situation” in Ferguson and a traditional welcome to the land (actually very cool). Nahko somehow pulled this off with a mix of charisma, genuine political intentions and a benevolent crowd on the same wavelength. When the band finally did launch in, the music had a hard rock quality that doesn’t come out nearly as strongly on recordings. Elements like a blistering three-way guitar jam during which Nahko bent over backwards – literally – ramped things up at least a few levels. Partway through, a rallying speech made on behalf of Lock The Gate was a call to action against fracking. It brought up the question of the intersection between political activism and music, most potent when Nahko mixes it with the raw honesty of tracks like ‘Dark As Night’ and ‘Aloha Ke Akua’. If you tend to find Nahko’s peculiar but uplifting style a little sentimental or naïve, know that live it takes on new life, and it won’t disappoint.
A show like this can remind you, or in my case, educate you regarding a bygone era of pop music. An era when pop music was unashamedly joyful. Wah Wah Nee take to the stage with an enthusiasm that many modern-day acts would find hard to match. Back-to-back hits ‘Sugar Free’ and ‘Stimulation’ inject an energy into the audience not often seen during a support slot, and they play to the crowd with popular covers from their heyday, including a well-executed version of Van Halen’s ‘Jump’. The crowd has been well and truly warmed up for the main attraction. After a short intermission, a seated affair is quickly transformed as Rick Astley enters the stage, backed by Wah Wah Nee just like the old days, apparently (this was all before my time), opening proceedings with ‘Together Forever’. A couple of rows in front of me, a lady wearing what can only be described as glitter overalls boogies on down. Astley lives up, in every respect, to the ladies’ man he is alleged to be. His cocky Northern English charm seems to bring out the wilder side of women in the crowd, most of whom are well into their 40s. During ‘She Wants To Dance With Me’, an almost comically large pair of panties is thrown onto the stage, Astley graciously hanging them on the drum kit. Musically, the performance – both Astley’s and Wah Wah Nee’s – is flawless. Astley’s vocal is assured as it was 20 years prior, and the backing vocals provided by the band are similarly solid. The music is not thought-provoking, nor especially emotionally engaging, but the atmosphere is such that its lightness drives an energy within the room. Astley appears nonplussed by his status as somewhat of a one-hit wonder, prefacing one song by saying, “You probably don’t know this one, but frankly, I don’t give a shit.” His onstage banter is a highlight throughout, equal parts quirky, cheeky and creepy. While he may not be exactly relevant in today’s music scene, he has kept up ably with pop trends, meandering capably through covers of Pharrell’s ‘Happy’ and Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’. Astley leaves ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, the song everyone has been waiting for, until the encore. It is a worthy high to finish an evening that has played on about every pop music cliché. However, in the circumstances, they are well-placed.
PICS :: KC
PICS :: KC
28:11:14 :: Newtown Social Club :: 387 King St Newtown 1300 724 876
little may
Enmore Theatre Tuesday November 25
Joshua Manning
Emily Meller
jakob
RICK ASTLEY, WAH WAH NEE
28:11:14 :: Newtown Social Club :: 387 King St Newtown 1300 724 876
“The bloody Church of England in chains of history requests your earthly presence at the vicarage for tea.” - IAN ANDERSON 26 :: BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14
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PHOTOGRAPHER :: KATRINA CLAR
Lansdowne Hotel Friday November 28
The Ocean Party officially launched their great new album Soft Focus at the Lansdowne on Friday night, an evening that featured one of the strongest lineups for local concerts I’ve seen in a long time. The gathered contingent of music enthusiasts witnessed four fresh, eager bands delivering tight sets that made a powerful case for each. Not bad for a free gig. Melon Melon Melon opened, the newest of the four acts. Each member took turns playing various instruments, resulting in different musical styles. Pair that with the slightly off vocals, and it served as a nice reminder of the influence Beat Happening has on modern indie. While the songs themselves might not be quite there yet, Melon’s unique approach makes them a band to keep an eye on. Make that triple for New Zealand’s Trust Punks. Their place on the bill coincided with an album launch of their own, and while the Discipline LP is an enjoyably energetic release in its own right, live the band is a revelation. With interweaving guitar lines, vocals delivered with conviction and dancey drum patterns that turned on a dime, they didn’t put a foot wrong.
Unwound, Drive Like Jehu and the Kinsella brothers are their reference points. You don’t want to miss them next time they’re in town. Day Ravies were next, and while they weren’t promoting anything and seemingly were just there to hang out with their muso friends, they delivered a great set all the same. With last year’s fantastic debut Tussle still fresh in everyone’s minds (or at least it should be), they played a crowdpleasing set that featured the best of the album plus turbo-charged new single ‘Hickford Whizz’. The Ocean Party closed the night with a strong highlight reel of Soft Focus and a couple of older tunes. Everything was placed perfectly in the mix, displaying a professionalism and control not often seen in Australian indie. I always feel bad comparing new Australian bands with their contemporary American counterparts, more popular due to their adoption by various buzz blogs – and often because the Australian bands are better. So from now on, everyone should refer to Real Estate as being the American Ocean Party. Their laidback, feel-good indie tunes all got the crowd moving, acting like the alternate soundtrack to a John Hughes movie. It served as the perfect capper to a Friday night of incredibly high-calibre music. Leonardo Silvestrini
bangarra: 25 years
PICS :: KC
THE OCEAN PARTY, DAY RAVIES, TRUST PUNKS, MELON MELON MELON
KE
aria awards 2014
PICS :: AM
30:11:14 :: Sydney Opera House :: Bennelong Point, Sydney 9250 7111
28:11:14 :: The Star Event Centre :: 80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont 9777 9000
“You snatch your rattling last breaths with deep-sea-diver sounds, and the flowers bloom like madness in the spring.” - IAN ANDERSON thebrag.com
BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14 :: 27
g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com
pick of the week Cosmic Psychos
SUNDAY DECEMBER 7
Frankie’s Pizza
Frankie’s 2nd Birthday Cosmic Psychos + The Art + Dead City Ruins 4pm. Free. WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Songsonstage - Feat: Phil Gray + Monica & The Explosion + LJ Phillips Olympic Hotel, Paddington. 7:30pm. free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC Lionel Cole Imperial Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney. 10pm. free. Captain Cook Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 8pm. free. Dave Graney Brass Monkey, Cronulla. 7pm. $23.50. David Agius Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill. 6:30pm. free. Fat Bubba’s Chicken Wednesdays Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free.
Luke Zancanaro Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 7pm. free. Mark Broughton Mounties, Mount Pritchard. 8pm. free. Mark Travers Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free. Moses Gun Collective Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $8.20. Mosman Alder + Noire + I A Man + Little Desert Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 7pm. $10. Sarah Paton Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 7:30pm. free. Vibrations Band Comp Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $15. Zombie Cats The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $15.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 4 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Dave Graney And The Mistly Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. $34.70. Papa Pilko & The Binrats + Kid Zeus Moonshine Cider & Rum Bar, Manly. 9pm. free.
Songsonstage - feat: Mick Hambly + Monica & The Explosion Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 7:30pm. free. The Snakemen The Wild Rover, Surry Hills. 7pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
10 O’Clock Rock Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 10pm. free. Alex Hopkins Open Mic Night Wenty Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 8:30pm. free. Blake Tailor Pendle Inn, Pendle Hill. 7:30pm. free. Cambo Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. Cath & Him Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 10:30pm. free. Dave White Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney. 9:30pm. free. Greg Agar Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney. 10pm. free. James Englund Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 7pm. free. Jess Dunbar Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 7:30pm. free. Joe Echo Dee Why Hotel, Dee Why.
7pm. free. Kaleidoscope Lo-Fi, Darlinghurst. 5pm. free. Luluc Album Launch Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $21. Matt Jones Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. free. Rocking Chair And Shotgun - Feat: May Day Way Hey And Stevie + The Jonses Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 7pm. free. Songsonstage - Feat: Maxine Kauter + Rose Winter + Phil Gray Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale. 7:30pm. free. Summertime Party - Feat: DJ Jazzy Jeff Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. The Late Night Soda Social Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Thomas Hugh & Shannon Bourne + Rosie Catalano The Newsagency, Marrickville. 7pm. $15. Violent Soho Towradgi Beach Hotel, Towradgi. 7:30pm. $35. Wats Up Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 5 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Jazz Hip Hop Freestyle Sessions Foundry616, Ultimo. 11:30pm. $5.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK End Of Year Folk Bash Feat: Folklore + Black Joak Morris + Darlo After Dark + Brian Jonathon The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills. 8pm. $10. Glenn Tilbrook Lizotte’s, Dee Why. 7pm. $40. Songjam - feat: Stuart Jammin Rosehill Hotel, Clyde. 7:30pm. free. Stormcellar + Isiah B Brunt Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 10pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Ackers South Hurstville RSL Club, South Hurstville. 9pm. free. Alex Hopkins Wenty Leagues Club, Wentworthville. 9pm. free. Altitude Vinyl Room, Gymea. 8pm. free. Andy Mammers Cronulla Leagues Club Sharkies, Woolooware. 7pm. free. Bandsonstage - feat: New Delhi Llamas Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 8pm. free. Ben Finn PJ Gallagher’s, Enfield, Enfield. 9pm. free. Cambo Family Inn Hotel, Rydalmere. 7:30pm. free. Carl Fidler Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 6pm. free. Cath & Him Dee Why RSL, Dee Why. 10pm. free. Clayton Vetter Duo Hillside Hotel, Castle Hill. 8pm. free. Dave White Experience Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest.
10:30pm. free. DJ S. Huskisson Hotel, Huskisson. 8pm. free. Drew Heritage Hotel, Bulli. 7:30pm. free. Evie Dean St George Motor Boat Club, San Souci. 7pm. free. Fallon Bros Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 7:30pm. free. Garry David + The Warm Feelings + The Greeks Imperial Hotel, Erskineville. 8pm. free. Gerard Masters PJ Gallagher’s Whisky Bar, Jacksons On George, Sydney. 5:30pm. free. Grace Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $13.90. Greg Byrne Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney. 8pm. free. Greg Byrne Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill. 3:45pm. free. Harbour Masters Duo Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee. 12pm. free. Iron Lion Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 10pm. free. Jane Tyrrell Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $20. Joe Echo Trio Campbelltown Catholic Club, Campbelltown. 9:15pm. free. Jonathan Jones Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. free. Jordan Roach Harbord Beach Hotel, Harbord. 8pm. free. Kris McIntyre The Grand Hotel, Rockdale. 5:30pm. free. Kris McIntyre Duo Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. free. Krishna Jones Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill. 9pm. free. Live Music At The Royal The Royal, Leichhardt. 9:30pm. free. LJ Chatswood RSL, Chatswood. 5pm. free. LJ Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 9:30pm. free. Luke Dixon Wests Ashfield, Ashfield. 6:30pm. free. Luke Dolahenty Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 7pm. free. Mandy Jarry Campbelltown Catholic Club, Campbelltown. 6pm. free. Matt Jones Mona Vale Hotel, Mona Vale. 6pm. free. Matt Lyons Town Hall Hotel, Sydney. 8pm. free. Max Power Mill Hill Hotel, Bondi Junction. 7:30pm. free. Melody Rhymes Town Hall Hotel, Sydney. 4:30pm. free. Michael McGlynn Harlequin Inn, Pyrmont. 8pm. free. Rachael Fahim Duo Emu Sports Club, Leonay. 7:30pm. free. Reckless Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. free. Rob Eastwood Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill. 6:30pm. free. Rose Carleo The Oriental Hotel, Springwood. 8pm. free. Sam Newton Manly Leagues Club, Brookvale. 4:30pm. free. Screaming Jets + The Lazys Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8pm. $45.
G SINGIN ERS H C A E T EeDtro IR m y e REQSU n yd Must have own studio/space & Wwc cert, Experience essential
Call Hayley 0422963373 Steve Tonge Greystanes Inn, Greystanes Inn. 8pm. free. Strut! Grand Final - feat: Perception Shift + Cursing Stone + Daniel Tomalaris + Brumby + Lonely Empire + Breaking Point Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 8pm. free. The Wonderbrass Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. free. They Call Me Bruce Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill. 7pm. free. Tiger & The Rogues Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 8pm. $10. Tim Conlon Duo The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill. 6:30pm. free. Tim Shaw Parramatta RSL, Parramatta. 5pm. free. Tori Darke Stacks Taverna, Sydney. 5pm. free. Us Too Duo Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci. 7:30pm. free. Victoria Avenue Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point. 8pm. free. Violent Soho + Ceres + Trophy Eyes Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $33.70. Violet Swells World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. free. Visions 1st Birthday Party - Feat: Los Tones + Spirit Valley + Hedge Fund Bank Hotel, Newtown. 8pm. free. White Bros Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill. 8pm. free. Winston Surfshirt Moonshine Cider & Rum Bar, Manly. 9pm. free. Zoltan Adria Restaurant, Darling Harbour. 5pm. free. Zoltan PJ Gallagher’s, Leichhardt. 10pm. free.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 6 JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC The Cactus Channel & The Liberators Venue 505, Surry Hills. 8pm. $20.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS After Party Band Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill. 10:30pm. free. AJ Harbourview Hotel, The Rocks. 8pm. free. Alex Hopkins New Brighton Hotel, Manly. 10pm. free.
“I may make you feel but I can’t make you think. Your sperm’s in the gutter. Your love’s in the sink,” - IAN ANDERSON 28 :: BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14
thebrag.com
g g guide gig g
Traditional Pitjantjatjara Man From the Australian Central Desert
Xxx
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Alex Hopkins Woolwich Pier Hotel, Woolwich. 2pm. free. Andy Mammers + Crash Avenue Campbelltown Catholic Club, Campbelltown. 9:30pm. free. Ben Finn Trio The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill. 9pm. free. Black Diamond Hearts Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 8:30pm. free. Born Jovi - The Bon Jovi Show Ocean Beach Hotel, Umina Beach. 9pm. free. Bounce Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney. 8pm. free. Cambo Henry Lawson Club, Werrington. 7:30pm. free. Cara Kavanagh & Mark Oats Duo PJ Gallagher’s, Leichhardt. 10pm. free. Cover Me Crazy Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. free. Damage Inc - Metallica Show Colyton Hotel, Colyton. 9pm. free. Dave Morris Harbord Beach Hotel, Harbord. 8pm. free. David Agius Panthers, Penrith. 5:30pm. free. DJ Town Hall Hotel, Balmain. 8pm. free. Dream On Dreamer Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 1pm. $21.50. Drew Mcalister PJ Gallagher’s, Enfield. 9pm. free. Evie Dean Sir Joseph Banks Hotel, Botany. 8pm. free. Fallon Bros Horse & Jockey Hotel, Homebush. 7:30pm. free. Funkified Riverwood Inn, Riverwood. 8pm. free. Geoff Bull And The Finer Cuts Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. free. Greg Agar Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill. 9pm. free. Heath Burdell Duo Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 9pm. free. Jed Zarb Wallacia Hotel, Wallacia. 8pm. free. Joe Echo PJ Gallagher’s, Moore Park. 7:30pm. free. Krishna Jones Royal Cricketers Arms, Prospect. 7:30pm. free. Little Coyote Ruby L’otel, Rozelle. 8pm. free. Mandi Jarry Duo The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill. 6pm. free. Matt Jones Cronulla Leagues Club Sharkies, Woolooware. 7pm. free. Matt Lyon Plough & Harrow, Camden. 8pm. free. Melody Rhymes Crows Nest Hotel, Crows Nest. 7pm. free. Michael McGlynn Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point. 8pm. free. Michael Saracino Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 5:30pm. free. Original Sin - INXS Show Pioneer Tavern, Penrith. 9pm. free. Panorama Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9:30pm. free. Paradise City Hermann’s Bar, Darlington. 9pm. $10. Paul Hayward Town & Country Hotel, St Peters. 4pm. free. Penny Lane
thebrag.com
O’Donoghues Irish Pub, Emu Plains. 7pm. free. Renae Stone Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. free. Replika Springwood Sports Club, Springwood. 8pm. free. Rob Henry Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 7:30pm. free. Seattle Sound Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill. 7pm. free. Shane Flew Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 4pm. free. Sharron Bowman Brewhouse Marayong, Kings Park. 8pm. free. Soul Tattoo Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 9:30pm. free. Stephen Kiely Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill. 6:30pm. free. Steve Crocker Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 8pm. free. Swinging Sixties Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci. 7:30pm. free. The Blaggards Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills. 9:30pm. free. The Fabulous Rhythm & Blues Band Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 8pm. free. The Motor City Syndicate Revesby Workers Club, Revesby. 8:30pm. free. The Spit Roasting Bibbers Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee. 12am. free. The Trotskies - feat: Tim Fitz Brighton Up Bar, Darlinghurst. 8pm. free. Tim Shaw Greystanes Inn, Greystanes Inn. 8pm. free. Tori Darke Duo St George Rowing Club, Wolli Creek. 7:30pm. free. Village Echoes Exchange Hotel, Darlinghurst. 7pm. free. Willow Beats The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $20. Zoltan Le Pub, Sydney. 9pm. free.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 7 ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Curtis Finch The Wild Rover, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Menagerie - feat: Eddie Boyd + Lucky Luke + Sean Kirkwood The Welcome Hotel, Rozelle. 4pm. free. Murrumbidgee Jones Shakespeare Hotel, Surry Hills . 5pm. free. Peach’s Sunday Jam - feat: Peach Montgomery + Guests Garry Owen Hotel, Rozelle. 3pm. free. Satellite V Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4:30pm. free. Songsonstage - feat: Stuart Jammin + Monica & The Explosion Harlequin Inn, Pyrmont. 3pm. free. Sydney Blues Society Botany View Hotel, Newtown. 7pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS
Alex Hopkins Summer Hills Hotel, Summer Hill. 3pm. free. Andy Mammers Duo Commodore Hotel, Mcmahon Point. 3pm. free. Antoine
Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 6pm. free. Blake Tailor Duo Cronulla Leagues Club Sharkies, Woolooware. 2pm. free. Chris Stretton St Marys Rugby Leagues Club, St Marys. 8pm. free. Dan Spillane Harbord Beach Hotel, Harbord. 4pm. free. Darren Johnstone Ramsgate RSL, Sans Souci. 2pm. free. Evie Dean Old Fitzroy Hotel, Woolloomooloo 1pm. free. Frankie’s 2nd Birthday feat: Cosmic Psychos + The Art + Dead City Ruins + Frankie’s World Famous House Band Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 4pm. free. Glenn Esmond Fortune Of War, The Rocks. 6pm. free. Greg Agar Family Inn Hotel, Rydalmere. 2pm. free. Jess Dunbar Woolwich Pier Hotel, Woolwich. 2pm. free. Jitterfest #1 (Cutting The Umbilical Chord) - Feat: The Girl Fridas + The Nuclear Family + The Denim Clad Satanists + Piss Factory + Bad Vibes + Stephanie Clare Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 6pm. $5. Joe Echo Duo The Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill. 1pm. free. Kotahi Groove Time & Tide Hotel, Dee Why. 2pm. free. Leon Fallon Coogee Bay Hotel, Coogee. 8:30pm. free. Lonesome Train Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 4:30pm. free. Mark Travers Ettamogah Hotel, Rouse Hill. 1pm. free. Matt Price Buena Vista Hotel, Mosman. 2pm. free. Melody Rhymes Henry Lawson Club, Werrington. 1pm. free. Men Of Soul The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $28. Peter Byrne Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 8:30pm. free. Punk Rock Karaoke - feat: Paul Hayward Town And Country Hotel, Sydney. 4pm. free. Rachael Fahim Le Pub, Sydney. 3pm. free. Satellite V Marrickville Bowling Club, Marrickville. 4:30pm. free. School Of Rock Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 12pm. $10. Swinging Sixties Penrith RSL, Penrith. 9pm. free. The Box 2 Valve Bar, Agincourt Hotel, Ultimo. 4pm. $10. Three Wise Men Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 2pm. free. Tori Darke Pritchards Hotel, Mount Pritchard. 1pm. free. Two Minds Duo Northies Cronulla Hotel, Cronulla. 6pm. free. Ty Segall Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $48.10.
MONDAY DECEMBER 8
in a double album launch with Radical Son
Received a standing ovation at WOMEX ’14 in Spain
“Yamma’s heartfelt set of husky, beautiful songs hit the crowd like a sucker punch.” Songlines
“Considered one of Australia’s most significant indigenous artists” The Australian
Official UNCLE album release Newtown Social Club Thursday 11 December Tickets via www.frankyamma.com
wed
thu
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04
Dec
Dec
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
(9:00PM - 1:00AM)
fri
05 Dec
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
(9:30PM - 1:30AM)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
sat
06
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
Dec
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
sun
07 Dec
(9:30PM - 1:15AM)
mon
(8:30PM - 12:00AM)
tue
08 Dec
(4:30PM - 7:30PM)
09 (9:00PM - 12:00AM)
Dec
(9:00PM - 12:00AM)
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK
Songsonstage - feat: Chris Carrapetta + Monica & The BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14 :: 29
g g guide g
send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Explosion + LJ Phillips + Stuart Jammin + Massimo Presti + Chris Brookes Kelly’s On King, Newtown. 7:30pm. free.
JAZZ, SOUL, FUNK, LATIN & WORLD MUSIC
Latin & Jazz Jam Open Mic Night World Bar, Kings Cross. 7pm. free.
INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Bernie Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 7:30pm. free. Matt Jones
Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 9 INDIE, ROCK, POP, METAL, PUNK & COVERS Carl Fidler Observer Hotel, The Rocks. 7:30pm. free. Co Pilot Orient Hotel, The Rocks. 9pm. free. Factory Floor Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $46.10. Greg Agar Cock & Bull , Bondi. 7pm.
free. Steve Smyth Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $13. Triumphant Tuesdays - feat: Dave Eastgate Karaoke Frankie’s Pizza, Sydney. 8:30pm. free. UB40 Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $120.
ACOUSTIC, COUNTRY, BLUES & FOLK Blues Tuesdays Spring Street Social, Bondi. 7:30pm. free.
gig picks up all night out all week...
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3
SATURDAY DECEMBER 6
Moses Gun Collective Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $8.20.
Dream On Dreamer Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt. 1pm. $21.50.
Zombie Cats The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $15.
Paradise City Hermann’s Bar, Darlington. 9pm. $10.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 4
Jitterfest #1 (Cutting The Umbilical Chord) - feat: The Girl Fridas + The Nuclear Family + The Denim Clad Satanists + Piss Factory + Bad Vibes + Stephanie Clare Captain Cook Hotel, Paddington. 6pm. $5.
Dave Graney And The Mistly Camelot Lounge, Marrickville. 7pm. $34.70. Luluc Album Launch Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $21. Summertime Party - feat: DJ Jazzy Jeff Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 5 Grace Goodgod Small Club, Sydney. 8pm. $13.90. Jane Tyrrell Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 8pm. $20 Violent Soho + Ceres + Trophy Eyes Metro Theatre, Sydney. 7pm. $33.70. Visions 1st Birthday Party - feat: Los Tones + Spirit Valley + Hedge Fund Bank Hotel, Newtown. 8pm. free.
Men Of Soul The Vanguard, Newtown. 7pm. $28. Willow Beats The Basement, Circular Quay. 8pm. $20.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 7 Ty Segall Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $48.10.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 9 Factory Floor Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $46.10. Steve Smyth Newtown Social Club, Newtown. 7pm. $13. UB40 Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $120.
Violent Soho
30 :: BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14
thebrag.com
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
brag beats
inside:
sylvan esso plus: + club guide + club snaps + weekly column
big freedia
bouncing the night away
thebrag.com
BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14 :: 31
brag beats
BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture
dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Martin and Jacob Mills
five things WITH
SPACE IBIZA NYD15
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Space Ibiza club brand, as well as the sixth year of Ibiza in Sydney, is Space Ibiza NYD15. Considered by many in the clubbing scene to be one of the best parties of the year, Ibiza NYD15 will feature a range of acts not to be missed. And what better way to way to bring in the New Year than with house legend Derrick Carter? He’s a Sydney favourite and Chicago house heavyweight who incorporates old-school disco, soul and jazz into his sets. Also featuring on the day will be Funk D’Void and Oliver Koletski. More, you say? Resident Ibiza DJ Javi Bora will bring the island vibe to Sydney, alongside Marco Loco, Mr. Doris, Mo’Funk, Garry Todd and Matt Cahill. Space Ibiza NYD15 will take place at the Greenwood Hotel on Thursday January 1.
RAMON LOPEZ
Growing Up I grew up in a town in the east of 1. Spain, on the mainland just opposite Ibiza, but a place where quality dance/ house music was very rare and not really appreciated, so my good friend Gonzalo (the other half in Balearic Soul) and I had to look for new music and tendencies outside of Spain, paying attention to what was happening at the time in the UK and rest of Europe, the US, and then trying to influence our local area’s musical taste. In the late ’90s I visited Ibiza, fell in love with it and since then I spent all the time I could on the White Island, absorbing all that musical info to then filter, shape and deliver it outside.
Derrick Carter
MANTRA COLLECTIVE WAREHOUSE BASH
Sydney’s favourite underground party crew, Mantra Collective, has revealed the date and lineup for its December event. 2014 has been a big year for Mantra, and the last party for the
Inspirations DJs and producers that always have 2. inspired me are Masters At Work, Armand
year is sending things off in an all-local fashion. Space Junk, Aboutjack, Antoine Vice, Hedon and Ollie Stokes will be selecting the tunes on the night. Mantra’s last party for 2014 is on Saturday December 27 at a secret location. It’s BYO and will sell out, so get tickets now via pulseradio.net.
Format:B
van Helden, Sandy Rivera, Dennis Ferrer, Derrick Carter… between the Spanish ones David Penn and Kiko Navarro are my biggest inspirations. Apart from DJs and producers, I feel inspired by anything that unites a good groove and a catchy hook, from a 40-year-old funk groove to the most upfront underground track, to a noise in the street with a bird tweet. Also to set me in a creative mood, apart from listening to other artists’ music or sets, there’s nothing like a good dive or snorkelling – it’s like hitting ‘reset’ in my brain to become fresher.
The Aussie dance industry’s annual five-a-side football event for charity, Musica Copa, kicks off again this weekend – and organisers have locked in a bumper DJ lineup to soundtrack all the on-field action. Bag Raiders, Yahztel, Yolanda Be Cool and Indian Summer will be among those pumping out the tunes while 16 teams compete to win a share of $12,000 for their chosen charity. The reigning champions Sweat It Out x Maker will share the pitch with teams from Falcona, FBi Radio, Elefant Traks x Umbrella, Universal, MTV and more. The event takes place Friday December 5 in Marrickville – it’s invite-only, but head to musicacopa.com for the last chance to score a ticket.
moved to Sydney I’m working on several new tracks under a new solo project aiming for an album launch for mid-2015. I am collaborating with several Australian singers and musicians, some of them old friends and some new friends and awesome artists I’ve met recently. It’s truly amazing how many talented artists you can find in Sydney! Roxane Lebrasse, Rob Edwards, Reigan, Jimmy AKA 2118, Arel James, Mark Matthews, Johnny Gibson and many more.
4.
Music, Right Here, Right Now It’s not news that the house music 5. scene is very strong worldwide and getting
What: Goldfish Sixth Birthday Where: Goldfish When: Saturday December 6 And: Also appearing at House on the Harbour aboard the Lady Rose on Saturday December 6
32 :: BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14
DUBFIRE CRACKS THE CODE FORMAT:B
If you’re keen on getting down and dirty with Format:B, then this weekend you’ll get your chance. The Berlin-based tech-funk pair, comprising Franziskus Sell and Jakob Hildenbrand, met when they were studying to be sound engineers and decided to harness their powers for techno world domination. They launched their Formatik Records imprint in 2009 and dropped their second LP, Restless, in 2011. What have they been up to in the meantime? Find out at Chinese Laundry this Saturday December 6.
WAX WARS SEMIFINALS
Electronic superstar Dubfire is on his way to Sydney this month, headlining the second instalment of T1000’s Code party at the Greenwood Hotel on Saturday December 20. The pioneering Dubfire made his name as one half of Deep Dish, and has had no trouble since making his mark as a solo act, spreading the techno love around the world. Joining the fun at Code are Space Junk, B_A, AboutJack, Micky Price, Ed Wells and more.
Wax Wars
The Crown Street Cut Collective’s Wax Wars competition has reached the business end, with the first semi-fi nal of the turntablist battles scheduled this Friday December 5 at Play Bar. Two of the fi nest turntabling talents in the land will go head-to-head on the decks, with all their tricks being fi lmed via GoPro and shown live on the screens behind them. The winner goes through to the fi nal on Friday December 19. Former Bloody Fist Records main man Mark N will also be on hand to deliver a showcase set.
Wax Wars photo by Katrina Clarke
more solid than ever. It’s a great moment for everybody, but especially for the artists that, like me, have been supporting, specialising in and collecting house music gems for 15-plus years. Digging in the crate preparing a gig is more fun than ever, and being able to rock a dance floor with that latest and upfront track mixed with a 10-year-old weapon is very powerful and really makes the difference.
Icebergs Dining House has announced the lineup for its 2015 New Year’s gig, where Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs glitterati have been known to rub elbows and ring in the New Year. The full cast includes Bag Raiders, Poolside, Sneaky Sound System, Nicky Night Time, Murat Kilic, Miss Annie, SlowBlow, Marc Jarvin & Pink Lloyd and Valerie Yum & Sam Francisco. Tickets will set you back a cool $400, but that includes all the Veuve, Ciroc and canapés you can fit inside your mouth while you talk property rates with other beautiful people in front of what is arguably Sydney’s prettiest ocean view. Thursday January 1 is the day.
MUSICA COPA
Your Crew After many years working in Spain 3. with Gonzalo in Balearic Soul, now that I’ve
The Music You Make This December 6 on the House on the Harbour with David Penn and Goldfish Sixth Birthday parties I’ll be playing some of those new and unreleased tracks I’m working on, so expect a set full of many cool exclusives, mixed with some wicked treasures I’ve found recently when diving in my collection and that I can’t wait to play.
NEW YEAR’S DAY AT ICEBERGS
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PL Y BAR SYDNEY
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Big Freedia & Her Divas Just Bounce By Augustus Welby emphasis on chanted vocal refrains. And, as with just about everything from New Orleans, bounce is as much a culture unto itself as it is a product of culture. While bounce has had a fervent underground following since its inception, it stayed largely unrecognised outside of New Orleans for the first couple of decades. In recent years, however, popularity has skyrocketed. And there’s no bigger bounce music celebrity than Big Freedia. “I’m very humbled about it,” says Freedia, who also goes by the name Freddie Ross. “It definitely did surprise me, how people gravitated to the culture of bounce music and to my music. I am very appreciative of all the people all around the world that have taken time out to even just listen to bounce music.” Bounce music is inextricably attached to an especially physical style of dance. These days, the back-heavy dance craze, twerking, is something of garish cliché. But twerking is actually another New Orleans original and a key component of bounce music culture. Big Freedia heads our way in a couple of weeks for the Falls Festivals and a run of club gigs. A dance class, hosted by Big Freedia herself, will precede each of these shows – including at Oxford Art Factory on Friday January 2.
N
ew Orleans is a city of many distinctions. It’s a place populated by strong personalities that refuse to conform. It’s home to Cajun and Creole cuisine, po’ boys, gumbo, red beans and rice, and beignets. It’s a place that knows how to party – the city’s annual Mardi Gras makes our own version seem modest. New Orleans has also given birth to some of the most significant music of the last 100
years. It started with traditional jazz and such legendary artists as Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong. Then came the early rock’n’rollers, like Fats Domino, and gurus of funk The Meters. More recently, a uniquely New Orleanian hip hop offshoot emerged: bounce music. Originating in the early ’80s, bounce tracks typically feature highly energetic beats and an
“There’s a dance workshop,” Ross says, “to make people more aware of the style of dancing that I do and for some people to be able to participate with me when I call people up onstage. That’s why I want to teach them how to shake their asses a little bit before we actually do it.” Big Freedia’s music is laden with in-your-face hip hop beats and almost-aggressive chanting, but it’s
all rooted in a sense of community. While Ross is now a global star, he doesn’t ignore the importance of the audience. “That’s something I have to do, to connect with my fans and to let them know that I appreciate them and I love them. They are what keeps me going; the energy from them is what keeps the Freedia show going and what makes it the Freedia show.” Even before meeting the star, it’s easy to feel like you know Big Freedia on a personal level. This is largely due to the reality TV series Big Freedia: Queen Of Bounce – the third season of which will air on Fuse TV early next year. Queen Of Bounce looks closely into Ross’ day-to-day life, which consists of studio time, touring and interactions with fans and loved ones. These days, Ross’ life itself has essentially become a form of entertainment, but there are certain things he keeps to himself. “I definitely don’t give it all away. I definitely hold back. There’s a lot that the cameras don’t see. Most of the time they miss the really interesting and the really deep stuff. I still have total privacy in the bedroom and using restrooms and all of that. There’s still a whole lot of privacy, definitely, with this recording process.” The distractions associated with living in the public eye haven’t impinged on Ross’ commitment to making music. He’s been a prominent bounce performer since the late 1990s, but Big Freedia’s first official LP Just Be Free didn’t come out until this June. It’s a collection of exceptionally positive and vigorously energetic bounce tracks, including ‘Turn Da Beat Up’, ‘Explode’ and ‘N.O. Bounce’. It also features a touch of EDM production, which
shows Big Freedia won’t be confined to just one style. “I am opening up to collaborating with different artists and producers,” says Ross, “so I’m taking my music to all different types of levels. We’re trying to change it, to keep making it roll and to keeping making me cross over to all types of genres of music. You’ll definitely be hearing some new and exciting things from me. “It’s pretty natural that I’d develop the sound,” he adds, “because I’m open to all sounds and styles of music. You might hear anything coming from me, don’t be surprised. My style of music definitely comes with a lot of dancing, but there definitely will be some songs – I’m more than sure – that I make that are not directly leaning to just dancing.” New Orleans is a city of inimitable originals and Big Freedia is certainly one of them. This quality seems inherently true of all the city’s natives, but maintaining such dazzling originality requires constant effort. “I need to be productive at all times and be in the right frame of mind at all times, no matter what I do, musically,” Ross says. “You know, that comes with the territory. I have to keep pushing.” What: Just Be Free out now through Queen Diva With: Black Vanilla, Levins, DJ Sveta Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Friday January 2 And: Also appearing alongside Alt-J, Jamie xx, SBTRKT, Joey Bada$$ and many more at Falls Festival, Lorne, Marion Bay and Byron Bay, Sunday December 28 – Saturday January 3
Sylvan Esso Coming ’Round The Mountain By David James Young
“S
o, where did you two meet?” It’s a tacky, obvious lead-in when talking to a couple. Then again, it’s not every day that the couple in question is Sylvan Esso: a bright, innovative electronica duo featuring the vocals of former Mountain Man member Amelia Meath, trading in her earthy harmonies and plucked acoustic guitar for processed beats and spiralling synths, and producer/ multi-instrumentalist Nick Sanborn. “I had just started playing solo sets, and I was opening for Mountain Man in Milwaukee,” explains Sanborn of Sylvan Esso’s origins. “We just hit it off – we loved each other’s music, and we kept in touch. It wasn’t until a few years later that we actually tried making music together. She had originally gotten in touch so that I could remix a song she had done with Mountain Man. It worked really well, and we started working together in that direction. Within six months, we had the studio booked. It all came together really quickly and really naturally.” The end result was the duo’s eponymous debut, released back in May. It’s one of the year’s more leftfield explorations of pop, taking in the artists’ earlier influence of traditional folk and introducing it to new contexts and far more intrinsic surroundings. Despite the notable difference between Sylvan Esso and their previous projects (Sanborn was also previously in the outfit Megafaun), Nick explains that the recording process was more or less the same as it ever was. “It wasn’t as if I was making beats by myself and then emailing them over so Amelia could just sing over
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them in her room,” he says. “We were almost always in the same place, working together on these songs. It was much more organic. Our songs would often start by just happening onto something that we liked, whether that was a snare sound or a chord progression or something like that. We’d build on it from that, trying to get to that point of knowing where we wanted a song to be, rather than trying to force any ideas into it that wouldn’t fi t.” He is quick to note, however, that there were one or two particular differences that served as a defi nitive trait of writing the Sylvan Esso record. “I’ve been in a bunch of different bands, and I was usually the guy that would come in with the songs, show them to the band and then we’d take it from there. With this, we were recording the songs as we were writing them. The recording became just as much a part of the writing itself as anything. It was a peculiar sensation, to be hearing something as opposed to playing it. You’re constantly hearing what you’re doing as opposed to physically re-enacting it. The writing happens in a physical way, and then this added a really cerebral element to our creating. I think that really helped for this band in particular.” Even the origins of many of the songs on the record came in a manner that may seem normal to some, but was practically alien to Sanborn. “We weren’t in the same cities a lot of the time, so we used to just send each other voice memos,” he says. “I’d be on tour while Amelia was on tour, and then
out of the blue I’d get an email with her singing into the microphone on her laptop. Already, that was incredibly different to how I’d worked previously – and then I had to start reassembling the fi les that were sent as GarageBand demos because sometimes they’d arrive in my inbox out of sync.” If the name Sylvan Esso doesn’t immediately ring a bell, perhaps the song ‘Coffee’ will be more familiar. With its unmistakable marimba samples and its simple yet incredibly effective “Get up, get down” refrain, it’s safe to say ‘Coffee’ has been one of the year’s true sleeper hits. Its status was confirmed with a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, with the show’s bandleader and The Roots mastermind
Questlove joining the duo to play drums. Even now, Sanborn sees the performance as an ultimate ‘pinch me’ moment. “It was crazy – it was beyond crazy,” he says emphatically. “I mean, imagine how you would feel if you were invited to be the live act on The Tonight Show. It’s not any less bizarre just because we’re in a band. That overwhelming feeling still factors in, big time. It was our first time on network TV, and we were playing the song in a way that we’d never played it before. It’s funny, because we’re normally super-comfortable with performing and the way we perform our music, but that really kept us on our toes. Questlove had it right away, though; he was straight in the pocket. It’s Questlove!”
After extensively touring in support of the record, Sanborn and Meath will be ending their year and starting the next with a visit to Australia for a festival date as well as two of their own headlining shows. “This will be my first time,” says Sanborn. “I’m so excited to come down. I’m really honoured that we get to do this on an international scale – especially when it means we’re escaping our winter and coming into your summer. That’s a double bonus for me.” What: Sylvan Esso out now through POD/Inertia With: Joy, Adam Lewis Where: Newtown Social Club When: Friday January 2
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Off The Record
up all night out all week . . .
Dance And Electronica With Tyson Wray
Marcel Dettmann
O
ne of the biggest names in techno, goddamn Marcel Dettmann, is coming to Sydney next month. A founding resident at the German institution that is Berghain, over his career Dettmann has released on seminal labels such as Cocoon Recordings, BPitch Control and Ostgut Ton (not to mention his own selfconducted MDR label) and been called upon to remix for the likes of Fever Ray, Modeselektor and Scuba. He’ll be in town on Saturday January 24 at the Imperial Hotel, Erskineville. Two of the biggest names on the Subsonic bill have locked in a joint Sydney headline show. Addison Groove (who’s released on the likes of 50Weapons, Hessle and Swamp81) and Peverelist (Punch Drunk, Hessle and Livity Sound) will join forces for an all-night throw-down of Bristol-style juke, bass and footwork. They’ll be joined by local legends Onlooker, Gilsun and Kieran Helmore. Saturday December 13 at Goodgod. Lock it in.
the weekend. Gabby, Seamus, Ben Nott, Aaiste, Start:Cue, Tristan Case, Phil Kanis, Sampson, Simon Caldwell, Dave Stuart, Ben Ashton, Casting Out, Locus Cadre and Senor Face & Heyzous will be going all night long with four stacks of crystal-clear Funktion-Ones on Friday December 26 at the Burdekin Hotel. Best releases this week: the latest jam from Floating Points titled ‘Nuits Sonores’ is a late entry for track of the year – easily one of the best things he’s ever done. Other highlights include the killer big room techno record Centres Of Distraction by Cassegrain (on Prologue), Mr. G’s Personal Momentz (Phoenix G), Takuya Matsumoto’s EKR’s Galactic Dance (Royal Oak) and Tim Sweeney’s Beats In Space 15th Anniversary Mix (Beats In Space Records). Matthew Dekay
The global party juggernaut that is All Day I Dream is coming to Sydney. Since humble beginnings on a Brooklyn rooftop in 2011, Lee Burridge’s tech house institution has been travelling the world recently, and for its Australian instalment he’s bringing over Dutch DJ Matthew Dekay. It’ll be going down at a venue by the harbour which is still TBA, on Saturday January 31. Hit up sash.net.au for more details. Tour rumours: A little birdie tells me that DJ Tennis will be announcing a tour next week, while UK techno don Paleman is said have a late January sojourn in the works. Oh, and expect a secret big-name international to be dropping by The Spice Cellar this Friday December 5. Got plans for Boxing Day? You do now. A host of Sydney’s finest are coming together to carry the Christmas highjinks well into
RECOMMENDED THURSDAY DECEMBER 4
SATURDAY DECEMBER 20
SATURDAY DECEMBER 6
Dubfire Greenwood Hotel
Pantha Du Prince Oxford Art Factory
SATURDAY DECEMBER 13 Robag Wruhme The Spice Cellar
Addison Groove, Addison Groove Goodgod Small Club James Holden Oxford Art Factory
SUNDAY DECEMBER 14 Vakula National Art School
FRIDAY DECEMBER 19 Tim Sweeney Goodgod Small Club
Lido, Sophie, Nadus, QT Metro Theatre
SUNDAY DECEMBER 21 House Shoes Sydney’s National Art School
THURSDAY JANUARY 1
Spice Afloat: Space Dimension Controller, Trus’Me, Oliver Koletzki, Niko Schwind Sydney Harbour
SATURDAY JANUARY 10 Tycho The Hi-Fi
Daniel Avery TBA Pender Street Steppers TBA
s.a.s.h sundays
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Move D The Spice Cellar
30:11:14 :: Home :: 101/1-5 Wheat Rd Darling Harbour 9266 0600
Got any tip-offs, hate mail, praise or cat photos? Email hey@tysonwray.com or contact me via carrier pigeon. thebrag.com
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g guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
club pick of the week Illy
SATURDAY DECEMBER 6
Enmore Theatre
Illy
FRIDAY DECEMBER 5
+ Tkay Maidza + Jackie Onassis + Baro 7pm. $44.70. WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3 HIP HOP & R&B
Ice Cube Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 8pm. $89.61.
CLUB NIGHTS
#JDFutureLegends Presents ETCETC/Pilerats Showcase - feat: Kilter + Special Guest DJ + Sable + Slumberjack + Acaddamy + Luke Million + Young Franco + Godwolf + Set Mo + Catlips + Poolclvb + Pilerats DJs + Blue Grass DJs World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $53.20. Astral People Showcase - feat: Collarbones + Cosmo’s Midnight + Rainbow Chan + Polographia + Oisima + Moon Holiday + Ben Fester Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 8pm. $53.20. Die High Showcase - feat: Leaderboy + Jonny Faith + Gambon + Human Movement + Nutrition + Roleo + Meare + Kwze World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $53.20. DJ Tom Kelly Goldfish, Kings Cross. 9pm. free. Halfway Crooks Showcase feat: Halfway Crooks DJs World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $53.20. Inthemix Showcase - feat: Special Guest DJ + Safia + Sampology + UV Boi + Fishing + GRMM + Tyler Touche The X Studio, Kings Cross. 8:30pm. $53.20. 36 :: BRAG :: 591 :: 03:12:14
Lucky Entertainment Showcase - feat: Arcane Echo + 2 Special Guests + Courtney Mills + Flashback + Holly-J + J-Trick + Jamie Vlahos + Lucille + Mashd N Kutcher + Matt Watkins + Nemo + Orkestra Ted + Seek N Destroy + Senor Roar + Slice N Dice + Tau Tau + Tigerlily + Truman + Who Killed Mickey + Zac Waters + Zannon + Zoolanda + Seany B + Rok-E Soho Bar, Potts Point. 9pm. $53.20. Onelove Showcase - feat: Surprise Guests + Nicky Night Time + Slumberjack + Generik + Kaz James + Hatch + Acid Jack + Oablo Calamari + Avon Stringer + Fear Of Dawn + Reelax + Daggers + Deckhead Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 9pm. $53.20. Plastic World Showcase feat: Tuff Sherm + Retiree + Alba + Gl + Thomas William + McInnes Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 8pm. $53.20. The Wall - feat: Various Local And International Acts World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $5. Whip It Wednesdays - feat: Various DJs Whaat Club, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 4 HIP HOP & R&B Joyride
World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. $53.20. Pool Club Thursdays - feat: Resident DJs Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 5pm. free. Purple Sneakers Showcase - feat: Purple Sneakers DJs World Bar, Kings Cross. 8:30pm. $53.20. Select Music/UNDR CNTRL & FBi Click Showcase feat: Chiefs + DJ Butcher + Ego + Flmingo + Gold Fields + Jawz + Just A Gent + KLP + Luen + Motorik Vibe Council + Olympic Ayres + Paces + Problems + Spenda C + Thief + Wordlife Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 8pm. $53.20. Tcd/Tcb - Rock Roll Rum Retro - feat: Rockin’ Marc Rondeau + DJ Jon Revolta Cliff Dive, Darlinghurst. 6pm. free. The World Bar Thursdays World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free. Tiësto Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $69.60. Vicious Bitch X Vicious Black - feat: Pablo Calamari + Friendless + Wildfire + Andy Van + Jac + Gooey + Tomderson + Pipe Down Chachi + Buster Stickup + Style Matterz + Teddy Black Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 9pm. $53.20.
HIP HOP & R&B
Hustler Fridays - feat: MC Shaba Hustle & Flow, Redfern. 7pm. free. John Legend Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbour. 7pm. $129.90.
CLUB NIGHTS Lo-Fi, Darlinghurst. 6pm. free.
CLUB NIGHTS
#JDFutureLegends Presents Sweat It Out Showcase - feat: Yolanda Be Cool + Cassian + Crooked Colours + Indian Summer + Danny T + Benson + Dom Dolla + Frames + Torren Foot World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $53.20. Audiopaxx Showcase - feat: Carmada + Just A Gent + Yahtzel + L D R U + Akuou + Elk Road + Two Can + Wolf Tide + Surfdisco + Nick Lynar Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 6pm. $53.20. Diplo + What So Not + Crookers Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 9pm. $63.40. Future Classic Showcase - feat: Wave Racer + Touch Sensitive + Hayden James + Basenji + HWLS + Goldielocks + Future Classic DJs The X Studio, Kings Cross. 8:30pm. $53.20. Goldfish And Friends - feat: Regular Rotating Residents Goldfish, Kings Cross. 10pm. free. Konkrete Showcase - feat: Secret Headliner + Didier Cohen + Ivan Gough + JDG + Jebu + Samual James + Special Guests Soho Bar, Potts Point. 8pm. $53.20. Move D The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 7pm. $15. October Records Showcase - feat: Ribongia + Frames + Amateur Dance + Moonbase Commander + CVIRO + Buoy
Factory Fridays - feat: Resident DJs Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Feel Good Fridays Bar100, The Rocks. 5pm. free. Frisky Fridays Scubar, Sydney. 5pm. free. Laidback Luke Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $23.50. Loco Friday - feat: Various Live Bands And DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 5pm. free. Matt Nugent + Blackmale + Heirs To The Throne + Beatslingerz + Gradz Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 10pm. free. Mike Who Vs. Yelo Magic Cliff Dive, Darlinghurst. 9pm. free. Thank Funk It’s Friday The Ranch, Eastwood. 9:30pm. free. Wax Wars (Semi-Final 1) feat: Mark N Play Bar, Surry Hills. 8pm. $5.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 6 HIP HOP & R&B
Halfway Crooks Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst. 10pm. $10. Illy + Tkay Maidza + Jackie Onassis + Baro Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7pm. $44.70.
CLUB NIGHTS
Cakes - feat: 4 Rooms Of Live Music + DJs And International Guests World Bar, Kings Cross. 8pm. $10. El’ Circo - feat: Resident Circus Act Performers
Slide Lounge, Darlinghurst. 7pm. $109. Frat Saturdays - feat: DJ Jonski Side Bar, Sydney. 6pm. free. Goldfish 6th Birthday - feat: David Penn + Summit DJs + Frankie Romano + Ramon Balearic Soul Goldfish, Kings Cross. 8pm. $15. LNDRY - feat: Format:B + Falcons + Bella Sarris + Marks & Oz + Samrai + Nine Lives + Mode + Fingers + DJ Just 1 + Teddy Black Jack Chinese Laundry, Sydney. 9pm. $22.60. Masif Saturdays Space, Sydney. 10pm. $25. Pacha Sydney - feat: MK + Danny T + Acaddamy + Set Mo + Mo’Funk + Chris Arnott + Jace Disgrace + Fingers + Samrai + Coda + Skoob + Just 1 + Sushi + Here’s Trouble + Jade De Flay + Heke + Trent Rackus Ivy Bar/Lounge, Sydney. 6:30pm. $37.90. Pantha Du Prince Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $33.80. Sienna Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs The Establishment, Sydney. 9pm. free. Silk Pyjamas - feat: Shantan Wantan Ichiban + Mike Who Cliff Dive, Darlinghurst. 9pm. free. Soda Saturdays - feat: Resident DJs Playing Disco And Funk Soda Factory, Surry Hills. 5pm. free. Something Else Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst. 9pm. $20. Spice 06.12 - feat: Pepperpot + Murat Kilic + Rodean + Gabby The Spice Cellar, Sydney. 10pm. $25. Summer Rooftop Series feat: Flex Cop + Softwar + Ariane Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 10pm. free. The 45 Sessions 1st Birthday - feat: Frenzie + Makoto + DJ Adverse + Josie Styles + JC + Benny Hinn Play Bar, Surry Hills. 8pm.
free.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 7 CLUB NIGHTS
Cedric Gervais Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $33.80. La Fiesta - feat: Samantha Fox + Agee Ortiz + Av El Cubano + Resident DJ Willie Sabor The Establishment, Sydney. 8pm. free. Reggae Sundays Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 5pm. free. S.A.S.H Sundays Home Nightclub, Darling Harbour. 2pm. $10. Sunday Sessions - feat: Cadell + Tom Kelly + Ocky Goldfish, Kings Cross. 4pm. free. Sundays In The City - feat: Various DJs The Slip Inn, Sydney. 12pm. free.
MONDAY DECEMBER 8 HIP HOP & R&B
Cypress Hill + Coin Banks + Ivan Ooze Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:30pm. $86.15.
CLUB NIGHTS
Crab Racing Scubar, Sydney. 7pm. free. Mashup Monday - feat: Resident DJs Side Bar, Sydney. 8pm. free.
TUESDAY DECEMBER 9 CLUB NIGHTS
Chu World Bar, Kings Cross. 9pm. free.
send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com
THURSDAY DECEMBER 4 Tiësto Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $69.60.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 5 Laidback Luke Marquee, Pyrmont. 10pm. $23.50. Wax Wars (Semi-Final 1) - Feat: Mark N Play Bar, Surry Hills. 8pm. $5.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 6 Goldfish 6th Birthday - Feat: David Penn + Summit DJs + Frankie Romano + Ramon Balearic Soul Goldfish, Kings Cross. 8pm. $15. Pantha Du Prince Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst. 8pm. $33.80. Summer Rooftop Series - Feat: Flex Cop + Softwar + Ariane Kings Cross Hotel, Kings Cross. 10pm. Free.
MONDAY DECEMBER 8 Cypress Hill + Coin Banks + Ivan Ooze Enmore Theatre, Newtown. 7:30pm. $86.15.
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live review
up all night out all week . . .
What we've been out to see...
Manning House Saturday November 29 The brainchild of record label Yes Please and management agency Astral People, OutsideIn is carving out a solid niche in Sydney’s summer festival scene. Wrapping up for a third consecutive year, this boutique event continues to deliver good tunes and good vibes. Unlike previous instalments, the festival didn’t sell out this year, perhaps due to being scheduled on the same day as Stereosonic. That being said, the absence of long bar queues and fl uoro singlets made OutsideIn a pretty refreshing alternative. And with a venue upsize to the University of Sydney’s Manning House, there was plenty of room to pull shapes and soak up the sun. As usual, the carefully curated lineup featured a range of local and international producers. LA hip hop group The Pharcyde were one of the key headliners, busting out a closing set rich with ’90s nostalgia and crowd interaction (lemme hear ya say ohhhh shit!). Late Nite Tuff Guy, the godfather of Australian techno as he’s often called, wrapped up on an equally sharp note, spinning some highly danceable and hard-edged disco.
On the whole, it was hard to fault anything happening at the Courtyard Stage, which was a seductive dance hub with a killer energy. New York producer Brenmar steered through the early afternoon with a fusion of pop and R&B. If there was a single standout, Chicago house legend Roy Davis, Jr. powered through with predictable ease, pumping out an industrial sound that managed to be soulful and uplifting at the same time. Eclectic Melburnian Tornado Wallace also played an enjoyably diverse set, feeling a bit like the remixed theme song of an ’80s cop show. On the subtler side of things, electronica trio Seekae received a lot of hometown love and San Francisco producer Giraffage rolled out some laidback R&B remixes on the ‘ambient’ stage. With lush audio-visual projections, this was a welcome change of pace – extra points for Giraffage’s sequence of adorable animals. A commitment to booking interesting artists, a great crowd and a relaxed atmosphere is what has consistently distinguished OutsideIn from other festivals. It’s the more intimate and experimental counterpoint to the generic club music and big beat producers customary to the likes of Stereosonic and Future Music Festival. Annie Murney
outsidein 2014
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OUTSIDEIN 2014
goldfish saturday
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29:11:14 :: Manning House :: Manning Rd Camperdown 9563 6000
29:11:14 :: The Goldfish :: 111 Darlinghurst Rd Potts Point 8354 6630 thebrag.com
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2014 is nearly at an end – and boy, where did the time go? We’ve got high hopes for next year, but if you’re looking to make a New Year’s resolution, start by choosing a great place to welcome in 2015. We’ve tracked down the best Sydney hotspots to celebrate New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and asked them all about just what’s going down.
the beverage menu is a range of bar food options to tantalise everyone’s tastebuds including spiced corn chips with pea guacamole, Philadelphia cheese steak, chicken quesadillas and sushi.
Sky Terrace
For our ears: Listen to tunes from DJs Albie Smilies and Yogi from 2pm. Bevvy of choice: Enjoy an expertly prepared cocktail or share a Lychee Tree jug with friends – Midori, pomme verte and coconut served with fresh lychees and pineapple.
Venue Name: The Star’s rooftop bar, Sky Terrace It’s called: New Year’s Day at Sky Terrace What to see and do: Sitting alongside The Star Event
Centre, Sky Terrace takes advantage of expansive water views with Sydney city as the background. Expert bartenders are on hand to serve your favourite drinks, offering a range of cocktails, wines, beers, spirits and soft drinks. Complementing
Cost: First release tickets $90,
It’s called: Red Rattler NYE Party
For our ears: MicahTron, Adonis, Daddy Banga, Tracksuit Pants and more. Bevvy of choice: Cheap drinks for cheap thrills and our famous Rat’s Piss flowing on tap.
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When: Wednesday December 31
Where: The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont. For direct access to Sky Terrace, arrive at The Star’s Pirrama Road entrance and take the elevator to level three. Cargo
Justice Crew
Cherry Bar second release tickets: $120. A post-dinner package is available from 11pm, which includes a glass of Moët & Chandon champagne at midnight and selected dessert canapés for $60 per person. VIP tables and champagne packages are available upon request. Bookings via Jemma Huggins, (02) 9657 8913 or jemma. huggins@echoent.com.au
When the clock strikes midnight: This is a familyfriendly event so there will be fireworks at 9pm with an early countdown. The event finishes at 10pm. What’s the highlight: Justice Crew, acrobatics, fireworks on the water, free shuttle bus (park and ride, train and ride options). Cost: Free entry, rides $2 a ticket, food and other stalls to purchase snacks and soft drinks from.
Where: The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont
Where: Ascot Drive, Grand Flaneur Beach, Chipping Norton Lakes
When: Wednesday December 31, from 7pm
When: Wednesday December 31, 5pm-10pm
When the clock strikes midnight: Dance it in with MicahTron to fresh, fat sexy beats out of the international queer rap revolution.
Cost: Concession $27, full price $32. Some of the cheapest prices in the Inner West. We’re all about the people, not the prices! Head onto the Rat’s website – redrattler.org – or book at trybooking.com. Early bird tickets are $20+bf until Monday December 8.
What’s the highlight: It’s the first time MicahTron from San Fran comes to Sydney, after a successful stint in Berlin. It’s the most friendly, down-to-earth and affordable NYE party for the Inner West. A night of tunes and beats to keep everyone on the dancefl oor.
MichaTron
Justice Crew photo by Tristan Edouard
What to see and do: An awesome night of amazing unique DJs, performers and lovely people!
Where: 52-60 The Promenade, King Street Wharf
For our eyes and ears: Live music, acrobatics, DJ, a chill vibe, rides, fireworks, Justice Crew, Team 9 Lives and more.
What to see and do: Visit Cherry Bar for a Monte Carlothemed New Year’s Eve. Cherry DJs will be mixing 2014’s biggest hits.
What’s the highlight: A permanent fixture in the biggest clubbing playground of them all, Ibiza, Mo’Funk will take charge of the dancefloor.
Bevvy of choice: Anything Smirnoff-related is what we will
Cost: $99+BF GA or $180 Platinum VIP
What to see and do: Justice Crew play live, and there’ll be fireworks at 9pm. This is a drug and alcohol free event.
It’s called: New Year’s Eve at Cherry Bar
When the clock strikes midnight: Take in views of Sydney Harbour and dance the night away.
For our ears: Main headliner is Hermitude (live), Yolanda Be Cool, Crooked Colours (live), Hayden James… plus more to be announced in our second announce.
When the clock strikes midnight: We stop the music and embark on the wharf to see the fireworks in all their glory, then we reignite the party with some dancefl oor bangers.
Cost: Free entry
It’s called: Liverpool’s NYE15 by the Lake
Bevvy of choice: Enjoy a glass of Moët & Chandon champagne or sip on a cocktail prepared by Cherry Bar’s expert bartenders.
What to see and do: We house a full-scale festival stage set up in the middle of the venue with the beautiful harbour as your backdrop.
be sippin’.
What’s the highlight: Watch the sun go down over the city skyline whilst enjoying the sounds of summer with the ultimate summer playlist.
When: Thursday January 1, 12pm till late
For our ears: Mo’Funk is headlining, supported by Kali and Tikki Tembo.
It’s called: Cargo NYE on the Harbour
Where: 6 Faversham Street, Marrickville When: Wednesday December 31
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