BMA Magazine 500 - 13 December 2017

PAGE 2

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 3

PAGE 4

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 5

PAGE 6

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 7

PAGE 8

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 9

PAGE 10

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 11

PAGE 12

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 13

[CONTENTS]

[Canberra’s Entertainment Guide]

#500Dec/Jan

You better Stop! Think about what you’re doing...

Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Radar Media Pty Ltd. General Manager Allan Sko T: (02) 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Editor Hayden Fritzlaff E: editorial@bmamag.com

BMA BACK IN THE DAY

p. 55

Accounts Manager Ashish Doshi T: (02) 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Sub-Editor Sharona Lin Cover Artwork Alice Worley Graphic Designer Andrew Nardi, Hayden Fritzlaff Film Editor Majella Carmody Entertainment Guide Editor Nicola Sheville Social Media Manager Sharona Lin Columnists Cody Atkinson, Dan Bigna, Pip Gazard & Neve Van Boxsel, Josh Martin, Cara Lennon, Sharona Lin, Josh Nixon, Peter O’Rourke, Alice Worley, Ellie Windred

ART AND DESIGN IN 2018

p. 37

TOM GIBSON AND CHRIS RYAN

p. 42

FRENZAL RHOMB

p. 29

KILROY

p. 37

Contributors (This Issue) Rory McCartney, Andrew Myers, Glen Martin, Matt Parnell, Angela Christian-Wilkes. Tegan Garnett, Frances McNair, AJP Thomas, John P. Harvey, Jeonghyun Kim, Ben Yan, Zoe Pleasants NEXT ISSUE #501 OUT Wednesday January 17 EDITORIAL DEADLINE Friday January 5 ADVERTISING DEADLINE Friday January 12 ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA Magazine is independently owned and published. Opinions expressed in BMA Magazine are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

ES 199 T 2

PAGE 14

LITERATURE IN REVIEW ALBUM REVIEWS FILM REVIEWS THE WORD ON GIGS ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE

p. p. p. p. p.

46 62 68 72 77

@bmamag

FROM THE BOSSMAN [PHEW]

BY ALLAN SKO

EDITOR’S BLAB [MEET YOUR HEROES EVERY DAY] WITH HAYDEN FRITZLAFF

[ALLAN@BMAMAG.COM]

And here we are! The 500th issue.

Phew. Did that take some effort.

I warn you now… This will be an unusual column. You’re expecting celebration and affection as you usually expect for such milestones, right? We’ll get to them first. Because they’re deserved. But there’s some deep stuff to follow. So brace yourselves.

There’s plenty of people to thank; people responsible for getting to 500.

So… The serious stuff.

I’ve had a bad year. A BAD year.

As The Queen once said in her Christmas speech, I’ve had an annus horribilis. Deaths, mental health issues, breakdowns, heartbreaks, financial woes… You name it, Life has thrown it my way. And I haven’t coped with it well. I haven’t coped at all, in fact. I retreated to vices which turned into addictions, and the people around me? Family, friends, colleagues... They had all cause to leave me. Abandon me. To walk away. Fully justified.

But… Instead? They supported me.

And I turned a corner.

So I have many people to thank for getting to the 500th issue. First up should be the founders, Lisa Howdin and Peter Spicer. Were it not for them, I wouldn’t have this job I love so much; the opportunity to love, respect and support those who tirelessly pour their heart and soul into their art in order to make this life better. What a privilege I have to be your conduit.

ship afloat during choppy waters created by yours truly. They could have abandoned ship at any time (to continue the awkward metaphor).

But they stuck around and kept the BMA Boat sailing (yep… Once last extension of the questionable metaphor).

I have Nicola Sheville (the Guide Editor) and Sharona Lin (the Sub Editor) to thank. You know those words and that Guide that helps you know what to do? They’re the ones to thank.

I also thank my former business partner and good friend Scott Layne.

He was the one that gave me my first shot in this industry. The fool. At age 22, he was worried I would be put through the wringer. He’s a wise man. I was. But I’m so happy I was given the chance to.

I also thank Cole Bennetts; the Ad Man at the time I was Editor.

He’s kicking arse as one of the country’s – nay, the world’s – best photographers, and I miss working with him every day.

And I miss working with a lot of wonderful people; Tatjana Clancy, Julia Winterflood, Ben Hermann, Ashley Thomson, Scott Johnson, Paul Foley... The list goes on.

[EDITORIAL@BMAMAG.COM]

The other day I went trawling through BMA’s print archive. I wanted to find something, some relic of the past, that showed our age, but also the strength of history behind this little wad of paper.

I managed to find a copy of the very first print edition of the mag. It was brown and frayed, on old newspaper leaf, like something from a Harry Potter film but without the magic .gifs. I don’t know who I was expecting to find on the cover, but it sure as hell wasn’t Bjork. Yet, there she was, staring back at me in the black and white photo from 1992, along with the rest of her then band, The Sugarcubes.

Turns out that wasn’t actually issue #1. #1 was the one with the Nevermind Tour on the back (go check it out on page 55). But it was still an emotional thing, and the camera roll started playing in my head of all of the heroes that I’ve been fortunate enough to interact with during my time at BMA. There was the time I Skyped Paul Kelly and collaborator Camile O’Sullivan from my first sharehouse in Kaleen.

Kelly commented on the Tame Impala poster on the wall behind me and we talked about Irish poetry and Australia’s shocking track record with honouring it’s cultural icons.

Then there was the time I called Dan Boeckner from Wolf Parade, my

favourite band through high-school, on the day their ‘comeback’ album was released.

I’ve talked with Sarah Blasko, Lior, Ali Barter – people who had always been larger-than-life. Heroes.

Each has been a wonderful experience, and they all form part of the deep roster of artists featured in these pages over the years.

But the interactions I love the most, the ones where I come away beaming and hurry to my laptop moments after to start writing, are the ones with people you probably haven’t heard of.

Local theatre producers who are so excited that their work is being featured that they delve deep into the heart of their project without any prompting.

Young writers who just found out they’ll be interviewing X musical hero. Tour promoters who thought Canberra was a handy pitstop between Melbourne and Sydney who are overwhelmed by the support they’ve been shown at a show or in an article.

Yes, BMA is home to words from some of the most influential and renowned artists of the past 25 years. But it’s also home to your stories.

Happy 500th BMA. Call me – editorial@bmamag.com

BMA is not me. It’s everyone. It’s them. It’s you.

So thank you for getting us to 500. I’ll do my best to be a better person, and give you an even better magazine in 2018.

I have my staff. I say MY staff, but as far as I’m concerned, they are BMA. They have supported me during times where I haven’t supported them, despite being the supposed “Bossman” of BMA. Former Editor Andrew Nardi and current Editor Hayden Fritzlaff. Praise these gentlemen, with all your heart.

BMA would not be here without them. They have kept the proverbial facebook.com/bmamagazine

YOU PISSED ME OFF! [ENTRIES CONTAIN ORIGINAL SPELLINGS]

Dear Ed, Just a short note to let you know that the hiatus of YPMO is not welcome. As a long time fan of BMA, for all sorts of reasons, I loved the YPMO segment. Lived for it, yearned for it, we’ll sort of.

I sure hope it makes a comeback soon and the dollar improves!

Actually I hope interest rates improve. YPMO was funny, honest and very Canberra.

Yours in fandom, Antonia (Age 59) Sent from my iPad

PAGE 15

[TIDBITS]

UPCOMING GIGS

Paper Cuts / Book Launch / Thu-Sat December 2123 / Canberra Theatre Centre Paper Cuts: Comedic & Satirical Monologues for Audition or Performance by Canberra playwright Kirsty Budding is set to launch at the Canberra Theatre Centre from December 21-23.

Twenty-six actors will bring the new collection of monologues to life for the very first time in

a cross-disciplinary display of theatre. Attendees are offered the chance to purchase the book (along with singings) and watch the monologues in action. [8pm / $30 via canberratheatrecentre. com.au]

Winter Witches / Live Music / Fri December 22 / Commonwealth Park Adelaide duo, Winter Witches, are undertaking their first major eastern states tour in support of their new single ‘Unspeakable Clothes’. Described as having “genuine derivations of medieval, orchestral music and experimental electronica” and “brimming with fiery precision”,

be part of this special queer garden party in Canberra’s Commonwealth Park! Special guests include: Shoeb Ahmad, Passive Smoke, p a r k s and DJ PR PR between sets! [6pm / tickets through winterwitches. com]

Under The Sea / Exhibition / December 18-January 12 / Belconnen Arts Centre Under The Sea is an immersive experience created by the Bungee Youth Resilience Program’s Expressive Art Group.

Bungee is an inclusive resilience building program that promotes emotional wellbeing through the arts. The program supports young people (aged 5-18) to participate PAGE 16

in activities designed to build resilience, enhance well-being and social and emotional health.

The t exhibition features a range of creative concepts representing one core theme, an under the sea experience. [9am-5pm / free via bcsact.com.au]

Lazertits / Live Music / Wed January 3 / The Phoenix Best described as hyper-garage brat punk, Lazertits deal with important themes such as how to make vegan milkshakes and making out on your dirty brown couch. Fresh off the back of the release of their debut album Not Punk, Per Se, Lazertits are jumping in a van with their

besties Swim Team for a tour up the East Coast. 2017 was a huge year for both bands, with Lazertits picking up supports for Spiderbait, Waax and The Courtneys. The tour brings them to The Phoenix with local heroes Slagatha Christie. [8pm / tickets at the door]

DEEPSPACE / Performance / Sat December 23 / The Playhouse Having spent months at sea, lurching with the waves, constantly in motion, Canberra’s own James Batchelor returns to The Playhouse with his latest work, Deepspace. Combining dance, sound and installation, Deepspace is a mesmerising, intimate performance that

examines our curiosity for the unknown. Playing at the intersection of art and science, the body is taken to the extremities of remoteness and proximity, connectedness and isolation, certainty and uncertainty. [7pm / $25 via canberratheatrecentre. com]

Kate Miller-Heidke – By The Water / Live Music / Sat February 10 / National Museum Australia The incomparable Kate Miller-Heidke arrives at the National Museum of Australia amphitheatre for By The Water – the perfect way to enjoy music and entertainment by the lake.

As the sun slowly sets, watch the city light up as you celebrate the last vestiges of summer.

Miller-Heidke is bringing her eclectic mix of pop, folk and opera lakeside for one night only, backed by a string quartet. She’ll perform songs both old and new, all delivered with her signature wit, warmth and irreverence.

[6pm / $20/55 via Eventbrite]

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 17

CANBERRA ARTISTS TO WATCH IN 2018 [MUSIC]

TURQUOISE PRINCE

LEFTY

Turquoise Prince (FKA LTC, Lolesio The Courageous) is the most complete artist I’ve seen come out of Canberra in my nine years in the city. He has a distinct, powerful flow that can flip from bars to crooning in a beat combined with a beautiful touch for production and genuine presence on stage.

Turquoise Prince owns the royalty in his name.

2017 saw Turquoise Prince become a regular in Australia’s most infamous party crew One Day, share stages on national tours with the likes of Boo Seeka and Spit Syndicate and prick up the ears of genuine tastemakers, Red Bull Sound Selects. The only way is up, and Canberra Drake is flying up the ladder as one of Australia’s most exciting emerging MCs.

Formed early in 2017, Lefty are an exciting three-piece punk band with a knack for landing huge choruses in the midst of noisy thumping jams like few others in the capital can. Having just released their debut EP in the frankly incredible Flourish, Lefty have built themselves the perfect platform to run headfirst into the new year.

For fans of Trophy Eyes and Columbus be sure to catch Lefty live as they look to tour the East Coast off the back of Flourish.

Sounds like: Having your own radio station on GTA V For fans of: Drake, Mondecreen, Remi

Sounds like: An edgy coming-of-age movie where, at the last seond, the protagonist makes it onto a moving freight train that will take them far away from this place For fans of: Columbus, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Title Fight

Photo by Adam Thomas

SLAGATHA CHRISTIE

DALMACIA

Though they’ve left behind them the days when they’d play a Spongebob Squarepants guitar (that looked like it could have been a Kmart purchase), Slagatha Christie have lost none of the loose charm that cemented their place as one of the city’s funnest bands. The twin vocals of Jess High and Kate Lawrence complement perfectly their lyrics about warm beer and lack-ofcommon-sense social injustice.

At first glance, this a punk power-trio brimming with raw, wide-eyed energy.

But listen more deeply and you hear the sound of three friends so passionate in their love for music that they will happily master brand new instruments and power through set on three-string guitars in order to commune with one another and share their stories. Choo choo motherfucker. Choo choo indeed.

It’s strange to think of Dalmacia as one of 2017’s shining lights given how dark and incisive the band can be. With a rhythm section that draws energy from the flow of Flea/Smith/Frusciante Chilli Peppers, this young three-piece has already found its groove. ‘Hold My Space’ and ‘Can’t Stop This’ are tasters of Dalmacia’s own take on 90s revivalism, using winding intensity as their paintbrush rather than distortion pedals. It pays off in a big way in their live shows, which generally close with a floor-vibrating Backstreet Boys cover. And they’re already making waves. This year has seen them support international touring artists like Jeff Rosenstock and draw interstate attention from the likes of No-Fi Collective and Wet Lips. If the rumours are to be believed, Dalmacia are rolling out new music come early 2018. From there, the sky’s the limit.

Sounds like: A free ride coming to an (abrupt) end For fans of: The Smith Street Band, Camp Cope

Sounds like: When a hyper-successful band’s early demos surface on the internet and you can tell, in retrospect, that they’re going to do something special.

For fans of: Camp Cope, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Asta

PAGE 18

@bmamag

BY DAVE McCARTHY AND HAYDEN FRITZLAFF

Photo by Anna Mayberry

SHOEB AHMAD

Shoeb Ahmad has been a part of Canberra’s artistic framework for so long that the two are intrinsically linked. Having reached the farthest corners of the globe with bands like Spartak, Agency and Tangents (go read Tangents’ review on Pitchfork, no less) and putting out some of the country’s best underground music with hellosQuare recordings, Ahmad has spent 2017 recording and priming for a massive 2018 as a solo artists.

The singles, “romance” and “mask-ed”, brought to life Ahmad’s newfound infusion of soul music into an influence list rife with the music’s great barrierdestryoing artists – Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse. With a new album of self-produced material on the way in mid-2018 and a rotating cast of high-profile collaborators, Shoeb Ahmad is a sound artist to keep a very close eye on.

YOUNG MONKS I know right? Naming YOUNG MONKS in this list straight off the bat makes me sound like I’m writing for BMA in 2015. Hear me out. The band that had absolutely everyone in Canberra eating out of the palm of their hands on the back of a stellar set at the inaugural Spilt Milk, suddenly, seemingly, disappeared early in 2017. Where they went I can’t really say, but I have it on good authority that wherever it was the band has been working tirelessly on a debut album. A debut album I couldn’t be more stoked to finally hear.

Adamant professionals and pure perfectionists, every beat, warped sound effect and intricate guitar line has been polished and strained over by this band since they first began, and it shows in the quality of music they produce.

Latest single, ‘Bad Bad Freddy,’ debuted on triple j Brekky moments after being uploaded to Unearthed and I can’t help but feel the new album will launch the band even further.

Sounds like: Putting on your headphones at the end of a long, hard day and being transported somewhere entirely different For fans of: Sonic Youth, The Temptations, The National

Sounds like: Trippin the hell out at your summer garden party For fans of: Sticky Fingers, Bootleg Rascalt

DEPUTY CHIEF WARDENS

h.

Deputy Chief Wardens is one kid named Harry writing and recording songs in his bedroom. Harry may not have a band together yet, but he already sounds like a hybrid of Joe Strummer and Gareth Liddiard. That’s not to say he has no live experience – Harry plays drums for Canberra mainstays Waterford and Vice Like Grip and he is working on getting that band together.

The exciting thing about Deputy Chief Wardens is his sheer ability to seemingly do everything; including write and produce brilliant songs, each injected with an intangible nonchalant cool that you can’t pick up at the shops. Here’s hoping 2018 sees that band come together.

Sounds like: Recording vocal takes in your car seat because you’re too self-conscious to let anyone hear your voice when in reality everyone needs to listen to what you have to say For fans of: Wavves, The Kinks, Harlem

facebook.com/bmamagazine

Photo by Aleksandar Zarić

Everything about Heti Blaazer-Grossi’s solo project is minimal; from her frustratingly ungoogleable moniker to her beautifully-crafted design stlyle.

Deput EP, 26 Letters, saw h. stripping away the musical layers you might have expected her include, so that only the guitar/voice essence remained. From there, she employed strings, ambient percussion and electronics to give each song just enough of a lift to feel warm and alive.

And it makes sense, given the importance h. gives the literature of her music.

She’s right to place such stock in her lyrics too. Honest and nuanced selfexamination come to the fore on ‘Fading’, a six-minute meditation that feels like it’s over in half that time. If h.’s new music is anywhere near as endearing as her 2017 output, we might just forgive her for relocating to the big smoke.

Sounds like: The feeling of learning how to play your favourite song on guittar; just you and your instrument For fans of: Angus and Julia Stone, Beach House, Julie Byrne

PAGE 19

CAPITAL YOUNGSTER [THE WORD ON ALL AGES MUSIC] PIP GAZARD & NEVE VAN BOXSEL FROM TEEN JESUS AND THE JEAN TEASERS [JEAN.TEASERS@GMAIL.COM]

Happy 500th issue BMA! We’re so happy to be writing for you (always, but especially today <3) and can’t wait to continue in 2018! We have been so impressed with Canberra’s underage music scene this year and are so happy to be a part of it.

2017 was such an amazing year for music overall, especially the underage scene, and today we want to discuss the highlights, as well as what’s to come.

Underage acts have definitely become more prominent in the capital’s music scene this year and have (without exception) amazed us. The delightful Sodium Sunday being one new act who has blown us away with their talent, scoring gigs with RAAVE TAPES, The Falling Joys, The Clouds, as well as local legends Marlon Bando and Dalmacia in just a matter of months! Another up-and-cotming band who we definitely suggest checkin’ out is Salad Buoy, who only just finished school. Not only are they super young, but also some of the most talented lads we have seen, so we definitely suggest keeping your eyes peeled for gigs, or, if you’re feeling particularly daring, organising your own underage gig and asking them to play! They do not disappoint whatsoever!

We’ve still got a fair way to go in terms of the capital’s underage

music scene, however with the help of venues including the brilliant Front Gallery and Cafe, Canberra is becoming more and more all-agesfriendly. 2017 definitely got off on the right foot with ampON’s tragic but amazing farewell gig, which featured a sick lineup at The Front.

The lineup included local underage legends Bleach It Clean, Marlon Bando and yours truly Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers! Although it was many moons ago, Bleach It Clean’s set will be one not forgotten!

Their loud, tight and always fantastic punk set started the night off with a bang and demonstrated the crazy talent that is evident in underage musicians in Canberra.

Marlon Bando, who finished school mere months before the gig, played after, continuing the loud sound with their own punk set, similar to that of Jay Reatard and Ty Segall. ampON, who are now killin’ it in Melbourne, ended the night off with some sick tunes, making it hard for us to say goodbye while displaying the endless possibilities of the underage music scene in our bountiful capital city.

Another underage music angel who really thrived this year is Canberra’s own Lucy Sugerman. Making it to the finals on The Voice is a huge achievement and we couldn’t be prouder of all that she has accomplished in the last year. From

busking on street corners to selling out the Street Theatre, little miss Sugerman is an inspiration and we couldn’t be more excited for all that 2018 will bring for her.

But the year is far from over! Coming up on December 15 is Back to the 80s Band SantaFest! Rose Cottage encourage everyone to book a table, put on their tackiest Santa gear and prepare for a night dancing to 80s hits – what could be better!? The event commences at 8pm and ends at 11pm and will definitely not be one to miss.

Another HUGEEEE gig coming up this month is an all-ages show at The Front Gallery and Cafe on December 23. Teen Jesus and Salad Buoy (to name but two of the acts taking to the stage) guarantee an evening filled with enough Christmas carols and good times to satisfy you for months! It will truly be a night filled with the magic of Christmas, to celebrate good music, good people and the Canberra allages music that is becoming better and better as the years go on.

See you next year (haha, get it!)

Same bat time, same bat channel, Love Neve ‘n’ Pip xxxxx

[Lucy Sugerman] PAGE 20

@bmamag

PLANET OF SOUND Planet of Sound is our column celebrating the wide history of music. In this month’s entry, Dan Bigna explores our preoccupation with RETRO MUSIC Prominent music writer Simon Reynolds pointed out in his excellent 2010 book Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to its Own Past that popular music is on a perpetual nostalgia trip, because when you are dealing with an artistic form so stubbornly self-referential, celebrating a glorious past has become the best way to usher in an even more glorious future.

Just recently, I discovered a work colleague was loosely connected with former childrens sensations Hi-5. This sparked off a workplace conversation about the apparent glory days – identified as the mid1990s – when boy/girl groups like The Spice Girls and NSYNC dominated media attention. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair and thought about a TV program I had recently watched on music in the 1990s, forming part of a worthwhile documentary series on that decade.

I decided to be the fly in the ointment and casually mentioned that references to boy/girl groups arrived at the three-quarter mark in the program after “good music,” that included the 1990s punk resurgence (mostly ‘grunge’ – a term making as little sense then as it does now) and other hard hitting forms of creative expression like gangsta rap had been covered.

This inspired an attack on my ‘musical snobbery’ that escalated when another colleague mentioned that Daryl Braithwaite had been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and I responded with a sneer that Australian proto-punk legends Radio Birdman were already in there. In any case, I dealt with it all by blasting the recently remastered Metallica thrash classic Master of Puppets on the long, peak-hour drive home. It soon became apparent that what had been a relatively innocuous workplace discussion, including my self-righteous response, was focused squarely on

the past. Not a word about anything happening now. I enjoyed Reynolds’ book and agreed with much of it – as my taste in music appears to be unashamedly retro as well. This year I submitted to the annual BMA Top 5 list a selection of favoured reissues, with David Bowie’s superb multi-disc collection A New Career in a New Town in the top spot. For the record, my favourite ‘new’ music release this year was the excellent self-titled comeback album from Brit psychedelic band Slowdive who revisited the hallucinogenic dreampop of the early 1990s as if the intervening years never happened. It was encouraging that on one of my many trips to Landspeed Records I overheard two young dudes talking about the greatness of Slowdive’s

years when psychedelic rock had turned decidedly greasily and hairier.

What I like most about this album, is that I can play it alongside Black Sabbath’s 1971 downbeat classic Masters of Reality and it would be like the perfect fit. So, at the risk of enraging all those triple j-listening popular culture devotees, it has become increasingly apparent that the music of yester-year is simply better than anything happening now and the best stuff happening now is that which best evokes good music back then. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking this, particularly as youth around the world are embracing the vinyl reissue comeback with noted enthusiasm. A recent online Forbes story titled “Forget Taylor Swift, The Real ‘Black Friday’ Music Boom is in Reissues and Vinyl” points out that a recent survey for eBay found that the 18-24 age bracket is “powering the resurgence” for physical items that include CDs, DVDs and Vinyl.

The article further notes that reissues and box sets are appearing in greater numbers and there is an audience for this stuff that belies the standard industry line that streaming and downloading

tribute to the earliest recordings of melodic post-punk giants Husker Du, Savage Young Du. So, when I check out Slowdive in Sydney at the end of January, I will enjoy gazing through the mists of time to recall seeing fellow Brit shoegazers Ride at the long lost Sydney venue the Phoenician Club and My Bloody Valentine at the Melbourne All Tomorrow’s Parties event in 2013, and those once labelled Australian exponents of the shoegazer sound, Underground Lovers, at the ANU Bar. This persistently retro view about music might drive some people crazy – but not me. As with anything else, the discerning music fan needs to wade through a whole bunch of crap to get to the gold. NSYNC and Daryl Braithwaite belong to a past I am quite happy to ignore, but Slowdive and Bowie are cultural icons that sound as good now as they did back then.

DAN BIGNA

[Slowdive] revisited the hallucinogenic dream-pop of the early 1990s as if the intervening years never happened 1993 album Souvlaki as if it had been recorded yesterday. “Finally, some good taste,” I thought. But again, this is all about searching through lost time. Another standout release this year is the just-landed ninth album from heavy noise doomsayers Electric Wizard that sounds like it could have been recorded in those early post hippie

facebook.com/bmamagazine

has rightfully banished physical versions to the land of wind and ghosts. This all makes perfect sense to me. The Bowie set I had been impatiently waiting for looks good and sounds good. The Rhino label’s recent reissue of the Grateful Dead’s hallowed 1977 Cornell performance also looks good and sounds good, as does the Numero Group’s lovingly packaged three-disc

PAGE 21

TOP 50 CANBERRA SONGS OF 2017 APHIR – ‘CAN’T COMFORT’

On ‘Can’t Comfort’ Aphir maintains the dark and introspective atmosphere of her Twin Eath LP while employing a level of textural restraint and control that feels brand new. This is dark, future-thinking pop music that leaves no clear path back to safety. HF AZIM ZAIN AND HIS LOVELY BONES – ‘BECKY LYNCH’

BENJAMINDRURY – ‘INTERGRRATION’

FOSSIL RABBIT – ‘STRANDED FT. APHIR’

GENESIS OWUSU – ‘SIDEWAYS’

The more I got to know Genesis Owusu’s music the more I fell in love with its unforgiving groove and boundless energy. From first discovering him to excitedly realising he was Canberra-based, he keeps getting more and more impressive. Its intricate percussive beats, the building harmonies and the unapologetic lyrics have meant that I find something new in this track every time I listen to it. JH GYPSY SCHOLARS – ‘1960S’

BETTY ALTO – ‘YOU’RE READY’ H. – ‘1341KM’ BLEACH IT CLEAN – ‘TEEN POP BEAUTY’ HALLUCINATORIUM – ‘SLUM WIZARD’ BRENDAN KELLER-TUBERG - ‘JOHN GALT’ HELENA POP – ‘THAT’S ONE STRANGE LOVE’ CITIZEN KAY – ‘THESE KICKS FT. GEORGIA B.’ HOUSE OF STRANGERS – ‘TRICKS’ DALMACIA – ‘HOLD MY SPACE’ JIM DUSTY – ‘FULL SELF-ESTEEM AHEAD’ DEPUTY CHIEF WARDENS – ‘INVITED TO PARTIES’

Sounding about halfway between the bedroom eras of Wavves and Car Seat Headrest, DCW rattles off seeming stream of conciousness lyrics before a guitar solo destroys the track, before a 60s style turnaround kicks everything off again. Yeah, it’s a little messy in parts, but that’s what great garage rock should be. And this is certainly that. CA DOG NAME – ‘LEAN DOWN’

She was in the lineup of my first ever gig at Phoenix and her generosity as a person and as a musician made the night one of the best Bootlegs I’ve seen.

She uses her music in a humbleness and honesty that is rare to find. The use of space between her beautiful fingerpicking and welcoming lyricism stops me in my tracks every time. JH ELK LOCKER – ‘MEATHEAD’

ENDREY – ‘WINDOW’ I once asked Chris Endrey what his favourite song from his new album was. We sat there as he used the piano with a rhythmic fullness and heart-wrenching vulnerability I hadn’t heard for a long time. It stuck with me, in its honesty and pain. It makes you feel at home with your emotions and the memories you instantly attach to it. JH FAUX FAUX AMIS – ‘THE LAST HURRAH’

PAGE 22

KG – ‘MABO MARTIN MANDELA (FEAT. PHILLY)’

KIRKLANDD – ‘FADED’

LEFTY – ‘SYDNEY BOUND DREAMS’

LITTLE LUNCH – ‘FAIRWEATHER FRIENDS’

LOWER BODY – ‘EUROPEAN POSTCARDS’

MOANING LISA – ‘NEW AGE BOY’

MONDECREEN – ‘TRAVEL IN STYLE’

33. MONOCEROS – ‘SPACE DUNGEON’

@bmamag

Jayne Hoschke, Cody Atkinson and Hayden Fritzlaff NEEDLEDICK – ‘SON OF SAM’

NEW AGE GROUP – ‘LOSING MY MIND’

This is so damn catchy, a true slice of power pop (with a bit of guts behind it) that doesn’t hang around too long to gloat about it. Just a couple of rock solid hooks, a simple little sloganistic chorus and the counter melody right at the death. It ain’t fancy, it’s just bloody good. CA

OMAR MUSA FEAT. TASMAN KEITH – ‘ASSIMILATE’

SLEEPING DOGS – ‘SAD BOYS CLUB’

SLOW TURISMO – ‘PISTOL POWDER’

A friend turned to me in the pub the other day and asked me why Slow Turismo weren’t massive yet. It was a good question, and one I don’t have an answer to. Their 2017 standout, “You Were Dead”, sees the guitar-pop quartet take a detour through touches of psych, and it might be their best track to date. There’s still room on the bandwagon everyone. CA TATE SHERIDAN – ‘THE ROAD’

ORANGES – ‘CRACKENBACK’ TEEN JESUS AND THE JEAN TEASERS – ‘CREEPSHOW’

PHENO – ‘DRAGON YEAR’

PJ JOHNSON – ‘BLOOMS’

Rarely has so much been done with so little. With barely more than looped guitars and layered voice, ‘Blooms’, like everything johnson does, feels channelled and effortless. We can only pray he hasn’t retired this project for good. HF

TJJT capture better than anyone the real life emotions of a teenager. And that’s probably because they actually are teenagers. The raw emotional energy is there, but the maturity in their songwriting and arrangements dares you to take them as anything other than the fully-formed and vital musical voice that they are. HF WATERFORD – ‘CHARADES’

THE WUMPAZ – ‘WESTON’

PLEASED TO JIVE YOU – ‘FRESH START’

PTSD – ‘SHORT CIRCUIT’

REUBEN INGALL – ‘FALCONER ST DAYMARE’

SAFIA – ‘CELLOPHANE RAINBOW’

SALLY CHICANE – ‘WANNA BE A TRADIE’

SEMEN AND GARFUCKEL – ‘THE FROG SONG’

SHOEB AHMAD – ‘ROMANCE’

SKETCH METHOD – ‘ELEPHANT<UNIVERSE<ME’

SLAGATHA CHRISTIE – ‘SALAD AND BOY PROBLEMS’

facebook.com/bmamagazine

In January 2017, then-BMA editory Andrew Nardi “got really bored and decided to put together a list of what he thought were the top Canberra songs of 2016.”

Keeping in the spirit of that initial list, we’ve expanded our horizons a little in 2017 to bring you our Top 50 Canberra songs of the year, with some specific criteria in mind.

The 2016 poll featured artists who had uploaded songs to triple j Unearthed throughout the year.

We’ve broadened our scope to include releases on Bandcamp, Spotify and Soundcloud. But some basic criteria remain: one song per artists, artists must be Canberrabased or intrinsically linked to the city and only songs released in 2017 are eligible.

Needless to say, some incredibly tough calls had to be made to put this list together. The Top 50 arrive after a shortlist of over 100 tunes was trimmed down to include only the very best. In the end, a dozen songs were competing for the final

two spaces and some heartbreaking decisions had to be made.

The idea behind this list is to illustrate just how alive and thriving Canberra’s music scene is. These are the 50 songs that we feel best represent the year that was in Canberra music. That’s part of the reason that we decided to list the songs in alphabetical order as opposed to a ranked countdown.

We hope we’ve helped you discover some fresh tunes and unearthed some artists to keep your eye on.

2016 Top 10: Moaning Lisa - ‘Comforable’ Young Monks - ‘Bad Bad Freddie’ Genesis Owusu - ‘Drive Slow’ Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers - ‘Crime Sceen’ Coda Conduct - ‘Usually I’m Cool’ Duck Duck Ghost - ‘Indy’ Glitoris - ‘Paradise’ LTC - ‘Next In Line’ D’Opus & Roshambo - ‘Brush You Off’ East Row Rabble - ‘Strawberries & Cream’ PAGE 23

DANCE THE DROP [THE WORD ON DANCE MUSIC] WITH PETER ‘KAZUKI’ O’ROURKE [CONTACT@KAZUKI.COM.AU]

KAZUKI’S: TOP 5 CLUB TUNES OF 2017 It’s been a massive year for music, and playing out a few times each month has meant I’ve had to regularly hunt for new music to keep the vibes going on the dancefloor. Here’s my op five tracks for 2017 – they didn’t all come out this year, but I’ve made them my own in my DJ sets.

5. CARL COX, NILE ROGERS – ‘BEAT THE TRACK (STEVE WARD MANIPULATION)’ An absolutely infectious tune from house and techno legend Carl Cox, with Chic member Nile Rogers on guitar, this track has a so much soul and substance to it. The Steve Ward remix tops it off, adding some progression and acid sounds to round off the effect. A great piece to end a set on!

4. SHAPESHIFTERS – ‘LOLA’S THEME RECUT (PURPLE DISCO MACHINE REMIX)’ A bit of a classic this one, but reworked for a slow age of proper disco! This is one of those tunes that steadily brings in all the elements, and as the strings hit, you’re like ‘damn, this tune!’ Mixes well in house sets for a bit of a breather and shining moment on the dancefloor.

3. MELE – ‘SLEEPLESS’ Percussive tribal madness! There’s so much energy and movement in this tune, starting off with a slow build before gang shout outs and a heavy hitting bassline kick in, adding some much needed attitude to the dancefloor. Frenetic drumming ties the whole thing together, a dancefloor weapon.

2. JAMES WELSH – ‘THREAD’ At only 120 beats per minute, this slow piece of music has an incredible amount of power. An acid line pumps through the entire piece as an ethereal cry comes in and out of the mix – such dark energy! Foreboding synth textures and nervous drums tops it all off.

1. UGUR SOYGUR– ‘SECRET BUDDHA’ This is a downright perfect tune for a Kazuki set! Percussive tribal beats, a funky bassline, weird spoken word snippets and pan-African vocals. I think I’ve opened more DJ sets with this tune than any other, I love it.

PAGE 24

Dance music is a funny business.

There are cycles within cycles, and like a rotating wheel, you can start to spot them. As we get to end to the end of the year, that’s what I’d like to reflect on (and to be a bit selfindulgent as well – but hey, it’s my column!)

There were a few shifts in the dance music scene a few years ago that really shook things up and changed how things were done here in Australia. One was the huge impact felt in club-land with the rise and then fall of the largescale EDM festival. These festivals came around for a couple of reasons, but the main force was the discovery of dance music by rock, pop and hip-hop acts. With fans of those genres suddenly attending dance music events, you could suddenly inject huge investment into an electronic music festival, and they became massive very quickly. But with punters suddenly spending their money on a festival every few months instead of regular club nights, the club scene began to suffer.

And as fickle fans got bored of EDM, the rest of the crowd that could financially support the exorbitant fees of international acts dried up and the whole thing came crashing down. In Sydney, lock-out laws and a crackdown on events put long standing clubs and crews out of business, while the rise of the bush doof drew crowds away from the city. And honestly, some of the older crowd just grew up.

But, we’re in something of a renaissance for quality music and events at the moment. Suddenly, underground genres are the backbone of the scene again as dedicated clubbers make up the majority of the crowds. Techno and house reign again, and new crews have popped all over the country running unique events in warehouses, smaller intimate

clubs, and well-run bush doofs have become the established festival scene. Just last week a new afterhours club night opened up – and within the Sydney lockout zone as well!

For my own DJing, I’ve had a fantastic year, playing some amazing parties, club nights and festivals. 2018 is already shaping up to be pretty big with some high-profile appearances down in Melbourne in January (including Circoloco, Revolver and Tramp Bar), plus some still secret dates in Sydney later in the year, and more festival announcements as well.

I think the connection of Canberra to the rest of the east coast is better than ever as well, with some locals here doing really playing dates all over the country. A big shout out to Doppel, Loose Cannon, Perdy, B-tham, Tidy, Phoenix, Biscuit Bytes and others proudly repping the ACT! We’ve had some big acts down this year, but to be honest, I reckon some of our locals rock it way more anyway.

Canberra has its ups and downs, but we’re a passionate city, and punch well above our weight for such a small place in the music world. As always, it gets a bit quieter over the middle of summer – too hot, students away and we’re all down the coast (and really, we have all year to party). But keep your eyes in the new year for cool parties coming up, including Psyfari Festival which has scaled down a little and moved to the ACT (February 23-25), and a warehouse party by Escape Ferocity who have Brazilian techno legend Victor Ruiz as the headline act (February 17).

Have a fantastic Christmas and New Years (I’ll be having a quiet one for once!), stay safe on the dancefloor and be sure to crank up the tunes to drown out those carols.

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 25

FROM YOUR WRITERS

BMA is its contributors. Zoe Pleasants and Jarrod McGrath take us through why it is they do what they do.

ZOE PLEASANTS I started writing for BMA seven years ago. At that time, I was a public servant with a dream of writing something more than bureaucratese. I responded to an ad in BMA looking for new writers for its Exhibitionist section, and was initially told maybe. A few months later there was a reshuffle of the editorial team, I ended up on the right email list, and wrote my first story. It was satisfying to see my words in print.

A couple of issues later, I experienced another source of satisfaction: a memorable interview that covers unexpected ground. I was writing a story about the Human Rights Film Festival and spoke to American film maker Rebecca Richman Cohen about her film War Don Don, which was screening during the festival. The film told the story of the trial of accused Sierra Leonean war criminal, Issa Sesay. Richman Cohen argued that Sesay deserved a fair trial no matter how heinous his crimes were. A few weeks earlier US SEALs had raided Osama bin Laden’s home and shot him. No trial. When I drew the comparison between these two situations Richman Cohen claimed she could not to see the similarities, and I had a great story.

Kate Miller-Heike, and told Xavier Rudd that I had his album playing while I gave birth to my daughter.

I’ve been inspired by local theatremakers including Chenoeh Miller, Cathy Petocz, and Nick Delatovic, and choreographers Ruth Osborne, Jade Dewi Tyas-Tunggal and Alison Plevey. Local musician, Brendan Houlahan talked to me about Canberra’s pile of wasted creative potential, while James Duncan, a soldier who had fought in Afghanistan, told me that acting in a play took him further out of his comfort zone than warfighting.

And then earlier this year, just after I’d left the public service to work in a Big 4 consulting firm, I listened to actress Kiki Skountas recount her story of quitting her day job because she didn’t want to die behind a desk.

My new job was soul-destroying, and I looked at Skountas with envy.

A month later I’d had enough, and left my new job with no immediate plans as to what I would do next.

Unlike Skountas I didn’t choose the path of improvised artist – I would miss skiing too much – instead I got a job with a local consulting firm.

But the episode was a reminder that success can be horizontal as well as vertical.

Writing for BMA may not pay the bills but it does provide me with

I was a public servant with a dream of writing something more than bureaucratese At its best, an interview is an amazing conversation with a complete stranger, and writing for BMA has given me the opportunity to have some memorable chats. I have taken a call from SAFIA’s Ben Woolner while at work, discussed what it is like to be a cultural icon with Murray Cook from The Wiggles, discussed politics with PAGE 26

plenty of content to write about, an opportunity to get involved in the cultural life of our city, the discipline of a deadline, and readers for my words. But one of the main reasons I keep writing for this magazine is the support and appreciation I have received from each of the editors, and from Allan. ZP

JARROD MCGRATH Growing up in rural NSW in a town called The Rock with a population of 1000, Canberra was the ‘big smoke’ when I would visit as a teenager.

My fondest memories are coming up to see all-ages shows at the now defunct Civic Youth Centre (Millencolin, The Living End, Bodyjar, Nancy Vandal etc.). As a musicobsessed kid always on the hunt to discover more acts and information, I was stoked to be able to grab my free copies of BMA and Drum Media from Landspeed or Impact Records (they were much better the options like Smash Hits or Hot Metal that I had back home). I would flick

still have gig posters for $5 shows for The Fauves, The Drugs, Caustic Soda and a free Porkers gig).

For the next 18 years BMA became my lifeblood for knowing what was happening in Canberra. As a bit of an old school 90s, boy I love its paper street press feel and the way I can grab a copy at many of my favourite shops, bars and cafes around town.

It has, and always will, make me feel like I’m part of something big and exciting.

Hence, I was absolutely ecstatic when I became part of the writing team about two years ago. Inspired by meeting a reviewer at the Gang

I still have fond memories of the way the bass would buzz the tin roof veranda through these, reading about all the cool things happening in the nation’s capital and dreaming of the day that I could attend more of them.

So when choosing my preferred university at which to undertake my Arts degree, ANU was at the top of my list (partly because of all the awesome gigs I read about happening there). Fortunately, I got my pick and moved here in 1998. I was now able to grab my copy of BMA more regularly and actually attend a lot of the things I was reading about. As a poor uni student I couldn’t afford to attend some of the bigger shows but did sit outside sometimes to get a glimpse and hear what was played (I still have fond memories of the way the bass would buzz the tin roof veranda outside ANU Refectory). As a regular reader of BMA my deprived country boy mind would get excited by all the visiting acts and I just had to get to them anyway I could. Luckily back then there were also a bunch of cheap gigs for ANU students (I

of Youths gig at Transit (where I had attended early to meet lead singer Dave, but felt like being a fan boy in my 30s was a bit weird), I contacted the BMA editor the day after and applied to do some writing.

Fortunately they appreciated some of my work and here I am now part of the ‘little’ magazine that that country teenager thought was one of the coolest things in the world. I still shake my head at some of the opportunities I’ve had through BMA to review and interview some of my musical heroes. I hope readers and artists appreciate my years of musical obsessiveness, passion and knowledge as much as I do sharing it through BMA and get as excited reading it and finding out what’s happening as much as I do. JM

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 27

METALISE

[THE WORD ON METAL] WITH JOSH NIXON [DOOMTILDEATH@HOTMAIL.COM]

It’s the 500th issue of BMA and this is, by my own numbering system, my 279th issue. This isn’t what I was intending to write this month but feel I need to address something that came to light in recent weeks about one of Australia’s premiere heavy music promotion businesses.

One I have covered a lot over the years, lifeisnoise and specifically the actions of owner/director Dave Cutbush.

Last week, a Facebook post by a brave young woman posting as Kiki Kiki documented a sleazy comeon from Cutbush in 2015 when she was just 16 years old. This post bought up some other painful old wounds for a number of other woman and girls in the metal scene that had also been on the receiving end of unwanted advances of a man in his 40s to teens and highlighted mistreatment of several adult women, some of whom I know personally.

Understand, this was not a matter of some over-zealous SJW’s putting Cutbush on trial by social media. Accusations aside, the evidence came from Cutbush himself putting out a 500-odd word statement acknowledging the accusations levelled at him as true.

This statement was pretty much eviscerated by those who started the ball rolling on this after it was published online by several media outlets.

I have a connection through friends to the band Sleep whom I contacted

as these revelations came to light.

After discussing it with their management and as a band, they showed their ethics to be like their riffs – world class – and cancelled the tour. Chelsea Wolfe also announced a cancellation of her March tour, I assume that it’s only a matter of time before Wolves in the Throneroom do the same.

This was also mirrored by some of the bands who had gotten support slots like Melbourne’s Holy Serpent.

I have heard several other as yet undocumented stories as well which lead me to think there is more to this that may yet come out. It’s ugly and it’s upsetting, but it needs to be discussed openly if we are to learn from these events.

Cutbush was immediately fired on news coming out about this, but it’s hard to see how the company can continue to operate as even their statement referred to Cutbush as “director and owner”. I can’t see how the company can recover from this, it looks like it’s all over for the other people who worked hard on building up the business, which is a real shame.

That said, no matter how many amazing tours I enjoyed as a punter or in a band supporting one of the acts on their bills, I utterly condemn his behaviour. I can’t say strongly enough to young women that have been subjected to this sort of shit to speak up and let us stand with

you against people who do this, it is unacceptable.

I want women of all ages to be involved in music, not scared to take part, or victimised by this sort of behaviour. Please speak to your parents, family or Lifeline or equivalent organisation if this column brings up any issues of your own you have faced.

To try finish the article on a more positive note, if you need a couple of ideas for presents for metal folks, here are two stocking stuffers to consider.

Venom Inc, featuring Mantas, Abaddon and Tony “demolition man” Dolan of fabled English legends Venom announced a surprise visit to town on February 22 next year which will make happy Xmas presents for old guys like me. They put out Ave in August, so maybe make it a bundle for old fans or budding old school fans.

If travelling is out, Shananigans New Years Eve Party tickets would be nice. The Basement hosts 15 acts over the two stages with four special covers sets, 90s Hits, Rage Against the Machine, Chris Cornell and Blink 182 alongside original acts Maris King, Bleach It Clean, Blissphorus, From Love To Violence, Taileisin, Tortured, The Culture Industry, Dalmacia, Silentia, Johnothan Devoy and Georgia Davis.

Happy 666mas to you all and see you safe and sound in 2018. /m/

[Mental Cavity (L) and Ne Obliviscaris have made waves this year]

PAGE 28

@bmamag

READY TO SELL OUT

BY JOSH NIXON

FRENZAL RHOMB, Australia’s least winningest ARIA-nominated band have just capped off a sterling 2017 campaign in doing what they do best, taking a runner-up award at the ARIAs for the 6th time with their album Hi-Vis High Tea. While one may find cause for sympathies here, six nominated albums out of their nine studio album discography? This isn’t a band strike rate at all. On the night I tweeted my best to them shortly before the awards were announced saying “Shout out to @frenzalrhomb & hope they break their curse tonight #arias”, to which Frenzal replied with “You meant ‘hope they continue the blessing’, right?”

Whalley mused, “after 23 years, our fans and the Australian public need to know we’re ready to sell out for that V8 Supercars money.

I mean the only thing we’ve not done is play a grand final of any football code. I think that’s the line of family friendly events we’ve not crossed into making that grand final Byron house money, perhaps it’s because we say ‘cunt’ a lot?”

That’s kinda the perfect segue into the chat I have with career Rhomber, vocalist Jason Whalley. Because at the end of the day, accolades are nice, but do they mean anything and who cares?

“What an ARIA means something to is my uncle who I see once every two years, or family at Christmas.

They can have an award to help them determine is what we’re doing is good or not. Like, ‘you won an ARIA, this legitimises your playing in a band skills.’”

For Whalley, he was aware they hadn’t won, but that was about it.

Because the band operate in a kinda weird space with their 90s alumni.

“Ginspoon, Spiderbait, The Living End all own houses in Byron,”

in Western Australia teaching a fan how to stage dive properly.

Foreman’s road to recovery on that front made this album something of a comeback record, as Jay Whalley details.

“I’m used to thinking of comeback records meaning, ‘your last few records were shit’, but yes, Gordy showed off an inner toughness that he probably only discovered by going through this, and in getting back to full strength made getting through the record all the more satisfying. He tracked 20 songs in six hours. Of course we replaced him immediately after the break for shows, but then he just ‘came back’ to the band when he recovered, so in that sense I guess it was a ‘come back.’”

Ginspoon, Spiderbait, The Living End all own houses in Byron

The album that took the band to the ARIAs this year led with the lovingly animated single for a song called ‘Cunt Act’. there’s probably something in that.

That said, it’s not been all mirth and fun since their last ARIA miss, Smoko At The Pet Food Factory. Whalley played unwitting and unwilling host to a parasitic pig worm lodged in his brain, immortalised with a furious 64-second song on the album. Drummer Gordy Foreman suffered a simultaneously hideous and hilarious broken arm at a show

facebook.com/bmamagazine

The band ventured to the Blasting Room studios in the USA for the second time in a row with production credits to Bill Stevenson and Whalley, who runs The Pet Food Factory recording studio in Marrickville, Sydney.

“We could record anywhere as we really demo everything to the point that pretty much all the ideas are worked out before we go into the studio. Going to Fort Collins makes it more like a holiday. I mean, we go in and do our royal best, but we get to have a good time too.”

Going back a second time though yielded, in my opinion, a better result that Smoko. I thought that album’s guitar sounds were a bit dominant, with a bias toward higher timbre frequencies.

“Those are some fancy words, but I agree that the production is better on Hi-Vis, everything is more even and just better.”

I also felt that Tom Crease on bass and backing vocals was the MVP for this album.

“Tom is the melodic crutch upon which my decaying voice can rely on for the melodies I have in my head when I write the lyrics. I have worked out a way to record my vocals where I harmonise a lower note and leave Tom to do the higher part and that is working well as my range gets lower.”

2018 beckons and while another album is still a ways off, there are quite a few shows on the horizon which hint toward that “supercars money” we discussed earlier that are a bit too soon to announce.

Hopefully that will see the band finally join the Fuck My School Reunion housing market in Byron.

“Do you know who won that ARIA?” Whalley asks. Who cares Jason?

We’re in safe hands with the Rhomb.

Frenzal Rhomb play the Basement on January 5. Tickets $34.70 through Oztix.

PAGE 29

BMA MAG’S TOP FIVE ALBUMS OF 2017 MATT PARNELL: CONTRIBUTOR 5. SPOEK MATHAMBO – MZANSI BEAT CODE Mzansi Beat Code is a standout, for me, because I didn’t hear anything else like it. Mathambo’s energetic South African stylings are fused with more modern western dance music influences, resulting in a tight album that makes the most of these contrasting styles. His unique abilities come to the fore on standout tracks ‘Nothing’s Ever Perfect’ and ‘No Congo No Cellphone’, where everything combines to make the kind of intoxicating, heavy-feeling dance music that transforms a morning drive to work into the closing hour of a house party.

4. MOUNT EERIE – A CROW LOOKED AT ME Mount Eerie’s A Crow Looked at Me is almost impossible to listen through in one go – each song does such an excellent job of compartmentalising different kinds of sadness that, if they run together, it winds up like an old watercolour palette. The album deals with grief in such a way that is confronting and undeniable, with the lyrics leaving nothing to chance – everything is immediately recognisable and requires no decoding. The resulting album is one that the artist describes as “barely music”, and is as raw as music comes.

3. GOLDLINK – AT WHAT COST I fucking love GoldLink. At his best he’s irrepressible, showing off the unique flow that’s so good that at no point do you want him to stop. His best comes through often on this album. The downside of sounding like GoldLink is that, when he’s in full flow, anyone else sounds like a downgrade, and it’s this small fact that makes his work with his collaborators more impressive. The album exemplifies the youthful energy that you find in modern, younger rappers and has enough substance to keep the listener engaged.

2. ALGIERS – UNDERSIDE OF POWER Algeirs’ second album rings with powerful sounds – the album rings out with an unusual array of sounds that toes the line between soul, jazz, gospel and punk. The most remarkable thing about the album is the fact that the group have managed to coalesce the aggression innate to punk music and the powerful vocals found in gospel sounds in to an album that is, ultimately, greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a unique and abrasive listening experience that exists wholly in a sphere of its own.

1. SZA – CTRL SZA’s Ctrl is an album that manages to avoid superlatives.

Sonically, it’s another one that’s barely there, choosing instead to draw attention to the unapologetic lyrical content that doesn’t shy away from anything. Compared to her previous work, SZA’s voice is clear and unmodified, and this carries through to the way she says what she’s saying. The album is almost entirely without metaphor, and everything she says is blunt and clear. At no point is it possible to miss the point, with SZA penning a fearless album about dating, fucking, people, and insecurities that manifests itself in a way that no one else is making, and hasn’t been made so clear in ages.

PAGE 30

ANDREW NARDI: PAST EDITOR 5. THUNDERCAT – DRUNK Thundercat is a weird dude, and he holds nothing back on Drunk.

Psychedelic neo-soul with funk and jazz musings, Drunk is nothing if not distinct thanks to Bruner’s smooth, flowing ooh’s and miscellaneous other noises laying the framework for lyrics about leaving his wallet at the club, wanting to be a cat, eating too much fish in Tokyo, and nerds who complain about getting “friend zoned” while they spend all their time at home playing Diablo… I admit it doesn’t sound so appealing in writing, but the execution? Painstakingly sexy.

4. COURTNEY BARNETT & KURT VILE – LOTTA SEA LICE Bringing deadpan singing and alternative rock stylings to the kitchen table, a collaboration between Barnett and Vile just makes so much sense. Unsurprisingly, the nine songs and covers on Lotta Sea Lice offer something unlike either artist’s usual repertoire. Dylan-esque in execution, Barnett is a touch less whimsical and a tad more earnest, and Vile an endearing sweetheart. Gentle and carefree, their simple muses on the world make for a wholesome and refined album; it’s nothing less than a pleasure listening to these two good friends, just jamming.

3. NOGA EREZ – OFF THE RADAR Israeli producer and vocalist Noga Erez stood out in 2017 because she went far off electronic music’s beaten track into a realm blending dark electronica, trap and warped pop. Off The Radar oozes charisma and attitude in the face of political tension. Where the dance elements serve as catharsis for Erez’s hostile world, her political comments paint a vibrant, albeit threatening picture that complements this curious and cohesive work. Equally innovative and provocative, hopefully Off The Radar won’t go unnoticed as producers set a course for the music trends of the future.

2. JLIN – BLACK ORIGAMI Unless you’re familiar with footwork and IDM, or a very openminded listener, it can be difficult to recommend Black Origami.

Persevere however, and Black Origami will reward you. US-based Jerrilynn Patton’s music is manic and abrasive; it toys with rhythm, pushing it in both ancient and futuristic directions. Arguably, “intelligent” dance music hasn’t experienced a major upset since the days of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher; that’s why it’s inspiring to see Jlin push the genre to new heights with her unique brand of futurism. Black Origami is a monumental achievement in music architecture.

1. LORDE – MELODRAMA It’s hard to look past 2017 as nothing less than the year of our Lorde. Why all the hype, you ask? Actually, that’s a good question. I think the music industry has never seen a popstar quite like Ella Yelich-O’Connor. Contextually, Lorde’s lyrics don’t drift too far from the established sets of pop, hitting on notes like partying, misbehaving and relationships – teenage shit. Thematically however, Lorde is worlds apart, and Melodrama is like the fifty-storey mirror reflecting every twenty-something’s confusing, messed up and exciting inner world. Self-worth, vulnerability, loneliness, triumph, failure, boredom; Lorde is endlessly relatable, she’s everyone’s best friend they never knew they had – exactly what the best popstars should be.

@bmamag

★★★★★ RORY MCCARTNEY : CONTRIBUTOR 5. SOHN – RENNEN Let yourself fall into the digital embrace of this musical carpet, comprising an RnB underlay with a thick electronic rug on top.

Themes go from the intensely personal, to the political, highlighting the turmoil bedeviling the world. While following the recipe of his previous release, Rennen has a more coherent feel due to the artist’s recipe of limiting himself to three core elements to each song: one for the rhythm, one tricky hook sound to individualise each track, and one for the enveloping coolness that characterises this very chill release.

4.THE COLORIST / EMILIANA TORRINI – THE COLORIST & EMILIANA TORRINI Best known for her hit ‘Jungle Drum’, the latest project by Emiliana Torrini, sees her reinterpreting her songs in conjunction with Belgian outfit The Colorist Orchestra. The results take Torrini’s haunting songs and elevate them to new levels. While mainly staying true to the general approach of the originals, the otherworldly music dresses them up with aurora-like shades. At times, the instruments take on an animalistic life of their own and there is an amazing, luminous clarity to this live recording which makes the beauty of Torrini’s voice even more captivating.

3. THE PINK TILES – #1 FAN Melbourne garage pop band The Pink Tiles employs an appealing mix of a 60s pop vibe with a more contemporary edge (courtesy of fuzzy overlays) giving it an image of sequins crossed with black rock attire.

There are lots of winners in the track list, with the band exuding an infectious energy with its catchy tunes and alluring vocal harmonies. Take away the fuzz which shadows the singing, and these could be 60s love songs, but the effects present them firmly as 21st century artworks.

2. KIT WARHURST – COLOUR WHEEL Formerly the drummer for Rocket Science, Kit Warhurst has now launched his debut solo LP, with tracks sharing DNA with the sound of the 70s and 80s, and a rock and roll tradition stretching back even further. Songs have a simple, uncrowded format, with minimal effects and an emphasis on guitars and drums. The vocals bear a slightly fuzzy edge while guitars have a garage rock rawness and the percussion arrives in short, quick strikes.

Energetic and catchy, songs spring to life with choppy, poppy melodies.

1. METHYL ETHEL - EVERYTHING IS FORGOTTEN [INDEPENDENT RELEASE] Jake Webb, aka Methyl Ethel, does the vocals and plays most instruments on his CD releases, while recruiting bassist Thom Stewart and drummer Chris Wright for live shows. Webb has a great ear for conjuring up catchy melodies and rhythms and jigsaw-piecing them together in crafty combinations. Crescendos, where the sound rises forcefully, and a playful bass line are prominent features of his work. Opener ‘Drink Wine’ is typical of his sonic patchwork, with thrilling synth lines, while the danceable ‘Ubu’ is constantly shape shifting and full of subtle audio touches. Webb is non-specific about song messages, leaving them to the listener’s interpretation.

Whatever meaning you draw from it, this is seductive indie-pop.

facebook.com/bmamagazine

DAN BIGNA: TOP 5 REISSUES OF 2017 5. VARIOUS – SINGLES MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK (DELUXE EDITION) [SONY LEGACY] The film was a pretty crappy attempt by movie director and former Rolling Stone magazine journalist Cameron Crowe to depict the romantic adventures of cynical Generation Xers in convenient Seattle. But the soundtrack provided a superb snapshot of the US indie music scene in the early 1990s when stage diving was a perfectly legitimate form of self-expression. A good selection of the big name ‘grunge’ bands are included such as Pearl Jam, Mudhoney and The Screaming Trees but others are given an airing such as almost contemporaries Mother Love Bone whose lengthy, emotive track ‘Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns’ is the standout.

4. CHRIS BELL – I AM THE COSMOS [OMNIVORE RECORDINGS] UK duo Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin are not your average folk outfit; their themes are drawn from the ancient core of Britain, but their music draws on the wider world. Martin’s crystal voice carves a pure path, merging Celtic vibes of moss encrusted crosses with a hint of Eastern guitar from Henry. ‘Stones’ sees a weaving of Americana fascination into the guitar/mandolin, while in ‘Tonight’ Martin’s haunting singing is underscored by Henry’s sea shanty harmonica. Fiddle and mandolin play snakes and ladders in the instrumental ‘December’.

3. METALLICA – MASTER OF PUPPETS [BLACKENED RECORDINGS] Chris Bell revealed his talent for crafting beautifully melodic rocknroll on the 1972 debut album #1 Record from Big Star, a band that spectacularly failed to achieve the success it so obviously deserved. The failure to launch weighed heavily on this acutely sensitive songwriter and he left the band shortly after. But the creative urge lingered and Bell recorded a bunch of songs in various locations throughout the 1970s before tragically checking out at the age of 27. This edition of Bell’s one and only solo album should be considered definitive.

2. THE BEACH BOYS – SUNSHINE TOMORROW [CAPITOL] Visionary songwriter Brian Wilson came undone on the doomed Smile project in 1966, but the artistic muse never left as shown on this probing two disc set focusing on The Beach Boys in 1967 when rock music was finally accepted as a major art form. The group revisited the simple pleasures of rhythm and blues on the Wild Honey album, presented here in a new stereo mix – the reverse of the current trendy back to mono obsession. Joyous tunes like ‘Darlin’ leap from the speakers, and the additional live and Smiley Smile album sessions are added gravy.

1. DAVID BOWIE – A NEW CAREER IN A NEW TOWN [1977-1982] [PARLOPHONE] The mother-lode of Bowie compilations, this comprehensive nine disc set focuses on the fertile Berlin years involving experimental pop and the rich qualities of German psychedelic rock and electronica. Producer Tony Visconti and sonic magician Brian Eno helped channel Bowie’s rapidly evolving vision into challenging sound art on the startling late 1970s albums Low, Heroes and Lodger. The title track on Heroes is a first class example of dramatically expressive pop music; an observational, yet emotive love story shaped by vocal hysteria and dense instrumental textures. Attentive remastering reveals musical details previously hidden and the extensive liner notes flesh out the strange dimensions of Bowie’s ever restless creativity.

PAGE 31

BMA MAG’S TOP FIVE ALBUMS OF 2017 ANGELA CHRISTIAN-WILKES: CONTRIBUTOR 5. BETTY WHO – THE VALLEY Came for the voice, stayed for the bop. Australia’s Betty Who grabs you with her stunning voice on acapella opener ‘The Valley’, but it’s not too long before you’re stuck in a cycle of playing absolute jams.

This is shiny, colourful pop. The sound is sleek and cohesive, but is broken up with gentler tracks such as ‘Wanna Be’ and ‘Reunion’. She’s always had the makings of a mega pop name, but on her sophomore Betty Who confirms it.

4. MURA MASA – MURA MASA First, there’s Crossan’s aptitude for creating his own eclectic yet charismatic electronica. Each listen means discovering new details.

Then there’s the collabs. Crossan taps into the unique personality of each – they’re not just a voice to fill a void but there to share a piece of themselves. There’s big names: Charli XCX auto-tuned croon the picture of yearning, A$AP Rocky’s drawl dripping with gorgeous arrogance. There’s small names: Tom Tripp riffing off a punchy bassline, and Christine and the Queens’ aching voice taking centre stage. Their differences and Crossan’s talent make for a fresh and creative debut.

3. K. FLAY – EVERYWHERE IS SOMEWHERE Everywhere may be somewhere, but no one else is K. Flay. On her sophomore record, she employs her usual blend of hip-hop, pop and electronica, but with a grubbier tinge. Her vocals toe the line between caving in and breaking out of the passages she spills throughout – shifting between desolate, determined, tranquil and hopeful moods. K. Flay is trying to make some sense of herself and her mess, but in this she finds a sweet optimism for herself and those who are listening. A cohesive and compelling second LP that makes you want to both punch somebody and curl into a ball.

2. WAXAHATCHEE – OUT IN THE STORM Katie Crutchfield paints a vivid portrait. The person pictured longs for a manic pixie dream girl, and in the process screws up those around them. This portraiture in turn produces a mesmerising close-up of Crutchfield, who emanates a warmth through her confusion and anger. The emotions here wouldn’t cut as sharply without her song-writing, encased in simple lofi garage rock that is soft around the edges. Her lyricism remains an art-form. I can listen to this anywhere.

1. CHARLI XCX – #1 ANGEL #1 Angel is a sexed-up synth fest drenched in gloss. It strikes the sonic and emotional balance between the earnest yet accessible pop of SUCKER and the alien bangers of her Vroom Vroom EP. The songwriting and sounds provide enough texture to keep it interesting whilst XCX’s magnetic voice and immersive production keeps the listener linked into the mainframe. The pulsating shimmer of ‘3AM’ featuring MØ, the stuttered bounce of ‘Roll With Me’, the sweaty roll of ‘Drugs’ featuring ABRA, the exaggerated euphoria of ‘ILY2’, the hyper(sexual) smack of finisher ‘Lipgloss’ (yes, cupcaKKe did just say that) – it’s hard to fault.

PAGE 32

JOSH NIXON: TOP 5 DOOM ALBUMS OF 2017 5. BATHSHEEBA – SERVUS [SVART RECORDS] Belgian 4-piece with amazing female vocals from soaring haunting witchy vibes to brutal gruff, this was a real surprise packet. They display a curious, dynamic vibe with an ability to make 11-minutes go by without feeling worn down by the experience. That said, there’s the big riffs in here too.

‘Conjuration of Fire’ is a good example of this and while the funeral pace is there, vocalist Michelle Nocon delivers through the vast majority and they even manage a sax solo that doesn’t suck. That’s rare!!

4. WITH THE DEAD – LOVE FROM WITH THE DEAD [RISE ABOVE RECORDS] The heaviest doom record for me this year, at least in the mix, was the second album from England’s With The Dead. Featuring Lee Dorian and Leo Smee from Cathedral and Tim Bagshaw from Electric Wizard. The production is oppressive and bone jarring. ‘Watching The World Go By’ extends the brutality with something a bit different. The band probably lent itself more closely to Bagshaw’s Ramases project than Cathedral on the first album, this one see’s them forging their own path and I’m following it. Dorian has still got it!

3. THE OBSESSED – SACRED [RELAPSE RECORDS] ‘The Jackyl’ opens this album with a fantastic production heralding a welcome return from Wino’s original band dating back to his high school days in the 1970s. The album’s production is not a kitschy lo-fi schmaltz, its muscular vital doom metal dripping in melody, quality riffs, proper guitar solos and has re-energised a doom metal icon who had a shocking 2016 when he was kicked out of Norway on drug charges. Hopefully his Norway issues don’t stop him bringing this one to Oz in 2018. Wino is back!

2. PALLBEARER – HEARTLESS [PROFOUND LORE] I got to see the guys tour this record at the Manning Bar with my good mate Andy earlier this year and they were fantastic. This album is at the top of a lot of lists this year and it’s obvious why. Melodic, heavy, more assured arrangements than most of the rest of the crowd and on that theme, they’re doing Pallbearer, not Electric Wizard or Sabbath worship without a rudder. I rate Foundations of Burden over this for my all-time fav, but this band are making an all-time mark.

1. ELDER – REFLECTIONS OF A FLOATING WORLD [ARMAGEDDON RECORD SHOP] I played this for a friend who told me there was “too much widdly and not enough rumpy pumpy” but you know what, I’m a guitar player and I deep down love a bit of widdly here and there. This album is kind of a ‘guitarists guitar album’ to a degree but you know what? I don’t apologise for making it number one. I love it.

For evidence I tender track two, ‘The Falling Veil’, after the Floyd-esque intro, the first riff at about 1:35 gives me that spine tingle that music that connects to your soul should do, that they can sing and arrange a bit doesn’t hurt either.

@bmamag

★★★★★ ALICE WORLEY: PUNK & DISORDERLY 5. LANA DEL REY – LUST FOR LIFE Shout out to Lana, the only international act on my list. She can do no wrong for me. I love her completely, and her music has been with me through thick and thin, from Born To Die to Honeymoon.

Lust For Life is no exception. Songs like ‘In My Feelings’, ‘13 Mustangs’, and ‘God Bless America’ are on regular rotation. Not exactly huge on her A$AP Rocky collaborations, it’s just not really my jam, but good on her for mixing it up a bit.

4. TEEN JESUS AND THE JEAN TEASERS – CREEPSHOW This has to be one of the most impressive EPs I’ve heard, and from such young musicians. These guys can’t drink or vote yet, but boy can they write a tune. ‘We’re All Henry’ really encapsulates that teenage lust and romance for me. The toxic relationship that you’re too inexperienced to know is toxic. Falling for someone that may not be good for you, but they seem to have something to offer you that you feel no one else has going on, hence the heavily repeated line “You make me feel so different”. This is a band I’m really excited to follow in 2018.

3. MOANING LISA – THE SWEETEST Having met and befriended this lovely band just prior to the release of The Sweetest, I feel very attached to the EP. I saw how much love went into it, and I even remember Charlie and Hayley discussing what the title would be over nachos in Mittagong. To see how much their following has grown since the EP’s release has been pretty astonishing. And very well deserved.

‘Time’ in particular was a song that translated so well from the stage to the recording studio. It’s so powerful to hear live, but more eerily beautiful on the EP. It’s also been recently accompanied by a beautiful video inspired by the Destrends’ video for ‘Lousy Lover’.

2. CABLE TIES – CABLE TIES When I saw Cable Ties live earlier this year, I was so blown away. I’d never seen so much energy radiating off of the Phoenix’s stage, and it is all perfectly captured on their self-titled album. ‘Cut Me Down’ is their star song for me. Sung so ferociously and played with such attitude and vigor. I keep hearing their tracks on triple j and being hurled back to their gig each time. So much fun, so many stunned faces, so much talent shoved into such lovely people.

1. DESTRENDS – LOUSY LOVER Destrends definitely have released my favourite tracks this year. They are so much fun, but also so heartfelt, and they have made an album that I simply cannot stop listening to.

They have really brought that 80s new wave punk feel back to the scene and they’re a band my Dad and I can enjoy equally. The title track, ‘Lousy Lover’, could easily go down as one of my favourite songs of all time. It is so enjoyable to sing and to have sung to you.

JOSH MARTIN: SLOP OF THE POPS 5. BEACH FOSSILS – SOMERSAULT It should go unsaid that songwriting is the most crucial aspect of any record; that’s why it shouldn’t matter that Beach Fossils no longer languish under the umbrella of ‘low-fi’. Somersault proved their unstoppable compositional touch is instead tied to the harmonic sensibility of The Beatles and Brian Wilson, hurtling into panoramic clarity on the string spirals of ‘Saint Ivy’ and the quiet poignance of ‘This Year’. Instrumentation throughout is not static, made malleable in the deft hands of singer-songwriter Dustin Payseur in order to conduct a consistently fluid atmosphere of expression. This is manifest in diversions to chill-hop and shoe-gaze that don’t jar so much as float.

4. (SANDY) ALEX G – ROCKET Alex G is a posterboy for the Bandcamp.com sensibility, favouring the internet’s genre agnostic smorgasbord over the geriatric concept of a “scene” or mildly amusing “crossover act”. Relaunching this year with the inexplicable (Sandy) prefix after a quietly triumphant 2016 collaborating with Frank Ocean, Alex released Rocket, a charming update of what Americana should be in 2017. Roots and blues are mashed together with bizarro RnB, jazz and industrial hip-hop with dextrous abandon. Cuts like ‘Bobby’ utilise a folk and fiddle driven frame to ooze sinister small town allegory whilst the hellish caterwaul of harsh noise experimentation in ‘Brick’ personify effusions of pain.

3. PERFUME GENIUS – NO SHAPE Perfume Genius, AKA Mike Hadreas, hit critical mass this year with No Shape, a record bursting with glamorous euphoria and pathos. Hadreas lyrically oscillated between vulnerability and turmoil whilst never broaching weakness. The ‘Otherside’ / ‘Slip Away’ two-track punch that opens the LP is a sumptuous triumph of calculated strength, its piercingly exultant production rupturing with unbridled power. Unguarded cuts like ‘Die 4 You’ and ‘Alan’ are strategically disarming, bolstering an unbelievably compelling utterance of identity.

Hadreas truly has No Shape; unshackled, undefinable and unmistakably his own.

2. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – AMERICAN DREAM Rock stars used to be unattainably egotistical deities; in 2017, they’re record store nerds. Perhaps that’s why James Murphy prematurely resurrected LCD Soundsystem only six years after their “final” concert; he is as gorged on the hype as we are. On American Dream, Murphy retained an auteur-like ability to condense modern anxiety into frantic danceability, his acerbic wit aging darkly. The title track is an emotional rocket, treating moroseness with characteristic glee and propounding chillingly vérité millenial observation whilst ‘How Do You Sleep?’ is a dark-wave bravado with hilariously cantankerous digs at former business partner Tim Goldsworthy.

1. FATHER JOHN MISTY – PURE COMEDY Josh Tillman’s not quite parochial pariah alter-ego Father John Misty couldn’t survive 2017’s grim glory with mere sarcasm.

Although he kept his born-again moniker, Tillman went paranoid and sober on Pure Comedy, jettisoning the wry halfdrunk epiphanies of Fear Fun and the Disney clarity of I Love You Honeybear, for an indictment of The Current Year. Sneeringly earnest piano balladry in the stylings of Sir Elton John served to ponder the ballooning realms of entertainment, narcissism and tyrannical partisan thinking. The first side of the record is littered with alien hypotheticals on humanity before the astonishing fifteen-minute centrepiece ‘Leaving LA’ signals a sly inward flip, as the cultural potshots angle towards Tillman himself. The LP’s 75-minute sprawl is equal parts agonising, hilarious and most of all, desperately human.

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 33

BMA MAG’S TOP FIVE ALBUMS OF 2017 ANDREW MYERS: CONTRIBUTOR 5. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE – VILLAINS Listen, I was apprehensive, maybe a little scared for Queens Of The Stone Age’s Villains – purely and naively on the fact that Mark ‘Uptown Funk’ Ronson produced it. Personally, Villains had to live up to my favourite album of the band, 2013’s …Like Clockwork. This was no steady feat.

But opener ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me’ and lead single ‘The Way You Used To Do’ were odes to their Era Vulgaris days. For me Villains is a time capsule of my life post tonsil surgery. You will dance to this album, and you will dance now!

4. MASTODON – EMPEROR OF SAND Atlanta-based progressive metal titans Mastodon released their seventh album Emperor Of Sand in March. I pre-ordered it on vinyl, I waited patiently – I have loved this band for almost a decade now, I can’t say that for many bands. Each album they take you on a cosmic journey of loosely tied themes. Though I was not the biggest fan of their last two albums The Hunter and Once More ‘Round The Sun, respectfully, this disc blew me away. ‘Sultan’s Curse’ is classic Mastodon, and each song for me is deemed unskippable.

3. HANS ZIMMER – DUNKIRK SOUNDTRACK If you know anything about me it’s that I love a good film score.

Seeing composer Hans Zimmer live in concert earlier this year was bucket list material, and hearing his score for Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk was nothing short of breathtaking. The tense, ethereal, succinct clicking and humming that weaves through each song like a common road is mesmerising. ‘Super Marine’ is a favourite track as you can envision the aerial battles taking place over the unforgiving seas. This score is another perfect notch under Zimmer’s musical belt.

2. ROYAL BLOOD – HOW DID WE GET SO DARK Royal Blood were once the youngling, underdogs of the rock universe but the British two-some have risen to the stature of their peers such as Jack White and Queens of the Stone Age with just two albums! How Did We Get So Dark was highly anticipated, delivering swagger and panache with singles like ‘Lights Out’ and ‘Hook, Line And Sinker’. Each song is an exceptional showcase of what you can do with just a bass guitar and a drumkit. I can’t recommend this album enough. Long live rock ‘n roll!

1. CHELSEA WOLFE – HISS SPUN There’s a witch’s hovel somewhere in a thick forest that resonates with haunting vocals and despondent lyrics of lost love. That ageless witch is California-born Chelsea Wolfe. Hiss Spun is the songstress’ seventh album and is 48 minutes of reverb guitar and distorted tones that transport you to, said, forest. Lead single ‘16 Psyche’ is a heavy yet dreary piece of music about self-reflection and hardships carried by Wolfe’s echoey vocals. I am sure the Blair Witch would have all of her CDs. I am calling it, Wolfe will surely one day usurp the throne previously held by goth kings such as Marilyn Manson, Trent Reznor or Billy Corgan.

PAGE 34

CODY ATKINSON: QUESTIONING 5. BLANCK MASS – WORLD EATER These tracks are more hellish than Benjamin Power’s previous work, either as Blanck Mass or as a part of Fuck Buttons. It’s sort of post-electronica; the tropes of dance music still present but a power largely unapproachable by the form. That being said, at times Power chucks in some undeniably “pop” moments, creating a false sense of expectation of what is to come. At times there borders on too much going on here, but it’s a maximalist’s delight, if that’s what you are into.

4. BEACHES – SECOND ON SPRING Secretly, Beaches have been hoarding all the good riffs for the past three years for use on Second on Spring. Not just their riffs; seemingly also stealing them from every band in the Greater Melbourne region.

Each song kinda sounds like it could be split into three or four others, with walls of sound and guitar almost overwhelming at times. Whereas their last album She Beats had a metronomic, Krautrock-y backbeat to it, this album relies on the sheer expansiveness of guitars and (occasional) vocal harmonies.

3. TY SEGALL – TY SEGALL Like a lot of prolific garage pysch rockers (think King Gizzard or Oh Sees), it is easy to get lost in the back-catalouge or find a place to jump in and start. Ty Segall, Ty Segall’s second self-titled album, sees Segall and his band at their rawest and most immediate. Unlike KG or the Oh Sees, Segall has always leant on much stronger pop instincts, cribbing heavily from 60s, 70s and 80s pop rock. Even the bit of pastoral country rock he slips on there works, which isn’t a move that most can pull off. What makes Segall special, and not just another pastiche of time past, is the edge and energy that he chucks into the mix.

2. THE OCEAN PARTY – BEAUTY POINT The only reason that I can think of that The Ocean Party hasn’t gained widespread recognition beyond the confines of the Australian underground music critics’ circle is the sheer regularity that they release consistently good albums with. None really stand out as a leap forward, because they are already at that point to begin with. Beauty Point may both be their most coherent musical statement yet, and the one with the clearest, cutting guitar pop moments present. Subtle irony and somewhat political statements fill the gaps between the endless hooks, as the sun seems to shine from every corner of the record.

1. MOUNT EERIE – A CROW LOOKED AT ME There are albums you want to listen to on repeat forever, and other that take such a toll that once or twice is often enough.

A Crow Looked At Me definitely falls into the latter category, despite its undeniable artistic merit. Phil Elverum keeps the instrumentation sparse, largely confining himself to the instruments of his late wife, writing and recording it in the room that she passed in. And that’s what the album is about; their life, their loss.

@bmamag

★★★★★ JARROD MCGRATH: CONTRIBUTOR 5. THE FRONT BOTTOMS – GOING GREY Maybe this is that album that proved your loyalty to an artist. As a fan, I had the release date marked in my calendar (the same day as Iron Chic which just fell outside my top five), which creates expectations. I personally was not let down at all, and found the group have expanded on their already unique sound, but remained true to what they have always been about.

Other fans will strongly disagree, and the album copped the band some flack.

Maybe again it was timing (I’m a lyrics person), but the best music is that which you have a connection to.

4. ALEX LAHEY – I LOVE YOU LIKE A BROTHER This was certainly my favourite debut of the year. Despite at times thinking how simple or derivative she may be, Lahey just always draw me in. Her previous singles had done this, and this album did exactly the same. The title track is mostly what got me (especially seeing it live before hearing the album). I can’t quite put my finger on it, but my ears and head can.

3. ANGUS AND JULIA STONE – SNOW I’m thinking maybe I’m a ‘Johnny come lately’ on these guys, but I think 2017 was the year that they proved they are more than just a sweet sounding acoustic folk duo. Between this album and Dope Lemon, a certain depth emerged that drew me in. There is still a sweetness to it, but Angus’ vocals now have a certain dirt or grit to them that swaggers like a drunk stumbling to an upstairs bedroom. With my newfound love I now look forward to catching their tour next year.

2. JAPANDROIDS – NEAR TO THE WILD HEART OF LIFE This is easily my close second. I’d always been a fan of various songs from their previous albums but never as obsessed as I became this year. This album pushed me to that obsession and I then had to go through their back catalogue (the last time I did that was for Gaslight Anthem).

Maybe it was just the timing, but the duo’s songs of fun, friends, freedom and drinking are so welcomed by me. Certainly my favourite band to party to.

1. GANG OF YOUTHS – GO FARTHER IN LIGHTNESS Well I think this might be the first time in my life since I was ten years old that my favourite album also scored an ARIA award. It does make me a bit dubious about where to from here now, and to possibly question my taste. Maybe the industry has just caught up with my taste, as I did predict massive success for the album upon my first listen. It’s definitely a bit more polished than The Positions, to the point that sometimes it begrudgingly reminds me a bit of U2 (but the good U2, right?). Regardless, I love the passion, variation, lyrics, energy and musicality of this group and this has been their album to prove that best so far.

facebook.com/bmamagazine

GLEN MARTIN: CONTRIBUTOR 5. SLOWDIVE – SLOWDIVE Comebacks continued to be a thing in 2017 (surely all the bands have come back now, except The Smiths, who should remain broken).

And with comebacks come inevitable and disappointing comeback LPs. But unlike fellow class-of 92 shoegaze alumni Ride, Slowdive returned with a vital record whose purpose and craft outshone previous efforts. Crucially, it’s heavy with an unfinished business vibe, a soft urgency that propels the songs from the first to the last. This is a stunning, ghostly yet muscular album that soothed many of 2017’s rougher moments.

4. THE NATIONAL – SLEEP WELL BEAST I get why some don’t get the National – they’re a tough band to describe, and an odd act to find playing big stadiums. They’re awkward, moody, dour and literary. Matt Berninger’s voice is the dictionary definition of an acquired taste. But those in the tent understand the emotional pull of these restrained tunes, and this record updates the template beautifully. Look, you get em or you don’t. If you do, I can’t imagine you thinking this is anything less than close to their best work.

3. BEACHES – SECOND OF SPRING The ladies of Beaches aren’t strangers to sonic excess, but a double album is still a difficult jump to land. On Second of Spring Beaches nail it with great panache. The critics might call them psych rock but that undersells the melodic and harmonic skill on show throughout this record, which balances a bunch of genre influences filtered through Beaches alchemic triple guitar attack. This is music of endless possibility, ragged and glorious. In a career of great records this is their best so far.

2. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – AMERICAN DREAM It’s one thing to come back and continue the quality of your previous releases. It’s another to make something better but different, finding new avenues while retaining what we loved in the first place, all while addressing the cultural moment we’re in. James Murphy set a high bar with the first LCD record, the ‘last’ LCD show and everything in-between. He’s cleared it with American Dream. As with DAMN, this is a great record of the Trump era and the ongoing dumpster fire of 2017. Stick around Murphy, there’s plenty of life in the old boy.

1. KENDRICK LAMAR – DAMN I know. Predictable choice. Those of us who read lists like this are probably craving new music, fresh excitement, and consensus is dull. But the reason for DAMN landing at #1 is simple – Lamar is a step beyond the game at present. I’d go so far to say that he’s entering the rare air of Miles in the 50s, or Dylan from 6367, Bowie in the seventies, so on. An artist who has tapped into the moment and created something both reflective and transcendent. DAMN is the perfect record for and of 2017, dripping with insight, rage and empathy. He’s the king.

PAGE 35

PUNK & DISORDERLY [THE WORD ON PUNK] WITH ALICE WORLEY [ALICE.WORLEY@OUTLOOK.COM]

Wow. Issue 500. Feeling pretty chuffed to be involved with BMA for this momentous issue. I wrote a one-off article for BMA years ago for Issue 390-something (an interview with musician Mikelangelo) and I’ve amazingly fallen into the magazine again this year, but now as a regular contributor. Boom! Well anyway, let’s get stuck in.

Unfortunately missed almost all of The Nah’s at The Front as they played first and I didn’t get there in time (so bummed), but I did catch SCABZ. They were the definition of Aussie punk to me. For instance, the have a song simply called ‘Sh*tc*nt’. Does it get more Aussie than that? I was sitting right behind the drummer and my god she was fast, barley saw her arms, just a blur. And then Slagatha Christie finished us off for the evening, whipping out a new track, ‘Seinfeels’, and a new cover, Camp Cope’s ‘Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams’. I hope they still whip out their cover of The Smith Street Band’s ‘Ducks Fly Together’ on occasion because I just love the way that Jess sings it.

I did see the “slags” (as we lovingly call them) earlier in the month playing The Polo Sessions. Holy

PAGE 36

crap, I am loving Kilroy right now.

The post-punk 80s are alive! They are such a charming band, and I was so impressed by their performance at The Polish Club. When I heard them say “We’re going to do a cover now”, I was thinking maybe Joy Division, The Cure, Depeche Mode, something like that. But I was way off. They covered a song written by a punk musician currently held in one of Australia’s offshore detention centres, a song recorded on a mobile phone and sent to a sound engineer.

And it was awesome. It was such an amazing thing for them to want to perform this and to make everyone think about the political side of punk music for minute, because really, that’s what good punk is all about. Hence Amanda Palmer’s recent promise that Donald Trump’s presidency would, if nothing else, “make punk great again”.

Saw Oslow’s show at Transit Bar, supported by Paper Thin, Moaning Lisa, and Sleeping Dogs. Oslow and Paper Thin’s music always takes me back to Lacklustre shows a few years back and I have mixed feelings about it. But woah Moaning Lisa, I think I now have a new favourite song. ‘Lily’ is amazing.

Heard it twice now and I’m already

wanting you to record it so I can listen to it crouched in the shower, crying my eyes out.

An issue I’m having with gigging at the moment is that there are too many good gigs on the same nights that are aimed at the same crowd, and that if they were on seperate nights, we would all get to see more bands, and the bands would get to play to bigger crowds and make more dosh to keep doing what they’re doing. I was really torn between the Folk Ska gig and the Mulgara gig on the first of December. I really wanted to go to both, but I had to pick, and I picked Folk Ska for Operation Ibis. The crowd wasn’t massive at The Front, so I couldn’t help but wonder if the gig would’ve been better off with nothing competing against it. Maybe I’m talking out my arse, because I know dick about organising gigs and whether or not Canberra gig organisers do interact and try to sort out amongst themselves who gets what. But I don’t know. I just want to see all these musicians who are trying their darndest to do what they do get what they deserve.

@bmamag

BMA BAND

PROFILE [LOCAL ACTS TO WATCH]

Photo by Leah Graham

KILROY Band Members: [Left to right] Pat (bass), Dylan (guitar), Jacob (vocals/guitar), Grace (drums) What would your band be called if it wasn’t called Kilroy?

[Jacob]: A couple weeks after we first started playing together I presented Dylan with a list of potential band names which I had been keeping for ages. Some of the other gems on the list included Night Pirates, Pet Seminary, The Patriots, and The Bathyspheres.

Some of the less-good ones included Hitler in Paris and Variola Nap. He said “Yep. Kilroy’s the one.” I think he liked it because it was the only one-word option.

Saves time and t-shirt ink. Smart.

Describe your sound. One of the lovely darlings from Faux Faux Amis recently described us as like “King Krule jamming with Johnny Marr and Jamie XX”. We find this to be an acceptable comparison.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? [Jacob]: I grew up with the big crooners, Motown, American folk revival, a LOT of 80s pop. Writing for Kilroy I’m always thinking about The Smiths, The Cure, The Drones, The Strokes, The National, Elvis Costello and The Attractions…

Yikes, glad we didn’t call ourselves The Kilroys.

[Dylan]: Kilroy has been a real chance for me to unabashedly draw on my first and truest loves: The Cure, New Order, The Smiths, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Jesus & Mary Chain. But jazz has been a real obsession for me in my 20s. Miles, Coltrane, Nels Cline.

Maybe that bleeds through too.

Maybe it doesn’t.

What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had as a band? Hearing one of our songs on 2XX (community radio) was very surreal.

Of what are you proudest so far? The songs. We’re pretty proud of the songwriting dynamic we’ve cultivated and the way it’s present in the songs we’re churning out.

What are your plans for the future? Record, tour, repeat.

What makes you laugh? Our very first shows were opened by an elaborate piece of Kabuki theatre involving an aging housewife and a split sack of potatoes. To this very day it brings tears to our eyes.

What pisses you off? Manus and Nauru.

What about the Canberra scene would you change? People complain about the Canberra scene but we see it improving and growing all the time. I mean fuck, Canberra already turned out Mikelangelo, Machine Translations and The Church. What more do you want? What the Canberra scene needs is not better bands, better audiences or better venues. It needs better supporting infrastructure like public transport that can get punters home after midnight cheaply and safely any night of the week. Live music venues also need regulatory relief so they can afford to keep their doors open, keep beer flowing and pay bands. Technocrats in the ACT legislature may not spend much time at The Phoenix, but it’s where most of the cultural capital they like so much gets born and bred.

What are your upcoming gigs?

We’re playing a short set at Smiths on December 20. The night’s entertainments are being curated

by Tim from The Wrst, so it’s guaranteed to be tops.

Contact info: kilroycanberra@gmail.com facebook.com/kilroycanberra soundcloud.com/kilroycanberra

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 37

[art and design] [artists to watch in 2018]

by Tegan Garnett

[This page: Clare Jackson’s ‘Blue Nights’] [Header artwork: Clare Jackson’s ‘Space Capsules’]

PAGE 38

@bmamag

[by Tegan Garnett]

[Clare Jackson] Clare Jackson is a Canberra based printmaker. Her chosen medium of etching gives her work immediate recognizability in the Canberra arts scene, and also allows her to achieve atmosphere in a unique way. Jackson began etching at ANU during her print media and drawing degree. A residency at Megalo led from her honors in etching at ANU, and the chance to explore new etching techniques and different ways to transfer her vision from abstract ideas to paper, using copper plate.

Jackson’s printmaking process is very intricate. It begins with a ‘hard ground etching’, where the copper plate is covered in an acid resistant medium and a drawing is carved into the surface of the plate with a needle. These fine lines cut through the acid resistant material, exposing the metal underneath. The copper plate, with patterns of vulnerable metal, is placed in acid and the drawn lines are eaten away, now permanent on the plate. Jackson uses different variations on this process to achieve desired patterns on plates with different techniques.

Finally ink is applied to the copper plate and, like an inside-out stamp, the paint seeps into the grooves of the plate. Placed onto paper and pushed through a press, the image is printed, and multiple plates are used to create detail and depth.

Jackson prefers to use smaller copper plates that she can carry around. Walking the streets in the evenings, she draws on the plates, capturing scenes of houses, shadows and light that appear at the twilight hour. She sees

printmaking as a way of cataloguing and preserving moments in history, creating almost an archive of time spent interacting with her environment.

This year Jackson’s This Is Not A Place series was a part of the Shake It Up exhibition at Nishi Gallery for Art Not Apart 2017. The series is Jackson’s response to the Mr. Fluffy cases in homes around Inner-North.

Her midyear exhibition at Megalo studio was the combination of three series’ tied together: the Blue Nights series (left), inspired by houses at nighttime along Woy Woy Bay, Space Capsules, inspired by freeze frames of NASA film depicting capsules retuning to earth after a period of space travel, and This Is Not A Place.

In 2017 Clare also exhibited with an all-female group of artists for the Belly exhibition at Watch This Space Gallery in Ciccone, Alice Springs.

In August Jackson undertook a residency in print making at Vermont Studio Center America.

While she was away she was in two print prizes, one at Freemantle Arts Centre, and one in Queens Cliff Gallery and Workshop.

Clare Jackson already has an exhibition planned for February 2018, at Form Gallery in Queanbeyan. Over the summer she will retreat to a studio in Woy Woy to gain inspiration and ideas for her next piece. Additionally, Clare has another residency planned for 2018 on a small, traditional island in Brazil where she will focus on ceramics and printing. clarejackson.weebly.com @clarejacksonart

facebook.com/bmamagazine

[Hannah Quinlivan] PHOTO

BY PAUL WEBB Hannah Quinlivan is a Canberraborn artist most appropriately referred to as being part of the tradition of experimental drawing.

An ANU Honours and PhD graduate, she is now represented by Jankossen Contemporary (New York and Venice), Flinders Lane Gallery (Melbourne) and .M Contemporary (Sydney). Drawing in both two and three-dimensions, Quinlivan chooses to work with whatever materials she envisions for her artworks. While she does draw by the traditional interpretation of the practice, i.e. ink on paper, her vision has extended her to create drawings with wire, steel, salt, yarn, and LED lights. This year, she has collaborated with a local dancer, Rachael Hilton, and two classicallytrained vocalists, Louise Keast and Shikara Ringdahl, to experiment with drawing with bodies and voices. “In the last few years, I’ve also been making more site-specific drawings that respond to a particular space, something that working in threedimensions facilitates.”

Also this year, Quinlivan ran two major exhibitions in Canberra.

The first, Anatomy of a Drawing, was held in Gallery 4 at Canberra Museum and Art Gallery. The other, Transition, was an auditory drawing performance at the National Portrait Gallery, created in collaboration with Rachael Hilton, Louise Keast, Shikara Ringdahl and Alex Hobba.

“It’s been a real thrill to do some work back in my hometown”.

She received recognition from the Canberra Critics Circle in November with a Visual Arts award.

This year has been full-on for Quinlivan, who was involved in several exhibitions and residencies overseas, and started the year off working as a studio assistant for Berlin-based artist Chiahru Shiota.

After assisting Shiota in installing a large-scale installation in Paris, she undertook a residency at the Centre for Art and Urbanistics in Berlin. She then installed a large spatial drawing in the Project Space at Hong Kong Art Central, and was a visiting artist at Colorado State University in the US. After such a packed year Quinlivan is enjoying spending a few months back home in Canberra, gathering her thoughts and beginning a new series of works for next year. Her next big Canberra-based project for is working on the art for the Capital Metro light rail system. “I was very fortunate to be selected to produce a series of drawings that will be integrated into each of the thirteen stops that punctuate the new line from Gungahlin to the City. I’m very much looking forward to seeing these appearing over the coming months.” Additionally, Quinlivan will be holding a solo exhibition in New York City in March next year, her first exhibition with Jankossen Contemporary in Chelsea. Thus, Hannah Quinlivan’s next few months will be occupied putting together a new body of work, initially here in Canberra before moving to a studio in Brooklyn. www.hannahquinlivan.com.au @hannahquinlivan

PAGE 39

Hannah Quinlivan: Travelling Light, 2017 In collaboration with Louise Keast and Shikara Rindahl LED lights, aluminium wire, acrylic on Belgian linen, lycraand the human voice Photo by Adam Lynch Performance at Deakin University Art Gallery, September 2017

PAGE 40

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 41

[art and design: artists to watch in 2018] knowledge combined, manifested as her jewellery line ZARIC. “Learning about silversmithing, glazing and gemology is really wonderful. It’s also important for teaching when it comes time to build my team or outsource findings.” Zaric currently crafts all the pieces for her jewellery line in her Braddon studio, with the help of an intern over the past few months.

All the hooks, studs and hoops are handmade in Sydney by a local silversmith using recycled sterling silver.

[Nastja Zaric] Nastja Zaric is a Canberra-based crafter and designer who runs her independent jewellery line ZARIC. The daughter of a jewelry designer mother and a ceramic potter father, Nastja was exposed to the two crafts during her childhood as both parents had spacious studios in the family home. Although it was not a calculated decision to combine the crafts of her parents & create something new, this organically

PAGE 42

started to come together over the past two years.

“Tools and know-how were at my disposal with my parents – although they had both long moved onto different professions, I could still turn to them for advice.”

With the inspiration from her parents, Zaric’s interpretation of the art of these two crafts and

Sourcing materials that are designed with intention is really important to Zaric. Working with earth driven clay, silver, gemstones and recycled leather, her own values become apparent through her sustainably produced work, shaping the ZARIC line to produce handcrafted, conscientious, quality pieces.

late march this year, Zaric launched her third collection of solo work, and in this past week released the Summer SS17 collection. Nastja Zaric’s work is available from her open studio in Braddon on Lonsdale Street, as well as from her website and boutique stockists.

In the coming year Zaric is heading to Europe to have some longawaited downtime with her family.

“I’m expecting the change of scenery will inspire new concepts for the coming year. Keeping an eye out online is the best way to keep in the loop with what’s happening!” www.zaricjewellery.com @zaricjewellery

This year Zaric has spent time in Bali practicing silverwork, and California practicing ceramics. In

@bmamag

[by Tegan Garnett] into English but roughly means a craftsperson who lives their craft consciously, and with effort taken to improve and create great work.”

[Keith Marshall] Keith Marshall is a Canberra frame builder, who crafts beautiful, specially commissioned handmade and steel bicycle frames. “I work in steel as it is a tough but highly formable material that when turned into a bicycle frame rides beautifully.” The steel frames Marshall crafts are cut, carved, turned, melted, bent, polished and more, as his chosen medium is both non-toxic (unlike carbon fiber) and

is repairable.

The inspiration for Marshall’s work is that of classic Japanese and French framebuilders. He began building frames in his garage in Lyneham seven years ago following a visit to Japan, of which the culture’s respect and care in craftsmanship sent him down the framebuilding path.

“The Japanese word ‘Shokunin’ is one of my greatest drivers, it is a term that doesn’t directly translate

facebook.com/bmamagazine

Framebuilding is an old art.

Marshall’s artistic process begins with a specific, very light steel tubing and various other raw materials; cast lugs, steel bar, etc.

Forming and machining the parts to create the structure of the bicycle, he then brazes elements of the frame together with an acetylene flame and wither brass or silver as the joining material, depending on the bike’s desired function and finish.

Marshall’s favorite bike to build is one of his own designs. It is a bike designed to traverse rough dirt firetrails, and handle tracks and scrubby paths that snake through the Australian bush. This bicycle design is inspired by Marshall’s own passion for spending days out riding and camping, exploring new and wonderful parts of his country.

This year Marshall has been working through a long order list of

bespoke and highly detailed custom frames, for customers all around the world. Most of his bikes are sold in Australia, however he this year started selling his creations to Japanese enthusiasts.

2018 is shaping up to be a big year for Marshall, who plans to move his practice from his current studio at ANCA, back to his hometown of Braidwood. Marshall posits this as partially due to the riding around Braidwood being so, so good!

Additionally, he will be launching a handmade production style frame in 2018, called the RADdonneur. This bike is a backcountry exploration machine, and will come in stock sizes and a selection of colours.

“It is a design that I have tested extensively and am very proud of!”

Keith’s inspiration in 2018 will being a change of place and pace, as well as living more closely with the bush as his new workshop will back right on to national park. www.kumocycles.com @kumocycles

PAGE 43

[art and design: artists to watch in 2018]

[Hannah Axelsen] Hannah Axelsen is an up-andcoming local artist who recently graduated from ANU with a Bachelor of Visual Arts, majoring in Photomedia. her favored medium to date is photography, however she maintains a keen interest in mixed media art. The key themes underpinning Axelsen’s work are those of nostalgia, the environment, suburbia, and sense of place. She combines traditional practice, such as large and medium format film photography and painting, with digital photography, giving her work

PAGE 44

intrigue and a unique quality.

Axelsen first took an interest in photography as a child when her mother gave her a point and shoot film camera. “I used to pretend to take photos even though it wasn’t loaded with film”. She started shooting properly in high school with her father’s old Olympus OM-1, from which burgeoned a love for analogue photography.

Axelsen regards her older sister as a significant influence, whose exhibitions she remembers from

her childhood, and first inspired her to take photos of architecture and buildings from a front-on angle.

which consisted of photographs taken with a Mamiya RB67 Medium format camera with colour film.

Axelsen’s passion for medium format film colour photography blossomed at university. During her degree she focused on photographing Canberra houses at night, documenting small Australian towns and documenting the Australian environment. She attributes Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Joel Meyerowitz and Todd Hido as major inspirations for her style. Emerging out of this influence is Axelsen’s interest in documenting houses at day and at night, working with colour film in the darkroom, and night photography.

This year Axelsen took part in the exhibition, Around Balawan, at ANU Art School’s Photospace gallery.

For this exhibition she partook in a fieldtrip to Mt. Kosciuszko and the southern coast of New South Wales, producing a seven-piece series. In October, Axelsen was selected as a finalist in the 2017 Inner North Prize held at The Front Gallery and Café.

For this exhibition she collaborated on a series of four mixed media pieces with a friend and poet.

In 2015, Axelsen particiapeted in a trip to Japan to assist artists in constructing a sculptural hut, as part of an arts festival. Much of her style and perspective on the landscape is inspired by this trip, along with travelling Europe and coastal and regional Australia.

In 2016, Axelsen participated in the ANU graduating show at the School of Art, and a group exhibition at the Front Gallery. For her final piece at university, Axelsen’s major project was a photobook named The Drive,

Axelsen’s inspiration for 2018 stems from an awareness of issues concerning the environment, inspiring her to conserve and protect it. Friends and family are also inspiring her, as are small coastal and inland Australian towns and their aesthetic. In 2018 Axelsen will commence Honors at the ANU School of Art where she plans to continue with her concepts around Australian towns. Axelsen is also planning an exhibition in Canberra late in the year after traveling. www.hannahaxelsen.com @hannahaxe

@bmamag

[by Tegan Garnett] become more than just one painting.

Prior VOYAGE, Balogh participated in Art Not Apart 2015, showcasing his work ‘The Three Disciples’. In 2016 he occupied a space at City West car park to exhibit and create, leaving his artistic mark on the elevator doors. Tommy completed a residency in Germany 2016, which resulted in a projection of his work inside a German cathedral.

[Tommy Balogh] Tommy Balogh is a Canberra-based photoluminescence artist, whose works are popping up all around Canberra. A graduate of the ANU School of Art, at university Balogh focused the idea of the organic form.

Essentially, he sought to explore the basic dynamics of what makes up abstract art.

Balogh’s passion for photoluminescence began circa.

2014-15, a choice of medium that developed out of the exploration of its possibilities. He asserts that

the full potential of his work was realised with the involvement of lights, creating for him almost a new medium. His 2016 exhibition VOYAGE was the turning point that demonstrated Tommy’s work at scale had a heightened impact on the viewer. Adding lights and music to the paintings unlocks a sense of duality, of pulsing movement, breathing, and an element of unknown life. Tommy found that with the addition of light and sound, his art now questioned perception and the way that a single piece can

This year Balogh showcased his first sculptural work, ‘Pyramid’, at Art Not Apart 2017 (which now resides at ANU pop-up village). Late this year he exhibited Oasis at a Manor in Chapman, a collection comprising of at least two years’ worth of work, and thus a spectrum of work that demonstrates different periods of the artist’s life.

Canberra, as well as installing ‘The Three Disciples’ in New Acton.

Balogh anticipates his inspiration for 2018 will include family and change, both welcome and challenging. In terms of his art, Balogh seeks to strip back the excess, and get to an essential state where he can clearly explore and perceive what is really going on in life. “I want to make work that brings about that sense of awe, to the point where we are like children again, where we can discover. We put so many layers over ourselves, almost like we are wearing armor, and what I want to do is I want to break that… And I think that is the point to life.” www.tommybalogh.com @tommybaloghart

Balogh plans a 2018 series dedicated to works with dark central forms, or what he terms “points of singularity”. This is created through new techniques using tools that he will be exploring next year, thinking about how to incorporate new ideas, and giving special consideration to colour relationships. He plans an exhibition in the new year in

PHOTOS BY HANNAH AXELSEN

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 45

Exhibitionist | Arts in the ACT

LITERATURE IN REVIEW WITH CARA LENNON Broadcast Liam Brown [Bantam; 2017] David Callow is the brand of professional vlogger that gets sprayed with likes for posting any old crap. Random thoughts, or unboxing a phone. Wearing a hat. Until the ominously pleasant Xan Brinkley flits from the shadows.

Brinkley’s impossibly optimistic Elon Musk exterior coats a morally ambiguous Steve Jobs centre, and in short order Brinkley offers Callow a deal so obviously Faustian that even Faust would earmark it ‘iffy’.

Why not cut the vlogging out of vlogging and implant a chip directly in your brain? One that live broadcasts your thoughts 24/7, no breaks or brakes. The ultimate social media platform! What could Global devastation by a new bacterium; its cure via a broadcast digital virus with hidden costs; a father’s quest to awaken his daughter from the coma that the virus inflicted on her two years earlier; and a rebel community’s desperation to destroy the transmission tower before the next virus update are the contending elements that commence a dramatically shot tale of mysterious mayhem that appears to be set in… wait… that’s Canberra! Depending on how much of Canberra you’ve explored, you may recognise a brickworks here, an alleyway there; you’ll certainly recognise the forbidding transmission tower.

You may notice too a few old friends — amongst them Billy Zane (Back to the Future; The Phantom), Jack Thompson (Breaker Morant; The Light Between Oceans), Bruce Spence (Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome; Dark City), Stephen Hunter (The Hobbit), and Jake Ryan (TV’s Home and Away). And, of course, you’ll recognise a few of the story elements. But Blue World Order’s 90 minutes packs convincing dialogue and action PAGE 46

possibly go wrong? Our happy idiot takes the bait, and off we trot to explore the consequences.

Callow takes us down a welltrodden Dystopian path, as Callow’s discontent with what he’d perceived

to be the natural order slowly spirals into the almost obligatory mindfuck sequence – one that’s going to be very familiar to fans of Philip K. Dick and Terry Gilliam.

Our omnipresent puppeteers are an evil corporation rather than the more usual evil government but this barely matters, as the corporation does less damage to Callow than Callow does to himself. In fact, our evil corporation is apparently unable to exploit Callow until he consents. Rather than reading the terms and conditions, Callow carries on unquestioningly indulging his cravings for constant, uncritical attention and getting pissy with anyone who prods him to reflect a bit more meaningfully on his worldview.

Dystopian tales have a tendency to be set in a future so distant that technology has a plausible amount of time to evolve to the point required for the story. George Orwell’s 1984 was published in 1949. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in 1968. Broadcast is unsettling because it’s set in a future that in many ways seems like it could be

Tuesday week.

Author Liam Brown addresses a prediction of Orwell’s that somewhat missed the mark. Far from being oppressed by Big Brother, we tolerate the level of government surveillance that technology makes possible without much thought at all. Not only do we tolerate attention, we chase it. Social media has become the junk food of personal validation. It’s cheap, satisfying, everywhere, and while it’s generally acknowledged that too much is bad for you, it’s crazy easy to binge on.

Broadcast is an interesting take on where technology could be heading. The chip tech learning to translate Callow’s brain and the way it affects Callow’s ability to interact with the world are imaginative and insightful. However the broader ‘technology will ruin our ability to be human’ theme probably has more to do with traditions of the dystopian genre than real humanity – and in places Broadcast feels like a grumpy uncle lecturing us to get off our damn phones.

IN REVIEW

BLUE WORLD ORDER PREMIERE NFSA FRIDAY DECEMBER 1

into a dense tale of love, hope, and megalomania with turns sharp enough to leave you breathless. I’m already awaiting the director’s cut, for the excised scenes with which

the story will unfold more smoothly.

As is, Blue World Order commands attention and rewards it. This wellacted, fast-moving epic does its modest budget and its home city

proud. When it returns to Canberra early in 2018, look out for it, and spot your friends amongst the extras!

JOHN P. HARVEY @bmamag

[Reviews] while dancing is difficult to imagine, but they did, and the sheer energy, particularly of the many dance numbers, was electrifying, leading the audience often to break into spontaneous applause.

IN REVIEW

MAMMA MIA!

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE FRIDAY NOVEMBER 24 – SUNDAY DECEMBER 17 PHOTO BY JOHN P. HARVEY

Along with 30 or 40 million others, you’ve probably seen the film version of Mamma Mia!, based on the timeless songs of ABBA. Bringing to new life the most infectiously joyful and joyfully danceable songs as well as a few melancholy ones, the film uniformly left everybody who saw it happier; uplifted; recharged with confidence, hope, or faith in happy serendipity. And now… it’s back, but live on stage.

Mamma Mia!, the stage musical, was launched into the world before the film, in 1999. This Australian production of it, though, is brand spanking new — its Canberra season being its world premiere — with new

set design, costuming, props, and choreography. And, wow, does it show.

In case you don’t know, the setup in brief is that, having left her pedestrian life behind and built a taverna in Mediterranean heaven, Donna raises her daughter, Sophie, without the help or knowledge of Sophie’s father — whose identity Sophie doesn’t know.

Sophie, discovering the existence of three men who may fit the bill, invites all of them to her wedding without her mother’s knowledge. Of course, their arrival sets the cats among the pigeons.

This a big, demanding production.

It demands a complete cast able to dance its socks off; leads able to

facebook.com/bmamagazine

not only act but also carry ABBA’s wonderful melodies with feeling, and an ensemble able to carry its intricate harmonies faithfully; and the ability of them all to do both — dance energetically and sing well and precisely — simultaneously. The show’s fresh choreography by Tom Hodgson (with resident choreographer Danielle Bilios maintaining its precision and energy) releases a powerful energy without freneticism.

The existence of a great-sounding live backing band rather than a soundtrack becomes evident early on, through its precise responsiveness to the songsters on stage. Just how everybody managed to sing perfectly

With the exception of a couple of scenes that were a little overdone in places, the acting was uniformly convincing. The dancing was all fabulous, and every song was frankly astounding. Even that most commonly faulty aspect, the sound, was very well done, the “loud music” warning hardly being necessary.

Of the many impressive aspects of this exuberant musical, none can outdo the skilled faithfulness of the music — both singing and backing — to the songs’ original creators’ intent. The energetic, exact musical performances of the vitally enthusiastic cast and ensemble would alone make this a show not to be missed. Add to this the engaging, humorous storyline, amazing choreography, sublime lighting, and set and costume design transporting you to Donna and Sophie’s sunny Greek taverna, and this production is on a stellar trajectory. You’ll walk out wanting to see it at least once more.

JOHN P. HARVEY

PAGE 47

Exhibitionist | Arts in the ACT So, how long have you been doing stand-up?

BEHIND THE SCENE

BY ELLIE WINDRED

[Tom Gibson]: My first gig ever was RAW Comedy 2004 – after that I didn’t do comedy again for a year.

[Chris Ryan]: He was the start of the scene. Like Tom I did RAW, that’s what got me going as well – set a deadline, enter a competition. That was 2012 – and he won it [the Canberra heat] with his first set, and I won it with my first set.

And now you’re both doing solo shows in the Canberra Comedy Festival in March, tell us a bit about that.

[Gibson]: My show is called Are You For Real?, which is trying to capture the questions that I seem to ask or be asked in life.

Title or material first?

[Gibson]: I usually extract the title from the line in a joke. There’s a joke I have which has that line in it, but I feel like with a lot of my jokes I could say that at a point and it would fit.

[Ryan]: I’ve been in the festival since the start, but this is my first solo show which is exciting, it’s called Grey Matter, it’s all about getting older.

[Gibson]: Is this really your first solo?

[Ryan]: At the CCF yeah, it’s taken me a long time to feel like I’m ready

a woman or a mum, I didn’t want to be branded as “just another girl doing girl comedy” so I would try and pretend almost to be asexual, it was bizarre. But she said: “You owe it to those women in the audience who are DYING to hear about what shits you behind your door, take us into your life.” So even if you have a suckful night, you still have stuff to say.

[Gibson]: Sometimes you’ve got good stuff and [the audience] just didn’t like it, or you’ve got good stuff but you didn’t tell it right, or you’ve got stuff that’s an idea that isn’t ready, and sometimes you suck because you’re not good enough, or your jokes not good enough, and that’s just part of it – you go back and you fix it. And you’ve got to have good awareness, you’ve got to be able to talk and listen at the same time and know when you come off how good you were, what worked and what didn’t.

[Ryan]: You do get cocky sometimes, sometimes you hear more laughter than there really was, because you were really happy with [your set] – you have to do that hard kind of self-assessment, but if you’ve still got something to say, you owe it to yourself to say it.

Weirdest gig you’ve ever done?

[Ryan]: The weirdest/shittest gig was a corporate gig for a burrito company. In one day I had to go to

She offered me a burrito, but I’d already had one at the last store

The comedy scene in Canberra punches well above its weight, and two people who have worked really hard to impress local audiences are TOM GIBSON and CHRIS RYAN. After a gig at the Civic Pub earlier this month, Frances McNair antd I (local baby comedians) had a chat with them about watching the local scene grow.

PAGE 48

and I didn’t want to do it before I felt ready. I didn’t even take up comedy until I was older – I wanted to do it when I was younger but I felt like I had nothing to say, I felt personally that I needed to go through some hardship before I had any right to do comedy, for some reason.

What helps you after a bad gig?

[Ryan]: I got a really great piece of advice from a woman called Mandy Nolan, who’s been in the business for 30 years, and she said that you owe it to your audience to speak from your experience. In the early days, I would try and hide that I was

three burrito stores and do comedy to people who DID NOT WANT standup comedy in their day. At one place there was no-one in the store. This young manager was looking at me, saying “I’m so sorry, I never would’ve allowed this if I knew about it.” She offered me a burrito, but I’d already had one at the last store.

Did you get anything from a gig like that?

[Ryan]: I got material.

What shows should people go to see at the CCF next year?

@bmamag

[Comedy]

[Gibson]: I like Anthony Tomic at the moment, I reckon now he’s just finding his feet and going to the next level.

[Ryan]: Sorry to be all malecentric here, but Luke Heggie is one of my favourite comedians.

He is a man that writes every day, he writes EVERY DAY and he’s a very structured and committed comedian, he works hard and it shows. And I love Becky Lucas, I would go and see Frances and the crew [“Look At Me Now, Mum!”], Danny and Andrew Bensley are huge favourites of mine, ACT Like a Lady.

names, and they love them, but the best time to see a comedian is before they’re a big name. The best guys are at the cutting edge just as they’re on their way up, and the only way to see those guys is at the Civic Pub, or at the festival, in a smaller room, so take a chance I reckon – you’ll rarely hate a comedy night but you might unearth someone that you love.

You can see CHRIS RYAN and TOM GIBSON, along with local and international favourites at the CANBERRA COMEDY FESTIVAL, which runs from March 19-25. Tix at canberracomedyfestival.com.au.

[Gibson]: People who see comedy in Canberra go to see the big

She offered me a burrito, but I’d already had one at the last store

LOLCOL [FUNNY THINGS]

HOW TO TELL YOUR FAMILY YOU ARE A VEGETARIAN THIS CHRISTMAS

BY FRANCES MCNAIR

You walk into Aunt Berryl’s house for Christmas lunch.

The smell of ham, turkey, and prawns fills the air. You walk through the door and before your Uncle can angrily correct you for saying “Happy Holidays”, your Aunt’s elderly neighbour, Jillian, produces a tray of deli meats and cheeses. A mighty uproar of excitement shakes the plastic pines of the tree. The twinkle in Jillian’s eyes shines brighter than her Santa earrings catching the sunlight. You brace yourself. The tray makes its way around the room, being passed from family member to family member with the same care as a newborn. You pass the tray on to your cousin’s new boyfriend without a second consideration.

The chatter ceases. Silence falls.

A dog barks in the distance. A confused child begins to weep.

Just as the tension becomes too great, you hear it. The question.

It comes from the corner of the room. The Matriarch, 103-yearold Nana, rises from her flower embroidered armchair, a mustard stained napkin falling from her knee. She asks again, concern quivering her voice, “Why aren’t you eating? Aren’t you hungry?” The room waits with anticipation. Your heart beats fast. It is time.

You can respond in any of the following ways:

as the real thing”. They will not believe you.

2. Take off your jacket to reveal a turkey costume and dramatically scream, “I AM NOT A CANNIBAL!” 3. Throw a smoke bomb and run. When the clouds part a bouquet of carrots will be lying where you stood.

4. Create a mixture of chaos and tension by uttering the following phrase “I already ate.” (CAUTION: this may result in Aunt Berryl spending the remainder of the day locked in the spare room loudly playing “It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas”).

5. Pass your own tray around the room covered in flyers with the title “So Your Family Member Is A Vegetarian...”

6. Simply tell them you are a vegetarian… and then insist on only cracking your own bon-bons, which you have prefiled with quinoa. (It will get everywhere. It is the vegetarian equivalent of glitter. Make them never forget the day the vegetarian came to Christmas!)

No matter what technique you use, remember to have fun with it. It’s your day!

Happy Holidays! (I know what I said Uncle Steven).

1. Pull a box of “Tofu-turkey” from deep within your bag and assure them “it’s just as good facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 49

[Comedy]

Exhibitionist | Arts in the ACT

IN REVIEW

CANBERRA COMEDY FESTIVAL CHRISTMAS GALA LLEWELLYN HALL SATURDAY DEC 6

FIONA O’LOUGHLIN

A Very Canberra Comedy Festival Christmas was hosted by Dilruk Jayasinha, a comedian who had energy and charisma coming out of every god damn pore! He was ridiculously charming and quick witted with his audience interaction (a terrifying thing for both performer and audience). He kept the audience excited for the night ahead and set it up to be a roaring success.

Ciaran Lyons is a triple j presenter, crushing it in comedy, and is only 20 years old… f**k. His mixture of selfdeprecating humour, stories, and light audience roasting was brilliant.

You know when a comedian’s life experiences ruminate effortlessly with a diverse crowd of people, despite their age, they’re doing a stellar job.

You wouldn’t believe it, but I’m unapologetically biased about this next local act. Anthony Tomic has been smashing the mics of the Canberra comedy scene for three years and seeing him sharing the stage with comedy greats was an absolute joy. He held his own up amongst them and had the audience in stitches (the man used finger guns without a hint of irony. Glorious.) He looked at home performing on a stage with 1,100 pairs of eyes on him. Watch out for this guy – he’s gonna be a star kids!

Hamish Hudson, a multi-talented musical comedian, was next. His ability to turn the relatable crummy moments of life into hilarious acoustic numbers was heartwarming. He closed his set with a song called ‘Keep Left Unless

PAGE 50

You’re Overtaking’. Judging from the audience’s response to the song I move that it become Canberra’s new anthem. Banger.

Closing the first bracket was off was the cool Aunt we all wanted at our family Chrissy (but who never would have turned up because she was too busy killin’ it!). It was queen of comedy Fiona O’Loughlin!

You might think that near-death experiences, alcoholism, and family aren’t screaming for a laugh but Fiona O’Loughlin’s comedy was so blunt, open, and uninhibited she had everyone roaring. She performed with such ease and honesty it was hard to remember you were in a room with 1,100 other people!

The second bracket was just as chockers with talent. Kicking it back off, James Smith’s quietly spoken deadpan humour had the audience hunched over laughing, punching their friends whispering, “that’s you!” The guy has been opening shows for Chris Rock during his Australian tour and it’s easy to see why. He was incredibly engaging and his content was painfully relatable.

Again, unapologetically biased – it’s impossible to not fall head over heels with Maddy Weeks’ energy and enthusiasm as she sprints onto stage with the biggest grin you’ve ever seen! The 20-year-old local (sorry Goulburn, we are claiming her) has been working hard writing and hitting every mic she can to get to the point where she is opening for some of the biggest names in Australian comedy. You could feel

the audience hanging onto her every word as she set up detailed scenarios and told hilariously honest stories. Her humour reached the entire audience and she stood strong amongst the big names. Do yourself a favour and WATCH THIS ONE PLEASE. The final act of the night was the intimidating best friend everyone wishes they had, Joel Creasey.

Flawless. Joel Creasey’s comedy was packed with energy, quick wit and was a laugh after laugh set. Like a true patriot (kind of) he performed his most political (kind of) material for Canberra and we’re glad he did. He was hilarious, entertaining, and his confidence filled the entire theatre. He’s an act you could go and see a thousand times and not get bored of. The guy is captivating af.

The Canberra Comedy Christmas Gala was a brilliant end to the year, and exciting start to the festival season in March! A massive thank you to everyone involved for putting on such an incredible night packed with talent and comedy.

If you missed it (or just need to see it again because it was so good) then have no fear! All the acts have shows in the Canberra Comedy Festival which runs March 1925, 2018. Jump on the Canberra Comedy Festival website to grab tickets and get laughing.

FRANCES MCNAIR

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 51

[The Year In Photography]

DAY OF THE DEAD - BY LEHAN ZHANG

K.FLAY AT GROOVIN THE MOO - BY MARK TURNER

PAGE 52

@bmamag

[2017]

CLIENT LIAISON - BY MATT SANFORD

PLACEBO - BY MEGAN LEAHY

facebook.com/bmamagazine

GRINSPOON - BY RICKY LLOYD

PAGE 53

PAGE 54

@bmamag

[BMA BACK IN THE DAY] The next few pages are taken from the very first edition that hit streets way back in 1992

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 55

PAGE 56

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 57

PAGE 58

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 59

PAGE 60

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 61

[ALBUM REVIEWS]

ALBUM IN

FOCUS

ELECTRIC WIZARD WIZARD BLOODY WIZARD [WITCHFINDER/SPINEFARM] [

]

Time to end the year on a down – but in a good way. This album has been three years in the making, a time the band spent touring, writing and engaging in a reappraisal of a well heeled aesthetic involving early 70s proto metal and biker rock sleaze. The verdict is that anything can be stripped back to an elemental core at just the right moment. I’ve been listening to this album on CD, but really feel the need to check it out on vinyl as the analogue rehearsal room vibe brings on total psychedelic immersion with a decent set of headphones – I have no doubt the vinyl experience would bring on an even stronger trip. As usual with this band, a cultivated B-grade/horror fascination holds it all in place, particularly when the witchy organ on ‘The Reaper’ gets the imagination all fired up and through the mind mist a weird Manson girls harem scene flashes into view.

The analogue feel brings the heaviness into sharper relief when studio enhancements are scrapped in favour of cranking the amps and hitting the record button. Trash culture is celebrated as much as ever, down to the striking cover art featuring the album title scarily emblazoned on a voluptuous female body; the tongue-in-cheek doom delivery of lyric elementals like “distorted shadows scream/As Saturn’s children dream”; guitar solos that spiral out of the gloomy bong haze and of course the devotional Black Sabbath homage of the album title. First timers might wonder what in fuck this is about, but band visionary Jus Osborn has rarely wavered from his obsessive interest

PAGE 62

in the cultural underground stretching back to the debut Electric Wizard album in 1994.

In case doom music fans remained doubtful, Jus and band delivered the riff tonnage album Dopethrone in 2000 to a fan base long since tired of the bullshit ‘my music is more alternative than your music’ chatter going on in the mainstream. Dopethrone set the vision in stone with blunt force intensity and the faithful have been rewarded with a steady stream of quality album releases since then.

Oborn has declared such cult vintage horror movie fare as Witchfinder General and Blood on Satan’s Claw as personal favourites along with sleazy pseudo-arthouse movies like Caligula, and although I probably wouldn’t put on opening Wizard Bloody Wizard track ‘See You in Hell’ to create a romantic mood – particularly with its opening lines, “I’m so cold inside/my feelings petrified’ – there is nevertheless something about the bump and grind riffage that might encourage some kind of blissful release. This possibility extends to the following track ‘Necromania’ with its driving boogie riff just like Sabbath conjured on ‘Sabbra Cadabra’ from their 1973 album with the evidently inspirational title Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Although it is entirely possible the subject matter could be a turn off, there is nevertheless something subversive about this combination that gets the juices flowing. Osborn said in a recent Allmusic interview that he wants people to move to the band’s music, and there is an insistent groove underlying the rusty chainsaw riffs that does just that. I dig the pummelling stoner hypnosis on Dopethrone but have been getting well into the ‘funkier’ heaviness on this latest effort – almost preferring it, in fact, to the earlier work.

Osborn struck gold when hooking up with guitarist Liz Buckingham somewhere along the way. He has said that the two hit it off as writing partners because they both have the same “down-stroke pattern” in their guitar playing, but there is so much more to tell.

Buckingham has described their relationship as like “the missing piece to a puzzle” and anyone who uses a tight bond like that to hotwire the heaviosity can’t go wrong.

DAN BIGNA

WILD HONEY IN YOUR HEAD [SPILLWAY RECORDS]

[

]

Sydney five-piece indie rock band Wild Honey first dipped a toe in the water with its 2016 self-titled EP, which included the song ‘Eye to Eye’ with its jangly guitars and cute clay animation video. The band has swiftly followed up with a debut long player, with track themes centering on coming of age experiences such as loss, motivation and self-realisation.

Opening with bold guitar strums and rattling tambourine, lead track ‘Break Away’ is an uplifting invitation to make your own mark.

Vocals positively sparkle in the bright acousticelectric blend that is ‘Messed Up’. The track so well expresses that inability to focus when you are present physically but not mentally and are “out of order for the day.”

The band weaved together clever vocal overlaps in the chorus to ‘Pull It Together’ and gave ‘Gone for Good’ its own special character by playing with tempo changes. ‘In Your Head’ provides a new perspective on daydreaming “the sky’s still blue, now the colours are up to you”. There is a 60s vibe to the vocals of ‘Take My Word’ and to the cheerful ‘Renee’, with its chunky rhythm, trilling keys and whistling add-on. Guitars create shimmering bars of light in ‘What You Get’, before the closer brings everything down to earth, with a hard look at how things are going in life, reduced to giving out samples to shoppers in ‘Supermarket’.

Apart from studio recordings with the full band, some songs such as ‘Guardian’ were recorded

by Thom Moore in his home. Wild Honey likes to inject the feel of old technology too, with a few rough scratches and scrapes included at the tail end of some songs.

RORY MCCARTNEY

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 63

[ALBUM REVIEWS]

THE FRONT BOTTOMS GOING GREY [FUELED BY RAMEN]

[

]

Formed in 2007, New Jersey indie rockers The Front Bottoms gained a following for their quirky songs and bold, guitar led tunes. The band’s sixth LP sees them move away from that simple, guitar boosted format, to a more keys heavy style, resulting in tracks with more polish and a denser sonic feel.

Lead track ‘You Used to Say’, with its opening shimmering synths and the subtle echo in Brian Sella’s vocals, sends a message that this is a change of mood for the band. The lyrics fly out in bold font, singing of death and anger.

‘Trampoline’ personifies the new sound, with its synth intro and auto-tuned vocals. The spring-loaded electro sounds vividly create the bouncing vibe of the song theme. While some songs open with synths, there are still tracks in the style which won the band fans, including ‘BAE’ and ‘Vacation Town’ with its trumpet highlights.

The Front Bottoms still provide material with clunky, but lovable lyrics. It is not poetry; more the homespun verse of the common man, put together with ear-worm melodies and words that make ideal sing-along material.

No social comment here, AS themes are strictly personal, revolving around nostalgia and romance. ‘Grand Finale’ reminisces about memories raised by empty wine bottles, while the acoustic led ‘Don’t Fill Up on Chips’ (with its jangly guitar, an accordion for window dressing and rattling tin cup sound at the end) expresses love in terms of ‘Fill up the space that I don’t need’. ‘Far Drive’ combines fast, tick-tock percussion, ringing guitars and a music box tinkle, while closer ‘Ocean’ fades out with the ambient seaside sounds of waves and gulls which bookend the album.

RORY MCCARTNEY

RANDOM ACTS OF ELEVATOR MUSIC RANDOM ACTS OF ELEVATOR MUSIC [CLAN ANALOGUE]

[

]

The ubiquitous ear buds and headphones have almost made lift music obsolete, but Matt Adair and Nick Wilson (who together come under the moniker City Frequencies) have chosen elevator music as the theme of their latest project. The pair has moved on from recording ambient city noises to generating material with a mix of 21st Century cyber music and the classic sounds of 80s synths.

Track titles are sure to appeal to Canberra’s APS set; however, the actual contents may struggle to retain their interest. Songs tend to be lengthy, generally settling into a pattern with relatively little variation within the individual tracks. ‘Waiting in the Foyer’ creates an atmosphere of expectation with digital beeps and ghostly humming. Alien buzzing and squelchy sounds give it a sci-fi vibe. You keep on expecting the tune to burst into life at any moment but, like the title implies, this is a wait that continues in an endless fashion.

The title ‘Their Eyes Met Across the Partition’ is indicative of romance, or at least conspiracy, but the music fails to convey either mood strongly, falling into a pattern that does not go anywhere. ‘Up and Down’, rising and falling in electronic cascades, exhibits more character.

However, ‘Power Walk’ is the CD highlight, capturing the vigour of a fast and steady pace, with effects giving a vivid impression of busy stop-go surroundings. ‘Lunchtime Meditation Session’ possesses the calm quality shared by most of the album. You could imagine being seated, listening to this music with eyes closed, within the James Turrell Skyspace at the National Gallery. There are two versions of the song, with the shorter, live version being more striking and edgier.

RORY MCCARTNEY

GIRAFFAGE TOO REAL

[COUNTER RECORDS]

[

]

Taiwanese-American synth pop artist Charlie Yin has been putting out EPs, remixes and mixtapes since 2011, but has finally bitten the bullet and launched his debut album. The evolution in his music, from the relatively raw sounds of his first EP Pretty Things to the polished Too Real is obvious.

Opener ‘Do U Want Me’ starts with a deep’Yeah’ worthy of Barry White, before its lush, upholstered sounds give way to fast flickering tones, accompanying simple, repeated verbal hooks. Ambient sounds kick off ‘Maybes’ in which the soulful singing of Japanese Breakfast is shrouded by effects, and halogen bright wails pierce the instrumental chorus.

The vocals of Matosic are distorted, echoed and chopped in highlight track ‘Slowly’. Possessing a strong pneumatic vibe, it bounces with energy and emits dazzling light beams, before a clever ending with the sound caught up in echoes of its own reflection.

In ‘Edge’, soulful vocals, melody and rhythm are cast into a blender, emerging as a chunky soup. ‘Green Tea’, another album highlight, sees the smooth singing of Angelica Bess combined with beats with the thick tread of 4WD tyres, clip-clop mouthed noises and a finger snapping rhythm. The song impresses with its viscous, textured qualities and another inventive ending, in which the sound stretches and ripples.

Yin is always exploring the plasticity of sound, whether it is in the cool vocals of Harrison Lipton in ‘19 Hours’, or the twangy Middle Eastern tune in ‘First Breath’. This musical journey is exemplified by ‘Earth’, where individually plucked notes widen and thicken, before sharpening to points of light, then beefing themselves up into heavy bass blows, turning prickly and finally evolving into a funky strut.

RORY MCCARTNEY

PAGE 64

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 65

[REVIEWS]

CODY ATKINSON’S SINGLES OF THE YEAR 2017

BLOOMING HECK BLOOMING HECK [HALF A COW RECORDS]

[

]

Melbourne garage poppers Blooming Heck comprise Katherine and Robert Simpson.

The pair were, respectively, the bassist and drummer/synth player for indie pop band The Triangles, before forming their own outfit. They dropped such idiosyncratic songs as ‘Beyond the Last Visible Dog’ before launching their debut, self-titled long player.

This is an impressive first album, with catchy, bright songs with melodies to grasp your heart and just the right degree of quirkiness to differentiate the band from the madding crowd. ‘Bury the Dead’ has a real ear worm tune, bright with just a little fuzzy guitar to prevent it being too sweet, before wrapping up with a touch of reverb. ‘Dream is Destiny’ is beguiling with its slow, chunky bass, while ‘Decline and Fall’ possesses a dreamy start, a choppy chorus rhythm and an acoustic guitar feature.

Delivering some of the disk’s best lyrics, ‘Rank and File’ provides a geopolitical commentary on things American, from Maccas to war zones. There are layers of meaning here, with a reference to ‘Eat, Pray Love and the Taliban’ and even a dig at the Icelandic band which forced the duo to drop its previous moniker ‘Human Woman’. There is a standout ending, with repeated chanting of the song title and a polka dot electro pattern. Just listening to the rising vocal line in ‘Detective or a Pervert’ is enough to sends shivers up the spine, with the song riding on a synth-concocted musical chassis.

Clever, if mysterious, animalistic references make ‘Seahag’ another standout track, with its hypnotic, gyrating tones. Synth effects become more prominent as the album progresses, with ‘Nuns on the Run’ benefitting from distorted robot vocalisations and a kaleidoscope of sound.

RORY MCCARTNEY

PAGE 66

COURTNEY BARNETT AND KURT VILE – ‘OVER EVERYTHING’ Vile and Barnett are quite well-known for their separate endeavours, but this collaboration seems to have brought out the best elements in each songwriter.

This is Barnett and Vile having a musical conversation about the difficulties they have in having conversations through music; a meta play done a thousand times before but rarely as good.

ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER FT. IGGY POP – ‘THE PURE AND THE DAMNED’ Iggy has done some relatively left field collaborations over the years, and made stylistic detours left right and centre; but even this was a stretch to picture five years ago. OPN, who mostly operates in the glitch/ drone/experimental type areas, dials back the experimentalism here as much as Pop seemingly embraces it. Collaborations from people this stylistically diverse fail more often than not (see Metallica and Lou Reed), but this one somehow pulls it off.

SPOON – ‘HOT THOUGHTS’ Erstwhile Austin veterans Spoon sit at the more successful end of the indie spectrum, which has seemingly granted them a bit more of a licence to play outside of their original wheelhouse. This album, also called Hot Thoughts, sees the band flirt with dance and funk more than they had before. But, ultimately, it is a simple but effective guitar hook that turns this track from an also-ran to a success.

FEVER RAY – ‘THIS COUNTRY’ It’s not as banger-y as mid-2000s era The Knife, but the balance here is something quite special to observe. Fever Ray, one half of the aforementioned duo, sounds extremely at home on her second record, with synth sweeps and jarring beats jockeying for attention against her distinctive vocal delivery. Part nightmare, part chaos, all brilliant.

PERFUME GENIUS – ‘DIE 4 YOU’ This might be the most patient pop song this year – no real drop, no massive chorus to sucker the punters in. But focusing on what is not there ignores the beauty that is present. Everything on ‘Die 4 You’ is here for a purpose; not a peep wasted in its length.

SHEER MAG – ‘EXPECT THE BAYONET’ Nearly a year ago to the release date of this fine magazine, these Philly garage punks played a Sunday arvo show at a house just off Northbourne Avenue. At that point, they had just released their third EP, and the hype was starting to slowly (and justifiably) catch up. ‘Expect The Bayonet’ is up there as the best rock song coming out of the US this year; and given the eight trillion rock bands there’s quite an achievement. Hop on the bandwagon now before it’s too full.

ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER – ‘FRENCH PRESS’ RBCF have had a hell of a year, going from being a solid band on the local Melbourne scene to making a mark in the USA; despite still flying somewhat under the radar at home. If you want to know why there’s a deal made of the band, ‘French Press’ is a great place to start. Nearly three songs for the price of one, the track just rolls consistently on a wave of guitars.

YAEJI – ‘DRINK I’M SIPPIN ON’ Korean-American trap isn’t something that I thought I’d be placing in a best of year list when the year started, but here we are.

Yaeji’s bilingual flow is hard to describe partially because there isn’t a whole lot to compare it with; it doesn’t overpower the beat, but doesn’t die beneath it either.

LIARS – ‘COINS IN MY CAGED FIST’ Liars are generally unpredictable as an outfit, and going from a band to a solo project fit that mould. ‘Coins In My Caged Fist’, and the rest of TFCF as a whole, is deliberately disjointed, with the pace changing at will. Angus Andrew’s voice is the critical element holding the whole thing together, turning it from a potential cluttering mess into a cohesive(ish) tune.

FATHER JOHN MISTY – ‘BALLAD OF THE DYING MAN’ It’s hard to tell when Father John Misty is being earnest, playing homage or playing the fool sometimes. The lyricism is rife with irony, and the music sounds like it was ripped from the guitar-pop annals of time past. But, it’s still good. I mean the tune is really tight, the lyrics well thought-out and Misty’s delivery just brings it all together.

@bmamag

Questioning

?

2017

with Cody Atkinson

Another year has drawn to a close, and 2017 is soon to be relegated to the dustbin of time. But what happened this year? Anything good? Come on, something must have gone down. Cody Atkinson will have a look anyway.

So, 2017 is over and done with then?

Yep, another action-packed year is down. Hit me with the questions.

So another venue went under in Canberra this year?

Yeah, 2017 marked the last we saw of ANU Bar, at least for the time being. The famed venue, perhaps the most notable one in Canberra across the past three decades, was forced to close its doors by ANU in order for the university to embark on a redevelopment of Union Court.

The redevelopment, slated to finish in 2019, is intended to include the building of vast amounts of student accommodation and a “health and wellness centre”, whatever that is, but no mention of an ANU Bar replacement. Which is a shame, because along with the ending of Zierholz at UC in 2016, it seems that live music on campus seems to be dying – at least somewhat. This column at least hopes that there are plans in place for a replacement to ANU Bar, or something to the same effect.

Wasn’t the closure of ANU Bar also clouded in controversy?

Yeah, there was an ANU Finale event that was booked, and it pretty much surmised what the internet has become in 2017. To recap: The Greenroom booked a show called “ANU Finale” at ANU Bar, and booked a male heavy line-up – again, not uncommon in 2017, or years past.

However, when asked why there was no female or gender non-binary performers on the bill (of which there is a pretty high number of both in Canberra right now who are extremely fucking good), the promoter came back with some offensive bullshit that I choose not to repeat here.

As a result of his responses three bands pulled out, including rising locals Slow Turismo and Kirklandd,

and headliners Regurgitator. Sensing the damage, two female fronted acts were added to the bill, but for many it was too little, too late. A counter show featuring female artists was put on at The Pheonix, and many more just didn’t bother with either. But that’s not even the saddest thing of the whole event.

What is?

The shitstorm somehow became the defining event of the Canberra music scene in 2017. Due to a series of fuckups from one bloke, one of the most diverse and accepting scenes in the country had the stigma of the retrogressive past stamped on it – especially to those who only half paid attention to the story.

Wait, I thought pill testing was the defining story of the broader ACT music scene in 2017?

Well, I’m not sure that you can count it, given that it didn’t end up happening. Twice.

Alright, bring it back...

Well in April a pill testing program was proposed to be rolled out at this year’s Groovin The Moo, before promptly being shut down by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, who stated that the proposal was not “well enough formed” to roll out. Some enterprising locals developed home pill testing kits, and promptly distributed them to punters – some consolation but not the full solution. However, in the wake of the decision, the Government put together a WORKING GROUP, literally the most powerful governmental decision-making force known to man.

Nothing ever dies in at the table of a working group, no siree.

So it got killed off then?

Surprisingly not! In late September ACT Health Minister Meegan Fitzharris announced that a pill testing program had been ticked off for use at Spilt Milk, in order to “keep people safe”.

facebook.com/bmamagazine

Finally, there would be an official trial of this potential life saving measure at a major event. Until it was shut down, a whole three weeks later.

Because it was on Commonwealth land, they walked back from the earlier commitment. So yes, it was killed off. But they’ve promised to try again in time for... Groovin The Moo! Hopefully this seemingly perpetual cycle ends soon.

So how about the broader trends in 2017? What will the year likely go down as being remembered for?

Well, if 2016 went down for the sheer number of famous people who died, then 2017 is likely to be remembered for the sleazy blokes who got caught being sleazy. The names run as a list of the powerful and influential both overseas and at home: Weinstein, Spacey, Hoffman, Ratner, Tambour, Toback... the list literally goes on nearly endlessly.

In the domestic music scene, there were also several allegations made. Melbourne folk-punk band The Football Club was essentially wound up this year after a number of allegations about band songwriter Ruby Markwell were made public.

Indigenous hard rock/metal band Dispossessed went quiet for a few months while allegations about their guitarist, Birrugan Dunn-Velasco, floated around various parts of the scene. That ended when the band called him out on their Facebook page, and kicked him out of the band.

Just a week or so before publication of this column, David Cutbush was removed from the touring agency Life Is Noise (who had brought bands such as Sunn O))) and Tortoise to Australia) after several allegations of inappropriate behaviour came to light. This isn’t an exhaustive list, and there is no punchline coming. Shitty behaviour is slowly starting to get called out more broadly and locally, and it’s about fucking time.

So enough negativity... what about the positive things from 2017?

Yeah, good point; 2017 wasn’t all bad. There were a lot of good shows in Canberra in 2017, and a lot of good local tunes this year too. My favourite show was probably the Kim Salmon show at Smiths, where Salmon and his band ripped through about four decades of his past work, including some of the country’s most pivotal punk/post-punk tunes in front of a crowd of about 20 people. But there are pretty much no wrong choices here – every week/weekend has multiple shows worth going to, both from tourers and locals alike. Sets from Wives, California Girls, Shoeb Ahmed, Hoodlum Shouts, Waterford, Passsive Smoke and Marlon Bando particularly stick in my mind from the local contingent, but there were countless top shows this year. Great work Canberra!

Yeah, great work Canberra!

If you read this column, it means two things are probably true. One – you’ve got a high threshold for pain delivered by bad writing; and two – you probably like/love music (hopefully of the local variety). Getting to shows, buying local records (at local record shops) and stomping out shit behaviour is the way that the local scene will continue to grow in 2018 and beyond.

PAGE 67

[FILM REVIEWS]

THE WORD ON FILMS WITH MAJELLA CARMODY

THE DISASTER ARTIST [

The recently announced list of 2018 Golden Globes nominees highlights what a varied year 2017 has been for cinema.

From horror smash Get Out to Christopher Nolan’s ambitious war epic Dunkirk, we were treated to some fascinating genre flicks. The DecemberJanuary period is always ripe with blockbusters (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and awards season buzz (look for Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and others listed below) – can’t wait to see what else is in store.

QUOTE OF THE ISSUE “JUST BECAUSE YOU WANT IT, DOESN’T MEAN IT CAN HAPPEN.” JUDD APATOW (AS HIMSELF), THE DISASTER ARTIST

WATCH OUT FOR...

Fashion and Costume Week: A week-long exploration of fashion and costume on the screen. Includes screenings of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Moulin Rouge! and The Dressmaker.

Costume Week is part of a season of events curated to complement Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits.

Gallery.

More information at nfsa.gov.au.

Season Pass: $50-$60 Sat-Mon Jan 6–14 The Florida Project (2017): Sean Baker (Tangerine) juxtaposes a group of kids’ summer of childhood wonder with their parents’ financial suffering in this Cannes-selected drama.

Starring Willem Dafoe.

Released Thu Dec 21 Call Me By Your Name (2017): Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash) directs this 1983-set tale of a blooming intimacy between two young people. Starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet.

Released Tue Dec 26

PAGE 68

]

One of the best experiences I’ve ever had watching a movie was in a packed 300-seat theatre watching Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 cult film, The Room. It’s often considered the ‘best of the worst’. It’s been described as ‘the Citizen Kane of bad movies’. It’s ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ interactive filmwatching where any sort of cinema etiquette is immediately thrown out the window.

The Disaster Artist, directed by and starring James Franco and based on the memoir of the same name by The Room actor Greg Sestero, is an ode to Wiseau’s disasterpiece, and an exploration of the bizarre and often perplexing friendship between Sestero and Wiseau (rivalling the absurdity of Herzog/Kinski?) in their quest to make it big in Hollywood.

The Disaster Artist also benefits from top-notch performances from Dave Franco (as Sestero/ Mark), Alison Brie, Seth Rogen, Jackie Weaver, Zac Efron and Josh Hutcherson – all of who look like they’re having an absolute blast reliving the Wiseau dream.

While James Franco’s portrayal of the passionate, enigmatic and possible part-mythical creature Wiseau is exceptional (recently earning him a Best Actor nomination in the Musical/Comedy category at the Golden Globes), his direction is somewhat lacklustre, and his film does not tell you anything you don’t already know if you’re a fan of The Room. The Franco brothers’ adoration for The Room certainly shines through and the chemistry of the cast is engaging and fun throughout.

You probably won’t find The Disaster Artist nearly as enjoyable if you haven’t seen The Room. Overall, a genuine, entertaining companion piece to the original.

MAJELLA CARMODY

THE SECRET SCRIPTURE [

]

Jim Sheridan’s adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s novel sins like many page to screen translations: awkward, episodic pacing, exposition via flashback, contrived narrative and long-signalled twists which fail to surprise. Although striving for realism, the degree to which original source material has been condensed gives the film an almost fairytale or biblical fable quality.

And a dark tale it is. Accounts of systemic abuse in the Catholic Church abound today, and the damage wrought on the vulnerable, unwed mothers confined in St Malachy’s asylum form the sad heart of this one.

Dr. William Greene (Eric Bana) attends an urgent evaluation of St Malachy’s last elderly patient. The headstrong Rose McNulty (Vanessa Redgrave) is resisting attempts to relocate her from the dilapidated building, now earmarked for redevelopment.

What follows is a tragic tale of a 1940s sectarian Ireland, the vindictive cruelty of a church acting without restraint, its perverse will inflicted on the young Rose (Rooney Mara), soon to lose her love and her newborn child.

While Sheridan (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father) pulls all the melodramatic strings the film delivers a curiously anticlimactic ending. A beautifully shot production and lush sentimental score (‘Moonlight Sonata’ no less) only serve to distract from the real drama of the injustice at the story’s core.

Ultimately this film is held together

by Redgrave’s canny performance and a luminous Mara as the young, strong-willed Rose.

LOVING VINCENT [

]

A postmaster’s son, Armand Roulin, having reluctantly agreed to attempt to deliver a letter from the late genius painter, Vincent van Gogh, to Vincent’s brother Theo, finds himself embroiled in contradictions in the painter’s apparent suicide.

Armand’s father, Joseph Roulin, had been a favourite of the painter, who had painted both father and son.

Though the tale of Armand’s journey of discovery is strictly speaking a fictional one, the hypothesis at which he arrives concerning Vincent’s death exactly reflects one published in a 2011 biography, the mystery leading the film’s writerdirectors, Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, to set the film a year after Vincent’s death.

The tale is remarkable enough; with the film’s artistry in depicting every character’s facial expressions and unconscious gestures, the tale becomes entrancing; particularly entrancing for being composed entirely of gorgeously hand-painted images, into which are painted characters who have been filmed in recreated scenes or against green screens.

What makes these images unique, though, is that they are largely based either on actual paintings

by Vincent or on paintings as the 97 oil painters involved imagined Vincent would have painted them, 125 of Vincent’s actual paintings forming the basis of much of the scenery. The result is incredibly beautiful, a montage of frames each a meticulously crafted facsimile of a van Gogh revealing a mystery in colours of warm humanity.

Loving Vincent is an exceptional cinematic experience. See it if you can.

JOHN P. HARVEY

AJP THOMAS

@bmamag

TULIP FEVER [

I haven’t seen enough films starring Dame Judi Dench to think of her as anything other than James Bond’s M, and I feel slightly guilty about this. I know she’s an accomplished actor with a substantial body of work, but in my head she is the acerbic, professional, but not uncaring head of MI6.

Tulip Fever assuages that guilt somewhat. Judi Dench is an acerbic, professional, but not uncaring abbess whose convent grows tulips in 17th century Amsterdam.

Christoph Waltz is a Dutch spice magnate who very nearly arouses sympathy. Holliday Grainger, as the servant girl, does arouse sympathy.

Then there are the rest of them.

Alicia Vikander is pretty (not to mention naked for most of the middle third of the movie). Dane DeHaan… has interesting eyes.

And Cara Delevingne is also in this movie.

The visuals, at least, are gorgeous: Amsterdam and its inhabitants’ wardrobes are entirely convincing.

Think The Girl with a Pearl Earring, but without any of the passion. Or cinematic worth. The dialogue is infuriatingly lazy. The story is a stupid soap opera of nonsensical plot clichés. Even the obvious parallels between the insane tulip market and the characters’ lives are heavy-handed and farcical.

That said, a farce is ludicrous, but deliberately ludicrous.

Improbable events and characters are thoughtfully constructed and put together, and the result is exaggerated, absurd and, if done well, glorious. Tulip Fever is not a farce. It’s simply a waste of everybody’s time.

JEONGHYUN KIM

WONDER WHEEL

]

[

]

Woody Allen’s Wonder Wheel plays like a very personal wander down the boardwalks of his Coney Island childhood. Along the way, it retraces themes and characters longtime observers will find familiar.

There’s Kate Winslet (Ginny), playing Cate Blanchett playing Jasmine from Blue Jasmine, the faded Southern (Brooklyn) belle looking for any way out of the quiet despair of marriage to crude merry-go-round operator, Jim Belushi (‘Humpty’).

There’s Juno Temple (Carolina), Mariel Hemingway’s bright-eyed, full-hearted Tracy, from Manhattan, on the run from the mob.

And there’s Justin Timberlake (Mickey), a handsomer, more charming surrogate for Allen than any predecessor – a starry-eyed lifeguard who becomes the object of both women’s affections.

Timberlake’s Allen surrogate takes on a more villainous, casually cruel dimension than any other.

Like other Allen surrogates, Mickey invites the audience to consider the possibility of the artist creating his own moral universe. Unlike other Allen surrogates, JT’s wishywashy pursuit of both women has devastating consequences for all involved.

Is this film in some part Allen showing his capacity for reflexivity and growth? I dearly hope so.

Allen navel-gazing aside, Wonder Wheel is a treat for fans of Blue Jasmine. It’s a highly theatrical production (some of that stage lighting will break your heart) with terrific performances from the four leads. If Winslet’s performance weren’t so similar to Blanchett’s Oscar-winning Jasmine from 2013, she would surely be a frontrunner for the prize this year.

BEN YAN

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 69

SLOP OF THE POPS WITH JOSHUA MARTIN

Exploring the murkiest, most absurd and experimental corners of music, that you’ve probably never heard of, and may never want to hear of again.

CHRISTMAS MUSIC, for those partial to the harsher, noisier, sloppier side of things, should be aurally averted at all cost. The saccharine sickness that consumes our shopping malls in a frenzied celebration of those singers whose creativity has shrivelled into a sopping dog pellet, and last gasp at success lies in the tried and terribly true holiday songbook, is a kryptonite to those who love the harsher frequencies. Torturously major keys, actual melody, comfortability threatens the tenets of our listening mission statement, and resolution must be found.

Thankfully, I am not the first person to grapple with such a conundrum, but I may very well only be the second. In 1996, the first and only ever noiserock christmas compilation, entitled ominously and simply The Christmas Album, was mysteriously released by Sony Records in Japan, collating the warped brains of eight separate noise rock acts including seminal harsh noise genius Merzbow and grindcore beatniks Melt Banana. The cover avoids any kind of contrived nastiness in favour of a eerily innocent box of toys. No media survives from its release, that is if they ever even bothered promoting it in the first place, and it is largely missing from all of the artists listed discographies. I would posit that this may have resulted not from unmarketability; rather there has rarely been an album that speaks so much for itself.

Each song is a uniquely festive fragment of insanity, rendering the Christmas originals a distant dream at the core of delightfully nightmarish reimaginings.

Incomprehensibility and inconsistency are the crucial elements to the record; no two tracks are even close to being similar. It’s as if christmas was explained to an alien, who

PAGE 70

was then asked to reinterpret its meaning, which was then translated back and forth into

echoing the equally disturbing ‘Girls of Porn’ by Mr Bungle.

‘Marshmallow World’ – God Is My Co-Pilot

‘Here Comes Santa Claus’ – Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her

A Sonic Youth-esque bizarro ode to the “snow-coloured world” and all of that hackneyed carolling allegory, that appears to have been played by a high school band on ketamine.

Easily the most listenable song on the record, SSKHKH baby voice their way through the lyrics over a bouncing bass groove for a fleeting one minute of normality.

‘The Bells of St. Mary’ – Gastr De Sol A haunting instrumental that uneasily slides over scattershot

[It’s] kryptonite to those who love the harsher frequencies.

obscurity via Google Translate, then played into a giant tin cylinder. Here, condensed for your brief attention span, is a track-bygodforsaken-track.

‘White Christmas’ – Melt Banana Melt Banana make White Christmas feel like you’re having a brain aneurysm whilst stuck in a Greensleeves soundtracked elevator. The grindcore yelps and rabid transition to lounge music in its coda harken to Naked City.

‘I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus’ – Secret Chiefs 3 When the Jackson Five sing this, the fact that the song sung by many others could be revoltingly perverted is easily forgotten.

Secret Chiefs 3’s deeply uncomfortable vocal delivery provides an effective reminder, fit with lip smacking, suction noises and a trembling organ, heavily

sequencing like church bells in an anxious dream. Its ambience certainly evokes a religious feeling, much less festive, the piano keys wonkily finding their way to curl around your spine.

‘Sleigh Ride’ – Hair Stylistics A slapshot sound collage, slapping round the side of your face with scratchy, spotty soundbites of static, distortion, silly melodica. It’s like the inside of a hyperactive child’s brain, switching between endless unconsciousness and saturated sound.

‘Parade Of The Soldiers’ – S×O×B

‘Silent Night’ – Merzbow Few things on this entire planet come close to Merzbow’s “rendition” of ‘Silent Night’. A lone voice echoes against tinny acoustic guitar just slightly off-key in fist-clenchingly, discomforting and chilling in equal measure.

Soon, electronic spluttering arises, and the guitar becomes near euphoric – is this sustained melody from Merzbow!? Alas, the familiar white winds of static roll in howling, erasing, burying, pummelling goodwill into the pavement and demanding it never walk these parts again.

The world will never see such a magnificently abrasive entry into the Christmas canon ever again, and thus unfortunately you may still be subject to the horrifically dulcet tones of the holiday golem they call Buble. My only other recommendation is Bob Dylan’s Christmas album – now that is what I call harsh noise.

Wooden

There appears to be not a single copy of this track online, but I am prepared to go out on a limb and take a guess that it doesn’t quite sound like Harry Connick Jr.

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 71

PAGE 72

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 73

[THE WORD ON GIGS]

THE EAST POINTERS AINSLIE ARTS CENTRE THURSDAY DECEMBER 7 Hailing from Prince Edward Island in Canada, Celtic folk trio The East Pointers packed the punters in for their one Canberra show. The organisers had sold tickets in excess of available seating, so the audience had to grab chairs from the bar area, or stand along the walls.

While they trooped on stage armed with guitar, fiddle and banjo, their opener was an a capella song about salty seagulls and moonshine.

Then the band leapt into a furious, banjo led, foot-powered drum and tambourine-propelled instrumental.

It was a real foot tapper, that had the audience clapping along.

‘Tanglewood’, from the new LP, had a slower, more contemporary beginning, before leaping into a flat-out traditional Celtic tune. It got the first dancers up and moving, with the floor filling rapidly over succeeding songs.

There was a song about the Canadian version of fly in, fly out, jobs and the trouble they bring, done in a more contemporary indiefolk style. Another number, ‘82 Fires’, was written with Liz Stringer.

Penned during a tour of fire-ravaged Tasmania, it conveyed the fear and uncertainty that arise when your future can depend on wind change. Another song about mining expressed the dangers of the job, and not knowing if you would see your family at the end of the shift.

The band comes from a strong tradition, going back seven generations of fiddle players, and tunes from this heritage, one featuring a mouth harp, were included in the set list. The trio could do the atmospherics too, with spaced, echoing guitar plucks and a gently wielded fiddle bow. However, it was the fast songs, particularly those with key and rhythm changes which the band excels in, that really animated the audience.

RORY MCCARTNEY

PHOTOS BY ANDREW MOONEY

PAGE 74

@bmamag

It’s testimony to Canberra currently that there are so many great local bands you can catch supporting on a regular basis, and at their own headline shows. This affords one the opportunity to “get to know” these bands and compare performances over several occasions. Tonight I realised how great the harmonies and dynamics of Moaning Lisa are. They were a great grungy warm up for our headliners and had a strong fan base already observing closely from front of stage.

Once Eliza and the Delusionals announced they were from the Gold Coast I understood more why I found them weirdly awesome.

They produced great poprock effortlessly, reminding me somewhat of Alex Lahey. Despite starting with an empty dancefloor, they finished with quite a few people back up front.

There was certainly an air of anticipation around for Dear Seattle. Nearly selling out your first Canberra show will do that I guess. Anticipation can sometimes

DEAR SEATTLE

TRANSIT BAR THURSDAY NOVEMBER 30

create expectations and lead to disappointment but that wasn’t the case tonight. The lads have energy and heart and I noticed more of their melodic side tonight than I expected, and they were actually

some good reviews from friends.

Despite good stage presence from ACADEMY their lead singer, they just didn’t FRIDAY NOVEMBER 24 seem to have the depth in their set that I had hoped for.

Tonight’s Academy experience was very different from my last, and Tonight’s crowd was rowdy, and whether the genre of the live acts ready (and allowed to have drinks has anything to do with it is yet to on the dancefloor this week). This be determined. Teen Jesus and suited Polish Club superbly (their the Jean Teasers kicked off a big subsequent Facebook post advised bill of rock and proved more than that they thought it was the most worthy local supports (their Jungle crowd surfers they’ve had). When I Giants cover was an additional saw them at Transit earlier this year I felt like I was annoying ‘observers’ treat). with my desire to move, yet tonight Pist Idiots were the surprise of the I took a step back to take time to night (as advised by the door people admire some of their deeper soul when I rocked up early thinking all sounds in songs such as ‘Divided’.

Academy live shows started and New tunes from Okie Dokie were a ended early, and set times were welcome addition to their already up outside, and were fortunately long list of great songs, increasing later than I had thought). At first their status as one of Oz’s best live I thought they were somewhat acts (it just means we don’t get to abrasive and heavy, yet there is hear ‘Able’ much anymore). something extremely melodic about them too. This unique blend JARROD MCGRATH had me increasingly intrigued and hooked by the end of their set.

POLISH CLUB

I’d been looking forward to seeing Press Club after enjoying two of their recent releases and hearing facebook.com/bmamagazine

the ‘poppiest’ band of the evening.

With only an EP released so far they beefed up the set with a cover of ‘Freak’ and gave us a couple of newbies that sounded awesome.

By the time they closed with ‘The

RED SEA

TRANSIT BAR FRIDAY DECEMBER 8

I only caught the last song played by GtoA. It involved a lot of laughing while singing and both members of the band were pleased (and surprised?) when they managed to finish the number together. How this reflected the rest of the set is unknown. Local black metallers Chud did what they do best, laying down a tight set of blistering songs to the roaring vocals of Whiskey F. Jones. His impressive guitar was matched by the flying fingers of the guest bassist Kate Garner (in honour of the Women of Metal theme of She Riff Vol 7).

A set highlight was Garner’s bass solo (delivered sitting on the stage edge).

Sydney progressive metal band Red Sea took the night to another level with a show which combined the incredible guitar of Simon Owen with the operatic vocals of frontwoman Erica Bowron. A dynamic performer, Bowron had

Meadows’ they confirmed why I think they will be quite big, quite soon.

JARROD MCGRATH

limbered up before the set, in preparation for her gobsmacking delivery of soaring vocals and her thrashing away on a separate percussion rig during the set closer.

Most songs came from the band’s EP, but there were a couple of hints of new material, including ‘Hurricane’, which indicated that the next recordings will be at least as heavy as the band’s debut.

The crowd was disappointingly sparse, but they provided a fullon response, with applause that went on and on, especially after ‘Battlescar’. At night’s end the shouts of “one more song” were met with bemusement by the band, which had exhausted its repertoire.

After a short huddle, they provided a reprise of ‘Caravan’, with the deal that the punters had to get up and dance.

RORY MCCARTNEY

PAGE 75

[ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE]

EXHIBITIONS AROUND TOWN

Unfinished Business exhibition

A photographic exhibition of stories from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disabilities. By award winning artist Belinda Mason.

TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE

Dombrovskis: Journeys Into the Wild See Peter Dombrovskis’ photographs of the Tasmanian wilderness, which changed the way we think about our environment.

National Library of Australia

Unfinished Business

A photographic exhibition of stories from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disabilities. By award winning artist Belinda Mason.

Monday to Friday 10am – 6pm, Saturdays 10am – 4pm. Free.

1/12 – 20/1 TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE

Animal Tales

A menagerie of glass creatures by Spike Deane, Mark Eliott, and Peter Nilsson. Monday to Friday 10am – 6pm, Saturdays 10am – 4pm. Free.

1/12 – 20/1 TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE

Home is where the heat is

To celebrate our tenth anniversary, Canberra Glassworks will showcase site-specific works by our studio artists. Curator Jane Cush has invited artists who have taught, hired, worked in residence or from a studio at Canberra Glassworks to respond to the unique architecture and design features of the historic Kingston Power House. The whole of Canberra Glassworks will be activated, including niches rarely seen by the public, throughout the building.

Showing until 14/1 CANBERRA GLASSWORKS Waving the Red Flag: Chinese posters 1949-1976 The authorities in the early decades of the People’s Republic of China used posters to instruct and mobilize the general populace. A10am-5pm.

FREE. Showing until February 2.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

PAGE 76

@bmamag

[ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE] WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 20

SUNDAY DECEMBER 24

DEC 20 – JAN 13 Cassidy’s Ceili and special guests

A traditional Hogmonay Dinner Dance with sensational local Celtic dance band joined by pipers and drummers to get your heart thumpin! 6:30pm

LIVE MUSIC

LIVE MUSIC

The Wiggles

Sunday Arvo Sessions

THE BURNS CLUB

THE PLAYHOUSE

Irish Jam Session. Traditional Irish musicians in the pub from late afternoon. 4pm.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

CHISHOLM TAVERN

Wiggly Christmas Big Show tour. Info at thewiggles.com.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

THURSDAY DECEMBER 21 LIVE MUSIC

ANU POP UP VILLAGE

Live Music

ANU POP-UP VILLAGE

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

Silentia with Cello

Acoustic prog rock covers with Cello.

Free entry. 7pm THE BASEMENT

Chicago Charles & Danger Dave Free. 9pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

FRIDAY DECEMBER 22 LIVE MUSIC Baso Xmas Party

Metropolis Urban Rock. 300 Free beers and door prizes. Free entry.

Pop up food stalls over summer.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 27

Zackerbilks

A Canberra based, high energy traditional Trad-Dixie Jazz band. Free Entry. 8pm HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

ON THE TOWN Equinox

With OPIUO. ACADEMY

SATURDAY DECEMBER 23 LIVE MUSIC PÏÏR E NHIËËR Album Launch

With Akhim Maluk (Jay Hak), Di Black, Young Low, Atem Good and Manyok Juach. $30 at the door.

THE BASEMENT

Hit Parade

One of Canberra’s favourite party/dance bands. 8:30pm THE VIKINGS CLUB

City Fever

Exciting and Energetic dancin’ show band from Qld. 9pm THE HELLENIC CLUB WODEN

Live Music

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

Special K

Free. 8:30pm

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

The Hellenic presents Canberra’s best current dance, pop and rock covers acts every Fri and Sat night.

SUMMERNATS

Australia’s biggest horsepower party.

With Wolfmother, Thundamentals & 28 Days. Tickets at summernats.com.au.

EXHIBITION PARK

SUNDAY JANUARY 7 LIVE MUSIC

ANU POP-UP VILLAGE

Sunday Arvo Sessions

THURSDAY DECEMBER 28 LIVE MUSIC Live Music

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

FRIDAY DECEMBER 29

Free. 8:30pm

THE DICKSON TRADIES

Smooth Ops

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

ANU POP UP VILLAGE

Mitch Canas/Oscar

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

THE DICKSON TRADIES

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Pop up food stalls over summer.

LIVE MUSIC

Live Music

Free. 10pm

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

ANU POP UP VILLAGE

The Hellenic presents Canberra’s best current dance, pop and rock covers acts every Fri and Sat night.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Heuristic

Live Music

THE HELLENIC CLUB WODEN

CoverArt

Set times 5pm/ 10pm. Free.

Finn are The Last of the travelling Minstrels, Jim Finn vox, drums. Paul Surany guitar. Mike Bellamy bass. 9pm

LIVE MUSIC

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

THE BASEMENT

THE HELLENIC CLUB WODEN

Finn

SATURDAY JANUARY 6

Special K

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Late Night Last Friday

Afro Caribbean vinyl night with Manila Folder.

MONSTER KITCHEN & BAR

Live Music

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

SATURDAY DECEMBER 30 LIVE MUSIC Shannanigans Entertainment Presents

New Years Eve Party! Across 2 Stages 15 Bands playing covers and original music. BBQ and bubbly! Tix at www. moshtix.com.au. 4pm THE BASEMENT

Finn

Born from the roots of classic Rhythm and Blues, Finn have a big 3 piece sound with hypnotic grooves and blistering solos ‘that’s made for dancing’. Free. 8pm CHISHOLM TAVERN

Live Music

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

SUNDAY DECEMBER 31 LIVE MUSIC Sunday Arvo Sessions Irish Jam Session. Traditional Irish musicians in the pub from late afternoon. 4pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUByour heart

facebook.com/bmamagazine

Pop up food stalls over summer.

ANU POP-UP VILLAGE

NYE Tiki Party

Free entry. Best dress prizes. 7pm THE OLD CANBERRA INN

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 3 SOMETHING DIFFERENT ANU POP UP VILLAGE

Pop up food stalls over summer.

ANU POP-UP VILLAGE

THURSDAY JANUARY 4 LIVE MUSIC Live Music

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

SOMETHING DIFFERENT SUMMERNATS

Australia’s biggest horsepower party.

With Wolfmother, Thundamentals & 28 Days. Tickets at summernats.com.au.

EXHIBITION PARK

FRIDAY JANUARY 5 LIVE MUSIC Frenzal Rhomb

Details TBA.

THE BASEMENT

Dana Hassel/ Chicago Charles Trio Set times 5pm/10pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Live Music

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

SOMETHING DIFFERENT SUMMERNATS

Australia’s biggest horsepower party.

With Wolfmother, Thundamentals & 28 Days. Tickets at summernats.com.au.

EXHIBITION PARK

Irish Jam Session. Traditional Irish musicians in the pub from late afternoon. 4pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUByour heart

SOMETHING DIFFERENT SUMMERNATS

Australia’s biggest horsepower party.

With Wolfmother, Thundamentals & 28 Days. Tickets at summernats.com.au.

EXHIBITION PARK

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 10 SOMETHING DIFFERENT ANU POP UP VILLAGE

Pop up food stalls over summer.

ANU POP-UP VILLAGE

THURSDAY JANUARY 11 LIVE MUSIC Live Music

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

Dana Hassall Duo Free. 9pm

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

FRIDAY JANUARY 12 LIVE MUSIC Live Music

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

DANCE Shall We Dance

Get excited by all things Baz Luhrmann with live ballroom dancing.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

SATURDAY JANUARY 13 LIVE MUSIC Live Music

Thursdays and Fridays at 5.30pm, Saturdays at 7.30pm. Info at thetradies. com.au.

THE DICKSON TRADIES

PAGE 77

PAGE 78

@bmamag

facebook.com/bmamagazine

PAGE 79

PAGE 80

@bmamag