BMA Mag 375 Jul 20 2011

www.bmamag.com #375JULY20

TIM ROGERS Gives Canberra a good rogering

FRENZAL RHOMB

Play stupid songs with swear words in them

#374JULY06

ccc Paul kelly songs AS you’ve never heard them before

Meet me in the

Middle of the Air

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Foreshore Festival 2011

“There may or may not have been some windmilling of our junk”.

To find out whose junk turn to page 40.

#375J U LY 2 6 Fax: 02 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne Allan Sko General Manager Allan Sko T: 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com Advertising Manager Paul Foley T: 6257 4360 E: sales@bmamag.com

Editor Julia Winterflood T: 02 6257 4456 E: editorial@bmamag.com

On Saturday November 26 Foreshore will again be held in the Parliamentary Triangle.

Foreshore 2010 saw tickets sell out in record time and the capacity crowd was treated to stellar performances by The Temper Trap, Calvin Harris, Tiesto, Cut Copy, Art v Science and more. Foreshore 2011’s diverse line up of national and international talent will be announced on Friday July 22. Limited pre-sale reduced price tickets will be available exclusively to Foreshore website newsletter subscribers from midday Monday July 25. Subscribe to the Foreshore newsletter at foreshorefestival.com.au to score the first Foreshore tickets. Tickets go on sale to the general public 9am Thursday July 28 and will be available online at the Foreshore site, Moshtix and Ticketek and in store at Landspeed Records and Parliament Clothing.

New Transit Bar site

Exhibitionist Editor Julia Winterflood E: editorial@bmamag.com

Transit Bar has a sexy new site, transitbar.com.au. It’s the first port of call for all Transit gig listings, news, competitions and product info. They’ve also got a fancy little blog for interesting tidbits and fascinating conundrums. If you’re keen to be alerted when new items are posted join the mailing list through which they’ll have weekly news and other bits of Transit info going out weekly.

Film Editor Melissa Wellham

Mandala at The Maram

Accounts Manager Yu Xie T: 02 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com Super Sub-Editor Zoya Patel Graphic Design Cole Bennetts

NEXT ISSUE 376 OUT AUG 03 EDITORIAL DEADLINE JULY 25 ADVERTISING DEADLINE JULY 28 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA is independently owned and published. Opinions expressed in BMA are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

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Fast emerging alternative rock group Mandala are bursting onto the live scene in 2011 after much anticipation. The group’s consistency in producing big riffs, melodic vocal lines, ambient and thought provoking instrumental sections as well as driving, intricate beats establishes them as a potent and memorable force. With a highly energetic and hypnotic live show, Mandala unleash at

Saturday Night Hop Ever wanted to indulge in a bit of nostalgia, show off a pre-loved frock and pretend that the world is a simple, Christian, pre-pre-apocalypse, post-war, optimistic, baby booming wonder zooming into a bright future and beyond?

Well now ya can, at Saturday Night Hop. Get out your Bodgie and Widgie gear, crank up your Bill Hayley records, locate a Brylcreem outlet, erase the last 50 years from your memory, grow a moustache, stock up on ultra thick frangers, refresh your jiving skills (come an hour early for a lesson), send your sweetheart a corsage, burn your Korea draft card, watch a few episodes of Mad Men and in any other way you feel suitable, get ready for Saturday Night Hop. Saturday July 30 is the date, Corroboree Park Hall, Ainslie the venue, and 8pm the start time. See you there!

Skate in the City a success Now in its final weeks Skate in the City has brought a much need breath of fresh, and we do mean fresh, air to Garema Place. With many sessions running close to capacity it has exceeded all expectations of

the event organisers Canberra CBD Limited. CEO Stephen Gregory says, “The first year of Skate in the City is shaping up as a huge success. The skate shows have been well received and the school holiday shows have had very strong demand.

Planning will commence almost immediately for 2012.” Many sessions are selling out so we suggested you pre book at inthecitycanberra.com.au/ skate .

Ice Cube Plays Canberra Rap legend Ice Cube, member of the notorious West Coast N.W.A crew and Hollywood dabbler (he was in Three Kings, remember?), will be touring Australia this September, and Canberra has landed a Friday gig to boot. The tour is being brought over by Hip Hop TV, MTV Classic and the amusingly named Kokyprik Records, the same folk responsible for the very well attended Canberra Bone Thugs-N-Harmony gig mid 2010. The Cube will also have fellow Westside Connection member WC by his side and there are unconfirmed rumours that DJ Crazy Toones and one of his sons will also perform (no doubt he’ll be a chip off the old block a yuk yuk yuk). It all plays out at the AIS Arena on Friday September 16. Tickets are on sale now from Ticketek and will set you back 88 ducats + bf.

“Now Cubey,” Ice Cube’s mother would tell him, “don’t pull faces or the wind might change direction and you’ll be stuck like that forever...”

The Maram with heavyweights My Own True Love and Eyes to the Sky on Saturday July 30.

FROM THE BOSSMAN This Winter has been a cracker. It’s been proper cold (the mercury could beat Barbados Slim in a limbo contest); a vast grey canopy has perpetually stretched above us; and the air has a sharpness to it that makes everyone walk around with a face like a slapped arse. In short, it’s been the kind of Winter that actually justifies the use of a capital W. A lot of people don’t like the cold, and to be fair there’s a lot to dislike. Any serious injury you’ve ever received in your life suddenly makes itself keenly known once again, as if it were only yesterday that Uncle Ron’s perfectly middled square cut of a cricket ball gleefully introduced itself to your left testicle.

Mornings are hard, having to begrudgingly peel yourself from the serene warmth of your bed into the icy crypt that is the rest of your house, only to embrace the crushingly inevitable kiss of wrinkled feet flesh with icy bathroom tiles. And not to mention that during these months one tends to be more mucus than man.

But we need the cold to appreciate the warmth, to make mulled wine and hot toddys mean something. Juxtaposition after all is the driving force of life; without sadness we wouldn’t know happiness, without illness we wouldn’t know good health and without death blah blah blah art philo-wank you get the idea. In short, all you need to do is approach the cold with a foolhardy Spirit of Adventure, because it makes simple everyday mundane acts into feats of daring, heroic achievement.

YOU PISSED ME OFF! Has someone yanked yer chain recently? Well send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and have your sweet vengeance.

And for the love of God, keep it brief! [All entries contain original spellings] Calling all members of the Borange Pants-less Brigade. Put some pants on, for all our sakes. I don’t want to see the crotch of your knickers when you lean forward to peer in the door of the bar you’ve queued outside (although I guess I should be thankful that you remembered to put them on). Put your piss-flaps away!

Walking around in nothing but your jumper and a pair of stiletto ankle-boots in sub-zero temperatures has nothing to do with female empowerment and everything to do with being a tragic, attention-seeking bimbo whose self-worth is measured by the number of free Stolis you can scam from metro meat-heads.

And quit whining that you’re cold. Of COURSE you’re cold bronze-orange might be a warm colour but it’s no substitute for trousers. It was bad enough when you were getting about in only your tights but this is a whole new world of special. Even Lady Gaga wouldn’t nip down to the local in so little. Please. Please.

Use your brain. I know you have one (I almost caught a glimpse of it through your clacker). Don’t ask your friends what they think about your outfit. They didn’t do you any favours last time.

So, before you head out tonight, step away from your fashion magazine delusions and take a good, long look in a full-length mirror. Right. Now turn around and lean forward…

I was reclining late one eve with the dear lady wife, when the thought suddenly snapped into my head – as important yet halfremembered thoughts are wont to do at the most inopportune moments – that we had no milk for the morrow’s breakfasting. It was a cold, dark, tempestuous eve, with an icy gale lashing a thin layer of frost over anything it touched. It was enough to make a grown man groan, but fortunately I am not one of those, not mentally at least (massive balls, though… Ladies).

This was an opportunity to rug up as if preparing to battle the South Pole and boldly stride into the cold climes of Canberra to forage some vital milk supplies, and possibly some booze, for the good of the family. I wasn’t Scott of the Antarctic, I was Allan of the Scant Tar Pit (the roads near our house aren’t that great). In summertime this would amount to a simple and, when we factor in the booze, somewhat selfish endeavour. In Winter, it’s god damn heroic. “I’m just going outside,” I said gravely to my wife. “I may be some time.”

I was six minutes.

But what a six minutes it was. People at Skate in the City seem to be embracing this policy. Despite wily winds whipping wickedly at the extremities (occasioning 60kph with a -5 wind chill factor) the rink arena in Garema has been selling like ice cakes. I would argue those who embraced those Armageddon-y* climes can attest to two things – a) the excitement and 2) how awesome it was to get warm again, and feel the fiery embrace of a mulled wine in the belly.

So go forth, my little Biggie Shackletons of Canberra. Take the power back, embrace the chill, if only to appreciate how lovely it will be to feel your fucking toes once again.

ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com *it’s a word, look it up…

Actually no, please don’t look it up just take my word for it.

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and

another thing…

The following is part of an ongoing series. To catch up jump on the BMA website, bmamag.com .

I’m struggling to believe what Bobby said 25 minutes later as we enter the arrivals area at Copenhagen Airport. He’s refusing to speak to me, so I can’t reason with him. I leave him at the baggage carousel to await his Les Paul and head for a payphone. Rhona needs to know what’s going on. “He’s fired me. I spilt coffee on his trousers on the plane and he went ballistic.” Rhona is also now going ballistic. The phone is eating up the only euros I brought with me and all I’m getting is a level of abuse inversely proportional to the silent treatment I’m being subjected to by the boss. I decide to bite the bullet and just talk across her. “Rhona, I’m running out of money. I’m going to find one of the TV people, get him in the limo, and then I’m going to see if I can get an early flight home. I’ve had enough.”

“How will I contact you? How will I know if Bobby is doing what he’s supposed to be doing?”

“You can’t and you won’t. We both left our mobiles at home because we didn’t want to lose them somewhere. Look, I’ve got 20 euros left. I’ll call you again once I’ve ensured he’s met up with the Danish TV people.” When I go back and look for Bobby, he’s looking lost, hunched up and frightened in a corner waiting for someone to take charge of him. When he notices me he straightens himself up, and

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his expression hardens. He joins me wordlessly and we make our way out with a minimum of formality through customs and out onto the concourse. As we make our way to the gaggle of chauffeurs and cab drivers holding up signs with people’s names on them I notice one girl who is clearly in the television industry at a low level. I hurry away from Bobby towards her, grinning, I realise now, in a manner that probably set her to thinking I was possibly less stable than my charge. Still she’s a professional and she switches into job mode with admirable swiftness as soon as she pulls herself together.

“Mister Strong! I am Lena, and I’ll be looking after you and Mr Shrubbs today.”

Her accent makes my knees go week, but I rally admirably.

“Hello Lena. Look, there’s been a bit of a problem. Mr Shrubbs is not feeling himself today - ” Her super-expressive face tells me she feels Bobby’s pain. Not half as much as I do, but she feels it all the same.

“- the upshot of which is he doesn’t want me to come to the studios with him. I’m afraid you’ll have to take charge of him on your own.”

I wouldn’t have thought it possible but her eyes have just got even wider. Bobby is looking bewildered again, and she ushers him off with the guy driving the people carrier, who tries to take the Les Paul and is greeted by what can only be described as a snarl. I walk a few paces behind whilst I give her the good oil on some of Bobby’s more alarming foibles. This will be a good test for Lena, I’m thinking. I tell her if anything goes badly wrong that she may be able to get hold of me in the VIP lounge here if I can’t get on an early flight – beyond that she’s on her own… scott adams thirtyyearsofrnr@hotmail.com

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WHO: Leo Joseph and Nightless Lovers WHAT: A Night of Percy Mayfield Tunes WHEN: Sat July 23 WHERE: Tilley’s

Says Leo, “Percy Mayfield’s Specialty Records cuts from the early ‘50s always hit me like lightning. That 1950s West Coast blues sound and Mayfield’s lyrics about ‘50s America still ring true today.

Maxwell Davis’ horn lines were gold then and still are today. As a blues piano player I homed in on Willard McDaniel’s keys work.

Nightless Lover was a great song and hit me as a cool name for a band too. Nightless Lovers it had to be. Lost Love is our first CD of Percy Mayfield tunes and we’re downright chuffed to be launching it at Tilley’s.” Tix $15 from the venue. Doors open 6pm. No reserved seating. Show starts at 9pm.

WHO: uniVibes WHAT: Live WHEN: Fri July 29 WHERE: The Clubhouse

So it’s easy to put on a gig these days. Find a venue, find a contact, tell ‘em you know some bands or DJs and voila: x presents y! No. No more emptiness; real nights without pretence. Real nights where people are alive, the music is live and the vibe is banging.

That’s what a gig should be. That’s the philosophy of Live: intense activity though live art. Everything will be live: four fusion bands of producers and jazz musicians, three VJs, eight painters. No wall unmarked, no instrument idle, no person unengaged. Local producers + School of Music + School of Art + uniVibes = Live.

WHO: Dizz1 WHAT: Ill ambassador of bass and beats WHEN: Sat July 30 WHERE: Transit Bar

Strictly Party and Mercury Switch present one of Australia’s illest ambassadors of bass and beats, Melbourne’s Dizz1. Starting off as a DJ he has worked and performed alongside the world’s best such as Grand Master Flash, Jam Master Jay (RIP), Jazzy Jay, D Styles, A-Trak, Plus One, Melo D and JRocc (Beat Junkies). With his debut solo album due to drop late 2011 keep an eye out for this man from the land down under. Indeed, he’ll be dropping by Transit on Sat July 30, supported by D’Opus, Faux Real, and DFP. Free entry before 9pm, $10 after.

WHO: Lavers WHAT: Home-grown WHEN: Sat July 30 WHERE: The Basement

On July 30 Lavers will play their last headline show before heading into Loose Stones Studios on the Gold Coast to record their debut EP. The band will be joined by a range of special guests, including Cam McLennan, Acoustix and Activate Jetpack. LAVERS is a melting pot of The Who, Crowded House and The Beatles, and has a classic, anthemic sound with loads of guitars, powerful drums, and sing-along melodies. The band spent the first half of 2011 honing their sound and growing a loyal fanbase, and are keen to get their music to the masses. 8pm, $10.

WHO: Summernats WHAT: Children Collide and Drapht WHEN: Fri Jan 6, 2011 WHERE: Exhibition Park

Summernats is turning 25 in 2012, and even though “Australia’s biggest horsepower party” might not be your bag, baby, Children Collide and/or Drapht surely are. They’re co-headlining the Friday night concert, with Nat Col and the Kings supporting with their unique blend of blues and classic rock ’n’ roll. Saturday night will be headlined by iconic Aussie rockers The Screaming Jets, making their second appearance at Summernats after rocking the crowd in 2010. Summernats 25 will be held at Exhibition Park from January 5-8 2012. For more information, visit the website at summernats.com.au .

WHO: Comadre and Quiet Steps WHAT: US and Bris posthardcore WHEN: Thurs Aug 4 WHERE: The Pot Belly, Belconnen

Straddling the border of punk and hardcore, Comadre’s brand of music is fast and chaotic, though never at the expense of melody.

During July and August, the Californian five-piece is touring Australia with Brisbane power-trio Quiet Steps, who trade in unbelievably anthemic post-hardcore – and, it must be said, are streets ahead of any other band in that realm. Their debut album Think Aloud remains a highlight of last year. In Canberra, the pair of out-of-towners will be joined by locals Love Shy and Mammon.

Doors open at 8pm, entry is $15.

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ALL AGES On Friday July 22, the Axis Youth Centre in Queanbeyan are playing host to some of Canberra’s finest metal and hardcore acts. You’ll have a chance to see Reigner, Ameliah Brown, Knives To The Throne, Recreant, Immersion, Der Riese and Shinhan. $5 at the door, 6pm.

You can take part in a mosh happy night of bumps, bruises and sweat at the Woden Youth Centre on Friday July 29featuring Prominent local metal acts Na Maza, Friend or Enemy, Ameliah Brown, Frostbite and Immersion. Tickets cost a cheap $5 at the door, doors at 6pm. This is a strictly drug and alcohol free event.

On Friday July 29 or Saturday July 30, you can be witness to Untrained, a hilarious dance show coming to The Playhouse at the Canberra Theatre Centre. Two highly skilled and experienced dancers will take the stage along side two with no dancing experience whatsoever. Untrained is guaranteed to be a great laugh. You are going to “see dance from the inside out”. Tickets cost $25 (+bf) for people 15 years and under, and $35 (+bf) standard adult price. Tickets are available from the venue. Both shows start at 8pm. On the Friday, whether or not you attend Untrained, at 9pm you can also attend…

BLAST - an exciting show celebrating the art of spoken word poetry in all its forms, including hip-hop, slam poetry and stand up comedy. “Think poetry is boring? BLAST will change this.”

This time around BLAST will feature inspiring MC and spoken word poet Omar Musa, poet Will Small, actor/poet Adam Hadley, poet Tasmin Hossein and DJ Rush. It’s all happening at the Link Bar in the Canberra Theatre Centre. This is a free event for anyone 15+.

On Tuesday August 2 you can experience a marvellous alternative/indie/acoustic line-up at The Street Theatre in the form of a triple album launch featuring Melbourne ambient/acoustic act Single Twin, indie/alternative six-piece Underlapper from Sydney and Canberra’s very own From The South. Tickets cost $15 for concession and $20 full price, available from the venue. Show starts at 7.30pm.

Canberra fans are anxiously anticipating Melbourne alternative/hardcore sixpiece Dream On, Dreamer’s Heartbound tour, in celebration of their debut album released on Friday August 5. The boys will scale the east and west coasts of the country with supporting acts The Bride from Sydney and Canberra’s very own Hands Like Houses. This exciting line-up will hit Canberra on Wednesday August 24 at The Tuggeranong Youth Centre. Tickets cost $18.40 (pre-sale) from Oztix.

NAOMI FROST allagescolumn@gmail.com

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LOCALITY

Easily the most popular forward in ACT history, the Public Service Commission’s 1973 Hi! Come and join us in Canberra brochure had the Bossman instantly trying to concoct a way to display it in full on the BMA site. If you’ve not had the pleasure, it’s an ad to entice young female professionals to the capital in the form of “A week in the life of three young girls in Canberra – a typist, a stenographer and a secretary”. A groovy ‘70s gal in flared high-waisted slacks, a crocheted vest and chunky platforms giggles into the receiver of a public phone under one of those now extinct clear plastic domes. It’s Woden Plaza 38 years ago, complete with a dude in socks ‘n’ sandals in the background. It’s hilarious. Every man has a massive moustache and super sexy sidies, every gal has awesome bangs, and there’s enough brown and orange to make even Justin Heazlewood jealous.

Sartorially the ‘70s is my favourite decade, and folk in the ‘Berra in the ‘70s looked freakin’ hot, man.

Interestingly, Sydney Morning Herald reporter Jacqueline Maley reckons It’s been more than three decades since Canberra was this cool. This is the title of an opinion piece she wrote for the paper published on July 13. On the cover of the brochure high-waisted slacks gal stands on top of a pebble-crete bollard in front of Old Parliament House. “All the better to get a view of the flat, feature-less landscape, which is broken only by the Hume Highway, which will take them home to Sydney,” writes Maley. Flat, feature-less landscape? The view of the snow-sprinkled Brindabellas I got on my cycle to work the other morning was pretty spectacular, Jacq. And it certainly wasn’t broken by the Hume Highway, which is 50-odd ks away.

A wave of pro and anti-Canberra comments follow her piece on the SMH site. Writes glocko from Canberra, “The journo is showing her age here. Canberra bashing is pretty retro too – it pretty much peeked (sic) around the time of those orange platform shoes and crocheted vests.” Though one would actually fit right in in these retro rags today, surely ragging on Canberra will, like snap pants, never come back into fashion. Just as people seem to have finally grown tired of the Sydney versus Melbourne squabble, bagging out the ‘Berra is now, I feel, a thing of the past as people have woken up to how pointless it is.

In a piece on the same topic in The Canberra Times last weekend, Judith Ireland wrote about how comparing Canberra and Sydney is like comparing apples and oranges. It’s true; Canberra town and Syd city are two completely different fruit. Some people like Pink Ladies, some people like Valencias. Me? I like my Granny Smiths stewed with cinnamon and cloves, dolloped on top of a bowl of steaming porridge, devoured in the sun on my front steps while breathing in deep the rarified air of Canberra. But just because I do doesn’t mean I’m going to criticise a Sydney-sider’s citrus. Just as the brochure says, “everything considered, it’s a good life in Canberra.” True then, true now.

JULIA WINTERFLOOD julia@bmamag.com

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DANCE THE DROP

What do a DJ and a jukebox have in common? If your answer was “nothing” rather than “one takes money and the other takes drinks”, then I think we are on the same page. The art of music manipulation treads a perilous line between entertainment and education. On one side of the assertion, the person lugging their well-worn record box behind the turntables has probably been spending a great deal of their week hunting down a bunch of exciting new records to try out in the club, and on the other, their much anticipated set will probably be interrupted by about 50 tipsy requests for throw-away popular commercial cheese like Pitbull, Rihanna and David Guetta. This is the gawky conundrum which club jockeys face up to on a daily basis, whether to educate or to entertain.

Pred knows the correct answer to this question - both. The latest edition to Academy’s Saturday night man-family has been given a much lauded headline spot on the main stage on Saturday July 30 alongside regular ‘slashies’ Ashley Feraude and Jared De Veer. Fans of exquisite facial hair and proper house music should be forming a line already, so, what are you waiting for?

Even though we will never admit it, the InTheMix top 50 awards are a very important time of year for all DJs. It is a chance to harness the ostentatious glory of appearing more popular and well known than our peers. There is something illiberally glorious about seeing your name come up as one of the top five artists in your state that

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facebook.com/ trinitybarcanberra feeds the extrovert in all of us, and it is almost that time of year again! To kick things off, Academy have solicited the services of Victorian ‘smiley boy’ Andy Murphy to preside over the official InTheMix awards party on Friday August 5. Don’t forget to log on to www.inthemix.com/50 before Sunday August 14 to vote for your favourite party starter. Last year’s national number one were our own local lads The Aston Shuffle, it would be great if our sexy duo were able to make it two in a row!

When the morning meander from your front door to your car incites a severe case of facial frostbite, you know the ski silly season is in full swing for our alpine neighbours. The Station Resort at Jindabyne is one of the hottest venues for local and national DJ talent and quasi-Irish pranksters The Potbelleez are appearing for an exclusive midweek show on Wednesday August 10… I think I feel a sick day coming on actually… *cough*.

Music wise, it’s been a mammoth month for new releases so I’ll leave you with a few speaker busting selections for August. The Phantom’s Revenge’s new Charlie EP is a smashing package of intense disco, Marco V has belted out an awesome remix of Sharam Jey’s new record More That I Do and Basskleph keeps it absolutely housegasmic with his new mix of fRew’s Under the Sun. TIM GALVIN tim.galvin@live.com.au

together. Since then they have recorded their debut EP, which will be released in September, and they are about to embark on their first tour of the east coast. They’re hoping an album will also follow soon.

FLYING HIGH, SKATING LOW zoe pleasants It seems that the clever folk organising UrbanIce have scored quite a coup. I’m not sure if they realise it, but by enticing Sydney’s CONVAIRE down to play Canberra’s coolest music festival, they are helping the band achieve two significant ‘firsts’– first gig at an ice skating rink (and really, what indie-rock-god doesn’t grow up dreaming of playing ice skating rinks?) and first interstate gig. “This will be the furthest out of town we’ve played, our first gig south of Wollongong,” laughs John Towey, the band’s founding member.

Convaire are an indie-pop four-piece with a very listenable sound, inspired by the likes of Talking Heads, Friendly Fires and Phoenix, that seem to add a little bit of weekend to whatever you’re doing.

The band is made up of John on guitar, sisters Liz and Jane Slattery on keyboards and synths, and Dan Talbot on bass. They formed in ‘09, were unearthed by triple j last year and won a much-coveted spot on the Parklife line-up. With eight weeks notice, Parklife proved to be a powerful motivator helping them to bring everything

Using synths and drum machines, you’re never really sure how a song will turn out

It’s been a huge relief to finish their EP. “It feels like we’ve been saying for 12 months that our EP will be out next month!” says John, “But it’s been pushed back for the right reasons and we’ve released singles along the way.” And with more time, John feels Convaire has developed a more thoughtful, layered sound. “We’ve developed from four friends just hanging out doing stuff off the wall; we don’t rush things as much anymore, our songs are more thought out.” In the meantime, they’ve had a lot of fun; they particularly enjoy the process of writing songs. “Using synths and drum machines, you’re never really sure how a song will turn out!” John explains.

Looking back John says they are surprised at how far they’ve come since 2009, and “now we’re playing ice skating rinks in Canberra!”

Back to that, what is John expecting? “Cold weather, a fresh young crowd, lots of falling over and plenty of sequins!” he responds. And of course, Convaire are the perfect ice skating sound track – “poppy, great to dance to and not too in your face”, in John’s words.

But even though they’ve had early success, Convaire are not quite ready to give up on the real world yet. All four of them are studying at university, with at least one of them studying something as sensible as law. I, for one, hope this Convaire thing works out for them because I think the world probably has enough lawyers, but there can never be enough great indie-pop groups! Check them out, while they’re on their way up.

Convaire play UrbanIce in Garema Place on Saturday July 23, at 10pm. For more info head to inthecitycanberra.com.au/skate .

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LIGHTNING ROGERS

THE WAY IT IS, NOW

Chiara Grassia

JUSTIN HOOK

“It’s been a mixture of melodrama, want and revelry.” TIM ROGERS’ signature dry wit and self-deprecating charm is all there, surreally crackling down my phone line, as he chats about his current national solo tour. “It’s been good, been trying to make every night different.

The challenge is always... I mean, it’s just you and an instrument, and you want to do something that is more than the sum of its meagre parts, you know? And you throw some other elements It’s like, why should we spend time in there, whether it’s rouge making music for our storytelling or physical heads when we can comedy, and that’s been make music for our working so far… Depending gorgeous, middleon my experiences during the aged bodies? day, really.”

It’s not often you hear a musician admit they had no idea what they were doing when their songs top international charts for months on end, sell in the millions and produce a Grammy or two. And it’s not that BRUCE HORNSBY (and his then-band The Range) didn’t appreciate his massive 1986 album and title-track The Way It Is ushering him into the public consciousness, it’s just that, well, it was a fluke as Hornsby explains. “Yes, a wonderful accident. One BBC DJ liked that one song and it then became a big hit in England… then Holland… then the rest of the world.”

Rogers has recently written the music for the play The Story of Mary Mclane by Herself, which will be performed in Melbourne later this year. “I like the discipline of theatre. I’ve tried to discipline myself in music at times, and try to create something more visceral and nasty and joyous because often when you’ve got structure around you it gives you, strangely enough, the opportunity to do something wilder… I’m picking up little chords, little tricks, and often when writing for myself I won’t do it as myself, I’m still in character.

Which is good – I’ve been sick of myself since 1995, so to write as somebody else is liberating.”

With his forays into the world of theatre, Rogers has also piled his plate high with contributions to a film soundtrack, upcoming acting roles and even a bit of lecturing, as well as forming yet another band, this time a honkytonk outfit. The Hillbilly Killers, consisting of himself, Catherine Britt and Bill Chambers, will be recording an album together in a few weeks, which Rogers enthuses about.

“We’re writing all our own songs, so that’s kind of a mixture of great dexterous playing and down and dirty honkytonk music, so I’m really, really, really excited about that. ‘Cause I’m not the guy, I’m not Tim Rogers, I’m Lightning Rogers or something.”

And stepping back into full Tim Rogers mode, You Am I have plans to tour and record in America later this year. You Am I’s new album, Roger notes, is set to be “a high energy record more than anything. A record that we can just go out and play the whole thing and not really think about it, just down and dirty… We’re physically really capable.

It’s like, why should we spend time making music for our heads when we can make music for our gorgeous, middle-aged bodies?” As far as a new solo album goes, Rogers admits there is one already in the works. “I might do some recording with a producer in the states. I’ve done a lot of writing for it, particularly at the moment, a lot of really good songs... Bit of a purple patch at the moment.”

Purple patch? I ask.

“Yeah, nothing like hard times to bring out good music.”

Tim Rogers will be rolling into town on Sunday July 24, to play Transit Bar. Tickets are through Moshtix for $28.50.

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What made the experience even more perplexing for the talented multi-instrumentalist was that the songs were not exactly standard commercial radio fodder. “One There was nothing song – Valley Road – was about a like a Grateful Dead concert. So much of girl who gets knocked-up and sent that was just about to a school for unwed mothers and the scene. Hell, just it has McCoy Tyner jazz solos over the parking lot was rock beats. Then another song – The amazing Way It Is – was about the civil rights movement, and had not one but two of these sort of solos. These were not formulaic pop records.”

Having chart-topping singles in the mid ‘80s meant you also became part of that club – the middle-of-the-road club. It never sat easily with Hornsby. “As a result, people who didn’t really know us just typecast us as a Top 40 group when in reality we were much more.

But when you have such success in that area there’s a whole group of people that write you off as that. And so frankly I spent my first five years having those, then the next 20 years pushing back against that perception and mindset.”

Pushing back for Hornsby meant disbanding The Range in the early ‘90s, collaborating with bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs, scoring Spike Lee’s Kobe Bryant doco and playing with his old band mates from Grateful Dead in the various reformed versions (The Dead and The Other Ones) after Jerry Garcia’s 1995 death. Hornsby’s time with Grateful Dead in the early ‘90s was fruitful for the band – they became late-career stadium superstars in that era. “There was nothing like a Grateful Dead concert. So much of that was just about the scene. Hell, just the parking lot was amazing. It was the best party you could go to. Now the children of the scene spawned this jam band community and scene.”

In fact it’s that scene (Phish, Dave Matthews, Bonnaroo Festival, et al) where Hornsby and his new band, The Noisemakers, feel most at home. As he explains, soon after the release of a double live album documenting their 2007 - 2009 tour, “We’re moving our scene a little more toward the dancing community. We enjoy playing for that crowd way more than the lime-green golf pants community crowd. It just seemed like we were in the wrong place. That crowd were there for a nostalgic night out, a stroll down memory lane and that’s not what I do as a musician.”

Bride of the Noisemakers is out now through 429 Records, and available from all good record stores.

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SINGLE AND SOLO

SOFTLY SPRUNG

peter krbavac

ALISTAIR ERSKINE

Though Marcus Teague has only just released his first solo album, he has been operating as something of a lone creative force for years.

For well over a decade, he was the frontman, driving force and the only constant member of Melbourne indie rock moodists Deloris, who split in 2008. For the last six years, Marcus has been working on a series of solo recordings, which were recently released under the SINGLE TWIN banner.

Sydney band Underlapper were there on one of those nights you never forget – a government changed, a community rejoiced, and a famous film critic kissed me. This wasn’t unusual though as you would normally get to see UNDERLAPPER three times a month without even trying. Until they stopped. I didn’t get the memo, and just assumed they must have gone touring or something, but I asked guitarist, singer and keyboard player Greg Stone what was actually going on, and it turns out they had their reasons…

Marcus Teague, the album, is based around an acoustic guitar and a voice, occasionally augmented with strings, percussion and other instruments. “Even though it’s about trying to set a mood with music, part of the project is to focus You might have the best on the lyrics,” Marcus says. “I lyrics in the world … but feel like lyrics are at least a if people listen to it and signpost to what people are on they go ‘I don’t like the about and if people aren’t on beat, this song sucks’, there’s not much you can about anything, or in my mind do about it it doesn’t suit the music that they’re doing, then it really annoys me. That’s not to say I don’t like a dance song which is just someone yelling ‘Shake your arse’ over and over again. If that works for the song, that’s great.”

This isn’t an arrangement that will suit every listener, he concedes.

“Especially with Deloris, I learnt that some people just don’t listen to lyrics. You might have the best lyrics in the world … but if people listen to it and they go ‘I don’t like the beat, this song sucks’, there’s not much you can do about it.”

While his last Canberra performance as part of the Peking Spring festival was a solo affair, this time around Marcus is presenting Single Twin in full technicolour five-piece glory. “When I say a five-piece, it’s not like we’re all bashing away at the same time,” he clarifies. “It’s definitely not like a rock band or anything. It’s hard not to sound pompous talking about this sort of stuff, but I guess I approach it like a soundtrack. There are key atmospheres that people are making behind the nuts and bolts of the acoustic song that I’m playing. We’ve only done one proper show, which was just before the album came out and that was one of my favourite shows ever, so hopefully we can continue that through NSW and the ACT.” Marcus is particularly looking forward to returning to The Street Theatre, which has become one of his favoured places to play. While he says the setting - pin-drop silence and the glare of the spotlight - is confronting, he relishes the challenge. “It’s dead quiet between songs and it forces you to assess what you’re doing on a stage with performing or with your music. It’s like a job interview or something,” he chuckles. “I don’t know about Deloris in the early days but I quite like that now. It’s like a test. I’m looking forward to seeing how I deal with it.”

Single Twin plays The Street Theatre on Tuesday August 2 with Underlapper and From the South. Tickets are $20 or $15 concession from thestreet.org.au. Marcus Teague is out now through Remote Control.

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“One of the main reasons we stopped playing live was that one of the guys went overseas – we had started the initial recordings so we got Morgan to do all of his parts before he left, and we kept in touch via email. [Taking the break from playing live] was almost a blessing really as it did give us time to focus on the recording, and not have to scramble to put a live show together… But then I guess the hard thing is after such a long time, you have to get back into the swing of playing live again, which definitely took a little while.”

The hard thing is after such a long time, you have to get back into the swing of playing live again

Softly Harboured is a record of dichotomies – from the electronic to the mostly traditional instruments, from the soft to the screaming. It takes concepts found in their early work, but adds a whole bunch of elements too. “ Probably half the album was written whilst we were playing live on the back of Red Spring, so any of the songs that really have a kind of live band feel are the ones we wrote and were playing live before we actually went in to record them. But with the other half of the album, we would go into the studio, kind of like we did with Red Spring, and really work on the electronics.”

One of the beautiful aspects of their latest album is that the vinyl release comes in an array of four different sleeved, interactive designs that have a layer you can scratch off. Your humble reporter broaches the subject by telling Greg that as much as I love the interactive element, the collector in me doesn’t want to scratch anything off the cover.

Greg laughs, “I haven’t even done it to one, either! The initial idea was to get some designers to create some alternate sleeves, which was a successful proposal that I put to the Australia Council for the Soundclash grant. Then when we got all the artists together, one of the guys had the concept with the scratch off layer and the interaction, and everyone thought that would be a great basis. Once the concept was there, we all stood back and let them run with it and we are really, really happy with the results.”

You will be able to get one of these glorious albums when Underlapper play on Tuesday August 2 at The Street Theatre, with Single Twin and From The South. For more info head to thestreet.org.au .

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orchestras,” says Vika, explaining the writing and collaboration process. “Grabowsky sent everyone a tape or CD with what he’d written, then Vika and I came in and workshopped it with the two Pauls. We all sat around Paul’s piano and decided how to attack it.”

Kelly is said to have baulked at some of Grabowsky’s arrangements initially, but ultimately trusted his vision and that of the AAO, who were not hesitant to make their opinions heard during the process.

A MEETING OF MUSICAL MINDS BEN HERMANN It takes a musician of great confidence yet great humility to entrust their work to another musician for interpretation and re-creation; to allow their songs to be reassembled, their stories re-told, and the accompanying emotions completely reinvented. It’s no great surprise then that one of Australia’s most beloved musicians, Paul Kelly, did exactly that - handing over to acclaimed composer and pianist Paul Grabowsky a collection of his most spiritual and biblicalthemed songs to be re-written by Grabowsky for performance by a group of over 19 musicians. The result, MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AIR, is a “secular revival meeting” (in the words of Grabowsky), seeing Kelly’s songs, as re-written by Grabowsky, performed by himself, Grabowsky, the Australian Art Orchestra, the Choir With No Name and – sharing lead vocal duties with Kelly – the renowned Bull sisters, Vika and Linda (pictured below).

Vika and Linda have worked with Kelly in various capacities for over 20 years, and have performed both as backing vocalists (first coming to prominence with Joe Camilleri’s band The Black Sorrows) and singers in their own right. Collaboration on such a large scale, however, is a first for them both. “We haven’t sung with an orchestra before, apart from Carols in the Domain,” says Linda, “and this is completely different. Their arrangements [the AAO] are dense and the time signatures change a lot. You really have to concentrate to know when to come in.” Vika continues, “Yeah, it’s definitely daunting, but you just have to do your homework and learn your songs. At first I thought I wouldn’t be heard, with that many people on stage, but they’re such amazing musicians that nothing at all is lost in the sound. One second it will be really loud, and the next, you’ll be able to hear a pin drop.”

The production was first performed at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2006, and has since toured Melbourne’s Hamer Hall and the Sydney Opera House – not a bad sojourn, for a concert premised on spiritual and biblical songs written by an Atheist rock/ folk musician and subsequently infused with Cuban salsa, reggae, dixieland and gospel arrangements.

“Paul [Kelly] took his songs to Paul [Grabowsky], and Paul [G] rearranged them, and wrote the parts for the chorus and the

“The first time we worked with them [the AAO] was at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, the first time we did the show,” says Linda. “They’re really naughty but really fantastic. They’re rather mischievous and certainly vocal about their ideas, but they’re extremely talented to match. It’s one thing to have an opinion, and another to be able to pull it off.”

“Worse than bloody rock musicians, I’d say!” adds Vika.

Vika and Linda first met Kelly when working with Archie Roach in the late 1980s. They’ve since collaborated with Kelly in a variety of forms, from singing as backing vocalists on his albums and on tour, to having him produce their records, and performing his songs in their own band. In Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air, however, the girls share lead vocals with Paul, a role which has given Kelly’s songs a new release, but which was also, understandably, a somewhat scary prospect for Linda and Vika.

“We’ve worked with Paul a lot before, but normally we back him up in his band. This is a bit heavier a role, it’s a little nerve-racking,” says Linda. “Paul’s very good though, in that he’ll give you a song and let you have a bash at it. We’ll have a conversation about where we want the song to go, but he’ll let you interpret it in your own way, and give you advice.” Vika goes on, “Sometimes I sit down and think ‘Oh shit, I’m singing Paul’s songs and he’s right there. I better not fuck it up!’

But then, I remind myself that he wouldn’t have asked us to sing with him if he didn’t think we could do the job.”

Despite their long relationship, neither Vika nor Linda can put their finger on a standout memory of Kelly. Instead, it has been Kelly’s influence on their careers and their own songwriting that has made the greatest impression on the sisters. “He’s just been so open to sharing his songs with us and giving us his beautiful music over the years,” says Linda.

“It’s funny, the thing I love the most, and that I’ll always remember, is sitting around a table and writing songs with him,” says Vika. “He loves food, so perhaps that’s part of it; his kids running around the table, us all eating lunch, having a few beers and writing some songs – that’s my fondest memory.”

Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air plays out at The Canberra Theatre on Friday July 29.

Tickets, sadly, are sold out.

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A TRILOGY OF IDENTITIES jess stone This August, the award winning QL2 DANCE ENSEMBLE is back again with their triple-bill Identify. Always a delight to watch, QL2 Dance Inc (previously Quantum Leap with The Australian Choreographic Centre) has become a Canberran institution over its 11 years, and is one of few youth dance companies in Australia. Past ‘Leapers’ have gone on to perform in some of Australia’s top dance companies (from Bangarra to Australian Dance Theatre) and even become Hollywood stars.

Unlike many creative endeavours aimed at youth, QL2 does not patronisingly problematise the experience of teens, and focus on sex, drugs and alcohol. Instead, it strives to find issues which genuinely concern everybody, and youth no less than the rest of us.

As a result, QL2 is now renowned for tackling difficult themes, from the history of Australians at war in their award-winning Reckless Valour, or the complexities of a multicultural modern Australia in My Sister, My Brother.

This year is no different, and Identify looks at how identity is constructed and re-imagined throughout life, and particularly how turbulent and changeable identity can be for teens. Intellectually and creatively the pieces are shaped by dancers themselves, and it is their stories and experiences which provide material for the choreographers.

It opens with Jodie Farrugia’s The Land is Calling, which examines how immigration has shaped Australia, from the genocide of the Indigenous population to current racial vilification. Next is Adam Wheeler’s Precipice, a collaboration between QL2 dancers and Bangkok Dance Academy which debuted in Thailand this January.

It explores how young people deal with external expectations, and the boundaries that they either challenge or accept. The final work is Anton’s Digital Face, which looks at how identities are constructed visually online.

The artistic director Ruth Osborne is adamant that contemporary dance is accessible and interesting. She has made a career of introducing young people to an art form that most adult Australians feel is intellectually and creatively out of their reach. TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance have popularised dance, but not beyond high-kicks and back-flips. QL2 does not pander to the assumption that audiences can only understand obvious movements performed to popular songs which do all the work of explaining the message.

QL2 succeeds in expressing the power of dance as a medium, and more importantly, the power of this art form to transform and impact the lives of young people today.

Identify is showing at The Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre from Wednesday August 3 to Saturday August 6. Tickets are from $20, and are available from ql2.org.au .

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Big Band and Commercial Band to present a program of Cunliffe’s work. Stacey says this integration is at the core of The Capital Jazz Project from “the opening night which will feature Rachel Thoms and Luke Sweeting who are launching an album and supporting Australian jazz icon Vince Jones… It’s about creating a showcase environment, it’s about students being able to make contacts and it’s about audiences really extending their knowledge and their intersection with a whole range of artists.”

LEADING THE JAZZ NATION josh becker Canberra’s strong but underrated jazz scene has slowly been bubbling away and recently a partnership between the ANU School of Music and The Street Theatre has produced an exciting nine day jazz program. THE CAPITAL JAZZ PROJECT is brimming with interesting performances that will showcase Canberra’s great jazz scene alongside a stellar national and international line-up. I met with Caroline Stacey, co-curator, who explained, “Why are we doing it? Because we are excited by what happens here artistically and we just wanted to bring it into focus. We have a high end jazz educational institution and we have an audience that can appreciate the complexities around the form.”

What is most interesting about the program is the deliberate blend of ANU students with national and international jazz musicians.

There will be two artists in residence - John Riley, renowned jazz drummer and educator as well as Bill Cunliffe, Grammy award winning composer and arranger. Both will be working with the ANU

The focus is not just on School of Music students - there will be performances from faculty members and more than a few alumni will return to Canberra to showcase their current bands, including the super modern New York influenced Carl Morgan Band and the rollicking jazz-a-billy of Zoe and The Buttercups. Capital Jazz will reconfigure The Street Theatre to create a jazz club atmosphere.

Stacey explains, “The smaller and more intimate Street 2 will be set up like a jazz club with tabled seating and a little bar to provide a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere to watch a really diverse range of artists, from the sort of kick ass Subterraneans to the more ambient Misinterpretato from Brisbane.”

Stacey suggests while mainstream modern jazz is at the core of the program, Capital Jazz does push in all sorts of interesting directions including Inform, a cross platform work from Fran Swinn, the APRA Composer Commission for the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2010. The piece combines the improvised jazz of the Fran Swinn quartet with improvisations from Circuz Oz aerialist Rockie Stone.

This ambitious new festival is a celebration of jazz in Canberra and around Australia. It has a strong and diverse line-up that could become a great fixture on the national cultural calendar.

The Capital Jazz Project will run from Saturday July 30 to Sunday August 7. Tickets range from between $10 and $37, and can be booked through thestreet.org.au .

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at the ANU School of Art Gallery and online at artmachine.tv, is an example of the web and the physical world integrating, and a comment on the increasing crossover between the ‘real’ and the ‘virtual’. In a world full of imagery, Art Machine is a show that embraces overload.

“Art Machine removes curatorial influence by accepting all the digital content submitted and using it in the exhibition. The content providers are not aware of the how the machines will operate and the coders of the machines are not aware of the specific content their machines will operate on,” says Fulham. “This situation will continue to run live for the duration of the three week exhibition and visitors will be able to contribute to and experience the Art Machine as a constantly evolving and shifting experience.”

MELTING BARRIERS glen martin When discussing the future, often the promise doesn’t live up to the eventual reality. As the saying goes, we should be commuting via jetpack by now. Similarly, when it comes to art in a web environment, the idea often trumps the reality – offers of accessibility, a democratic exhibition platform and a new language for reading and seeing how art works frequently end up being another disposable web experience with no real substance. Which is why ART MACHINE is a notable event, summoning the best of the physical and online worlds to create a new kind of exhibition experience.

“The idea behind the Art Machine exhibition is to develop a show that pits coded art machines against the text, image, video and sound content submitted to the exhibition via the website,” says curator Chris Fulham. The show, both a physical exhibition running

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Fulham, an experienced curator and ANU academic, has built a structure which challenges the traditional idea of exhibiting within a gallery context – gone is the notion of the carefully constructed narrative or uniting umbrella, replaced by the chaos of a continuing stream of images. “I wanted to create an exhibition that would both surprise and engage. I also wanted to develop a mechanism for anyone to contribute digital content to the show. I am also quite interested in the digital media that sits around unseen on our hard-drives and will most likely never see the light of day. I love that with Art Machine we can create new work and submit it for exhibition anonymously or under our names. Art Machine presents an opportunity to be surprised and engaged with every visit. It also presents an opportunity for anyone to contribute digital content and be part of the show. Art Machine is public based artwork and represents a form of art that has a curious place in the contemporary art landscape.”

Art Machine will be running at the ANU School of Art Gallery until Saturday July 30. More information is available at artmachine.tv .

ARTIST PROFILE: Sacha Jeffrey

What do you do? I make graphic artworks on paper. My aim is to interpret and provide comment on the world as I see it. I try to hide my work’s meanings in allegory until they’re almost unidentifiable. I work with collage, inks and prints.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? There’s always something going on and at the same time it’s easy to keep track of. On the other hand I’d love to get caught up in it in a bigger city.

What are your upcoming performances/exhibitions? My work is exhibited in perpetuity in cyberspace at www.sachajeffrey.com .

End transmission.

Contact info: sacha.j@live.com.au

When did you get into it? I think I’ve always communicated better through drawing and making art. It’s an independent pursuit and I think everybody should have their own; whether it’s drawing, reading, walking, we all need a natural and cathartic way to wile away a few hours in a day.

Who or what influences you as an artist? Satirists, modern design aesthetics, artists; Picasso, Goya, Hodgkin, Basquiat, Daumier, Bourgeois, Whiteley, Kara Walker, Clemente among many.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far?

Maybe not proudest but probably biggest in terms of cumulative years; turning a four-year degree into six years.

What are your plans for the future? To live and work as freely as possible, creating my own work and also projects where I collaborate with others. The dream is obviously to be sustained by my work. I am also interested in conservation and restoration.

What makes you laugh? Costanza.

What pisses you off? The ‘red tape’.

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bit PARTS WHO: Two pros and two non-pros WHAT: Untrained WHEN: Fri-Sat July 29-30 WHERE: The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre Locals Allan Marc Raeyers and Richard Merzian have been selected to perform in Lucy Guerin Inc’s acclaimed Untrained at The Playhouse. Untrained, conceived and directed by Melbourne based Lucy Guerin, brings together four men on a stage. Two are highly skilled, professional dancers who have performed in theatres across Australia and internationally, and two have no dance training whatsoever. Not your average contemporary dance experience, Untrained is a quirky and irreverent theatrical exploration. Each performer responds to a series of written instructions ranging from the banal to the hilarious. The complex, refined movements one can do with ease another can only approximate – but how they approach each task, even how they walk and stand – reveals an intimate portrait of each man’s character. Tix through the venue.

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WHO: Corinbank WHAT: Call for artists WHEN: Now! WHERE: corinbank.com Corinbank is a music and arts festival held in the Brindabella Mountains with an emphasis on active participation and the environment, and the fourth instalment is from Friday-Sunday March 2-4 2012. Corinbank is seeking expressions of interest from visual artists keen to stamp their mark on the festival. They are looking to adorn the stages, entertainment areas, bars, walk ways and bushland with a broad range of locally produced visual art of varying scales in a variety of mediums. They are also interested in hearing from artists keen to host ‘crafternoon’ workshops in advance of the festival to produce community works for the site. Bounce your ideas and suggestions with Maria Koulouris at visualarts@corinbank.com .

WHO: Hip-hoppers, actors and poets WHAT: Blast WHEN: Fri July 29, 9.30pm, 15+ WHERE: Link Bar, Canberra Theatre Centre Blast, the coolest event to hit Canberra Theatre Centre this year returns for round two, and this time it’s free! If you missed round one, Blast is an energetic and high octane night of words, poetry and hip-hop in the Canberra Theatre Centre’s Link Bar at the special time of 9.30pm. Blast features a mixed line-up of hip-hop, acting and poetry artists and Blast favourites Omar Musa, Adam Hadley and DJ Rush will be returning, this time teamed up with MC and poets Will Small and Tasnim Hossain. Punters can expect to see spoken word performances that are more akin to an energetic narration, which incorporate moving poems about consciousness, confession, religion, politics, sex and gender. Do not miss.

WHO: Ash Keating WHAT: Activate 2750 exhibition WHEN: Now until Sat Aug 20 WHERE: CCAS, Gorman House

WHO: Students from ACT Government Schools WHAT: Step into the Limelight WHEN: Wed Aug 3, 7pm and Thurs Aug 4, 11am & 7pm WHERE: Royal Theatre The theme for 2011 is Seasons and will feature the premiere of Seasons, a play written for Step into the Limelight by Jessica Bellamy and developed in conjunction with Zen Zen Zo, DNA Aerial Dance Studios, Ainslie School and the ANU School of Music. It will also feature a strong line-up of instrumental and vocal musical performances, energetic displays of talent across many dance styles including hip-hop, aerial and contemporary, theatrical performances including dramatic pieces created in conjunction with Free Rain Theatre Company, digital media work from student animators, filmmakers and photographers and much more. Tix through Ticketek.

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Rubbish is a daily part of our lives. We buy, we eat, we consume, then we discard. Ash Keating is a Sydney based artist who is determined to alert us to the whole process, including the negative parts we tend to ignore, and the inevitable build up of waste which is kept out of sight and out of mind. In early 2009 Keating undertook a largescale installation and performance project in Sydney’s Western district. Where it had a direct affect on the local population, Keating recorded the project in film and photography to reach a wider audience, and it is this work which will be the focus of Activate 2750 at CCAS.

WHO: Mariana del Castillo and Paula Hilyard WHAT: Exhibition Something and Nothing WHEN: Now until Sun July 31 WHERE: ANCA Gallery Something and Nothing is an exhibition by Mariana del Castillo and Paula Hilyard, and is informed by their immigration from Ecuador and Jamica and the history of the women in their families. Both their mothers worked with textiles and sewing was a large component of their lives. These cultural and personal associations permeate and intertwine in their works. It is very much women’s business. Their borderline obsession with finding the relevant found objects and the never ending search for them plays a major role in the composition of this exhibition. The opening is at 6pm on Wednesday July 20.

STILL SHINING

OUT OF THE GATE, INTO THE RACE

LAUREN BICKNELL

palimah panichit

When life gave AUSTIN BUCKETT some unsatisfying lemons he decided to make experimental lemonade. In 2009 he wrote an hourlong piece of music for the Silo String Quartet based in Melbourne, but something in the end result wasn’t quite sitting right. “I was really quite depressed about it for a while and then I just got back into it and I was like ‘there’s actually some ok material in here – what if I just take the bits that stand out to me and try to intensify them?’” he says. And so began a post-production process that gave his major solo work new life.

Stuttershine was nearly two long years in the making and it’s now just days away from being I probably couldn’t released. While it could be called ‘new music’ or, more delve into exactly what genre I would generally, experimental, Austin call it but it would be prefers to avoid giving it a category. “I probably couldn’t interesting to see delve into exactly what genre ple peo what genre I would call it but it would be is it k thin interesting to see what genre people think it is.” To give you an idea, though, he referred to some of his influences such as classical music, electronica, artists such as Flying Lotus, Autechre and Chris Abrahams.

His classical influences mostly lie in string instruments but it was Chris Abrahams’ approach to music that really shone through in Austin’s album. “His work never sounds obliged to go anywhere or sort of build to a particular peak… you begin to focus on the momentum of the music and the quality of the sound as opposed to being involved in the music going somewhere in this traditional sense of building towards a climax.” He said he enjoyed being able to simply explore ideas and sounds rather than feel like he had to take them to a particular place.

While the album doesn’t follow some of the more traditional approaches to music, emotion and romanticism were not entirely removed from what you’ll hear. However, Austin said those emotions will just be a bit more subtle compared to his other work and compared to what most of us are used to hearing.

Austin is mostly known for his work with local groups Pollen Trio and Kasha but he’s also got his finger in a few other pies at any given time. As well as launching Stuttershine, he’s currently in the process of writing something for Decibel – a band from WA who took the stage with Pollen Trio during the Peking Spring festival earlier this year. “This piece will be premiered [in] a concert called Camera Obscura which is to do with the relationships with image and sound.”

The two-part gig launching Stuttershine will feature Austin’s solo piano work and then piano, strings and electronic music featuring excerpts from the CD. Stuttershine will be launched on Thursday July 28 at The Loft in Dickson.

For more info, head to austinbuckett.com .

Like their name suggests, DARKHORSE are an enigmatic force in Canberra – an electronic psychedelic act that have seemingly risen out of the ether to confound and coax audiences with esoteric sampling and skuzzed-out progressive beats. It is immediately possible to pick out parallels of duality in their image – their debut double EP, Little Smoke, Big Smoke, and the fact that Darkhorse is a duo, for two.

However, to delve deeper is to realise how far this duality goes.

A thorough listen to the EP will lead the listener down markedly different terrain with each part, yet both divisions are able to stand up on their own. Together, they reveal exquisite yin and yang flavoured electronica with an organic soul – and their image coalesces. Bayard Condon, the man Not everyone is behind the boards and the inception of going to see the Darkhorse, explains that the dichotomy same thing or feel the same way – but evolved naturally. “Basically the idea some people get it is that both halves of the album are spinning in time together. They’re opposite but they’re also ultimately connected. It wasn’t something that was planned from the beginning, but it emerged as the only natural option. We spend a lot of time contemplating things,” he finishes, laughing.

Louis Capezio, Darkhorse’s guitarist, says that most of their music is based in improvisation, despite their electronic nature. “There’s always some sort of vibe going around in a song, especially if you’re making it up as you go along. I’d say there’re definitely times when you’re thinking about something while you’re playing – you’re not necessarily thinking about what you’re playing, but then maybe that could transpose itself into the song. Not everyone is going to see the same thing or feel the same way – but some people get it.”

Bayard agrees, with an addendum, “There are emergent things in the creative process, and also specific things that we want to achieve.

I think samples helped us especially, because the way we use them are like lyrics that we haven’t necessarily written ourselves.” Bayard also recalls their landmark first gig with clarity – considering it wasn’t that long ago. “Me and Louis met up a few days before and we wrote the set in turbo. I decided I’d open the set with this twominute speech about the future of mankind and stuff. It purveyed something that we wanted people to be thinking about while we played. It kind of set us up and permeated the whole set with a feeling. I painted a big wall that we were playing behind, that day. We were playing behind this black pyramid with two giant hands with lights coming out of them.

“Afterwards, it was like we’d been born as a band. We’d just played a show and it was inordinately huge, so many people rocking out – for a band, that’s really lucky, it boosts your confidence… Me and Louis were like ‘I can’t believe we pulled that off’.”

Darkhorse are releasing Little Smoke, Big Smoke on Saturday July 23 at The Front, with Teddy Trouble, East River, and Broadcasting Transmitter.

Doors open at 8pm, entry is $5.

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canberra roller derby league

JAZZ, BLUES AND JUJU Sinead O’Connell Despite many reviews and critics placing MOJO JUJU on par with leads from the jazz age, she humbly denies any such acquaintances.

Instead she honours the heroics of the blues era and admits that what she’s attempting to create is a derivative of that same frontier.

When I asked her if she really thinks we are on the front of a new jazz age, she lyrically and articulately provided her opinion. “Blues is now simply reinterpreted. It’s being done in a contemporary fashion, taking the essence of jazz and blues, not necessarily in a purist sense, and generating the atmosphere that people love the most.

It’s about wanting to create something that moves people.”

Although now embarking on a solo music project, an entity that draws inspiration from film noir and Latin American Pachuco culture of the 1930s and ‘40s, Juju talked briefly and fondly of the festival experience with her Snake Oil Merchant friends who are basically family. Performing at Woodford and Bluesfest with the Snake Oil Merchants taught her “a lot about how to collaborate, compromise and trust other people with your creations”. For her the “songwriting and creative process…happens alone. Songwriting is such an intimate process, so to hand it over to others to scrutinise can be daunting”.

Jazz is what speaks to me more than anything else

The singer-songwriter grew up on jazz as a kid, saying she rediscovered her roots and her jazz soul after straying from it in her teens. “For me, jazz is what speaks to me more than anything else.”

So coupled with a passion for Twin Peaks and Harlem in 1934, Juju’s craft in the genre is certainly well refined.

The album name, A Horse Named Regret, tells an incredible tale about a man who bets his life savings on a horse named Regret, only to win, and then lose it all to the vultures of life’s enigma. In the end, the only thing he is left with is the story of how he won a fortune on a horse named Regret. Juju’s aptness for heartbreaking honesty and lyrical prowess would place her comfortably in the company of vocalists like Billie Holiday, Etta James and Bessie Smith. So too could she hold her own at a poker table with eccentrics like Cab Calloway and Jay Hawkins. A testimony to her incredible charisma and fortitude for jazz music is only too recognisable in her incredible songs. Expect a gin house cavalcade that will tell romantic stories with morals, that have nothing to do with virtue, about lost and confused souls and indifferent lovers.

A Horse Named Regret has been hailed as “A fine and soulful album full of drama, vocal precision and musical variety”, which is what we have all come to learn is the characteristic mystery of Mojo Juju.

Mojo Juju will be causing many a swoon on Thursday July 28, when she plays Transit Bar. Tickets are $13.10 through Moshtix.

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LONE FLOWER alisha evans A simple flower growing from the mud of the Queensland floods in Brisbane would seem unremarkable to most but for CATHERINE TRAICOS it was significant. Catherine was touring just two weeks after the floods devastated Queensland and noticed the flame lily or Gloriosa Superba, the national flower of her country of birth, Zimbabwe. The songstress was so inspired she named her latest album Gloriosa. “I saw the flower as a metaphor for art; it’s an opportunity for regrowth. It was really inspiring to see the land recovering so quickly.”

She is currently touring the album with her band The Starry Night and will be in Canberra on Saturday July 23. Life in Zimbabwe was sheltered for Catherine. She went to an allgirls school where art was not allowed. She did, however, learn piano from an early age and was introduced to Elvis, The Beatles and Motown by her parents. “School in Zimbabwe was uptight and I didn’t think it was possible to be a composer.”

I saw the flower as a metaphor for art; it’s an opportunity for regrowth

After moving to Australia at 18, Catherine saw her friends in bands and was really inspired. She taught herself to play guitar and started singing and composing music. Catherine was also shocked to discover the truth about Zimbabwe. She found out that just down the road from her school, young boys were being taught to fight and be guerrillas. “I found out all this stuff about Zimbabwe and it was a complete eye opener. It made me feel an incredible amount of guilt, shame and anger.”

These feelings have been channelled into her music and the songs are often inspired by Catherine’s emotions, relationships with herself, others and also places. Her favourite track on Gloriosa is Magic Water, which is written to the rhythm of Tibetan heart meditation. She used this mediation to work through her emotions and relationships, and says the song is very personal. Her diverse range of musical influences also forms a part of her compositions.

“The music crosses a lot of genres – folk, blues, a little bit of country every now and then. It’s always very earthy even though we use a mix of electric and acoustic.”

Catherine says their music is tactile and has a lot of warmth because it was recorded to tape. Touring forms a big part of her life. “I love visiting different places in Oz and contributing to the live scene.”

Catherine would love to tour internationally one day with Japan and Norway on her wish list. She is also hoping to record a new album next year with the band already working on new material. A few side projects are also on the cards, one being working with a friend from Zimbabwe on spoken poetry. The Canberra show is one of many free gigs the artist and her band are performing.

Catherine Traicos and The Starry Night are playing at The Phoenix at 8pm on Saturday July 23, with special guests Haunted Attics and James Fahy.

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A ROAD WELL TRAVELLED Chiara Grassia JORDIE LANE never planned on making an album during his travels, but traipsing across America provided inspiration for his second album, Blood Thinner. Fuelled by rock ‘n’ roll phantasms sparked by music docos and lured by iconic locations slathered in music history, the Melbourne singer-songwriter packed his bags and set off for

Nobody sells cassette the US. “My only real intention was to stay tapes anymore, so it in this motel room one of my favourite took ages [to find]; a lot of kids working at singers used to stay in, and then actually audio stores didn’t even know what died in. And then it all started from there.” cassette tapes were – Beeline-ing it to the famous Joshua Tree it was a nightmare!

Inn, where his beloved Gram Parsons stayed, Lane then headed back to LA where he mucked around with sounds in the depths of a cramped basement. “It was kind of like I was trapped in hiding, and spent day and night there, writing new songs and just experimenting.”

These environments fostered the sound of the album, as well as Lane’s recorder of choice – the oh-so-vintage cassette tape. Its technological restrictions provided a refreshing set of constraints, which forced Lane to “be creative with how you’re going to get all the sounds in your head off to that. Sometimes I was hitting a banjo string and hitting a table top and singing a backing vocal at the same time, to get them all into one track”. Due to the project’s spontaneity, Lane had to build an assortment of instruments along the way, noting, “I had nothing with me when I arrived in America. First thing I did was buy an acoustic guitar, a custom-made one from Virginia and that was when I started to get into picking the guitar again, and started writing songs. The next thing I did was buy a banjo on the way down to Mexico, searching around everywhere on the first day for cassette tapes.

Nobody sells cassette tapes anymore, so it took ages; ringing different stores and getting tip offs from different places, driving all the way there to find out no, they didn’t have any.

A lot of kids working at audio stores didn’t even know what cassette tapes were – it was a nightmare!” Last to be added to his on-the-road collection was a beaten up “harmonial-style organ powered by a crappy little electric fan” nestled amongst the power tools in a secondhand shop, which features heavily throughout the album.

“It was fun to not stick to conventional ideas of folk or county music. Not that it’s like some outlandish, experimental record, but for me it was definitely trying new things.”

The result is a richly layered album, complete with Lane’s gorgeous vocals and intriguing storytelling. Lane will be performing songs from Blood Thinner on his massive national tour, with Drones’ drummerturned-solo-performer, Mika Noga, on board to help translate the songs to a live setting.

Jordie Lane hits Canberra on Wednesday July 27, and will be showcasing his dulcet tones at The Front. $15 on the door.

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35

THE REALNESS Out of the gate this issue, we check in with Fatty Phew who has just dropped his second free mixtape entitled The Best Things in Life are Free Pt. 2. You can download it from fattyphew.com. It features five brand new tunes produced by Alter Ego with DJ Bogues on the ones-n-twos. Guest appearances come from Luke Mac and Spit who features on most tunes.

Also available for free download now is the new EP from Syntax and Mules under the Death Stars moniker. With plenty of humour this self-confessed “razzle dazzle” of an EP is “the ultimate synthesis of rap and nerdish fixations”. Grab yourself a copy now from badmeetsevil.com/deathstars . The big daddy Roots Manuva is back wit anudda ting this September. His latest LP is called 4everrevolution and comes complete with guest slots from DJ MK, Daddy Kope, Ricky Ranking and newcomer Rokhsan. The album is dropping on the ever-reliable Big Dada imprint.

Everybody’s fave turntable nerd Kid Koala is releasing his latest opus Space Cadet on Ninja Tune in September as an accompaniment to his graphic novel Nufonia Must Fall, which hit shelves many years ago. Each tune apparently coincides with a page of his graphic novel and is meant to be played in accompaniment as you read it. ‘Ding’ – now turn the page. Space Cadet is out on Monday September 19. Nerds unite!

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Four Tet has been drafted to mix the next FabricLive59, which will feature a slew of unreleased material from the man himself.

Rumours abound at the lengths Mr Tet went to get some of the tunes in the mix (with some artists themselves not even having vinyl copies of the tunes). The mix features tunes from Floating Points, STL, Burial, Villalobos, Persian, Manitoba and much more. It is out Monday September 19.

L-Vis 1990 is set to release his debut LP in September. Entitled Neon Dreams, it will continue his explorations of all things house and bass music. Para One, Julio Bashmore and Teki Latex have contributed co-production duties and vocalists Corey Black, Javeon McCarthy and Samatha Lim lend their voices. L-Vis has stated that his aim was to capture the late ‘90s album vibe from artists such as Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers and Basement Jaxx. This one has gotta be big. I’ve been digging the output of Cambridge’s Sully for a couple of years and am excited about his debut record Carrier due shortly on Blackdown’s Keysound label (an imprint synonymous with quality). It’s a short ‘n’ sweet ten-tracker and builds on his two-step riddims by incorporating the influence of Chicago footwork in a number of tunes. It drops Monday September 12.

Finally this month, Apparat is back with another album called The Devil’s Walk. It’s also out September (big month) and is his solo LP since 2007, although since then he’s collaborated with Modeselektor (Moderat) and with Ellen Allien of course. Should be suitably all over the place in terms of sound and style, but with those trademark beautiful Apparat sonics.

To hear music from all the above artists and much much more, tune to The Antidote on 2XX 98.3FM every Tues night from 9.30pm.

ROSHAMBO roshambizzle@yahoo.com.au

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are the genre melding Melbournites Heirs, who are about to release their second record, Fowl. The Bald Faced Stag on Parramatta Road is the venue for the Friday October 21 show.

METALISE RIP Michael ‘Wurzel’ Burston, Motorhead axe master from 1984 through to ‘95 and the man responsible for decimating eardrums at the infamous Queanbeyan Raiders Leagues club in ‘91. Spinning the under rated Rock ’n’ Roll album this week in your honour.

Boston’s Doomriders hit ANU Bar on Monday July 25, on their first Australian tour along with tour buddies I Exist and local long time insanity merchants 4Dead.

Alcest, French black-metal/shoegazers are heading out to Australian shores for five shows to promote their reissue of Le Secret and last year’s Ecailles de liune, and along for all five shows

Don’t forget Slaughterfest IV at The Sandringham in Sydney on Saturday July 30, featuring a huge bill of mixed heavy flavours.

The full line-up is Fuck... I’m Dead, Looking Glass, Roadside Burial, Summonus, Mother Eel, Deathcage, Mother Mars, Ether Rag, Red Bee, Agonhymn (VIC), Burial Chamber, Arrowhead, Rock N Roll Weapon, Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt and Van. This looks to be a ripper of a show. Summonus have just completed tracking their new full length down at Goatsound studios in Melbourne with Jason PC of Blood Duster on the controls.

If Sydney is too big a mission for you, don’t forget local metal black-belts Live Evil will be putting on a MONSTER evening of entertainment at ANU Bar with their special Big Four tribute night, covering the works of ‘80s thrash titans Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. $20 for the thrashtacular and doors at 7.30pm.

Monster Magnet are heading back after blistering through a midday set at Soundwave earlier this year, and they’re going to be performing their 1995 album Dopes To Infinity in full and you can catch their set in Sydney at The Metro Theatre on Wednesday September 14.

Church of Misery have solidified their dates for their first Australian tour, headlining the Doomsday festival this October. Playing Sydney’s Doomsday fest (full line-up announced soon) on Saturday October 15 at The Sandringham Hotel, a side show at the same venue the following evening, Wednesday October 19 at The Patch in Wollongong and right here in Canberra at The Basement on Thursday October 20. Doomtastic!

Aussie hard rocking band Mark of Cain are coming out of hibernation with a new album Songs of the Third and Fifth which is due to hit stores in the coming months.

Unkle K’s band of the week this week, keeping you appraised of the underground delights out there, is English doom act The Wounded Kings, who are about to release a new record through Swedish label I Hate Records on Thursday September 1, entitled In The Chapel of the Black Hand. For a preview head to myspace.com/ thewoundedkings2 .

JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

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FRENZAL FUCKWIT Baz Ruddick After half a dozen re-scheduled calls, numerous flakes and the resulting threat of a Friday Fuckwit nomination on his head, Lindsay McDougal, triple j’s The Doctor and FRENZAL RHOMB guitarist, finally gave me a call. The darlings of Australian punk have been a constant force in Australian music since their mid ‘90s success selling their wares: crass humour, brilliantly crafted lyrics and infectious punk riffs, or as Lindsay puts it “stupid songs with swear words in them”.

Lindsay shares with me how Frenzal gigs have changed over the years from perfectionist punk in which they “felt it really important to get everything exactly right” to a nonchalant “40 minute set not giving a shit because we just wanted to fucking rock”. Fans will now be treated to a set stretching for around an hour in which, along with showcasing songs from Anyone who says the new album Smoko live music is dead at The Pet Food Factory, is just using it as they will be reviving an excuse for them old favourites, taking to sit at home and requests from the crowd watch YouTube clips accompanied by shots of Jamison’s whiskey every three to four songs on bassist Gordy’s command. “We all fall about our instruments in the right direction.”

Staying true to their heritage, Frenzal Rhomb’s latest album was recorded in America with former Black Flag and Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson. “He actually had a brain tumour removed from his head a couple of years ago... we have listened to his albums since then and it wasn’t the bit that contained his mixing ability.”

Lindsay shared with me an anecdote of Stevenson’s unorthodox technique in which he could urinate and sell merchandise simultaneously, effectively taking a fan’s money and “pissing on their feet under the merch stand”.

Whilst the responsibilities of modern life and practicalities kept the Frenzal boys from being able to play as many small pub gigs as they would like to, they are still doing a thorough job of touring, jetting it around the country to deliver a solid dose of in-your-face punk.

Whilst the gigs may lack the gritty pub vibe that used to be ever present, Frenzal fans are still proving as hilariously hardcore as ever.

“At a gig we played in Brisbane I had so much shit thrown at me... someone threw a big heavy steel bracelet at my head!”

Lindsay shares with me his optimism and hope for the dying pub live music scene. “Justin Hemmes buys every pub in Sydney and turns it into an arsehole bar... other stuff pops up too... there’s a record store in Sydney called Black Wire Records that has gigs every weekend.”

He states that, “anyone who says live music is dead is just using it as an excuse for them to sit at home and watch YouTube clips”.

Frenzal Rhomb will be ripping it up on Friday July 29 at ANU Bar with No Use For A Name.. Tickets are a mean $35.95 through Ticketek.

39

There may or

LOOK MA, NO HANDS! Naomi Frost Locally made six-piece HANDS LIKE HOUSES are undoubtedly one of Canberra’s most beloved alternative/experimental rock acts. The boys have recently returned from a long, yet extremely rewarding recording process in the US, and are currently preparing for the release of their debut studio album, a huge tour covering the west and east coasts of Australia, as well as an extensive tour of Europe and the UK. Yes indeed, these Canberra boys are making quite the name for themselves.

Good-humoured guitarist, Cooper, shares with us a little bit about the band, their record and the highlights of the band’s musical career thus far. Fans are on the edge of their seats, anticipating the release of Hands Like Houses’ debut studio album Ground Dweller, which was recorded in Florida with producer Cameron Mizell. In an act of fate, this is where they happened to meet Melbourne band Dream On, Dreamer, whom they are touring with in the coming months. “We had a bit of a crossover at the studio, as they were finishing up their album we were starting ours,” Cooper says.

40

As it turns out, the making of may not have Ground Dweller was not the only been some activity they participated in during windmilling of their time abroad. “While we were our junk over in Florida, it was pretty much monsoon-ing outside, so we thought that gave us the excuse to get starkers and run out in street,” Cooper reveals. “There may or may not have been some windmilling of our junk.” According to Cooper this was one of the more G-rated experiences by comparison. “We like to show our mothers everything that gets printed about us so they get heaps proud and give us sweet kisses on the cheek and stuff, so we won’t dig very deep into the dirt.”

Refusing to share anything more explicit, Cooper explains, “Our experiences are either a little too inappropriate to put into writing, or super boring.” The boys are sure to face very little boredom when they embark on an exciting tour of Europe and the UK in September this year. “Getting to see some new countries and experience our first international tour is something we’ve wanted since the beginning,” claims Cooper. Although he also explains that much has changed from the band’s beginnings as the common high school band, which Cooper describes as “horrid”. “After some trade-ins and upgrades with band members, we arrived a couple of years ago at the line-up we are at now. Throw in some homo-eroticism, which brings us to where we are today,” Cooper laughs.

When asked what the best thing about being a part of Hands Like Houses is, Cooper does not think of inappropriate open-air freeballing in foreign countries, or proud kisses from Mummy. Instead Cooper says that “being able to create something with your best friends and share it” is the best part of what he does.

Hands Like Houses will be playing the Tuggeranong Youth Centre on Wednesday August 24. Tickets are through Oztix for $18.40 pre-sale.

41

the word

on albums

balance 19 Mixed by henry saiz [530db]

album of the issue SAIGON THE GREATEST STORY NEVER TOLD [Suburban Noize Records]

TGSNT opens with dialogue between a prisoner and a friend. It’s believable, understated and genuine – more so because one-time inmate Saigon plays the prisoner – and is a brilliant introduction to his portrait of the US. After 11 years, seven mixtapes and four street albums, there hasn’t been a better debut studio hip-hop LP since I don’t know when. I could compare it to Kanye’s College Dropout or Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides, but Saigon’s his own rapper and that’s too beautiful to sully with comparisons. Ranging from the heavily political and militantly racial to the genesis of his soul, TGSNT makes these topics so intensely personal you find yourself drawn into his story like a book. It’s a tragically honest appraisal of the country that raised him and he does more than just tear it to pieces – he loves it as he does and it’s this that makes his album.

His anger is never without savage hope and the soulgospel influenced beats marry perfectly with his impassioned messages. In the same way Tupac constructed his heaven in Thug’s Mansion, Saigon takes you to the real hells and heavens of his life. If you’ve ever loved hip-hop, buy this album. ASHLEY THOMSON

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Balance is a force to be reckoned with; consistently brilliant and mesmerising even after all this time. Much like the equally revered Fabric comps, the series’ strength is self-perpetuating, with each excellent release adding further pressure on the incumbent artist to not just avoid fucking the whole thing up, but to create something better than the last.

But unlike the multi-genred Fabric, Balance remains firmly in the prog-house pantheon, tightening the vice even further for the hapless starlets of the sub-genre to deliver. Sheesh.

If Spain’s Henry Saiz was nervous at the prospect, he certainly hasn’t shown it, delivering two mixes of sublime beauty and purpose. With a modus operandi of “exploring how music has the power to contain and store personal emotional experiences”, Saiz has created a modern yet lo-fi sound through varying analogue, 303 mixes and edits that is both unique and otherworldly.

The blending is seamless and long, the pacing perfect, and with such effort put into the whole it seems unfair to track select. But the stirring closers encapsulate each respective mix perfectly – CD1’s Uroboros

by Saiz & Pional and CD2’s Nodo 6 by Sistema (Saiz Rework)… If the sound of a computer game in medieval times excites you, you’re in luck (and just wait for those drums). The brilliance is continued; I feel sorry for whoever is lined up for Balance 20… But I sure as shit am looking forward to it.

ALLAN SKO

catherine traicos & the starry night gloriosa [an ocean awaits records] The third album from Catherine Traicos comes from the heart.

Gloriosa portrays the Sydneysider as a woman with an inner strength that has been won through trials. In doing so, it follows in the same groove as Catherine’s second album The Amazing, which was about love, painful breakups and inner conflict. Catherine has the gift of crystallising a diverse range of emotions in an intense manner, but in the most delicate of voices.

There’s the thrill of flirting in Walk Into The Stars and the pain of love’s end in Don’t Leave Me This Way. Contrast this with the languid feeling of Australian Sun, so laid back with its stoned hippy vibe. The dark side of relationships is expressed in a soothing manner that says ‘I understand’. Her waiflike voice is at its finest in Stranger, about the death of a loved one.

Catherine brought together musos from such bands as The Tucker Bs and Sketching Cato to form The Starry Night, to create the perfect mood for her songs. Melodies emphasise the tension in the lyrics, with a cello denoting heartbreak and a guitar expressing anger and hurt pride. Most of her pop/ folk material has a slow tempo, befitting the serious themes, but the CD highlight is the brighter Beg For Love, with its skipping pace melody.

RORY McCARTNEY

Hannah Gillespie All the Dirt [Independent] Canberra girl Hannah Gillespie is just one of those artists; disgustingly talented across songwriting, guitar playing, singing and just being a lovely, rounded, down-to-earth musician. We see and hear the amazing talent hiding away in our city as often as we make the effort to catch a local live band on a weekend, but only sometimes there are those special people that make you say ‘this one’s going places’.

Her second album All the Dirt takes Hannah back to her folk and country roots, or ‘campfire’ music if you want a pretty blatant image of where the album will take you; a bonfire on a country property with happy, simple people enjoying the organic sounds and setting.

In other words, Hannah will make you feel warm and in good company. Bliss. Produced by The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow (obviously lovingly), and with a swag of emotions poured into the 11 tracks of heartstrumming tales, you’ll start off dancing and smiling about then end up just sitting with your head too close to the speaker listening to Hannah tell you her tales of happiness, woe, heartbreak, family and journey.

It’s strangely refreshing to hear the simplicity of a good voice being backed by some solid piano and that old three-chord strum of an acoustic, and that’s exactly what Hannah has shown us. That music can still be about an inner journey of the artist’s soul while the uncomplicated instruments resound in support of the storyteller.

DANIKA NAYNA

singled out

with Dave Ruby Howe

Jordie Lane Blood Thinner [Vitamin Records] The follow up to 2007’s Sleeping Patterns, Melbourne singer-songwriter Jordie Lane’s sophomore effort Blood Thinner is a beautifully crafted album which sits comfortably in between the genres of country and folk. The songs were initially recorded onto cassette tapes, and the result is many layers which build up onto each other, producing a rich sonic texture.

However, the album sounds quite polished, with each layer clearly present. Blood Thinner sounds paradoxically classic and innovative; a direct result of Lane’s rich vocals and finger-picking guitar style juxtaposed with intricate layers of percussion.

Those with a keen ear can spend the entire album picking out the various percussion noises; bass drum or Tupperware container? The lyrics are strong, but the real highlight of the album is Lane’s voice, which is consistently stunning; delicate and deep, but never gruff. His vocals inject a subtle fragility into the songs, which adds to the quiet intensity of the album.

There’s an overall sadness that lingers throughout, evident in its haunting atmosphere, and lyrics which yearn and question.

Yet Blood Thinner isn’t dragged down in melancholy. The album explores different moods and shades, yet still feels pulled together. Highlights include Old Time Spell, with its great use of guitar finger-pickin’, and the gorgeous vocal harmonies and jumpy rhythm of Thin My Blood. chiara grassia

Single Twin Marcus Teague [Remote Control/Inertia] Marcus Teague, formerly frontman of Melbourne based and now departed band Deloris, has named this album after himself but with Single Twin, his alter ego, as the artist. Confused? I was too. This highly personal effort was lovingly made and mixed by Marcus at home, over six years, armed with only one mic and Garageband software. The authenticity of the sound is attested to by the occasional hiss and the capture of background noise.

The finish creates the intimacy of a living room chat. It’s a delicate production, demanding close concentration to truly appreciate the engaging melodies and the poetry in the veiled lyrics. The music is acoustic guitar centred, with Marcus playing a bevy of instruments including banjo.

There’s a hefty dose of black humour in the songs which comes across strongly in Came Home Dead and Wandering, a post apocalyptic tale about being a survivor after nuclear holocaust, complete with a spooky wail. Brief instrumentals Slow Down Soldier and Smoke Trail on a Spring Day appear like bookends, dividing volumes in a library. Album highlights are The Blow (Fell Out the Window) and My Silken Tooth, a touching tale of bereavement crowned by the poignant lines “in my mind you’re beside me and singing”.

Marcus plays at The Street on Tuesday August 2. rory mccartney

The Gloria Story Shades of White [Sound Pollution] Christ on a bike. It’s rarely, if ever, these days that a completely new (to me) band manages to take such a complete and utterly ravishing grip on the ol’ lugs, but here I am, looking like the bleedin’ FA Cup in the grasp of this most utterly astonishing album.

In just over one half of your earth hours The Gloria Story, from Sweden, completely and utterly wipe the floor with the power-poppin’ opposition, in the process writing those same hapless fools a new set of rules for future reference.

Shades of White is a jawdroppingly irresistible conflation of what made the late ‘70s such an enticing period for fans of the good stuff.

Fusing the guitar dynamism of Jailbreak/Chinatown/ Renegade-era Lizzy to the lazy class of the primetime Steve Miller Band would be a good enough starting point; but then, just to make sure, these boys slather on a bucketload of sure fire winner ‘modern rock’ attitude over the top of the cake to ensure that no-one – make that NO-ONE – misses out on what’s going on here.

The likes of Valentino and I Don’t Wanna Be Your Bet could easily have come from the mighty pen of Lynott, whilst if I Can Make You Run, with its woozily familiar Foos feel isn’t a worldwide radio hit before the year is out then I’m not a slightly overweight man with hyperbole issues. Get out and buy this bugger now! (Five stars for the album, zero for the album art - Ed.).

SCOTT ADAMS

Discodeine Grace [Dirty] Pilooski’s Discodeine project hit the right note with that Jarvis Cocker-featuring jam, Synchronize, earlier this year and though Grace doesn’t reach the same palatable heights with an exploration of disco’s darker side on the cards, the looping electronics and relentless piano keep the groove feeling strong.

Bonus for the Gavin Russom remix on the back.

Duck Sauce Big Bad Wolf [Fool’s Gold] After Barbra Streisand spread goofy disco vibes across the summer last year Duck Sauce throw a spanner in the works with Big Bad Wolf. Sure it has the same ear-grabbing novelty factor and it would be cool to hear bros howling along in a club at midnight but beyond that the production is more boring than you’d expect from the combined minds of A-Trak and Armand.

And it’s also just kinda stupid.

Gotye Somebody That I Used To Know [Eleven] Wally’s back and still sounds in top form with Somebody That I Used To Know - floating amicably by on some nice organic touches and some plinky marimbas. That’s all well and good but then he kicks the vocal into high gear and it gets even better. And then bloody Kimbra comes in because this song wasn’t good enough. Game over, man. Game over.

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the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

It is difficult to define what makes a film work. For example: The Tree of Life and Sleeping Beauty are similar in many ways. Both are art house, slow-moving and contemplative. But the respect in which the films differ is quality. The first film is fantastic; the second, not so much. The difference perhaps comes from films having a soul; having some substance.

Where The Tree of Life has something to say, Sleeping Beauty is quite hollow. Having something to say is important.

Although, ironically, I haven’t said a lot in this spiel – feel free to rate me out of five stars.

quote of the issue “Where were You? You let a boy die. You let anything happen. Why should I be good?

When You aren’t.”

Young Jack (Hunter McCracken), The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life The Tree of Life (directed by Terrence Malick) is a dreamlike, meditative look at memories, and the nature of mankind. It is both a sprawling and intensely personal film – and one that is incredibly picturesque.

Jack (Sean Penn) is an architect disillusioned with the constructed, man-made world, who reminisces about his childhood (where he is played by Hunter McCracken) and the opposing forces of his mother (Jessica Chastain) and father (Brad Pitt) growing up.

This is merely the most linear portion of the film, however, and it is interwoven with an extended montage depicting the evolution of the earth, and scenes from a dreamy afterlife.

The film is, essentially, poetry on screen. With nothing substantial in the way of plot or dialogue, it is a series of memories, indistinct and atmospheric. The cinematography is stunning, from Malick’s conception of the formation of the earth, with swirling solar flares and crushing tides; to the constructed world of steel and glass that the older Jack inhabits, both beautiful and claustrophobic. The film is a testament to mankind, in all its forms. From the beginning of time, to the modern day.

It is also an incredibly observant film, and its representation of childhood is disarmingly accurate. Watching Jack grow up, it is at times as if you are watching scenes from your own childhood, barely remembered. A beautiful, haunting film, its images will stay with you.

44

Melissa Wellham

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon Engaging dialogue, you ask?

Um, Bumblebee is the most eloquent character. Subtlety, you wonder? This is a Michael Bay film – get your head out of your ass. Emotional depth? The main romantic lead spends the entire film pouting and looking mildly unsettled.

Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam, an ally of the Autobots who also manages to constantly snag hot tail (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Carly). Carly’s hot, and can run in heels. There’s some weird plot about the moon, Sentinel Prime and the government… but no one’s seeing these films for the plot.

The effects are actually pretty amazing, and the 3D (deep breath) is well used and awesome. However, parts of the film are way too corny (and not tongue-in-cheek), and both the script and HuntingtonWhiteley are absolute rubbish.

Her and LaBeouf have as much chemistry as two cabbages rubbing together (less in fact), and since they’re supposed to be in love this is somewhat of an issue.

While there are some comic moments and great fight scenes, at 157 mins Transformers 3 just runs way too long – and for no good reason. That being said, there are transforming robot aliens, explosions and a hot babe – I don’t think Bay is pretending that this film is meant to be anything else.

MEGAN McKEOUGH

Sleeping Beauty Sleeping Beauty wants to be a challenging, confronting depiction about one young woman’s detachment from the real world. While it arguably achieves this, it is also devoid of meaning and dull.

Lucy (Emily Browning, Suckerpunch) is a university student who is unable to engage with her life. Her passivity is alarming. When she answers an advertisement to become a lingerie waitress, she is drawn into a world where money can buy men whatever sexual fantasy they desire.

She eventually volunteers for a job where she is drugged – essentially put into a coma for a number of hours – and rich, decrepit old men pay to do whatever they want with her body during that time. When she awakes, she doesn’t remember a thing.

Some of these scenes are unsurprisingly disgusting and confronting, and I’m sure many viewers will dislike Sleeping Beauty because of it. However, it was not the depictions of depravity that ruined Sleeping Beauty – because of course, they are entirely the ‘point’ – but rather how the point seemed to lack any meaning, message or emotional substance. It should have elicited an emotional response, and one can see what writer/director Julia Leigh was trying to accomplish, but the film falls flat. Sleeping Beauty is, as the name might suggest, quite tiresome – but unfortunately not even particularly visually impressive.

Unless you’re inclined to be outraged by this film, Sleeping Beauty is a bit of a snorefest.

MELISSA WELLHAM

the word on dvds

Hall Pass [Warner Home Video]

Reign Of Assassins [Madman]

The Company Men [Madman]

Despite the large streak of vile gross-out humour that runs through every movie they make, the Farrelly Brothers are actually social commentators. Naturally, most writers are trying to comment on something – but in a genre where penis jokes are the common currency, Bobby and Peter Farrelly are cut from a slightly different cloth.

Underneath all that juvenile shock humour there is usually a theme; that we should try and accept people for who they are and look past outer superficialities.

When Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released over a decade ago – yes, it’s been that long – famed Civil War nut, Abe Lincoln lookalike and ex-Premier of NSW Bob Carr flew firmly in the face of public opinion by walking out of a screening early and dissing the film at a press conference soon after. Even though Honest Bob wasn’t a fan of Ang Lee’s blades and highly choreographed fights it was a runaway hit, introducing western audiences to a genre that had long been associated (wrongly) with poorly dubbed chop suey flicks. The market was soon flooded with films to satiate an untapped market – Hero, House of Flying Daggers and er, um, New Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But audiences are notoriously fickle and besides, the Harry Potter films had just started coming out so interest waned.

The Company Men is a good film. It had the potential to be a great film but somewhere along the way it got lost, stumbled and fell quite dramatically.

Bloviating, alpha-male sales manager Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) is arrogantly boasting about his golf handicap one minute and collecting his belongings in a box the next – the next faceless victim of a recession that obliterated entire levels of management, companies and communities.

On the face of it, it couldn’t have happened to a better person.

In Hall Pass the brothers tackle what is surely the most vexing issue afflicting modern society – husbands who look at other women’s asses.

Rick (Owen Wilson) and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) are stuck in sexless marriages. Aren’t they all? Somehow their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate) are convinced that it would be a nifty idea to allow their husbands a week off to indulge however they want – no questions asked, a ‘hall pass’.

American author and sex columnist Dan Savage was the subject of a recent article in The New York Times where he argued the goal of marriage should be stability not monogamy and that our expectations of the institution are unrealistic and inflexible.

In a little under two hours Hall Pass struggles hard to make the same point. It’s an interesting point to reflect upon but this film settles for a safe ‘happy families’ dénouement. That really is the biggest shock.

Those hoping for the next Crouching Tiger should probably look elsewhere. Admittedly, the John Woo co-director credit might suggest a crossover all-swords blazing action film – but this isn’t it. It’s an elegant, rewarding and vibrant film with its fair share of slashing and floating, but at its core is the complex relationship between an ex-assassin and a seemingly simple man. Michelle Yeoh is Drizzle/Zeng Jing, a swordsmaster in a gang of assassins who escapes her life of crime and sells textiles at a rural market. Into her life comes a man – bumbling and caring Jiang Ah-sheng – looking only for a life of suburban bliss, 15th century style. Drizzle plays down every attempt that might out her previous life, to wit – a bank robbery scene where the new couple are caught in the middle is playful and tense.

Things are never as they seem though and sure enough Ahsheng’s less straightforward history emerges. Despite a meandering start, an intricate story unfolds and Reign tightens up when it matters.

justin hook

justin hook

This freedom results in a degree of stage fright and the pair spend most of the week falling asleep early and realising they are no longer their younger selves. On the other side of the equation, their spouses – Maggie and Grace – are effortlessly pulling the local baseball team and straying much farther than expected.

This is one of the first tranche of films to deal with the GFC and therefore has the opportunity to pick the ripest fruit. For the first half, it does.

Walker’s family live well beyond their means; a situation familiar to many of us I’m sure. So they scale back. Dump the sports car.

Sell the house. This fall from comfortable upper middle class affluence is played expertly – you can sense the fatigue, confusion and seething anger in Affleck’s performance.

The film then takes a ragingly obvious detour into homily territory where Walker is taught the value of honest-togoodness, hands-on ‘work’ when he begrudgingly takes a job with his carpenter brotherin-law, Jack (Kevin Costner in simperingly fine form). Of course the desk monkey is a useless carpenter but he sticks it out, proving he is a man of honour. Oh, brother. No, literally.

After a hokey monologue about the death of the American manufacturing industry you just know where it’s going to end up.

And sure enough it does, with Walker donning his suit and reverting back to the yapping jerk he was at the beginning of the film. How odd – this journey seems to have taken us right back to where we started. On the plus side, the dependable Chris Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones are brilliant as always. justin hook

45

the word

BLACKBOX

on games

L.A. Noire Developer: Bondi Games Platform: 360, PS3 Length: 18 hours Rating: Try it, be disappointed O, I wanted to love this game. How I wanted to love this game. And for what it’s worth, it seems everyone else out there loves this game.

When the previews for L.A. Noire came out months back – a hard-boiled detective piece utilising ultra-slick facial capture technology – excitement was high. Start as a beat cop, chase down perps, interrogate them, solve crimes, move up the ranks, all whilst spit-balling with a variety of partners, seemingly played by every actor from Mad Men minus Jon Hamm, across multiple departments. It was going to be Broken Sword with a Grand Theft Auto style free-roaming environment and plenty o’ violence to boot. I mean shit, what’s not to love?

I tell you what’s not to love. Free-roaming environment? Pffft, that’s a laugh. On the surface – and what a shiny, realistic surface it is – you have the vast expanse of 1940s LA to explore, replete with all the cars, stores and people of the era. But scratch away just an insy bit and you have one of the most linear games I’ve played in years.

From the start L.A. Noire firmly takes you by the hand and leads you directly where you need to go – pick up this piece of evidence, talk to that man, go to this location, repeat ad nauseum. Yes, there are side missions (street crimes) and trophies to be awarded (speeding without crashing, tackling a perp on asphalt) but these are vanilla compared to the bounty of treasures in the GTA series.

Collecting evidence is skull-fuckingly dull, and music cues tell you when you’re done, thereby removing all challenge. The key feature of the game – the interrogations – is undoubtedly a highlight, and the facial capturing is startling (Micky Cohen in particular). But even here a confusing system lets it down. After hearing an answer, you can choose Truth, Doubt or Lie and you’re meant to read the character’s facial cues to decide which it is. So often, a truthful character’s face will spazz out as if a bee has suddenly entered their private area, and it’s so hard to distinguish between Truth and Doubt that you often get it wrong – “I may or may not have once maybe kinda been near or not near the vicinity of the crime” – I choose Doubt – wrong, asshole, it was Truth, now you’ve scared the witness.

Doesn’t matter though; you’ll still progress through the game.

And this is the main problem; you’re led so sternly from one scenario to the next that if you fail, you’re hardly punished, and if you succeed, it’s because you’ve been gifted the progress on a platter thus utterly removing any sense of achievement for the player (which, last time I checked, was one of the kickers of playing games).

I’m being so harsh because this could have been so good, one of the great games of the decade. And while there is much here for future developers to build upon – the acting and facial tracking for instance – years in development hell has turned out a very disappointing release. Give me Broken Sword any day. ALLAN SKO

46

As a foodie at heart (a pastime that can at least in part be enjoyed slothing about in front of the telly with a pinot or three), the endless gastronomic advice now available through digital TV channels was welcomed, as long as it didn’t come from Masterchef (SCTEN, Sun-Fri, 7.30pm). But now, the networks have gone into a time warp flooding our screens with home reno shows – besides the five nights a week of The Block (WIN) which is now casting for its next season, there’s Jamie Drury’s Top Design (WIN, Wed, 8pm), 60 Minute Makeover (7TWO, Sun, 9.45pm) and repeats of Room for Improvement (7TWO, Wed, 2.30am). If you really want to know about home renovation, stick with the new series of Grand Designs (ABC1, Sun, 7.30pm) where you might also learn a thing or two about architecture, design and not looking like the CAD rendered drawing on the real estate brochure.

The much promoted Hamish &Andy’s Gap Year (SCTEN, Thu Jul 28, 8.30pm) takes the intrepid duo to the US now that Spicks and Specks has wrapped. Other new shows include the premiere of pawn shop obdoco Hardcore Pawn (7Mate, Wed Jul 20, 8.30pm), Off The Map (Prime, Thu Jul 21, 10.41pm), already cancelled medical drama set in South America, the much awaited Friday Night Lights (ABC2, Fri Jul 29, 8.30pm) and the one-off comedy show We ain’t Terrorists (ABC2, Thu Jul 28, 9.30pm).

If you’re a fan, make sure you catch Spicks and Specks (ABC1, Wed, 8.30pm) – there’s only a few months left of this season, its last. For a triple treat, it’ll soon be followed by The Gruen Transfer (ABC1, Wed Aug 3, 9pm) and Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journeys Transfer (ABC1, Wed Aug 3, 9.30pm), which put’s the comedienne’s spin on the topic that spurned the John Safran and Father Bob phenomenon.

Collectors (ABC1, Fri Jul 22, 8pm) promises two not-to-bemissed segments - a look at Boardgames and a chat with Justin Haezlewood.

There’s a plethora of documentary series coming up including Tropic of Capricorn (SBS1, Wed Aug 3, 7.30pm) which follows Simon Reeve as he circumnavigates the southern hemisphere, Seduction in the City (SBS1, Wed Jul 27, 8.30m) which looks at the history of shopping, Sex: An Unnatural History (SBS1, Fri Jul 29, 10pm), expertly hosted by Julia Zemiro.

Other docos to check out include Compass: Bali High Wedding (ABC1, Sun Jul 24, 10pm), Secrets of Stonehenge (SBS1, Sun Jul 31, 7.30pm), James May at the Edge of Space (SBS1, Sun Jul 24, 9.30pm), and Final 24: John Belushi (7Mate, Thu Jul 28, 11.30pm).

There’s a weekend pyjama fest for fans of xtreme and death defying sports including skateboarding with Drive (One, Sat Jul 23, 11.30am), Pro Bull Riding (One, Sun Jul 24, 10am), Snowboarding: TTR World Tour (One, Sun Jul 24, 11.30am), World of Free Sports (One, Sun Jul 24, 11am) and Cycling: UCI BMX World Championships (SBS2, Sun Jul 31, 8.30pm).

Movies this fortnight include Juno (SCTEN, Fri Jul 22, 9pm), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (GEM, Sat Jul 30, 3.40pm), The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (ABC2, Sat Jul 30, 8.30pm) and Mary Poppins (7Mate, Sat Jul 30, 1.30pm).

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyheffernan@bigpond.com

the word

Optical Eyes Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Gorman House Arts Centre Friday July 8

on gigs

Walking in from the freezing cold into what sounded like a broken air-conditioner amplified to 90db, I knew I was in the right place for the Optical Eyes exhibition featuring emerging ANU School of Art talent. Not being an air-conditioner technician I opted not to enter the side room where the performance was taking place. There was a good amount of people already in there and from outside the room I could see a guy in a sweater painting the walls with his hands while another guy generated the very sick sounding reverse-cycle. The air-conditioner-that-could made its merry way to around 220bpm, putting most Gabber music to shame, when just as it sounded like it was about to explode, it stopped, possibly actually exploding.

Using the quiet time, I got a closer look at the artwork on display.

The most apparent piece was the projections that divided the back wall into three abstract loops. My favourite was the panel that displayed a spider making its way out of a high-vis themed jelly desert. Being a relative outsider to the art scene it’s very likely that I didn’t ‘get’ any of the displays, but they did make me feel confused which, I’m told, is exactly the point of art, to elicit some sort of reaction. In keeping with the Optical Eyes theme, eyes in various forms, including helium balloons and foam balls, were thrown about by eager crowd members throughout the exhibition.

A key drawcard for this event was the Horse McGyver set. As the one-man band set up there were (joking) accusations of ‘sell out’ as it appeared he had ditched his saxophone and trade mark bread tray of gear. Nevertheless, it was evident that from the very first screwy synth line that Horse McGyver was out to prove these sceptics wrong with the witch house dropping like a 1692 Salem subprime market. Horsey mumbled and crooned through reverb and distortion while pacing around the room like he was hunted by a pitchfork wielding mob. It was as if he was using his Micro Korg, Roland sampler and a host of other ingredients to cast magical spells that would scare Slytherin’s finest.

The next act made use of the three upside down cones that were hung by ropes from the ceiling. The performance was by Emily O’Brien, who dressed entirely in aluminium foil and looked like a microwave unsafe alien, with accompanying performer Matthew Brown providing the soundtrack. The sealed-for-freshness alien filled each cone with fluoro coloured sand, cut the bottom tip and sent them swinging. Like a pack of Stabilo highlighters put through a food dehydrator and used as cake icing, the floor was decorated with these swinging teats of technicolour frosting. The effect was fascinating and pretty.

While this was all happening, the strobe light was getting a thorough workout, several smoke machines were putting Bernard Black to shame and a UV light was making the lint on everyone’s clothing painfully obvious. It all combined for a disconnected and disorienting experience.

PHOTOS: Travis h heinrich

At the climax of this performance, what sounded like an alarm was seamlessly beat matched and brought into the mix by the artful Brown. As it turns out this was actually the fire alarm for the whole Gorman House centre. At this realisation confused Art School students were told by the ‘space coyote’ staff to evacuate the premises immediately. And so the exhibition ended as it had started with loud repetitive industrial noise.

SEAN WILLIAMS

47

GIG GUIDE July 20 - July 21 wednesday july 20 Arts Exhibition - That’s Life

Life Drawing by Marilyn Hutchison.

Open 9am-4.30pm.

BELCONNEN GALLERY

CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Elements: Glass

Celebrating Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre’s membership of leading craft practitioners.

Play - The Pirates of Lake Tuggeranong

CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

The Pirates of Lake Tuggeranong

TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

TUGGERANONG ARTS CENTRE

An exciting and funny school holiday attraction. 2pm & 8pm. Bookings: 62931443.

Play - The Jungle Book

Showings at 10.30am & 2pm. $17, tix 6257 1950 or canberrarep.org.au .

BELCONNEN THEATRE

Exhibition - Geoffrey de Groen An exploration of the very essence of the language of painting. Free entry.

Wed to Sun 12noon- 5pm.

ANU DRILL HALL GALLERY

Improvention 2011 7.30pm, $20.

THE STREET THEATRE

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

Elements: Glass

Celebrating Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre’s membership of leading craft practitioners.

CRAFT ACT

Out of the West: Art of Western Australia A unique look at the art from Western Australia from pre-settlement until today.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Harvest – Annabelle Davidson

CRAFT ACT

Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! Poetry Slam

Out of the West: Art of Western Australia

THE PHOENIX PUB

This exhibition highlights the work of glass artist Annabelle Davidson.

Live

Preserved Disintergrations

Hippo Live - Niels Rosenthal 4Tet

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

A unique look at the art from Western Australia from pre-settlement until today.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Harvest - Annabelle Davidson This exhibition highlights the work of glass artist Annabelle Davidson.

CRAFT ACT

Exhibition - Re-Imagining Nature

Installations by Mary Rosengren. Runs ‘til Aug 2. Free entry.

CSIRO DISCOVERY CENTRE

Tour de Force

‘In case of emergency break glass’ highlights the work of eight progressive Australian artists.

CRAFT ACT

Exhibition - Art Machine

Digital files will be gobbled up and turned into works of art by machines.

Until July 30.

HIPPO LOUNGE

Kelly Menhennett

A hybrid of roots, jazz and soul, spiced with rhythms from time spent busking in Europe. $5, 7.30pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Sarah McLeod

Supported by Julia & The Deep Sea Sirens. Tix $15 from Moshtix.

TRANSIT BAR

Something Different Fame Trivia

Free entry, fantastic prizes, bookings are essential. 6pm.

P J O’REILLY’S, CIVIC

thursday july 21

ANU SCHOOL OF ART

JamFactory : 10 Good Stories The tale of the diverse community of artists working in the Glass Studio at Adelaide’s Jam Factory.

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Exhibition - EarthWeave

Weave traces the history of Indigenous art, craft and design.

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Prints, Drawings and Artists Books by Peter McLean. Free.

Exhibition - Re-Imagining Nature

Installations by Mary Rosengren. Runs ‘til Aug 2. Free entry.

CSIRO DISCOVERY CENTRE

Exhibition - Another Body

An exhibition by Shellaine Godbold.

From July 21 – 31.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Tour de Force

‘In case of emergency break glass’ highlights the work of eight progressive Australian artists.

CRAFT ACT

Exhibition - Art Machine

Digital files will be gobbled up and turned into works of art by machines.

Until July 30.

ANU SCHOOL OF ART

Arts

JamFactory : 10 Good Stories

Exhibition - Preserved Disintergration

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Prints, drawings and artists books by Peter McLean. Free entry.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Exhibition - That’s Life

Life Drawing by Marilyn Hutchison.

Open 9am-4.30pm.

BELCONNEN GALLERY

48

CRAFT ACT

The tale of the diverse community of artists working in the Glass Studio at Adelaide’s Jam Factory.

Exhibition - EarthWeave

Weave traces the history of Indigenous art, craft and design.

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

An exciting and funny school holiday attraction. 2pm & 8pm. Bookings: 62931443.

Play - The Jungle Book

Showings at 10.30am & 2pm. $17, tix 6257 1950 or canberrarep.org.au .

BELCONNEN THEATRE

Exhibition - Geoffrey de Groen An exploration of the very essence of the language of painting. Free entry.

Wed to Sun 12 noon- 5pm.

ANU DRILL HALL GALLERY

ARC - Ken Loach’s Route Irish

New film by the cinematic master, five showings only. 7pm. Call ARC on 6248 2000 for info & bookings.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Dance Jemist

HIPPO LOUNGE

Faux Real

Plus Knightsbridge’s $10 Thursday cocktail list.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Day Play DJs in the Beer Garden

Every Thursday, from 2pm onwards.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Live Crash The Curb, Dead Beat Band & Pete Akhurst THE PHOENIX PUB

The Bridge Between - Duo From 6-9pm.

BELGIAN BEER CAFE

Chicago Charles

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Something Different Karaoke

8.30pm till 11pm followed by DJ Kiz till 5am.

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

49

GIG GUIDE July 22 - July 24 friday july 22 Arts CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition - Another Body

An exhibition by Shellaine Godbold.

From July 21 – 31.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

urbanIce – Shifty Business DJ Crunch, Harlequin MC and Dubdecker Bus formed as Shifty Business in early 2009. 11pm.

GAREMA PLACE

Victor Martinez

Born in Chile they all play six string acoustic and electric guitar and bass. $15, 8pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Our Last Enemy

With House of Thumbs, Inside The Exterior, Boonhorse & Neanderthug. $15, 8pm.

THE BASEMENT

saturday july 23

Exhibition - Art Machine

Digital files will be gobbled up and turned into works of art by machines.

Until July 30.

ANU SCHOOL OF ART

Dance Faux Real

HIPPO LOUNGE

Cheese (‘80s/Retro)

Everybody’s favourite night of ‘80s classics, perms and happy pants. Free Entry.

TRANSIT BAR

New Era Fridays - Dem Slackers (Holland) Dutch house. What more do you want?

Free before 10pm, $15 after.

TRINITY BAR

Arts Exhibition - Art Machine

Digital files will be gobbled up and turned into works of art by machines.

Until July 30.

ANU SCHOOL OF ART

ARC - Bill Hunter - Two Homicides (18+)

A series of films honouring the late, great Bill Hunter.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

ARC - Bill Hunter - Gallipoli (1981, PG)

A series of films honouring the late, great Bill Hunter.

Xmas in July

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

CUBE NIGHTCLUB

New film by the cinematic master, five times only. 7:30pm. Call ARC on 6248 2000 for info/bookings.

From 9pm till 5am with DJ Matt and local drag sensation Chyna Dahl. Free entry.

ARC - Ken Loach’s Route Irish

Ashley Feraude

Spinning funk, soul, hip-hop ‘n’ house.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

The Immigrant & Juan Kidd

Dance

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Live urbanIce – Nathan Frost

Nathan Frost has been supplying the soundtrack to many of Canberra’s top cocktail bars. 10pm.

GAREMA PLACE

Alex Carder HIPPO LOUNGE

Vinyl Only

Get hypnotized to the rotating black circle and represent for the Vinyl DJs. Free Entry.

TRANSIT BAR

Darkhorse EP Launch

Electronic duo launch double EP, with Teddy Trouble, East River & Broadcasting Transmitter. $5, 8pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

50

Solid Saturdays - Tittsworth (USA)

$15 before 10pm. We assume more after, but Trinity doesn’t say (mysterious gits).

TRINITY BAR

Timber

Tiiiiiiiiiiimbeeeeeeeeeeeeer!

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

sunday july 24 Arts New Faces New Stories

This display premieres a selection of compelling newly acquired portrait donations, purchases.

Academy Saturdays With Dept.

Of Defiance

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

The Antidote

A unique look at the art from Western Australia from pre-settlement until today.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Local selectors dropping bass music as heard on 2XX 98.3FM’s weekly program.

THE CLUBHOUSESATURDAY JULY 23

Live Brendan Drake Trio CASINO CANBERRA

urbanIce – Convaire

Convaire have perfected the art of creating synth-happy, ‘80s inspired, sticky-sweet pop songs. 10pm GAREMA PLACE

Beth n Ben

Mix their tongue in cheek writing style with a fusion of reggae, roots, blues & soul. From 11am-2pm.

GORMAN HOUSE ARTS CENTRE

Nightless Lovers

All Percy Mayfield, all the time.

Launching Lost Love LP. $15, 6pm doors, 9pm show.

TILLEY’S DIVINE CAFE

N J Edwards - Sydney Solo HipHop Artist With Dub Seven, Domesticated Apes, Rawlab Crew, Beat Theory + more. $11 + bf, $17 on door. 8pm.

Out of the West: Art of Western Australia

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Exhibition - Re-Imagining Nature

Installations by Mary Rosengren. Runs ‘til Aug 2. Free entry.

CSIRO DISCOVERY CENTRE

Exhibition - Art Machine

Digital files will be gobbled up and turned into works of art by machines.

Until July 30.

ANU SCHOOL OF ART

Exhibition - Geoffrey de Groen An exploration of the very essence of the language of painting. Free entry.

Wed to Sun 12noon - 5pm.

ANU DRILL HALL GALLERY

Music at the Gallery

Inaugural concert series hosted by Emma Ayres, ABC Classic FM. From 2pm.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Live Sunday Best - Freyjas Rain 5pm to 7pm, free of charge.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Beth n Ben @ The Irish Club

Catherine Traicos & The Starry Night

CANBERRA IRISH CLUB

From 2-5pm.

Launching new album Gloriosa. With The Haunted Attics and James Fahy.

8pm.

Irish Jam Sessions

Oscar

Tim Rogers

THE PHOENIX PUB

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

comedy Open Mic Comedy

Plenty of funny for everyone! 8pm, free.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Playing every Tuesday and Sunday night, from 5pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

The incorrigible You Am I frontman makes a welcome return to Transit Bar. 6pm, tix $28.50, Moshtix.

TRANSIT BAR

51

GIG GUIDE July 25 - July 30 monday july 25 Arts New Faces New Stories

Exhibition - Another Body

Exhibition - Another Body

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

An exhibition by Shellaine Godbold.

From July 21 – 31.

This focus display premieres a selection of compelling newly acquired portrait donations, purchases.

Comedy

CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

See the comics competing in Green Faces in August for free as they warm up to claim comedy gold.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition - Re-Imagining Nature

Installations by Mary Rosengren. Runs ‘til Aug 2. Free entry.

CSIRO DISCOVERY CENTRE

Exhibition - Art Machine

Green Faces Prelude: Open Mic Comedy

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Live Irish Jam Sessions

Playing every Tuesday and Sunday night, from 5pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

Something Different

An exhibition by Shellaine Godbold.

From July 21 – 31.

ARC - Ken Loach’s Route Irish

New film by Loach, five screenings only.

7pm. Call ARC on 6248 2000 for info/ bookings.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Jemist

Spinning funk, soul, hip-hop ‘n’ house.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

uniVibes presents LIVE

Fusing acoustic and electronica in one small grimy room.

THE CLUBHOUSE

‘90s Edition Volume 2

Fambiz presents R&B Heat the ‘90s Edition.

ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Dance

Live

Wobble - Triptych & Jayo

Heaven The Axe

Plus Knightsbridge’s $10 Thursday cocktail list.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

TOKiMONSTA (USA)

Brainfeeder’s shining female musical genius. $15.

THE CLUBHOUSE

W/ Chainsaw Mascara, Tranquil Deception, and MTBA. 8pm, 18+ and $10 entry.

THE BASEMENT

Dee Jay Gosper Trio CASINO CANBERRA

Na Maza

DJs in the Beer Garden

ANU SCHOOL OF ART

Enjoy a vague sense of accomplishment. From 7.30pm, with $10 cocktails from 9pm.

W/ Friend Or Enemy, Immersion, Ameliah Brown and Frostbite. 6pm, $5 entry. All Ages.

Every Thursday, from 2pm onwards.

WODEN YOUTH CENTRE

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

urbanIce – Magnifik

Live

Karaoke Love

Live

TRANSIT BAR

Fun Machine & Dub Dub Goose

Magnifik is the brainchild of Canberrabased DJ and producer Ashley Feraude.

10pm.

Digital files will be gobbled up and turned into works of art by machines.

Until July 30.

Cardboard Charlie’s Last Weekly Bootlegs

Trivia @ The Phoenix

THE PHOENIX PUB

Every Tuesday, from 9pm. Free entry.

THE PHOENIX PUB

With Nick Delatovic, Bryony Wills, Rafe Morris, Jacinta, Cherie Kotek & Ben ‘n’ Beth.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Doomriders

Wailing doomy tidings with local heroes I Exist and 4Dead in support. $25, doors 8pm.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Something Different Trivia @ King O’s

Every Monday night. 7pm, free entry, $100 bar tab first prize.

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

tuesday july 26 Arts Exhibition - EarthWeave

wednesday july 27 Arts Exhibition - Art Machine

Digital files will be gobbled up and turned into works of art by machines.

Until July 30.

CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition - Another Body

An exhibition by Shellaine Godbold.

From July 21 – 31.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Live

New Faces New Stories

Hippo Live - Ben Marston Quartet

This display premieres a selection of compelling newly acquired portrait donations, purchases.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

Mojo Juju

Think vaudeville with a female Tom Waits-ish vocals. Yup. With Clairy Browne and Archer.

TRANSIT BAR

Joel Harrison

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

friday july 29

ANU SCHOOL OF ART

Weave traces the history of Indigenous art, craft and design.

CANBERRA GLASSWORKS

Day Play

Arts CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition - That’s Life

Life Drawing by Marilyn Hutchison.

Open 9am-4:30pm.

BELCONNEN GALLERY

HIPPO LOUNGE

Jordie Lane

Jordie Lane returns from an extended stint in the US to release his second album. $15.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

A unique look at the art from Western Australia from pre-settlement until today.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Exhibition - Another Body

An exhibition by Shellaine Godbold.

From July 21 – 31.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Fame Trivia @ Transit

Untrained By Lucy Guerin

Exhibition - That’s Life

TRANSIT BAR

Life Drawing by Marilyn Hutchison.

Open 9am-4:30pm.

thursday july 28

BELCONNEN GALLERY

urbanIce – James Curd

James Curd began his DJ career in Chicago at age fifteen, and has only gotten better with time. 11pm GAREMA PLACE

Frenzal Rhomb and No Use For a Name Plus special guests. Tix through Ticketek.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air

Paul Kelly and Paul Grabowsky with the Australian Art Orchestra. Tix through the venue.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Something Different Last Fridays Drinks

Exhibition viewings, entertainment and drinks to kick-start the weekend.

5-9pm.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Out of the West: Art of Western Australia

Something Different Every Wednesday, from 7.30pm

GAREMA PLACE

Four Canberra men dance off: two trained dancers, two untrained dancers.

Bookings through the venue.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Canberra Poetry Slam

saturday july 30 Arts CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

Exhibition - Another Body

An exhibition by Shellaine Godbold.

From July 21 – 31.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE - MANUKA

Exhibition - Re-Imagining Nature

Arts

Featuring ukulele tunes from Farida.

Free entry, register by 7.30pm.

ARC - Bill Hunter -Backroads/ Rate of Exchange

CSIRO DISCOVERY CENTRE

CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Dance

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Purple Sneakers Djs

Untrained By Lucy Guerin

Installations by Mary Rosengren. Runs ‘til Aug 2. Free entry.

Tour de Force

‘In case of emergency break glass’ highlights the work of eight progressive Australian artists.

CRAFT ACT

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Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Canberra’s hottest indie party. Free Entry.

TRANSIT BAR

A series of films honouring the late, great Bill Hunter.

Four Canberra men dance off: two trained dancers, two untrained dancers.

Bookings through the venue.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

GIG GUIDE July 30 - August 03 Dance Academy Saturdays with Pred ACADEMY NIGHTCLUB

Nathan Frost

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Solid Saturdays - John Course (Melb) The Aussie house music veteran returns. Free before 10pm, $15 after.

TRINITY BAR

Full Frequency Presents Dizz 1 With D’Opus, Faux Real and DFP. Free before 9pm, $10 after.

TRANSIT BAR

Womp

Featuring Canberra and Sydney Bass DJs. THE CLUBHOUSE

Live Live Evil Presents: The Big 4

Live Evil covers Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. $20, doors at 7.30pm.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Tom Stone, The Thylacines... ...Flat Earth & Confederacy.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Vince Jones Live

With Rachael Thoms & Luke Sweeting Duo. 7pm, tix from The Street Theatre.

THE STREET THEATRE

Jane Sage

A mix of folk and rock with a hint of blues and country; sometimes pop, sometimes not. $10, 8pm.

THE FRONT CAFE AND GALLERY

Mandala

With My Own True Love & Eyes To The Sky. 8pm.

THE MARAM, ERINDALE CENTRE

Mike Price Quartet

9.30pm, to book tickets, call The Street Theatre on 6247 1223.

THE STREET THEATRE

Matt Keegan Trio Meets Dave Ades

11pm, tix from The Street Theatre on 6247 1223.

THE STREET THEATRE

sunday july 31 Arts ARC - Ken Loach’s Route Irish

New film by Loach, five screenings only.

4.30pm. Call ARC on 6248 2000 for info/bookings.

ARC CINEMA, NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE

Out of the West: Art of Western Australia A unique look at the art from Western Australia from pre-settlement until today.

Exhibition - Re-Imagining Nature CSIRO DISCOVERY CENTRE

Live Julien Wilson’s Coathanger Quartet

A refreshing Metal @ The Phoenix night, with Reign of Terror, Immersion and more.

THE PHOENIX PUB

Sunday Best - Kooky Fandango 5pm to 7pm, free of charge.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

As part of the Capital Jazz Project.

7.30pm, for tix call The Street Theatre on 6247 1223.

Quantum Leap - Identify

Alister Spence Trio

THE QUEANBEYAN PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE

THE STREET THEATRE

Kidz Jazz - The World According to James THE STREET THEATRE

Something Different

Irish Jam Sessions

THE STREET THEATRE

Playing every Tuesday and Sunday night, from 5pm.

Trivia @ King O’s

Rafael Jerjen Concept

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

The World According to James

As part of the Capital Jazz Project. 8pm.

Tix from The Street Theatre on 6247 1223.

THE STREET THEATRE

monday august 01

Fran Swinn Quartet With Corde Lisse

CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

Plus Inform Meets the Sirens Big Band.

7.30pm, tix from The Street Theatre.

THE STREET THEATRE

Misinterprotato

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

As part of the Capital Jazz Project.

9.30pm. To book tickets, call The Street Theatre on 6247 1223.

THE STREET THEATRE

Irish Jam Sessions

BELCONNEN GALLERY

KING O’MALLEY’S, CIVIC

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE GORMAN HOUSE

With special guests Papa vs Pretty and Stonefield. Tix on sale through Ticketek now.

UCU REFECTORY

Yurauna Centre Artists NAIDOC Week Exhibition

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

A smorgasbord of dance, theatre and visual arts. $32/$21.75 from Ticketek, 7pm.

Kaiser Chiefs

Arts

Live

CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Step Into the Limelight Seasons

Live

tuesday august 02

Arts

Open 9am-4:30pm.

Contemporary dance exploring who we are and where we’re going. Bookings 6285 6290.

ROYAL THEATRE

Every Monday night. 7pm, free entry, $100 bar tab first prize.

With the Matt Thompson Quintet, as part of the Capital Jazz Project. 6pm, tix 6247 1223.

THE STREET THEATRE

CCAS - One Place, Three Exhibitions

Jacqueline Bradley’s The Outdoors Type, Andrzej Zielinski’s Prototype & Ash Keating’s Activate 2750.

As part of the Capital Jazz Project.

9:30pm, tix from The Street Theatre on 6247 1223.

Jazz for kids. 2pm. Visit www.thestreet. org.au for info & tix.

TRANSIT BAR

Arts

Installations by Mary Rosengren. Runs til Aug 2. Free entry.

Metal Night

Every Tuesday, from 9pm. Free entry.

wednesday august 03

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

Live

Karaoke Love

Playing every Tuesday and Sunday night, from 5pm.

Something Different Fame Trivia @ Transit

Every Wednesday, from 7:30pm TRANSIT BAR

Something Different Trivia @ The Phoenix

Enjoy a vague sense of accomplishment. From 7.30pm, with $10 cocktails from 9pm.

THE PHOENIX PUB

OUT AUG03

REGURGITATOR THE PANDA BAND ASH GRUNWALD THE BEARDS ...AND MORE!

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FIRST CONTACT

SIDE A: BMA artist profile

Hannah Gillespie Group members? Mostly just me and Matt Nightingale (guitar, double bass), but I was lucky enough to be joined by the wonderful Aaron Peacey and Kay Chinnery from Fire On The Hill for my CD launch at The Front. They’re cool, they can definitely stay in my books!

Describe your sound: Some say folk, some say country, some say contemporary singer-songwriter. I’ve been compared to Marianne Faithful, Lucinda Williams and artists like that so I guess I’m all about authentic, hopeful, heartworn folk kinda music.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? Actually, I’m a big fan of The Cure and The Smiths and guys like that.

I’m a bit of an ‘80s alt-rock kinda girl, but really my influences are my family and the people round me. Dad was a founding member of the Majors Creek festival, so I’ve always had that sense of the folk tradition in what I do.

What’s your biggest achievement/proudest moment so far? Well, getting the album (it’s called All the Dirt, in case you weren’t too sure) together was a real achievement - I had Ken Stringfellow (Posies, Big Star, R.E.M.) come all the way from France to produce it, then I had players strewn all over Australia that I had to get - Matty, Kev Nichol from Noiseworks, Ben Gillespie from the Snappers/Hoodangers etc, but it all came together in the end! Also, having Mum, Dad and all my supportive family and friends turn out for the album launch gig was great. It was a really special night.

What are your plans for the future? Gigs, promoting the album, more writing.

What makes you laugh? Things my Dad says.

What pisses you off? Things my Dad says.

What’s your opinion of the local scene? A lot of good stuff going on, some really great bands/acts. Would be good to have a few more venues that knew what they were doing around town. Putting on live music is an undertaking and some venues don’t really understand the implications before they go down that road. Fostering a musical scene or venue takes a lot of effort and time.

What are your upcoming gigs? Supporting the wonderful Jane Sage at The Front on Saturday July 30.

Contact info: Get me on my website - hannahgillespie.com. au, or on facebook - facebook.com/gillespie.hannah

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Aaron Peacey Aaron 0410 381 306 Activate Jetpack activatejetpack@ hotmail.com Adam Hole Adam 0421 023 226 Afternoon Shift Adam 0402 055 314 After Close Scotty 0412 742 682, afterclose@hotmail.com Alcove Mark 0410 112 522 Alice 0423 100 792 Allies ACT (Oxfam Group) alliesact@hotmail.com/ myspace.com/alliesact Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410 308 288 Amplif5’d Classic rock covers band Joy 0407 200 428, joybarac-heath@hotmail.com Annie & the Armadillos Annie 6161 1078/0422 076 313 The Ashburys Dan Craddock 0419 626 903 Aria Stone, sax & flute, singer/ songwriter (guitar) Aria 0411 803 343 Australian Songwriters Association (Keiran Roberts) 6231 0433 Arythmia: Ben 0423 408 767/ arythmiamusic@gmail.com Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422 733 974, www.backbeatdrivers.com Big Boss Groove Andrew 0404 455 834, www.bigbossgroove.com.au Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows - bookings@birdslovefighting.com Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438 351 007 Blister Bug Stu 0408 617 791 Bridge Between, The Rachel 0412 598 138, thebridgebetween.com.au Bruce Stage mgr/consultant 6254 9857 Caution Horses Nigel 0417 211 580 Chris Harland Blues Band 0418 490 640 chrisharlandbluesband@yahoo.com.au Clear Vision Films rehearsals/film clips/stunts - 0438 647 281 wcoulton.clearvisionfilms.com Cole Bennetts Photography 0415 982 662 /colebennetts.com Cris Clucas Cris 6262 5652 Crooked Dave 0421 508 467 Danny V Danny 6238 1673/0413 502 428 Dawn Theory Nathan 0402 845 132 D’Opus & Roshambo hifidelitystyles@yahoo.com DJs Madrid and Gordon 0417 433 971 DJ Latino Rogelio 0401 274 208 DJ Moises (RnB/Latin) 0402 497 835 or moises_lopez@hotmail DNA Vic 0408 477 020 Drumassault Kate 0414 236 323 Easy Mode Daz 0404 156 482, easymodeband@gmail.com Entity Chris 0412 027 894 Epic Flagon band@epicflagon.com Fighting Mongooses, The Adam 0402 055 314 Final Warning Brendan 0422 809 552 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410 381 306/ Lachlan 0400 038 388 4dead Peter 0401 006 551 Freeloaders, The Steve 0412 653 597 Friend or Enemy 6238 0083, www.myspace.com/friendorenemy Funk Shui Dave 0407 974 476 Gareth Hailey DJ & Electronica 0414 215 885 GiLF Kelly 0410 588 747, gilf.mail@gmail.com Groovalicious Corporate/Weddings/ Private functions 0448 995 158 groovalicious@y7mail.com Guy The Sound Guy live & studio sound engineer, 0400 585 369, guy@ guythesoundguy.com HalfPast Chris 0412 115 594 Hancock Basement Tom 6257 5375, hancockbasement@hotmail.com Happy Hour Wendy 0406 375 096 Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com Hitherto Paul 0408 425 636 In The Flesh Scott 0410 475 703 Inside the Exterior Nathan 0401 072 650

Itchy Triggers Andrew 0401 588 884 Jacqui Seczawa 0428 428 722 JDY Clothing 0405 648 288/ www.jdyclothing.com Jenn Pacor singer/songwriter avail. for originals & covers, 0405 618 630 Jim Boots 0417 211 580 Johnny Roadkill Paulie 0408 287 672, paulie_mcmillan@live.com.au Karismakatz DJ Gosper 0411 065 189/ dj@karismakatz.com Kayo Marbilus myspace.com/kayomarbilus Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417 025 792 Little Smoke Sam 0411 112 075 Los Chavos Andy 0401 572 150 los.chavos@yahoo.com.au Manilla Green Herms 0404 848 462, contactus@manillagreen.com, Mario Brujo Gordon world/latin/ reggae/percussionist and DJ. 0405 820 895 Martin Bailey Audio Engineer 0423 566 093 Words for You: writer/publicity/events Megan ph 6154 0927, megan@wordsforyou.com.au Mercury Switch Lab Studios mercuryswitch@internode.on.net Missing Zero Hadrian Brand 0424 721 907 hadrian.brand@live.com.au Moots aspwinch@grapevine.com.au Huck 0419 630 721 MuShu Jack 0414 292 567, mushu_band@hotmail.com MyOnus myonusmusic@hotmail.com/ www.myspace.com/myonus No Retreat Simon 0411 155 680 Ocean Moses Nigel 0417 211 580 OneWayFare Chris 0418 496 448 Painted Hearts, The Peter 6248 6027 Phathom Chris 0422 888 700 The Pigs The Colonel 0422 412 752 Polka Pigs Ian 6231 5974 Premier Audio Simon 0412 331 876, premier_audio@hotmail.com Rafe Morris 0416 322 763 Redletter Ben 0421 414 472 Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404 178 996/6162 1527 Rhythm Party, The Ross 0416 010 680 Rob Mac Project, The Melinda 0400 405 537 Rug, The Jol 0417 273 041 Samsara Samahdi 0431 083 776 Sansutra J-Ma 0403 476 350 Simone Penkethman (Simone & The Soothsayers, Singing Teacher) 6230 4828 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401 588 884 Solid Gold Peter 0421 131 887/ solid.gold@live.com.au Super Best Friends Matt 0438 228 748 Surrender Jordan 0439 907 853 Switch 3 Mick 0410 698 479 System Addict Jamie 0418 398 556 The Morning After (covers band) Anthony 0402 500 843/ myspace.com/themorningaftercovers Tiger Bones & The Ferabul-Zers Danny feralbul@aapt.net.au Tim James Lucia 6282 3740, LUCIAMURDOCH@hotmail.com Top Shelf Colin 0408 631 514 Transmission Nowhere Emilie 0421 953 519/myspace.com/ transmissionnowhere Udo 0412 086 158 Undersided, The Baz 0408 468 041 Using Three Words Dan 0416 123 020, usingthreewords@hotmail.com Voodoo Doll Mark 0428 650 549 William Blakely Will 0414 910 014 Zero Degrees and Falling Louis 0423 918 793 Zwish 0411 022 907

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