BMA Magazine 424 Aug 27 2013

#424AUG28

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[Advertisement:]

VOTE #1 PALMER UNITED PARTY #424AUGUST28 Fax: (02) 6257 4361 Mail: PO Box 713 Civic Square, ACT 2608 Publisher Scott Layne Allan Sko General Manager Allan Sko T: (02) 6257 4360 E: advertising@bmamag.com

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Editor Ashley Thomson

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Accounts Manager Hongyan Ao

Over the past few years the annual Bloom festival has invited Canberrans to explore the musical community of Ainslie Arts Centre. This spring, Ainslie Arts Centre will join forces with Gorman House Arts Centre for Bloom 2013, in a weekend-long celebration of these homes for engaged, contemporary art and culture.

The program boasts an appearance from the Skywhale, open studios throughout Gorman House, a heavy metal BBQ, a zine fair, poetry readings, a Canberra Musicians Club music showcase, and more.

And there’s still opportunity to get involved – organiser Yolande Norris (one of the brains behind You Are Here) is looking for people who have stories about Gorman House since it became an arts centre in 1981, people interested in sharing those stories. So much is known about Gorman House’s history as a hostel, but not so much about the past 30 years. Norris is also after artists and musicians who have created work in response to the Skywhale. If you’d like to get involved, email yolande.norris@ gormanhouse.com.au. The festival will take place Fri-Sat September 20-21 and is free.

T: (02) 6247 4816 E: accounts@bmamag.com

Art, Not Apart Postponed Until March 2014

Sub-Editor & Social Media Manager Jeremy Stevens

Billed for December 2013, the next instalment of NewActon multi-art festival Art, Not Apart has been postponed until March 2014. Citing a desire for ‘meaningful commissions, greater levels of integration, artist discussions, [and] more funding for materials’, festival organiser David Caffery made the announcement via an email press release, writing, ‘Canberra is at a cultural turning point. The way the arts scene presents itself now will effect the future of this city … Create art and events to reflect our city. Not Sydney or Melbourne, but us.’

Funding, proposals, and calls for festival stallholders will take place October 2013 through January 2014.

Graphic Design Chris Halloran Film Editor Melissa Wellham NEXT ISSUE 425 OUT SEP 11 EDITORIAL DEADLINE SEP 2 ADVERTISING DEADLINE SEP 5 Published by Radar Media Pty Ltd ABN 76 097 301 730 BMA Magazine is independently owned and published. Opinions expressed in BMA Magazine are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or staff.

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Annual Inductees into ‘Sounds of Australia’ Announced

Mixed in with Bach, Debussy, Beethoven, and the rest of the usual suspects, Richard Tognetti (Artistic Director of the ACO) has this year added to his list of influences Miles Davis, Michael Jackson, Aphex Twin, Nirvana, Mariah Carey, Radiohead and others.

In a show entitled Timeline, Tognetti means to guide the ACO through more than 40,000 years of music. Dates are yet to be announced, but in the meantime the ACO will continue its touring concerts – don’t say no one ever told you some of the best music in the ACT could be found in Llewellyn Hall.

Songs by Russell Morris, Peter Allen, Archie Roach and a 1913 piece by wartime idol Florrie Forde have been inducted into the ‘Sounds of Australia’ archive. Ten sounds considered to be icons of the Australian soundscape are added to the collection each year.

Established by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia in 2007, the Sounds of Australia (formerly known as the National Registry of Recorded Sound) covers all formats, this year also including a 1987 recording of a Superb Lyrebird at Healesville, Victoria, by Greg Wignell, and Roy and HG’s 1986–2008 radio broadcast This Sporting Life.

More on the archive can be found at nfsa.gov.au.

Mindscapes Wants Art, Photography and … Mish Mash The Mindscapes Festival is an annual arts festival that celebrates mental health recovery, and they’re excited to invite participants in the Mindscapes Art and Photography Competition, and the debut Mish Mash Variety Night, an evening of arts and entertainment by a crosssection of consumers, carers, amateurs, and professionals.

It’s time to get creative.

Submissions to the Art and Photography competition close Thursday September 26, and suggestions for the Mish Mash Variety Night close Monday September 9. For more information or to download an entry form visit mhccact.org or email Ben Drysdale at ben. drysdale@bcsact.com.au. The festival takes place in Mental Health Week, October 2013.

New Young Writers Award for Canberra Region A new award has been created to assist aspiring young writers in Canberra.

The Anne Edgeworth Writers’ Award will support specific writing projects proposed by successful applicants. The annual award of up to $5,000 can be used for any purpose that furthers recipients’ education in their chosen field of literature. The award can be made for any genre of creative writing including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screen and playwriting. Applicants’ expressions of interest should be submitted to the ACT Writers Centre by close of business on Friday September 6. Full details are available at actwriters.org.au.

What I whisper to myself before going on stage at ballet practice.

Bloom Festival Seeks Stories and Artists

Australian Chamber Orchestra to Tackle Huge Influences in 2014

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YOU PISSED ME OFF!

FROM THE BOSSMAN

Vines - an app that allows you to film a six-second video on your smart phone, either as a continuous shot or through multiple shots by pausing and restarting the recording. You only get one go at each vid to get every segment perfect. Screw up at the end, and you start from scratch. They’re brilliant. Here’s why.

Care to immortalise your hatred in print? Send an email to editorial@bmamag.com and see your malicious bile circulated to thousands. [All entries contain original spellings.]

They’ve Created A Surprising New Sketch Art Form

To the dear old lady who I moved seats for when I saw you

People filming themselves and posting it online... How’s that different to YouTube? Instagram has a 15-second video function with the ability to re-edit segments, surely that’s better? Well, it’s all about the parameters. You have six seconds, and one shot to tell the world an idea. The shared understanding of the restrictions set a challenge to be creative with the limitations.

Thus, when someone posts a video of doing a cannonball from their car to the pool some 50m away, we understand that needed 27 perfectly executed shots. There has been some jaw-dropping stop-motion animation, amazing sport stunts and, notably, stacks of brilliant comedy skits to enjoy. Which leads us to...

getting on the bus – fuck. you. I left my wallet behind on the seat

Vines Show We Want To Make Each Other Laugh An enormous number of Vines are created to make you laugh.

And a huge number succeed. Clever folk have created a minor celebrity of themselves with ongoing characters that get funnier with each video. Will Sasso’s lemon skits and Rudy Mancuso’s catchphrase characters are but two among the hundreds worth seeing. That we are so keen to make each other laugh is a heartwarming notion. And everyone can have a crack, from celebs to you and me. And celebs certainly have a crack...

and when I went to ask you for it, what went through your mind?

‘That delinquent little shit’s a fucking criminal!’ right? Just had to hang onto it? Make sure that picture was me through your eyes all clouded with cataracts and hatred? Really rub that good Samaritan gesture into my gooch? You’re not a dear old lady like nice young men like me think, you’re a bigoted, prejudiced old bint who probably won’t eat sushi because it’s unAustralian and would rather bury your pension in the lining of your hospital gown than let your grandchildren have it when you die. Fuck you, old woman. pissed me off.

Vines Show Up Celebrities - Some Awesome, Some Dicks I didn’t know much about Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet or former Mad TV actor Will Sasso. Thanks to their Vines I not only know who they are, I know they’re effing hilarious. One of the exciting things about Twitter is the direct connection with favourite celebrities. When Stephen Fry posts, ‘Oooo! It’s a bit frosty wosty on the set of Sherlock this morning’ you know it’s him, and that creates a direct connection from celeb to fan.

It’s a nightmare for Managers and PR peeps (especially those of sports stars) who are in a constant battle with the people they represent to keep their image clean. Vines are a further extension of this, showing a true side to a celeb’s slick exterior.

Example - Tyler The Creator appears to be a dick. Good to know.

Breaks Down Racial Barriers It sounds very Let’s-All-Hold-Hands-Across-The Globe but it’s true. Comedy is magic at breaking down barriers (Michael Richards moments notwithstanding) and Vine is rife with people of all races digging fun at their own stereotypes and, most notably, racial cross-collaboration. The string of vids about ‘what white people say vs what black people say’ and white people accidentally saying inappropriate things are funny, inclusive and show that we’re keen to get along by making each other laugh.

Creates a Community/Artistic Cross Collaboration Companies love their little buzz words. Vine talk about their ‘community’ which sounds like a big ol’ plate of wank were it not true. Vine has encouraged vibrant interaction between artsy types, with many characters appearing in each other’s videos, often enhancing a gag. Much like a well-placed guest spot on a comedy show, it can be a joy to see a beloved Vine character pop up in someone’s else feed and further enhances how these folk have turned themselves into minor celebrities.

So lift your spritis, jump on YouTube and type in Best of Vines.

You’ll crack a smile, and might even want to have a crack yourself.

ALLAN SKO - allan@bmamag.com

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WHO: The Hello Morning WHAT: EP Tour WHEN: Thu Aug 29 WHERE: The Phoenix Bar

The Hello Morning has experienced a rise in popularity lately. After releasing their debut album, the Melbourne-based six-piece followed it up with an EP and a visit to Bigsound in Brisbane. They proceeded to gain significant traction on the US College Radio circuit, headline tours, and with support artists like Busby Marou, King Cannons, and Dan Sultan. So it is that a markedly more mature and developed band come to release a new four-track EP, Tie That Binds, and put their rock ‘n’ roll and soul on show. The EP features three originals, and a cover of Johnny Cash & June Carter’s Jackson, featuring Ali Barter.

Supported by Lavers. 9pm. Price TBA.

WHO: The DorothyJane Band WHAT: Album launch WHEN: Sat Aug 31 WHERE: The Brassey

Dorothy-Jane ‘DJ’ Gosper and her band will be launching their latest album, Woman on the Run, and it’s not a show you’ll want to miss.

Gosper is an award-winning singer, songwriter, and has been playing the blues-harp for over 20 years. After beating breast cancer in 2007, she has gone on to release an album every year since. On playing with her band, Gosper says: ‘The boys and I swing and shuffle our way across the country, shaking off our demons through stories and songs at festivals, hotels, hilltops, and concert halls. It’s always a pleasure to play in our home town.’ 2pm. RSVP by Wed Aug 28 to dorothy-jane@dorothyjanegosper.com.

WHO: Leadfinger WHAT: Album tour WHEN: Sat Aug 31 WHERE: The Phoenix Bar

Sydney rock ‘n’ rollers Leadfinger are returning once again to blow away punters at The Phoenix Bar. Having just released their fourth album, No Room At The Inn (out now through Citadel Records), with the album receiving critical acclaim both here and overseas, the band has been working hard at building a fan base the normal way – through hard work and shows. With no support from radio or the regular festival circuit, they’re putting in the hours and seeing great results. Supported by The Delta Lions and locals The Skronks. 9:30pm. Free.

WHO: Olivers Army WHAT: Single launch tour WHEN: Wed Sep 4 WHERE: The Front Gallery & Café

Having supported artists like Big Scary, Deep Sea Arcade, and Eagle and the Worm, it’s evident that Olivers Army are something special. Singer-songwriter Ryan Oliver initially wrote folk songs in North America while travelling as a teenager, before starting the band in Adelaide with his twin brother in 2010. They’ve released two EPs so far, and sold out releases at Jive and The Governor Hindmarsh. Oliver’s now relocated to Melbourne and formed a band with former Adelaide musicians, and they’ll be launching their new single Golden Tree in September 2013. Supported by Lavers and Vignettes. 7:30pm. $10.

WHO: The Dunhill Blues WHAT: Album tour WHEN: Sat Sep 7 WHERE: The Phoenix Bar

Ah, the election night. If you’re not one of the few glued to the black box in anticipation, waiting to find out who will lead us and where our taxpayer dollars will be going for the next few years, you’re in luck. Don’t sit inside while people endlessly bemoan our political landscape on Facebook. Get down to The Phoenix to see Sydneysiders and garage rockers The Dunhill Blues support their third record, Hulacide!. Supported by The King Hits and Bacon Cakes, this is your chance to vote #1 for rock ‘n’ roll. 8pm.

WHO: Mark Moldre WHAT: Album tour WHEN: Thu Sep 12 WHERE: The Front Gallery & Café

Throughout September, Mark Moldre will hit the road with his band to play a few shows (presented by Post to Wire) in support of his new album, An Ear to the Earth (out now through Laughing Outlaw Records). Having warmed up with successful shows in places like Byron and Newcastle, he’ll be bringing his show to Canberra so that we can see just what exactly has gotten him triple j, ABC, and RRR airtime, alongside great album reviews. Supported by Jamie Hutchings, producer of An Ear to the Earth, who will also join Moldre’s set on electric guitar. 8pm. $10.

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sinead o’connell THE BASICS are basically back, for good, one might say. After three years exploring the wilderness of both the world and their own hearts, the Melbourne trio (Wally De Backer, Kris Schroeder, and Tim Heath) have announced that they are back on stage. It seems absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder for The Basics, when it comes to both the band itself and, of course, the music they adore.

away party, De Backer and Schroeder had a moment of clarity when they shared a passion for retro-rock, deciding then and there that The Basics was the next step for both of them. With a change or two in band members, the members we know today approach their common interests of love and loss with feel-good blues music, ‘60s jive tunes, and a masterful three-part harmony.

Since their garage rock days, the band has much to show for the decade in which they continuously awed the underground scene.

It’s such a natural thing, there’s nothing special to it; we just do what we do

‘Looking at leftover things like old tapes we hadn’t released, out of that came something sentimental,’ says Schroeder. ‘Just listening back to stuff and thinking “Yeah, we’re pretty good” made us think maybe we should get back together. The touring came out of that, but it was really about making the music again.’ Heath just finished up film work and De Backer has packed away his triple Grammy win (as Gotye), while Schroeder on the other hand has just returned from Kenya after an almost mortal run-in with malaria. So the three are fairly excited to begin a new project and reunite with a national tour.

Speaking of his recent illness, Schroeder says it left him ‘physically okay, but mentally … pretty rattled, especially after two years in Africa.’ He adds: ‘Most people just don’t know what it’s about, everything you get told is a lie. People just want to talk about lions and shit.’

Currently rehearsing in De Backer’s family barn in Victoria, Schroeder talked a little more of their international experiences.

‘We’ve recorded all around the world. Japan, Norway, England, Ireland. I guess people just dig what we do and want us to work with them. You kind of get to know people and they reach out to you and they like your work, it’s pretty organic.’ The organic nature of The Basics is a noticeable trait, one that blends into their work.

The name of the band itself for example, Schroeder elaborates, ‘described exactly what we did. Good, strong songs, with just the two of us initially. We always thought we’d come up with a better name but we didn’t.’

For example, their 2012 compilation Ingredients is a ‘sum of the many original parts that make up the sound of The Basics.’ Blends of bold and spacious sounds make up the album, with unreleased tracks and recording studio jams.

Ingredients lends the audience a sense of the band through a bootleg lens, which I imagine will particularly resonate if you’re lucky enough to be in front of them on stage one day.

Moving on from Ingredients, however, brings us to Leftovers. Their recent single, So Hard For You, has an incredibly catchy video clip (created by Andrew Mortlock) which features not just the band members and some friends of theirs, but also awesome cameos from renowned songwriter Harry Nilsson and the great Frank Sinatra. This track features on Leftovers, which brings together an array of old The Basics’ movements and conjures up another familiar b-side. With demos and alternate versions from the ‘cutting room floor’, Leftovers provides a fabulously rare insight into their creative process.

They’ve been known to have a bizarre ‘forward-thinking-whilelooking-back’ buzz about them, and perhaps in spite of this paradox their music maintains an air of whim and blitheness. The Basics challenge the staple Australian rock scene and happily defy any preconceived notions of what constitutes originality.

‘We’re just normal people, kicking around, and I guess people find us humorous and energetic, so that’s good. We love the music, we love playing together, and we love the vibe of it all. It’s such a natural thing, there’s nothing special to it; we just do what we do,’ he says with a hint of nostalgia. ‘I guess we just bring out the best in each other. I wouldn’t say we’re like The Avengers and we all have our own special super power,’ he laughs. ‘We all just kind of work in a way together that brings out stuff that wouldn’t otherwise come out.’

‘We never really think too much about what we want to necessarily achieve or how we should be playing in order to satisfy any one particular group of people or whatever. It really is just about being together and having a really good time.’ Now that they are of international quality and quantity, The Basics enjoy a famed, yet somewhat under-the-radar life, coming back to Australia when they can to relax (save Schroeder, who you may see somewhere in South-East Asia saving lives for the Red Cross again). Either way, they carry their stories in their backpacks wherever the projects go, and are gifted at sharing them – particularly when the time is right and the sound fits.

That kind of depth is all they need to necessitate a highly anticipated comeback. Formed in 2002 at a mutual friend’s going

The Basics are performing at Transit Bar on Thursday October 3 at 8pm. Tickets are $20+bf through Moshtix.

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ALL AGES What in carnation? Spring is in the air! I corn hardly believe it, this is a-maize-ing. I don’t know about you, but I know about me – the hayfever will definitely be worth it.

Is your Canberra pride blossoming? To celebrate the 100th birthday of the city created to stop the tantrums between Papa Sydney and Mama Melbourne, there have been a huge amount of Centenaryrelated events popping up all over the ‘Berra. One of which is guaranteed to make a lot of noise – the PLAYitLOUD Smells Like Centenary Spirit Battle of the Bands Competition! Entries to perform have closed, but you’ve still got the chance to come and watch the almighty clash of local bands fighting it out to be named number one and perform at the big gig on Friday November 15.

Not only that, but there will be food, dancing, market stalls, and a performance by a high-profile headliner, to be named later.

The first heat will be held at the Belconnen Arts Centre on Saturday September 7 at 6pm–10pm (doors at 5:45pm), featuring Novia Scotia, The Ians, Harley Quinn, Mind the Gap, Anachel, The Recliners, and Beneath the Surface. If you haven’t heard of them before now, you’ll certainly know them after this! Free entry.

In need of a laugh? Thistle be right up your alley. These days, you don’t need to be on TV to make the whole world laugh. All you need is a camera and an internet connection – and the ability to find the hilarity in your day-to-day life. That’s what YouTube duo MyChonny & Superwog are all about – creating videos that portray caricatures of their friends and families, and parody their cultures, with outrageously hilarious results. Catch their live show at the Canberra Theatre Centre on Wednesday September 4 at 7pm. Grab your tickets now from canberratheatrecentre.com.au, from $34.90 + bf.

It’s that time of the year again, when Commonwealth Park is transformed into Floriade, Canberra’s very own celebration of spring, running Sat Sep 14–Sun Oct 13. This year’s theme is ‘beautiful innovation’, featuring a focus on invention, sustainable living, and inventive designs. Entry is free between 9am–5pm, but if you’re up for something a little more exciting, catch Floriade Nightfest between 6:30pm–10:30pm, a moonlit extravaganza of live music, comedy, and light shows. Nightfest is on Wed-Sun September 25-29. Tickets for Nightfest start at $10, and are available from the website: floriadeaustralia.com/nightfest/ nightfest-tickets.

I saw the most amazing thing the other day: a jungle cat wearing a monocle and a top hat. He was a dandelion indeed! On that note, I have a feline-tastic treat for you. The Cat Empire are coming to Canberra, at the UC Refectory on Thursday September 19 at 8pm.

These guys have smashed the barriers between musical genres for over a decade to bring us a uniquely funky blend of music. Expect a wild variety of instruments including double bass, tubular bells, saxophones, trumpets, and turntables all fused together into a mix of jazz, ska, funk, rock and Latin sounds. Tickets start at $44.95 + bf and are available through Oztix.

That’s it folks; it’s thyme for me to make like a tree, and leaf.

Haw haw haw.

Stay funky!

VICKY CONSTABLE allagescolumn@gmail.com

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LOCALITY

YOU MADE MY DAY!

Canberra Musicians Club is a divisive entity. On the one hand, for artists who feel at home in its folds, it is a protective, supportive organisation that facilitates exposure in what can appear a distanced, even cold scene. On the other, entire genres and scenes in Canberra (whose sounds don’t gel with the folk/world-tinged CMC) baulk at any mention of the CMC’s name for the simple reason that this ‘musicians’ club operates on a limited definition of ‘musician’, and therefore offers a refined definition of our city’s music scene.

This tension leaves BMA Magazine torn: any organisation like the CMC deserves support, especially in Canberra, but we have no desire to accept any one organisation’s definition of the city’s music, let alone to alienate other scenes by favouring them. But it just so happens that the CMC, because it is organised and persistent, has infiltrated Canberra venues and ingratiated itself to such an extent that it cannot and should not be overlooked. Rather than bemoan its shortcomings, other organisations and scenes in the ACT would do well to mount concerted, good-spirited competition – if not to emulate it, then to better it. Long story short, Canberra Musicians Club Presents… at Smith’s Alternative continues this Wednesday August 28 and every Wednesday after it, presenting local and interstate musicians for free from 8pm, and more power to it.

Email editorial@bmamag.com to send a message of gratitude, warmth and generosity to the world at large.

The Canberra Musicians Workshop (no relation) is taking place again at Harmonie German Club on Thursday August 29. It’s free for first-timers, and offers a non-judgmental zone to practice, play, and query. 6:30-10:30pm. The Front Gallery and Café is hosting a Canberra Poetry Slam on Friday August 30, with interstate guests Jackson (WA) and Jennifer Compton (NSW), and the launch of the latest Burley Journal. That starts 8pm. The Front sports another launch on Saturday August 31, this time for the latest issue of Lip Magazine, and locals Cromwell, Fossil Rabbit, and Northumberland will be playing from 8pm. The same Saturday at Smith’s Alternative, local Dylan Hekimian headlines for Positive Feedback Loop, Cuddlefish, and John Wickham from 8pm.

because I represent neither, but on behalf of time well spent on

I never thought I would say this, but Katy Perry, you made my day. The idea that an artist or musician can stand for something – for anything – is dying, one facile marketing gimmick at a time.

Artists and musicians stand today for one of two things: their work, or themselves, and they’re often indistinguishable. But that’s not how it needs to be, and certainly not how it should be.

The era of art and music as politics isn’t dead. When a celebrity like you, someone with 50m+ likes on Facebook and 40m+ Twitter followers, comes out and denounces Tony Abbott’s stand on gay marriage, it can make worlds of difference, so thank you.

Not on behalf of the gay community, or even of a gay person,

the face of the planet. Well done. You made my day.

At this point, the column may as well read like a listings poster for Smith’s Alternative: Mornings with Charles Buddy Daaboul and Oxen on Sunday September 1 from 5pm, free. The Steptones with Amy Jenkins on Thursday September 5 from 9pm, $10. The ACT Final of the Australian Poetry Slam on Saturday September 7 from 7:30pm, $5. And finally, Storytime with Jay Sullivan on Tuesday September 3. It sees local comic Sullivan interview four guests, who each tell a story. It starts 8pm and costs $20, but if reports of the first instalment are to be believed, it’s worth the cost.

Local act Afternoon Shift is launching a release at The Pot Belly on Saturday September 7 with The Naddiks and Kid You Not. It’s a beautiful little pub, a personal favourite, and every reason to venture north. 8:30pm, free. Also that night up north, the first heat of the Smells Like Centenary Spirit Play It Loud band competition will take place at Belconnen Arts Centre from 6pm, free. Make a night of it. And finally, 2XX Local n Live are planning The Bootleg Sessions on Monday September 9. 8pm, free. Bound to be a doozy, whatever the fuck that is.

And that’s everything local I care about.

ASHLEY THOMSON - editorial@bmamag.com; @aabthomson

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GUS McCUBBING Approaching its fifth instalment, variety show IN CANBERRA TONIGHT is rapidly becoming a milieu for the capital’s trendier folks to be stimulated, and be seen. The show in its construction is equal parts Meg O’Connell, also Assistant Manager at 2XX FM Community Radio, and Chris Endrey, frontman of band Fun Machine. The pair of twenty-somethings, with this many fingers in different cultural pies, appear imbued with a burning desire to forge creative career paths through this new live format variety show.

to phrase it. I said it’s a yes/no question. She said yes. She said I’m a deep thinker, and I’m unhappy with the world. But I’m happy.’

Presented once a month, In Canberra Tonight has hosted a motley crew of folks – ranging from Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury to National Poetry Slam champion CJ Bowerbird and MC Coolio Desgracias – who orbit around the irreverent Endrey. I caught up with Endrey and O’Connell over a curry quinoa salad at the latter’s house in Dickson to discuss the details of their brainchild.

Despite being four shows deep and having developed something of a cult following, the pair admits to not fully understanding their product. O’Connell explains, ‘We talk all the time about integrity and about art … but never to sit down and talk about what we’re about. We’ve tried to sit down like three or four fucking times to talk about who we are and to try to map out a vision, but every time something stupid will happen.’

The beauty of [In Canberra Tonight] is in the making

It turns out the pair initially met while working together on the ANU Arts Revue in 2010. Endrey points out that while friendship was by no means immediately developed – he probably ‘didn’t even have her number’ at the time – he did realise ‘how good she was at doing stuff’. The spark for the variety show came about 15 months ago, when Endrey ‘quit a full time career’ to go travelling, and ended up formulating a list of all the artistic things he wanted to undertake. ‘I just liked the idea of having a forum where people could get better at doing things.’ But, ‘inevitably’, Endrey realised he could ‘encompass all these things in the one, rather than doing 15 different things.’ Thus Endrey had an idea, and a running mate – In Canberra Tonight was born.

As the anchor of the show, Endrey briefly explains how he navigates this difficult position. Asked for the names of performers he finds influential, he hesitates before offering Hannibal Buress, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Louis C.K. Endrey qualifies his reluctance to name-drop by saying it’s more in the ‘spirit than the style’ that he admires others – that spirit revolving around ‘honesty in art’. Having found his playful irreverence as host compelling, I ask whether he adopts some sort of on-stage persona. ‘I was pretty conscious of wanting to be “Chris” and react as I would,’ he explains, before O’Connell chimes in, ‘It’s like a hyper-reality Chris!’

My subconscious was all the while directing me to envisage Endrey as Canberra’s Bills Hicks, Dylan Moran, or The Bedroom Philosopher – all sardonic performers whose humour spawned from a black view of the world. This resulted in my shooting Endrey an email following the interview, asking if he considered himself a happy person. ‘I’m not entirely sure so I asked Bec [Taylor, his girlfriend],’ Endrey replied. ‘She said it’s the wrong way

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‘I hope that’s useful,’ he concluded, while recommending against printing it because it ‘makes me sound like a fuckwit.’

Located previously at The White Eagle Polish Club in Turner, In Canberra Tonight is now set to move to Old Parliament House.

O’Connell seems more concerned than Endrey about the change of venue. She explains that The Polish Club is ‘sort of trashy, but in a fun parody way’, that it’s ‘forgiving’, whereas Old Parliament House lends its audience greater expectations. Endrey laughs, ‘You can’t ignore the fact that you’re in the place that Menzies declared war.’

‘The beauty of [In Canberra Tonight] is in the making,’ says O’Connell. ‘Every time we try to put it in a box and call it something we come up flummoxed because ultimately we’re still working out what we want to say, and the way we do that is by playing and failing but somehow getting nearer to the truth.’

There is, however, a common factor in who O’Connell and Endrey seek out, or perhaps more specifically avoid. It’s ‘mainly just about honesty,’ says the former. ‘I think we both just hate bullshit.’ Says the latter, ‘if [someone] is following an aesthetic of someone else, instead of their [own] ideas, then we hate that stuff instinctively.’

The show is the product of millions of phone calls and Facebook messages, the pair eschewing official meetings in place of a more ‘off the cuff’ logistical approach, mirroring that of the ad lib repartée on the actual night. According to Endrey, it is their creative symbiosis which makes this process possible. ‘We trust each other a lot – it’s the fundamental thing – because then we can sort of intuitively and subconsciously navigate all those small decisions and … come to the right decision each time, or at least make a better one each time.’

Much was gleaned from this exchange with two of the most exciting young people in Canberra: Endrey is not the manic depressive I feared; the only demarcator In Canberra Tonight has in terms of content is that neither Endrey nor O’Connell will suffer bullshit; and finally, while little light could be shed on the duo’s future – aside from whispers of a web series – it was evident that this is a long-term creative matrimony, with In Canberra Tonight serving as a honeymoon that cannot last too long.

The next episode of In Canberra Tonight airs at Old Parliament House on Tuesday September 3, with guests TBA. Doors 7:30pm, starts 8pm. Tickets and info via facebook.com/incanberratonight.

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DREAMING ON SMITH STREET pete huet ‘I was never going to be an accountant,’ THE SMITH STREET BAND’s Wil Wagner says, referring to the creative environment he was brought up in. ‘Art was really appreciated, and not even as great art [but] as an amazing therapeutic tool. I’d have a bad day at school and dad would say, “Listen to this album, you’ll be able to relate to it.”

Stuff like that was invaluable for me growing up.’

Just fucking be yourself and do shows and people will relate to it

Wagner’s parents are both writers and his dad was in a band until Wil came along, facts which he says help when writing songs on topics such as booze and drugs. ‘They do kind of get the creative license thing,’ Wagner says.

‘Sometimes when I write a song, I’m writing about my friends or other people I’ve seen fuck up. And then, because I’m self-obsessed, I make it all about me.’

And his folks certainly know what his songs are about, with his mum paying close attention. ‘My mum’s an editor so I always send her my lyrics to proof read. I did it with the last solo EP and there’s a line, “I smoke too much weed and I watch too much TV” and I’d made a typo in it. Mum emailed it back and that line was underlined. She was like, “You made a typo in that but I’m not correcting it.” I was like, “Yep, fair enough.” It’s like reading your 20-year-old son’s diary,’ he adds. ‘There’s some pretty intense stuff in there that they’d rather not have known.

[But] they could not have been more supportive and proud of me.’

Having such support behind them has helped The Smith Street Band become one of Australia’s more successful bands. But family support is just part of it, as the young Melburnians have gotten where they are the old fashioned way.

‘A lot of bands ask, “How did you get on triple j? How did you do this and that?” It’s like, “I don’t know!” We played heaps and heaps of shows and put heaps of work into our recordings,’ says Wagner.

And work hard they do. Between August 22, 2013, and November 30, 2013, they will play 74 shows as they tour Australia, Europe, and the States. Yep, 74. More than many bands play in their entire existence.

‘There seems to be too many short cuts for bands to take now,’ Wagner says. ‘People think there are ways to get around touring and working.’

The Smith Street Band formula for success is depressingly refreshing: ‘Just fucking be yourself and do shows and people will relate to it,’ Wagner says, adding that what he writes about is what people his age are going through. ‘Everyone gets dumped. Everyone’s broke. Everyone hates their job. I’ve never met anyone who loves the band who I don’t get along with. We’re all going through the same shit.’

The Smith Street Band’s Don’t Fuck With Our Dreams tour arrives at Transit Bar on Wednesday September 4 with guests Joyce Manor (USA), and Cheap Girls (USA). Doors 8pm. Tickets $25 via thesmithstreetband.com.

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BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Image credit: David Burke

We’re emulating Gaga and bringing a bit of theatre into music

tedi bills Nothing is more delicious than a rich, round Australian accent. When Juliet Moody and Catherine Crowley, the pair of honeys behind folk-pop sensation SPARROW-FOLK, answered the phone, I almost melted. Fresh from winning the Canberra leg of 666 ABC Radio’s Exhumed, the dulcet-toned duo are revving up to take the next stage of the competition, and Canberra’s local music scene, by storm.

thought we were the comic relief: we built a giant nest on stage, and covered ourselves in feathers. Like any creative outlet, being able to connect with your audience is what sets you apart. The audience was ready for a laugh, and we gave them a big one. We were shocked when we won. It was incredibly surreal and exciting.’

Fittingly, surreal and exciting are the perfect adjectives to describe a Sparrow-Folk performance. ‘Our shows are chockers full of whimsy.

We like to think of ourselves as “glam-folk” – we’re emulating Gaga and bringing a bit of theatre into music. We want to take the audience on a journey, because life is a journey.’

With the Exhumed finale to tackle and a song about breastfeeding in the works, you can be sure that Sparrow-Folk’s “nesties” will be nourished for a long time to come.

Sparrow-Folk will be playing at the Cabaret Night at Tilley’s on Saturday September 21 as part of the AIDS Action Council of the ACT fundraiser.

Tickets are $80 through Trybooking: bit.ly/16ua9rH. Doors 7:30pm, 8pm show. You can find out more about Sparrow-Folk at sparrow-folk.com..

Both trained drama teachers, Catherine and Juliet formed Sparrow-Folk after performing together in an Impro ACT musical.

‘We loved each other’s company so much we wanted an excuse to hang out in each other’s pockets.

Besides, we’re both passionate about connecting with our community and helping other people do the same. Cathy works in children’s wards as hospital superhero Captain Starlight, and we’re both involved in local theatre.

When we started Sparrow-Folk, we were aiming to work together to give something different back to the city we’re heavily invested in.’

Juliet and Cathy use their stage shows as a platform for groundlevel gender commentary. ‘We wanted to write about experiences specific to women. I’m constantly exposed to the idea that modern mums can have it all: that we can be beautiful, organized, and sane all at the same time. We want to take a comic stance on these kinds of ideas. We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. We’re working in a male-dominated music scene, which many female musicians find intimidating. It’s been really good to get out there, raise issues, and voice our opinions. We saw Exhumed as a platform to connect with other women by commenting on the challenges we face everyday in a funny and fun way.’

It was this off-beat charm that set Sparrow-Folk apart from their fellow Exhumed competitors.

‘Most of the other bands played serious, dramatic covers. We

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DANCE THE DROP

Though some people won’t admit it, illegal drugs and dance music are ‘more than friends’. In fact, they are a same sex couple who would be legally married, albeit for society’s unwillingness to officially recognise their blissful union. The real elephant in the room is that everyone that has ever heard a thumping beat past their bedtime is instantly at the mercy of A-grade illicit substances. What is lesser known is that nightclub stamps are made of one part ink and twenty parts MDMA, which within minutes of being applied pull you into their world. This downward spiral strips you of your dignity, alienates you from your friends, and destroys your ability to function outside of a dimly lit room full of overpriced drinks. Before you consider turning on your car stereo, pressing the little ‘music’ icon on your iPod, or even walking within earshot of a clubbing venue, please understand the risk that you may fall prey to dance music and its evil curse. Dance music: not even once.

The last time that Crookers came to town, they left in their wake a pile of exhausted teenagers that was so monumentally large and steamy that it could be seen from space. Luckily, Trinity Bar have managed to lure the Italian bass-makers back to the capital on Sunday October 6 just in time for the long weekend! I love RüFüS about as much as three-year-old me loved fairy bread and indiscriminately sprinting at birds. Their album Atlas is an absolute bottler, truly one of the most amazing releases by an Australian dance act since The Presets coughed up Apocalypso. The lads bring their trademark deepness to ALIVE Fridays at Academy on Friday September 20; this is a live set too, so don’t bother asking for Blurred Lines you crazy drunk person. Supports are YesYou and SOSUEME DJs, and tickets are $17 + bf through moshtix.

Rude boy Zodiac took a step back from layering beats to drop a top five this week. Fans of dubstep and trap, get your pencils ready!

Hydraulix & PhaseOne – Bruk Down [Buygore] – This tune is next level, trap with a twist. Hydraulix and PhaseOne have definitely brought something new to the table with this one. Always such a fun song to play live, gets the crowd bouncing and the girls twerking.

Candyland – Castle Of Affair ft. Peter Dawson (Butch Clancy Remix) [Unsigned] – When the drop hits its just like being punched in the face by an angry footballer whose team just lost.

Dog Blood – Middle Finger Pt. 2 (The M Machine Remix) [OWSLA] – This song is pretty heavy, such an awesome song to play when the crowd is already going crazy and there’s that one sweaty dude with his shirt off who just keeps bumping the crap out of everyone.

London Grammar – Wasting My Young Years (Sound Remedy Remix) [Unsigned] – Now this is a tune! This song just grabs you and keeps you wanting more. The drop is intense but at the same time very clean. Definitely an artist to keep your eye on!

Getter – Gunshots [Firepower Records] – Let’s just say that this is probably one of the heaviest songs that I play in my sets. As soon as the drop hits, it’s just pure filth!

TIM GALVIN - tim.galvin@live.com.au

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the flag for the motor city. Mentored by Royce Da 5’9, the group consist of MCs E-Fav, L.A.Z, Noveliss, and producer Ilajide. The group utilises that golden era sound without sounding dated. Their debut Gold PP7’s is available for pre-order now at fatbeats.com.

THE REALNESS It’s been a long time since I’ve had any real interest in the so called hip hop beefs seemingly created by marketing executives to promote struggling artists. However, it’s been hard to ignore the tidal waves on social media surrounding Kendrick Lamar’s verse on Big Sean’s track Control. After listening, there is no doubt that Kendrick murders his verse, and while it may be a bit undercooked to be labelled hip hop beef, it’s definitely a warning shot to the rest of the industry to step their bars up to Kendrick’s level. Hit up YouTube and you be the judge!

The winter hibernation period in the capital is nearly behind us and as a result things are starting to look a bit brighter on the gig scene.

Thursday August 29 sees Seth Sentry stop by Zierholz @ UC with special guests Mantra and Grey Ghost. Enjoy a stein or two and catch Seth’s Vacation Tour, in support of the single of the same name. Things kick off at 8pm, with tickets $28.60 + bf through Oztix.

Durag Dynasty is the new group featuring Planet Asia, TriState, and Killer Ben, whose debut album 360 Waves is entirely produced

by The Alchemist. 360 Waves has been released via Nature Sounds.

Piecelock70 have put together a limited 500 vinyl pressing of DJ Day’s 2007 CD release The Day Before. Spanning a decade of music from 1999 to 2009, it draws influence from all points of the globe.

LA beat maker and MC Jonwayne has returned with the final installment of his Cassette trilogy, Cassette 3. Like previous Cassette releases, the cover draws inspiration from a very popular MP3 device, although this time around it is being released on cassette and as a free digital download via Stones Throw Records.

Cassette 3 features guest spots from Captain Murphy and previous collaborator Jeremiah Jae. BERT POLE - bertpole@hotmail.com

Transit Bar will be playing host to Sydneysiders Jackie Onassis on Saturday September 7. Consisting of MC Kai and producer Raph, Jackie Onassis is part of the One Day Crew, whose members include Horrorshow and Spit Syndicate.

Supports are Context and LB, doors are at 7pm, and tickets are $13.30 + bf through Oztix.

Then get ready to head back to Transit Bar on Sunday September 15 at 6pm to witness the stage show antics of New York native R.A. the Rugged Man. R.A. is touring off the back of his recent studio album Legends Never Die. Don’t miss this opportunity to see a true pioneer of the independent hip hop hustle. Tickets are $25 + bf through Moshtix.

Flu aka Fluent Form returns with his third studio album Flu Season via Crate Cartel, which is available in stores now. The Melbourne MC has redefined his approach, easing up on the more aggressive style exhibited on his earlier releases.

Fellow Melbourne MC, Dr. Flea recently released his debut EP Keep On Moving via Broken Tooth Entertainment, which is also available in stores.

Detroit continues to unearth talent after talent, and while they may be relatively unknown now, Clear Soul Forces look set to continue waving

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Image credit: Chris Frape

A SHOW OF TALENT jade fosberry

I remember when I first heard HORRORSHOW. Walk You Home was playing on the radio, and a soothing voice was telling me a beautiful story about life and love. That was when I realised how poetic hip hop could be. Four years later, and the boys are finally back with their third record, King Amongst Many. I had a chat to one half of Horrorshow, Solo (aka Nick Bryant-Smith), about their new album, his eloquent writing, and the future of Australian hip hop.

The boys have proved that great things take time, as they’ve emerged with a record laced with honesty and beauty: traits we’ve come to expect from the duo. Nick attributes his writing style to his own personal music preferences: ‘The people who let you into their soul and into their heart, that’s the kind of music I appreciate and listen to.’

What we’re seeing at the moment is hip hop recalibrating itself

Horrorshow’s music genuinely makes you think and reflect. Solo is a genuine storyteller, and Adit creates a beautiful landscape for these stories; his talent and proficiency is clear with every beat. Nick explained that this time round, the boys wanted to break new ground in both writing and experimenting with different sounds. ‘Adit was really trying to push himself to new places and new sounds that he hadn’t mastered before. We even got in session musicians, so for the first time ever we have a string quartet on the record.’

The album also sees Nick tackle heavier issues. ‘If you listen to some of our older stuff, it’s much more introspective. I think as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to learn that there are things in the world much more important than my own ups and downs.’ From Australia’s history, to the very personal history of his own family, Nick’s taken the opportunity to explore topics he hasn’t before, and in the process, create their most complex and heartfelt album yet.

The album features massive talents, from Jimblah, to Suffa of Hilltop Hoods. This sparked the conversation of how the nature of hip hop has changed, from the days when the Hoods were the primary names in Australian hip hop, to now. ‘I think hip hop is … in limbo, between parts of its history and some of the newer directions its being pushed in. What we’re seeing at the moment is hip hop recalibrating itself and working out how to keep things fresh and relevant in a time that’s so different to the time the music was born in.’ Nick, articulate as always, explained hip hop as a child experiencing growing pains, but in the process, flourishing into something beautiful. ‘So long as people are coming through and dedicating themselves to the art of making music and spreading the love, it’ll survive and continue to evolve and change. All any of us can do is play our part and push it in the direction we want it to go in.’

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Horrorshow are bringing their tour to our lucky capital, along with Jimblah and NZ hip hop heads Home Brew. The show is on Thursday September 19 at ANU Bar, doors at 8pm. Tickets are $29.20+bf through Ticketek.

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METALISE Soundwave 2014 was announced last week and it’s yet another ridiculously huge line-up of heavy music from across the globe.

Promoter AJ Maddah admitted that next year’s line-up was never going to top this year’s, which featured ¾ of the ‘big four’, but as you’ll see below, the other ¼ is coming next year. Without further ado – here’s the line-up so far: Green Day, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Temple Pilots (w/ Chester Bennington), Alice In Chains, Rob Zombie, Megadeth, Placebo, AFI, Korn, Alter Bridge, Trivium, Down, Devildriver, Newsted, Biffy Clyro, Rocket From The Crypt, Asking Alexandria, Clutch, Alkaline Trio, Baroness, Five Finger Death Punch, August Burns Red, Testament, Living Colour, Letlive, Motionless In White, Gwar, Black Dahlia Murder, Mushroomhead, Finch, Pulled Apart By Horses, Nancy Vandal, Bowling For Soup, Trash Talk, Skindred, Volbeat, Amon Amarth, Terror, Whitechapel, Tesseract, The Story So Far, 10 Years, Ill Nino, Hardcore Superstar, Walking Papers, Coliseum, Our Last Night, Your Demise, Heaven’s Basement, and Real Friends. The Sydney show is at Olympic Park on Sunday February 23 and tickets are on sale from Thursday September 5 at 9am.

Obviously that’s only the first announcement, then there’s going to be a shit tonne of sideshows announced off the back of this, so you’ve got a little bit of time to work out if you’re keen for the big shebang or the slew of sideshows that accompany the day.

Between this and the Vans Warped Tour coming through Canberra on Friday December 6, the folks at Soundwave Touring are going to be ridiculously busy. This of course will include the Kvelertak tour presented by Soundwave Touring, happening on Sunday September 15, 8pm, at Manning Bar in Sydney – one I am definitely keen for! Tickets are $50.10 + bf through Oztix.

Northlane are rolling through town at The Basement in Belconnen on Friday September 6, on the Canberra leg of their Springularity Tour, with special guests Saviour. Their Singularity album has been ridiculously successful and Canberra fans can get a look at the band live for $23.50 + bf through Oztix. Kicks off at 8pm.

I forgot to add one record to my list of awesome 2013 records last issue – Thy Kingdom Scum by Japanese doom lords Church of Misery has also been on high rotation on my dying iPod (doesn’t work unless it’s plugged into a power source, and that’s AFTER getting a new battery). The band play their first Australian tour headlining the Doomsday festival in Sydney on Friday October 4 at Hermanns Bar at Sydney Uni. Opening at 8pm, tickets are $39.80 + bf through Oztix.

Germany’s Kadavar have announced an Aussie tour with Swedish band Blue Pills for November/December this year, with the only date firmly announced so far being the Sunday November 24 show as a part of the next Cherry Fest in AC/DC Lane in Melbourne. Kicks off at 12 noon, and early bird tickets are $54 via cherrybar.com.au.

English punk lords U.K. Subs are slated for a show at the Magpies City Club on Sunday September 29 at 3pm. At 69 years young, Charlie Harper has been fronting the band since its formation in 1976, and the touring line-up has been pretty stable having played together since 2005. Tickets are $18.40 + bf via Oztix.

JOSH NIXON doomtildeath@hotmail.com

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LEAPING OFF THE PAGE alisha evans Most high school bands are happy playing at house parties and perhaps an all ages gig, but by the end of high school THE DANGEROUS SUMMER had already signed to a record label. The pop punk band hailing from Ellicott City, Maryland, USA, is currently touring with their new album, Golden Record.

Rhythm guitarist Cody Payne says the album shows they are maturing as a band. ‘When we write an album we get a little bit closer to what we’ve been aiming for all along. Our music progresses, but there’s never a drastic shift in our style or sound.’

Our music progresses, but there’s never a drastic shift in our style or sound

Although Cody finds it hard to define The Dangerous Summer’s style, he says influences range from Blink-182 and Rise Again to the left field suggestion of Taylor Swift. ‘We like good music, a song with a good chorus and a well written sound.’ It’s hard to imagine guys who grew up listening to MxPx, Goldfinger, and NOFX sitting down and listening to We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together for inspiration; it just goes to show how diverse these guys are.

Being named after an Ernest Hemingway book certainly adds to that image. Lead singer and bassist AJ Perdomo likes that the book, about a season of Spanish bullfights, was less well-known and didn’t get the credit it deserved.

AJ and Cody met at age 14, and five years later they started The Dangerous Summer. Since then they have gone from strength to strength. The guys were friends with All Time Low, another pop punk band, who pushed their music and introduced them to the record label Hopeless Records. They have produced three studio albums, a live album, and have toured with the likes of System of a Down, Limp Bizkit, and Slipknot. Chatting about the Soundwave tour in 2011, Cody was stoked with how well organised the shows were. ‘It ran so smoothly and we were treated so well. As a band of our size we don’t feel we should be treated that well. It was such a cool time to go down there [to Australia] and play with such legendary bands.’

This year the guys are playing the Vans Warped Tour alongside The Offspring, Hatebreed, Simple Plan, and Parkway Drive to name a few.

Cody says during their set they’ll be playing a lot of songs from their new album and will keep the fans happy with a few of their favourites.

One thing that irks Cody is when fans download their new music before it has been officially released. ‘It takes away from the excitement of a CD release when most of our fans have had it for sometime. It’s frustrating but unfortunately it is what it is.’ Despite this frustration, The Dangerous Summer is looking forward to meeting fans down under throughout November and December.

The Dangerous Summer will be playing Vans Warped Tour at Exhibition Park in Canberra on Friday December 6. Gates open at 11am. Tickets are $107.10 + bf through Oztix, and it’s an all ages licensed event.

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GET READY, SET … rory McCARTNEY THE GO SET, Melbourne punk rockers with a strong Celtic influence, is celebrating their ten year anniversary with new releases and a big tour with fellow kilt flashers The Real McKenzies. BMA Magazine spoke to The Go Set founding member, vocalist, and principal songwriter Justin Keenan.

I have never been a fan of disposable pop rubbish, of musical McDonalds

The fusion of punk with bagpipes, kilts, tin whistles, and even a mandolin might seem an odd mix, but founders Justin and Mark Moran enjoyed rich Scottish/Irish origins. Being heavily into punk music, they used to extract the rinse from their families, making fun of the music they were forced to listen to as kids. ‘We got together over a beer one night and decided we should learn a few of these old songs and play them to our parents. We found that writing songs in that format ended up coming naturally, so we combined the punk we enjoyed playing with the old songs and ended up with this bizarre sound.’ It was a format with few models, other than The Real McKenzies and Weddings Parties Anything. Ironically, the band which was intended to be an excuse to get together and drink beers, with no further ambitions, has lasted a decade so far, and has six albums under its belt.

While Keenan has been a constant member, the five-piece has had 13 different members over the years. Touring takes its toll on families and the band has a revolving line-up, with people coming and going according to how busy they are. ‘This has advantages, as it keeps the band going, keeps it fresh, and we are still all best mates, with no tensions amongst us.’ Like its sound, the band’s lyrical material has also been heavily influenced by the members’ heritage. Keenan’s parents were very left-leaning. This made him serious about music and wanting to leave a legacy people could connect to, one that rises above popular culture. ‘I have never been a fan of disposable pop rubbish, of musical McDonalds. Big issues the band has always had include the environment, equality, and social injustice. This is not surprising, given that a lot of Irish folk songs are about persecution.’

Keenan is blown away by the band’s achievements. ‘We were recently playing in the Czech Republic, a country in which they don’t speak English, and there were kids singing along to our songs. It’s quite something to take in.’ TGS have big plans, too. They’re making a retrospective DVD with footage from the last decade, and a CD with both old and new songs will accompany it. Plus there are intentions for an all-new double album or EP, with one disk of acoustic folk material and one with punk songs. While thrilled to be touring with Canadian Scottish punks The Real McKenzies, Keenan is bemused by local ticket sales. ‘Canberra has sold less than small towns like Warrnambool and I can’t figure why it’s so slow.’ There’s no doubt, though, that while we might be a slow-selling city, Canberra comes out and goes hard when punks come to town.

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The Go Set and The Real McKenzies (plus guests TBC) will be playing ANU Bar on Wednesday September 4. Doors at 8pm. Tickets are $25.95 + bf through Ticketek.

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Fun Machine

by Martin Ollman Nishi Gallery 2013

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E X H I B I T I O N I S T

Image credit:

ARTS | ACT

SAY, BRAIN, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO TONIGHT? justin hook If you’ve seen any of the documentaries hosted by PROFESSOR BRIAN COX (Wonders of the Universe, Wonders of the Solar System, or the recently released Wonders of Life) you might have noticed a certain indefatigable passion and excitement. You’ll also have seen a scientist unafraid of inserting himself into many of the contentious and contestable areas of science.

‘I always wanted to talk about the science and be really explicit about my views. So whilst my approach is genuinely celebratory, I see no reason to insert any sort of balance – because there isn’t any.

Civilisation is based on science and engineering, and the more we talk about that, the better the world is.’

The mild-mannered, distant but knowledgeable scientist-as-host role holds absolutely no allure for Cox. Which makes sense given that in a previous life, whilst studying to get the PhD that resulted in him becoming a the globe-trotting science broadcaster, he was keyboardist and globe-trotting rock star in ‘90s pop combo D:Ream.

Their early ‘90s hit Things Can Only Get Better was used by Tony Blair in his campaign that kicked out the Tories in 1997.

‘I was heavily influenced in my decision to get into science by Carl Sagan, in particular the Cosmos TV series which I saw when I was 12.

The reason I found it so wonderful was because it was part science, part polemic. For me, it was the first time I had seen a scientist on television that wasn’t afraid to express an opinion. And that opinion was that the more scientific our society is – the better it is.’

Unsurprisingly, Cox also has little time for sitting around waiting for consensus. The scientific method is all about testing hypotheses, after all, and expecting ‘facts’ to be finalised before discussing them is a fool’s errand. ‘The things in my shows – the modern take on the origins of life – are about ideas and the tremendous discoveries have been made about solar systems and planets and life. Because a huge amount of work and progress [has been made] on that particular subject over the last five years. So I don’t think you should be afraid to talk about work in progress.’ Looking back this might have been a perfect opportunity to bring up intelligent design. Luckily I didn’t, and the interview continued.

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Professor Cox has just wound up an Australian tour where he took the complexity of science and broke it down for the masses. In the shows he hosts, he incorporates flashy graphics, like floating chemical structures, to get the point across. Cox’s resolutely populist approach has its detractors, but not only does he not care – he’s doing it for the greater good. ‘I have a very explicit agenda which is to make science more attractive. I want more funding for science. It’s genuinely idiotic for a country to underfund education. I want politicians to value it more. I want the public to value it more, and I want more kids to get into it. So we need to reach a wider audience.’

‘But I think you do that by explaining things and presenting ideas, and not underestimating the audience. But there’s a natural tension. One of the problems many academics have is that they look down the lens and see their colleagues or peers. So they start triangulating off them and thinking they must say everything very precisely. So you end up losing people. It’s not a lecture. You’ll never present at the right level for those people, and if you try to, you’ll lose the people you want to influence. It’s a delicate balance.’

But with multiple sold out shows, regular high-rating TV shows, and the doyen of natural history Sir David Attenborough anointing him as his heir, Cox is clearly getting that balance about right.

‘It’s not adversarial but it’s actually a constant battle, in a creative sense. Basically I would put way more content in there than would be considered good, in the sense that we want as many as we can people to watch the show. The flipside is that the average TV producer would put too little in. So we have a robust time fighting it out.

‘You’re always going to get people at both ends of the spectrum – those that don’t understand it, so it annoys them, and those that do get it but then think it’s too simple, so they get annoyed as well. Really, if you worry about those details of distribution, it’s the road to ruin.

‘Look, you can win. You win if you make a series that people watch and enjoy. And if enough people are unhappy – I won’t get to make any more TV shows.’ Spoken like a true rationalist.

Wonders of Life is out now on DVD and Blu-ray through Roadshow.

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REIMAGINING THE BUSH CAPITAL vanessa wright ANNIKA HARDING’s work in painting is a beguiling mix of the traditional and the contemporary. Her first ever solo exhibition, SHORTFALL, is a body of work that explores and plays with the idea of the Australian landscape in an urban environment. Harding is interested in the concept of Canberra as the ‘bush capital’, and how we interact with our constructed landscape, but also with how we relate to the bush myths of the past.

This is a body of work in constant development and represents a progression of Harding’s thinking over the past year. Her early works, Ongoing interventions in the landscape and Expedition to the suburban bush, continue to examine landscapes which are seemingly imperfect, but can represent a unique Canberra experience of urban bushwalking. The large expanses of bush between the suburbs of Canberra separate the city and create natural space.

These are landscapes containing the infrastructure of a city in the bush: huge power lines and water tanks. Harding juxtaposes these images with the lone figure of the explorer, the young bushwalker with her backpack, trekking into the spaces between the suburbs.

These are meditative images, reminiscent of the Romantic paintings of the 19th century, that celebrate the sublime in nature.

Harding takes these ideas even further in her more recent work, in which she reinterprets classic Australian impressions of the landscape. Wide Brown Land plays on work by Dorothea Mackeller and Marcus Tatton; in this piece a young woman with her back to the viewer looks out over the Brindabellas from the National Arboretum, framed by Tatton’s monumental sculpture.

The Man from Snowy River (after A.B. Paterson) reimagines the classic work, with a BMX rider embodying the contemporary equivalent of the bush adventurer. This is a striking work which captures not only the figure of the rider, but the rider in motion and the blurred but atmospheric landscape around them. As Harding has stated, ‘I’m trying to create atmospheres, a feeling, or a mood in my work. Not a perfect painting, I want things to be messy.’

There is a beautiful rawness in Harding’s work, in part due to her choice of materials. She paints directly onto plywood, a technique that brings a lot of natural warmth and depth to her paintings. The plywood has its own texture and landscape to begin with, and, as Harding best describes it, is ‘junky but natural’.

Postcards from Canberra also explores how we view our city and what can be considered iconic. Shortfall explores the landscapes of the everyday, asking us to reflect on our environment and reimagine our myths and ideals.

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Shortfall is opening at the ANCA Gallery on Wednesday September 4 at 6pm.

Entry is free, and the exhibition continues until Sunday September 15.

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UNINHIBITED ‘May I sit here?’ I asked an old man reading a paper at a round table.

‘Certainly,’ he replied, ‘as long as you don’t say anything.’

I’d left my bag at the front desk with the Polish security lady; the same Polish lady who had once told a friend of mine with a wedding ring that he was ‘too young to be married’. My friend was 27 at the time. I agreed with the Polish lady.

On my way to the round table, I passed a group of Grammar girls; their radar dish popped collars were angled as if to receive news from Grammar boy lapels across the room.

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Having joined the old man who didn’t want me to say anything, I watched two middle-aged men view Julian Assange clips at separate computers. The men had classic conspiracy theorist looks about them (society’s daily clothes-changing convention being a conspiracy they were on to). One spoke to himself aloud. The other, I imagined, was listening to voices in his head.

A holidaying family walked through the door and stood quietly confused, wondering where the books were. I thought about telling them that the books lay many floors below and that few people knew exactly how far beneath the earth these floors went. But I stayed sitting with the old man, not saying anything.

Before long I was on my way to the magazine rack. I was in this place to work on my essay, which meant I had to find the latest copies of Soldier of Fortune and The New Yorker. Reading diametrically opposed publications helped calibrate my objectivity.

And then I wondered what new books were in. And then I figured I should probably check my email. And the online news media. And social media.

Near the computer on which I was undertaking preresearch activity, a lady slept on her keyboard. I often saw this lady. She had travelled from a faraway country and now pushed a trolley across Commonwealth Bridge each morning, and back across at the end of each afternoon.

She had typed in giant font, ‘Unashamed’.

‘Unashamed, unashamed, unashamed,’ the word echoed in my head.

I returned to the round table as the old man was leaving. He thanked me for not talking.

Another old man walked in, as if to replace the first, and presented a copy of a book he had authored at the counter.

The staff member accepted it graciously. The old man’s work would be catalogued before disappearing into the vaults below. Three floors down? Four?

It was then time to leave, so I got my bag from the Polish lady with the marriage advice and walked out into a cold Canberra afternoon, back to my car in the Questacon car park. A couple of more successful hours spent in my favourite institution.

National Library of Australia, I love you.

Pete Huet petehuet@yahoo.com

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ARTISTPROFILE: Katy Mutton

What do you do? Drawing, printmaking, and installation are where I land most frequently.

When, how and why did you get into it? As a kid I always wanted to be an artist but when I got to my teens I was scared that I wouldn’t have any stability, so I worked a lot of jobs, studied design, and got myself a vocation. The whole time I kept making art at night and one day I realised I just had to go to art school and trust in what made me happy.

discussing the art that happens here and see more critical review.

Canberra has a great art scene though and it’s full of dynamic people.

Upcoming exhibitions? I’ll have work in the ‘Mini-Pops’ show which is part of the Bloom Festival at Gorman House Arts Centre (Fri–Sat September 20–21). It’s a show for current and past CCAS studio residents held out of a lollipop vending machine and should be whimsical and wonderful!

Contact Info: katythefish@gmail.com; facebook.com/ katymuttonaustralia; katymutton.com.

Who or what influences you as an artist? I’m interested in cultural history and love exploring old newspaper articles and other resources on Trove (National Library of Australia). When it comes to the ‘who’, all sorts of artists make my day. Right now it’s Sigur Rós, Björk, Boards of Canada, and artists like Sally Smart and Tassie printmaker Michael Schlitz.

Of what are you proudest so far? Art-wise, I think it’s the techniques I’ve been developing using inks on Japanese papers. I’m also grateful for having a Canberra Contemporary Art Space residency this year and having received an ArtStart grant from the Australia Council this year.

What are your plans for the future? So many plans!

I’m working toward a show in Singapore next year, two more solo shows, an interstate residency, working with an incredible mentor, and more.

I work and have a young family so I have to stay really organised and plan ahead, but so far so good.

What makes you laugh?

Nitrous oxide … seriously, best drug ever.

What pisses you off?

Refugees being treated as criminals for seeking asylum in Australia.

What about the local scene would you change? It would be good to see more opportunities for artists and writers to work together on

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CLASSICS IN REVIEW

to forget whatever it was necessary to forget …’ – and such is the inspiration behind the slogans of ‘Ingsoc’, the party of Oceania’s omnipresent and omnipotent ‘Big Brother’: War is Peace – Freedom is Slavery – Ignorance is Strength.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is surely George Orwell’s greatest literary achievement, in which the coherency, complexity, and creativity of his political philosophy reaches its zenith. It is a novel which will never cease to be relevant, but perhaps now more than ever we should return to it and remind ourselves of that desolate, empty feeling which it inspires after reading.

It is this drift toward cognitive conformity that is the target of so much of Orwell’s writing. In his long-censored preface to Animal Farm, Orwell’s 1945 satire of the USSR, he criticises what he calls the ‘gramophone mind’: the mind that accepts orthodoxy and conformity, and which turns us from active citizens into mere ‘swallowers of slogans’. It is this critique which he extrapolates into the barren, terrifying political landscape of Winston Smith’s Oceania, where the dilution of the citizenry’s capacity for dissent is enforced by all the apparatuses of state: the Ministries of Love, Peace, Truth, and Plenty.

Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell [First published: 1949]

For the appreciators and practitioners of the arts, for communicators of ideas and emotions – as we all are, regardless of our specific trade – Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four reminds us to be conscious of any force – of fascism or fashion – which compels us to nullify nuance in our thinking, to strip our words of their meaning, or to vacate history of its eminence, and in so doing narrow the breadth of our imagination and the depth of our empathy. As Orwell writes in his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language: ‘[Language] becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. … If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.’

Such is the premise of ‘Newspeak’, the tongue of the totalitarian super-state ‘Oceania’ in Nineteen Eighty-Four; it aims to dissolve meaning, dissolve thought, and dissolve dissent. Such language then, is the basis of ‘Doublethink’, the ability of the subjects of Oceania to ‘… be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies … to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy;

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Nineteen Eighty-Four provokes us to consider how far we have deviated from the democratic ideal, and how close we now flirt with that which we once fought. We need only look to our friends across the Pacific in the USA for evidence of this democratic drift: their voyeuristic government has been caught as the world’s political peeping-tom, peering through our digital windows into the private life within, while taking charge in the rollback of civil liberties under the guise of ‘patriotism’, and has been the forger of a new wave of military and economic ‘Newspeak’ to curse the language. How true it is what Orwell wrote in his essay The Prevention of Literature: that ‘… to be corrupted by totalitarianism one does not have to live in a totalitarian country.’ timothy ginty

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It is clear that many of you native to this land consider your capital’s climate to be of a wintry nature, particularly during these, the traditionally summer months. Codswallop!

When considering these foolhardy assertions, I am put in mind of St Petersburg in February 1852, where I experienced a chill of such pitiless ferocity that I was forced to set fire to many villagers’ inconsequential, tumbledown huts to prevent the unsightly winter frost from tarnishing my marvellous ermine mittens.

Despite an admittedly shaky grasp of Russian, I still divined the clear impression that the filthy townsfolk were overjoyed to be able to sacrifice everything they had, and all of their future prospects, for a momentary and negligible increase in the comfort of a superior.

I am therefore tickled by Canberrans’ insistence that temperatures which invariably border double digits should constitute frostiness.

I see none of the lower classes caterwauling as their every possession is consumed by fire in order to warm the cockles of a factory owner, and so by extension cannot subscribe to this mistaken perception of winter.

This phenomenon only appears exacerbated the further north one travels, and seems inherently intertwined with the emergence of ‘Queenslanders’ – a species whose spineless submission to the elements I first encountered in an area known as the Sunshine Coast.

I never fail to harness the galvanising properties granted by a bracing winter’s morn. Few things stir one’s vigour for life more than the sight of a sun-dappled frost at break of day; or that of a dog frozen at roadside, forever detained in static bondage.

As such, upon arrival I had elected to dress in wilful rebellion of the supposed time of year before setting out for a robust stroll along the promenade. Donning an incredibly risqué ensemble of knee-length jodhpurs and wafer thin cotton socks, leaving no small amount of shin audaciously exposed, I set forth.

Fuelled by my own racy defiance, I made good time until being stopped dead in my tracks. Walking towards me was my first Queenslander – an especially simple brand of Australian whose brash overconfidence lies in direct contrast to their obvious status as that of whimpering physical runts.

With the temperature registering no lower than 12 degrees on the Celsius scale, this specimen wore winter jacket, scarf, mittens, generous trousers, balaclava, and woollen headpiece.

Given the temperature, my initial evaluation naturally inclined toward leprosy and a necessity to shield a scabrous form. But, no.

He was merely a Queenslander – a race of people so ill-evolved as to demand the kind of insulation reserved for species without the fortitude to escape evolutionary oblivion.

Being something of a scholar, I am well aware that many animal species such as the Dodo or the Caspian tiger simply lacked the aptitude to stave off extinction. I fear that next to join that unenviable list will be the Queenslander.

It is fair and reasonable to surmise that the Queenslander is unequivocally the woolly mammoth of the Australian people. gideon foxington-smythe

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A R T | C O M E DY | D A N C E | L I T E R AT U R E | T H E AT R E having trouble keeping up with her in the bedroom. It’s not so much the humping part that wears me out, it’s all the foreplay she likes beforehand: such as biting me and choking my collar. What should I do? I don’t want to lose her to some younger mutt. – Benson from Canberra Ask Miss Coco: Dating Advice for Dogs Q: Hi Miss Coco. I’m an 18-dog-year-old Jack Russell terrier. There’s this Beagle I’ve been seeing at the park for a while now. We’re humped a few times but I want to take the relationship to the next level. What should I do? – Buster from Townsville A: Thanks for your email, Buster. As for the Beagle, get her a stick.

Bitches love sticks. – Coco Q: Dear Miss Coco. Every time I try to have a serious conversation with my boyfriend he keeps licking his balls. Even sometimes when we cross the road together he stops to lick himself. I’ve told him this is dangerous, but he says it’s fine and that I’m making a big deal of nothing.

As his girlfriend, it doesn’t leave me much to do if he spends most of his time licking his own balls. Am I overreacting or is there a better way that I can deal with this? Please help! – Missy from Perth

A: Hi Benson. Next time you are fooling around with her before humping, ring a bell. Do this every time you ‘get busy’ for the next few weeks. Eventually you won’t need to do any of the foreplay, you can just ring a bell and by the wonders of animal psychology the mere sound will get her wet. Or you could just stop being a pussy. – Coco simon taylor - Taylor is a comedian based in Melbourne and Los Angeles. He writes for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and just returned from a tour of the US. He’ll be performing on Wednesday September 4 at the Comedy Club at Civic Pub, with local supports.

8pm. Tickets $12 from comedyact.com.au, $15 on the door.

A: Missy, you’re not overreacting.

He’s being a bad dog. Bad dog.

Tell him to sit. Sit. Siiiiiiiiiiiit.

Stay. If he does that, he’s a good dog. Good dog. Then lick his balls. – Coco Q: Dear Miss Coco. Ruff rrrrruff ruff ruff rrrrruff ruff ruff. – Rex from Melbourne A: Dear Rex. I had the same thing. Try a topical cream. – Coco Q: Hey Miss Coco. A little about myself, I’m a 43-dog-year-old Bulldog. I’m still pretty outgoing though, always getting the ball.

For the past month I’ve been dating a cute little pug who lives down the road from me.

Great coat. Loves long walks.

I really think she’s with me for who I am, not like those other bone-digging bitches. The thing is, she’s a lot younger than me.

She just turned 22. I’m pretty fit for my age but I must say, I’m

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bit PARTS Lay Chou, Sea of Sands, 2012

THE ACCEPA EXHIBITION WHAT: Cultural Performances and Art Exhibition WHEN: Wed Aug 28–Sun Sep 15 WHERE: Belconnen Arts Centre Featuring Chinese artists who either currently live or have lived in Canberra, this exhibition explores perspectives and unique styles of art influenced by Australian and Chinese culture. Artists such as Cunde Wang, Jason Chen, Billy Chan, and Lay Chou will feature, including some works by Chou showcasing his ‘spotted rain’ technique. ‘My painting is my language to freely express portions of myself,’ Chou says. This exhibition is sponsored by the ACT Multicultural Grants Program 2013, and officially opens on Sun Sep 1 at 2pm, with cultural performances and a Meet the Artists program. Tue–Sun, 10am–5pm. Free.

BIJOU WHAT: Theatre Performance WHEN: Thu Aug 29–Sat Sep 7 WHERE: The Street Theatre

Image credit: Lyndel Arnett

Set in a Parisian café bar in 1932, we are introduced to Bijou on the night that the past hurtles in the present. Musical styles span operetta, romance, political anthems, and even nursery rhymes in a strange combination of tragic comedy and cabaret. Bijou is an original work from Chrissie Shaw, a Canberra-based performing artist, writer, and producer. She collaborates with director Susan Pilbeam, pianist Alan Hicks, and other talented artists put together this special show. Sun Sep 1 & 8 at 4pm. Thu–Sat Aug 29–31 and Tue–Sat Sept 3–7 at 7:30pm. $25-35. Call (02) 6247 1223 or visit thestreet.org.au.

ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS WHAT: Art Exhibition WHEN: Mon–Mon September 2–23 WHERE: Form Studio and Gallery, Queanbeyan

Verney Burness, Fragment

Featuring four artists, this exhibition will showcase four different, diverse, and captivating responses to their surroundings. Verney Burness, Robyn Kinsela, Kerry McInnis, and Claire Primrose have been brought together to display their work. McInnis brings with her works made in gorges and river beds from areas as far as the Northern Territory. Burness destroys in order to create, super cooling her clay until it freezes, before smashing it, and then super heating it in a kiln.

The exhibition will be officially opened on Fri Sep 6 at 6pm. Mon–Fri 9.30am–2.30pm, and Sat–Sun 10am–4pm.

RAW CANBERRA WHAT: Arts Organisation Launch WHEN: Wed Sep 4 WHERE: Academy RAW: Natural Born Artists is an international, independent arts organisation, and this September they will bring together 30 talented, new, and independent artists from around Canberra to showcase their work in film, fashion, visual art, music, performance art, hair, and makeup. For their launch, RAW will take over Academy. Doors open at 7:30pm, and tickets are $15 + bf through rawartists.org/canberra/ translations ($20 on the door). RAW works to showcase talent in local areas on a bi-monthly basis. If you’re interested in becoming a RAW artist, head to their website, or contact canberra@rawartists.org.

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album in focus

moderat II [monkeytown] When you think about it, in retrospect, the musical marriage of Sascha Ring (aka Apparat) and German duo Modeselektor (aka Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) came across as such a natural collaboration that it almost seemed predestined to happen.

What’s particularly interesting though is that Moderat’s 2009 self-titled debut album took a full seven years to finally appear after some initial teaser EPs, apparently a result of creative disagreements and fundamentally different opinions regarding the way they should work.

If anything, Moderat’s debut album saw the partnership drawing out the best elements from both camps, reining in Apparat’s more abstract leanings whilst also adding an extra layer of subtlety to Modeselektor’s often outre pop confections.

In the wake of rave reviews and a visually spectacular live tour, three years on this second album, aptly titled II, offers up a follow-up, and if anything, it’s a slightly gentler and more subliminal experience than its predecessor.

Indeed, II comes across as a collection far more geared towards late night headphone listening than anything else,

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with the more obvious club-friendly singles pared away in favour of a more free-flowing, almost hypnotically nocturnal approach.

Instrumental tracks such as the crystalline This Time see Moderat building up vast walls of atmospheric synths that practically bleed with melancholy, all against a stripped-down backing of pulsing woodblock rhythms that hint at the trio paying attention to the likes of Burial.

Ten-minutelong epic Milk clearly forms the centrepiece here, taking things off on a gliding techhouse voyage that blends in krautrocktinged murmuring synth atmospheres, before suddenly bursting forth into a wall of distorted textures in what’s easily this album’s most propulsive moment; the sense of release at the end is one of the most spectacular offerings to be found here.

Those looking for more familiar, popcentred moments amongst the more free-flowing undergrowth probably won’t be left disappointed, though.

First single Bad Kingdom certainly manages the epic swoon factor as Sascha Ring’s keening indie-song vocal floats atop a backing of fat dubby bass distortion and broken percussive rhythms, before Damage Done offers up a wounded slice of electronic soul worthy of Depeche Mode’s most cinematically wounded efforts.

Despite its spectacular geography and cohesive sense of atmospheric immersion, though, the lingering sense creeps through that II represents an admittedly impressive holding pattern, rather than the great leap forward I expected from the Moderat partnership following their brilliant debut album.

For the most part, however, I find myself recognising that I’m actually just picking on tiny faults here – and they are tiny.

CHRIS DOWNTON

edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros [vagrant records] This alternative folk band has lots of members, but no Edwards. Named after the imaginary hippy superman from a story coined by frontman Alex Ebert, the group began as a music collective and made their mark in 2009 with the debut album Up From Below, which was most memorable for the sing-along hit Home. A fertile bunch, they released the LP Here (which was not memorable for anything) in 2012 and have now produced a self-titled third long player.

Apart from album titles, they are running short on worthy songs too.

The first half of the album is pretty uninspiring. Ebert’s versatile voice has many tones and his boast that the album contains ‘the rawest, most liberated songs’ that the group has spawned is right on the mark!

Let’s Get High employs raucous vocals and carnival overtones, with Ebert ending each song line on a rising, jarring note. There are flashes of the multi-vocal backing for which the band is known, as seen in the opener Better Days. If I Were Free and In the Lion possess a peculiar playfulness. The few surprisingly good tracks appear towards the very end. They Were Wrong, a highlight in the cowboy ballad style, has deep tones worthy of Johnny Cash. The finger-snapping In the Summer is another winner and Jade Castrinos sounds great in the laid back Remember to Remember. Ebert puts on a Joe Cocker-ish voice for This Life, which would sit comfortably in a ‘70s rock opera.

It’s a mystery why some of these weren’t positioned earlier in the track list.

Overall, the band are about as unexciting on disk as they are on stage (where at least you can see them leaping about in an enthusiastically hippy fashion). rory McCARTNEY

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pet shop boys electric [x2]

los chavos supermeng [independent]

suede merit wired wood [the frequency lab]

Pet Shop Boys have always seemed one step ahead and way smarter than every other pop group. Their breakthrough hit West End Girls was a sombre song that draped sinister-sounding inner-city vistas over uncomplicated artificial drum beats and snaky chords. It’s proto hip hop. 30 years on, and it sounds unfeasibly fresh. Since then, the duo – Neil Tennant (journalist) and Chris Lowe (architect) – have pulled off that rarest of acts in dance-based pop music: staying relevant, and defying fashion, age, and industry expectations in a caper that venerates youth and mocks adulthood.

Fellow ‘80s traveller Madonna tried, but her gauche domination of genres increasingly masked rapidly declining songwriting chops. Her press was all about reinvention and startling collaborations. Meanwhile, Tennant and Lowe just kept on going – in no great hurry to prove anything to anyone or demand unwarranted respect.

There’s a strong underground (and not so underground) Latin movement in the capital, with Latin dance festivals, film festivals, carnivale, and salsa classes popping up everywhere. Much of it centres on Monkey Bar, a gig location well known to local eightpiece Los Chavos who, after about a decade of being firm festival favourites, have delivered their debut album.

Sydney-based electronic producer Suede Merit recently caught the attention of The Frequency Lab label boss Monk Fly’s FBi radio show, and this download-only EP Wired Wood offers up the first taste of his work. Particularly interesting is Suede Merit’s overall sampling approach, with the six tracks collected here seeing him fusing field recordings taken using an iPhone with wonky, off-centre beat programming that calls to mind the likes of Flying Lotus and Electric Sea Spider. Indeed, it’s the slightly lo-fi nature of the iPhone’s recording capabilities that often contributes to the appeal here, introducing a delightful sense of scratchiness that sits well against the myriad layers of textures being juggled around.

Electric is their 12th album and one of the best they’ve produced in quite a while. You get the impression calling the album Electric is a statement of purpose – that they’re back where they’re most comfortable, especially in light of last year’s divisive Elysium. Take Thursday for example, a song sounding like it just fell out of the duo’s ‘80s heyday – squelchy beats, to-and-fro bells chiming, and a guest turn by UK rapper Example. Freakishly, it sounds like the past itself sounded more futuristic than we ever knew at the time.

In the same vein, Axis hurtles along like the bastard son of Giorgio Moroder and Kraftwerk – no bad thing, and I’m pretty sure Fluorescent is a Fade to Grey rewrite. Stupid comparisons aside, every track on Electric ends up sounding like … the Pet Shop Boys.

Which makes this a very good album. justin hook

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Los Chavos, meaning ‘The Guys’ (although they also include one girl in their troupe) draw on a wide variety of South American rhythms, any one of which is an invitation to dance. Combined, the mix of samba, merengue, ska, and reggae sounds creates an allure for your feet and hips that is irresistible. While the band includes covers in its repertoire, the album is 100% Los Chavos created, drawing heavily on the song writing talents of vocalist Andy Jauregui and bassist Simon Milman. Opener Carlos Galvo brings the bold merengue sound of the Dominican Republic from the brass of Valdis Thomann and Corey Booth. La Murga is a highpoint with its samba beat, bright horns and trippy keyboards. Another notable CD highlight, Llajta, carries a distant, smoky ska sound reminiscent of The Specials’ Ghost Town. There’s a bit of sampling too, with a few bars from This Old Man appearing in A Comer Ceviche. La Carta combines the Colombian-infused cumbia style ballad with some great guitar licks. On the upside, the CD carries the bold, vivacious, and cheerful rhythms which have made the band so popular at community events. On the downside, it’s almost all in Spanish.

However, Los Chavos shows that music transcends language and your feet will enjoy it, even if your knowledge of Español is limited to sangria and tapas! rory McCARTNEY

Untro kicks things off with a woozy slide into focus; the sampled sound of kookaburras fades in around pitch-shifted bell percussion loops that glide like a glassy blur of tones. The entire track suddenly shifts a few gears up halfway, in a manner that calls to mind early Four Tet. Wood kicks the pace up a few notches, sending a swaggering off-centre hip hop beat sliding against what sounds like the looped sound of cutlery, and suddenly bursts of synth colour dart around the haphazardly swaying sounds. Elsewhere, Stuck in a Stream sees shimmering cut-up harmonics and curvy g-funk synths winding their way into the undergrowth against sub-bass drops and clattering snare rolls. Clocking in at just 15 minutes in running time, this is something of a small and exquisitely formed treat. You can get Wired Wood as a name your price download from The Frequency Lab at thefrequencylab.bandcamp.com/ album/wired-wood. chris downton

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ashrae fax static/crash [mexican summer] Whichever way you look at it, this debut album from Greensboro, North Carolinabased four-piece Ashrae Fax has one of the most interesting and endearing back stories behind it that I’ve heard so far this year.

Originally formed at the end of the ‘90s by vocalist Renee Mendoza and guitarist Alex Chesney, two ‘art kids’ who both felt trapped by their small town surroundings, Ashrae Fax went on to recruit additional members, release a series of homemade CD-R EPs, and attract a reasonable local following.

In 2003 the band released this debut album Static/Crash themselves, with a small number of handmade spraypainted copies being given out to a select few amongst the band’s social circle, only for the group itself to combust soon after.

During the ensuing years though, Static/Crash ended up being circulated amongst the North Carolina music scene, with the band’s reputation growing in their absence.

Following two extremely limited repressings on cassette and vinyl on small North Carolina-based labels in 2005 and 2011 respectively, this rerelease on Mexican Summer offers up

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an opportunity for a wider audience outside of that US state to finally hear what all the fuss is about.

Clocking in at just 27 minutes in total length, the eight tracks collected here offer a lean and efficient introduction to Ashrae Fax’s streamlined fusion of ethereal goth-pop and icy electronics.

Daddystitch calls to mind shades of a more gritty and less angelic School of Seven Bells at points, as Mendoza’s powerful Siouxsie-esque vocals waft through layers of reverb over strippedback drum machine rhythms, brooding New Wave synths, and wiry guitars that sound like they’re pulled straight off The Cure’s Pornography.

The then-current influence of electroclash is certainly present in the punching, dance-centred beat programming and the glittering vamp-y synth trails that drag things into spookier territory during that track’s second half.

In truth, though, much of the material here could pass as having been recorded just this year, such is the enduring currency of the styles being explored.

Pointbreak fashions the sort of interplay between eerie minor key synth swells and stirring 4AD-tinged pop vocal hooks that Austra probably dream about, while elsewhere Armpit sees the levels of tension uncoiling for a more languid wander through chiming guitar ripples and dark juddering bass synths, which manages to slip in a subtle hint of smooth New Wave soul against the more angular post-punk elements.

With this wider re-release of Static/ Crash, Mexican Summer have certainly done Ashrae Fax’s no doubt soon-to-be larger fanbase a sterling service.

It’s also great to see the band back in touring action in the US, with a new album expected in the next few months.

CHRIS DOWNTON

hence the testbed out of the basement (live 2012) [independent] Old ACT rockers never die, they just dream about their next band. Just look at the ABC Radio’s Exhumed band comp, with over 50 bands that nobody had heard of entering the event. Speaking of old bands, past punters from the long gone Dickson venue Finnegan’s may remember the local act Space is Dead. Well, survivors from that group, Little Smoke, and Mudd Puppy have joined forces in Hence the Testbed with the aim of releasing a live disk with six new songs each year. They describe themselves diffidently as psychedelic prog rock in nature, but they’re unsure. What is certain is that Ad, Sam, and Kirky can really rock out. There’s a strong dose of garage, with a heavy emphasis, and blues overtones in the mix too.

The quality of the live recording is a bit scratchy, but very honest, complete with asides to the crowd between songs. The album is chockers with impressive guitar work and straight, hard-rocking songs you can sink your teeth into. CD highlights include Fen, keeping it tense and tight with choppy guitars and plenty of frantic licks to tickle your spine, and the multi-textured Alone. Finger-snapper Slow Days impresses too with a roller-coaster rhythm, alternating between smooth and slow and bursts of howling, yapping guitar. There are also five studio songs and it’s obvious that they had a lot of fun with these. There’s a menacing, demon-voiced version of the opener that sounds like it was recorded backwards.

Even the song title has the spelling back to front. Deepless is a work in progress, with haphazard chatter and random sounds that evolve into the beginnings of a promising dance track, completely out of character from the rest of the album. rory McCARTNEY

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uncle acid & the deadbeats mind control [metal blade]

octa push oito [senseless]

stateovmind better than postcards ep [independent]

The stoner doom gang refuse to modernise – and with good reason. It’s simply not possible to sound like Black Sabbath with cutting edge technology.

Lisbon-based brothers Bruno and Leo released their first 12”s as Octa Push around four years ago on Soul Jazz and Fabric, and since then they’ve managed to cultivate some high-profile fans, including Thom Yorke, SBTRKT, and Gilles Peterson.

As a result, the levels of anticipation surrounding their debut album Oito have been fairly high. Fortunately, the 12 tracks here rise to the occasion and showcase a fluid fusion of more European-centred electro and tech styles, featuring a limber rhythmic undercarriage that owes more to Afrocentric polyrhythms and jacking garage.

Given the crossover between catchy, radiofriendly pop hooks and a cold electronic aesthetic, I was occasionally reminded of a more Afro-centric take on Modeselektor, or perhaps Jahcoozi, whose frontwoman Sasha Perera even makes an appearance here.

Canberra’s very own hip hop head Stateovmind is back with his second solo release in three years.

Better to tap into a powerful sound at the analogue end of the spectrum, because an organic guitar roar works its magic when a brain melting groove is locked in without studio trickery or enhancement.

Uncle Acid has this side of things well and truly sorted, but it’s not just about the noise.

Doom-inducing heaviness stirs the loins when a band conjures the right kind of riff, which Uncle Acid does in spades.

On two previous albums, killer riffing reigned supreme, and so it goes for the first half of this UK band’s third album. Prior to Mind Control, one exceedingly dedicated person came up with the goods. Billing himself as K.R Starrs, this dude must have spent a good while in his bedroom sorting out the concept and the sound before going public – the scuzzy doom riffs and B-grade horror vibe just happened to resonate immediately.

Mind Control is a diverse affair and although pile-driving psych rock is on the menu, this album’s second half explores a dreamier trip, with lysergic acoustics weaving through downer drones and a heightened sense of melody coming across somewhat like The Beatles circa Magical Mystery Tour. This shift in tone makes for a good sonic balance and also accentuates all that ultra heaviness on intense workouts like Mind Crawler.

This adds up to the kind of sound that puts Uncle Acid in good company with notable predecessors like Kyuss and Monster Magnet, with the relative anonymity of the band only enhancing the mystique. dan bigna

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Opening track Bright Lights certainly highlights this accessible approach, with Stateless frontman Alex Kilmovitsky adding his vaguely blues-stained vocals to a streamlined backdrop of warm, glimmering synth pads and shuffling, percussive rhythms that sits somewhere between Underworld and SBTRKT’s jacking slide.

Glimpse sends footwork drum machine patterns jittering against cut-up vocal samples and glittering electro synth blips, in a manner that sits considerably closer to edIT or The Glitch Mob’s elastic digi-hop.

Elsewhere, My Share sees an almost Morse code synth pulse filtering in against stark post-dubstep rhythms, nervous juke snare rolls, and percussion fills as Sasha Perera adds her lazy-sounding dancehall inflected vocals over the top in what’s easily one of the most languid yet curiously taut moments here. Meticulously constructed all the way through, Oito sees Octa Push edging into main room territory without sacrificing any of the edges that have made them intriguing so far. chris downton

The EP cover includes a snippet of the rapper’s story, citing a solo European adventure he was finally able to embark on in 2011.

The story sets a pretty little scene for the EP, as it describes this trip as a chance for him to gather beats, collaborate with musicians, and evolve as an artist. A year later, he’s finally able to bring us the experiences, stories, and lessons learnt during his Eurotrip in the eight- track EP, Better Than Postcards.

The songs are reflective of a maturing mindset, with clever lyrics accompanied by slick production. It’s clear that the rapper has put a lot into the tracks and the EP as a whole is a big step forward from his first release, Something For Nothing.

A standout for me is track five, Who Gets.

Meshing ethereal tunes with an on-point back beat and Stateovmind’s calm, yet powerful vocals.

The EP is mixed and mastered by Earthshake Audio, and although Stateovmind is a talented rapper, this is a great example of tracks taken to the next level by quality production.

As a whole, the EP is reflective of a growing artist, in terms of experiences, skills, and an understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

Here’s hoping Stateovmind continues on this path in proving that the nation’s capital can compete in the hip hop game. jade fosberry

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the word

on films

WITH MELISSA WELLHAM

I am so frequently let down by films that have an awesome trailer, and then a terrible EVERYTHING ELSE when you watch the movie in whole.

Terrible script. Terrible acting. Terrible plot, and numerous plot holes. Really, the editors who make the trailers for these terrible films are artists themselves, and should probably be winning Oscars. As film reviewer Megan McKeough said after seeing Now You See Me: ‘The real magician here is the film editor who managed to make the trailer look good.’

quote of the issue

‘I wanna rob.’

– Nicki (Emma Watson), The Bling Ring

the bling ring

now you see me

before midnight

The Bling Ring is not just subjectively good, if you’re into soft focus and girls going off the tracks and pop-punk soundtracks and people staring wistfully, and all that jazz. It’s also an objectively good film. Promise.

The thing about Now You See Me is that you think it has a proper, well-thought-out plot, but SURPRISE – it actually doesn’t. It’s ridiculous. It falls prey to the Inception assumption, wherein directors see Nolan make a highly successful film out of utter nonsense and assume it is easy to do.

Before Midnight follows the first two films in writer-director Richard Linklater’s ‘Before’ trilogy – Before Sunrise and Before Sunset – and offers the audience much of the same.

But even better.

The Bling Ring – the alternate title of what might’ve well as been Gen Y: Aren’t they just the worst? – is based on a true story, and follows a group of fame-obsessed teenagers living in LA, who start breaking into the houses of celebrities and stealing their pretty, shiny possessions. And this is circa 2008, so the celebrities are the likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Starring newcomers Katie Chang and Israel Broussard, as well as the main draw card Emma Watson, the film’s teenage characters are shallow, self-centred, irritating, and unlikeable. They’re perfect.

The Bling Ring is a timely meditation on modern culture: the culture of celebrity, of fast fashion, and of stuff.

The film could be criticised in much the same way Coppola’s Marie Antoinette was – for emphasising style over substance – but the whole point of the film is to display excess and opulence. You can understand the temptation of all the sparkly jewels, while still being repulsed by the affluence on show.

The Bling Ring is a satire on celebrity culture, that shows how off-the-rails the entertainment industry has become. Truth is stranger than fiction.

MELISSA WELLHAM

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Now You See Me, directed by (or misdirected, if you pardon the pun) Louis Leterrier, follows four solo magicians (Isla Fisher, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Dave Franco), who are brought together by a mysterious figure to complete a secret mission. The mission, as so many do, involves a joint magic act as The Four Horsemen. As said Horsemen, the newly teamed-up magicians proceed to wow audiences, rob banks, evade magician debunkers (Morgan Freeman), and outsmart the authorities (Mark Ruffalo, Mélanie Laurent). I say ‘misdirected’ because frankly, Now You See Me is not a very good movie.

I suppose it is somewhat of a magic trick that Leterrier got some pretty charismatic actors to deliver truly uncharismatic, 2D performances; or indeed that he got this list of generally reputable actors to participate in this farce of a film at all.

The trick is indeed on us – watch two hours of your life, and about $15, disappear before your very eyes. (Go and watch The Prestige instead. It has Bowie.)

(One extra star has been deducted for getting my hopes so high before crushing them before my very eyes.)

Céline and Jesse (Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke) – who we first met 20 years ago – are now a couple, and have been so for a long time. They have children.

They have built a life together.

Where the previous films were based around two people getting to know each other, this film is about a couple who already know almost everything about each other. Their flaws, their faults, their foibles.

This time, all the serious issues of mid-40s married life are explored. Commitment.

Divorce. Infidelity. Resentment.

It’s just as beautiful a film as the others, but braver and more challenging. It is certainly more difficult to watch – like sitting in on an argument between your favourite married friends.

The strength of the film is still the natural flow of conversation. Linklater has an ability to engage the audience, and will make you feel as if you are watching a conversation in real time. And, for the most part, you are. This is a film of long, winding scenes with lots of walk-and-talks. A bit like a West Wing episode, except the pace is more realistic and sedate.

Before Midnight shows how beautiful and brutal ageing love can be – but it’s not for the faint of heart.

MELISSA WELLHAM

MEGAN McKEOUGH

@bmamag

elysium

frances ha

Writer and director Neill ‘District 9’ Blomkamp proves he is the master of slum-sci-fi with Elysium. In the year 2154, the wealthy live on a space station called Elysium while the rest of the population occupies a deteriorating Earth. A factory worker, Max (Matt Damon), has an accident at work and the side-effects are terminal. Max agrees to take on a mission, which if successful, will not only save his life, but could bring equality to mankind.

The black-and-white Frances Ha is a delightful little ditty to lift up your day, managing to feel nostalgic while still being fresh and unique.

Elysium is far from subtle, and the rich-versus-poor theme drops like a grand piano from a zeppelin. Blomkamp stages a morally challenging sequence early in the film, with desperate people boarding illegal shuttles bound for Elysium. The Secretary of Defense, Jessica Delacourt (Jodie Foster), takes military action against the asylum seekers, and the human toll has resonance above the film’s other political musings.

Socioeconomic points aside, the plot focuses on Max, a bland interchangeable hero who feels torn straight from a scriptwriting textbook chapter: Beginners Guide to Unlikely Heroes. The villains are even shoddier, with Foster and a shouting mercenary (Sharlto Copley) hamming it up as foes that would feel at home in a Joel Schumacher-era Batman film.

Blomkamp unleashes intense action sequences with a surplus of high-tech weapons, and the visual effects are excellent.

But while Elysium buzzes with exciting sci-fi action elements, it fizzles when it comes to the characters.

CAMERON WILLIAMS

Greta Gerwig is Frances, a dancer living in New York with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) and battling all those mid-twenties humps that are all too often romanticised – having no money, falling out with close friends, making stupid decisions, and moving house (a lot).

Frances Ha feels so real, and is refreshing in its frankness (much like Frances herself).

Gerwig (who also co-wrote the script) glides through each scene in a relatable and touching performance, and the fact that this film has so much heart is probably thanks to the romantic-professional collaboration of Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (he directs and co-writes).

You can’t help but root for the somewhat awkward dreamer Frances, who just wants to make her way in the world.

Frances Ha is perhaps a kind of sweet, clueless cousin to Girls, helped along by the appearance of Adam Driver. The film feels so personal, and there is a lot of love here for the characters, the themes, and just to being a young person trying to do your thing.

The ending does feel rushed, but overall Frances Ha is a lovely piece of cinema. A funny and interesting film that is equal parts a toast to friendship, a nod to Woody Allen, and an ode to New York.

MEGAN McKEOUGH

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51

the word

on games

Dota 2 Platform: PC, Mac, Linux Developer: Valve Corporation Time played: 50 hours Verdict: Buy There is seemingly no end to new games in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre. In addition to the very popular League of Legends game, Blizzard is in the process of making a Starcraftthemed game, developer Deep Silver recently announced it will be making a zombie MOBA, and finally there is Valve’s Dota 2. With the recent conclusion of ‘The International’ Dota 2 Championship and its incredibly generous prize pool (around $2.8m), it seemed high time to review one of the leading MOBA games, which have seemingly exploded with popularity in the past two years.

DotA (originally being an abbreviation of Defense of the Ancients) was first developed as a mod for Warcraft III, and gained enough popularity there that Valve picked up one of the original developers to work on the sequel. Although only officially being released in July this year, the closed-invite Beta managed to be the largest active online community for Valve’s Steam distribution network.

So what is this MOBA thing anyway? The MOBA genre is primarily a team-based game where each player gets a single hero to control, with the aim of destroying the opposing team’s base. Each hero has a set of special abilities and attributes, and one of the drawcards of the genre is the diversity of the heroes that are available to play as (102 heroes, at last count). Each hero requires that the player matches their playing style to the hero’s strengths and weaknesses, and almost all heroes require the player to work with their teammates in order to maximise the effectiveness of the team.

Heroes can be killed and respawn with almost no penalty, however death provides the opposing team with gold and experience, allowing them to become more powerful and to purchase more advanced items. The main penalty to the player for dying is the time that must be waited before their hero will respawn – time that could otherwise be spent to the general advantage of their team.

Another constant in the genre is the limited number of maps available. Dota 2 takes this to the extreme with only a single map to play on, yet it’s notable how variable every game is. The map features diagonally opposed bases with each base defended by a number of defensive towers that must be destroyed before the base itself can be attacked. Each base will periodically spawn weaker computer-controlled characters, who rush to the centre of the map attacking any enemies they encounter along the way. The base also provides the area for heroes to respawn in.

The MOBA genre is set to only get bigger and better, and given that it is free-to-play, there has never been a better time to try it out. peter davis

BLACKBOX As election fever grips absolutely no one around the country, even Gruen Nation (ABC1, Wed, 8:30pm) and Hamster Decides (ABC1, Wed, 9:05pm) aren’t proving a source of water cooler chat like they once did. In a stroke of election hazed genius it’s rage (ABC1, Sat Aug 31, 10:30am and 11:20pm) to the rescue. Can’t decide on who you want to run the country? Maybe the pollies’ musical taste will sway you. Anthony Albanese, Julie Bishop and Adam Bandt take to the rage couch (separately, of course) to talk about their fave tracks.

Apparently there are fans of PJ Harvey and French house music amongst them. Should be good for a laugh (and hopefully the rage folks cut out any electioneering).

Once it comes to election night, the action moves from the second string channels that hosted the debates to the main event, including Australia Votes: Election Night: the Vote Count (ABC1, Sat Sep 7, 6pm), The Election Project with Hugh Riminton (SCTEN, Sat Sep 7, 6pm), and Election 2013 (WIN, Sat Sep 7, 6:30pm).

New shows this week run the spectrum from intelligent, witty and classy – Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (ABC1, Fri Sep 6, 8:30pm) – to a celebration of the 20th century’s boldest and tackiest decade – The Amazing ‘80s (WIN, Mon, 8:30pm ). There’s also a new season of Archer (ABC2, Tue Sep 3, 9:05pm), animated comedy Unsupervised (11, Wed Sep 4, 10pm), and news and pop culture panel show from standup Anthony Jeselnik, The Jeselnik Offensive (SBS1, Mon Sep 2, 10pm) in between.

Docos to keep an eye out for include Supersized Earth: A Place to Live (ABC1, Sun Sep 1, 7:30pm), about how humans have transformed the world in a generation, Sunday Best: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (ABC2, Sun Sep 8, 8:30pm), about the Chinese artist’s work and life, Beyonce – Life is But a Dream (ABC2, Wed Sep 11, 8:30pm), Coming Out Diaries (ABC2, Fri Sep 13, 9:20pm), following three gay and transgender teens as they come out to friends and family, a new series of Who Do You Think You Are? (SBS1, Tue Sep 3, 7:30pm) starting with Annie Lennox, Eddie Izzard’s Marathon for Mandela (SBS1, Sat Sep 7, 8:35pm), and Sunday Best: Where Soldiers Come From (ABC2, Sun Sep 1, 8:30pm), which follows four young Americans from joining the National Guard to Afghanistan and back.

If you haven’t had enough bleary-eyed mornings from the mortifying Ashes, perhaps you’ll be able to see Australia redeem themselves in the One Day Series (WIN, Fri Sep 6 7pm). Perhaps not …

Movies include The Music Man (GEM, Sat Sep 7, 3:30pm) and Klute (GEM, Sun Sep 8, 12:20am), as well as The Smurfs (7Mate, Sat Aug 31, 6:30pm), Con Air (7Mate, Sat Aug 31, 8:40pm), Rockstar (Go, Wed Aug 28, 11:15pm), Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (GEM, Sun Sep 1, 8:30pm), The Karate Kid (Go, Sun Sep 1, 5:30pm), Conan the Barbarian (Go, Sun Sep 1, 9:30pm), over-the-top Chinese action satire Let the Bullets Fly (SBS2, Sat Sep 7, 9:40pm), The Shawshank Redemption (WIN, Sat Aug 31, 8:45pm), and the original 1981 version of Arthur (WIN, Sat Sep 7, 1pm).

ABC’s brilliant drama The Time of our Lives (ABC1, Sun Sep 8, 8:45pm) winds up this fortnight. If you missed it, catch up on iView (or go old school and buy the surely soon-to-be released DVD).

TRACY HEFFERNAN tracyherrernan@bigpond.com @ChezBlackbox

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@bmamag

the word on dvds

Broadchurch [RoadshowEntertainment] For years, the British were masters of the subdued cop drama. Shows like Taggart, The Bill, and Cracker were as steadfastly reliable as a cup to tea at 10am. Gritty without being overtly difficult, each episode followed a similar arc, and most bad guys got their comeuppance by the 42-minute mark. Then the Nordic crime drama thing (The Killing, The Bridge) threw a spanner in the works – slowing things down, deconstructing, elongating, and shifting the focus from the victim-perpetrator construct to the entire complex web of connections linking people to crimes. Resolution came slow, and certainly not at the end of each episode. Broadchurch is the first clear example of the Nordic influence making its way across the North Sea. Broadchurch is the sort of small British coastal town where doors are left open and bikes lie unchained at corner shops.

So the discovery of a dead boy on the beach is quite a shock.

As you’d expect, everyone looks and acts like a suspect: lots of glancing over shoulders and staring ominously into the middle distance.

Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant) is the abrupt and surly representation of ‘city folk’, sent to the region to get his head and career together.

Gazumping the friendlier local Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) for a promotion, Hardy spends most of the time barely concealing his stubblefaced disgust of the yokels, one of whom murdered a young boy – godammit! Tennant pretty much steals the entire show, a hard task with the utterly brilliant Colman forever circling the scene and being the personification of quality acting. Broadchurch is the sort of show well-suited for binge viewing. The slow methodical march towards finding the killer is the real purpose – not the big reveal in the finale. It’s a lesson well learnt. justin hook

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Justified – The Complete Fourth Season [Universal/Sony] Justified’s fourth season arrives on DVD at the same time as the sad news that Elmore Leonard – who created the characters and wrote the stories on which Justified was based – has passed away. Leonard was a true giant of 20th century crime noir, adored by fans and respected by critics and his peers. Each line of dialogue was stripped clean of clutter, leaving a flow of words that hummed with dry wit and roguish sarcasm. He ranked Justified as one of the best adaptations of his work, and remained an exec-producer on the show until his death. But this isn’t a eulogy and it shouldn’t distract us from the reality – which is that Justified remains one of the best (arguably the best) cable dramas on TV. Few shows have remained so consistent, and those that have tend to get lavish front page coverage in big name magazines. Not Justified though; this one exists on the margins.

As is usually the case, Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) spends most of his time cleaning up the mess of others. 30 years ago, a cocaine-laden body fell from the sky, ending up a mangled bloodied lump in suburban Kentucky. Fast forward to the present day, and the bag strapped to that body is found hidden in the dry wall of Raylan’s estranged father Arlo’s house, who happens to be a career criminal in prison. Messy.

That an entire season’s plot can be built so successfully around an empty bag is testament not only to Elmore Leonard’s original conception of Raylan Givens, but also to the writers, directors, and actors; they’re the ones doing the heavy lifting on Justified. This is a show devoid of cynicism and free of flashy gimmicks; it’s the fundamentals that dazzle – plot, character, and especially dialogue. Just like Elmore Leonard wanted it. justin hook

Hatfields & McCoys [Universal/Sony] As the US Civil War staggered towards its acrimonious conclusion, Asa Harmon McCoy was making his way home to Kentucky. Not far from home, he was murdered. To this day no one knows for sure who did it or why. Killing returning war veterans became some sort of sick hobby for the era, so it could have been strangers.

Or it could have been Jim Vance, operating on behalf of William ‘Devil Anse’ Hatfield, in retaliation for siding with the hated Unionists; the Hatfields were Confederates.

It soon became irrelevant, because that single murder set in train a feud that would rip apart the communities bordering Kentucky and West Virginia along the Tug Fork River and result in dozens of deaths over three decades.

As the country attempted to mend the wounds of division, the Hatfield-McCoy feud was a counter-history in action, representing the worst of family honour, dumb pride, and irrational hillbilly violence.

Hatfields & McCoys is the first scripted drama produced by The History Network and drew some of the biggest cable ratings in history. It also won an SAG, Golden Globe, and a swag of Emmys, with most falling to Kevin Costner for his performance as Devil Anse, which drips with seething hostility. Yet this real life feud was between two families, and frustratingly, the McCoy family gets second fiddle almost all the way, suffering especially from underdeveloped characters. Bill Paxton plays Randall McCoy like he’s apologising for being in frame; he just doesn’t stack up right.

And with Romania standing in for rural Appalachia, the show lacks a certain sweaty fug. But you can’t deny its commitment to violence and antiquated language. So much so that it comes off like an alternate, if lesser, hick Deadwood. justin hook

53

the word

Midnight Juggernauts, Kirin J Callinan, Fascinator Zierholz @ UC Saturday August 17

on gigs

It was definitely one of those strange nights that Canberra seems to pull now and then, where it seemed that a good-sized chunk of the gig-going demographic had decided to forsake live venues in favour of watching a Blu-ray in a nicely heated house.

Indeed, when I arrived at Zierholz’s relatively intimate surrounds, there was more than enough space to swing several cats, though it did fill up quite a bit more with a predominantly younger crowd as the night went on.

First up was Fascinator, the more electronic oriented side-project of Children Collide frontman Johnny Mackay.

Dressed in what resembled a resplendent beekeeper’s outfit given a combat twist, Mackay proceeded to spend the next half-hour churning out a thick stew of analogue synths, off-centre hip-hop beats, and treated vocals that, while intriguing, felt a bit more suited to the messy end of a night than its beginning.

While playing to a half-empty room didn’t help, the lack of real visual dynamics and minimal audience interaction unfortunately made Fascinator’s opening set feel more like interesting backing music more than anything else.

I was particularly keen to check out Kirin J Callinan live, as from what I’d heard his music was an immediate love-it or hate-it proposition.

I was not familiar with any of his music, but I confess to enjoying his live set, as well as being surprised by the powerful, almost punky sense of attack lurking beneath many of the songs from his new Embracism album.

The audience seemed to agree, with outbreaks of bad dancing being spurred on by Callinan’s flamboyant theatrics and freaky pitchshifted vocal manipulation. It seemed appropriate that Midnight Juggernauts’ appearance was preceded by a spectral wash of red lighting, a boatload of more synths being loaded onstage, and a retro blast of dry ice.

I’ve always personally felt that the best way to experience the Juggernauts is live; in the flesh their massed analogue synths and live drum attack come across as far more slamming and visceral than any of their recorded output. This show proved no less impressive, with the setlist leaning fairly heavily on songs from new album, Uncanny Valley.

If anything, newer tracks like the icy, Giorgio Moroder-esque HCL and the twisted Xanadu-on-acid disco grooves of Streets Of Babylon came across far stronger in their live incarnations, and the band’s description of themselves as ‘sci-fi Soviet synth-rock’ began to make perfect sense.

It was also obvious that vocalist/synth player Vincent Vendetta, powerhouse drummer Daniel Stricker, and bassist Andrew Szekeres had spent their festival miles honing the pulsating sense of momentum that continually surged through their set, with the pressure only letting up right at the very end of their threesong encore.

PHOTOS BY DAVID BURKE

54

While the Juggernauts deserved a bigger crowd, they played as though they were at a festival and those who were there were more than happy to reciprocate.

CHRIS DOWNTON

@bmamag

the word

on gigs

Paul Kelly, Urthboy Albert Hall Sunday August 18 Australian hip hop pioneer Urthboy always seems to blaze the trail for others to follow. Paul Kelly’s Spring and Fall tour sees him trying to work out how to do hip hop for a (relatively) mature, seated audience, in the rarefied environs of a formal recital hall. For that reason, not every song in his set worked, and the stilted and apparently scripted banter between songs jarred. Most of the set did work, though, in large part due to vocalist Jane Tyrrell. Tyrrell added texture to Urthboy’s own more monotonic vocals, which were stripped bare of the usual sweat and movement of a hip hop gig. The set peaked with the articulate Letters from Jamshed, which manages to make a political point by humanising rather than sermonising.

Urthboy acknowledged the anachronistic nature of a rapper supporting Paul Kelly, and was received graciously as a result.

While it was interesting to watch an artist finding his way in a new setting, it was more straightforwardly enjoyable to sit back and watch Paul Kelly, an artist completely assured in this or any other setting, do his thing. Kelly knows exactly how to achieve what few of his contemporaries can: giving the people what they want without subverting his relevance and the worth of his recent output.

Kelly wisely told the adoring crowd how the night was going to work from the get-go: the entire new album first, followed by crowd pleasers from the near and distant past. It was a good move.

Instead of being relegated to filler between the old favourites, the new material was given a proper airing with the crowd safe in the knowledge they’d get what they were there for in about half an hour’s time. And the album, Spring and Fall, stood up incredibly well, revealing again why Kelly is considered Australia’s preeminent songsmith. Someone New, for example, is classic Kelly – equal parts humour, pathos, truth, and sleaze.

And so to the final act of the night, consisting of a set, two encores, a standing ovation, and a standing boogie. All the favourites and all the Aussie clichés – Ned Kelly, Don Bradman, St Kilda, and the MCG – were amply represented.

The band, Dan Kelly and J.Walker on guitar, and ANU School of Music alumni Bree van Reyk and Zoe Hauptmann on drums and bass, respectively, were great. The depth of Kelly’s back catalogue was on full display. One second we were reflecting on our mortality with You Can’t Take It With You, the next barnstorming with Forty Miles to Saturday Night. The crowd finally stood up and got down for Deeper Water and Dumb Things during the first encore. The second encore closed the night on a quieter note, with They Thought I Was Asleep and the entire band doing a capella versions of From St Kilda to Kings Cross and Meet Me in the Middle of the Air. Although the tentativeness of Urthboy and the familiarity of the second half of Kelly’s set were the more physically enlivening aspects of the night, it was the middle Spring and Fall section of the show that shone through as the most musically engaging.

Many of us only experience Paul Kelly doing a festival set, and he has found new and interesting ways to trawl his back catalogue such as the A To Z shows in 2010. But this night demonstrated the worth of seeing a standalone Paul Kelly show, and of lending our attention to the less familiar work of a very familiar artist.

PHOTOS BY MARTIN OLLMAN

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AMY DOWLER

55

the word

Guttermouth, The Vee Bees, Yoko Oh No, On Empty Zierholz @ UC Thursday August 22

on gigs

Whoever assembled this line-up certainly knew their stuff when it came to compiling a set of capital ‘L’ larrikin bands to support Guttermouth, who are calling it a day after 25 years of punk mayhem.

With only 60 presale tickets, it did not look promising for a big night and, with an early 8pm start, Kiama five-piece On Empty played to a small crowd. Vocalist Michael Murray managed to damage his ankle mid-song. While grimacing from the pain, he did not let this prevent him from putting in the big ones as On Empty maintained the rage in a cheerful manner with straight, uncomplicated punk. Their set highlight was Tomorrow, and they closed their act with Fade Away (and a dacks-dropping moment from their bassist).

Follow-on band Yoko Oh No displayed a liking for hardcore, with a meaner, heavier style which left no room for small talk (although they did ask the cricket score). They impressed with some strong, tight guitar work, and closed a short set of abrupt and angry songs with Only Built 4 QBN Linx.

The complexion of the night changed again as local ‘grog rock’ heroes The Vee Bees kicked off. Sporting a lagerphone, vocalist Norro head-butted the mic and delivered heavily beer and exhaust fume-scented garage rock with such humorous songs as Aussie Beef Snags and Meet My Middle Finger. They received the strongest audience response of the night so far, especially for I’d Rather Be on a Brewery Tour and set highlight Drive Thru Bottlo.

Guttermouth established an immediate rapport with the punters, as frontman Mark Adkins went straight to the barrier for a pre-show chat. He noted the disappointing crowd and compared us unfavorably with much smaller towns which had provided an audience six times bigger. The gig followed an unusual, broken pattern, as Adkins stopped mid-song to criticise one girl for being too well dressed, before dragging her up on stage.

Things were heating up nicely with some small but vigorous circle work in the audience, and Adkins gave the crowd a go on the mic.

He stopped again mid-song and, noticing the barrier was unusually far from the stage, fixed the crowd size problem by inviting us all onto the stage-side of the barrier. Following this brilliant move, pandemonium ensued, as the relatively mild mosh turned into bedlam with crowd surfing, stage diving by Adkins, girls dancing on stage, and dudes tripping over fold-back speakers.

Zierholz management would have been worried by this turn of events, which was definitely not in their game plan. Security staff, faced with the unusual rules of engagement, stood back and limited themselves to preventing anything which would damage the band or their equipment. With the audience now forward of the speaker stacks, and Adkins frequently singing from a position on the rail behind the mosh, the quality of the vocals diminished to near unintelligible level. But the punters didn’t care because the guitars came though strongly and they knew the lyrics anyway.

PHOTOS BY RICKY LLOYD

56

There was some impromptu rapping from a couple of Russian dudes (singing in Russian) in the crowd. Another sudden break saw the band and some of the security race off stage due to a near-fight in the green room. After tempers calmed, they returned for more hysteria and crowd-friendly behaviour as Adkins shared peoples’ beers, ruffled beards, and hugged lasses. As this insane gig neared the end, Guttermouth finished their last ever Canberra show with Perfect World. As we left for the night, passing Guttermouths’s garishly painted and graffit- daubed tour bus, we were not likely to forget this gig any time soon.

RORY McCARTNEY

@bmamag

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Wed Aug 28- Fri Aug 30

Listings are a free community service. Email editorial@bmamag.com to have your events appear each issue. wednesday august 28

Art Exhibitions Gathered Together

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Science Fiction

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin

From his widow’s collection. 12-5pm.

Free entry.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Karaoke Karaoke

From 10pm. All welcome.

THE DURHAM

Something Different Forever and Always

Poetry readings. 6:30pm.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Talks Holy See, Unholy Me

Q&A and book signing with former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer.

6-7pm. Free.

HAYDON-ALLEN THEATRE

Time Travel

Its implications for physics and philosophy. 6-7pm. RSVP at timetravelimplications. eventbrite.com.au THEATRE 3

thursday august 29

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors

Karaoke

Upwelling

Art by Skye Jefferys. Open Thu Aug 29, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

P J O’REILLY’S (TUGGERANONG)

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

With Ka-tere-oke. Win $50 cash and vouchers. 8:30pm.

Karaoke at The Inn

8pm-midnight. Free entry.

OLD CANBERRA INN

Rock Karaoke

9pm-2am. Free entry.

CHARLIE BLACK

The Chess Club 9:30pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Jeremy Neale & Feelings

Upwelling

TRANSIT BAR

Science Fiction

Science Fiction

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

With Lavers. 9pm.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Don McLean

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

Mr American Pie himself! 7:30pm. $102.30-133 + bf.

M16 ARTSPACE

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Theatre

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin

Bijou

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

From his widow’s collection.

12-5pm. Free entry.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet.org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

M16 ARTSPACE

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

City of Trees

Workshops

Grammy Award-winning vocal group. 8pm. $105 + bf. See canberratheatrecentre.com.au.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

The Hello Morning

Canberra Musicians Club Presents...

The Manhattan Transfer

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

From his widow’s collection. 12-5pm.

Free entry.

Live Music

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

8pm. Presales $12 + bf via Moshtix.

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

Live local and interstate musicians every Wednesday night. 8pm. Free.

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Karaoke

Gathered Together

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Gathered Together

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Live Music

Art by Skye Jefferys. Open Thu Aug 29, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

Art Exhibitions Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

Art Exhibitions Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

friday august 30

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Annaliese Szota in Dizzkneleaks Cabaret. 8pm. $25.

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Canberra Music Workshop

For amateur musos to jam or perform in a non-judgemental environment. 6:3010:30pm. Free.

HARMONIE GERMAN CLUB

Resident Act Betty

Followed by Open Mic Night. 7:30pm.

Gold coin donation.

P J O’REILLY’S (TUGGERANONG)

facebook.com/bmamagazine

57

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Fri Aug 30 - Tue Sep 3 friday august 30 (Cont.)

Live Music Bill Parton Trio

With Sydney soloist Nathan Leigh Jones and Melbourne artist Proof. 8pm.

Door price TBA. POT BELLY BAR

Chardy (Melb)

PANG! Presents. 8pm-4am. $10 before 10pm.

TRINITY BAR

Heuristic

10pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Nite Society 8pm.

TRANSIT BAR

Latin Winter Carnival

With Los Chavos and Kokoloco Dance Crew. Doors/dancing 7pm, music 8:30pm. $10. teatro vivaldi

On The Town Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin

Art Exhibitions

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

Gathered Together

M16 ARTSPACE

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

DRILL HALL GALLERY

City of Trees

Upwelling

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Theatre

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

From his widow’s collection.

12-5pm. Free entry.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet.org.au.

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin

Comedy

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Arj Barker

The Go Time tour. 7pm and 9pm. $42.90-46.90 + bf.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Lip Magazine Launch Party

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Big Scary

The Not Art album tour. With Courtney Barnett. 8pm. $19.90 + bf thru Oztix.

ZIERHOLZ @ UC

Killing the Sound 10:30pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Bijou

Art by Skye Jefferys. Open Thu Aug 29, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

Something Different

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors

Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

With Cromwell, Fossil Rabbit, Northumberland, and mags on sale. 7:30pm. $10.

Feat. Jackson (WA), Jennifer Compton (NSW), and launch of latest Burley Journal. 8pm.

Art Exhibitions

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

Live Music

Canberra Poetry Slam

monday september 2

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

Disco, motown, ‘80s and ‘90s. 10pm onwards. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

sunday september 1

From his widow’s collection. 12-5pm.

Free entry.

Dylan Hekimian

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Gathered Together

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Live Music CMC Presents The Bootleg Sessions

With Beth n Ben, Buck Et Al, Reptile Park, Strange Tourist. 8pm. Free.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

Trivia

City of Trees

Transit trivia returms with your host Rainman. Book your table now on (02) 6162 0899. 7:30pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

Rainman’s Trivial Excuse

TRANSIT BAR

Workshops TaikOz Drumming Workshop

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors

Learn how to play the awe inspiring taiko drum. 4:30pm and 7:30pm. $76.75 + bf.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

tuesday september 3

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

Live Music

THE PLAYHOUSE

Art Exhibitions

Sunday Best at A Bite to Eat

THE STREET THEATRE

With Positive Feedback Loop, Cuddlefish and John Wickham. 8pm.

Door price TBA.

Trivia

Castlecomer

Irish Jam Session

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

The ANUFG Trivia Night

TRANSIT BAR

With The Delta Lions, The Skronks. 9:30pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

On The Town

Seventh annual ANU Film Group Trivia Night. Questions kick off 7:30pm.

Doors 7pm. $15.

CANBERRA CLUB

saturday august 31 Art Exhibitions Gathered Together

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Upwelling

Art by Skye Jefferys. Open Thu Aug 29, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Science Fiction

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

58

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

8pm. Presales $10-18 + bf via Moshtix.

Leadfinger

THE PHOENIX BAR

Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Disco, motown, ‘80s and ‘90s. 10pm onwards. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Theatre Bijou

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet.org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

Becki Whitton. Tapas + happy hour 5-7pm. Free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors

Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

Free traditional Irish music in the pub from late afternoon on into the night. Free.

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

Mornings

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

With Charles Buddy Daaboul and Oxen.

5pm. Free.

Science Fiction

On The Town

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Free Pool Tables

Does exactly what it says on the packet. From 2pm.

TRANSIT BAR

Theatre Bijou

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet. org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

Workshops

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Gathered Together

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Perennially Popular Poetry A writing workshop. 10am-1pm.

ACT WRITERS CENTRE

Poem Clinic

Friendly, facilitated group feedback. 2-5pm.

ACT WRITERS CENTRE

@bmamag

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Tue Sep 3 - Fri Sep 6 Karaoke Karaoke Love

Croon and wail your heart out on the Transit stage. 9pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Live Music Irish Jam Session

Free traditional Irish music in the pub from late afternoon on into the night. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

National WIRED Band Comp Heat five. 7pm til late. Free entry.

CHARLIE BLACK

Talks The Young Lion

Blanche d’Alpuget in conversation with ANU Emeritus Fellow Colin Steele. 6-7pm. Free.

Science Fiction

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin From his widow’s collection.

12-5pm. Free entry.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Gathered Together

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

City of Trees

ANU ARTS CENTRE

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

Theatre

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Bijou

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet.org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

Stomp

See canberratheatrecentre.com.au for session times. $69-109 + bf.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Storytime with Jay Sullivan $20. 8pm.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Trivia Tuesday Pub Trivia

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Comedy Comedy Club

Featuring Simon Taylor with local supports. 8pm. $12 from comedyact. com.au, $15 door.

CIVIC PUB

Superwog and Mychonny

The YouTube stars make their first stop in Canberra. 7pm. $34.90-$49.90 + bf.

THE PLAYHOUSE

First prize $70 bar tab. 7:30pm.

Free entry.

Karaoke

O’NEILL’S IRISH PUB

Karaoke

Andrew and Shannon’s Pub Trivia

From 10pm. All welcome.

THE DURHAM

The best Phoenix trivia, bar none.

7:30pm. Free.

Live Music

Trivia

Canberra Musicians Club Presents...

THE PHOENIX BAR

7:30pm. All welcome.

THE DURHAM

Trivia Tuesdays

First prize $75 cocktail party.

7:30pm. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

wednesday september 4

Live local and interstate musicians every Wednesday night. 8pm. Free.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Olivers Army

Up-and-coming alt country kids.

7:30pm. $10.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Dead Letter Circus

Art Exhibitions

The Catalyst Fire tour. 8pm. $34.70 thru Oztix.

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors

The Go Set

Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Upwelling

Art by Skye Jefferys. Open Thu Aug 29, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

ZIERHOLZ @ UC

Ten-year anniversary tour, with The Real McKenzies. $25.95 + bf thru Ticketek.

ANU BAR AND REFECTORY

Theatre Bijou

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet.org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

Stomp

See canberratheatrecentre.com.au for session times. $69-109 + bf.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

facebook.com/bmamagazine

thursday september 5 Art Exhibitions ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Upwelling

Art by Skye Jefferys. Open Thu Aug 29, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Science Fiction

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin From his widow’s collection.

12-5pm. Free entry.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Theatre Stomp

See canberratheatrecentre.com.au for session times. $69-109 + bf.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Bijou

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet.org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

friday september 6 Art Exhibitions City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Upwelling

Art by Skye Jefferys. Open Thu Aug 29, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

M16 ARTSPACE

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

Gathered Together

Science Fiction

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

City of Trees

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin

Karaoke

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Karaoke

With Ka-tere-oke. Win $50 cash and vouchers. 8:30pm.

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

Karaoke at The Inn

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

P J O’REILLY’S (TUGGERANONG)

8pm-midnight. Free entry.

OLD CANBERRA INN

Rock Karaoke

9pm-2am. Free entry.

CHARLIE BLACK

Live Music Trappist Afterland

Spirit music for the dispossessed. With Time and Weight. 8pm. $10.

From his widow’s collection.

12-5pm. Free entry.

Gathered Together

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

Live Music Jess Beck and Things 8pm. $5.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Alanna & Alicia

Chicago Charles and Dave

Gifted, award-winning songwriters.

7:30pm. $10.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Special K

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

9:30pm. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Marji Curran

10pm. Free.

With Positive Feedback Loop, Kid You Not. 9pm.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

THE PHOENIX BAR

The Steptones

With Amy Jenkins. 9pm. $10.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

59

ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Fri Sep 6 - Tue Sep 10 friday september 6 (Cont.)

On The Town Spring Cocktail Fling

An all new menu for you to get all new gazeboed on. 6pm.

KNIGHTSBRIDGE PENTHOUSE

Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Disco, motown, ‘80s and ‘90s. 10pm onwards. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Gathered Together

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin From his widow’s collection.

12-5pm. Free entry.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

sunday september 8 Art Exhibitions City of Trees

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors

Dance

Smash Hits ‘80s Burlesque

Kick Up Your Heels: The Founders’ Ball

Upwelling

THE ABBEY

ALBERT HALL

Theatre

Live Music

A Bunch of Fives

Smells Like Centenary Spirit: Play It Loud

Five-minute theatre, buzz word: ‘Blow’.

5:30-7pm. Free.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

Stomp

See canberratheatrecentre.com.au for session times. $69-109 + bf.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

Bijou

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet.org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

saturday september 7

ACT Centenary Band Comp: Heat One. 6-10pm. Free.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Afternoon Shift

CD launch, with The Naddiks and Kid You Not. 8:30pm. $10 door.

POT BELLY BAR

Abrori

Fragile Australian folk. 7:30pm.

Door price TBA. THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Plump

10:30pm. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Art Exhibitions City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

The Dunhill Blues

With The King Hits, Bacon Cakes. 9:30pm.

THE PHOENIX BAR

On The Town

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Galia Shy: Glass Mirrors

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Disco, motown, ‘80s and ‘90s. 10pm onwards. Free.

Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

Something Different

Upwelling

Australian Poetry Slam – ACT Final

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Art by Skye Jefferys. Open Thu Aug 29, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Science Fiction

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

7:30pm. $5.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

PWA National Title Match

Sean Kustom vs. Krusty in live pro wrestling. 7pm. $15 (pre-book by calling 0422 937 760).

AINSLIE FOOTBALL CLUB

Fash ‘n’ Treasure

For all your new and retro clothing wants. 10am-3pm. $3 entry.

EXHIBITION PARK IN CANBERRA (EPIC)

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Gathered Together

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Acts TBA. 8pm. Free.

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Gathered Together

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin From his widow’s collection.

12-5pm. Free entry.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Stock Still & Between a Rock…

Works from Helen Maxwell’s collection, and sculpture by Dan Stewart-Moore. 12-5pm.

2XX LocalnLive Presents The Bootleg Sessions THE PHOENIX BAR

Trivia Rainman’s Trivial Excuse

Transit trivia returms with your host Rainman. Book your table now on (02) 6162 0899. 7:30pm.

TRANSIT BAR

tuesday september 10 Art Exhibitions ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

M16 ARTSPACE

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Live Music

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

Jack Carty

Rising Australian songwriter. 7:30pm.

Door price TBA. THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Sunday Best at A Bite to Eat

Dollface: Gypsy jazz manouche quartet with a 1930s sound. 5-7pm. Free.

A BITE TO EAT CAFE

Irish Jam Session

Free traditional Irish music in the pub from late afternoon on into the night. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

On The Town Free Pool Tables

Does exactly what it says on the packet. From 2pm.

TRANSIT BAR

City of Trees

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Phil Dunn

8am-6pm daily. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Gathered Together

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Science Fiction

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Theatre

Comedy

Stomp

Irresponsible Comedy

Bijou

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet.org.au.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ARTS SPACE (MANUKA)

Stomp

Bijou

Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

Live Music

See canberratheatrecentre.com.au for session times. $69-109 + bf.

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Art by Skye Jefferys. Open Thu Aug 29, 6pm. 11am-5pm.

Theatre See canberratheatrecentre.com.au for session times. $69-109 + bf.

City of Trees

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

Something Different

With the String Fiddle Big Band.

7:30pm-12am. $60 via mfs.org.au.

Art Exhibitions

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley. 10am5pm. Free.

Opens Wed Aug 28, 6pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

From Sass & Tease Collective, with Venus Vamp. Doors 6:30pm, 7:30pm start. $25-35.

monday september 9

CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE

7:30pm. $10.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

A cabaret of secrets and madness.

4:30/7pm. Tickets through thestreet.org.au.

THE STREET THEATRE

THE STREET THEATRE

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ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE Month ?? - Month ??

Karaoke Karaoke Love

Croon and wail your heart out on the Transit stage. 9pm. Free.

TRANSIT BAR

Live Music National WIRED Band Comp Heat six. 7pm til late. Free entry.

CHARLIE BLACK

Irish Jam Session

Free traditional Irish music in the pub from late afternoon on into the night. Free.

KING O’MALLEY’S IRISH PUB

Arc Cinema Presents The Phoenix Quiz 7:30pm. Free.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Something Different Story Slam (Poetry) 7pm. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Talks Artist Forum – Cross Currents Five artists discuss their inspirations and perform in their chosen art form. 6-7:30pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Trivia Tuesday Pub Trivia

wednesday september 11 Art Exhibitions ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Art Exhibitions

Art Exhibitions

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

From his widow’s collection.

12-5pm. Free entry.

City of Trees

City of Trees

ACCEPA Art Exhibition 2013

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

An exhibition by Jyll Bradley.

10am-5pm. Free.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Phil Dunn

8am-6pm daily. Free.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Gathered Together

Presents CMAG’s important and growing collection of Indigenous art.

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Science Fiction

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin From his widow’s collection.

12-5pm. Free entry.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Karaoke

Trivia

Karaoke

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Phil Dunn

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

Phil Dunn

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi

CANBERRA MUSEUM AND GALLERY

Art by Tracey Benson evoking the region, especially Namadgi National Park. 10am-5pm.

Finding Balance: Mura Gadi Art by Tracey Benson. 10am-5pm.

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

Science Fiction

Science Fiction

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

Art by Erica Secombe and Benjamin Forster, curated by David Broker. 11am5pm (10am-4pm Sat).

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

CANBERRA CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE (GORMAN HOUSE)

Creative Power: The Art of George Baldessin 12-5pm. Free entry.

Live Music

Film

Superstition: A Night at the Museum

DRILL HALL GALLERY

Mining The Truth

Live music, in-gallery DJ, lakeview bar, silent disco and more. 6-9pm. $10.

Doco about 60 young people who went to mining communities. 6:30pm. $5/10.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA

PALACE ELECTRIC CINEMA

On The Town

Karaoke

Blame it on the Boogie Weekends

Karaoke

Trivia Tuesdays

Live Music

P J O’REILLY’S (TUGGERANONG)

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Canberra Musicians Club Presents...

With Ka-tere-oke. Win $50 cash and vouchers. 8:30pm.

Disco, motown, ‘80s and ‘90s. 10pm onwards. Free.

DIGRESS COCKTAIL BAR

Karaoke at The Inn

Theatre

OLD CANBERRA INN

The Book of Everything

8pm-midnight. Free entry.

Rock Karaoke

9pm-2am. Free entry.

CHARLIE BLACK

Something Different

Live Music

Wattleseed Pavlova

Sun God Replica

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

THE FRONT GALLERY AND CAFÉ

10am-5pm (12-4pm weekends).

THE DURHAM

Launch of an eight-episode digest of the best of Australian radio. 7pm.

8am-6pm daily. Free.

Gathered Together

From 10pm. All welcome.

SMITH’S ALTERNATIVE

BELCONNEN ARTS CENTRE

8am-6pm daily. Free.

THE DURHAM

Live local and interstate musicians every Wednesday night. 8pm. Free.

DRILL HALL GALLERY

10am-5pm. Free.

7:30pm. All welcome.

First prize $75 cocktail party.

7:30pm. Free.

friday september 13

Presenting selected works by Chinese artists who live or have lived in Canberra. 10am-5pm.

First prize $70 bar tab. 7:30pm.

Free entry.

O’NEILL’S IRISH PUB

thursday september 12

With Time and Weight. 9pm.

THE PHOENIX BAR

Twelve Foot Ninja

Shuriken tour. 8pm. $21.45 + bf thru Oztix.

Adapted from the novel by Guus Kuijer.

See canberrarep.org for times and tix.

THEATRE 3

Trivia Horror Movie Trivia Night

For the Brain Foundation. Prizes for best dressed. See canberrazombiewalk. com. $15.

AINSLIE FOOTBALL CLUB

ZIERHOLZ @ UC

OUT

SEP11

canberra punk and beyond retrospective the drones ngaiire regurgitator ...and more!

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FIRST CONTACT SIDE A: BMA band profile

Aaron Peacey 0410381306 band.afternoon.shift@ gmail.com.au

Jenn Pacor Singer-songwriter avail. for originals/covers 0405618630

Adam Hole 0421023226

Johnny Roadkill Paulie 0408287672 paulie_mcmillan@live.com.au

Afternoon Shift 0402055314 Amphibian Sound PA Clare 0410308288 Annie & The Armadillos Annie (02) 61611078/ 0422076313

Party Gravy Where did your band name come from? New Orleans slang.

Group members? Kimber and Tye (sax), Ax, Eddie, and Tommy (trumpet), Josh and Patches (trombone), Alec (bass), Sam and Mark (drums).

Describe your sound: Modern New Orleans brass band.

Imagine your favourite song played with the power of horns.

Who are your influences, musical or otherwise? Rebirth Brass Band, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Hot 8 Brass Band, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Stooges Brass Band, Youngblood Brass Band, Trombone Shorty, and The Cat Empire.

What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had whilst performing? Any number of our gigs and busking sessions, and the wonderful audiences in Canberra who let go and get down with us.

Kurt’s Metalworx (PA) 0417025792

Aria Stone sax/flute/lute/ harmonica, singer-songwriter Aria 0411803343

Los Chavos Latin/ska/reggae Rafa 0406647296 Andy 0401572150

Australian Songwriters Association Keiran (02) 62310433

Missing Zero Hadrian 0424721907 hadrian.brand@live.com.au

Backbeat Drivers Steve 0422733974 backbeatdrivers.com

Moots Huck 0419630721 aspwinch@grapevine.com.au

Bat Country Communion, The Mel 0400405537

Morning After, The Covers band Anthony 0402500843

Birds Love Fighting Gangbusters/DIY shows-bookings@ birdslovefighting.com

Mornings Jordan 0439907853

Black Label Photography Kingsley 0438351007 blacklabelphotography.net

Obsessions 0450 960 750 obsessions@grapevine.com.au

Bridge Between, The Cam 0431550005 Capital Dub Style Reggae/dub events Rafa 0406647296

MuShu Jack 0414292567 mushu_band@hotmail.com

Painted Hearts, The Peter (02) 62486027 Polka Pigs Ian (02) 62315974 Rafe Morris 0416322763 Redletter Ben 0421414472

Of what are you proudest so far? Keeping ten people together for over a year and filling so many of our venues with great Canberra audiences.

Cole Bennetts Photography 0415982662

What are your plans for the future? Record, tour outside of Canberra, and spread the love and joy of our music.

Danny V Danny 0413502428

Redsun Rehearsal Studio Ralph 0404178996/ (02) 61621527

Dawn Theory Nathan 0402845132 Danny 0413502428

Rug, The Jol 0417273041 Sewer Sideshow Huck 0419630721

Dorothy Jane Band, The Dorothy Jane 0411065189 dorothy-jane@dorothyjane.com

Simone & The Soothsayers Singing teacher Simone 62304828

What makes you laugh? Being louder than rock bands!

What pisses you off? No longer being able to hear …

What about the local scene would you change? More money for musicians!

What are your upcoming gigs? An album launch on Saturday September 21 at The Phoenix Bar, and Saturday November 2 at Zierholz @ UC. Contact info: info@partygravy.com; partygravy.com; facebook.com/partygravy; @partygravybrass.

Drumassault Dan 0406 375 997 Feldons, The 0407 213 701 FeralBlu Danny 0413502428 Fire on the Hill Aaron 0410381306 Lachlan 0400038388

Sorgonian Twins, The Mark 0428650549 Soundcity Rehearsal Studio Andrew 0401588884 STonKA Jamie 0422764482 stonka2615@gmail.com

Fourth Degree Vic 0408477020

Strange Hour Events Dan 0411112075

Gareth Dailey DJ/Electronica Gareth 0414215885

Super Best Friends Sam White sam@imcmusic.net

Groovalicious Corporate/ weddings/private functions 0448995158

System Addict Jamie 0418398556

Guy The Sound Guy Live & Studio Sound Engineer 0400585369 guy@guythesoundguy.com Haunted Attics band@hauntedatticsmusic.com

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Kayo Marbilus myspace.com/kayomarbilus1

Tegan Northwood (Singing Teacher) 0410 769 144 ThrownUp Scott 0415849619 Top Shelf Colin 0408631514

In The Flesh Scott 0410475703

Undersided, The Baz 0408468041

Itchy Triggers Alex 0414838480

Zoopagoo zoopagoo@gmail.com

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