The Brag #455

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rock music news welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly and Caitlin Welsh

he said she said WITH TIMOTHY

NELSON (PERTH)

B

oth my parents are musicians and I was raised around a lot of music. I was quite a hyperactive child and one day my mum came in to check on me because for the first time ever, I wasn’t screaming or breaking something… she found me listening to Beatles For Sale, totally transfixed. She asked if I was okay and all I wanted to know was who was singing which harmony. Within a couple of weeks I could pick ‘em myself, apparently.

Obviously The Beatles are the biggest inspiration for me. It’s a common point of influence for pop songwriters, I know; but while they were/are such a huge band that everyone loves, you were always still able to find your own connection with their music. Apart from that, Bob Dylan, The Shins, Wilco, Neil Young, Teenage Fanclub, Big Star, Oasis, Beach Boys… The common thread among all those is it rests on the songwriting first and foremost.

My band The Infidels, now more than ever, are a major part of the creative process.

We used to just work on songs where I’d written everything but these days we’re a very collaborative bunch. We’ve just added Hayley-Jane Ayres to the lineup as violinist and keyboard player, as well as singing harmonies; and our guitar tech Jozef Grech has stepped

in to add more acoustic guitar and harmonies where needed during live sets.

We look up to bands like the ones above because they’ve all found ways of writing so many different types of songs without their ‘sound’ being at stake. We don’t feel confined by any particular style or sound and we want to be the kind of band that put out all kinds of songs but it’s still us because of the way we play them. The record I Know This Now has elements of pop, country, folk etc., and some of the new stuff is quite different to that as well.

I love the music scene in Perth, it’s very supportive and it’s got a small-town community vibe to it. After a few years of getting amongst it you end up knowing most people in the other bands around you. I think ‘community’ is a more appropriate word over here than ‘scene’; there’s always the ‘scene’ aspect anywhere you go but that usually only refers to hipsters, half of which aren’t even in bands.

Mildlife

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‘I’ll take a quiet life, a handshake, some carbon monoxide,’ moans Thom Yorke on ‘No Surprises’, and Melbourne band Mildlife seem to have taken that rich-man-whinge to heart, with a perfect placid band name and a sound they describe as “what your dad may have dreamed the future of music to sound like in 1974.” It’s an apt description, with warm electro-synth sounds, Krautrock leanings and lazy dance beats. The group have just signed to the excellent Major Label and will be bragging about it March 31 at The Standard (it’s like The Bait Shop on The OC with less Cohen antics), where they play alongside Made In Japan, and Boats Of Berlin for a cheeky fiver.

BOULET BOUS

SKA WARS

I’m sorry, I don’t have any ska jokes to go with the Ska Weekender announcement. Seriously.

Ska gets paid the fuck out by the hipster douchebags who like to pretend they didn’t go apeshit to Area-7 when they were 14 (Bitter & Twisted went gold, you disloyal poseurs!) but their music is fun as fuck and those guys can play [REDACTED JJJ-FAVOURITE FESTIVAL BAND] off the stage, and the fashion makes your rolled-up chinos and bare ankles look like hobo getup. Ska Weekender hits The Annandale on June 10 from 3pm, bringing Chris Duke & The Royals, Dan Potthast (USA), God God Dammit Dammit, The Bennies, Backy Skank and loads more. Head along (buy some socks first).

LET ME TAKE YOU DOWN…

MAJOR AND MILD

Jonathon Boulet is backing up his glorious debut record with the greatest album cover of the year so far. Google ‘We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart’ to see what we mean. It’s more beatdriven than his debut, and features a track called ‘Keep Away You Feral Son Of A Bitch’ which makes us upset that we have to wait until June 8 to hold the record in our hands (you can also download it, if album art and liner notes and tangible, lovable possessions aren’t your bag).

Who: Timothy Nelson & The Infidels, The Bon Scotts, Evan And The Brave Where: The Vanguard When: Friday March 30

launch at the Metro on April 13 – where they are joined by jangly punk band The Nectars – a similar thing may occur to you. You have been warned! Hang on, maybe they are named after the Star Trek character? Ask them at their launch. $10 at the door.

Back in the mid-‘60s, The Beatles were so untouchable: swanning around swinging London, taking more drugs than every grunge band ever, tossing off landmark albums in lunchbreaks (NME hilariously questioned whether Sgt. Pepper was worth the six months it took to make), dressing like Victorian dandies, launching clothing stores then giving all the stock away when they got bored, and lending their tripped-out likenesses to animated films like Yellow Submarine, which is being restored, repackaged and reissued on DVD and Bluray (ha!). The soundtrack is being remastered too, which features one of the more tolerable George songs, the psychotropic ‘It’s All Too Much’, which still feels like walking through a swimming pool with jeans on... Out May 25.

DELTA RIGGS

It’s no secret that The Delta Riggs have big swingin’ balls – have you HEARD those guitars?

Filth! – but naming a song ‘Money’ is always a risky move. There are so many classic ‘Money’s already: Pink Floyd, Barrett Strong, a third of an ABBA hit, that Martin Amis book, an episode of Blackadder... The topic’s been covered pretty comprehensively, so we might have to insist that The Delta Riggs’ take is the definitive and final word on all things currency. (That means you, up-and-coming rapper Curren$y.) Lucky it’s such a great song. In exchange for some money you can go and stand in front of them while they play it and some others at the Standard on April 27.

KHANZ

There’s a poem (you know those things you have to read at school) called Kubla Khan where the poet writes of visiting the mythical Xanadu, after which the rest of his life is rendered stale by comparison (also, he was an opium fiend). Sydney pop/soul band The Khanz are so good live that, should you go to their EP

Mitzi

PARTYING WITH A PURPOSE

There is nothing we dislike more than partying without a purpose. All too often the remix to ‘Ignition’ is coming hot and fresh out the kitchen, and sure we are busting the freshest moves, but to what end? It’s a hollow, vacuous existence which youth charity organisation Major Raiser will drag us out of with their fourth “Partying with a Purpose” event on May 5 at Beach Road Hotel, which will see Brisbane dancefloor kings Mitzi, Glass Towers, Toucan, Colour Coding, Lancelot and many more providing purposeful beats. The evening will raise money for the Music Outback Foundation (providing instruments to outback schools). Get along and make a difference… with that Moonwalker you’ve been practicing in socks on your kitchen lino. You knock me offa my feet now bay-bee.

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rock music news

free stuff

welcome to the frontline: what’s goin’ on around town... with Nathan Jolly and Caitlin Welsh

MY MORNING JACKET

five things WITH

CHRIS FROM GLITTER CANYON rolls over Redfern and we watch the soul of Aboriginal culture get pushed out of the city and as close to Uluru as possible, I think it’s safe to say in print media now that…GLITTER CANYON ARE THE NEW REDFERN BOYS. The Music You Make I really hate this question. It’s the one 4. question, that since the beginning of music journalism, has never been answered with ANYTHING interesting. Can I just list all the cool music that people in Sydney like at the moment? “Lo fi, surf, blues, psychedelic, garage punk.” It sounds like that.

Music, Right Here, Right Now The Sydney music scene is a joke, every 5. other scene in Australia knows it and we know it

Growing Up I’m pretty sure I’m LITERALLY the only 1. musician in the Sydney music scene who

in Sydney, because there’s no sense of REALITY to the songs.

actually grew up in Sydney (it seems like everyone in Sydney at the moment grew up in Newcastle, The South Coast or out in the Western Suburbs somewhere) so I think that influences our sound a lot. A bunch of our songs are about things I saw as a kid growing up in Redfern and some of my favourite places around Sydney. I don’t think bands write about things they know anymore, just about the clichéd things they’re EXPECTED to write songs about. And that’s one of the reasons the rock‘n’roll scene is so boring

Inspirations When I was a kid I remember watching 2. the Olympics and there was some runner doing the marathon. As he got into the stadium he immediately started looking at the giant screen that he was being projected onto.

And the commentator said, “Like all great athletes he’s using everything possible around him to understand his place in the race.”

Crew As this interesting wave of gentrification 3. Your

too. Anyone that says “Yeah it’s great, everyone’s really supportive and there’s lots of great bands out there at the moment!” is a liar. They are lying to you. Everybody is lying to you. These are the only good bands: Gay Paris, Surprise Wasp, La Mancha Negra, Atom Bombs, Mother And Son, Straight Arrows, Gooch Palms, The Walk On By, Royal Headache, Kill City Creeps, Danger Dannys, Doc Holliday Takes The Shotgun. And maybe one other. But I can’t think right now.

My Morning Jacket are kickass countrypsych-folk-blues dudes (see: all their albums), movie stars (see: I’m Not There, the amazing ‘Freebird’ scene in Elizabethtown), touring (see: The Enmore, April 3) and bringing excellent alt-country upstart compatriots Dawes with them (see: the band before MMJ at the Enmore on April 3).

They released an amazing album in 2011 – Circuital – and they’ve taken a circuitous route around the world indeed, but we’ll finally get to hear those sweet, sweet jams live next week. If you’d like to see all that (at the Enmore on April 3), email us and tell us the name of one of the dudes (pssst, we’ve interviewed them over the page).

ROYAL BATHS

The name Royal Baths might conjure up a saucy Prince Harry or Princess Beatrice with strategically placed suds (or even, if your mind works oddly, Betty in the tub...) but rather than squeaky-clean Brits, this four-piece are San Franciscan noisemakers with pockets stuffed full of dirty dirges and scruffy menace. Pair them up with scrappy garage duo Super Wild Horses and stick ‘em all into The Annandale on a Friday night – March 30! – and you’ve got yourself a splish-splashin’ good time. To win one of two double passes, tell us which Sesame Street character sang a song about his rubber ducky!

Royal Baths

With: Tiger Widow, Damp Vamp, Howler, Space Ticket, Particles, Danger Dannys, Cyrus Pilko, Earth to Audio, Margot Diaz, John Devoy, Fouulawk, Bonez, Gypsy’s Gift and Jones Rival What: Stamping Grounds Festival presents LOCALS ONLY! – free!

Where: The Lansdowne When: Saturday March 31 all day and night

ALONE WITH YOU

Zulu Winter

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

Dig It Up, the festival curated by The Hoodoo Gurus, has the best lineup of anything since the Sizzler dessert bar: The Sonics, Died Pretty, Redd Kross, Tek & Younger, The 5.6.7.8’s, The Fleshtones, Kim Salmon and Spencer P. Jones, Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate), Hard-Ons, Royal Headache, The Lovetones, Belles Will Ring, Straight Arrows, and now, a secret act who go under the name of Kids In Dust. Who could it be? April 22 at 3.30 you’ll find out, and trust us, this is real. (General admission tickets still available, April 22, all ‘round the Inner West, Google Redd Kross – ‘Mess Around’.)

STONEFOXES

Both your Rock News correspondents are lucky enough to have a small army of rad, photogenic siblings each, so as you can imagine both your Rock News correspondents regularly kick themselves for not corralling said siblings into kickass rock revival bands. Look at Victorian femmes Stonefield – supporting Foo Fighters, playing on Sunset Strip and now headlining triple j’s regional One Night Stand (alongside Temper Trap, 360 and Matt Corby) and heading off on a national tour, fresh off the back of their ‘Bad Reality’ single. We’ll be dragging the sibs along to The Standard on April 27 to take notes before retreating to Mum and Dad’s garage to rehearse.

Tin Can Radio

ZULU WINTER (OF OUR DISCONTENT)

I know you guys get all angry when you have to cross things out on your Leunig calendar, because it make it look all messy, and it’s hanging in the kitchen which everyone walks through upon entry to your collective apartment (you all live in a big house like The Monkees, right?) but we regret to inform you that Zulu Winter are postponing their April Australian tour… because they are coming out for Splendour instead, and flying across the earth four times within a few months is silly. Don’t worry, the bookish Oxford lads release their debut record May 11, so instead of pretending to know the songs in April, by Splendour you actually will. Refunds are quite obviously available at point of purchase, or by mugging someone on the train and slipping your ticket into their jacket pocket.

SHOW AND HELL YEAH

One of the best days I ever had at primary school was the day I convinced my mum to bring in my baby sister for show and tell. That went down so well I got to borrow Ashleigh’s box of 72 Derwents for the whole next day. (Derwent pencils are to Year 2 girls what cigarettes are to prisoners.) If you’re keen to enjoy similar success but in music video making, we suggest you scrape up $7 and head along to Music Video Show + Tell at FBi Social on April 4 – it’ll have lots of folk in the know offering advice and sharing stories, Jack Shit spinning tunes, and free, free wine. Plus there’s a chance to win $500 for an enterprising video maker – check out musicvideo.eventbrite.com for le deets.

SLEEPMAKESWAVES

Sleepmakeswaves (we ain’t lowercasing an opening word for anyone lads) make crashing, swooping soundscapes of such visceral beauty that it only makes sense that their next move (off the back of playing SXSW music festival and supporting eccentric Japanese experimental rock outfit Boris) is to support Karnivool on their Melodias Frescas (Latin for ‘don’t cause a

fruckus’) tour, which double-kicks its way to the Hi-Fi on July 12. Before then sleepmakeswaves will be headlining the Beach Road Hotel this Wednesday March 28, alongside local heroes Super Florence Jam and Meniscus, if they’re not sick with jealousy…

SISTER SLEDGE

Here are some brilliant songs that should be banned from movie montages: ‘R.E.S.P.E.C.T.’, ‘Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves’, ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, ‘Takin’ Care of Business’, ‘Bad To The Bone’, ‘Bad Reputation’, ‘Born To Be Wild’, ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’. And this goes double for ‘We Are Family’, because not only is it becoming associated almost solely with scenes of plucky siblings pulling pranks or ragtag groups of misfits banding together to pwn some mean Europeans, it’s also an industrialgrade earworm. Produced by everyone’s new old favourite disco god Nile Rodgers, it’ll be one of the barrage of hits you’ll get down to in your lurex on June 8 at The Hi-Fi. Because Sister Sledge will be there to perform it live! Take your siblings along to that one and try not to hipbump them with a sheepish grin on your face.

WHO’S THAT MASKED STRANGER IN VANS?

Ever noticed how in movies, if you’re going to a masquerade ball you only need to hold a 10cm scrap of bedazzled plastic with eyeholes over your face and hey presto INSTANT MYSTERIOUS STRANGER? Apparently the eyebrows and eye socket area are the key to human facial recognition. We’ll be testing out this theory at the Rabbit Hole Masquerade Ball this Friday March 30 at FBi Social, by wearing nothing but an eyemask and a fluffy bunny tail and seeing if anyone recognises us. (But they’ll probably be too busy watching Super Best Friends, Louie London, Tin Can Radio, Only The Sea Slugs and the special secret headliner, to notice there’s a naked MYSTERIOUS STRANGER dancing next to them...)

“No greater crime against the human race than when a father takes a razor to his own son’s face”- THE BEARDS 12 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

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The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

ahead with the Festival this year. We will be in touch in due course regarding plans for 2013.”

Lifelines

APRA SONG OF THE YEAR The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) unveiled the Top 30 contenders for APRA song of the year at its May 28 awards, as voted by APRA’s members. The list features a wide range of songs – from established writers as Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, Hilltop Hoods, Pete Murray, Eskimo Joe, Bluejuice, Don Walker, Troy Cassar-Daley, Guy Sebastian, The Jezabels, The Grates, Jebediah, and The Living End alongside relative newcomers like Boy & Bear, Lanie Lane, Kimbra, Emma Louise, Abbe May, San Cisco, Washington, Matt Corby, The Beards, Def Wish Cast, Calling All Cars and Last Dinosaurs. Gotye had two entries, while the inclusion of a gospel song by Hillsong showed off the diversity of the vote.

See apra.com.au for full list. The final five will be announced in early May.

Dating: Whitney Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina, 19, and Nick Gordon, 22, the boy that Houston adopted ten years ago.

Her grandma calls it “incestuous”, Bobbi says she doesn’t care.

Jailed: Former Darwin soldier Joshua William Warren, 22, for two months after punching HP Underground nightclub club DJ Jase Ed Shore for dancing suggestively with his flatmate.

Shore was working on the night, and dancing with two audience members as part of a routine.

In Court: Two ex-bouncers at Sydney’s ivy nightclub, Jason Mendelow and Paul Fenekitau, pleaded guilty to assaulting Nicholas Barsoum, then 19, who was part of a group fighting with the club’s security last August.

Barsoum was taken into the ivy and assaulted. They were sacked immediately.

UNIVERSAL SIGN BAG RAIDERS Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has signed Sydney electronic duo Bag Raiders to a worldwide deal. “Bag Raiders have experienced significant live, chart, radio and synch success around the world since the release of their debut album 18 months ago and we are looking forward to helping them build further upon this platform,” said Heath Johns, director of A&R, UMPG Australia.

Aside from their debut album debuting at #7 on the ARIA chart and spawning three hits, Bag Raiders music also is used in syncs — most notably in Germany where ‘Way Back Home’ went gold after being used in a telco ad.

Arrested: Matthew Scott Anthony Cox, 24, appeared in Port Macquarie Local Court charged with the murder of Gold Coast singer Tony Williams, 38, of Sex ‘n’ Chocolate. He was found beaten to death on X’mas Eve. Died: Gary Cornell, 34, singer with Perth’s Pyramid Of The Coyote, of a suspected heart attack, during their gig at the Civic Hotel.

MINAJ LANDS PEPSI DEAL

NO GOOD VIBRATIONS IN 2012 More bad news on the festival front. Jam Music is resting Good Vibrations in 2012 blaming competitive demand for artists resulting in higher artist fees, unpredictable weather and a shifting live music market. In a brief statement, Good Vibrations owner and CEO Justin Hemmes confirmed, “We will not be going

Nicki Minaj landed a seven-figure endorsement hook-up with Pepsi. She’ll appear in a global TV ad in the next weeks, and will also be the face of a new natural soda called “Pop” in late 2012.

Minaj has previously gone brand-hopping with toy manufacturer Mattel, MAC’s Viva Glam, OPI nail polish and Onch Movement jewellery. The Pepsi deal is expected to make her “millions” of dollars, adding to the US$6.5 million she earned last year (which made her the highest earning female rapper). Pepsi’s past endorsees include Michael Jackson, Madonna, Elton John and Flavour Flav.

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THIS WEEK

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Sat 12 May

Fri 8 June

Thu 12 July

ICED EARTH Thu 5 April

FABINYI NEW GM AT AMPAL After ten years of working in various trade associations in Europe, Jeremy Fabinyi returns to Oz to take over as GM of the Australasian Music Publishers Association (AMPAL) from April 10. He takes over from Peter Hebbes, who stood down in order to focus on his publishing business. Before moving to Europe, Fabinyi managed Mental As Anything and The Cockroaches, was Group MD of Festival Mushroom Records, Festival Publishing and Festival Studios, and CEO of AMPAL & AMCOS in the ‘90s.

ESKIMO JOE CLOSE THE GAP Eskimo Joe are official ambassadors of the Close the Gap campaign that aims to close the Indigenous life expectancy gap by 2030. Last Thursday was National Close the Gap Day, with 100,000 taking part in community events to remind pollies of their commitments to end the Indigenous health crisis. Indigenous people die more than ten years younger than other Australians, and infant mortality is more than double that of other Australians. Eskimo singer Kavyen Temperley said, “I consider the life expectancy gap between Indigenous people and other Australians to be one of the most important issues facing Australia, and one that has been neglected for such a long time.”

NEW ANNANDALE CONTACTS Following the departure of the Annandale’s booker Kristie Jane Hogan, these are the new contacts for the venue. For Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun bookings, and general venue enquiries, contact mark@annandalehotel.com. For Wednesday, Jagermeister and admin, contact steph@annandalehotel.com.

SAILORS WIN COMMUNITY CUP

SNEAKY SOUND SANDY RIVERA AMON AMARTH Sun 8 April Sat 14 April SYSTEM

Fri 6 April

Sat 7 April

& PINK MOUNTAINTOPS

MARK LANEGAN FU MANCHU Thu 3 May BAND

MOUNT KIMBIE DEVILDRIVER Fri 4 May

Sat 5 May

Fri 20 April

w/ Dakest Hour

DIGITALISM

KAISER CHIEFS

MUTEMATH

MICKEY AVALON

Fri 11 May

Tue 15 May

Wed 16 May

Fri 18 May

TIX + INFO 1300 THE HIFI

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DEAD LETTER CIRCUS

TIM RIPPER OWENS

Fri 25 May

Sat 26 May

14 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

YOUNG GUNS Thu 31 May

ENTERTAINMENT QUARTER, BUILDING 220, 122 LANG RD, MOORE PARK, SYDNEY

BATTLE OF THE BANDS Adelaide’s Heston Drop will represent Australia at the June 2 Global Battle of the Bands in Romania, against reps from 30 countries, all vying for US$100,000. After 50 heats through Oz and NZ (to whittle down 500 entries) the grand final was held on March 17 at the Evan Theatre in Penrith. Judges were Kim Thomas (Black Yak Management), Jason ‘Noddy’ Velleley (Homebrew Radio) and Criston Barker (musician). At #2 were Alice Springs hip hoppers Catch the Fly, followed by Peyote (Cairns), Paintbox City (Sydney) and Sisters Doll (Collie, WA).

INDENT IN ENGADINE Indent has partnered with Sutherland Shire Youth Services for two workshops in the southern Sydney suburb of Engadine. Both are held 5.30-7.30pm at Engadine District Youth Services, 16 – 20 Station Street. The one on Tuesday March 27 covers band craft, business essentials and who’s who in the biz.

It also has tips on songwriting by Andy Bull and MC Solo (Horrorshow). The second, on Tuesday April 3, looks at everything about gigs (including getting them and setting up your own), how to set up a PA and what is involved in a sound check. They’re free but you must RSVP to meg@musicnsw.com.

Sydney Sailors, made up of music industry and media types, gave the muso-team Western Walers a good slapping at the inaugural Sydney Reclink Community Cup. The Sailors, led by Adam Spencer, notched up 7.4.46 (helped

by The Project’s Scott Dooley shooting three goals in the opening minutes) to the Dan Sultan-captained Walers’ 5.7.37 (who lost Sam Worrad of Holy Soul to a training injury).

Money for Rope’s Michael Cini and triple j’s Alex Dyson won Best On Ground. Wolfpack and The Meanies played before the game, Front End Loader at halftime, while Celibate Rifles, who came on after, went down such a storm they were dragged back for an encore.

Perfect weather brought 2500 to Henson Park, Marrickville.

AZTEC IN RECEIVERSHIP

ADELE TOPPLES FLOYD

RED BULL BEDROOM JAM

Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) is still going great guns on the US charts. Last week it celebrated its 800th week there (about 15 years and five months) sitting at #137 on the Billboard 200. But alas, at home in the UK, it has been beaten by Adele’s 21 in the all-time biggest selling albums list. As of this January, Floyd's Moon was #7 on the list, with UK sales of 4.11 million. But 21 last week hit 4.14 million and took that spot. By the time you read this, it could have gone to #6. If it sells 12,000 copies by the weekend, it will topple Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms. Top of the list is Queen’s Greatest Hits, with Brit sales of 5.83 million, and The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s at #2 with 5.04 million, followed by Abba’s Gold (4.99 million), Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (4.52 million) and Michael Jackson’s Thriller (4.27 million). Last week, NME

THINGS WE HEAR DEAD MEADOW

noted that the success of Adele, Mumford and Sons, Coldplay and Florence And The Machine saw British acts account for a record 11.7% of all albums sold in the US last year. Furthermore, last week boy band One Direction’s Up All Night became the first UK debut album to come in at #1 on the U.S. charts. It sold 176,000 copies to do that.

* Australian media folk like triple j’s Zan Rowe and Noise 11’s Paul Cashmere at South By Southwest got scoops left right and centre of what tours we can expect.

Django Django blabbed they’re here for Splendour In The Grass, while The Shins mentioned “late July”. Jack White also plans to return but didn’t specify when. Splendour aren’t commenting, but they admitted that after seeing Zulu Winter’s scorching shows at SXSW, they delayed the band’s visit to strengthen up the Splendour bill. Hot on the Splendour rumour mill are Bloc Party, The Ting Tings, The Black Keys and The Temper Trap. * The Maitland show of Groovin’ The Moo sold out, following Bendigo. That leaves NSW punters having to go to Canberra. * Good news for this weekend’s drug and alcohol-free Y-FEST: Invasion of the Next Generation at Charles Sturt University’s Albury-Wodonga campus. Organisers are confident that the festival – with Calling All Cars, Owl Eyes and Neon City – will sell out, with 650 of 1000 tx already gone. * Speaking of noise, if you thought Metallica had a h-u-g-e production the

Melbourne importer Aztec Music has gone into receivership after eight years. It was set up by producers Ted Lethborg and former Aztecs drummer Gil Matthews, to bring in albums for retailers. But declining floor space in stores and online competition hit hard, as did the collapse of many suppliers. It was in the red to the tune of $350,000 according to Lethborg. A key element of the business was its impressive reissues label, which covered 60 out of print Australian classic albums by the likes of the Aztecs, Spectrum, Chain, Band Of Light, Man & Machine, Lobby Lloyd and Mark Gillespie. These were remastered, with bonus tracks and ace sleevenotes.

The 2012 Red Bull Bedroom Jam Australia has opened for musos aged 15 to 21. Upload a video of you doing an original track, and get as many likes and hits as you can via social media. Every two weeks, the highest on the “Buzz Chart” will be filmed and webcast on redbullbedroomjam.com.au. For info, see site.

NATIONAL TALENT COMP The National Talent Competition, part of National Youth Week 2012, gives young talent the chance to kick-start their career in music, writing, short film, photography and graphic design. For the music category you must record an original song or instrumental, judged by Channel [V] presenter Billy Russell. See youthweek.com for full details.

last time they visited here, the one on their next tour will be TWICE AS BIG! * After feeling more energetic having given up ciggies, Adele hired a personal trainer and now goes jogging, determined to drop two dress sizes before summer. * Timomatic, 24, is among the finalists for 2012 Cleo Bachelor Of The Year. * Lady Gaga won’t get many nods when she invites her buddies around to her parents’ posh New York apartment for a bite: she says it’s overrun with mice. It’s been suggested that she should ditch wearing clothes made out of food. * NZ’s Homebrew Crew were furious when an announcer on The Edge radio remarked, “They’re always working hard those black people”. They tweeted the three major commercial radio stations, “If you ever play our music, you’ll come to work the next day with your dead pet in your parking space’’. * At a panel on music streaming at SXSW in Texas, Napster founder Sean Parker said that in two years, Spotify will pay more royalties to record companies than iTunes. He attacked YouTube for its loading speed, and the record execs “grindfucking the shit out of (Napster)” as being “dinosaurs”.

Sandringham Hotel 387 King St Newtown 9557 1254 MON

26

MAR TUE

27

MAIN STAGE STREET LEVEL MAIN STAGE

Sando Sketch Club Life Drawing Unherd Open Mic “The Songwriter Sessions” Adam Pringle and Friends

FREE 7:00pm FREE 8:00pm FREE 7:30pm

MAR

STREET LEVEL

Funky as F#ck

WED

CHILL STAGE

The Walk On By + Divine South

$10 8:00pm

STREET LEVEL

The Thingos

FREE 8:00pm

28

MAR

THU

29

MAR

F R I

30

+ TOOHEYS $6 NEW JUGS (7-8PM)

+ $3 SCHOONERS OF SANDO LAGER

FREE 8:00pm

CHILL STAGE

Spaceticket + Witch Fight + The Berkshire Hunting Club + 400KW Monsters

$5 8:00pm

STREET LEVEL

Johnathan Devoy + special guests

FREE 8:00pm

MAIN STAGE

MAR

STREET LEVEL

Crossing Red Lines

+ Papa Pilko and The Bin Rats + Rufflefeather + Vale of Ah

$10 8:00pm FREE 8:00pm

Video Juke Box “Off The Hip presents”

S AT

MAIN STAGE

31

Los Chicos (Spain) + The Kill City Creeps

+ Johnny and Benny (Asteroid B-612) + La Bastard (Melb) + The Escapes

MAR

$12 pre-sale / $15 door 8:00pm

***TICKETS ON SALE NOW – www.moshtix.com.au ***

STREET LEVEL

SUN

01

CHILL STAGE

APR

STREET LEVEL

Dave Tice and Mark Evans 4pm-7pm DJ Kaki 8pm-late

Dead To Me (USA) + The Cobra Skulls (USA)

FREE 4:00pm $15 7:00pm

+ Chris Duke And The Royals + The Gun Runners + Dividers

Paul Hayward’s Live Punk Karaoke Band

FREE 4:00pm

BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 15

Personal Revolution By Benjamin Cooper

ZIGGY MARLEY

Z

iggy Marley is a seriously busy dude. He’s the founder and head of Jamaican not-for-profit group URGE (Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment), which operates in its native country and in Ethiopia to establish community medical clinics and accommodation for disadvantaged women; he’s also the founder of the Tuff Gong Worldwide label, through which he hopes to fulfill his father’s dream of promoting a broad stable of international artists; and besides his solo output, he’s been making reggae for the past three decades as part of The Melody Makers, alongside sisters Sharon and Cedella and brother Stephen.

Marley was supposed to be out here in January of this year, performing alongside fellow reggae artists such as Shaggy and UB40 as part of the cancelled Raggamuffin festival. When pressed about that situation, he is generously reflective. “That side of what goes on – the business and all that – is never going to upset me,” he shares. “I’ve been to Australia a few times, so while it was disappointing to not be playing earlier, in hindsight it’s maybe worked out for the best.

We have been able to spend a lot more time back here, fine-tuning everything – which is important, because once we play Australia we’ve got a big North American and European tour to do.”

For those living under some kind of pall of ignorance that obfuscates the history of reggae, roots and dancehall, Ziggy’s dad Bob, with his band The Wailers, was a pretty big deal. And even the most cursory glance at the younger Marley’s history shows how important family ties have been as catalysts and ongoing motivation for his various projects and music, and his decision to base himself between his homes in Kingston, Jamaica, and Los Angeles.

Ahead of his first tour to Australia in five years, this time with his new band, Marley reflects with an engaging (if languid) lucidity on family and musical life, and how he doesn’t consider himself to be busy at all.

Australian audiences are privileged to get to hear some of the first live big-band versions of Marley’s 2011 album, Wild And Free. His fourth solo studio effort, it was recorded in the LA studios of producer Don Was (The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy Pop) and of Marley himself. Whilst an understandable continuation of his distinctive style, it also marks a new direction of taking a direct interest in and even combative stance against the present politics of his more recent home state of California. The album’s lead single and title track has Marley singing in support of California’s Proposition 19 to legalise marijuana use. It also features a rather yearning tenor trading vocals with the main artist, in the form of his good friend, actor Woody Harrelson.

Wild And Free also features Marley’s son Daniel providing vocals on the track ‘Changes’, as well as his youngest child Abraham Selassie Robert Nesta Marley throwing in some wailing baby samples for the song ‘Welcome To The World’. “It’s never been a conscious thing [making music with family]”, says Marley. “For us, music has always been such a constant in all our lives. We are always listening to tunes as a group around the house, and I think that my younger kids are not at all conscious of music being a big deal, which is fine. To them, I’m just their dad, and that’s how it should be.” Marley is aware that this sounds so ideal as to be almost incredible. “I think the children know that we are blessed to all have one another,” Marley says, simply. “I see how it might look from the outside, but to us it just is what it is. It is a regular life, and we keep it normal in how we just flow along with the days.

We leave it to others, like all the people in the press, to give it some kind of significance or difference.”

“Ah, you noticed that one?” Marley chuckles.

“The thing about Woody is that he can do just about anything. And we both feel very strongly about this issue, so it seemed totally natural to make the song together.” Does that mean that we should expect further collaborations between the two – perhaps something similar to Marley’s younger brother Damian’s 2010 collaboration with rapper Nas on the album Distant Relatives? He laughs, “Well, I don’t know about that. But Woody’s a pretty special soul. You never say never.”

Marley travels back to Kingston as much as possible to work on the music side of things through Tuff Gong, as well as the humanitarian efforts of URGE. He is quick to point out, however, that whilst he established both of these organisations, he is far from didactic in his approach to their operations. “URGE is about the furthest you could get from a bureaucracy,” he says. “It’s not like I’m the head of it in any ‘boss-man’ way. I take an interest where appropriate, and I continue to be involved with the projects to make sure

things are being done correctly. The important thing really is that we keep working hard, on the ground, to boost the education and health systems in Jamaica, and in Africa. We must provide some hope to people who are struggling every day: that is our real mission.”

The next generation is always at the forefront of his thinking: “Keeping kids conscious of their environment, as well as switched on to the culture around them is a really interesting part of what we do,” he tells me. “It’s actually something that’s a lot easier than you might think, and it’s a lot of fun too!”

Of his upcoming Australian tour, Marley promises some particularly ebullient shows.

“Everyone is coming out to Australia from Jamaica,” he assures me. “We’re bringing all the racket of the drums, and the pounding keys. We are definitely going to do it properly...

When we’re up on that stage looking out at all the faces, seeing all the smiles shining, that’s the party right there, man.”

With: Crosby Stills & Nash, John Fogerty, Earth Wind & Fire, The Pogues, The Specials, John Butler Trio, My Morning Jacket, Yes, Maceo Parker, Angelique Kidjo, Keb Mo, Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot!, Josh Pyke, Blitzen Trapper and heaps more Where: Bluesfest @ Byron Bay When: April 5 - 9 Sideshow: Sunday April 8 @ Metro Theatre

“Beards don’t kill people. People with beards kill people” - THE BEARDS 16 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

xxx

“When you’re doing things in the way that we do, it really isn’t like being busy,” he says down the line from his house in LA. “’Busy’ to me is a term that comes with so many negative things, you know? It involves feeling pressured, and with that pressure comes this feeling that maybe you aren’t going to be creating music or healing in the intended way. The things that take up my time... I mean, it’s all just a part of life, and we’re fortunate to constantly be living with so many good things and opportunities that surprise me every day. I really do feel a constant gratitude for what I am able to be a part of, and for the amazing things that we are all able to do.”

“The thing about Woody is that he can do just about anything. And we both feel very strongly about this issue, so it seemed totally natural to make the song together.”

BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 17

SXSW 2012: The Wrap-Up Ten Days In Texas By Steph Harmon

outh By Southwest is one of the world’s biggest conferences, with Music, Film and Interactive components that take over Austin, Texas for ten days each March. Media outlets all over the world are publishing their own SXSW wrap-ups, but hardly any come from an Australian perspective – which is why BRAG schlepped to Austin this year, to get the goss from the ground and send it back home. If you want a more in-depth guide to exactly what went down in Texas, you can check out our daily blog; but if you’re feeling lazy, we’ve stripped it back to the nuts and bolts below – which bands buzzed, which films ruled, and why Australia might just be the next Brooklyn.

S

For BRAG’s full SXSW coverage see thebrag.com/sxsw

AUSSIES IN AUSTIN

Bands You Need To Know

SXSW may no longer be the place we go to discover new bands, but it’s certainly an easy way to find out who’s being buzzed.

Here’s the top international acts that were the talk of the town in Austin.

It’s impossible to do a wrap-up of all of our favourite films in this year’s massive SXSW selection, but here’s three things you should keep your eyes peeled for this year.

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

A$AP Rocky: Take a trillion kids, pack them into a sweltering warehouse, watch as they ingest an insane amount of weed and booze, and after an hour bring out Harlem’s A$AP Rocky with the rest of A$AP Mob in tow.

Chaos ensues.

Zambri: A babein’ sister act from Brooklyn, Zambri trade in shimmering and dramatic art pop and noise, with some pretty impressive pipes to match. Their debut LP House of Baasa comes out April 10.

Back for its third year, The Aussie BBQ has become something of an institution at South By Southwest: a day party put together

by Sounds Australia and featuring over 30 homegrown acts. This year it was held on one of the last days of the conference, and if the queue out the front was anything to go by, Australians fared damn well in Austin.

Oberhofer This hugely anticipated horror flick from cult luminaries Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon had an infamously troubled gestation, but the cat’s finally out of the bag: it had its world premiere at SXSW, and yep, it’s the best. Starring Bradley Whitford, Richard Jenkins, and a whole team of rising stars, including Kristen Connelly, Jesse Williams and Chris Hemsworth, the basic set up is about as typical as most teen horror flicks, and Whedon’s fingerprints are all over it – but no-one in the audience could have predicted how it would unfold.

Husky’s five shows were buzzed around the city, but the big one was on the Friday night, when the Melbourne band celebrated their February signing to the legendary Sub Pop Records stable by opening the label’s official showcase. “It felt like a bit of a historic occasion for us,” frontman Husky Gawenda told me later, of opening for acts like Blitzen Trapper, Shearwater and Spoek Mathambo.

DZ Deathrays killed it at their second South By, proving once more that you don’t need more than two bratty dudes if you want to make a heap of noise. Their first gig, a day show at the Convention Centre, saw the plug pulled on them three songs in – apparently ‘semi-acoustic’ is not within the Brisbane boys’ purview.

Pond were another Aussie act whose hype swelled the more shows they played (most bands try to book in at least two gigs per day).

Frontman Nick Allbrook’s Jagger swagger, stage dives and impromptu breakdancing embellished their phenomenal songs and psyched-out jams, and I couldn’t find anyone who left one of their shows nonchalant. Without bias, they were one of the best bands I saw in Austin.

BEST ON SCREEN

THE BUZZ

Pond

Oberhofer: Led by the exuberant energy and jagged yelps of 20-year-old Brad Oberhofer, these Brooklynites do that jangly new-wave-pop thing as well as the best of them. Fingers crossed we’ll be seeing them at a few festivals this summer.

Purity Ring: No-one who caught a Purity Ring set has been able to shut up about it yet, and it’s been two weeks already. Hip hop beats, skittering samples, and airy vocals as sharp as The Knife, with none of that intricate beauty lost in the stunning live show.

Grimes: Grimes. Grimes Grimes Grimes Grimes. Google her.

Emma Louise Emma Louise was a hot tip too; with a welltimed announcement that she’d signed with New York tastemakers Frenchkiss Records, she mesmerised crowds at the label’s showcase a week later. Her songs and voice belie her age, and there’s something truly transfixing about her – during a day set outside Austin’s Whole Foods, the dark moodiness in her voice and the sweet sadness of her songs won the crowd over from the Kimbra

moment she opened her mouth.

It was a proud moment for a Sydneysider to watch Lanie Lane at the huge showcase for Jack White’s Third Man Records. Alone on stage, dressed like a Wheels & Dollbaby pin-up, hair a-quiff and sporting a smile, she had the backyard crowd in the palm of her hand. (“I ended up getting inducted into The Black Belles as The White Witch, and later on I was hanging around with John C. Reilly – he was driving me around!” she gushed the next day.)

Directed by Colin Trevorrow and written and produced by Derek Connolly and indie mavens the Mark and Jay Duplass, this follows a reporter and two interns (one played by a hilariously dry, dissatisfied and peculiar Aubrey Plaza) at a Seattle magazine, who find an ad in a local paper – WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. At its core, this is just another time-travel film about nostalgia, but it’s also about trust and hope, and there’s so much charm, heart and humour – and such a huge pay-off at the end – that we’d recommend it to just about anyone.

GIRLS Friends Friends: Yet another Brooklyn group on everybody’s bucket list, we’re yet to find a way to better Stereogum’s description of Friends’ sound: “ESG-style polyrhythmic post-disco on a tropical-pop trip.” Basically: heaps of fun.

Django Django: It’s hard to classify these East London-based Scots: they have a post-rock hold on building a song, a folk group hold on harmonies, and an indie pop hold on hooks. Work it out for yourself soon enough – they leaked they’ll be playing at Splendour.

Charli XCX: At Pitchfork’s showcase, cloaked in the gothic austerity of a church, and playing alongside Purity Ring, Grimes, Nicolas Jaar and Fiona Apple, London’s Charli XCX proved herself less an avantgarde underground act than a pop star waiting to crossover.

Jack White: The Third Man Records showcase was one of the hottest tickets in town, graced by Lanie Lane, The Black Belles, Karen Elson, John C. Reilly (!), and two sets from the man himself. James Mercer was there, Kasabian was there, and by the end, even Bill Murray was dancing on top of the bar.

Honourable mentions: Kishi Bashi, Lower Dens, Razika, Alabama Shakes, Of Monsters And Men, Nite Jewel, Caveman, Bleached, Nicolas Jaar, Ceremony, The Men.

Produced by Judd Apatow (Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Bridesmaids) and penned by the delightful Lena Dunham (whose film Tiny Furniture smashed into SXSW 2010 to win Best Narrative Feature), this HBO series follows a group of girl friends, with a focus on Hannah (played by Dunham), a 20-something writer-to-be whose parents pull the financial plug. Parallels will be drawn to Sex And The City (the character archetypes, for one), but this has so much more to offer than that: an infinitely relatable, funny, smart and complex female character unlike any other we’ve seen on TV. “Not since Freaks and Geeks has it felt like something this special happened,” Judd Apatow told a thrilled audience after the SXSW premiere.

We couldn’t agree more. Girls premieres Monday May 28 on Showcase (Foxtel).

Honourable mentions: Shut Up And Play The Hits, We Are Legion: The Story Of The Hacktivists, Girl Model, Brooklyn Castle, Eden, Pilgrim Song, Eating Alabama, Don Hertzfeldt’s animated short it’s such a beautiful day.

“If your dad doesn’t have a beard, you’ve got two mums” - THE BEARDS 18 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

Live music photos by Steph Harmon

But according to most international media wrapping up the tenday conference, no-one could beat Kimbra. One of the most buzzed Aussie(ish) acts in Austin, she was handpicked by media bigshots and tastemakers alike to play their parties, including public radio station KCRW, Nylon magazine, MTV, Filter magazine and Sir Perez Hilton himself.

The gig that I saw was at Fader magazine’s Fader Fort – and holy wow. I can’t imagine her ever playing better than that, to a bigger or more welcoming crowd, with more energy, class, sass and vocal power, and I walked away with goosebumps.

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED

Angélique Kidjo Dancing In The Streets By Benjamin Cooper

T

here is a slight chance you might not recognise the name Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, but her staggering output and influence on popular music for the last three decades will have reached you somehow. The West African singer-songwriter now resides in New York City, and possesses enough personality and wicked charm to fill stadiums rather than the tiny jazz rooms she occupied at the start of her career, in 1980s France. Her impassioned performance was one of the highlights alongside The Black Eyed Peas and Shakira at the Official Kick-Off Celebration Concert to commence the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa: an opportunity that presented the lady from Benin to a global audience of millions.

Kidjo’s reflections of that evening impart a sense of satisfaction that is at odds with the restless zeal for improving the lives of Africans that she communicates throughout our conversation.

“That was a marvellous evening,” she says, “and most of all because the critics said ‘Africa is not ready for this kind of an event’, and we proved them all wrong. That period of the World Cup was a time in Africa where you could walk the streets, and there was a very real sense that the African public no longer saw themselves as just poor people. People everywhere were filled with this marvellous sense of pride in themselves and their land. It seemed that everywhere I went I would see my good friend Desmond Tutu – and he asked me eventually, ‘How can you always be jumping around and dancing? Are you really that happy?’ And I said to him ‘Of course I am! This is the moment that has always been coming for Africa: how can I possibly stop dancing?’”

nations, yet these women have used technology to turn the balance in favour of the good.”

Politics aside, Kidjo says she’s looking forward to her triumphant return this month to the potent acoustics of Sydney Opera House, following a sell-out show in 2009. And even though she won’t have the 140 percussion players she used for her recent shows at Carnivale in Brasil, she says she plans on taking full advantage of the opportunity. “Last time I was there I had such fun with everyone I met. This time I’m bringing my wonderful friend Keb’ Mo’,” she says, “and you just wait, because that man has got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Make sure you’re rested because we’re cooking up something extra special that’ll have you all dancing so much you’ll need to lie down and rest halfway through!”

With: Keb’ Mo’ Where: Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall When: Monday April 2 More: Also playing alongside Maceo Parker, Nick Lowe, Yann Tierson and many more at Bluesfest from April 5-9 @ Byron Bay

“How can you always be jumping around and dancing? Are you really that happy?” And I said, ‘Of course I am! This is the moment that has always been coming for Africa...’”

Kidjo’s music has always straddled a variety of genres, starting with her education in the jazz scene of ‘80s Paris and moving through the expansion of Afropop and world music a decade later. Throughout her career she has engaged with a plethora of similarly adventurous peers, including Peter Gabriel on the Grammy-winning 2007 record Djin Djin, and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig on last month’s Spirit Rising live PBS Special Performance album. But it is her total commitment to Africa and its people that has seen Kidjo lauded not just as an artist but something rarer: a truly erudite celebrity humanitarian.

When I suggest to Kidjo that her status affords a rare opportunity to engage with people at all levels of society and influence, she is firm in her response. “I have an opportunity here and it’s one that must be seized. The responsibility of my position falls not just to me but to all of us who are able to see the hypocrisy of modern Africa. So many times we watch the news and see African leaders trying to do their best to confront the corruption, and they get killed. Then everyone watching outside of Africa feels good that someone stood up briefly for the lives of others, and [then they] go back to ignoring the continent.

“It is ludicrous that all we talk about when it comes to Africa is poverty,” Kidjo continues, exasperated. “It makes no sense to me that I come from the richest continent on the planet and yet my people’s lives are dismissed so that elsewhere people can have two cell phones and two cars. Most of my people are lucky to have one little hut, and hopefully not more than a handful of preventable diseases. It’s very easy to point and proclaim blame about Africa, but the reality is we must all start to wake-up and realise that these are going to be the next big nations and we have to guide and assist them in that journey, because those resources have to remain for the children to come.”

Her support of Africa’s female leaders was highlighted at the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, where she performed prior to the honouring of recipients Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, and Yemen’s Tawakel Karman. Singing in Swahili was something that felt appropriate to Kidjo, in order to show “the richness and vitality of new Africa.”

“I was watching these strong women standing on that stage, and it made me realise that technology is able to create bridges. So much of my experience with technology is that it has truly raped Africa through the work of patronising BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 19

Chopfest IV Punk Rock Party By Rick Warner

As a complete labour of love, Griffis has been throwing punk rock shows for the last few years, pretty much anywhere he can. From boats to bowling clubs and universities, the mini-fests have been circled in punk rockers’ calendars everywhere. After last year’s ‘Chopfest Reunion’ (where Griffis enlisted a bunch of bands that had either split or were on extended hiatus), he is back with Chopfest IV, featuring his first lineup of international acts and a brand new venue.

“The Annandale is just an icon,” Griffis enthuses. “It stinks, the floor’s sticky – it’s a punk venue. I get treated really well. I think that’s the main thing. [The staff] are always keen to help you out.”

The Annandale staff will definitely have their work cut out for them: headlining the show are two bands on Fat Mike’s (of NOFX fame) legendary Fat Wreck Chords label – San Francisco’s Dead To Me and Nevada rockers Cobra Skulls. Both bands are known for their energetic live shows and Griffis is looking forward to debuting them in Australia. “There are a lot of kids out there that are pretty stoked on it,” he tells me. “Last year I did Smoke Or Fire and Pour Habit [but] both those bands had been out here before, so [punters] knew what to expect. With this one, fingers crossed – I hope it goes well!”

Not only are Dead To Me and Cobra Skulls headlining Chopfest, but they are also hitting the road for a nine-date Australian tour – and in the true tradition of punk shows, it ain’t just the capital cities. From Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra through the punk heartland of the Central Coast and Newcastle, the two US bands are scheduled to see a lot of the countryside. There’s one show though that Luke is more excited about than the others. “We’re playing a show in Wollongong with a 50-person capacity. It’s a little coffee shop that they clear the tables out of and do punk shows four nights a week.

That’s going to be a really fun one.”

As he sits on the tour bus with the bands over the next couple of weeks, Griffis will look like a picture of punk contentment. “I haven’t toured a band that I actually dislike,” he reflects. “The bands like Smoke Or Fire and Pour Habit, I’ve been listening to for five years. It’s the same with Dead To Me and Cobra Skulls – it’s just stuff that I love.”

Who: Cobra Skulls (USA), Dead To Me (USA), Gay Paris, Totally Unicorn, Lamexcuse, The Gun Runners, Milhouse, Batfoot!, Homeward Bound & Billy Demos What: Chopfest IV Where: The Annandale Hotel When: Saturday March 31 from 4pm

Eilen Jewell Queen Of The Minor Key By Patrick Emery

E

ilen Jewell grew up in Boise, Idaho, in the American Midwest. At age 18 she decided to head to the American West Coast to the city of Sante Fe to study music at St John’s College, which has a reputation for progressive teaching methods that focus on critical analysis and creativity.

“At the time it seemed the right thing for me to do,” says the singer-songwriter. “It’s a strange curriculum – no textbooks, no grades, no professors.” Jewell credits the idiosyncratic teaching style with her approach to writing and performing music. “I learned how to think critically, and I learned how to write songs while I was there. I don’t fake my way through writing, and I learned to question everything I do.”

Jewell started playing piano at primary school, before ‘dabbling’ in violin. Her parents, while not musicians, provided a musical foil to her predominantly classical education. “My parents are great lovers of music,” she says, “especially my father… I got my love of Bob Dylan from my father.”

But even after moving to Santa Fe to study music, Jewell says it took a while before she decided to throw her hat in the performance ring.

“I never really thought of myself as a performer.

I was hanging around with some friends who were performing, and I started strumming along.

Eventually they asked me to play with them at a farmers’ market. I started to enjoy it, and when my friends – who were a year older than me – moved away, I kept going.”

Jewell became enamoured with iconic female country and blues singers, including Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn (whom Jewell paid tribute to a couple of years ago with an album of cover versions), Wanda Jackson and Mavis Staples. In fact, Jewell managed to secure those performers’ autographs on her guitar – which

she’s subsequently stopped playing due to its increasing value. “It became too precious,” Jewell laughs. “Plus, I was lucky enough for someone to custom make me a great guitar that I use now.”

Jewell threw herself into the touring circuit, traversing the bars and coffee houses of continental United States. Eventually she settled in Boston, where she currently lives with her husband and drummer, Jason Beek. “He was really tapped into the scene, and there’s some really great musicians there,” she says.

Jewell’s latest album, Queen Of The Minor Key, reflects both contemporary and historical influences. “At the time of writing the album I was listening to a lot of Fred Eaglesmith – the record he’d just put out,” she says. “And I was also listening to a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival, as well as lots of ‘60s girl group music.”

Jewell says the minimalist ‘60s production sensibility was something she was interested in exploring on the album. “I really like that simple production style,” she says. “I’ve actually been really into that early ‘60s stuff recently, also early ‘60s country music – in fact anything with ‘early’ in front it,” she laughs.

The title of Jewell’s record was taken from a line used to introduce Jewell at one of her shows. “A friend of mine said so many of my songs were written in a minor key,” she recalls, “so when he introduced me at a show, he said I was the ‘queen of the minor key.’”

When/Where: Wednesday March 28 & Saturday March 31 / The Vanguard, Sydney; Friday March 30 / Brass Monkey, Cronulla; Sunday April 1 / The Vault, Windsor More: Also playing at Bluesfest, April 5-9 / Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Byron Bay

The Beards The Second Age Of Beard By Thomas Bailey

“B

lessed are the bearded men, for they shall inherit the Earth.” Jesus Christ did not utter this phrase, but he should have. Bearded men the world over have suffered stoically for generations under a regime of shaving cream, razors and aftershave; a cabal of clean-chins has controlled the power for too long. But in their lives of quiet desperation, the bearded ones dream of the follicular emancipation to come.

“I’m dreaming of a world in which bosses, schools and wives don’t impose draconian sanctions about being clean or neatly shaven,” explains Nathaniel Beard, bassist of Adelaidebased comedy folk rock band The Beards.

“For well over a hundred years, the cleanchins have enjoyed a completely undeserved position at the top of society’s pecking order.

Let’s not ever forget how they tried to hold us down whilst they were on top – Disney’s no-beard policy, the obligation to shave at weddings and other ‘formal’ occasions, labels like ‘hobo’, ‘hippy’ and ‘rapist’.”

Besides the facial hair thing, ‘beard’ is also a verb – its definition is “to confront, face or oppose.” And that’s what The Beards are all about. Since they formed in the mid-2000s as a joke (“But we’re not joking anymore,” Nathaniel tells me) Nathaniel and his cohorts Johann Beardraven (vocals), John Beardman Junior

(drums) and Facey McStublington (guitar), have been busy making the world a better and safer place for bearded folk, one song at a time. Their third album, Having A Beard Is The New Not Having A Beard, released earlier this month followed by the film-clip for its first single, ‘You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man’.

I ask Nathaniel if he thinks their good work is having an impact. “[The Beards] met at a bearded men’s support group during late 2004 – a dark time for bearded people,” he muses.

“Back then you couldn’t walk down the street without being called Jesus by dick-for-brains metrosexuals. There was no beard on Brad Pitt’s face back then I can assure you! It was an age of extreme beardism during which the clean-chins held all the cards. Luckily, people with beards are just plain better than people without beards, so we were able to begin the beard revolution without too much resistance from our utterly inept oppressors….

Now the bearded man is back in charge and the beardless are running scared or growing a big beard so they can avoid retribution. The second age of the beard is just beginning, and if you don’t have a beard, you are finished.”

And helpfully, Nathaniel is full of advice for repentant clean-chins: “DO NOT SHAVE,” he states emphatically. “Shaving is COUNTER-

PRODUCTIVE to beard-growth. Anybody who tells you that shaving more frequently will stimulate beard growth is a dirty liar who has probably been paid to say that by the big shaving corporations. Also, don’t let the fact that Kyle Sandilands has a beard deter you – the entire bearded community is against him having a beard as it damages the reputation of bearded men everywhere!”

What about the men out there who desperately want to grow beards, but are not allowed to by their women? “Dump her and never once look back,” says Nathaniel. “The real you has a beard, and if she doesn’t love your beard, then she doesn’t love the real you, so she’s

got to go. If you can’t work that out, you don’t deserve to have a beard at all.”

So convincing is Nathaniel’s evangelism that I wonder if there’s any downside to this whole beard caper… “Yes, we do require more napkins,” he admits. “On the upside, we require less razors, less shaving foam, less pink shirts with the collars turned up and less commercial radio”.

Where: Manning Bar, Sydney University When: Friday April 20 More: Having A Beard Is The New Not Having A Beard out now through MGM

“You should consider having sex with a bearded man” - THE BEARDS 20 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

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T

here was always one kid at your school who threw the best parties. You know the one – friends with all the local bands in your neighbourhood, threw big ol’ punk rock soirees in their garage.

You’d come back to school on Monday gushing about how sick the band was and who pashed Debbie Sutton. But what becomes of those kids? Those educators who take pride in giving you a dubbed cassette of an obscure band you’ve never heard of? Well, chances are, they’ve turned out like promoter Luke Griffis, the organiser of Chopfest IV.

PRESENTED BY CHUGG ENTERTAINMENT, XIIITOURING, DRUM MEDIA & BEAT MAGAZINE

BLITZEN TRAPPER

WED MAY 9TH THE HI-FI, BRISBANE thehifi.com.au

THU MAY 10TH METRO THEATRE, SYDNEY ticketek.com.au

TUESDAY 3RD APRIL PRINCE BANDROOM, MELBOURNE THURSDAY 5TH APRIL OXFORD ART FACTORY, SYDNEY

WED MAY 16TH THE HI FI, MELBOURNE thehifi.com.au

FRI MAY 18TH CAPITOL, PERTH moshtix.com.au

NEW ALBUM GIVEN TO THE WILD OUT NOW

WWW.MOSHTIX.COM.AU

C H U G G E N T E R T A I N M E N T. C O M XIIITOURING.COM THEMACCABEES.CO.UK

PRESENTED BY CHUGG ENTERTAINMENT, XIII TOURING, TRIPLE J, DRUM MEDIA, BEAT MAGAZINE & TIME OFF C H U G G E N T E R T A I N M E N T. C O M XIIITOURING.COM BLITZENTRAPPER.COM

‘CENTRE STAGE’

FILM SHOWCASE

UNDER-18s DANCE PARTY SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE FRIDAY 13 APRIL

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SUNDAY 15 APRIL

SPORTS DAY

smartARTS FESTIVAL

KING GEORGE V RECREATION CENTRE THURSDAY 19 APRIL

NEW ALBUM AMERICAN GOLDWING OUT NOW!

BETTY MAKIN YOUTH AWARDS REDFERN TOWN HALL TUESDAY 17 APRIL

PINE STREET CREATIVE ARTS CENTRE 13 – 27 APRIL

M ONKS MONKS OF MELLONWAH M EL LONWA W H

NEUROGENESIS OUT MAY 2012

EP

Plus many other great events.

Find out more at cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/YouthWeekInTheCity

www.monksofmellonwah.com

BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 21

Ball Park Music Diamonds In The Rough By Romi Scodellaro

S

am Cromack is a man of many welldocumented talents: he’s a killer vocalist, an accomplished songwriter, and no slouch on a guitar. But what you don’t know is that he’s an ace barista. “I don’t want to brag,� he says, “but I’m pretty good; It’s all I’ve ever done, really; it’s the only thing that’s ever earned me any money.�

I’ve caught Sam unwinding at home after a day at the little espresso bar where he works, but it’s hard to imagine, expert cappuccino maker though he may be, that he is long for the grounds-stained apron. Over the last year, he and his six-piece ex-Brisbane indie outfit has pretty much hit it out of the park.

Mates who met at University and started jamming together just a few seasons ago, Ball Park Music were last year dubbed triple j’s Unearthed Artist of the Year, off the back of a handful of insanely catchy singles (you’d be hard pressed to hear to hear ‘iFly (I F*cking Love You)’ and ‘Sad Rude Future Dude’ without bopping around, or at least tapping your foot). In 2010 they were in Sydney supporting Hungry Kids Of Hungary, last year they were

here supporting Boy & Bear; this year they’ve got a headlining show at the Factory – and are well on their way to selling out a second.

These guys are just on the cusp of a meteoric rise. Of course, they’re not quite at the ball parks yet; in fact their ‘180 Degree Tour’ is a reference to Jay-Z and U2’s 360 tour, which involved rotating stages in stadiums. “Forget 360. We’re giving people the full 180 degrees,�

Sam tells me, “which is your average gig.� He adds as an afterthought: “Some venues might be a bit cruddier, so we might have to reduce it to 110.�

This kind of cheek comes as no surprise to anyone who’s heard Ball Park Music’s irrepressibly irreverent lyrics, which bubble through the surface of even in their more serious songs. Witness: I remember the first time that I got to kiss you sober. Or: I haven’t had a friend in years/ I only have sex with myself. Pair the obvious intelligence and wit of the lyrics with their infectious indie pop sound, and it’s a recipe for instant pop appeal. Apart from anything else, Ball Park Music sound like a band who know how to have fun.

And the way Sam tells it, touring sounds like a moveable feast of partying. Called on to share his favourite part of his last trip to Sydney, he hesitates before admitting that his standout memory isn’t much of a memory at all. “After our first show [supporting Boy & Bear at the Enmore] was probably one of the wildest nights of our life.â€? He won’t divulge too many details‌ largely because he’s forgotten them.

Apparently his band-mates will attest he does actually just have a terrible memory, but this one seems more a case of having too much sweet fermented fruit. He reassures me they all made it back to where they were staying. “We’re not sure how,� he confesses. “I think we vomited a lot on the way.�

PRESENTS

“Forget 360. We’re giving people the full 180 degrees – which is your average gig.

Some venues might be a bit cruddier, so we might have to reduce it to 110.�

The six-piece – Sam, Jennifer, Paul, Brock, and twins Dean and Daniel – have been inseparable since Uni. “We’ve stuck together ever since,â€? says Sam. “I’m not spiritual or anything, but whatever it is about Ball Park Music, there’s something about it that’s working and connecting with people. We work‌. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would choose to have six people in one band,â€? says Sam. “But it works for us.â€?

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It does take some work though. Sam says they all have an in-depth understanding of each memberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pet peeves and sleeping preferences. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We know who snores, and who snores when theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re drunk, and who gets annoyed by fidgetingâ&#x20AC;Ś and we arrange our sleep accordingly.â&#x20AC;? It also takes some planning to get the six into a recording studio at any one time, with their various jobs and external commitments. But as Sam explains, they make that work, too. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Other bands work for months on their writing and arranging, then go to the studio and record it all at once; we go to the studio infrequently whenever weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a song together.â&#x20AC;?

Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got two songs pretty much ready to go for their next album, for which Sam says most of the material is already written. The gaps between writing, arranging, recording, and revisiting and perfecting a song, gives the band members a chance to hear it with fresh ears, and think objectively about what to add, or change â&#x20AC;&#x201C; â&#x20AC;&#x153;or whether the song is worth anything at all.â&#x20AC;?

And if it all inexplicably goes to hell in a hand basket, unlikely though that may be, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure there are thousands of little cafes with patrons that would appreciate a barista who can say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was in this band onceâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; while simultaneously making them a killer cup of coffee.

22 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

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With: Nantes, Cub Scouts Where: The Factory, Marrickville When: Fri March 30 (sold out) & Sun April 1

My Morning Jacket The One That Is Real By Joshua Kloke

B

o Koster knows a thing or two about pain. As the keyboardist for My Morning Jacket, one assumes he endures lengths of physical torture after one of their all-encompassing live sets. But today, he’s encountered pain of a different variety. “I went to the dentist,” says Koster, from his home in Louisville, Kentucky. “The side of my mouth is just beginning to become un-numb, right as this interview is starting,” and as we progress, the pain eventually subsides. Odds are, Koster didn’t take to his acoustic guitar to lament for his aching teeth, but it’s still worth wondering where Koster sees his band in a genre that was born out of pain: the blues.

With six full-length studio albums, countless EPs and live albums to their name, My Morning Jacket’s eclectic blend of stoner rock will be put on display at Bluesfest in Byron Bay. And while it might be hard to hear the blues in their rapturous, blissful haze, Koster insists if you dig deep enough, it’s there. “Maybe not in the traditional sense of the word,” says Koster, when asked if the band considers themselves bluesmen at heart, “but if you really think about it, in modern music, the blues has been an influence on almost everything. You can hear the blues in tango, mambo, country, rock’n’roll, soul – it’s really all over the place. The blues is like air and water for a musician, as far as I can tell.”

have a cure for sorrow: challenging themselves.

Every record is a step in the evolution of the band.

Just as the blues were first used to comfort those in times of trouble, the music of My Morning Jacket brings joy not only to their fans, but to the band as well.

“I think it’s important as a band to do things out of love, inspiration and pure joy rather than out of fear. And sometimes the fear can thwart you and halt you in your tracks. It’s a fine line. But I don’t know any authors, artists, filmmakers that don’t have works that weren’t challenging. They were always taking chances and not doing things that had already been done. And I hope we’re the same way. We can’t be afraid to fall down and make a mistake.”

With: Dawes Where: Enmore Theatre When: Tuesday April 3 More: Also playing alongside Crosby Stills & Nash, Justin Townes Earle, Busby Marou, Josh Pyke, and heaps more at Bluesfest, April 5-9 @ Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Byron Bay

“In modern music, the blues has been an influence on almost everything.

You can hear it in tango, mambo, country, rock’n’roll, soul – it’s really all over the place.

The blues is like air and water for a musician.”

VISIONS

“#1 Most Exciting Band To Watch In 2012”

Koster and his band-mates would know. My Morning Jacket have walked the long road to ‘success’, and have always managed to stay focused on the ideals that brought them together as a band in the first place. Their continued efforts to maintain their unique position in the world of rock’n’roll can be heard on Circuital, their latest full-length – and their most cohesive and entertaining record to date.

NME

“She could very well be poised for a meteoric rise” PITCHFORK

Still, My Morning Jacket have always thrived on being a live band first and foremost. From their legendary four-hour sets at Bonnaroo to their rigorous international touring schedule, they are a relentless live act. It’s been over six months since the release of Circuital, and Koster is keen to offer an insight into how the songs have evolved live.

“It’s funny, it seems like the songs always morph the more you play them and get comfortable with them,” he explains. “They tend to just change organically; they never stay the same. In a lot of ways they’re just vehicles. Every song has chords, structures, melodies, words but they’re always open to interpretation – as you can tell whenever anybody covers anybody else,” says Koster with a chuckle. “You have to stay in the moment.”

My Morning Jacket photo by Danny Clinch

Though Koster acknowledges the importance of staying in the moment, he can’t help but look back on key, formative moments from My Morning Jacket’s past. In 2006, they were asked to open for legendary live act Pearl Jam – and if My Morning Jacket have a searing reputation for their live sets, Koster says Seattle’s favourite sons certainly deserve some credit.

“That was a really great experience for us. To get to play with a band that has such integrity and such soul and such care about what they do, from a business level to an activist level to an artistic level to a personal level. It was an inspiration for us to know we could have something like that; to know that we could do what we do, not compromise anything as a band, and be successful at it. We got the idea to get involved in a lot of different things after watching them. They were the ones who inspired us to give a dollar of every ticket from every show we play to a local charity. Ed [Vedder] used to come out and sing with us, before the place was full. It’s that kind of care and attention that really rubbed off on us. It’s something we’ve tried to do since we started having the chance to take bands out with us.”

Bluesmen in the purist sense of the word they may not be, but My Morning Jacket certainly

TANLINES

LEE RANALDO

Mixed Emotions

Between The Times And The Tides

“African percussion, swirling guitars, and dancefloor elements... as much club music as indie rock” PITCHFORK

“Sonic Youth’s Dark Horse finally emerges… with the chiming guitars that are strictly New York.” VILLAGE VOICE

CEREMONY Zoo

“A perfect punk band” FADER “One of the most furious bands on the hardcore circuit” STEREOGUM

Available at ABICUS (COOKS HILL) • HUM (NEWTOWN) • LANDSPEED (CANBERRA) • PHOENIX MUSIC (POTTS POINT) REDBACK MUSIC (WOLLONGONG) • RED EYE RECORDS (SYDNEY) • SANDY’S MUSIC (DEE WHY) WWW.REMOTECONTROLRECORDS.COM

BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 23

arts frontline

free stuff email: freestuff@thebrag.com

arts, theatre and film news... what's goin' on around town and more...

five minutes WITH

FABRIZIO MALTESE

How do you create a relationship with your subjects, especially if you are working within quite a limited time frame and have never met them before? If I could bottle the answer to that and sell it, I’d be rich. Each photographer has a different way of going about it. Personally, I don't like to give any specific direction but rather give them the space to see what they want to give me. People tend to be more natural and intense this way.

Who’s been your favourite person to photograph and why? An interesting session occurred a couple of months ago when I shot Tilda Swinton at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. She was great, very professional, and we took some photos of her in the outfit she’d come in on the plane.

But the Festival had to find her a traditional abaya at the last minute, because the dress she was supposed to wear for the closing ceremony was in a suitcase that got lost.

Are most film stars comfortable in front of your lens and has it been hard to get anybody in particular to open up? There’s a real challenge in finding something new about people who’ve been portrayed so often before, and portraying people who’s job it is to play other people. It is my challenge to try and show something that’s rarely seen: something of their own personality. Some people want to pose and hide behind their public persona, so it’s my job to try and get them to expose something of the person behind that.

Where do you usually conduct your photo shoots? The portraits shown in Sydney were all shot at film festivals, so there is always a good deal of improvisation regarding the location, which could be a hotel room, a terrace or a corridor. You have to be able to assess very quickly what you want to do and where and how.

Together with my assistant, I set up my lights accordingly and then we’re ready. Most shoots don’t last more than a couple of minutes.

Lauren Brincat

Who haven’t you photographed yet, that you really want to? The singer Adele. She’s not only incredibly beautiful but also has a mature sereneness and an inner glow that’s normally only reserved for people much older than she is.

She has such a magnetic presence and it would be a huge challenge to try and capture some of that in a picture.

What photographs will you be exhibiting at the Sydney Film Festival? 25 large-format prints of some of my recent work done during festivals, including portraits of actors and directors like Willem Dafoe, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, Woody Allen, Jeff Bridges, Wim Wenders, Tilda Swinton and Diane Kruger.

Will you do any shoots whilst in Sydney?

One of the fun parts of this particular exhibition is that I’ll be taking photos during the Festival and they’ll be displayed on a couple of screens at the Hub. So you can expect fresh portraits of the stars in attendance this year, giving viewers a reason to check out the exhibition several times!

Martin Place, March 31 at 12.30pm as part of Serial Space’s Performance Lecture Project.

And hey, if you’re the only person who turns up, maybe you’ll fall in luv. serialspace.org

Technically, it should be called ‘Sculpture By The Ocean’, but who’s going to get hung up on details when there’s HEAPS OF MONEY AND (maybe) FAME up for grabs? Sculpture

By The Sea, Bondi is Sydney’s favourite outdoor art event and the call is officially out for submissions for the 16th annual exhibition.

All Australian artists who submit proposals will be considered for one of the three $30,000 Helen Lempriere Scholarships to help you travel and study, and the winning artist will receive a whopping $70 000 prize. SBTS won’t settle in along our coastline until October 18, but submissions close Tuesday April 10. So if you’ve been looking for something to do with all those broken umbrellas you’ve collected over

Put ‘em up. Sydney-based artist Lauren Brincat has been arresting the art world with her fresh and personal video and performance works of late, and will present her debut solo show Shoot From The Hip at Anna Schwartz Gallery (425 Wilson St, Darlington) until April 21. Often carried out in solitude and presented as video documentations, Brincat’s early works were imbued with references to rock'n'roll music, and many featured her performing with various pieces of percussion - drum kits, snare drums, and cymbals.

Recent works, such as Hear This and Steady As She Goes, have seen Brincat document more private, intimate, and spontaneous moments. With her work now featured in the collections of MONA, the MCA, the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) and the Chartwell Collection in New Zealand (Auckland Art Gallery), this is definitely an artist to keep an eye on. annaschwartzgallery.com

HOT BOX

If you head up to the newly refurbished Strawberry Hills Hotel rooftop this Thursday, you’re in for a sweet surprise. Local burlesque tyrants Lauren LaRouge and Holly J’aDoll have put the strawberry icing on the Strawberry Hills cake with Hot Box, an evening blend of cabaret, burlesque and performance art. A cocktail of some of Sydney’s most accomplished burlesque performers, with a side dish of tasty up-and-coming talent, the night will also star Kelly Ann Doll, Pepper Grinde, Memphis Mae and DJ Swami. They’ll serve up an exotic tasting plate of delectable acts, along with some generous lashings of retro tunes to give you Sydney’s newest little performance soiree. It’s happening Thursday March 29 at the Strawberry Hills Hotel Rooftop Deck (453 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills). Entry is free – but dress to impress. strawberryhillshotel.com.au

LYREBIRD

A lyrebird is an Australian bush-dwelling fowl, shy and difficult to approach, with the remarkable skill of mimicking natural and synthetic sounds.

Lyrebird is also the title of Amelia Evans’ latest production, directed by Jemma Gurney.

A celebration is taking place on the blackened remains of a burnt-down house, three months after the Black Saturday bushfires. Cate, Henry 24 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

Written by Dario Russo and David Ashby (makers of the cult web series Italian Spiderman) this SBS commissioned comedy action series pays homage to B-grade TV serials, (amazingly) bad special effects and the James Bond world of girls, guns, espionage and the perfect recipe for a Fruit Madrid. Danger 5 has just been released on DVD and thanks to Madman Entertainment we have FIVE copies up for grabs. Just tell us what year WWII actually ended.

Danger 5

What: Fabrizio Maltese @ Sydney Film Festival Hub Where: Lower Town Hall, 483 George Street When: Hub open June 7-17 from 5-10pm More: sff.org.au / fabriziomaltese.com

SCULPT YOUR IDEAS

SHOOT FROM THE HIP

What better way to try and take down Hitler than dresss up as an exotic dancer at his birthday party? In this dangerously funny, 1960s inspired version of World War II, Hitler is still around and threatening world domination. But his days are numbered because a motley crew of international allies, also known as Danger 5, are on the case, scouring the corners of the e globe globe b to uncover his most sinister plans. l

this soggy faux-summer, how about you turn them into a weather protection device for the ocean? sculpturebythesea.com

COOL ART

The Canvas Cooler Project is a Red Bull initiative that will see some of our leading local street artists decking out eleven of Sydney’s premier watering holes with original artwork. Venues include Upstairs Beresford, The Norfolk, Hunky Dory, Bucket List and Lo Fi. The Canvas Cooler Project successfully debuted in London last year before heading to San Francisco for an exhibition at the famed White Walls Gallery. Now it is Australia’s turn.

Sydney’s customised coolers will be revealed at an exclusive event at Lo Fi Collective (Floor 3, 383 Bourke St, Surry Hills) on Thursday March 29. Featuring Beastman, Thomas Jackson, Roach, Numskull, Peque, Kerupt, Phibs, Well Dressed Vandals, Will Lynes, Brent Smith and Esjay. wearelofi.com.au

Freckles

and their daughter Jess are living in a caravan in this charred wasteland. Cate has invited friends June and Tim over for a ‘normal’ dinner, but the fires have replaced any normality and left behind a strange, unfamiliar world of ghosts and echoes, masked in vain by a family attempting to recover the past. Funny, vital and moving, Lyrebird explores the modern idea of the ‘Aussie Battler’ as well as the strange and volatile relationship this country’s people have with their surrounding environment, of which they are so proud.

Presented by Focal Theatre in association with the Tamarama Rock Surfers, Lyrebird opens this Friday night at The Old Fitz (Cnr Cathedral St and Dowling St, Woolloomooloo). rocksurfers.org

OCCUPY LOVE

At Occupy Sydney in Martin Place late last year, Nick Keys invited a bunch of friends to protest with him, but only one came. She was a babe and Nick subsequently fell in love and became occupied with her instead of the new world order. Soon after, however, he found a book entitled Love and Capital in a bookstore and he started to think beyond his own carnal pleasures and wonder what a political system that is able to accommodate love might look like. If that’s the sort of thing you’ve been wondering too, Keys is going to give a lecture on it titled Becoming Otherwise Occupied in

SHARK PARK

You may have heard that David Attenborough is coming to Australia in August, but with tickets ranging around the $200 mark it’ll probably be cheaper just to take your own walk on the wild side. For example, you could head to Oceanworld Manly – Australia’s largest home to the Grey Nurse Sharks. We’ve just learned that the latest addition to the Nurse Shark family is a two-year old female known as Freckles and apparently, she is settling in just fine. But what little shark wouldn’t settle in just fine, when home is a four millionlitre oceanarium, with neighbours like friendly shiver of Port Jackson sharks, spotted wobbegongs, very large loggerhead turtles and a stingray the size of a queen-sized mattress? All in all there are 42 sharks in this park and if you’re brave/dumb enough you can even go swimming with them. They let children under the age of four in for free. But if you think they’ll ID you, it’s probably going to be worth the $20. oceanworld.com.au Xxxx

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abrizio Maltese travels around the world taking photographic portraits of film stars at film festivals – and soon he'll be in Sydney, exhibiting his work at the Sydney Film Festival's brand-new festival hub at the Town Hall. He tells us about that time Tilda Swinton’s dress got lost, why he wants to photograph Adele and what it takes to get a celebrity to open up.

DANGER 5! DVDS! WIN!

LOCAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS It’s finally time to pARTy!

By Harriet Gordon-Anderson

M

illions of years ago, some dude wearing a bearskin thought it would be a sweet idea to make a pattern with coloured rocks on the wall of his cave. It feels like ever since that moment, we’ve been waiting for the new wing of the MCA to open, and that moment, thank the art gods, has finally arrived. Harriet GordonAnderson delves into what looks like a shit hot opening program of live performance art, curated by Performance Space, and asks the artists what’s in store.

Preceded by a tour of the show by artist Stuart Ringholt 6-8pm (the artist will be naked. Those who wish to join the tour must also be naked.

Adults only) “When we are naked in this world, we generally love being naked.” By hokey, this guy’s onto something.

Stuart Ringholt’s Preceded by a tour of the show… is an ambitious invitation to put personal fears and embarrassment aside and bear it all in the name of art, and by the sounds of things, for pure enjoyment. “When we swim at the beach without clothes there is nothing more beautiful than that… Everyone loves to wash; everyone loves to be in the bedroom with his or her lover, so when we’re naked, we love being that way, we really do. I want to bring that experience to the museum.”

Essentially an after-hours guided tour of the MCA’s new exhibitions, Ringholt asks that participants undress on arrival (shoes are an optional exception) and join one another in a “very quiet, very meditative and gentle” walk

through the gallery. He’s brushed up on the artworks and will be offering information and discussions about the pieces themselves that, when viewed in the nude, he says, take on a fairly personal and heightened quality of their own.

The piece sits somewhere between group performance and site-specific, event-based art that is documented only in the experiences of those who attend. “I’m asking a question of people: would you do it?” says Ringholt, whose previous artworks have focused largely on confronting his own fears and anxieties. “Once the clothes are off and everyone’s standing together, people have crossed that threshold, they catch their breath and they have to overcome some fear; accepting their bodies in a public way.”

Celestial Radio

by Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich

G IV EA W AY S

Just beyond the MCA foreshore, catch a glimpse of The Celeste: a sailing boat whose surface is covered by 60,000 inch-square mirror tiles. Not just a pretty face, this functional floating disco-ball is the home of Zoe Walker & Neil Bromwich’s Celestial Radio, which will broadcast site-specific sound works across the air waves on a one hour loop throughout the day. Interested punters can collect a map, headphones, and portable FM radio from a booth outside the gallery and stroll through Circular Quay, past the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens guided by the cinematic soundscape that blends music and locally recorded dialogues to respond to each section of the walking tour. The soundscape will focus not so much on the visible environment, but rather, on the aquatic wonder world of Sydney Harbour. According to the artists there are something like 570 species of fish in those murky city-hugging waters, compared to around 340 in the whole of Northern Europe. “It’s this other world that’s just below the surface of the water; this alien world where there’s potential danger and a great beauty and richness that we’ve only just started to understand.”

All the while, The Celeste is glinting on the

Val, The Invisible

by Julie-Anne Long If it’s a good day at the office for Julie-Anne Long you’ll completely miss her durational performance of Val, The Invisible. A celebration of the private and the everyday, this discreet movement work will occur in and around the gallery spaces of the MCA. “I especially like the areas like foyers and service areas, maybe in line for the toilets even, so I’m taking it out of the gallery-only context,” says Long, who delights in placing her dance works outside the theatre – even in private households. “I’ve always wanted to find new places to situate my work and it does seem like the dance label is a hindrance often. It’s not that the work becomes anything different, it’s just viewed differently.”

by Stuart Ringholt

What: Local Positioning Systems When: March 29 – June 3 Where: The MCA and around Circular Quay More: mca.com.au

Indeed the ‘viewing’ of Val, a quietly subversive middle-aged woman, might take some patience,

as her self-described ‘performative outbursts’ pepper a deliberately mundane and, well, invisible interaction with the space. Created as a kind of antihero to ‘Vlad the Impaler’, this is a warrior of a different sort, a woman whose accomplishments and secret pleasures need not be shared with anyone who doesn’t ask.

“I’ve done a version of this previously in a public space and the most confronting thing about it was that no one noticed me,” Long laughs. “That was the whole premise of it, to be invisible, but as a performer that was incredibly confronting.”

Dachshund U.N.

by Bennett Miller

Perth-based artist Bennet Miller has been busy working with dogs – 300 dachshunds to be precise. His performance-installation Dachshund U.N. has been hugely popular with audiences interstate, and now the undoubtedly playful artwork about risk management and the U.N’s Human Rights Council finally comes to Sydney.

“It’s more about what people make of the ideas,” says Miller, whose art practice sits somewhere on the darkly humorous side of politics, including his 2003-2007 mini-golf course that charted the Iraq invasion, Golf War. “It’s a bit rich to be a political artist banging on about how we should live… I think people do have fun with quite serious issues.”

Once the iconic half-moon amphitheatre is installed in the MCA forecourt, each of the 47 national delegates will take their place for a 3 hour

The Experts Project

by Lara Thoms

I want Lara Thoms on my trivia team. In the newly opened MCA library, this Jill of all trades will be sharing her top fifty pearls of wisdom in The Experts Project, an ongoing exchange of knowledge, obsessions, and unofficial expertise. For the past month she’s been

horizon like something from a fairy-tale or a 1970s concept album fed from the “maverick spirit of pirate radio” and it will travel to different points in the harbour throughout the day, “so as the boat literally reflects the scenery, the sound work equally kind of reflects, refracts and fractures the conversation which is the invisible element of the landscape,” says Bromwich.

This invisibility is a bit of a theme for Walker & Bromwich, whose works often harness a largerthan-life playfulness in order to explore “the space between what is and what isn’t possible”.

Lebowski Bash Australia D

‘improvised’ performance. And yes, they will all be sausage-dogs.

“It’s a well-oiled dachshund machine now,” says Miller, who admits the risk of failure was something that first attracted him to this live-art format: “I’ve become a lot more interested in working in public space and working with people in social sculpture… It’s probably been the most fun thing I’ve ever made, and people love it.” lending an ear to tourists and sales folk from around The Rocks, adding new skills to her basket before a three-hour presentation of her favourite tutorials so far.

Thoms first began the project over a year ago, and has since acquired talents in rabbit skinning, medieval history, bubbleology, polyamory, and making decorative toilet roll holders. “As an artist, often your skills set is so broad… I guess my own lack of expertise made me really interested in what others are doing.”

Accompanying her live performance will be some images of the process, which involved the connoisseurs photographing the artist posing in their own environment, dressed in clothing from their wardrobe in a bid to “inhabit their identity and style for just a moment.”

Head along to be a part of this new slant on the oral tradition, and who knows, you might just learn something.

WIN!

uuude. Crack out the White Russians, polish your bowling balls and check your rug for piss stains, ‘cause it’s likely you’ll find that your fuckin’ troubles are over. It’s high time for The First Annual Lebowski Bash and it rolls into Randwick Ritz Cinema on Sunday April 1 from 5.30pm. This is going to be one seriously cool do. They’ll have a Lebowski Tribute Band and a bar to cater for your choice of poison: Caucasians, Oat Sodas, and Sarsaparillas for all you Strangers out there. And it goes without saying, there’ll be a screening of everyone’s favourite movie, the 1998 Coen Brothers’ cult smash, The Big Lebowski.

We’ve got a double pass to give away. If you want it, email freestuff@ thebrag.com and tell us The Dude’s real name. Easy as pie!

Otherwise you can get your tickets from $29.95 (+ bf) at www.stickytickets.com.au/7275.

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of earth & sky [DANCE] Cloud Controlled By Roslyn Helper

“I

just remember standing there for what felt like hours, totally entranced. I got sucked right into the colours and to the placement of the totemic subjects in the sky and I was just really curious as to what they represented and what they meant.” Daniel Riley McKinley is describing the moment he walked into the National Gallery of Australia five years ago and saw cloud, the last photographic series completed by the late indigenous photographer, Michael Riley.

It was there and then that the 24-year-old McKinley, a Bangarra freshman, decided that if he was ever going to choreograph a dance work, whenever that might be, he would base it on these photographs. As fortune has it, McKinley’s chance came sooner rather than later, spurred on by an additional discovery: “After a little bit more research, I actually found out that [Michael Riley and I] were cousins, and that we came from the same clan, so it was that light bulb moment where I said, ‘Ok this obviously has to mean something’”.

However, as a full-time dancer, McKinley explains that he didn’t exactly have a lot of down time to go home or go sit in a park and just stew ideas. “The idea more just followed me around like a shadow. On tour we get bus trips and flights and we sit around in airports and all that sort of business, so it just sort of developed in my head until I built up the courage and went to [Artistic Director] Stephen Page and said, ‘Look, I want to create. Whether that be next year, whether that be in four years or five years. This is my idea, what do you think?’”

However, McKinley cites both Page and Rehearsal Director Catherine Goss as hugely inspirational, in addition to the Bangarra dancers themselves. “We partner and we paint and we do everything together for eleven months of the year, so I think that closeness ironed out some of the creases and made it a little bit easier,” he says.

[THEATRE] Mary Mary, Quite Contrary By Patrick Emery Bojana Novakovic and Tim Rogers

To bring the work to life, McKinley has taken his cues from the symbolism embedded within the photographs. One of the cloud photographs features a single feather against the sky, and McKinley explains that in the Wiradjuri clan in Western NSW, a feather can symbolise two things. “It can symbolise the connection between mother and child – like an umbilical cord – and it can mean a calling card for a good spirit. So you’re walking through the bush, for example, and you come across a feather and you know you’re going the right way, you’re being looked after and there’s a spirit in front of you, leading you – sort of like cookie crumbs – in the right direction.”

McKinley himself, certainly seems set in the right direction. “I hope Riley introduces Michael’s work to a new audience, and I hope the audience sees some sort of glimpse into the choreographic future of Bangarra”. Of his own future, this passionate rising star says, “To create more work is the bottom line”.

Artefact by Francis Rings and Daniel McKinley’s Riley make up Bangarra’s of earth & sky double bill, with music by David Page, set design by Jacob Nash, costume design

by Gabriela Tylesova and lighting design by Damien Cooper.

Late in 2009 Page agreed to program Riley for 2010 as part of a double bill titled of earth & sky, making McKinley Bangarra’s youngest ever choreographer. He says the transition from dancing to choreography has been great, though it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing. “The first week was quite hard on me, I felt ill, I didn’t sleep, I was just really anxious and nervous and this whole rush of all these different emotions and feelings was going through my body. On the way to work I just couldn’t keep still, because I knew once I got there I’d be making this sudden jump into directing my peers and close friends, telling them what to do and what not to do. That was for me, a huge learning curve.”

With considerable honesty, McKinley further recalls, “There were days when, after every rehearsal, I would just break down and cry thinking, ‘what am I making? This is horrible, how can I present this to Stephen and say this is my choreographic vision? That this is my choreographic idea?’”

The Story Of Mary MacLane By Herself

Riley

Novakovic says MacLane’s writing, like so many significant texts, has both a historical and contemporary context. “When I read her autobiography I thought it was contemporary,” Novakovic says. “I think the main relevance with today is that we’re now so obsessed with ourselves. We’re constantly putting out updates on Facebook, Twitter feeds and whatever else.

In a way, she was like the first emo or grunger,” Novakovic says.

I

n 1890 Louis Brandeis and Samuel Warren published their seminal article, The Right To Privacy. With the lives of public figures increasingly subject to invasive media surveillance via pages of magazines and newspapers, Brandeis and Warren argued that the law should recognise the right of individuals to be free from such invasive attention. Not long after, a young female writer by the name of Mary MacLane turned Brandeis and Warren’s thesis on its head when she published her titillating and salacious autobiography.

The Story Of Mary MacLane By Herself established Mary MacLane as a literary pop star at the turn of the 20th Century; unwittingly, MacLane also foretold the explosion in narcissism that would ride on the back of the digital revolution. In light of the conservative sensibilities of the era, MacLane’s book was confronting and controversial; the fact that it was written by a 19-year-old woman added further weight to its popular reception. “It sold 100,000 copies in the first month – that’s unheard of!” says Bojana Novakovic, the woman behind the book’s theatrical adaptation set to hit Griffin’s SWB Stables on April 4.

What: of earth & sky Where: Glen Street Theatre / Cnr Glen St and Blackbutts Rd, Belrose When: Wednesday March 28 – Sunday April 1 More: glenstreet.com.au

core. It was completely free psychobabble, but it had an amazing knowledge of the self,” she says.

Novakovic was also attracted to the readability of MacLane’s writing. “It was a story that was written to be read,” Novakovic says. “She wrote consciously for the public.”

Featuring music by Tim Rogers, the work celebrates MacLane’s life, writing and cultural impact. Novakovic came to MacLane’s writing almost accidentally. “I read an excerpt of her writing in about 2003 when I was reading some reference material on the works of mad people,” Novakovic says. “Her writing struck me to the

But MacLane remains a largely anonymous literary and popular figure in Australia, as Novakovic points out, “No-one’s ever heard of her… People are really shocked when they read her writing”. What makes MacLane’s story even more intriguing is the unexplained circumstances of her death. Having burst into the public eye, MacLane burned brightly before receding into the dark corner of literary history. “Her second and third books failed dismally, and it also appears that she tore up a couple of books – and who knows, those could have been amazing,” Novakovic says. “And no-one knows just how she died – she disappeared into obscurity.”

While MacLane seemed hell-bent on constructing and managing her public persona, Novakovic said it’s equally possible to see MacLane as struggling with loneliness. In this context, The Story Of Mary MacLane is a cry for attention. “Her story is the cry of a lonely soul,” Novakovic says. “It’s about how we fill our lives to not feel lonely.” MacLane was always the central focus of her writing, a narcissistic obsession that’s all too common these days. “She wrote as a journalist during World War I, and never wrote a word about the war!”

Novakovic laughs. Novakovic admires MacLane both for her courage in a male-dominated world – “she lived at a time when women were at best school teachers” – and her personal charm. “I do like her – I think she’s really cool,” Novakovic says.

While MacLane’s star eventually faded, Novakovic suggests she was born a hundred years too early. “If she had a blog, she’d be a superstar!”

Novakovic laughs.

What: The Story Of Mary MacLane By Herself When: April 4 – May 12 Where: SBW Stables Theatre / 10 Nimrod St Kings Cross More: griffintheatre.com.au

African Film Festival Australia [FILM FESTIVAL] The Spice of African Life By Justin Wolfers

Is it exciting to be showcasing African films that Australians might not otherwise be able to see? Exciting doesn’t even come close to describing how it feels to bring African films to Australian audiences! It is an honour to support African films and to contribute to a more diverse cultural scene in Australia, that allows Australian audiences to learn a bit more about the African continent.

Would you be able to give us a little background on African cinema for those that are unaware? I know that the Nigerian industry is thriving… There is a misconception that African cinema is relatively 'new' or has only existed since the 1990s. However, African cinema has been alive and kicking for the better part since the 1960s. Incidentally this aligns with numerous African states gaining independence.

To understand how colonialism has affected African cinema, Africans in various nations were outright banned from making their own films.

When you consider film making as a political tool, this creative expression would have given Africans the opportunity to undoubtedly attack and question their colonial rulers. Thus you can

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understand why African cinema has a relatively shorter history than the rest of the world.

Democracy in Dakar Democracy in Dakar photo courtesy of Nomad Wax

A

frican cinema has been a site of political resistance, historical reflection and cultural celebration for over fifty years now, and thanks to the inaugural African Film Festival Australia, we’re about to get a fresh taste of the complex flavours bubbling within the world’s second largest continent. Festival coordinator Samira Ibrahim sheds some light on what audiences can expect of a festival that merges so many contrasting African cultures into a dynamic, streamlined program.

Was there a particular focus for your choice of films to screen? The only focus in selecting the films to screen was that they showed various interpretations of what it means to be African; films that reinforce that Africa is a continent of over one billion people, and that it is not a country. These films, which offer slices of African experience, rather than presenting vague grandiose narratives of the continent as a whole, manage to challenge, question and decode stereotypical assumptions about the continent, its people and the African Diaspora.

There’s a night for African short films as well – what can we expect there? The African shorts session supports upcoming and emerging filmmakers from a number of countries including Australia, Uganda, Sierra Leone and the USA. These shorts dissect a variety of issues from posttraumatic stress experienced by soldiers and civilians, to the alive and kicking music industry in Sierra Leone, to a moving experimental animation bringing to light a tragic incident in Uganda.

Tell us a little about the role of music in African cinema? It would be hard to think about Africa without thinking immediately about its music. African music has played a huge and impressive role in influencing global musical styles. Music in African cinema has been used as a point of discussion whereby audiences can debate issues such as colonialism, development, activism, corruption, love, tragedy and more.

Films such as the classic Fela Kuti documentary Music is the Weapon paved the way for more recent documentaries such as Democracy in Dakar, which we are screening in Sydney and Melbourne. Democracy in Dakar is an exploration of the role of conscious hip hop in educating Senegalese citizens about political issues, policies and using music as a way to question politicians and demand accountability.

The Festival’s opening film, Restless City, is set in New York and has already received a lot of acclaim from Sundance Film Festival.

It seems that the issues of immigration, passion, and essentially just trying to get by, and make it – are themes that will hold

direct relevance to Australian audiences. Was it chosen partly for that reason? There is no way to describe Restless City other than visually stunning, but on a deeper level, it was chosen to remind or maybe educate audiences that regardless of the challenges that immigration brings, at the end of the day issues such as romance, relationship breakdowns and struggling to fit into a new society are shared experiences.

What: African Film Festival Australia When: Thursday April 5 to Sunday April 8 Where: Dendy Opera Quays, 2 Circular Quay East More: africanfilmfestival.com.au

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AUSTRALIA - 8 April Red Bennies Sydney Dendy Opera Quays//5Melbourne

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Arts Snap

Film & Theatre Reviews

At the heart of the arts Where you went last week...

Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.

■ Film

THE RAID

there goes the neighbourhood 14:03:12 :: The Tate Gallery :: The Toxteth Hotel 345 Glebe Point Rd Glebe

With a body count to rival the entire Rambo saga piling up in its opening scene alone, The Raid could inform a meaty dissertation on action cinema in the consumerist age. It’s not just the sheer aggregate of on-screen fatalities it manages to cram into its frenzied 101 minute run-time; rather, it’s the way nearly every one of these innumerable kills is individuated from the last with a connoisseur’s attention to nuance. It’s the kind of ‘overkill’ attributed to the cultural shadow cast by decades’ worth of shoot‘em-up/beat-‘em-up video games: Why settle for a mere five slayings, or ten, when you can have twenty per minute, all spectacular in their own right and – to repel boredom – performatively distinct (point-blank pistol blast to the temple, point-blank pistol shot to the jaw, knife slash across throat, knife stab into neck, etc.)?

The video game analogy is especially useful as it extends to The Raid’s grindand-advance narrative mechanics. The plot, such as it is, finds a squad of elite cops storming a 30-storey tenement in the Jakarta slums, level by level, on the scent of a merciless drug lord. Naturally, the place is teeming with lowlifes and scumbags, pushers and mules – guiltfree kill fodder – all of who seem to have missed some collective true calling as virtuosic action-movie stunt doubles.

The only thing that salvages director Gareth Evans’ follow-up to his modest international hit, Merantau, from its own highly dubious intent, is the staggering precision and audacity of its craft. Like Scorsese did for boxing with Raging Bull, Evans gives the Indonesian martial art of silat its definitive cinematic expression.

As grisly as this is, there’s no denying The Raid’s near-ceaseless hand-to-hand melees – and Evans’ methods of capturing them – achieve some kind of poetry through sheer, white-knuckle physicality.

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toffee apples

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Released March 22

16:03:12 :: Albion St Gallery :: 105 Albion St Surry Hills

Ultimately, it’s a supremely well executed, near balletic sustained massacre: the Pina of everybody-gets-shot-or-stabbed-in-theface movies. Take from that what you will.

Gerard Elson ■ Theatre

THE TABLE OF KNOWLEDGE Until March 24 / Carriageworks

60 years of innovation

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O’Neill & Monster Children present:

15:03:12 :: The Old Paramount Building :: 80 Commonwealth St Surry Hills

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

JURASSIC LOUNGE Tuesday March 27, 5:30pm The Australian Museum / 6 College St Sydney Jurassic Lounge has teamed up with the Sydney Comedy Festival to borrow their finest talent for a night of punchlines mixed with palaeontology, including UK gigglemerchants Jen Brister, Francesca Martinez and Markus Birdman and locals Rhys Nicholson, Cameron Night and Smart Casual. They’ve also got the Newtown Laughter Club exercising your funny bone with laughter lessons, an architecture workshop with building-whizz Stephen Collier, ping-pong, and sexy music by babe’n bands Bloods and The Fabergettes. Also on the bill is live art with BirdHat, Vintage Games and Acid Stag DJs. Tickets are $15 on the door.

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Political theatre can be about as subtle as a punch to the face, but the crew behind Version 1.0 have been around long enough now to know what works and what doesn’t. And if you think that constructing verbatim theatre around an investigation into a political scandal based in Wollongong sounds as dry and hard to swallow as a swig of cheap scotch, well, you’re sure-fire wrong.

Between 2004 and 2008 a group of powerful and misguided town planners and a cunning, bribe-wise property developer met regularly at a plastic table in a local kebab shop in Wollongong, which the media later dubbed 'The Table of

Knowledge'. It was here that a fateful web of lies, deception, cash-filled envelopes, sexual favours, illegal gifts, fraud and allround grade-A skulduggery was spun.

The play is constructed verbatim – with material taken from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) enquiry, tapped phone conversations, witness accounts and media reportage.

The industrially-styled set is scattered with large blocks of Lego, used for thematic effect as the show builds, and is a case in point that subtlety is certainly not the aim here. Funnily enough however, the overt political commentary that runs through the show passes off as effective narrative interpretation. This is bolstered by totally believable characters, the plot is engrossing and extremely well constructed, and the actors have an engaging and accessible on-stage rapport.

There is also a game-show type audience interaction interlude, and the script boasts a sense of humour that both ridicules its subject matter and saves it from being all a little too serious. (But it still is serious.)

The only fail is that aesthetically, the set design and multimedia screen don’t add much value to the piece (except for great use of green-screen at the kebab shop).

The visuals are remarkably poor quality and repetitive to the point of distraction and the colour scheme (green, red, blue and yellow) is a little too primary school for such tertiary school subject matter.

But in the end, when was a politics lesson ever nice to look at? It is education that lies at the heart of this work – Version 1.0 are here to tell us just how prevalent local government corruption is. And in that regard, The Table of Knowledge absolutely gets top marks.

Roslyn Helper ■ Film

THE HUNGER GAMES Released March 22 Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is a self-sufficient 17-year-old trying to keep her mother and sister fed in the poorest region of Panem, which used to be North America. The Hunger Games are a grand punishment imposed on the poor by the ruling class, for an attempted uprising three generations ago. 24 teenagers are conscripted in pairs from each of the 12 subordinate districts, and they must fight to survive in a high-tech arena until all but one are dead. Equal parts Lord of the Flies, Big Brother and gladiatorial contests, the yearly Games are televised, ritualised, stylised and commercialised as the Olympics are now. Classics nerds will spot the reference to panem et circenses, or ‘bread and circuses’, the political tactic used to placate the populace with handouts and gaudy spectacle. The Games serve that purpose both for the pampered Capitol population and also to remind the Districts of their brutal authority.

Many dystopian fictions are carefully extrapolated to create an all-encompassing sense of grim menace: Panem looks believably real, from the ramshackle poverty of District 12 (more Angela’s Ashes than Tatooine) to the splendour of the Capitol. The city’s look – a clever mix of Versailles opulence, aerodynamic futurism and vaulted Romanesque The Hunger Games

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

Film & Theatre Reviews Hits and misses on the silver screen and the bareboards around town.

grandiosity – oozes hubris and excess as only a doomed empire can.

The production values serve the narrative beautifully, and while some of the elements of the book are neglected – most notably the surprising flashes of dry humour – the characters are impossible not to root for. Lawrence gives Katniss a dogged undercurrent of anguish and hope beneath the obdurate, pragmatic exterior; Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right) is gently charming as her doeeyed, somewhat milquetoast compatriot.

The adult cast, (Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz and the glorious Stanley Tucci) provide varying degrees of scenery-chewing camp and intense emotion as required.

Director Gary Ross elides the physical violence a little, but then, graphic child murdering is a sure-fire way to rate the movie out of reach of its target audience.

The violence is plenty shocking as it is, filmed in a realistic blur of frantic motion and terror. Yes, there’s some kissing, and a girl on the poster, and it might break your heart once or twice – but it’s an unsettling action-sci-fi first and foremost, where psychological violence far outweighs the physical. So don’t even bother trying to compare it to Twilight.

Caitlin Welsh ■ Theatre

THIS IS OUR YOUTH March 14-25 / Sydney Opera House Sydney Opera House are pretty good at bringing the celebrity, but I can’t remember the last time they had a real tent-pole theatre ‘event’ like their ten-day season of This Is Our Youth. Obscuring the names of acclaimed theatre director Mark Brokaw and playwright Kenneth Lonergan, and rising Australian

theatre star Emily Barclay, behind a puff of ‘Michael Cera/Kieran Culkin’ smoke, the show sold out quicker than Kanye tickets – leaving a lot of young Sydneysiders wondering what they’d actually shelled out to see.

This Is Our Youth pitches its camp amongst young adults living off their parents’ money while entertaining delusions of slumming it on the Upper West Side of New York City, in the early ‘80s. Like an anthropologist thrown into a foreign land (or is it just an insider with the writer’s inherent talent for observation?) Lonergan documents the behaviour of this species, resulting in the kind of dialogue – equal parts slacker, stoner and hipster – that will raise a wry chuckle of recognition (or self-recognition) from most audience members. This is not the ‘80s milieu of Whit Stillman or Ferris Bueller, but a fusion of ‘80s materialism and ‘90s nihilism. These kids aren’t partying hard for kicks or to rebel but because they’ve got no ambition and nothing better to do.

Brokaw, who directed the play in its 1996 debut and 1998 remount, is possibly just dialling it in terms of stage direction; it certainly feels that way, though it’s also not the kind of play with much scope for experimentation beyond the actors’ performances – and even then, Lonergan’s script is quite prescriptive in the delivery of its dialogue, and provides the kind of detailed (and humorous) character sketches that belong in a novel. With these prescriptions and Lonergan’s keen eye for detail, it’s easy to see how much fun this piece would be for actors; but for an audience, what you see is what you get.

There’s no compelling subtext or character development, and there’s no surprises (apart from the fact that against expectation, Cera is the standout, albeit playing a variation of himself). Ultimately, we’ve seen this portrait of disaffected bratpack youth a million times before.

Dee Jefferson

Street Level With Imogen Kelly

I

Xxxxx

n the German expressionist sci-fi classic Metropolis, Yoshiwara’s House of Sin is a den of vice, where the rich, famous and powerful while away boozy nights, partaking in all sorts of illicit indulgences. And now, performer, curator and master of the sinful arts, Imogen Kelly, is bringing Yoshiwara to life with a new monthly night described as Womad meets Exotic World meets Coney Island meets Multicultural Day at Ashfield Park.

What is Yoshiwara? In the early 17th Century in Japan, artists and performers were judged as politically dangerous and so were restricted to certain areas. Yoshiwara was one such famous district in Edo, present-day Tokyo. People involved in ‘the water trade’, or night time entertainment, were confined to Yoshiwara. This would include comedians, kabuki performers, (kabuki was originally female performance art and akin to burlesque), dancers, dandies, rakes, teashop girls, painters, courtesans and geishas.

Who will perform at the event? This month we have Daniel Gorski (vaudeville/ sidehsow), Suzi Q (pole dance, Miss Nude), LuLu (burlesque fan dance), Iris Mayhem (aka Betty Grumble), Kael Murray (tribal fusion bellydance) and our feature artist is Indian classical dancer Vimala Sarma. There may be more to add to this list, I am still waiting to hear from a Chinese magician.

What are “sinful” arts? As a curator I have a penchant for the erotic, so you can be sure I will always include the finest servings of SM, striptease and erotica. “Sinful arts” refers mainly to underground and subcultural performance – basically anything hidden from the mainstream. I also include many of our multicultural artists, as they are equally as invisible. I try to curate work that deals with ‘sin’... the fighting off of demons, the story-tellings of mischief. For instance Vimala is doing a traditional dance about a goddess who likes to get naked.

What is your background as a performer?

Lordy, that’s a long one. I am Australia’s Queen of Burlesque, but lets just say I started in striptease, moved into the queer underground, then into SM performance, performance art, chorus line, traditional circus, sideshow, theatre, film, puppetry, back into striptease and burlesque... My work is informed by many experiences, teachers, travel and training.

What is your favourite performance genre? Well I don’t have a favourite... I am essentially a woman who has spent my life travelling as a touring artist, living in other cultures, learning languages and immersing myself in a fascinating planet. The most exciting thing about Yoshiwara will be the ability to see performance styles and pieces from other cultures again.

curates

What: Yoshiwara’s House of Sin Where: The Factory Floor / 105 Victoria Rd Marrickville When: Saturday March 31 from 9pm More: factorytheatre.com.au BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 29

Album Reviews What's been crossing our ears this week...

ALBUM OF THE WEEK THE SHINS Port of Morrow Sony

The path between consistency and evolution is a precarious one, but The Shins walk it with grace.

Port of Morrow continues on the path set out by 2007’s Wincing The Night Away – one paved with deft, subtle textures and, yes, “studio gloss”. But while The Shins are no longer cheerfully low-tech Sub Pop underdogs, James Mercer is still writing the same songs he was twelve, ten, five years ago.

Sure, there are surfy guitars (‘Bait And Switch’); earnest slacker candour cut with Sgt Pepper pomp (‘Fall of ‘82’); and exultantly squealing riffs (‘Simple Song’); but they never let the bells and whistles do the heavy lifting.

Mercer hasn’t lost his knack for twisty, affecting little melodies that complement his plaintive timbre, and he also dusts off his underrated falsetto; the

DANIEL ROSSEN

Silent Hour/Golden Mile Warp/Inertia This debut solo EP from Daniel ‘Grizzly Bear/Department of Eagles’ Rossen is remarkably inoffensive.

Your father would smile at the nod to The Beatles’ ‘Honey Pie’ in the steady plod and jingle-jangle strings of ‘Silent Song’, while your partner would delight in likening it to Elliott Smith’s ‘In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)’. That serial killer in the apartment above you and your soon-to-retire boss would feel soothed by the hymn-like ‘Saint Nothing’, identifying with Rossen when he so succinctly articulates the vacuous nature of faceless certainty (Saint, I don’t know your name / But your voice so strong / Speaks through the glass / Speaks through the ground / An empty phrase / A hollow sound) and feeling validated when this is further enhanced by the meditative repetition of gently spiralling piano and quiet intensity of sparsely beautiful horn work.

Your grandmother would appreciate that Rossen does not shy away from lush instrumental interludes. The neatness of the two tracks in triple time bookending the EP would satisfy your accountant, who would further relish the fact that the purposeful restraint by which they are characterised amplifies the resplendent climax found in halfway track ‘Return To Form’. Doubtless the joyously frantic agitation in ‘Golden Mile’ would resonate with your dealer – and your barista would say that, like Thom Yorke’s The Eraser, the influence of Rossen’s band of origin is easily heard without being overbearing.

Yet there is a fine line between music that appeals to a wide range of listeners and music that is so agreeable as to be entirely forgettable.

Unfortunately, the latter is more applicable here.

An EP whose pleasantness damns it to remaining indistinct.

Andrew Yorke

GEMMA RAY

Her last album, 2010’s It’s A Shame About Gemma Ray, was as complete an artistic statement as you could hope for. A covers album that took source material from everybody from the Andrews Sisters and Buddy Holly to Mudhoney and Sonic Youth, Ray subsumed these myriad styles into her own dark, dangerous, mysterious world. It’s such a great record that it is hard to see why she doesn’t stick to what she has dubbed ‘pop noir’, particularly when some of her other efforts aren’t nearly so engrossing.

Island Fire leaps about from genre to genre with maddening speed, from ‘60s pop (‘Runaway’), disconcertingly seductive slow burners (‘Flood and a Fire’), funerary processionals (‘I Can See You’) to whimsical numbers with semi-orchestral backing. And while Ray’s ability to internalise all these different sounds and styles and bend them to her will is quite remarkable, her unwillingness to commit to a particular aesthetic is frustrating for a listener; too often you are looking for an anchor to hold on to When Gemma Ray hits her stride she is quite brilliant, but too often you wish she would stick with one style the whole way through rather than constantly displaying her undoubted mastery of a whole range of things.

Hugh Robertson

The lyrics are as quotable as ever – ‘No Way Down’ is another of Mercer’s social-commentary songs, akin to ‘Fighting In A Sack’ in its obliquely scathing turns of phrase: ‘Oh, all of our working days are done/But a tiny few are having all of the fun/Apologies to the sick and the young/Get used to the dust in your lungs’. His neat assonance and playful meter always give off the impression that everything is falling into place, while the

RICHARD CUTHBERT

Island Fire Bronze Rat/Shock Gemma Ray’s 2009 debut, Lights Out Zoltar, won an Independent Music Award in Britain for ‘Best Eclectic Album’. This goes a long way to explaining why it is so difficult to pin her down and make sense of the music that she makes, which runs the gamut from Spector-esque girl-group pop to late-night Berlin cabaret-noir.

shyly sublime motif of ‘It’s Only Life’ will get under your skin in one listen.

He sings the woozy title track almost entirely in his highest register, as the arrangement spills over with dreamy effects and liquefied strings, softening the existential resignation: ‘there are flowers in the garbage/ and a skull under your curls’.

Recorded mostly in a holiday house in Tasmania’s Bruny Island, Adventure Bay Rock is an intensely intimate record; much of it sounds as though it were recorded with a single microphone, very late at night, by a half-cut Cuthbert.

Those expecting to find the same kookiness as his previous outings will not be disappointed: opener ‘Jellyfish’ wonders if life would be easier if we were micro-organisms; ‘A Thousand Happy Thoughts’ sees Cuthbert contemplating his life over a bottle of Jameson’s. Nat Martin (former CATNW choir girl and current Fabergette) lends her lovely voice to the equally lovely ‘Love Letter’, while ‘Little Shack’ reprises some of CATNW’s Play School-variety pop.

This is a simple, stripped-back album.

Acoustic guitars sit front and centre for most of the album, while Drums, electric guitar and piano all make an appearance – sometimes in full band mode, sometimes only dipping their toes into the songs for a quick cameo, before disappearing again.

The real secret weapon is his voice: for better or for worse, no one else sings like Richard Cuthbert.

Immediately identifiable, believable and refreshingly original, his wellspoken, semi-swallowed yelps make lyrics like ‘The Xs in your message always made me so happy’ seem totally sincere.

Cuthbert has delivered a fine solo debut. He’s proved that he can be as entertaining and emotionally powerful on his own as he can be with a ten-piece band.

Roland Kay-Smith

Bill, Dance, Shiner Spunk The title of Bearhug’s debut reads like a morning-after’s disjointed recollection of the night before. It’s a hazy reflection of the music itself, which manages to balance youthful abandon with a measure of world-weary sobriety. There’s romance and nostalgia here, but it’s the kind that knows good things don’t last. Because of this – or perhaps despite it – the record feels strangely timeless. There are obvious influences, especially of

30 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

the jangly ‘90s guitar-band variety, but it’s more tangibly human than generic pastiche, with a beating heart that doesn’t just pound the pavement for kicks alongside peers like, say, Yuck.

Opening track ‘Over The Hill’ is a scuzzy romantic caper, and a standout example of the well-harnessed energy Bearhug have shown they’re capable of on this album.

A few tracks in, things get a little more laidback, but only in thematical terms.

‘Cinema West’ is a breezy slacker ballad dressed in blue jeans (I just wanna sleep alone/I just wanna shoot my gun/I just wanna live in my hometown); while the gentle slide guitars and fragile falsetto in ‘Cherry Red’ are located in heartbreaker country.

Miike Snow’s selftitled debut was a masterclass in unpretentious dancepop that packed more hooks than Peter Pan’s prop department, and their second effort, not unwisely, aims for a more ambitious sound. The piano (or at least piano-tone synth) is still their greatest weapon, a perfect marriage of percussion and melody in one that imbues the clubbiest, iciest moments with an organic warmth and emotional resonance. The percussion is the locus for the most creative production flourishes – from hammering keys to the plastic snap and plastic crunch of ‘Vase’ to the razor-sharp military beat that adds starchy precision to ‘The Wave’ and ‘Bavarian #1’.

Incredibly delicate production elements are underpinned by feverish beats or pulsating undertones – the immaculate snare and plucky whistling motif of ‘Bavarian #1’ gives it an adventurous quality that contrasts with the lyrics, which are a candid warning to a lover: 'I can’t be trusted to wait on hard times,' is Wyatt’s whispered caveat, before a ropy, pixelated bassline and flashes of exultant space-synths nudge the mood from tentative to triumphant and back again.

There’s nothing else here with the slowmo sweat-whipping early-00s video clip immediacy of single ‘Paddling Out’, which is one of the best tracks of the year so far. Wyatt’s vocals, by turns barking and sinuous, climb along a staccato piano loop and a rampedup break that provide menace and catharsis respectively – cutting off at the end, just as it feels poised to drop another chorus, is an old trick that nonetheless works to draw your finger back to the repeat button.

Few acts walk the thread-thin line between emotionally resonant dance and smart pop with such inventive precision; Happy To You isn’t quite as successful as its predecessor, but the best moments are sublime.

Caitlin Welsh

On all the tracks, there’s an organic – even symbiotic – relationship going on between instruments and vocals, that’s more irresistible with each listen. Often the guitars seem to be having their own calland-response conversation that beckons you to join. Catchy pop motifs, pretty licks and flourishes and windy feedback scattered throughout the record are at least as engaging and evocative as the vocals – and offer an optimistic, sunny counterpoint to lyrics that lean toward the melancholy.

Honest, smart, well-written indie pop.

Maybe not a brand-new thing, but it’s refreshing enough to grab your attention, and worthy of keeping it.

Jenny Noyes

DR DOG

Happy To You Universal

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK BEARHUG

Caitlin Welsh

MIIKE SNOW

Adventure Bay Rock Independent Richard Cuthbert, the ringleader of the oddball musical circus known as Cuthbert & The Nightwalkers, returns with a debut solo effort, Adventure Bay Rock.

lyrics drip with the reluctant cynicism of the clever romantic; he twists and pokes notes slightly out of shape mid-syllable, adding a soupcon of unease to the sweetest tune.

Be The Void Anti-/Shock Philly mainstays Dr Dog may have always seemed anachronistic given their selfdeclared love of late-‘60s/early-‘70s music, but that hasn’t stopped them from amassing a dedicated fanbase – who regularly bestow on them ‘best band in the world’-type sobriquets – or from regularly slaying various US festivals.

The sextet’s last album, 2010’s Shame, Shame, was a quiet songwriting triumph for chief tunesmiths/vocalists Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman, with songs like ‘Shadow People’ and the title track being full of unassuming, yet glorious classicist hooks. Co-produced by the band and Nathan Sabatino, Be The Void is a more stripped-down effort than its predecessor – and it feels even more organic and cohesive as the result.

The rickety, slide riff-driven opener Lonesome, with its insistent, infectious ‘What does it take to be lonesome? Nothing at all!’ refrain, echoes The Band (mostly due to the uncanny vocal similarities with drummer Levon Helm’s deeply soulful singing), while leadoff single ‘That Old Black Hole’ boasts perhaps the most goofily joyous chorus of Dr Dog’s 13-year career (which considering the singalong quality of most of their back catalogue, is no mean feat).

Beautiful Beach Boys-meets-Big Starinspired vocal harmonies have always been one of the combo’s most effective weapons, and they deploy them with gusto on ‘Do The Trick’ and ‘Get Away’ – the wordless chorus of which recalls The Byrds at their high-flying best. Another standout is the lost-lovethemed ‘Vampire’, with its needling, vintage-toned guitars. Dr Dog still love a good ol’ jam, as the wigged-out 'Warrior Man' ably attests, but never seem to drown decent melodies in pentatonic licks and organ stabs.

Dr Dog are retro, and they know it.

Denis Semchenko

OFFICE MIXTAPE And here are the albums that have helped BRAG HQ get through the week...

POLIÇA - Give You The Ghost BUSTA RHYMES - The Big Bang TV ON THE RADIO - Dear Science

BIG TROUBLES - Romantic Comedy HERMITUDE - HyperParadise

Remedy

More than The Cure since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

COSMIC PRODS

Does Bruce Springsteen read Remedy?

That’s the question we’ve been pondering after last week’s rant about the fact that the man no longer speaks in his original rock’n’roll tongue.

It’s all just the bland being led by the bland kinda stuff, and has been for a quite a while.

Then just days after our rave he delivers a passionate, near-hour-long address at SXSW in Austin about the great romance of rock’n’roll, and some of his fondest memories. Maybe we prodded him, even just cosmically. Now, Bruce if you could just make an album to back up your wonderful rave…

SXSW WRAP

Speaking of SXSW, High On Fire headlined High Times magazine’s tenth annual Doobie Awards last week during the festival. HOF also played the Doobies ten years ago, when it was held in New York City at B.B. King’s club in Times Square. For us, this gave the lamest of the three blues kings some decent cred, at least by association.

CRAZY HORSE

The new Neil Young and Crazy Horse album will be out in June and titled Americana. As the name kinda implies, the entire work is a tip of the hat to another era. Some of the country’s classic songs, such as ‘Gallow’s Pole’ (which was tackled by Led Zeppelin on their largely

High On Fire

lame third effort) and ‘She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain’, get the galloping Crazy Horse treatment. “They represent an America that may no longer exist,” Young said in a statement.

ON THE TURNTABLE On the Remedy turntable is High Tide’s self-titled album from 1970, which has been removing skin and hair (not to mention hearing ability) from all over the joint. The trio, led by singer, guitarist and ‘60s punk vet Tony Hill and latter day Hawkwind violin-sawer Simon House, is a more musically challenging effort than its predecessor Sea Shanties, but was a window into what early Led Zeppelin might have been like had Jimmy Page played an actual violin rather than just occasionally using a bow on his guitar. Also spinning is Robert Belfour’s Pushin’ My Luck, which is a text book example of Mississippi Hills blues rhythm drone, delivered by a master guitarist who still treats his craft with such reverence that he plays in a suit, tie and hat. Like the best bluesmen, his voice sounds much older than his 72 years. A great shame that he hasn’t recorded in a decade.

CLASH OF EGOS

Man, will this be the clash of the giant egos (not to mention monster stage shows), or what?

Kiss and Mötley Crüe are going on tour in the US. The encounters between the ever-totallydrug-free Gene Simmons and Nikki Sixx, who has almost built a separate stand alone career around his party trick of turning blue, will make for marvellous post-gig fly-on-the-wall listening, we imagine.

TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS

DR FEELGOOD

April is going to be a big month for more reasons than one, with the release of a 93-track boxed set of prime-era Doctor Feelgood, featuring guitarist Wilco Johnson, whose crazed antics were not unlike those of AC/DC’s Angus Young. Titled All Through The City (with Wilco 1974-77) it’s the band’s first four albums across three CDs, along with a DVD and comic book.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD

PiL played a gig in a basement last week in London, in the lead up to the release of their EP for Record Store Day and their coming album, This Is PiL, which is due in May. The organisers bravely set up a Q&A session after the show that had John ‘Rotten’ Lydon being, you know, all angry and stuff about the same things he was all angry and stuff about 30 years ago. “I’m glad a lot of the labels folded,” he ranted, “they did new bands no good. If you have a good idea, someone will steal it from you in a flying fart second. We live in this world to share and share alike, and that costs money. If you want free pies from Pie and Mash down the road, guess what: the shop’s going to drop.” There’s something somewhere in all of that for us all to think about. We’re just glad he’s not our defence lawyer. Why there’s a Jello Biafra doll and not a John Lydon model is really a mystery for the ages.

On March 31, Solid Gold Hell returns to the recently revamped Sly Fox Hotel in Enmore.

They’ll be showcasing all manner of sci-fi celluloid, both good and bad – so expect to see the likes of Nude On The Moon, Galaxy Of Terror, Flesh Gordon, Queen Of Outer Space, Forbidden World, Starcrash, The Wild Wild Planet and the classic Barbarella.

A suitably spaced-out rock’n’roll soundtrack will be beamed out by special guest DJs, Toothless Yella (from Glitter Canyon), plus members of Sydney post-punks The Walk On By. Joining them will be regular DJs Demonika and Cutthroat. Sci-fi themed fancy dress is encouraged and entry is free.

The Sydney leg of Dig It Up! The Hoodoo Gurus Invitational on April 22 across four stages at the Enmore Theatre, Notes, Green Room Lounge and The Sly Fox has been further and finally expanded.

The last additions are the bright and very sunny sounding individuals Kids In Dust, who performed just once at the Sydney Trade Union Club in the early 1980s but appeared many other times (and with great

success) under another name. Joining them will be audiovisual collective Sounds of Seduction, plus additional DJs Jack Shit, Silky Doyle, Andy Travers, Nic Dalton and Stuart Coupe. The full Sydney bill is the Hoodoo Gurus performing their Stoneage Romeos album in its entirety and more, along with The Sonics, Died Pretty, Redd Kross, Tek & Younger, The 5.6.7.8’s, The Fleshtones, Kim Salmon and Spencer P. Jones, Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate), The Hard-Ons, Royal Headache, The Lovetones, Belles Will Ring, Straight Arrows, The Gooch Palms, Damien Lovelock and Kids In Dust.

General admission or dancefloor tickets are all that remain now, from ticketek.com.au.

Melbourne’s La Bastard, whose debut album of Roy-Orbison-meets-The-Gun-Club is out now on Off The Hip Records, hit the Sando on March 31 with Spain’s garage masters Los Chicos, Johnny and Benny (from Asteroid B612) and The Escapes.

Then on April 1, La Bastard and Los Chicos are at the Cabbage Tree in Wollongong.

Send stuff to remedy@ozemail.com.au by 6pm Wednesdays.

Pics to art@thebrag.com www.facebook.com/remedy4rock

sydney opera house presents The Black Arm Band Company.

Tri Nations Women’s Business.

dirtsong.

27 March – 1 April, 2012 Come join the gathering and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture.

Margaret & David.

Sunday 1 April

tri nations women’s business.

margaret & david at the black screen.

7pm. From $49*

Thursday 29 March

Wednesday 28 March

A musical journey through Australia’s heartland by The Black Arm Band Company, featuring Dan Sultan, Archie Roach and special guest Tim Rogers.

8.15pm. $25*

7pm. $25*

Leading divas unite in an intimate gathering of stories, chants and song. Featuring Denise Bolduc, Emma Donovan, Gail Maurice, Ursula Yovich, Moana and Trina Maniapoto.

ABC’s Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton delve into Black Cinema, commencing with a screening of The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith.

Plus, free events daily.

Media Partners Message Sticks is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.

sydneyoperahouse.com/messagesticks *Transaction fee of $5-$8.50 applies to all boookings except Insiders.

BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 31

live reviews what we've been to see...

WILD FLAG, LOVE OF DIAGRAMS Manning Bar Tuesday March 13

HOLLY THROSBY, BEARHUG The Annandale Friday March 16 Bearhug seems like an oddly effusive name for a guitar-heavy, shoe-gazing five-piece with super mellow vocals – until you see them live, that is, when their love pretty much spills off the stage. “I want to kiss each one of you on the mouth,” one of the guitarists announces. For a band experiencing some technical difficulties (they played pretty much in the dark and had amp issues), they kept it together and put on a good show.

When Holly Throsby comes onstage, tiny and softly spoken, it takes her a few tries to get the crowd to settle. But it only takes moments for her acoustic solo opening to command complete silence, as they crowd falls under her thrall. She plays ‘We’re Good People But Why Don’t We Show It’, from her debut On Night, and her voice is quite simply breathtaking – perfect, honest and heart-wrenching. Australia seems to have a penchant for producing these breathy, whimsical female vocalists, but Holly never comes across as staged or forced.

She’s soon joined by her two-piece band Hello Tigers, who besides drums and bass, play a variety of instruments ranging from mandolin and cello to xylophone. The three of them lead us through a beautiful, evenly-paced set. It’s always great seeing an artist who's not touring a particular album, particularly when it’s someone like Holly who has such a strong back-catalogue to draw from. She brings a few old favourites out for a spin, and delights Seeker Lover Keeper fans with a rendition of ‘Even Though I’m A Woman’. Throsby more than holds her own without her collaborators’ backing vocals. I would have happily listened to her for much longer, but she soon tells us it’s her last song. “But if you clap loudly, we’ll come back,” she explains. And back they came, closing with ‘Things Between People’ and finally ‘What I Thought of You’. It was a gorgeous, well-balanced show – these guys have really got it.

Romi Scodellaro

HERMITUDE, SIETTA Oxford Art Factory Friday March 16 I had been having daydreams of a packed Oxford Art Factory for weeks, full of smoke and sweat, with the audience writhing and pulsing as one seamless mass of humanity. It turns out that they weren’t daydreams so much as premonitions of one of the best live shows I have ever seen from an Australian artist.

Sietta’s set was almost the perfect warm-up.

James Mangohig’s beats are thick and full of flavour, and provide the perfect platform for vocalist Caiti Baker. Baker has a tremendous voice, strong and warm and able to convey superhuman levels of sass and swagger. Tracks like ‘What Am I Supposed To Do’ exhibit the symbiosis between music and vocals that make Sietta a cohesive unit rather than a producer writing beats for a vocalist. Even when they strip it down to an acoustic guitar Baker is able to hold the crowd in the palm of her hand.

Hermitude’s HyperParadise is a wholly electronic album, and it would have been so easy to hit ‘play’ and dance around the stage.

Instead they stripped their sound down to the barest elements, then reproduced it – one

When you form a supergroup made of members from Sleater Kinney, Helium and The Minders, expectations are high. An alreadyinvested fan base will want material that harks back to your indie punk and rock roots while also being interesting, relevant, and new. And Wild Flag delivered in spades with last year’s eponymous debut album.

So the only question remaining is: how much will they rock live?

Our anticipation is punctuated by the energetic sounds of Melbourne kids Love Of Diagrams. These guys don’t muck around, heading straight into a short and punchy set, rocking out, and disappearing. They’re sharp and to the point, and I’d love to see them headlining so as to get a bit more of a sense of them.

And then, Wild Flag. This fringed and frenzied foursome take the stage with a confidence and ease that shows how comfortable they are both onstage and with each other.

They spend the set shooting one another great big grins; it’s delightful to watch. Both lead vocalists let their own style shine through, with Carrie Brownstein doing rougher, wilder vocals – more rock’n’roll – while Mary Timony is calmer, more melodic. But even during more sedate moments, the girls are all bringing it, and the audience, which looks like a gaggle of Portlandia extras (including the crazy bike guy), responds in kind.

We’ve got plenty of room to dance, and that’s all anyone does from the moment Wild Flag start.

Onstage antics (waving a mic stand, flinging guitars) are just infrequent enough to draw cheers and applause each time. It’s nice to see a crowd indulging onstage theatricality rather than raising a cynical eyebrow and dismissing it. ‘Romance’ was a crowdpleaser, as was a cover of ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ by Bobby Freeman, but it’s hard to say what the crowd favourite is. One audience request sums up what everybody seems to be feeling: “Could you play every song from the album and a couple of new tracks, please.”

So yes, they rocked. In all an excellent gig, exactly as hoped and expected.

And no, in case you’re wondering, they didn’t put birds on anything.

Romi Scodellaro

hi-fi sydney launch

PICS :: JKM

MORE SNAPS p. 34

14:03:12 :: The Hi-Fi Sydney :: Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park

THE NECKS Sydney Opera House Sunday March 18 When I was a punk-obsessed teenager, my piano teacher introduced me to The Necks.

She passionately drew links between use of the mandala in Eastern meditation practices and the deep transformative potential of absorbing oneself in what unfolds between professional improvisers Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck and Lloyd Swanton each time they play together. I wallowed in boredom and persisted in the belief that if it didn’t feature prominent use of a double kick, lyrics about heartbreak/inebriation, a catchy melody and a three-chord structure, then it wasn’t music – and I wasn’t interested. Pearls before swine? You betcha, baby.

Thankfully, my interest in the spiralling interplay that occurs within The Necks – a feature so key to their live and recorded performances – increased exponentially as time passed. Yet I revert to a less articulate version of my teenage punk self when attempting to communicate why their live performance is so engaging. This faltering is not for lack of analogies: whether it’s concentric circles emanating from a skimmed stone, the dynamism of a rapidlydeveloping conversation between experts, or the intricate disentangling of a flower's petals as it opens, it isn’t difficult to illustrate the mechanisms of The Necks’ performances.

It is no secret that behind the piano, drums/percussion and upright bass respectively, Abrahams, Buck and Swanton transform into purveyors of the finest and most pleasurable tension. As evident in the first of two sets played this evening, The Necks are a unit keenly attuned to generating an intensity of sound, mixed metres and cross rhythms that will be bearable but not altogether comfortable for an audience. The tender, yearning calm of Abrahams’ dissonant opening ostinato anchors an hour-long set whose sound slowly and disconcertingly thickens alongside an ever-increasing pulse.

Concluded by Buck running a small cymbal over his snare that creates a sound imitating train brakes, the audience collectively exhales then gasps with the realisation that breath was being held.

Playing a more relaxed second set to a noticeably smaller audience, The Necks continue to maximise the range and capacity of their instruments, delighting in a playful generation, sharing and expansion of ideas.

But that which continues to escape capture here is what it feels like to be involved in The Necks’ masterful manipulation of performance elements that transcend language. This is, frustratingly and appropriately, exactly as it should be.

Andrew Yorke

sample, one rhythm, one beat at a time.

Right from the moment they emerged on stage with beat pads draped around their neck, launching straight in to ‘Engage’, the album’s opening track, it was clear this was going to be far more rock band than DJ set.

Throughout the show the music was matched by seamlessly integrated video projected onto four large screens. The set leaned heavily on the new album, but included some fan favourites from 2008’s Threads and even a track from 2005’s Tales Of The Drift. But, as a whole, the set was perfectly curated to act as one single, continuous piece of music that ebbed and flowed with a life of its own. Even when they dropped the tempo a little towards the end, it was timed perfectly, giving everyone a few minutes to gather themselves before the final, joyous noise of ‘Speak Of The Devil’.

Having spilled out in to Oxford Street, everyone desperately gasping for air after the sweaty intensity of the show, the only comparison anyone could think of was to DJ Shadow. This was genuinely world class. And as a realisation of one band’s artistic vision, this was as complete a show as I have ever seen.

Hugh Robertson

OUR PHOTOGRAPHER :: TIM LEVY

“Let it never be said that romance is dead ‘Cos there’s so little else occupying my head” - KAISER CHIEFS - The Hi Fi May 15 32 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

RES EATEST PLEASU O OF LIFE’S GR MARRYING TW

ND MUSIC GREAT FOOD A Y

Calling ts all artisand e iv L r fo Locals!

Contact: es. ott events@liz com.au

MARCH

YDNE LIZOTTE’SReS ” staurant in Sydney

tertainment “Awarded Best En

02 9984 9933

Lizotte’s Drum Media and Local 28 Present Live and MAR e 30 Rick Pric h Alfio MAR ight in Italy wit N A 31 APR a3 3 Alabam s edia and Lizotte’ APR Drum M l ca 4 Present Live and Lo APR Brothers 5 The Date

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OAST C L A R T N E C ’S E LIZOTT 02 4368 2017

tte’s Present Reverb and Lizo 28 Live and Local MAR 29 Rick Price ur Wilde MAR e J Holden & Wilb ki an Fr 30 Sideshow APR ma 3 - Bluesfest 1 Alaba tte’s Present Live APR Reverb and Lizo 4 and Local APR Chilli Crab Night 7 Jazz and APR glish 8 Jon En APR abelle Kay 12 Ann ll APR ika and Linda Bu 13 V

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tte’s Present Reverb and Lizo 28 Live and Local feat. medy Showcase MAR Newcastle Co 29 Gary Who Sideshow MAR ma 3 - Bluesfest ba la A 30 ilbur Wilde MAR kie J Holden & W an Fr 31 APR Price 1 Rick Sideshow APR b Mo - Bluesfest Ke 3 t Sideshow APR e Earle - Bluesfes ev St 4 Night APR zz and Chilli Crab Ja 5 APR Jon English 7

MAR

Lizotte’s Sydney 629 Pittwater Rd Dee Why

Lizotte’s Central Coast Lot 3 Avoca Dr Kincumber

Lizotte’s Newcastle 31 Morehead St Lambton

W W W. L I ZOT TES.CO M.AU BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 33

snap sn ap

up all night out all week . . .

shimshai party profile

It’s called: MyHeartSpace presents Shimshai (USA) It sounds like: A blend of reggae and folk infused with world beats.

Who’s playing? Shimshai, Murray Kyle, Noam Blat and Shai Shriki.

Sell it to us: Get your week off to a heart-stirring start, with this incredible lineup – featuring globally renowned musical prodigy Shimshai in his only Sydney show – presented by MyHeartSpace, who will transform Paddington Uniting Church into a community hub with delicious vegetarian meals, desserts and chai. Besides sharing stages with artists such as Joan Baez and Michael Franti, Sub Pop’s founder Bruce Pavitt describes Shimshai as “one of the most gifted performers I’ve ever experienced”.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The warm glow that comes from good people, wholesome and delicious food, and amazing music!

Crowd specs: Anyone looking to dance, move and connect!

Wallet damage: Entry $30 / food and chai (by She Bites) $10-15 Where: Paddington Uniting Church / 395 Oxford St Paddington

charles bradley

PICS :: AM

When: Monday April 2 / Doors open 6.30pm

16:03:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 9357 7700

15:03:12 :: The Standard:: Level 3/383 Bourke St Surry Hills 9331 3100

set sail

15:03:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711

PICS :: AM

pajama club

14:03:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711 34 :: BRAG :: 455: 26:03:12

PICS :: KC

first aid kit

PICS :: KC

go here go there #3

PICS :: TP

16:03:12 :: The Factory Theatre :: 105 Victoria Rd Marrickville 9550 3666

INA CLARKE :: ASHLEY

:: KATR S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER RGE POPOV :: ROCKET WEIJERS GEO :: CHY PEA MAS THO :: MAR

snap sn ap

15:03:12 :: The Hi-Fi :: Entertainment Quarter 122 Rd Moore Park

georgia fair

PICS :: RW

rock for reclink

PICS :: KC

up all night out all week . . .

15:03:12 :: GoodGod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 9267 3787

holly throsby

PICS :: KC

bloods

PICS :: GP

14:03:12 :: Beach Road Hotel :: 71 Beach Rd Bondi Beach 9130 7247

16:03:12 :: Annandale Hotel :: 17 Paramatta Rd Annandale 9550 1078

chaos party profile

It’s called: CHAOS – a fundraiser.

It sounds like: Joanna Newsom’s Ys in bite-sized pieces with hints of electronics and complementary dance moves.

Who’s playing? Jack Colwell, Rainbow Chan, and the Owlchestra, with orchestral arrangements by Hayden Woolf and Miles Horler.

Sell it to us: How often do you get to hear experimental pop with a live chamber orchestra? It’ll be a rare opportunity to hear Jack’s live songs in their proper, intricate orchestral form. And Rainbow’s music will be transformed into something akin to a dreamy mashup of electronics and the Willy Wonka film score.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Your spine tingling from the lush strings; Jack’s dancing and emotive voice; the phat bass in Rainbow’s songs being replaced by an equally phat bassoon.

Crowd specs: A nice all-ages crowd looking for something fun but a tad fancy.

Wallet damage: $15 concession/under-30s, $20 over-30s (with free drinks and free entry into the afterparty at World Bar) Where: Sydney Conservatorium of Music

INA CLARKE :: ASHLEY

:: KATR S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER RGE POPOV :: ROCKET WEIJERS GEO :: CHY PEA MAS THO :: MAR

michael rother

PICS :: AM

When: Friday March 30, 7.30pm

17:03:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711 BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 35

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

pick of the week

Elbow

Twomey The Basement, Circular Quay 8pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm

Brian Setzer's Rockabilly Riot

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Kinetic Method Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 8.30pm Russell Neal, Ben Osmo, Phoebe Eve, Starr Witness, Jake Bennett, P&A Dee Why RSL free 6.30pm The Songwriter Sessions Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 7.30pm COUNTRY Tim McGraw & Faith Hill (USA), Eli Young Band Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $99 (+ bf)– $249 7pm

WEDNESDAY MARCH 28 ROCK & POP

MONDAY MARCH 26

Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park

Elbow (UK), Bombay Bicycle Club (UK) $89.90 (+ bf) 8pm

MONDAY MARCH 26 ROCK & POP

Cambo The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Elbow (UK), Bombay Bicycle Club (UK) Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park $89.90 (+ bf) 8pm Unherd Open Mic Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm

JAZZ

Carl Morgan Quintet 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 8.30pm Jim Gannon Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm A Little Thing We Call Jazz - Open Mic Jazz: Various Artists, DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross free 7pm Monday Jam: Danny G Felix, Djay Kohinga The Lansdowne, Broadway free 9pm

Sonic Mayhem Orchestra Blue Beat Bar & Grill, Double Bay $10 (+ bf) 7pm Sydney Jazz Orchestra featuring Wilbur Wilde The Basement, Circular Quay $20 7.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Ed Zaidan Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 8.30pm Russell Neal, Senani, Massimo Presti, Dan Crestani, Kyle Dessent, Ella Nielson Kellys On King, Newtown free 7pm

TUESDAY MARCH 27 ROCK & POP

Adam Pringle and Friends Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Bondi Jam Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Dan Lawrence

The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Hue Williams Jack’s Bar & Grill free 7pm Jack Ladder, Tiny Ruins (NZ) Brass Monkey, Cronulla $18.40 7pm Mickey Pye Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 4pm OMG Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm The Road Crew The Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney free 10pm Russell Neal, Phoebe Eve, Starr Witness, Ben Osmo, Jake Bennett, P&A Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Switchfoot (USA) The Factory Theatre, Enmore $54.90 (+ bf) 8pm all-ages They Call Me Bruce Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 8.30pm JAZZ Jazzgroove: Matt McMahon Trio, Modern Mould 505 Club, Surry Hills $8 (conc)–$15 8pm Krystle Warren (USA), Piers

Angry Darts, Mad Charlie, Black Aces, JD Mo The Square, Haymarket $10 8pm Black Diamond, Mai-Anne Cat & Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 6.30pm Bombay Bicycle Club (UK), Megastick Fanfare Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $45 (+ bf) 7pm sold out Boy Outside, Faith Lee, Little Bastard FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Charge Group FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst free 1pm Dan Hopkins Taren Point Hotel-Motel free 7pm Dan Spillane Coogee Bay Hotel free 9pm Dave White Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9pm Flyte The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Gemma The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Goodnight Dynamite O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 9pm Greg Byrne Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 6pm Helmut Uhlmann The Loft UTS, Ultimo free 6pm Jagermeister Presents: Holly Who, Athena Serpentine, Not Like Horse, French Kiss Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm Jamie Lindsay Northies, Cronulla free 7.30pm Jez Lowe (UK), Wheeze & Suck Band Notes Live, Enmore $34.70 8pm John Cooper Clarke (UK) Brass Monkey, Cronulla $28.60 7pm Kingstone Flavas Valve Bar, Tempe free 7pm Live & Local: Matt Dewar, Trent Williams, Duan ‘n Only, Grimick Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $15 8pm Mandi Jarry Summer Hill Hotel free 7.30pm Musos Jam Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt free 7pm Outlier Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 11pm Richard Cuthbert, The

Fabergettes The Red Rattler Theatre, Marrickville $10 (+ bf) 8pm Russell Neal, Miss Gray Evening Star, Surry Hills free 7pm Sleepmakeswaves, Super Florence Jam, Meniscus Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm Slide Albatross, A Survey Hibernian House, Surry Hills 8.30pm The Study: The Daltong Gang’s Last Raid The Gaelic, Surry Hills free 7pm Taos, Senani, John Cheshere, Gavin Fitzgerald Coach and Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm The Thingos Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm The Walk On By, South Devine, The Chronics Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm

JAZZ

Brad Johns Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Greg Coffin Trio 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Anita Lenzo, Miss Gray, Tim Humphries, Don Christopher, Russell Neal Evening Star Hotel, Surry Hills free 7pm Daniel Hopkins Taren Point Hotel free 7pm Darren Bennett, Black Diamond Cat and Fiddle, Balmain free 6.30pm Greg Sita, Simon Paparo, Jaime Baquiran Cookies Lounge and Bar, North Strathfield free 8pm Helmut Uhlmann, the Crying Tree, Spike Thomson, Moorea Vittiglio, James Seymour The Loft UTS, Ultimo free 6pm Mal Ward, Gary Brennan, Thomas Cosgrove, Pam McGloughlan, Acoustic Groove Royal Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Prinnie Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 8.30pm Shooglenifty (UK) The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf)–$30 8pm TAOS, Senani, John Chesher, Gavin Fitzgerald, Mai-anne Coach & Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm

COUNTRY

Eilen Jewell (USA), Felicity

Urquhart The Vanguard, Newtown $45–$80 (dinner & show) 8pm

THURSDAY MARCH 29 ROCK & POP

Adele & Glenn, The 49 Goodbyes The Green Room, Enmore free 7.30pm Alexi, The Stukas, Gypsies and Gentlemen Sydney Livehouse, Lewisham 8pm Blues Pirates, Finn, Lucy Desoto, The Rockwells, Cletis Carr The Wall, Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt 7pm Bombay Bicycle Club (UK), Megastick Fanfare Metro Theatre, Sydney $45 7.30pm all-ages The Bon Scotts Old Manly Boatshed 8pm Buy A Brick Show: Sex In Columbia, Mannequins, Let Me Down Jungleman, Oyzters, The Laughing Leaves Annandale Hotel $10 7.30pm Dave White The Orient Hotel, The Rocks free 9pm Elevate Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10pm Evanescence (USA), Blaqk Audio Sydney Entertainment Centre, Darling Harbour $99 (+ bf) 8pm Hit Selection Duo The Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney free 10.30pm Hot Damn: Hands Like Houses, For Our Hero, The Sunny Side Up, Seek The Silence Sepctrum, Darlinghurst $15$20 8pm Johnathan Devoy Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm John Cooper Clarke (UK) The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf)–$30 8pm Larykan, Pocket the Ruby, Alex Horder Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Lovers Jump Creek, I’m No Thief, Geoff Drover Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach 8pm Marty from Reckless Coogee Bay Hotel free 10pm Musos Club Jam Night Carousel Hotel, Rooty Hill free 8pm Nick Lowe Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $49.90–$95 8pm Ollo, Bad Thougts, Worng FBi Social @ Kings Cross

“Watching the people get lairy is not very pretty I tell thee. Walking through town is quite scary and not very sensible either” - KAISER CHIEFS - The Hi Fi May 15 36 :: BRAG :: 455 : 26:03:12

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Hotel $10 8pm Open Mic Night Petersham Bowling Club free 7pm Peter van Sint Jan Gymea Hotel free 7.30pm all-ages Sarah McLeod Brass Monkey, Cronulla $23.50 7pm Spaceticket, Witch Fight, The Berkshire Hunting Club, 400KW Monsters Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $5 8pm Steve Tonge Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Stu Larsen & Natsuki Kurai, Candice Casagrande, We Are The Bird Cage The Vanguard, Newtown $13 (+ bf) 8pm The Suspects Marble Bar, Hilton Sydney free 8.30pm Timothy Nelson & The Infidels Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Vienna Circus The Gaelic, Surry Hills free 7pm West Tigers Home Ground Heroes Finals Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Wolf Call! Blues Inferno: Blackbear, Group, Wailing Wall, Death Square, White Knuckle Fever, Smokey La Beef, Wolf Call DJs GoodGod Small Club, Chinatown $10 8.30pm

JAZZ

Baecastuff 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 (conc)–$20 8.30pm Carl Dewhurst Trio The Gaelic Club, Surry Hills free-$5 8.30pm Lionel Robinson Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm Steve Clisby Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8pm Sax in the City: Jeremy Rose and Friends The Spice Cellar, Sydney free 6pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Andrew Denniston, Paul B Wilde, Cassie Judychair Kogarah Hotel free 7pm Battlefield Band (UK) Notes Live, Enmore $44.90 7pm Elle Harris Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 8.30pm Helmut Uhlmann, Simon Marrable, Pauly Vella, Josue Vilches, Kyle Dessent Mars Hill Café, Parramatta 7.30pm Krishna Jones The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8.30pm Ball Park Music

Linda Wood, Russell Neal, Mai-anne, Colin Pasfield Earlwood Hotel free 7pm The Wellington International Ukelele Orchestra (NZ) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $40 (+ bf) 8pm

FRIDAY MARCH 30 ROCK & POP

The Angry Darts, Mad Charlie, Black Aces, JD Mo The Square, Haymarket $10 8pm Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sydney Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $35-$179 (+ bf) 8pm Ball Park Music, Nantes, Cub Scouts The Factory Theatre, Enmore $17 (+ bf) 8pm allages sold out Bernie Hayes, Tom Morgan Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville free 9pm Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot, Lanie Lane Enmore Theatre $89.90 (+ bf) 7.30pm Brown Sugar Marble Bar, Hilton Sydney free 9.30pm Castlecomer The Gaelic, Surry Hills $10 8pm Chicks Who Love Guns, The Upskirts, Sweet Teeth GoodGod Small Club, Chinatown $10 9.15pm Courtyard Sessions: Jenny Broke The Window Seymour Centre, Chippendale free 6pm allages The Crofts Bambu, Western Suburbs Leagues Club Campbelltown, Leumeah free 9pm Crossing Red Lines, Papa Pilko and The Bin Rats, Rufflefeather, Vale of Ah Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm The Devil’s Arcana: Drowning The Light, Wardaemonic, Moon, Corvus Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Doctor Fungi, Skinpin, Rockethead, Barnzy, DJ Pawnography The Lansdowne free 8pm Finn Chisholm Tavern free 9pm Fiona Leigh-Jones Harbord Beach Hotel free 8pm Francesca de Valence, Morgana le Fay El Rocco Jazz Cellar, Woolloomooloo $15 7.30pm G3 (USA) Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park $99.90–$380 8pm Garvais Koffi & The African Diaspora with Pat Powell & Yannick Koffi

Notes Live, Enmore 8pm The Headliners Overlander Hotel, Cambridge Gardens free 8pm Heavy Yen Project, Leroy Lee, Enerate Sydney Livehouse, Lewisham Hotel 8pm The Herd, Thundamentals Manning Bar, University of Sydney, Camperdown $22.95-$27 (+ bf) 8pm Howie Day (USA), Brendan Maclean The Standard, Darlinghurst $33 (+ bf) 8pm Hue Williams The Tea Gardens Hotel, Bondi Junction free 8.30pm Ironbarkrock, Tunnel Vision, Rob Wolfe, Eric Blair, Mal Ward Hero’s Hill, Revesby free 8pm Jack Colwell & The Owlchestra, Rainbow Chan Sydney Conservatorium of Music $15-$20 8pm all-ages Killers Show Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10.30pm Lonely Kids Club Winter Range Launch: Fishing, Polographia, Thomas William, DJs The Backroom, Kings Cross $5 9pm Marshall Okell with Claude Hay The Clarendon Tavern, Windsor free 9pm Matt Toms Richmond Inn free 8pm MUM: The Mannequins, Vulpes Vulpes, The Belligerents, Glass Towers, Dirty Pretty Littles, Through The Forrest Door, Lyyar, Catkings, Sammy K, Smithers, Felix Lloyd, 199 DJs, Swim Team DJs, Jack Colwell, Rainbow Chan, Brendan MacClean, Peter Silver The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm Overreactor Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt $12 (presale)–$15 8pm Panorama The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm Papa Pilko & The Bin Rats, Rufflefether, The Vale of AH Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 7pm Pez, Mind Over Matter, Crotchet Crooks, Forbes The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $16 (+ bf) 8pm all-ages Rabbit Hole Masquerade Ball: Super Best Friends, Louie London, Tin Can Radio, Only The Sea Slugs, Rabbit Hole DJs FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $15 8pm Rapture Customs House Bar, Sydney free 7pm Rebecca Rocheford Davies Darlinghurst Theatre, Potts Point $38 8pm all-ages Red Fire Red, Neo Tokio, The Hungry Mile The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe $15 8pm Rick Price, Tamara Stewart Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $39–$81 (dinner & show) 8pm Royal Baths (USA), Super Wild Horses Annandale Hotel $15 (+ bf) 8pm Skinpin, Doctor Fungi, Rockethead, Barnzy Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Sticky Fingers, Kingswood, Ginger & Drum, PhDJ Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm These New South Whales, The Bogey Lowensteins

Chicks Who Love Guns

SATURDAY MARCH 31 ROCK & POP

Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Think Big Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm Through A Glass Darkly Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 8pm Timothy Nelson & The Infidels, The Bon Scotts, Evan and the Brave The Vanguard, Newtown $12 (+ bf) Tim Pringle Great Southern Hotel, Sydney free 9.30pm Tom T Coogee Bay Hotel free 10pm TonkSGreen, Leroy Lee, Enerate, Heavy Yen Project Sydney Livehouse, Lewisham 8pm

JAZZ

Jason Bruer Band featuring Kristin Berardi The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $15-$25

8.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 5pm Roger vs the Man, Date Brothers, Daniel Wetlinger The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (+ bf)–$22 9pm Urban Gypsies 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 (conc)–$20 8.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Well Connected Cafe, Glebe free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Diana Rouvas Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 5.30pm Russell Neal Everglades Country Club, Woy Woy free 7.30pm

COUNTRY

Eilen Jewell (USA), Felicity Urquhart Brass Monkey, Cronulla $51 7pms

1929 Indian, The Zebs, Archers, Little Napier FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm Alfio Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $33–$75 (dinner & show) 8pm Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sydney Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $35-$179 (+ bf) 8pm Ashs, The Watt Riot, Sweet Edge, The Last Cavalry The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe 8pm Bang Shang a Lang Cronulla RSL free 7.30pm Bree De Rome The Newsagency, Marrickville 8.30pm sold out Chartbusters The Three Wise Monkeys, Sydney free 10.30pm Cherribomb Scruffy Murphy’s Hotel, Sydney free 10.30pm Chopfest IV: Cobra Skulls (USA), Dead To Me (USA), Gay Paris, Totally Unicorn, Lamexcuse, The Gun Runners, Milhouse, Batfoot, Homeward Bound, Billy Demos Annandale Hotel $27.50 (+ bf) 4pm Dave Tice and Mark Evans Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm The Devil’s Arcana: Vassafor, Pestilent Shadows, Order Of Orias, Spire, Erebus Enthroned, Ill Omen, Crowned,

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

wed wed

25 28 Jan Mar

(9:00PM - 12:00AM) (9:00PM - 12:00AM)

thu

29 Mar

fri

30 Mar (5:00PM - 8:00PM)

(9:30PM – 1:30PM)

SATURDAY NIGHT sat

31 Mar (4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

SUNDAY NIGHT sun

01 Apr (4:30PM - 7:30PM)

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 37

g g guide gig g send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

The Belligerents

The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10-$20 8.30pm Virna Sanzone 505 Club, Surry Hills $15 (conc)–$20 8.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Well Co. Café / Wine Bar, Leichhardt free 7.30pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Escapes Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $12-$15 8pm Luke Koteras Bambu, Western Suburbs Leagues Club Campbelltown, Leumeah free 9pm Macson Coogee Bay Hotel free 10pm Marshall Okell, Chi Chi and The Go Gos, Chris Gillespie The Gearins Hotel $10 9pm Neighbourhood Watch: Made in Japan, Boats of Berlin, Midlife The Standard, Darlinghurst $5 (+ bf) 8pm Oscar & Martin, The Belligerents, MC Gaff E (UK), Nakagin GoodGod Small Club, Chinatown $15 9pm Pleasure & Pain Divinyls Show Blacktown RSL Club 8pm Souled Out Caringbah Bizzo’s 8pm Steve Edmonds Band

Dicey Riley’s Hotel, Wollongong free 8.30pm Stormcellar Jannali Inn 8pm The Stray Roots The Overlander Hotel, Cambridge Gardens free 8.30pm Tiger Widow, Glitter Canyon, Damp Vamp, Blind Valley, Space Ticket, Particles, Earth to Audio, Danger Dannys, Little Bastard, John Devoy, Fouulhawk, Bonez, Margot Diaz, Jesse Redwing, Jones Rival, Dead Johnny The Lansdowne, Broadway free Tin Can Radio Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm

JAZZ

Jazz Nouveau Supper Club, Fairfield RSL Club free 7pm Mike Nock Trio

Darren Bennett, Black Diamond Ettalong Beach Hotel free 8pm Harmonia, Just ADD Music, Miss Gray, Kyle Dessent, Russell Neal, Mai-anne Belrose Bowling Club free 7pm Jeff Duff Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 2.30pm Under The Purple Tree, Mai-anne, Alexis Sellies Terrey Hills Tavern free 7.30pm

COUNTRY

Cash – A Tribute to Johnny Cash: Stuart French, Daniel Thompson Brass Monkey, Cronulla $28.60 7pm Eilen Jewell (USA), Karl Brodie The Vanguard, Newtown $45 (+ bf) 8pm

SUNDAY APRIL 01 ROCK & POP

50 Million Beers Downstairs, Sandringham

Hotel, Newtown ACO Underground, Jack Shit The Standard, Darlinghurst $25 7pm Ball Park Music, Nantes, Cub Scouts The Factory Theatre, Enmore $17 (+ bf) 8pm allages The Bon Scotts Brass Monkey, Cronulla $13.30 7pm Bryen Willems Marrickville Bowling Club 8pm Cash Only Marrickville Bowling Club free 4.30pm Chris Duke and The Royals, The Gun Runners, Dividers Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 7pm The Dead Setters Royal Oak Hotel, Parramatta free 5pm Finn Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills free 3pm Hands Like Houses, Sound of Seasons, D At Sea, Wake The Giants, Highways Annandale Hotel $12 (+ bf) 11.30am Hardcore Showdown: Disparo, Taken By Force, Postal, No Such Luck, Black Sails, Break A Leg Valve Bar, Tempe 12pm Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Mosh Ben Ari (IL) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $55 (+ bf) 8pm Paul Hayward’s Punk Rock Karaoke Downstairs, Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Satellite V

v

Thursday March 29

LUNCHBREAK presented by Alberts

CHARGE GROUP // 1pm //

FREE & Broadcast live on FBi Radio 94.5fm

BOY OUTSIDE + FAITH LEE + LITTLE BASTARD // 8pm // $10 on the door

38 :: BRAG :: 455 : 26:03:12

JAZZ

The Arrebato Ensemble Camelot, Marrickville $25 7.30pm Freaks In Love 505 Club, Surry Hills $15– $20 8.30pm The Peter Head Trio & Friends The Harbour View Hotel free 5pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Brett Gedge, Lyric on Podium, Anita Lenzo, Russell Neal Salisbury Hotel, Stanmore free 2pm Michael Peter The Belvedere Hotel free 4pm Shane MacKenzie Cohibar, Darling Harbour free 3pm Slide McBride, Nick Kingswell Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 2.30pm

COUNTRY

Eilen Jewell The Vault, Windsor $45 8pm

www.fbisocial.com

L2 Kings Cross Hotel

Wednesday March 28

Marrickville Bowling Club free 4.30pm Steve Edmond's Band Catherine Hill Bay Hotel free 2pm The Subterraneans, James Muller, Ben Hauptmann Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 7pm Sydney Blues Society Botany View Hotel, Newtown free 7pm Velvet Hotel Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm

OLLO + BAD THOUGHTS + WORNG

Friday March 30 RABBIT HOLE MASQUERADE BALL: SUPER BEST FRIENDS +

LOUIE LONDON +

TIN CAN RADIO +

ONLY THE SEA SLUGS +

RABBIT HOLE DJ’S +

Saturday March 31

1929INDIAN + THE ZEBS + ARCHERS + LITTLE NAPIER

A SECRET HEADLINER! // 8pm // $10 on the door

// 8pm // $15 on the door

// 8pm // $10 on the door

Xxxx

Nontinuum, Sorathian Dawn Valve Bar, Tempe 4pm Doobies Eagles & West Coast Rock Show: The Barry Leef Band with Kimi Tupaea The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf)–$30 8pm Femme De Funk The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm Finn Pendle Inn free 8.30pm Grand Plan, The Cruel Kind, Retrovertigo, No Further Questions Sydney Livehouse, Lewisham 8pm The Hello Morning Marble Bar, Hilton Sydney free 8.30pm Homegrown Dundas Sports & Recreation Club free 9pm InTransit, Tunnel Vision, Toucanz Tree, Mal Ward Panania Hotel free 8pm John Cooper Clarke (UK), The Pop Guns, DJ Joey Jo Jo Jnr Hard Rock Café, Darling Harbour $13.30 9.30pm Joyride, Tigertown, Former Love, F.R.I.E.N.D/s Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm King Tide Blue Beat Bar & Grill, Double Bay $15 (+ bf) 9pm Kittens: Jubilants, The Griswolds, Kittens DJs Spectrum, Darlinghurst $10 9pm The Laughing Leaves, The Faults, The Shady Expedition Bald Faced Stag, Leichhardt $10 8pm Los Chicos (SPA), The Kill City Creeps, Johnny and Benny, La Bastard, The

gig picks up all night out all week...

APRIL 04 Sleepmakeswaves

TUESDAY MARCH 27 Jack Ladder, Tiny Ruins (NZ) Brass Monkey, Cronulla $18.40 7pm

WEDNESDAY MARCH 28 Richard Cuthbert, The Fabergettes The Red Rattler, Marrickville $10 (+ bf) 8pm Sleepmakeswaves, Super Florence Jam, Meniscus Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Beach free 8pm

THURSDAY MARCH 29 Bombay Bicycle Club (UK), Megastick Fanfare Metro Theatre, Sydney $45 7.30pm allages Nick Lowe Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $49.90–$95 8pm

TonkSGreen, Leroy Lee, Enerate, Heavy Yen Project Sydney Livehouse, Lewisham 8pm

SATURDAY MARCH 31

9 6 @ ( 3 / , ( + ( * / ,

Chopfest IV: Cobra Skulls (USA), Dead To Me (USA), Gay Paris, Totally Unicorn, Lamexcuse, The Gun Runners, Milhouse, Batfoot, Homeward Bound, Billy Demos Annandale Hotel $27.50 (+ bf) 4pm

+ +

BETTY AIRS

Neighbourhood Watch: Made in Japan, Boats of Berlin, Midlife The Standard, Darlinghurst $5 (+ bf) 8pm

APRIL 11

Locals Only: Tiger Widow, Glitter Canyon, Damp Vamp, Blind Valley, Space Ticket, Particles, Eath to Audio, Danger Dannys, Little Bastard, John Devoy, Fouulhawk, Bonez, Margot Diaz, Jesse Redwing, Jones Rival, Dead Johnny The Lansdowne, Broadway free

SUNDAY APRIL 1

FRIDAY MARCH 30

ACO Underground, Jack Shit The Standard, Darlinghurst $25 7pm

Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot, Lanie Lane Enmore Theatre $89.90 (+ bf) 7.30pm

Ball Park Music, Nantes, Cub Scouts The Factory Theatre, Marrickville $17 (+ bf) 8pm all-ages

+

APRIL 18

Chicks Who Love Guns, The Upskirts, Sweet Teeth GoodGod Small Club, Chinatown $10 9.15pm G3 (USA) Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park $99.90– $380 8pm Jack Colwell & The Owlchestra, Rainbow Chan Sydney Conservatorium of Music $15$20 8pm all-ages Rabbit Hole Masquerade Ball: Super Best Friends, Louie London, Tin Can Radio, Only The Sea Slugs, Rabbit Hole DJs FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $15 8pm

+ Jack Ladder

APRIL 25

VANSHE + + SWIMWEAR

Bombay Bicycle Club

BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 39

40 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

BRAG’s guide to dance, hip hop and club culture

brag beats free stuff

dance music news club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery

five things WITH

JOYRIDE

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

JOAKIM X FUTURE CLASSIC

Frenchman Jimi Bazzouka, aka Joakim, will release his forthcoming Labyrinth EP through Sydney’s own Future Classic label. Future Classic have been working with the Tigersushi head honcho in Australia for some time now, touring him Down Under. For anyone who hasn’t been exposed as of yet, Joakim comes from a classical and jazz music background, and has established himself as one of the more quirky and eclectic producers in the electronic scene. His sonic CV includes remixes of everyone from JJ Cale, Annie and Fischerspooner to Röyksopp and Tiga. And on the subject of remixes, Labyrinth features a number of them: a lush analog slow-burner from Canadian duo and Domino Records regulars the Junior Boys, an even slower melodic mix from UK producer Lone and a ‘dirty’ arpeggiated number from Deadstock 33s and Stopmakingme. The EP is out this week digitally, and is already available on wax.

Freestylers

ELECTRIC EMPIRE

Melbourne three-piece Electric Empire play The Standard on Saturday April 28 in support of the deluxe re-release of their self-funded/ self-penned/self-titled debut album, which now includes bonus tracks and remixes.

After supporting the likes of The Brand New Heavies, Fat Freddy’s Drop and Mayer Hawthorne, the trio have begun headlining their own shows on the back of critical acclaim for their funked-up brand of “out’n’out feelgood soul”. The deluxe edition of their debut album comes replete with the brand-new single ‘Yes I Will’, and remixes of the ‘Baby Your Lovin’ by Smoove and Chris Bangs.

Presale tickets to see Electric Empire can be procured online.

SOSUEME TURNS 5

Renowned local party brand Sosueme is celebrating its fifth birthday at the Beresford Hotel on ANZAC Day Eve, Tuesday April 24.

The lineup for the birthday bash features a smorgasbord of DJs, including yesyou (making their Sydney debut), Alison Wonderland, Elizabeth Rose, Joyride, Brendan Maclean, Block Ness Monsters and the Sosueme DJs themselves among others. Doors open at 6pm, with $10 presale tickets available online.

Growing Up Mum gave me a keyboard for my 5th 1. birthday. Only now am I realising the kind of

The Music You Make Hip hop-inspired soul, some would say. I 4. like to think I make music to make <3 to. Or at

pain I must’ve inflicted on my folks as I played the demo for ‘A Whole New World’ repeatedly.

That said, they brought it on themselves.

Idiots. <3 you mum and dad xoxo.

least that’s what a couple of my friends have told me. It’s nice to be a part of something like that.

2.

Inspirations The other members of the One Day family (Spit Syndicate/Horrorshow/Joyride) are my main inspiration. When those closest to you are doing so well on and off the field, all you can do is try and keep up. But that said, it’s a game of two halves, and it’s not over ‘til the final whistle is blown.

Your Crew As mentioned above, the One Dayers 3. are my ‘crew’. Good dudes, on the whole.

They really put in 110% and give it their all. I also play with The Accidents, a young group of misfits trying to find their way in a helpless world. Good-looking bunch. I play bass with Winter People also. Not as good-looking, but more talented.

SUPAFEST ADDS LUDACRIS

Two final artists have been added to the already bourgeoning bill for Supafest 2012: T-Pain and Ludacris. T-Pain is still basking in the success of his recent single ‘5 O’Clock’, featuring Wiz Khalifa and Lily Allen, which topped the Aussie charts. Ludacris meanwhile is heading to our shores on the back of the release of his 8th studio album, Battle Of The Sexes. The pair join a lineup that includes the one and only Missy Elliott, the uber-successful Grammy Awardwinning trio Naughty By Nature, Chris Brown, Big Sean, P. Diddy, Kelly Rowland, Lupe Fiasco, Rick Ross, Ice Cube and Trey Songz.

Supafest 2012 is slotted for Sunday April 15 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. $149 GA tickets are currently available online.

GARDEN PARTY

Jam Music and Chinese Laundry are evolving their infamous Garden Party format into the ivy this weekend, bringing you all the same garden-y, day-party goodness, just an extra hop, skip and a jump towards the CBD. They’ll be warming house this Saturday March 31 with a little help from veteran UK breakbeat duo the Freestylers (which the old-school will know for ‘Ruffneck’ and the rest of you punks for ‘Push Up’) fellow Brit Boy 8-Bit and German breakbeat maven Marten Hørger. Thanks to Jam Music, we have five doubles up for grabs – to get your hands on one, just tell us Boy 8-Bit’s birth name (psst we interviewed him somewhere over the page).

Oscar + Martin

Music, Right Here, Right Now The live venue resurgence in Sydney 5. is exciting. The Standard, the Hi-Fi and Beresford Upstairs are adding to an already stellar cast of venues that mean that people have decent rooms to play in again. This, in turn, forces the quality up, I think. Don’t be surprised if in five years time there are indie labels that can stay afloat for more than a year.

With: Tiger Town, Former Lover, F.R.I.E.N.D/s DJs What: Joyride’s LIVE debut Where: Upstairs Beresford When: Saturday March 31 from 9pm Entry: free

OLLO @ FBI SOCIAL

This Thursday night at FBi Social, ollo are set to show off their new live lineup, comprised of Alex Crowfoot, the Herd’s Dale Harrison, Pere Chiara and Sofie Loizou, with a live performance. The night will also feature the Sydney debut of two Melbourne bands, Bad Thoughts and Worng, while Crowfoot and Loizu will be hanging round after their live performance and playing - from a mixture of vinyl, CD and cassette – some of the music that has inspired the new ollo album, Discoteca Del Hielo (‘Icy Disco’). Apparently, we can expect to hear a range of “ultra rare coldwave, minimal synth, and German new wave records”. Doors open 8pm at the Kings Cross Hotel on William Street, entry is $10.

HAND GAMES

Alright, whatever you thought you were doing March 31 is now cancelled. Cross that entry off in your diary, rip out the page and burn it. Then scribble “Hand Games launch, March 31 at GoodGod” on your bedroom wall. You cannot afford to miss the launch party of this new live agency, featuring visual film displays, dancers, and an embarrassment of live riches, which include Melbourne favourite Oscar + Martin, triple j’s latest Brissy crush The Belligerents and UK-based Sydney expat MC Gaff E, with Hand Games’ very own (they claimed him, you can’t have him) Nakagin supplying the beats for her performance. Hit up moshtix for second release tickets if you want in.

(You do want in; remember the bedroom wall scribble?)

BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 41

dance music news

free stuff

club, dance and hip hop in brief... with Chris Honnery

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

The Herd

LE BROND The Music You play I generally play house/deep house/tech 4. house and a little techno. I am attracted to a more stripped-back sound, keeping it deep and groovy. But a good tune is good tune – if I like it, I’ll play it. At the moment I’m enjoying sounds from Avatism, Kris Wadsworth, Tornado Wallace, Nitin, Nina Kraviz, Matthew Burton, John Talabot, Terranova, Pearson Sound... So much great music around.

Music, Right Here, Right Now Overall, I think the scene is strong with 5. a lot of great international acts coming to our

Growing Up I would be lying if I said I grew up in a 1. ‘musical family’ (with the exception of my bro).

I wish I could talk about my ‘classical roots’, but unfortunately not. Of course we listened to music, but my parents were not musos. It wasn’t until I was 14 or 15 that I started to realise that the area I was growing up in was not exactly a pool of inspiration, but this encouraged me to peak outside the box. In some ways, this is how I approach my music as well.

Inspirations The first time I heard these albums all 2. those years ago, I knew I was headed in the right direction (and they still resonate with me today): Dub Taylor – Detect (2001); Tyler Stadius – Necessary Pieces 2 (2000); Andrew Wetherall – Hypercity (2000). People who just do their

own thing and do it for years inspire me (Phil Smart comes to mind). My friends/fellow DJs also inspire me in the same way.

Your Crew The crew who have influenced me with 3. respect to my DJing are Matt Aubusson, Declan Lee, Ben Korbel, Dave Choe, Oliver A, Gregory Lambert and my brother Glen. These guys have been close friends for many years. They have given me inspiration, opportunities and encouragement with my DJing that I’m very appreciative of. I met these degenerates at kickons, in Paris, down dark alleys, on Oxford St, at parties I cant remember, at places I can’t forget.

We have all travelled around the world to find the music that we liked, crossing paths along the way, connected through our love of good music and of course good times…

shores. With more people travelling overseas more frequently, they are being exposed to amazing parties such as Sonar, BPM, Burning Man etc. Kids are becoming more savvy and discerning with respect to their musical tastes, with is reflected in the popularity of those festivals and to some extent the parties and festivals here in Australia. The Spice Cellar, AGWA Boat cruises, Circoloco, SASH, One22, Loosekaboose, Mad Racket, Seasoned Music parties, Chemistry parties, and Future Classic parties have all been amazing over the last few months and good sign that the scene is going With: Murat Kilic, Robbie Lowe, YokoO, Nic Scali Where: The Spice Cellar / 58 Elizabeth St, CBD When: Saturday March 31

THE HERD

The Herd are back on the road with their Thousand Lives tour, and Ozi Batla is finally back at full strength after the Christmas Eve bike accident that left him in hospital with totally awesome grills his jaw wired shut. (But was it really an accident, or did tourmates Thundamentals have something to do with it? Check out their web series on YouTube to get to the bottom of the mystery...) And catch them at Manning Bar this Friday March 30, with Thundamentals and Sky’High in support. To win one of two double passes, tell us who (or what) you think you were in a past life...

NICOLAS JAAR Efdemin

Highly touted American-Chilean electronic musician Nicolas Jaar has formed an ‘all-purpose music oriented company’ called Clown & Sunset Aesthetics, and plans to issue its first product come May. The product in question is referred to as ‘The Prism’, and is reportedly a palm-sized cube that will contain music by Jaar and some of his CSA collaborators. The object has two headphone jacks, with the intention to make this a unique shared listening experience (“to reconsider the relationship between listener and music”). What’s more, a beam of light will emit from the jack not being used! The Prism will be released on May 1, and will come preloaded with a compilation of tracks from Valentin Stip, Just Friends and Jaar himself, among others. You can pre-order it for $40 through csa.fm

N’FA JONES

EFDEMIN

One of the preeminent producers in house and techno oeuvres, Efdemin, will play an extended set in the intimate confines of One22 (located behind 122 Pitt St) this Friday as part of his maiden Australia tour. Hailing from Germany, Efdemin established himself in the club canon with the release of his first LP on the Dial imprint back in ‘07, which explored what Resident Advisor described as “that lovely place between dancing and dreaming”. The following year Efdemin released the mix CD Carry On, Pretend We’re Not in the Room, a compilation which captured the effortless sense of panorama that oozes from an Efdemin DJ set in traversing cuts from the likes of Brothers’ Vibe, Surgeon, Minilogue and Photek. In 2010 Efdemin released his second LP, Chicago, which was lauded as one of the best electronic LPs of the year and spawned remixes from the likes of Fred P, Deadbeat and DJ Koze, the latter ultilising a sample from the movie Basquiat to brilliant effect in a memorable remix.

Presale tickets can be purchased through Resident Advisor, and $25 tickets will be available on the door.

42 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

Frontman of genre bending Australian hip hop collaboration 1200 Techniques, N’fa Jones is set to launch his brand new solo EP Babylondon with a show at The Factory Floor, Marrickville on Thursday April 12. Six years in the making, Babylondon includes recent single ‘Wayooy’, which featured Roots Manuva and M-Phazes, and the cut ‘7 Seconds’ with Neneh Cherry’s daughter, Tyson McVey. Babylondon also coincides with the release of N’fa Jones’ new single ‘March On’, which was co-written by Bass Kleph. Support on the night will include a performance from Tom Showtime, whose debut album The Jam Thief is set for release in April through Obese Records.

COME TOGETHER SELLS OUT

Tickets for this year’s instalment of Come Together – Sydney’s annual long-weekend all-Aussie hip hop festival at The Big Top Luna Park – have now officially sold out. Those who secured tickets can look forward to enjoying Melbourne rapper 360, acclaimed duo Horrorshow, last week’s coverstars Hermitude (read our review of their OAF show on page 32 and weep/fist pump depending on whether you got aforementioned tix), Seth Sentry, Koolism, Thundamentals, Scryptcha, Purpose and Bam Bam all throwing down, among others. And for anyone who missed out, bookmark cometogether.com.au to help ensure that you’re quicker on the draw next year.

STIMMING @ ABERCROMBIE

Hamburg producer Stimming, a lynchpin of the Diynamic Music label, will play a live set as the headline attraction of Subsonic and Chemistry’s End Of The Line Long Weekend Easter Monday bash on April 9 at The Abercrombie. Stimming has remixed electronic music deities such as Luomo, Sascha Funke and Nina Kraviz, while steadily releasing EPs that continue to garner critical and dancefloor accolades for offering evocative house grooves. His sophomore album, Liquorice, dropped last year, with the folk at fabric nightclub describing it as “a propulsive dive into the headspace of a producer whose hankering for slowed down electronic groove is unparalleled outside of producers like Nicolas Jaar” (who also

Atmosphere

ATMOSPHERE + EVIDENCE: RETURN TO OZ

Powerhouse American indie hip hop label Rhymesayers are teaming up with locals TrentSlingshot and the Hi-Fi to present hip hop royalty Atmosphere in a double bill with Evidence from Dilated Peoples. Known for their knockout live shows (as anyone who was at their Days Like This! 2009 show will attest) Atmosphere represent an oldschool hip hop sensibility, sampling everything from old soul and jazz to their own custom-made cuts. And they have an album called When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold – which is so, like, true. (And yes, they’re bringing the full live band for this trip.) Evidence, meanwhile, hails from the criminally under-sung group Dilated Peoples, responsible for razor-sharp, socially-conscious and criminally danceable hip hop. This double-dose of hip hop heaven will be hitting Sydney’s Hi-Fi on May 12, and tickets are on sale already... So why are you still reading?

features in dance news this week). A hefty support cast of DJs will be throwing down over two areas outside and inside the venue, including Future Classic’s Jimi Polar, Mad Racket mainman Simon Caldwell, highly touted Melbourne DJ Volta, and Defined By Rhythm. The beats commence at midday, and are set to run till well past midnight (as those who attended the last End Of The Line bash, featuring Adultnapper, will attest). Presale tickets are available online.

BAD VIBES

Jam Music announced last week that its Good Vibrations Festival will be rested for 2012. Citing competitive demand for artists resulting in higher artist fees, unpredictable weather and a shifting live music market, Good Vibrations Festival owner and CEO Justin Hemmes confirmed, “We will not be going ahead with the Festival this year.

We will be in touch in due course regarding plans for 2013.” Following on from the cancellation of Playground Weekender 2012, and the ensuing revelation that PW was not insured for natural disasters, this announcement continues the pattern of the once densely populated Sydney festival market beginning to clear out.

ACID STAG

Australian music blog ‘acid stag’ will throw the first in a series of quarterly music events called Deep In The Village this Friday March 30 at The Village, located at 1 Kellett Way, Potts Point. The free launch party will feature appearances from Sydney’s RüFüS, Frames and Lancelot, along with Melbourne’s Back Back Forward Punch.

There’s also talk of an “internationally recognised special guest” making an appearance. For more information, visit acidstag.com.

M A N I K @ ONE22

Emerging producer M A N I K, a purported “purveyor of his own breed of out-of-the-box house”, will play his first set in Australia this Saturday March 31 at One22. M A N I K’s debut LP Armies of the Night was released last year on Josh Wink’s seminal Ovum imprint, and explored house, funk, nu disco and acid influences.

Continuing to strike while the iron is hot, M A N I K is gearing up for a release on Jamie Jones and Lee Foss’ popular Hot Creations label, while he is also set to make his first release on the Get Physical imprint via a remix of DJ T.

KRS-ONE This Teacha Came To Learn By Hugh Robertson

I

n a small room in the back of Sydney’s Metro Theatre, in front of maybe as few as 40 people, KRS-One is holding court. One of the most revered MCs of all time is also one of the movement’s deepest thinkers, and has spent much of his life trying to explain the culture, the mindset, the philosophy of hip hop to the world – even going so far as to publish the 800-page part history, part philosophy The Gospel Of Hip Hop in 2009. And over the course of 90 minutes The Teacha takes his audience through the history of hip hop from the proud, defiant black culture that emerged during the years of slavery right through to the emergence in the mid-’70s of what we now identify as hip hop.

Part of KRS’s undisputed status as a musical, cultural and intellectual leader has to do with the fact that he was present at the very birth of the movement. Born Lawrence Krisna Parker and raised in the Bronx, he was living only a few blocks away from Clive Campbell when he started playing parties as DJ Kool Herc, inventing the break (as legend has it) at his little sister’s birthday party; he was there when Kevin Donovan won a trip to Africa through an essay contest and returned as Afrika Bambaataa, promoting the Universal Zulu Nation and a culture based on peace, unity, love and fun; and he was there when Grandmaster Flash invented the ‘Quick Mix’, isolating breaks on two turntables and switching between them, so that the break could last indefinitely.

his philosophy, his Gospel, we hear KRS’ own teachings coming back at us from 1997. “Hip hop is poetry,” says one respondent. “Hip hop is self-discovery,” says another. “Hip hop is poetry in motion,” “expression of one’s beliefs,” “mindmastery,” “the unity of all humans,” and “the strength to break out of oppression.”

“This,” KRS declares, “is why, when we teach hip hop, we are teaching not from our opinions... You can’t just teach, you have to learn. So not only am I here to teach hip hop, no doubt about it, but I am more here to learn about hip hop.”

Remarkably, due to his fear of flying, KRS spent a month on a cruise ship so he could tour Australia for the first, and perhaps only time. Whatever you do, you need a ticket to this show. Come for the three decades’ worth of groundbreaking, genre-defying hip hop; stay for the extraordinary education in the defining cultural movement of our time.

With: Def Wish Cast, Ellesquire, DJ Blaze Where: The Enmore Theatre When: Thursday April 5

“You can’t just teach, you have to learn. So not only am I here to teach hip hop, no doubt about it, but I am more here to learn about hip hop.”

Once the young Lawrence grew up, he himself was responsible for a great many pioneering techniques and styles. In 1987 he and DJ Scott La Rock formed Boogie Down Productions and released Criminal Minded, establishing traditions that remain at the centre of hip hop today. Inspired by the sounds of the Jamaican immigrants who lived in the South Bronx (including Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash) Criminal Minded was one of the first successful hip hop albums to borrow heavily from dancehall; the classic ‘9mm Goes Bang’ was one of the first tracks to tell a story from the perspective of a criminal; and the ‘bridge wars’ that Boogie Down and their rivals The Juice Crew fought over exactly where the true birthplace of hip hop was constituted one of the genre’s earliest, most famed rivalries. As a result of all of these factors – all of which are now part of the DNA of hip hop – Boogie Down Productions are often credited as providing the template for gangsta rap.

But KRS shifted speeds entirely after the fatal 1987 shooting of Scott La Rock, moving away from the hardcore sound of Criminal Minded.

He adopted the alias ‘The Teacha’ and began to create music that emphasised political and social awareness and consciousness. Along with the more prominent Public Enemy, KRSOne was one of the driving forces behind a re-awakening of black consciousness and engagement with the dominant political system.

Indeed, the second Boogie Down record, By All Means Necessary, references the black political activist Malcolm X in both the title and the album cover, and is regarded as perhaps the very first politically conscious hip hop record.

Over minimalist production KRS spoke on issues such as HIV/AIDS, the crack epidemic in black communities, black-on-black violence, police brutality and institutionalised barriers to the success of black people. These styles and these themes immediately became features of hip hop, and have remained so to this day.

Perhaps most amazing, though, was what happened after nearly an hour of talking in tremendous detail about the major influences of hip hop; having covered the civil rights, Black Power and Black Panther movements, the music culture of Jamaican immigrants like Kool Herc and Flash, the positive message of the Zulu Nation, KRS pulls a number of manila envelopes from his bag. See, inside the cover of his 1997 album I Got Next, KRS placed a questionnaire that asked the owner of the record what hip hop meant to them, and asked them to send it back, as part of his research into the Gospel; he wanted to know what the people thought. And as he makes a point of reading out the names of the Australian respondents, acknowledging their importance to him and the formulation of BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 43

Alison Wonderland

Boy 8-Bit

P

A

nerd from way back, David Morris got his start as a producer by making DnB tracks on his Commodore 64 and Amiga systems. His style has progressed since then, and the array of tools at his disposal is considerably wider, but in honour of those days, he still goes by the name Boy 8-Bit. These days, he’s known for releases on labels as diverse as Mad Decent and Turbo Recordings, and for his immaculate remixes of artists like La Roux. Right now, Morris is holed up in his home studio, working on the debut album he anticipates will be out later this year. There are no flashy collaborations or big bangers on the cards – just the kind of thoughtful, melodic techno that he does so well.

laying the afterparties of both the Grammy Awards in L.A. and the Brit Awards in London within a fortnight of each other, would ordinarily serve as a yearly highlight. Not so for Sydney wunderkind and party fiend Alison Wonderland. She likes it live and local, she tells me: “I’ve honestly been waiting the whole year for the next Secret Garden Festival to come around”.

When it’s mentioned that perhaps there’s a bigger deal to be made from playing at the aforementioned international events, she is almost indignant. “Are you serious? I honestly do not give a shit where I play; it’s all about the vibe, and that kind of event and crowd are one of a kind. People are there for the right reasons, which means there’s no aggression, just a whole sea of happiness.”

Wonderland’s epic double set at The Secret Garden was a highlight of her current ‘Welcome To Wonderland Tour’, which sees her taking her compilation of the same name to venues throughout the county in both regional and metropolitan centres. The opportunity to play to a much wider range of punters is something that she’s clearly enjoying. “It’s been wonderful to be welcomed by people from all over,” she says. “I recently played a show in Coffs Harbour and they all really responded well. Even though initially it was pretty obvious they didn’t know some of the stuff I was playing, soon enough they were dancing along and digging it like crazy!

“Obviously you do have to play the commercial tracks,” she concedes, “but if you’re clever in how you approach it you can slowly blend in things that people may not ordinarily go out of their way to find. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with just listening to Rihanna, but the truth is that there are such diverse acts out there that it can be a lot of fun to throw in some SBTRKT or Beni and watch people flip out.”

As a performer who feeds off audience interaction, Wonderland knows the importance of rewarding the generosity of her fans. “There’s really nothing as exciting as seeing people all dressed up in their weirdest and finest. If you look out in the crowd and see a bunch of people rocking animal costumes or some kind of cartoon character set-up... It’s just, ‘Boom! I’m doing it for you guys!’ Honestly, though, nothing comes close to making music in that aesthetic of being surrounded by Gumbys and dragons. If only all of that madness was a part of the real world...”

Returning To The Source By Alasdair Duncan

Her latest compilation was put together with the assistance of her label EMI, as a result of her success in the national She Can DJ competition. It’s an opportunity that Wonderland relishes, but one that has only fed her insatiable appetite to keep creating music for her fans.

“At the moment, it’s just me in the studio,” Morris explains. “I’m working on instrumentals. In the long run, I might approach some of my friends to be on it, but I mean, there are no plans to try and make any club hits or anything like that, any big singles. I just want to make the music I want to make.”

The idea of ten storming club tracks in a row, he says, is not something that particularly interests him.

“I want to do something more coherent; I really want it to sound like an album.

I’ve been through about five potential

“I’ve actually just started writing my album of original music,” she says. “It’s at that stage where it feels like it’s all about to get very real, and I’m working my butt off to nail down some of these concepts before showing them to the label. My only issue is that, if anything, I have way too much energy. It’s great to be working with a friend on actually working some ideas out on guitar and electronically. This is stuff that helps much later on in the process, and it’s what makes music fun: hanging out with friends while you create something together.”

With: Frames, inthemix DJs, Edens March (live), Flight (live), English Avenue (live), F.R.I.E.N.D/s DJs

introduction tracks, I just can’t make up my mind – it’s a long process, but I’m getting there!”

As with many techno producers, Morris gets pleasure from just playing with the gear, and embracing the odd things that can happen as a result. “I might accidentally stretch a piece of audio so it changes the pitch or the time,” he explains, “and find that something really interesting happens. You can put an effect into a track by mistake, and it won’t be what you were thinking of at all, but it might lead to new ideas.”

These kinds of happy accidents happen a lot, and frequently form the basis of new recordings.

“It’s good, because if you’re not actively thinking about it and not expecting it, you can be really happy with the results.”

Though Morris mostly produces ‘in the box’, using software and samples, he assures me that he still has all his old hardware lying around. “I still have my old Amiga and Commodore 64; the main reason I haven’t been using them in recent times is that I just haven’t had a TV I could run them on – monitors for them are hard to find.”

After recently tracking one down, Morris has been listening to the tracks he created as a teen. “A lot of it is quite angry, hard techno and gabba and stuff like that,” he says with a chuckle. “I guess that’s because I was quite young at the time.”

At the time, Morris says, he was disappointed because the tracks didn’t sound like the music he was trying to emulate, but going back to these youthful experiments and listening again, he is intrigued at some of the ideas that were coming out. If you want to judge for yourself, you can – Morris is in the process of uploading the whole lot to his Soundcloud.

“I’m mainly just archiving it for myself,” he explains.

“I don’t know if people will like it or get it or think it’s a bit self-indulgent of me, but it’s good to hear it again.”

With: Freestylers, Marten Hørger and heaps more Where: Garden Party @ the ivy courtyard / 320 George Street

Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Saturday March 31 from 8pm

When: Saturday March 31 from 12pm

Sneaky Sound System Keeping It Simple By Alasdair Duncan

F

rom Here To Anywhere is an irresistible collection of songs that sees Sneaky Sound System’s polished pop soaring to new heights. The tracks are built around stripped-back house and disco tracks and bouncy vintage synth hooks, but the instrumentation is minimal and understated throughout, allowing Connie Mitchell’s vocals to really shine. Says beat-maker Angus McDonald, this new, stripped-back approach is the result of wisdom gained on the road.

“We started playing live a lot as a band around the time of our second record, doing a lot of big festival and club shows, and we found that we would have to remix and rework a lot of the songs to make them actually work in a live band context.”

The new songs are straightforward and unfussy, focusing on just the essential elements – a catchy bass line here, a driving rhythm there – which is just the way McDonald wanted it. “When you’re making dance records like ours, things can get overloaded,” he says. “You just end up putting way too many elements in there. When it came to this album, with every track, we really thought about what the key elements were,” he explains, “which ones were really necessary. We took the others away and just let the important ones sing.” The idea from the outset was to make things simpler, and from opener ‘Friends’, with its catchy disco hook and soaring chorus, it’s clear that this approach was effective.

Sneaky Sound System have been operating as a duo since the departure last year of founding member Daimon Downey, and this has also helped in the streamlining of their sound. “We just seem to work so much faster

44 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

and with a lot more intensity now,” McDonald says of the current, slimmed-down lineup. “It’s really clear who does what – I’m the music guy and Connie’s the star, you know? In the past, the lines were getting a bit blurred as to who was doing what. It took a bit of adjusting when Daimon left, but ultimately, things worked out for the better for us. Being a duo works really well in the live setting, too.”

The live stage is where McDonald’s head is at right now. Sneaky Sound System are all set to take From Here To Anywhere out on the road, having debuted their new show at this year’s Mardi Gras. “Doing Mardi Gras this year was incredible,” he says. “We got to play a show that was an absolute extravaganza, with huge lighting rigs and dancers in all kinds of crazy costumes, so that was pretty cool. After we did that, we got to go and play for about an hour and a half in the Hordern Pavilion, which was one of the best shows we’ve ever done. It was great to be able to do those two shows as part of the one event.” The tour may not be quite as explosive as Mardi Gras, but McDonald promises a dynamic, exciting show. “We’ve got a couple of dancers, the production is beefed up a bit, so it’s really quite a dynamic show now.

“I’m really excited for people to see it,” he continues. “We’re always working on the show so it’s the best it can be, but we’ve got three albums to draw upon now, so we really can put in the best of the bunch.”

With: The Aston Shuffle Where: The Hi-Fi / Entertainment Quarter When: Saturday April 7 from 8pm

Xxxx

Keeping It Un-real By Benjamin Cooper

Deep Impressions Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

Soul Sedation

Soul, Dub, Hip Hop & Bottom-heavy Beats with Tony Edwards Soul Sedation goes live every Wednesday night on Bondi FM (88.0 or bondifm. com.au). Tune in 10pm 'til midnight to hear a deep and soulful selection of the tunes covered here, and plenty more that I don't have room for.

O

Pantha du Prince antha du Prince (known to his true friends and close confidants as Hendrik Weber) and Stephan Abry will release a collaborative album under the name URSPRUNG in May on the esteemed Dial imprint, the label that released Weber’s first two albums Diamond Daze and This Bliss.

The pair met ten years ago when Abry was part of the experimental Workshop outfit (not to be confused with the label of the same name run by Lowtec and Even Tuell), and Weber was in the band Stella; both released on the Ladomat 2000 label. Arby has, in fact, contributed to various Pantha du Prince productions in the past, so a full-length collaboration isn’t completely out of the blue. The duo’s eponymous debut LP took shape during a series of winter studio sessions in the Swiss Alps and is supposedly influenced

by Krautrock, ambient producers such as Harold Budd and Brian Eno, as well as the minimalistic guitar of The Durutti Column (with guitar being the main instrument explored on the album). Given Weber’s knack for interesting melodies, this exploration of sonic terrain outside of the dancefloor seems like a natural progression, following his move to the traditionally indie stable Rough Trade for the release of his most recent album, Black Noise. I’m personally very intrigued by this release, and look forward to wrapping my ears around it – as I dare say you are too, dear reader.

P

The US-born, Berlin-based artist Levon Vincent has announced details of his forthcoming Fabric 63 compilation, a 15-track mix comprised mostly of Vincent’s own productions – including certified bombs like ‘Double-Jointed Sex Freak II’ and ‘Polar Bear’ – alongside cuts from Underground Quality boss DJ Jus-Ed,

LOOKING DEEPER

tINI

FRIDAY MARCH 30 Efdemin One 22, 122 Pitt St

THURSDAY APRIL 5 tINI + Martin Buttrich The Civic Underground

Levon Vincent photo by JoJo

Moodymann The Spice Cellar

SATURDAY APRIL 28 Derrick May Chinese Laundry

Levon Vincent DJ Qu, Black Jazz Consortium, Anthony Parasole and Joey Anderson. Hailing from New York, Vincent made his name in the early '00s with tough-talking but remarkably well-arranged house singles, mostly released on his own More Music label. It was in the latter part of that decade, however, that Levon really hit his stride, with his 2008-2009 form particular worthy of accolades as he churned out cuts such as ‘Six Figures’ and the aforementioned monster, ‘Double Jointed Sex Freak’. Fabric 63 was apparently recorded on vinyl in Vincent’s Berlin cellar, with the man himself elucidating, “I wanted to use this opportunity to push my signature sound… I hope people say that I had a commercial opportunity and that I used it to do something artistic.”

Vincent devotees will be excited to note that Fabric 63 will include a smattering of unreleased tracks from the man himself, including ‘Stereo Systems’, ‘Fear’ and ‘The End’, all of which are seemingly set for release on his own Novel Sound label. The press release concludes with a salacious provisio that’s worth repurposing here: however cosmic Fabric 63 gets, as in the heavenly ‘Rainstorm II’, or dubbed out, or even industrial, it’s always underpinned by one thing and one thing alone: the wellworn thud of an almighty kick. Fabric 63 will be released on April 23.

Another upcoming release that will warrant a listen is Balance 021, which will be mixed by Saved Records main man Nic Fanciulli. The double CD release offers two contrasting discs, a characteristic it shares with its predecessor, Deetron’s Balance 020, where the CDs were distinguished by their analogue/digital theming. This time around, Fanciulli’s discs differ in that disc one has the selector in full flight as a DJ, traversing a broad range of tracks from the likes of Oscar Offerman, Anonym and Omar-S, while disc two is compiled exclusively of material from the Saved catalogue, and features productions from Philip Bader, Robert Dietz and Fanciulli himself. Balance 021 will be released in May through Balance Music.

Last but certainly not least, this Friday, revered German producer Phillip Sollmann, aka Efdemin, one of the finest proponents of house and techno sounds, will make his Sydney debut, playing an extended set in the intimate confines of One22. The event has been covered in other sections of this week’s magazine, but given Deep Impressions’ close affiliation with the event, it would’ve been sacrilegious not to encourage all readers of the column to come down and join the revelry for what should be a special party.

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com

kay disco heads, here’s a heads up: one of the genre’s first and finest is in Sydney this weekend.

The scene-shaping New York producer/ DJ John Morales will be flying in for a Sunday gig. Morales is known as a predigital pioneer, who would splice reelto-reel tapes together, quite literally, to achieve the dancefloor effects he was after. As part of M&M Productions – along with Sergio Munzibai – he was pivotal in the culture of the extended mix and reedit. Indeed he’s quite a special character in his scene, having worked with or remixed everyone from Marvin Gaye to Inner Life, Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin, War, Candi Staton, Loleatta Holloway, and Salsoul Orchestra. Soul Sedation has been lucky enough to catch Morales’s contemporary Nicky Siano a couple of times, and if his pedigree is anything to go by I wouldn’t want to miss out on seeing Morales do his thing live in the flesh. The gig goes down this Sunday April 1 at The Loft and tickets are only $15 if you jump on Resident Advisor early.

Local supports from Gian Arpino, Phil Toke, Alex Dimitriades, Phil Hudson and the Soul of Sydney DJs. If the name Morales means anything to you, you may also want to get involved in this new release from BBE: The Best Of Perception and Today Records (both US labels) takes in early combinations of soul, proto-disco, funk and jazz with beat poetry and many more line blurring types of sound. Compiled by DJ Spinna and the BBE team, there’s a lot of music contained in this 2CD collection.

You should also check out the new juice from Nickodemus’s label Wonderwheel.

The Janxta Funk! Remix EP release sees J.Bless, Captain Planet, Navegante and Juno What? all pull apart and rearrange tracks from Brooklyn funk/dub band The Pimps Of Joytime. Some edits take it towards the dancefloor in an electro sense, whilst others keep it strictly to soulful hip hop. Wonderwheel remains an interesting independent label to keep your eyes on.

This year’s Vivid LIVE lineup is out, on sale and starting to sell out, and us beatheads will get a chance to catch Janelle Monae & The Archandroid Orchestra as well as Amon Tobin and Seekae. Danny Brown and MED are performing at a night curated by the Niche Productions family, and local emcee Ellesquire, whose tune ‘Chasing The Pay’ is still receiving high rotation on triple j, is also on the bill. The Future Classic collective will be programming an event for the festival as well. This year’s festival will close with a screening of LCD Soundsystem’s farewell concert in Madison Square Garden, Shut Up & Play The Hits… so don’t sleep on those tickets!

ON THE ROAD SUNDAY APRIL 1 John Morales The Loft, UTS

THURSDAY APRIL 5 KRS-One, Def Wish Cast Enmore Theatre

SATURDAY APRIL 28 Electric Empire The Standard

SATURDAY MAY 12 Atmosphere, Evidence The Hi-Fi

SUNDAY JUNE 10

The Robert Glasper Experiment Oxford Art Factory Okay electronic jazz and soulsters, one of your defining days is imminent. When the June long weekend hits, you’ll need a ticket to Oxford Art Factory to see The Robert Glasper Experiment, Jose James and Taylor McFerrin. To see what the Glasper Experiment are all about, check out the new record Black Radio, which features none other than Mos Def, Erykah Badu and Bilal plus some other less familiar names. Jose James you’ll know from Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label. And Taylor McFerrin you may well have seen recently with Shabazz Palaces at Sydney Festival; he’s a mean beatboxer and an incredible producer (debut album in the works). This should be a night for anyone with sensibilities for jazz, soul, hip hop, electronic, and all the interesting blurry bits in between.

Still on a jazz tip, the UK’s Part Time Heroes' new record, Lightfalls, is out now.

Anyone into the confluence of detailed production and musicianship will be into this record, which introduces Sarah Scott on vocals, and sees more from Colonel Red, who appeared on PTH’s debut record, Meanwhile, from 2008.

In Aus hip hop news, Obese Records is due to release a 10th anniversary compilation, Obesecity 2. The album will showcase both established Obese artists alongside up-andcoming emcees from across the country.

That’s due out in June/July this year. And Aus hip hop heads will no doubt be keenly awaiting Chasm’s new LP This Is How We Never Die. Lead single ‘The Truth’, your first taste of that record, is available online now.

US hip hop monsters Atmosphere are headed back to see us once again. Their last show, as part of the Days Like This! tour, was truly a standout spectacle. The Minnesota troupe will appear with a full live band, and Evidence from Dilated Peoples will also be on the same incoming plane.

That one goes down on Saturday May 12 at the Hi-Fi (previously The Forum), Entertainment Quarter.

And finally, this column recommends that you get yourselves along to the KRS-One show that’s taking over the Enmore Theatre next Thursday April 5. Have you got your tickets yet?!

Janelle Monae

Send stuff for this column to tonyedwards001@gmail.com by 6pm Wednesdays. All pics to art@thebrag.com BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 45

club guide send your listings to : clubguide@thebrag.com

club pick of the week

SATURDAY MARCH 31

Freestylers

the h ivy, Sydney jam & Chinese Laundry present

Garden Party

Freestylers (UK), Marten Hørger (GER), Boy 8 Bit (UK), The Only, Doctor Werewolf, The Mane Thing, Peking Duk, A-Tonez, Detektives, Def Tonez, Cheap Lettus, Bounce Crew DJs, Struz $40-$65 (+ bf) 12pm MONDAY MARCH 26 Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney Mother of a Monday DJ Smokin’ Joe free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross A Little Thing Called Jazz DJs free 7pm

TUESDAY MARCH 27 Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel DJ Willie Sabor free 8pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney I Love Goon DJ Smokin’ Joe free 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Coyote Tuesday DJ Johnny B, DJ Shipwreck, MC Fro, Dr Rhythm $10 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Pop Panic Andy & Mike free 8pm 46 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

WEDNESDAY MARCH 28 The Argyle, The Rocks Yogi & Husky free 6pm The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross Money Talks DJs 10pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi DJ Greg Perano, Dj Camsterdam free 8pm Epping Hotel DTF DJs free The Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst Hip Hop DJs free 8pm Kit and Kaboodle, Kings Cross Resident DJs 8pm The Lansdowne, Broadway Frat House DJ Wolfgang free 9pm The Marlborough Hotel – The Cellar, Newtown Student Night DJ Pauly free The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall A-Tonez, Glovecats, Kemikoll, Adam White, Zwelli, Pipemix, Nanna Does Smack $5 9pm

THURSDAY MARCH 29 The Argyle, The Rocks Kristy Lee, DJ Georgia free 6pm Burdekin Hotel, Darlinghurst Go Slore DJ Rosey, Sydways free 8pm The Cool Room, Australian Hotel & Brewery, Rouse Hill We Love Thursdays DJs free 9pm Cricketers Arms, Surry Hills Welcome To The Jungle DJs 7pm FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel Ollo, Bad Thoughts, Worng $10 8pm The Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst Bananas DJs free 8pm GoodGod Front Bar, Sydney Girls Gone Mild Hannah & Eliza Reily free 9pm

Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Random Soul DJs 8pm Hunky Dory Social Club, Darlinghurst Beat Skool The Dark Horse 6pm Jacksons On George, Sydney DJ Ivan Drago, Guest DJs free 8pm Kit and Kaboodle, Kings Cross Resident DJs 8pm Luna Lounge Nightclub, Jacksons On George, Sydney DJ Rain Julz, Guest DJs free 8pm The Marlborough Hotel – Level 1, Newtown Resident DJs free Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn Hot Damn DJs $15-$20 8pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Flaunt Dim SLM, Bobby Digital, DJ Task, Troy T 8pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney Books or Beer? DJs free 8pm Soho, Potts Point Ladies Night DJs free 9pm The Standard, Surry Hills Pizza Nicky Night Time, Kato, Valarie Yum, Lux Life free 8pm The Sugar Lounge, Manly Fat Laced Funk Resident DJs 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Conrad Greenleaf, Urby, Jack Shit, Dan Bombings free-$5 8pm

FRIDAY MARCH 30 The Argyle, The Rocks CarnivArgyle John ‘The Owl’ Devecchis, DJ Cadell free 6pm The Backroom, Kings Cross Lonely Kids Club Winter Range Launch Fishing, Polographia, Thomas William, DJs $5 9pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Movement – DJ/Producer Competition free 8pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Smash Bang Pow! The Immigrant, Kyro & Bomber, Pretty Young Things, Hypa, Digital T, Durty Mindz, DJ Saundz, Krees, 2Simple, Scope, Grizzlyt, Dublectro 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Bass Mafia Haters, Will Styles, Hydraulix, Empress Yoy, Sarris, DJ Finesse 10pm Civic Underground, Sydney Volar Resident DJs 10pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour DJ Jeddy Rowland, Mike Silver, Candidate free Dee Why Hotel Flirt DJ Alana 9pm E11even Nightclub, Paddington T.I.A. DJs 9pm Epping Hotel Flirt DJs free GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Heaps Decent Showcase Icey, Kurva, Monica Winter, Sai Sai, Fowl Murk & Medz aka Terrible Twinz, Tasha Lee Marshall, Infamous, Supreme, Big H, Low – Tee & D-Minor, Nina Las Vegas, Levins, Charlie Chux, Adam Bozetto, Joyride, Kristy Lee, Shantan Wantan Ichiban, Hubert $5 7pm The Hi-Fi, Moore Park Pez, Mind Over Matter, Crotchet Crooks, Forbes $16 (+ bf) all-ages Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross

Hugo’s Fridays DJs 8pm Hunky Dory Social Club, Darlinghurst Get Milk or Die DJs 7pm Kings Cross Hotel Tan Cracker’s Soul Club Katalyst, Boogie Monster, Tom Tutton, Kinetic, Glan Arpino free-$10 8pm Kings Cross Hotel Rooftop DJ Liz Bird, DJ Super C, DJ Dave 54 free 7pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Falcona Friday – Creamfields Preparty Cassian, Hansom, Kristy Lee, Hobophonics, Isbjorn free-$10 8pm Jacksons On George, Sydney DJ Simon Laing, Guest DJs free Luna Lounge Nightclub, Jacksons On George, Sydney DJ Michael Stewart, Guest DJs free Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney TGIF DJs free 9pm Manning Bar, University of Sydney, Camperdown The Herd, Thundamentals $22.95-$27 (+ bf) 8pm The Marlborough Hotel – Level 1, Newtown Resident DJs free Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Oatley Hotel We Love Oatley Hotel Fridays DJ Tone free 8pm Oceans Bar, Coogee Soulganic, DJ Yogi free 6.30pm One22, Sydney Efdemin (GER), Dave Stuart, Chris Honnery $25 (+ bf) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Trance Central Binary Finary, Nik Fish, Jumping Jack, Peewee Ferris, Amber Savage, Andrew James, Thomas Knight, Nick Arbor, DJ Ange, Nathan Cryptic, Toby Matrix, Archie, VLN $25 (+ bf) 9pm Paddington Inn DJ Moonshine free 8pm The Roxy Hotel, Parramatta Fridaze Resident DJs 4pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Karma Dim SLM, Nacho Pop 8pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney Frisky Friday DJs free 6pm The Shark Hotel, Sydney Puls8 DJ Jono, Guest DJs free 9pm Soho, Potts Point Soho Fridays DJs free 9pm Space, Sydney Zaia Resident DJs 9.45pm Spectrum, Darlinghurst Twist and Shout '60s Dance Party Dylabolical, Doctor J $5 9pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Headman (SUI), Kato, Andy Webb, Ash Le Rouge $20 10pm Star Bar, Sydney Just Dance DJs free 10pm Tunnel Nightclub, Kings Cross Why Sleep? Resident DJs $10-$15 20pm The Village, Potts Point Deep In The Village Rufus DJs, Frames, Lancelot, Back Back Forward Punch free 8pm The Watershed Hotel Bring On The Weekend! DJ Matty Roberts free The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM The Mannequins, Vulpes Vulpes, The Belligerents, Glass Towers, Dirty Pretty Littles, Through The Forrest Door, Lyyar, Catkings, Sammy K, Smithers, Felix Lloyd, 199 DJs, Swim Team DJs, Jack Colwell, Rainbow Chan, Brendan MacClean, Peter Silver $10-$15 8pm

SATURDAY MARCH 31 Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway Magic Dance Deathstrobe DJs, Rhys Woah, Mirror Mirror, All Night Long 9pm The Argyle, The Rocks CarnivArgyle Saturdays DJ La Vida, Elly K, DJ Cadell free 5pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Samba! DJ Greg Perano free 8pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Heat SMS, Zomg! Kittens!, Stalker, Fawkes, Crux, Acaddamy, Disarmed 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney DJ Fresh & Messy MC (UK), A-Tonez, Cheap Lettus, LA Tech, Lancelot, Brown Bear, Rennie, Murray Lake, Def Tonez, Kit Kat $20-$25 7pm City Hotel, Sydney Kin.Ki Saturdays DJs 9pm Civic Underground, Sydney Sydney Trance Scott Richardson, Robbie Lowe, Rossci, Pato De Gomah, Lui Raptor, Zac Slade $15-$25 9pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour DJ Anders Hitchcock free E11even Nightclub, Paddington Turka Resident DJs $20 9pm Epping Hotel Back Traxx DJ Kandi, DJ HypnotixX Fakeclub, Kings Cross Boom Bah! DJs 9pm The Gaelic Theatre, Surry Hills Oscar Mulero (SPA), Allan Nonamaka, Schaden Fruede $30 8pm Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale Darkroom Redrum, Defined

By Rhythm, Methodix, Mark Craven, Qu-Zen, Martin Stace, Donny Darkroom’s Hour of Power, Andrew Wowk, Eric Thomas, Brendan Clay, Chris Ana, Enimatek, Squarepeg, GBanga $10-$15 6pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Jackin Anyo, Illya, 2 Phat Jackin DJs, Johnny Gleeson, Straight Up Steve, Darren Schapeman $20 GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Oscar + Martin, The Belligerents, MC Gaff-E (UK), Nakagin $15 9pm Hollywood Hotel, Surry Hills Motion Northern Soul Poster Boy, Burn-Hard, Dave Fernandes, Dean Dixon $5 8pm Home The Venue, Darling Harbour Homemade Saturdays Resident DJs $20 9pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Saturdays DJ Dolso 8pm Hunky Dory Social Club, Darlinghurst Ghetto Boogie DJs 6pm The Ivy, Sydney Chinese Laundry Garden Party Freestylers (UK), Marten Hørger (GER), Boy 8 Bit (UK), The Only, Doctor Werewolf, The Mane Thing, Peking Duk, A-Tonez, Detektives, Def Tonez, Cheap Lettus, Bounce Crew DJs, Struz $40-$65 (+ bf) 12pm Ivy Bar, Lounge & Den, Sydney Pure Ivy Saturdays TV Rock, Cadell, Ben Morris, Liam Sampras, Recess, Rome, Kalcic $20 6pm Kings Cross Hotel DJ Tim Boffa, DJ Cam Adams, DJ Shaun Keble, DJ James, Mack, DJ D-Flat, DJ Beth Yen, DJ PeeWee Ferris, DJ Nicc Johnson, DJ Stu Turner, DJ Young, Apprentice, DJ Matt Hoare free 7pm

club guide send your listings to: clubguide@thebrag.com Kit and Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Isbjorn, Mr Belvedere, David Neale, Playmate, Devola, Pat Ward, Handsome, Kristy Lee 8pm Love Boat Lady Rose, Darling Harbour Girl Thing’s Super Soaker Boat Cruise Cunningpants, Ben Lucid, NatNoiz, Astrix, Tigerlily, Sveta, Tee Jay, Creature Colour $40 12pm Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney Party Every Saturday DJ Nick Pap, DJ Ray Isaac free 9pm Metro Theatre, Sydney Yelawolf (USA), Briggs & The Havknots $52 8pm allages MV Proclaim Kids R Cruisin Andrew James, Craig Obey, DJ Flair, Christophunk, Neil Fanning, Vague $65-$80 11.30am Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Oceans Bar, Coogee DJ Rubio free 7pm One22, Sydney MANIK (USA), Sam Roberts, Matt Weir, Garth Linton $30 (+ bf) 9.30pm Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Alison Wonderland, Edens March, Flight, Frames, English Avenue,

F.R.I.E.N.D/s DJs, Inthemix DJs $15 (+ bf) 8pm The Reibey Room, The Argyle, The Rocks Hustle Illya, Phil Hudson, We Got Soul DJs, Dave 54, Agey, Nick Andrew free 8pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross The Suite Big Will, Dim SLM, Disco Kid, Klimax, Stevie J, Troy T, Jo Funk, Steves, Adamo, Charlie Brown 8pm The Shark Hotel, Sydney Puls8 DJ Jono, Guest DJs free 9pm Spectrum, Darlinghurst Kittens Jubilants, The Griswolds, Kittens DJs $10 9pm Star Bar, Sydney Situation DJs 10pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Le Brond, Robbie Lowe, YokoO $20 10pm Tunnel Nightclub, Kings Cross ONE Saturdays Resident DJs $10-$20 10pm The Watershed Hotel Watershed Presents…

Skybar The World Bar, Kings Cross Cakes E-Cats, Peo De Pitte, Kato, Shivvers, Oakes & Lennox, Alistair Erskine, Jared, T-Bo, Nate Perry, Johnny Rad, Dave Brennan, Illya, Nic Jonson $15-$20 8pm

SUNDAY APRIL 1 Beach Road Hotel, Bondi DJ Sally, DJ Jamin & The Live Collective free 5pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Martini Club, Tom Kelly, DJ Heidi free 6pm Ivy Pool Club & Changeroom, Sydney Marco Polo Perseus (USA), Lancelot, Tigerlily, Oakes & Lennox, Smokin’ Joel Mekhael, Dean Zlato, Brown Bear, Romulus Remus, Wolf Recess $20 1pm Kit and Kaboodle, Kings Cross Easy Sundays Set Mo, Mr Belvedere 8pm The Loft, UTS, Ultimo John Morales (USA), Gian Arpino, Phil toke, Alex Dimitriades, Phil Hudson, Soul of Sydney DJs $15-$25 2pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Sets DJ Tone free 7pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice Nic Scali, Murat Kilic $20 4am The Watershed Hotel Afternoon DJs DJ Matty Roberts free The World Bar, Kings Cross Dust James Taylor, YokoO, Alley Oop free 7pm

club picks up all night out all week...

A-Tonez

The Herd, Thundamentals $22.95-$27 (+ bf) 8pm One22, Sydney Efdemin (GER), Dave Stuart, Chris Honnery $25 (+ bf) The Spice Cellar, Sydney Headman (SUI), Kato, Andy Webb, Ash Le Rouge $20 10pm The Village, Potts Point Deep In The Village Rufus DJs, Frames, Lancelot, Back Back Forward Punch free 8pm

WEDNESDAY MARCH 28

SATURDAY MARCH 31

The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall A-Tonez, Glovecats, Kemikoll, Adam White, Zwelli, Pipemix, Nanna Does Smack $5 9pm

Chinese Laundry, Sydney DJ Fresh & Messy MC (UK), A-Tonez, Cheap Lettus, LA Tech, Lancelot, Brown Bear, Rennie, Murray Lake, Def Tonez, Kit Kat $20-$25 7pm

THURSDAY MARCH 29

GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Oscar + Martin, The Belligerents, MC Gaff E (UK), Nakagin $15 9pm

The Standard, Surry Hills Pizza Nicky Night Time, Kato, Valarie Yum, Lux Life free 8pm

Metro Theatre, Sydney Yelawolf (USA), Briggs & The Havknots $52 8pm all-ages

The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Conrad Greenleaf, Urby, Bombay Bicycle Club DJ set free-$5 8pm

One22, Sydney MANIK (USA), Sam Roberts, Matt Weir, Garth Linton $30 (+ bf) 9.30pm

FRIDAY MARCH 30

Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst Alison Wonderland, Edens March, Flight, Frames, English Avenue, F.R.I.E.N.D/s DJs, Inthemix DJs $15 (+ bf) 8pm

Chinese Laundry, Sydney Bass Mafia Haters, Will Styles, Hydraulix, Empress Yoy, Sarris, DJ Finesse 10pm

The Spice Cellar, Sydney Le Brond, Robbie Lowe, YokoO $20 10pm

GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Heaps Decent Showcase Icey, Kurva, Monica Winter, Sai Sai, Fowl Murk & Medz aka Terrible Twinz, Tasha Lee Marshall, Infamous, Supreme, Big H, Low – Tee & D-Minor, Nina Las Vegas, Levins, Charlie Chux, Adam Bozetto, Joyride, Kristy Lee, Shantan Wantan Ichiban, Hubert $5 7pm Manning Bar, University of Sydney, Camperdown

The World Bar, Kings Cross Cakes E-Cats, Peo De Pitte, Kato, Shivvers, Oakes & Lennox, Alistair Erskine, Jared, T-Bo, Nate Perry, Johnny Rad, Dave Brennan, Illya, Nic Jonson $15$20 8pm

SUNDAY APRIL 1 The Loft, UTS, Ultimo John Morales (USA), Gian Arpino, Phil Toke, Alex Dimitriades, Phil Hudson, Soul of Sydney DJs $15-$25 2pm

BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 47

snap up all night out all week . . .

bad apple

PICS :: AM

party profile

alison wonderland

It’s called: Welcome To Wonderland It sounds like: A party in your face!

Who’s playing? Alison Wonderland, Frame s, inthemix DJs, Eden’s March (live), Flight (live), English Avenue (live) and F.R.I.E.N.D/S DJs. Three songs you’ll hear on the night: You’ll definitely hear tracks by Jay-Z, Sbtrkt and Dillon Francis.

And one you definitely won’t: Anything by LMFAO or David Guetta.

Sell it to us: Alison Wonderland will bring you a party wonderland – more beats and less croquet – as part of her hugel y anticipated ‘Welcome To Wonderland’ National Tour. Also kicking out the jams will be East Coast rockers Eden’s March for their EP launch, along with four-piece blues-rock outfit Flight, and enigmatic local indie-rocker s English Avenue. Witness the fitness or live with the FOMO!

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Both rooms at OAF bouncing in unison!

Crowd specs: I guess we’ll have to wait and see...

Wallet damage: 15 bones from moshtix.com .au or on the door if any left.

Where: Oxford Art Factory / 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst When: Saturday March 31, from 8pm

the exchange hotel

PICS :: TL

16:03:12 :: GoodGod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 9267 3787

cool room

PICS :: TW

16:03:12 :: The Exchange Hotel:: 34-44 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9331 3100

17:03:12 :: One22 :: 122 Pitt St Sydney LEY

:: KATRINA CLARKE :: ASH S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER KET WEIJERS :: TIM WHITNEY ROC :: OV POP RGE GEO :: MAR :: THOMAS PEACHY

48 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

bass mafia

PICS :: AM

aril brikha

PICS :: AM

15:03:12 :: The Australian Brewery :: 350 Annangrove Rd Rouse Hill 9679 4555

16:03:12 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9958

THURS APR 5

MOODY MANN USA USA

SAT APR 7

GORGE DE DE

SUN APR 8

KINK BG

EASTER WEEK END

THESPICECELLAR.COM.AU BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12 :: 49

snap up all night out all week . . .

encore

andee frost

PICS :: AM

party profile

It’s called: ENCORE

It sounds like: A party rockin’ femmetastic lineup.

Who’s playing? An all-girl lineup, with Kristy Lee, Liz Bird, Starjumps & Paris on the drums will rock out at The Loft.

Murray Lake, Super C, Rob K & Pauly on trumpet will be banging it out in Bungalow 8.

Three songs you’ll hear on the night: Avicii vs Gotye – 'Levels That I Used To Know', Flo Rida – 'Good Feeling', Duck sauce – 'Big Bad Wolf'.

And one you definitely won’t: Anything by Take That!

Sell it to us: Two venues, six DJs – one hell of a party.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The danci ng rabbit, cheeky burlesque and coconut cocktails.

Crowd specs: Unpretentious people who want to have a good time!

Wallet damage: $10 entry after 10pm; get there early for half-price cocktails and $5 drinks in The Loft.

Where: Bungalow 8 & The Loft / 3 Lime St Sydney When: Sunday April 8 from 6pm

PICS :: AM

canyons

albatross

PICS :: AM

16:03:12 :: The Spice Cellar :: 58 Elizabeth St Sydney

17:03:12 :: GoodGod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Chinatown 9267 3787

picnic 4th b'day

PICS :: KC

16:03:12 :: The Standard :: 3/383 Bourke St Darlinghurst 9331 3100

17:03:12 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9958 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: ASHLEY S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) :: TIM WHITNEY OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER ERS WEIJ KET ROC :: OV POP RGE MAR :: THOMAS PEACHY :: GEO

50 :: BRAG :: 455 :: 26:03:12

darius bassiray

17:03:12 :: The Spice Cellar :: 58 Elizabeth St Sydney

PICS :: AM

aphrodite

PICS :: AM

17:03:12 :: Sun Studios :: 42 Maddox St Alexandria 9641 5555

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