The Brag #463

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

five things WITH

KINDNESS (UK) Growing Up I grew up in a small town in England.

1.

I remember making radio shows with the

The Music You Make I make pop music. Simple as that. This 4. is my first album, recorded in Paris with

same 15 7-inch singles for the first eight or nine years of my life, and then realising at one moment that I could ask my parents to buy new records. They’d both been very keen record collectors in their youth, and my dad had been a DJ for a while, but in the ‘80s I think music got a little too pop for their tastes. My first serious request: ‘Every Little Step You Take’ by Bobby Brown.

Philippe Zdar from Cassius. He’s built an incredible studio out there, in the shell of an even older Parisian studio, one which was formerly used by Hubert Boombass’s father to record Gainsbourg, Chagrin D’amour, Break Machine and others.

Inspirations John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Michael 2.

Jackson, Michael McDonald, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Kate Bush, Neil Young, Paul Westerberg, Todd Rundgren, Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards, Brian Wilson, Randy Newman, Larry Levan, Walter Gibbons, Arthur Russell, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Twinkie Clark, Stevie Wonder.

Your Band I make music on my own, but I respect 3. the opinion of a few other solitary musicmakers: the Night Slugs gang, Philippe Zdar evidently, Jai Paul, Joakim, Dev Hynes, Chris Taylor.

Music, Right Here, Right Now I think music right now is simultaneously 5. at the best and worst it’s ever been. The instant availability of everything ever is a blessing and a curse. We can find out about anything, but perhaps we value it less. I respect people who keep their heads; you should record and promote your record any way you like, as long as it’s true to who you are.

What: World, You Need A Change Of Mind is out now through Modular With: Tom Vek, Jonathan Boulet, Van She Tech, Purple Sneakers DJS Where: Modular’s Vivid LIVE party @ The Studio, Sydney Opera House When: Saturday May 26

RUDDY GOOD

So I read that Xavier Rudd is releasing a Spirit Bird on June 8, which sounded like the coolest ceremony I’d heard of in a long time – until I realised it was just his seventh album, which is also good news (although I haven’t been to a good bird release for ages...). And because travel is good for the soul, he is embarking on a thirtydate tour of Australia which reaches Sydney on September 8, when Rudd will double-park your Barina outside The Enmore, then scratch the door with his keys. (Just kidding, he’s a heaps nice chap.) Tickets go on sale June 21.

Patrick Wolf

PUBLISHERS: Adam Zammit & Rob Furst EDITOR IN CHIEF: Adam Zammit 9552 6333 adam@peergroupmedia.com EDITOR: Steph Harmon steph@thebrag.com 02 9698 9645 ARTS & ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Dee Jefferson dee@thebrag.com 02 9690 2731 STAFF WRITER: Caitlin Welsh NEWS: Nathan Jolly, Chris Honnery

JEZATOUR

Even though Jezabels have already won the AMP and David Fricke’s heart and all of the international distribution deals, they are still releasing a new single from their worldbeating debut album Prisoner, as if to say, “Oh, this old thing? We forgot we’d even recorded it.” The single is called ‘City Girl’, and they are playing it and others at an all-ages show on Saturday June 9 at the Hordern, with special guests LIGHTS (Canadian singer-songwriter) and Snakadaktal.

So get thee to a Ticketek!

ART DIRECTOR: Sarah Bryant GRAPHIC DESIGN: Alan Parry COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Ken Leanfore SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Levy SNAP PHOTOGRAPHERS: Katrina Clarke, Mike Johnson, Rasa Juskeviciute, Ashley Mar, Daniel Munns, Thomas Peachy, Rosette Rouhana, Sam Whiteside, Tim Whitney ADVERTISING: Ross Eldridge - 0422 659 425 / (02) 9690 0806 ross@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Les White - 0405 581 125 / (02) 8394 9027 les@thebrag.com ADVERTISING: Meaghan Meredith - 0423 655 091 / (02) 8394 9168 meaghan@thebrag.com GIG & CLUB GUIDE CO-ORDINATOR: Conrad Richters - gigguide@thebrag.com (rock) clubguide@thebrag.com (dance, hip hop & parties) INTERNS: Verity Cox, Kendra Fox, Andrew Geeves REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Benjamin Cooper, Alasdair Duncan, Max Easton, Christie Eliezer, Murray Engleheart, Andrew Geeves, Chris Honnery, Nathan Jolly, Sheridan Morley, Jenny Noyes, Hugh Robertson, Romi Scodellaro, Jonno Seidler, Rach Seneviratne, Roland K. Smith, Luke Telford, Rick Warner, Andrew Yorke Please send mail NOT ACCOUNTS direct to this address 8a Marlborough Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 ph - (02) 9552 6333 fax - (02) 9319 2227 EDITORIAL POLICY: The views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher, editors or staff of The BRAG. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Stephen Forde : accounts@furstmedia.com.au ph - (03) 9428 3600 fax - (03) 9428 3611 Furst Media, 3 Newton Street Richmond Victoria 3121 DEADLINES: Editorial: Wednesday 12pm (no extensions) Artwork, ad bookings: Thursday 12pm (no extensions).

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PATRICK WOLF

It’s hard to believe that almost three years have passed since the British musician, dandy and eternal ephebe Patrick Wolf last graced our shores. Wolf has a reputation for on-stage antics as racy as his songs are catchy – take one listen to ‘The City’, the first single from his fifth and latest studio album Lupercalia, and it will be imprinted on your brain as firmly as the image we have of Wolf back in 2009 prancing around the stage of The Metro in a glittery black G-string. But these kind of theatrics will be less likely when the recentlyengaged 28-year-old plays at the Opera House Studio on Saturday September 8 – Wolf will be touring a special acoustic show. Still, with a decade of experience in the music industry under his belt, who knows what the enigmatic wunderkind has up his sleeve…

SPLIT BILL

Like all great Australian bands, Perth’s Split Seconds should be listened to on an FM radio as you drive way too fast along a nondescript road in a country town with the window down and a magazine flap-flap-flapping on the dashboard. (Also, you are David Wenham in this imagining.) Sydney psych band Underlights, however, belong in a cool warehouse space in the city where it’s far too dark because the stage is lit with projections and melting images and we’re all high anyway, so, you know, just listen. These disparate worlds will collide on Thursday May 24 at GoodGod Small Club and Friday May 25 at The Beresford when the two play together, and possibly become your two favourite bands ever.

School Of Seven Bells

HERO FISHER

Come with us to watch Hero Fisher play Low 302 in Surry Hills on Monday May 28. She’s a Sydney-based songwriter who sits and strums and sings waves of lilting, poetic words which tumble so wonderfully and with such a dark, intense drive that the next thing you know you’ve been listening to her for an hour, and way more intently then you did that time your ex told you the reasons they were leaving. It’s quite a lovely spell to be under. And also, she’s kinda French!

SVIIB

School Of Seven Bells hail from Brooklyn, are a girl/boy duo, and make expansive, beautiful, fuzzed-out dream pop – which means you should really let them soundtrack your Friday June 22, seeing they’ll be playing the Hi-Fi and all. If you haven’t drifted down the rabbit hole/stream/your idea of bliss that is their third album Ghostory, do so right this minute. It’s so swoony. Tickets are on sale now through the venue.

Xxxx

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50 YEARS OF BOB

Fifty years ago, Bob Dylan released his self-titled debut album, and it shook the world of music to its very… nah, it was OK, mostly covers, fairly generic Woody Guthrie stuff, but he persevered and got better and that’s the lesson here. Also, as a sidebar, the Bob Dylan 50th Anniversary Concert at Sydney Opera House on July 8 looks amazing, with Kav from Eskimo Joe, Josh Pyke, Kevin Mitchell, Holly Throsby and Patience from The Grates all paying tribute to Dylan by singing his songs at you. It happens at Splendour too, if you miss this one. But don’t miss this one.

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rock music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

SPLIT SECONDS

five things WITH

MICHAEL FROM RUNNING GUN SOUND Your Band We started kicking around in 2008, and now 3. we’re all pretty inseparable. We’ve always liked handling our own recordings and production and artwork and things like that; I’ve always enjoyed a band who cares about everything that they do.

We all have different musical opinions, but we’re all pretty open about it – and unless most, if not all, of us like the song, we won’t play it.

The Music You Make Let’s say ‘garage punk’, because those 4. are two of the broadest genres imaginable. I’d say our main influences right now would be Lou Reed, Tom Verlaine, and David Byrne, put through a mesh strainer of Australian garage and punk history. We’ve just released ‘Beasts Of England’, a 7-inch single which we decided to record ourselves. Surprisingly, we actually enjoy being on stage and yelling and sweating and swearing, so we’re not afraid to show that. We’re really looking forward to getting down at MUM and hugging Scott Owen.

Music, Right Here, Right Now Brisbane’s still a small town with a handful 5. of venues, so you only think of your band and

Growing Up Inspirations My first musical idol was Buddy Holly, for a My favourite musicians are all here 1.

2. long time – I remember the first CD I ever had in Brisbane right now – sounds like a of his, Moondreams, when I six. My parents were at their partying best in London in the ‘60s and ‘70s, so that influenced a lot of what was in our house when I was growing up.

As a teenager I started pilfering their record collection, and got into playing guitar – hearing Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ made me realise that air guitaring wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

massive golden handshake, but it’s so true.

Everything my friends are doing knocks me out, every time, and makes me want to write as well as they do, or play as well as they do. Take The Keep On Dancin’s record; I just put that on the other night and thought, ‘Fuck, they just changed the game completely.’

what your friends’ bands are doing. I do love Australian music though, and it’s good turning up to another city and having a look at what’s going on.

What: Dirt Farmer, Driffs, Deathsquare, The Heavy Heads, Broke Down Engines, The Fires and MUM DJs Where: MUM @ The World Bar When: Friday May 25

And unlike the other artsy collectives involved in the project, their series will feature a bunch of music: the A.C.R.O.N.Y.M Orchestra on Sunday May 27, Des Miller, Aidan Roberts and Daniel Holdsworthy on Tuesday May 29, Moonlight Jazz on June 9 and 10 in the Chinese Gardens, Eastside Radio hosting music from May 31-June 3 – plus a heap more.

In fact there’s a bunch of interesting stuff to look at thanks to Rocks Pop-Up, so if you’re planning to be around there during Vivid, check out their website: therockspopup.tumblr.com

MUM’S THE WORD

Kirin J Callinan

This Friday May 25, MUM at The World Bar are hosting an especially rad lineup that we’re pretty keyed-up for, featuring Running Gun Sound (some of the guys from Velociraptor), Dirt Farmer from Melbourne, new vaguelysurfy power pop kids Driffs, the Nuggets-y/ garagey-sounding Deathsquare, plus The Heavy Hands, Broke Down Engines, The Fires and MUM DJs. Entry is a tenner. You’re welcome.

KIRIN J CALLINAN

Remember that part in the ‘November Rain’ clip when Slash left Axl’s wedding mid-cermony, even though he was best man, in order to walk outside and play a guitar solo? That’s the kind of dedication Slash has for his craft, so when he plays his show on August 25 at Sydney Entertainment Centre, you best believe that he will be giving his all. He’ll be bringing along Myles Kennedy of Alter Bridge too, which is a savvy move given Kennedy sings all the vocals on the record Slash is touring (Apocalyptic Love, which came out last Friday). Tickets to the show go on sale June 1.

BACKSTAGE VIVID

PLACES AND SPACES, AND YOUR FACES

Local collective Places and Spaces are putting on a bunch of events from Sunday May 27 as part of the Rocks Pop-Up project, which is centered at 47 George Street in the Rocks.

Tea and crumpets be damned. What could set you in better steed for celebrating our monarch’s birthday than spending the best part of the preceding afternoon and evening getting your elbows sweaty in a skank circle? Nothing, that’s what. Thank heavens then that The Annandale is hosting the 3rd Annual Ska Weekender from 3-11pm on Sunday June 10. Transitioning to dry land from the harbour cruise it called home last year, even the hardiest of landlubbers will be able to shake their tail feathers to the sound of 13 bands, including local ensembles Chris Duke and The Royals, Backy Skank, Sublime with Billy, The My Tys and Handball Deathmatch, and international brassmasters Dan Potthast and Roofdog. We’ve got two double passes to give away to anyone not shy of some horns and wah-wah. To enter, send in your favourite ska pun.

KING CANNONS

King Cannons sound like Rancid did before they got old, and The Clash did before they turned Jamaican, and The Stray Cats would if they borrowed distortion pedals from Green Day. They wear brothel creepers, use gel from a tube (not a spray-bottle thingy), and are launching their longawaited debut album The Brightest Light on June 28 at Oxford Art Factory. They are bringing along Major Tom and The Atoms, or as BRAG readers know them, ‘That band Tom from Little Red left Little Red to be in’ (not a very catchy nickname, guys). Get tickets now!

STEEL PANTHER FTW

Steel Panther say they’re bringing the halcyon days of metal back, but by doing that wouldn’t that make these the halcyon days of metal, and negate their entire mission? What comes next? Ask them this and more on October 5 at the Big Top at Luna Park; they’ll be the ridiculous-looking ones jumping off Marshall stacks and doing scissor kicks.

Their album Balls Out is out now, too, and it’s a heartbreaking journey of self-discovery. With balls!

END OF THE WORLD

If BRAG had our own awards ceremony (The Braggies, obvs.), we would probably get the likable Abe Forsythe to host it, and Melbourne four-piece World’s End Press would win Most Dancable Live Band. The award would be a gold-plated pair of MC Hammer pants captured mid-Walking Man, and if you don’t believe they are worthy of this particular award, get along to their July 6 show at GoodGod Small Club and dance that smug nonchalance away. Then apologise. Then buy their EP Uptown, which will be out early June.

“A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her” - OSCAR WILDE 10 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

Xxxx

If you agree that the best parts from The Muppet Show happen behind the curtains, then you’ll love the Vivid LIVE Stage Door tours, where you basically get to poke around

backstage, walking through the backstage corridors, backstage dressing rooms and other backstage-y places of the Opera House, bumping into Karen O as she sneaks a cigarette, busting in on a high-stakes poker game between PVT and Temper Trap, catching Janelle Monae’s soundcheck and shoe-mirror check, and basically getting the full backstage experience. There are one-hour tours each night between May 25 and June 3, but tickets are limited. $55 per person, with booking via sydneyoperahouse.com – and don’t tell anybody what you saw back there!

SKA WEEKENDER

World’s End Press

Put down this magazine right now (gently, and for no longer than 2 minutes 39 seconds) and watch the new video from ex-Mercy Arms lad Kirin J Callinan. It’s called ‘W II W (Way To War)’ and it’s unsettling in exactly the same way that cults and religion and little blankfaced girls holding candles at communion, and Damien in The Omen even though it’s just a child actor, are unsettling. The single is out through Melbourne’s Siberia Records and US label Terrible Records, which is run by Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear who really does know about tunes. Performing with a live band, Callinan launches the 7-inch on June 22 at GoodGod Small Club, supported by DCM, Forces and Kangaroo Skull.

SLASH!

Be it hairs, ends, psyches or atoms, the splitting of objects hasn’t traditionally been associated with enjoyment. Enter Perth fivesome Split Seconds to rewrite the record books. Since their inception in 2010, the self-described “thinking person’s pop band” have toured with the likes of Jebediah and were selected as a band to watch in 2012 by triple j’s Next Crop. To celebrate the release of new single ‘Top Floor’ from their as-yet-untitled debut album, which is dropping in July, Split Seconds are teaming up with Underlights to bring you their Second Light Tour. Leaving shows in Victoria and Queensland in its wake, the tour will touch down in Sydney on Thursday March 24 at GoodGod Small Club and on Friday March 25 at The Beresford. With two double passes to the Beresford gig up for grabs, simply tell us about a time in your life when split second timing has been crucial.

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COMING SOON

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The Music Network

themusicnetwork.com

Music Industry News with Christie Eliezer

THINGS WE HEAR

* After P. Diddy and Missy Elliot were dropped from the bill, Supafest told those who wanted refunds to wait until June.

“We apologise for the time it is taking to pay the balance of the refunds. We are reconciling what tickets have and have not been scanned, which is a [lengthy] process. We are seeking until June 1 to finalise all refunds, and hope that you can remain patient until then.” * Slash is here in August. Next year sees Tom Petty and Norah Jones tours. * 360’s YouTube channel hit a massive 9 million views, and Facebook ‘likes’ are surging towards 360,000. * Someone from The Living End Tweeted at The Voice contestant Matt Hetherington, congratulating him for his version of their ‘White Noise’. But opinion is divided in 'End camp: both Andy Strachan and manager Rae Harvey think that he “butchered” the song. * Flava Fav, who joined Prince at his postgig two-hour show at the Ivy (as did Seal), did another rendition of Public Enemy’s ‘911 Is A Joke’ (segued with ‘Play That

UNIVERSAL, SONY, UP; WARNER DOWN

The two biggest record companies in the world posted a rise in revenue and profits in the first quarter of 2012 – which could suggest that the rise in digital sales and new revenues is slowly balancing out the plunge in CD sales. Universal Music Group had a 9.1% revenue increase year-on-year for the period ending March 31, to 961 million Euros (A$1236m). “This increase reflected very strong recorded music sales, particularly in the United States where volume in the overall music market increased by 2%,” said the company. Sony Music posted an operating profit of 36.9bn Yen (A$460b) for the year to end of March, on sales of 442.8bn Yen ($5.59b). Meanwhile, Warner Music Group’s revenue slipped 8% in the first three months of 2012 to US$628m, from $684m last year.

Net loss was $36 million, compared to $38m in the same period last year. Revenue at Warner’s recorded music division fell 9% to $503m, while its music publishing division saw a drop of 7% to $128m. Digital revenue now represents a 44.1% share of recorded music revenue globally, and 58.3% in the USA.

MUSIC COMMUNITY PUTS HEAT ON BYRON’S FESTIVAL POLICY

The music community is turning up the heat on Byron Bay’s council plan to limit festivals and shows. Council is set to discuss it this Thursday May 24. The campaign has been spearheaded by Bluesfest promoter Peter Noble; a petition on the festival’s website has now got 10,000 signatures. Promoter Michael Chugg last week weighed in, revealing that a massive show featuring Elton John for Byron in November has now gone to regional Queensland. Kasey Chambers, John Butler, The Cat Empire, Parkway Drive (who’re collecting petitions), Michael Franti and

Funky Music’), while Chuck D came on later for Prince-written ‘Love… Thy Will Be Done’, which was a hit for Martika. * Scared of Rihanna’s hard partying ways (and given that her dad was a crack user), Rih-Rih’s mum Monica Fenty is going on tour with her to keep an eye out. She’ll also cook up her daughter’s fave Caribbean dish, jerk chicken. * Andrew Hogan, education director of the Optometrists Association of Tasmania, warns that teenagers with heavy fringe haircuts which slop over one eye could get lazy eye syndrome. * Britney Spears signed on as a judge for US X Factor for US$15 million – but her singer friends warned it’ll stress her enough for another meltdown. * Space travel freak Will.i.am has been asked by NASA to write a song that will debut on a NASA space mission to Mars. * Jay-Z will curate and headline the ‘Budweiser Made In America’ festival in Philadelphia this September – and wants to ask President Obama to come on and do some RnB classics. * Both Coldplay’s Chris Martin and producer Plan B suffer from tinnitus.

Ben Harper have condemned the policy and stressed the importance of festivals to the cultural and economic well-being of the area. Harper bristled, “This kind of thing is not supposed to happen in Australia. Other places perhaps, but not here.” To add to the petition or read about the issue, head online: bluesfest.com.au

KOOKABURRA CASE TAKES DONKEY’S YEARS

Judge Peter Jacobson of the Federal Court in Sydney has ticked off publisher Larrikin Music for taking “donkey’s years” to finalise the ‘Down Under’/ ‘Kookaburra’ case. In 2010, the Court found that Men At Work had to pay Larrikin 5% of the royalties that ‘Down Under’ earned since 2002. Larrikin’s lawyers explained that they are waiting for singer Colin Hay and EMI Music Publishing to hand over the documents of 400 licenses for the song, to work out the royalties.

IPOD IDIOT?

Dave Hurban, a 21-year-old body piercer from New Jersey, is literally attached to his iPod. He implanted four metal studs in the skin of his wrist, and secured his iPod to them magnetically to make it detachable. A video on how he did it generated 1 million YouTube views in two weeks. He got the idea when he saw a photo of the iPod and noticed it had a clock interface. He says, “Over everything else, I did it because I wanted a strapless watch.”

GOOD WORKS #1: GOLDEN STAVE

The music industry’s charity luncheon The Golden Stave is being held on Friday June 29 at Hordern Pavilion, with appearances

by Diesel, Paulini, Bluejuice, Jonesy &

Rihanna

To become more accessible to youth, Sydney Opera House set up a 12-person Youth Advisory Committee aged between 13 and 18. Their first project was an under-18s rave.

Speaking of which, the Opera House is also holding $55 backstage tours during Vivid LIVE, where for one hour fans can tour backstage, maybe catch a soundcheck, and go into the dressing rooms to feel the pre-festival buzz.

Amanda and Bianca Dye. There’s an auction, and a prize for best-dressed superhero or villain (this year’s theme). The Golden Stave has raised $13 million in the past 33 years, and last year donated to 20 NSW children charities as well as Support Act Ltd. Bookings at goldenstave.com.au

GOOD WORKS #2: ART OF MUSIC

Art Of Music is a fundraiser put together by Jenny Morris and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy. Ten visual artists choose a song to inspire an artwork; these are then auctioned during a gala dinner at the Art Gallery of NSW on Saturday June 2. Proceeds go to Nordoff-Robbins, aiding those with intellectual and physical needs. More info can be found at artofmusic.com.au and at the Nordoff Robbins website.

GOOD WORKS #3: AIM’S FUNDRAISER FOR THE ANNANDALE

The Australian Institute of Music (AIM) will hold a fundraiser at, and for, the debt-ridden Annandale on Thursday June 7. Performing are Castlecomer and Rob Farnham, as well as bands featuring AIM students. There’s also an auction including signed guitars by Keith Urban and Benji and Joel Madden.

WORLD RECORDS: IT HERTZ SO GOOD…

Brisbane’s DJ Hertz set a new world record – 152 hours – for the longest DJ set ever.

The old record was a 150-hour set last October by Rene Brunner of California. Last December, Sydney’s Smokin Joe Mekhael thought he had the Marathon DJ Champion Of The World title, for 132 hours 30 minutes at the Empire. But he hadn’t realised that the Guinness Book Of Records website had not been updated to include Brunner’s feat, and thought he only had to beat the 120 hours 19 minutes by Brazil’s DJ King. Mekhael plans to try again this year.

Immersing his fingers in ice for the next few months is David DiDonato from Austin, who has set a new world record for the longest guitar solo of all time. DiDonato, of the band Modok, played for 24 hours and 55 minutes at Red 7 club (Guinness allows a five minute break each hour), offering $25 to anyone who’d stay up with him to watch. The old record was 24 hours 17 minutes.

…WHILE JACK WHITE LOST HIS CHANCE

Jack White is grizzling about how The White Stripes played the shortest concert in history, but it is not officially recognised by Guinness. During a stop in Newfoundland, Canada, he told Meg to hit her cymbal, and grab it so that the note only lasted a millisecond. Guinness Book Of World Records said no.

INDIGENOUS AWARDS TEAM WITH UNEARTHED

The National Indigenous Music Awards has teamed with triple j Unearthed to find an unsigned indigenous act to be flown to Darwin to play at the awards on August 11.

They’ll also get airplay on j’s various formats. The Medics (Qld), Yabu Band (WA) and East Journey (NT) have been announced to play; you’ll find the full list next month. To enter, upload tracks to triplejunearthed.com – the winner will be announced on July 5.

12 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

Three of Screen Australia’s 10 new projects have music themes. Red Dog director Kriv Stenders steers Synchronicity, based around Kylie Minogue songs, about a 17-year-old who moves to Sydney to become a synchronised swimming champion. Jonathan Teplitzky’s Choir Of Hard Knocks is about a group of “disparate and desperate” people who turn to music under a choirmaster. Bruce Beresford is directing Banjo & Matilda, which is about Banjo Patterson writing ‘Waltzing Matilda’ during a shearers strike in Queensland.

OPERA HOUSE GETS YOUTH ADVISERS

…LONGEST GUITAR SOLO…

The Medics

THREE MUSIC-THEMED FILMS THANKS TO SCREEN AUSTRALIA

NEW WEIRD AUSTRALIA’S GRANTS INITIATIVE

Look out for a series of experimental music shows, generated by Sydney’s not-for-profit experimental music collective New Weird Australia. Under an initiative called Vagrant, it provides $750 for individuals or collectives to curate a night as part of a travelling gig/ pop-up club night series – by July 30. More info at newweirdaustralia.com.

Lifelines Dating: One Direction’s Zayn Malik is reportedly back with ex-girlfriend and fellow X-Factor contestant Perrie Edwards.

Married: Superstar DJ Erick Morillo and model Yasmin Sait-Armstrong in Miami, after meeting on NYE. The star-studded event included the couple being serenaded by Craig David, and a fireworks display before they flew off to honeymoon in – where else – Ibiza.

Injured: Gyroscope’s Zoran Trivic broke both his legs after being hit by a car while riding his motorbike in Perth. He’ll be out of action for up to four months, forcing them to delay (until September) their June benefit show for Trivic’s cousin Dana Vulin, who was badly burned during a violent home invasion.

Injured: Axl Rose ended up with horrific bruises to his legs after a wild weekend of partying in Moscow.

Hospitalised: A male patron at Groovin’ The Moo’s Maitland show, for a suspected spinal injury sustained in the moshpit.

Hospitalised: Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, for an urgent tonsillectomy.

Resolved: Lil Wayne settled a $1.5 million lawsuit with producer David Kirkwood for unpaid royalties for ‘Love Me Or Hate Me’ from Tha Carter III album.

In April he paid $20 million to another disgruntled producer over unpaid ‘Lollipop’ royalties.

In Court: Rapper Lil Boosie was acquitted of ordering a hit on a 35-year-old Terry Boyd, who was shot fatally through a window of his house.

In Court: OneRepublic drummer Eddie Fisher pleaded not guilty to grabbing his girlfriend’s head and throwing her down during a fight.

Died: Chuck Brown, godfather of Washington DC’s bass-heavy jamming Go-Go style (‘Bustin Loose Part 1’, ‘We Need Some Money’), 75.

Died: Joshua Engelking, one time drummer for Brisbane art rock band The Red Paintings, due to complications from a brain tumour, 30.

Died: “Queen of disco” Donna Summer, 63, from cancer.

Between 1975 and 2001, she had 19 #1 dance hits, a feat only bettered by Madonna.

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LANIE LANE Changing Lanes

By Steph Harmon

T

he only thing giving away Lanie Lane’s hangover today is the slight wilt to her quiff. Everything else is as it should be – the bright red lipstick, the gold hoop earrings, the enviable style and those wry, striking eyes – but before our interview has even started I’m digging out the Nurofen while her tour manager runs off for water.

It’s not a common state for Lane – “I don’t really drink these days,” she admits – but it’s understandable this afternoon. For one thing, we’re in Austin for South by Southwest, which is like schoolies for the music industry except the drinks are free. And last night was the big night for Lane, who was performing in one of the festival’s centrepieces: Jack White’s Third Man Records showcase, headlined by the man himself. After the huge year she’s had, she deserved a good time.

And she got one. “I ended up getting inducted into The Black Belles as ‘The White Witch’, and then I was hanging out with John C. Reilly!” The actor was playing on the night as well, with his deadpan country side-project. “He was driving me around and everything – he took me to the after party and then he drove me back to my hotel, because it was like 4am. He was like, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take ya home!’” she laughs. “It was nice to just let loose a little bit – but I’m glad I don’t wake up with a hangover too often!”

As one of the lucky few who made it into the venue (the line stretched back four blocks, and could only be skirted by the ultra VIPs – David Frick, James Mercer and Bill Murray amongst them), this writer can safely say that Lane did us Aussies proud. On stage alone with just her guitar, in a tasselled shrug jacket and a skin-tight black dress, her vintage melting pot of good-time bluesy rockabilly, spaghetti western, Motown and country was devoured by the crowd, with The Black Belles swaying in time up the front.

And Lane made quite the impression on Jack White. “There’s a lot of singers post-Amy Winehouse that have come out and been able to get a lot dirtier, a lot more soulful in the female vocal side of music,” he told The West Australian in Texas. “I like her twist on that. I like her style…

She’s gonna do some real interesting things in the future.” So it’s no surprise that after her imminent ‘Bangity Bang’ tour, where she’ll be joined by guitarist Aiden Roberts (Belles Will

Ring, The Maple Trail), bassist Zoe Hauptman and drummer Paul Derricort, Lane has been invited to open for White’s headline gigs, while he’s here for Splendour. The shows at Melbourne’s Festival Hall and Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion will be two of the largest she’s played.

Entirely self-taught (“I’ve had two singing lessons off Elana Stone – that’s about it!”), Lane is one of a handful of young Australian artists who’ve broken through in a big way this year.

Our interview took place at the Aussie BBQ in Texas, SXSW’s yearly showcase of homegrown music, and as I followed her to the press room she grabbed Matt Corby from the crowd and whispered something in his ear. They both laughed. “He’s absolutely ripping right now,” she tells me. “Maybe three years ago, we were all doing these little shows, just plugging away and stuff… But he’s gone BANG! – like, twenty levels, instantly. And Kimbra – people like that have gone BOOM!” I ask if there’s a sense of community that’s built amongst her peers – the kind of Aussie artists who can get invited to a conference like this, and absolutely blow it away. “Well, we’re all kind of doing our own separate things,” she answers.

“It’s really random when we do see each other, and we’re always at work. Just before, I played a show and Matt was like, ‘Let’s go! Let’s have a ciggie!’ So we just went outside and sat in a little quiet corner and got away from everyone, and just had a really nice chat, about music. Just to bring it back down to that bass level of what we’re all here to do. You take the moments when you can, because you have to keep each other grounded, and encourage each other.” For her own part, Lane is happy with where she’s at. “It sort of is crazy, but it’s not too crazy – it’s just crazy enough that I can handle it,” she says. “You get what you’re ready for in life… I’m happy with the pace of the game.”

The pace of the game has taken the artist from 15 years of independent songwriting, to a record label deal, to Jack White, to her debut album, To The Horses – which won FBi Radio’s SMAC award for Album of the Year, landed her four nominations in the APRA Music Awards, and had her on rotation at pretty much every Americanathemed saloon-styled whiskey bar around the country: the pin-up knock-out of the rockabilly revival. Although, she says, she takes issue with that label. “That whole ‘rockabilly’ title has been following me around constantly. Which is cool, but I feel that there’s only a small little part of me that’s related to that. I do know about rockabilly music, but I’m not a bloody expert on it! To The Horses only had a few songs on there that touched on that genre, and somehow I’ve ended up with this whole title!” she says. “So when I do shoots and stuff now, I try to get away from that – a) because I don’t want to be pigeon-holed, and b) out of respect for the people that are real [representatives] of that world… I don’t wanna offend the real rockabilly people!”

With the album cycle for To The Horses still in full swing, its follow-up is a way off yet. “I really wanna start working on the next album,” she says. “I said to my band, ‘Guys, can you have a lot of sex please? We’ve gotto make the sexiest music you’ve ever heard.’ That’s my goal.” But although she’s yet to flesh out any of her new songs, Lanie Lane knows one thing for certain: her second record is going to be different.

“Because I’ve had that massive [rockabilly] label on me, now when I’m writing I’m like, ‘This has nothing to do with that – at all!’” she laughs. “I just hope that people who’ve been supportive and are into my music now can grow with me, because [this new record] is going to be so totally different.” And it’s not from a conscious decision to shake off that pigeonhole; it’s just that Lanie Lane’s been developing as a musician for about as long as she’s been one. “I’ve always written music, and it’s always evolved, from year to year,” she says. “So it’s not that I’m suddenly about to change – I’ve just never had to do it in public before!”

Where: Metro Theatre When: Friday June 1 (sold out), Saturday June 2 More: Also supporting Jack White on July 26 at the Hordern Pavilion

“A man’s face is his autobiography. A woman’s face is her work of fiction” - OSCAR WILDE 14 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

Lanie Lane photo by Ken Leanfore

Such a reception was to be expected: Lane has made a name for herself amongst the Jack White-loving set. The now Melbournebased (but Sydney-raised) artist was picked up by the retro-revivalist hero after she sent him a few of her self-produced tracks last year. “Yeah. And the next day he emailed,” she laughs, shaking her head. White invited Lane to his iconic Nashville studio to record a couple of tracks with him – ‘My Man’ and ‘Ain’t Hungry’ – and although it happened early last year, she’s still not sick of talking about it. “SO lucky. And we had to keep it a secret for SO long – like, six months. One day: no idea, just a fan – and the next minute he’s emailed me, and then we’ve planned when I’m going. And that was like two months in advance – had to keep it quiet – went and recorded it – keep it quiet for three more months… So when finally the news came out, I was like, ‘Oh good! I can talk about it now!’”

“That whole ‘rockabilly’ title has been following me around constantly...

This new record is going to be so totally different.”

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Pantera Twenty Odd Years By Peter Hodgson

Emperors Ready To Go By Benjamin Cooper

N

I

t’s 20 years since Pantera released Vulgar Display Of Power. That’s the same as the span of time between the Beatles’ first world tour and Van Halen’s Jump. Or between Led Zeppelin IV and Pearl Jam’s Ten. It seems hard to believe now, when crunchy metal riffs are used in everything from kids’ movies to breakfast cereal ads, but once upon a time the closest thing to metal heard outside bedrooms and car stereos was the likes of Poison and Bon Jovi. Vulgar Display helped to change all that. Along with Metallica’s Black album, it was enormously influential on musicians looking to break free of the stylistic quirks of cock rock without switching gears to the grunge sounds that were rapidly gaining prominence. Pantera combined jagged, hi-fi, post-thrash guitar tones with aggressive vocals, harsh production and a sense of groove borrowed from Southern Rock – and in the process, they ignited a revolution.

“We had a lot of hunger; the juices were flowing, big-time, and I just remember it being a really creative period for the band,” bass player Rex Brown says of 1992-vintage Pantera. “We knew what direction we were headed in, and we were very aware of where we wanted to go, yet it just came out so naturally that we didn’t have to second-guess anything. There it was! Every day we were waking up just wanting to go to work.”

To mark its anniversary, Pantera’s remaining former members (guitarist Dimebag Darrell was tragically murdered onstage in 2004) have dipped into the archives to produce a deluxe edition of Vulgar Display Of Power. Included in the release is a bonus DVD featuring the album’s three official music videos as well as six songs from a Monsters Of Rock festival appearance in Reggio, Italy in 1992. But the set’s pièce de résistance is ‘Piss’, the one and only unreleased Pantera track. 20 years on, Brown can’t pinpoint

why ‘Piss’ wasn’t included on the original album.

It certainly sounds like vintage Pantera. “When it came to sequencing we had everything pretty much mixed and that one just got overlooked.

That’s all I can say about that one! I listen to it 20 years later and it does kinda stick in with the usual crowd.”

One of the main riffs from ‘Piss’ was reused a few years later on the album Far Beyond Driven.

That album was one of the most aggressive, angry-sounding, filthy, fight-ready metal albums ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard chart, helped no doubt by the huge expectations growing out of Vulgar Display. “We wanted to get heavier with each album rather than get softer,” Brown says. “So that’s where we were.

There was a lot of hard work that led to [the #1 debut]. We played 200-something dates on the Vulgar tour, so it’s just one of those things. Our natural progression was to get a little heavier.

We did our homework and just kept getting more and more intense as it went along. But not a bad record for #1 – in about 16 different countries!”

The chunky, groovy sound of Vulgar Display has made it a particular touchstone for bands; a ‘Pantera Sound’ that groups can consciously call upon, like Sabbath’s sludgy riffs or the Iron Maiden gallop. “It’s nice to be in that category,” Brown says. “That’s a very nice compliment.

Sometimes it’s very flattering,” he says, before pausing – holding back a word or two about some of the bands who have taken the Pantera groove and …misused it. “Sometimes it’s not; but for the most part, it’s very flattering.”

What: Vulgar Display Of Power 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is out now through Warner Music Australia

o-one was more surprised when Perth band Emperors’ debut was chosen as triple j’s feature album than the band itself. “It really came out of nowhere,” says guitarist Greg Sanders, down the line from Western Australia. “We’d previously got some play for the single ‘Ready When I Say Go’, and then all of a sudden we’re fielding calls from people we don’t normally get contacted by. I suppose the strangest part about it is we don’t have a label or people shoveling great piles of CDs onto [triple j Music Director Richard] Kingsmill’s desk. We just make our music, and stay away from all the bullshit.”

Emperors may seem like a relatively new band to many listeners, particularly to those on the East Coast. The reality, though, is that the four-piece have been honing their craft in WA for some time. After forming in 2009, they gigged solidly and landed the much-coveted triple j Unearthed slot at the 2010 Big Day Out. Later that year, they released their debut EP Sam, recorded with producer Dave Parkin (Snowman, Jebediah, Drapht).

With their debut full-length, Stay Frosty, Emperors’ relationship with Parkin has been consolidated. “There are a lot of really good producers in Perth,” says Sanders, “but the difference [with Parkin] is that he’s world class. He’s an eccentric guy, and very dedicated to his craft; he spends so much time chipping away in the studio that it can be hard to get him to come out to gigs! There’s always the option of recording elsewhere, but why would we go to New York when we’ve got such an asset in our own backyard?”

This parochial pride has been vindicated – and maybe even strengthened – by the attention Emperors are now getting. “It’s great to be getting called up and asked to tour a whole lot more, but the bottom line for us is that we’re not going to move,” says Sanders.

“If it makes financial sense to move east at some stage, then we’ll do it. But for us, we enjoy having that little bit of separation from everything else. We’ll be sticking around out here for a bit.”

Parkin’s influence on Stay Frosty can be heard in the crashing walls of guitar that dominate its sound. When pressed about the careful construction of such dominating fretwork, Sanders is frank: “We definitely don’t agonise over getting all the fills just right. Our writing process is probably a bit strange, in that we don’t jam the songs out for hours on end.

Initially Adam [Livingston, vocalist and guitarist] and I will get together, figure out some of the basic chord progressions and melodies before we take it into the band room and start demoing with the whole band. Thankfully Dave gets how we work, and allows us to just play our parts and get on with it.”

The band’s no-fuss approach to songwriting contrasts with some of the more elaborate critical responses to their music. Much has been made of the ostensible debt their sound owes to ‘90s guitar rock – a comparison that Sanders finds somewhat bemusing. “Some people like to throw around names of ‘90s groups, comparing us to Smashing Pumpkins or Nirvana, which seems like such a strange attitude to have.

But we’re not trying to sound like them – we’re writing songs that we would want to listen to,” he says. “We could start playing electro music, but it would be totally shit and very confusing for everyone.”

What: Stay Frosty is out now With: Skull Squadron, Super Best Friends, Matt Banham (The Dreamboats) Where: FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel When: Saturday May 26

Adele & Glenn Streets Of Your Town By Mike Gee

Pickvance is at home in Surry Hills, ruing the onset of winter. She’s been socialnetworking, she tells me.

“It seems to be important – that’s what everybody tells you.” She confides that Forster, a wonderful man who probably doesn’t give a hashtag about social networking, has three people who tweet for him.

Forster would certainly approve of the album opener and first single of Carrington St, ‘I Dreamt I Was A Sparrow’ – a slice of buoyant pop that propels itself along with just the right amount of sparrow-like urgency, without ever losing sight of popular roots. Pickvance says she’d had the song for a while, and Thompson delivered a popenergy tweak. The two go back a long way and really understand each other – and you can hear it. There’s no artifice, no hollow emotion; just two craftspeople delivering their art. “It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a while,” Pickvance says of the musical partnership. “When I moved from Brisbane to Sydney three years ago, it made it possible.

We had a space, Glenn’s space, where we started working on the songs, putting down tracks, working out arrangements. It was a slow process, experimenting, working things out,” she adds, “but we didn’t have any pressure on us, so we did it our way. We finished it last year and now it’s a matter of getting it out there.”

The bad news is that the duo can’t find an Australian label to release the album; the good news is that the German label Glitterhouse got on board straight away, so at least Europe will see a physical distribution – including, to Adele’s delight, a vinyl version. So the pair is off to Europe in October, to tour. “We tried to get a label in Australia, but nobody

seemed interested. People will be able to buy Carrington St at our shows or download it on iTunes. It is a bit strange though. They love Australian music in Europe, and they get excited about it. They still have enthusiasm.

The fact that it is also coming out on vinyl is really great, too. There’s nothing better than having ten songs split into side one and side two. That’s what we envisaged when we did the running order.”

The album’s title comes from the location of the studio in which it was recorded: Carrington Street, Marrickville. The multicultural suburb has infused the album; there’s a real sense of the city, and a need to escape it. Songs dive down tunnels under Sydney’s city streets, or examine existential crises catalysed by innercity living. “It is a city record – there’s a lot of city there,” Pickvance agrees. “Since I’ve been in Sydney it has been quite wet, and I’ve found myself thinking, ‘What am I doing here? I was promised beaches and sunshine!’ At least it’s nice today.” And indeed, the skies are blue, for once – but there are plenty of other shades to discover on Carrington St. What: Carrington St is out now With: David McCormack, 49 Goodbyes Where: The Vanguard, Newtown When: Thursday May 24

“America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between” - OSCAR WILDE 16 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

The Butterfly Effect – photo by Tony Mott

T

he Go-Betweens were archetypal storytellers.

Like the very best of Australian music, you could find a sense of a life and a nation in the songs of Robert Forster and the late Grant McLennan. The same can be said of the songs of Adele & Glenn – Adele Pickvance and Glenn Thompson – who joined Forster and McLennan in the second incarnation of the Go-Betweens, from 20002006. And while the duo’s debut album Carrington St speaks for itself, it also bears lovely traces of the six years spent in that masterclass of pop.

The Temper Trap Have Your Love By Tamara Vogl

I

t’s a little known fact that the men who formed The Temper Trap first met one another during brief stints working at Melbourne Central’s General Pants. Since their first self-titled EP, they went double Platinum with ‘Sweet Disposition’, released a debut album that sold nearly a million copies worldwide, and received a bevy of accolades, from ARIAs to Brit nominations. The band – which then consisted of vocalist Dougy Mandagi, guitarist Lorenzo Sillitto, bassist Jonny Aherne and drummer Toby Dundas – had barely relocated from Melbourne to London when they made a tour bus their home-away-from-home.

They’d arrived a little wet behind the ears but armed with songs fit to headline festivals, and an ambition set on getting them there.

And having recorded Conditions with Arctic Monkeys producer Jim Abbiss, their debut was released in Australia in June 2009 to an overwhelming response and went Gold in the UK, which propelled the band into an extended period of intense, relentless touring that only concluded at the beginning of 2011. With a handful of awards – including two ARIAs – tucked under their belt, ‘Sweet Disposition’ may have been their not-so-secret weapon, but they backed it up with an album filled with nuanced epic-pop perfection. “[It feels] great. It’s nice to get recognition from peers, and people in the industry,” Toby Dundas says of the ARIA nods. “Those things that happen along the way are nice little bonuses to what you’re doing.” Adding “keytarist” Joseph Greer as a fifth permanent member only seemed right, seeing as he’d known the band since their early days. “We couldn’t get him to go. He kept showing up.”

“It’s a progression from what we did last time.

Conditions was quite varied, but this album will push the walls out a little more, I think.”

After a shorter-than-expected holiday, the Temper Trap reconvened to begin work on their second album. With minimal writing having taken place amidst the whirlwind of the Conditions touring cycle, the band entered sessions for album #2 with a clean slate and little idea of what would surface. Situated in their adopted home of Hackney, the group approached the writing sessions much as they did for their debut: by just sitting there and nutting things out. By the time they were ready to head to the famous Sound Factory studios in Los Angeles to record with Beck collaborator Tony Hoffer, they’d written 35 songs that were whittled down to 17. “Being in LA was the right choice for this album,” Joseph explains. “Tony has his own studio, so we didn’t need to spend a lot of time trying to get things sounding right. On top of that, the weather was amazing the whole time, and I’m sure that did a lot to elevate our moods.”

The Temper Trap photo by David Black

What emerges is their self-titled second album, a record of two distinct personalities: one of melancholic, mesmeric balladry, and one of synth-led, anthemic powerhouse pop. “It’s a progression from what we did last time, with a few more elements and more synthesisers,” says Joseph. “There is a bit more programming,” Toby adds. “Conditions was quite varied, but this album will push the walls out a little bit more, I think. Dougy’s voice is still the focal point though, and is something that ties in all those different musical styles. He experiments with a few more lower registers too – a few more Barry Whites in there.”

Dougy had gone through a break-up prior to the writing sessions, which he’s admitted influenced some of the lyrical content – but Joseph tells me the songs are about more than just one man. “I think the lyrics tell much more of a story about what you’re going through [too],” Joseph says. “When you listen to the album, there’s a lot more to it than that. I think he probably had some of that to get out, but he definitely got to a point where it’s not just about [his break-up] anymore.” Musically, Toby was motivated by the gear. “[I was] inspired by what extra toys we have around us now, for us to have a play. For Conditions we had a few extra guitar peddles and that took us into a world.

But this time it was having more Moog Voyager, so we were starting to write songs on synth sets – which changed the way we wrote.”

When it comes to the meaning of their music, The Temper Trap take the ambiguous route.

“It’s not written with a direct message; it’s more what you can take from it,” Toby explains, “[We prefer to] provide a canvas that people can take something from, rather than a direct This-Is-What-We’re-Trying-To-Say message.”

Joseph agrees: “It’s like if you think about your life, and you think about certain songs that meant something to you at a certain point – hopefully this is what other people will feel.”

The Temper Trap are looking forward to returning home to play for Australian audiences in more compact and intimate venues than the festivals they’ve been appearing at. “It’s weird – when there are so many people, you’re more disconnected from it,” Joseph says. “It’s almost more nerve racking when you’re in a room with a couple hundred people and they are right there in your face, as opposed to a mass audience.”

What: The Temper Trap is out now through Liberation Where: Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House When: Thursday May 31, Friday June 1 More: Also supporting Coldplay at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday November 17

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Best Coast This Is Growing Up By Caitlin Welsh

I

t’s no secret that Bethany Cosentino is a hardcore, dyed-in-the-wool, rusted-on Californian. Representing for the scruffier side of Los Angeles rather than the glazed blonde cliché, Cosentino cemented her rep with the release of the first Best Coast album Crazy For You – all palm trees, weed, cats and crushes, breezy lo-fi production and guitar fuzz cut with girl-group harmonies, and other such words you saw everywhere at the time.

The album hit a nerve, and Cosentino and her multi-instrumentalist bandmate Bobb Bruno found themselves touring worldwide at a relentless pace, and popping up in Best Of 2010 lists everywhere. But though their fresh take on a far-from-new sound was largely a product of Cosentino’s unfussy songwriting and relaxed attitude, that didn’t mean she missed out on the second record anxiety.

“With this one it was like, OK, the first one did really well, and hopefully this one does equally as well, or better, or a little bit less well, or whatever,” Cosentino says with a laugh, speaking from her LA home. “This one has probably created a bit more, like, anxiety and stress, as you can probably tell from the lyrics on the record… But as soon as we started recording, it I started losing that fear and anxiety, and started getting really into the zone and making a record that I was proud of.”

Working with composer and producer Jon Brion made all the difference. The Only Place marks a clear progression from Crazy: out with the layers of fuzz, and in with an emphasis on Cosentino’s blithe, strong voice, high in the mix with a countrified edge, and with crisp arrangements that recall Brion’s work with Spoon. “We keep saying that the first record is in black and white and this one is in colour. That’s our metaphor, our bullshit poetic example that we keep giving,” she laughs.

“The goal was to make, sonically, a more mature and grown-up record and to stray away from the lo-fi sound, to still use distortion and reverb, but to tone it down and do it in a more adult, grown-up sort of way. I don’t think the record is really that different [to Crazy]. I think the elements of true Best Coast songwriting style are definitely still there.”

This means that the much-cited themes of love, leisure and sunshine pepper The Only Place – but if Crazy was all about pining for a person, this is the soundtrack to pining for home. “That’s why I called it The Only Place, because it starts out with this love note to California, being like, ‘Hey guess what, you’re the only place that makes me feel myself and makes me happy and makes me comfortable and confident’ – and then the rest of the record is all of these feelings of self-doubt and insecurities and sort of homesickness,”

Cosentino explains. “I think a lot of those things were brought on by leaving California and by travelling so much and not being home and living my life based on the rules of the road.”

But Cosentino insists she’s not over travelling yet, and promises that Best Coast will return to our shores late this year or early 2013, with enthusiasm. “Sydney and Perth and places

that are close to the ocean, they remind me a lot of California. So I think that when we go to Australia, it’s one of those places… I don’t feel so homesick when I’m there. Even though it’s the furthest place I could ever be away from California, I do feel very much at home there.”

What: The Only Place is out now through Popfrenzy

Marina And The Diamonds Heart Of Glass By Lee Hutchison arina Diamandis is no ordinary pop star. Learning to play the piano and sing at the relatively late age of 19, she is nevertheless about as audacious as they come. “I was quite self-conscious about that fact, that I hadn’t been doing [music] since I was four,” she admits. “But if you have a genuine artistic talent inside of you, it’s not important that you haven’t been taught how to do it. That’s what’s great about pop music and pop artists – you can come from a very self-made background, and your personality and determination gets you a lot further than your talent.”

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The image of Marina projected around that release was of a modern, dark-haired pop starlet – but her latest release, Electra Heart, has seen her reimagined as a blonde, with an enviable collection of vintage dresses under her oversized belt. Is this kind of makeover a risk, so early in her career? “Not really,” the singer argues. “Look at David Bowie – he looked so normal and boring on his first album, then from his second album forward he started looking like the person we know.

And it’s the same with Amy Winehouse.

Sometimes I think artists grow into their images.”

It was Marina’s love of poetry that set her on a musical path, leading her to London when she was only 18. “When I got to London I started at various music schools and they forced me to learn keyboards. That was the key, as it allowed me to gig and go on to buy a laptop and produce my music.” After submitting some tracks to various record labels, Marina was ‘discovered’, going on to release her critically-lauded debut album, The Family Jewels.

The media responded, rife with crazy theories and speculation, but Marina says her transformation was partly a sociological experiment. “I was obsessed with the power that blondes have. I wanted to feel what that was like,” she explains. The rest was about reinventing herself after a bad break-up. “I just didn’t want to be myself, didn’t want to look like myself. My reasons are actually logical … I wanted to change and become anything that would make him love me,” she laughs. “It’s an attempt to reclaim yourself, especially if [the relationship] ended badly and not on your terms; you try and take control in some way.”

Unlike her first album, which Marina says was “more about questioning our ideals”, Electra Heart sees her construct a separate character in order to combat her feelings of loss. “I wanted to create a character that was [the] obvious creation of someone who got very hurt. Electra Heart symbolises all the things that women feel when they’re dumped or aren’t really loved back. And that character is a callous person who doesn’t really need anybody. I wanted to recreate that figure and turn it into an album.”

The other strong theme throughout Electra Heart is Marina’s love of America. As an ambitious songstress, does this tie into hopes of breaking the notoriously challenging US market? “Obviously America is a big territory for a lot of acts,” she acknowledges, “but the reason I want to break America is because I love it; for me, it’s a place that offers opportunities for escapism.

A lot of this record is about disconnecting with who you are because you don’t want to deal with whatever issues you have in your life. I like escapism. It comes naturally to artists.”

What: Electra Heart is out now through Warner

Tijuana Cartel Around The World By Benjamin Cooper

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laying for free to a grinning mass of naked hippies in the middle of the Nevada desert is not everyone’s cup of tea. For Paul George, guitarist and frontman of Gold Coast troubadours Tijuana Cartel, it’s a dream come true. “Burning Man festival has been on my bucket list for some time,” he says. “I’ve only ever seen footage and heard people who’ve been there before talk about it, but apparently it’s a hell of a time. It also seems like an entirely fitting way to cap off a massive spell of touring.”

The band is undertaking a colossal tour throughout 2012 in support of their latest album, M1. Already regarded as an exceptionally hard working outfit, the next few months will see them travel to all coasts of Australia before traversing the rest of the globe. But it’s their reputation as the quintessential party-starters that’s seen Tijuana Cartel booked for a number of European and American festivals. “It wasn’t all that long ago that we played Rainbow Serpent Festival down in Victoria, and it’s as a result of playing there that so much gigging has come our way,” George explains. “There’s this wonderful community that exists with festivals like Rainbow Serpent. I think social networking has made it easier for word to spread, but I know for a fact that the reason we’ve been asked to play in Europe is because there were people who saw us in Victoria that then spoke to bookers in Europe. It’s pretty special the way that the community looks after each other. We’re definitely honoured to have been so welcomed by them.”

The European leg of the tour will encompass shows at Germany’s Fusion Festival and Portugal’s Boom Festival, with a quick jaunt back to Byron for Splendour In The Grass sandwiched in the middle. But while they may be well travelled young gents, George bristles at the suggestion that Tijuana Cartel is a world music act. “Look, no doubt we started out being

into world music. But we got jack of that label fairly quickly and decided we’d just make tunes however we liked,” he says. “We travelled a lot more, always meeting new faces and hearing their stories without realising we were being influenced by them... All of a sudden we could start to hear how these French and Spanish elements were easing their way into our music.

“I did take some sitar lessons in India, but I’m not entirely convinced I took any of it in, or am much chop at it,” George continues. “I guess the part that surprises me is that when we started, our concept of world music as a genre was quite contrived. But through interacting with the genuine nature of the people we’ve met while we were traveling, these little dribs and drabs of influence have come through in our music. It’s really quite exciting to see that ourselves.”

The core band of three members increases to a five-strong ensemble when touring, with George hardly able to contain his excitement at the debut of their new specialist Middle Eastern percussionist. “It feels like we’ve been building up to this tour for some time,” he says. “For the first time ever the band has just had a period of four weeks off from music, so we’re all pumped and ready to hit the road. I’ve even suggested we all grow beards; I mean, the tour’s so long that we could have amazing ones by the end. The other guys don’t seem too keen, but we’ll see...”

With: Pigeon Where: Oxford Art Factory When: Friday May 25 More: Also playing alongside Jack White, At The Drive-In, The Shins, Lana Del Ray, Smashing Pumpkins, Kimbra, DZ Deathrays and more at Splendour In The Grass, held July 27-29 at Belongil Fields, Byron Bay.

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all” - OSCAR WILDE 18 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

PVT Everything In Its Right Place By Laurence Rosier Staines

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ave Miller of PVT will neither confirm nor deny that soul star Seal will be present at their Vivid performance this year: “He’s an enigma. He can turn up wherever he likes … he’s Seal.” This bizarre equivocation comes in response to my queries about a baffling video that the band put on their Facebook page, wherein Miller claims that the Grammy-winner will be in attendance: “He’s a big fan. Finally we’re in the same city together, so perhaps we might see if he wants to come on stage too,” Miller ruminates, before bandmate Laurence Pike wearily refutes him: “I don’t know where he’s getting this from. Seal’s not coming to the show.”

If such rampant speculation is meant to drum up greater anticipation for their gig, there’s hardly any need. PVT’s first show since last year’s Harvest festival will be a one-off Opera Theatre performance at Vivid LIVE previewing their forthcoming fourth record, with new arrangements of the band’s older songs, a horn section, and a specially designed light show that Miller is working out with visual designers. “It’s going well,” he says. “You don’t want everything being mechanical – and there will still be moments of improvisation – but most things I play will dictate sound and light, which is cool. I realise how nerdy lighting directors are. It’s quite mathematical.”

are actually good,” Dave proclaimed onstage).

“There are only two members left of what was then a five-piece band. We actually can’t play a lot of it. And you know, even if we did, it wouldn’t sound the same. I don’t know if people would be stoked with us doing different versions of songs that they loved. Thus far we’ve decided not to.

It’s like that classic Regurgitator song [‘I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff’]. I’m the same when I’m a punter, in that there are always certain sounds you’d like a band to keep doing.”

With the band’s imminent return to Vivid after four years, Miller is buzzing. “It’s cool to be playing there again, and this time with our OWN show, which means a lot more. In the internet generation, being at a show is one of the last standing things that you can’t download. You can download a recording of a concert, but if the band has a horn section and a mad lighting rig, that’s not something you’re gonna be able to recreate.”

Where: Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House When: Friday May 25

With such a love of precision and subtle polyrhythm, the math side comes more easily to PVT than to most. From their early, almost math-jazz excursions (“Math-jazz is a bloody awful term,” Miller says, “but I understand what you mean.”) to ethereal post-rock, to their more driving and vocal-dominated last album Church With No Magic, PVT have always mixed things up. But these days they seem to have fixed on one direction. “I think the next record will be even further away from that [early stuff]. The songs are much more considered and spacious, far less tech-y… Much more about the moment and the sentiment than technical know-how.”

“The last record was so busy, with so much going on, that the voice struggled to have a presence... With the new stuff, we’re much more relaxed.”

In line with this shift, the new album will showcase an even greater contribution from Richard Pike, who’s been warming up to his role as PVT’s vocalist for a few albums now.

“Because there’s less going on [musically], there’s much more room for everything to breathe, including the vocals,” Miller explains. “I think the last record was so busy, with so much going on, that the voice struggled to have a presence… It was always going to be a learning curve. Not that that album’s a relic or anything, but in some ways it was a stepping stone to what we’re going to put out next. With the new stuff, we’re much more relaxed about what we’re doing and how we do it. Everything has its place and its time.”

PVT’s intentions with the new album can be contrasted to that of their experimental rock peers Battles, whose 2011 album Gloss Drop was their first after the departure of vocalist/multiinstrumentalist Tyondai Braxton: “I listened to it once and I didn’t really get into it,” Miller admits. “It seemed like it wasn’t as thought out as it should have been, and the vocal tracks didn’t make much sense to me either.” Unlike the New York band, PVT seem to be self-consciously entering a realm of clearly-defined songs, with lyrics that work on more levels than just the textural.

“Because of the way our new songs are, there’s a lot more focus on words… You can hear them so clearly that it’s important to get them right.”

Indeed, the whole method of songwriting for this album has meant changes for the band that went right down to the drumming. “There are parts, in the sense that [Laurence] is playing the rhythm that’s the rhythm of the song … [whereas] the previous couple of albums were basically stitched together from jams, taking the best parts and making songs out of them. It was much more of a weird cut-and-paste thing. With the new one, Laurence can sit on a beat and not do anything for a few bars, rather than having to do something interesting all the time.”

Elements of PVT’s break with their past have come more out of necessity than anything else.

I ask about their disowning of the first album Make Me Love You at the Church With No Magic launch (“We’re going to play songs that BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 19

Albare: iTD A Balancing Act By Joshua Kloke

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t wouldn’t be a stretch to call Albert Dadon and Evripides Evripidou kindred souls. Dadon, who plays under the Albare moniker, and sixstring bassist Evripidou have been collaborating on their melody-driven jazz for close to 20 years now. Both come from a Mediterranean background, appreciating the harmony-based music of their native countries (Dadon was born in Morocco and raised in France, while Evripidou was born in Cyprus – both immigrated to Australia at young ages), and together they’ve injected life into Australia’s jazz scene.

With the release of Long Way, Albare’s sixth full-length record, the two are gearing up to take their unrestrained tunes on the road. Down the line from his Melbourne home, Evripidou acknowledges the work that’s gone into maintaining their two decade-long working relationship. “It’s all interdependent, isn’t it?” he says. “We collaborated on all the tunes on the new record – on this last album we pretty much did everything together. We’ve known each other for so long so we understand how we think and feel. We have a certain background and we’re compatible … and [that]’s conducive to a certain melody.”

Those melodies are particularly resonant on Long Way. “It’s a natural affinity, when you meet someone and you have a common background.

We both really connect on melody, and that’s probably what brought us together. Most of our projects try to be very melody-based.” Although Evripidou seems relatively positive about the nature of their relationship, as any collaborators can attest the end product is often a result of some fairly weighty compromise. Long Way in particular travels in many different directions – which begs the question of their songwriting techniques. Do the two walk in with a distinct goal for each track, or are they content to let the song roam? For Evripidou, the key is to keep things spontaneous. And it seems to be working out well. “There’s so many different ways to go about it, and I’m sure Albare himself could go about it in many different ways as well. This album, and most of the albums we work on, are born spontaneously.

“When you just kind of jam on a regular basis, try different things and experiment without thinking, you’re able to just polish what you have and it comes out sounding very beautiful. [Working like that] instead of doing things that are preprogrammed and thinking you have to get things sounding a certain way – it can be very liberating.” Evripidou is never a few minutes away from referencing how important harmony is to the music of Albare – yet thick with harmony that Long Way may be, it’s entirely free of lyrics.

Without words, many find it difficult to form emotional attachments to songs and records, but Evripidou insists that the passion both he and Albare bring to their music cannot be understated.

“We’re both very passionate people. I come from a Greek/Cypriot background and he comes from a French/Jewish background, and there’s a lot of passion [there],” he says. And to be without lyrics is not to be without a theme. “When it comes to the message, we talked a lot about ethics, morals and spirituality. Some of the topics that come up when we write are of more of a personal nature – dealing with relationships and the like. We also started thinking about some of humanity’s achievements, and thinking about some of our own personal achievements.”

“When you jam on a regular basis, try different things and experiment without thinking, it comes out sounding very beautiful.

It can be very liberating.”

When we discuss travel, Evripidou seems hesitant to let the thousands of kilometres he’s journeyed and the exotic locales he’s both visited and lived in become a point of braggadocio. Yet both he and Albare are men of the world, and cannot deny the influence that geography has had and will continue to have on their music. “In our music, we’re always gathering our personal experiences – especially those that happened while abroad. It’s always got to have a strong melodic element and a nice harmonic structure, which is something that we generally flock to when it comes to music of the world, both Greek and French.”

Evripidou concedes that life can’t always be spent away from home, but when he’s living in Australia, walking the same streets every day, he fights to find inspiration. “It does get a little boring sometimes,” he says with a hearty laugh. “Just before you called I was writing music for a film trailer and I was listening to the formula and sound of ‘Hollywood’, which was offered as an example of how this film trailer was supposed to sound. And I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to explore things from a different point of view?’

Different sounds, different melodies. It can certainly get a bit boring when you don’t have a stimulus.”

For Evripidou and Albare, a successful balance between the music of the world and their life in Australia is incredibly important – and that’s exactly what will be on show at the Seymour Centre for ‘Albare: International Travel Diaries’, where the pair will be joined by some of the finest jazz musicians in the world: drummer Antonio Sanchez, saxophonist George Garzone, avant-garde pianist Leo Genovese and jazz harmonica player Hendrik Muerkens. “There’s always elements of the music we’ve heard throughout the world in our music.”

What: Long Way is out now With: Double bass player Renaud Garcia-Fons When: Saturday June 9

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Where: Seymour Centre, University Of Sydney

arts frontline

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ARRIETTY ON DVD

MATHIEU RAVIER The centrepiece of this year’s Hub is the exhibition of portraits by Fabrizio Maltese; how did you discover him? I’d seen some of Fabrizio’s work on the festival circuit. His portraits are shot at film festivals, where actors and directors are often in a more relaxed, natural mode than on set or in a studio. They are glamorous but spontaneous, and seem to capture an element of the subject’s personality that you rarely see in glossy magazine spreads. I’m thrilled that he’s accepted our invitation to not only show his work in the Hub, but photograph our guests as well.

esides being the programmer of Sydney Film Festival’s new Festival Hub, Matt is also the founder and director of The Festivalists, who run Jurassic Lounge, KINO Sydney, and Possible Worlds Canadian Film Festival (among other things); he also scouted films for Sydney Film Festival

Fantasy is the order of the week…

while he was at Toronto Film Festival this year. Which are all good reasons to get along to the Festival Hub, to check out the lineup of screenings, talks, parties, performances and live music that he and his team have put together. Below we forage for the stories behind some of the program highlights.

How/when did you first encounter the Cambo-pop phenomenon? A few years ago, while living in Hong Kong, I was invited to DJ in a bar in Phnom Penh. There I was given a cassette tape labelled ‘Cambodian Rocks’. It turned out to be this amazingly danceable surf rock from the late ‘60s/early ‘70s. It was all in Khmer but still incredibly catchy. When I wore the tape out I found an mp3 of it online. I later discovered that this Cambodian psychedelic rock nearly vanished under the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge when many artists were killed and recordings destroyed.

Collectors in Cambodia and around the world are seeking out and collecting these incredibly rare records. Sydney Film Festival

programmer Jenny Neighbour mentioned she was programming Davy Chou’s Golden Slumbers, a documentary about the Cambodian cinema of that time, and that Richard Kuipers, who programs the Freak Me Out strand at the Festival, was a knowledgeable collector of vintage Khmer rock. A Cambodian psych-out party in the Hub soon became an inevitability!

As part of your screenings program, you’re showing The British Guide To Showing Off; what was the thinking behind that? I’d heard of the Alternative Miss World Show, London’s answer to Mardi Gras.

It’s an anarchic beauty pageant for the outcasts, misfits and deviants who’ve never felt the need to fit in. I didn’t know a documentary had been made about it but when it popped up on the radar it felt like a great fit for the Hub. We’re pairing it with cinema-inspired burlesque and pole dancing, so it promises to be a sassy, sexy and all-round outrageous night.

What: Sydney Film Festival’s Festival Hub Where: Lower Town Hall When: From 5-10pm between June 7-16 / 2-6pm on June 17 More: sff.org.au/hub

Thanks to Madman Entertainment, we have five copies of Studio Ghibli’s latest magical masterpiece, Arrietty. Based on Mary Norton’s popular children’s series The Borrowers, the film mashes up Eastern and Western culture, transferring the story of thimble-sized adventurers to a mansion in the suburbs of Tokyo – and featuring Ghibli’s exquisite hand-painted cell animation. To get your hands on a copy of Arrietty on DVD, email us with your postal address and one other Studio Ghibli film.

Arrietty

THE SKIN I LIVE IN Equally weird and wonderful (and also set in a mansion) is Pedro Almodovar’s thriller The Skin I Live In, which takes place in the highsecurity compound of a cosmetic surgeon (played by a reptilian Antonio Banderas) with God-like pretensions and a penchant for perfectly pretty patients. Thanks to Transmission, we have five copies of The Skin I Live In up for grabs – to get your hands on one, email us with your postal address and one other film by Almodovar.

TWIST & SHOUT FINALE FREAK ME OUT

Vampire ballerinas! Livid screens as part of Sydney Film Festival's Freak Me Out sidebar...

ETSY SHOW & SELL

With Vivid Ideas kicking off this week at the MCA (see our story on p. 23), there’s a definite creative buzz in the air; but not all of us are in the creative industries – most of us are more interested in the parts that involve booze and buying cool shit. We can have our cake and eat this Wednesday, when The Wall @ World Bar team up with the Sydney Etsy Team to present Show ‘N’ Sell – a market of handmade goods from local Etsy sellers – from jewellery and textiles to clothes and homewares. Browse one-of-a-kind pieces with a beer in hand, a tasty snack in your mouth, and chunes in your ears.

Wednesday May 23 from 7:30 pm at The World Bar. artonthewall.tumblr.com

ROCK’N’ROLL MARKETS

Speaking of buying cool shit: the Rock ‘n’ Roll & Alternative Market will swagger back into Sydney University’s Manning House & Bar on Sunday June 3 from 10.30am-6pm, taking over three levels with over 50 stalls geared towards every conceivable Sydney subculture – rockabilly, alt-country, burlesque, roller-derby – and every possible permutation of desirables, including jewellery, vintage fashion (and cars!), records, art

and ‘collectables’. Trying to save money? Drown out the nagging wailing of your wallet with a soundtrack of live music, and one of those cold fizzy alcohols they serve at Manning.

BOLLYWOOD X BONDI

Escape Sydney and hum-drum reality next Wednesday with Popcorn Taxi’s screening of Dum Maaro Dum – a big-budget Bollywood throwback that harks back to cops and robbers capers, and – most importantly – allows you to vicariously enjoy a life of crime and colour (and dancing, we assume) in the city of Goa. The plot involves drug trafficking, and a toughas-nails cop (played by Bollywood royalty Abhishek Bachchan) with (again, we assume) a heart of gold. There’s also a babe involved.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Rohan Sippy, hosted by Marc Fennell.

Wednesday May 30, 7pm @ Event Cinemas Bondi Junction. popcorntaxi.com.au

HUMAN RIGHTS

Speaking of reality: come crashing back to earth – but a really bizarre corner of it that involves tiny Thai children who box – at the Human Rights Arts & Film Festival. Over three nights,

There’s a whole part of Sydney Film Festival that some of us never see, chock full of vampire ballerinas, zombie pensioners and half-naked demon wood-nymphs, and it’s programmed by Variety film critic Richard Kuipers. Sounds like your cup of warm blood?

Kuipers is previewing the films from his Freak Me Out sidebar this Thursday at Late Night Library – showing clips and hopefully talking a little a bit about where the hell he finds this stuff. To see what he’s serving up, see sff.org.au and head along on Thursday May 24 from 9-10pm @ Surry Hills Library (405 Crown Street). It’s free, but bookings are essential (through 8374 6230).

they’re screening two documentary features, a session of international shorts and another of Australian. Our pick is Buffalo Girls, an American doco that explores the world of child boxing in Thailand, and comes to the HRAFF from indie Sundance-alternative Slamdance.

That one’s screening Tuesday May 29 from 7pm @ Chauvel Cinema (Cnr Oxford St & Oatley Rd, Paddington). hraff.org.au

30 DAYS / 30 NIGHTS

FraserStudios, our favourite collaboration between property developers and non-profitarts-orgs, closes next month – but they’re giving you 30 days to celebrate/mourn fouror-so years of artsy excellence, with a housecooling party that runs the gamut of exhibitions, workshops and performances, from June 1-30. Studio 10 will be transformed into an interactive installation/exhibition of work by the final round of visual arts residents – including Kenzie Larsen, Eddie Sharp and Craig Waddell, among many others – and if you get along from Thursdays-Sundays, Cake Wines will be running a pop-up bar til late, serving wine, beer and cider (all the good things). queenstreetstudio.com

Head along to Spectrum this Friday May 25 after work for the final instalment of ‘60s dance party Twist & Shout; since we don’t know where or when the T&S crew will pop up again, we might as well treat this as a ‘going away’ shindig, with all the debauchery that entails – but with better people, sharper threads, and more classic chunes than you can shake a tail feather at/to. Party host DJ Dylabolical is dedicating the night to recently deceased Stax bass-player Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, so expect lots of classic tracks by Booker T & The MGs, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, The Mar-Keys – and mebbe even some Blues Brothers. $5 dollar timez from 9pm til late @ Spectrum (Level 2, 34 Oxford St).

Portrait: Uwe Kowski

OST ARTISTS

Last time we caught up with photographer Bridget Mac, she was spruiking her Collage exhibition and about to embark on a Zydecoband tour around the States, with Hasselblad in hand. Since then, she’s also turned her lens on the creative forces of former East Berlin, for a series of portraits and interviews that spans a punk rock singer, an abstract painter and an electronic musician… Bridget will launch the resulting book Ost Artists this Thursday May 24 from 6pm with a show of photographs, video and audio interviews at District 01 (74-76 Oxford St). bridgetmac.net

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WITH

GHIBLI! ALMODOVAR! WIN!

Daniel Radcliffe goes from Harry Potter to Gothic horror in The Woman In Black

The Woman In Black

Hammer’s New House Of Horror

By Kelly Griffin

“T

hink twice before you bring a 12-year-old along,” actor Daniel Radcliffe cautions me when we meet in London to talk about his new film – which is rated a rather low 12-years-and-over in the UK. “Although there’s no blood and there’s no gore, there’s certainly that fear of the darkness, and it’s the kind of stuff that will freak them out.”

no other cast to bounce-off or react to – a difficult task for any actor, regardless of age or experience.

What unfurls is a seriously chilling tale – but as director James Watkins reasons: if you buy a ticket for a comedy, you want to laugh and, well, if you buy a ticket for a horror film, you want to get scared. Watkins, a talented young British filmmaker who made his directorial debut with the horror film Eden Lake, says his latest film won’t just make you jump – it’ll make your skin crawl. “There’s the cheap scares that every film has that make you jump, and then there’s the deeper chills – the ones that stay with people and really tingle. Those scares – the accumulative sense of dread ones – are what you really want to go for, and they are actually much harder to craft. But they’re the ones that really satisfy me.”

“[Doing scenes alone] can be frustrating as an actor,” he admits.

“You get to a point where after about three days of not saying anything and just walking around, you sort of turn [to the director] and go ‘What am I doing?’” he laughs. “You do lose track of what you’ve been doing and you just have to put faith in the director1 that he’s getting what he needs.”

While ghost films often maximise a sense of claustrophobia by filming in 1.85:1, Watkins filmed in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 – more typical of westerns – which allowed him to frame the main action in the centre of the screen, while occasionally and ever so subtly toying with flashes of images on the periphery of the screen…

Radcliffe, meanwhile, spends a good deal of his screentime alone, with

The other key challenge for Radcliffe was playing a withdrawn, worldweary widower – when his natural disposition is anything but. “My own natural energy is quite excited and energetic, and so one of the challenges was to just deaden that natural energy,” the young actor explains. “Any time James could see me say a line that had parts of my energy coming through the performance, he would step on set and just be like, ‘Okay we need to pull it back again and restrain and withhold.’”

Watkins says one key to adjusting Radcliffe’s demeanour was getting him to change the way he breathed.

“Daniel breathes through his mouth generally and so for this we got him breathing through his nose. If you

“There’s the cheap scares that every film has that make you jump, and then there’s the deeper chills – the accumulative sense of dread ones – and they are actually much harder to craft. But they’re the ones that really satisfy me.” look at the Harry Potter films, you’ll notice he has his mouth slightly open in many of the scenes. I wanted a different energy from him in this film, and by breathing through his nose that created a slightly different headspace,” says Watkins.

While Radcliffe, unsurprisingly, was inundated with offers once his Potter contract finished, he says it was “an easy decision” to take this part over all the others as, quite simply, he loved the script. In fact, he received Jane Goldman’s (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class) Woman in Black script on the final day of shooting The Deathly Hallows, and within 72 hours he had signed the contract.

The Woman In Black is produced by Hammer, the once-legendary British film studio that launched in 1934 and delivered a hugely successful run of horror films, including Dracula, The Curse Of Frankenstein, The Damned,

and The Vampire Lovers. The studio fizzled out in the ‘80s, and a new group of people came on-board in the ‘00s, breathing fresh life into the company. Their first feature was the English-language adaptation of Let Me In (starring young Aussie Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz), followed by The Resident, Wake Wood – and now The Woman In Black.

As Executive Producer Tobin Armbrust says, “When Hammer started, if you really look at it, they actually defined the word ‘horror.’”

With all the chills and thrills The Woman In Black inspires (and with the Jack-the-Ripper thriller Gaslight on the cards for 2014), the studio seems set to resurrect that reputation.

MCA ARTBAR! ART! MUSIC! BAR!

What: The Woman In Black When: Released May 17

WIN!

T

hey’re looking sexy, they’ve got a new ‘do, and they’re freshly re-opened after that heartbreaking hiatus – which means it’s time for the MCA to have a fling (or buy a new Ferrari/pair of shoes).

So they’re launching ARTBAR, a new monthly artsy affair combining booze, great views (inside and out), performance and tunes, and held on the last Friday of every month, over the entire new wing and one exhibition space.

ARTBAR will launch this Friday May 25 with an instalment curated by Sydney-based photographer, video and performance artist Justene Williams (whose Crutch Dance TV installation is currently on display at the MCA), and featuring tune selections from FBi Radio’s Tyson Koh, Charlie Chux, Perfect Snatch (Gay Bash), and Touch Sensitive (aka Michael Di Francesco of Van She). It’s also the opening night of Vivid Sydney (lights on!) so the view should be pretty amazing.

Xxxx

We have three doubles up for grabs to check out ARTBAR on Friday May 25. To get your hands on one, email freestuff@thebrag.com and tell us what ‘MCA’ stands for. mca.com.au/series/artbar

22 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

Crutch Dance (detail) 2011 – image courtesy of Sarah Cottier Gallery © Justene Williams

G IV EA W AY S

Radcliffe is promoting The Woman In Black, a supernatural thriller based on Susan Hill’s popular 1983 ghost novel of the same name (the theatre adaptation of which has been a fixture on London’s West End). Radcliffe plays Arthur Kipps, a young solicitor and widower who is struggling to maintain a functional work and home life after the death of his wife during childbirth. In a last-ditch effort to redeem himself with his employer, he journeys to a coastal village on the east coast of England to wrap up the estate of a recently deceased widow. Once there, however, he finds the locals suspicious and hostile, and a shroud

of secrecy almost as thick as the sea mists hanging over the widow’s decaying, marsh-bound mansion.

20 Golden Greats

Vivid Ideas

[COMEDY] Downe And Out By Roslyn Helper

MAY 26 – JUNE 11 / MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

F

ive years ago, Creative Sydney was just a glint in the eye of indie-media entrepreneur Jess Scully; fast-forward, and it remains Sydney’s only creative industries conference – but has grown into a flotilla of workshops, talks, panel discussions and industry events, called Vivid Ideas. This year’s conference covers everything from Artist Run Initiatives to Creative Commons, and the future of radio. At the heart of the program is a series of keynote talks and conversations featuring gamechangers in the creative industries. Below, we find out how Scully personally relates to each one.

M

ark Trevorrow, better known as camp comedian Bob Downe, didn’t want to do a solo show at first. “I did it because I had to!” he exclaims, somewhat indignantly.

“You get spoilt, working with bands and working with other people. You know what I mean? Being backstage and on the road with musicians and other performers is actually a lot of fun. Being on the road completely by yourself can get a little bit lonely and boring.”

Downe has been a much loved character on Australia’s entertainment scene for nearly 30 years now, and his most recent one-man show, 20 Golden Greats, has toured to London, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival and Melbourne Comedy Festival. “It’s been wonderful. It’s the first solo show I’ve done for about 15 years and I’m really enjoying it. And I think the audiences are too, so it isn’t just me,” he adds. “I didn’t want to do it at first, but once I started, and once I got back on top of it, I realised that it was very freeing.”

CHAD DICKERSON

I end up lusting after something every time I visit etsy.com – it is dangerous! I came across this brilliant flattened unicorn ring and just had to buy it for my unicorn-obsessed sister.

I’m also eyeing a set of 3D printed ceramics from a guy in Portland and it is next on the list.

Downe did his first run of club and RSL shows five years ago, and says the only way to make them feasible was to perform without a live band or cast. 20 Golden Greats developed out of Trevorrow’s experiences on the RSL circuit: “It’s a bunch of great old pop and rock and disco classics with lots of stupid jokes and monologues, and prizes,” he says. “I do a little bit of a trivia thing in-between; I ask questions about the songs I’m singing and [the winners] get a Bob Downe CD.” I ask Trevorrow what’s kept Bob Downe going for so many years, and he shoots back, “Paying the rent, really.” But it’s clear that it’s more than just a way to pay the bills, as Trevorrow continues, “He’s very much a reflection of where I’m at, at any particular time. So the material at the moment is a little more political than it’s been in the past. I’m doing stuff about gay marriage”.

Trevorrow says he never writes anything down, or rehearses in any formal sense. “The show’s always evolving; I just get on [stage] and do it… It all just sits in my head. A lot of my comedian friends who have written it out word for word are very nervous and anxious people, but I’m not really like that, I’m a bit more relaxed. And also Bob lets me be a bit more relaxed, because Bob’s very slap-dash and casual and naughty and mischievous, and looks like he’s making it up as he’s going along,” he says.

Before we finish, I have to know: how many wigs has Downe gone through? “Actually not that many!” Trevorrow exclaims. “I’m only on about my fourth or fifth in 29 years. You have to take good care of them. I’ve had a lot more costumes than that,” he

KEYNOTE & PANEL: Thursday May 31, 6.30pm

CORY DOCTOROW (BOINGBOING.NET)

Bob Downe adds, saying he gets many of his outfits from thrift stores in San Francisco. “[California] really went for it in the ‘60s and ‘70s with all that polyester stuff, and it has a phenomenal network of second hand and thrift stores… My costumes are a lot brighter and a lot happier than they used to be,” he points out. “It used to be a lot more beige and bland [but] now I love the fact that I wear bold colours and geometric shapes and things that look like a cartoon.

I like [Bob Downe] to look like a ‘50s or ‘60s cartoon.”

What: 20 Golden Greats with Bob Downe Where: Sydney Theatre / 22 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay When: May 23-26 More: sydneytheatre.org.au

Under Milk Wood [THEATRE] A Textual Awakening By Roslyn Helper

W

hen Kip Williams was asked to take the reigns from Andrew Upton and direct the Sydney Theatre Company’s forthcoming production of Under Milk Wood, it felt like something out of a fairytale. “As someone who’s grown up in Sydney and been going to STC shows since I was a young boy, it’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do,” he says.

Williams forged a relationship with Upton when he landed the Assistant Director role on The White Guard last year, and initially came on board Under Milk Wood as Associate Director – until Upton, who was originally billed to direct the production, became encumbered with the runaway international success of Gross Und Klein.

Penned by Dylan Thomas in 1954 as a radio play, Under Milk Wood is an eloquent, rambling tale that weaves its way through a day in the life of over 60 residents who live in a small, remote Kip Williams

I find Cory fascinating because he’s an author who makes his living from his IP, so he could be forgiven for fighting tooth and nail to protect the status quo when it comes to copyright and the traditional system – but as a sci-fi author, he is attuned to what’s next; he anticipates the way human behaviour and technology are moving, and he looks ahead.

He’s passionate about the fact that culture is built upon sharing, or ‘copying’, and that artists and creative people have always built on each other’s work to create the new, so we have to be vigilant about what we’re risking by sticking to old rules in a radically transformed world.

KEYNOTE & DISCUSSION: Friday June 1, 6.30pm

SHANE SMITH

(FOUNDER & CEO, VICE)

If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t the biggest fan of VICE back in the early days – I found it a bit crude and brash – but as they’ve evolved I’ve come to really respect their uncompromising stance and clear voice, and the way they aren’t afraid to mix politics and documentary with silliness. I am obsessed with their Dalston Superstars web series; it's almost impossible to tell if it's a brilliant satire or a terrifying piece of documentary (it’s basically a London hipster Real World). The scary thing is, I think it's somewhere between the two. VICE is really good at lampooning their fanbase in an affectionate, knowing way.

INTERVIEW: Tuesday June 5, 9pm

HENRY HOLLAND

(HOUSE OF HOLLAND)

town called Llareggub (‘bugger all’ spelt backwards – which gives you a clue about the town life). “It’s a pre-dawn to post-dusk snapshot of an anonymous day in the life of this town, and at the same time, there’s a sense that this is a day that repeats over and over again,” says Williams.

Williams has taken a ‘rough theatre’ approach to the production of the work, using only simple props, sets and contemporary costumes on stage. “The great gift of radio is that it enables an audience to imagine something exactly as they see it,” he explains. “In many ways it’s akin to that very first imaginative experience we all have. Those stories that are read to us as children, that enter our minds aurally, and live imaginatively and more vividly than any Pixar or Disney film could possibly offer to us. So in that sense, what the company and I are enacting is a theatrical language that offers suggestions through expressive visual language, that sparks an image to live in an audience’s mind.”

The sprawling narrative expresses an incredible sense of lifespan, and how we inevitably travel through that lifespan. “You meet children who play kiss chasing games; you meet young men and women who have romantic and sexual fantasies; you meet young adults who have thwarted relationships and attempts to have relationships; you meet middle-aged couples, some who have fulfilling relationships, some who have quite embittered relationships; and then you meet older characters, who long for their lost lovers. There’s a real sense in which you can identify where you sit within this span of evolving desire; where you once were and where you’re going to be.”

In terms of Under Milk Wood’s central motif, Williams says, “I see that there are two forces in a tug of war: this unbridled sexuality that comes through in the dreams and fantasies of the characters; and the morality of the community. All characters are in some way caught – on some end of that scale – between giving in to that sexual freedom or kowtowing to the morality of the town.”

Kip Williams photo by Grant Sparkes-Carroll

(CEO, ETSY)

Williams says that despite the liberation movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s, we are still wrestling with deep-seated issues of sexual conservatism today. “Even though certain big legislative changes have been made, the ideological shift – and the inertia of that ideological shift – still looms large. To that point, the type of morality that Thomas rallies against in Under Milk Wood is very relatable to the type of morality that still holds court in contemporary Sydney [and is] at odds with a more natural, open, bustling, blossoming sexuality that festers within everyone.”

What: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, Dir. Kip Williams Where: Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House When: May 22 – July 7 More: sydneytheatre.com.au

I LOVE his work – he’s interesting to me because in a very short span of about five years he’s demonstrated a real evolution in his own work and established his own aesthetic, which blends pop culture with high fashion in a very accessible way. I wore his pale pink splotchy trench coat to the Vivid Sydney media launch, and it made my day!

IN CONVERSATION: Wednesday June 6, 7pm

JAKE NICKELL

(FOUNDER, THREADLESS)

I bought a bunch of Threadless posters for my last studio, and it is so addictive... I love the competition element to it, and that for designers it’s an immediate way of finding fans and working out what people respond to. Threadless is a great model for the future of online, crowd-sourced design because they really share the wealth – winning designers score $2500 in cash, a $500 Threadless certificate, and then another $500 if the design is reprinted. So fans get to share in an original design and designers can really earn some decent cash for their work – and because they’re talking to an audience of 1.8 million fans, there’s enough diversity to give lots of ideas and styles room to play.

KEYNOTE & PANEL: Thursday June 7, 7pm Where: The Vivid Ideas Exchange @ Museum of Contemporary Art, 140 George St, The Rocks When: May 26 – June 11 More: vividsydney.com

BRAG :: 463:: 21:05:12 :: 23

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

BEL AMI Opens March 24

semi-permanent afterparty

PICS :: TL

There’s a large contingent of people who can’t comprehend any downside to 100 minutes of Robert Pattinson in various states of undress; but they haven’t seen Bel Ami – an improbably unsexy, even uninteresting, tale of lust, love, jealousy and revenge set in 19th-century Paris, that makes you want to do nothing so much as rent Dangerous Liaisons.

the eastern front

PICS :: TL

12:05:12 :: The Standard :: L3, 383 Bourke St Sydney

11:05:12 :: 34B Burlesque @ Q-Bar :: 34B Oxford St, Darlinghurst

Based on Guy de Maupassant’s novel of the same name, Bel Ami stars Pattinson as Georges Duroy, a peasant-turnedsolder who finds himself at a loose end in Paris after his Algerian tour of duty, and, by virtue of a little luck and a lot of grasping determination, claws his way to the top of high society – one mistress at a time. Rather than a cheeky Tom Jonestype character or Malkovich’s manipulative mastermind Vicomte de Valmont, Duroy has no apparent talent other than seduction, and no sense of compassion or joy. He moves from one conquest to another with grim determination – and, per Pattinson, a pained look of indigestion.

PICS :: AM

09:05:12 :: ambush gallery :: 4a James St Waterloo

Arts Exposed What's in our diary...

ART:LIVE @ THE OPERA BAR Thursday May 24 from 8pm – live(!) / On display from May 25 – Jun 11 / FREE If you just can’t wait until Vivid Sydney’s ‘Lights On’ this Friday, pop over to the Opera Bar on Thursday night, where they’ll be serving up a cocktail of music, art, harbour-views – and no doubt, er, cocktails – for ART:LIVE, an evening of live art and chunes curated by the Secret Walls (formerly Secret Wars) crew. The Sketch The Rhyme crew and local low-brow heroes Jumbo, Sprinkles and Teem, will all be cutting loose and commandeering the internal columns of the Opera Bar for their own art displays. This will be like that time you stole your bro’s crayons and made ‘art’ on your bedroom wall – but 200% better, and a with a bar…

Left: street art by Jumbo 24 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

Nina is not a sympathetic character – she’s selfish, callous and cynical; but the play catches at enough ‘truth-to-life’, through moments painful, wistful and comic, that it’s hard to look away. In contrast, the set is antiseptic – a Petri dish in which the director and cast experiment; it looks like one corner of a very deep, very skateable pool, onto which are pulled various props, furniture and lighting (often with the assistance of the cast). There are few distractions from the faces and bodies of the cast, or the soliloquies in which each character reveals his innermost thoughts, feelings and anxieties.

Each cast member performs to their type: Schmitz all boyish bravado and arrogance (masking a wounded insecurity); Mitchell Butel in neurotic-comedic geek mode; Truslove re-appropriating all the gestures of his character in Laid – and so on. The cumulative effect is a simmering stew of emotions and tensions that’s so filling/ satisfying that you won’t mind the bitter after-taste.

That its protagonist is unlikable is the least of this film’s problems; he’s also uninteresting, unbelievable (from his effect on women to his ability to fool men, and his lack of emotional range), and surprisingly un-charismatic (given Pattinson’s admittedly striking looks and arguable sex appeal). Pattinson’s character moves through a mechanical plot (crisis, solution, success, comeuppance – repeat) like nothing so much as a cypher, without exhibiting signs of any genuine internal life, and emerges the other side un-transformed and with impunity. There’s scant humour, emotional warmth, sexual chemistry or sense of danger (which besides technical and narrative finesse, requires creating characters that your audience can relate to). As if to compensate, we’re bombarded by close-ups of meaningful looks, and an incessantly dramatic soundtrack.

Dee Jefferson

On the upside, Uma Thurman, as Duroy’s mentor and patron, looks more ravishing than ever before, Christina Ricci makes a welcome return to the land of grownup films, and Kristen Scott Thomas gives a typically compelling (if unusually vulnerable) performance. All three sink their teeth into the emotional meat apportioned them – but it’s hard not to wonder what’s going through their heads in-between takes…

Cohen constructs himself as AdmiralGeneral Aladeen, dictator of the oil-rich North African Republic Of Wadiya, which he rules with an iron fist. When Aladeen's adviser decides to replace him with one of his doubles and introduce democracy, the General finds himself stranded in New York, where he unexpectedly falls for Zoey (Anna Faris) – a liberal stereotype who runs a feminist organic market.

With Bel Ami, Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod, founders and directing partnersin-crime of UK theatre company Cheek By Jowl, make their first foray into film – after bringing their highly stylised and troublingly un-ironic production of ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore to Sydney Festival earlier this year.

As much as that production left me cold, I’m not sure they should give up their day jobs.

curvy 8 book launch

with her husband’s best friend (Ned – Toby Schmitz), and finally a mother, facing a new cycle of love, loss and grief.

Dee Jefferson ■ Theatre

STRANGE INTERLUDE Until June 17 / Belvoir St Theatre In his latest adaptation, Belvoir’s Resident Director Simon Stone takes tried and tested ingredients – a play by Eugene O’Neill, an assembly of individually acclaimed cast, and a well established design crew – and whips it into a new recipe; something less avant-garde than his deconstructed Thyestes (Sydney Festival, 2012) but just a touch more adventurous with form than, say, The Wild Duck (Belvoir, 2011).

Theatre it-girl Emily Barclay (This Is Our Youth, The Seagull), stars as Nina Leeds – whose love life we follow across a couple of decades: from a young woman grieving first the loss of her fiancé and then her father, ‘The Professor’ (Anthony Phelan), to a young woman who settles for her dead fiancé’s best friend (Sam – played by Toby Truslove), to the wife who has an affair

■ Film

THE DICTATOR Released May 16 Sacha Baron Cohen can’t really fool Americans anymore. Only the most blinkered pop-culture illiterates would not realise he’s the man responsible for Borat and Bruno, and so the comic potential of that formula has reached its limit. And so in The Dictator, Baron Cohen and longtime collaborator Larry Charles eschew the fauxumentary set-up in favour of a more straightforward narrative – albeit one that from the outset (with its suitably audacious title card, “In loving memory of Kim Jong-il”) seems like it could be the spiritual successor to Borat.

The Dictator is more like a sketch than a movie – or, more properly, it’s two sketches: one a satire of Ghaddafian extravagance and brutality, one a fishout-of-water sitcom. That’s not to say they aren’t funny sketches; they are occasionally sidesplitting, peppered with Cohen’s offensive but comically perfect epithets (“lesbian hobbit” springs to mind), and gross-out humour (penises swinging into window panes, masturbation walkthroughs, John C. Reilly bursting into flames, fat kids being kicked down aisles and an emotional turning point that takes place inside a vagina).

Despite the hyperactive comic energy, many sequences fall so flat that it’s hard to believe they got past preview screenings. The whole thing seems to have been put together with more money than sense (case in point: an A-list comic supporting-cast that never really do much), and for all its potential to rise above, it never manages to exceed the standard of Borat and Bruno; this still feels like a series of encounters, comic whimsies and improvised set-pieces.

The film’s ‘message’ suddenly coheres – or is parachuted in – during a swift and hilarious speech by Aladeen at the UN, which both saves the movie and makes you wish it had the same energetic cleverness all the way through.

Regardless: prepare yourselves for many requotes of “What sorcery is this?!” and “Are you going to have a boy or an abortion?” in the coming months.

Laurence Rosier Staines

See www.thebrag.com for more arts reviews

IMC, Beat, Rave Magazine, The Brag, MusicFeeds.com.au and Monster present

SPLIT SECONDS AND UNDERLIGHTS the SECOND LIGHT tour THURSDAY MAY 10 0

SATURDAY MAY 19

Northcote Social Club Melbourne

Sol Bar Sunshine Coast

WITH

WITH

WINDSOR THIEVES

FRIDAY MAY 11

HOLLAND

THURSDAY MAY 24

Espy Front Bar St. Kilda

GoodGod Small Bar Sydney

WITH

WITH

SURES AND DIRT FARMER RME ER

SATURDAY MAY 12 2

JEP AND DEP

FRIDAY MAY 25

Karova Lounge Ballarat

Beresford Upstairs Sydney

WITH

WITH

WINDSOR THIEVES

FRIDAY MAY 18

CROOKED SAINT

FRIDAY JUNE 1

X&Y Bar Brisbane

The Bakery Perth*

WITH

WITH

HOLLAND

EMPERORS, RUBY BOOTS AND WARNING BIRDS

Tickets from northcotesocialclub.com, karovalounge.oztix.com.au, and imc.oztix.com.au. and nowbaking.com.au // Split Seconds new single “Top Floor” out now UNDERLIGHTS debut self titled EP out now // *UNDERLIGHTS not appearing at Perth show.

BITTER SWEET SIXTEEN

BY MELITA ROWSTON DIRECTED BY LUCINDA GLEESON 16 MAY — 9 JUNE Poison. I saw her top glitter ‘Poison’ Then she turned and walked away The moon, it went behind a cloud The darkness, it kind of swallowed her

542 KING ST NEWTOWN | TICKETS 1300 13 11 88 | NEWTHEATRE.ORG.AU BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 25

Album Reviews

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

ALBUM OF THE WEEK NED COLLETTE + WIREWALKER 2 Dot Dash / Remote Control

A strange and wonderful record from an increasingly inimitable voice in Australian pop music.

2 marries the cerebral folk of Ned Collette’s first two major releases with the heady avant-rock of his third, without marring the nuances or bombast of either. The music is still guitar-based, but the focus has shifted. The album is measured and balanced in its arrangements, focusing on classical guitar over electric or acoustic, and making more prominent use of dark synth textures and Joe Talia’s inventive percussion than before. And the arrangements, though careful, are richly detailed, playing to the strengths of the songs rather than vice versa.

This is fortunate, because the songs are very good. ‘Il Futuro Fantastico’ is a knotty, paranoid

SIGUR RÓS

Yet Valtari revels in being anomalous, unusually channeling a compilation album in its splicing together of new material with three tracks recorded after the release of Endalaust and two after Takk (2005). Unless it's made from marshmallow, ensconced in bubble wrap and smothered with meringue, the ‘steamroller’ into which ‘Valtari’ translates in English seems an illsuited title for so gossamery a record.

Indeed, here is Sigur Rós at their most down-tempo and pared back, a restraint immediately noticeable in the glacial choral murmurings and sparse instrumentation of opener ‘Ég anda’.

Even the four tracks that make maximal use of Jón Þór "Jonsi" Birgisson's choirboy-soloist vocals – ‘Ekki múkk’, ‘Varúð’, ‘Rembihnútur’, ‘Dauðalogn’ – feature the measured, delicate pealing out of tintinnabular melodies over gentle, economic accompaniment. Valtari closes with three instrumental tracks (‘Varðeldur’, ‘Valtari’ and ‘Fjögur píanó’) that are attenuated almost to the point of muzak, reiterating the difficulty and supremely beautiful payoff of Valtari’s challenge to keep the distillation of effulgence at the centre of one’s attention.

As spectacular for Sigur Rós fans as it will be inaccessible for the uninitiated.

‘Long You Lie’ feels almost like a moody Europop tune, with resigned disco hi-hats and adroit flamenco strumming. The dizzying, quasi-synthetic Latin flourishes of ‘For Roberto’ give way to dizzyingly tremulous, shapeless ambience.

GARBAGE

Valtari EMI

The 2008 release of Með Suð I Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust heralded a daringly different sound for Sigur Rós; a decidedly unfamiliar pop aesthetic marked by shorter songs and a handful of English lyrics. Yet, although no English (hooray!) and little brass (boo!) may initially signal a throwback to their pre-( ) era, it is with Valtari that the foursome break most forcefully with the conventions of their oeuvre. Save for ‘Varúð’, the spectacular, omnipotent builds that are exemplary – if not definitive – of their previous work are all but absent on the eight tracks of Sigur Rós’s sixth studio album.

monologue that spools forth over quixotic guitar and quivering keys. The enigmatic shuffle of ‘Stampy’ follows, tempered with doo-wop upstrokes and dueling basslines, effulgent and warm. It resolves to the sublime ebb and flow of a gentle organ and hummed harmonies. ‘The Hedonist’ shatters this with an ominous synth tone. This is vintage Collette, but the space-echoed whip-crack percussion bring new shades to his signature brooding. The bridge only lasts for about 20 seconds, but it’s the darkest and most beautiful moment on the record – layers of muted, wordless vocals, whispers and breath eliciting a downwardly spiraling melody.

MYSTERY JETS

Not Your Kind Of People Stunvolume/Liberator Garbage’s sound has always been balanced precariously between badass pop-star vocals and thick, heavy, chewable riffs. Their hits – ‘I’m Only Happy When It Rains’, ‘Cherry Lips’, ‘I Think I’m Paranoid’, ‘When I Grow Up’ – were able to find that sweet spot with astonishing accuracy, which lead to all four of their previous albums reaching the Top 20 in the US, UK and Australia, and racking up Gold and Platinum plaques like nobody’s business.

But it’s unlikely that Not Your Kind Of People will be doing anywhere near the same amount of business. With a couple of notable exceptions, this is a clunky, flat record that suffers from singer Shirley Manson’s seeming inability to write an original lyric or sing with much energy. When she does manage to perk up, the music lets her down, coming up short whenever she really goes for it.

All of that attitude and tension from the earlier records has vanished, and that high-wire balancing act between grungy grunt and sweet pop vocals has fallen back to earth with a thud.

It’s a real shame, especially when tracks like ‘Big Bright World’ and (ironically) ‘Man On A Wire’ recall what was so great about Garbage in the first place. The former is effortless in attaining ‘instant anthem’ status thanks to a perfectlyconstructed chorus, while the latter’s riff sounds like Peaches and plays off Manson’s voice perfectly. But the rest of it is so clumsy and obvious that it seems a little like the work of a band created by committee to cash in on The Kills’ success.

When they get it right, Garbage are really excellent. But they didn’t get this one right.

Hugh Robertson

Andrew Yorke

The setting is as obvious in the songs, which reach for sweeping, starspangled narratives about freedom, religion, coming-of-age, sex, and death, against a backdrop of country, RnB and glam rock influences. The result sounds a lot like The Killers’ emotionallycharged, anthemic indie rock – sometimes it works (the brooding ‘Lost In Austin’), but often promising tunes are let down by lyrical cliches, like the title track’s “We’ll be together until hell freezes over” breakdown refrain.

‘You Had Me At Hello’ begins with a downbeat, restrained sensuality before an encounter with a prostitute turns everything cheesy – “You had me on the kitchen floor, you had me on the bed” etc, etc.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the better moments on this album are more reflective of Britpop granddads The Kinks than American heroes like Bruce Springsteen. ‘The Ballad Of Emmerson Lonestar’ is sort of like a ‘Waterloo Sunset’ in the desert with slide guitar; ‘The Hale Bop’ an irreverent outsider’s take on religious country-inflected RnB. ‘Greatest Hits’ takes an interesting turn, mimicking musical references from The Beatles to Stealers Wheel, The Kinks, and Belle & Sebastian among others – and knits together as a neat breakup song and homage to the writers’ musical influences.

Radlands is another chapter in the generations-long tale of British pop artists looking across the Atlantic for inspiration, but works best when the band eschews its grandiose stateside dreams for smaller stories and truths a little closer to home.

In 2006, Los Angeles four-piece Silversun Pickups became a youth radio staple with their debut single ‘Lazy Eye’ – and it’s easy to see why. With its perfect combination of pressure-cooker vocal punch and a ridiculously simple and infectious guitar line, it makes you want to dance around your bedroom alone while your cat observes in disdain.

But despite selling a bunch of records on the back of that one song, the band seems to have fallen into semiobscurity. Their sophomore album Swoon in 2009 (which actually had a few great songs) is now sales-bin fodder, and they are yet to recapture the genius that was that breakthrough track. With Neck Of The Woods, the band ventures towards new-romantic synth pop to counter-balance the stadium rock riffage.

Producer Jacknife Lee has polished Silversun’s already glossy sound, unfortunately to its detriment for the most part. The distortion is so clean that it verges on mundane, and Brian Aubert’s vocals seem to be drowning in effects. Most of the album is spent waiting for the band to unleash a big distorted attack on the senses – and it just doesn’t come.

When the band gets it right though, there is magic. ‘Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)’ is a perfect drifting electronic pop exercise worthy of M83, and ‘The Pit’, if you can ignore the unashamed New Order blueprint, is a great synth-pop song. ‘Here We Are (Chancer)’ and ‘Dots And Dashes (Enough Already)’ are drowsy, lowslung gems led by Nikki Monninger’s bass work. In the end though, it’s just not enough.

Neck of The Woods is an album full of potentially good songs, failed by a mixture of slick over-production and self-indulgence.

Rick Warner

Jenny Noyes

In A Tee Pee We Shall Lay Independent

An uncannily similar escapist fantasy underlies the arc of both this Sydney artist’s six-track debut EP, and Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are. Both begin with the hope that retreating into fantasy, in the form of a distant primal world, will salve present discomfort. Max’s bedroom becomes a forest, while for Jason And The Lyrebird, woozy brass, slippery guitar and distorted vocals – repeating “I just wanna see sun, baby” – begin the opening track ‘A Winter’s

26 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

Day’, before it transitions into a chorus whose gloriousness brings to mind Young Modern-era Silverchair.

The need for escape is cemented in ‘Out Of Fashion’, in which a yearning for deliverance from the daily grind is accompanied by gentle Elliott Smith-like Wurlitzer. Max’s trek across the ocean could easily be soundtracked by the title track, with urgency and danger aligning with an insistent bassline, and anticipation captured in the dreamy vocal chanting of a promising mantra: “We’ll go down to the water . . . this dewy day will set us free.”

Max’s bathetic realisation that his fantasy and reality are equally dystopian is reflected when the EP unexpectedly

veers toward the noir. The glam, synthy instrumentation of ‘Love You Like A Radio’ suits its titular exploration of the oft-vacuous nature of desire, a theme furthered in the cacophonous dissonances of ‘Moonlight Dance’.

Like Max’s still-hot supper, concluding track ‘Down To The Water (Reprise)’ – an a capella rendition of the chorus from the title track – suggests that while life isn’t always peachy, it is endurable – and the strength to bear its hardships can be found in the acceptance of an imperfect reality, rather than a flight into fantasy.

Where The Wild Things Are Redux.

Andrew Yorke

SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO Unpatterns Wichita

Neck Of The Woods Dangerbird Records

INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK JASON AND THE LYREBIRD

Luke Telford

SILVERSUN PICKUPS

Radlands Rough Trade

In case you miss the cover-art clues (Texasshaped front cover photo; bruised Lone Star-branded knuckles, Mustang Range matches, a bowl of bullets and sugary cereal pictured on the inside sleeve), Mystery Jets made this album in America, which must have really blown their minds or something.

Cataloguing all of 2’s muted marvels would take most of this page, but would also miss the real achievement of the record – it’s cohesive, progressive, experimental, listenable, and easily the best work he’s done.

Simian Mobile Disco have a sturdy back-catalogue of remixes, production accolades and club bangers under their belts, the most recent being ‘Audacity Of Huge’ – which seemed to leave everyone scratching their heads in confusion. But it seems that all the four-to-the-floor, bubbly electro-pop beats have been left behind on Unpatterns. Instead, Jas Shaw and James Ford strip it all back, taking notes from minimalist techno with a smattering of deep house and far more subtle electro leanings than on previous offerings.

‘Seraphim’ features British entertainment icon Cilla Black on guest vocals, and is one of the few songs featuring vocals at all on this record; considering 2009’s Temporary Pleasure was laden with a guest roster, it appears quality reigns over quantity here. Black’s luscious, rich voice echoes behind the dreamy synths with an indulgence not seen anywhere else on the album – the song proves you don’t need dramatic drops to pack a punch. On the other hand, there’s tracks like ‘Interference’ that bring back some of the bombast they’re known for, breaking up that minimal sound.

‘Put Your Hands Together’ is beautifully melodic, the heartbeat pulse of the bassline working smoothly with the looped vocal sample, while ‘The Dream Of The Fisherman’s Wife’ shifts the gears back to down-tempo, bubbling with mechanical bleeps. The subtle layering that shines through as the song progresses becomes completely entrancing, and it’s around this point on the record you feel as though you’ve been listening to a continuous DJ set rather than an album.

If you’re looking for audacious drops and tremulous basslines, Unpatterns isn’t the album for you. But if you want thoughtfully produced, tastefully restrained melodic techno, then look no further.

Marissa Demetriou

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

NERD - Seeing Sounds BETH ORTON - Central Reservation LIGHT ASYLUM - Light Asylum

PIVOT - O Soundtrack My Heart BEST COAST - The Only Place

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

PRINCE

Allphones Arena Friday May 11 Janelle Monáe did not open for Prince, despite the rumours that she would – which was crushingly disappointing. Now that that’s out of the way, the rest of the review will be framed around quotes from Prince himself.

“Sydney, how long has it been?” were his first words as he rose slowly through the floor of the enormous love-symbol stage, dressed in a shiny gold-tasselled jacket.

Later, as he entered the second hour of a three-hour set – now in a purple jumpsuit – he asked, “What you doing tomorrow? Can you stay here all night?” Goddamn it, we all wanted to.

“Turn the lights up!” Prince was commanding as he pranced around the stage (more like Prance! Hah.), from the guitar to the piano to the crowd-pointing.

The lights themselves were as versatile as the performer, pulsing sexually with the bass drum, firing up into the ceiling and creating the atmosphere of an actual damn huge party. Roaming backup singers – all excellent – hyped up the crowd on any side that Prince couldn’t attend to at that moment. His band was impeccable, with special mention going to an excellent lady keyboardist whose funk-boogie blew everyone away the one time it was heard.

“You want a lesson in the funk?” We sure did, and got it – about half of the time. He played nothing from Dirty Mind, in favour of some dull stadium-mode ballads, which would have been totally unforgivable from anyone with less charisma – but when he DID get truly funky (a la ‘Cream’, ‘1999’, ‘The Dance Electric’, ‘Controversy’), it was tight as fuck. …Once again though: no Dirty Mind.

“How many hits Prince had? Slap your neighbour, tell ‘em how many hits Prince had!” With such a lengthy discography, even three hours seemed a tease. But the man played it up even further, pushing the boundary between anticipation and frustration with some lengthy disappearances and a false-alarm nonencore (or ‘noncore’). At other times, the boldness was faultlessly exciting – like the hilarious audacity of breaking off a ‘When Doves Cry’/‘Sign O' The Times’ medley on a beat-cranking luminous piano to declare “You ain’t ready for me! Goodnight!”, leave the stage, and plunge the whole stadium into panic – before returning 40 seconds later, muttering something about a second chance. Who else would do that?

“You can dance if you want to!” He did, and it was bangin’, so we did too. Wild, inconsistent, extravagant—the set WAS Prince.

Laurence Rosier Staines

PUBLIC ENEMY, SETH SENTRY Metro Theatre Friday May 11

Chuck D once said “Radio – suckers never play me!” – but they sure will play Seth Sentry. He raps about scuzzy sharehouses and pretty waitresses and comes off like Public Enemy’s polar opposite. Seth isn’t about to fight the power, but he does show off some mic skills to a sparsely populated room.

20 minutes later air-raid sirens wail, the lights dim, and a spry Chuck D bursts from the wings. He launches straight into ‘Public Enemy No 1’ from 1987s Yo! Bum Rush The Show. The Metro goes bananas. Chuck’s razor-sharp baritone is mixed perfectly with his band while two camouflage-wearing guards, the S1Ws, do a Motown-meets-the-military synchronised

Flav whips his clock out, and ‘911 Is A Joke’ puts us immediately in party mode, where we stay for two hours. And that’s just the thing – it’s all so much fun. I thought Public Enemy might be weighed down by age and the circus of politics, but Chuck and Flav are happy ringmasters who lead us through an incessant barrage of golden-era hip hop classics. They rip through ‘Bring The Noise’, ‘Shut ‘Em Down’, ‘Too Much Posse’, ‘By the Time I Get To Arizona’, ‘My Uzi Weighs A Ton’ and many more with energy and joy. Chuck D’s presence is commanding throughout while Flav comes off like his pesky but loveable, hyperactive little brother who, when not rapping, is playing bass or drums, clown dancing or pulling off monstrous stage dives with his skinny limbs and oversized clock flailing through the air. They close with a ferocious ‘Fight The Power’ and I’m left happily bewildered that after 25 years, Public Enemy are still showing the world how it’s done.

Tyler Broyles

WAVVES, SURES Oxford Art Factory Tuesday May 15

A surprising number of people arrived early at the Oxford Art Factory to catch Sydneybased support act Sures – testament to a band who are turning heads, racking up Facebook likes and effectively carving a path to indie-pop stardom. With an abundance of support shows under their belt, including a triple j Unearthed slot at this year’s Laneway Festival, the band members, who couldn’t be much older than 19, seemed comfortable playing to a half-packed OAF. If you were to pigeonhole their music in the surf-pop resurgence, you wouldn’t be too far off; their playful, polished pop songs proved to be a hit with the few hundred Wavves enthusiasts.

Nathan Williams (aka Wavves) has endured somewhat of a tumultuous rise to the top. Churning through numerous drummers, ostracised by many of his garage-rock contemporaries, and notorious for his 2009 onstage, druginduced ‘meltdown’, one might have thought he would’ve called it a day on Wavves a while back. But the flawlessly energetic, sonically tight, ‘meltdown’-free set comprised of songs from all four Wavves releases represented not only Williams’ maturation as a frontman, but also the band’s professionalism – and their ability to laugh off the shit that goes on around them.

As soon as the curtain drew back, the band launched into crowd favourite ‘King Of The Beach’ – a surge of young punters rushing to the barricade. Williams was quick to acknowledge the crowd’s unwavering support, claiming that whilst festivals are fun, sideshows “are where it’s really at.” Focusing primarily on material from King Of The Beach and latest EP Life Sux, the band gleefully thrashed out seven or eight tracks before playing classics like ‘No Hope Kids’ and ‘So Bored’, with Williams channelling his cheekiness through on-stage jokes with bandmate Stephen Pope and various antics, which made for a truly entertaining set.

The new drummer and second guitarist afforded the band a much fuller and cohesive sound, allowing the increasingly drunken frontman the odd slip here and there. Taking large swigs from a Jim Beam bottle, Williams’ ostensive inebriation meant their performance got progressively looser towards the end, which only made for more fun. After strumming the closing ballad ‘Green Eyes’ remarkably well, the band escorted themselves off stage – potentially to destroy Oxford Art Factory’s green room.

MORE SNAPS p.46

OUR PHOTOGRAPHER :: ASHLEY

march. Flavor Flav hides in the wings until the song is over and then enters to the gleeful howls that only living legends receive. He greets us with a golden-grilled smile and tells us a story about how the Beastie Boys brought Public Enemy out on their Ill Communication tour way back in 1987. Flav says that we could do a moment of silence for the recently deceased MCA, but “MCA wasn’t a quiet motherfucker.” He requests us to make 30 seconds of noise in his honour, and it’s a deafening but quite emotional tribute.

MAR

$30

WWW.WEARETHESTANDARD.COM.AU

Greg Clennar 383 BOURKE ST TAYLOR SQUARE

BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 27

snap sn ap up all night out all week . . .

It sounds like: Wordy guitar-pop with harmonies and lots of kick-drum.

Who’s playing? Split Seconds, Underlights, Jep & Dep. Sell it to us: You’ll be the first to hear all of the songs from our upcoming album (apart from all of the people we’ve already played them to). It’s called You’ll Turn Into Me and it comes out later this year. Also we’re from Perth and that is super far away so we’ll bust out the sympathy vote please.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The 15-minute drum solo. Also those hotdogs they sell at GOODGOD are delicious. I had one last time and I still can’t forget it. Also hopefully some of our songs in your brain.

Crowd specs: Dudes with huge animal-themed jumpers. Ladies. Bulk hats.

Wallet damage: 12+bf pre-sale / $15 on the door.

Where: GoodGod Small Club.

When: Thursday May 24

leader cheetah

12:05:12 :: FBi Social :: Kings Cross Hotel 248 William St 9331 9900

king gizzard & the lizard wizard

the maccabees

PICS :: KC

10:05:12 :: GoodGod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool Street Sydney 9267 3787

10:05:12 :: Metro Theatre:: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666 28 :: BRAG :: 463: 21:05:12

:: KATRINA CLARKE :: RASA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) CHY :: TIM WHITNEY :: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER PEA MAS THO :: NS MUN IEL DAN :: JUSKEVICIUTE :: ASHLEY MAR

PICS :: KC

09:05:12 :: The Standard:: Level 3/383 Bourke St Surry Hills 9331 3100

It’s called: The Second Light Tour.

PICS :: RJ

san cisco

PICS :: AM

party profile

split seconds

snap sn ap

the getaway plan

PICS :: TL

up all night out all week . . .

andrew wk

PICS :: KC

11:05:12 :: The Standard:: Level 3/383 Bourke St Surry Hills 9331 3100

mum

PICS :: TP

10:05:12 :: The Standard:: Level 3/383 Bourke St Surry Hills 9331 3100

11:05:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 9357 7700

speakeasy sundays It’s called: Speakeasy Sundays

party profile

It sounds like: Cheap Sleazy Fundays Who’s playing? Christa Hughes & The Honky Tonk Shonks, The Pretty Big Band (16 piece, pretty friggin’ big), Kira Hu-La-La, Gramophone Man and special surprises.

Sell it to us: A time warp back to the jazz age, when girls were meant to misbehave and fellas were meant to dance with them; when drinking was fun and encouraged laughter and dancing (pre-rugby league era); when music was live – and so were the musicians.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The bit when you got into such a frenzy that you managed to swing over the dancefloor from a chandelier wearing nothing but dabs of gin behind your ears and Tilly Devine clasped around your waist. Blurry bit. You woke up with a sousaphone snoring beside you in bed.

Crowd specs: People making whoopee! Dolled-up dames, hell-bent broads, feisty flappers, fancy fellas, dancefloor dandies, champagne charlies and stage-door-Johnnies Wallet damage: $25 presale / $30 on the door.

Where: The Standard / Lvl 3. 383 Bourke St (Taylor Square)

:: KATRINA CLARKE :: RASA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) CHY :: TIM WHITNEY :: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER PEA MAS THO :: NS MUN IEL :: DAN JUSKEVICIUTE :: ASHLEY MAR

a night on the town

PICS :: KC

When: Sun May 27, 6-10pm (come early – live entertainment starts 6pm!)

10:05:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St Darlinghurst 9332 3711 BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 29

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com

Janelle Monae

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Carrie Lakin Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 8.30pm

WEDNESDAY MAY 23 ROCK & POP

MAY 26 & MAY 27

Vivid LIVE @ Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House

Janelle Monae

& The ArchAndroid Orchestra (USA) $59-$89 (+ bf) 9pm MONDAY MAY 21 ROCK & POP

Bernie The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Greg Byrne Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 4pm Open Mic Night Hard Rock Cafe, Darling Harbour free 8pm Unherd Open Mic The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Wayne Pearce & the Big Hitters Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm

JAZZ

Bernie McGann Trio, John Harkins 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8.30pm 30 :: BRAG :: 463 : 21:05:12

Kylie Stephens Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Latin & Jazz Open Mic Jam The World Bar, Kings Cross free 7pm Monday Jam: Danny G Felix The Lansdowne, Broadway free 9pm Sonic Mayhem Orchestra feat. Trish Delaney-Brown Blue Beat Bar & Grill, Double Bay 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Dinki Di Acoustic: Men With Day Jobs Duo, Peter MillerRobinson, Chrissie Pearce, Ben & Toby Duo Camelia Grove Hotel, Alexandria free 6.30pm Jordan Miller Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 8.30pm Russell Neal, Massimo Presti, Chris Brookes Kelly On King, Newtown free 7pm

a

TUESDAY MAY 22

ROCK & POP

Adam Pringle and Friends Downstairs, The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Carl Fidler The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 8.30pm Greg Byrne Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 8.30pm Prince (USA) Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $99–$450 8pm The Songwriter Sessions The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm

JAZZ

Ian Blakeney Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Jazzgroove: Abstract Brotherhood, The Midnight

Andy Mammers Duo Maloney’s Hotel, Sydney free 9pm Dan Spillane Coogee Bay Hotel free 9pm Devin (USA) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $35 (+ bf) 8pm Expatriate Spectrum, Darlinghurst $12 8pm Fait Accompli, Goons Of Doom, Dead Beat Band Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm Gemma The Observer Hotel, The Rocks free 9.30pm Goodnight Dynamite O’Malley’s Hotel, Darlinghurst free 10pm Josh McIvor Mean Fiddler, Rouse Hill free 5pm Kingstone Flavas Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Matt Jones Novotel Homebush, Homebush Bay free 4.30pm Megastick Fanfare FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel free 1pm Michele Madden, Simon Day, Blackie, Marcus De Pasquale The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 8pm The Ocean (GER), Lo!, Nuclear Summer, At Dark Annandale Hotel $26 (+ bf) 8pm The Smith Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Sugarshakers, Pat Capocci Combo, DJ Brian Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7pm Tigertown, Tommy Gray N Alan Powell, The Former Love Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Ungus Ungus Ungus, Ministerium Downstairs, The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Vanessa Raspa & The Zombie Cats, The Conscious Pilots, Cat Tether The Vanguard, Newtown $15.80-$50.80 (dinner & show) 8pm

JAZZ

Dan Barnett 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Black Diamond Cookies Lounge and Bar, North Strathfield free 6.30pm Chosani Afrique Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8pm Daniel Hopkins Taren Point Hotel free 7pm Greg Sita, Kyle Dessent Evening Star hotel, Surry Hills free 7pm

Helmut Uhlmann, Andrew Denniston, Benwardi, Sejon Im, Olivia Jean, David House, Little Beard, Madame Wu & Elise Graham The Loft, UTS, Broadway free 6pm Le Kab Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 8.30pm Russell Neal Cat and Fiddle Hotel, Balmain free 6.30pm Songwriters Special: Oliver Goss, The Yellow Canvas, Jonno Read The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (+ bf)–$40 (dinner & show) 7.30pm TAOS, John Chesher, Gavin Fitzgerald Coach & Horses Hotel, Randwick free 7pm

THURSDAY MAY 24 ROCK & POP

Adele & Glenn, Dave McCormack The Vanguard, Newtown $15.80 8pm Blowin’ In The Wind: Brewster Brothers Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $34–$76 (dinner & show) 8pm Briscoe, Tails In Space, Capitol, DJ Skarlet The Lansdowne, Broadway free 8pm Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes Brass Monkey, Cronulla $28.60 (+ bf) 7pm Curious Temple Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Florence & the Machine (UK), Blood Orange (UK) Sydney Entertainment Centre, Darling Harbour $89 (+ bf) 8pm Gerard Master, Miss Little Blue Beat, Double Bay $10 (+ bf) 7pm Hey Geronimo, Clare, The Laughing Leaves Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7pm Hot Damn: Wake The Giants, Soapbox Summer, Hot Damn DJs Spectrum, Darlinghurst $15$20 8pm Jagermeister Presents: Hey Baby, Eleven:Eleven, The Royal Artillery, The Pennys, James Englund Annandale Hotel $8 7.30pm Jeff Faraday, Terry Serio, The Hoo Haas The Unity Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Johnathan Devoy Downstairs, The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Kirk Burgess Sackville Hotel, Balmain free 7pm Live Thursdays: After Dark Hard Rock Cafe, Darling Harbour free 8.30pm Loene Carmen, Matt Bailey, Devotional The Red Rattller, Marrickville $12-$15 7pm Lounge Sounds Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm Marty from Reckless Coogee Bay Hotel free 10pm Mike McCarthy Notes Live, Enmore 8pm Open Mic Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7pm Oscar Jimenez, Abuka Trio The Basement, Circular Quay $25–$74.80 (dinner & show) 7.30pm Owl Eyes, The Art of Sleeping, Pear Shape Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $17 (+ bf) 8pm Permanent, Corpus, DJ Scoops Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm The Royal Artillery, Green Ra’Shiid, Smokin’ Mirrors

Sydney Livehouse, Lewisham Hotel $10 8pm Shinola Macquarie Hotel, Sydney free 8pm Sketch The Rhyme Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 8pm Split Seconds, Underlights GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm TAFE Music A&R Showcase Semi Final The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 8pm Tiger Choir, The Paper Scissors, Telafonica, Megastick Fanfare DJs FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm

JAZZ

John Harkins Trio 505 Club, Surry Hills $10 (conc)–$15 8.30pm Kristy Garrett Dee Why RSL Club free 6.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm Phil Stack Trio The Spice Cellar, Sydney free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK Krishna Jones The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 8.30pm Russell Neal, Massimo Presti, Paul B Wilde, Steve McNaughton, Nick Domenicos, Spencer McCullum Kogarah Hotel free 7pm

FRIDAY MAY 25 ROCK & POP

Arbori Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 8pm Armchair Travellers Coogee Bay Hotel free 10pm The Australian Nirvana Tribute Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Bernie Hayes Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville free 9pm Blood Orange (UK), Wax Witches FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $43 (+ bf) 8pm Bridie King Trio, Shane Pacey Empire Hotel, Annandale $15 (conc)–$20 8pm Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, Kira Puru & The Bruise Coogee Diggers 8pm Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $20 (+ bf) 8pm Cletus Kasady Sydney Livehouse, Lewisham Hotel $10 8pm Coilguns (SWD), Kuns (SWD) The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm Dead Letter Circus, Fair To Midland, Twelve Foot Ninja The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $27 (+ bf) 8pm Dirty Deeds – The AC/DC Show Wenty Leagues, Wentworthville free 8.30pm Dirty Dezire, Virginia Killstyxx, Roadkill, Thrashed Valve Bar, Tempe 7pm Down Thunder Vineyard Hotel free 9.30pm Empire Rising, Blue Candy, Five Coffees, High Noon Annandale Hotel $15 (+ bf) 8pm Fabba The Polo Lounge and Supper Club, Darlinghurst $20–$35 (dinner & show) 7pm

Dirty Three photo by Annabel Mehran

pick of the week

Tea Party 505 Club, Surry Hills $8 (conc)–$15 8.30pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 8pm The World In The Basement: Bek Jensen, Gerard Masters, DJ Brent Clough The Basement, Circular Quay $15 (+ bf) 7.30pm Yuki Kumugaim John Mackie Madison’s, Darlinghurst free 7.30pm

g g guide gig g

send your listings to : gigguide@thebrag.com Five Seconds of Summer The Factory Floor, The Factory Theatre, Enmore $15 (+ bf) 7pm all-ages Florence & The Machine (UK) with The Ceremonial Orchestra Vivid LIVE @ Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $99 (+ bf) 9pm Kolonel Bizarre, Wifey, Machine Machine, Ya-Aha Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Kurt Williams Chatswood RSL free 5pm Monks Of Mellonwah, Far Away Stables, Equal Army, The Zebs, Tay Hogan, Sampy The Australian Hotel & Brewery, Rouse Hill $15 8pm Movement: Oscar & Martin Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm MUM: Running Gun Sound, Dirt Farmer, Deathsquare, Driffs, The Heavy Heads, Broke Down Engines, The Fires DJ Boy, Cries Wolf DJs, Sammy K, 10th Avenue, Felix Lloyd, Wolfden DJs, Wet Lungs, Swim Team DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10-$15 8pm Naturally 7 (USA), Tom Thum State Theatre, Sydney $89 8pm all-ages Nirvana Show Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Peter Grant Richmond Inn free 7.45pm PVT Vivid LIVE @ Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House $39 (+bf) 8.30pm Raga Dolls Salon Orchestra City Recital Hall, Sydney $45 7.30pm all-ages Remixes Kingswood Sports Club free 7.30pm The Rockaholics Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm Ryan Leslie (USA), Erika David Metro Theatre, Sydney $70.70 8pm all-ages Sarah McLeod, Ashleigh Mannix, Ollie Brown, KJ The Vanguard, Newtown $25– $60 (dinner & show) 8pm Scarletts Revenge, Thunder Love, Spoonful Of Sugar, Elk Bell Roxbury Room, The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe $10 8pm The Silvertops Level 1, East Leagues Club free 8.30pm Split Seconds, Underlights, Crooked Saints, PhDJ Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm Tex Perkins, Nicole Brophy Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $59–$101 (dinner & show) 8pm Thieves, Elliot The Bull, Papa Pilko & The Binrats Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Tijuana Cartel, Pigeon Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 (+ bf) 8pm Tim Freedman Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Tonight Alive, Young Guns (UK), Totally Unicorn Manning Bar, Sydney University, Camperdown $21.25-$25 (+ bf) 8pm Undercovers Figtree Hotel free 8.30pm Wildcatz The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm

JAZZ

FourPlay, Circle Of Rhythm The Basement, Circular Quay $18 (+ bf)–$72.80 (dinner & show) 7.30pm Gang of Brothers Blue Beat, Double Bay $10 (+ bf) 7pm The Hang, Rippogram, Rosie Henshaw

Notes Live, Enmore $15 (+ bf) 7pm Jamie Oehlers, Robert Hurst 505 Club, Surry Hills $20 (conc)–$30 8.30pm Luca Ciarla Quartet (ITA) The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $20 (conc)–$30 8.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Well Connected Café / Wine Bar, Glebe free 8pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Soulganic Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 5.30pm

SATURDAY MAY 26 ROCK & POP

2 Of Hearts Revesby Workers Club free 9.30pm The All Ordinaries, Terry Serio’s Ministry of Truth, Esme & The Watsons Town Hall Hotel, Newtown free 9pm Alotta Pressure, Feida’s Boss, Iron Gate Sound Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Ate His Rock Excelsior Hotel, Glebe free 7.30pm The Beatels Level 1, East Leagues Club 8pm Benn Gunn Hollywood Bar & Café, Hoyts Broadway free 6pm The Black Sorrows, Sarah Humphreys Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why 8pm Blue Venom Carousel Inn, Rooty Hill free 8.30pm Braden Evans, Warchief, Scandalgate Roxbury Room, The Roxbury Hotel, Glebe $10 8pm The Brian Jonestown Massacre (USA), The Raveonettes (DK) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $68 sold out 8pm Cordea, Foundry Road, Xemper Phi, Not Another Sequel Just Another Prequel Valve Bar, Tempe 6pm Cougar Riverwood Inn free 8pm Dave Tice and Mark Evans Downstairs, The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Dirty Deeds – The AC/DC Show, Hells Bells DJ Beachcomber Hotel, Toukley free 8pm Efterklang (DEN) with Sydney Symphony Orchestra Vivid LIVE @ Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House $59 (+ bf) 8.30pm Eleven Eleven, The Bland, Avain Valve Bar, Tempe 12pm Emperors, Skullsquadron, Super Best Friends, Matt Banham FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $10 8pm Five Seconds of Summer The Factory Floor, The Factory Theatre, Enmore $15 (+ bf) 2pm all-ages Fours A Crowd Engadine Tavern free 9.30pm Hit Seekers The Marlborough Hotel, Newtown free 10.30pm Janelle Monae & The Archandroid Orchestra (USA) Vivid LIVE @ Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $59 (+ bf) 9pm Jezebel Kingswood Sports Club free 8.30pm Kirk Burgess Newport Arms Hotel free 8pm

Kurt Williams Hoyts, Entertaiment Quarter free 5.45pm LaPalux Sandringham Hotel, Newtown 8pm The Leisure Bandits, The Walking Who, Pear Shape, F.R.I.E.N.D/s Upstairs Beresford, Surry Hills free 6pm Luke Escombe Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm March Of The Real Fly, Hey Geronimo, The Griswolds, The Money Go Round The Standard, Darlinghurst $10 (+ bf) 8pm Micah, Temien, AHC/APS, CAT LYF, Alex Horder UNSW Roundhouse, Kensington $30 7pm Michael Peter Coogee Bay Hotel free 10pm The Mission In Motion, Jonesez Annandale Hotel $12 (+ bf) 8pm Modular Night: Tom Vek (UK), Johnathan Boulet, Kindness (UK) Vivid LIVE @ The Studio, Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay $45 (+ bf) 9.30pm New Kids on the Block (USA), Backstreet Boys (USA) Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $99.90–$149.90 8pm Petulant Frenzy and Friends Play Zappa Notes Live, Enmore $32.65 7pm Red Hot Chili Peppers Show Blacktown RSL Club free 9pm Sarah McLeod, Ashleigh Mannix, Ollie Brown, KJ The Vanguard, Newtown $25– $60 (dinner & show) 8pm Sister Jane, Dirt Farmer Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm Stereohype, Vivienne Kingswood Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7.30pm Tim Freedman Brass Monkey, Cronulla 8pm Tim Ripper Owens (USA), Crimzon Lake, Norse, Hazmat The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $40 (+ bf) 8pm The Tonie Christian Band, Crowsfeat Coogee Diggers 8pm Tonight Alive, Young Guns (UK), Totally Unicorn The Factory Theatre, Enmore $25 (+ bf) 7.30pm all-ages Twin Set Brighton RSL Club, Brighton-Le-Sands free 8pm Unforgettable Duo Engadine RSL & Citizens Club free 8pm What U Need INXS Show Mosman RSL Club free 8pm

Mackie, Tony Burkys, Richard Booth Blacktown Festival @ Blacktown CBD free 10am

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Andrew Denniston Terrey Hills Tavern free 7.30pm David Myles, Camille & Stuie French The Basement, Circular Quay $25 (+ bf)–$74.80 (dinner & show) 8pm Joyce Collins The Belvedere Hotel free 9pm Russell Neal, Ben Osmo, Harmonia, Kyle Dessent, Brad Myers Belrose Bowling Club free 7pm Thandidwe Phoenix Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 2.30pm

SUNDAY MAY 27 ROCK & POP

Ace Brighton RSL Club, BrightonLe-Sands free 7pm Annandale Music Markets: Unity Floors, Little Bastard, The Little Lovers, Jay Katz, Stone Dog Millionaire Annandale Hotel free 11am Australian Metropolitan Orchestra Balmain Town Hall $35 3pm all-ages The Black Hill Ramblers Marrickville Bowling Club free 4.30pm Blues Sunday: Mark Hopper Artichoke Gallery Cafe, Manly free 7.30pm

wed

23 May

Cash Savage, The Firetree, Steve Clisby Blues Experience, Morgal Joanel Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont free 7pm Craig Thommo Coogee Bay Hotel free Frank Macias & Los Amigos, Tiger & The Rogues The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown $10 7pm Gramophone Man, Glitch Jukebox, The Green Mohair Suits Opera Bar, Circular Quay free 2pm Helpful Kitchen Gods, White Knuckle Fever, Small Town Incident, Renetica Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale free 5pm Janelle Monae & The Archandroid Orchestra (USA) Vivid LIVE @ Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House $59 (+ bf) 9pm Jets Community Markets: Kickstar, Band Of Brothers Jets Sports Club, Tempe free 12pm My Brightest Diamond (USA) Vivid LIVE @ Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House $45 (+ bf) 7pm Pete Hunt Waverley Bowling Club free 3pm Release The Hounds, Dubious Company, Second Sun, Bell & The Ghetto Rockers Valve Bar, Tempe 4pm Salsa Night Hard Rock Cafe, Darling Harbour free 8.30pm Seekae Vivid LIVE @ Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House $29 (+ bf) 9.30pm

JAZZ

The Peter Head Trio & Friends The Harbour View Hotel free 4pm A Tribute To Louis Prima: Simon ‘The Senator’ Bartlett, Pia Andersen, Sarah J Hyland, Sam Butera, The Go-gettes, DJ Papa Pigfoot Pea The Vanguard, Newtown $58.80 7pm

ACOUSTIC & FOLK

Acoustic Sessions Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale free 8pm Andrew Denniston, Caitlin Hosking Salisbury Hotel, Stanmore free 2pm Michael Peter The Belvedere Hotel free 4pm Russell Neal, Black Diamond, Mike Searson, Dan Usher Palm Court Hotel, Corrimal free 3pm Shane MacKenzie Cohibar, Darling Harbour free 3pm

STATE OF ORIGIN AFTER THE GAME (Approx 9:30PM )

thu

24 May

(9:00PM - 12:00AM)

fri

25 May (5:00PM - 8:00PM)

JAZZ

Jamie Oehlers, Robert Hurst 505 Club, Surry Hills $20 (conc)–$30 8.30pm Kafe Kool Supper Club, Fairfield RSL Club free 7pm Peter Head The Harbour View Hotel free 5pm Ray Lugo Blue Beat, Double Bay $15 (+ bf) 7pm Tristano-Marsh-Konitz Project The Sound Lounge, Seymour Centre, Chippendale $10-$20 8.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John Mackie Well Co. Café / Wine Bar, Leichhardt free 7.30pm Yuki Kumagai, John

The Slowdowns Downstairs, The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown free 4pm Speakeasy Sundays: Christa Hughes & The Honky Tonk Shanks, Kira Hula-la, Gramaphone Man The Standard, Darlinghurst $25 (+ bf) 6pm Sydney Blues Society Botany View Hotel, Newtown free 7pm Vince Melouney Lizotte’s Restaurant, Dee Why $29 8pm

(9:30PM - 1:30AM)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

sat

26 May

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

SATURDAY NIGHT

(9:00PM - 1:30AM)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

sun

27 May

(4:30PM - 7:30PM)

SUNDAY NIGHT

(8:30PM - 12:00AM)

BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 31

gig picks

up all night out all week...

TUESDAY MAY 22 Prince (USA) Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $99–$450 8pm

WEDNESDAY MAY 23 Fait Accompli, Goons Of Doom, Dead Beat Band Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm

THURSDAY MAY 24

Efterklang (DEN) with Sydney Symphony Orchestra Vivid LIVE @ Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House $59-$79 (+ bf) 8.30pm

Seekae

Owl Eyes, The Art Of Sleeping, Pear Shape Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $17 (+ bf) 8pm

Emperors, Skullsquadron, Super Best Friends, Matt Banham FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel, Darlinghurst $10 8pm

Split Seconds, Underlights GoodGod Small Club, Sydney $12 (+ bf) 8pm

New Kids On The Block (USA), Backstreet Boys (USA) Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park $99.90–$149.90 8pm

Tiger Choir, The Paper Scissors, Telafonica, Megastick Fanfare DJs FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel $10 8pm

Sister Jane, Dirt Farmer Gallery Bar, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst free 8pm

SUNDAY MAY 27 Seekae Vivid LIVE @ Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House $29 (+ bf) 9.30pm Speakeasy Sundays: Christa Hughes & The Honky Tonk Shonks, Kira Hula-la, Gramophone Man The Standard, Darlinghurst $25 (+ bf) 6pm

The Raveonettes

FRIDAY MAY 25 Dead Letter Circus, Fair To Midland, Twelve Foot Ninja The Hi-Fi, Moore Park $27 (+ bf) 8pm Felix Lloyd, Wolfden DJs, Wet Lungs, Swim Team DJs The World Bar, Kings Cross $10$15 8pm

Florence & The Machine (UK) with The Ceremonial Orchestra Vivid LIVE @ Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House sold out 9pm

PVT Vivid LIVE @ Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House $39 8.30pm

Movement: Oscar + Martin Beach Road Hotel, Bondi free 8pm MUM: Running Gun Sound, Dirt Farmer, Deathsquare, Driffs, The Heavy Heads, Broke Down Engines, The Fires DJ Boy, Cries Wolf DJs, J Sammy K, 10th Avenue,

SATURDAY MAY 26 The Brian Jonestown Massacre (USA), The Raveonettes (DK) Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst sold out 8pm Xxxx

Owl Eyes

Tijuana Cartel, Pigeon Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst $25 (+ bf) 8pm

Wednesday May 23

Saturday May 26

LUNCH BREAK

presented by Alberts:

LIVESCHOOL Presents:

MEGASTICK FANFARE

BEAT THE CLOCK SOUNDCLOUD & ABLETON SESSION

1pm // FREE

12-4pm, FREE

FIRE UP! LIVE: STATE OF ORIGIN 6.30pm // $12.50 + BF from Oztix $15 at the door (if available)

Thursday May 24 TIGER CHOIR ALBUM LAUNCH

Friday May 25

BLOOD ORANGE + WAX WITCHES

EMPERORS + SKULL SQUADRON + SUPER BEST FRIENDS + MATT BANHAM (THE DREAMBOATS)

8pm // $43 + BF through Oztix $48 at the door

8pm, $10 at the door

RELOAD Presents: GARAGE SESSIONS

LATE NIGHT SOCIAL:

THE PAPER SCISSORS EP LAUNCH

+ TELAFONICA + MEGASTICK FANFARE DJ’S 8pm // $10 at the door

JUZLO + GARAGE PRESSURE Midnight // $5 at the door

L2 Kings Cross Hotel 32 :: BRAG :: 463 : 21:05:12

CHARLIE CHUX + R+R + FRAMES

www.fbisocial.com

Midnight - late // FREE Broadcast live on FBi

Remedy More Than The Cure Since 1989 with Murray Engleheart

SLACK SABBATH

It’s official: Bill Ward won’t be taking part in any of the three scheduled Black Sabbath reunion shows. What a damn disgrace that no one in that camp had the balls to stand up to their minders.

YA KNOW

This year’s celebration of Joey Ramone’s birthday will pretty much coincide with the release of his second solo album, …ya know?, which is due out May 22. Some of those who performed on the recording, including The Dictators’ JP “Thunderbolt” Patterson, Jean Beauvoir and Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh, will be blasting out the album in its entirety at the New York bash. Special guests on the night include Tommy Ramone and Ross The Boss – plus a stack of bands that aren’t exactly household names, which is disappointing.

We’re left wondering why Joey’s great mate Lemmy wasn’t part of either the record or the show; ditto Debbie Harry or Patti Smith. Surely The Ramones’ beanpole deserves some serious representation and acknowledgement.

TOP 50 OZ GUITARISTS

Lists do funny things to people, but above all they get them talking – which is exactly what Australian Guitar magazine’s rundown of the Top 50 Oz guitarists has done. There are some obvious choices, such Angus Young at #1, Chisel’s Ian Moss, The Angels’ Rick Brewster, and Malcolm Young; and there are some nice inclusions that the average Joe or Jolene might not have whacked in, such as Radio Birdman’s Deniz Tek, and the late Lobby Loyde and Pete Wells. But there’s also quite a few that maybe shoulda been part of a different list, titled ‘50 Australian Folks Who Play Guitar’. Nice to see Ed Kuepper in there though – the man has a mean rhythm hand – along with Kim Salmon, Brad Shepherd from Hoodoo Gurus and Blackie from The Hard-Ons and Nunchukka Superfly. But no Brett Curotta (of Massappeal infamy)? No Brett Myers (Died Pretty)? No Tim Gaze? But most importantly, no Norm Roue from Band Of Light – one of the greatest slide players who ever lived? For shame!

longer; we had to get some extra help. Not that it mattered in the end – sadly, Après is out anyway as an online release, and features songs by Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Edith Piaf and Yoko Ono.

GOD RESURRECTED

While the resurrection of feedtime has, for us, been one of the great feel-good tales in Oz rock history, the reissue of GOD’s For Lovers Only and Rock Is Hell on Z-Man Records is almost as much a heart-warmer, with the double vinyl set selling out before it was released last week. (So what’s in store is all there is, people!) GOD, as you should already be well aware, could have been bigger than The Beatles, such were their smarts and sensibilities; they not only effortlessly outgunned their contemporaries, but totally belied their mid-teen years. The explosive Melbourne foursome featured future Bored! and Powder Monkeys man ‘Tiny’ Tim Hemensley and future Hoss dude Joel Silbersher, along with Sean Greenway and Matty Whittle. Together they did the Oz equivalent of Redd Kross circa Born Innocent, over the course of their minialbum Rock Is Hell in 1987, and 1989’s For Lovers Only. Their single ‘My Pal’ is a flat-out classic from Oz or anywhere else. Sadly, Greenway died 2001, and Hemensley passed two years later.

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

YDNE LIZOTTE’SReS ” staurant in Sydney

tertainment “Awarded Best En

others - The The Brewster Brylan 24 Music of Bob D Night with Tex MAY An Intimate 25 Perkins & Friends MAY k Sorrows 26 The Blac e Gees) MAY Melouney (The Be e nc Vi 27 l ts Live and Loca MAY Lizotte’s presen 30 s Symphonic Northern Beache JUN 1 Ensemble JUN post Ball 2 ICAW Com

02 9984 9933

MAY

WHITE MOON

Jack White is the man, isn’t he? Touring Australia in July off the back of his new record Blunderbuss, White has long been a champion of the glory that is black vinyl.

But now he wants to take his love to the stars, quite literally, and be the first human to play an LP in space – specifically, one from the catalogue of his Third Man label.

In keeping with that interstellar overdrive mood, he revealed this grand ambition in Interview magazine while speaking – as one does – to astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

White’s plan of attack? Simple: he wants to launch “a balloon that carries a vinyl record player. And figure out a way to drop the needle with all that turbulence up there, and ensure that it will still play.”

Jack White

stick 3 Mal Ea

JUN

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Jimenez (W 23 Oscar

MAY

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Black Sorrow 24 The - The Music ewster Brothers MAY The Br 25 of Bob Dylan featuring

MAY

raiser Variety Club Fund 26 Lianna Rose Perkins e Night with Tex MAY An Intimat 27 & Friends and Local MAY ttes presents Live zo Li 30

MAY

LONG LIVE KEEF

Keef is dead. A Keef, at least. The BBC last week reported that police in the UK shot dead a man named Keith Richards, an apparently troubled individual who was armed with a cross-bow. The choice of weapon gave it away of course: the real Keef would never keep a cross-bow under his pillow – it’s way too cumbersome.

Pistols are far more compact.

stick 31 Mal Ea

MAY

cClellan 1 Mike M

JUN

APRES POP

So Iggy Pop’s label turned up their nose at his new album Après and The Ig was outraged, eh? Us? We’re with the label.

Iggy, they’re trying to save you from yourself, man. We couldn’t do it alone any

JUN

On the Remedy turntable is The Jesus Lizard’s Down, in which their lurching LedZep-from-hell sound reaches a pinnacle of power and precision, with singer David Yow shoving Robert Plant’s open-shirted, lemon-shaking histrionics to another level of sweat and excretion. Also spinning is another gem from the lost decade that was the ‘90s: Orange, by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. The title mightn’t indicate much, but this was and is one rip-snorting slice of garage punk at its most unhinged.

The trio really had shit-all to do with actual blues, but everything to do with the original base meaning of the slang term 'rock'n'roll' – and this record is Exhibit A.

02 4956 2066

news, the store – which had its humble beginnings in Penrith – turns ten this July. To celebrate, they’re hosting two big nights of music at the Red Rattler on July 6 and 7, with some local and interstate favourites – maybe even an international artist. The lineup will be announced next week.

tertainm “Awarded Best En

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JUN

Excitement is building around the Heaven reunion tour. The band that in the ‘80s were poised to follow AC/DC’s path to world domination will be at the Annandale on June 29 and 30, and at Waves in Wollongong on July 1.

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

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

WCASTLE LIZOTTE’S NenE stralia” t Restaurant in Au MAY

TOUR AND INDUSTRY NEWS

Jack White photo by Jo McCaughey

uzia

nch with Bandal

anish Lu 3 Lazy Sp

JUN

ON THE TURNTABLE

After four years at their 356 King Street location in Newtown, Brother Chris “Can I be of assistance?” Sammut, Young Nic Brick and Repressed Records are moving just down the road, to 413 King Street. It’s the former site of A Coffee & A Yarn cafe, just opposite Bloodwood restaurant. In order to lighten the load for the move, this weekend (May 19 and 20) they’re taking 20% off all vinyl, CDs and band t-shirts. What’s more, if you spend over $75 they’ll give you a $10 gift voucher for the new store. They hope to be opening the new joint on June 1, maybe even a few days earlier. In other Repressed

)

David Myles (Can

2 With Camille & Stuie

JUN

)

David Myles (Can

3 With Camille & Stuie

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 T E S.CO M.AU BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 33

34 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

brag beats

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

inside

ajax

dj craze G IV EA W AY S

brings the madness

MAD MEX! BIG BURRITO CHALLENGE! WIN!

also: + club guide + club snaps + columns

WIN!

Y

ou loved it last year, and now it’s back! The Big Burrito Challenge nge has returned for the month of May as part of Mad Mex Fresh Mexican Grill’s Cinco de Mayo’s celebrations. Finish a mammoth oth 1kg burrito and you could earn yourself a limited edition t-shirt proclaiming aiming your feat to your jealous, wimpy friends, designed by Sydney-based artist Alex Lehours, who’s previously designed for FBi Radio, Jurassic Lounge and Paper Plane Gallery. During last year’s promotion, more than 4,500 Big Burritos were sold – that’d weigh as much as, like, 450 Mexican wrestlers. To earn your t-shirt, simply get your hands on a Big Burrito from your local Mad Mex store and, well, eat it.

Mad Mex Fresh Mexican Grills Big Burrito Challenge is happening at all Mad Mex stores until May 31 – and BRAG has five vouchers for Big Burritos to challenge you with. Just email freestuff@thebrag.com and tell us your local Mad Mex store, and another food type that’s better when it’s bigger. Best to be a Speedy Gonzalez about it – the offer ends soon!

BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 35

dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

five things WITH

Alison Wonderland

EGYPTIAN LOVER (USA) Kingdom’ by Twilight 22, doing my incredible mixing with vinyl – like playing ‘Planet Rock’ backwards, while mixing in ‘Electric Kingdom’ at the same time. Then I’ll play my 808 live, and perform my own hits, like ‘Egypt Egypt’ and ‘Freak-A-Holic’. It’s one of the best oldschool shows ever!

The Music You Make I guess you can say my music is a mixture 4. of Prince and Kraftwerk. A sort of electro funk, but with a lot of beats. Music is my one and only job. I run my own record label, Egyptian Empire Records, and have done since 1984.

I’m always in the studio recording or doing remixes, and I do shows all over the world.

Music, Right Here, Right Now 5.

I am 48 years old, and I love the old school.

1.

Growing Up My mother and father loved music. I enjoyed everything from Dean Martin to the O’Jays. My little brother played the saxophone, and he’s the one who taught me how to listen to and make music. He was the one who said, “Don’t just listen to the lyrics – listen to the bassline and the horns, and the guitar, and the keys”. That taught me how to put together a song.

2.

Inspirations I first heard Kraftwerk when a high

school friend wanted me to put an album she was given on a tape for her. I said of course, because she was so beautiful. After listening to that album (Computer World), I was hooked to the futuristic sounds and electronic beats.

When she came to pick up the tape, I asked her if I could keep the record, and she said, ‘Sure’. I listened to that album a thousand times. I married her ten years later.

Your Set I will be spinning an ‘80s set, like ‘Planet 3.

Rock’ by Soul Sonic Force and ‘Electric

I don’t listen to much new music these days – I only hear what the groups who are on the shows with me play. Like Peanut Butter Wolf, DâM-FunK and AUX 88, but most of the time I’m listening to old-school stuff. It’s what inspires me to keep making music; keep making my kind of music. That funky electro Egyptian Lover dance music.

With: Nicky Da B, Prince Zimboo, No Zu, Geoffrey O’Connor, Donny Benét, Straight Arrows, Levins and more Where: Vivid LIVE – GoodGod Danceteria! @ The Studio, Sydney Opera House When: Saturday June 2

predecessor as Lindgren narrowed his sound, building the LP around bouncing boom-bap grooves and retro-futuristic samples. Doors open at 8pm, with support from Expensive Looks (USA) and Astral DJs.

MARY’S BASEMENT FT JOEY THE SAINT & BAD JACKSON

This Friday, Joey The Saint & Bad Jackson headline Mary’s Basement at GoodGod Small Club, a space-themed event dedicated to “feverish funk music and its true believers”.

Joey The Saint & Bad Jackson are set to play “crates full of wild funk cuts and rare grooves”, and will be flanked by GoodGod main man Toni Toni Lee, who will be playing a DJ set and a live set on his 808 drum machine. The revelry commences from 11pm, with things running well into the morning for the truest of the believers.

ALISON WONDERLAND

More in demand than time on the way to a tea party, Sydney DJ/producer Alison Wonderland has spent the last year playing with all the cool kids at Pacha and Café Mambo in Ibiza and at Stereosonic and Field Day festivals. Last Friday brought us the release of Welcome To Wonderland, her debut compilation album featuring a smorgasbord of mixed artist goodness, including Lykke Li, Arrested Development and The Chemical Brothers. To be in the running to win one of five albums, name another Aussie artist with a pun-ny name.

FACIENDO

Desyn Masiello and Tom Morgan will be touring Australia under the banner of their newly formed collective, Faciendo, and will play at One22 on Saturday June 2. “We are going back to that original feeling. We want the music to be able to represent itself,” an apparently nostalgic Masiello says of the project. “When we connect ourselves and play as Faciendo, we have hundreds of man years of record-buying and a much wider range of music...” – you get where he’s going with that one. Masiello is a muchloved specialist DJ who also spins alongside Omid16B and Demi as SOS, while Morgan arrives in Australia amid much hype from those in the know. In fact Morgan’s biggest fan is arguably Masiello himself, who hired Morgan in an A&R capacity for his Alternative Route label a while back – and the rest, as they say, is history. Presale tickets are available for $20 through Resident Advisor.

Parachute Youth

Ghostface Killah

DOOM

GHOSTFACE KILLAH + DOOM + CHINO XL

Founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah, is returning Down Under as part of a triple headline bill that also features DOOM and Chino XL courtesy of Rap City, which is slotted for the Enmore Theatre on Saturday June 2. Ghostface and DOOM have been working together under the moniker DOOMStarks, releasing their first single ‘Victory Laps’ last year ahead of their Swift & Changeable album, which is apparently going to be released later this year. Puerto Rican rapper Chino XL – who is also an avid bodybuilder – will arrive on our shores at around the same time as the release of his forthcoming sophomore album, a 38-track double album called The RICANstruction, which features guest appearances from Big Pun, Bun B, Kool G Rap, Tech 9 and Immortal Technique among others. Presale tickets to the tripleheader are available online.

STRANGE FRUIT

There’s a new club night in town: Strange Fruit, a weekly affair that will be held every Saturday night from 9pm at The Abercrombie. There are a few crucial factors that separate Strange Fruit from your ‘average’ club night, such as the fact that it’s free – you got it, maestro, it costs absolutely nothing to enter. This factor needs to be considered alongside the calibre of DJs on rotation at Strange Fruit, too. Simply put, the event aims to give the cream of Sydney’s underground DJs a minimum of two hours to do their thing on a Funktion One sound system in the cosy confines of The Abercrombie. Take the launch party this weekend for instance: Mad Racket’s Simon Caldwell, Future Classic’s Jamie Lloyd and Space Ibiza regular Ben Korbel will all be spinning, along with the chap behind the whole concept, Jordan Deck. Not 36 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

bad for a free event, eh? And given the DJ lineups planned for the next month, Strange Fruit is a safe bet for techno fiends to launch – or indeed round off – their Saturday nights.

MUX MOOL

Minneapolis producer Brian Lindgren, who produces as Mux Mool, will perform at GoodGod Small Club on Wednesday June 13 as part of his debut Australian tour. Lindgred’s first official beats came via Moodgadget, a launchpad label of Seth Troxler and Outlier, before he dropped an EP on Matthew Dear’s Ghostly International ahead of releasing his debut LP Skulltaste in 2010, an album “steeped in tinny, IDM-tinged electro”. He will take to the stage of GoodGod following the release of his second full-length album earlier this year; Planet High School differed from its

CAKES FT PARACHUTE YOUTH

Parachute Youth headline Cakes on Saturday June 2, playing live in the club room of World Bar as part of the official launch tour for the new single ‘Can’t Get Better Than This’, which doubles as a Sweat It Out label party. The label owner Ajax, a chap once crowned as Australia’s number one DJ in the ITM pole, will also be playing, along with What So Not and Airwolf. Meanwhile, Illya is doing a four-hour vinyl set in The Apothecary – and you’ll have to discover for yourself which crevasse of the World Bar that’s referring to... Entry is $20 all night.

*Subject to availability, transaction fees may apply

BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 37

dance music news

free stuff

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

FREESTUFF@THEBRAG.COM

MARY’S BASEMENT

five things WITH

BEN KORBEL FROM STRANGE FRUIT Growing Up Much of my early music memories come 1. from long eight-hour car trips from Sydney to Perisher from the age of four. Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles Box (a box of ten or so Beatles cassettes), Andrew Lloyd Webber and Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy were on loop. I think listening to loads of atmospheric pop, rock and theatre soundtracks as a child definitely skewed me to favour the warm, etheric sounds that grabbed me in the mid-‘90s, when progressive and epic house were floating my boat.

Inspirations Radiohead, Boards Of Canada and 2.

Massive Attack would have to sit up the very top for me. Without sounding poxy, they speak to my soul. I was not always a fan of Radiohead – Thom’s voice used to annoy me; too whiney.

Then friends bought me a ticket to see the In Rainbows tour in Berlin, under the stars, and, without knowing their albums, it was the single most inspiring and important musical moment I’ve had to date. I’m also inspired by people who are in tune with their happiness, rather than with their salary. It takes balls to make risky life choices that ultimately might make you more happy, but come via a bumpy road.

3.

Your Crew A combination of going to raves, under-18s dance parties, my eldest brother living through the Hordern party era, and

UPCOMING PICNICS CHINESE LAUNDRY IN JUNE

Chinese Laundry has unveiled its program of headliners for the month of June. On Saturday June 2, The Only, Rob Pix and Luke Million will be throwing down as part of the Ministry Of Sound Electro House Sessions tour, ahead of UK veteran Meat Katie the following Friday. The next night, Saturday June 9, German techno colossus Chris Liebing will be banging it out, before Israel’s Guy J takes centre stage a week later. On Saturday June 23, France’s Surkin returns Down Under – and there’ll be a set from UK’s Tantrum Desire on Friday June 29, and the Aston Shuffle DJs on the last Saturday of June. Entry is cheaper before 10pm.

Sukin

As you prepare for this Saturday’s Picnic warehouse bash with Ken Cloud, it’s worth penciling in next month’s instalment, which features Cloud’s regular partner in crime, Simon Caldwell, playing all night long in a warehouse on Saturday June 16. Caldwell’s DJ pedigree is well-documented; he’s co-promoted one of Australia’s longest running dance parties Mad Racket for the last 13 years, pushes quality deep grooves every Monday night on his Sunsets show on FBi Radio, and had the honour of being only the second Australian to put together a Resident Advisor podcast. The same formula applies for all Picnic warehouse bashes: they’re BYO, presale tickets are available through the website, and the precise warehouse details/address will be revealed closer to the date.

SOLOMUN MIXES WATERGATE 11

Croatian-born Mladen Solomun, known for his output as, uh, Solomun, has mixed the 11th instalment in the Watergate mix CD series,

community radio like Mark Vick (now Dynamix) and Musiquarium in the early- to mid-‘90s was enough to get me hooked. I’ve always kept a day job, though up to this point it was involving music (DJ tours, festivals, clubs etc) – but my head needed a sea change, and music business was sucking the life out of my music passion. So the division is a positive step for me.

Time to dust off the old space suit, rock those moon boots and prepare to be catapulted into the inner-funk- and outerspace-themed destination that is Mary’s Basement. This intergalactic world of undeniable grooves and feverish funk music will have you dancing way into the morning, thanks to the hard work of resident DJs Joey The Saint & Bad Jackson and special guest Toni Toni Lee. Mr Lee’s 808 drum machine will unleash your inner James Brown and take you past the heatwaves of Mercury, with lift off is scheduled for Friday May 25 at GoodGod Small Club... For a double pass, let us know your favourite funk track. Extra points if it’s space-themed.

The Music You Make I’m buying a really wide range of music, 4. which is fairly normal. I’m especially enjoying

Toni Toni Lee

Mano Le Tough at the moment, plus Scuba, Delano Smith, Soul Capsule, Stablo, Move D, Ricardo Villalobos, Anton Zap and loads of old dusty Chicago house and techno.

Music, Right Here, Right Now 5.

It is better in Sydney now than it has been for many years. The mainstream are playing deep house or Jaimie Jones or Crosstown Rebels, which is a much more palatable middle ground than the Nova rubbish that used to dominate. I’m just hearing loads of good music, programmed with style.

With: Simon Caldwell, Jamie Lloyd, Jordan Deck Where: Strange Fruit @ The Abercrombie When: Saturday May 26

which is, of course, affiliated with the renowned Berlin club of the same name. Watergate 11 marks the Diynamic Music main man’s first commercial mix CD, and features a sonic selection that spans funk, hip hop, house and techno. The tracklist includes cuts from Serge Santiago, Mathew Jonson, Lucy Pearl, Low Motion Disco and two(!) cuts from The Supermen Lovers – whatever happened to them anyway? Watergate 11 will be released in mid-June.

Shivers

FREDDY TODD

Who am I? I’ve played in multiple Detroit-based bands, I produce psychedelic glitch hop and acid crunk… oh, let’s just get to the punchline: Freddy Todd will headline The Valve Bar in Tempe on Saturday June 2, in a glitch party presented by the Melbourne-based Nonsense Productions and Adapted Records. Having just returned from a US tour, Mr Bill is supporting solo and with his side project Electrocado, which has been described as a “psy-electro, prog, glitch party project”. Presale tickets are available online for $21 – but it’ll cost you $25 on the door.

SHIVERS @ SPICE

On the first night of winter, The Spice Cellar is hosting a suitably ‘cool’ guest: Shivers, one half of Act Yo Age. Shivers has been DJing around Sydney clubs for over a decade, while his production prowess has led to him releasing on labels like Fatboy Slim’s Southern Fried Records. His latest track, ‘Love Falls’, is described as featuring “delicate beats that smoothly build to a deep bass you get locked in, and then a sexy female vocal disrupts the relentless groove and carries you home in ecstasy.” Veterans Ben Korbel and James Taylor are leading the support charge, with free entry with guest list before midnight.

SNARE

Jacques Renault

Void is back for 2012 with a new night called Snare, a co-production with the Defekt crew that is launching on Saturday June 2 and continuing on the first Saturday of every month thereafter.

Snare will offer variations on UK dubstep and bass heavy music at the venue the Void crew made synonymous with dubstep: Phoenix Bar. Hit facebook.com/snaresydney for further details.

RENAULT + ISOLÉE

DEF WISH CAST’S ALBUM LAUNCH

Jacques Renault, a man widely recognised as a leading purveyor of underground disco around New York, and a key figure in the resurgence of the genre over the past few years, will headline Future Classic’s Vivid LIVE bash at Sydney Opera House on Friday June 1, alongside German producer Rajko Müller, aka Isolée. First catching the eye through his output on the Wurst Edits and RVNG Of The Nerds imprints, it was the release of the anthemic ‘Brooklyn Club Jam’ – which Renault made with his friend Marcos Cabral under the pair’s Runaway moniker – on both DFA and Radioslave’s Rekids label that propelled Renault to that ‘next level’. He has since remixed the likes of Moby, LCD Soundsystem, Holy Ghost!, Chairlift and Sydney’s own Lost Valentinos, and released on Permanent Vacation, Italians Do It Better and Cosmo Vitelli’s I’m A Cliché imprint. Isolée on the other hand is a favourite among the club cognoscenti, known for his timeless cut ‘Beau Mot Plage’, which was released in 1998 on the Playhouse label. He released his second LP, Well Spent Youth, only last year, on DJ Koze’s Pampa Records imprint.

38 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

Def Wish Cast are the true pioneers of Australian hip hop, kicking things off in 1990 with all four corners of hip hop culture covered: B-Boying, MCing, DJing and graf. After a ten year hiatus, they reformed in 2007 with their first album in 13 years, The Legacy Continues – and they’re finally back with its follow-up, Evolution Machine. The record’s production was handled by all the big guns – M-Phazes, Plutonic Lab, Katalyst, Dizz1 and more – and has already sent two singles to the hallowed halls of triple j airplay: ‘Dun Proppa’ and ‘Forever’. The album dropped on May 18, and to celebrate, DWC will be hitting up The Standard this Friday May 25.

Tickets are on sale now.

Craze Freshly Baked Beats By Benjamin Cooper

W

inning the DMC World DJ Championship three times in a row is no mean feat. But for Aristh Delgado, aka DJ Craze, such achievements do nothing to quell his present conundrum: brain freeze. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh man,â&#x20AC;? he moans down the line from Miami, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I got to be honest with you. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been chilling with the family all day for Motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day, but I think I ate too much ice cream! Just before I picked up your call I felt the headache cominâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on. Just be prepared for my brain to switch off at times, but know that it ainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t my fault. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the damn ice cream.â&#x20AC;?

While Craze may dedicate himself to his mama on her special day, the rest of the time he is a focused machine whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s constantly ripping and repping on the decks. In an age where every hack with an RCA line and an iPod trades off the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;DJâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; tag, the young man from Nicaragua is the real deal. His love of turntablism began at the age of 15 when his older brother exposed him to the likes of Magic Mike and Jealous J; he had to know how they achieved those scratchy sounds, so spent entire weeks studying the masters before stepping into the ring himself, after intensive practice sessions on the turntables.

label,â&#x20AC;? Craze explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lately, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s absolutely killing it â&#x20AC;&#x201C; later this year heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got a bunch of big remixes coming out with guys like Chromeo and Flinch that are going to blow people away. So when we got asked to come to Australia, there was no hesitation in getting him on board. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a master of mixing and cutting, and just having him around fuels me to keep pushing harder.â&#x20AC;?

But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s his friendship with Diplo that will yield opportunities for Craze to bring his music to Australians outside of the club scene. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m pretty tight with Diplo and all the guys from the Philly brigade,â&#x20AC;? he says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;so when he asked me to do some work with [local Indigenous outreach initiative] Heaps Decent I said yes straight away. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be honest, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m known for my turntable skills, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cool to be able to pass that knowledge on to other people. I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to start working with the local kids, scratching out some tracks, and to see how the scenes are being born down there.â&#x20AC;?

With: Codes Where: Chinese Laundry When: Saturday May 26

Crazeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memories of his early days as a DJ evidence a certain nostalgia. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Back in the day, music was a little more about the feeling, yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;know?â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nowadays itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost expected that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll drop some huge chart banger in the mix, especially if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re playing a festival. When I started out was when hip hop was getting big in the 1990s, and America was really pumped to hear fresher and fresher tunes all the time. I was playing small clubs back then, but it was kinda cool because it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t about getting a reaction from the crowd [as much as] giving them something theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never heard before. That freshness always blew their minds.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m pretty tight with Diplo, so when he asked me to do some work with Heaps Decent I said yes straight away. I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to start working with the local kids, and to see how the scenes are being born down there.â&#x20AC;?

Craze bears mad love for his audience, regardless of the space heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s playing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but he knows heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s making music that will occasionally frustrate them with its genre hopping style. His reason for traversing such a gamut of sounds is that he cannot bear the thought of getting bored. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Think about what I do: what the hell is the point in dedicating your life to scratchinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; if you stay in the one spot and never try anything new?â&#x20AC;?

And unlike many other artists who feel pressured by the presence of a huge audience, when Craze plays festival shows he feels he can take risks with his set. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re playing a festival, people think that just because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bigger crowd and a bigger scene than a club show you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t try out anything too weird. But I think thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of room to move: festival crowds should be given more credit,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sure Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll play the big tunes that they all want to hear, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll also sneak in at least one surprise that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never heard before, which might be a pretty whacked-out, experimental sample.â&#x20AC;?

With a background in hip hop, breaks and dubstep, Craze certainly has an array of styles to switch between â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s his obsession with trap music, an offshoot of rap that plays more with tempos and rhythms, that is presently providing him the most inspiration. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a big push from New York lately, with artists like Baauer throwing down some huge tracks,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My boy Diplo has been hard on Baauerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s track â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;My Noseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, so thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s raising the profile of what DJs can do with trap, rather than it just being a rap thing.â&#x20AC;?

Craze, alongside DJ friend Kill The Noise, established Slow Roast Records in 2010 to push club music as well as more avant-garde electronica. His forthcoming Australian tour will serve to showcase some of that rosterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talent, with labelmate Codes joining him for all dates. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve known Codes for many years, so it seemed natural that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d sign him up to the

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Ajax Striking Out By Alasdair Duncan

M

y first brush with Ajax was as an eager young thing way back in the day, buying the first instalment of Ministry Of Sound’s Mashed compilation series. It was a time before The Presets, before the likes of Modular and Bang Gang were defining tastes, and before electro was the go-to genre of choice for festival DJs. The album cover featured the somewhat-corny-in-retrospect tag line ‘electro – breaks – punk – house – tek’, but the mix had the feel of something new and exciting. Ajax mixed one of the compilation’s two discs, and in many ways it would prove to be his big break.

I ask Ajax, real name Adrian Thomas, if he still thinks fondly on the mix, and he laughs. “You know what? I have the case right here, but I’ve lost the CDs, so I haven’t actually heard it in quite a while! That mix was done so long ago I don’t even think it was done with a computer – I think it was all done live.” Thomas is still proud of the mix, although given the transient nature of the dance community, people don’t often ask him about it these days. “A lot of people are only really in dance music for two or three years, so looking back on a mix that was done a decade ago, that’s maybe four or five generations back!”

Mashed was quite a forward-thinking set, and looking at the track listing for his half, Thomas is surprised by how much of it he would include in his sets today – if he’d kept all his records. “A lot of the acts on Mashed are still around,” he says. “The Juan Maclean are still making music, Gonzales is making music and films, and there’s this one artist on there, Kid Alex, who I’m sure is actually Boys Noize.” The only problem, he says, is how much production values have changed in the last decade. “If you play tracks from that era next to tracks now, they don’t tend to have the same production quality, so they can sound a bit strange together.”

This month, Ajax will play a very special set at Strike, King Street Wharf, as part of the Live On The Lanes series. A bowling alley is a unique setting for a dance show, although Thomas tells me it won’t be the first time he’s witnessed the melding of beats and bowling. “I remember being in London about four years ago and going to a party in a bowling alley there, where they had Peaches Geldof on the decks and a couple of bands playing – I think it was Midnight Juggernauts and Klaxons,” he says. “That was my first bowling alley party and it was really quite good, so I’m looking forward to this one! I mean, I’m a shit bowler, so you may get to see me fail at that – but the party itself will be great!”

“I’m looking forward to this bowling alley party. I mean, I’m a shit bowler, so you may get to see me fail at that – but the party itself will be great!”

As for his set, I ask Thomas what kinds of sounds we can expect to hear. “Well, in terms of the artists I’m playing a lot at the moment, I really like What So Not, who are so good I’ve actually signed them to my label,” he says. “I really like Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and what they’re doing at the moment. I’m also really into HeavyFeet, Major Lazer and Jack Beats.” As for his signature mash-up style, Thomas has embraced all the possibilities digital has to offer. “The thing with my set at the moment is that I edit a lot of my tracks before I play them. I spend hours and hours before my sets editing tracks, so I might play something you’ll be familiar with, but it’s edited in a way that’s more conducive to my mixing style.

“It makes the tracks unique, too,” he continues.

“The stuff I’m playing is stuff you won’t hear anywhere else. Being able to edit digitally makes it easier to do tricks as well. When I used to play on vinyl, I used to have to ask for three turntables, and I’d have an a capella record along with two regular records. Using editing software makes it that much easier.” Also on the bill for the show is New Zealand DJ P-Money, whose cut-and-paste hip hop beats will offer a counterpoint to Ajax’s electro-based style. “P-Money is an incredible DJ,” Thomas says. “His technical skills are amazing, and he has a great cut-and-paste style, so I’m going to have to step up my game.”

Before letting Thomas go, I have to ask how things are going at his label, Sweat It Out – and specifically, what’s happening with recent signings Parachute Youth. “We’re working on their next single, which should be out in a few weeks,” he says, “and hopefully they’ll have an album out by July or August. The boys will be playing a lot of festival sets, including one at Splendour, and the live show is sort of an opportunity to road-test all their material.

It’s their way of figuring out what people like hearing live, and what will make it onto the album. I reckon that’s a far better method of doing it than us sitting around in a room going, ‘Oh yeah, this will be the next single’. We’re leaving it up to the crowd to decide.”

Who: Ajax and P-Money

When: Thursday May 31

40 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

Xxxx

Where: Live On The Lanes @ Strike, King Street Wharf

Deep Impressions Underground Dance And Electronica with Chris Honnery

Isolée photo by Forian de Brun

Moritz Von Oswald Trio

O

ne of dance music’s classiest supergroups, the Moritz Von Oswald Trio, are set to release a new full-length album in June. Entitled Fetch, the release will be the follow-up to last year’s Horizontal Structures, a supreme journey through understated, dub-infused minimalist landscapes laden with intricate instrumentation. And for the benefit of anyone unfamiliar with the composition of the group, I assure you the use of the term 'Supergroup' is more than warranted in this instance.

The trio is comprised of Basic Channel’s Moritz von Oswald, Deep Impressions favourite Sasu Ripatti (who produces under such monikers as Luomo, Usitalo and Vladislav Delay), and renowned experimentalist Max Loderbauer, who has been collaborating with an emerging producer known as Ricardo Villalobos of late... Fetch is apparently set to have a “darker and more driving mood” than either of the collective’s previous two LPs, and is the product of a mere four hours worth of session time! As with Horizontal Structures, the LP will feature bass contributions from ECM’s Marc Muellbauer, plus electronic manipulation work from Tobias Freund. Flute, bass clarinet, saxophone and trumpet will also feature. Fetch will be released in mid-June on Honest Jon’s Records.

IF? Records will host its first label party in Sydney in 12 years this Saturday at One22, with Little Nobody set to perform an exclusive headline set. Little Nobody, aka Andrez Bergen, is one of Australia’s most noted underground electronic artists, churning out productions since that acidwashed summer of ’96 (under a range of aliases such as Funk Gadget, Dick Drone and, my pick of the bunch, Nana Mouskouri’s Spectacles), remixing the likes of Ade Fenton, Dasha Rush and most recently Australia’s own electronic music pioneers, Severed Heads, for a soon to be released Severed Heads tribute album on Sydney’s Clan Analogue label. The forthcoming party will also feature sets from Koda, Defined By Rhythm, Biz and Sebastian Bayne, with cheaper presale tickets available through Resident Advisor.

Norfolk producer Luke Abbott, a proponent of melodic techno and blissful electronica, will leave the comfort of James Holden’s Border Community bosom to release his first original material in some two years on Gold Panda’s Notown imprint.

Abbott arrives on Notown with his Modern Driveway EP, the pinnacle of a working relationship with Gold Panda that began when Abbott commissioned him to remix his single ‘Brazil’ last year. The Modern Driveway EP is apparently Abbott’s attempt to draw a line under the somewhat obscure nature of the music he released on Border Community, culminating in the

LOOKING DEEPER SATURDAY MAY 26 Strange Fruit Launch The Abercrombie

FRIDAY JUNE 1 Isolée Sydney Opera House

SATURDAY JUNE 2 Levon Vincent Marrickville Bowling Club

MONDAY JUNE 11

End of the Line ft Guido Schneider The Abercrombie

excellent album Holkham Drones, which was described by Abbott himself as lo-fi electronic psychedelia. In discussing his forthcoming release, Abbott stated that the EP was “a way for me to release something more digestible, it’s certainly less obtuse than my other work”. While I’m wary about Abbott changing a winning formula – or indeed 'dumbing down' his sound – it will be interesting to see how he goes about changing his style, and whether it broadens his listening demographic. The Modern Driveway EP will mark the first time an artist other than Gold Panda has released on the Notown label.

Quiet Village, the pairing of Mr Radio Slave himself, Matt Edwards, and veteran crate-digger Joel Martin, will release a compilation of their remixes next month.

Entitled Too High To Move: Remixed With Love By Maxxi & Zeus (a reference to their collaborative moniker Maxxi & Zeus), the album will feature ten of the pair’s reworks of acts like Francois K, Toby Tobias and Allez Allez. Too High To Move: Remixed With Love will be released on the Pyramids Of Mars, a sub-label of Edwards’ Rekids imprint, on June 25.

Quiet Village

Deep Impressions: electronica manifesto and occasional club brand. Contact through deep.impressions@yahoo.com BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 41

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

club pick of the week Danny Brown

FRIDAY MAY 25

The Studio, Sydney Opera House

Vivid LIVE Nights Like This Danny Brown (USA), MED, Ellesquire, Halfway Crooks $30 9.30pm MONDAY MAY 21 Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney Mother of a Monday DJ Smokin’ Joe free 8pm The Sugar Mill, Kings Cross Makeout Mondays DJs free 8pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Jazz DJs free 8pm

TUESDAY MAY 22 Establishment, Sydney Rumba Motel Salsa DJ Willie Sabor free 8pm Scruffy Murphy’s, Sydney I Love Goon DJ Smokin’ Joe free 8pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Coyote Tuesday Resident DJs 7pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Tuesdays Conrad Greenleaf free 9pm

WEDNESDAY MAY 23 The Bank Hotel – Velvet Room, Newtown Lady L, Resident DJs free 9pm

42 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

The Bank Nightclub, Kings Cross Money Talks DJs free 10pm Epping Hotel DTF Resident DJs free Flinders Hotel, Surry Hills Hip Hop Resident DJs free 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Resident DJs free 8pm The Lansdowne, Broadway Frat House Wolf & The Gang free 9pm The Marlborough Hotel Level 1, Newtown Resident DJs free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Autoclaws, Subaske, BoBo, A-Tonez, Rehu, Pablo Calamari, Rom Rem Wolf $5 9pm

THURSDAY MAY 24 Cargo Lounge, King St Wharf Dance The Way You Feel Resident DJs free 6pm The Cool Room, Australian Hotel & Brewery, Rouse Hill We Love Thursdays DJs free 9pm The Flinders Hotel, Darlinghurst Bananas DJs free 9pm GoodGod Front Bar, Sydney Girls Gone Mild Eliza & Hannah Reilly free 9pm

The Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney The Greenwood Thursday Nights Resident DJs free 8pm Gypsy Lounge, Darlinghurst Naked Resident DJs 9pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Resident DJs free 8pm Q Bar, Darlinghurst Hot Damn Hot Damn DJs $15$20 8pm Queen Street Studios, Chippendale Creatives Uncovered Launch Party Billy Kid & Miss Mish, AJ Davita, DJ Vashti, Danceskool $25 7pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Rack City DJ Tikelz, DJ Lenno, DJ Ziggy, DJ Lyrikz, DJ Rkays, Mista Cee 8pm Sugar Lounge, Manly Fat Laced Funk Resident DJs free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Chris & Rob (Florence & The Machine, UK), Mush, Urby, Dan Bombings free (student)-$5 9pm

FRIDAY MAY 25 The Bank Hotel, Newtown DJ Meem free 9pm Beach Road Hotel, Bondi Movement Oscar & Martin free 8pm

The Burdekin, Darlinghurst Home Slice 2 Ar’che-type, Sari, Wolves of MIBU, Ma nu, far7 $10 10pm Candys Apartment, Kings Cross Night Moves Black & Blunt, Tigerlily, Suckerpunch Crew, Hoodlmz, 2busy 2kiss, Solo, M9, Cal French, Towers, Real Talk, Matt Plant, Scope, Funlife, Blake Penny 9pm Cargo Lounge, King St Wharf Kick On Fridays Resident DJs free 4pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Wolfgang Doctor Werewolf, Autoclaws & Adam Zae, Northie, No Good Mischief, Damsel, Smacked Out, Nat Noize $15-$20 10pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Gimme Five Jeddy Rowland, Anders Hitchcock free 9pm Dee Why Hotel Flirt DJ Alana 9pm Epping Hotel Flirt Flirt DJs free FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel Reload Presents Juzlo, Garage Pressure $5 11.59pm GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Mary’s Basement Joey The Saint, Bad Jackson, Toni Toni Lee $10 11pm Home The Venue, Darling Harbour Delicious & Sublime Fridays Flite, Iko, MC Suga Shane, Pee Wee Ferris, Matt Ferreira, John Young 9pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Hugo’s Fridays Resident DJs 8pm Ivy Changeroom, Sydney Love Gun Fridays Tina Turntables, The Apprentice & Hooligan 8pm Jackson’s On George, Sydney DJ Ivan Drago, DJ Rain Julz free 9pm Kings Cross Hotel DJ Liz Bird, DJ Drae Leighton, DJ Tony Edwards, DJ Daigo free 7pm The Marlborough Hotel Level 1, Newtown Resident DJs free 9pm Metro Theatre, Sydney Ryan Leslie (USA), Erika David $70.70 8pm all-ages Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm Omega Lounge, City Tattersalls Club, Sydney Unwind Fridays Blended Beats DJs, Greg Summerfield free 5.30pm Paddington Inn DJ Lok Stok, DJ MattHoare free 8pm Phoenix Bar, Darlinghurst Sensory Overload Green Nuns Of The Revolution, Dick Trevor (UK), Darkchild, Raptor $29 (+ bf) 9.30pm Pontoon, Darling Harbour Perfect Resident DJs free 9pm Rock Lily, The Star, Pyrmont Check Your Head Phrase, Jade, DJ Kitsch, Rodney O, Suite Az, DJ Samrai free 7pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross My Studio Nacho Pop, Dim Slm, Digital Mouthm Mike Ruckus 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 The Spice Cellar, Sydney Future Classic DJs, Andy Webb, James Taylor 10pm The Standard, Darlinghurst Def Wish Cast, Celsius, Killawattz, DJ Vane, Ntsc $15 (+ bf) 8pm The Studio, Sydney Opera House Vivid LIVE - Nights Like This Danny Brown (USA), MED,

Ellesquire, Halfway Crooks $30-$45 9.30pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Eve Resident DJs 9pm The Watershed Hotel Bring On The Weekend! DJ Matt Roberts free 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross MUM Running Gun Sound, Dirt Farmer, Deathsquare, Driffs, The Heavy Heads, Broke Down Engines, The Fires DJ Boy, Cries Wolf DJs, Sammy K, 10th Avenue, Felix Lloyd, Wolfden DJs, Wet Lungs, Swim Team DJs $10$15 8pm Zink Bar, Cronulla Far Out Friday DJ free 7pm

SATURDAY MAY 26 The Abercrombie, Broadway Strange Fruit Launch Simon Caldwell, Jamie Lloyd, Ben Korbel, Jordan Deck free 9pm The Bank Hotel, Newtown Abel Toro free 8pm Bar 100, The Rocks My Place Saturdays Resident DJs free BJs Nightclub, Bondi Junction DJ Shane Taylor 10pm The Burdekin – First Level, Darlinghurst Eric Lau (UK), Frenzie, Huwston, JC, CMan $15 (+ bf) 9pm The Burdekin – Main Bar, Darlinghurst All About The Music 1st Birthday Mike Rukus, Danny Lang, Scruby, Raissa, Torbynik, Dragon Beats $10-$15 8pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Craze (USA), Codes (USA), A-Tonez, Here’s Trouble, Whitecat, Glitch DJs, Ben Ashton, Jack Fuller, Moonchild, Mr Belvedere, King Lee, Mike Hyper $20-$25 9pm Cohibar, Darling Harbour Yellow Sox Brynstar, Candidate free 9pm Dee Why Hotel Kiss & Fly Saturdays DJs 9pm Epping Hotel Back Traxx DJ Kandi, DJ Hypnotixx Establishment, Sydney Sienna Ladies Night Miss Adventure, G-Wizard, Troy-T, DJ Def Rok, Lilo 6pm FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel Late Night Social Charlie Chux, R&R, Frames free 11.59pm Flinders Hotel, Darlinhurst Horne Dogg free 8pm Gladstone Hotel, Chippendale .Darkroom H.P.S?, Mark Craven, Andrew Wowk, GBanga, Martin Stace, QuZen, Eric Thomas, Simon P, Oliver Gurney, The Angus, Kristen Lee $10-$15 8pm GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Jook Joint Jack Shit, Meem, DJ Soup $7 11pm Home The Venue, Darling Harbour Homemade Saturdays Mobin Master $20-$25 9pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Saturdays Dolso 8pm Ivy, Sydney Pure Ivy Mr Wilson $20 9pm Jackson’s On George, Sydney DJ Simon Laing, DJ Michael Stewart free 9pm Kings Cross Hotel DJ Tim Boffa, James Taylor, DJ Shaun Keble, Bentley free 7pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Kitty Kitty Bang Bang Resident DJs 8pm The Marlborough Hotel Level 1, Newtown Resident DJs free 9pm Nevada Lounge, Darlinghurst DJ Hayden free 6pm

Oceans, Coogee DJ Diego Lenis 9pm One22, Sydney Soundwerks Little Nobody, Koda, Defined By Rhythm, Biz, Sebastian Bayne 9pm Paddington Inn DJ Liz Bird, DJ Stu Turner free 8pm The Roundhouse, UNSW, Kensington Roller Disco Tenimen, Micah, AHC/APS, Cat Lyf $10 (+ bf) 7pm The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown Astral People Presents Lapalux (UK), oOoOO (USA), Albatross, Gardland, Astral DJs $25-$30 8pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross The Suite Charlie Brown, Big Will, Dim Dlm, Discokid, Troy T, Jo Funk, Steve S, Adamo, J Smoove 8pm The Sly Fox, Enmore Coochies King Lee, Tom Yum, Floozy 9pm Soho, Potts Point Usual Suspects Albin Myers (SWE), Ember, John Glover, Oakes & Lennox, Mike Rukus, Skinny, Recess, Oh Glam, Glen Darby 9pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney S.A.S.H. DJs, Robbie Lowe, Sam Roberts, Steven Sullivan, Christian Verlaan 10pm The Studio, Sydney Opera House Vivid LIVE Modular Night Tom Vek (UK), Jonathan Boulet, Kindness (UK) $45 (+ bf) 9.30pm Trademark Hotel, Kings Cross Trademark Saturdays Resident DJs 9pm Tunnel Nightclub, Kings Cross ONE Saturdays Resident DJs $10-$20 10pm The Watershed Hotel Watershed Presents…

Skybar $15 9pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Cakes Grits ‘n’ Gravy, Micah, Kraymer, Kato, Harry Cotton, E-Cats, Adam Bozzetto, Pablo Calamari, Jared, Nate Perry, Oakes & Lennox, Nicc Johnson, Oibur $15-$20 8pm

SUNDAY MAY 27 The Abercrombie Hotel, Broadway S.A.S.H. Sundays S.A.S.H. DJs $10 2pm Arq Sydney, Taylor Square Dirty Disco DJs 9pm The Beresford Hotel, Surry Hills Beresford Sundays Resident DJs free 5pm Goldfish, Kings Cross Martini Club Sundays Martini Club , Tom Kelly free 6pm Hugo’s Lounge, Kings Cross Sneaky Sundays Sneaky Sound System, Resident DJs 8pm Kit & Kaboodle, Kings Cross Easy Sundays Resident DJs free 8pm Oatley Hotel Sunday Sets DJ Tone free 7pm Sapphire Lounge, Kings Cross Sapphire Sundays Resident DJs 8pm The Spice Cellar, Sydney Spice Robbie Lowe, Murat Kilic $20 4am The Watershed Hotel Afternoon DJs DJ Brynstar free The World Bar, Kings Cross Dust Camerron Cooper, Telefunken, Morgan, James Taylor free 9pm

club picks up all night out all week...

DJ Craze

WEDNESDAY MAY 23 The World Bar, Kings Cross The Wall Autoclaws, Subaske, BoBo, A-Tonez, Rehu, Pablo Calamari, Rom Rem Wolf $5 9pm

THURSDAY MAY 24 The World Bar, Kings Cross Propaganda Chris & Rob (Florence & The Machine, UK), Mush, Urby, Dan Bombings free (student)-$5 9pm GoodGod Front Bar, Sydney Girls Gone Mild Eliza & Hannah Reilly free 9pm

FRIDAY MAY 25 Chinese Laundry, Sydney Wolfgang Doctor Werewolf, Autoclaws & Adam Zae, Northie, No Good Mischief, Damsel, Smacked Out, Nat Noize $15-$20 10pm GoodGod Small Club, Sydney Mary’s Basement Joey The Saint, Bad Jackson, Toni Toni Lee $10 11pm Eric Lau

The Spice Cellar, Sydney Future Classic DJs, Andy Webb, James Taylor 10pm The Standard, Darlinghurst Def Wish Cast, Celsius, Killawattz, DJ Vane, Ntsc $15 (+ bf) 8pm

SATURDAY MAY 26 The Abercrombie, Broadway Strange Fruit Launch Simon Caldwell, Jamie Lloyd, Ben Korbel, Jordan Deck free 9pm The Burdekin – First Level, Darlinghurst Eric Lau (UK), Frenzie, Huwston, JC, CMan $15 (+ bf) 9pm Chinese Laundry, Sydney Craze (USA), Codes (USA), A-Tonez, Here’s Trouble, Whitecat, Glitch DJs, Ben Ashton, Jack Fuller, Moonchild, Mr Belvedere, King Lee, Mike Hyper $20-$25 9pm FBi Social @ Kings Cross Hotel Late Night Social Charlie Chux, R&R, Frames free midnight One22, Sydney Soundwerks Little Nobody, Koda, Defined By Rhythm, Biz, Sebastian Bayne 9pm The Sandringham Hotel, Newtown Astral People Presents Lapalux (UK), oOoOO (USA), Albatross, Gardland, Astral DJs $25-$30 8pm The Studio, Sydney Opera House Vivid LIVE Modular Night Tom Vek (UK), Jonathan Boulet, Kindness (UK) $45 (+ bf) 9.30pm The World Bar, Kings Cross Cakes Grits ‘n’ Gravy, Micah, Kraymer, Kato, Harry Cotton, E-Cats, Adam Bozzetto, Pablo Calamari, Jared, Nate Perry, Oakes & Lennox, Nicc Johnson, Oibur $15-$20 8pm

Def Wish Cast

BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 43

snap up all night out all week . . .

halfway crooks

PICS :: AM

party profile

def wish cast It’s called: Evolution Machine – album launc h It sounds like: Futuristic B-Boy funk.

Who’s playing? Def Wish Cast supported by Celsius, Kilawattz, NTSC, DJ Vame, DJ ASK, DJ 2Buck and Victor Lopez .

Three songs you’ll hear on the night: ‘Dun Proppa’ – Def Wish Cast; ‘Straight Outta’ – Celcius; ‘Killa Kombo’ – Kilawa ttz.

And one you definitely won’t: ‘Time To Retire ’ – Def Wish Cast.

Sell it to us: We’re celebrating the launch of our brand new album, and our incredible 20th anniversary. We’re performing four live sets throughout the night covering our whole career, and will be taking you on a journey through time and space via the Evolution Machine.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: The name Def Wish Cast – providers of that future funk you’ve been missin’!

Crowd specs: B-Boys, B-Girls, flyguys, flygirls, hip hop lovers and appreciators of B-boy funk and old-school electr o!

Wallet damage: $15 pre-sale / $20 on door Where: The Standard When: Friday May 25, 8pm – late.

kerser

PICS ::RJ

12:05:12 :: Phoenix Bar :: 34-44 Oxford St Darlinghurst Sydney 9331 3100

fantastic man

PICS :: AM

12:05:12 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

the cool room

PICS :: TW

11:05:12 :: The Spice Cellar :: 58 Elizabeth St Sydney

:: KATRINA CLARKE :: RASA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) :: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAS PEACHY :: TIM WHITNEY THO :: NS MUN IEL DAN :: MAR JUSKEVICIUTE :: ASHLEY

44 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

propaganda

PICS :: DM

10:05:12 :: The Australian Brewery :: 350 Annangrove Rd Rouse Hill 9679 4555

10:05:12 :: World Bar :: 24 Bayswater Rd Kings Cross 93577700

snap

strike

PICS :: AM

up all night out all week . . .

blawan & pariah

PICS :: RJ

11:05:12 :: Strike Bowling :: 22 King St Wharf Darling Harbour 9276 7100

jaytech

PICS :: AM

12:05:12 :: GoodGod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Sydney 8084 0587

12:05:12 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 8295 9958 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: RASA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) :: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAS PEACHY :: TIM WHITNEY THO :: NS MUN IEL DAN :: MAR JUSKEVICIUTE :: ASHLEY

Join me and 400,000 others, because if it’s ON... it’s on Eventfinder.

Australia’s leading online events & entertainment guide BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12 :: 45

snap

11:05:12 :: Oxford Art Factory :: 38-46 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 93323711

till von sein

PICS :: AM

daily meds

PICS :: TL

up all night out all week . . .

boss bass

PICS :: AM

12:05:12 :: The Spice Cellar :: 58 Elizabeth St Sydney

public enemy

PICS :: AM

11:05:12 :: Chinese Laundry :: 111 Sussex St Sydney 82959999

11:05:12 :: Metro Theatre :: 624 George St Sydney 9550 3666

11:05:12 :: GoodGod Small Club :: 53-55 Liverpool St Sydney 8084 0587 :: KATRINA CLARKE :: RASA S : TIM LEVY (HEAD HONCHO) :: OUR LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHER MAS PEACHY :: TIM WHITNEY THO :: NS MUN IEL DAN :: MAR JUSKEVICIUTE :: ASHLEY

46 :: BRAG :: 463 :: 21:05:12

party profile

house of beni

PICS :: TL

freddy todd

It’s called: Nonsense presents Freddy Todd It sounds like: Glitch-hop, acid-crunk, IDM, psy-electro etc.

Who’s playing? Freddy Todd, Mr Bill, Electr ocado, Gruff (Bran Richards), LozNonsense vs Drachemann, TouchySubj ekt.

Three songs you’ll hear on the night: Mr Bill vs Gruff – ‘Pretty Sick, But’; Freddy Todd – ‘FunkSlime GeneratoR’; Electr ocado – ‘Derping Hamstain’.

And one you definitely won’t: Any Top 40s.

Sell it to us: We’re excited to be bringing some of the most unique and groundbreaking producers to a Sydney venue , in a full-on glitch experience, the likes of which Sydney trippers and bass freaks have never seen! Mindbending music courtesy of Detroit glitch heavy weight Freddy Todd, supported by a plethora of talented local producers – and stunning visuals to stimulate your senses and tickle your brain.

The bit we’ll remember in the AM: Audiovisual stimuli that you can still hear/see behind your eyelids.

Crowd specs: Lovers of squelchy bass, fat beats and wonky vibes.

Wallet damage: $21–$25

Where: Valve Bar / 900 Princess Hwy, Temp e When: Saturday June 2, 7pm–3am

1800 - GALLINS

SALE! Epiphone Valve Junior Hot Rod Amp RRP $449

EpiphoneEmbassy Epiphone Embassy sy STDBass STD Basss RRP $449 RRP$44 449

$175!

Gibson Firebird Fire r b Studio2011 Non Re R eversePel P Reverse Pelham Blue RRP$ RRP $2699 $269 699 9

$1349!

Epiphone ZV Ebony RRP $999

$399!

$299!

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4 RP $

(R INS STRAPT, TA KI CON E, CARE L CAB T SHIRT &

$10!

GIBS

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$40

$2!

$99!

EPIPHONE

ACOUSTIC

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STRINGS

(RRP $7)

$799!

Roland AC60 Acoustic Guitar Amp R

RRP $649

$538!

Roland Cube 40XL RRP $369

$319!

Shure Wireless PGX1-L5

Kramer Nite V Satin Black RRP $1199

$22!

$99!

Epiphone Zenith Bass Fretted RRP $1499

Martin OMCXK2E (No Case) RRP $1995

$1075!

Epiphone Les Paul Plustop Profx Desertburst RRP $1199

$587!

RRP $749

$569!

EP JEFF WATERS ANNIHILATION V LTD PB KRAMER VANGUARD S-440S RED METALLIC ELECTRO-HARMONIX .22 CALIBER PEDAL HIWATT TUBE 20W COMBO 12" TUBE OVERDRIVE PEDAL 12AX7 (18V SUP) GIBSON EXPLORER 7-STRING EB GIBSON BASS NIKKI SIXX THUNDERBIRD GIBSON BASS LP STANDARD OVERSIZED HS GIBSON LPR4 FIGURED IT 1PU GIBSON WOODY GUTHRIE SOUTHERN JUMBO KORG KOAX3G EFFECTS KORG KOAX3A EFFECTS KORG CA1 CHROMATIC TUNER LEGACY ST1 ELEC GTR BLK+KORG GA1 TUNER BOSS BAPC15 EARPHONES/GUITAR CABLE SET BOSS BAMBRS SILICONE CASE for MICRO-BR

Gibson Melody Maker Flying V Satin Blue RRP $999

$399!

RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP RRP

$1,199 $529 $215 $695 $195 $3,699 $3,299 $3,299 $8,499 $4,999 $180 $180 $30 $130 $79 $39

$458 SALE $227 SALE $120 SALE $428 SALE $99 SALE SALE $2,488 SALE $2,120 SALE $2,266 SALE $3,998 SALE $3,427 SALE $98 SALE $98 SALE $19 SALE $29 SALE $20 SALE $5

+ MANY MORE CRAZY BARGAINS IN STORE.COME DOWN BEFORE THEY’RE ALL GONE!