STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
the position for 2014 and will assist Ashton in 2013 in the newly created role of Associate Programmer.
THE FAMOUS SPIEGELTENT: 25/09/12 A solid and expectant crowd has started to fill the interior of the lavish Spiegeltent as indie icons Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks take the stage for the first instalment of a two-night mid-week residency for the Brisbane Festival. As he was wont to do with his former outfit Pavement, Malkmus eschews centre stage in favour of a microphone on stage right, staring off to the side as they kick off with the catchy and playful Tigers from the band’s most recent album Mirror Traffic. Malkmus still looks impossibly young inside the smoky tent environs, and he intones, “This is like a little spaceship – it’s George Clinton’s Mothership!” before moving onto Forever 28, the band in sync even when plagued by minor gear troubles. As with most of his songs, these tunes rely on stream-of-consciousness lyrics and a steady raft of non sequiturs over a bed of bendy, lysergic indie rock, and the musical hooks and vocal hooks are in perfect harmony as he moves through Asking Price, Stick Figures In Love and early Jicks tune Phantasies, which remains typically effervescent. After a run through of No One Is (As I Are Be) Malkmus smiles and offers an irony-dripping, “It’s fucking freezing here Brisbane! Why is it so cold?” before moving onto Church On White, a tune that epitomises Malkmus’ post-Pavement aesthetic as much as anything with its slightly-snaking and almost jammy nature – soft and discordant but mainly comforting and fun. There’s a slew of vampish yelps and off-kilter rhythms all though Real Emotional Trash before the comparative urgency of Spazz kicks in, which we eventually discover is due to new drummer Jake Morris – who’s acquitted himself well all evening – having misheard the between-song instructions about tempo, but no one’s too fussed, it’s not that sort of night. Brain Gallop is stretched out for the jammiest moment of the night – unlike last solo visit Malkmus seems content with keeping songs short and sharp for the most part – before Senator kicks in and everyone happily sings along to the various lines about “blowjobs” (he’s right you know). After a rambling monologue about
ART FACTS
The Australian Council for the Arts launched Art Facts, a new home for statistics about Australian arts. Find out about music: from what musicians earn to concert ticket sales and more. Hit up artfacts.australiacouncil.gov.au.
WORKING WITH COPYRIGHT Q Music is a not for profit organisation supporting Queensland music, musicians and industry workers. This column will present you with information on grant and export opportunities, conferences and the general lowdown on the state’s music industry.
THE GREAT ESCAPE (UK) SEEKS QUEENSLAND ARTISTS Stephen Malkmus @ The Spiegeltent by Stephen Booth hospitality (or lack thereof) in Brisbane hotels and some scarcely-coded requests for weed, the fourpiece throw new song Surreal Teenagers into the mix – it’s a semi-theatrical piece with a rambling intro which dives into the song’s rocking body – before finishing with a vaguely geographically-relevant and faithfully-rendered cover of Dragon’s classic Are You Old Enough?, guitarist Mike Clark doing a great job of nailing the keyboard parts. It’s a different experience to last time Malkmus was in town for the Pavement reunion but no less endearing, and his solo body of work is really coming into its own. He may have been a spokesman for the slacker generation, but the man is anything but slack. Sean Dempster
Queensland artists are invited to submit their Expression Of Interest for a showcasing opportunity at The Great Escape 2013, an international music industry event which will be held in Brighton (UK) from 16 to 18 May, 2013. Submission through QMusic’s website only by 18 October, 2012. More info on qmusic.com.au.
DEB SUCKLING LEAVES QMUSIC Deb Suckling finishes as QMusic’s Program Manager on 19 October. For those of us on staff and the board at QMusic, to work alongside Deb has been an absolute privilege.
BIGSOUND APPOINTS PROGRAMMERS QMusic is pleased to announce the re-appointment of Graham “Asho” Ashton as Executive Programmer of BIGSOUND 2013. He will be assisted by AIR General Manager Nick O’Byrne who has been appointed to
themusic.com.au
The Copyright Council will be holding seminars in Brisbane 22-26 October. The 2012 seminar program has been designed to ensure a strong, and practical, understanding of the latest copyright laws and applications. More info oncopyright.org.au/seminars.
UNCONVENTION BRISBANE RETURNS FOR 3RD YEAR
UnConvention Brisbane 2012 will happen at The Edge on 24-25 November thanks to the donations by Pozible pledges and industry partnerships with Starving Kids Records, QMusic, The Edge and QUT. More info on unconventionbrisbane.com.
QUEENSLAND ARTISTS WIN AT THE 2012 DEADLYS AWARDS The 18th Annual National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Entertainment and Community Awards, aka The Deadlys, is Australia’s largest indigenous award’s night. Congratulations to Queensland artists Thelma Plum (Inaugural Sydney Opera House Award), Marcus Corowa (Most Promising New Talent in Music Award) and Troy Cassar-Daley (Album Of The Year Award) for winning Deadly awards this year. For more information visit vibe.com.au.
WANT TO KNOW MORE OR BECOME A QMUSIC MEMBER? For these stories, memberships and more, go toqmusic.com.au.
TIME OFF • 39