Author Archives: Stu

Independents’ Day

Via Decomposing Trees I’ve heard about Independents’ Day on July 4, a celebration of independent record labels. As part of it you can vote for your favourite Australian independent releases here. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the greatest Australian album ever is listed even though it is slightly obscure in that it never got a stand-alone cd release (the tracks have all appeared as part of a compilation though). In fact it has been out of print for a long time since Prince Melon records went out of action some time around 1982-83 when the Clowns signed to Hot, but it does seem that they are now back in action with a new live cd.

Back to the poll – nice to see two excellent Ed Kuepper solo albums listed too, but I would have liked to have voted for his latest which is as good as anything he has done in his solo career.

The Weeping Camel on SBS

This Tuesday SBS are showing the film The Story of the Weeping Camel as part of their Hot Docs series, though it is not exactly a documentary, as some scenes are acted, but they are acted by the “real people” who are the subjects of the documentary, nomadic herders in Mongolia. I don’t like to give away too much detail about movies (I like to know as little as possible before seeing a movie, however this can sometimes have disastrous consequences), so I won’t say much more, just that it’s a really beautiful story that is well worth your time.

New Releases: Steinski, Silver Jews, Subtle

There’s some new music (or reissues of old music) coming out that are looking good.

  • Pitchfork report that there is a Steinski double cd compilation coming out. The first collects together a bunch of his stuff (including collaborations with Double Dee) that is otherwise rather hard to come by. I’ve heard about lots of these tracks but never heard them, in particular I think they were a big influence on Coldcut. The second disc has his “Nothing to Fear” mix, I have a version of this on vinyl but judging from the track listing there’s lots more on the cd.
  • The new album by the Silver Jews is due out next month, called Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. To put it simply the Silver Jews are one of the best bands ever. When they first gained attention they looked to be something of a Pavement side-project (due to the involvement of Stephen Malkmus, Bob Natanovich and Steve West), but it was David Berman who was the driving force, and while I still love Pavement, and SM’s solo stuff as well, the Silver Jews have moved up to be one of my favourite bands, in the top the level occupied by the likes of the Laughing Clowns, Sonic Youth and Autechre. So I guess it’s clear that I’m keenly awaiting the release of the new album.
  • Another new release of interest is exitingARM by Subtle. Subtle came to my attention due to the involvement of members of Themselves (and the recommendation of Peter). They released 4 eps names after the seasons which were brilliant, taking in a dizzying array of styles. When they moved on to releasing albums they seemed to bring all of it together into a unique mix of rap, rock, electronica and more. They deserve more attention than they get (though if you check out metacritic you’ll see that the critics have certainly been kind). The new one is there third full length album, and completes a trilogy. Also worth mentioning is a lower profile release, Yell&Ice , which includes a number of collaborations on remixes/alternate versions of tracks from second album For Hero: For Fool. I hadn’t heard much about it but found it in Missing Link in Melbourne and have been very impressed by it. Apparently there was something similar for the first album but I’ve never come across it. Hopefully the new one will do well enough for them to tour here, I’d love to see them live. It wouldn’t be the first time to Adelaide for Dose One and Jel, they played, together with Sole, at Enigma Bar back in 2001.

[gigs]

I was very impressed by Philip Jeck last night. Also Headdress of Neon Flames were still in fine form after a long break from gigs. There is another big one coming up at the Jade, Rafael Toral from Portugal.

A couple of other items of music news:

  1. this afternoon there is a show about Sonic Youth on ABC2 at 4pm
  2. On the June long weekend there will be one of the regular cd & record sales at the showgrounds.
  3. Rumour has it that the Sea Thieves will have another show coming up soon

MAY

  • 29th – DJ Krush at Electric Light.
  • 31st – Really Good in Theory 3 with the Avant Gardeners, Cities Roamed by Cannibals, No Through Road, The Family Hour (with Henry Wagons), The Monies, Jon Dale, Cameron Wood, Kynan Lawlor at the Irish Club.

JUNE

  • 5th – !!! at Rocket Bar.
  • 15th – Holly Throsby at the Jade Monkey.
  • 20th – Guy Blackman, Hit the Jackpot, No Through Road and Shame Spiral at Rocket.

JULY

  • 5th – Rafael Toral at the Jade Monkey.
  • 31st – The Breeders at Fowler’s Live.

On the Stereo

  • Philip Jeck – Sand cd (Touch)
  • Rosy Parlane – Jessamine cd (Touch)
  • Stars of the Lid – The Tired Sounds of 2cd (Kranky)
  • Charalambides – Likeness cd (Kranky)
  • Charalambides – Joy Shapes cd (Kranky)
  • The Sea Thieves – Hiding in the Shade cd (Pouring Rain)
  • Seefeel – Quique 2cd (Too Pure)
  • Various – Staedtizism 2 cd (~scape)
  • Kurt Weisman – Spiritual Sci-Fi cd (Important)
  • The Dead C – Future Artists cd (Bada Bing)

Best Gigs of 2007

Yes, I know this is a bit late. I wrote out this list meaning to add comments on each gig and then forgot about it … so now I decided I may as well post the list as it is rather than just delete it. So here it is, my favourite gigs of 2007 (it may seem like a lot, but it is about a quarter of the gigs that I went to)

  • 17/2 The Evens at Urtext
  • 28/2 Camera Obscura, Ned Collette at Rocket
  • 9-11/3 WOMAD at Botanic Park, particularly Etran Finitawa, Huun Huur Tu and Femi Kuti
  • 31/3 GB3 at the Garden of Unearthly Delights
  • 3/4 The Pixies and Jarvis Cocker at Thebarton Theatre
  • 5/4 Mike Cooper, Daniel Varicchio at Urtext
  • 4/5 Ninetynine, Birth Glow, All Made of Rubies at Electric Light
  • 12/5 No Through Road at Urtext
  • 22/6 Mick Harvey at the Space Theatre
  • 13/7 Dinosaur Jr at the Gov
  • 17/8 Zulya & The Children of the Underground at the Church of the Trinity
  • 18/8 No Through Road, Spindickle, 200 Motels at the Jade Monkey (Greens Adelaide Campaign Launch)
  • 24/8 Brunatex at the Jade Monkey
  • 25/8 Little Ice Age at the Wheatsheaf
  • 8/9 Benga at the Rhino Room
  • 22/9 No Through Road, Little Ice Age at the Prince Albert
  • 12/10 Art of Fighting at Jive
  • 19/10 Nick Cave/ Grinderman at Thebarton Theatre
  • 11/11 Bill Callahan, Sea Thieves at the Jade Monkey
  • 27/12 Ed Kuepper and the Kowalski Collective at the Vanguard, Newtown in Sydney
  • 29/12 Vex’d at Herman’s, Sydney Uni.

[gigs] Sea Thieves Launch

Not too much new but just wanted to make sure that everyone’s aware of the long awaited (by me at least) Sea Thieves album launch this Sunday at the Ed Castle. Their gigs don’t happen too often since their usually pretty busy running the wonderful music venue that is The Jade Monkey, so it’s worth going out of your way to catch them when you can, and the album launch in particular should be a good one.

Also getting excited at the prospect of seeing Philip Jeck live, read about him in dB.

MAY

  • 3rd – Hit the Jackpot with Downtown at the Ex.
  • 4th – Sea Thieves record launch at the Ed Castle.
  • 17th – Philip Jeck at FAD.
  • 29th – DJ Krush at Electric Light.

JUNE

  • 5th – !!! at Rocket Bar.

JULY

  • 31st – The Breeders at Fowler’s Live.

On the stereo

  • DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist – The Hard Sell (Encore) cd (no label)
  • Subtle – Yell & Ice cd (Lex)
  • Harmonia – Live 1974 cd (Water)
  • Supersilent – 8 cd (Rune Grammofon)
  • Charalambides – Joy Shapes cd (Kranky)
  • Tall Dwarfs – Weeville cd (Flying Nun)
  • Machine Translations – Happy cd (Spunk)
  • Deerhoof – Apple O’ cd (Kill Rock Stars)
  • Essential Logic – Fanfare in the Garden 2cd (Kill Rock Stars)
  • The Residents – Eskimo cd (Euro Ralph)

[gigs]

APRIL

  • 17th – Chris Smith, Kynan Lawlor Group, Jon Dale, Cameron Wood at Gallery De La Catessen
  • 19th – Grey Daturas, Swords and Diplomat at the Ed Castle.

MAY

  • 1st – Institute Polaire, Cuthbert & the Night Walkers at Rocket.
  • 3rd – Hit the Jackpot with Downtown (Bris) at the Ex.
  • 4th – Helmet at Fowlers.
  • 4th – Sea Thieves record launch at the Ed Castle.
  • 17th – Philip Jeck at FAD.

JUNE

  • 5th – !!! at Rocket Bar.

JULY

  • 31st – The Breeders at Fowler’s Live.

Also a few tours missing Adelaide – DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist are touring the follow up to Brainfreeze & Product Placement, called The Hard Sell, DJ N-Type who mixed Dubstep Allstars Vol.5 is playing shows on the east coast, and jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins is playing in Sydney.
On the Stereo

  • Philip Jeck – Stoke cd (Touch)
  • The Tuss – Rushup Edge cd (Rephlex)
  • Benga – Crunked Up 12″ (Tempa)
  • Kode 9 & the Space Ape – Sine of the Dub 10″ (Hyperdub)
  • Sun Ra – Lanquidity (Evidence)
  • Various – Studio One Dub Vol. 2 cd (Soul Jazz)
  • Various – Studio One Groups cd (Soul Jazz)
  • The Darling Downs – How Can I Forget this Heart of Mine cd (no label)
  • Machine Translations – Seven Seven cd (Spunk)
  • Neil Young with Crazy Horse – Everybody Knows this is Nowhere cd (Reprise)

Bon Anniversaire Monsieur Rohmer

Today the French film director Eric Rohmer is 88. He is still making films, though I have trouble seeing his latest ones here in Australia. In fact, I don’t believe that any are even available here on dvd. Occasionally they turn up on SBS (I recall being happy to find L’Anglaise et le duc on SBS one Christmas night), and at the cinema (the Mercury showed a number of his films as part of their cinematheque program a couple of years ago).

For those in Adelaide you can go to Kino on Goodwood Rd where you can hire just about all of his feature films up to the mid 90’s (as long as you still have a video). Last time I went past it looked like they weren’t there anymore, I no longer live in the area so I’m not sure what’s going on there.
My recommendations:

though I must say that I have enjoyed all of his films that I’ve seen. I think only Ingmar Bergman could possibly compete with him as my favourite director. They are quite different from each other so I can’t compare directly, but it’s fair to say that the right mood is required for a Bergman film, but I’m always in the mood for a Rohmer one.