Author Archives: Stu

[gigs] Benga & Skream

Yet another festival! Dubstep producers Benga & Skream will join Public Enemy plus a bunch of other acts at the Summer Break Festival at Bonython Park on December 28. Benga was the first dubstep DJ I saw live when he played at Rhino Room, and it’s still probably the best dubstep show I’ve been to. The first dubstep cd I got was by Skream, so it’s great to have a chance to see both of them in Adelaide.

Benga & CokiNight

[youtube rNStVlJWy88]

SkreamOskilatah

[youtube 4XkHzFIWqEc]
OCTOBER

  • 30th Ian Wadley and Chris Smith at the Grace Emily.
  • 31st Ian Wadley and Chris Smith at the Exeter.
  • 31st – The Sea Thieves at the Jade Monkey with Hope Diamond and Horse & Cart.

NOVEMBER

  • 1st Qua and Mountains in the Sky at the Rocket Bar
  • 3rd Howe Gelb at the Jade Monkey.
  • 7th Clue to Kalo at Rocket Bar.
  • 8th Hit the Jackpot and The Moonies at the Metro.
  • 8th Dubstep at the Crown & Sceptre with Tes La Rok (Finland).
  • 15th Hit the Jackpot and Wasted Truth at the Exeter.
  • 21st – Pivot at the Rocket Bar.
  • 22nd Ninetynine at the Metro.

DECEMBER

  • 7th – Mountain Goats at Fowlers.
  • 28th – Summer Break Festival at Bonython Park, acts include Benga, Skream and Public Enemy.

JANUARY

  • 9-10th All Tomorrow’s Parties at Mt Buller with the best damn lineup of any festival that Australia has seen, including Laughing Clowns, Saints, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Harmonia, M. Gira, The Necks, Robert Forster, Silver Apples, Spiritualized. And there are more to be announced in November.
  • 14th – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at Thebarton Theatre.
  • 19th Cinematic Orchestra at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
  • 30th Big Day Out, at Wayville Showgrounds, with Neil Young, Arctic Monkeys, The Living End, The Prodigy, Sneaky Sound System, My Morning Jacket, Pendulum, Bullet for My Valentine, TV on the Radio, Simian Mobile Disco, The Ting Tings, Tiki Taane, Cut Copy, Cog, Birds of Tokyo, TZU, Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

FEBRUARY

  • 7th Laneway Festival. Stereolab, Daedelus, Fourtet, Pivot and many more. Lineup here.
  • 17th Chick Corea and John McLaughlin at Her Majesty’s Theatre.

On the Stereo

  • Department of EaglesIn Ear Park cd (4AD)
  • HarmoniaDeluxe cd (Lilith)
  • Pivot O Soundtrack My Heart cd (Warp)
  • Cinematic OrchestraLive at the Royal Albert Hall cd (Domino / Ninja Tune)
  • Cinematic OrchestraEveryday 2LP (Ninja Tune)
  • Amon TobinPermutation 2LP (Ninja Tune)
  • Mira Calix Peel Session EP (Warp)
  • StereolabFab Four Suture 2×10″ (Duophonic)
  • Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy with Harem Scarem and Alex NeilsonIs It the Sea? cd (Domino / BBC)
  • The NecksHanging Gardens cd (Fish of Milk)

[gigs] Cinematic Orchestra, Qua, Pivot

So many tours being announced lately – newest additions are The Cinematic Orchestra, from the Ninja tune label, who are coming to Adelaide in January, electronica artist Qua, whose previous shows were some of the best live electronica I’ve seen, and fans of Sydney’s Pivot don’t have to wait until Laneway to see them as they’ll be visiting Adelaide next month.

Lots of great stuff has been announced lately but I’m still left wondering – are the Silver Jews and/or Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks going to be heading down under some time soon? Both have released superb albums this year which are available in Australia through Spunk Records, so I’ve really been getting my hopes up for a tour.

OCTOBER

  • 19th Grand Salvo will be supporting Sophie Koh at Fowlers.
  • 31st The Drones at the Gov.

NOVEMBER

  • 1st Qua at the Rocket Bar
  • 3rd Howe Gelb at the Jade Monkey.
  • 7th Clue to Kalo at Rocket Bar.
  • 8th Hit the Jackpot and The Moonies at the Metro.
  • 8th Dubstep at the Crown & Sceptre with Tes La Rok (Finland).
  • 15th Hit the Jackpot and Wasted Truth at the Exeter.
  • 21st – Pivot at the Rocket Bar.
  • 22nd Ninetynine at the Metro.

JANUARY

  • 9-10th All Tomorrow’s Parties at Mt Buller with the best damn lineup of any festival that Australia has seen, including Laughing Clowns, Saints, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Harmonia, M. Gira, The Necks, Robert Forster, Silver Apples, Spiritualized. And there are more to be announced in November.
  • 19th Cinematic Orchestra at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
  • 30th Big Day Out, at Wayville Showgrounds, with Neil Young, Arctic Monkeys, The Living End, The Prodigy, Sneaky Sound System, My Morning Jacket, Pendulum, Bullet for My Valentine, TV on the Radio, Simian Mobile Disco, The Ting Tings, Tiki Taane, Cut Copy, Cog, Birds of Tokyo, TZU, Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

FEBRUARY

  • 7th Laneway Festival. Stereolab, Daedelus, Fourtet, Pivot and many more. Lineup here.
  • 17th Chick Corea and John McLaughlin at Her Majesty’s Theatre.

On the Stereo

  • Alan Silva and his Celestial Communication OrchestraLuna Surface LP (Actuel)
  • William Parker / In Order to SurviveThe Peach Orchard 2cd (Aum Fidelity)
  • Philip ClemoAmbiguous Dialogues cd (Metier Jazz)
  • Sagor & Swing Allt Hänger Samman cd (Hapna)
  • Silver JewsLookout Mountain, Lookout Sea cd (Drag City / Spunk)
  • Machine TranslationsSeven Seven cd (Spunk)
  • StereolabChemical Chords cd (4AD)
  • StereolabTransient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements cd (Elektra)
  • BroadcastWork and Non Work cd (Warp)
  • Jason ForrestThe Unrelenting Songs of the 1979 Post Disco Crash cd (Sonig)

[gigs] Stereolab, Fourtet, Daedelus to play Laneway

Full Lineup:

GIRL TALK, STEREOLAB, ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI, THE HOLD STEADY, THE DRONES, CUT OFF YOUR HANDS, FOUR TET, TAME IMPALA, EL GUINCHO, JAY REATARD, BURAKA SOM SISTEMA DJ/MC SET, THE TEMPER TRAP, NO AGE, JOHN STEEL SINGERS, CANYONS, PIVOT, PORT O’BRIEN, HOLLY THROSBY, BORN RUFFIANS, MOUNTAINS IN THE SKY, TIM FITE, STILL FLYIN , DAEDELUS…plus more to be announced

In Adelaide it is at Fowler’s again, but with an extra stage and a cinema. It’s on Saturday 7th of Feb with tickets on sale on the 27th of Oct.

[gigs] Laughing Clowns Reunion

The big news this week is that the best band from anywhere ever (as usual, no correspondence will be entered into), the Laughing Clowns, will be playing their first shows since 1984 at the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Mt Buller and Sydney. That’s not all for Ed Kuepper fans though, since he’ll also be playing with The Saints. (In fact, by the time of ATP it will be an amazing 12 months having also seen Ed play Honey Steel’s Gold as part of Don’t Look Back, and a great show with the Kowalski Collective at the Gov). Of course there is loads more great stuff at ATP as listed in my previous post, amongst the others I’m particularly excited about getting to see Harmonia, Silver Apples and M.Gira – none of which I had much expectation of ever seeing.

Here is some Laughing Clowns stuff from youtube:

Eternally Yours

[youtube 8PeGHeF2AHc]

Holy Joe

[youtube _FJylE2Tr8s]

plus The Saints with Know Your Product

[youtube NLbyaNbhHdU]

Also this week was the first announcement for the Big Day Out. There was much less there to interest me, but I’ll check out later announcements to see who else gets added.

No word on the lineup for the Laneway festival yet, but it should be out pretty soon.

Also, according to the JJJ gig guide The Cinematic Orchestra are playing in Melbourne in January. Could they perhaps be coming out for the Sydney Festival? The SF music program has been very impressive in recent years. This year the ATP events in Sydney are part of the festival but I expect there will be much more. Won’t be announced for another month or so (roughly at the same time as the next ATP announcement).
OCTOBER

  • 9th Joan As Policewoman at Jive.
  • 10th The New Pornographers at the Gov.
  • 11th No Through Road at the Metro with Like Leaves and Billy Bishop Goes to War.
  • 12th The Tallest Man on Earth at the Grace Emily with Firekites and Matt Banham.
  • 17th Clue to Kalo with Swords, Megafauna and My Disco at the Ed Castle.
  • 19th Grand Salvo will be supporting Sophie Koh at Fowlers.
  • 31st The Drones at the Gov.

NOVEMBER

  • 3rd Howe Gelb at the Jade Monkey.
  • 7th Clue to Kalo at Rocket Bar.
  • 22nd Ninetynine at the Metro.

JANUARY

  • 9-10th All Tomorrow’s Parties at Mt Buller with the best damn lineup of any festival that Australia has seen. And there are more to be announced in November.
  • 30th Big Day Out, at Wayville Showgrounds, with Neil Young, Arctic Monkeys, The Living End, The Prodigy, Sneaky Sound System, My Morning Jacket, Pendulum, Bullet for My Valentine, TV on the Radio, Simian Mobile Disco, The Ting Tings, Tiki Taane, Cut Copy, Cog, Birds of Tokyo, TZU, Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

FEBRUARY

  • 7th Laneway Festival.
  • 17th Chick Corea and John McLaughlin at Her Majesty’s Theatre.

On the Stereo

  • Laughing ClownsCruel, But Fair 3cd (Hot)
  • The SaintsWild About You 3cd (Raven)
  • Nick Cave and the Bad SeedsLive Seeds cd (Mute)
  • Primitive Calculatorss/t cd (Chapter)
  • Fuck Buttons Street Horrrsing  cd (ATP)
  • HarmoniaLive 1974 cd (Water)
  • Silver ApplesSilver Apples / Contact cd (MCA)
  • The NecksDrive By cd (Fish of Milk)
  • SpiritualizedLazer Guided Melodies cd (Dedicated)
  • M. GiraDrainland cd (Young God)
  • Robert ForsterThe Evangelist cd (Capitol)

ATP details

The lineup is
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS  »
THE SAINTS  »
SPIRITUALIZED  »
FUCK BUTTONS  »
HARMONIA  »
THE NECKS  »
LAUGHING CLOWNS !!!
ROBERT FORSTER  »
JAMES BLOOD ULMER  »
M GIRA  »
PRIMITIVE CALCULATORS  »
AFRIRAMPO  »
SILVER APPLES  »
BRIDEZILLA  »
ROWLAND S. HOWARD  »
THE STABS  »

more to be announced on Nov 5.
To get first release tickets now you have to book accommodation, you fill in an online form giving details of what you want and then they contact you.
Tickets are $199 + accommodation (in the range of $35-100 per night depending on details).

Second release will be on Nov 5 and will include the option of just tickets (though you still have to organise accommodation).

If you are someone that I know and are planning to go then send me an email ASAP if you want to discuss travel/accommodation details.

[gigs] Festival Rumours + Ninetynine to tour

It’s that time of year when the summer festival rumours start appearing. The highlight for me is the rumour that the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival will come to Australia. Rumour has it that Nick Cave will curate and it will be at Mt Buller in Victoria on January 9-11.

At the end of January, as usual there will be the Big Day Out, and it appears that Neil Young could be headlining.

In early February the Laneway Festival will be returning to Adelaide, no word on who might be playing but there should be an announcement within the next few weeks.

My big hope is that the Silver Jews will be in one of the festival lineups. They have been touring extensively, and their latest album had an Australian release on Spunk records.

Other news this week is that Ninetynine are touring. They are one of my favourite Australian bands, their last show in Adelaide was fantastic and I’ve been looking forward to their return. I highly recommend their last album Worlds of Space, Worlds of Population, Worlds of Robots.

Here is some of their stuff on Youtube

[youtube FPcFUOhFx7Q]
[youtube NjLikBf9sKQ]

[youtube L95c3lMxuYU]
[youtube z8nyVnT2ySU]
and a really old one

[youtube AgqYXH_C72A]

Now for the upcoming gigs:
SEPTEMBER

  • 27th Parklife Festival with Diplo, Dizzee Rascal, Blackalicious and lots more.
  • 29th Black Francis at HQ.

OCTOBER

  • 9th Joan As Policewoman at Jive.
  • 10th The New Pornographers at the Gov.
  • 11th No Through Road at the Metro.
  • 12th The Tallest Man on Earth at the Grace Emily.
  • 17th Clue to Kalo with Swords, Megafauna and My Disco at the Ed Castle.
  • 19th Grand Salvo will be supporting Sophie Koh at Fowlers.

NOVEMBER

  • 3rd Howe Gelb at the Jade Monkey.
  • 7th Clue to Kalo at Rocket Bar.
  • 22nd Ninetynine at the Metro.

FEBRUARY

  • 17th Chick Corea and John McLaughlin at Her Majesty’s Theatre.

On the Stereo

  • Talk TalkLaughing Stock cd (Polydor)
  • VariousImpact! cd (Soul Jazz)
  • Various More Pressure Vol.1: Straight to the Head cd (Pressure Sounds)
  • SkreamSkreamizm Vol.4 2×12″ (Tempa)
  • Venetian SnaresHuge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding cd (Planet Mu)
  • Burning Star CoreChallenger cd (Hospital Productions)
  • Satan’s CheerleadersBetween the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea cd (no label)
  • Kris Wanders UnitOn the Edges of Silence cd (Newmarket)
  • Peter Brötzmann & Shoji HanoFunny Rat cd (Improvised Music from Japan)
  • Taste of Teeth s/t cd (no label)

Links Updated

I finally got around to updating the links on the sidebar of this blog. I’ve hopefully cleared away the dead links, or links to blogs which are no longer updated (except where I think the archives are worth a link anyway).

I’d like to draw your attention to a few highlights amongst the new arrivals on my blogroll

Tonight at the Jade Monkey

(descriptions care of Token Gesture)
Token Gesture Presents:

Hano/Wanders/Akai Trio

Shoji Hano (Japan) – Drums
Kris Wanders (Netherlands/Melbourne) – Tenor Saxophone
Yusuke Akai (Japan/Brisbane) – Electric Guitar

plus solo sets from Hano and Akai
supported by Like Leaves and Lonnie Universe

Jade Monkey
Saturday September 13
9PM
$12

Shoji Hano is one of the premier free jazz drummers in Japan. Since the mid 70s, the drummer/martial artist has simultaneously pummelled and caressed the skins in the classic 60s free jazz style alongside his country’s and the world’s most ferocious free players, noisemakers and psychedelic speed freaks including Derek Bailey, Keiji Haino, Peter Brotzmann, Kaoru Abe, Toshinori Kondo, William Parker, Eugene Chadbourne and PSF metal punks High Rise.

Kris Wanders cut his teeth in the mid 60s with the powerful European free jazz bigband Globe Unity Orchestra. Living in Melbourne since 1979, Wanders is one of the all-time biggest blowers/brawlers in the biz with an elephant-killing sax tone that sounds like a jet taking off. Name a European free jazz/outsider great and Wanders has sprayed them with his monstrous foghorning (Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Peter Brotzmann, Peter Kowald, Han Bennink, Mani Neumeier, Ludo Mich) Nowadays he plays in the free jazz/black metal/noise/grind quartet Embers and continues to tour the world.

Yusuke Akai, although half the age of his bandmates, is one of the fiercest post-free jazz guitarists in the country. The Japanese-Australian echoes all the greats, from jazz and improv kings Derek Bailey and Sonny Sharrock to no-wave and noise form-destroyers Rudolph Grey, Donald Miller, and Keiji Haino. Akai has played with Kazuo Imai, Wadada Leo Smith, and Damo Suzuki, and is a member of Sun of the Seventh Sister and Taste of Teeth.

Needless to say, these guys are gonna tear the roof off! Those that are into free jazz, primitive punk and black metal, noise, and outsider thinking are best advised to get themselves to the Jade Monkey for a earwax-rattling experience.

Support comes from the psychedelic free rock power trio Like Leaves (first show in months!) and loner spirit Lonnie Universe.