Author Archives: Stu

Prof. Inferno reviews Jaws

Renowned Blog-Scientist, Professor Inferno, reviews Jaws.

An excerpt:

Synopsis

A group of so-called government funded “experts” whip up alarmist fears of a killer shark off the coast of Amity, a sea side town. Their goal is to destroy the local tourist industry, send Amity back to the dark ages and thus achieve their underlying socialist agenda of wealth redistribution. The heroes of this tale are the local major and business leaders who lead a successful audit of the alarmist claims and by doing so manage to delay action long enough that the beach remains open. In the end it turns out a shark has been eating people.

go read the rest

Update: See also a compelling argument on this at Friends of Gin & Tonic.

Favourite Music of 2010

When I do one of these it’s always stuff new to me in the past year, not necessarily new releases. I considered writing something about all of them but that tends to turn into mini-reviews I’m no music critic and you’ll be able to find better stuff written about them elsewhere pretty easily, on the other hand I don’t want to just present a long list without any comments, so I’ll start with some general comments about what I’ve liked this year and then present the list of my favourites.

One thing that features heavily for me this year is box sets. Perhaps it was the favourable exchange rate making them more affordable. Some of these were label-based, such as the huge Ninja Tune XX box set with cds, records and a book. It’ll take me a while yet to get through all of that one thoroughly but there’s already lots of highlights. Another label based one was the excellent M-Squared set, featuring everything released by the early 80’s Sydney post-punk label. Also in post punk, I finally got the This Heat box set (this one definitely because it became more affordable), what an amazing band! Another good artist-based box set was the 10 disc Triffids set with loads of rareties and live recordings.

As well as a couple of the box sets mentioned above, I continued to find more great post-punk I hadn’t previously heard, in particular reissues of Josef K and Mark Stewart + the Maffia, and from Australia, Tactics.

On the topic of post punk, there were finally some official live releases from my favourite band of all time, the Laughing Clowns. Two are from the recent reunion gigs but best of all is one from 1982 which is amazing. These all came care of the Prince Melon Bootleg series which has now released about 20 volumes of Ed Kuepper live recordings, all essential for EK fans.

I finally got hold of Incredible String Band’s psych-folk classic The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter which I’d been meaning to find for ages. They are clearly a big influence on Trembling Bells, their second album Abandoned Love was one of the big highlights of the year. Also Joanna Newsom released a massive 3 disc album, I was fortunate enough to hear much of it live before it was released and knew to expect something special.

There continue to be lots of comebacks and some produced some great records. Of course a big one was the return of The Swans (shame I can’t see them live next year). On the local front the new albums from Crow and Paradise Motel are both fantastic.

The other big Australian highlight for me was Otouto, their album PIP is a real grower.

From overseas the standout new rock album was Magic Lantern’s Platoon, packed full of awesome Psych-rock jams. Old favourites SIlver Mt Zion came up with another great album as well.

Lots of interesting new electronica, Flying Lotus’ Cosmogramma is stunningly original and probably manages to edge out the two new releases from Autechre for my favourite electronica. I’ve also really enjoyed the latest from Caribou, while Peverelist was keeping up my interest in dubstep. On the hauntological side, finally got Moon Wiring Club’s first album (and everything else he’s done is now on the way in the mail), and love the Ghost Box Study Series of 7″s featuring a who’s who of Hauntology (Focus Group, Belbury Poly, Advisory Circle, Broadcast, Mordant Music). Have lots more of that stuff to listen to over the holiday period so those names will probably turn up more in next year’s list.

One more special mention is for Jandek. After seeing him play live (did that really happen? Did Jandek really come to Adelaide or did I imagine it?) I’ve listened to lots of his stuff this year, I’ve listed a couple of favourites but there’s not much to separate any of them.

  • Autechre – Oversteps/Move of Ten
  • Bernard Fevre – Black Devil Disco Club
  • Caribou – Swim
  • Chicks on Speed – Cutting the Edge
  • Crow – Arcane
  • Current 93 – Judas as Black Moth
  • Death – …. for the World to See
  • DJ Food – Blech 20
  • Fabulous Diamonds – II
  • The Fall – Your Future Our Clutter
  • Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
  • GB3 – Damaged/Controlled
  • Gescom – A1-D1
  • Gonjasufi – A Sufi and a Killer
  • Hot Chip – One Life Stand
  • Incredible String Band – The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
  • Jandek – Lost Cause / Interstellar Discussion
  • Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
  • Joe Morris – Today on Earth
  • Josef K – Entomology
  • Kid Sam – s/t
  • Kraftwerk – the Catalogue
  • Laughing Clowns – Live at Goma / Laughing Clowns Live / Don’t Ask Stupid Questions to An Artist, Cop
  • Lou Reed Metal Machine Trio – Creation of the Universe
  • Magic Lantern – Platoon
  • Mark Stewart + the Maffia – Learning to Cope With Cowardice
  • Moon Wiring Club – An Audience of Art Deco Eyes
  • Moritz von Oswald trio – Vertical Ascent
  • Ninetynine – Bande Magnetique
  • Omar Souleyman – Jazeera Nights
  • Oneohtrix Point Never – Rifts
  • Otouto – PIP
  • The Paradise Motel – Australian Ghost Story
  • Peverelist – Jarvik Mindstate
  • Pram – The Moving Frontier
  • So Percussion and Matmos – Treasure State
  • Swans – My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope to the Sky
  • Tactics – The Sound of the Sound Vol 1
  • Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra – Kollaps Tradixionales
  • This Heat – Out of Cold Storage
  • Trembling Bells – Abandoned Love
  • Triffids – Come Ride With Me
  • Various – Artificial Intelligence / Artificial Intelligence II
  • Various – Dancehall: The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture
  • Various – 5 Years of Hyperdub
  • Various – Ghost Box Study Series 1-4
  • Various – Matador at 21
  • Various – Ninja Tune XX
  • Various – Terrace Industry: M Squared Box Set
  • The XX – s/t

Plus a couple of extras:
Not on the list because for some reason I didn’t listen to them enough but I suspect they probably would be if I’d got around to listening to them more – Burning Star Core’s Papercuts Theatre, Philip Jeck’s An Ark for the Listener, various David S. Ware albums and Bibio’s Ambivalence Avenue.

Album I got a while ago and forgot about and found again – Bad Statistics Lucky Town Gone – Incredible, wild, freeform noise rock from NZ (and in no way a rip-off of the Dead C as that might sound).

The Best Gigs of the year … 2009

I was thinking of doing a “best of the year” post and found this draft list of my favourite gigs of 2009. Can’t remember why I never posted it, possibly I meant to write about all of the gigs, so I’ll add in some comments now and then try to get onto this year’s list a bit quicker.

  • All Tomorrow’s Parties – Mt Buller Jan 9-11
    I’ve already written a couple of posts about this (here and here). Looking back on it now the standouts are Laughing Clowns, Harmonia and Michael Gira but as I said in my original post everything about it was great and the fact that it hasn’t happened again is very disappointing.
  • Laneway – Fowler’s Courtyard Feb 7
    The down side to ATP was that it would spoil all other festivals since they couldn’t possibly be as good. As far as non-ATP festivals go, Laneway was rather good in 2009. We got to farewell Stereolab, I finally got to see Four Tet (with a great set largely based on the excellent Ribbons EP), and there was plenty of other good stuff (Jay Reatard, No Age, Pivot, Born Ruffians) but for me the highlight was Daedelus.
  • Kid Koala at Producers Feb 12
    Always fantastic to see live, it’s a shame he didn’t come back this year.
  • Damo Suzuki at the Ed Castle Feb 13
    Suzuki’s second visit to Adelaide, I thought this one was much better than the first which didn’t really grab me.
  • Dan Deacon & High Pleaces at Urtext March 1
    Ah, good old Urtext. Hadn’t thought about it for a while. This was a crazy gig, might not have been a huge crowd for a Sunday night but Deacon still managed to organise the audience into two teams for a dance off.
  • Mike Cooper at De La Catessan, March 3rd
    Mike Cooper’s gigs are always great, but when he does a live film score it’s something really special. He’d previously performed one in Adelaide for Onibaba which was incredible, and this one was another amazing experience as he played a live score for The Colour of Pomegranates.It’s a shame that the number of attendees at either could be counted on your fingers.
  • Fingerfest at Urtext, March 21
    Speaking of fingers … I guess Fingerfest was pretty much the farewell for Urtext. I remember rushing there from a Blackeyed Susans gig so as not to miss Ninetynine’s Laura MacFarlane playing a solo set. It was a good lineup all round, but the other highlights were Japanese band Kill My Bleeding Smile, and God God Dammit Dammit.
  • Kris Wanders/Andy Sugg Unit – Exeter April 17/ Metro April 18 / Exeter September 11
    Three gigs, all superb. It’s rare to see top quality free jazz around these parts so getting three gigs in a year was pretty special.
  • Winnerfest at the Metro, May 9
    Yet another festival (I also went to the BDO & Womad so there were a lot for me). This was to launch No Through Roads album Winner, but there was also lots of other great stuff including Guy Blackman and Steering By Stars.
  • Flipper at Live on Light Square, June 5
    I didn’t know what to expect from this, being a bit wary of comebacks by old bands, but it was incredibly good.
  • Like Leaves at the Metro – August 8
    One of the best local bands, played more good shows this year, hopefully an album will be out next year.
  • Dan V Exeter residency August
    Dan plays in Like Leaves, and also did a solo residency on every Monday in August (which fit in nicely with my regular attendance at the Cinematheque). I think I may have been to all of them … when it was over I didn’t know what to do with my Monday night.
  • Panoptique Electrical cd launch, EMU August 7
    Sadly not many people were there to see this great gig where Jason Sweeney’s Panoptique Electrical (in full band mode) launched their cd Yes to Fear, Yes to Desire. Amazingly beautiful music.
  • The Lucksmiths at Jive, August 14
    I’d never seen them before so I got in just in time for their farewell tour.
  • Zulya & the Children of the Underground, Dunstan Playhouse Sep 11
    The last time I’d seen Zulya play was in a church, so this was a bit different. She came back this year but I was in Melbourne when she played here.
  • Satan’s Cheerleaders & God God Dammit Dammit at Enigma, Nov 21
    Great local lineup. Of course I’ve gone on to organise a gig by SC when I got sick of them not playing (and have another one on the way in February), haven’t seen GGDD for a while now, missed them in Sydney a couple of months back.
  • Lightning Bolt at Fowler’s Live Nov 27
    Lots of good LB footage on youtube, check it out. Seeing them live is certainly an experience.
  • Batrider & No Through Road at the Metro Nov 28
    Aka the consolation prize for Ed Kuepper cancelling at the Gov … that disappointment was soon forgotten when I got to see two of the best bands in town at the Metro.
  • Crayon Fields with Hit the Jackpot & Bing Goes to Monaco at the Metro Dec 5
    I’d heard of the Crayon Fields for ages but this is the first time I got to hear them and I loved it, fortunately I got to see them a couple more times this year before they relocated overseas. HTJ are of course another local favourite who are always worth seeing, and BGtM were a promising local band who disappeared from the scene this year.
  • Jarvis Cocker at the Gov, Dec 10
    I’d never particularly listened to Cocker’s music (solo or Pulp), but was very impressed when I saw him supporting the Pixies a few years ago, so was keen to see him again, and once again he put on a great performance.
  • Underground Lovers at the East Brunswick Club 19/12
    Amazing show, wrote a post about it here. A shame they haven’t done any more, but at least there’s been some good stuff from GB3.

[gigs]

I thought it was worth an update due to a couple of things coming up this week.

Update – an extra gig this week, Like Leaves play the metro on Xmas eve.

DECEMBER

  • 19th Members of Bitches of Zeus and friends playing various solo & group sets at the Exeter.
  • 22nd Young Modern at the Grace Emily.
  • 23rd Paul Champion and Sandy Cenin at the Metro.
  • 24th Like Leaves, Friends, The Burning Sea at the Metro.

JANUARY

  • 2nd – Earthless at the Ed Castle.
  • 6th – Born Ruffians at Fowlers.
  • 7th – Thee Oh Sees, Bitch Prefect, Terrible Truths at Format.
  • 8th – Kitchen’s Floor, Hit the Jackpot, Dud Pills, Rites Wild at the Exeter.

FEBRUARY

  • 1st – Sufjan Stevens at the Festival Theatre.
  • 4th – Big Day Out including Iggy & the Stooges, Primal Scream, Grinderman, MIA and LCD Soundsystem
  • 5th – Satan’s Cheerleaders at the Metro.
  • 9th – The Unthanks at the Gov.
  • 11th – Laneway Festival with !!! (Chk Chk Chk) -THE ANTLERS – ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI  – BEACH HOUSE  – BEAR IN HEAVEN – BLONDE REDHEAD  – CLOUD CONTROL – CUT COPY  – DEERHUNTER  -  FOALS  -  GOTYE  -  THE HOLIDAYS – HOLY FUCK – JENNY & JOHNNY  -  LES SAVY FAV  – LOCAL NATIVES – MENOMENA – PVT -  RAT vs POSSUM – STORNOWAY – TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB – VIOLENT SOHO – WARPAINT  -  WORLD’S END PRESS – YEASAYER
  • 25th Super Wild Horses at Format.
  • 26th – Per Purpose, Bitch Prefect at Format.

MARCH

  • 5th- Soundwave with Gang of Four, The Melvins and lots more.
  • 6th – Wavves at Rocket Bar.
  • 11-14th WOMADelaide, includes Joanna Newsom, Omar Souleyman, The Necks, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Horace Andy, Don Letts, lots more.
  • 16th Belle and Sebastian at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
  • 26th DOOM at the Gov.

APRIL

  • 4-7th – Paul Kelly‘s A-Z shows at the Space Theatre.

MAY

  • 11th – Kyuss Lives at Fowlers.

On the Stereo

  • The Church – The Blurred Crusade cd (EMI)
  • The Church – Of Skins and Heart cd (EMI)
  • Ninetynine – Bande Magnétique cd
  • Broadcast – Microtronics Volume 1 3″cd (Warp)
  • Broadcast – Mother is the Milky Way cd (Warp)
  • Subway – Subway II cd (Soul Jazz)
  • Deerhoof – Milkman cd (Kill Rock Start / 5RC)
  • Black Dice – Beaches & Canyons cd (DFA)
  • This Heat – Out of Cold Storage 6cd (ReR)
  • Jandek – Living in a Moon So Blue cd (Corwood Industries)

[gigs]

Update: Belle & Sebastian have added an Adelaide date to their tour in March.

DECEMBER

  • 16th The Church at the Gov.
  • 17th Bitch Prefect, Hit the Jackpot, Fake Tan at the Five Thousand 1st Anniversary/Xmas party, Higher Ground (invitation only – details here).
  • 23rd Paul Champion and Sandy Cenin at the Metro.

JANUARY

  • 2nd – Earthless at the Ed Castle.
  • 6th – Born Ruffians at Fowlers.
  • 7th – Thee Oh Sees, Bitch Prefect, Terrible Truths at Format.
  • 8th – Kitchen’s Floor, Hit the Jackpot, Dud Pills, Rites Wild at the Exeter.

FEBRUARY

  • 1st – Sufjan Stevens at the Festival Theatre.
  • 4th – Big Day Out including Iggy & the Stooges, Primal Scream, Grinderman, MIA and LCD Soundsystem
  • 5th – Satan’s Cheerleaders at the Metro.
  • 9th – The Unthanks at the Gov.
  • 11th – Laneway Festival with !!! (Chk Chk Chk) -THE ANTLERS – ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI  – BEACH HOUSE  – BEAR IN HEAVEN – BLONDE REDHEAD  – CLOUD CONTROL – CUT COPY  – DEERHUNTER  -  FOALS  -  GOTYE  -  THE HOLIDAYS – HOLY FUCK – JENNY & JOHNNY  -  LES SAVY FAV  – LOCAL NATIVES – MENOMENA – PVT -  RAT vs POSSUM – STORNOWAY – TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB – VIOLENT SOHO – WARPAINT  -  WORLD’S END PRESS – YEASAYER

MARCH

  • 5th- Soundwave with Gang of Four, The Melvins and lots more.
  • 6th – Wavves at Rocket Bar.
  • 11-14th WOMADelaide, includes Joanna Newsom, Omar Souleyman, The Necks, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Horace Andy, Don Letts, lots more.
  • 16th Belle and Sebastian at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
  • 26th DOOM at the Gov.

APRIL

  • 4-7th – Paul Kelly‘s A-Z shows at the Space Theatre.

MAY

  • 11th – Kyuss Lives at Fowlers.

On the Stereo

  • The Fall – Dragnet cd (Castle)
  • Laughing Clowns – Don’t Ask A Stupid Question to an Artist, Cop cd (Prince Melon)
  • Ed Kuepper – Long Rider on the Shortwaves, Radio Sessions 1999 cd (Prince Melon)
  • Ed Kuepper – Long Rider on the Shortwaves, Radio Session 1986,1988,1990,1993 cd (Prince Melon)
  • Ed Kuepper – Live in London cd (Prince Melon)
  • Akron/Family – Meek Warrior cd (Young God)
  • Akron/Family – Set ’em Wild, Set ’em Free cd (Spunk/Dead Oceans)
  • Sissy Spacek – French Record cd (Dual Plover)
  • Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here? cd (Editions Mego)
  • Future Bass cd (Soul Jazz)

Mega Melbourne Op Shop Tour

A guide to op-shopping in Melbourne based around a route I took a couple of days ago centred around 3 main areas – Footscray, Moonee Ponds and Brunswick.

Get a daily zone 1 metcard and you can travel around to all these places by train, tram and bus.

I started out in North Melbourne, but wherever you start you want to head out on the train towards Footscray. For a shorter trip you can just go there, but other options are to go further down the line to Yarraville and /or Williamstown.

Williamstown: You get the Werribee train and get off at Newport for a connection to Williamstown. Get off at the very next stop (Williamstown Nth) and it’s a short walk up station st and onto Stevedore St where there is a Uniting Care op shop.

Having never been to Williamstown before, rather than heading straight back to the station I kept going down to the waterfront and then followed the path around to the main Williamstown shopping area, so I ended up getting the train at Williamstown station.

Yarraville. Back on the train you can get off at Yarraville, a couple of stops before Footscray there’s a small op shop on the the main shopping street just to the east of the station.

Footscray. The highlight of Footscray is the huge Footscray Savers store on Albert St, but also just around the corner there is a Salvos on Barkly St. Near the interesection of Barkly & Droop you can get on the 82 tram.

Maribyrnong. Get the 82 as far as Maribyrnong Rd which starts when you cross the Maribyrnong river. Get off at the stop after Epsom Rd and there’s a Vinnies just across the Rd. There’s also a Unitingcare shop a bit further up the Rd near the interesection with Union Rd (but I didn’t see this one until I was already back on the tram). From here there’s a couple of options as to what to do. You can get the 57 tram back to the city via North Melbourne. There’s a Salvos on Errol St Nth Melbourne, but I think you pass at least a couple of other stores on the 57 route as well. The other option (which I took) is to get back on an 82 and head up to where it terminates at Moonee Ponds.

Moonee Ponds. The 82 terminates at a big intersection with lots of bus terminals and the 59 tram from the city nearby as well. Walk along the main Rd to get to Hall St on your left, then just after the shopping centre you take Everage St on your right, there’s a small op shop down there. Afterwards go to the end of the street and turn left, and as you approach the train station there’s a big Brotherhood of St Laurence store. From here there’s lots of options. A train back to the city, or a 59 tram to the city. Also there are a number of buses which head over to Sydney Rd at Brunswick (504, 506, 508). The option which I took was to get on the train and head one stop further out to Essendon (59 tram also goes there).

Essendon. Very close to the train station (Russell St, just near the bus stops) there’s a small op shop. Once again, if you’ve had enough from here you can get back to the city by train, but if you want more then there’s a couple of buses which go over to Sydney Rd. There’s the 503 or 510. I took the 510 because it goes to the Northern end of Brunwick (well, Coburg actually), so I could then make my back down towards town.

Brunswick/Coburg The 510 bus goes along Moreland Rd, I got off at the intersection with Sydney Rd. There’s a Vinnies a few blocks north, you can walk up, but also on Sydney Rd it’s easy to get the 19 tram which is very frequent. There’s a tram stop right outside the Vinnies, then you can just head south and get off when you see the Salvos a few streets south of Moreland. Then back on the tram for about 3 or 4 stops and your at the Brunswick Savers. Also there’s the Don Bosco op shop a few doors down as well. From there you can get on the 19 back to town, or also there’s the train line which runs parallel to Sydney Rd (Jewel Station is a couple of streets south of Savers).

Adelaide in 1940

I’ve always liked maps (I reckon my favourite book when I was about 6 was a Sydney Street Directory), so I was interested to find this 1940 Fuller’s Adelaide street directory online.
I think anyone familiar with Adelaide will find it interesting to have a browse through some of the maps, here’s a few things I noticed:

  • The extent of the tram system. I hadn’t realised there was such a large tram system in Adelaide, I note that in my area (St Peters) there was even a tram down 6th Avenue. In fact the majority of current day bus routes out of the city (major exception being the O-Bahn) are old tram routes.
  • Frome St didn’t exist. Frome Rd ends in a T-junction at Nth Tce Rundle St (actually, Frome ends on Nth Tce but goes straight onto another street through to Rundle). It seems that Frome St was put together from various small cross streets at some later point.
  • People complain now about East-West streets changing name, but it was even worse – Pulteney and Morphett streets both had different names on the South end of town. Lots of main roads around the city changed names along their routes as well (e.g. present day Greenhill Rd or South Rd )
  • So many suburbs. If you think Adelaide has too many tiny suburbs now, it was much worse back then. There are many extra suburb names that are no longer in use.
  • Goodwood Rd doesn’t connect to Ayliffe’s Rd, it just splits into a confusing maze of winding streets at the end!
  • The area around Waterfall Gully looks a bit strange – Wyatts Rd comes through what is now a park to connect to Waterfall Gully Rd (which is plausible), but then extends to connect up with the top of Dashwood in what would be a rather improbably steep road by my reckoning. Similarly there is an extension of cross rd that goes dead straight until it connects with Mt Osmond Rd at the top of Mt Osmond … I’m suspecting that some of these roads might not be quite accurate.

The A-Z of Smearing the Greens

In the Age/SMH today Paul Sheehan has a ridiculous piece attacking the Greens. His starting point is that the Greens are a fraud because Adam Bandt’s first bill is about same sex marriage, not the environment. Nevermind that this has always been an issue for the Greens, Sheehan chooses to pretend that the Greens actually never talk about anything apart from the environment (despite the fact that he points out various other issues where he disagrees with the Greens in the rest of the piece). The Greens have a wide range of policies available on their website, advertised in printed materials they produce, written into their charter , and various Greens MPs around the country have worked on a wide variety of issues. Sheehan’s piece only goes downhill after starting with this preposterous straw-man. He continues with an A-Z of why the Greens are a fraud.

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