On The Production Of Monsters

On an appropriately funereal Wednesday at the Melbourne Theatre Company, director Clare Watson considers what it is to live in this city. “There’s nothing earnest about Melburnians, which is quite...
arts feature
M.E.D. Posted 22 May 2012 @ 2:12pm 6 views 0 comments Oxnard MC M.E.D. (aka Medaphoar) took his time putting out his second LP, 2011’s Classic, but the delay between it and 2005’s Push Comes To Shove wasn’t spent in idle repose. In the meantime he featured widely in collaborations with Hodgy Beats, Kurupt, Just Blaze and Madlib, to name only a few. When the time did come to record Classic, M.E.D. called upon artists he knew well to...
Tom Vek Posted 22 May 2012 @ 2:04pm 7 views 0 comments Tom Vek’s music exists in a place that is hard to put a finger on. Musically, it is driven by an obsession with production but Vek’s vocal overlay is drenched in a lurid laziness that attaches a cajoling sardonic humour to everything he sings about. “If certain ambiguous lyrics are delivered in that almost rhetorical way it seems as though they have this importance to them that you can’t quite...
Hypogeo Posted 22 May 2012 @ 1:53pm 4 views 0 comments In The Birth of Tragedy, Frederick Nietzsche writes: "...Millions sink to the dust, shivering in awe...Man now expresses himself through song and dance as the member of a higher community; he has forgotten how to walk, how to speak, and is on the brink of taking wing as he dances. Each of his gestures betokens enchantment; through him sounds a supernatural power...He feels himself to be godlike...
The Ocean Posted 22 May 2012 @ 11:12am 7 views 0 comments Fundamentalist Christianity, and critique there of, has always been a point of great conjecture. Some believe the religion reveals a path to the true self. Others are drawn to ridicule. For The Ocean guitarist and songwriting mastermind Robin Straps, a fascination towards the perverse saw him draw creatively from this topic. “It is something I have been exposed to for a long time now,” Straps...
Tijuana Cartel Posted 22 May 2012 @ 11:06am 31 views 0 comments The M1 is a series of designated stretches of Australia’s National Highway 1, which meanders around the edge of the continent, its sunbaked asphalt stretching as far as the eye can see as it passes through Queensland’s Gold Coast. According to Paul George, lead vocalist and guitarist of Gold Coast quintet Tijuana Cartel, M1 is viewed as both a blessing and a curse. “It’s funny, that road,”...
SoundKILDA Posted 22 May 2012 @ 10:54am 88 views 0 comments While it achieved the status as one of last year’s most persistent earworms, Wally De Backer’s searching plea Somebody That I Used To Know, featuring a snarling riposte from Kimbra, has also racked up some millions in YouTube views. For director Natasha Pincus, its success was unexpected and is still unfathomable. She may not be a household name yet, but the viral nature of the clip...
Boot Posted 21 May 2012 @ 11:50am 22 views 0 comments Sydney's Tim Butler, aka Boot, has been one of Australia's most active dubstep producers and DJs over the last few years. Hailing from Sydney, the 29-year-old producer has been making music for around five years now. Throughout that time he has constantly been working on and refining his sound. Boot’s tunes are a convergence of dark dance floor dubstep, techstep, drum and bass, funky techno,...
Maggot Mouf Posted 21 May 2012 @ 11:42am 21 views 0 comments Album two is where it’s at for the man with the Maggot Mouf. It’s like the golden era of our local scene that keeps on going. Like the Christmas gift that keeps on giving, Maggot describes things as good and healthy right now. “Aussie hip hop is most definitely still in its element.” Last time we spoke, he described the “music coming out of the drivers in local studios as the best it has been”....
PVT Posted 18 May 2012 @ 1:28pm 80 views 0 comments “We’ve recorded it, now it’s just getting some final mixing touches done now in London. The songs are done, it’s just a matter of working out how and when it’s going to come out,” explains PVT drummer Dave Miller on the Sydney three-piece’s follow-up to their breakthrough record (also their first sans titular vowels) Church With No Magic. After dazzling the festival circuit both nationally...
Bill Brewster Posted 18 May 2012 @ 1:17pm 63 views 0 comments He may not be as famous as Richie Hawtin, Sven Väth, or any other of dance music’s legendary artists, but 52-year-old Bill Brewster has contributed his fare share to the culture. With fellow Englishman Frank Broughton, he authored ‘99’s Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. Tracing the history of DJing from day one, the book delves heavily into the invention of hip hop, house and other genres....
Kindness Posted 18 May 2012 @ 1:13pm 116 views 0 comments As music folklore would have it, just 30 of them were pressed. They were individually wrapped and sent to music tastemakers. The 12 inch record was emblazoned with a black and white image of a young man with a mop of long, dank looking hair and inside a brief amount of release information and some contact details. Instead of a bio or a press release was a 16 page newspaper containing black and...
Zulu Winter Posted 18 May 2012 @ 12:17pm 85 views 0 comments Since that time he got robbed in Kings Cross during his first night’s visit in Australia, Will Daunt can add many a new favorable adventure to his memory bag. For one, he has become the lead vocalist to successful band Zulu Winter, which he formed with his fellow London college buddies. Two, said band had next to no tour experience when they were invited to support indie pop giants, Foster The...
The 21 Challenge Posted 18 May 2012 @ 11:56am 151 views 0 comments Bear with me as I make some fundamental assumptions about you, dear reader - it’s likely that you’re a reasonably well-off person. You’ve got a family and friends to rely on when things go wrong. You can pay the bills, you’ve got somewhere nice to come home to. Things might be a little tight at times, but hey, there’s a little spare cash in the bank before payday to play around with. You got the...
Pantera Posted 18 May 2012 @ 10:46am 90 views 0 comments It'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, where crunchy metal riffs are used in everything from kids' movies to breakfast cereal ads, but once upon a time the closest thing to...
ALBARE iTD Posted 18 May 2012 @ 10:27am 68 views 0 comments It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Albert Dadon and Evripides Evripidou kindred souls. Dadon, who plays under the Albare moniker and six-string 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...
My Dynamite Posted 18 May 2012 @ 10:14am 82 views 0 comments My Dynamite play bluesy, ballsy rock'n'roll, but they are far from just another clichéd blues based hard rock act. Punters will see this in all its glory this weekend when they play the launch of their debut, self-titled album. The band will take the stage as an 11-piece band, with backing vocalists, keyboards and much more, in what is set to be a rock'n'roll spectacular, as opposed to just...
The Butterfly Effect Posted 17 May 2012 @ 3:12pm 76 views 0 comments Clint Boge is angry man. Angry about what has transpired with his (now former) band The Butterfly Effect. A seminal act on the bountiful Aussie alternative/progressive rock scene, this band has been around for well over a decade, released a classic EP and four sensational full-length albums and traversed this wide brown land of ours countless times, playing to packed out houses wherever they go...
King Of The North Posted 17 May 2012 @ 2:38pm 28 views 0 comments King Of The North are a two-piece band with guitar and drums. And yeah, there are a lot of two-piece bands with guitar and drums out there. It's a form which seems to lend itself to a certain style, with thrashing cymbals, lots of floor tom, open-string guitar riffs with ringing notes on top. But KOTN aren't like that. Sure, the drums occupy a lot of space, and the guitar explores the...
Next Wave Festival Posted 17 May 2012 @ 2:22pm 235 views 0 comments The Next Wave program is hefty production – a gorgeous little piece of publishing. With sandpapery pages and meticulous art direction, the magazine’s almost painterly and conceptual compared to traditional art festival programming. This little book is a physical representation of Emily Sexton’s tireless work and the ethos of the festival itself – what, if not for experimentation. As she twists...
Silvie Paladino Posted 17 May 2012 @ 2:08pm 32 views 0 comments Probably most widely known for her regular participation in Melbourne’s annual Carols by Candlelight, self-proclaimed ‘Melbourne girl through and through’ Silvie Paladino has enjoyed a musical career spanning more than two decades. From performing in musicals on London’s West End to singing the national anthem at footy games to touring with seven prolific orchestras, Paladino is an obviously...
The Bombay Royale Posted 17 May 2012 @ 1:42pm 128 views 0 comments Snakes! Bullets! Super secret agents! Bandits! Monkeys and tigers! Espionage and romance! Are you excited yet? Are you on the edge of your seat? Does this sound like a movie to you? Ah, these are the recurring themes in some of classic Bollywood’s greatest cinematic extravaganzas, where acting and plot took a backseat to some of the craziest, over-the-top song and dance scenes ever committed to...
Stonnington Jazz Posted 16 May 2012 @ 3:44pm 101 views 0 comments Like Mr Noir, you may think jazz is just for science teachers and other elbow-patched drips. Do you fear jazz, the lack of rules, the lack of boundaries? Perhaps it’s time to branch out and discover the energy. “That’s what drew me to it, when I was 16,” says Allan Browne, the highly-esteemed patron of Stonnington Jazz.  During his incredible musical career of over 50 years, Browne has...
The Brothers Grim And The Blue Murders Posted 16 May 2012 @ 3:25pm 47 views 0 comments Brothers Grim And The Blue Murders do a mean line in confronting love songs – late in our interview, singer James Grim refers to a song the band’s written recent as “probably the nastiest love song we’ve ever written” – but the opening topic of our conversation is at the other end of the artistic spectrum: the Star Wars saga. “The good thing with the first three that were made is that the...
Dick Trevor Posted 16 May 2012 @ 3:05pm 25 views 0 comments "Who the hell is Dick Trevor?" If that was the first thought which hit your brain after reading the headline, you can probably be excused. Excepting maybe Raja Ram or Simon Posford, psy-trance legends don't get much bigger. Problem is, the Englishman has only released a single record under his own name. For the past two decades, he's lurked behind some 20 or more aliases, writing tunes both alone...
Alison Wonderland Posted 16 May 2012 @ 2:56pm 18 views 0 comments Sydney-based DJ Alison Wonderland toured Europe as a cellist for the Sydney Youth Orchestra and got sidetracked watching random local punk bands in Germany. Now, the energetic lass has the support for the likes of Pete Tong and Annie Mac. 100% chats with lady who’s just about to release her debut compilation, Welcome To Wonderland. “I used to take the train to Hamburg and Berlin a lot while I...
The Woohoo Revue Posted 16 May 2012 @ 12:37pm 54 views 0 comments Dannie McKenzie, acoustic guitarist of the Balkan-influenced gypsy folk act The Woohoo Revue answers the phone as he’s been wandering around his “disheveled apartment” in the middle of the afternoon. McKenzie sounds dazed, as if the phone call was coming from beyond the grave. It’s particularly curious considering the frantic yet focused energy within the music of The Woohoo Revue, evident both...
Henry IV Part 1 Posted 16 May 2012 @ 11:14am 227 views 0 comments My middle name is Hal. I have never really thought about it. When I questioned my parents my mother said it was after some king or other. She’s English, they are crazy, so I just went about my life never giving it any thought. Only it turns out that Prince Hal is in fact Henry IV and Shakespeare wrote whole plays (plural) about him. He was a drunk and a womaniser, always hanging out down the pub...
The Jezabels Posted 16 May 2012 @ 10:06am 271 views 0 comments You wouldn’t have to walk far within the larger cities of Australia to find countless bands plying their craft on stages both big and small. Yet the divide between the bands that occupy these stages is one not easily defined.  What then, is the intangible that separates? And when an Australian band does make the leap to larger stages, is it necessary for them to then leave the country for...
Big Kids' Cracking Night Out Posted 16 May 2012 @ 10:04am 255 views 0 comments In 1989, Wallace and Gromit had their very first adventure. Taking off in a homemade rocket, the pair soon found themselves hunting for cheese on the moon. Since then, Wallace and Gromit’s cheese-tracking and sheep-shearing escapades have entertained children and adults alike for over 20 years. Now, thanks to Museum Victoria and Scienceworks, the claymation human-canine duo are leaving the UK and...
Electric Guest Posted 15 May 2012 @ 6:11pm 36 views 0 comments Los Angeles duo Electric Guest make sprightly indie pop that recalls the cheesier side of ‘70s MOR as much as it does contemporary bands like Phoenix. The pair are on the fast-track to next big thing status – they recently played a series of showcase gigs at The Echo in Los Angeles, and in spite of the fact that they only had one single to their name at the time, the shows were a smashing success...