Live - Hear
HEAR is the enema your iTunes needs. Bringing you the most thought-provoking and up-to-date music reviews this side of Lester Bangs, HEAR sifts through the ever growing mountain of press releases and promos to only feature albums, EPs, LPs and mixes that we want to, not that we have to. Also, we try and make things make sense in 200 words or less so that you can just listen to the music.
Pivot interview
I was sitting on my front porch on an overcast Saturday morning when I heard Pivot's O Soundtrack My Heart for the first time. Something about the grey sky, combined with Pivot's clashy prog guitars, gurgling synths and techno-like builds, made for a pristine sonic experience. I hope for similar satisfaction, care of Pivot and the sky, at Playground Weekender next week.
Difficult Music Festival
While Sydney's small bars and tiny cafes proliferate (yay!), live music venues and strange shops are closing (yikes!).
Sedition barbershop has resisted the gentri-fabulous-cation of its surroundings in Darlo for years, stocking weird shit and just generally not giving a damn. Several small spaces around town have started/continued showcasing experimental noise artists (places like Hellen Rose Labrotorium, Red Rattler and Locksmith Project Space).
Phenomenal Handclap Band interview
Heralded as the ‘perfect mix of of everything from the past 40 years of popular music' the Phenomenal Handclap Band collective started when Daniel Collás and Sean Marquand, two New York underground club DJs, with an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of esoteric music ranging from Brazilian soul to vintage psych-rock got restless with playing other people's music and decided to produce their own.
Kirin J Callinan Live Album Recording
This human is a dangerous instrument. Vulnerability reverberates violently just under his skin. When he opens his mouth there is no classification for his oblique sonic story. He is all performance and induces operational wondering.
He makes you question if life is paused or moving in chronological time.
Ducktails at Sound Summit
Look north! Actually, it'd probably be better to catch a train or drive north as looking won't get you very far. Sound Summit is celebrating its 10th year by shedding its electronic and hip hop threads in order to get down with all that is independent and innovative in Australian and international music right now.
Flip Out Festival - Royal Headache Interview
The Flip Out Festival is the best thing to happen to Sydney since ever. This year there's something like 13 bands, and a record fair. Before we get on to the interview that will inspire a kind of suicide impulse inside your credit card as your clickety fingers type the numbers into the Ox Tix page, here's the line-up: Eddy Current Supression Ring, Pink Reason (USA), Goodnight Loving (USA), James Arthur's Manhunt (USA), Ooga Boogas, Naked On The Vague, The UV Race, The Stabs, Super Wild Horses, Slug Guts, Deaf Wish, Royal Headache and Zond.
Flip Out Festival
When we tried to say all the bands playing at Flip Out Festival in one breath, we turned a shade of tangerine. It went a little like "Eddy-Current-Suppression-Ring-Royal-Headache-The-UV-Race-Royal-Headache-The-Stabs-The-Ooga-Boogaaaaas", before our cheeks imploded, our eye stalks reddened and we were slapped out of breath.
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