Blog Archives
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
What‘s in a name? I fail to comprehend the intent of this one. That said; TEED (Orando Higginbottom) has sprung up from the bowels of contemporary pop with a release that is, in many regards, the epitome of the music of these times. In what could be the 90s dance version of Two Door Cinema Club, their Trouble release ticks the all the right boxes. The album begins with a sound that somewhat mirrors early Hot Chip‘s recordings with French label Kitsuné and then progressively slides into a charade of dubstep-electronica mellow. Confusing? Not really; this band certainly holds your attention and one can only anticipate a tour on the back of Trouble that takes in an Australian summer.
Perhaps simply check this stand-out track Tapes And Money and see if you like them?
Media Arts 1+2
This week, Wednesday 2nd November: Come party with the RMIT Media Arts crew.
From 7pm, we shall inhabit a specially-chosen and almost purpose-built venue to strut our collective self on the big screen. We‘ll have a few drinks, feel the beat, and settle down for an hour-long feast of video and filmic works by 1st and 2nd year Fine Arts students. Following the screening, the DJs will come to the fore: featuring Utopian Swagger‘s Faggot Swagger tunes accompanied the visuals of the Bearded Ladiezz (A.K.A. Permian La Cube), a VJ set by Andy Turland (our supremo host), yours truly spinning Autobox DJ styles and the main man, Rob McDougall kicking out the tech later in the piece; spinning ‘til stumps.
So get your Art on and groove on. Get your travel down on up into this bitch, and jig along to 14 Hardy Street, Brunswick (just off Albion St). Nearest Station is Anstey. Check it.
Secret Wars: Scale vs. Pierre Lloga
Last night brought the noise in the Melbourne Series 2 Semi-Final for Secret Wars.
Pierre Lloga this time went head-to-head with his sometime contemporary nemesis and the Round 1 champion, Scale. Despite the fact that the two share a notional bond with one another; Scale held no fear in depicting Pierre as pathetically imprisoned within his hand-written, pencil-pushing cell: A caricature buffeting itself with cat icons; typical of Lloga‘s work. In the meantime though, Lloga invoked a graveyard-inspired defiance to see to it that Scale in turn was illustrated as the last of the graffer; as encrouched upon by Pierre himself, with the aid of a chainsaw!
In all earnestness: This battle has exhibited the best of art I have witnessed in the series so far.
So without further adieu, please do visit a video of the late evening:
http://secretwars.com.au/melbourne
Public Enemy
Just over a week ago, some friends and I witnessed Public Enemy live (again). Although this concert was a long way from the grand expanse of The Forum in Kentish Town, North London, the gig was rabble-rousingly intimate at The Corner hotel in Richmond.
This time round the militia were pumping their tour of 1990‘s Fear Of A Black Planet. Although they gave the show a lot of effort and their skills were there to thrill -it was all too clear in my mind that these guys had long since fallen asleep at the wheel. Or, to be sympathetic: are now well past their prime.
However, they fronted up for over 2 hours and gave us all a thrilling set. Apart from catching Flava Flav lip-syncing every now and then; everything else was overwhelmingly enjoyable -the fresh set list complete with crowd participation, political spiels, guests (including members of 2 Live Crew) and a tight freestyle battle between Chuck D and Flav that pretty much clinched the value of the $90 ticket, or therebouts. All-in-all, it was a brilliant show for the die-hard fans and certainly no staggering disappointment for the rest of us. And then there were the ageing Aussie homeboys: but that’s another story entirely.
-TW
Music Nerdism Part 2
“Kill the Emos“
Today you can argue that one can still get this music per subscription to extra channels of cable or get that satellite radio crap, but really, what has happened is that music itself has been commodified and packaged where the music industry, not the artists themselves, say who you get to hear and what you should like. If you have money, you can afford to hear subcultural resonance, if you don‘t– HELLO KESHA! Commercialism and tin foil hats aside, we are getting gypped. (Don’t even get me started on small-town DJs).
Today‘s vacuous and post-apocalyptic landscape of reality television and the public‘s fascination with media whores of all calibres has eroded the fabric of entertainment as we used to know it. Now if you display any sort of “insider” knowledge on the next cool thing, you are a hipster. The negative connotations of such need not be emphasised in this piece of writing. Why bother? I have already heard what the mainstream has to say about it. The fact of the matter is this: we are an ignorant species despite our “civilised” demeanor. The more knowledge the average person does not know about something, the more one rejects it. It‘s better to throw rocks and scream like a monkey at the fire that burns rather than learn what it can do for you.
If you follow my metaphor you will see that what I really mean is that music and art are the provocateurs of critical insight. Our lives, our governments, our society as a whole; depend on the willingness to question what others tell us. To demonise something like one‘s taste for music that is “cooler than the shit you listen to“ is to play into the mob mentality mindset.
This can go awry in terrible ways. Emo kids in Mexico still get the crap beaten out of them for being douchey little emo kids. It‘s a problem that any Telenovela (Spanish Soap Opera) is not afraid to have a “serious dialogue” about. I kid you of course, but I did see an episode where a tearful mother asked her daughter if it was really true, “Eres..Emo?” (Are you Emo?)
-DJ Moshi Moshi
Secret Wars: Deb vs. Ken Taylor
Round Three of Melbourne Series 2 was upon us tonight, with the heavyweights pulling some hefty punches upon one another.
The crowd favourite was Deb as she brought the house down with a fascinating ‘novel‘ piece that could be said to reflect an aversionary character synthesis; or such.
Ken Taylor was the certain victor, though: his skullduggery hastily enduring the whitewash.
Without further adieu, do view the photography, and stay tuned for the next exciting instalment in 2011.
check: secretwars.com.au
Secret Wars: Phibs vs. Pierre Lloga
Wednesday evening hosted the 2nd heat in a glorious round-robin of graffiti battles that featured two of the finest ‘street‘ artists in Australia. Phibs and Pierre Lloga went head-to-head in 90 minutes of madness defined by marker pens and rollers: without aersol paint, pencils or sketches.
The crowd shaped up with plenty of enthusiasm en mass. This turnout eclipsed the first heat; and with Deb vs. Ken Taylor to battle it out on Wednesday, 8th December just before the end of year break, these numbers are set to continue to swell. So be sure to get your tickets from moshtix.com.au and get your arse into gear.
Secret Wars began in Shoreditch, London in 2006 and has since steadily risen to become one of the biggest live art movements on the scene. From these humble beginnings, you may now witness the graff battle showdowns that your parents warned you about.
check: secretwars.com.au
Kid Koala
Yes,
It is Friday evening here in the Antipodes and although I’ve been quarantined amongst the Digital Cinema Compliance appendages, I have dug up a lovely musical event for you all to peruse and enjoy. Dim the lights, Maestro!
Kid Koala (AKA Eric San) is a native of Montreal; he writes graphic novels and narrates them with his scratch-sonic soundtrack. He’s a turntablist and producer, debuting on Ninja Tune with the 2006 release Your Mom’s Favourite Dj. He was integral in the production of Deltron 3030 alongside Del the Funky Homosapien and in Mike Patton projects Lovage and Peeping Tom.
He’s touring currently -playing in Melbourne this Wednesday night at The Corner Hotel in Richmond. He is presenting ensemble act THE SLEW; of which his website alludes to “a puppet musical about a robot who works at a cookie factory (complete with turntable orchestra pit), a quiet-time headphone / beanbag tour for the non-dancing listeners, and a hilarious Roller-rink tour which should be fun for the whole family” (kidkoala.com).
Guilty Simpson
Hailing from the socially bankrupt centrifuge that was formerly glorious as “the motor city“, Detroit- Guilty Simpson delivers some of the most bad arse raps known today, complemented with the ingenuity of the late J.Dilla and the production squad at Stones Throw. His break-out singles (and subsequent album) appeared in 2007 with the tracks Man‘s World and Getting Bitches, catapulting Guilty (or Byron Simpson) into hip-hop stardom.
Guilty Simpson has now surpassed the madness that was the album Ode to The Ghetto with the follow-up remix release/ collaboration in his major work with Madlib titled: Medicine Show No.1 - Before The Verdict, featuring Strong Arm Steady and Elzhi. With Madlib producing all tracks alongside ‘OJ Simpson‘, Medicine No.1 features remixes of the best tracks from Ode, coupled with a slab of new material. The release has thus cemented Guilty as one of the finest primo acts on Stones Throw records.
Want to see more? Then I suggest you buy the fucken album.
Or, simply check this Robbery reconstruction off the LP:
Stay tuned too, as Guilty is also producing a new release with long-time Black Milk collaborator Sean Price in an album titled Random Axe.
