Considering that your dear writer was up until 1:25am last night, it would be good to assume that grogginess would take over on day two. But never fear! There is a feeling of invincibility in me at the moment. But it should be noted that there should be emphasis on the words ‘at the moment’….
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Staying up until 3am last night broke the record of staying up until 1am on the 16th October for me. The range of places that I went to varied insanely – too much probably. Going from living-room sized tiled rooms underneath restaurants to larger rooms that could fill hundreds of people was an experience and…
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For the entire month of July, Brothers Hand Mirror have been bringing their notoriously wild live exploits to upstairs at The Tote – and tomorrow night, their residency comes to an end – launching their new EP Picture Tape simultaneously. We caught up briefly with Brothers Hands Mirror‘s Grant Jonathon Gronewold to talk about their…
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The jazzy, once instrumental, sounds of Adelaide producer Oisima has evolved into an explosion of smooth chilled out beats and other worldly sounds. He’s on tour to currently celebrate the release of the track ‘Everything About Her’ featuring the vocals of Annabel Weston, who normally lends her vocals to Brisbane band, Archie. Philippe Perez caught…
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Trams suck. Really, they do. The tram heading toward this gig tonight seemed to be slowly moved up The Esplanade like a moose with constipation. Eventually it dawdled to The Palais in the plodding fashion that trams do. The Heart of St Kilda has become a special event, and when it comes around each year,…
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Yes, Christian religious institutions have their chequered history, and horrible memories of stories within the Vatican permeate society nowadays. But let’s not talk about that – this is a gig review. Something that religious institutions have going for them is that gigs within their churches are normally good or very good. The simple fact that…
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The John Curtin band room is as dark as I have ever seen it. It suited perfectly for some dark chord crunching bands to fill the room with their insanely doomy music. Any god-fearing music lover – is there such a thing? – would turn away at the door if they had no idea what…
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Having just played a bunch of shows at SXSW (like everyone else in the music business) psychedelic bluesman King Tuff is heading on his way to Australia for the first time. He is a very chilled kind of bloke, and was in that type of mood when speaking to The AU Review. We just casually…
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God bless the singlet-making industry, because it seemed the whole customer base was at The Future Music Festival this past weekend. An insane amount of arms and biceps were on display for everyone to see, and I wouldn’t be too surprised if any other strays from a muscle convention during the week popped on by….
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The legendary Joan Armatrading is returning to Australia for Bluesfest, and she took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to Larry Heath about the upcoming trip, supporting younger talent and much more. I admire performers who come to Australia because it’s the worse jet lag. You know, I actually don’t get that….
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The ritual performances that The Necks perform at The Corner Hotel around about this time of year has always been something intriguing, considering the venue hardly ever gets people to sit down for a performance for any of the shows it puts on. It just seems as if there is this ‘block’ where an exception…
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Walking into The Workers Club at 9:30 on a Friday evening doesn’t seem to be the right time to enjoy a band, and I can only guess that this was the reason why we see bAnofee performing to a crowd of about four people. This is a damned shame, because her striking vocals reverberated around…
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In this AU Review feature, Philippe Perez talks to a couple of Australian music teachers, Rosalind Chia and Tao Kahn (pictured above) and delves into what makes for a good student-teacher relationship musically. There’s normally a process of many years to plug through to become be a master of any instrument. Practice makes perfect, as…
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The day was frigid. But the punters were undeterred (and under-dressed), ready to dance the cold away and enjoy a rain-soaked Melbourne version of the travelling circus that is Parklife. Kicking off the day with a bit of Chiddy Bang was a pretty interesting choice. He can rhyme, alright. But only that I don’t usually…
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Being the first time that I’ve ever been there, I was surprised with Ding Dong Lounge being a little smaller than I expected. Lit like a sixties hippie club with a nice large bandroom which can be identified in a way as “out the back” felt cosy and inviting in a mysterious sort of way….
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Georgia Fields is generating what we silly gig reviewers like to blurt out as a buzz in the music industry. A sold out crowd probably isn’t a buzz however, it’s more a sound that can align itself with infatuation. Georgia appears on stage in a beautiful gold skirt and colourful implements in her hair –…
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The second last night of music at the East Brunswick club was an occasion to remember and celebrate. A snippet of a little reminder on the men’s bathroom door was very to the point: “I hope the new owners go financially bankrupt. While it was probable that piece of graffiti was going to be wiped…
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Walking into a sparse East Brunswick room to be greeted by a trio playing fairly uncomplicated songs wasn’t too bad in a way. Velcro provided a simple set of songs which set a semi-suburban scene. Maybe the sun should have been streaming in, as we enjoyed these three minute pop songs. They were kind of…
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There was a thing at this gig that became curiously weird; Battles, a mainly instrumental band using new styles of music composition were playing in a venue with old concrete walls. Walking into particular areas of The Forum and then smelling an odour of dampness was peculiar for a place that looked hugely grandiose from…
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Sitting down cross legged at a gig is really weird, especially in a pub. I know there are those experimental gigs in warehouses where sitting crossed legged down is a pre-requisite, but why sit on beer soaked carpet? Regardless, I like hanging out with people who like to chill, and I can try to chill,…
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The irregular sleeps seemingly were getting a hold of me. Waking up with this kind of irregularity over the last five days wasn’t making me crazy, but I was certainly feeling it when I took that very cold shower. It was now day five of Woodford and I was starting to feel the effects of…
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Waking up later each and every day seems to be a regular thing for me these days. It happened at Meredith, and it’s happening at Woodford. The third day is upon us and I was up at the sunny dawn of 8am. The previous two days saw me awake at the fairly reasonable hours (if…
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Heading through the gates in the pitch black of night and then pitching the tent up in those conditions wasn’t the most ideal start, but it’s kind of the way with these things. I guess I should be used to it by now, considering I’ve been to Meredith, Splendour and many other camping festivals ever…
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I’ve arrived and settled in at Woodfordia for this years Woodford Folk Festival. Needless to say, I haven’t so much hemp clothing product in one location! Apart form all that fashion craziness, all has been quiet of the perfomance front, except from the odd poet and person on stilts. However, I’m sure that will all…
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The Necks are known for their sprawling, long, simply hypnotic tones that melds itself into one soundtrack of noise which really isn’t noise. More a sporadic burst of improvisation that goes for more than forty to fifty minutes. An amazing aspect of this kind of performance is a powerful idea in the live sense. On…
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The Once have been around doing a whole heap of touring with a basic lineup of harmonic voices and acoustic instruments, and they’ve gradually grown a large following in their homeland with original stories woven within the lyrics of their songs. In the second of our interviews with artists playing up in Woodford this year,…
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Over the next few weeks at The AU Review we will be featuring a series of chats with performers playing the Woodford Folk Festival. Woodford Folk Festival has been is a quiet institution over the many years it’s been around, and while in more recent years the grounds of Woodfordia has hosted Splendour In The…
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Heading through the strange venue that is The Buffalo Club, I felt I was in some sort of strange vortex of time between war-time Australia and a fashion palace that was dimly lit for an accidental hippie. Regardless, the venue provided an unusual backdrop for some slightly unusual music (maybe not too unusual if you’ve…
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Over the last few years, Nick Huggins has been literally working on nothing else except music. He has had a hand in many great albums over the past years, from Laura Imbruglia to Otouto, many of which you can find on the Two Bright Lakes label. He has decided to take some time out to…
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