Being fashionably late is no longer fashionable. I find this out when I arrive as soon as the 3rd or 4th song from The Letter String Quartet and the venue is nearly full already. As soon as I walked through the door, this collection of strings had me captured. The tones which the four players…
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Rat vs Possum may be the support for tonight’s Melbourne Festival show at the Toff in Town, but their party-time set doesn’t waste time, even with people who just want to stick to the walls of the venue. Their live shows in more recent times have moved away from their tribal, thunderous vibe to a…
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This night was a night for the clock. Considering I ordered dinner at 8:00pm, it was a bit of a disaster to not see anything at my table after half an hour waiting. And I waited some more. In the end, I would like to thank the East Brunswick Club kitchen for making me miss…
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I normally don’t head to hip hop shows. After tonight, I probably won’t head to another hip hop gig for a while. For starters, it was a very cold, very uninviting night to head on out to a gig for. I had been put in a bad mood by security already (note to self: don’t…
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The emotive Carry Nation opened in a fashion of quiet nicety. She gave us music of intricacy and loneliness giving off emotion which doesn’t normally seem normal for an opening act. Three songs in, the little quartet were evidently overwhelmed by the sight of a packed venue on this night which made it more special…
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This being my very first time at Revolver Upstairs, I walked around like a complete git, not knowing where the freaking bandroom was and looking like a complete idiot for 20 minutes or so. This made me late for probably half of Other Places. From the music (or should that be ‘experimentation with sound’, I…
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Lead singer of The Cat Empire, Felix Riebl has taken some time out to compose a solo album of acoustic, blues influenced songs. His album is called ‘Into The Rain’ and is out now. He recently spoke to Larry Heath of The AU Review. How did this material come about and why did you decide…
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The bellowing Jack Ladder seems to be one of those guys quietly working hard to sound more mature every time I see him live. His swagger on stage is really refined, and you’d be mistaken if you had transported yourself to the early new wave scenes of the 1970’s and 80’s. Jack’s guitarist – Kirin…
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I remember being so impressed when I heard my first post rock song – “Sleep” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It changed my musical life and brought a whole new perspective on listening. Music was more than just a 3 piece band and a vocalist. This new genre was an exciting and uncharted area for…
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Psych, ‘gaze and more wall of noise descriptions, and no room to move as well. That’s all I thought about at this gig really. I mean I shouldn’t be surprised. This whole night screamed guitar noises from the rooftop. The Sun Blindness were the band to slide into one of those moody sets full of…
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As soon as I walked through the doors, Sal Kimber and her band The Rollin’ Wheel showcased slight tinges of country and folk here and there. Not quite fully being a part of that genre though, and making a statement that they were their own sound. I seem to adore more double basses when I…
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I suppose with this gig reviewing kind of caper, you’ll get to see something that is slightly bizarre, out of your comfort zone, and just plain weird. I shouldn’t be so freaked out by it by now, but occasionally, something comes along that makes me wonder, “what the heck was that?”. In part this is…
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Celebrating the official release of their album Burning Bush Supper Club and EPs in Australia, Philippe Perez caught up with the bands guitarist Ted Feldman to discuss their music, touring, coming to Australia and more. How was the experience of playing in places like Brazil? Did you think of going to that country to perform…
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There was a touch of trepidation going to The Heart of St Kilda concert at The Palais. Many of the acts weren’t really musicians that I would go out of my way to see a full concert over. It was a slightly odd feeling in all honesty, in that we were supporting a good cause…
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For some reason the advertised Lehmann B. Smith did not perform… or did he? From what I could gather, Kes Band played instead (although I might be totally confused here – a quick search saw that Lehmann is part of Kes Band, but I’m pretty sure a couple songs were played from the last Kes…
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I was expecting a night of surprises and nuttiness with this night of some odd sounds at The Tote (well, when isn’t there nuttiness at The Tote?), and I got more of the latter than the former. However those surprises and nuttiness at the end of the night were not something to take really in…
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This was the second of the Women Of Soul nights featured at The Toff, the first night last week was a stellar showcase of voices and I was hoping that we’d be stepping up the uber-fun soul and funk vibe of last week. I walked into the gig misjudging the start and missed a few…
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I entered the doors to the sounds of Melbourne via Munich trio Verdaine, who had deep dark tones and ploughed through their set like no-one’s business. I was standing there with drink in hand trying to think whether or not the band were giving off some sort of shoegaze vibe, but at the same time,…
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As I was heading to this gig I started to think about weird existential issues about the Australian music scene: why isn’t soul and funk given the attention it well deserves? Hell, there are bands and singers who sweat and work to the bone to deliver great gigs each week in and around Australia, yet…
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Katie Noonan’s voice is so powerful, yet so delicate it’s hard to think about anything else than what is happening on stage. Elixir is a trio who have been one of Katie’s many musical projects in the jazz world ever since the festival rollicking days of george. Her voice is perfect to this style of…
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Things started out chilled enough. Cilla Jane and her acoustic guitar were charming, with her cutesy vocals and tunes about the important things in life, like riding your bicycle. She had the seated crowd in quiet wonder, with songs that meant so much more than that, such as “‘Til The Morning Comes”, and “One Deep…
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Jazz gigs are a touchy affair sometimes. You can get enamoured with the music that comes from the stage, but at the same time, once it goes too far it can all become a wank. On the audience side of things, you can either get a crowd that is responsive to a small degree, or…
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