Feb 01

MUTEMATH (USA) Interview

By Calen Vanstone

 

Since releasing their latest album, Odd Soul, Mutemath elevated from “who?” to “ah yeah, those guys”, here in Australia. However, back in their home country of the United States of America, things are a bit different.

 

They’ve released three studio albums, four E.P.’s, and two live albums. They’ve appeared on television performing for Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien and David Letterman. Played the Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Van’s Warped Tour, V Festival and the CMJ Music Marathon festivals to name a few. They even had a song on the first Twilight Soundtrack. So yeah, they’re kind of a big deal.

 

So Australia is finally getting a chance to embrace these New Orleans chap again. After coming over for a spot at Groovin’ The Moo, the boys are heading back down under for a more extensive tour, in particular, a first-time stop here in Adelaide.

mutemath_002

For a band so developed in their home country, how do you adapt to a whole new audience?

 

“It’s encouraging. It’s like your first day at a new school. All the kids don’t know your past, so you can start again in a way. It’s scary, but exciting,” says, Darren (King – drummer)

 

Thankfully, Mutemath’s time with Groovin’ The Moo was anything but scary for King.

 

“Two weeks of Flava Flav. Every day, you’d be doing your thing, and then he’d just pop up out of nowhere. He’s a total character – exactly as you’d imagine him to be. Keeping everyone laughing and making sure they were having a good time.”

 

As for the experience, minus Flava Flav.

 

“Australian’s know how to have fun. It’s as if they’ll die if they don’t have their daily dose of fun. I had read a lot about Australia. I had high expectations, and they were all met! I ate kangaroo – and loved it! I went water skiing. Watched some AFL!”

 

“Was great to see Matt Corby, Big Scary, Ball Park Music. Great talents and fun people. Also, a big fan of Tame Impala!”

 

Despite the recent joys of spending day-in and out with Public Enemy’s flamboyant MC, the history of Mutemath has been a rocky one at times. As with most bands that’ve been together for over ten years, (they wrote their first material for what would become Mutemath way back in 2001) it isn’t necessarily that easy to keep the machine well-oiled, so to speak.

MUTEMATH-UCSD-A-2010-JB-Brookman-Photography-Hollywood-Icon-Magazine-5fjbb

So how do you make it work?

 

“You have to enjoy it. And you can’t be wasteful with your time. Sometimes it’s nice to do nothing. Sometimes that’s the best thing. But there are other times; sitting on the toilet playing Words With Friends on my iPhone and going, I really could be doing something better.”

 

One such recent bump in the road for the band was the sudden departure of long-time guitarist, Greg Hill. Hill left not long after the writing and recording of the new album back in 2010, but it wasn’t officially announced until April the following year, when the record was complete.

 

“It was the craziest day,” remembers, King. “We had flown back from Jakarta and gotten in to a band fight about what to do over the next couple of days. Then, all of a sudden, Greg quit. Paul (Meany – lead vocalist/keyboardist) realised it was the best time to ask everyone if we were still in this. We all, of course, said yes, and then Paul told us he’s going to be a dad. With that news out, Roy stated he was having a second child. I had just recently gotten married myself, so it took a while for it all to sink in.”

 

“I miss Greg, he’s a talented guy. It was definitely a bummer, but we all knew we had to keep going.”

 

With several big tours coming up, including the one to grace our fair shores, and the hope to record a new album, 2013 is building up to be a huge year for the band, and one that will see them enjoy even more success abroad. As for the direction of the new material, something of a stylistic change seems to be on the cards, at least in King’s eyes.

 

“I do hope so. Either way, we don’t worry. Whatever comes, comes. I look forward to getting back in to it.”

 

The core partnership at the centre of the band, that’s existed since the band formed, between King and Meany, is one of the key reasons Mutemath is still around to this day, and why they will thrive long in to the future. King remembers those days fondly, and the gratitude he has for his friend.

 

“I was very lucky when we started out. Paul really believed in me. He knew I wasn’t as good as the previous drummer he’d been playing with, but he stuck with me. He really felt I was worth having around. I owe it all to him.”

 

MUTEMATH are performing here in Adelaide on the 21st of March, performing at Fowler’s Live head to www.moshtix.com.au for tickets!

Jan 29

Sessions – Saturday 26th January – Adam Page and Shaolin Afronauts

548727_493225024027135_138762379_n Adam-Page 1Last Saturday evening was a kind of an ‘Adam Page Appreciation Night’ with the man doing a solo show at 6.30pm and then joining Ross Mchenry and the rest of the Shaolin Afronauts at 9.30pm for what proved to be a rollicking good night of very modern music.

Utilising his looping pedals, including his favourite, the ‘big muff’, Page began in fine form with an inspirational jam that not only entertained but created its own form of wonder for audience members (especially those new to Page’s techniques) as a veritable orchestra of percussion and wind grabbed hold of the stage courtesy of just one man and a few white boxes nailed to the floor. It is hard to imagine what some great composer of the past would make of such technology (or indeed if it would have made their works any better for having it) but it is an amazing thing to watch and hear the sounds develop.

His work on the Southern Cross Flute – two flutes in one, the left one sounding very like a traditional South American pan flute – was also very innovative and rewarding, his Les Mis tribute good fun and while his antics and improvisation provides the lights guy with the ultimate headache, his range of styles never makes it boring.

If criticism can be made, it is that the cornucopia of audible opportunities available to such a master of the loop is often a drag on the overall performance. His improv work with the names of a couple of audience members and the disco / dub step / slide guitar combo may have its personal challenges but a more refined and formulated approach (even if acted out as on the spot creations) is likely to produce a more even and impressive result for audience members.

The same issue cannot be raised with the Shaolin Afronauts who for all the licence they give their soloists are the epitome of a tight outfit. Mind you at eleven players strong one can hardly handle people going off in all directions with musical thought bubbles of their own. With McHenry dressed as a cross between Tutankhamun and Audrey Hepburn and Page leading the horns looking like Friar Tuck, the Afronauts delivered their high powered, surging and pulsating African / Calypso rhythms that then sometimes pleasurably drifted off into the cosmic.

What made the whole night even more intriguing was that at times the quantity of sounds via the various players and instruments seemed the opposite of Page’s solo approach of three hours earlier. Not that it stopped him showing off his full array of weaponry, all played with great gusto, including his favoured saxophone, so large it reminded one of a domestic vacuum cleaner held upside down.

Again, if criticism is to be made it is that the mixing, especially in the first half, had the guitar and piano overwhelming some fierce activity on the horns. But fortunately, by one means or another, that all seemed to find a better balance as the 90 minutes progressed.

Buying their latest album, Quest Under Capricorn, will round off a great night and impress upon you what an accomplished internationally accredited outfit the Afronauts are.

Jan 23

Shakespeare on love – Carclew – Till 8 Feb – 3K

By Peter Maddern

This rework of the 2010 Fringe show of the same name enjoys the benefit of a simply perfect setting of the lawns before the entrance to Carclew House in North Adelaide. Well, at least, visually, for being under the airport flight path and a couple of hundred metres from Adelaide’s rowdiest bells ushering in evensong does create its own problems but they in no derogated from this performance.

Cheryl Bradley, an actor from the 2010 show at the Adelaide House of Flowers, now directs Anna Cheney and Tim Overton with assistance from Sara Lange (and Matthew Gregan on guitar) as they work their way through the bard’s various soliloquies, stand-offs and set-upons on the topic of love, not only as excerpts from his works but on the topic generally of ‘what is love.’ Both actors do an admirable job, delivering passion and humour when required in equally successful measure, with the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene a highlight.

Being in the open air, with an audience spread out on chairs and bean bags, has its own logistical difficulties and at times there were sound problems arising. Whether the somewhat mundane dress of all players was a plus is debatable (though it is acknowledged the play is not meant as a greatest hits show) not that Ms Cheney was anything other than delightful in whatever role she was portraying.

These sorts of summer nights are the ones we long for when winter hits and simply the ambience and subject matter should attract all many of arts lovers during this season to the top of Montefiore Hill. It is an adorable hour where sunset only ushers in yet greater pleasure.

Jan 23

Django Unchained – 4.5K

By Peter Maddern

As much as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs have created the reputation and perhaps even the mythology of Quentin Tarantino, it may well be that his latest film, Django Unchained, is the one that will be regarded as his best (at least to date.) Recognition at the up-coming Academy Awards will certainly propel it further in that direction.

Bringing together the usual host of characters of quirky, dissonant characters possessed of explosive rage and violence, Django is a western set before the American Civil War that pays due homage to the traditions of the genre, with everything from Peckinpah’s blood, Blazing Saddles’ humour and  Morricone’s music. Even the opening and closing titles are somewhat of a spoof of the early John Ford / Technicolour films.

But throughout it all are strands of humour and building tension that sit side by side with remarkable ease – the KKK head bag scene is as funny as the Blazing Saddles baked bean moment and perhaps not coincidentally filmed at a similar time of the day while the closing fight scenes would make even Samuel P wince.

But like Blazing Saddles, Django directly addresses the very political topic of the role of the black man (and woman) in the old slavery days. Where Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles) did so pretty much before not using the word ‘nigger’ had gone from being a statement of correctness to universally appropriate, here Tarantino rips open that scar and just never in the film’s 166 minutes allows it to start healing again. There is much in this film that will be deeply unsettling to the eye and ear of the suburban leftie and perhaps in that is the film’s greatest bravery and impact. (One suspects that the satisfactory resolution of all the violence at the end will prevent more mass indignation that has already been espoused.)

But Django is a rollicking good story with excellent performances by Christolph Waltz (as Dr King Schultz), Leonardo DiCaprio (as Calvin Candie) and Samuel L Jackson (as Stephen, Candie’s trusted house slave.) While long, there are only a few moments where it all starts to drag a little, one leaves the cinema with a real sense you have witnessed something extraordinary that has been an on-slaught on the senses including those of humour and sensibility.

Kryztoff Rating  4.5K

Jan 22

Myths and Mysteries In The State Mid Year Budget Update – Part 1

By Peter Maddern

The Mid Year Budget Update delivered by then (but now sacked) Treasurer, Jack Snelling just before Christmas sustains the long term approach of this State Labor Government of delivering hope in the face of adverse reality and trusting the media won’t catch on to the smokescreen. It has certainly worked well for Labor over the past decade, especially with its dear friends at The Advertiser, and so why wouldn’t it continue in the same vein.

But the bottom line to the management of State’s finances by Labor is now, as it has been since the GFC (the start of FY2008-09) that they have clearly lost control of the situation.

Since that time (four years), the net lending of the State Government has gone up every year and the aggregate increase since that time is $4.4 billion. But notwithstanding, there is in effect precisely no effort being made to even consolidate this position as the aggregate of the next four years is projected to be a further $5.2 billion. That is, the situation not only gets worse, it is getting increasingly worse and this is after flogging off forests and buildings and whatever else can’t be nailed to the floor.

But how, given we hear so much about fiscal restraint and public service job losses?

Well, again since the GFC, the size of the Government’s expenses has gone up about 16% over the rate of inflation in four years and while in the past there were small operating surpluses that could go towards the payment of capital infrastructure, now everything contributes to greater state debt.

On the public service number front, it remains a magnificent furphy that public service numbers have been cut. The 2011 budget (Snelling’s first after the run in by his predecessor Kevin Foley with the public sector unions that brought him down) predicted FTE public service numbers by 1 July 2012 would by 79,859 but instead 12 months later he delivered 81,158 – 1,300 more than he predicted. Even in this year’s Mid Year update, total FTE in the public service will rise again this year, (albeit by just 77) and remain around 2,000 more than forecast around 18 months ago. No wonder we hear nothing from PSA Chief Janet Giles as despite the big talk public service numbers have gone up every year of this Labor government and now stand at around 10,000 more than could be justified on the basis of population growth over the past decade.

Another of the other great con jobs of this Labor Government is to produce growth in revenue numbers that superbly cover the unrestrained nature of its spending at the end of the forward estimates. It is a true reflection on how bad this State’s economy is going that revenue generated by state taxes (payroll, gambling, conveyancing etc) has grown a total of just 9% in the past four years. Yet, again the Government projects growth in the next four years of 26%. How?

Even its own estimates of growth in the State’s economy in the next four years are only 9.75%, just above the growth in revenue of the past four years and only about one-third of the growth needed to meet revenue expectations in this period. While employment growth is projected to be around a very miserable aggregate of 3.75%, the Government projects payroll tax revenues will increase by around 30%. Again how?

But the prize winning con trotted out by Foley and Snelling in equal measures (and always lapped up by the media) is the ruse about the Commonwealth GST. In the projected four years ahead, GST revenues are estimated to increase by a total of about 20%, that is double the projected growth by the Government for the State economy as a whole and double the increase in the CPI over that time. Sure, these finish at levels not expected a few years back but they are not ‘plummeting’ as the local press likes to regurgitate from the SA Government.

That means, you know, we aren’t doing too badly when it comes to the Federal Government and the GST take.

Which also means, the problem is not the making of other people outside of our control (ie the Federal Government) as the Labor spin doctors love portraying but rather the complete inability of this State Government to rein in its spending and generate growth.

The Government, of course, can’t also own up to the fact that it is spending away borrowed money on unproductive things – but more on that next time.

It all seems rather similar to the State Bank debacle of 20 years ago – only worse and with no end in sight.

(Note: All numbers and calculations used in this article derive from the State Budget papers.)

IN PART 2            Where did all the money go and where is it going now?

For previous articles on the problems with SA State Government finances, just search for ‘State Budget’ in this blog.

Jan 22

I Awake Sarah Blasko with the ASO – 1 Feb – Preview

I Awake – Sarah Blasko with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

The captivating Sarah Blasko will take I Awake on the road in February 2013 for a national tour and it’s set to be a big affair.  Blasko will perform with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, kicking off the national tour in Adelaide on 1 February.

After three platinum multi-award winning albums, Sarah Blasko returns home to Australia to embark upon her most ambitious and majestic project yet. I Awake, Sarah’s fourth album released in October 2012, was recorded in Stockholm and Bucharest with the 52-piece Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra.

Sarah has won two ARIA Awards for ‘Best Female’ and ‘Best Pop Album’ and also triple j’s J Award in 2009 for ‘Australian Album of the Year’.  She has been nominated for a further 14 ARIAs (including two for ‘Album of the Year’) and has been shortlisted for two Australian Music Prizes and the 2006 J Award.

Already acclaimed by critics as her masterpiece, the tour will showcase songs from I Awake as well as songs from her previous repertoire.

I Awake is a grand statement from one of the country’s most unique and respected artists.

The national tour is presented by triple j and Street Press Australia.

“a perfectly pitched affair, balancing introspection with wry eccentricity to conjure up something intimate yet poppy, delicate yet emotionally full-blooded.” The Daily Telegraph, UK

“a defining, unsettling masterpiece” Rolling Stone

What:           I Awake – Sarah Blasko with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra

When:          1 February

Venue: Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre

Hours: 8pm

Cost: Premium $95, Adult $85, Conc/Student $75, GreenRoom $42.50, Groups 6+ $80,

Season subscription Adult $80, Concession $70

Bookings: BASS 131 246 or online at www.bass.net.au

For further information visit: www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au

Jan 22

UNION 42 – SECOND ALBUM LAUNCH: SOMEWHERE IN THE SUNSHINE – 4.5K

By Julia Loipersberger

UNION 42 – SECOND ALBUM LAUNCH: SOMEWHERE IN THE SUNSHINE

In perfect time for midsummer, local band Union 42 has just released its second album, Somewhere in the Sunshine. The brainchild of former schoolmates David Farrugia and Marcus Wagstaff, this album oozes cool summer tracks to bop along to – whether on a good old roadtrip, playing beach cricket, hanging out with mates, or just wishing you were doing one of the above.

Having fun and looking at the lighter side of life is an appropriate motif for a band which wrote its debut album, Sketches from the Road, across the distance of multiple continents. While Marcus moved to the UK in 1999, David stayed in Adelaide, playing in those bands which are universally known amongst early noughties university students like myself – Pornland, and Sex Hurricane 1975.

However Union 42 continued to write music as a duo, organising get-togethers in places such as Malta, the American Deep South and Bali to create Sketches from the Road. And now that Marcus has returned to the land of sunshine down under, the band is hopefully going to keep churning out quality music.

The best way to describe Union 42’s style is to call it a melange of Southern blues meets early Beatles meets Lily Allen’s pep (without the attitude). Simply put, Union 42 is incredibly catchy, happy music which evokes feelings of sunshine, dancing late at night under ceiling fans, grabbing cold beers from eskies and making out with your crush for the first time.

Available NOW on CD from http://www.union42.com/ or iTunes via https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/somewhere-in-the-sunshine/id591339271

What more can I say, except – become acquainted with Union 42 before the weather turns cold and all you have to remind you of the sunshine is this cool new album.

Kryztoff Rating 4.5K

Jan 21

BARRIO 2013 LINE UP ANNOUNCED

BARRIO LINE-UP – FESTIVAL OF ARTS 2013
Over 10 nights during Adelaide Festival from 9.00pm, BARRIO combines the chaos of Hawkers market meets Mexican cantina. It is a place where festival-goers mix with artists and entertainers as they wander through the maze of markets, themed bars, streetfood stalls and strange happenings. The late night music line-up features international and local performers and DJs. Read on to find out more about the themes, entertainment and food & beverage vendors.

LATE NIGHT LINE-UP:

Fri 1 Mar • Lunch Lady
It’s all about food: the kind of food which comes straight from the heart and the backyards of South Australia’s communties: nonna’s gnocchi, ya-ya’s souvlaki, Ouma’s Babotie or bà nội’s Giò. Watch the traditional methods and then get stuck in. Perhaps wear your stretchy pants in preparation for the eating contest.
Live Music:
The world’s only surviving triple one-man-band band Puta Madre Brothers (AUS) bring their filthy-faced Mexican-surf-soundtrack-rock to the famed Barrio stage; plus producer, instrumentalist and DJ extraordinaire Mark de Clive-Lowe (MdCL) (USA), plays a house-infused DJ set complete with a percussionist to get your hips wiggling.

Sat 2 Mar • Bunga Bunga Party
There are many definitions of what a Bunga Bunga party is; all we can say is this night of naughtiness is definitely for over 18s only.
Live Music:
Bring yourselves Back to Life with Brixton’s original, two-time Grammy Award-winning sound-system Soul II Soul (UK) lead by DJ Jazzie B. Then get your dancing pants on when three of Adelaide’s best DJs (HMC, Sanjit & Eric The Falcon) come together to form Los Adelados.

Sun 3 Mar • Key to Barrio
The decorated ‘Mayor of Barrio’ presents the key to the shanty town to Adelaide’s Lord Mayor: The Right Honourable Stephen Yarwood. Ceremonies are the theme and ceremonies there will be; become an Australian citizen, scatter the ashes of your loved one or get married in Barrio (yes, actually married).
Live Music:
ARIA Award-winning funk-master Ross McHenry and the exciting producer and keyboardist Mark de Clive Lowe (USA), team up with four of the world’s foremost musical innovators for the first time, to form Ross McHenry Future Ensemble. The ensemble features Myele Manzanza (NZ), multi‐instrumentalist Adam Page (NZ/AUS), Dylan Marshall (AUS) and Jonathan Hunt (AUS). Later that night NYC’s world-music wizard, Nickodemus (USA) casts a dancing spell on even the stubbornest feet.

Thu 7 Mar • Phobia
Anuptaphobia, Batrachophobia, Chorophobia, Dipsophobia, Enochlophobia, Francophobia, Geliophobia, Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia or just plain old Phobophobia? Whatever your phobias, there will be always be a liquid councillor nearby to help you work through your feelings.
Live Music:
Surreal Hillbilly beat jazz maestro, Cory McAbee (AUS) and Billy Bob’s Jam Team (AUS) come to tear it up. Think Frank Zappa meets Neil Young and then hit them on the head with Dr Seuss… Then, gear up your heartache and set it to angry for the killer Kira Piru and The Bruise (AUS).

Fri 8 Mar • Heaven’s Gate
Planet Earth is about to be recycled. Your only chance to leave, is to leave with us on the journey into the next plane of human existence. Get your white robes and bowl cuts ready.
Live Music:
Toro Y Moi (USA), the man responsible for the chillwave movement, brings his indie-dream-funk to the party joined on stage by his full band.

Sat 9 Mar • Diceworld
Ever wanted to know what life would be like if you lived by the dice? Join us in our homage to the famous novel Diceman and spend a night in Barrio letting the die dice-ide.
Live Music:
Surahn (AUS) takes time out of his busy multi-instrumentalist touring lifestyle with Empire Of The Sun (AUS) to show Barrio his dreamy disco love ballads, followed by Keb Darge (UK) who will knock your bobby socks off spinning the rarest of rare rockabilly-surf records.

Sun 10 Mar • Old Maid
Games that you play by yourself, games you play with your partner. Games that you play with people’s minds, games that you play on your mother. Games are what tonight’s all about and we want to find out, what do you play?
Live Music:
The sexier than Stevie and cooler than Curtis quartet Electric Empire (NZ/AUS) will soothe your soul and have you calling for more, while later, DJ Hugo Mendez (BRA) spins the tropical disco and calypso tunes late into the night.

Thu 14 Mar • Animal House
Rhinoceroses, giraffes, elephants… these are just some animals which we can’t get permits to have at Barrio. That aside, there’ll be more animal action than you can poke a swordfish at.
Live Music:
Electronic Latin legends, Cumbia Cosmonauts (AUS) and their signature heavy Afro-Colombian rhythms, bugged out accordion, sci-fi sweeps and synth, kick off the night followed by the dance floor obsessed DJ Saca La Mois (AUS).

Fri 15 Mar • Road Kill
A celebration of all things Ozploitation: Barrio honours the Australian horror movies which turned into cult classics offshore: think Wolf Creek, Razorback and Road Games. Pack a second set of pants. Oh, and backpackers get in free.
Live Music:
Legendary DJ Pole (GER) visits us before his set at Unsound Adelaide with a cool reggae set, then, their sound plays out like a long lunch followed by a round of cocktails – Client Liason (AUS) pop into Barrio to play us their new-jack swing. To finish up the night Sydney’s filthy blues-punk fellas The Snowdroppers (AUS) play us their ribald songs about fornication and intoxication.

Sat 16 Mar • Slumber Party
Did you bring you pyjamas and retainer? You’re having a PJ party in Barrio. Hot chocolate, pillow fights and ghost stories are what are in store, all to help Mission Australia raise funds for SA’s youths at risk. Mum says there are limited spaces to sleep-over in Barrio, so keep an eye out on our facebook for booking details. You’d better shhhh! Mum and dad are in the next room.
Live Music:
Gramatik (USA) will fit as many dance genres into one set including dubstep, electro, chill and funk, for the last night of this magical wonderland named Barrio, this DJ will never let you leave the dancefloor. Supporting Gramatik, fresh from her show with Archie Roach, gutsy Indigenous soul singer Emma Donovan (AUS) and her band The Putbacks funk your face off.

As always each night there will be multitudes of pop-up music, mayhem and madness around Barrio in places you’d never expect.

ABOUT THE VENDORS:
Barrio serves up the sights and sounds of some of Adelaide’s favourite and newest street-food vendors, sourcing only South Australian produce.

Returning triumphant with their sexy brand of Australexican comestibles, The Happy Motel present Neon Lobster, a taquería which is 50% fresh-cut deliciousness, 35% eye-candy art installation and 15% nuts. For the first time at Barrio, The Vendor serves up the finest Argentinean, Asian and amazing tastes from his playground of fire. Existing off the grid, the pedal-power Veggie-Velo gets very-vegetarian; Smooth Revolution also jump on the bike to serve up bicycle-blended smoothies; and Cibo fill all our sweet-tooth needs.

For those in need of another type of refreshment, the bars again come loaded with their own individual style. Choose from cocktails at Crack-at-o-a, (part volcano, part bar), bourbon-inspired tipples at Dusty Boots Bourbon Bar, sweet-spirits at Candy Bar or you-know-what at Gringo’s Tequila Bar. Feel like a cocktail while your mate wants a beer? Never fear; there will be beer and wine at each fancy bar also and the good ol’ Coopers Bar overlooking the event.

The soul of the festival, Barrio opens for just 10 nights with strictly limited admission. Come early and stay late, for Barrio will once again vanish as quickly as it appears, never to be repeated.

Booking details:
Barrio – Adelaide Festival’s Late Night Club

Entry: $5 @ the door
Where: Barrio, Hajek Plaza, Adelaide Festival Centre
When: Thursday to Sunday throughout Adelaide Festival 9pm to late (excluding Sunday 17 March)

Jan 21

Big Day Out – Gemini Downs – RED Stage 12.15pm

Big Day Out – Adelaide – RED Stage 12.15pm

www.geminidowns.com

It’s Adelaide’s biggest party of the year and local indie-pop sensation Gemini Downs can’t wait to get the Big Day Out party started, playing the RED stage at 12.15pm.

The seven-piece band is well known for throwing memorable parties, especially after their single launch last month had all of Adelaide asking “Who’s Frank?”

“We certainly do know how to throw a party,” said singer and guitarist Jessica Braithwaite.

“The film clip for our latest single ‘Jangle’ featured a bloke named Frank who had the unenviable experience of no one showing up to his last birthday party.

“So we decided to turn his luck around and throw a birthday party that he, and Adelaide, would never forget.

“I mean how many bands do you know that can round up their friends to balloon-bomb the city in the cover of darkness, and then ask them to take dance classes to create a flash-mob in one of Adelaide’s most conservative pubs?

“It’s madness – but it’s what Gemini Downs does best!”

Playing on the same bill as international acts like Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The Killers is a dream-come-true for this band, whose members hail from every corner of Australia.

“We are more than excited about playing at this amazing festival,” said Ms Braithwaite.

“We’ve played a few festivals, but nothing as huge as this. It’s definitely the kind of atmosphere that suits our fun and energetic style of music though – plenty of sunshine and space to dance.”

Audiences can expect a kicking horns section, tap dancing beats, wacky on-stage antics and a few terrible jokes, just for good measure. It’s all part of the charm that is Gemini Downs.

Gemini Downs finished 2012 in a big way, with ‘Jangle’ debuting at the top spot on Triple J’s national Unearthed chart; the song holding the number one spot for two weeks.

The band is set to launch their second EP in 2013, recorded with former head of Sony Music Australia, Wayne Ringrow, at Chapel Lane Studios.

Fronted by Ten News reporter Jessica Braithwaite and her not-so-little brother Sean, the band features the charming Scott Woollett on baritone sax, the sassy Lauren Fowler on alto sax, the rock solid Wade Francis on drums, the wacky Emma Hickmott on clarinet and her specially made jangle stick – and you know those bobble head toys you sometimes see in people’s cars? That’s double bassist Paul Thorsen when he’s on stage.

‘Jangle’ is still available for free download on Triple J Unearthed. www.triplejunearthed.com/geminidowns

Jan 20

Radiance – The Post Impressionists – NGV Til 17 March 4K

Georges Seurat - La-Seine à Courbevoie

By Peter Maddern

With the presence of the Impressionists on the art landscape finally secured by the early 1880s, the Post Impressionist movement was devised by two up and coming French artists who sort to redefine how the ‘impressionist’ style should be delivered. The two, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, devised two major shifts in the impressionist method – the first was to eschew the drive to produce their paintings in situ, as an immediate response to the scene and the light and the sensation of the view. Instead, sketches and studies may be quickly prepared in the summer but the big, exacting work would be undertaken during the long winter months thereafter.

The second change was to take a ‘scientific’ approach to how colour would be delivered to the viewer. This involved abandoning mixing paints on the palette in favour of the application of dabs of ‘pure’ colour arranged so that the interaction of adjoining contrasts would produce a third tone for the viewer.

This style, sometimes referred to as ‘dot’ painting by the ‘pointillists’ (the proponents preferred to called it ‘divisionalism’) , in fact failed to deliver on its theoretical thrill but that did not stop an alternative form of impressionism growing that has stood the test of time. For while the science failed, what was delivered were paintings of scenes that appear to shimmer, especially from the effect of warm summer sun, or vibrate before one’s eyes, notably of depictions of water, whether of the sea or rivers.

Radiance – The Post Impressionists at the National Gallery of Victoria is an excellent review of this movement. By no means the largest exhibition ever staged (and that is no bad thing), but the nature of the Post Impressionist movement is that this exhibition more than nicely covers its players and stages until World War I brought it all to a close.

Georges Seurat - A Sunday on the grande jatte

The exhibition greets you with a Seurat masterpiece, The Seine at Courbevoie (1885) (above) which not only makes plain the style of the post-impressionist movement but firmly places this painter as the first amongst the pack.  Practicalities, of course, deny us his and the greatest work of the movement, Sunday on La Grande Jatte, (left) a six square metre tribute to not only style but geometry that awaits patrons at the Chicago Art Institute as they enter there, but Seine, on  a much smaller scale, gives you the idea – the river; a sea of blue, green and white dabs vibrating for the viewer as it flows, grass; light and dark strips depending on the shadow and distant housing shimmering in the summer heat all composed in a rather rigid, geometrical form epitomised by the slim and proper woman in the foreground with her parasol and small dog.

Another characteristic of the Post-Impressionist movement was the political glue of ‘anarchy’ that held advocates together. Then anarchy referred not to violent, nihilistic rebellion but rather dismay about government and a belief the future lay in a harmonious relationship between industrial progress and the natural world. Accordingly, many of the works depict these forces co-habiting together in beautiful settings. Signac, Maximilien Luce and Camille Pissarro works are the stand outs in this regard with the Pissarro double of Flock of Sheep (1888) and Delafolie Brickworks at Éragny (1886) the crème de a la crème.

Achille Lauge - Portrait of Madame Astre 1892

Perhaps the most challenging for the movement’s artists and surprising for patrons are the last works presented, the portraits done in this most challenging style. Two works by Achille Laugé, the portraits of Madame Astre (1892) (left) and Alice Séthe (1888) are particularly arresting. The former, that failed to attract much critical interest in its time, is a two metre work (that makes it no doubt larger than the subject herself) is a masterful working of the dot / division style. The subject is in a white dress that blends in with the wall behind her but Laugé works the canvas with just two colours to incorporate not only her but the folds of her garments and the shifting shadows and tones of the light around and behind her.

While the advent of World War I officially ended the Post Impressionist movement, it is probably true to say it was in serious decline as many as twenty years before and just ten years after the first meeting of Seurat and Signac in Paris that kicked it all off. Seurat himself died in 1892 at the age of just 31 and many other disciples drifted away from that time as the rigours of the ‘scientific’ technique overwhelmed them and they sought the freedom to create their own aesthetic beyond this movement’s strictures.

Attempts to shift the building blocks of the movement from the ‘pure’ colours of red, blue and green were also not as successful, with the nightscapes of city scenes somewhat unhappy to the eye and the lengthening of the dabs enjoying only marginally greater success. The advent of Van Gogh’s work and then the likes of Picasso quickly highlighted that this movement had little more to say, especially as its academic foundations had failed to deliver on their promise, even if the resulting canvases were nonetheless highly full of merit.