Archive for the ‘ Words ’ Category

The Gin Club @ Brisbane Powerhouse

May 11th, 2010

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Date: September 26, 2009
Venue: Brisbane Powerhouse
Acts: The Gin Club

It’s the day after local/Oz music festival Sounds of Spring and alt-country outfit The Gin Club are backing up their performance of the previous day with another at the Powerhouse. It probably seemed a great idea at the time of booking, but this afternoon they have a bunch of wicked hangovers in tow. The seriously worse-for-wear appearance seems an inevitable preface for a rough performance, but the band defy stereotyping by putting in a top-drawer effort.

In between numerous sly references to “Freeland” — apparently the (free!) source of this afternoon’s post-alcoholic pain — Ben Salter, Scott Regan, Adrian Stoyles and Conor Macdonald each take turns to lead the band through a delightful hit-list drawn from double-album Junk plus at least one new, unreleased tune: Chopping Wood. Tons of back-and-forth banter gives the feel of a casual warm-down gig, but there’s nothing lukewarm about the performance. Even now, at a remove of some six months, Salter’s choked-up intensity on despairing ballad You, Me & The Sea is still a thing of wonder to me.

Timothy Carroll @ South Bank Cultural Forecourt

May 9th, 2010

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Date: September 25, 2009
Venue: South Bank Cultural Forercourt
Acts: Timothy Carroll

Placing Timothy Carroll in an intimate environment such as the wee Spiegeltent that’s one of several centrepiece attractions at The Carnival’s Edge is an inspired choice. The cosy confines of red-painted panelled walls, the rough-hewn wooden seats, and the soaring canvas ceiling seems the perfect foil for Carroll’s folk romanticism — even if the venue was once used to race miniature ponies. And perhaps the last fact even adds to the charm.

Brisbane’s newest acoustic wonder proves to be in fine form, first drifting languorously through the geo-political cynicism of Endgame and Smog’s Rock Bottom Riser in solo mode before inviting his fellow band members to join him on stage. Read more

Revival Tour @ The Zoo

May 9th, 2010

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Venue: The Zoo, Brisbane
Date: April 22, 2010
Event: The Revival Tour
Acts: Chuck Ragan, Frank Turner, Tim Barry, Ben Nichols

Anyone even dimly aware of the acoustic collaborative event known as The Revival Tour would have heard the word “organic” thrown around in the street press with a fair degree of abandon.

For the cynical, it’s an invitation to dismiss the concept as pretension piled upon a cliché: how do you top the seemingly inevitable punk rocker desire to — sooner or later — wail away with only an acoustic guitar for backing?

Answer: you grab your best punk rock buddies and play swapsies all night long.

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McKisko @ Brisbane Powerhouse

November 28th, 2009

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2 High Festival
Date: November 14, 2009
Venue: Brisbane Powerhouse
Acts: McKisko

The anticipatory hush of several score people who fill the Visy Theatre is so thick as to be almost palpable. Unflustered, McKisko proceeds to fill this intimidating silence with gorgeous readings of her fractured folk-minimalism that are mostly taken from debut long-player Glorio.

The exquisite starkness of her tunes is rendered whole orders of magnitude more raw as the theatre’s acoustics carry the tiniest guitar ring, the hollow, boxy thud of her bandmate’s kick drum and, of course, every shivering inflection in her crystalline voice. We are so utterly spellbound by this lo-fi tour-de-force that it’s a shock when the lights come up at the conclusion of un-recorded gem Down The Track. Thirty minutes has passed already?

The Lucksmiths @ The Zoo

November 1st, 2009

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Date: August 23, 2009
Venue: The Zoo, Brisbane
Acts: The Lucksmiths, Darren Hanlon

I’m always amused at the wary alertness hovering in Darren Hanlon’s eyes when he first takes the stage. It’s as though he’s fearful one of his enthusiastic fans might take their adoration too far and tackle-hug him as he’s playing, say, The Kickstand Song.

Tonight, (like just about every night, I imagine) the worst his exquisitely polite audience inflicts is the inevitable request for Danielle. A request followed by the equally inevitable response “not in this lifetime”. Danielle aside, he’s chattily open to requests, and with the backing of drummer Bree Van Reyk, quickly works through an all-too-short set that includes the ever-loved Happiness Is A Chemical, Electric Skeleton, Eli Wallach, The Unmade Bed and a lovely closing cover of Fizcher-Z’s The Perfect Day.

Tonight it’s former Candle Records stablemates The Lucksmiths who are the stars. Like the late and much-missed label itself, the band is finally hanging up boots after 16 years of charming audiences everywhere with their beautiful, infectious indie-pop. Read more

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