Archive for the ‘ Words ’ Category

The Gin Club @ The Zoo

January 27th, 2012

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Date: December 16, 2011
Venue: The Zoo, Brisbane
Acts:  The Gin Club, The Stress of Leisure

The Gin Club’s nominal frontman, Ben Salter, is trying to give up his between-song speaking duties. It’s the product, he says, of making the new live album that they’re about to release. “I realised after listening to all those live shows,” he says. “That I just talk too bloody much.”

However, his bandmates, talented though they are, just don’t have the same knack for effortless banter, and Salter’s attempts to coax each of them into saying something between tunes prove amusingly counter-productive.

Founding Swedish member but recent absentee Ola Karlsson makes an appearance for the first time in what seems an age and it’s a delight to once again hear his contributions in the live setting, especially the maudlin sea shanty Abigail. Brad Pickersgill also jumps on stage to take a turn with The Fall and Coming Round. Read more

Dreamtime @ Black Bear Lodge

January 27th, 2012

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Date: January  22, 2012
Venue: Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
Acts:  Dreamtime, Sawtooth, Conor MacDonald

The Gin Club’s Conor MacDonald is a man of few words, but, gosh, his singing voice is a cracker. The handful of tunes he selects from his contributions to Brisbane’s famed alt-country ensemble suffer not a whit from the lack of a backing band. An Horse, in particular shines, as MacDonald’s halting, softly intimate voice — freed from the usual Gin Club ornamentation — amps the tenderness of this oddest of love songs. Apparently MacDonald is playing more solo shows during February. Seek one out.

Aidan Moore’s solo project Sawtooth takes a more unusual approach, blending gentle folk music with buzzing psychedelia. The hard-edged contrast of slabs of see-sawing reverb against golden-hued guitar tones makes a challenging listen, but one suspects that’s the point — it’s supposed to be an uneasy balance. Read more

Amanda Palmer @ GOMA

January 8th, 2012

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Date: January 5, 2012
Venue:  GOMA, Brisbane
Acts: Amanda Palmer

It can’t be easy entertaining a few hundred people for an hour with naught but your voice and a ukelele. Not just that, but without a microphone or any sort of PA. Yet, at an impromptu “ninja gig” on the grass in from of Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art, Amanda Palmer makes it look effortless.

She whips through Map of Tasmania, a hilarious new ode in praise of ukeleles, an excellent version of Creep (I reckon it’s the worst Radiohead song, but Palmer’s penetrating voice gives her cover real punch) and cajoles everyone into lying on their backs for a meditative (I hesitate to say spiritual) rendition of Amazing Grace.

All-up, Palmer puts in an hour of sustained singing and talking at what must be close to the top of her voice. Yet her energy doesn’t flag, and her voice doesn’t crack. I marvel at the effort, moreso as she’s due at the Tivoli this evening for a Dresden Dolls gig.

And Palmer is still full of energy as the other half of the Dresden Dolls, Brian Viglione, joins her for a Simon Says “Rumba” edition of Coin Operated Boy to finish things up. She drags a conga line of dozens hither and yon around the GOMA courtyard while Viglione puts his wonderfully expressive theatrics to work and the people in the line play a hilarious chinese whispers version of imitate-the-leader.

It’s nothing but silly fun. But, then, isn’t that the best sort?

Lawrence English @ The Judith Wright Centre

November 29th, 2011

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Event: “The Evening”
Date: November 17, 2011
Venue: The Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts
Acts: Lawrence English

There are generally two parts to any Lawrence English-curated performance. The first is a short welcome where he provides a introduction to the work about to be performed. The second is, of course, the performance itself.

The above might sound like dull trivia, but it’s one of the things I appreciate the most about English. Listening to him speak, you quickly realise English is not simply there to perform. He truly wants you to grasp the authorial inspiration and purpose behind the music he’s about to perform.

It’s something most artists — largely blessed with all the loquacity of a brick — just don’t attempt. What makes English’s mission trebly difficult is the nature of his works — typically synth-driven instrumental drones that tend to evolve at a glacial pace.

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Nikko @ Woodland

November 12th, 2011

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Date: November 5, 2011
Venue: Woodland, Brisbane
Acts: Nikko, Carsick Cars, Keep on Dancin’s

It’s a little bit the case of playing one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others tonight at Woodland.

Jacinta Walker’s Keep On Dancin’s (that errant apostrophe is no typo) and Nikko vie for most maudlin act with equally gloomy aesthetics. Keep on Dancin’s embrace dark, shifting surf tones that smoulder rather than shimmer while Nikko’s approach pitches percussion, guitar and violin into a series of despairing crescendos of sound.

Nikko probably edges the contest — taking honours with an affecting reinvention of the PJ Harvey classic Horses In My Dreams and a “shredfest” conclusion to The Warm Side that leaves nothing in the tank.

The odd bird in the middle of these two acts is Carsick Cars. There’s nothing gloomy about this Chinese three-piece. It’s simply frenetic guitar pop with a strong drumbeat and infectious riffs that’s concerned with nothing except having a lot of fun. Read more

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