Blog — Page 224 of 277

The Undertones

Metro Theatre

Sydney, AU

July 8, 2017

The Undertones are legendary.

If you are remotely interested in punk rock yet not familiar with their oeuvre due to the curse of late birth, chances are you found yourself at some stage of your musical journey singing along to your favourite bands from the nineties or noughties covering one of the many two-and-a-half-minute pop punk hits of these first wave Irish punks, whose debut 7” Teenage Kicks was influential English DJ John Peel’s favourite single of ALL time.

Formed as juvenile delinquents  in Derry, Ireland in 1975 and taking shape mid-1976 the band churned out  four brilliant albums before first disbanding in 1983.

2017 saw their first incarnation on terra australis fronted by Paul McLoone, who joined in 1999 replacing estranged former frontman Feargal Sharkey, backed by original members – guitarist and chief-songwriter John O’Neil, his brother Damian (guitar), bassist Michael Bradley and drummer Billy Doherty.

Got doubts about The Undertones being another reunited band cashing in the on their former glories?

Nothing could be further from the truth as The Undertones sound fantastic and better than ever – they are a dignified, well oiled machine that churns out pristine sounds and a passionate set that brimmed with energy, amplified by McLoone’s swagger who has literally shimmied and shuffled his way in and has successfully infused the limelight position with his own style while retaining the DNA of the mothership, which sits comfortably on a foundation that drips with dense melodies weaved by the guitar section.

What is joyous about the Undertones in 2017 is the sheer effortlessness of the delivery by an unassuming band, that does not need to rely on big fanfare. They elicits smiles and good times with a powerful set celebrating their eternal classics with aplomb.

Punk in its essence, i.e. not wasting a single note and making every moment count, The Undertones race down the lane they have created for their own distinctive style, adding ingredients like melancholy, social commentary and melodic brilliance.

Tonight’s show was testament to the band’s timeless legacy that transcends generations despite being rooted in the ordinary teenage life of the seventies.

Peppered with affectionate banter they showed that the potency of their songs has been improved rather than diminished by their familiarity.

What is joyous about the Undertones in 2017 is the sheer effortlessness of the delivery by an unassuming band, that does not need to rely on big fanfare. They elicits smiles and good times with a powerful set celebrating their eternal classics with aplomb.

Punk in its essence, i.e. not wasting a single note and making every moment count, The Undertones race down the lane they have created for their own distinctive style, adding ingredients like melancholy, social commentary and melodic brilliance.

Tonight’s show was testament to the band’s timeless legacy that transcends generations despite being rooted in the ordinary teenage life of the seventies.

Peppered with affectionate banter they showed that the potency of their songs has been improved rather than diminished by their familiarity.

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Photos by KAVV

Grinspoon

Enmore Theatre

Sydney

July 7, 2017

Grinspoon emerged in 1995 from sleepy Lismore in New South Wales and with the juvenile delinquents behind the operation harbouring a weak spot for sticky icky, they named themselves after an Associate Professor advocating the medicinal use of marijuana.

The following two decades would see Grinspoon ascend and establish itself as a platinum selling, (inter-)nationally acclaimed act and staple of Australian rock’n roll inventory.

2017 sees the band reconvene for a victory lap to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their debut album with the Guide to Better Living tour, performing the songs of their debut album in its entirety alongside a selection of the goodies from their other emissions.

It comes with the territory of playing albums front to back that there are tracks that have never been incarnated in a live environment, which is part of the appeal for the audience and offers a bit of a welcome challenge for the musicians.

Instead of an exercise of indulging in nostalgia, Grinspoon did not merely attempt to reenact their youthful past glories but delivered a set that captured the teenage angst aspect that Guide To Better Living was essentially driven by and infused it with the more refined aspects of their later sound, which resulted in a much grittier, punchier and rawer delivery than what they have become known for following their debut’s release.

The sold out audience, which populated the age bracket from young teenagers to faithful fans who would have been older in 1995 than their debut album is now, celebrated it and lapped it up with enthusiasm.

Both the first half of the show with songs of a heavier caliber like "Pressure Tested 1984" and classic-rock inspired ones like "Repeat" and "Don’t Go Away" were especially enthusiastically received, as well as the second half of the set, visually marked by Phil Jamieson’s flamboyant costume change, which was comprised of the crowd pleasers from their later albums and showcased the more nuanced, mature side of a band that has honed its songwriting skills and range of offerings, which has found them being heralded by a wider mainstream audience.

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Photos by KAVV

Good Food and Drink Show

Sydney, Australia

June 24, 2017

The Good Food and Drink show is all about familiarise it’s audience with emerging trends in the hospitality industry before and behind the scenes, running the gamut from high to low brow and everything in between.

Samples are product Federer by hundreds of national and international reps of restaurants, chefs and producers, offering to enter a dialogue and find out more about their respective crafts and giving hands-on demonstrations on how to replicate their creations at home.Master and wine tasting classes round out what is on offer at the Drinks end of the spectrum.

Chefs performing at the Good Food Theatre included the Dublin born chef and restaurateur Colin Fassnidge, who recently returned to the Australian TV program My Kitchen Rules as a guest judge. Known for his nose to tail cooking philosophy, the outspoken Irishman firmly believes the secret to cooking a great dish is planning and “having a bit of love for the food”.

Miguel Maestre has worked for many years in various kitchens around the world, before settling down in Sydney, where he has developed a talent for incorporating Spanish ingredients and cooking styles into his Australian menus.

George Calombaris is one of Australia’s top chefs. Although born and bred in Melbourne, his Greek heritage was central in his upbringing with its rich and varied cuisine, which would later become his trademark. On stage he presented food that comprised a hybrid of classical haute cuisine and experimental, molecular gastronomy with modern twists to traditional Greek cuisine that have put this restaurant on the global map.

Luke Nguyen, local food celebrity in the realms of authoring and Running his own TV shows, was given a platform to share his love for Vietnamese fare in his trademark approachable manner.

The free wine tasting classes at the Riedel Drinks Lab, in conjunction with Spiegelau offered up to four sessions a day, where one could learn more about wine while sampling a range of varieties from different regions across Australia. The tasting classes were complemented by a range of masterclasses, e.g. one on champagne, one on serving cocktails and beer.

In essence, the Good Food and Drink Show is a three-day indulgence bender that sees culinary lovers come out in full force for food and wine tastings, brand discoveries and foodie experiences.

The newly opened International Convention Centre in Sydney proved to be a suitable venue that worked well for a grand-scale event of this nature, bringing together passionate foodies with passionate producers - and it is a once-a-year opportunity to experiment, indulge and have a foodie adventure.

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Photos by KAVV

Open Frame: Room 40 Festival

Carriageworks

Sydney

June 30. 2017

Carriageworks, Sydney’s largest and one of its more eclective multi-arts centres, is stoically following its ambitious mission which is informed by a commitment to reflect social and cultural diversity by presenting the 2017 incarnation of Open Frame: Room40.

Being a biannual experimental music festival, curated by composer and artist Lawrence English, it features a geschmâcklerisches line-up of artists operating at the edge of contemporary sound practice, with emergent voices in electronic music such as Elysia Crampton, Sarah Davachi and Klara Lewis colliding head on with artists such as Xiu Xiu and Alessandro Cortini who are responsible for a take on music that is aesthetically more on the provocative end of the spectrum.

Your humble narrator saw the second night of the two-day festival, which included Swedish musician, Klara Lewis, known as a sculptor of dreamlike sounds rich in texture, which finds an aesthetic charge in the mundane – be it the hum of a fridge or distant laughter – and results in experimental sounds that on the surface might sound comforting, yet upon closer inspection show a distressing quality skirting the edge of the familiar.

Lewis does not overly rely on repeating loops but prefers a fluid, stream-of-consciousness open framework, with distant, swooning, watery climaxes drowned out by muffled drones and unintelligible voices while percussion taps ominously down below, creating a mélange that is strangely blissful and unnerving at the same time.

Sarah Davachi’s work belongs to a tradition of deep, shimmering drone music reminiscent of the likes of Kevin Drumm, and Marian Zazeela. 

What appears to be simple on the surface with not a whole lot happening in terms of melodic or rhythmic arrangements, her emissions work on a more subtle level combining long held tones and microtonal variations with a wealth of overtones, harmonics, and ghostly pulses produced by the friction between them.

What does not sound overly engaging and rather static on paper, unfolded its expressiveness in a live environment with Davachi’s carefully orchestrated tidal acoustic and electronic arrangements that sneak in, weaving themselves in and out of your head and taking you on a journey with the imperative being to keep moving and embracing disorientation.

Nine Inch Nails collaborator, Alessandro Cortini’s meditatively cohesive audio-visual work Avanti, was presented with cinematic fluidity, acquainting music with memory, i.e. (re-)living memory through sound. Using his family’s vintage Super 8 films, shot by his grandfather as an accompaniment to his music, Avanti created a dynamic self-portrait refracted by memory and the melancholy of remembrance.

A nostalgic requiem with fuzzy synths and melancholic drone textures against the backdrop of childhood memories that unfolds a very distinctive, emotive, poignant and melancholic narrative that was permeated with a sense of loss in combination with the sound eventually culminated in reaching a cathartic conclusion.

Carriageworks proved again to be an ideal venue that offered ample space for an eclectic evening with experimental and at times deliberately challenging sounds.

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Photos from Carriageworks

Boy George

Café del Mar

Sydney, AU

June 12, 2017

Despite the focus being on his recent stint as a judge on one of those castings shows down under, Boy George is still universally recognised from his time as the androgynous lead singer of the Grammy and Brit Award winning pop band Culture Club, whose soulful vocal delivery adorned hit songs such as “Do you really want to hurt me” and “Karma Chameleon” having entered the canon of 1980s evergreens. And rightly so.

What might not be on everyone’s radar is that in the 1990s, aside from other musical and non-musical endeavours, he pursued what he started in the 70ies and reinvented himself and embarked on a second career as a notable DJ, touring extensively across the globe.

With a background in house and what later on became known as acid house and informed by the groovy beats heralding from Chicago down to techno in the 1990s, Boy George has never not been active, no matter what rollercoaster rides his career was exposed to.

Being a producer, his collbatations and emissions include such labels like  Ministry of Sound, Sony, GU Music, Virgin, Polystar, Universal, Subliminal, EMI and artists as s diverse as Erick Morillo, Deep Dish, Afrika Bambaataa, Groove Armada and Faithless.

George descended upon Sydney waterfront’s Café del Mar’s rooftop terrace with a DJ set to provide the soundtrack to an illuminated Darling Harbour as part of Sydney’s Vivid Festival.

Warmed up since midday by a line-up of acts, e.g. Kate Monroe, Beth Yen, Mark Dynamix, Rodd Riches (ft Arrnott Olssen), Binary Live and Charlie & Jo., an enthusiastic audiences welcomed the man of the hour and celebrated his set geared towards cool, credible house tracks infused with quite a bit of esoteric flavour.

Boy George spinning the decks added yet another colourful façade to the smorgasbord of music performances, panels, art installations and more that make the three-week-long light, music and ideas festival that makes Vivid the event Sydneysiders look forward to all year.

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Photos by KAVV