Blog — Page 242 of 279

Electric Gardens Festival

Centennial Park

Sydney, AUS

January, 28 2017

The second installment of Sydney’s electro bash festival descended again in the lush surrounds of Sydney’s Centennial Parklands, an idyllic location and arguably one of the best inner-city festival sites in New South Wales, featuring formal gardens, ponds, grand avenues, statues, heritage buildings, sporting fields and a diverse flora and fauna that make it an ideal backdrop for the three stages and the diverse artists that Electric Gardens hosted in 2017:

Local group DIGITAL THERAPY presented a stage situated in an indoor tent featuring some of more prominent names on the progressive scene of the last three decades: Sasha with his peerless command of dance floor sensibilities and his skilful exploration of beatless soundscapes; Hernan Cattaneo, who performed at Electric Gardens for the second time, took us on a complex voyage through genres, emotions and sounds; Eelke Kleijn heavy on anthemic floor fillers and Tel Aviv based Guy Mantzur, co-owner of the Munich-based label Plattenbank, weaved his hypnotic melodies to a carpet that invited to space out on.

The CODE techno arena returned with Hot Creations as well as its sub-labels Emerald City and Hottrax boss Jamie Jones at the helm, channeling his iconic sound that paved the way for a warmer, more melodic, deeper side of techno to emerge.

&ME delivered his signature blend of Techno and soulful House and Brazilian born and Barcelona based ANNA had the dance floor moving with her seductive yet heavy-hitting brand of techno and tech-house.

The MIXMAG main stage held the integral house heavyweight Mark Knight bouncing from genre to genre, invoking feels ranging from tropical via frenetic and at times just letting it rip by puling on the audience’s guilty pleasures, knocking out a thumping set of house, tech and progressive.

British electronic dance duo Basement Jaxx brought the big beats to the House (see what I did there?) and focused on what they do best: Fueling and providing the soundtrack to partay. It would have been a nice addition to the festival to see them in their element with a full blown, colourful regular production of theirs as with a traditional DJ set it is hard to compete with the wacky costumes, exotic dancers and overall fun carnival that makes their performances fun.

Swedish headline act Eric Prydz returned to Australian shores for the first time in three years. Being both one of the world’s most in demand underground spinners and producers of house tracks of the last decade, he took on the spot that in 2016 was reserved for Fatboy Slim.

Prydz operates three labels, each of which serving as a launch pad for his own diverse productions, which he releases under pseudonyms, e.g. Cirez D under which he channels his more traditional techno emissions, the more melodic Pryda imprint focusing more on the fusion of hooks and bass lines and the hard edged Mouseville Records.

His performance which was informed by all three streams of his creative sources once again underlined the breadth of his oeuvre that goes far beyond of what he is known for to the mainstream with his commercially most successful dance anthem “Call on me”.
His performance was framed and accentuated by a light show that would have made Albert Speer proud as the lasers built a dome of light.

With a refined approach, Electric Gardens has done it again: A great, diverse festival in a fantastic location based on conscious effort to provide a great experience to a diverse crowd.

---Photos by KAVV

Peter Garrett and the Alter Egos
Taronga Zoo
Sydney, AUS
January 27, 2017

Some people say Peter Garrett got his inimitable, signature whirling dervish dance steps and refreshingly nonsensical, jerky thrusting of hand gestures from Radio Birdman’s Rob Younger, whose early live performances have left a lasting imprint on him during his formative years during the birth of punk rock in Sydney. An influence that not only culminated in moves but eventually manifested itself the punk rock approach to Midnight Oil’s political theatre and agitprop.

There are worse pedigrees to be had.

Retired from his political career and having walked the walk for ten years in parliament, the long-limbed, gangly environmentalist made an authentic return to the stage and his first and foremost vocation.

While his current incarnation is nowhere as edgy as his efforts spearheading Midnight Oil, tonight’s live performance brings an understated intensity and sentiment without sentimentality, anchored in Garrett’s commanding stage presence and untainted and unwithered by his time in politics, messy compromises in the high offices and the public eye.

Backed by a solid band of seasoned that locked in and seemingly enjoyed the ride, the performance was focused on Garrett’s solo emissions with raw nods to history yet refraining from playing to nostalgia.

Songs of homecoming, reaffirmation and bluesy defiance with Garrett’s bark and howl found with Taronga Zoo a perfect location: The Twilight at Taronga concert series offers its yearly, wonderfully relaxed open-air shows series nestled on the lawns of Taronga Zoo’s amphitheatre set against the backdrop of the scenic Sydney harbour.

If Garrett’s show tonight was a taste of things to come, there is something to look forward this year with him burning the Midnight Oil again with the reunion of the band.

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Photos by KAVV

On January 21 I saw Bash & Pop with the So So Glos at the Great Scott in Boston, MA, a small-bar venue with a sound system that’s just shitty enough to be charming. I’d seen the So So Glos before and loved them - they’re a fun, snarky NYC punk band, and I talked about them in a previous concert review here. They’re probably about 68% of the reason why I went to this show.

Bash & Pop had their own unique draw for me, though. This was Tommy Stinson’s band - Tommy Stinson of Replacements fame. The Replacements were before my time - they broke up just a month before I was born - and Stinson’s Bash & Pop formed in 1992 and broke up in 1994 - just before I could have a memory. Nonetheless, over the years I’ve become a big Replacements fan, especially after reading the Replacements biography Trouble Boys by Bob Mehr. They were known for absolutely awesome and absolutely awful live shows, depending on how much they had to drink that night. Either way, these live shows were supposedly legendary, but for me they were only legends.

Thus, when I heard that Bash & Pop was coming back in 2016 - with a totally new lineup, but with Stinson still at the helm - I had to see them live, even if the now 50-year-old Stinson was just a shadow of those legendary shows. At 25 I was by far the youngest one there (these were all Replacements fans, after all), but minutes after I got there, a big hairy man in a black leather jacket complimented me on my Titus Andronicus hoodie.

I had never seen the Great Scott that crowded - the show was sold out, and I had to accept that I was going to be gently pressed up against drunk dads for the rest of the night. The So So Glos were great as always, but I think I was the only one who knew the lyrics. Midway through the show, I watched two old men start to tell each other off (“What the fuck you say??”) with one of the guy’s girlfriends saying, “Ugh, Jake, can you please take this outside?” I didn’t see them for the rest of the show after that. In many ways, seeing two old men fighting before the show even started was the exact thing I signed up for when I bought this Bash & Pop ticket.

Tommy Stinson and his band in matching brown suits didn’t take the stage until 11pm, and I think I was the only one in the room yawning. I felt really young and really old at the same time.

For the first half of the show, the band was only okay, which was about what I expected. Their 1993 album Friday Night Is Killing Me is a pretty middle-of-the-road rock side project, and it’s pretty impressive that their 2016 album Anything Could Happen sounds like it could have been Disc 2 of Friday Night Is Killing Me. They played all their songs straight, to the point that you could close your eyes and think you were hearing the studio recording, which for me is not a compliment.

Then Stinson said, “You know...A whiskey on the rocks would be really nice right now. Realll nice.” Within minutes, Stinson had four glasses of whiskey at his feet. Drinking those whiskeys the rest of the night, the band suddenly sounded incredible. They got louder, they started jamming, and I actually believed what Stinson was singing. Stinson was suddenly hilarious and charming: In between a song he said with a whiskey in his hand, “Tomorrow my daughter and I are celebrating her birthday in New York. We’re going bowling!” Meanwhile, a mom standing next to me got completely shitfaced and yelled “I LOVE YOU!!!”

It was a beautiful moment where good ol’ rock n roll lived on - but probably so did 50-year-old Stinson’s alcoholism - and it was a moment where I definitely did not belong. Stinson refused to play any Replacements songs, but nonetheless I’m sure everyone around me had a chance to go back in time, while I could only see the afterglow of an aging punk whose flame dwindled on.

Aurora
Metro Theatre
Sydney, AUS
January 25, 2017

There is something magical and otherworldly about the young Norwegian lady that goes by the name of Aurora Aksnes, known mononymously as Aurora.

Angelic, unpretentious and innocent on one hand, yet immensely charismatic, completely at ease with her own artistry and effortlessly powerful with her natural, animated and charming presence, totally immersed in herself.

While most of her songwriting has a melancholic connotation, which adds depth to the sugar sweet electro pop singalongs, witnessing her channel her alchemy in a live environment is more of a life affirming, joyful event that holistically embraces the darker shades of one’s nature rather than a gloomy commiseration.

Björk-esque in many aspects as she serves her Norse folk ballads on the rocks over a variety of synthesizers and other electronic curios, her down-to-earth demeanor is accentuated by her powerful vocal range and abilities, at times reminiscent of The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan’s lifting mezzo-soprano voice and trademarked yodeling, which conveys every nuance of emotion with the occasional heartfelt emotional outburst, emphasized by mime, gestures and dramatic expression and amplified by her impeccable sense of timing.

What makes her endearing and transports the warmth from within the tight-knit band onto the spectators is that she seems genuinely overwhelmed by the warm reception she receives from the appreciative audience, while having herself a bit of fun.

There is little doubt that this is all just the beginning and that Aurora has a great artistic career in front of her. You would not want to miss out on catching her in her current formative stage, where she still shapes, refines and further molds her very own signature style.

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photos by KAVV

Jimmy Eat World
Enmore Theatre
Sydney, AUS
January 18, 2017

Non-fanatics might mistake Jimmy Eat World for one of those emo-alternative bands that had one major hit song in the 1990s and then stopped recording or touring, ignorant to the fact that what has now evolved to a five piece live band that originated as a quartet in 1993, has a career spanning over more than two decades under its belt.

Jimmy Eat Word is quintessentially a pop-punk band with a knack for song writing and lyrically meandering within the confines of heartbreak and emotional injury.

A very tight one at that when it comes to live performances: The Arizona based band is a well-oiled machine, tight knit and able to effortlessly recreate pitch perfect renditions of their oeuvre, relinquishing sing-a-longs from their disciples.

The show was comprised of a close to two hour set stretching across an eclectic mix of tracks from their nine album catalogue, with an emphasis on the most recent emission, Integrity Blues. While die-hard fans might argue that the band excels with their new material, it was the tried and tested crowd-pleaser did not fail to elicit a more enthusiastic reaction from the largely lethargic crowd, i.e. Billboard Hot 100 chart hit The Middle, Sweetness and the fantastic, hard-hitting title song (which was called Salt sweat sugar in the UK) of their mainstream breakthrough album Bleed American, which was re-released on vinyl by the Beastie Boys’ label Grand Royal and turned out to be one of their most straight forward, accessible and all out rock’n roll efforts and manifested their status in commercial rock..

Headed and driven by gracious lead guitarist and principal songwriter Jim Adkins, his signature youthful and at times melancholic, soul-tinged trademark vocals is the foundation that the band is based on and which fuels the swaying DNA.

While it is refreshing to see how sincerely appreciative the band seems to be of its followers, a bit more engaging crowd interaction would have gone a long way – especially as even the smallest effort in that department was welcomed and echoed by a crowd that apart from these rare occurrences mirrored the bands reserved demeanor.

Two decades on, Jimmy Eat World live is still anchored in a no-nonsense perfectly executed riff and vocal driven clean cut show without too many edges, that allows one to space out.

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Photos by KAVV