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The
international music industry’s most well respected night of
nights, the Aria awards, took place a few weeks
ago and we'll admit we’re still reeling from the highs and lows.
Who could forget the moment where Rove had
us rolling in the aisles with that hugely controversial joke
about rockstars. Australia’s darling Keith Urban
reminded us again why we love political guitar soloists, and
between Delta Goodrem and Ben Lee
there was enough glitz and glamour for a whole treasure trove
of rubies. Big shock of the night was of course the virtual
unknowns Powder Finger and The Silverchairs
coming out of nowhere to steal the show, our hearts, and our
ears. Someone should get them a recording contract!! And Gotye?
Quasi-Experimental Jazz Fusion Funk-Pop? Groundbreaking. Thanks.
Such highs. Such lows. Truly the night of nights. Controversial.
Unforgettable. Rove. . |
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| New
technology and the interweb have made every aspect of a major label’s
inner workings available for twenty times less, with any innovative
new band able to get their hands on a variety of means to record,
release, market and distribute their music independently. MP3s, music
piracy, Bit Torrent sites and Radiohead have all
the majors worried for the future of their industry, and we don’t
really blame them. But while we’ve all been guilty of the occasional
download here and there, we still maintain that there’s a certain
something about holding a sweetly-smelling, brand new album in your
hands - and a small list of tiny digital files will never replace
that. Sleevage.com is a new Sydney-based blog dedicated
to album artwork that warns us not to plan the funeral of the physical
album yet. |
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Yeah,
the risk is that no one will buy your records. [laughs] Obviously
there is the financial risk in doing it, but if you don’t risk anything
in life you don’t gain anything in life, you know? The only way to
make life bearable is to make it exciting, so that’s what we try to
do with our music - so when you hear it your like f$%k this is great!
You know, and working with that is always a pleasure no matter how
well it does at the end of the day.
Speaking of these risks, apparently the story goes that Diplo was in Japan when he sent you his first demo, after reading an interview. He essentially came out of nowhere - so how soon was it until you signed him up?
It was actually quite
a long process with Diplo, just because he made instrumental music
and at the time the one thing that distinguished us from Ninjatune
, was that we were an MC or vocal label, whereas they were a production
based label. So it took a little while, but I knew as soon as I heard
the demo I knew that it was special.
And now he's doing about 85 remixes a week, or something.
Exactly. We’re hoping… we have a vague suspicion that we might get a new album off him next year but I’m not going to hold my breath because he is a very busy man.
One last sneaky one - Spank Rock toured here last year, but were missing their main man, MC Spank Rock. I’ve heard so many different stories as to what happened, Will… Sexual preference was one excuse, or he had a fight with his DJ…
Well he missed his initial flight to Australia firstly. Then he went back the next day to the airport and they found a knuckleduster belt buckle on him so they held him for 24 hours, and by then he had missed his second flight and the start of the tour. So it certainly wasn’t quite what we were after (laughs) but hopefully he'll show up next summer.
He'd better.
WELL DEEP: 10 YEARS OF BIG DADA RECORDINGS
4 Stars
BIG DADA / INERTIA
12 OCTOBER
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We’re into all kind of -Offs at the TS offices. Cook Offs, Dance
Offs, So-You-Think-You-Can-Trance Offs… Pants-Offs… Cut
& Paste, is a digital design-off that plays out
live in front of an audience free to admire, applaud and hiss
as the work stations of each contestant are projected throughout
the Metro. Designing with the latest software to a particular
theme and a terrifying time limit, the eight designers will
be whittled down to a winner in a series of fast-paced rounds.
It's judged by industry heavyweights according to the three
criteria - “Originality, Technique and Overall Dope-ness”. And
there’s even an Audience Design Contest, where you can have
a fiddle with the latest programs in your own fifteen-minute
design round. |
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| EARN
IT ::
DOUBLE PASS:: CLICK
HERE |
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| One
of our friends was in Melbourne last month when Sigur
Ros dropped byto screen their film and play a gig.
We called her straight after to ask how it was and all we got
was this: “It’s not – There’s no –…”, silence, and then “it’s
like listening to the universe give birth.” Sigur Ros are one
of those overwhelming bands whose live acts apparently defy
coherent explanation, but their first film Heima is a
good try. It was shot over two weeks last year when the band
played 15 unannounced concerts through Iceland, and filmed the
beautiful continent between each of them. Best enjoyed with
the double-album companion Hvarf-Heim: Hvarf is
a studio record, but if you flip the case over you get Heim,
an acoustic album. It's worth putting a whole day aside for
this one. |
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IT ::
DVD AND CD PACKS :: CLICK
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CAPITAL
L |
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| Capital
L is one of our favourite Darlinghurst boutiques, and
this week they turn seven. They're celebrating in suitable creative
style by launching their own inhouse label, PLEASELOUISE,
and painting the town purple. We love it when people make Sydney a
little bit shinier and the new mural decorating the shopfront, curated
by Monster Children Gallery's Joseph Allen, has been splattered on
by some of Sydney's finest artists: xx'zilla, webuyyourkids,
Jonathan Zawada, Brett Chan, Dave
Ladd, Ainslie Fletcher, Erin Forsyth,
and J'aime Fazackerley. So it's Happy Birthday to
them on the 15th of November at 333 South Dowling Street Darlinghurst,
with music provided by Peace Out, Ro Sham
Bo, Hoops, Health Club
and many more.. "The party starts at 6pm and ends when the fuzz show
up." |
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XAVIER: RENEGADE ANGEL
On the one hand, it’s the most random stoner-humour we’ve ever seen and there’s a small part of us which hopes none of you will find it even remotely amusing. But then on the other hand, the main character is a renegade angel with a beak, backwards legs and a snake for one arm that he just uses to pick stuff up with. Either way, we saw it yesterday morning and couldn’t just let it pass with no comment. |
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HOLA
MEXICO FILM FESTIVAL
Chauvel Cinema |
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15 - 21 November
Our favourite Chauvel will be dedicating six days to the Mexican
film industry that’s been in the spotlight of late, after being
nominated for 14 Oscars last year and winning five. There’s
an Opening Night Fiesta, a short film festival and (obviously)
a bunch of films, but for us the highlight will be the Tribute
to Mexico, where they screen films by three of Mexico’s finest
- Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel),
Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth),
Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men). There,
we wrote that Whole Thing without any Mexican stereotypes at
all… maybe except for using the word "Fiesta", but to be fair,
they called it that themselves… |
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| WIN
IT ::
DOUBLE PASS :: CLICK
HERE |
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VITAL
ORGANS Belvoir
St. Theatre |
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From
29 November
“Prepare yourselves for an evening of fairy tales, songs and
stories that will take you through the history of modern medicine.”
– what a way to start a media release. Vital Organs
is the tenth and final play of this years’ B Sharp
season at Belvoir Street theatre. It’s written and performed
by Patrick Brammall and John Leary, a comedy duo who won the
2006 Philip Parsons Young Playwright’s Award Winners, were nominated
for the 2007 Sydney Theatre Awards, and apparently don’t get
enough of each other sharing the same house. A black comedy
about a man, his pain, and the human body - and the press shot
has a sock puppet in it. |
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WIN
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THE
WALL VS. HEAPS DECENT The
World Bar |
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14
November
Heaps Decent is a studio space that was formed
when some Sydney-siders got Diplo onside to
start a company helping young indigenous and underprivileged
artists break out into the music scene - it was through them
that that outback Australia’s Wilcannia Mob
got their big break on the M.I.A album. The
Wall is Sydney’s very first art-based club night, who’ve
just moved shop to the World Bar. This Wednesday they’re celebrating
together with a Wall-relaunch/Heaps-Decent-fundraising party,
with a live graf show, music from Spruce Lee,
Sleater Brockman, KATO, Wax
Motif and SYLK, and all profits going
to Heaps Decent. Throw Shapes is a pretty great
e-zine sponsoring the night... So come on Wednesday and buy
us ALL a drink. |
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THE MESS HALL WIN
IT ::
THE MESS HALL :: CLICK
HERE |
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My only vivid memory of Homebake a couple of years ago was how
much sound these two created belting out ‘Disco 1’ when I was
waiting in the line outside. Skip to 07’ and the second album
is consistently less thumping than Notes From a Ceiling
(2005), but that's okay because it leaves room for more exploration
into a different territory – ‘Cookie’ ventures into a Cramps-style
surf-rockabilly helped along by Loene Carmen on vocals. Heck,
it could even BE The Cramps, it’s that retro. All you modernists
may be irritated by the cowbell in ‘Keep Walking’ – but I assure
you these boys have the attitude to pull it off. (AP) |
| RELEASED
ON |
IVY LEAGUE 27 OCTOBER |
>
MYSPACE |
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SOFT TIGERS
Gospel Ambitions |
| Gospel
Ambitions is such a playful album that it's easy to overlook
it as a gimmick. But to do that would be to ignore a huge diversity
of genres and a range of talent that's surprisingly well-executed
on the debut album from a group of Canberranians who met at
an Avalanches gig. Though perhaps a little
too overloaded with jokes and poppy fun, there are moments of
self-reflective poignancy in "The Clean Up Squad" and gentle,
lo-fi delicacy in "1994" that make us wonder where they'll take
it from here. It's difficult enough in an industry overflowing
with new talent to get anyone to listen. Soft Tigers
have gotten our attention - let's see if they can hold it. (SH)
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| RELEASED
ON |
BELOW PAR/SHINY
22 OCTOBER |
>
MYSPACE |
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FIERY
FURNACES
Widow City |
| From
the siblings who released 2005’s ‘Rehearsing My Choir’, sung
by their Gran on piano accompaniment, to their only-slightly-more-accessible
‘Bitter Tea’ of last year, the Furnaces finally
release the breakthrough pop album of their career. Just kidding!!
Widow City remains largely unstructured, with 6 minute songs
that marry prog rock with elements of funk, and obscure lyrics
with farmyard noises. But there are songs on the album you’ll
love instantly – like ‘Duplexes of the dead’ for its wavering
keys and sound effects, though others test patience with their
elaborateness... and farmyard noises. (AP) |
| RELEASED
ON |
LONGTIME LISTENER 06 OCTOBER |
>
MYSPACE |
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GRAYSKULL Bloody Radio |
| The
second release from Onry Ozzborn and JFK
has a pile of guests including Aesop Rock,
Cage, Pigeon John, and Atmosphere's
Slug, along with a cameo from former Pretty
Girls Make Graves vocalist Andrea Zollo.
Don’t worry, with 15 tracks to share around it doesn’t sound
like the Polyphonic Spree of rap. El-P
fans will appreciate the dark mood of this album. The single
‘Scarecrow’ is incredibly tacky - skip to ‘Dope’ for a beat
that would make Dre blush. (AP) |
| RELEASED
ON |
SHOCK
15 SEPTEMBER |
>
MYSPACE |
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DAMN
ARMS The
Live Artex |
| This
Nicky 'PNAU' Littlemore-produced debut LP somehow
successfully recreates the energy of their live shows, and is
impressive just for that. At first concerned they'd struggle
to break the electro-rock mould, I was surprised that they have
effectively created an experimental punk album. Vocals sit back
in the mix - ‘Edie’ and ‘The Not So Progressive Punks’ also
have several tempo changes, which make them interesting listens
time and time again. Worth noting is the secret track tacked
on the end for its visceral screaming and tortured drumming
– definitely the most intense listen this album has to offer.
(AP) |
| RELEASED
ON |
TIMBER YARD
03 NOVEMBER |
>
MYSPACE |
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DAVID SHRIGLEY Worried Noodles Compilation |
| We
gave a copy of this away last week but had to give it another
mention after we'd had time for a few more listens. In 2007
TomLab records re-released David Shrigley’s
2005 pocketbook of obscure idiosyncratic lyrics and scrawls,
after getting massive acts like TV On the Radio,
Final Fantasy, Hot Chip and
Franz Ferdinand to turn the written word into
music. The 39-track album is as inconsistent as intended – some
is quirky, some is disturbing, some is terrible and some is
incredible. The only constant throughout is the questions the
pack raises about the relationship between words, music and
art. An album for enthusiasts of all three. (SH) |
| RELEASED
ON |
TOMLAB/INERTIA11 NOVEMBER |
>
MYSPACE |
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MUM, WHAM! AND WAYSIDE FASHION |
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AND DJ AYRES |
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Editor Steph
Harmon Layout & Computer Stuff & Other
Things Matt Roden
Email steph@throwshapes.com.au Address
24 Bayswater Rd, Kings X, Sydney
Mobile 0422949374 Landline
02 9357 2744 Fax 02 9331 5511
Review Contributors Alex Pye, Lachlan
Macara Photos Dominic Loneragan |
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| Throw
Shapes is put together by the people at The World
Bar. It's part of membership to the bar, but is open to
everyone. Please feel free to contact us for any reason
– lost property, memberships, work or simply to
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Email functions@theworldbar.com |
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