BAMA-LAMA! Get on board for a fruit-punch-fuelled night of rhythm & blues, surf, and island exotica!

BENNY & THE FLY-BY-NITERS (doing two honkin’ sets of jump blues) THE EXOTICS (Melbourne’s primal rock’n’roll gods) THE GREASY HAWAIIANS (stompin surf-sleaze)
be early for a special performance by TRADITIONAL POLYNESIAN LOG-DRUMMERS AND DANCERS and keeping the luau rockin until 3am – the Big Kahuna’s of vinyl: DJs EMMA PEEL (PBS) – DJ JIM DANDY – DJ MOHAIR SLIM (PBS)

Hawaiian fruit punch on entry and free snacks during the night.
$50 + B.F. pre-sale (only 300 available) through Moshtix @ moshtix.com.au. Mo’ Betta Deetales attached in flyer. See you there, groovas.

Straight out of Brunswick’s bohemia come Rapskallion – dressed in their decrepit finery, singing songs of the open road, blue stone alleyways, fruit falling from the trees and the seven seas.

Take a pinch of hip hop, vaudevillian sensibilities, a curly moustache and a startling array of hats and add a hula hoop and a burlesque performer or two….

and you will conjure Rapskallion and their intoxicating mix of quirky lyrics and rustic, rowdy and romantic accordion driven dance tunes.

Also featuring double bass, clarinet, violin, and junkyard drums – a vaudevillian carnivalesque shotgun marriage between Tom Waits and Edith Piaf.

Reminiscent of 20’s Paris Bohemia transported to a Romanian tavern and then set adrift on the high seas, they will be performing live with a glint in their eye and a dagger in their teeth at the 5th Bohemian Masquerade Ball on 16th October @ The Thornbury Theatre, 859 High Street. 7pm til ? Tix $20 pre-sale at http://thornburytheatre.webtickets.com.au/ or $25 on the door, if available.

Please contact me for interviews/pics/lively chats or a copy of Rapskallion’s new CD ‘One Up For The Little Man.’

It’s the goods.

new E.P. out now!

Fragile/
Memories Remain /
All Tomorrows Parties

“ scintillating grunge pop from Australia’s queen of sonic sexiness…Penny Ikinger and Ron Peno schmooze and coo like Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra…”

From the forthcoming album
penelope
featuring Deniz Tek

Penny Ikinger – sonic troubadour…touring Europe Sep-Oct 2009

FRANCE: 16/9 Tours: Donald’s Pub TBC, 17/9 Bordeaux: Le Fiacre TBC, 18/9 : Albi : Jour de Fête , 19/9 : Toulouse : Fairfield Café,20/9 : Tarbes : Celtic Pub

SPAIN: Madrid 21/9- 28/9- dates TBA check Penny Ikinger myspace

FRANCE: 30/9 Montpellier: L’Antirouille, 1/10 : Marseille : Le Lounge (+ In Extenso),2/10 : Carcassonne : Rockadelik , 3/10 : Perpignan : Tropique du Papillon (tbc)

SPAIN: Catalonia – 6/10 Girona: Cafe El Cercle, 9/10 Montblanc: Bar Lennon

http://www.myspace.com/pennyikinger

Hey People,

Get your ringside seats for Dave Graney’s fabulous ‘Knock Yourself Out’ tour and hear all the songs from the new CD all live and front row, ringside-like!

10 June
Live at 3RRR (by invitation only)
221 Nicholson St
Brunswick East VIC 3057
Phone: (03) 9388 1027

19 June
Basement Discs
24 Block place, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9654 1110

24 Jun
The Royal Exchange Theatre
32 – 34 Bolton Stree NSW 2300
PHONE: (02) 4929 4969

25 Jun
Lizotte’s Restaurant
Lot 3 Avoca Drive Kincumber NSW 2251
Phone: 02 4368 2017

Email: info@lizottes.com.au

26 Jun
The Brass Monkey
115a Cronulla Street Cronulla, 2230
Phone: (02) 9544 3844

27 Jun
Sandringham Hotel
387 King St. Newtown NSW 2042
Phone: (02) 9557 1254

28 Jun
Old Manly Boat Shed, The
Basement, 40 The Corso
Manly NSW 2095
Phone: (02) 9977 4443

4 July
The Brisbane Hotel.
3 Brisbane St ,Hobart 7000
Phone: (03) 6234 4920

11 July
The Palais
111 Main Rd Hepburn Springs VIC 3461
Phone: (03) 53484849
Website: www.thepalais.com.au

31 July
GOMA Brisbane Art Gallery
Stanley Place, South Bank, Queensland
Phone: (07) 3840 7303

14 August
George Fairfax Studio
The Arts Centre
100 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9281 8000

SvenSson’s « French Wave » – The story of a pop alchemist

With the resonant yet fragile voice of a fallen angel, delicate and wild lyrics that flirt with despair and a Franco-British pop sound that’s working hard to reconcile Serge Gainsbourg, The Cure and Nick Cave, SvenSson has always followed his own unique muse.

Two years ago SvenSson’s album ‘Perdition’ was widely acclaimed both in Australia (with enthusiastic reviews in Melbourne-based daily newspaper The Age and weekly music magazine Beat, along with airplay and interviews on 3RRR, PBS, SBS…) and in France (by the renowned Paris-based cultural magazine Les Inrockuptibles, major radio station France Inter and dozens of national music mags, local TV stations and radio shows). And now the Frenchman with the Scandinavian name is ready to return in March-April 2009 with a beautifully sensual new album titled ‘Cyprine’.

SvenSson’s music was cultivated from the influences and atmospheres of Joy Division and Lloyd Cole, as well as the literary flavours of modern french songwriters. And this alchemist’s latest release combines an unrestrained mix of electric outpourings with moments of naked grace…

There’s the curious singalong that is the contentiously titled ‘Fucking Shit’, which is receiving airplay on Australian airwaves. Or the ‘Initials P.J.’ mash-up – an eclectic mix of Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Initials B.B.’ tribute to Brigitte Bardot and Nick Cave & PJ Harvey’s ‘Henry Lee’ ballad. Not to mention ‘Gô/Nô-Gô’ a classy pop-rock single that’s already garnering airplay on major French and Swiss radios such including Virgin Radio and Couleur 3. ‘Fucking Shit’ and ‘Gô/Nô-Gô’ have also been chosen for the Japanese Ward/iTunes compilation ‘French Pops 50’. In short, Svensson’s new album is a collection of pure ‘so french’ pop jewels.

In concert, either in smoky pub cellars or under the bright lights of big stages, the young alchemist from Toulouse is joined by folk guitars, violin, ‘cellobass’, piano, and glockenspiel. This baroque acoustic quartet played over 100 gigs in France, Australia and Denmark on the ‘Better Days’ and ‘Perdition’ tours, sharing unplugged gigs with some of the most illustrious representatives of the French scene, including Miossec, Daniel Darc, Da Silva, Prohom, Nicholson, Verone and Miro. Not to mention renowned American acts such as Andrew Bird, The National and The Posies.

SvenSson and his inspired band members will be on the road again in 2009 on the ‘Cyprine World Tour’, a much-anticipated event in Japan, Australia and France.

- Wed. 18/3 : Adelaide @ Jive
- Fri. 20/3 : Melbourne @ Empress Of India (+ Brian Hooper + Dirt River Radio)
- Sat. 21/3 : Melbourne (Northcote) @ Wesley Anne (+ Andrew Mc Cubbin and the Hope Addicts + Dirt River Radio)
- Fri. 27/3 : Hobart @ Republic Bar (+ Brian Hooper)
- Sun. 29/3 : Sydney (Newtown) @ The Vanguard (+ Brian Hooper)
- Thu. 2/4 : Brisbane @ Step Inn
- Fri. 3/4 : Sunshine Coast (Hinterland) @ Woombye Hotel
- Sat. 4/4 : Southport (Qld) @ Del Plaza

Charles Jenkins
Blue Atlas

LP (2008, Dust Devil Music)
Charles Jenkins.

If you’re looking for buzzwords to remember 2008, “change” and “hope” will probably figure highly. But if you’re looking for musical accompaniments for remembering the year that was, it’s unlikely Charles Jenkins will even rate a mention. That’s something of a tragedy, really. Blue Atlas, his latest solo record backed by The Zhivagos, might just be his masterpiece.

It’s a record of simple, plangent, acoustic pop. As with every record Jenkins releases, the influences are immediately apparent – The Beatles, Alex Chilton, the Beach Boys, The Byrds. But Jenkins voice is always a singular, original, Australian one. He combines the sly melodic ease of the greatest pop music with narratives of languid nostalgia stretching from Houston to Johnston Street, Fitzroy back across the Nullarbor and up to Brisbane.

‘Shelley Winters’ charts the cinematic history of its namesake buttressed only by an acoustic guitar, a voice and a cavalcade of swooning, desperate strings. It’s easily the best opener to an Australian album I’ve heard this year. ‘Autumn Fall’ betters any recent Ryan Adams record for maudlin self-loathing and ‘Maria Van Diemen’ goes toe-to-toe with Glenn Richards and Gareth Liddiard on the grim, unremitting excavation of Australasian history. A string section surrounds every moment on the record, but it’s never the stable bollard supporting shonky songwriting ala The Whitlam’s nadir ‘Love This City’. Instead, it’s just the final touches on perfectly realised songs, rendering them nothing short of epic.

In a year where most popular Australian music oscillated wildly between trenchant dance revivalism and brutish primitivism, Blue Atlas is a welcome respite. It’s an exceptional collection of classic songs crafted by the underappreciated leader of a perennial gang of “losers” (Melbourne’s Icecream Hands).

There’s no better soundtrack of hope to close 2008.

by JP Hammond

www.messandnoise.com

Hey soul people,

I’ve just returned from seeing the Wonderful One with my youngest son and his best mate Eli at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. What a great, magical, joyous show!

I had actually forgotten how many hits Stevie Wonder had – he tried to fit them all into a medley but they wouldn’t all fit! Still, I heard every song I was really dying to hear and some cool new ones, too.

A long time ago, when I was a young mama and my son was 4 years old, he and I used to have a dance party everyday while we waited for his older brother to return home from school . It was our time. We’d just dance like maniacs for a half hour and Stevie always brought us the funk, the soul and the love, man, the love.

Tonight we both jumped up at exactly the same moment during the opening notes of ‘Higher Ground’ and for a little while, it felt like we were the only people in that arena, dancing side by side, my 4 year old in an almost grown up man’s body, rockin’ like nobody’s business.

It was superb.

I hear there are tickets available to tonight’s show and if you can go I would strongly recommend getting yourself to Rod Laver Arena.

I’m so glad we went to see the man – what a lotta heart and a lotta soul he puts into a show – and lordee, he still does bring the funk!

Amen, Stevie!

Numanoids … the wait is finally over …

Civil Society proudly present
Gary Numan

“the godfather of electro” BBC
“easily rivals the Reznors or Mansons of this world for dark textures and introspective anguish.” Contact Music

In 2009 Gary Numan will bring his full UK light show and electrifying live performance to Australia playing songs from his entire career from Replicas, The Pleasure Principle and Telekon through to Pure and Jagged. It will be only his second ever tour of Australia, his first being way back in May 1980, but as anyone who has seen him live recently will attest, it may be 30 years on but he’s got more energy than bands half his age and he is still at his elemental and exploratory best, revitalized and recaptured, and importantly, rewriting his reborn future.

Crafting seminal tracks like Are ‘Friends’ Electric? and Cars, Gary Numan ushered in a new era. His unique style captivated and inspired a legion of ‘Numanoids’. The sound of Gary Numan might not have been as he spent the early part of 1970’s absorbed by the energy of punk music. It was only by accident that Numan stumbled upon his electronic sound following a chance encounter with a Mini Moog synthesizer left behind in a studio. The result of this would not only drastically change the sound of his band Tubeway Army but also have ramifications still being felt through electronic music to this day. In 1979 Tubeway Army released Are ‘Friends’ Electric? which topped the U.K charts and sent their Replicas album to number 1? The album also featured Down in the Park, now covered by the Foo Fighters and Marilyn Manson. The release of The Pleasure Principle in late 1979 marked the first actual album release by Gary Numan and spawned the international hit Cars. The release of the Telekon album in 1980 is considered the third of the Holy Trinity creating a “world populated with devotees as diverse as Basement Jaxx and Front 242” (Music OMH)

The weight of Gary Numan’s pioneering sounds are still felt today and his work continues to influence contemporary artists with Nine Inch Nails, Prodigy, Marilyn Manson, Smashing Pumpkins, Fear Factory and many, many more all citing Numan as a huge inspiration. Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor went even further and admitted to listening to Telekon every day while recording his debut, Pretty Hate Machine. Elsewhere his ground breaking electronic sound has been recognized by artists as diverse as the Basement Jaxx (Where’s Your Head At? samples M.E), Sugarbabes (Freak like Me samples Are ‘Friends’ Electric?), Armand Van Helden (Koochy samples Cars) and Plump DJs (Numan contributed the vocals for their track Pray for You). He has even recently been ‘immortalized’, if you will, by The Mighty Boosh with constant references to his work and even some guest appearances by the man himself.

No nostalgia act, Numan is ever-reinventing himself and continues to record and perform live. His 1997 album Exile marked a distinct return to form and served as a good warm up for the 2000 album Pure which prompted reviews like “Gary Numan’s richest, most powerful and most aggressive work in years” from Pop Matters. His most recent album Jagged took things up yet another notch as he continued to hone his sound. Jagged is considered by fans and some critics to be amongst his finest and included the anthemic Haunted … is it possible for him to get any better?

Australian Tour.
March 2009.

Monday 2nd
BRISBANE. The Tivoli. 52 Costin Street, Fortitude Valley.
Tickets from Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au

Thursday 5th
SYDNEY. Enmore Theatre . 118-132 Enmore Road, Enmore.
Tickets from Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au

Saturday 7th
MELBOURNE. The Forum. Corner of Russell and Flinders Street, Melbourne.
Tickets from Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au

Tickets for all shows on sale 9am Friday 10th October

Watch:
Down in the Park (live 2006)
Haunted

Links:
www.civilsociety.com.au
www.myspace.com/civilsocietytouring
www.numan.co.uk
www.myspace.com/garynuman

Releases:
Replicas (1979) (as Tubeway Army)
The Pleasure Principle (1979)
Telekon (1980)
Dance (1981)
I, Assassin (1982)
Warriors (1983)
Beserker (1984)
The Fury (1985)
Strange Charm (1986)
Metal Rhythm (1988)
Outland (1991)
Machine + Soul (1992)
Sacrifice (1994)
Exile (1997)
Pure (2000)
Jagged (2006)

Further information, interviews, publicity etc:
Karen Conrad
kcpublicity@optusnet.com.au

To my fellow Americans and Australians,

As a an American born and newly minted Australian citizen, I apologise to you all for the ineptness of my birth country when it comes to choosing leadership, because it affects all of us around the world and also here in my new homeland.

I’m sorry that Americans don’t vote.

I don’t know why they don’t. God, we dumped tea in the Boston Harbor once to insure our rights to representation and now we can’t be bothered to get to our neighborhood polling places. Beats the hell out of me why we can’t do this once every four years.

I’m sorry that when the people of my former homeland do bother to vote they elect leaders like George Bush, Jr and Dick Cheney.

I am utterly mortified at the prospect of Sarah Palin following Dubya into the White House. Surely a case of ‘Dumb and Dumber?’ Only it isn’t really very funny, is it?

Having watched this election with great anticipation and hoping against hope for a big turnaround, it is disheartening indeed when the media in the US focus on such things as Palin’s wardrobe, hairstyle and mannerisms instead of her very substandard performance at the Vice Presidential debate. Opinion is mixed as to whether she came off as looking pretty good in the debate or just surviving the debate, because the bar was set so low for her.

It is embarrassing and insulting to me (and it should be to every female particularly) that she actually WINKED at the camera during the debate like some cheap hooker when she made her cutesy “folksy” and completely irrelevant answers. How astonishingly unprofessional! No male candidate from either side of the political track would have gotten away with that excepting the late Ronald Reagan, who defied all expectations for fluffiness during both of his presidential campaigns.

And it may be worth mentioning that Palin is worth a couple of million dollars and eats moose burgers. This is not the quintessential American experience, no matter how ‘Joe Sixpack’ or ‘Hockey Mom’ she claims to be. Maverick? Perhaps in personal lifestyle, but not politically unless you count someone who believes that men and dinosaurs existed on this planet during the same time period, that Climate Change is not man-made and that book banning in public libraries is typical Maverick behavior.

Palin’s Democratic opponent Joe Biden was unable to question her fairly or even respond effectively to her incorrect answers partly because of the rules of the debate, but mainly for fear of looking like a sexist or a man who bullies women. This is obvious reverse sexism and hobbled Biden severely during the debate. I’m suprised the Republican party didn’t have Palin on stage in a swim suit draped in her Miss Alaska beauty pageant sash, or surrounded by photos of her 5 children on the lectern to accompany her apple pie, mumsy stance and remind viewers that she is indeed a mother, in addition to being a bit of a hottie.

Would McCain’s running mate or McCain himself have been so gentle with Hillary Clinton? I think not, and Hillary wouldn’t have expected it. Hillary would have been able to actually give intelligent and thoughtful answer the questions posed based on her experiences. Palin clearly has no such resources to draw on, as evidenced by her now infamous and cringe worthy answers to Katie Couric’s light weight questions in what was surely the most entertaining political interview of the campaign as yet.

McCain chose Palin because he thought maybe he could persuade American women (the most misunderstood and powerful voting block in the US) that the Republican Party is the women’s party of the new millenium. What an insult to all women!

It looks a bit silly from the outside, it’s almost like McCain’s advisers said, “Ok, who’s got a womb and is conservative? It doesn’t matter if she’s not qualified. And for Chrissake make sure she supports The Bush Doctrine, The War in Iraq and overturning Roe-vs-Wade. No IQ testing necessary, we’ll tell her what to say.” And Sarah Palin was the best they could do. Never mind that she didn’t know what the Bush Doctrine is. And never mind that she can’t name the newspapers she reads. What a pity for us all.

John McCain’s campaign managers have now put Palin on the offence as the one who will be making the most pointed attacks on Obama’s character and his record as a public official. This is particularly cynical and shrewd, as Obama’s campaign has stated from the beginning that they will run an even handed and positive campaign, and even if they do digress into some mud slinging as the election date draws nearer, they surely will not want to look as if they’re attacking a woman.

In my heart of hearts, I don’t know if 50-70 year old Americans will go into the polling booth and vote for a black man. I hope they will. But I’m afraid of all of the years of divisive campaigning and black hating and baiting in America.

Racism runs deep where I’m from, like a bad polluted river. Hopefully the new generation of voters can row against that toxic current.

I choose to hope that Obama and Biden will win on merit and on the desire Americans have for change. I want to believe this will be the year for change…but then I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that George Bush and Dick Cheney would be elected, the first time with a bit of flimflam and trickery, the second time legitimately right after 911 when they exploited a nations fears for their own twisted agendas. But never mind the reason, they still got elected, didn’t they?

We’re all still paying for that.

And the result of that election has made the world a much more dangerous place and has ruined the America of my youth, the one that still lives in my imagination.

I hope I can find that America again one day and I hope it will exist again. Trust me. people. it wasn’t always a place that scorned new ideas and intelligent debate.

I wish to hell I could figure out when it became ok to be stupid and overtly populist in America. I hate to speak on behalf of dead people that I haven’t met, but having done some reading, I think that George Washington, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr and Benjamin Franklin are probably rolling in their collective graves to see what passes for political debate in my former homeland.

These people came from all sides of the political divide, the common factor was intelligence and a willingness to find workable solutions.

Obama/Biden ‘08, PLEASE.

Karen Conrad

WON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN – THE WHO

We’ll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the foe, that’s all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain’t changed
‘Cause the banners, they all flown in the next war

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
No, no!

I’ll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I’ll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

There’s nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
No, no!

Then of course, the finale grand rap up of the song is “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

Which would be business as usual in Washington D.C.

But I think not if we get Obama in. Hell, I hope not.

Here’s hoping for something better for all of us.

Hey Music Lovers,

Mental As Anything will be bringing their old school musical mirth
and merriment to a string of gigs in VIC and NSW in October and early
November.

They’ll be playing all their hits and road testing new songs from their
upcoming new release ‘Tents Up!’

Thursday 30th October – Wellers of Kangaroo Ground
150 Eltham Yarra-Glen Rd, Kangaroo Ground
Dinner & Show $84, Show only Tix $35
Doors 6.30 for Dinner, 8.00 Show Only
Tix on (03) 9712 0266

Friday 31st October – The Greyhound Hotel
1 Brighton Rd, St Kilda
Doors 8pm, Tix are $25 on the door
or online through moshtix at www.moshtix.com.au.

Saturday 1st November – Barwon Heads Hotel
1 Bridge Rd, Barwon Heads
Tix are $25 presale or $30 at the door
Tix on (03) 5254 2201

Sunday 2nd November – Rye Hotel
2415 Pt Nepean Rd, Rye
Tix are $30 + BF
Tix at the door or by phone on (03) 5985 2277

Monday 3rd November – Mulwala Ski Club
Melbourne Street, Mulwala NSW
Free Entry
Show from 9.30 in the Main Lounge
No bookings – first in best dressed
Further info on (03) 5744 1888