BATTLES

Anyone who witnessed NYC group Battles at the Big Day Out in 2008, at their sold-out Sydney Festival Becks Bar show in the same year, or at either of their sold-out Sydney Opera House Opera Theatre shows for the inaugural Brian Eno curated Luminous (nee Vivid) festival in 2009 will testify to their greatness as a live act. The former four-piece (now a three piece) are like a force of nature, rhythmically compelling and visually stimulating using both their skill as musicians and the technology available to them to create a sound and presentation of all their own invention.

There are few greater privileges than to see a band like Battles in a setting like the Opera House. They’re a sonic volcano that erupts with every note they play. In short: It was fucking incredible. – Luminous review – Faster Louder 2009

And while the band no longer features sometime frontman Ty Braxton they do still retain core-members Ian Williams (guitar, keyboards, electronics), guitarist, bassist, programmer Dave Konopka, and drummer and cult-hero John Stanier, a member of US group super-group Tomahawk and drummer for Australia’s premier hard-rock band The Mark Of Cain.

A man revered by many, he takes centre stage, sweating through his white button-up shirt as he pounds at his miniscule drum kit, destroying drumstick after drumstick like a golfer stuck in a deep sand bunker. The well-documented two-metre high cymbal stood above the band like a sunflower, yet was not spared in Stainer’s constant barrage of beats. The man is by every definition more drum kit than human. – Luminous review – Faster Louder 2009

Battles return to Australia in 2012 to perform at all six Big Day Out Festivals and for headline appearances in Sydney and Melbourne. These will be the band’s first Australian appearances since 2009 and the first since the release earlier this year of their second album Gloss Drop, a ten-track odyssey that includes cameo performances from electronic pioneer Gary Numan, Blonde Redhead vocalist Kazu Makino and underground dance music hero Matias Aguayo.

Gloss Drop is the most ride-the-groove record Battles have ever made, owing plenty to both the straight-forwardness of house and rock and the crazed syncopations of soca and dancehall. And considering Battles are possibly the tightest man-machine unit going now that LCD Soundsystem are dead, you can imagine how hot these grooves burn, and how meticulously they’re constructed – their most audacious attempt yet to make the line between “programmed” and “played” completely invisible.. – Pitchfork review – 2011

Don’t miss Battles live this January.

Tickets for both shows are on-sale November 28th.

J MASCIS – SEVERAL SHADES OF HUH?

Folk-rock troubadour J Mascis makes his long awaited solo-acoustic tour appearance this summer appearing at The Falls Festivals in Marion Bay and Lorne and for a series of headline shows along the East Coast.

Mascis has toured Australia in solo mode before of course, both as a headliner and as support to Sonic Youth, but this tour is the first to feature J and an acoustic guitar and comes off the back of his impressive debut solo-acoustic release and his first for Sub Pop, Several Shades of Why.

After two decades of creating influential music, the fact that this astonishing album features some of his best songs to date makes this as important as it is unfalteringly beautiful. – KERRANG

The result is a beautifully fragile acoustic record that positions him as the missing link between Kurt Cobain and Johnny Cash. – ROCK SOUND

And though the electric may have been swapped for an acoustic the intensity and even the decibel levels remain intact (relatively) as does Mascis’ ability to tear shards out of his instrument whether it be hollow or solid bodied.

Mascis opened with “The Wagon,” a stand-out track from Dinosaur Jr.’s iconic 1991 major label debut, “Green Mind,” a bone to the many long-time Dino fans in the packed Hi-Dive, the perfect setting for his soul-baring set. Much of the performance was comprised of Mascis laying down several-minute loops and then playing over his own intricate leads. I’ve seen other guitarists use this method of “playing with themselves,” but none as impressively as this. Mascis created something complex and spontaneous; his guitar lines were not simple rhythm parts, but melodic lines for him to weave intricate harmonies atop. – REVERB

In classic Dinosaur Jr fashion, there was plenty of the “quiet loud quiet” dynamic to Mascis’ set: his wired-up Gibson easily parlayed between jangly acoustic lines and screaming electric solos. – REVERB

Check-out the fabulously freaky videos for Listen to Me and Is it Done from Several Shades of Why and don’t miss J Mascis, live, this January.

All headlines shows on sale Monday 17th October.

BLACK JOE LEWIS & THE HONEYBEARS – STANDING ON THE VERGE OF GETTIN’ IT ON!

“Black Joe Lewis was the Friday highlight. They were probably booked off their live rep, and the astonishing spectacle of the slight Joe screaming curse words like a modern day Howlin’ Wolf was a sight to behold. With a swaying Honey Bears horn section (swaying!) and a tinny, but still brutal, double-guitar attack, any “modern-day pastiche” fears were put to rest with the call-and-response on ‘It’s Alright’ getting louder as it went on. A raucous ‘Booty City’ (check it here at Coachella) followed, featuring the band screaming together into the one mic as Black Joe stretched his wail to breaking point — they were that good.”  The Vine (Splendour in the Grass 2011)

“A lengthy walk to GW McLennan for Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears proves totally worth it as the Austin, Texas combo virtually breathe fiery, feisty rock & soul. “This lot would have easily killed at Bluesfest” is the thought going through many heads – including ours – as many, many more feet keep dancing to the horn-drenched stompers.” AAABackstage.com

Having conquered Splendour in the Grass, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears return to Australia for an encore presentation performing at the request of Golden Plains Festival and for headline shows in Sydney & Melbourne. Catch a glimpse of what to expect via an appearance earlier this year on the David Letterman show

“I don’t know what to say – let’s have that every night!” – David Letterman 

Formed in Austin, Texas in 2007, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears quickly built a formidable live reputation leading to opening slots with all manner of acts from Spoon to the New York Dolls before the launch of their debut-album Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is, in 2009. Taking cues from Parliament-Funkadelic, Howlin’ Wolf, The Stooges, James Brown – even Australia’s Saints – BJL&TH delivered in spades. Their first visit to Australia came soon after in January 2010 appearing three times for the Sydney Festival as well as an appearance at the MoNA/FOMA Arts Festival in Hobart. A new album, Scandalous – featuring Living in the Jungle – was released early in 2011 and was followed by a much-talked-about series of performances at SXSW that lead to the invitation to Splendour in the Grass, and now… here they are again!

“It was Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears who were Splendour’s most unexpected triumph. Their modernised take on old school funk and blues set them apart from the 2004 hype bands which built the crux of the line-up’s remainder. With simple, measured grooves their spine, the Honeybears complemented the broken moan of Joe Lewis to perfection; the mingling of Matt Strmiska’s solos making for one of the festival’s early highlights.”  Sound Republic

Don’t miss the surprise highlight of Splendour 2011, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, touring the Australian East Coast this December.

NEWS FLASH! Black Joe Lewis will appear on national TV Rockwiz Saturday 15th October!

Tickets for all shows are on-sale Monday 17th October

DEAN WAREHAM plays GALAXIE 500

Following the re-release of Galaxie 500’s three classic albums on Domino Records last year, former G-500 frontman and guitarist, Dean Wareham, set out on tour playing a set of all-Galaxie 500 material with a three-piece band featuring his wife Britta Phillips (Luna, Belltower) on bass and drummer Anthony Lamarca.

Wareham’s voice is as haunting and inviting as it was over 20 years ago, and his guitar work alone is worth the price of admission. One of the benefits of seeing Wareham up close is getting a look at his expressive non-expression, where the muscles in his face are relieved of duty, eyelids refusing to come down, as he loses himself in each song. All the while cranking out gorgeous solos. – Heaven is Loud August 2010

Dean Wareham was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1963 and lived in Wellington and in Sydney, Australia, before moving to New York City in 1977. Galaxie 500, formed in Boston in 1986 and recorded three studio albums — Today, On Fire and This Is Our Music — for Rough Trade. They met with much acclaim in their short time together but dissolved in 1991.

When new bands play guitar music heavy on reverb and slow in tempo- a combination that drapes tunes in a sublimely druggy dream-pop haze – I can be slow to embrace them. It’s not that there isn’t plenty of good music in this vein being made. It’s that one band, 20 years ago, did this sound so well with so much personality, theyt set a difficult standard for newcomers to meet. – Pitchfork 2010.

And now Dean Wareham and his three piece band are bringing the music of Galaxie 500 to Australia for the very first time performing shows in Sydney and Melbourne before embarking on a three show run in his native New Zealand.

They open with the understated brilliance of ‘Flowers’ and it’s hard not to smile as Dean sings, “…baby, you’re a lunatic…” Dean introduces ‘Strange’ as a song about twinkies, they play ‘Snowstorm’ and my heart melts. These songs have soundtracked many a solitary moment, such is the personal nature of these tender compositions but tonight these songs are for everyone. They play ‘Tugboat’, one of the finest songs ever written and it’s worth the entry fee alone. This is our music. – Soundlab Feb 2011

And joining Dean Wareham for the Australian shows are fellow astral-planers, Sand Pebbles, proud owners of a new album, Dark Magic – their fifth – that features guest spots from Dean Wareham and Britt Phillips as well as Death in Vegas’ TIm Holmes.

Don’t miss Dean Wareham performing the music of Galaxie 500 with special guests Sand Pebbles. Tickets for both Australian shows go on-sale Friday 26th August.

“Galaxie 500 became bona fide treasures of indie rock.” – Mojo

“Galaxie 500 purred while others shouted.” – Chris Roberts

“One of the era’s best bands” – Byron Coley

THE MOFFS

Loveable ex-moptops The Moffs will reunite in 2011 to perform the hits of 1985. The original line-up of Tom, Smiley, Alan and Nick will dust off the cravats to bring an evening of psychedelic and British blues influenced classics. From the timelessness of indie-chart topping single Another Day in the Sun (recently featured on TV show Spirited) to the garage jams of Tombstone, to any of the many cover versions The Moffs explored, expect to be transported back to a Sunday afternoon at the Strawberry Hills Hotel in Surry Hills in 1985 – except you’ll be in Newtown and upstairs at the Sandringham Hotel in 2011… Support comes from Geelong’s freaky Frownin’ Clouds which makes this a must for those who like to trip…

The Moffs
The Frowning Clouds
Friday 23rd September: Sandringham Hotel, Newtown

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THE HUMMINGBIRDS

Following a powerhouse comeback at the 2011 Big Day Out, The Hummingbirds reunite once more for this one-off Sydney headline appearance. Expect to hear the hits & more including anthemic singles Blush and Alimony from their 1990 debut album loveBuzz, recently voted into the 100 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time sharing space with such disparate acts as the The Loved Ones, Hoodoo Gurus, InXS, AC/DC and Kylie Minogue. A major achievement for a band who once called Darlinghurst’s tiny Palace Hotel their second home. A major event that will be sure to sell very quickly.

The Hummingbirds
The Laurels & Where’s Jerome?
Saturday 17th September: Sydney University Manning Bar

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