Wil Anderson.

The Comedy Festival 2010 has begun, and the first act we see is Wil Anderson with his Wilosophy show at the Classic.  This lanky, vegetarian, jandal-wearing guy may have become my favourite Australian with his opinions on letting stupid humans fall of the face of the earth (those who run to a beach when a tsunami warning is announced), stopping children from having so many rights (and “milkachinos”), anal bleaching (“if someone is judging you on the colour of your anus, they’re the asshole”), masturbation and what drugs to take as you reach certain age milestones.

Weekly Wrap: Fire & Smoke.

Short and sweet (unlike the actual week)… new photos added to various galleries, available for viewing here. ¶ Long live vinyl! Record store day took place on April 17th; see the official site. ¶ The world’s first street art disaster movie: Banksy’s movie starts screening over the next few weeks in a small number of theatres in the USA, hopefully a wider (worldwide?) release soon. ¶ Is anyone else worried about the increased number of natural disasters lately? Numerous earthquakes, Iceland’s volcanic eruptions cripple air travel across the UK (currently in it’s 4th consecutive day), and massive fireballs in the sky. Is the end near?

Musically: re-visiting Sven Weisemann’s Xine project.  Xine Rising is modern classical / ambient / house music to zone out to. ¶ Hollie Smith at Sale Street on Wednesday was an interesting event; read more here ¶ Looking forward to The Black Dog album “Music For Real Airports”.  Interactive artist Human have created the following teaser: (more…)

Perspective.

It’s funny how things can thrown into perspective so easily. Following a week where I continued to grow tired of waiting for answers, losing motivation and trying to untangle my own thoughts, it all becomes irrelevant when news of a family member passing away is delivered.

My Uncle Wayne, who I admittedly have very distant and vague memories of, was taken off life support on Friday 16th April (NZ).  Apparently his health had been deteriorating for some time, and was admitted to hospital where the situation turned bad quite quickly.  Once all close family members arrived, life support was suspended and he moved on.  All of my Aunties & Uncles on my Mothers side are in the UK, so (with the exception of 2) the last time I saw them was when I was 5 years old.  May he rest in peace.

Artistic Contrasts.

Hollie Smith, back on the road, showcasing “Humour and the Misfortune of others” at Sales St on Wednesday 14th April.  If I had to pick one word to describe it: contrast.

It’s well known by now that Humour is a massive departure from her debut in terms of mood and style.  Both are philisophical and show extraordinary depth and talent for someone of her age, but the cathartic and intense nature of Humour is a million miles away from the laid back Long Player. Contrast. (more…)

Weekly Wrap: Pop.

There are times where we simply don’t know.  You’d definitely like to know, and you think you know.  But reality is the type of bitch that feeds on this confidence and enjoys proving you wrong. She revels in it. Pop. One dream down, move on to the next one – right?  But what happens when the next dream you have is of you in an open green field, urinating (red, but not blood) into a big bucket for 2 long minutes while a butterfly mysteriously flies around in said bucket?

Googling a free dream interpretation of that didn’t work. The closest I got was finding out a bucket is “an open impression of oneself. An empty bucket may represent a false impression of oneself, or feelings of an empty life“. So if i’m pissing (again – red, but not blood) into this large bucket – what does that say about me?  And what the fuck is this butterfly doing here?   (more…)

Malcolm McLaren (1946-2010). RIP.

Where do you start with someone like Malcolm McLaren? Former manager of The Sex Pistols, Adam Ant, Bow Wow Wow; once married to Vivienne Westwood (the designer responsible for the shoes that floored Naomi Campbell); and musically he was involved in a wide range of styles, including punk, hip-hop, new wave, funk, electronic, disco and opera. (more…)

Missing you.

Crash Test.

We live in a world of information flashes and snippets. Twitter wants you to deliver your momentary story in under 140 characters. 30 second advertisements lose your attention. MP3’s are the standard music delivery format. Give me that song, download quickly, smallest file possible, fit more on my music device.
For those who aren’t aware of how MP3’s work: the music is compressed by essentially “removing” sound that you don’t (think) you hear.  Much in the same way that that was a thorough, accurate and complete explanation of the MP3 format, MP3’s deliver a thorough, accurate and complete representation of a properly produced piece of music.   If listening to a brand new vinyl record on a high-quality sound system is your peripheral vision, MP3’s are you stuck in a strangers low-light basement with blinders on.  You can still see, you just can’t see everything.

This is my long-winded way of telling you that Martin Buttrich’s debut album, “Crash Test”, is your aural peripheral vision… (more…)