Culture

  • PAX Australia and Geekplate present the First Annual Foodfight

    Hosted by Geekplate creator Tristan Lutze, the First Annual Foodfight at PAXAus 2015 featured guests including Eve Beauregard on Periscope and pizza duty, Good Game’s Stephanie “Hex” Bendixsen with the healthiest portion of the show, Tripod’s Scod spicing things up with a pasta dish, and Kotaku’s Mark Serrels getting back to basics with his trademark carbs.…

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  • Broken Man

    [stag_intro]If I’m being completely honest, I came really late to loving country and bluegrass.[/stag_intro] [stag_dropcap font_size=”50px” style=”normal”]I[/stag_dropcap] liked guitar-heavy singer-songwriter types, and loved me some folk, but it took a while of slow genre-absorption before I realised that – indeed – I kinda liked country. Of course, not all country, but that whole batch of music…

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  • Adaptation

    [stag_intro]Adaptations, the new EP coming out from indie outfit The Animators, is a tight quartet of alt-rock tracks.[/stag_intro] The Animators have been building a following since 2009, from a kickstart providing the soundtrack for a documentary film, through to supporting acts like Bonjah and winning over Triple J audiences. Adaptations takes four tracks from front…

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  • Lincoln Le Fevre at the John Curtain

    With Lincoln Le Fevre (say it like “Fever” you ignorant bastard. FULL DISCLOSURE: I SAID IT LIKE “FEV” WITH AN AWFUL ACCENT UNTIL POLITELY CORRECTED), on stage at the John Curtin, you can trace a few things back to the crystal clear purity of the Tasmanian waters from which he sprang: An immaculate beard, fully legitimate…

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  • Jumping on the Highwire

    [stag_intro]I saw the Perch Creek Family Jugband at the Melbourne Recital Centre once. The band’s fun persona was a bit odd plopped into the MRC’s more formal auditorium (and more staid audience), but I really enjoyed the band’s relaxed style and enjoyment of playing together, ignoring the brutal deception of one band member not actually…

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  • Kishi Bashi at the Northcote Social Club

    [stag_intro]We are all special, unique, intrinsically valuable snowflakes, however clearly some of us snowflakes have their neurons hacked together to handle complexity the rest of us can’t imagine. Kishi Bashi is clearly one of these magical fucking sprites.[/stag_intro] The setup couldn’t be simpler: one man, one violin and just a touch of dozens of pedals,…

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  • Declaration of Dependence

    Described in iTunes and other reviews variously as ‘lo-fi’, ‘autumnal’ and ‘chill-out’, Kings of Convenience was an accidental stumble-upon when wandering the by-ways of iTunes Genius suggestions.  A quick preview of a few tracks on Declaration of Dependence gave me the kind of things I’m clearly a sucker for: gentle guitar strums and fingerpicks, rolling…

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  • Seeing Things

    After seeing an NPR All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Concert video podcast with a taciturn Jakob Dylan, I poked around in iTunes and picked up Seeing Things, Dylan’s 2008 full-length album. Acoustic and mellow, the real feature item across the track list is Dylan’s voice – similarly unadorned to his father (no prizes for guessing whom), but with…

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  • The Schönberg Ensemble at the Melbourne International Arts Festival

    Friday’s concert by The Schönberg Ensemble was a surprising offering, showcasing the extraordinary technique, control and sense of adventure from this premier European group. Under the baton of founding conductor Reinbert de Leeuw, The Schönberg Ensemble has played halls and festivals across the globe for over 30 years, branching out beyond their eponymous Arnold Schönberg…

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  • Listen My Secret Fetish – four fetishes for solo clarinet

    You should probably be aware that Richard Haynes on clarinet is neither the clarinet that my grandfather loved in big bands, nor is it the exquisitely untalented clarinet I played in high school. Haynes is a superbly skilled musician and certainly takes clarinet beyond the less-than-cool aura I imbued it with in year 7. The…

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  • Brindabella

    A contemporary dance adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et La Bete) has a clear abundance of imagery and source material to draw from. BalletLab‘s Brindabella does a fine job of drawing together design, music, staging and dance into an intriguing whole. In three acts broadly tracing the concepts at hand (La Belle, l’Amour, Le…

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