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…
As per every Sunday, our little brunch crew heads out, bravely foraging where many hipsters have foraged before, to judge – and potentially hate – breakfast joints around Melbourne. In honour of CW’s imminent departure to warmer climes, our posse headed out to the Heide Museum of Modern Art to brunch at Cafe Vue and…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Lottery explores the old saying ‘be careful what you wish for…’ and shows a $9m division one lotto winnings split three ways, and into three acts. Each act follows the story of one of the major winners, and what effect three million dollars has on their lives. They’re uniformly punishing results in a variety of settings.…