Attention Melbourne!

(not to hijack the thread or anything, but:

there's a Tugboat gig on at the Old Bar on friday the 23rd if anyone wants to make a big week of it!)

A unique mix indeed... sounds difficult!

Why o why didnt I take a week off here instead of at xmas *sobs*

i guess I should call you, or visit you in Brunwick, or something. Hmm, maybe tonight...

37s145e
coming soon...

(lazy bastard) :-)

Still, your project sounds interesting. Good luck.

no offense, but either you're taking the piss or you're insane.

[insert jokes here]

Still...

urge to get cranky rising

(and my "great pity" post was a defence of yr not having fucking hip hop clubs jim.)

fucker

i wish i was on holidays *sob*

if i didn't have a mortgage i'd be doing that right now

can't you rent yer place out?

I still hope to make it Weds, but I had forgotten I had a friend's birthday dinner to also attend at some hippy veg restaurant in Fitzroy that I forget the name of (lentil as anything or veg out or something fuck knows). If not too full/tired after that I'll see if I can swing by.

oh yeah, nice one Tim. And Wednesdays at Honktonks is pretty good too (er, despite the venue.)

For the record, Melbourne does have some interesting developments in soundart that I actually think are kind of unique. The Synaesthesia axis that seems to be developing w/ Liquid Architecture, What is Music? (national, I know but still has the *Best* coverage here), etc. - see the recent feature in the WIRE for a very brief overview. Yes, much of this does develop out of the state funding, but is very independently minded in addition.

Since you've finished the PhD though. Melbourne has also MANY bars that have opened in the city centre with the relaxing of the licensing regulations. There are a lot venues like loop that offer space for small performances beyond 'progressive djs and pills'.

In any case, the prog DJ's centered around DMC are moving into microhouse anyway and the techno scene w/ Will E Tell and Wet Music is kind of completely dead now.

Almost any city is going to look like 'an overgrown Adelaide' compared to NYC, btw. It's a ridiculous point of comparison!

And apparently everyone has been copying 'NYC fashion' of late, part of a global trend that New York types seem to want to lay ownership on - see, 80's revivalism and Larry T?

How can you compare a city like Melbourne to NYC (which is two orders of magnitude smaller) without citing minority sectors? That's the whole point, isn't it?

World doesnt begin and end with dance club type clubs, either. If that alone is a measure of culture then I don't wanna bother with NYC.

Apparently, the crew around Vicious Vinyl are really getting into it especially following the release of Mayer's Fabric Mix (which was distributed by DMC). There's that night Elevation@Altitude, that I haven't been to yet (nor am I likely to go), that is supposed to be more micro orientated. Don't expect it to be completely free of the proggy sound though.

I had a chat to the staff at DMC about three weeks ago - there's a couple of other nights they mentioned that I've forgotten the names of now. I'm not especially into the progressive sound anyway, but I found that it was an interesting/encouraging development.

That guy behind that counter positively glowed when speaking of Alcachofa...

And by the way, Melbourne's soundart/experimental etc scene is growing rapidly, and some say that is actually comparable to NYC in that respect, because of the number of available venues and the number of people interested. You walk around the CBD and there are heaps of art spaces, such as Medium, the Bus Gallery, Market Lane (forgotten the name of that one) and others that regularly hold curated nights of sound and other avant shite. And plus, there is no place in NYC like Synaesthesia.

And another thing! Whitehouse, Merzbow and Keiji Haino's Fushitsusha are coming next month, and then Tony Conrad in June, as well as a large host of others. So yea!

really?!

I find that really, really difficult to believe. I would've thought something like that must exist. Then again, you've been to NYC more recently than I.

Also I want to thank everyone that came along on Wednesday. It was a pretty good night, despite the large amounts of stress I was under. (I think my performance suffered because of it, unfortunately.)

NOONDAY UNDERGROUND (UK) present SURFACE NOISE @ PHOENIX, THURSDAYS

Noonday Underground bring a taste of their London club night to Melbourne, playing records Thursdays at Phoenix, 82 Flinders St, City.

Noonday Underground brought you their debut long player ‘Self Assembly’ in 2002 with its radio friendly cut ‘London’, and followed it merely months later with the sublime ‘Surface Noise’. Featuring guest contributions from the likes of the legendary Paul Weller and Luka (Playgroup) “Surface Noise’ touched on elements of soul, jazz and hip hop, collaged together in an altogether inspired way.

The ‘Surface Noise’ nights with live bands and guest DJs was a popular Thursday night thing to do last year in east London. Noonday Underground look forward to giving Melbourne a little taste of the action.

Thursday 29th January – basically 12”s 10:30pm – 12:00am
Thursday 5th February – basically 7”s 10:30pm – 12:00am
Thursday 12th February – basically Beatles with bits in-between 10:30pm – 12:00am

Enjoy three Thursdays free at Phoenix. Noonday Underground look forward to making your acquaintance then.

hmmm....There probably isn't!

Synaesthesia was in a list of the top five record stores in the the world in The Face a couple of months ago with Amoeba and Rough Trade (and.... I can't remember the others!)

'twas what i was about to mention. The only problem was, and the reason why Mark didn't really give a shit, was that anybody who walks through his door probably wouldn't touch The Face magazine if their life depended on it - especially considering the fact that an extreme close-up of Beyonce was on the front cover.

And yes, there IS no place in New York like Synaesthesia - and like you all, i also found it really, really difficult to believe. But its true. And not just the store, i'm talking about the size of the local scene! 50 years ago you have guys like Lamonte Young droning for 12 hours with Fluxus, and the 'New York School' jumping from loft to loft, and now the legacy of it all is comparable to a little town like Melbourne! And that doesn't even mean its that bad, it just means that, like we've all been trying to tell you, Melbourne is definately something, even if we don't have any really good hiphop clubs.

Tonight only:
The return of our fair city's first and best grime show. Midnight - 2am, 90.7 SYN FM

featuring:
The grand exclusive premiere of the mindblowing NEW DIZZEE RASCAL ALBUM!
plus heaps more new grime, including Target's Aim High Presents Vol. 1 mixtape, and Roll Deep's Creeper mixtape.

and the exciting debut of Melbourne first grime crew!

Call me up!

I can't remember if we've talked about this or not, Keith, but there were a bunch of guys who had a Grime night on Chapel St. for a few months earlier this year where they'd play 8 bars and get up on the mic and recycle Beastie Boys rhymes circa Licence to Ill (well, I remember someone doing Paul Revere over "Ho" anyway....)

Thanks!

Zebra mag? Guyze? Im out of the loop.