Here are a few best ofs for the year for the Sydney music scene:
Best debut album Decoder Ring’s Decoder Ring.
Best newcomer Red Riders – although I only got to see them play once so I may have to take a closer look. But first impressions were great.
Best Local show Presets, Cut Copy and the Bumblebeez at Candy’s Apartment.
Best International show The Kills and The Hot Hot Heats at the Gaelic Club.
Best Festival Splendour in the Grass, Byron – admittedly I didn’t get to go to Big Day Out or Homebake!
Best new venue Candy’s Apartment followed closely by the Gaelic Club.
Best improvement to the scene FBi 94.5FM going to air!
I think (Amster) and I must have stumbled into the Land Where DJs Roam last night. We hopped over the Bang Gang @ Moulin Rouge, a new-ish Friday night at the Cross, and were delighted by wicked sets from Ajax, Dave Slade and the Funktrust DJs, and then Ajax again. Not only did these DJs hang around and dance (yes, they do dance!) instead of fucking off as soon as possible like they usually do, we were also joined throughout the night by the presence of the Sneaky Sounds System boys, Ilya, Tim Sea, Moneyshot and a few other DJs I recognise the faces of but not the names. Not that DJs are cool or anything…ahem.
Wicked night. Good price. Friendly party atmosphere. Awesome venue for electro (Amster and I had actually commented on how this place would be a fantastic venue for a party before this night started) although lack of air conditioning sucked. Be sure to go back on Friday 16th January when Damien Lazarus brings out his electro goodness (just in case you’re missing his performance at 2004 Leagues under the sea, Chinese Laundry NYE).
@ Hoey: I love all different sorts of popular music, but there are some more than others which I feel as much has been done in it that we possibly can do, eg. rock. But that still doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the bands of those genres. I mean I’m never going to see AC/DC in their height of infamy, so thank god I have Jet. And I’m not ever going to see Joy Divsion play so thank god for Interpol. So I can still enjoy them, even though it doesn’t make me think wow, this is amazing, this is where it’s happening, this is new, exciting and really interesting.
So where is all the exciting stuff? Probably hip hop, electronic music and fusion sounds. Which is something J Walker, headman of Machine Translations recognises. Combining indie rock with a touch of electronica may not guarantee good music but it is the chance to take a genre which has arguably had its hey day from a new approach and discover it is very much a style which has something to offer. By combining the Dylan-esque softness and emotion of Walker’s voice with a real sense of space, place and texture that carefully employed samples provides, as well as a buildup of tension and drama with a number of varying sonic guitar sounds, Machine Translations manages to make some music that is both exciting and full of soul.
OK, seeing as there’s only a couple weeks of 2003 left thought I’d start doing a wrap up of the year (and that’s my year). I’ll start with a nice easy one: Pop culture. And when I say pop culture I mean everything but music because that needs a whole category itself and I’ll stick it in the music section.
Anyways, TV wise there was a few goodies like The Sopranos, 6 Feet Under, Queer As Folk for my weekly dosage of man on man action, CNNNN for some *gasp* decent Aussie comedy, wish I’d seen more episodes of The Office and The Forsyte Saga. Films? To be honest nothing really blew me dead but notable mentions to Morvern Callar, 24 Hour Party People and Finding Nemo. Sporting events? Can’t go past the Rugby can you? Although the Davis Cup would give em a run for their money. Fashion wise I embraced the 80s, my favourite two tops I bought for my birthday being baggy and stripy and just lovely. Radio? Yay for FBi! Bookwise I began to get into modern fiction and enjoyed The Life of Pi, Cloudstreet and White Teeth. Webwise I started blogging, ITM continued to take over the Australian dance scene and you can spot me writing all over a few different music sites.
PS. I passed all my subjects for the semester – phew!
@ Candy’s: Big it up to Deepchild, Meem, Entropic, Hermitude, Somatik, Simon Calwell, 2up and Bentley! Yes I did feel the need to list every single one of the acts I saw because each was superb. I love how Candy’s so successfully mars live acts with DJs. Its a great little club.
Another great club is Globe. Most of the matured or experienced clubbers (read anyone who’s clubbed for 2-5 years) I talk to have “history” with Globe. We all seem to give birth to our clubbing lives there. Great music. Great parties. The place holds a nostalgic little space in most of Sydney clubbers’ hearts. So its with very sad news that I read of a (apparently well backed) rumour from ITM that as of Dec 21st (after the last event, Dec 20th Kaskade) it will no longer be.
Damn the bureaucracy!
