Keyword results: Pop
The Beagle And The Dove
I've never been to Brisbane, but I wanna go. Everyone I've ever dealt with there has been super friendly, and judging from their perky, upbeat bands (The Grates, Operator Please), it must be all sunshine and fun times up north.
Bouncing into town with a van full of instruments is another blast of sunny Brissie disposition - The John Steel Singers.
Self-taught Magic from a Book, Je Suis Animal
Je Suis Animal took all the interesting subjects of their arts degree and spun them into an album. It's the cinema geek in-jokes told through the strings, wind and melodica-esque cameos that turn this happily Norwegian pop into something suited to a silent film score.
Self-taught Magic from a Book is Lost and Lonesome's fiftieth release and has the right balance of lyrical storytelling and dance-around-your-room juice.
Fort Nightly
It's official - white is the new black.
After Black Mountain, Black Angels, Black Dice, Black Keys, and Blackety Blackety Black Black (they're HUGE in Oslo), now we're into whites: White Williams, White Rainbow, White Stripes, Barry White, and your new favourite band - White Rabbits.
Coming atcha from NYC via Columbia Missouri (which they deserted a short two years ago), White Rabbits wield catchy, urgent indie pop ala The Walkmen or French Kicks, but mix in some second-wave ska and tango tinges.
On Two Sides
If a transition from mass-ear interest in New Wave guitar groups towards the synth and lo-fi undergrounds of yore has long been in the offing, only now does it seem at tipping point both at home and abroad.
Widespread exposure and acceptance of home recording auteurism has left young Heads hungrier for hard-sound experimentalism in pop than ever - pushing demands on new tunes excitingly high, far beyond textbook understandings of the New York / Manchester post-punk axis towards more cosmic strands in Kosmiche Musik, concrete sound, psychedelic punk and all manner of culturally dispossessed activity.
The Concretes, Hey Trouble
For a country of over 9 million people, Sweden certainly exports a lot of culture. Cheap Monday... Ingmar Bergman... IKEA... ABBA...
Another astounding export from the land of the blonde ski bunny are The Concretes. They make '60s radio pop akin to contemporaries Camera Obscura or The Clientele, mixing in a bit of Motown melodies and girl group harmonies to kick up the ante.
Trans Am
What:
Trans Am
Where:
The East Brunswick Club, 30 Lygon St, East Brunswick
When:
Sat Feb 9, door 8.30pm
How much:
$25
Description:
Like we did when we were seventeen, Trans Am have gone through their folky, ugly, poppy, psychedelic and political phases. They started thrashing out Bowie and Stravinsky covers on Casios in the early ‘90s and decided that music was okay. Now they are a three-piece band famous for tightrope walking synth-pop, rock and robotic video arcade game music.
Event: Bands
Stimulus: E
Billy Apple, Four Activities, 161 West 23rd Street, New York, 20 March 1971
Who is Billy Apple? A short, compulsory art class to follow.
Billy Apple was once Barrie Bates, born in Auckland, moved to London to study graphic design at the Royal College of Art, hanging out with David Hockney and the gang and generally becoming one of the pop generation. Graduated, changed his name to Billy Apple.
Random Entries:
Search our guide to Melbourne
Browse our guide to Melbourne by interest
Browse our guide to Melbourne by keyword
Melbourne Events Calendar
Select a date to see what's on in Melbourne
Browse our guide to Melbourne by weekly issue
Working