...off to a Flying Start since Sunday 15th August 2010

...off to a Flying Start since Sunday 15th August 2010

Thursday, June 19, 2014

HORSE MANIA @Tape Projects, ALbert's Fest Sunday 8th June 2014

Albert's Fest post number two; Horse Mania.
 'Twas the end of the night, time for a cup of hot milo and a bedtime story. This band of kindly mothering lads consists of Tasmanians Simon Hanselmann and Karl von Bamberger, this may be their first Uncle Melby show and maybe it will be their only Uncle Melby show. Who knows-I certainly don't but I'll be asking questions later.
 Unfortunately I missed the first five or so minutes of this performance so the recording is only one hour and thirteen minutes long. It doesn't matter!
 Center stage sitting at a table with lamp the duo rustled casiotone keyboards, bits of paper, microphones, perhaps a dictaphone and audience suggestions(or occasional insults). I had a great time and had a few things to say of which I have no recollection of as I was a bit "sleepy". No worries, these Tasmanians come from a rich heritage of not giving a fuck and allowing the audience to be fully ackwnowledged within their performance. I like their vibe!
 Horse Mania's conversationalist approach reminded me of many a night spent drinking wine and smoking rosemary laced rollies in Karl's almost windowless den of a flat in Northcote. He had a nickname for his house of which I am not sure if many people will find funny(his "r__pe den") and I thought it smelled of some deathly drug overdose and who knows what the bottle of olive oil was doing in his bedroom.
  Musically I don't remember much but banter with seemingly spontaneous casiotone driven downsided pop. I may be totally off course with this memory but I do positively remember seeing Karl take a photo or two. When I listen back to this recording I suppose it'll all come flooding back and I'll probabably regret what I thought at the time were witty heckles....
 Give a root and give it a toot!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

AESTHETICS:@ Northcote Social Club,Melby, 9th June 2014

If this was in New Zealand you could possibly call it "Sickness Benefit Wave". The wave isn't very big 'cos there's not much money in it because that asset stripper forex genie arsehole John Key is going about dismantling as much social welfare as he can stick his eagle beaked nose into.....anyhow I'm just some baldy man intellectual with a penchant for rock and a venue to vent...BLAH,blat,blomb....it's probably best not to be a dick and try to categorise this music then I 'spose; 'twas just trying to be witty!
  I missed most of the other bands unfortunately and also on purpose-I really can't stand post-hardcore art jam music(what's the point in screaming and playing high energy punk beats when the message doesn't cut through-seemed like Dick Angst Rock to me). The Dinosaur Jr sounding group sounded ok though but it's way too backwards looking for an old fuck...
 Well, the Aesthetics have had a few line-ups over the years and have an underground following throughout the Land of the Long White (c)Loud. I even filled in for a while on drums here in friendly uncle Melby Town, I helped pay the rent on a Brunswick talent quest rehearsal space for a few months and it was generally a tense kind of fun. Rock has gotta keep rolling and I was rolled out!
Anyhow these ex-sheepfuckers provide what Uncle Melby needs-something to get fucked-up on and spill wine on the carpet to. Edie plays a solid bass groove and supports Matt on his sonic outings via her feedback drone potent and new member Jeremy's drums keep consistent throughout.
I must say I wasn't blown away by most of this set as I have heard it many times before and am not surprised by these old rock moves but the last track entitled "Better Dead Than Red" blew my fist into the air a couple of times and moved me from sarcastic bird flipping into spine-tingling swilling euphoria!
I didn't separate the tracks so it is ONE LONG EXPERIENCE!

Crude (Live @ Albert's Fest 8th June 2014 @ Tape Projects, Melby)

Albert's Fest on a Sundy, not a normal Sundy mind you but one preceeding Queen Elizabeth's birthday. Not the Lord's day of rest-we'll leave the resting for the rest of the week and pay the price later.....
So there was a whole lot of other stuff happening( of which I shall post later provided I am given the kind permission of  Tasmanian ex-pats Horse Mania....). I am not going to give any sort of run down on the night except that I bought a very nice Mad Nanna tee shirt for only ten bucks and that Michael's distro(Albert's Basement) is worth checking out. I am quite excited about some of the recently issued old N.Z. underock that he is peddling which mega-Label Siltbreeze have put out this year-namely the Spies and Shoes This High.....get them!!-it's easy to preview this stuff before you buy elsewhere on the net so do the finger work if you dare...).
Well, Matt Middleton is an ex-sheepfucker world famous in Dunedin who has a unique sound signature which sits in  it's own world resilient to the de-knobbing effects of New Zealand's overindulgence in "Flying Nun" pride. He has an angular conversation style and might get back to you later on a question raised a long time ago-he's a data processor caged in flesh. His sound is like this and I never quite know what to expect which is why I like it....I remember one gig he did months after the "99 Percent Occupation" on Swanston Street where he ranted down the microphone about not going to the protest and buying Levis jeans instead. I couldn't make the protest either as I had to go to work at a glorified taco stand in order to pay the rent. This was just one moment of the performance and if you caught what he was on about you got the goods....
 This show tonight didn't seem as angularly sci-fi as usual but started off slowly with vocal loops and had his trademark sax against the world honky burpin'....I was a bit blurry at the time and haven't even listened to the recording yet but I do remember towards the end spinning my zoom recorder around to create some sort of stereo effect. Sometimes good things take time to enjoy or understand, it's here so why not give it a toot!