WINTER TONES @ ROXANNE PARLOUR, Melbourne
By Sophie in News | 0 comments
Inpress review:
Like the security staff and police, winter was out in force tonight. A fact the hundred-meter line of trembling indie kid was not allowed to forget as we queued outside, bathed in the neon glow of the nearby adult cinema. For reasons never explained on the night (apologies and explanations have since been issued), the venue was allowing access solely via the elevator meaning that several early sets were missed by many, and that upon arriving, Roxanne felt large and empty. Despite this, and despite the surprisingly defective PA system in the main room, the dual-stage magic organised by Sophie and Ash of Mistletone (a duo thanked profusely throughout the night by every act) succeeded beyond measure in making one of the finest nights of music of recent years.
Bachelorette almost steals the night with the latest installment of her love affair with electricity. Just as tight and as well executed as Love of Diagrams, she is compelling to watch, hypnotising to the ear and never at any stage buys into the detached irony that so often comes with the field of electronic music. The scene-setting On The Four seems to defy age and My Electric Husband brings the inherent humanity through loud and clear in a way so few acts do; perhaps she invests more than others? Whatever it is she does, right through to the cut-up cassette recordings of acoustic guitar that close her set, its spot on.
US headliners Beach House take to the stage with quiet aplomb and set about redefining the term ‘soporific splendour’. Sounding at times like Mazzy Star fronting a stoned Kraftwerk, it’s all regal gorgeousness and a constantly transfixing smoulder that renders the snails pace of the songs barely noticable. In constant sway at the keyboard, Victoria Legrand is the figurehead while guitarist Alex Scally and drummer Dave Begander quietly build and deconstruct the walls and towers that see most of the new album Devotion brought thoroughly to life.
Meanwhile, Actor/Slash model show again why they can’t be pigeonholed and require consistent reviewing. Tonight sees melodies just as manhandled as guitarist Ricky French’s Jazzmaster where guitar noise becomes the exception and all the more powerful because of it. Almost straying into the realms of snappy pop with up-front vocals and an unusually clear mix, the band burn up the stage with energy to spare and songs that actually sound like songs. With their years of gigging as homework, this is a flying colour performance. Awesome stuff.
Qua’s crackling bass and erratic beats play on in one room and Guy Blackman cranks up the wheels of steel in another as the crowd thins while Mistletone cement themselves as the label that can do no wrong, venue selection aside.
Winter Tones is the biggest Mistletone party yet, happening on Friday August 22 at Roxanne Parlour (third floor, 2 Coverlid Place Melbourne). Tickets are going gangbusters; get yours for $26 + booking fee from Moshtix and Polyester city and Fitzroy stores.
Winter Tones is gonna be a B-I-G night starting at 7.30pm. This is a “no headliner” show with awesome bands playing throughout the night so make sure you come early & stay late!
ONSTAGE TIMES
Back Stage:
PANEL OF JUDGES 8:20 – 8:50
CRAYON FIELDS 9:10 TO 9:50
LOVE OF DIAGRAMS 10:10 TO 10:50
BEACH HOUSE 11:20 TO 12:20
KES BAND 12:40 to 1:20
BEACHES 1:40 to 2:20
Front Stage:
LOST ANIMAL 8:00 TO 8:30
PIKELET 8:50 TO 9:30
MARK BARRAGE 9:45 TO 10:15
BACHELORETTE 10:35 T0 11:15
ACTOR/MODEL 11:35 TO 12:15
QUA 12:35 to 1:15
TALKSHOW BOY 1:30 to 2:00
DJs:
Snowflake Room
9.15-10.15pm DJ Ticketts
10.15-11.15pm Nervous Jerk Sound System
12am-1am Mark Nelson Nelson
1.15am-2.15am DJ People
Front Room
2am-3am Down Pat
Read on for our Winter Tones form guide…
Beach House are the Baltimore duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, accompanied on their first ever Australian tour by drummer extraordinaire Dave Bergander from another awesome Baltimore band, Celebration. Live, Beach House are glorious, intense and just totally great. We are thrilled that they are headlining Winter Tones and will be down the front with all the other adoring longtime fans.
Winter Tones is the only Melbourne show for Bachelorette, aka Annabel Alpers, from over the Tasman Sea. Annabel has been touring the US with the likes of Scout Niblett and working on her new album. Have a listen to her rad new tune I Want To Be Your Girlfriend on her artist page. The Bachelorette Winter Tones show will feature mind expanding visuals and new songs as well as all our faves from Isolation Loops.
Love of Diagrams (Antonia Sellbach, Luke Horton & Monika Fikerle) are about to head to the US to record their new album. With an arsenal of ace new songs they are sounding awesomer than ever!
Pikelet (Evelyn Morris and her band) are in top form with some festival performances cominh up including The Great Escape and Melbourne Festival. Evelyn has been home recording some cracking new tunes and releasing them on individually handmade EPs so make sure you indulge at the Winter Tones merch desk.
Kes Band are fresh from their packed-out winter residency at the Edinburgh Castle, a month long of inspiring shows that will surely enter the “I was there” category in years to come. Kes Band have recently been recording their next all instrumental album and are brimming with new music and ideas. No two Kes Band performances are ever the same and this is why we love them so.
Crayon Fields have also been prepping a new album due on Chapter Music next year. Pitchfork described our beloved Crayon Fields as “grasping the Beach Boys’ ocean-flecked harmonies, the Zombies’ dreamy eloquence, and the Association’s gentle melodies, then making them sound even younger” and rumour has it that they are now venturing into some dreamy tropical discotheque territory…
Qua is nothing short of a beat based, electronic, danceable, ecstatic frenzy created by Cornel Wilczek with fellow adventurer James Cecil on percussion. The new Qua album is due soon on Mush Records and locally thru Love & Mercy. EXCITEMENT!
The righteous wenches of Beaches bring the wall of sound riffs, southern rock jams and psychedelic good times. With a debut album in the cans and an after-midnight slot, there’s no stopping the Fab 5.
Cracked pop fuzzbox Mark Barrage makes a nervy sound tonic, equal parts pop music EQd to breaking point and midnight crucifix synth-kraut. Witness this dissonant electronic songster shift from the overtly lyrical, heartbreak-obsessed territory into realms of hard sound, dance timings, band-ish arrangements and bleary-eyed nighttime sensation; a taste of what’s to come on his forthcoming Mistletone debut.
Talkshow Boy‘s real name is sort of Adrian K-Sahara. He plays intense and complicated electronic new pop songs about love, being tuff, and how people act towards one another. He is terrific to listen to, and you will probably feel better about being alive if one of his songs comes on the radio when bad things are happening. Hallmark ingredients of his ‘sound’ include very fast tempos, sweet/wise lyrics, and twinkling avant-pop arrangements.
The inimitably hep Panel of Judges have commanded a dedicated underground audience in Melbourne since their inception in the late 1990s. Their sound is a heavenly mix of jangle-guitar riffing, driving trap-set rhythms, misty lyricisms and a reflective performance style.
Like most Actor/Models, Ricky French and Karen Anson are extremely talented and can walk and talk at the same time. A Melbourne band with a lo-fi, high energy philosophy, Actor/Model utilise cheap toy keyboards and synths, old beat-up guitars and inventive, pounding drums to construct simple, beat-driven pop songs with fabulistic melodies and pleasuristic soundscapes.
Lost Animal is the solo project for Jarrod Quarrell, currently of St Helens and formerly of cult rock and roll band The New Season. Lost Animal sings and plays over the top of pre recorded material. Equal parts early Hip Hop, Soul, Kraut Rock and Trance, Lost Animal has been descibed as a punk Justin Timberlake.
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