Nick Craven

Strangeways

There’s a certain comfort in the traditions of a regular DJ club night – familiar faces behind the decks, the sticky floors of that tried and true venue, the expectation of a particular playlist. Sure, it’s a safe and cosy ritual, but like any routine, predictable parties can become as mundane as clocking into your 9 to 5-er.

Acutely aware of this potential for tedium, Canberra DJ troupe STRANGEWAYS offer a brave new world where every club night is different. Conjuring disparate themes for each event, the Strangeways DJs let their imaginations run wild with everything from venue décor to the tunes on offer.

“Running our own theme nights allows us to provide a unique and complete experience for our audience,” the trio of TomToms, Fidel Maestro and Chairman Wow says. “When we design our themes, we aim for the memorable, the fun, the unusual and the absurd – they’re not just an excuse for people to dress in skimpy outfits.”

Instead of bemoaning Canberra’s lack of venues, the Strangeways DJs mould their surrounds to suit their themes, creating complete sensory worlds right on the dancefloor. “In the past year we’ve covered the entire inside of Transit Bar with al foil, laid down astroturf on the dancefloor, strung French pastries from the roof and dressed 200 people in Bruce Willis masks. Our decoration is not supposed to distract from the music, but rather to flesh out the entire experience, much like Heston Blumenthal’s food-based experiences.”

Like Blumenthal, the Strangeways DJs aren’t limited in their taste. The trio sample everything from indie to hip-hop to mainstream pop, allowing any kind of music fan to let loose at their nights. “DJs can get caught up desperately chasing the latest tunes, remixes and trends, and pride themselves on not being ‘cheesy’. But so often the result is repetitive, predictable music. Music is so often used as a way for people to set themselves apart. We like to play music that resonates, not separates!”

Often mislabelled as ‘indie DJs’, the Strangeways crew are genuine pop fans unafraid to drop a Top 40 anthem without a hint of hipster irony. “It is trendy in certain circles to rubbish pop music’s over-produced and soulless nature, which is sometimes true. But it’s actually a lot harder to create a truly transcendent pop moment than it is to drop clicks and pops over a wobbly bassline. We play plenty of vintage, but we’re equally at home dropping current music if it’s really good.”

The next Strangeways night may be the most ambitious yet. Strangeways… ON A BOAT will transform Transit Bar into a giant underwater diorama on Friday September 10. The night will once again bring the growing horde of regulars who are flocking to Strangeways events not for the comfort of familiarity, but to experience their burgeoning tradition of unpredictability. “We’re here for you, Canberra. Pop music never stops giving... and neither will we!”

Strangeways DJs will play the red-eye set from 2:00am-close after Flight Facilities on Friday September 3 at Transit Bar. Tix are $20 + bf from Moshtix, 8pm kick off. Strangeways ... ON A BOAT! sets sail at Transit on Friday September 10. Free entry. Boss.

MSTRKRFT

It is taboo in the music industry for artists to challenge certain revered figureheads. The accepted rule is that icons like Joe Strummer, Bob Dylan and Jay-Z are flawless geniuses and other performers should know their rightful place below them. So I naturally gasp in horror when MSTRKRFT's Jesse F. Keeler has a sly dig at the 'greatest rapper alive' when discussing the hip-hop collaborations on MSTRKRFT's latest record, Fist of God.

"I remember through a mutual friend we actually approached Jay-Z and he was like, 'oh I don't know, maybe for like $100,000' and then he makes a track called Ghetto Techno and it sucks," Keeler spits. "It's not even techno! It's like, 'dude, if that's what you wanted to make you should have talked to us!' Oh, but that's right, none of them even thought about it!" Yikes, calm down Keeler! You don't want Hova's Canberra massive to cap yo' ass. "He should have asked us", he moans again, adding insult to injury.

Keeler's clearly an outspoken and passionate guy; a risk-taker even. It's a state of mind he's injected into all his work - from his youth spent playing in raucous hardcore bands to his seminal, genre-bending indie outfit Death From Above 1979. In MSTRKRFT, Keeler and partner Al-P specialise in aggressive beats that rarely let up, as the relentless Fist of God testifies.

"The record's called Fist of God because everything sounds so big," he explains. "Even the softer song doesn't sound that soft. We wanted to make a really hard record in terms of how it sounded - so much attack on everything."

Much of this 'hard' energy comes from the duo's use of real instruments, which bring an unusual rawness to proceedings. "I can't be creative with a mouse," Keeler reveals. "It's like, 'well okay, instead of fingers to do something and feet to work pedals I have one little finger that looks like an arrow' - there's no comparison to being able to actually use real stuff and also all the little errors and all the fun stuff that happens when you're dealing with something that's real, which I think is really important when you're making music that is so repetitive and normally is so computer-like."

It's an aesthetic risk in a genre that sometimes relies on perfectly crafted sounds and calculated dynamics to get the masses moving. But for all his criticisms of his peers and their musical decisions, Keeler admits that it's anyone's game out on the dancefloor.

"The beauty of the dancefloor is that it's very democratic - you can put on something, and if people don't dance and aren't feeling it, they won't - no matter how much you tell them they should dance to it or whether it's cool. That's something that's beautiful about making dance music - in the end you're judged not by what somebody says or what the press writes about it or anything, but what happens on the floor determines whether people come back."

MSTRKRFT, A-Trak and Tiga will play a massive show at the UC Refectory on Friday September 25. Tickets on sale through Moshtix.

You Am I / Tame Impala @ ANU Bar, Thursday November 13

Joint Review from Nick Crave and Peter Krbavac

In a city feeling the heavy weight of exams and sore pockets from a heady festival season, not to mention the woes of economic crisis, it was heartening to arrive to a near capacity crowd at the ANU. And who better than Tim Rogers and his merry band of sharply-dressed men to kick out the doldrums – and, indeed, the jams – with a refreshing blast of their iconic Australian rock.

For all the praise heaped on Tame Impala – not least from You Am I themselves – they failed to impress tonight. Over about 40 minutes the boys seemed to play only five songs including a rendition of Blueboy’s ’90s club staple Remember Me – remember what happened last time a band based their career on a cover… Kid Courageous, anyone? The fresh-faced trio never seemed to rise above tedious, third tier Kyuss worship.

You could call into any Lyneham share-house on a Saturday afternoon for this kind of dull, formless ‘psychedelic’ jamming. With Wolfmother moving on to greener pastures – pastures hopefully outside the 20-acre lot of the music business – Modular are obviously hedging their revisionist rock bets on these three Perth kids. But while they were hardly riveting tonight, they do have potential, and they are incredibly young. Given the sharp incline of improvement in any band’s formative years, a year down the track we could well be singing a different tune.

As the lights dimmed, the imposing figure of Rusty Hopkinson appeared behind the kit and started pounding out the intro to Damage. Andy Kent, Davey Lane and Tim Rogers followed soon after, provoking a mass singalong from the faithful. Things were off to a rollicking start; a trio of songs from Dilettantes were received with open arms, before Rogers-solo-track-turned-all-out-rocker, Arse Kickin’ Lady From the Northwest – introduced as a “cult classic” – had the audience jumping about and punching the air.

Rogers was in fine self-deprecating form, at one stage requesting the audience address him as Jeff Martin, although his request for coke during the second song signalled he was in an odd mood – he normally doesn’t ask for this sort of thing until at least halfway through his more troublesome gigs. Rogers’ banter was as oblique as ever, though his ability to silence any heckler still remains. “Don’t make the mistake of addressing me like I’m a real person,” he chastised one particularly vocal audience member, “I’m a hologram, and I’ll be hovering over you as you masturbate gently later tonight, young man.”

Excitingly, it seemed You Am I were not going to hand the audience what they wanted on a plate, including some obscure choices from the canon with little apology. A cover of The La’s There She Goes came towards the end of the set; Rogers – a man who’s always insisted he can’t sing easily – wrapping his tonsils around Lee Mavers’ spine-tingling falsetto. But as enjoyable as it was, it was no substitute for any of You Am I’s similarly chiming pop gems – Mr Milk, Soldiers, What I Don’t Know About You et al – which were notable in their absence.

A poignant moment occurred during Heavy Heart – reworked with a full band arrangement built around Lane’s keys – when Rogers asked the crowd to think of a more original way to display the ecstasy of rock than holding their lighters aloft. Bemoaning the cheesiness of such gestures and their easy invitation for parody by the likes of Julia Zemiro, Rogers’ comment may have run deeper than his trademark playfulness.

You get the feeling that for all his mockery of the genre and its clichés, he’s a man who still believes in the redemptive, transformative power of rock ‘n’ roll. The last of the true believers. With Denton appearances and praise during triple j’s Aus music month as ‘a classic Australian songwriter’, Rogers’ comment and the way he refused to give the crowd what they wanted may be reflecting his fear that he could easily become a parody of himself and the music he loves like so many of his forefathers.

However, towards the end of the set the band acquiesced with the staple Berlin Chair, perhaps feeling obligated to deliver a handful of hits to a You Am I-starved province that only get a show every couple of years. But there’s always a curve ball. This time it was an intense reading of Pink Floyd’s Astronomy Domine; Rogers channelling Syd Barrett’s unhinged howl, and proving what a weak Floyd-pastiche Tame Impala were. Rogers even invited the band to join them onstage but they never arrived – intimidated, perhaps?

Overall, the show hit all the right spots; the new tunes sounded fab, the old as vital as ever, and, like any good You Am I show, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. Nonetheless for the seasoned You Am I fan – the kind of fan who had been receiving interstate setlist updates via text message from similarly obsessed friends in the weeks previous – there was a slight taste of disappointment, given the mouth-watering track selection on offer to our Melbourne and Sydney comrades. But, as has always been the way with this greatest of Australian bands – and with Tim Rogers in particular – nothing is ever that easy. And you wouldn’t want it to be, either.

Using Three Words - A sordid threesome

Using Three Words

After establishing a reputation as one of Canberra’s best live bands and releasing a debut EP that received triple j airplay in 2006, local five-piece USING THREE WORDS seemed to all but disappear just as it was taking off. Far from disbanding, the outfit had instead entered an all-important period of soul-searching, with some band members even jet-setting overseas for inspiration.

Guitarist/songwriter Damian Blankley says the band’s breather allowed it to sufficiently prepare for its crucial next step. “The experience of recording our first EP was invaluable because it showed us the effort needed to make a recording that would truly stand up on a national and international level. We were lucky enough to receive an ACT Arts grant to help us with the recording of what we had decided would be our first full-length album.”

With a view to making the best album they could, the band worked tirelessly on the intricacies of its new songs in drummer Ricardo Natoli’s new home built studio. “It gave us a place to have our gear permanently set up, and we were able to record any ideas as they came along”, Blankley enthuses. “It was really useful because it allowed us to hear basic recordings and try different ideas without losing the focus of the original inspiration. When we eventually got into the professional recording studio, we were much more comfortable in an environment that can often be unnatural and uninspiring.”

Impressed by his work on its EP, the band once again teamed up with engineer/producer Anton Hagop (Silverchair) at Origami Studios in Sydney. “We felt with him we had a like-minded bond, almost that heralded extra member vibe talked about by bands like U2 and The Beatles. We had more time to record this time around, so we could experiment with guitar tunings and also different combos of instruments, amplifiers and drums thanks to Anton’s love of collecting classic gear. He worked tirelessly to bring out our best… it really felt like he was as passionate about the songs as we were.”

As well as using unique instrumentation, the band expanded its sonic palette by calling on the talent at ANU’s School of Music by adding classical piano flourishes to some of the tunes. “The piano parts were provided by Canberra local Ben Foster, a friend of Ricardo’s. He added an extra element to some of our songs. We’d done some basic stuff ourselves on the demos, but only someone like Ben with 23 years playing experience could do such a great job.”

The album also benefited from contact with other seasoned musicians when the band made one of its few recent public appearances supporting hard rock juggernauts Helmet.  “It was the type of show we had dreamed of being able to play but hadn’t yet been able to. It was re-invigorating for us because it came in the middle of the three weeks we spent in the studio recording. It really drove home the importance of making the best recording we could to give ourselves the best opportunity to take our music as far as possible.”

The resulting self-titled album is a massive leap forward from the EP, revealing a band that has certainly taken time to concentrate on its identity and songcraft. Blankley says he hopes this hard work will translate to its listeners, but says that the process itself has been worth it, regardless of the outcome.  “We’ll cherish the experience of making this album for the rest of our lives. We do this because we enjoy the feeling of playing music together and I think we all feel we’ve found a common ground between us – creating music that’s a combination of all our tastes, personalities and personal experiences.”

Using Three Words will launch their album at the ANU Bar on Friday November 28, from 8pm. Alta Volante, Tonk, and D’Opus & Roshambo will also be there to keep your cotton socks rockin’.

Roots Manuva - Nice moves

Roots Manuva

People of Canberra – heed not the criticisms of those foul-mouthed Sydneysiders! Fear not the pug-nosed sneers of those trendy Melbournians! ROOTS MANUVA AKA Rodney Smith, the Godfather of British hip-hop, has got your back.

“I don’t like anyone talking anything bad about Canberra,” Smith says, earnestly. “There’s been a few fights where people have said, ‘Canberra that don’t mean nothing’ and I’m like, ‘What do you mean? Canberra is the best place in the world!’”

For most of our conversation, Smith is laid back and softly spoken, but talk of our fair city raises his voice to an animated squeal. “Crazy show in Canberra, Jesus!” he yelps, remembering his 2006 ANU Bar performance. “I got so high I started playing by myself and sacked the band. I was so happy to be there – don’t know if you could tell – I laughed it up. Wonderful time man – I will never forget.”

When we last met Smith he was peddling his third LP, Awfully Deep, a dark examination of insanity. While he undoubtedly explored some home truths, many fans and critics took Smith’s threats of quitting music and losing his mind as gospel. “That was a weird experiment that a lot of people took really quite seriously. Maybe I was mucking around with issues that needed a bit more sensitivity. It was just a rhetorical lyrical thing. It was more there for the audacity of saying it than the actuality of saying it … Still, a lot of people come up to me and say it’s great to know that there are other people thinking these weird things that I thought.”

Nonetheless, Smith says he deliberately avoided such heaviness when writing his latest opus, the raw, playful Slime and Reason. “It was just not taking it so seriously really. Keeping giggling – the giggle factor. If it made us laugh in the studio, it was like ‘yep that makes sense’.” Whereas Awfully Deep was built on slick beats, Slime and Reason finds Smith revisiting the skewed production that made his name. Like Ray Charles before him, he also used the album to find a new way to “corrupt the gospel”. “I’ve always had that subtext of being the weird drunkard pastor or the disgraced pastor that got chucked out of the church and is standing on the corner over the road still in his dog collar. But he’s got these two cans of really strong beer and he’s still preaching and there’s always something to hear from him.”

While not as deep as its predecessor, Slime and Reason still finds that preacher persona spitting words of wisdom. “There’s always that kind of Babylonian warrior speaking out against the intrepidation of our evil overseers… It’s not that I want to be the forefront of what I do [but] I want to keep that lyrical subtext of paranoia and someone who’s questioning the mechanics of the machine today.”

Smith is currently questioning the mechanics of the music business itself as Slime and Reason marks the end of his recording contract. He cites one of his favourite acts, Radiohead, and its online distribution of In Rainbows as inspiration for the future. “It was very rebellious to just have people pay whatever they wanted – that was an amazing movement actually,” he enthuses. “It’s a scary time but an inspiring time – it’s like get with it or fade away.”

Determined to return to Australia, Smith assures us that he will not be fading any time soon. “If I’m not invited to do shows I’m just gonna come anyway, gonna buy my own ticket and get on the plane. I definitely wanna see what’s happening in Canberra … I’m getting on, I’m old but I want to do more. I want to use what I’ve got to further the development of British music. Not even just British music but music in general.”

Roots Manuva’s brand new album Slime & Reason is out now on Big Dada via Inertia. For more info hit up www.inertia-music.com .

The Small Poppies Think Inside the Box @ Street 2, Saturday May 31

Fresh from a successful run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, local comic troupe The Small Poppies recently brought their savvy satire to the intimate surrounds of The Street Theatre’s Street 2 with their debut hometown season of Think Inside the Box. The daunting experience of going head-to-head with tough Melbourne crowds has certainly paid off - Think Inside the Box is a skit show high in honest laughs, and one that signals the arrival of a renegade force on the Australian comedy circuit.

Head writers Adam Brodie-Mckenzie and Simone Gubler offer intelligent contemporary social commentary, lampooning everyone from preppy scenesters to existentialist philosophers. Kevin ‘Chairman’ Rudd is envisioned as a bungling communist touting a revolution of red laptops for every student, and Jesus is a Woody Allen-esque Jewish New Yorker casually announcing Armageddon. Meanwhile, the UN discusses the ‘stupid people’ issue and Beijing Olympics spectators enjoy the inaugural panda shooting event.

The slick script is presented with superb timing and idiosyncratic quirk by Brodie-Mckenzie, Gubler, and fellow Poppies Caitlin Croucher and Andrew Nichols, whose combined law revue, stand-up and musical backgrounds make for an eclectic mix of talent. Brodie-Mckenzie’s John Safran impersonation is particularly hilarious, capturing the whiny neuroses of the wee man with such nuance that Father Bob Maguire invited him to repeat the performance live on triple j’s Sunday Night Safran in Melbourne.

Yet the troupe’s secret weapon may well lie in the oddball charm of Nichols. His rubber-faced Barack Obama and pant-bulging Reasonable Man recall the kook of pre-Hollywood Eric Bana, and signpost some of the finest moments in a show that is full of them.

A witty and pointed romp trimmed of fat and full of promise, Think Inside the Box is a remarkable debut from the most promising comic troupe to come out of Canberra since the Doug Anthony All-stars.