Live Review: BIGSOUND Live 2015: Night Two
BIGSOUND Live's second evening proved a struggle for some punters, but the artists on offer proved the perfect wake-up juice for ailing bodies and minds, rounding out this year's performance spread with a bang
After the enormity of BIGSOUND Live's first night, not to mention another busy day of drinkingbusiness and learning about tonnes of good things, the intrepid industry and artist delegates of this year's conference and showcase extravaganza once again flooded out into the Valley for round two and another night of excellent live music. Steve Bell, Uppy Chatterjee, Roshan Clerke, Georgia Corpe, Samuel Fell and Mitch Knox report.
High levels of Jagger-esque swagger (but with better lips) simply emanate from The Foundry's stage as local groove-rock-tinged psych-pop lords Morning Harvey coax their audience out of their largely shattered shells early on night two of BIGSOUND Live. Overseen by the soulful strains and reliably entertaining, downright sultry, gyration-heavy dances of insanely charismatic frontman Spencer White, the band prove a tour de force of addictive tunes and exemplary musicianship, the individual (and individually engaging) parts creating a whole that embodies the concept of synergy - particularly during massive high points such as new single Lights, Camera, Jingle, which generates an especially vocal response - to the point that dictionaries should really just use a picture of this band to define the term. The bar has been set high; here's hoping the rest of the night can match it.
Banff opens up the Elephant stage tonight with his distinct and eloquent style of spacious indie-pop. Although Banff, aka Benjamin Forbes, has been circulating the local music scene for years, previously as lead singer of Little Casino, it is clear his musicality and vocal abilities has progressed into something ever so captivating. As Banff opens up the set with some new tunes and the catchy simplicity of Anyone Else, Forbes soon turns a rowdy BIGSOUND bunch into an attentive crowd, and with help from Machineage’s Adrian Mauro, puts out a series of songs riddled with beautiful melodies and harmonies.
An intriguing presence at Ric’s Bar, Astral Skulls presents his space inspired pop-punk with foundations of electronica and synth based melodies. Kurt Eckardt boasts his new wave version of synth-based punk, comparable to a more melodic Crystal Castles, singing bold and ‘fist-pump-able’ lyrics such as ‘sexism sux’. Although probably more impressive with a band backing him up, Eckardt’s efforts in a competitive realm such a BIGSOUND was impressive.
Hailing from Melbourne, the highly anticipated Tiny Little Houses play to a packed-out Black Bear Lodge of curious punters and delegates as they showcase their nineties inspired infectious melancholic indie rock. The quartet seem sincerely humbled by the impressive turnout at their first BIGSOUND showcase, giving out smiles and laughs after each song, and very much underestimating the amount of people that ‘might know’ their exceedingly catchy tune Easy. The guys close out their set with some new tunes, presenting a very impressive live show. No doubt we will be hearing more from Tiny Little Houses soon.
Lo-fi indie god and goddesses Major Leagues are next up on the Woolly Mammoth Alehouse stage. Pulling out some new songs and showcasing their recognisable style of shoe-gaze indie-rock, Major Leagues play a tight set no doubt impressing those already fans and making new ones along the way. Although at times a little drowned out in each other’s reverb, the local’s live set is a series of dynamic and enjoyable progressive tunes. Most notably, Major Leagues’ new release Someone Sometime really sets itself from older tracks, showing off how far they have come since starting off only a couple of years ago.
Bringing the ruckus to the Triple J Unearthed stage tonight was Perth’s pride Tired Lion, a band surrounded by so much hype it ain’t even funny. Coming off the back of their slot at Splendour in the Grass, also thanks to Triple J Unearthed, Tired Lion spray BIGSOUND 2015 with their infectious indie-rock melodies and lead singer Sophie Hopes’ intense vocal poetics. Tired Lion play to a packed out Oh! Hello, and seem to still be so humbled by their popularity even all the way on the other side of the country. Playing their popular track Suck and closing out the show with I Don’t Think You Like Me, Tired Lion back up their hype showing off their showmanship, especially given they battled sound technicalities throughout their entire set.
These boys have evolved, they’ve grown, they’ve moved on – but they’ve kept to their groove. The Snowdroppers’ know The Groove, it’s part of their thang, stick to The Groove. Move on later.
If not for a slight musical tighten and some vocal harmonies, Fanny Lumsden cats would be the Americana for the Australiana…
The glorious hobos of rock, The Pretty Littles don’t give a shit, rock'n'roll, middle finger, riffs riffs, “This is fucked”, no shit, Valley on a Thursday…
It’s been done, but not like this – The Belligerents' deep, buzzing melodic harmonies that resonate beyond the timeframe – deep warm good rock tunes.
The amount of ground Perch Creek have covered in just a couple of years is phenomenal – the amount of support they’re garnered with their take on roots music, not surprising, still growing, moving beyond the ‘local roots scene’. Old and new at the same time.
There's an imaginary three metre force field in front of the stage where punters aren't game to stand in for a while, but Guards Of May dig into their echo-filled hard rock with gusto anyway. They give off Dead Letter Circus vibes - though maybe they're a little more atmospheric. Their music isn't bad at any rate, and one must commend the harmonies in one of their slower jams, but until their last two numbers, their songs just seem to lack a little something.
Kicking off their set with a quote by Morpheus from The Matrix, Dorsal Fins take the stage, complete with backing vocals, a percussionist playing beer bottles, a saxophonist and trumpeter, two synths and a sample pad. It's impossible (well, not impossible, but difficult) to not have a fun set with so many instruments and people on stage, and Dorsal Fins do not disappoint with their upbeat indie pop, looking like a bunch of mates having a hell of a jam sesh.
Mojo Juju takes the stage in her zoot suit and her jaunty-angled fedora and immediately takes the crowd back to New Orleans circa 1932. Backed by a comically large (baritone) sax, she says "love is a masochistic battleground" and launches into her next song — and her soulful yet understated growl shares the sentiment perfectly. She leaves her ballad until the end, letting her big brassy voice have free reign over the stage.
In a sequinned Discount Universe crop top (the same style that got Miley in trouble at the MTV VMAs), Sui Zhen is playing keys face on with her synth player, the two girls looking almost like mirror images of each other. Her synth pop stylings and scream-singing voice is backed by her own music videos on the screen behind the band, where she traipses through the florists and sunbathes by the pool in a blonde wig.
Crowbar's band room is only hosting maybe 30 people but so what? All the better to hardcore dance in, which is exactly what Caulfield's dedicated fans are doing. Three of the five in the band take their shirts off, revealing tattooed chests and backs, and continue in their quest to create a wall of hardcore sound. The band have a good mix of clean and unclean vocals, marrying well with the barrage of chugging drums and power chords coming our way.
Young Brisbane trio The Goon Sax absolutely pack out the intimate confines of Ric’s, such is the buzz surrounding them at the moment, and respond with a sublime set of jangly, wobbly indie rock. Louis Forster and James Harrison swap vocal duties on a run of strong songs such as Up To Anything,Boyfriend and new single Sometimes Accidentally. Towards the end of the setSweaty Hands becomes entirely appropriate given the amount of flesh being pressed, and we learn that we’ll soon hear a lot more from these new kids on the block.
In the downstairs room at Woolly Mammoth Melbourne outfit Totally Mild deliver a strong showing to a nicely full room, the four-piece as restrained as their name would suggest but possessing an undeniably lazy charm. Singer Liz Mitchell has a fascinating voice, navigating pitch with ease and delivering everything with a relaxed conviction. The whole set shines with a forlorn finesse.
Jonny Telafone we probably weren’t expecting a sweaty shirtless guy with a confident beer gut singing impassioned, heavily-affected vocals over a backing track but that’s precisely what we are greeted with. It’s a highly-sexualised set both lyrically and through the pelvic thrust-heavy dance routines, but there’s a strange substance to tracks like Waking Up Crying and epically sleazy set closer Make Your Pussy Cum.
Inside Black Bear Lodge Melbourne sect Immigrant Union well and truly step out from the considerable shadow cast by frontman Brent DeBoer also being the drummer for The Dandy Warhols. The five members play with a natural simpatico and their brand of psych-tinged country rock is smooth as a bowling ball, tracks from their recent long-player Always translating perfectly to the live realm. A pleasant revelation.
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