The inimitable DEVIN TOWNSEND may have traded his trademark skullet for a more aerodynamic haircut, but THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT still makes MITCH ALEXANDER react with two sets of metal horns in the air.

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• The Tempo Hotel in Fortitude Valley (formerly Dooley’s) is looking for bands to play Tuesday afternoons from Mar 16. The main (upstairs) stage will host bands from 3pm each Tuesday and all genres are welcome to apply for a gig spot. Interested parties should call 0438 386 237.
• Madonna’s manager has officially denied what was apparently a hoax email that suggested Madge was about to announce a July Oz tour.
• Archie Roach got a standing ovation when he appeared onstage at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, days after his wife Ruby Hunter’s funeral.
• Amy Winehouse’s junkie ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil has told her he’ll remarry her, but only if she goes into rehab first.
• After denying reports that all was not well within the Pussycat Dolls, Kimberly Wyatt and Ashley Roberts have left. Meantime, My Chemical Romance and Bob Bryar have parted ways.
• Gang Starr’s Guru recently had surgery after a heart attack put the 43-year old in a coma.
• Sia Furler is about to announce a one-album deal with a major label.
• UK reports say Holly Valance is currently sporting a Lady Gaga look. We say, “15 minutes means 15 minutes, Holly.”
• Metallica fans in Israel are boycotting their May tour, saying tickets are too expensive at the equivalent of US$300.
• At the weekend’s Golden Plains Festival, guitarist Blaine Cartwright of Atlanta hard rockers Nashville Pussy referred to Rose Tattoo’s Rock’n’Roll Outlaw as Australia’s “fucking national anthem!”
• Did George Michael and his recent opening act Paul Mac end up in the recording studio together? If so, does that mean we might one day have a Daniel Johns-George Michael duet? The mind boggles…

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Philadelphia Grand Jury (pictured) are done with Australia for a little while and plan relocate to Britain – but before they board the boat (or plane, more likely) they’ll launch one last single, and join with good friends The John Steel Singers for a national tour. Catch them at The Zoo on Saturday Apr 17. Grab tickets from regular outlets for $19.50+bf.

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A triple-headed band monster plays The Troubadour Sunday Mar 14, with Greenthief, The Orange City Sings and Pink Bullet (pictured) fronting up to cause a ruckus from 8pm. Support some local Brissie acts, with entry only costing $10!

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Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre - Sat Mar 6 - Mon Mar 8

Sat Mar 6

Voted Australia’s best music festival, the Meredith, Victoria-based Golden Plains welcomes us with (temporarily) sunny weather. Having arrived in the scenic area, we set up camp among the bushland and head to the main festival space.

Looking textbook-nerdy on the Supernat stage, Melbourne’s Crayon Fields entertain the crowd with twee indie-pop. Next, old-school R&B revivalists Clairy Baby Browne & The Banging Rackettes go down a treat at the start, but their energy plateaus afterwards – something the hairy, sweaty Monotonix could never be accused of. Being passed around the standing area, the half-naked Israeli trio play their entire set among fiercely moshing punters, hammering out primal garage rock with the Iggy & The Stooges-like abandon and prompting the security to issue a safety warning.

The crowd visibly grows by the time Londoners The Big Pink rattle the already drizzly atmosphere with their loud shoegaze-pop, culminating with Velvet and Triple J fave Dominos.

The most dance-friendly act today, New York’s Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra keep our feet moving with their funky Afro-Cuban rhythms before the freshly-reformed indie godheads Pavement roll out a triumphant “greatest hits” set, the geek-cool incarnate frontman Stephen Malkmus cranking up ‘90s staples like Stereo and Cut Your Hair to the partying masses.

The rain resumes in earnest as grunge forefathers Dinosaur Jr. seal Saturday with a towering performance. The solid “new stuff” is interspersed by generous doses of “old stuff” – namely You’re Living All Over Me, Without A Sound, Get Me, Feel The Pain and the phased-out Freak Scene, J Mascis regularly going off on epic, fuzz-drenched solos. Both ear-shattering and seminal.

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(Ministry Of Sound)

Suitably anthemic, minus some puzzling omissions

Depending on your perspective, this three-disc compilation is either perfectly-timed or hideously out-of-date. It’s timely because, as the success of La Roux demonstrates, unashamedly ‘80s-influenced electropop is no longer just the concern of niche indie dance producers; on the other hand, I think that had someone told Larry Tee in 2001 that in eight years’ time some reheated Yazoo stylings would be racing up the charts he might have pulled the plug on the whole electroclash caper. In any case, two questions arise: how does Anthems: Electronic 80s define an electronic ‘80s anthem, and are its selections the best of that delimited genre? Things initially look good for this compilation as it opens with Ultravox’s Vienna, a track that is an anthem, electronic, and bona fide ‘80s. There are some treats, like the full 12-inch version of Soft Cell’s Tainted Love, which segues into an excellent cover of Holland-Dozier-Holland’s Where Did Our Love Go. But things start to look poor once we hit Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart – hardly electronic (unless having keyboards is all that’s required), and not strictly ‘80s as it was a staple of Joy Division’s live sets in 1979. Worse is the inclusion of M/A/R/R/S’s execrable house track Pump Up The Volume, and the omission of anything by Depeche Mode. So, like the eighties themselves, Anthems: Electronic 80s is a mixed bag. While a concept as nebulous as a decade can’t exercise restraint and good taste, Ministry Of Sound can, and it’s a shame they didn’t.

**½

CHAD PARKHILL

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