JAMES KRITZLER talks to DAMON BLACK, guitarist, composer and ringmaster for local doom rock collective SECRET BIRDS, about building a band from scratch and the underground appeal of obsolete audio formats.

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Entries for the Australian Music Prize (The Amp) close this Friday Nov 21. Organisers are hoping that ‘every Australian artist who released an original album in 2008 has entered’ – so if you fit that criteria you should definitely head to www.australianmusicprize.com.au for details of how to sign up and possibly share in main $30,000 cash prize (provided by the PPCA), or a $15,000 prize in recognition of outstanding potential.

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Not one to rest on his laurels, temperate Sydney singer-songwriter Josh Pyke (pictured) takes time out from cruising Sydney Harbour his endearing guitar boat (the SS Maton) to head out on a national tour in support of his acclaimed Chimney’s Afire release. Young Blue Mountains popsters Cloud Control tag along, as does new kid on the block Jackson Mclaren, who’ll escape Melbourne to flesh out the line-up. South East Queensland gets a visit Saturday Feb 21, 2009 at The Coolangatta Hotel and Sunday Feb 22, 2009 at The Tivoli. Having sold out his last show, queue for tickets are the regular outlets (OzTix and Ticketek respectively) Monday Dec 1.

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With his father recently playing some truly inspiring shows, Justin Townes Earle (pictured) heads to Brisbane this week, calling into The Troubadour Sunday Nov 23. Having endured some battles of his own, be sure to check out a man who is so much more than his famed relatives. Here on the back of his debut LP The Good Life, Townes Earle plays with Andrew Kidman and Neal Purchase. Grab tickets through OzTix.

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The Step Inn - Thu Nov 13

A pang of guilt hits the back of my neck as 21 Months begin to play. Coming all the way from Ipswich to perform to six people, but the worst part is that they’re not very good. Their song structures differ from the standard three chord approach, but the monotone delivery from the female vocalist isn’t doing any favours.

The first song drilling through the amplifiers of Sudden Chaos can be summed up with one word: youth. Nerves and uneven sound haunt the riff metal set, but each song improves on the one preceding it. The guitarist and bassist appear proficient, but the drummer definitely needs to work on counting to four.

Company Sin have a few more gigs under their belt and their progressive post-punk is done in a much more confident manner. It’s just a pity that they clearly take themselves far too seriously, complete with zero stage presence and ‘humourous’ home made t-shirts.

Dirty Boys Of The Jungle present themselves as a party band, but no party I’d like to attend. The singer is either extremely tanked or has mistaken ‘feigning apathy’ with ‘rock & roll swagger’, as such his words are indecipherable. I’m reminded why garage bands were called that in the first place; that’s where they should stay.

MITCH ALEXANDER 

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(Fabric/Inertia)

New York disco hipsters strip it back

For the better part of the decade, Metro Area have been in the business of producing low key, tasteful disco and house for the hipster end of the dance music spectrum – James Murphy is a big fan, and his remix of Orange Alert was one of the first truly great DFA productions. It’s clear from the introduction to Fabric 43, though, that Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani do not take themselves particularly seriously – talking over the top of a Studio 54-like beat, the two of them say things like:  “Yeah, ladies, clap, clap! Clap, clap, clap, clap! The disco experience is all about the claps!” Anyone who caught Metro Area at Parklife will be familiar with the duo’s talent for finding the sweet spot between burbling minimal and laser-precise, futuristic disco, so this noisy, retro-focussed mix is a little jarring in the context of their wider body of work. If anything, Fabric 43 represents a selection of Metro Area’s influences – tracks that might have seemed cheesy in the mid-80s, but have cycled back around to cool again. A glance at the names on the track listing will give you a fair idea of what’s to come – Play By Numbers, The Disco Four, Mascara, Ray Martinez and Baby Oliver are all represented here. Closing with Devo’s Freedom Of Choice is, on the face of it, a fairly perverse decision, but it underscores the playfulness of Metro Area’s latest mix.

***

ALASDAIR DUNCAN

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