Do you know Suburban Sprawl’s xmas music collections? They were active from 2001 to 13, and gained a worldwide following after Boing Boing featured them one year…
Classics like
Grab your collection here: suburbansprawlmusic.com/xmas/
yes i say “xmas” because i am not a christian, and i have conscientious objection to the way this secular society panders to the nonsense of christian beliefs, especially given the recent rise of “Christian nationalism” which seems to be a giant furnace of hatred and delusion.
So many good tracks from this crew: Pomplamoose make wonderful music, i love the way they invite different vocalists in to co-create the magic. Here they’ve built the most satisfying mashup of Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” with Bruno Mars’ “When i was Your Man”.
I’ve been loving Miley’s journey with “Flowers” since the first teasers on instagram. (Yes i have been playing this track on piano and singing along, quite a lot.) What a great song, and so many juicy gossip stories about the “meaning behind it all”. Did Liam say that “When i was your man” was “their song,”? Did she really release her response on Liam’s birthday, is it packed full of easter eggs like the suit and the reference to Bruno’s original song?
Well i learned a new word, “interpolation” because apparently when one song replies to another in dialogue, that’s called interpolating. (#MusicTheory) Miley’s Flowers is the perfect response to the message in Bruno Mars’ song: a post-modern woman can look after herself perfectly well thank you. She don’t need your tardy regrets and throwback wishes.
Anyway, Pomplamoose have a brilliant reply here of their own. Please enjoy tf out of this one:
Also while we’re here, Miley’s “Backyard Sessions” version of Flowers
Courtney Barnett rocks out with this simple direct political number.. wait, what? How is this political? Why is it even seen as political to demand safe streets or an end to gendered violence!!
I’ve meant to share this video for months because it’s a vital piece of musical poetry, but in the wake of Eurydice’s tragic murder* its power resonates deeply.
The song paraphrases Margaret Atwood:
Men are scared that women will laugh at them
Women are scared that men will kill them.
#RestinPower Eurydice
*alleged murder
This is great, very much worth watching if like me you are hooked on “Dirty Computer”, the latest release from Janelle Monáe*. She breaks down the lyrics and performs them for the camera, with no backing track. Loving this
*(today it’s out officially?)
..and when you’re done, dig into this great interview at Rolling Stone
Very excited to be singing with First Chorus Band Of Singers, Mama Kinand Spender at Howler Melbourne next week (Thursday 03 May).
This time the choir will have *microphones* so you’ll be able to hear us, woohoo yeh
It’s been so lovely to revisit the songs from this album, given that we’ve already performed at Northcote Social Club and Queenscliff Music Festival, and we know the songs reasonably well. So now we can focus on getting the nuance and the feel, and feel solid in our arrangements.
#MamaKinAndSpender #FirstChorus #HairBetweenUs #GoldenMagnetic#YesTheGoldenRobes #GetYourTixNow #kthxbye
Tickets via moshtix here
Went to my third Camp Bitch with the Real Hot Bitches this year. It was my Very Great Pleasure to witness Head Bitch Teleeshea Sunrise perform a lip-sync dance routine to Head Bitch in Charge, with Skittle Bitch and Feminem providing servant backup. Extraordinary, moving and the best finale to a great weekend away.
You don’t get that tho, you just get the original clip, soz
But this is also extraordinary and moving, right? A stirring collaboration from people based in New York and Melbourne, this track has been bouncing around my head for months now.
Great video essay on FilmsForAction.org about the “born sexy yesterday” trope. Women will be like “yawn, this is obvious, eyes-rolling”, men like me will be like “oh yeh, now you mention it…” i know, 18 minutes long, but definitely worth it..
Spoiler: around the 15 minute mark, the commentary says things like this: (paraphrasing) “Born Sexy Yesterday” is about unbalanced relationships, it’s very much connected to masculinity. The subtext of the trope is rooted in deep-seated male insecurity around sex and sexuality; its crux is a fixation on male superiority, and a fixation on holding power over an innocent girl.”
“science fiction is employed to put the mind of a girl into an adult female body. It’s a fantasy based on fear of women who are men’s equal in sexual experience and romantic history, as well as fear of losing the intellectual upper hand to women. It’s based on some troubling patriarchal ideas.”
FREDA DU FAUR CA 1895. GEORGE MANNERING PHOTOGRAPH CANTERBURY MUSEUM
One of the best pieces of theatre i’ve seen was in Natimuk Frinj back in November 2015.
I was in town working with Sam Downing and Leonie Van Eyk on the B.A.R.E. Body Appliance Revival Experience, and my friend Tim Ratcliffe was playing in “The Freda Experience“. His play was getting all the buzz around the festival, everyone was talking about it, and one morning at 7am i found out exactly why that was.
When we arrived, we were sorted into groups and given our climbing equipment for the day. We were now in the early 1900’s being trained to undertake a basic climb, clipping ourselves into a chain of climbers. Freda herself came in the room to have a discussion with the trainer, as there was some concern about an unmarried woman being accompanied on the climb by a man, and also about the nature of her attire.
This was an immersive theatrical experience, where one group hiked around to the reading group and another to the lecture; where we all ended up in a giant projection which moved from the walls of the mental institution to the huge tents of a mountain-bound camping party.
They’d developed the play in Castlemaine for the State Festival, but Natimuk was the perfect location for its second outing, given the climbing history of that place.
The production was magical and inspiring, heart-breaking and confounding; Freda was well known in New Zealand where she was the first woman to climb several peaks, and the first human to climb others. In Australia however, it seems possible she was written out of the history books because of her sexuality.
As the show finished, i didn’t want to leave, but i was invigorated to continue my festival day at 9am on a Sunday in this tiny enchanted country town.
Jim Coad’s put up a video about the creative back-story to the play:
http://madeinnatimuk.com/thefredaexperience/
Powerful song and video from Stella Donnelly, who makes a moving and challenging comment on our victim-blaming culture.
—-trigger warning: sexual assault—-
yes we will be wearing these golden robes… Oh Yes. Final rehearsal this arvo .. it’s been sounding good, i’m so excited (and i just can’t hide it)
Come and see us, go on!! Get your tickets on their page thing.
Also hear the background stories of Danielle and Tommy on Clare’s radio show last week, from 1h10m til 1h27ish, a beautiful interview with some live singing, you’ll get the feeling of what happens in these gigs: Mama Kin and Spender on ABC with Clare Bowditch, 02Nov17
Tommy wanted to “work with people and work with communities”.. First Chorus Band Of Singers is only one of the many choirs in this project.. also hear about their “secret weapon” the super magical Virginia Bott.. “like the Beatles had George Martin”
event page on the FB
plus all the FB hashtags
