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.
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
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/
Everywhere i have turned in the last 18 months, The Huxleys have been at the forefront of creative work. They were part of Discordia, they’re involved with The Guerilla Museum, they were part of Retro Futurismo, and this other amazing piece i saw at La Mama. Any time there’s a Fringe Festival, you’ll find them doing something incredible.
Here’s a beautiful video explaining where they’ve come from.. they’re like Melbourne’s Gilbert and George, and they’re very very magnificently wonderful.
Amarina Waters will launch her New Single on the 24th March at the Gasometer Hotel.
I advise you to attend, as this will be a beautiful evening..
Delicious sounds and light-hearted visuals, “A Sense of You”.. filmed entirely on location, in the place it was filmed. Haunting and ethereal, mildly surreal..
(PS i have heard rumours there might be an album in the works… hopfully!!)
Went roller skating with friends in the gardens on a recent Sunday afternoon. So much fun. Was looking up the best roller skating videos for the FB event, and found this delightful treat from Chet Faker:
i saw Childish Gambino live on stage at Falls Festival in Lorne and i loved his performance. I loved the way the crowd knew his material intimately and could recite his rap so exactly and so quietly. The crowd even knew when to have their hands in the air, and when not, as if they were in some kind of hive-mind unison.
So i’m looking him up later on, and it’s only now i realise it’s Donald Glover from Community!! Of “Troy and Abed in the morning”!!
Okay, i’m late to the party. I remember someone telling me that now.
The Worst Guys (ft. Chance the Rapper)
These women have already experienced more than their fair share of dystopian future in Putin’s Russia. So they know what they’re talking about when they warn us against a #maga fascist regime in the USA.
Trigger Warning: this video contains scenes of systemic state violence against women.
On a brighter note, you’ll love their video for “Straight Outta Vagina” (feat. Desi Mo & Leikeli47). Funny, sexy and political all in one go. Thanks Pussy Riot.
Feast on their other artworks over at youtubes.
