Gambling with the whore of Babylon

Promoting the music lottery

File-sharers, storm-troopers, market control, TV to make you resemble yourself, a lottery where if you win you may also lose...a tale full of questions from David James (with a little help from Jorge Luis Borges...)

Electronic Dance

Push-button chemistry

Album: Push the button
Artist:   The Chemical Brothers

By Kristy Theissling

Fifteen years ago, The Chemical Brothers were two ordinary Manchester history students; Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. Now, a little less ordinary, they have released their fifth studio album, Push the Button, which is expected to continue the extraordinary trends of its predecessors; Exit Planet Dust (1994), Surrender (1999), Come With Us (2002) and Singles 93-03 (2003). Each of the Chemicals big-beat electro rock albums has had success in the dance techno markets, leading to millions of unit sales worldwide.

"Psychedelic electronica" and "monolithic dance" are among the descriptions I've heard of what is basically electronic dance. Listing the Beastie Boys as an influence, the Chemicals can at times sound like the Prodigy, or Fat Boy Slim, or even the Propellerheads.  

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Seminal alternative

Stranglers get a grip

Stranglers, Prince of Wales
Spring, 2004

By melk

The trouble with going to see a band that has been churning out great songs for 30 years is that they can't play all your favourites in a 90 minute gig. The Stranglers were back in Australia for the first time in almost 20 years to promote the release of their new studio album Norfolk Coast.

They were boasting a new line up (sort of) with vocalist Paul Roberts who replaced Hugh Cornwell in 1992, but guitarist Baz Warne joined the three remaining original members in 2000 and that's new in this band's history.

It was a hot and steamy spring night when I headed out to the Prince of Wales in St Kilda to see the band I had been singing along with since I was introduced to them in my very early teens. I was too young to get to their first Australian gig in 1979 so this was a milestone event for me.

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Punk

Migrating Pelican makes splash

Mach Pelican , The Green Room
15th January 2005

By Kristy Theissling

Once upon Elizabeth Street was a dark, smoky refuge for gamblers. Now, it's a dark, smoky refuge for laid-back, casually dressed 18 to 40 year-olds who rock back and forth on Converse-clad heels.
The Green Room's second birthday celebrations came with renovations, namely the absence of a wall and the presence of a mighty large pillar. The ex-TAB now features an admirable PA, a cosy stage, a bar at least twenty meters long and the alternative entertainment of old-school arcade games. The Green Room continues to live up to its reputation as one of Melbourne's more popular live music venues.
A favourite of the thirteen aussie bands crammed into the Saturday evening celebrations was punk-rock trio, Mach Pelican. Having migrated from Japan to Perth, Mach Pelican are now based in Melbourne.

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World/guitar

Spiritual and earthy guitar

Album: Light and shadows
Artist:   Rosario Di Marco

By Peter Haydon

Rosario Di Marco's album Light and Shadows was recorded in Italy, and released in Australia at the turn of the millenium. Mostly acoustic guitar, with some subtle percussions and keyboard, it is a tribute to Mediterranean folk-derived music. However, it is far more than this. The music is scattered with tiny clashes that create moments of modal ambiguity - repetitive, but with subtly introduced variation. And exemplar of this is the track U.W.M, which features a repetitive motif on guitar and percussion gradually modulated as the track progresses, but never deviating far from the central theme.
In other tracks such as Honduras, Di Marco displays his harmonic sensibility and sophistication. With virtually no melody, nor any gross variation on its pulsating rhythm, Di Marco builds a fascinating and elegant harmonic structure. It would be difficult for even the most jaded musical sensibility to become bored with this music. The more ballad-like tracks have a dark, dancing melodic grace reminiscent of Sting's more latin-informed tracks, such as Fragile.

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Alternative

Twinkle, twinkle, littlestar

Pony
23rd January 2005

By Kristy Theissling

Upstairs at Pony on a cold summer's evening in Melbourne, a crowd of around forty lounged around. They lounged on many couches (beer stains hidden by dim red lighting), a small, tame gathering of punters relaxing in their natural habitat. Unfortunately for the bar, most unwound without the assistance of alcohol, leaving the very handsome bartender with nothing much to do but watch what everybody else was watching: the band.
Ben Timmis (vocals and keyboard) and Jeremy Kirk (drums and programming) are the two drum-machine wielding luminaries of Littlestar (yes, one word). Sometimes resembling Radiohead, Pink Floyd or Kraftwerk, moving from depressing darkness to spaced-out happiness, this is emotional music, and good for those that like to simply sit and absorb.

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Classical

Hallelujiah!

The Messiah , Melbourne Town Hall
Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir
and Orchestra
19th December 2004

By Frederick Pope

Over two hundred and fifty years ago, in only twenty four days, George Frederic Handel sat down and churned out one of the classical era's most enduring masterpieces; "The Messiah". Based on texts from the Bible, this oratorio was written in 1741 whilst Handel was staying in Ireland as the guest of the Duke of Devonshire, and was first performed in Dublin at the Fishamble Music Hall the following year.

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Exercising the ghost in the machine

...take a jog with DJ Spooky and Golan Levin through modern music and art. It's a trip.

By Rosanne Bersten.

Golan Levin and Paul Miller (a.k.a DJ Spooky) make an unlikely pairing. Levin is a nervous Pittsburgh-based Jewish white guy best known for concerts where the music is entirely created through precisely-timed dialing of the audience's own mobile phones. Miller is a confident, New York-based black dude known for his politics, sampling and intellectual contributions to mags like 21C.

Their worlds coincide in places like the Prix Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria, a week-long extravaganza for the digerati and where Rosanne Bersten caught up with them for a chat over breakfast rolls and good Austrian coffee.

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Alternative

Monesque: the relentless truth

By Peter Haydon

What happens when you have an irresistible desire to tell the truth? Become a classy song writer is one answer. That is the solution of Monesque, who says she has been "hit by the truth bug". "I had to tell the truth about everything. Music was the best vehicle for this. People don't listen to young females."

The attraction to truthfulness is reaping musical rewards. When Monesque shared a Brisbane Livid stage with the Go-Betweens, their guitarist and songwriter Grant McLennan was so impressed with her material that he called her "the most original songwriter in Australia at the moment!"

Now she lives in Melbourne's rock and roll hotel The Arthouse, and is looking to re-form her successful Queensland band Novakade.

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Motif: darkly beautiful

By
Peter Haydon

Ever since she can remember, Fiona McCammon has been interested in music. "I never believed I could do it," she claims. "Never had any confidence in myself. When I went on work experience, I remember talking to a bass player who insisted "You can write" He would not take no for an answer. I went home and eventually did write. I then got asked to join a band when I was sixteen to play keyboards (my brother had just left the same band). I was then challenged to start singing."

Although Fiona has extensive experience with bands, Motif are currently an acoustic duo. In 2001, Fiona met David Skeen through a mutual friend. After a single experimental jam session, they knew they had something. The fledgling Motif formed with a full band line-up, but eventually settled on the duo as more practical.

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Send us your email, notes, memos, random thoughts, trenchant complaints. Tell us about your adventures, strugggles, disasters, disappointments and successes as a musician.

Clinkerfield lash out...to buy Pete a beer

Hey Pete

The review [was very noice, thanks... I'd go as far to say 'glowing'. It made me feel all fuzzy inside my chest. And as for the "aesthetic of nearly there-ness", it's close! It's more of an aesthetic of honesty, immediacy and "here 'tis, with warts". Recorded (reasonably) cheaply and quickly, as opposed to spending inordinately more time on achieving (maybe) a more polished end, with more depth and realisation, but maybe less honesty. I dunno... Give us a million bucks tho, and I'd probly spend a year on one song... sigh.

Thanks again.

Jimmy

via email

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We give preference to letters of 200 words or less, but try your luck anyway. We may edit your letters for reasons of space, or possibly because we're just a bunch of interfering bastards. Despite that, we welcome your feedback, comments and observations. You can use a pseudonym if you wish, but please include your real name, suburb/town and, if you are writing from outside Victoria, your state/country.

Email us at musosunion@aol.com.

Got a problem or question relating to the music biz? Ask Uncle Terry.
(Uncle Terry is a grumpy old man who lives in a cave in one of the less fashionable corners of the Yarra Valley. He is not a qualified legal practitioner and he does not dispense formal legal advice. Neither he nor the publishers of "The Dues" accept any liability for the results of acting on the opinions, statements or recommendations expressed in his column)

Email Uncle Terry on musosunion@aol.com. Please provide your name and suburb (& state/country, if you're not a local yokel...)

Uncle Terry goes to ground

Sadly for all you Uncle Terry aficionados out there, he's gone on holidays. He's heading north to meet a troglodyte cousin. They'll spend a few weeks relaxing, bashing each other over the head with sticks, and complaining that things aren't what they used to be. Never fear, however, UTAs, because he'll be back next issue, uglier, grumpier, meaner, nastier and smellier than ever.

We at The Dues are proud to present a new type of advertising that goes one step beyond ordinary classified ads. Welcome to Certified Ads. We hope you survive the experience...

For Sale

A Love Supreme original vinyl signed by John Coltrane. Willing to swap for latest Bananas in Pyjamas DVD

Complete Oscar and Hammerstein musical collection, all original cast. One 45rpm copy of Heinzie I'm Your Little Boy, two autographed Bette Midler posters and a gerbil which answers to the name of Rex. Applications in handwriting to Brian Buenarotti. Reason for sale: taking up coaching position with New Zealand All Blacks

2nd edition The Complete Embouchure by M Lewinski. Slight stain on flyleaf

Thelmer thoprano thaxophone. Ath new. Thtill in bokth. Playth thlick. Great thound. $1,000,000 ONO

Caruso 120 BC-XA II pre-amp booster bin w. axd. 2nd-gen. overtailer. Ex. cond. ONO. Will separate. $12 per unit/hr. DLUG, OSP, GDH, ASAP. Don't call after hours. 331313

Bag of rubbish. Sentimental value ONO. 5 The Herrings, Seaford

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Bigger

The Dues just keeps getting bigger. This month we welcome aboard Paul Gray. Paul is a widely-read and highly-respected journalist and columnist - many of you would have seen his work in the major dailies. We confidently hope that his regular column Gray Noise will be provocative and challenging. We also welcome Kristy Theissling. The youngest member of our team, she already has an impressive track record, distinguished in both text and photojournalism.

We are also fortunate to have Rosanne Bersten's exclusive wide-ranging interview with Golan Levin and Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky). David James manages to compare the music business to the Babylonian Lottery, Jorge Luis Borges' famous creation. Suffice it to say there are several other highly-regarded mainstream journalists contributing savage, hilarious and incisive articles under cover. Perhaps they'll come out some day.

Our constantly-expanding roster of reviewers is ensuring that we have the most diverse and thoughtful coverage of music in Victoria of any magazine. We continue our emphasis on practical topics - see in this issue the ongoing series on Harmony and How To Get A Gig, as well as Steve Smith's timely look at self-publishing on the Internet.

The Dues has also, after long deliberation, accepted its first advertising, and it is no coincidence that it concerns hearing-care products. Hearing loss amongst musicians is an endemic but under-recognised disease, and the traditions of the workplaces in which we play music pay scant regard to the safety of musicians and punters alike. Andy Stewart of the highly-respected Audio Technology magazine has proposed that we focus this year on hearing loss and how to prevent it. We heartily support that idea.

Disclaimer:
Articles express the opinion of authors and not necessarily that of the Musicians Union of Australia. No responsibility is accepted for unsolicited material. The Dues makes every effort to use reliable, comprehensive information, but we make no representation that it is accurate or complete.

Publishing your music on soundclick.com

By Steve Smith

For those who aren't familiar with soundclick.com, it enables musicians to upload their music in MP3 format to a website, allows listeners to hear their music, lists tracks on "charts" in different genres, provides download stats for music tracks, and even lets musicians market their CDs online, accepting payment through www.paypal.com.

Previously I had only uploaded music to my own website, and pointed friends to my tracks via email or through online musician forums. Having seen other musicians use soundclick.com, I wondered where the appeal and advantage of this site was derived.

I decided to become an "internet recording artist" and release some tracks onto the soundclick.com site to see what would happen.

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An Iraqi Christmas

By Paul Gray

A 75-year-old Iraqi named Nouri Dawood has refused to worry about Christmas. Dawood, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times, has made money for many years from selling Christmas trees in December.
 But this holiday season in Iraq, business has been down. Churches, too, have been curtailing Christmas services for fear of being bombed by fundamentalists.
 

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Performers' copyright comes and goes

By Theo Schulsus Pecs

Amendments to the Copyright Act that came into force on the first of January 2005 introduce a form of the long awaited "Performer Copyright" to Australia. Anyone playing on a sound recording will now automatically own a percentage of the copyright in that recording. The catch is that the right is assignable, a signed waiver is sufficient to lose the new right totally. Given the relative power of musicians and record companies it would not be unreasonable to assume that waivers of this sort will become a precondition of all recording.

PPCA is the organisation that licenses the use of recordings for their members (typically record companies). Their comments on the changes could be interpreted as supporting Intelligence's assumption. You can find these comments here.

Lion in wait

The Lion King is coming to Melbourne as predicted in past intelligence columns. The show will move into the Regent Theatre and word is that substantial modification of the backstage area will be necessary (maybe the one exit pit will finally be fixed!).

Good news on the grapevine for Melbourne musos is that the producers of the show want to use an all Melbourne band. Intelligence will pass on more detailed employment news as it comes to hand.

...click here for more Intelligence

Gargle blast from the past

Reviewer: Daniel Ziffer
Event:
John Farnham and Tom Jones
Published: The Age 19/2/2005

By Kandy Maze

Is it unfair to expect of a review of a concert of two singers as household wordy as Johnnie, scuse, John Farnham and Tom Jones any more than a mention of some of the song titles and that the crowd loved it?

Let me rephrase the question. What could we possibly expect to learn about John and Tom that we didn't already know or want to know from such a review? That the pair are playing at such and such a venue on such and such dates and that the crowd loves it?

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Excuse me, sir, your show is slipping.

Show:
Channel Nine Late News
Segment: "Penny and Rod"
Broadcast: 16/2/05

By Farrah Fawcett-Through

No, this is not a report on a suburban brothel offering dead cheap sadomasochism, although watching it through requires a stomach of iron or an unhealthy inclination towards that daintiness of appetite that bears the name of its greatest practitioner, the Marquis de Sade.

This is rather four minutes and 38 seconds, including Ray Martin's snappy intro, of shameless spruiking for another of the clattering collection of wandering minstrels still strolling their bones about the globe that demonstrates once more the reluctance of the Baby-Boomer generation to loosen its grip on the rudder of popular culture

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HARMONY
for the
Compleat Idiot

Part Five in a series by
Holden Fairlane

Welcome back or, if this is your first visit welcome! First visitors are advised to check out previous "Harmony for the Compleat Idiot" columns (go to the archives to find the harmony column in each of the four previous issues of The Dues).

I'll now assume you are all up to speed. Last time we were all going to work out the notes in the sharp keys. An elephant stamp for those who did. Another elephant stamp for those of you who got them all right, encouragement and a suggestion to do a bit of revision for those who made some errors. Incidentally you can always drop me an email addressed to Holden at musosunion@aol.com if you have any questions.

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How to get a properly-paid gig

Part II in a series by
Bellaire Hillock

Last time we talked about "The Plan" and outlined its three components:

1. Research
2. Prepare
3. Market

Let's look at each of the components in more detail.

RESEARCH
Remember that we are talking about music that people want to hear already and that this will be music they have already heard. (There is another entertainment based option but we'll look at that later) Yes, this means playing "Covers". This term has acquired a lot of nasty connotations in recent years, playing covers is now viewed by many as being the equivalent to murdering endangered species.

Fostering this view is in the interests of those in the music industry who wish to keep the musicians powerless but we won't go into that here either! There is another category of band that can get paid work, the "functional" band. This does not necessarily mean a Function Band but sometimes does. We'll look at them later.

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