Thursday, July 29, 2010

Guttermouth

Who doesn't like lude, crude and rude punk? Oh you? Well don't go see Guttermouth live then. Well, when they are clean they do some good skate punk. And they've been doing it for decades.



This October they are coming to our country to do a regional Australia tour, stopping in a few major cities of course. And taping the tour to make a DVD.

28th - Beer Garden, Surfers Paradise [18+]
29th - Fusion Villa, Noosa [18+]
30th - The Hi-Fi, Brisbane [18+]

And for a real laugh, my favourite track of their's has to be What If? It's not really punk, but it's a great laugh. Check it out.

Also, you can get some songs from their website.

Soundwave 2011

Apparently I missed a few bands last night/more bands got announced. The others are:

Bayside
Thirty Seconds to Mars
Alesana
The Bronx

It seems weird that 30 Seconds to Mars will be coming back so soon, especially since they are here right about now. Their first album was pretty tops (thanks Casey for making me listen to it way back in the day) but I feel their new stuff is just to over the top, and that they keep trying to build off Jared Leto's Hollywood fame.

But the announcement that gets me all tingly in the pants department is the Bronx. My first Bronx experience was at the first Soundwave. Clus and I just walked into the crowd not knowing them, the lead singer chugged a bottle of Penfolds red, grabbed the mike for the first song and jumped into the crowd. He spent most of the time singing right near us, and even under me as I jumped on him like everyone else in the crowd. It was an amazing show. And since that experience I've seen them over and over and over again. Hopefully they bring out their Mariachi El Bronx band to the tour (although they are coming out for one Mariachi show in Sydney soon, so maybe not).

If you like your hardcore punk, check them out. Even if you are a bit unsure about punk that isn't poppy. They are great. The HiFi has a free stream of their last show in Brisbane at their website here. If you get the chance, check out their Mariachi band on the same website. It's amazing that they produce two completely opposite sides of music, and do it well.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Soundwave 2011

Soundwave has to be one of my favourite festivals. Ever since it's inception back in the day (07) I've gone to everyone in Brisbane and even to other cities. It combines a lot of the genres I love in punk, metal, hardcore and alternative rock. It also helps bring out bands you don't get to always see in Australia.

It's pretty much hit the big time now and the organisers have started leaking out bands one at a time on Triple J's Full Metal Racket and Short Fast Loud. As of now, the bands announced have yet to get me overly excited like every year before. They are:

Kylesa
The Blackout
The Ataris
Trash Talk
All That Remains
Less than Jake
Veara
There for Tomorrow
Mad Caddies
A Skylit Drive
The Sword
Asking Alexandria

I find myself asking "who?" with half of this line up. Not to mention the fact that two of these bands have already played the Soundwave festival before. I'm excited by Less than Jake and Mad Caddies, as I have an excessive obsession with Ska. Less Than Jake missed Brisbane last time they were here, due to bad flights. I'm also excited by the thrash hardcore of Trash Talk who didn't come on the last Boys of Summer tour like they were supposed to.

I'm hoping that there are some way better bands on the upcoming announcement, or I may not go next year. I hate putting up with festival crowds for some mediocre genre-copying bands.

Oh, and AJ (the organiser), if you some how read this, get Primus on it. You've been promising it for way too long now.

The Brisbane leg of the tour is the 26th of February next year. No venue announcement yet.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Ocarina of Rhyme

I'm generally not a fan of mash ups, that genre of music were different songs are mixed together. Artists like Girl Talk are one of the few exceptions, his amazing ability to form a new song out of so many pieces of other songs is mind boggling. Another one of the few I really like is Illionoize, where producer Tor has mashed up hip-hop songs with Sufjan Stevens. The indie and the hip-hop reallly mixes well together and you can get that album for free at this website.

But now there's a new one I like. And it mixes hip-hop with the music from one of my all time favourite video games: The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time.


It's put together by Team Teamwork, a group of guys that do mash ups, some video game related. I've been trying to buy a Nintendo-64 lately purely so I could play this game again and it was just blind luck that someone linked me to this mash up based off of the game. It features Spank Rock, Jay Z, Dr Dre/Snoop Dogg, Clipse, Aesop Rock, Busta Rhymes and Common amongst others. All set to my favourite songs and sounds from the game.

They put all of their mash ups out for free, so download the whole album here.

Tron

Like most people of my generation, I was introduced to Tron by the Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror 3D special:



I hate how the only Simpsons videos you can find online are in Spanish... But you get the point. It was crude 3D line drawings. A movie about being sucked into a video game in the 80s.

And it's back. Featuring video games, 3D, the Dude (Jeff Bridges) and 13 from House (Olivia Wilde). (Both of those links are awesome, click on them)

But the best part is that the soundtrack is being composed by Daft Punk. There's not much out there yet, but you can catch a few clips of their music at the official Tron website right here. This movie probably won't be amazingly Oscar worthy, but it should be a damn good time with a damn good soundtrack.

Big Sound and Valley Fiesta collide!

Those of us that live and gig in Brisbane truly understand how we can be seen as the live music capital of Australia. The music scene here is just so large and diverse, yet still as close as a family. Q Music run a yearly music conference called Big Sound as a celebration of this aspect of our wonderful city.



It's a coming together of the business, the arts and the music side of everything. As they say in the above trailer, it's our attempt to replicate a South by Southwest style festival and conference in the streets of Fortitude Valley, where there's so many live music venues in such a small area. This year there will be all sorts of managers, musicians, producers and more sharing their experience and knowledge, and helping out the local scene.

And the best part is, a shit tonne of concerts in association with it.

On the Wednesday and Thursday (8th and 9th of September) over 60 bands will be playing across 6 stages in the Valley, including 2 outdoor stages. Get comfortable, here's the list (I've bolded the notables to me):
CHILDREN COLLIDE
THE VASCO ERA
BOY & BEAR
THE GIN CLUB
THE JOHN STEEL SINGERS
PARADES (one of my new random favourite bands)
ERNEST ELLIS
THE HUNGRY KIDS OF HUNGARY
BRIDEZILLA
THE JEZABELS
BONJAH
THE WILSON PICKERS
LAST DINOSAURS
HALFWAY
THE CHECKS (NZ)
THE HOLIDAYS
STIFF GINS
GEORGIA FAIR
FIRE! SANTA ROSA FIRE!
PERRY KEYES
DUBMARINE
THE CAIROS
THE MELODICS
BALL PARK MUSIC
ARTISAN GUNS (NZ)
YOUNG REVELRY
RICHARD IN YOUR MIND
EAGLE & THE WORM
O YE DENVER BIRDS
THE NAKED AND FAMOUS (NZ)
THE OPTIMEN
PIKELET
THE MEDICS
GUINEAFOWL
MY FICTION
THE TRANSIENTS
BIG SCARY
DISCO NAP
THE DELTA RIGGS
DANIEL LEE KENDALL
26
DEEP SEA ARCADE
JINJA SAFARI
METALS
KYU
THE HONEY MONTH
LOVE CONNECTION
MELODRAMAS (UK)
KIMBRA
EDGE OF COLOUR
RUBY FROST (NZ)
CITY RIOTS
THE FOREIGN OBJECTS
KNIVES AT NOON (NZ)

And that's just the first announcement. Granted, it's a lot of indie, but it's mainly local. Just showing how good our music scene really is. Tickets are only $46 for the full two days, which is a steal for the amount of music you will get to see.

The second all this finishes, we get to start the music all over again! The weekend starting the 10th of September is when the Valley Fiesta starts. 3 days of music all throughout the Valley, most of it free. In years past there's been great bands, I remember in the first few weeks of living in Brisbane they had the Resin Dogs play the Sunday Afternoon. The mix of a few beers and free music in the mall made me actually happy to be living in this great city of ours. The line up is yet to be announced, but they generally manage to pull out some good bands, even a few international ones. A few years ago they even had the Silversun Pickups play for free.

Big Sound
Big Sound Tickets
Valley Fiesta

Sunday, July 25, 2010

This is serious mum

New computer has arrived! So the blog is back. The first change is compliments of Clus' wonderful coding skills. The upcoming shows list on the right is linked to a public Google Calendar. It's all up to date and you can visit the actual calendar to download all of the shows for your own calendar. And now for some music news...


TISM (This is Serious Mum) are Australia's most elusive and annoying band. They've made almost as many enemies as they have friends with their political rock/electronica/spoken word music. And apparently they're coming back, hopefully in time for the election. Their website (http://www.tism.com.au/) is being updated as we speak. To me, they have a few great songs, but their albums are full of mainly absolutely tripe between the songs.

Enjoy their most widely known song, as performed in an Indian style on John Safran's Musical Jamboree:


Thursday, July 22, 2010

Music Music Music

Simply Red

My parents love this band. They've been pouring out hits for 25 years and now it's time for their farewell tour. Although their music is very pop these days, they actually started at a Sex Pistols show in the 70s.

Take your parents to see them (with Marcia Hines supporting) October 1 at the Entertainment Centre.

Last.fm

Bulls and music

For those of us not lucky enough to be going to Splendour, there's a festival happening at the same time in Ipswich called Rodeo Rockfest. Catch Spiderbait playing the Friday and Sunday.

July 30 - August 1 at Ipswich Turf Club

Tickets and details

Regurgitator!

Brisbane's favourite native party band has to be Regurgitator without fail. After playing QPac's Birthday, it seems they enjoyed it so much they're going on an Australian tour.

Tivoli, September 18

Not that you need it, but their MySpace if you haven't heard them before

La Dispute

I'm not going to lie, I only just started listening to this band, even though lots of my friends rave about them. And I'm addicted. It's like a heavier mewithoutyou. Think hardcore, spoken word, folk and instrumentals mixed in together. It's fairly unique. And awesome.

They did a basement DIY tour of Australia earlier in the year, which I kick myself for missing. But luckily, the word on the street is that they will be back out here in January for another trip round. I cannot wait. Do yourself a favour and check out a great band with an original sound.

MySpace

Gorillaz tour

A few months back, with the death of Dennis Hopper, I was watching a bunch of videos of him, including him performing "Fire Out of the Monkey's Head" with the Gorillaz live. And after that I watched all of the Gorillaz live videos I could. They just seem to put on an amazing theatrical experience (not just a show) and never did I think I'd ever get to see it.

But now I can.

Not just the Gorillaz, but they'll be bringing out a bunch of guests to help them perform their songs. Which means we get to see this:



Their tour party will include De La Soul (in the video above), Mick Jones, Bobby Womack, Gruff Rhys, Shaun Ryder and Little Dragon. Look at that list for a second. I'd give a leg to see Mick Jones (the Clash), De La Soul, or the Gorillaz. And now we get them all together.

19th December at the Entertainment Centre. It may be the first time I will ever enjoy a show there.

If you want, check out the Gorillaz live in Harlem, featuring every guest star you could possibly imagine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--QTzeFCwtg

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Mouthguard's last show!

Don't have much time to write, so here's something I copied from Rave:
Mouthguard, Plan Of Attack,Boss Sounds, The Black Market and Jack Flash all play The Prince Of Wales Hotel, Nundah on Friday Jul 23. Viktor Mouthguard is bound for an indefi nite sojourn in the Czech Republic, so don’t miss this show if you’re a fan because it’s your last chance!
Sad times, Mouthguard is one of the best local hardcore bands with such a dedicated following. Hopefully it's only for a short while until they find a new bassist to replace Viktor.

Also, the Blackmarket are freaking awesome Rancid style folk/ska/punk.

Mouthguard
Black Market (Free MP3's!)

Monday, July 19, 2010

Brisbane Festival 2010

Every year the Brisbane Festival celebrates art and everything that is Brisbane. Starting with the fireworks frenzy that is Riverfire (sans F-111s for the first time this year, sad), it also includes concerts throughout the festival run (September 4-25).

The "bigger and mainstream" acts occur mainly in the Spiegeltent, set up in King George square. It features music every night (at 7pm), cabaret most nights (at 9pm) and Jazz on Sundays. Although there are plenty more shows scattered around our fair city. Some of the acts I'm considering this year are:

Paul Dempsey - The lead singer from Something for Kate has been striking out on his own for a while now doing his solo acoustic act. And sold out many a show in our town. He's playing September 5, 6 and 7 at the Spiegeltent.

http://www.pauldempseymusic.com/

Ed Kuepper - The founder of Brisbane's (and possibly the world's, I've got in many debates about this) first and legendary punk band the Saints and now touring guitarist for Nick Cave. September 15 at the Spiegeltent.

Robert Forster - The last surviving half of Brisbane indie legends The Go-Betweens. He'll be playing everything old, new and lots of covers. September 18 at the Powerhouse.

I'm sure there'll be more announcements and more I'm excited for!

First Big Day Out band for 2011

This band let slip in a New Zealand interview that they will be playing next year's Big Day Out.



Yeah.
South African rappers Die Antwood.
Probably another reason not to go.

Punk cancellation, announcement and possible album of the year??

SNFU Cancel tour (not their fault... maybe)

These Canadian punk legends were going to be out soon doing a long awaited tour. Unfortunately:
Is it possible to live the values of your sub-culture too completely? Can members of punk bands be accused of being "too punk"? SNFU never thought so. Unfortunately, the Australian Government doesn't seem to agree.

With fans eagerly awaiting their 2010 tour, we here at New Noise Agency have been informed by Australian Customs that a member has been denied a Visa, based on prior convictions – meaning he can't legally enter Australia. As much as we've tried to fight this decision and find a way around it, we've been left with no choice other than to cancel SNFU's forthcoming tour.
So they are no longer playing the Zoo in the next week.

Miles Away tour

WA's hardcore punkers Miles Away are heading our way again for some more shows.

Oct 1 The Fort Brisbane AA
Oct 2 Rosies, Brisbane (Thriller, 18+)

MySpace

Album of the year?

One of my new front runners for album of the year is now Norma Jean - Meridional. O God the Aftermath and Redeemer were some amazing albums that really took the heavier mathcore/hardcore scene to great places. Their latest, the Anti-Mother, was more melodic, but I didn't enjoy it as much.

But Meridional... wow. Get it if you like any heavy music.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

More news

My weekend in Melbourne was amazing. I could live there, but then I would be broke and tired because I would just go to every sports event and live music event I could find. But in the Brisbane music world, here's a few news pieces:

Amity Affliction tour (again)

Brisbane/Gympie's favourite post-hardcore sons have announced another tour, mere days after playing two packed shows at the HiFi with Misery Signals. It's not the usual venues, but it sees them playing some places that normally don't get much in the way of shows. I'll probably hit up Fitzys (I know a few people that work there) but I won't get excited until I see who their supports are.

Thursday September 2nd - High School, Byron Bay (AA)
Friday September 3rd - Albert Waterways, Gold Coast (AA)
Saturday September 4th - PCYC, Gladstone (AA)
Sunday September 5th - QRI Hall, Rockhampton (AA)
Wednesday September 8th - Fitzys MBar Loganholme, Logan City (18+)

MySpace

Chemical Brothers tour

This British duo has been putting out some amazing electronic music as long as I can remember, as well as one of the most annoying songs of the decade in the Salmon Dance. Their new album is less dance music and has more of a post-rock and ambient feel to it. And I really like it.

And apparently they will be playing the Riverstage March 4 next year. A great venue for a great band.

MySpace

Poison the Well (sad news)

Poison the Well have been one of the most innovative and leading hardcore bands over the course of the last 13 years. Their early albums, especially the Opposite of December, was some of the heaviest music I had ever heard at the time, even with their continual use of the splash through the album. As their albums came and went, they kept changing, with their last two albums (the Tropic Rot and the amazing album that is Versions) they've now honed in on an almost country-hardcore sound. There is nothing else like it.

And apparently there may be nothing else like it for a while. As of last week, they are now on indefinite hiatus. I was lucky enough to see them 3 or 4 times last year. I just hope it's not the last time I'll see them and that when they have a rest and get back together they will come up with an amazing new chapter in this iconic band's history.

MySpace

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Another quick one

I'm on my way to Melbourne right now, killing a few minutes in the Qantas Club, so I thought it'd give me an opportunity to blog a few things that have been building up in my "todo" list. My new computer should be here by the end of the month, so there'll be much more in depth stuff then. And some code changes Clus has been helping me with.

Pat Benatar/The Bangles

Like your 80's music? I know I do. Catch songs like Love is a Battlefield and Walk Like an Egyptian live on October 20 at the Convention Centre.

Pixes

This is old hat now, but I just thought I'd rub it in that I scored tickets to go see the Pixies at the Zoo on the 31st of July. Capacity of the venue is 400 people and it sold out almost instantly. I guess I got lucky.

Cola Wars supports CKY

Apparently, heard from a mate that's friends with Cam in the band, Cola Wars (half of Bodyjar) will be supporting CKY on their Australian tour. Catch them both the 15th of August at the HiFi.

Sounds of Spring 2010
Despite no announcement yet, apparently the Sounds of Spring is returning to the RNA showgrounds this Spring. The Take Action 2010 tour featuring Attack! Attack! and Pierce the Veil are apparently visiting that festival. Although I don't like either of those bands, I'm intrigued to see what Sounds of Springs brings this year.

I was supposed to be going to see Strike Anywhere in Fitzroy tomorrow night, but that show's been canned. Sad times, but hopefully I'll see some of you people there on Thursday at 299!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Multiple concert details

I've ordered a new computer! Hopefully I'll have it within in the next week and I can get back to actually updating my blog, but for now, enjoy multiple announcements in one post!

Leatherface

British punk-rockers Leatherface are coming to Australia as part of some sort of show in Melbourne. But we're lucky enough to get them playing a solo gig. They've been a band for 22 years, mixing together gravelly vocals with folk-punk and touches of hardcore.

See them September 11 at Rosies for Thriller (18+)

Leatherface

Soilwork

No one does death metal like the scandinavians. Soilwork hails from Sweden, which might explain their slightly more melodic take on metal. You can catch them at the HiFi on the 21st of October. (18+)

Soilwork

Mary Jane Kelly

I first heard these guys on Triple J one afternoon and fell in love with them. How often does radio play heavy shit in primetime? The New South Welshmen's thrashier-hardcore earned them a spot on the Boys of Summer tour last year with Every Time I Die. I rocked up too late to see them, but I've heard lots of good things.

July 15 - Snitch (299), 18+
July 16 - The Fort, All ages

Death Before Dishonor

Hardcore from Boston. Lot's of people love these guys and it's easy to see why. I'm only just starting to listen to them, so I can't tell you much.

August 31 - 299, 18+
September 1 - The Fort, All Ages

Death Before Dishonor

Calling All Cars/Numbers Radio

It's good to see Australian bands do well and tour nationally together. I've seen both of these bands, with both being more heavier alternative rock. But both rock pretty hard. Brisbane locals Numbers Radio especially.

September 24 - Never Land (Gold Coast), 18+
September 25 - X&Y, 18+

Calling All Cars
Numbers Radio

Thursday, July 8, 2010

New Sum 41 song

I miss Sum 41, I really do. I've been driving along to this all week:


Although their later albums have been solid, nothing has come close to the immature punk rock found on their first album.

Apparently they've got a new album coming out at the end of August and they've released the first single already. It's called Scumfuck and you can download it here.

I'm still plagued with computer problems, so I can only listen to it through crappy laptop speakers. Through this medium I get a faint My Chemical Romance on the Black Parade feel to it. Which is not good. Hopefully the rest of the album is punkier.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

PIXIES CLUB SHOW!

Updates are going to be infrequent for the next few weeks. I started a new job, where I have no internet privelages yet, and my computer at home dies every 5 minutes, making it impossible to surf the internet.

However, I jumped on here just to say this: the Pixies are playing a Splendour Sideshow. At the Zoo. July 31. Capacity of like 800 people. Where I saw Mark Lanegan last night. For $61. If you aren't aroused by now, I am not sure if you actually like music.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Splendour cancellations

In sad times (not really, I'm not going), two bands have pulled out of the upcoming Splendour in the Grass festival. First up is my bet for a next one hit wonder band, the Ting Tings. They've cancelled due to recording their new album to be released later this year.

Queensland boys the Middle East are also pulling out due to extended recording commitments. No word yet on replacements.

Splendour. July 30-August 1. Woodford.

EDIT: They have been replaced with Art vs Science

Hot Water Music/Bouncing Souls tour

In my old blog (before it got taken down for copyright infringement) I mentioned this tour, as Chuck Ragan had let it slip during his Revival Tour when I was in Perth. But yes, the Bouncing Souls and Hot Water Music are coming down under! And I am pretty much the 2nd most excited person about this (Bek is even more excited).


The Bouncing Souls, now in their 20th year, are one of my favourite pop-punk bands. Their album How I Spent My Summer is the album that got me into pop-punk. It's an album full of up-beat, happy punk, which at the time I identified with as a 16 year old during the summer. Still remains one of the CDs I listen to while driving around in summer with the windows down. Manthem is the first song I heard on a compilation I had and it's still one of my all time favourites. Their new album, Ghosts on the Boardwalk, is one of my favourite albums of 2010 already.

Hot Water Music is a band I've only recently started listening to, probably 8 years too late. But if the full band is anything like the acoustic set done by their lead singer, Chuck Ragan, it will be absolutely amazing.

This is the punk tour of the year.
December 11th, the Zoo. 18+

The Bouncing Souls
Hot Water Music

Mourning Tide tour!

Have you always wanted your 80's glam-rock with a side of hardcore? Or maybe you've always wanted your hardcore to have bigger hair, blazing solos and (more recently) moustaches? Then the Gold Coast's Mourning Tide is for you:



Ignoring the fact that this is an old and one of their absolute cheesiest songs, Mourning Tide very successfully mix hardcore and 80's glam rock. Glam-core? Is that a sub-genre? Well, that's what they are.

They're about to embark on their headlining The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Tour. As a band, Mourning Tide are much better live. Their music, like a lot of 80's style rock, is made for playing loud to a crowd, with lots of showing off and band standing.

Catch them on a run of South East Queensland dates.

Fri 24th Sept - Brisbane All Ages - The Fort
Sat 25th Sept - Brisbane 18+ - Thriller ( Rosies )
Friday 1st Oct - Sunshine Coast 18+ - Diamond Nights ( 240 Nightclub )
Sat 2nd Oct - Gold Coast All Ages - Shed 5
Sun 3rd Oct - Sunshine Coast All Ages - The Blackbox Nambour ( Afternoon Show )

On this tour they'll be bringing two Sunshine Coast hardcore bands with them: Wish for Wings and Grace is Gone.

Mourning Tide
Wish for Wings
Grace is Gone

Friday, July 2, 2010

Children Collide

I saw Children Collide a few months back on their "pre-album-release tour". I remember very little of it, as a night at the Zoo turned into a night of heavy drinking. They're a good band though, with a unique/futuristic almost sci-fi take on indie rock.


They're coming back around to celebrate the release of their new album, Theory of Everything. Hopefully this time I'll be a little bit more sober.

September 10th at the Zoo (18+), supported by Howl and Teen Archer

If you don't know them, their debut album the Long Now, was very good. In an Australian indie music landscape of bands sounding the same, they had a slightly heavier sound and a unique approach. Not to mention hard-working ethic, having seen them open for many different bands.

You can stream their new and old songs on their website.

Tetuzi Akiyama/UR Duo (IMA, July 1 2010)

I can't say no to free stuff. So when I found out an improvisational guitarist was playing a free show at the Institute of Modern Art, of course I had to go along. And when I got there, I found free art to look at and free booze! What a great start.

Eventually about 50 of us squeezed into the IMA projection room for microMONO9, to listen to some guitar music. First up was Melbourne's UR Duo, playing their first show together. UR Duo consisted of a nylon string acoustic guitar paired with a resonator guitar, which together worked quite well. The musician on the resonator started by slapping the strings to bring up a nice crescendo with the finger picking of the nylon guitar creating beautiful melodies over the top.

Their sounds went from loud, noise-rock inspired all the way to quiet, having-to-strain-your-ears to hear what was going on. The resonator guitar provided a lot of the noisy moments, with the player beating the living hell out of the strings instead of strumming them. He even used his slide as almost a hammer on the strings. Together they played for about 30 minutes in one big song, creating melodies from what sometimes seemed to be absolute randomness.

The curator of microMONO seemed to be a little bit of a fanboy of Tetuzi, gushing out praises as the scarecrow looking man took the stage. But it didn't take long to see why (I apologize for having no pictures, the whole room was backlit by a single lamp and it was very dark).

Tetuzi played a song he called Risk and Responsibility, which he claimed is exactly what improvisational music is all about. He started by striking an open note on his acoustic guitar and somehow causing it to feedback through the microphone, manipulating the sound to be as loud or as quiet as he wanted, and somehow adding new levels by barely moving his hands.

Eventually it quieted down to Tetuzi exploring the fretboard. Being completely improvisational, a lot of thought was put into each note or chord selection. You could see him think once or twice before placing his fingers and playing the sound. Some of the notes did not seem to fit in, while some of them created beautiful melodies. But never once was the music ugly.

On a chair next to him he had a plethora of implements to assist in his playing. At one stage he picked up a plastic hairbrush and started scratching the surface of the guitar, causing the notes to resonate and ring out. It was interesting and I was amazed at some of the sounds he produced from it, at one point it even sounded like a didgeridoo. Following the plastic hairbrush he grabbed what appeared to be a short piece of wooden dowel. Rubbing this not just on the surface of the guitar, but sliding it up and down the strings and over the nut of the guitar, he produced even more sounds, some of which sounded like a crescendo of violins. Eventually he finished the song by creating an open note feedback into the microphone again.

For his encore he brought a local friend on to stage, a man playing an electric hollow-body guitar (which was beautiful in itself). Tetuzi played more of a melodic role in this song, which they titled Sex in the Country. The other guitarist was truly a sight to see though. He was crazy and energetic all over the fretboard. Playing hammer on harmonics with his fingers seemingly flailing like mad, using the back of his hand to play notes, changing the volume, tone and tuning of his guitar mid-note, it was just absolute madness. But madness that created music. At some points, much to my surprise, both of the guitarists hit the same sequence of notes at the same time. I recorded the first half of Sex in the Country. Although the video is very dark, you can still hear the music and occassionally see the madness of the second guitarist.



All in all, my first experience with pure improvisational music (not just jam rock, I've seen a bit of that) was wonderous. I'm now inspired to pick up my guitars and see what random noises I can get out of them.