There are some things in life that should not be accepted without question, like government policies and Scientology. Others, however, need to be enjoyed without question, as anyone who’s ever tried to introduce one of their friends to The Mighty Boosh might know. ‘Why’s it called The Mighty Boosh?’ ‘Don’t ask questions.’ ‘What’s with the…
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As soon as something deals with ‘women’s issues’, it is slapped with the label of feminist. An unfortunate consequence of this is that much is then overlooked by both men and women who don’t identify with the typical idea of feminism, when really ‘women’s issues’ should be considered as ‘people’s issues’ (unless we all stop…
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So I decided to think about more recent experiences for this week’s column rather than drawing on my bank of disasters. I don’t usually do this for a couple of reasons: 1. I need objectivity so that what is already a self-indulgent column doesn’t become a weekly emotion-fuelled rant. 2. It’s more likely to make…
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Since I became lip website’s music sub-editor, the people around me have generally taken little notice of this position. Some blatantly self-promote and others, upon realising that I must have some kind of overarching interest in music, direct me to little gems that I may not have heard of otherwise. One evening on facebook, an…
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After having played at the WOMAD festivals in Italy and England over the past couple of years, 13-piece German outfit, 17 Hippies, is arriving on Australian soil for the Womadelaide festival, taking place in Adelaide’s Botanic Park March 11th-14th, 2011. Forming in a less conventional way than most bands, 17 Hippies originally began as a…
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After seeing Black Mountain perform at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne on February 21st, 2011, my friend, Calvin, summed them up perfectly: ‘One of the best bands I’ve never heard of.’ Despite garnering much attention within the psych rock genre and spawning a collective of artists in Vancouver, BC, appropriately named the Black Mountain Army,…
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Often we enter into relationships with people, thinking this would be the perfect person for us if only something were a little bit different about them. Think of it as adding avocado to a chicken caesar salad; it’s still pretty good, and certainly manageable without it, but with it, it just might be perfect. Unsurprisingly,…
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After Liquor Licensing Laws led to the closure of Melbourne’s famous Tote Hotel and threatened the future of many other live music venues, 20,000 people took to the streets, marching down Swanston Street and to Parliament House to encourage the Victorian government to take a closer look at the unintended impact these laws were having…
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With a career that began with three friends in a van in 1992, The Waifs have seen a lot of changes to both the music industry and to their reception, playing a major role in bringing folk music to the widespread attention of Australian listeners. Despite having found themselves in various stages of life and…
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My boyfriend was relieved earlier this week when I informed him that my next couple of columns were going to be about dudes who aren’t him (he likes his private life private and even though I’ve previously written about my violation of such requests, it’s also not in my interests to annoy someone I have…
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The presence of international bands on the iPods of Australians, like most English speaking populations, is generally rather limited. But it is a feat that French indie/synthpop band, Phoenix, have managed (though granted, English lyrics don’t hurt) and their performance at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre on February 14th 2011 cemented their already solid reputation…
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The advent and resulting clutter of Internet media has made it rather difficult for musicians to get themselves noticed. Supports for major bands are revered, festival line-ups coveted with even the smallest slots reserved for the creamiest crop the scouts can find. Jac Stone can now tick these two milestones off her to-do list, having…
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Music journalism is not the arena of glamour you might think it is. You get to do some things that are, categorically, ‘cooler’ than most jobs, but it also involves a lot of sucking up, doing favours for people you’ve never met and reviewing bands you don’t like. I’m sure some music writers get into…
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For all the stigmas associated with it in the real world, depression and its subsidiaries manage to carry with them a bit of glamour in certain domains of life. Of course, we all know about the tortured but brilliant artistes, but right alongside that little gem of an inaccurate stereotype is that of the tragic…
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