kluster magazine

two double passes to bacardi express sydney show

2010-03-16T03:25:00+00:00

The Bacardi Express is pulling into Sydney once again on the 27th March and we have two double passes burning a hole in our pocket. Since its debut in 2008, The Bacardi Express has attracted the likes of PNAU, Scribe, Van She, British India and Groove Armada. The train shows no signs of slowing down for 2010.

If you want the chance to see La Roux, Art Vs Science, Yves Klein Blue, Miami Horror, Cassette Kids & DJ Sampology at Sydney's Luna Park, simply follow the instructions below.

Already a Kluster subscriber? No problem, to be eligible to win just convince a friend to let you subscribe them too (include their name and email address in the body of the email).

To enter simply email info@kluster.com.au with the subject: barcardi tix for nix

Entries close 25.03.10

danimals release final track for the TED LAB

2010-03-16T00:41:00+00:00

Winners of the Tooheys Extra Dry: The Lab competition, Sydney band Danimals were selected by Mark Ronson to collaborate on 'Fox', the track for the brand's next advert. Colloborating with a dream line-up including Santigold, Nick Hodgson of Kaiser Chiefs, Sean Lennon, John Taylor of Duran Duran, Albert Hammond Jr of The Strokes, Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet and members of The Dap-Kings, 'Fox' is a musical treat that sees the experimental side of Danimals working seamlessly with the brit-pop style of Ronson.

Danimals shared their road-diary with us early this year and described their first week in New York as a "multi-sensory experience that was not unlike making love for the first time in a tub of candyfloss and synthesizers, with fireworks spraying out of the lighting above."

For a band that started off as a solo project for Sydney artist Jonti Danilewitz, they now have some of the biggest names in the business behind them. We can't wait for their debut album to come out next year on Speak n Spell.

'Fox' is currently available as a free download, there are also 20 Numark Portable Turntables up for grabs.

design your own billfold

2010-03-15T23:37:00+00:00

Money. We certainly work hard to earn it. So what better way to keep it nice and cosy (while you still have it) than in a wallet you’ve designed yourself.

Dosh, the Sydney-based wallet brand that likes collaborating with creative thinkers has decided to team up with front-running design conference, Semi-Permanent, for a competition that offers like-minded artists a chance to be one of their design collaborators.

The winning design will be plastered on their virtually indestructible wallets and sold on Dosh’s website and in stores worldwide. And the cool part, you’ll actually earn 5% from every wallet with your design that gets sold. For more information log on here or here to download the design template.

Competition closes on March 27.

Don't these look like bare canvases to you? Start designing.

how love says...

2010-03-11T11:29:00+00:00

A band that is completely unfazed by geographical separation, How Love is using digital technology to transform the unique sounds of three musicians into one cohesive sound. Angelic vocals similar to that of Au Revoir Simone feature on 'Time Song' and dream-like melodies akin to R ö yksopp can be heard on 'Friend' and 'Ayaya'.

When he had a moment away from structuring and editing some beats, occasional Kluster contributor Andrew Worotniuk gave Danni Le Toullec the inside scoop on How Love.

Danni Le Toullec: How did How Love form?

Andrew Worotniuk: Pretty much formed the same way it happens now. I sent Finn some ideas, he sent me some, someone dragged Jamieson in and next thing we had a band.

DL: What inspired the name ‘How Love’?

AW: There really is no grand story. It'd be nice to give you a longwinded, metaphorical answer, but we'd be lying.

DL: Many musicians live by the motto that practice makes perfect. How do you manage to create such multifaceted music without rehearsals?

AW: Apart from spending a lot of time on it, we really just try hard to engage with everything we we're making. I don't think you need to spend a lot of time in a rehearsal studio to do good things anymore. When you bounce ideas of each other and put the effort in to work with them, you don't need much more than a computer connected to the net and some willing minds.

DL: How Love utilises a unique writing process compared to many other bands. How do you create a cohesive sound with all of you writing separately?

AW: In a weird way the electronic/digital side of things is what keeps the sound cohesive. Yeah we don't get together and write songs, but we all spend a lot of time structuring, editing and mixing sounds on our chosen computer programs. There's ways to make things sound cohesive even if they start out as a bunch of completely separate sounds.

DL: 2010 will see the band collaborating across the ocean, with some of you residing in Germany and others in Melbourne. Tell us about your plans and the logistics of this arrangement?

AW: One of the best things about writing music this way is that you can do it from almost anywhere. Berlin is a great city and there's a lot of music coming out of there that we just love. It seems like a logical place to be for a while. The good thing is we don't need to relocate an entire band. Some are there, some are here, it doesn't really matter. We'll just keep producing our stuff the same way we are and putting it out there.

bambi says...

2010-03-10T06:55:00+00:00

Bambi recently made the move from Melbourne to Sydney after joining the Priscillas 'family'. While not especially new to the modelling industry - she first began taking up position in front of the lens at the age of 14 - Bambi is a relatively recent addition to the national scene. And, it would appear, people just can't get enough of her unique, waif-like style, including Russh, Harpers Bazaar and Oyster. And, of course, us. Bambi is featuring in the next issue of Kluster magazine in a bold black-&-red dominated, '90s-femme inspired story. Watch this space...

In between cruising the streets of Bondi on her bike and becoming one of Sydney's fashion 'it' girls, Bambi sat down with Kat Hartmann for a quick chat.

Covered: Harpers Bazaar, Oyster and Bondi Beach.

Kat Hartmann: When did you start modelling and how did you first become involved in the industry?

Bambi: I was scouted when I was 14 and did a little bit of modelling in Melbourne. Two weeks ago, a friend suggested I meet with Priscillas in Sydney.

KH: You’ve been a busy girl lately. Besides working for Kluster on our upcoming fashion pages you have shot for Harpers, Russh and others. Tell us about some of your recent jobs.

B: My first shoot was a beautiful story with Russh magazine, then Harpers Bazaar, a very cool story with Oyster, and I have several more confirmed for next week. It has been quite fun so far.

KH: Highlights?

B: Meeting the Priscillas crew. They have become my family away from home.

KH: How do you pass time when not standing in front of a camera?

B: Cruise around on my bike, catch up with buddies.

KH: You’re originally from Melbourne; where do you weigh in on the Sydney vs Melbourne debate?

B: Too early to say… But waking up near Bondi Beach is pretty awesome.

KH: Speaking of Sydney, you have been spending some time getting to know the city lately. Have you discovered a favourite clothes suburb/shop/bar/cafe?

B: I love the vintage stores in Crown Street and I often grab a coffee and check out the books in Gertrude and Alice in Bondi

KH: What do you prefer: print or online?

B: It’s a tough one. Online is more easily accessible but I love print because I like having the tearsheets.

review: pavement, enmore theatre, sydney by marcus browne

2010-03-09T10:48:00+00:00

Having not been among the tens of thousands to have recently attended one of AC/DC’s arena shows, I’m in no position to comment on what it’s like seeing something on that scale. I’ve simply never been to an arena gig, and this is a Pavement review, so anything I could say about seeing AC/DC, if I had indeed seen them, would be irrelevant. Well, almost anything. Because the one thing that I heard so many people say after seeing that band was that every song in the set “was like a closer”. Despite the differences between Pavement and AC/DC - and the differences are huge - I shared the opinion, along with many others, that the same thing could be said about their set.

Perhaps it’s the effect of having waited ten years to see these guys together, in the flesh. I was too young to be there the first time round, or the last time depending on how you look at things, and I figured that was it; I’d never get the chance. But to walk into a sold out Enmore Theatre to the strains of ‘Rattled By the Rush’ was something like a dream come true. It only took the following song to completely break my powers of resistance; upon hearing the opening notes of ‘Grounded’, another Wowee Zowee classic, I deemed myself incapable of reviewing this gig objectively and eschewed my usual practice of tapping down the set list and any random thoughts into a text message to be read later on.

It was just after a rousing version of ‘Silence Kit’ that guitarist Scott Kannberg AKA Spiral Stairs asked for a show of hands from those who were there last time they played. There was quite a response, more than I’d expected from just looking at the crowd. “How much has changed?” was his reply; not so much a question as a wry statement because the answer, with little doubt, would be “nothing”. Stephen Malkmus AKA S.M. Jenkins had lost none of his unique talent; that ability to straddle the line between outright sloppiness and virtuosic brilliance perfectly. Bob Nastanovich’s stage antics are probably even funnier now than they were ten years ago, while the rhythm section of Steve West and Mark Ibold gave real meaning to the band’s ‘slacker’ tag, with the former in a pair of trackpants that no band of my generation would consider suitable ‘stagewear’, and the latter just looking completely at ease again after playing with Sonic Youth for several years.

Unsurprisingly, most of the set was comprised of material from the band’s unbeaten three album run between the early and mid-nineties, ticking off most of the numbers you’d expect from Slanted and Enchanted, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Wowee Zowee. ‘Trigger Cut’, ‘Elevate me Later’, ‘Range Life’, ‘We Dance’, sing-a-long favourite ‘Cut Your Hair’, and ‘Stereo’, one of the few inclusions from 1997’s Brighten The Corners, were all there.

But on a night when every song could have been a closer, perhaps the omissions say more about the strength of a set than what was actually played. ‘Spit on a Stranger’, which they had closed with the previous night, ‘Here’, and ‘Heaven is a Truck’ were all notable absences. Although the eventual closer for the night was really one for the purists, ‘Conduit For Sale!’ - the most blatant, raucous, and infectious Fall rip-off ever recorded - left no room for any kind of bittersweet senses at the end. If only they’d had time for a second encore.

Check out the above picture, and more, on the Kluster Gallery.

mgmt announces a series of one-date shows

2010-03-09T01:50:00+00:00

Not since The Strokes played The Gaelic in 2005 has a band of this calibre (read: popularity) played such an intimate show in Sydney.

Following the release of their second album Congratulations, MGMT has announced a series of one-date European shows with one stop in Australia. The band will be playing Heaven in London on March 18, followed by The Metro Theatre, Sydney on April 6.

While some of our London readers may have already missed the boat - tickets to Heaven sold out - the Sydney show is yet to go on sale. Sydneysiders will have to be snappy to secure one: sales are restricted to two per person and will be available from Ticketek or Metro Theatre at 9am this Thursday 11 March.

Our US and UK readers can head to MGMT's website for more tour dates in the US and Europe.

Following the international success of their 2008 debut album, Oracular Spectacular, Congratulations sees MGMT collaborating with some of their musical idols such as Sonic Boom. Look out for guest vocals from Royal Trux front-woman Jennifer Herrema.

Congratulations is set for release in April 2010, it is now available for pre-order.

the market estate project

2010-03-06T01:45:00+00:00

Hold the phone! We have just stumbled across what may be our fave project of the year: The Market Estate Project. 75 artists have been let loose on a 1960s housing estate in London that has been scheduled for demolition. And as the bulldozers rev their engines, the public are invited in to catch a fleeting glimpse of what these artists have created.

For one day only (Saturday March 6), Londoners can take a tour through of the 66 site-specific projects across 20 vacant flats of Market Estate. It breaks our heart to know that in a matter of days these paintings, sculptures and installations will be nothing more than rubble, but that’s all the more reason to see it while you can.

The Market Estate Project is on view Saturday March 6 from 2pm-10pm only.

get on the flightpath

2010-03-03T13:34:00+00:00

Flightpath Festival will take over the Sydney College of the Arts in Rozelle on the 28th March from 12pm – 6pm with local music, art workshops and rumour has it there will be a chocolate fountain. Oh, did we mention it is free?

Local musos the Snowdroppers, Cuthbert & The Nightwalkers and Lolo Lovina will be stepping in to continue the quest of aural pleasure delivered onsite here - most of you will recall heading down to SCA for Laneway Festival earlier this year.

The festival is an expansion of the once roots-inclined Acoustica. Flightpath Festival is presented by FBi and Leichhardt Council.

vivid returns for 2010

2010-03-03T01:04:00+00:00

Sydney’s annual Vivid festival is returning for another year, this time with the legendary Lou Reed and his co-performer Laurie Anderson as curators.

Last year, the lighting of the Sydney Opera House sails as part of Vivid was seen by 60 million people globally, but the festival has so much more to offer. It’s essentially a festival of four complementary parts: Vivid Live, Sydney Opera House Live shows; Vivid Lights, Macquarie Visions and Fire Water; Vivid Music, Song Summit 2010; and Vivid Ideas, Creative Sydney and the X Media Lab.

According to co-curator, Laurie Anderson, the Vivid Live section of the four-part festival will give attendees a chance to "jump off their street"; out of their comfort zone and into new creative experiences.

Vivid Sydney will be lighting up the city from 27 May to 21 June.