You heard it here first

! xoxoxox !

http://www.myspace.com/trashkit

My friends are in your new faviorite band! An ex-Electrelane member is on the action too - how fucking ace is that!? I swell with pride.

Respecte Le Donne!

Lately:

• The camp, kaleidoscope beauty and ham acting of "The River" at ACMI. My Wednesday nights belong to the Melbourne Cinematheque now. March mini Bergan season, here I come!
• Sleeping everywhere but Le Student 8, if I can help it!
• Tales of mishap on shoots and random anecdotes tinged by violence : "Like the guy in America who wanted to demonstrate break-proof glass in a high-rise - he ran at the window and fell to his death. The glass was fine. It was the frame that didn't hold up."
• Pall Mall Slims & maintaining my weight with beer.
• Getting whiplash at Dan Deacon at the Espy on Saturday. Admiring St. Kilda until natives pointed out the syringes on the beach and the middle aged men cruising the corners for "company."
• Reading this for school and getting to know my classmates through their writing & wise cracks.
• Watermelon for diner.
• Italian Spiderman!

Get the cake out before we make out

This week ended with a mini festival fund raiser for a film being made by a friend of one of the kids on my course. I set out with N with nothing more that a memorized Google map. By the time we'd made it across to the right side of town it was about 10.40pm and the final tram stop was awash with tanked up teenagers, gagging to fight/fuck outside a McDonalds. We narrowly avoided a scene of some descrpition by scuttling away into a darkened suburban side street.

After a few blocks that felt increasing isolated from the rest of Melbourne, I began to wonder if we were on the right track at all. Suddenly, we can upon a Russian (maybe) orthodox church, lit up like a beacon for should-be repenters questioning the power of the church. There were a number of balloon animals make from condoms littering our path by this time and a faint syncopated drum machine was pulsing somewhere nearby. We took this as an indication we were getting warmer and followed the contraceptive trail until we met a crowd of bikes and raculas laughter at the mouth of what looked to be a back yard. Posters, wine cups and people in red ring master hats indicated we were in the right place.

Apparently the home of 10 artists, the event was spread oput across a shed, a tent, a yurt, a camp fire and some number of trees by the looks of things at certain points in the evening. I tragically forgot to pack my camera so you'll have to take my word for it when I say the place had an otherworldly electricity.

The main event was an ace music line up including Casionova, (the website explains his shtick), who preformed the best although prehaps only ode to Engelbert Humperdinck, the delectable Pash & our mate's band Suzanne Grae and the Katies, (we luff you Anna!) who peddled fine cartoon sleeze grooves accompanied by cup cake ladies. I will be wearing my band shirt with great affection once I get the wine stains out.

I'm the douche texting on the mobile phone when it pans to the left - rock n' roll!!!!!

****

I think I have a new favorite restaurant. It stocks hundreds of beers, brings your bill inside children's story books and is decorated in refined folksy style, sort of Paris meets the Enchanted Woods, all murals, patterned fabric and plastic doilies. Most importantly, it serves food that induces a state of grace and copious swoons. If anyone took me on a date there, I'd be highly suggestible...

Something old, something new

Sexy cover art. Sexy tunes. Sexy videos. Sexy band members. What took me so long to buy this album!? This is on heavy replay right now and I'm falling under the spell of Anthony Hegarty's otherworldly voice all over again. I suspect he has shamanistic powers that he likes to keep to himself just to cultivate lovingly. His art is further evidence that he's on some sort of powerful alternate frequency. I'm looking forward to his latest solo offering impatiently.

So I've gone scissor happy again! I need my blunt fridge to grow out a fair bit but this is a halfway cut to what I'm after. My hairdresser told me that I have a "low hairline", so cutting it as close to the neck as I'd like would be risky business...who knew? I suspect I may be pruning before long...                                       P.S Go Tina Fey! Suck it Indeed.

the 80s soundtrack of the year to come

The head-lining name of The Times newspaper's pick of 2009 pop stars in waiting futher cements my suspicion that this year will be a head long dive into the late 80s, pop culturally speaking. La Roux's synth tunes are fairly average for my tastes, although her forthcoming single "Quicksand" does merit the attention it's getting in the press - it's like a Human League song without the bloke belting for all he's worth. The song's video is exhibit A in what's becoming a long line of evidence supporting that what's "fresh" now is what was fresh in 1987, albeit shot and photographed with much better cameras :

The Chromatics & Glass Candy have stripped back their music to expose the rather alluring darkness of the mighty synth. They've taken the 80s as an influence, no doubt, but unlike the perfectly studied karaoke of La Roux, they use that influence as a starting point for their musical trip, not as the road map.

The rather worrying implication of the ongoing cultural regurgitation of what each generation was weened on is that what's to come might not have the dandyish excess of the 80s electro as an excuse - please God spare us a Brit pop revival, in all it's glorification of lads and laddets! There wasn't an ounce of style in it. The karaoke school of worship tends to lack critical faculties which is what makes a night out at a karaoke bar so much fun, but doesn't translate so well into a cultural compass.

The article also name checks Florence and The Machine who, apart from her fabulous name, totally deserve to be embraced by everyone who hasn't heard her already. The music press has rushed to compare her to some sort of Siouxsie Sioux/Kate Bush love child but I think her music has a distinctive feel all of it's own, something that sounds like a sensuous riot of youth.

Her song "Dog Days" is a heart-felt beauty. I leave you with its opulent video set in a woodland copse.

Here's to all the 2009 mix c.ds to come!