Over Ambition #3 - Vampillia (JPN) / Black Vitamins (Blank Realm + Lloyd Barrett) / Heart Flew Like an Arrow / White Bears of Norway (Rational Academy alter-ego) April 29 @ Step Inn

In what promises to be a truly unforgettable display of sheer intensity, Osaka’s Vampillia (or ‘The Brutal Orchestra’ as they've been dubbed) heads number three in Making Hey’s ‘Over Ambition’ series, Wednesday April 29, at the Step Inn. The collective’s first ever Australian appearance comes in the lead-up to the long anticipated release of Romance, a collaboration with Tujiko Noriko, and emperor of noise, Merzbow.

Combining classical music with hardcore-noise and Japanese opera, Vampillia’s stage act is an experience not to be missed. With a line-up featuring a full rock band, a strings trio, DJ, pianist and 3 vocalists, the 9-piece produces a sound that can only be described as finely orchestrated chaos. On stage, it’s an intense and renownedly unpredictable performative extravaganza.

 

Joining the bill are local improv noise icons, Black Vitamins, the collaborative project of Blank Realm and Lloyd Barrett. Heart Flew Like an Arrow and The Rational Academy’s beat-slinging noise-alter-ego, White Bears of Norway, complete a remarkable line-up. The show kicks off at 8:00pm. Tix available at the door. 

Over Ambition #2 - Grouper (Portland, OR) / The Rational Academy / Ian Wadley March 7 @ Judith Wright Centre

In what promises already to be one of 2009’s must-see live shows
Portland's Grouper—or Liz Harris as she’s known to friends—heads number
two in Making Hey’s ‘over ambition’ series, Saturday March 7 at the
Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Art. Harris’s appearance comes in
support of her latest full-length Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill
(released on Type), which has pulled rank in Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums
of 2008.

While earlier work saw Harris dredge the murkiest depths of reverb-drowned,
ambient dirge-psychedelia, negotiating with while never fully
surrendering to melody, her work of late is revelation. Dragging a Dead
Deer goes a long way in emerging the weighty melodic power that Grouper
has kept in the shadows for so long. The new work is a darkly
mesmerising folk-dream-pop whirlpool. At once, it is melancholic and
optimistic; regressive and revolutionary; mysterious and revelatory.
It’s this seeming dissonance and chaos that make the undeniable harmony
and control at work in Grouper’s music so defying. Grouper’s
performance is set to be an otherworldly, almost spiritual experience.

Joining the bill for the first of their considered live appearances of 09 are
local avant-pop icons, the Rational Academy. Melbourne’s improv
sounscapist composer, Ian Wadley, completes an unforgettable line-up.
Doors open at 7:30.

Review by Paul Rankin of Rave Magazine (11.03.09):

Mystic Eyes (Perth) / Secret Birds / No Anchor / Loomer / Heart Flew Like An Arrow January 22 @ Step Inn

Has the distinct lack of noise gigs post-Festivus been getting you down? Well chin up fancy-face! Returning to our fine city for the first time since featuring in Rhys Catham’s ‘100 Guitars’, Perth’s queen of drone, Mystic Eyes (aka Lisa MacKinney), is set to lead an all-star local line-up Thursday 22nd at the Step Inn. 

She’ll be joined by noise jammers, Secret Birds; doom beasts of the deep, No Anchor; shoegaze popsters, Loomer; and drone-ambient heartachers, Heart Flew Like an Arrow. The show kicks off our ‘over ambition’ series for ‘09, a monthly affair. Tickets are $8 at the door, or $6 if you opt to join the over ambition mailing list on the night.

The Rational Academy / Ghost of 29 Megacycles / Secret Birds / Yeow Meow June 7 @ Tongue and Groove

Perth-based performance art collective, The Ghost of 29 Megacycles, is set to expand minds in Brisbane when they float in on June 7th, en route on national tour. This follows the release of the group's new EP, 10000 Flying Girls, a work mastered by New York minimalist, Taylor Dupree, and out through Frosty You Haunt Me.

TG29MC's live show is a breathtaking AV experience. Their often 'ghostly' sound-scapes, filled with wonder, and fuelled on innovation in texture and instrumentation, reveal hidden dimensions in the projected visual components. The already intriguing experimental visual work explores new perspectives on the accelerated transformation of urban environments and is comprised of film that the group has composed, as well as pieces from local Perth filmmakers. The aural, visual and performative elements of TG29MC's craft culminate in an encounter not to be soon forgotten.

The Ghost of 29 Megacycles appears at Tongue and Groove Café on June 7th, joined by local favourites, The Rational Academy, as well as Secret Birds and Yeow Meow. Tickets are $8, and are available at the door from 8pm.

Lullatone / Dollface March 20 @ The Judith Wright Centre

Lullatone makes some of the most instantly-likable pop songs that you will ever experience. To illustrate, if their music were an animal, it would probably be an extraordinarily cute kitten. It's that instant and instinctive affection that both their work and the infant feline evoke that make the comparison of the two so effective. It seems too that we at Making Hey are not the first to have made this association. In fact, Japanese design corporation, Sanrio, even invited these Nagoya-based twee poppers to create official theme-music for the world-renowned icon, Hello Kitty. Although anyone would think it hard work to maintain such musical charisma, the primary constituents of Lullatone, Shawn James Seymour and Yoshimi Tomida, have all but cultivated their charm over their six full-length releases spanning the past five years.

Lullatone's latest offering, Lullatone Presents the Bedtime Beat (out through Brisbane label, Someone Good), as you might expect, explores every aspect of bedtime, from bath time with bath-water percussion, to marching to sleep, and dreaming of beatboxing just like the 'lyrically mesmerising' Biz Markie. The soft, often whispered vocals, the chime-filled minimalist instrumentation, and soothing concepts that the album conveys have the power to capture any listener in the magical realm of bedtime.

To follow up the launch of The Bedtime Beat, the duo is preparing for an antipodean tour in late March. Tickets are going fast, so get yours quick, or face your conscience when you miss out.

ii (Melb + Ross Manning) / Blank Realm / Yeow Meow / Lawrence English, Leighton Craig & Eugene Carchesio Trio


It's tough to kick out the improvised jams, and at the same time maintain a balance between edginess and accessibility, but not if your name is Jon Tjhia or Alex Nosek and you're part of Melbourne ambient pop duo, ii (pronounced 'eye-eye').
ii are currently touring on the back of their debut LP, Landlakes, out through Sydney label, Feral Media.

Collaborators for over seven years, adlibbing instrumental pieces that tread the more lovable regions of pop seems to come as naturally to these two as breathing. Although, thankfully, ii just aren't content with what comes naturally. It's the curious, exploratory nature of their vision that sees the duo draw on elements of concréte, electronica, post-rock, drone, and (ironically perhaps) minimalism to build subtle yet awe-inspiring soundscapes.

ii appear live at Tongue and Groove Café on Friday August 22, featuring the stylings of local found/made instrument maestro, Ross Manning. Support comes from Blank Realm, Yeow Meow, and a trio comprised of Lawrence English, Leighton Craig, and Eugene Carchesio. Tickets are $8 ($6 concession), available at the door.

Vialka + Dachau Blue + Do The Robot + i Alarming! April 16 @ Tongue and Groove

Vialka are part of a diminishing breed of bands whose art closely imitates life. This currently France-based nomadic duo has been traversing the globe, touring through over forty-five countries, averaging one-hundred shows per year for the past seven years (you do the math). And now Vialka are once more gracing Australian shores.

As if the duo's prolific schedule wasn't enough, Vialka have collaborated with a rollcall of underground artists too long to list, notably including Damo Suzuki (of CAN fame), and have recently added a new baby to their troupe. Marylise Frenchville and Eric Boros's frenzied, almost super-human lifestyle translates directly into their musical stylings—a frenetic, post-punk, turbo-gypsy-folk explosion that draws inspiration from traditional and underground music from around the planet. The sense of haste, excitement and anxiety that is imbued in Vialka's art almost lets the listener into a day in the life.

The same translation applies to Vialka's stage act, which has become a thing of legend. It is finely orchestrated, uninhibited chaos. Eric's melodic, virtuoso guitar playing feeds Marylise's percussive spectacle, skilfully tumbling through complex syncopation into jazz-punk stabs and neo-folk flows. The two share vocals in a renownedly unpredictable, high-energy, sometimes-cabaret performative extravaganza that leaves any audience breathless.


Vialka "Umfall" live in Minsk


Vialka are trekking down under on the back of their aptly named 2007 release Plus Vite Que La Musique (a French expression, literally translated to "Faster than the Music"). The duo plays one Brisbane show only on Wednesday April 16 at the Tongue and Groove Café, presented by Making Hey. They will be joined by a local line-up including Do the Robot and special guests. Tickets are strictly limited, and are available from makinghey.com ($10 / more at the door if available). Come, leave your preconceptions at the door.