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Camp Cope Aren’t the Openers Anymore
On an early summer afternoon in Greenpoint, Georgia Maq and Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich of the Australian rock trio Camp Cope are talking about confidence, or, more specifically, the lack thereof that defined their coming-of-age in punk. “I was involved in music for such a long time, but there were so many things I believed I couldn’t […]
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Swamp Juice Is the Work of a Shadow-Puppet Master
If you have kids, don’t bring them to see Swamp Juice. Or, rather, do, definitely, take them to this whole-family pleaser — just know in advance that they’ll almost certainly want to try some of what they see at home. Jeff Achtem, founder of Melbourne’s Bunk Puppets and mastermind of this zany shadow-puppet tale, is […]
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I Am Eleven Explores a Number Rather Than Lives
Here’s how an 11-year-old French girl describes the future. “There are flying cars, dogs who eat screws and batteries, and aliens have captured the world,” she gushes. But then she slows, thinks harder, folds her arms, kicks her legs in their black leggings. Inspiration strikes: “And every human being has a huge house, and human […]
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Courtney Barnett+Benjamin Booker
Melbourne-based guitarist and singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett has a gift for turning workaday situations into captivating anecdotes—one of several clever qualities her music has become known for since 2012, when she started her own record label, Milk! Records and subsequently put out her first EP, I’ve Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris. Barnett draws from folk, […]
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Courtney Barnett+Benjamin Booker
Melbourne-based guitarist and singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett has a gift for turning workaday situations into captivating anecdotes—one of several clever qualities her music has become known for since 2012, when she started her own record label, Milk! Records and subsequently put out her first EP, I’ve Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris. Barnett draws from folk, […]
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SONIC WALKABOUT
Vocalist Nai Palm, who wields an Ibanez Artstar guitar and often appears garlanded with most of a midtown notions store’s contents, fronts Melbourne quartet Hiatus Kaiyote. Despite the vintage punk-rock moniker, her voice is all cool, honeyed soul, and there’s a whole lot of everything going on around her. Kaiyote’s economical debut, Tawk Tomahawk, opens […]
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In Mockumentary The Magician, Hit Men Have Feelings Too
Ye gods, it’s another mockumentary. In this one, Melbourne hit man Ray Shoesmith (Scott Ryan, who also wrote, directed, and produced the film after apparently going on a Tarantino binge) is followed around by his slightly dim next-door neighbor, a budding filmmaker looking for his big break. With camera rolling, Ray alternately plies the tools […]
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First Time’s the Charm for Animal Kingdom Director David Michod
Debut films usually come with qualifications. They have limited budgets and scopes. They get called “small,” patted on the head, and judged on a curve. Which is precisely what Australian writer-director David Michôd, whose first feature Animal Kingdom opens next Friday in New York, worked hard to avoid. Part crime drama, part coming-of-age tale, part […]
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Eddy Current Suppression Ring+Pissed Jeans
These nice Melbourne lads started a sensation here on these shores with their second album, 2008’s Primary Colours (note spelling), and with good reason. Their brand of punky garage beat our own recent native-grown brands just by ditching such cutesy pretenses like irony and self-consciousness. The band’s pay-off was critical acclaim but not commercial success—probably […]
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Eulogy for Black Caesar
Eeeeeeyow. Gud gaad. Aintit fonkeenah? James Brown knew how to freak the tribal speak and the tribal feet alike—the tribal neckbone and irrepressible tribal hambone too. Being a poet, a boxer, and a onetime Pentecostal supplicant, the Godfather knew a thing or two about being hit with the spirit and hit with the quickness; he […]