Music news

This weekend, Scandinavia’s most tastefully front-combed electro star, Robyn, is returning to Australia for two intimate club shows. Riding into town on the wave of her recently released self-titled album, the “Konichiwa bitches” popette will, ahem, “explode and shower her Tetris pop, foxy raps and dance floor snaps” all over Melbourne’s Roxanne club this Thursday night and Sydney’s seemingly omnipotent Oxford Art Factory, on Sunday. You can get tickets here. Dō itashi mashite bitches.

         
Six swarthy young ladies with long dark locks are tinkering and attempting to organise themselves on a stage, which is almost too petite to carry their armoury of gear as well as six (usually seven) moody sirens.
London label Trial and Error have once again brought us some lovely left field sonic offerings, this time from across the pond. The clan of women that call themselves Effi Briest (taken from a 19thC German novel about a young woman ostracised from society for doin’ the dirty on her hubby) hail from Brooklyn, Noo Yoik. They make shimmering kaleidoscopic songs that are as comfortably punk as psychedelic, and lead warbler Kelsey has a voice that comes cauterwauling, spiky and strong like Grace Slick or Ari Up (she’s tired of the comparisons but, you know, she really does sound like them).
If cultish on appearances, with their rattley instruments, dark clothing and pagan-esque rope insignia’s, then live their chanting and spectral psych journeys continue the theme.
Though vocals suffered at the hands of dodgy sound, and a couple of them looked fairly uncomfortable on stage (perhaps due to the fact they couldn’t wiggle their toe without knocking something over), these women and their intoxicating sounds, left a lasting impression.

Praise be that inimitable, crayon swinging folk-poet Jeff Lewis. The indie web bible Drowned and Sound has just published a host of his illustrated responses to fan's bizarre questions about morphing musical instruments, how to wear an octopus and his favourite colour ice cream. Pure genius.
He's also just put out a new album called 12 Crass Songs. Check it out!

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I introduced you to Heaps Decent; an initiative that sees music workshops set up for talented indigenous kids and pairs them together with musical visionaries such as Diplo and MIA to make some of the most progressive club bangers you will ever hear? Well, if you liked what you heard, then make sure you head to Oxford Art Factory this Friday for the Heaps Decent fundraiser party. Given that there’ll be performances from the awesome likes of Soft Tigers, Teenagers In Tokyo and S.Y.L.K; the $5 cover charge is already quite the bargain. But when you then throw in sets from party purveyors such as Sleater Brockman, Bag Raiders and Jimmy Sing, well, then that just makes this party the biggest bargain you’ve seen since the giant New York pizza slice you’ll no doubt be enjoying at four in the morning (but that’s another story isn’t it?) Plus. Did I mention that all proceeds go toward funding Heaps Decent’s workshops this summer? Yessir!

If you believe the press, Gabe Saporta - singer of New York dance-punk band Cobra Starship - was sent to earth with a mission: to teach hipsters to not take themselves so seriously and to tell emo kids to stop being pussies. Considering this ambitious task was unveiled to their audience in the first video from their debut album 'While The City Sleeps We Rule The Streets', and that Saporta and his bandmates spent most of the American summer on tour with labelmates Fall Out Boy, the heat was on to see if they could pull it off with the release of their second album '¡Viva La Cobra!'. And what better way to do it than by making the first video from that album a low budget masterpiece? Directed by their own keytar player Vicky-T, the always tongue-in-cheek band has hit new heights of cheekiness with their home-made video for 'Guilty Pleasure'.

 

In this digital age of album downloads and overnight successes, music has become more accessible and industry success more democratic than ever. Plugin 2007 is a music and digital media summit that will see over 30 experts from the local music industry get together with musicians, producers, managers and labels to explore the issues facing an entertainment industry in which- excitingly- “the line between amateur and professional is becoming increasingly blurred”. Featuring speakers from entities such as Fasterlouder, APRA, JMAG and Amphead (and promising a product announcement from interactive 3D company Vastpark, that “will change the way entertainment is produced and consumed”), Plugin 07 is an event not to be missed for those interested or already working in the music industry. The summit takes place in Melbourne's Abottsford Convent on the 22 and 23 November and passes for both days are available now from Moshtix.