Saturday, May 28, 2011

Boy & Bear, Jinja Safari and Emma Louise - Corner Hotel, 26th of May 2011

Emma Louise was first to stage, her sweet and dulcet tones surprising those who were courteous enough to pay attention (one thing I'll never understand is how people can talk throughout the entirety of someone's set). Louise's songs have a beautifully earnest nature to them, though admittingly they began to sound all relatively alike. It wasn't until the last few tunes that a new, slightly darker undertone cut through. Having described her final song - Triple J Unearthed single 'Jungle' - as an ode to the 'confusion' she felt regarding a relationship, the keys' pulsating chords and the box drum's beats intensified the atmoshpere within the Corner bandroom.

If all had been coaxed into a mellowed state of being, they were about to see that disappear. Moustached, sans shoes and vine clad Jinja Safari let loose and partied on garth with no signs of slowing down. You couldn't help but smile, dance and laugh with these lads, with their tribal-esque theme and frantic energy hardly containable on stage. I couldn't help but be reminded of Tame Impala, as the band broke down into an almost improvised jam as an outro to some songs (a friend, on the other hand, was reminded of Vampire Weekend during others). During 'Peter Pan', intrigue was caused by the introduction of a sitar, because let's face it, a sitar holds much more mystique than that of an average guitar.


I felt that I was on some wacked musical rollercoaster, having started with the acoustic realms of Emma Louise, onto the ecclectic Jinja Safari, to all in all conclude on a folk note of Boy & Bear. As they took to stage, there was almost a sense of admiration from the awaiting (now) quietly polite crowd, something that lead Dave Hosking comments on during the night, stating that Melbourne people were always 'polite'. He laughed at the memory of their Adelaide show where 'everyone was hammered' (much like the exuberant female behind me). When their cover of Crowded House's 'Fall at your Feet' reached the ears of the gathered fans, the sing-along errupted all around. The set comprised of 3 out of 5 tunes from their EP ,and tracks from their forthcoming album including new single 'Feeding Line' as finale (Hosking explained that there would be no encore 'it's a bit weird walking off, then coming back on to play a song...we'll just play you our entire set'). There was no questioning the consecutive sold out shows, they have truly earned it.



Photos: Alean Penaflor

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Cat Empire with Eagle and the Worm 10th Anniversary - Palace, 6th of May

My old High School Jazz teacher Nick was playing and had kindly asked if I wanted to tag along. Surely no one would turn down a free gig.




Eagle and the Worm






Cat Empire



Photos: Alean Penaflor