The Formative Years

Mute Records

It seems like aeons ago that through my parents’ record collection I was exposed to Grace Jones’ of “Warm leatherette” – a cover version of The Normal.

The Normal was Daniel Miller’s first musical endeavour before he started a record label which was to release a steady stream of genre defining releases. Mute Records’ first release, i.e. Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschafts’ single "Kebab-Träume", was an instant classic and set the tone for what was to come.

Apart from being a home for Miller’s own projects, it was as early as 1980 that the label released the first moves of trailblazing outfits like Fad Gadget and noise pioneers like Boyd Rice’s NON.

While I have yet to come across a Mute Records release that is not at least interesting and curious, Mute Records singlehandedly changed the face of the British electronic music scene with the first release of Depeche Mode. A release that kickstarted Mute Records’ rapid expansion and a relationship that lasts until this very day.

What I have always admired about Mute Records and Daniel Miller is that he never ceased to support and mine for new experimental artists, despite growing to a veritable major label with the release of Alison Moyet and Vince Clark joining forces in 1982 with Yazoo.

A year later saw Depeche Mode release “Everything counts”  and while this release catapulted Mute Records even further towards commercial success, Miller never ceased to support underground music and secured the back catalogues of acts like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire.

The release of The Birthday Party’s final 12” in 1983 was followed by the debut single of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in the same year that Miller released an album with archive material of  Einstürzende Neubauten – bands that should cross-pollinate across releases and spawn a range of boundary pushing collaborations between bands.

A myriad of releases followed in the 1980s, of which Depeche Mode’s compilation of the band’s singles to commemorate the first five years of Mute Records is only one of many early releases that became instant classics that stand the test of time until this very day.

Mute Records continued its support of underground artists with the signing of acts like Diamanda Galas and Laibach, before Depeche Mode released the so far most successful album of the label with “Music for the Masses”.

The 1990s saw Mute Records continue their journey, cultivating the careers of its main acts while continuing to support and release underground and lesser known acts, branching out into different genres with the establishment of a myriad of sub-labels before it was acquired by EMI in 2003, with Daniel Manner remaining at the helm of the label’s endeavours.

In a bid to reinvigorate the DNA of Mute Records, Daniel Miller negotiated with EMI the re-establishment of Mute Records as an independent label in 2010, backed by EMI’s infrastructure, with the core acts siding with Miller and creating the foundation for what is still going through forty-three years after its inception.

National Gallery of Australia – Botticelli to Van Gogh

Claiming that there is an overboarding array of world class art spaces on terra australis would be a bit of a bold statement, however, the ones that have established themselves on a grander scale, can take it up with the best of them.

We have covered our favourite third space MONA and its ever evolving incarnations and reinventions numerous times, regularly cover both the excellent exhibitions at the NGV in Melbourne as well as the AGNSW in Sydney and make sure to pay a visit to GOMA whenever I am holding court in Brisbane.

The one that so far got away is The National Gallery of Australia (originally the Australian National Gallery), i.e. the national art museum of Australia and it was only for the reason that apart from hit-and-run work visits, I never spent any real time in Canberra that I could not afford to check it out first-hand.

Reason enough for a dedicated trip to the NGA to explore the institution that was originally incepted in 1910, with construction finally commencing in the early 1970s before it finally incarnated in 1982 with over twenty thousand square meters of floor space spread over three levels, housed inside a building based a raw concrete, angular brutalist architectural concept.

With the curatorial focus of the NGA’s international collection firmly set on late 19th-century and 20th-century art, the current Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London exhibition offered a welcome complementary opposite as it allowed the opportunity to feast one’s eyes on the artistic emissions of the old masters via more than sixty works ranging from portraits to landscapes, spanning a period of over five hundred years.

Being the first major exhibition since the pandemic hit, the show had been on hold for quite a while and with logistical and other obstacles to be overcome, anticipation was running high.

It was a fantastic experience to freely roam a gallery again, let alone for the fact that every room of the Botticelli to Van Gogh exhibition is paved with masterpieces, each of which demands to be savored in a dedicated manner.

Needless to say, Van Gogh’s extraordinarily luminous Sunflowers painting is the pinnacle of the exhibition, however, NGA’s thoughtful approach to curation ensures that each component imparts a vision for the respective school of art period and time as you move chronologically along, as the subject matter of the artworks gradually becomes more secular and diverse, taking welcome detours from bible scenes and religious content, which the first segment is focused on.

The order and arrangements of the paintings along with the nicely orchestrated lighting transports one into a realm inspiring a veritable emotional connection. 

After recently covering the immersive Claude Monet experience in Sydney with projections of his pieces, it was fantastic to revel in his lyrically beautiful Water-Lily Pond, which flanks Van Gogh’s Sunflowers on one side.

Experiencing the piece in the third dimension, it does not come as a surprise that what Monet pioneered was to spark what was to become an art movement in itself, i.e., Impressionism, to which the NGA dedicated an exclusive exhibition in 2019, which I unfortunately missed. I am glad though that I got to revisit Monet’s evolution and his influences through NGA’s catalogue Monet: Impression Sunrise, which in partnership with the Parisian Musée Marmottan chronicles how his artistic approach was broadened.

Apart from works by Cézanne, Degas and Renoir, which illuminate the final room framing Van Gogh, a personal highlight of the exhibition was to lose myself in JW Turner channelling his alchemy in depictions of light and colour as he captures Ulysses deriding Polyphemus – Homer’s Odyssey, reflecting natural beauty in his idiosyncratic ways.

Another awe inspiring experience is taking in Rembrandt’s self-portrait from 1659, which sees him incarnate in a dignified pose with gravitas reminiscent of Raphael’s trademark posturing.

Summa summarum, NGA’s Botticelli to Van Gogh exhibition is an example par excellence for the fact that the true beauty of art can only be partially experienced through virtual means.

For the ones not fortunate enough to attend, there is at least NGA’s opulently illustrated accompanying exhibition catalogue, substantiated with insightful essays and contextualising commentary.

We shall definitely be back on not only to catch NGA’s upcoming exhibitions but to spend ample time exploring how their Know My Name initiative is travelling, which is aimed at celebrating the art of Australian women artists by featuring exhibitions and creative collaborations that highlight the talent and work of women artists in a bid to ensure gender parity.

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images from gallery website

Spring Loaded

Racecourse Randwick

Sydney, Australia

May 8, 2021

Australia continues to see 2021 bringing back a sense of normalcy, with live shows becoming more regular occurrences and bigger music festivals returning.

After having had an ill-fated COVID-tainted start in 2020, it was great to see the Spring Loaded extravaganza going ahead.

In essence, Spring Loaded is a daylong homage to the early days of festivals like Big Day Out and Homebake, with the line-up paying homage to the crème de la crème of Australian music from the 1990s.

The Sydney incarnation of the nationwide touring festival saw an eclectic bill comprised of bands like Grinspoon, Jebediah, Magic Dirt, Frenzal Rhomb, The Meanies and Tumbleweed amongst other take the stage and while there certainly was a sense of nostalgia and a more mature aged audience, the bands proved to be no less visceral and thrilling than twenty plus years ago, with quite a few of them not only relying on their respective back catalogues but convincing with their most recent emissions.

Upon first entering the festival grounds, Brisbane’s Screamfeeder serenaded us as they were in the midst of exciting an already sizeable audience with a solid set, followed by Tumbleweed from Wollongong, who I have been longing to experience in the third dimension for the longest time as I have always harboured a weak spot for them marrying sixties psychedelia with lush wah-wah drenched layerings to create their idiosyncratic stoner rock variant.

What better band could follow than the Australian alternative rock institution Magic Dirt with their polished garage rock, with especially their earlier Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey inspired tracks from their formative phase proving to be highlights of the day.

Frenzal Rhomb has been around for nearly thirty years and is yet to disappoint in a live environment. With their idiosyncratic melange of tongue-in-cheek high-octane punk rock blasts and quality banter, they delivered a tight and energetic set that despite the size of the festival felt intimate.

Next up was Jebediah channelling their straight forward alternative rock, which translates brilliantly to a live show as it foregoes virtuosic window-dressing and instead focusses on kick-ass tunes, with each one seamlessly transitioning into the next.

Having seen Phil Jamieson perform not only solo but also in a variety of guises as part of collaborations over the last couple of years, it was good to see him back at the helm of Grinspoon. Well-aged and refined on the exterior,  the crowd-pleasing set was a mix of both unpolished and polished classic tracks, delivered in a powerful and on-point manner with Jamieson not only belting out bangers with his trademark boisterous vocal delivery but energetically bouncing about with gusto while doing so.

Summa summarum, a day that not only celebrated some of the bast Australian alternative has to offer but a celebration of the joys that only live music can deliver.

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photos by @k.a.vv

Water of Life – Ester Spirits

The mushrooming of gin distilleries on terra australis has been thoroughly documented over the last couple of years and while quality as well as idiosyncraticity are constantly evolving with new haunts opening their doors on a constant basis, the ones run by luminaries from the hospitality scene add another dimension to the craft.

Case in point: Ester Spirits, which was incepted by a husband and wife team with longstanding experience when it comes to boozy matters and an astute knowledge of what works within the confines of a bar with a knowledgeable clientele.

With the mission to create quality gin that is both flavourful and fun without any gimmicky window-dressing, they have set out to channel their alchemy in a traditional and authentic manner.

Ester Spirits’ core expression, i.e. their Dry Gin, is in essence an homage to the test and tried traditional London Dry style. Infused with a sense of provenance with the addition of Australian botanicals – think liquorice root, coriander – it is a bold tour de force of juniper, accentuated of spicy, pepper berry highlights with a delicate backdrop of citrus courtesy of lemon myrtle and native finger lime, culminating in a finish on the sweeter, mandarin end of the flavour spectrum.

Paying respect to both the yin and yang with floral as well as fiery characteristics being married, it is a drop that I do not mind sipping by itself neat, however, it would not be the creation of a hospo couple if they did not consider how it would make an ideal component of not merely a good ole dry G & T but specifically Martinis, Negronis or Gimlets, which can also be ordered directly from Ester Spirit in their own refined  ready-made versions.

Things are taken up a notch or two with Ester’s Strong Gin – again, the focus is on essentials and no time wasted on fancy nomenclature.

Being a fan of cask strength whiskies, the Strong Gin, which clocks in at 57% ABV, plays on the characteristics of the aforementioned Dry Gin, yet in an amplified manner and with the addition of hints of eucalyptus and rooted in earthy undertones.

Not entirely sure that the future holds for Ester Spirits but given what I have experienced, I can only hope that down the line they will channel their alchemy in creating whiskies.

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image from company website

The Formative Years – Blut + Eisen

It was in the second half of the seventeenth century that the President of Prussia, i.e. Otto von Bismarck, concluded a speech pertaining to the reunification of Germany by coining the phrase “Blut & Eisen”, a thinly veiled reference to a poem drenched in patriotism by Max von Schenkendorf. An occurrence which eventually coined him to become widely known as the “iron chancellor”.

Almost simultaneously to learning about the factoid in a history lesson at school, the name became a staple in my punk rock collection with the band Blut + Eisen from Hannover entering my world.

Formed in 1982, the band lasted for five years and left a legacy that proves hard to rival for any German punk band coming after them.

What started inspired by Die Toten Hosen predecessor ZK evolved to one of the fiercest and musically tightest German punk and hardcore acts the old world had to offer in the 1980ies, starting with a contribution to the classic “Keine Experimente!“ compilation from 1983, released on the Weird System label, which we have covered previously.

Their intense first album “Schrei doch!“ not only stands the test of time musically but is enhanced by the production courtesy of what has become a legendary producer, i.e. Harris Johns, and should be an integral part of any respectable punk / hardcore collection as even Maximum Rock’n Roll acknowledged early one, deeming it to be “easily one of Germany‘s hardest-driving punk rock albums ever“.  

The powerhouse  that is their 7“ “Fleisch rollt“ remains my favourite German punk releases ever – hard, fast staccato‘ed and to the point.  

The second full-length “…Schön Geseh’n” adorned by Hieronymus Bosch artwork saw Blut + Eisen incarnate with a more refined and never not gripping lyrics. While it lacks the in-your-face powerful sound that Johns channeled his alchemy in for the first album and that Musiclab studios became known for, it shows the band retaining their DNA but offering a more varied and a welcome diverse delivery. Think the dissonance known from Birthday Party, a deliberate playful emphasis on breaks influenced by No Means No and an overarching approach that came to herald the new age of the second wave of SST Records, i.e. Husker Du and Sonic Youth.