Ned Collette + Wirewalker at FBi Social, Sydney

Having recently chatted to Ned Collette about his new album, Carol Bowditch braved the cold to check out his live show in Sydney, which was to promote the new album, Ned Collette + Wirewalker - 2

Nursing a chilli coma, the relaxed vibe of the loosely packed crowd was a welcoming environment for my ill self. It was the sort of gig where you could lounge on couches or park yourself cross-legged on the floor while sipping on something warming.

The support act, the Russian born, Berlin expat, Mary Ocher, took to the stage wearing a sparkly bra and sporting a messy peroxide blonde do. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the solo songstress from her eccentric appearance and her strange exclamation in her thick accent that the lights were "SO cool, they make me feel like I’m in a horror film.”

The vocals in her short tracks were aggressive, with unidentifiable lyrics yelped between staccato screams and whimpers. Ocher’s solo set was brave, although it was a little hard to fully enjoy and appreciate with my intestines burning.

A crowd emerged after Ocher’s set, ready and waiting for Ned Collette + Wirewalker to take over. Ned, looking schmick in an all-white ensemble started the set with one of my favourite tracks off the new album, Il Futuro Fantastico. It was a strong start, with pulsating keyboard samples, monotonous pacing vocals and gangly Spanish guitar.  The dreamy The Decision was heavy with keyboard chords and organic percussion sounds, with Ned’s reminiscent lyrics layered over the top. The only instrumental on the album, For Roberto, another standout track, was executed well live. The Spanish-infused tune blends these awkward, broken melody progressions on the synth, with acoustic chords and dextrous fingerpicking. Midway through the song there was an interlude and where Ned took time to sip his wine as eerie synth sounds filled the room. The band finished off with Long You Lie, with the tropical intro, and multiple vocals singing in harmony through the chorus.

The varied sounds of the set proved that Ned and his Wirewalkers could seamlessly blend genres and borrow from different countries’ music. The Spanish-tinged set had something distinctly organic and Australian about it, and with the members having come from their base in Berlin to play, it was a truly international affair.

Review and live picture by Carol Bowditch 

Sui Zhen and Rainbow Chan double single launch

If you like your music honest and  inventive, then you'd do well to check out Sui Zhen (Melbourne) and Rainbow Chan (Sydney), who are teaming up to launch their respective singles from forthcoming albums. Sui Zhen's Little Frog takes a sideways look at her folk and country influences placing her somewhere between Joanna Newsom and PJ Harvey with stark and intricate arrangements produced by Tony Dupe (Holly Throsby, Jack Ladder). After her self-titled debut EP in 2007, Sui Zhen has earned a reputation for compelling, down-to-earth performances, supporting international acts such as Coco Rosie, our old mate Kimya Dawson, The Brunettes, and miserablist genius Malcolm Middleton. Little Frog is Sui Zhen's first release since returning from prestigious Red Bull Music Academy in London, 2010, and she will be accompanied by a live band for these special shows.

Rainbow Chan's Sweet Tooth is a sensual collage of strange and dreamy vocals and skittering electronic samples produced by the lady herself in her bedroom studio. Classically trained in saxophone, piano and choral music and fresh from playing at the Iceland Airwaves Festival thanks to FBi's Northern Lights Competition, Rainbow uses the darkest of beats, field recordings and a beguiling vocal delivery to craft intricate left-field pop songs. An impressive one-woman show, her live set includes a cover of The Cardigans' Lovefool.

Watch Sui Zhen's handmade music video here  and Watch Rainbow Chan covered in 16L of melting ice cream in her wonderfully weird video for Sweet Tooth here.

SUI ZHEN AND RAINBOW CHAN - DOUBLE SINGLE LAUNCH
JAN 19, THE GRACE DARLING, MELBOURNE
JAN 20, FBi SOCIAL, SYDNEY

Tom Loud and Ghostwood rock Pot Luck's Halloween party

We were excited to see Sydney's Tom Loud (above) perform at FBi Social's Pot Luck on Friday night. DJ/VJ Loud mashes the fuck out of songs and videos to create an audio-visual orgy of awesomeness. His set was funny, inventive and offered bomb after bomb. It was hard to know whether to watch the big screen, sing along, laugh our socks off, or dance like maniacs. The Bobbysix representatives in the room did pretty much a combination of all of the above. His mash-ups were AH-MAY-ZINGGGG and surely the result of a ridiculous amount of hours spent on Youtube.

Rage Against The Machine vs Pingo? Yes please. The filthiest splicing together of Nigella Lawson quotes you'll ever hear? Yummy. Salt 'n' Pepa segueing into Prince? Yowser. A Fresh Prince of Bel Air singalong? Oh, go on then. His turn on the decks got an initially shy room dancing like loons for a couple of hours and was the most fun you could have with your trousers on. We didn't even take a sip of alcohol all night. We didn't need to.

Before this, Tyson Koh span some tunes while punters crafted their own Halloween outfits and local band Ghostwood (above) played a fine set too. We've been following these guys since the very start (back when they were called The Ghosts), so we were happy that their new stuff sounded impressive. The sweeping newie, Cutlass, was especially epic.

Pot Luck is always an incredibly fun yet chilled evening; the music is top drawer and the hard-working organisers go out of their way to ensure there is always something artistic and interesting to see and do. Which, in a Sydney scene that is often half-arsed and lazy, is really refreshing. So, if you like good times, you should follow FBi Social on Facebook and Twitter to keep right up to date with all the good shit that Pot Luck has got going on in the future.

With amazing entertainment like this, it is little wonder that FBi Social recently won the Time Out Bar Award for Best Entertainment.

Words and pictures by Bobby Townsend

Carsick Cars to play Sydney's FBi Social

What do you know about Chinese music? Not much, we're guessing. What do you know about China's underground scene? Even less. Well, now's your chance to learn. Carsick Cars are known for their sick live shows and have toured the USA and played with Sonic Youth in Europe. As their latest record, You Can Listen, You Can Talk, hits the shelves in Australia, the band are embarking on an Aussie tour. 

On November 3rd, the band hit up our favourite Sydney venue, the award-winning FBi Social. Supported by Mere Women and Rites Wild, this is set to be a top night. A few days earlier, there is Zhang Shouwang solo experimental set at Bobby Six's old haunt, Hibernian House. More details of the FBi gig can be found here. 

Here are the tour dates:

Oct 27 - The Barwon Club, Geelong
Oct 28 – Kipl. Nth Melbourne (Zhang Shouwang solo experimental set)
Oct 30 – The Toff, Melbourne
Oct 31 – the NOWnow, 402@Hibernian House, Sydney (Zhang Shouwang solo experimental set)
Nov 2 – Croatian Club, Newcastle
Nov 3 – FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel, Sydney
Nov 4 – house show, Canberra
Nov 5- Woodland Bar, Brisbane

Caitlin Park at FBi Social, Sydney

CAITLIN PARK 
TIN SPARROW 
FLUME 
FBi Social, Kings Cross Hotel, Sydney, 22/09/11

Flume, one of Caitlin Park's fellow finalists in the recent FBi Northern Lights competition, got things moving with dancy electronica built with a laptop and plenty of knob-twiddling. It's easy to see this youngster carving a niche for himself. Next up, the impressively hirsute Tin Sparrow changed the tone a little with their bouncy, country-tinged folk. The five-piece had an affable, disarming stage presence, while their set was varied and had a good pace to it. The upbeat numbers got feet tapping, while, when they slowed things down, they managed to bring an otherwise chatty room to silence. Highlights included Eileen and For You from their EP, From The Sun, and the band even managed to squeeze in a surprise chorus of Happy Birthday for lead singer Matt Amery. Lovely stuff.

Caitlin Park (pictured, top) took to the stage looking delightful in a pretty dress and thick-rimmed glasses, and set about delivering songs from Milk Annual, the album she was there to launch. With one foot firmly in folk, the other in electronica, her songs were are intricately and beautifully pieced together using a loop pedal, an acoustic guitar, samples, snippets of dialogue and a drummer. Managing to remain interesting yet accessible to a live audience is a hard thing to achieve, yet her brand of folk with whispers of electronica was mesmerising from first song to last. Importantly, she was able to layer her songs while retaining a lo-fi quality. There was nothing messy, nothing superfluous here. Would You Let Me Back In was a fine example of this and also showed just what a good lyricist she is, while Baby Teeth proved that she also has the ability to deliver a catchy vocal hook or two.

While measured and intelligent, there was also an impish edge to her, which was best illustrated by the decision to throw in a cover of The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air theme tune. To take such an awesome, stupid song and to slow it right down and re-contextualise in a kind of Americana folk direction was impressive indeed and brought a big reaction from the busy room. Understated, nuanced and utterly captivating, Caitlin Park's music offers something different to anything else on the Sydney scene at the moment. Simply, she is a breath of fresh air.

Review by Bobby Townsend. It originally appeared in Sydney's Drum Media

Teeth and Tongue to perform live at FBi Social tonight!

Right, let's get one thing straight before we start. In spite of the fact that his video appears atop this post, R Kelly will not be appearing at FBi Social tonight. Sorry if we misled you. We just thought there was no better song to announce the arrival of the weekend. The freakin' weekend, if you will. Baby, we're about to have us some fun.

And there is more fun going on at FBi Social in Sydney tonight than you can shake a stick at. As well as a live set from the fantastic Teeth and Tongue (which we're weeing ourselves with excitement about) at around 8pm, the King's Cross venue is also hosting an interactive exhibition from local artist Flutter Lyon, which will include unique Ink-Pressings accompanied by a set of interpretation notebooks, allowing the audience to engage directly with the works and anonymously record what that they see in the abstract black and white forms. At intervals throughout the night, legendary local DJ Tyson Koh will read random interpretations from the anonymous notebooks to the audience. 

Still not enough awesomeness for you? Ok, how about a live audio visual performance by Focaleland, a happy hour that runs from 6-7pm and the fact that entry is FREE. You can't ask for better value than that. Full deets here.

Caitlin Park interview

“One of my favourite things to do is to play to a crowd, find one person who is not listening and try my hardest to get them to notice.”

It's a plan that seems to be working well for Caitlin Park. Her intelligent, looped brand of folk with electronic edges is captivating audiences across Sydney and she was recently a finalist in FBi Radio's Northern Lights competition. It's surprising then, considering her talent and growing reputation, that this isn't a path she has always desired to tread...

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE...