JP Shilo, The Bakelite Age & Roland S. Howard @ Ding Dong Lounge
The audience sitting around the edges of Ding Dong for J P Shilo's set were about as sparse as the music. I think I saw a tumbleweed roll past the dance floor as Shilo meandered away on the electric guitar and violin. It was atmospheric music--in the realm of Sigur Ross, Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky with a bit of The Dirty Three. Shilo spent two years studying at a Tibetan buddhism institute where he generated a lot of his musical ideas, which gives you an idea of the type of music he creates. It could have been a moving set in a more intimate venue but the songs were lost in the empty space and disinterested chatter of Ding Dong's rock and roll punters.
The Bakelite Age were more like what the Ding Dong punters are used to seeing on a Friday night. While they started off a bit flat, they really grew on me after a couple of songs. Basically, they played raw, high grade rock and roll with just the right doses of screaming, feedback and solos. The lead singer, guitarist and disciplinarian (according to their myspace) is Link from The Meanies who I didn't recognise until I read the band line-up. He no longer sports those trademark dreadlocks. He still energetic on stage but a little more subdued than the crowd surfing, speaker jumping, razorblade cutting days of the Meanies.
While time and hard living have been kind to Nick Cave, I can't say the same for Birthday Party bandmate Roland S. Howard. He looked like he had dug himself out of the crypt for the gig and was eyeing off the audience to see who he could feed on. Howard did actually make a cameo appearance on Queen of the Damned--he definitely looks the part.
He played solo, creating hypnotic rhythms with his electric guitar. There was a glimpse of the feedback laced soundscapes that he is renowned for but they were definitely restrained. His vocals were sparse and more of an accompaniment to his strumming. The standout song was a cover of The Velvet Underground's The Ocean. Being one of the old-school, pre-gentrified St Kilda veterans, when he sung the chorus: "...down by the sea" you could kind of picture him all alone, dressed in black, stumbling along the Esplanade.
My girlfriend summed it up perfectly: "If I die in the next few weeks, get this guy to play at my funeral".
The Bakelite Age were more like what the Ding Dong punters are used to seeing on a Friday night. While they started off a bit flat, they really grew on me after a couple of songs. Basically, they played raw, high grade rock and roll with just the right doses of screaming, feedback and solos. The lead singer, guitarist and disciplinarian (according to their myspace) is Link from The Meanies who I didn't recognise until I read the band line-up. He no longer sports those trademark dreadlocks. He still energetic on stage but a little more subdued than the crowd surfing, speaker jumping, razorblade cutting days of the Meanies.
While time and hard living have been kind to Nick Cave, I can't say the same for Birthday Party bandmate Roland S. Howard. He looked like he had dug himself out of the crypt for the gig and was eyeing off the audience to see who he could feed on. Howard did actually make a cameo appearance on Queen of the Damned--he definitely looks the part.
He played solo, creating hypnotic rhythms with his electric guitar. There was a glimpse of the feedback laced soundscapes that he is renowned for but they were definitely restrained. His vocals were sparse and more of an accompaniment to his strumming. The standout song was a cover of The Velvet Underground's The Ocean. Being one of the old-school, pre-gentrified St Kilda veterans, when he sung the chorus: "...down by the sea" you could kind of picture him all alone, dressed in black, stumbling along the Esplanade.
My girlfriend summed it up perfectly: "If I die in the next few weeks, get this guy to play at my funeral".
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