Program Guide 2011 Program Guide | Page 52

Sulumi (China) Qua (Australia) Australian Premiere China’s king of 8-bit techno, Sulumi is a purveyor of some of the finest, take-noprisoners electro-glitch-house this side of a souped up Sega Mega Drive. Built on a bedrock of hurtling four-to-the-floor and surrounded by jagged curtains of 8-bit gurgle and wonky acid synths, Sulumi’s music sounds not entirely unlike a Gameboy and an 808 being sucked through an angle grinder in the middle of a Berlin club. Pounding, chaotic, euphoric. Once regarded as Australia’s pre-eminent exponent of synth-revival dreamscapes, the Qua of 2011 has swapped the sleepy ambience for a world of techno beats, swirling psychedelia and dance-ready electronica. Event Information Will Sheff (USA) (Okkervil River) Jimmy Stewart (Australia) Will Sheff, the much-acclaimed lead singer of alt-country heroes Okkervil River, is a man capable of both immense bombast and haunting intimacy. At this year’s Festival Sheff will be showcasing the latter in a one-off sideshow in the cosy surrounds of the Toff in Town. Playing songs written for Okkervil River as well as a number of original compositions, this will be a rare opportunity to witness one of the great lyrical storytellers of our age raw and unadorned. Jimmy Stewart plays country music for the Australian city. One of Melbourne’s hardest working live musicians – he once played 51 gigs in two months – Stewart sings blackly comic and gently honest acoustic tales of the fleeting moments that make up a life. Event Information The Toff in Town Second Floor, Curtin House 252 Swanston Street The Toff in Town Second Floor, Curtin House 252 Swanston Street Sun 9 Oct Doors open 8pm Sun 16 Oct Doors open 8pm All tickets $25 Transaction & booking fees may apply All tickets $25 Transaction & booking fees may apply Save up to 20%. See page 73 for details. Save up to 20%. See page 73 for details. Over 18s event only Over 18s event only Moshtix 1300 438 849 thetoffintown.com Ticketmaster 1300 723 038 melbournefestival.com.au Moshtix 1300 438 849 thetoffintown.com Ticketmaster 1300 723 038 melbournefestival.com.au Image John Vanderslice Supported by Supported by Lucky Dragons (USA) Geoffrey O’Connor (Australia) Electronic experimentalists of the most endearing order, Lucky Dragons’ live shows are the epitome of coming together – less performance, more all-in, collaborative jam session where the shape of the song is dictated by the audience as much as it is the band. Incorporating a bewildering array of instruments, percussive elements and other music making devices for which no names yet exist, a Lucky Dragons gig is in essence an entirely new form of social music making, an improvised free-for-all where the barrier between artist and audience ceases to exist. Frontman of local heroes Crayon Fields, Geoffrey O’Connor’s solo sound is a quiet, artfully distilled incarnation of that group’s brand of naive pop. Intimate and familiar, this is the music of old AM stations made by a man entirely captivated by the now. Event Information Bachelorette (New Zealand) Rat Vs Possum (Australia) The music of Bachelorette (AKA Annabel Alpers) is what might happen were you to toss 70s psychedelia, 80s electro-pop, 90s shoegaze and 00s electronica into a blender and turn it to ‘high’. A strange, enveloping tangle of synthesised melody and claustrophobic texture built around Alpers’ raw and endlessly multi-layered voice, Bachelorette will take you on a sonic journey to a universe sustained by the logic of androids, cities, waveforms and love. Tribal, quirky, anthemic and rambunctious, Melbourne four-piece Rat Vs Possum make jumping electro-rock. Filled with psychedelic synth warps, dance-ready drums, offbeat harmonies and a ready-toparty attitude, they are the sound of the future filtered through the riffs of the past. Event Information The Toff in Town Second Floor, Curtin House 252 Swanston Street The Toff in Town Second Floor, Curtin House 252 Swanston Street Wed 19 Oct Doors open at 8pm Wed 12 Oct Doors open at 8pm All tickets $25 Transaction & booking fees may apply All tickets $25 Transaction & booking fees may apply Save up to 20%. See page 73 for details. Save up to 20%. See page 73 for details. Over 18s event only Over 18s event only Moshtix 1300 438 849 thetoffintown.com Ticketmaster 1300 723 038 melbournefestival.com.au Moshtix 1300 438 849 thetoffintown.com Ticketmaster 1300 723 038 melbournefestival.com.au Supported by Supported by 52 53