Secret beaches of New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula

The Mockers’ song, One Black Friday

Oh boy! The Mockers were the poppiest Kiwi band that no-one outside of the Shaky Isles ever heard of. Take a trip back to the 80s and be prepared to dance.

The Chills’ Pink Frost

The Chills were the first band I ever saw. Well, actually, they were the first band I never saw, despite my best intentions. I was fifteen at the time, and my friend got word that the seminal Flying Nun act, who hailed from the deepest, darkest trenches of Dunedin, New Zealand, were to play a show that night at the now long gone Max’s in Petersham, Sydney. We had to go. It was The Chills, the very symbol of low-fi sullen rebellion, with their ruddy cheeks and out of tune guitars. So we whacked handfulls of gel in our hair and resolved to sneak our way past the doorman. Only my friend arrived at the venue a little earlier than me (his Dad was clearly a better driver than mine) and promptly sauntered into the venue, while I was turned away for ‘obviously being a minor’. Dammit! They were probably better on record anyway.

Johanna Billing’s You Don’t Love Me Yet

As a component of Tiny Movements by Swedish conceptual artist Johanna Billing, the performance piece, You Don’t Love Me Yet, has been presented in over twenty countries since its conception in 2002. Scheduled for August 16, Billing has invited a diverse and exciting collection of Melbourne bands to reinterpret the ever-hopeful tearjerker which was originally recorded by Roky Erikson in 1984. Among those taking part in the event are Beaches, Henry Wagons, Super Wild Horses, Fabulous Diamonds, Tic Toc Tokyo, Francis Plagne, and Teeth and Tongue, each challenged with the task of making something familiar, unique. Read more

Poodle Art

I get a lot of junk sent to me by email, but every once in a while I get a real beauty, something that makes me laugh out loud at how funny and absurd life can be. The phenomenon of creative canine grooming shows has its home in, you guessed it, the USA. Poodle owners dye, shave, clip and accessorise their pets so they resemble chickens, fairies, underwater sea themes, even American football players. As photographer Ren Netherland has discovered, the extremities of canine grooming have attained cult-like status. Read more

Nirrimi Hakanson

All you photographers out there, a word up on one of the most prodigious emerging photographers in Australia. And if you’re nursing an inadequacy complex, seeing Nirrimi Hakanson’s folio might propel you to briefly flee your aspirations and think about getting a job at the local supermarket. Hopefully, it will inspire you. The self-taught sixteen-year-old Hakanson has been taking photos on a digital SLR since the age of thirteen, after starting out on a disposable camera. Her distinctive style is ethereal and reminiscent of photo albums filled with enchanted childhood memories. Read more

Piet Parra at Milan’s Galleria Patricia Armocida

Piet Parra’s vividly coloured and voluptuous lemming-people get down to Italo Disco in the Amsterdam-based artist’s latest exhibition in Milan. Parra’s new works feature sensual and surreal figures busting raunchy poses to soundscapes from the electronic dance music movement that began in Italy and Europe in the late 1970s. Read more