Ghostwood’s Rest My Soul

Sydneys Cad Factory, where all good bands hang

The Cad Factory is an inner-city warehouse space in Marrickville, Sydney that holds band and performance nights, as well as art exhibitions. The likes of Conway Savage from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Mick Turner from The Dirty Three have played solo gigs at the Factory, while electro-punk performance trio Toy Death have caused chaos onstage on a regular basis. Artists such as photographer Clare Pandemonium and painter Edwina Wrobel have contributed to the ambiance, exhibiting their works on the warehouse walls. Read more

The Archerbolds

Already with a Spectrum show under their belt, The Archerbolds are an up and coming Australian band well worth checking out. I saw the Sydney-based lads play recently at the Mars Hill Café and it was evident that they should be permanently rocking out on a real stage; not in front of coffee sippers. Their floating lyrics, smart guitar riffs and meaty bass lines are infused by The Strokes, Mars Volta, The Beatles, and Led Zeppelin — ultimately producing a freshly spun modern-vintage sound. Lead vocalist and guitarist Geoffrey ‘Gep’ Rectin says The Archerbolds plan to create a solid sound for next year: ‘Over summer, we’re recording an EP and working on a set sound, defining more of an image’. If their track, Rest Your Soul, is anything to go by, then it should be pretty dandy.

Sister Jane

A few months ago, Dan Davey tapped me on the shoulder and politely asked me for a moment of my time. We had a brief — and, of course, polite — conversation about Sydney’s psychedelic ’scene’. Not wanting to take up more of my time, he politely said, ‘nice to meet you’, and went on his very polite way. Now, either all the people I hang around with are really rude, or Dan Davey is the most well-mannered man I have ever met. This seemingly irrelevant tale becomes totally relevant when you hear his band Sister Jane. You see, when Dan sings, it sounds like he smokes fifty cigarettes a day, is made up of 87% liquor and never asks for a moment of your time, because he’s just too damn cool. So take a moment of your time and give their song, Shacked Up Blues, a listen.

Flashguns’ I Don’t Not Love You acoustic van version

Flashguns are a killer British trio who just survived a break-up following the recent departure of keyboard player, Oliver Wright. I’m delighted the guys chose to run strong as a three-piece and recorded some acoustic sessions on the road while supporting Bombay Bicycle Club’s UK tour. Before you watch Samuel Johnston’s interesting van acoustic version of their single, I Don’t Not Love You, I suggest you listen to the studio version and Lagos Boys Choir remix [below] to get a feel for the track’s full glory.

KAWS creme de corps

Random collaborations always come as a pleasant surprise. This time New York-based graffiti artist KAWS (aka Brian Donnelly) has joined forces with lavish beauty product manufacturer, Kiehl’s, in a bid to raise money for non-profit art initiative RxArt. KAWS’ design adorns an exclusive line of Kiehl’s skin moisturizers, with all proceeds benefiting RxArt’s mission to install art pieces in US hospitals.

Kill Pixie’s Supreme Beings in Berlin

My fellow Germans — or anyone willing to fly to Berlin — should go check out the solo exhibition Supreme Beings by emerging Aussie artist Kill Pixie (aka Mark Whalen). His latest series of geometric paintings are on display at Berlin’s Merry Karnowsky Gallery until December 19. I’m particularly intrigued by Kill Pixie’s use of candy colours coupled with his depiction of masked puppet-like characters set in celestial and futuristic scenes. Supreme Beings meticulously ‘questions the games people are forced to play, reinterprets the universal human struggle and what will be necessary for survival in the future of our world’.