Well, well, well. What is there to say about Groovin’ The Moo? As you should know by now it’s Australia’s ONLY regional touring music festival, which means one thing: highly excitable punters. I arrived super early (which I never do to festivals) to catch one of my favourite Sydney bands FISHING. The duo opened up the dance tent to a surprisingly large crowd for such an early time slot; bringing their trippy and chopped up beats along for the ride.

It was great to see them getting some attention from a large festival and the track “Choy Lin” was a big personal party starter for me.

After the boys had finished I took a little time to wander around the festival grounds before heading back to the tent to check out Tuka and Elesquire. The Blue Mountains really seem to have a knack for producing great Australian hip-hop artists because Tuka had me pumped from the second he rolled onto stage. Bouncing through hits like ‘Die A Happy Man’ and ‘Just Wanted To Feel’, energy levels began to peak amongst the young crowd.

Finally it was time to head outside to the Chanel [V] stage and embrace the sunshine. Brisbane four-piece Last Dinosaurs were up next and ecstatic to be playing to a crowd so large. I’ve personally been meaning to catch the guys for a long time and the wait was truly worth it. Running through a string of hits such as “Zoom”, “Andy” and “Sunday Night”, the musicianship and happy vibes injected the festival with a sheer sense of joy.

Moving slightly to the right, I found myself at the Triple J stage to catch Urthboy – a personal favourite of mine whom I have now seen countless times. As always, he was joined by the ever lovely Jane Tyrrell who has to ability to mesmerize me at will; delivering flawless vocals with goose bump inducing highs. Set highlights included a crowd surf and good deal of confetti throwing from Urthboy as he laid down his hard hitting raps – everyone bopping along.

Soon enough it was time to return to the dance tent, only some type of transformation had occurred. Hardcore fans had started to pile in as LA five piece The Bronx took to the stage (not to mention the Amity Affliction fans who were already seeking a good spot). The Bronx presented a flawless, energetic set which was filled with more than a couple head bangs and air guitar licks to tracks such as ‘Shitty Future’.

Shooting back out of the tent to catch the final few songs of Brooklyn two-piece Matt and Kim, I became absolutely elated with their euphoric stage presence. The crowd chanted along to the hard hitting “Now” as balloons bounced around and I decided to get closer to the stage.

Just as I did, Kim promised to get everyone laid via her Twitter dating service #kimsdatingservice before jumping into the crowd to shake her booty to Diplo’s “Express Yourself.” Ending their set with a version of “Daylight”, Kim promised to play “so fucking hard it’s like I’m taking it in the ass”. She lives up to her promises.

Australian rapper Seth Sentry seemed a little off during his set. While he jumped on speakers and shot at the crowd with NERF darts, he just didn’t seem as hyped as I’ve seen him on previous occasions. Regardless, the crowd were going wild for hits such as “Float Away” and “The Waitress Song”; apart from one crowd member who threw a water battle at Seth. He wasn’t happy.

Not being a huge fan of “screamo” music I was a little reluctant to check out The Amity Affliction. None the less, they certainly raised energy levels up more than a notch as circle pits opened and crowd surfers poured into the photo pit. While I didn’t stay long, I can definitely see why they have a huge following. It’s not that the set was particularly offensive, I was just really keen to catch Melbourne pop outfit Alpine.

They didn’t disappoint either! Bringing their massively happy sounds and bubbly vibes to the festival, the dual vocals of Phoebe and Lou sent the crowd into quiet a tizzy. “Gasoline” was definitely a highlight!
What happened next was possibly the best thing I saw all day – YACHT taking to the stage. Front woman Claire was wild and ready to party and so were the crowd. While front man Jona jumped around onstage, Claire wrapped herself up in her microphone cord before spinning down into the photo pit to play with the crowd. Admittedly I nearly got taken out by her as security tried to control her movements – she was loving it.

Meanwhile Frightened Rabbit were absolutely killing it onstage despite being “fucked” from their flight into the country at 5am that morning.

Back in the tent, YACHT finished up and Melbourne MC Pez took to the stage as the crowd changed – losing their cool vibe and turning into a cesspit of underage drunks. Being a photographer I’m quiet used to being hit by all manner of things in the photo pit (Phil Jamieson’s spit for instance) but coping a water bottle to the head before Pez had even come onstage was truly a reflection of what the crowd would be like during the set. From what I saw Pez performed well but the feral crowd totally ruined the set for me and I decided to go see Regurgitator instead.

Regurgitator are pretty much an Australian institution and as always they performed exceptionally. The bouncy energy of bassist Ben Ely, coupled with the raw power of Quan Yeomans vocals, set the guys up to be a total hit with the more rock oriented crowd of the main stage. Who wouldn’t like a song called “I Will Lick Your Arsehole”?

Next up was Brooklyn band They Might Be Giants, who proved not very popular with the young crowd. While they are great musicians in their own right, the quirky nature of their music and their older catalogue seemed lost in translation. The crowd began to gather towards the end though for the return of Tame Impala, fresh from playing the epic Coachella Festival in the US.

Unfortunately for us, all that travelling had killed Kevin’s voice, leaving him pretty much unable to sing anything not extremely low. Musically they were tight but the whisky just wasn’t helping his voice; giving up and letting the massive crowd sing “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”. It was a little disappointing but what can you do? I don’t think anyone was too upset as the band shredded through their psychedelic set.

After they had finished I pushed my way back into the dance tent area which was so packed the crowd were spilling out; bare chested boys climbing onto poles for a better vantage point. The man on everyone’s mind had arrived – Flume. Management seemed extremely worried about how many people at turned up to the set (I’d estimate over half the festival where in the small area) and quickly closed down the photo pit as they tried to control the crowd and pull flailing girls out. Walking into the crowd, the familiar boom of “More Then You Thought” began to drop as an ambulance tried to push trough the crowd. I think everyone knows Flume should have been upgraded to a bigger stage, but the staff really were doing a good job of trying to manage safety.

As I returned to the main stage, Brighton indie kids The Kooks were just coming on. More teenage girls were swooning as the boys ran through a set of solid pop numbers including “Junk Of The Heart” and “Seaside”. All in all a solid performance.

The Temper Trap then had the honours of wrapping up the main stage – a band which had previously been rejected by the Australian music industry. I’m sure all the people who wouldn’t give the boys airplay back in the day would have been very regretful as the crowd sang along to hits like “Love Lost” and danced their asses off to “Drum Song”. It was a truly perfect way to finish the main stage.

Before I headed home, I darted back into the dance tent one last time to check out English singer/rapper Example. The party crowd was of course extremely responsive to any wobble of bass or sing along chorus as Example smashed out his set. Favourites such as “Change The Way You Kiss Me” and “Stay Awake” were highlights for my very sore legs and I.

Groovin’ The Moo was absolutely wonderful (as it always is), despite a couple of little mishaps. In the words of Example “We’ll be coming back for you one day”. Mooooooo.

[Follow me on Twitter @cormy96]

The post Review: Groovin’ The Moo Maitland 2013 appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Imagine getting this VIP ticket holder package in the mail. It has your ticket and poster. But the poster is a mask and a graffiti stencil. The info booklet is also a stencil and totally interactive. And the grenade shaped box even comes complete with a surprise ”jumping-snack-in-a-can prank” to get you in the right mood. With this package, the goal was to stay true to the youthful, urban, DIY roots of the “surprise festival” while simultaneously going overboard in every way possible.

This package plus another book I made both won Gold at the District 3 Regional ADDY awards this year. We’ll see if the national judges agree this summer.

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Now nature is pretty decent on its own, but try spending three days in the Canadian Mountains alongside a glacier fed river surrounded by cutting edge music and thousands of stoked out party goers! Although still in its infancy, Bass Coast continues to get better every year and has officially become The Party among the Canadian Bass music elite. Sure, I could go on and on about unicorns, naked people and next level party shenanigans, but I wouldn’t want to bore you. Instead, I’ll mention that it is a magical place that will change your life and is unlike anything else you have ever attended. What’s also neat is that the organizers are not men. Now as much as we’ll miss overflowing port-o-potties and wasp infested garbage piles, we feel quite comfortable with Bass Coasts’ womanly touch.

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Collarbones are Sydney’s Marcus Whale and Adelaide’s Travis Cook, a couple of friends that met over the internet and used to chat about music after school on MSN. What they didn’t know in those days was that their chats would lead to them being one of Australia’s most interesting and exciting electronic music duo’s.

We caught up with them backstage at Sydney’s OutsideIn Festival to talk long distance relationships, mission statements and big things.

LAEM: You guys met in a music forum while in high school. What’s it like working together in two different cities?
M: I had a great time in my after-school MSN sessions with Travis (laughs)…
T: It’s never been a problem. I’ve been on the internet my whole life so it doesn’t seem like a different thing to real life. They aren’t separate entities to me and I guess working that way is really great for the type of music that we make.

LAEM: Can you tell me about your first album Iconography?
M: We made it over about 6 months and it was just a bunch of really different tracks that we wanted to create a good flow through. I guess it was a way of showing the meaningless of committing to a genre and embracing everything as one stream of information in the digital world.
T: It was our mission statement to stick to my musical ADHD (laughs).
M: Wether it was effective is another question though. I listen back with fondness…

LAEM: How does Die Young differ, apart from the obviously poppier sound?
M: We thought about it for a bit longer, a bit over a year this time. It felt like we needed to progress in some way and make some more uniformed work.
T: It’s more focused. It has a theme running through it. We knew a bit more about the sound we wanted to have without just feeling our way around. It’s also influenced by the live show more because when we released Iconography we’d only played a few live shows before hand. I guess it’s more influenced by what we want to play live.

LAEM: Who are you most excited about playing alongside at OutsideIn?
M: I’m not sure… For me it’s probably Jesse Boykins III who’s part of a bunch of newish soul singers that are re-embracing soul tradition… Actually I don’t even believe that to be honest. It’s just listening to music like his I can’t help but feel a lot of tones of other people mashed into a great musical context. It’s really smooth. I’m keen to see how that translates live.
T: A lot of the smaller international ones. There’s also Flume who’s just released his album.
M: Yeah! They’ll try to fit like 1000 people in there I reckon. Pretty bad luck for whoever else is playing at the time… It’s probably FISHING (laughs).
T: I’m keen to see Holy Balm as well!

LAEM: So do you have anything big planned for your upcoming shows?
M: Everything’s big! Except for us…. we’re pretty small.
T: It’s just a party!

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When Astral People and Strawberry Fields joined forces with a dream of bringing the best of SF to Sydney, nobody could have anticipated just how well it worked. I walked into Sydney’s Metro Theatre expecting the unexpected and I got it in more ways than one.

Apart from the bone-rattling bass, the first thing that hit me once I got inside was the amazing visuals that evolved to suit each artists performance. Multi-coloured squares for Thomas William, crazy nebula outlines for Synkro, and swirling dreamlike skies for Baths. I made it my mission to capture the mood and experience of each artists’ performance. This is quite evident through the non-conventional accompanying photographs.

As patrons started to file into the Theatre, Thomas William took to the decks to serve up some classically colourful tunes. Glitchy synth lines began rolling out over chopped up drum loops as the crowd got into the mood of things. William definitely has a knack for arranging repeating patterns into all-round crowd pleasing tracks.

By the time Manchester’s Synkro took to the stage, things were really starting to fill up. The crowd burst into applause as the visuals changed and the beats started dropping. Projections of swirling lines that reminded me of Nebula’s began to appear along with long lines of light. Synkro proved why he is in hot demand as a remixer by dropping his reworking of The xx’s Night Time as the crowd built in anticipation and size. The mood was just right despite some technical issues during the set.

The crowd was now fully primed and ready to be taken on yet another journey, and who better to lead the expedition than Los Angeles’ Baths? Giving everything in an energetic and heart felt set, Baths filled the room with his yearning vocals and dreamy chord progressions as surreal skies filled the room. It wasn’t all serious though; Baths pulling faces at the crowd. I was won over. Baths was the highlight of my evening.

The post Land Of The Giants in Sydney: a concert review appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.

Ok, ok, where to start? Hmm, perhaps with some of the awesome acts that you’ll get to see: Bats for Lashes, Holy Other, Real Estate, Yeasayer, Kings of Convenience, Alt-J, Flume, and many, many more. Yup, this is the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, which began in Australia in 2004 when ‘Jerome Borazio and Danny Rogers decided that summers in Melbourne would be far better with more live music in unique settings’. But what started as something very Melbourne-centric, has since spread across the country, and beyond. In early 2013, Laneway will be taking its travelling festival on the road to Singapore (Jan 26), Auckland (Jan 28), Brisbane (Feb 1), Sydney (Feb 2), Melbourne (Feb 3), Adelaide (Feb 8), and Perth (Feb 9). It’ll be massive. We promise. Tickets and more details are available here, but get in quick.

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If you’re lucky enough to be heading to Splendour in the Grass in NSW’s beautiful Byron Bay this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then make sure you download the new Splendour in the Grass 2012 iPhone app, which is available in the App store. If you’re an avid festival goer, you’ll agree this is an awesome new addition to festivals in recent times, especially those that go over multiple days. The best bit is that you can plan out your day, assign alerts, track where your mates are, and make sure you avoid as many clashes of your must-see acts as possible. Smashing Pumpkins, Bloc Party, Miike Snow, The Kooks, Lana Del Ray, Beautiful Girls … oh my, so many (too many?) AMAZING acts this year!

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This is the best DIY thing ever. In their words: ‘Choose Yer Own is a festival based on sweet adventure, and built around a love for Calgary and the many great projects that happen here. Choose Yer Own is a collaborative festival. Anybody can put anything on, which means the festival is always unpredictable and surprising, and also meaning that the festival is built by you: the participants, passerbys, and accidental organizers of the various events’.

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This video is a behind the scenes look at South Australian artist Emma Hack painting the Adelaide Guitar Festival image on a nude model. The womanly curves of the guitar come alive with every brush stroke. The beautiful guitar music that accompanies the video is by Leonard Grigoryan of the Grigoryn Brothers and was remixed by Tim Koch.

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