Various

Date: Saturday, 17th Oct 2009
Venue: One Movement
Reviewer: Shichi
Rating:

User Rating:

On the weekend, it was One Movement time. Combining a showcase festival of some of the best music Australia and Asia had to offer along with a wide and varied Fringe Festival scattered around the CBD featuring some great local artists, it was one of the most interesting festivals in recent history.

 

Friday:

Over the din of late-afternoon traffic, a lone soprano voice soars over Mill Street and into the ears of lucky bystanders. Miranda Pollard’s voice was strong and crystal clear, and her songs were hauntingly beautiful. Pollard is definitely an artist to check out at your local traps.

 

Saturday:

It was a stinking hot day under azure blue skies – a perfect day for a festival!

Under a tree near the Perth Esplanade train station, a young boy approaches curious bystanders to ask, “Do you want a Sleep TV badge?” Meanwhile, the band began to set up in the dirt, in front of a broken TV that had been given a new life as Sleep TV’s prop and fitted with their logo. This perked my interest for two reasons – firstly, it was was a very cool prop, and secondly, they seemed to have the Perth scene’s youngest street team.

 

 

How did they actually sound? Rather bland, actually. They sounded like the poor man’s version of Eskimo Joe. They had all the ingredients – soaring vocals and tight melodies – but they were lacking Eskimo Joe’s catchy choruses. They did the sound well but it was an easy-to-forget performance.

 

Tucked all the way out in front of the Hilton on Mill St was Storme, a roots-country singer and her rocking, nimble-fingered lead guitarist, Anthony. Unfortunately, all that were listening were a handful of lucky bystanders and many empty cars. It was sad that such a powerful voice and sound was placed in a spot so far away from the main action. However, she didn’t let that daunt her and played a foot-stomping set.

 

Playing at the Esplanade with their moody acoustic pop, Blue China Experiment was fantastic. The inclusion of a trumpet gave the songs a soulful feel, and the songs were heartfelt without being overwrought or maudlin.

 

On one of the main stages inside the festival area, TooKoo's singer announced, "We are Chinese band." Apparently one of the biggest rock bands in China, the blurb about them in the festival guide said that this was a rare opportunity to see this band down under. They played a mixture of electronica and punk which was both rocking, danceable and non-cheesy, which is an impressive feat in itself. They were a great band to watch, both visually and aurally and afterwards I scored myself a souvenir pick from the bassist.

 

Combining Indian music with simple, singalong folk melodies, Old Man River is an engaging band to listen to and Ohad Rein is a very charismatic performer. Great performance and I only wish his set was longer.

 

Then it was back out briefly for the Fringe at the Esplanade with Special Brew, a very fun ska band in matching black and white outfits, and a singer who has some of the best dance moves around. Great musicians who didn't take themselves seriously and even gently made fun of the sparse audience in front of them: "Thank you, lady and gentleman." Thankfully later on their audience increased.

 

On the Breakthrough stage in the main festival area was Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke. It was a welcome sight to see Felicity Groom with her full band, because they add so much extra dynamic to her music. While her music is still great when she is playing solo or with just Andrew Ryan, it can sound occasionally too sparse. With the full band, the sound fills out and gives her songs extra power. Felicity was hauntingly beautiful as always and a funny moment was asking the crowd to "reach up to the sky and turn the thermostat down a notch." She drew a decent-sized and very appreciative crowd to her mysterious-sounding folk and it was perfect music for the late afternoon.

 

Sunday:

 

My day started out on Mill Street to catch Filthy Mono, who played acoustic blues and did it well, although there's only so much you could do with the same chords and some of their songs sounded too similar. When they broke out of their comfort zone and started doing some Doors-like riffs, then it sounded better and I think their guitarist needs to do more lead to add some more interest in the songs. Still, it was a nice, mellow start to the festival.

 

Inside the festival on one of the main stages was Passenger, a poet-troubadour with great lyrics like, "Clutching knives between the sheets." His plaintive voice was perfect for his lyrics about lost love and the confusion of living, and he was simply great. The stage was probably too big for his lone voice and he probably would've been better on a more intimate stage. He also had a good sense of humour and at one point threw away his sunglasses because he thought he looked like a wanker. Also, when the other band were doing soundchecks and were bleeding into his last set, he said, "At least they could do it in time."

 

Then next door, SuperVC rocked on with their indie-rock mixed with some 70s influences. These guys were dynamic with an androgynous singer and a fantastic, flamboyant bassist with all the rock-star moves. They were fun to watch and had catchy, rocking songs. I was definitely glad to catch them.

 

I went back out to the Fringe hoping to catch The Silents but unfortunately they had to cancel. Instead I watched Resort, an electronica band who came in as a replacement. They were very cheesy with a dated, 90s sound.

 

On the Rydes stage out on Hay Street was New Cosmick System, a twee-sounding folk-pop band. They were very mellow and melodic, and I liked their charming sound. Usually the Rydes stage would've had the band exposed to the sun but luckily they found a bit of shade from the building.

 

Back in the main area, Meiko was playing to a decent-sized crowd. A Myspace sensation, it's not hard to see how she became a star. Meiko was a charming singer-songwriter with a self-deprecating sense of humour and gentle songs. I loved her onion song, about onions who are about to be cooked.

The first of the two collaborations between artists from Australia and Asia was Old Man River and KAT. The first song was a bit meandering but you'd expect that from a song that has been created in a week. The second song, Lost In Translation, was much better and quite funny, especially when the pair exchanged English and Japanese words for "potato", "tomato", "lettuce" and even "Avril Lavigne".

The second of the two collaborations was Art vs Science and Tigarah and they were the stronger of the two. They had the crowd pumping with their two songs and Tigarah is a very charismatic performer.

 

After the two collaborations was Korean band Biuret, who had all the moves and the presence of a stunningly gorgeous singer/guitarist but whose music failed to ignite any excitement in me. It was disappointingly conventional and predictable poprock at its worse, unfortunately. They did win over the crowd with a cover of ACDC's It's A Long Way To The Top.

 

I took a brief break back out onto the Fringe at the Esplanade and was lucky enough to catch The Joe Kings, who played raucous and raw blues with the singer/rhythm guitarist also playing a kick drum. A great, stripped back sound reminiscent of 40s-50s Delta blues. They even did a Michael Jackson cover.

 

On the Breakthrough stage in the main festival was Dallas Frasca, the woman with the fiery red dreadlocks and massive voice, now accompanied with Jess McAvoy on backing vocals and a drummer to fill out her sound. She played some stomping roots with rousing songs about being stalked and rising above negative people, and demanded people to "Take a fucking look!" Only slight disappointment for me was Jess McAvoy's relatively small role in the band, because she has a great voice herself and is an able singer-writer as well, and I thought she was under-utilised. Overall though, a great performance and she got the crowd dancing on the grass.

Wolf and Cub were once one of the most promising purveyors of psychedelic, freak-out rock, something happened along the way and for a while they seemed to have plateaued. However, they put in a great performance at the festival and they played continuously for 30 minutes. Hopefully they are back in form now.


“We are Art...versus...science!” Art vs Science was the band that most of the crowd were here to see, they were on fire from the start. They played all their big songs like Parlez Vous Francais and Flipper. Someone from the crowd jumped the barrier and tried to leap onto the stage but security caught him, someone else actually threw a pair of flippers onto the stage and the band lapped up all the attention. Great times and a memorable performance.

 

The lights began to shimmer at the Wolf Lane fringe stage and the self-proclaimed “strangest thing in the festival” appeared, with a laptop and a Kaoscillator.

 

Clutching a microphone which Tomas Ford reassuringly told us was a “radio microphone”, he began by leaping off the stage and accosting the crowd. From drenching people with water, wiping his glittered sweat on people and getting them to smell his armpits, to demanding people cuddle him while rambling about his awesomeness, it was an hilarious performance and he certainly lived up to his reputation.

The highlight was getting the crowd to carry him down Wolf Lane, where he greeted amused patrons of the nearby cafe, before having the crowd carry him back towards the stage.

 

Then abruptly, Tomas Ford exclaimed “Fuck, I ran out of time,” and dashed off the stage. “Thank you for coming, Perth,” he called out from backstage. 

What else to say of this great event? Thank you Sunset for organising such a eclectic lineup of bands who might otherwise not have graced our shores – bands such as SuperVC and TooKoo come to mind. I hope that more music events happen rather than a Danny Green boxing match – I for one prefer listening to people on stage exhorting others to have a good time, rather than watch two people pummel each other in the name of money and violence.