Experimental As Anything
First published on sydneyis.com.au, Feb ‘01
From the first moment man gained the power of self-awareness and started picking his nose only because he darn well wanted to, we have asked ourselves many deep and philosophical questions. What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? What is love? Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? Where do babies come from when I keep using those little rubber things exactly like the doctor told me? And why do people still order Fillet o Fish, no seriously? But as far as music is concerned, few apart from my best mate’s crusty old barnacle bottomed parents have ever asked the question of what music actually is, as Twisted Sister’s We’re not Gonna take it attempted to glam rock it’s way out of his bedroom in the halcyon days of 1985.
But since 1994, avant-guitarist cum uber-alternative festival organiser Oren Ambarchi has been turning a minor query into an event par excellence, the What is Music? festival, appearing in selected venues in Sydney from Feb 18 – Feb 24, and so far no-one has been able to satiate his appetite for instruction. Mainly because it’s a rhetorical question, maybe because it’s an attempt to finally bring Jeopardy to Australians, but above all to highlight alternative music that provides an alternative to the alternatives. Confused yet? Good. So perhaps the question isn’t ‘What is music?’, but what is, ‘What is Music?’
“It’s just a festival where we try and expose stuff that doesn’t get exposed normally”, Oren explains, “especially in Australia. A lot of this stuff in Europe and America is much more tied in with people and has a lot more exposure, a lot more funding and a lot more recognition. And we’re just trying to give people an opportunity to hear the same stuff here.”
But this is not music heard on ‘Eurovision’, ‘Top 40 Finland’ or ‘Countdown Russian Revolution’ mind you. It’s music that snaps and crackles long before going pop, (or exploding in a loud post-modern musical bliss). Oren describes it as an experimental musical carnival, but most certainly not a bizarro sideshow with bearded ladies banging on midgets in bikinis vomiting neon blue liquid in martini glasses, and requests you leave your Hunter S. Thompson acid flashbacks at the door.
“Some people talk about it that way because they don’t know what it is. People who know what it is know what to expect, but it’s also good when people go without any expectations. You just listen to it for what it is and that’s it. I’ve found a lot of times in Australian press people kind of make out like it’s some kind of freak show. Anything that’s a bit different becomes this weird kind of freak sideshow, which it isn’t at all. It’s fun, but it’s not a joke. ”
All things considered, if you’re expecting to leave humming the next chart-topping boy band mega tune, you could be sadly let down. Acts such as Finland’s Pan Sonic and Austria’s Farmers Manual are unparalleled masters at sonic manipulation, and consequently ‘warping your fragile little mind’. You will be confronted, your musical boundaries will be tested, your mum will be unimpressed, but Oren insists you will have a good time.
DJ (avert thou eyes young children and lawyers) Smallcock is one such artist, who doesn’t just ‘cut up the tracks’, but stabs them with dangerous household objects to create his own unique brand of turntableism. Expect to see him headlining the “Bloody and Violent Massacre on a Summer’s Day” festival in the not too distant future. “He uses meat skewers” elaborates Oren, “and all these weird objects that he either mics up or puts through effects pedals, and all the noise is generated from his physical gestures. Smashing stuff, or putting things in his mouth and humming or whatever. And usually with him things go wrong fairly quickly, and things break or he hurts himself… something always happens when he performs. It’s all really on the edge and quite funny sometimes as well.
Oren adds that although the artists on the bill should be taken seriously, “There’s always humour because a lot of this stuff deals with improvisation. People who have been doing this stuff for years, they’re really spontaneous when they perform so anything can happen, which is great.”
The What is Music? festival runs from Feb 18 – Feb 23, at the Harbourside Brasserrie, Newtown RSL, Chauvel Cinema and Impermanent Audio (commonly known as the Imperial Slacks Gallery in Surry Hills. Actually, I’ve enver heard of that one either. For details of wh’s on where, what’s on when, and who’s on first, scroll through the program below or head to the What is music? website. Be on the lookout for the sydneyis “What Isn’t Music Festival”, featuring Bardot, Limp Bizkit, Destiny’s Child, Pink, and that chick who used to sing that “Jack Jack Jackie” song. Coming soon to a rubbish tip near you.