Bigsound Live 2014:

Wed 10th:

Man, every year I swear never again, but still I go. Kicked off the night at Oh Hello!, checking out my favourite West Australian Harajuku girl, Kučka. I’m usually amazed at how the long-suffering Bigsound techs manage to patch together something listenable with zero soundcheck and -after a tense start- and a few minutes when the band’s resident porcelain doll, Laura Jane Lowther, looked like she was going to leap behind the sound desk and stab everyone to death with a long hairpin, the trio emerged from the aural murk with that cold and sharp electropop that’s really been catching my attention. They threw in some huge bass and brutal techno beats: quite exciting. Honestly, I don’t know if Australia’s grown-up enough for stuff like this, but I hope so. Next it was down to The Brightside for recent FBi Northern Lights winner LUCIANBLOMKAMP. With his multi-instrumental, guest-laden, downbeat sound, I was a bit curious how he was going to carry it all off. Earnestly, as it happens. Definitely the least rock’n’roll looking guy I saw on stage that evening, the neatly turned out chap set his beats and synth atmosphere going before picking up the violin he would return to several times and adding a simple, melancholy melody that proved quite effective. He wasted very little time before launching into his appealing single, Help Me Out, the vocals were a little lost in the echoing mix, but the big, wonky beats rode in to save the day. Tremendously little audience contact, I don’t think I heard him even introduce himself and most of the set was performed with his eyes closed, but the crowd seemed quite enthusiastic about his slow and mournful beats. After missing their flight to Laneway, earlier this year. Future Classic alumni, Scenic, seemed very determined to get everything right, during their set. Almost too focussed, really. Still, their psych-dance sound, a real chip off the ol’ Jagwar Ma block, was great. Both lush and dynamic, highly danceable but not at all dumb, Scenic really do seem to be able to access exactly what makes The Ma so damn infectious. It’s nice to see some heavier bands on the expanded Bigsound bill, this year, accommodated by my favourite air-raid shelter, The Crowbar. Darkc3ll certainly win the best costume award for the night (sorry Kučka), looking like Lobo / The Gathering Of Juggalos / a Rob Zombie impersonator convention. Honestly, I’ll take Darkc3ll over ICP or Rob Zombie these days, their recent material has been that exciting. Sadly, you can bring heavy music to Bigsound, but making the industry appreciate it is a whole different ball-game. The band were very professional and played enthusiastically to the dwindling crowd. Well, I had a good time. You know, Darkc3ll have more Facebook friends than any five other Bigsound bands put together? Think about that you industry hacks. I got up to The Alhambra Lounge to find D.D Dumbo looking very worried as he yanked plugs out from one place and jammed them in another, to little avail. You get a very a small window of opportunity at Bigsound and it looked like the set was going to be a write-off, but, ten minutes later D.D finally lunged into it. His shy, slightly dorky persona easily won the crowd over as he apologised for the delay and his music did a much better job again. Most of his recorded work is a strange but fantastic blend of beats and rootsy, spiritual, blues and that was certainly in evidence: the crowd enthusiastically joined in the chorus to his now well-known single, Tropical Oceans. More than that, though, as he seamlessly constructed and looped as much as he could stuff into the twenty remaining minutes, an ‘80’s rock sound emerged that owed something to the effortless pop sensibility of The Police and which I really want to hear more of. D.D kept protesting that he’d screwed everything up. I have to say that his set, screw-ups and all, was easily the most enjoyable part of my evening.

Thu 11th:

My god, my eyeballs are filled with fire-ants. Thanks, Bigsound parties!! No time for that now, gotta get back for the second night of Bigsound Live. Crashed in a little late with a couple of minutes not specifically dedicated to anything, so I dashed up the stairs to Black Bear Lodge, through the loudly drunk networkers and joined the small crowd actually paying attention to Devon Sproule. The Austin based Canadian has been doing her folk-country troubadour thing for longer than some of Bigsound’s greenhorns have been alive and it showed in her smoothly accomplished performance. With just her beaten-up hollow-body electric and a voice more powerful than you’d expect from her small, wiry frame she held the floor with a ringing clarity. I was sorry I didn’t hear more of her set, but, regrets are for after Bigsound. I trundled back up the road to a narrow side-room in The Underdog where southern shoegazers Flyying Colours were just lighting the joint on fire. Their able leader Brodie J Brümmer was leaping about the stage and, with his lank blonde locks and stripy t-shirt, doing an even better Kurt Cobain impression than I previously remember. The vocal harmonies wandered astray a couple of times, but for the most part it was an enjoyably, warmly, pummeling set. Getting my exercise between drinks I hoofed it all the way back to The Alhambra, only momentarily side-tracked along the way by the genially wasted boys from Baptism Of Uzi (still complete gents) and caught a few songs from Ernest Ellis. The tall and broodingly handsome rocker commanded the stage with ease and produced a rendition of his gothically touched, lounge-rock songs that was actually much more immediate than on record. A definite pleasure. I set myself the highly realistic goal of catching four different acts in the last half-hour of the night and immediately failed by becoming inescapably absorbed in Sampology’s set at the Woolly Mammoth. I’ve always had a passing regard for Sam Poggioli’s urban, instrumental beats, but, honestly? The guy’s been going for years and despite his fresh-looking face, most other people would’ve pulled up stakes by now, right? Not Sam, he’s pouring more energy and talent into it than I’ve ever heard from him. Bathed in the animations of the VJing he’s known for, Sam threw down a bunch of new tunes, ably abetted by some very talented friends. Jordan Rakei, who I’ve been hearing laying down sweet soul for a few beat makers lately, sang a smoothly flawless collection of songs and was soon joined by Tom Thum. Tom is just a ****ing force of nature. As beat-boxing becomes more and more a historical oddity, he just keeps getting better and better. His contribution was more than just jaw-dropping spectacle, it was profoundly musical. Thum made himself an integral part of every song he contributed to: one man standing in for tens of thousands of dollars worth of electronic gear. Sam seemed to struggle to hold his frenetic set together at certain points, but whenever things threatened to tear apart, the trio pulled out the stops and headed for another thoroughly crowd-pleasing high point. For a big finish, Sam invited Daniel Merriweather on stage to lead the housey, soulful banger, Shine A Light. Merriweather’s voice hasn’t always lived up to expectations in the past, but he’s clearly been working hard and launched into a huge falsetto that got a big, toothy grin from Jordan Rakei. Bloody good and a great way to end another Bigsound Live. I poured myself into a Bigsound totebag and let the breeze gently carry me home.

- Chris Cobcroft.