Big news this week is that Pimmon is coming back to town. He played a couple of my favourite shows of the year back in 2008. This time he’s playing a show at the Electronic Music Unit at Adelaide Uni which should be a really excellent venue for him. The details are

“Pimmon
“A performance like a slow-motion white water torrent. In space.”
with Christian Haines
Saturday 20 February
9.00pm sharp
THE EMU SPACE, Electronic Music Unit
5th Floor, Schulz Building, University of Adelaide

http://emu.adelaide.edu.au/contact/

$5 entry
(enter via the Scott Theatre lifts behind the Schulz building, Kintore Avenue, Gate 15)”

This is an excellent chance to see a unique Australian artist who does not perform live very often, in a superb performance space. I can’t recommend it highly enough. At this time of year lots of Adelaide people go out to all sort of shows that they wouldn’t normally go to, associated with the festival or the fringe, but stuff like this often slips through the cracks because it doesn’t get such high profile advertising. Paying $5 is not much of a risk to take to experience something different though. Here is a great review of his latest album if you want to know more.

Pimmon at Big Star Records, 2008

On the topic of the Fringe Festival, one thing that really stands out is the Shimmering West Music Festival taking place on light square. It involves some local favourites like Satan’s Cheerleaders and God God Dammit Dammit, but even better it brings the long awaited return of the brilliant Curse Ov Dialect. Unfortunately much of it clashes with Womadelaide, it’ll depend on the full Womad schedule but I’ll do my best to get up to Light Square for Curse of Dialect on Friday 5th of March.

Last week the Laneway Festival was great, highlights were The XX, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Kid Sam, Hockey and Echo & the Bunnymen. Some good news is that Kid Sam will be back in town for a show at the Metro in April.

Some tours that are missing Adelaide are NZ legends The Bats (April) and The Chills (May). Also a bit of a disappointment is that Kid Koala is missing Adelaide on an upcoming tour, he’s always played here to good crowds on his previous tours. Also, soon to be announced is a tour by Tortoise, but they’ve never been here before so an Adelaide date is quite unlikely.

Tasmanians (or at least that’s where they started) The Paradise Motel are back after a 10 year absence, only a Melbourne show at this point though. A couple of the members (one original and one new) used to play in Adelaide band The Outland Brothers.

No details yet but Zulya will be visiting Adelaide again around April-May on a tour supporting the release of her new album.

A rumour that has been around is that The Wedding Present might tour Australia. They’re upcoming world tour is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their classic album Bizarro so that would be brilliant if they did make it here.

Finally, one more reminder that this Friday I’ll be doing a DJ set at the Metro. You can expect to hear some great post punk from the likes of PIL, Gang of Four, Wire, The Fall, Pere Ubu, Laughing Clowns, The Birthday Party, Joy Division and lots more.

FEBRUARY

• 11th RZA at Fowler’s Live.
• 12th Le Rayon Vert DJ Set at the Metro.
• 13th Avant Gardeners at the Metro.
• 13th Satan’s Cheerleaders at Higher Ground.
• 19th Yo La Tengo at Fowler’s Live.
• 20th Pimmon with Christian Haines at the EMU, Adelaide Uni.
• 20th Steering By Stars, Sincerely Grizzly at the Jade Monkey.
• 23rd Brian Jonestown Massacre at Fowlers.
• 25th Like Leaves and Steering By Stars at the Ed Castle.
• 25th Satan’s Cheerleaders at Light Square.
• 26th Satan’s Cheerleaders at the Crown & Anchor.
• 26th Hit the Jackpot at Supermild.
• 27th London Sinfonietta: Pacific Currents at the Adelaide Town Hall.
• 28th London Sinfonietta: Wind & Glass at the Adelaide Town Hall.

MARCH

• 5-8th WOMADelaide at Botanic Park with the Skatalites, Calexico, Ravi Shankar, Dean & Britta, Ethiopiques and lots more.
• 5th Clue to Kalo & Shame Spiral at the Metro.
• 5th Curse ov Dialect at Light Square.
• 6th Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Festival Theatre.
• 7th The Necks at the Spiegeltent.
• 7th Pavement at Thebby
• 7th God God Dammit Dammit at Light Square.
• 12th Robert Forster is the guest at Julia Zemiro’s Comfort Zone in the Spiegeltent.
• 13th Dinosaur Jr at Fowlers Live.
• 13th Hit the Jackpot with Naked on the Vague at the Metro.
• 18th Raekwon at HQ.
• 21st Massive Attack at the Entertainment Centre.
• 24th The Pixies at Thebby (playing Doolittle)
• 28th Jandek with the Primitive Calculators at the Gov ? (TBC)

APRIL

• 9th Kid Sam at the Metro.
• 16th Mountain Goats at Fowler’s Live.
• 24th No Through Road and We All Want To at the Metro.

On the Stereo

• Monade – Monstre Cosmic cd (Too Pure)
• Luke Vibert - Chicago, Detroit, Redruth cd (Planet Mu)
• DJ Youngsta – Dubstep Allstars Vol.2 cd (Tempa)
• Monolake – Hongkong Remastered cd (Monolake)
• The Field – From Here We Go Sublime cd (Kompakt)
• Autechre – Quaristice (Versions) cd (Warp)
• Various – Loose Cannon: Sounds from the Australian Experimental Underground 2cd (no label)
• Skalpel - s/t cd (Ninja Tune)
• DJ Kentaro - Enter cd (Ninja Tune)
• Aesop Rock - Labor Days cd (Def Jux)

Not sure if there’s an official announcement yet, but it looks like Jandek will play in Adelaide on March 28. Liveguide lists an Australian tour, but just with dates & states, on the Mess & Noise forums Melvo says it’s at the Gov with the Primitive Calculators. If it is true then well done to Heathen Skulls for being a tour promoter that brings artists to Adelaide, last year they were responsible for the Lightning Bolt tour.

Here is the info from their website:

Hailing from Houston, Texas, Jandek is the musical project of an outsider musician whose name and identity has been a mystery for over 30 years. Since 1978, Jandek has self-released over 60 albums of dissonant and often emotionally dissolute folk / blues through his label Corwood Industries.

Jandek often plays a highly idiosyncratic and frequently atonal form of folk and blues, that border very closely on the avant-garde. Refusing to use any form of traditionalism with structure, chords and tuning, Jandek has created a stylized form of music that is entirely his own. Lyrically he mirrors the country blues and folk traditions of East Texas, but sonically, he’s in a league of his own.

In 2004, a documentary was released entitled ‘Jandek on Corwood’. It documented Jandek’s recorded history and the people that have had contact with him, which is not many as he had never played live and only granted one interview, and that was back in 1985. Up until 2004 no one was certain of his identity.

The mystery of Jandek’s identity was unveiled in October 2004 when he appeared for the first time live at the 04 Music Festival in Glasgow, Scotland. He has since made a number of live appearances at festivals like All Tomorrow’s Parties, Pitchfork and SXSW.

Up until 2009, Jandek’s backing band consisted of musicians from bands such as Tortoise, Grails, Quasi and Grouper - his backing band changed for each performance, depending on who was available at the time. In 2009 he settled on a permanent rhythm section from Glasgow, Scotland, which consists of Volcanic Tongue Records owner and WIRE contributor David Keenan (Drums), and his partner Heather Leigh Murray.

Heathen Skulls is very proud to present for the first time in Australia, JANDEK!

Coming up this Friday is the Laneway Festival. Gates open at 2pm. I’m keen to see Eddy Current Suppression Ring & The XX in particular, but there’s quite a few acts I know very little about so I’m keen on checking out some new music.

Also, coming up on the following Friday (Feb 12th) I’ll be doing a DJ set at the Metro with a post-punk theme.

FEBRUARY

• 5th Laneway Festival with Echo & The Bunnymen, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and lots more.
• 6th Steering By Stars at the Ed Castle with Red Ink.
• 11th RZA at Fowler’s Live.
• 12th Le Rayon Vert DJ Set at the Metro.
• 13th Avant Gardeners at the Metro.
• 13th Satan’s Cheerleaders at Higher Ground.
• 19th Yo La Tengo at Fowler’s Live.
• 20th Steering By Stars, Sincerely Grizzly at the Jade Monkey.
• 23rd Brian Jonestown Massacre at Fowlers.
• 25th Steering By Stars at the Ed Castle.
• 26th Satan’s Cheerleaders at the Crown & Anchor.
• 26th Hit the Jackpot at Supermild.
• 27th London Sinfonietta: Pacific Currents at the Adelaide Town Hall.
• 28th London Sinfonietta: Wind & Glass at the Adelaide Town Hall.

MARCH

• 5-8th WOMADelaide at Botanic Park with the Skatalites, Calexico, Ravi Shankar, Dean & Britta, Ethiopiques and lots more.
• 6th Wayne Shorter Quartet at the Festival Theatre.
• 7th The Necks at the Spiegeltent.
• 7th Pavement at Thebby
• 12th Robert Forster is the guest at Julia Zemiro’s Comfort Zone in the Spiegeltent.
• 13th Dinosaur Jr at Fowlers Live.
• 13th Hit the Jackpot with Naked on the Vague at the Metro.
• 18th Raekwon at HQ.
• 21st Massive Attack at the Entertainment Centre.
• 24th The Pixies at Thebby (playing Doolittle)
• 28th Jandek with the Primitive Calculators at the Gov ? (TBC)

APRIL

• 16th Mountain Goats at Fowler’s Live.

On the Stereo

• Public Image Ltd – Second Edition 2LP (Virgin)
• Public Image Ltd – Flowers of Romance LP (Warner Bros)
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Once Upon A Time: The Singles LP (Polydor)
• The Cure – Faith LP (7)
• The Fall – The Wonderful & Frightning World of … LP (PVC)
• The Slits – Cut LP (Island)
• The Raincoats – s/t LP (Rough Trade)
• Laughing Clowns – Live: Prince Melon Bootleg series Volume 8 cd (Prince Melon)
• Laughing Clowns - Live: Prince Melon Bootleg series Volume 7 cd (Prince Melon)
• Flower / Corsano Duo – The Four Aims cd (VHF)