The 10 Rules of Music Appreciation

1) Always avoid commercial radio. They're only interested in music as aural baked beans (Occasionally something good slips through viz. Amy Winehouse a few years ago, but you'll hear that anyway.)

2) Listen to what's cool, but never avoid music just because it's uncool. These categories are fluid over time

3) Avoid acts who rely on expensive, corporate video clips. (Cheap inventive clips are more than OK, of course)

4) Avoid anyone who consistently uses bad or painfully lurid artwork (with the exception of The Isley Bros.' and Ohio Players' album sleeves during the '70s)

5) If your 14-year-old daughter or son likes it, you should make sure you never let them play it over loudspeakers. That's what ear-buds/ headphones were invented for. If they claim to have found something earth-shattering, let them first advance the arguments as to why you should listen. If they are passionate and articulate, they probably have good reason. (Once they've reached 17, listen to them all the time - they've reached the age where they realise just how exciting music can be and have started to make their own discoveries.) 
 
6) Never restrict your listening to 1 or 2 genres. Always make an effort with something you find uncomfortable at 1st.

7)  If you think classical music is (a) too hard to get into, (b) snobby, (c) too straight, you're being close-minded and haven't given it a proper go. Probably most of the artists you most admire like at least some classical music. (Admittedly if you don't like Sibelius's Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite, played loud, there is probably little hope for you).

8) With jazz, the rhythm always comes 1st. So stop worrying that you don't 'get' what the sax or trumpet player's doing. Just feel the groove. Everything else gradually falls into place with increased familiarity.

9) Follow critics and bloggers you like and follow up their suggestions, but never trust them blindly. (Even if they're me.)

10)  Never allow others to dictate what you listen to. That means never being embarrassed to like something your friends sneer at.

Film Critics Circle of Australia 2011 award nominations

The FCCA unveiled its 2011 nominations today.

Male actor nominees Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom leads with 10 nods, with Beneath Hill 60
and The Waiting City each with eight nominations. Tomorrow When the War Began
received five, while Bran Nue Dae and South Solitary received four each. The winners will be announced on  March 13.



BEST FILM

ANIMAL KINGDOM (PRODUCER: LIZ WATTS)

BENEATH HILL 60  (BILL LEIMBACH)

BRAN NUE DAE (ROBYN KERSHAW, GRAEME ISAAC)

TOMORROW WHEN THE WAR BEGAN (ANDREW MASON, MICHAEL BOUGHEN)

THE WAITING CITY ( JAMIE HILTON, CLAIRE McCARTHY)



BEST DIRECTOR

STUART BEATTIE - TWTWB

CLAIRE Mc CARTHY -TWC

DAVID MICHÔD - AK

RACHEL PERKINS - BND

JEREMY HARTLEY SIMS -BH60



BEST ACTOR (female) - LEADING ROLE

LILY BELL-TINDLEY (LOU)

RADHA MITCHELL (TWC)

MIRANDA OTTO (S. SOLITARY)

JACKI WEAVER (AK)



BEST ACTOR (Male) – LEADING ROLE

BRENDAN COWELL -(BENEATH HILL 60)

JOEL EDGERTON (THE WAITING CITY)

JAMES FRECHEVILLE - ANIMAL KINGDOM

RYAN KWANTEN - RED HILL

BEN MENDELSOHN - ANIMAL KINGDOM
  


BEST ACTOR (female)  – SUPPORTING ROLE

EMILY BARCLAY (Lou)

MORGANA DAVIES (The TREE)

ESSIE DAVIS (SS)

DEBORAH MAILMAN (BND)



BEST ACTOR  (male)– SUPPORTING ROLE

JOEL EDGERTON (AK)

STEVE LE MARQUAND (BH60)

GUY PEARCE (AK)

KODI SMIT-McPHEE (MATCHING JACK)




BEST SCREENPLAY

STUART BEATTIE (TWTWB)

BELINDA CHAYKO (LOU)

CLAIRE McCARTHY (TWC)

DAVID MICHÔD (AK)

DAVID ROACH (BH60)



BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

DENSON BAKER (TWC)

ANNA HOWARD (SS)

BEN NOTT (TWTWB

TOBY OLIVER (BH60)




BEST EDITOR

DANY COOPER (BH60)

MARCUS D’ARCY (TWTWB)

LUKE DOOLAN (AK)

PATRICK HUGHES (RH)

VERONIKA JENET (TWC)


BEST MUSIC SCORE

MARY FINSTERER (SS)

ANTONY PARTOS and SAM PETTY (AK)

CEZARY SKUBISZEWSKI (BH60)

CEZARY SKUBISZEWSKI (BND)

MICHAEL YEZERSKI (TWC)



BEST FOREIGN FILM - ENGLISH LANGUAGE

INCEPTION

THE KING’S SPEECH

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

WINTER’S BONE



BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

FATHER OF MY CHILDREN

A PROPHET

THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES

THE WHITE RIBBON

How to annoy a Sydney music fan - give them something fabulous for free

Thanks for all your comments to the post below on the music program at this year's Sydney Festival, which has just finished. And via Collins - thank you for putting this all into perspective. I'll repost his comment here: "I'm a very happy Melbourne resident, but if there's one Sydney even that gets me furiously jealous year in year out, it's the Sydney Festival music component.

"I'm 100% with you Lynden, the talent and diversity demonstrated across the 2011 edition is top echelon. You can see a couple of them in Melbs, at crippingly high prices. I opted for Stanko, and he was fantastic, as were his young band of ice-cold Scandinavians, but to get what you lot get up there in Sydney - and lots for free - is a gift from the gods. Long may it continue..."

I find our Melbourne' friend's comments about being jealous of Sydneysiders very telling. I think the real problem is this: the festival now puts on so much that's free that many Sydneysiders are getting complacent and accruing an ugly sense of entitlement.

The other day I was astonished to read a letter in the SMH complaining about a roped-off sponsor's area at Opera In The Park. How the heck did he think they could afford to put this on without any sponsors? Mate, you have every right to whine about the opera so long as you don't mind ponying up for the true cost. Stingy git.

Might I suggest that much of the whingeing is coming from a position of insufficient knowledge of the acts on the program? I don't think anyone who witnessed the Unthanks live would be complaining about a 2nd drawer band - their last two albums are in my view (and that of many other critics and musicians) one of the finest folk outfits the UK has produced in years, and live they added an extra dimension of warmth and personality that made the evening very special.

Last year the festival put on Grizzly Bear (pictured top - ha ha). They're not just another hip New York indie band. They're one of the most  inventive and innovative rock bands for many years. I'm still seriously pissed at not getting hold of a ticket before they sold out. Maybe some folks just don't realise what they're missing.

Particularly impressive is the way the programming of some of the lesser known music artists at the Spiegeltent manages to get fast-rising talents just before they break out. I was so kicking myself for missing Laura Marling (pictured) in 2010 after hearing  her 2nd album, which came out a few months after her visit. It's one of the most impressive albums I heard last year - from anywhere.

Philip Glass not your cup of tea? Fair enough, but there's only a handful of top living US composers. If Kronos hadn't accompanied his Dracula score, I guess you'd be complaining that you'd been served up some 2nd drawer string quartet instead.

Sufjan Stevens? Well the show I caught was mixed, but with some wonderful moments and certainly memorable. But perhaps he shouldn't return under a Sydfest banner for a few years. Point taken. Ditto The National.

Before anyone complains about Owen Pallett (who played at the Spigetent as well as supporting Stevens at the Opera House)  I'd suggest they stream the clip I posted below and check out his album, Heartland. It's amazing. In a couple of years you're all going to be pretending you saw him in Sydney in 2011.
 
Re. Stanko - yes, he's no stranger, as I observed in my review. I went along not being a particular fan. I'm a bit over ECM's stable of airbrushed Euro chamber jazz, which I think has become predictable and generic - but I was blown away by the fire displayed by his new band, which, I emphasise, has never played here before.

Re. Los Lobos - I can't believe someone is complaining about this. I went to the concert by  David Hidalgo and Marc Ribot  last year and it was great. But it was NOT a Los Lobos concert - much more of a fusion between Hidalgo's Tex-Mex and Ribot's Cuban leanings. A Los Lobos concert is a different event.

Major mis-steps? Well I'm not interested in every single music act that's been booked over the last two years, but that's the point of festivals - you're not meant to go to everything (who could afford it or have the time anyway?). The point is to provide a wide number of entry points for folks of differing tastes and interests.

I'm sure someone will bring this up if I don't: last year's Rogue's Gallery was widely seen as a flop. I reviewed this at the time and counted 1 hour of great music out of two and a half hours that was mediocre or scrappy. The audience rebelled because of the high ticket cost ($180 each), the producer/ host Hal Wilner was drunk and seemingly under-prepared, and it rained most of the night (it was staged outdoors.

It should have been done better (ie. indoors) and with a greater proportion of well-rehearsed local talent, but the festival took a calculated chance and on paper it looked a winner. It was mixed on the night but c'est la vie. There were enough great moments to make it all worthwhile. (And yes, I did buy a ticket).

So who isn't the festival bringing out that you'd want to see? Jon Hassell, maybe? He came here in the first Vivid Festival - the one curated by Brian Eno. It was pure magic - a very special evening. Hardly anyone went. You can lead a horse to water...

Is there room for criticism? Absolutely. But let's keep it constructive - and informed.

Sydfest gets the music program right - again

The Sydney Festival is over for another year and yet again proved that whatever the complaints about large-scale theatrical events (or lack of them), its music selection continues to be inspired. This year I saw Emmylou Harris, Sufjan Stevens supported by Owen Pallett, The Tomasz Stanko Quintet and the fabulous contemporary/ trad UK folk sisters The Unthanks. All were memorable, notwithstanding a few personal qualms about some of the material drawn from Stevens's most recent album, The Age of Adz.

For reviews of the first four and a feature on The Unthanks (all published in The Australian), see extracts and links below:

Emmylou Harris:

"It was initially tempting to divide the concert into pre-and-post Wrecking Ball, especially after the opening songs, which emphasised her more explicitly country side, yet by the time Harris returned for encores, such distinctions had evaporated. The epic yet unsentimental melancholy of her 1995 rendition of Gillian Welch's Orphan Girl (played earlier in the evening) was not so recent at all. It was there all along in the much-loved Boulder to Birmingham, which she wrote in direct response to Gram Parsons's early death in 1973...."

Sufjan Stevens and Owen Pallett: 


 
Pallett and the better known main act, Sufjan Stevens, exemplify the trend in North American independent music towards experimentation and conceptual ambition, though they employ distinct approaches...Pallett's approach is fresh. Having apparently studied (the music of Terry Riley and) other minimalist composers such as Steve Reich, John Adams and Michael Nyman, he successfully twists their hypnotic sensibilities into a pop song context. A revelation...

 
"Stevens proved both annoying and inspiring, mixing up Play School campiness and adult sincerity with paradoxical abandon. Encased in DayGlo outfits, the US singer and his band looked like the cast of a cheesy 1980s sci-fi flick putting on a pantomime..."


Tomasz Stanko:
Stanko is often compared with Miles Davis but what he's taken is not so much the sound as the American's modal concept (that is, scale-based tunes, using minimum chord changes), anchored by Anders Christensen's hard-toned Fender bass and lent rock-style urgency by guitarist Jakob Bro..."


The Unthanks - feature: 
"Britain's Unthanks, about to make their third Australian visit, have a sound and sensibility as instantly recognisable as their strikingly unusual name: a regional surname that originally referred to claimants of disputed land in the northeast England and Scotland border regions.
That distinctiveness is most obviously present in the voices of Rachel and Becky Unthank, one of the most complementary blends of sisterly vocal prowess since the emergence of Canada's Kate and Anna McGarrigle many years ago. Just as distinctive is the lilting Geordie (Northumbrian) accent in which they sing..."