Ether Band of the Month - 18

Band of the Month

Ether Music Box - 19

Sam Menzies introduced by Jake Moss

On the inside of the album jacket of Sam Menzies latest CD is written, this album is dedicated to the following of dreams. This may conjure up images of candy floss that you can buy at every flimsy confectionary stand at the music fair, but, strangely, it is somehow fitting. Juggling acts, circus gigs, busking on the streets of Fremantle in Western Australia all part of the mixed bag of lollies that make up Sam Menzies life. I grew up in a commune in Northern America. Here I bunked in with a group of other boys where we were cut off from the rest of the world. It was us and them (the model into which all things young boys seem to simplify). The idea was that we all lived in this commune together in harmony. I was only young but these sorts of ideals have followed me into my life and music. The next destination for Sam was Western Australia where his alternative commune life was scrambled into mainstream high schools and the rest that came with it as a teenage boy. One thing that did remain a constant was his music. This took him to the streets of Fremantle where he would busk with his band on Friday nights to the applause of a burly bar owner named Drugie (if only he knew that his name had made the Ethers band of the month review... his mother would be so proud). Later,

Sam toured in a Kombi camper van around the mighty red Oz, giving circus and music workshops in rural schools around Australia (juggling being an essential part of Australian schools curriculum). Then, a spurt of studies in music and a degree in teaching later brought him to the front of a classroom teaching kids music, especially hip-hop, which he later used in his own music. This was all before he was to fall into Viennas little burrow. With a unique Australian Tang, his musical style is a fusion of funk, hiphop and jazz with inspirations from Frante, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Lyrically, he draws from the vintage songwriters such as Dylan and Paul Kelly. While talking with him it seemed he carries an old wisdom, an old soul of music, yet gives it a face with a funky hairstyle, notably with tracks like Eastern Rosellas: to the boogie beat. His lyrics I like the crackle of a fire when it spits and pops, articulate the energy his music produces. He has a local Australian sound, the drawling howl of the Byron Bay train, while possessing a worldlywise tone (Theres nothing noble in being small). Having said that, while I was pondering on how I could phrase this old soul into my article he showed me how to beat box the phrase, a cup of tea. In many moments in his performances he has a drum strapped to his back as he plays it out as a one-man band. Sam explains something else you may see: my biggest goal in live performances is to have people singing along with me, or at least humming the melody. I think this whole performer-audience barrier is bullshit. I look to transcend that when I play and have everybody up on stage with me, or better, me down with them. This fellow is interesting; he is like the main character of a book. Most of my music is told in the first person. Most of its about my life. Sams next gig is 6th December at xpedit kiosk (7/3 scheifmuehlgasse) at 10pm

Music Box By Richard Rees Jones

For once I dont have any concerts at all to recommend in Vienna this month; there just doesnt seem to be much going on here as the year draws to a close. Come with me instead, then, to Bratislava, where those willing to make the short journey across the Slovakian border will be rewarded with a festival featuring some of the key names in European experimental music. Regular readers of this column will not be surprised to learn that my top tip for the Next Festival is the German free improvising saxophonist PETER BRTZMANN, here performing in his well established power trio with bassist Marino Pliakas and drummer Michael Wertmueller. By the end of this year Brotzmann will have played over 100 gigs in Europe, Japan, North and South America, a remarkable achievement for a musician of any age, let alone one of 67 whose performances are as high-energy and draining as this mans are. But that is Brotzmanns way: to play until he can play no more, because theres nothing else for him to do. Other artists appearing at the festival this year include PHIL MINTON, ILPO VAISA-

NEN and HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR. Minton is a great English eccentric, a free improvising vocalist who has spent the last thirty years exploring the possibilities of the human voice as a sound source. In Bratislava he will be presenting his unique Feral Choir project, a workshop followed by a performance with non-professional singers. As Minton says, anyone who can breathe is capable of producing sounds that give a positive aesthetic contribution to the human condition. Vaisanen is one half of Finnish electronic duo Pan Sonic, a forbiddingly loud and fierce unit who blend industrial-strength drones with ear-bleeding techno rhythms. When I lived in London in the early 90s I once spent a memorable evening watching them drive around an empty car park in an armoured vehicle which had been kitted out with a massive speaker system and was spitting out wave after wave of abstract noise. It made a lot of sense at the time. Gudnadottir is a classically trained cellist from Iceland. She played on Pan Sonics most recent album and also arranged the choir that graced In the Shadow of the Sun, the live soundtrack to a film by the late Derek Jarman which was performed by Throbbing Gristle at the 2007 Donaufestival in Krems. She, Vaisanen and Dirk Dresselhaus (a.k.a. Schneider TM) will be performing together at the festival as Angel, a collaborative project which has so far released two albums on Peter Rehbergs Editions Mego label. And thats your lot for 2008. Happy Christmas!

The Next Festival takes place from 18 to 20 December at A4 Zero Space, Nmestie Slovenskho nrodnho povstania 12, Bratislava, Slovakia. Information and tickets: +421 918 716 072. www.nextfestival.sk

Peter Brtzmann Michael Hoefner