Rock City: Sugar Mountain bill & Moses Sumney interview, Golden Plains announcement, Rocket Science, Piknic Electronik & more
Oh, sugar sugar. It’s finally here, the Sugar Mountain bill.
The inside word is the organisers kept us waiting because PJ Harvey was locked in as headliner, changed management and decided to do her own show on the same day.
Let’s move past that now: forwards ever, backwards never.
The full musical line-up: ALTA, Baba Stiltz (SWE), Beppe Loda (ITA), Big Scary, Black Cab, Blood Orange (UK, only Melbourne show,yo), CC:DISCO!, Daydreams DJs, Dro Carey, Jaala, Jack River, Jessy Lanza (CAN), Kelsey Lu (USA), Kornél Kovács (SWE), KUCKA, Little Simz (UK), Methyl Ethel, Mood II Swing (USA), Moses Sumney (USA), MY DISCO, Palms Trax (UK), Pantha Du Prince (GER), Rolling Blackouts C.F., Slum Sociable, Sui Zhen, Suzanne Ciani (USA) x Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (USA), The Belligerents, Tornado Wallace and Weyes Blood (USA). The full art line-up: Caleb O’Shea, Elliott Routledge, Karan Singh (JPN/AUS), March Studios, Miriam Bleau (CAN), MOMO (USA), Robyn Moody (CAN) x Caroline Polachek (USA), Supergroup London—Morag Myerscough x Luke Morgan (UK).
LA local Sumney is the man of the hour. Besties with Solange, the go-to guy for Beck’s experimental manoeuvres on Song Reader and an artist who has received Pitchfork’s Best New Music thrice (!), he has a voice that would make the thickest troglodyte break down and cry.
His song Lonely World is offsetting the US Presidential election farce/race with a subliminal message of hope.
Lonely World - Moses Sumney
Here’s the full, sass-heavy conversation we shared. His dialogue is in italics.
“Hey Moses.”
“Hey what’s up, what’s going on?”
“It’s poppin’ baby, it’s the morning here and ...”
“Wait did you just say ‘It’s poppin?’”
“Yeah I went in hard. Is that good or bad?”
“Neutral. To be determined.”
“Good. Let’s see how we go. Where are you?”
“(Background noise and laughter and clinking of drinks) Seattle. Where are you? (demure)”
“Melbourne.”
“That’s where you at.”
“Tell me about getting your brain around touring Australia and whether it feels early in your career to be here or right on time or you should have already been here...”
“I don’t feel like I should have already been there. I feel like I’m going pretty early in my career but I like that and I’m kinda stoked. I really like connecting with people on an intimate level wherever possible so I’m glad I get to do that in Australia. I’ve always been a fan from afar. I like the Australian music scene...”
“Like who?”
“Hiatus Kaiyote. Um, who else do I like from Australia? Oscar Key Sung, are you familiar with him?”
“Yep, we’re even friends on Facebook but he never knows my name IRL”
“When I was a kid I was really into Missy Higgins (laughs). When I was 13 I was a huge fan of hers. I saw her on MTV when I was living in Ghana. I really liked Angus and Julia Stone’s first two albums.”
“Angus Stone just put out his second solo album under the name Dope Lemon and the album artwork is the worst of the year ...but the record’s pretty good. If you thought ‘poppin’ was bad you gotta see this.”
“(laughs deeply). I can’t wait...or I can’t wait. I don’t know.”
Plastic - Moses Sumney live
“Give me the moment you found out you were Pitchfork’s Best New Music because I know it sounds hyperbolic but it’s a career making moment.”
“Is it?”
“Totally”
“Well I’ve had it three times, so which time? (laughs cheekily) Was that the wrong answer?”
“No it’s the best answer.”
“Well, you should count (laughs like a Russian chess master)”
“Give me the last 24 hours of your life. Please recount them for me.”
“The last 24 hours? I’m on tour with James Blake and we just did six days straight so we had a day off ...which was nice. I’ve been taking it a little easy, I got on a ferry ride. It’s been a pretty relaxed 24 hours, usually it’s kinda hectic.”
“Cool. Why did you tweet out ‘Am I alive?’ five hours ago?”
“(High-pitched guffaw) I wasn’t sure. I was just checking. I’m often wondering whether I’m a living, breathing human being or a simulation of a virtual reality game. Sometimes as a litmus test as a sentient I will tweet or ask someone in person if I’m real. Just to make sure.”
“We won’t believe you until we see you in the flesh at Sugar Mountain. We’ll get to that and I’ll tell you the secret headliner?”
“Really?”
“Yes. Now my daughter Juno just came in the room and asked ‘Who is the man in the red?’ regarding that incredible press shot of you in a red pool, what’s the story behind that?”
“I was just in a pool of my own blood. It’s my Tuesday beauty routine. No no, we dyed the pool and ran away.”
“Be really immodest and super proud, which song in your repertoire feels like the best representation of you? I hear Lonely World and that’s when you as an artist go to the next level...”
“Oh thank you.”
“An Ascencion of sorts, which is another incredible song.”
“Oh thank you. I don’t know, Lonely World is definitely the most accomplished thing I’ve recorded in terms of making an elaborate arrangement and getting it all down on paper. But in a way that I feel there’s such a range to what I do (laughs self-deprecatingly) that any song represents me. Man On The Moon, one of my early recordings from a few years ago that I recorded to tape with just my voice and guitar represents me and probably the last song from my EP, Incantation, that’s a crazy song.”
“Take me back to recording Lonely World if you can, please, and the kernel of the idea and then the last minute of the song which is the clincher. Everyone flips out. I played it on 774ABC radio last night and people flipped out.”
“Oh cool (gracious tone). Thanks for playing it. It was just the way I heard it in my head, I write a lot of songs to no music, I started playing instruments quite late, that was a song I wrote a capella to a four on the floor kick(drum) and a drone. That’s no longer in the song and the drumming changed. I recorded the vocals in my head and I had Josh play some guitar sounds. We had Thundercat come in at the end. The song was completely different. We told Thundercat to play whatever he wanted and he came up with a whole arrangement for the first minute. It was beautiful. And then the end I wanted it to feel like a rock song, I had Thundercat play this intense single note bass part and my friend Ian plays drums and we told him to play the most absolute crazy thing that he could. And I tightened it up. I wanted a freak out, I hear this big crazy moments in my head and I wanted it to be like a psych ward. A beautiful psych ward.”
“That’s a great quote. I love the Pitchfork description of Lonely World being like ‘a lost Radiohead classic’, it’s like the highest accolade you can get.”
“I know, it’s such an honour, they’re definitely an inspiration. (laughs guiltily). They come up a *lot* in the studio.”
“Do you ever feel like ‘Shit, it sounds too much like Radiohead?’”
“Sometimes. I don’t think you can actually sound like Radiohead. It’s mostly with vocals. I always make it as unique to me as possible.”
“I’ve read a few interviews where you’ve said you feel a little disconnected to the LA scene, where are you living now?”
“I don’t wanna say (laughs mysteriously). I’m just floating around. I’ve been away for almost a month then I’m going to London.”
“A lot of people are saying LA is a really creative scene at the moment, do you feel this?”
“I think I’m too close to it to be able to say ‘LA’s having a moment.’ The are so many people who aren’t from LA who are working here. That’s a good story. It’s cool to see people like Kendrick Lamar and Thundercat doing well. Los Angeles is a very individualistic city. I don’t feel like I’m too much of one thing.”
“I see you’ve been doing stuff on stage with Kimbra..”
“I loooooove her.”
“Are you doing any collaborations at the moment or are you in the mode to do solo stuff?”
“I’m being more collaborative than ever before. In the beginning I wanted to establish my own identity. I don’t work with any songwriters or vocalists, but definitely right now I learn so much from other people. Kimbra is a great example actually because she’s crazy (laughs conspiratorially). She’s crazy talented, we do a lot of improvised shows together, they’re maybe my favourite shows to do.”
Kimbra and Moses Sumney live
“I was going to ask you about Lori Anderson because your voice suits a cover of O Superman and I see that you’ve done a cover of that song.”
“Have you just heard about that? Have you just seen that?”
“I’m scrolling with my left hand to make sure I can ask you pertinent questions”
“Oh cooool. I just love that song. I don’t know that much about her to be honest. I wanted to do an improvised version of O Superman and I just did it from memory. I recorded it once, one take. We tried to remember it.”
“It was such an anomaly, it went to number one in the UK.”
“Which is fantastic.”
“Tell me your biggest fear, Moses, if you feel comfortable.”
“Spiders. That’s the one thing holding me back from being [excited about] this trip. If you can tell them to leave me alone, that’d be really great.”
“I’ll put out an APB”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“You barely see them.”
“Are you being serious?”
“Yes. You never see them. Apart from huntsmans, like hunts man ...but they don’t bite.”
“Hunts man? Uh oh (concerned tone). When was the last time you saw one?”
“I’ve got one on my shoulder right now...”
“(Laughs hard)”
“It’s super friendly, it’s giving me a mean massage, mean meaning good.”
“Oh, (sarcastic, playful tone) love being massaged by spiders, really great.”
“Eight arms, meticulous. What’s the funniest joke you know?”
[interruption: we’re coming to the end of your scheduled time, could you wrap up please?]
“Oh ho (piss-taking tone). I should memorise my funniest jokes. I can’t think of one that’s not appropriate. I have one joke, off the record. Did you ever see the movie Blue Valentine? (Tells joke, guilty laughter ensues). It’s not even funny and the fact that you laughed disgust me.”
“It’s one all then, Moses”
“(laughs)”
“Last question for you, let’s talk about playing festivals, Blood Orange is headlining Sugar Mountain, not sure whether you...”
“I didn’t know that, oh man awesome.”
“That’s off the record. Tell me about your voice and your style of music and do you adjust between festivals and club gigs where people are just there to see you?”
“Y’know, that is a really, really good question. And I haven’t played that many outdoor festivals. Most festivals I’ve had the luxury of playing in a venue. I played Prima Vera Sound by myself this year and it was amaaaaazing. I try and keep it a little bit upbeat even though I don’t have that many upbeat songs. If I have an intimate space then people are there to see me but if I’m on at the same time as a loud rock band then that can be a challenge. I’m still figuring it out because at the end of the day it’s just me.”
“Great answer.”
“I don’t know what do you recommend?”
“At Sugar Mountain I think you can just come out and be you. It’s such a respectful space and artistically focused so the crowd will get behind you. You could just do a capella for five minutes and people will say ‘That was the best thing I saw all day’.”
“(Deadpan charm tone) that is something I would actually do. Know that.”
“Just for colour for the interview what were you eating at the start of our chat?”
“Oh god (slightly embarrassed). I was eating a bar and I’m sorry for that.”
“No worries at all. You were mellifluous. We’ve done 24 minutes and you’ve been a gentleman, Moses, I thank you.”
“OK, thank you, see you in Melbourne.”
There will be a very special giveaway in Rock City soon. Blood (Orange) oath.
VCA, Southbank, Jan 21, $109, sugarmountainfestival.com
AUNTY MEREDITH’S SMOKE SIGNALS
Everyone is pro-Aunty.
The venerable Aunty Meredith uses Twitter like a pro and follows nobody. She’s always been a trendsetter and two nights ago perked up and decided to surprise-announce the rest of the Golden Plains line-up, following earlier declarations that Neil Finn and The Specials would be playing the 11th instalment of the greatest camping festival.
Here they are: Nicolas Jaar, Chain and the Gang, Kurt Vile, Total Giovanni, Margaret Glapsy, Camp Cope, Princess Nokia, HABITS, The Peep Tempel, Jazz Party, Wax’O Paradiso, ORB, Benny & the Fly By Niters, The Dusty Millers, Cash Savage & the Last Drinks, Brooke Powers, Ausmuteants and Olympia.
Aunty Meredith always spends time updating the website and a little digging has revealed some wordsmithery that is up to her usual exemplary standard.
THE PINK FLAMINGO BAR: “The Flamingo has a ban on gratuitous use of the word ‘man’, a distrust of anyone wearing rayon and bar staff have license to display mild contempt for any signs of social sycophancy. As usual costumes with elaborate headwear or militaria are celebrated, as is anyone arriving via motor launch
or punt.”
HOTCAKES:“The Hotcakes Stall is located up the back of the Amphitheatre. By the
time the festival opens it is always sold out, proving the
old adage true. Haven’t even
got any photos.”
HOW THE BOOT STARTED: “At the first GP, one Young man was so moved by US psych rock band Comets On Fire that he held one (white) boot aloft for some time. People around him copied, then much of the crowd joined in. Who knows why? It’s now a popular tradition — The Boot is offered en masse to whichever artist(s) are moving the crowd the most, often leading to bemused looks
from the stage.”
Tips for The Boot next year, Olympia’s Smoke Signals, Neil Finn’s Private Universe and The Specials’ A Message To You Rudy. Enter the ballot, beautiful.
see golden plains xi, meredith, march 12-14, 2017. goldenplains.com.au/
OUTDOOR DOOF
Piknic Électronik is returning, fam. It’s kid friendly (Juno can rave on my shoulders). It has a new venue and kicks off its season on Jan 1 with Audiojack, Section Victim, Spacey Space, Damian Laird and Francis Inferno Orchestra. For a chance to win tickets, email CAN I PIKNIC TIX? to cahillm@news.com.au Winners notified by email.
Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Jan 1- Mar 19. $25. melbourne.piknicelectronik.com
FEELIN’ IRIE, NGAIIRE
Speaking of the New Year’s period, Beyond the Valley has added a brace of artists to its program. Here goes: Carl Craig, Claptone, Roland Tings, Guy Gerber, The Delta Riggs, Ali Barter, Audiojack, Dom Dolla, Ecca Vandal, Purple Disco Machine, Luke Million, Tigerilla, Big Words, Torren Foot and Ngaiire. She has also been Longlisted for The AMP for her brilliant Blastoma album.
Lardner Park, Dec 28-Jan 1. $150 to $380. beyondthevalley.com.au
ROCKETING BACK
Rocket Science’s Recovery -era jam Being Followed is one of the greatest Australian rock songs. See theremin cat Roman Tucker do a solo show.
bar 303, 303 high st, northcote. nov 6, free. musicfeast.com.au
FROM THE VAULT
Dream Kit aka DJ Declan Kelly is back with a Dreamixes EP of Near Myth, Otouto and Geoffrey O’Connor. He’s got it.
MUST SEE THREE GIGS
1. GLEN HANSARD
Those in the know are calling Hansard’s latest album Didn’t He Ramble his best yet. Huge call. He hasn’t exactly been slumming it until now. He’s led The Frames to higher patriotic heights than U2 and proved he’s not a Once hit wonder. Support from the ace Shane Howard Trio.
the palais, st kilda, wed, 7pm. $89/$125, palaistheatre.net.au
2. SUN GOD REPLICA
“Be at peace with your God, whoever you conceive him to be,” sayeth Desiderata. Sun God Replica conceived a new album titled Grandular Fever (out through Spooky Records) and
it’s well timed between the AFL G.F. and Halloween. With Midnight Woolf, Bad Vision
and Golden Shower.
the tote, collingwood, fri, 8PM, $12, oztix.com.au
3. MONIQUE BRUMBY
Thylacine has been out 20 years and it’s aged as well as its maker. Brumby showed her boxing skills in Fool For You’s clip. She’s still fit. The ARIA Award winner from Tassie celebrates Thylacine with special guests David Bridie, Rob Craw and Helen Mountfort
memo hall, st kilda, sat, 8pm, $23/$32, memomusichall.com.au
Let’s have a wee chat: @joeylightbulb