Vivid 2011 Pt 2: Tame Impala, Avalanches, Odd Future

AARON CURRAN reports on the final week of Vivid LIVE, which saw performances from the likes of Tame Impala, jazz icon Sonny Rollins, hip-hop headline makers Odd Future and a “disappointing” DJ set by The Avalanches. Photos by DANIEL BOUD and PRUDENCE UPTON.

Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker seems a man of few words. We’re four songs in before he opens his mouth to talk rather than sing, expressing bemused pleasure that the band are playing Sydney Opera House for Vivid LIVE rather than a pub or RSL in Newcastle or Coffs Harbour. Perhaps nervousness at appearing in such a rarified environment is why Tame Impala’s performance is a little reserved this Wednesday night – more of a coastal-cruise than a full-tilt freeway blast. On the band’s website it says their music is “intended for moving one’s body to, and it’s intended for keeping still”; it’s definitely the latter we get tonight.

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Still, they deliver a strong set that shows why debut LP Innerspeaker topped several end-of-year lists (including both our readers and critics polls) and has garnered celebrity admirers such as Paul Weller and The Chemical Brothers. As the four-piece stroll barefoot onto the stage and spark up with a spiraling ‘Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind’, the shifting-light shapes of an oscilloscope are projected behind them, a simple but ideal visual accompaniment to Tame Impala’s hypnotic psych-pop excursions. The band are certainly match-fit for their forthcoming overseas tour – songs ebb and drift but purposefully, without overstaying their welcome, and segue smartly.

‘Jeremy’s Storm’ is an evocative highlight, capturing the mood and even recreating the noise of a squalling Western Australian tempest (my companion and I are both from Perth and we’re struck by how much Tame Impala’s music evokes memories of the light, the water, the landscape of our childhoods). Jay Watson’s flowing percussion is a vital ingredient in the band’s sound: his drumming drives a brooding but faithful cover of Massive Attack’s ‘Angel’, and anchors searching renditions of ‘Lucidity’ and ‘Solitude is Bliss’. The set concludes with that rifftastic standout from their first self-titled EP, ‘Half Full Glass of Wine’, and the crowd responds with a rousing ovation. The only missing ingredient tonight was some new material – it’ll be interesting to see how Tame Impala’s sound and stage show develop.

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Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes surprised fans when she took her talented band into the 400-capacity Studio for an “open rehearsal” on Thursday night, ahead of her two sold-out Concert Hall performances. Khan’s music is as delicate and beautiful, and it was a treat to see her perform in such an intimate venue. The set consists of faithful renditions of songs from both of her albums – standouts include a string-laden ‘Bat’s Mouth’ and a gossamer ‘Siren Song’ - with glorious harmonies and accompaniment from her mostly-female, multi-instrumentalist colleagues (was that Charlotte from Ash on bass?). Khan appears genuinely excited to be playing here in Sydney and her enthusiasm is infectious. she conjures devotion from her audience and tonight the small crowd goes quite mental whenever she speaks. We don’t get to hear the cover versions that she saves for her encore at the larger shows – including The Cure’s ‘Lullaby’ and Peter Gabriel’s ‘Solsbury Hill’ - but we do get to see her in an exquisite backless black-fringed dress, not the red-doona-on-acid outfit of the later dates.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

Across now to the Concert Hall to wish saxophonist Sonny Rollins a happy 80th birthday. The jazz colossus is in exuberant form tonight. He cuts an arresting figure in his white suit jacket and white-framed sunglasses while his playing is something to behold. He staggers across the stage with a club-footed gait that is more a process of excavation, a digging breathing walk, each step unearthing something pushed for; gritty, substantial.

Rollins’ primal solos ignite in response to the supple playing of his band, particularly the taut rimshots of drummer Kobie Watkins and mellifluous guitar of Peter Bernstein, and I must admit to wanting them to push things a little further, harder, if only to give Rollins a structure to explode from. Polite standards such as ‘Blue Gardenia’ or the gentle calypso-feel of some tracks were not as remarkable as songs like set-closer ‘Don’t Stop the Carnival’, when Rollins’ playing strayed deeper into uncharted territory.

The two-hours-plus performance finished with a solo rendition of ‘Waltzing Matilda’, which may sound corny but was actually incredibly touching and sincere. On the other side of Circular Quay at Customs House, a life-size polar bear has been sculpted from arctic ice and allowed to melt, as a comment on global warming. Rollins reminds me of that melting polar bear: a defiant figure but a fading one; an endangered species of jazz. When he is gone, as his peers have one-by-one, who will replace him?

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After the affirming-energy of Sonny Rollins and fragile melodies of Bat for Lashes, seeing Tyler the Creator and his cohorts of OFWGKTA (aka Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All aka Odd Future) feels like a rough slap; a rude awakening. Though for some of the committed crowd tonight, it seems a slap from someone onstage is a sought-after added-bonus to mere attendance. The beats are pummellingly-loud, backed by shrill stinging bursts of gloomy tunes that sound like samples from archaic video-game soundtracks. The rapping of the Odd Future collective is not particularly distinctive but the attitude is: pure punk, a good old teenage-fuck-you to anyone who can’t stomach their urban horrorshow shtick.

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The setlist appears improvised, adding to the chaotic feel of the performance, though when internet-hits like ‘Yonkers’ and ‘Radicals’ make an appearance they are notably stronger than much of the rest of the set. The crowd, easily the youngest of any at Vivid LIVE this year, soak up all the cathartic-aggression and spit it back out, their chants of “wolf gang” (“golf wang”?) and “swag” accompanying Tyler and company’s goading of both them and the security guards, who earn their pay tonight. Yet it all feels a little mannered, like everyone’s playing an established part, doing what’s expected of them, which is emphasised when Tyler the Creator introduces marijuana-tribute ‘Rolling Papers’ with the admission that he doesn’t even smoke the stuff. Still, I’ll put money on the longevity of the collective’s music careers – there’s too much raw talent and audience-loyalty on display tonight to think anything else. Like other horror-franchises, such as Saw and Hostel, these chaps will just keep on cutting.

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Friday sees the security barriers removed and the Studio back in club mode for the long-awaited Avalanches DJ night. Support act Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a jazz/hip hop combo, come on to an initially-quiet response but soon have the room packed and dancing (so packed that some ticket-holders are left queuing outside). A nine-piece of horns and drums - though I counted eight tonight - the ensemble are almost all brothers, the sons of trumpeter-extraordinaire Phil Cohran, who is best known for his contribution to Sun Ra’s Arkestra. This explains their remarkable musicianship and also the raw vigour of their performance, which took on a potent momentum as the room got louder and sweatier. It’s difficult not to compare them against Odd Future from the night before – same venue, both hip-hop collectives - but the crowd is showing more energy and is dancing harder for HBE than at any time the previous night. This support was supposed to be a mere-taster for the band’s own headline show at the Opera Theatre the following night, though by all accounts this performance was the stronger of the two and tonight’s audience got to see the Cohran brothers at the very peak of their abilities.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

After the success of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble the beginning of the Avalanches set has a strangely-muted feel, despite a witty intro mix of Jane’s Addiction’s ‘Been Caught Stealing’. Many don’t seem to know that is in fact the Avalanches onstage. What are we all expecting tonight and what do we get? Well, you could forget about hearing any of the (supposedly) almost-ready new album, a work-in-progress now for more than a decade. Actually, you could forget about hearing any of the band’s old stuff either, other than a brief snippet of a remixed, just-barely-recognisable ‘Since I Left You’. Instead we get a mix of other peoples’ songs - the well known and the obscure - sequenced in a way that allows no track to play for more than a scant few seconds before evaporating, with a backing of the very lightest of beats that seems to be of inadequate rhythmic fervour for this Friday night crowd.

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Robbie Chater and Tony Diblasi counter with crowd-pleasers like ‘Push It’ and ‘Around the World’ but actually get a better-response with indie rock in the mix, like The Pixies ‘Gouge Away’ and Talking Heads’ ‘Girlfriend is Better’. Good fun to dance to and all, but not quite up to the expectations of most. The disappointment is palpable, perhaps the result of a too-difficult-to-match mystique that has built up in the absence of new music since 2000 and appearing live more regularly. Or maybe everyone was just pissed off that if you went outside for a drink or a pee you couldn’t get back in the room? Either way, many I spoke to on the night preferred the local kids spinning ’80s anthems outside in the foyer to The Avalanches.

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The same issue of room-capacity limitation reared its pointed-little-head on Saturday night for 2manydjs in the same venue, but thankfully tonight’s headline performance is of a higher calibre. The Dewaele brothers play before a backdrop that features the immortal line “Belgians do it better” (not to mention a King Kong-esque simian crushing an island that looks suspiciously like Italy) and tonight at least that’s true. And was that some of the guys from Yo Gabba Gabba dancing around in leopard-skin leotards and Sigue Sigue Sputnik wigs?

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Tonight, they don’t rely on the mash-up aesthetic to populate their set – it’s not all two-minute pop classics smushed into one another, which I understood to be a defining characteristic of their work as 2manydjs. While this surprised me at least, no one seems to mind, given that the beats and mix are compelling and intense, with filters and distortion used to dominating effect. The pace doesn't slacken once, and highlights in the mix include the Love Unlimited Orchestra’s remix of ‘Don’t You Want Me’ (perhaps chosen in tribute to producer Martin Rushent, who died earlier that day); Harry Thuman’s ‘Underwater’; and – to much acclaim – AC/DC’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’, which tweaked my bogan soul. (If you’ve been enjoying the Radio Soulwax shows on Triple J this week you’ll know what huge fans David and Stephen Dewaele are of Vanda and Young’s productions.)

That was the end of my Vivid LIVE experience – well, except for turning up to see Chris Cunningham on Sunday afternoon only to have the show delayed by technical difficulties for over an hour, causing me to miss out. (I hear mixed reports, some seemingly put out by the lewd nature of some of his visual projections; others telling me it’s the only piece of art with a capital “A” they’ve seen in the entire festival).

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PART ONE: Spiritualized, Cut Copy, Architecture In Helsinki and The Cure.