Ive been wanting to see Frank Yamma for a while now,
I missed his show recently a couple of nights after Ed
played and I was well excited to see him today.
But the icing on the cake was David and Helen of
My friend the Chocolate cake fame playing
with him!
What a wonderful gig it was, a beautiful Brisbane spring day,
A bit of a breeze, plenty of sun and the most wonderful music.
Frank is a fantastic talent, truly original, incredible voice.
He is a Pitjantjatjara man who speaks 5 languages and sings in
both Pitjantjatjara and English.
Day gigs are fantastic for getting great photos and
after some encouragement from Chuck I even took
a little video which is at the end of the post.
So this is part 2 of my multicultural festival post, the 1st part
is below this one.
If you get a chance do get and see Frank play!
He is wonderful!
This is simply the best boot of this band I've heard.
MY FRIEND THE CHOCOLATE CAKE
Queenscliff Music Festival
November 24, 2007
FM radio broadcast
Though the audience on November 24 could not have known
it at the time, an historic event in Australian history was unfolding
even as My Friend The Chocolate Cake took to the Queenscliff stage.
It was the last day of John Howard's Liberal Australia, Kevin Rudd's
Labor government comprehensively winning power. And what
better way to welcome in the new than with the exhilarating strings,
wry humour
and soaring ballads of My Friend The Chocolate Cake.
Hope Csutoros, the original (and always stunningly chapeau'd)
violinist, has taken leave from her duties with the group to raise a family.
Her replacement, 21 years old and a virtual prodigy, is the beautiful
Xani Kolac who not only brings with her an astonishing level of
virtuosity, but whose vivacious personality has injected new enthusiasm
into the band.
Many of the songs performed in this show are from the latest
My Friend The Chocolate Cake album "Home Improvements".
Track List
01 Hymn To The Carnies
02 Weep
03 It's All In The Way
04 Let's Go Walk This Town
05 Vandorlo
06 A Midlife's Tale
07 Home Improvements
08 Forgotten Athletes of Persia
09 Pentecostal Girl
10 Weather Coast
11 Seek
12 I've Got A Plan
13 The Romp
14 Nanny's Farewell
My Friend The Chocolate Cake is:
David Bridie - lead vocals, piano
Helen Mountfort - cello, vocals
Xani Kolac - violin
Andrew Richardson - guitar, vocals
Andrew Carswell - mandolin, tin whistle
Dean Addison - bass, vocals
Greg Patten - drums, vocals
Download Here
Richard from the bowie is a cranky cat blog has ripped
his vinyl copy of this Not Drowning Waving's fantastic
3rd album. I have this on cd but the vinyl differs from
the later cd release.
So jump on over to Richards blog and say hello.
Find it Here
A wonderful recording I obtained from Chuck, haven't
Much info on this so hears what Chuck has to say.
This was broadcast just after act of free choice came out
in some form of surround sound format apparently.
A big part of pre-broadcast hype...
surround or not its excellent quality,
this concert gets a good workout in this house...
I've listened to it a hundred times more often than
the act free choice cd.
Tracklist
01 - Sad
02 - Dive
03 - Breath
04 - The Koran, The Ghan and a Yarn
05 - I Dare Not Say a Word
06 - Kerosene
08 - Salt
09 - Act of Free Choice
Download Here
David Bridie is one of Australia's most important artists, from
his ground breaking work with Not Drowning Waving,
his equally important work with My friend the Chocolate
Cake and his solo and soundtrack work.
Its his solo work I'll concentrate on in this post.
David has just released his 3rd solo Lp "Succumb" which I
haven't heard yet, but is getting rave reviews.
In mid-2000, Bridie released his first solo album,
Act of Free Choice, on three tracks collaborating again with
NDW's John Phillips, who lives in Europe and sent his
contributions via the Internet.
The brave new world of computer technology has returned
Bridie to the kind of experimental music the earlier
Not Drowning Waving had been noted for. Only now,
so much more is possible. Weaving around Bridie's voice
and electric piano are a universe of found sounds,
anything from Papua New Guinea conch shells to morse code
intercepted on short wave radio, with bass and drums
added over the top.
In 2003 he released Hotel Radio, he also released a number
of cd singles with extended remixes and new tracks todays
post is a collection drawn from these sources.
This is music that pushes into new territory, that is cutting
edge, that combines technology with world music and
Bridie's own political ideals, into something special.
Included is David and Bart Willoughby singing Bart's
classic song "Message for young and old"
Track List
01 - Dive (Marius Single Mix)
02 - Hotel Radio (radio version)
03 - Message For Young And Old
04 - Sad
05 - Nation (Of The Heartless Kind) (the ether mix)
06 - Act Of Free Choice
07 - Drive On
08 - King Bluster
09 - 15 Nuns Lie Floating In The South Pacific Sea
10 - The Koran (Royal Belleville Mix)
11 - Float FF5 Flambe Version
Download here
David Bridie - Act of Free Choice
I remember seeing Not Drowning, Waving at the 1991 Livid festival
the year a big storm hit the festival as the Cloulds were playing and
they had to leave the stage after getting electrical shocks.
But NDW had whipped up a storm earlier in the day, they had
released Claim the year before so it figured high in the song list
and they proved themselves worthy, it was unbelivable.
I don't think I saw them again, I have seen Bridie's next band
many more times and met David once at a song writing
workshop, but more on that later.
I was, before Claim a bigger fan of their instrumental stuff,
Willow Tree changed that and that gig came at the right
time, I could appreciate this band totally.
This performance is spellbinding, I wish I could have seen
them play this reunion tour.
If your a fan your gonna love this, soundboard quality,
fantastic performance, if theres anything wrong here
its that we only have 11 songs and its just under an hour.
About the performance
March 25, 2006
The Soundshell,
Alexandra Gardens,
Melbourne, Australia
This free concert - staged before several thousand
onlookers on a very warm March Melbourne
evening as part of the Commonwealth Games
celebrations in 2006 - marked the last ever
appearance of the classic Not Drowning,
Waving lineup with the announcement in the
preceding weeks of James Southall's intention
to retire from live performance following this show.
The band's short lived reunion had begun with a
brilliant reunion set at David Bridie's Morning
Star Concert For West Papua in Feb 2003.
WomAdelaide 2005, however, was where Not Drowning,
Waving truly came together again -reunited with
their old stalwart from the Tabaran days, George Telek.
A short tour including a truly astonishing show at
The Corner Hotel on August 25, 2005, one final full gig
(not long after the concert shared here)
at the Northcote Social Club and some guest
appearances in David Bridie's Oceanic showcase
Sing Sing in 2006, brought to a fitting close
the triumphant return of Australia's
foremost proponents of ambient and World Music,
a band that truly blazed its own trail
not just through a largely apathetic music industry
but also through the wild moors of Australia
and New Guinea and truly sounded like no other.
Due to very slight (barely noticeable)
technical imperfections,
this footage will not be made available officially.
Track List
01 Plog
02 The Cold And The Crackle
03 Crazy Birds
04 Willow Tree
05 Storm
06 Big Sky
07 Teteko Aotearoa
08 Palau
09 Blackwater
10 Albert Namatjira
11 Sing Sing
Audio rip from DVD @320 kbs
Download Here
Many Thanks to Baskingshark for this rip of his copy of NDW's
4th release the 7" EP , Mr Pooh do be a don't be.
Tracklist
01 - Mr. Pooh (Do Be a Don't Be)
02 - Wooden Box
03 - Prison
Download here
Not Drowning, Waving is but part of the astounding musical legacy
of David Bridie. Formed in Melbourne in 1983 by Bridie and John
Phillips this band would be like nothing that had ever come from
Australia. Combining elements of world, rock and ambient music
they would create something so groundbreaking that many
would be unable to even classify them.
Heres a description from inside "Through the one last door"
their double Cd best of collection.
Why not write songs with texture and space as well
as melody and rhythm? Songs with colours from the
non-rock palette: piano, violin, cello, harmonium
and a whole library of things
that go clack and thud when you hit them?
And why not turn for inspiration to places generally
overlooked, from the acoustic and electronic lines of
old Europe to the indigenous atmospherics of this
country and the islands that surround us?
This Ep released in Feb 1986 was the next release after
"A little desert"and continues on from that album in a similar vein.
It also begins the fascination with Papua New Guinea which would
culminate in their masterpiece "Tabaran" with both tracks
"Up in the mountains" and "The sing sing" re-recorded for that LP.
"Sing Sing" also was recorded again for "Cold and the Crackle",
but this is the original recording of this their signature tune.
This Ep was never released on CD so this is a rip from
my vinyl copy to fill a request from Darren, He's also after
"Mr Pooh (don't be a do be) their 3rd Ep if anyone can help
and I'm happy to hear from anyone about any rare rips
from this band we can get our hands on.
Download Here
