Charity Fund-raisers and Techno

It doesnt happen much. The idea of a charity is too raise as much funds and awareness possible for the cause so limiting the appeal of the event with certain types of music can perhaps explain for some of the lack of less commercial sounds at fund-raisers but does that ethos still apply today? For that matter who goes (or who doesn't go) to a charity event based on the musical line-up? Isn't the point of a charity event to bring people together to help raise money for what they think is a good cause regardless of musical artists at the event?

To see underground and alternate styles of music, electronic or not, integrated into charity events is something I would like to see more of from both the organisers and the artists. Not commercialising the respective genres but promoting the idea of electronic music having the ability to contribute to society whether or not your a fan, is still something that is yet to happen. I think its safe to say most people can associate Rock music with an array of fund-raising events (live-Aid, Sound Relief ect) but will this ever happen for techno, house, electronica?

This Friday some lesser known tech/deep-house and techno artists will be coming together to play a side-room at the Winter Wonderland Fund-raiser event for cerebral palsy. Some of the artists donating their time this friday are Andrew Wowk, Mitch Crosher, Space Cadets DJs(Jamie Tek & Alex Caminer!), De La Motte and headliner John Glover among many others. Raising funds for charity and integrating good electronic music or good music for that matter can go hand-in-hand.

MAIN ROOM
09.00-10.30 De La Motte
10.30-12.00 Even
12.00-01.30 JOHN GLOVER
01.30-03.00 Powers

SIDE ROOM
10.00-11.30 Andrew Wowk
11.30-12.30 Mike Nichol
12.30-01.30 Mitch Crosher
01.30-03.00 Space Cadets DJ's (Jamie Tek & Alex Caminer)

Gig Guide (26th - 28th)

This weekend sees some pretty big internationals grace the decks with Dimitri From Paris making another Sydney appearance as well as HOSH smashing it out in the cave and Dubstep man Kode 9 presenting the Red bull Music Academy local workshop night.

The Red bull academy night will definitely be a very interesting event with the idea of locals coming together to network, gain tips and insight into the music industry with Kode 9 who is also a lecturer at the Melbourne Academy performing. More info here

Also the opening of a brand new club in Sydney town 202 Broadway happens this Sat in what has become quite a talked about club among many DJs. Its got a great setup with a nice back alley for smoking, high roof and big bar area, good size dance-floor and what looked like nice sound system although havent heard it yet. They apprently will be more focused on the more creative promoters of music in Sydney which sounds pretty good to me! The club itself looks really nice and its situated in an old hertage style building (used to be commonwealth bank I beleive). When I checked it out it does still look very new and definitely needs some more additions in my opinion but by first impressions and the lineup for this sat it could set it to become a new favourite night-spot. The only thing I havent checked out are the drink prices...More info here


Friday
Dimitri From Paris @ SHE - Trademark Hotel, Kings X - the man returns once agin for some disco madness!

Fresh Meat ft. Tim Culber & Kate Doherty - Chinese Laundry - Launch of a brand new club night in one of Sydney favourite nightspots, specifically focused on Sydney and Australian talent in house and techno. Will be awesome!

Index ft. Kode 9 - Civic Underground - Index, combing the sounds of dubstep and techno in one tasty night.

Red Bull Music Academy Info Session ft. Kode9 - Hermanns, Sydney Uni - 6:30pm


Sat

Hosh & Jim Rivers @ Club Club - Chinese Laundry Cave- Dynamic man HOSH will be stirring up a storm this sat in the cave.

Mike Shannon (Wagon Repair) @ DeepAsFu*k - Bunker Bar -Star studded lineup with locals Luke Le Mans, Darchild and Broc Ferrar

Absolutely Everybody 202 Broadway launch! - 202 Broadway - launch of new club with Mad Racket DJs

Sun
Spice ft. Jimmy Posters and Aram Chapers - Bunker Bar (5am)


Apres @ Tilbury Hotel - Syd Record Label Future Classic arvo sessions - Lineup here



Final Gig Guide up Thursday.
Sorry if I miss your awesome underground gig! There are often too many events for me keep track of! So why not help me and send your event info to sydneylovestechno@gmail.com

Some Videos

Check out the videos below with Anja Schneider's awesome set and James Zabiela at the recent We Love Sound 09 winter festival. It also shows the amazing level of production that WLS Sydney always seem to provide, literally blows away most other festivals in Aus. Then the video preview of the next Berlin Sessions party.




Tune!

Richard Branson on the dial

Local radio station fbi radio (94.5) recently were asking their listeners to come up with creative ways of getting Richard Branson's attention in the (wild) hope of getting him to donate a million $$ to ensure the community radio stations longevity.

Well, it worked! At least it worked by getting his attention and he called fbi this morning and chatted live from his island on the Caribbean (as you do...) have a listen below:



Unfortunately Branson was unable to donate the full amount of money but has instead confirmed corporate sponsorship from Virgin and chucked in some great prizes to help boots local involvement and hopefully get more people listening and donating to fbi.

If anything this publicity stunt has shown the extremely creative individuals who listen to the radio station and news has spread far and wide.

At a recent Creative Sydney talks I attended, fbi's manager was up on stage giving insight into how to they get their funding and exactly where they get their funding from to keep the largest community-licesened (very different from comerical) radio station in Australia staying on air. It also has a coverage as wide as comercial stations. According to him roughly %60 of fbi's income is made up of corperate sponsership with another %30 from memphersip programs and donations. So its safe to presume that many of their past sponsors simply couldnt afford to keep it up this year.

Anyway if your in Sydney tune into 94.5 for and epic dose of good music with %50 comming from Australia, there some great techno/house shows with sunsets on Friday arvos as well as many others.

Tune in online here: www.fbiradio.com.au

Gig Guid (12th-14th)

Ive being a little 'absent' from the posting in recent days due to dam exams but all that will change in a couple of weeks! We had a massive weekend last week which saw Anja Schneider play a surprise set along side Guy Gerber and Dinky. So its only fair we see this weekend as little thin on the gig side

Never the less some great gigs on tonight at Favela and The Box as well as my favorite little Sunday night Sunday School celebrates its 1st birthday after a year of Sunday madness with my self returning to warm up spot as well as sounds from up-n-coming DJs Mitch Crosher, Dave Stuart and Chris Combe.

Its an awesome night with a really chilled out a vibe and great beats + its free!

Friday
Quiver ft. Illya Vs Anyo - Favela - The 2nd edition of this new house night happens again at the uber-cool favela club. @ great house DJs in Sydney.

The Box ft. Declan Lee & Davide Laione - The legendary local night welcomes Declan Lee to the decks, no doubt it will be off-the hook!

Soundbox ft. Telefunken - The Cross - 2 of Syndeys great tech/techno/house DJs Telefunken headline this one. These guys dont get much credit but I great behind the decks.

Sat
Club Club ft MDX, Club Junque - Chinese Laundry Cave- Techno madness from some of Syndeys best locals in the Cave


Sun
Spice - Bunker Bar (5am)

Sunday School 1st Birthday ft. Jamie Tek, Dave Stuart, Chris Combe and more! - Bunker Bar- Free Entry - This awesome local night for up-n-coming DJs happens again and turns 1! Come down to hear some great tunes from yourstruly and other locals

Apres @ Tilbury Hotel - Future Classic chill sessions - Lineup here



Final Gig Guide up Thursday.
Sorry if I miss your awesome underground gig! There are often too many events for me keep track of! So why not help me and send your event info to sydneylovestechno@gmail.com

Gig Guide (4th-8th) [fri night revised!]

This is literally a way-to-massive weekend. Especially considering most of Syd student population have exams around the corner but as they say, there's no rest for the wicked...

Also do check out the lineup for Luminous here

Thursday
Speakeasy ft. Magda, Kali @ Burdekin Hotel -Quality tunes across the whole spectrum of electronic shiaz. Also its a really nice bar...

Friday
Void ft. Kito - Phoenix Bar - Syds premier Dubstep night

Christian Martin @ Favela - 15 entry, wicked locals...epic!

Yum Cha - Chinese Laundry

Sat
We Love Sound Winter Music Festival! - Guy Gerber Live, Popof Live, Dinky, Anja Schneider, Justin Martin, In Flagrainti Live, Emerson Todd and many more! - Entertainment Quarter Fox Stuidos - SOLD OUT so if you missed out your an idoit!

We Love Sound After Party 2 ft. James Zabiela, Guy Gerber, 16bit Lolitas, Popof, Dinky Ben Korbel, Emerson Todd, Declan Lee, Canyons & more! - The Cross - Tickets on sale now! This will be masshooosive.

Midi In The City - UTS Loft Bar - The night dedicated in exposing some of Sydneys live electronica talent with a techno/house room upstairs. Its an awesome night! Wicked VJs too! Did I mention is FREE!

Mad Racket ft. Yam Who?, Simon Caldwell, Ken Cloud - Marrickville Bowling Club - Another awesome local night however slightly different music policy this time around. It comes highly recommended

Fun Bus presents Cooh (Bulgaria) - Hermans Bar -DnB, Jungle and techno night

Sun
Robbie Lowe & Ventuo @ Spice - Bunker Bar (5am)

Kompakt Records Australian Tour! ft. Jennifer Cardini, Pan/Tone, Chris Fortier, Majik Johnson and more! - The Cross, Kings X - I know some of us will not be sleeping this weekend. Insane party this will be.

Apres @ Tilbury Hotel - Future Classic chill sessions - Lineup here

Jon Hopkins @ Opera House - Luminous Festival

Mon
Spice take two ft. Rifraf and Ant Jsteep - Bunker Bar(5am)


Final Gig Guide up Thursday.
Sorry if I miss your awesome underground gig! There are often too many events for me keep track of! So why not help me and send your event info to sydneylovestechno@gmail.com

We Love Sounds Discounted Tickets - only a few left!!

Thats right! I have literally only 3 left and if you want one YOU MUST PAY WITHIN THE NEXT DAY!

WLS is completely sold out and these are cheaper than 3rd release. With this massive line-up you would not want to miss this festival.

3 We Love Sounds Ticket @ $110 each available.

email sydneylovestechno@gmail.com if interested

Culturally Vivid

Photos by Belinda Rolland

If your in Sydney the next month then your surely in for a cultural-treat, with our new winter festival of light and music VIVID Sydney (the biggest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere!) accompanying Luminous at the Opera House as well as Creative Sydney kicking off this year for the first time we have quite a lot going down. Oh and I nearly forgot this weekend with We Love Sounds winter music festival featuring many a talented techno artist as well as the huge Sydney Film Festival touching down next week I could easily go out every night of the week doing something completely different.

Usually such festivities are reserved for our summer days but I think people have caught on to the fact that winter down-under (well in Syd anyway) really inst that cold or bad.

Without a doubt there are some really exciting events going down at the Opera House. Brian Eno seems to be the lips of every media station as he has being brought down to curate the first Luminous Winter Music Festival for the Opera House. While at first hearing this many were surprised and impressed at his appointment, in fact the entire Luminous festival as a whole, however it has not being with out controversy with some creative and art companies protesting to the fact that very few of them have being hired, consulted or included in the festival. Not that I'm against Opera House hiring over-seas talent, very much the opposite, I believe Sydney as city constantly looks outward for inspiration from all corners of the globe but I cant help but feel this inaugural Luminous festival does feel like something on the 'outside' or a festival being presented to us rather than being fully part of the city and its people. However Brian Eno did apparently tackle this issue head on in his opening speech a few days ago at the Opera House asking us the very question as to what purpose art serves and how should it be 'properly' incorporated into society and events. Regardless of these protests I still think the festival is an extremely bold one with some really great musicians booked as well as Local bands booked for support, to cut the guy a little a slack it is only the first year of this festival and assuming all goes well I would imagine there would be a lot of changes for next years instalment already. If you dont already know there are some extreamly unique performances going down from Jon Hopkins, Ladytron, Battles all of which have their own special additions making these gigs by no means 'standard-performances'.

Something else that has intrigued me greatly is the Creative Sydney FREE series of talks and presentations tackling issues that artists and people in the 'creative-industries' face every day such as funding, getting sponsorship, getting the right crowd and the like while also exploring the citys creative side and its people. Its something I and friends can easily relate to running a small club night, Space Cadets, as well as friends of mine involved in much larger events and festivals all of whom face these problems. I can easily say such a festival is well over-due with some of Asia's largest creative-companies being based in Sydney and Melbourne. The city is an extremely creative one when you look at it on a whole and such a festival will give this side of the city and its people a much needed 'face' to the 'general' public while hopefully encouraging more creative thinkers to come out of hiding.

Just some of the events I'm looking forward too:

• Electronica wizard Jon Hopkins 6th-7th June @ Opera House
• Lee Perry 11th June @ Opera House
  
• 77 Million Paintings by Brain Eno now-21st June @ Opera House, free entry
• Money Who has it and how you can get it! Thurs 4th June @ MCA - Creative Sydney talks, free entry
• Notes From The Underground Fri 5th @ MCA
• Art 2.0: Future of Art and Technology Fri 12th June @ MCA - Free

Vivid Sydney/Luminous Music Festival website
Creative Sydney website


Videos:


Check out our past guest VJ at Space Cadets, Lukas aka Julapy, own visual installation as part of the creative sydney launch!

Vivid Sydney has transformed the city into a spectacular living canvas of music and light in and around the Sydney Opera House, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Rocks, Circular Quay and the city centre. Make sure you get check out the following festivals that are all part of Vivid until June 14:

- Luminous, a music festival at Sydney Opera House curated by Brian Eno

- Smart Light Sydney, including a free 'Light Walk' illuminating the city with stunning low energy light art installations

- Fire Water, a free event featuring three nights of flame, food and spectacle in The Rocks

- Creative Sydney, a series of talks, showcases and performances

Another big festival coming up June 3-14 is Sydney Film Festival - the program is full of fantastic flicks so if you're a film buff be sure to get along. Then there's the Darling Harbour Jazz and Blues Festival plus countless arts events from both local and international companies… We really are spoilt for choice this June.