Dear Bands/Musicians/Soundmakers,
Whatismusic festival is presenting a very special large scale event for the 2009 festival - the project is called 50/50. 50 bands in 50 minutes, all set up simultaneously in a single room. Ambitious - yes, crazy - well...yes as well. At the moment we're looking for keen young (and old) go-getters who would like to be a part of the event - if you have gear and a minute's worth of creativity, or even pure derivative hilarity, then we'd like to hear from you!
The event will be taking place at the ABC's Iwaki Auditorium Southbank on the 19th of December, and will be recorded and broadcast by Radio National an hour following the gig. A project of such absurd and amusing magnitude has never been attempted on Australian shores, and should prove to be an amazing experience for anyone involved.
If you would like to be on the bill, send through a short description of who you are, what you do, and preferably a link to a short soundclip of your work to lloydhoneybrook@gmail.com* and we will endeavour to get back to you ASAP with some more details about locking your group in for the project.
Looking very much forward to hearing from you all, and making some ludicrous large-scale history!
all the best,
Robbie Avenaim & Lloyd Honeybrook
*for those of you who don't know Lloyd Honeybrook, he is co-ordinating and assisting the WIM festival with Robbie Avenaim this year, and in charge of the co-ordination for this particular project. Whatisrobbie is still behind the wheel though!
wow.
maybe we should form a m+n band for the occasion
Did Oren ditch himself?
Oren is still involved in the festival, but as a performer, not an organiser. Dude's just way too busy, understandably!
A bunch of chats repeating catchphrases loudly for a minute. About accurate for the signal:noise ratio.
I bags ''COCKNECK''.
Actually, the idea of a glossolalia band isn't half bad... thinks
who were the whatismusic festival organisers who ripped off all the bands a few years back?
I don't know if that was Avenaim/Ambarchi or if it was Lees & West, but once I tried to publish an interview with one of the bands who complained about it, and we had to censor that part of the interview to avoid legal action or something.
absurdism is soooo 70s. good luck finding more absurd things.
Shut up Matt.
hey I'm into it.
a wittle bit
Sounds awesome, whatismusic. A hell of a thing to rganise, but would be brilliant to watch / listen to.
...and kelly/Matt, you really should get over the idea that particular ideas are tied to particular eras. Even if this project had anything to do with 'absurdism', that is a concept that has been intimately entwined with the history of modernism and art since the mid 19th century. If you're going to make some high-falutin' claims, at least get them right.
censorship is gay
What is the What Is website?
www.whatismusic.com
Very interested in finding out who the final 50 are...
19 December 2009
Iwaki Auditorium
ABC Southbank Centre, Southbank Blvd, Melbourne
50/50
Fifty artists in fifty minutes
Tickets $20/15 at the door
The rules of 50/50 are thus: 50 bands playing in 50 minutes. One minute per group, no breaks.
Think of the 50/50 project as a living, breathing mixtape, with everything from experimental to jazz to noise to metal to minimalist improv to rock to pop to hiphop to spoken diatribes. Something for everyone, and if you don't like a band then there's less than 60 seconds left until the next one! An event that won't likely be seen ever again, you won't want to miss this speedy sonic degustation.
Participating artists:
Carolyn Connors, Agents of Abhorrence, Clare Cooper, Robert Piotrowicz, Curse ov Dialect, Erick Mitsak, Bum Creek, Jon Rose, Anna Zaradny, Poletopra (Marco Fusinato+Anthony Pateras), Adam Symonds, Ernie Althoff, Golden Fur Trio, elise&jem, Francis Plagne Band, DJ 2, DJ 3, Maya Victoria, Candlesnuffer + Son, Clayton Thomas Trio, Breathing Shrine (Rob Mayson+Bonnie Mercer), Sex On Toast, Dale Gorfinkel, Occult Blood, Gary Butler, DJ Arsecrack, Absoluten Calfeutrail, Vijay Thillaimuthu, Agonhymn, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, Charles Ives Singers, Shit to the Spirit, Ivens, Robin Fox, Rank Sinatra, pig&machine, Nomex, Steve Law and Scott Hamilton
Supported by:
ABC Classic FM
DJ 2 and DJ3! Awesome!
If it's supported by Classic FM does that mean it'll be broadcast at some point?
It will indeed be broadcast, on the same night in fact! The broadcast is due to go to air the same night on Radio National, at 10 pm. There may be subsequent broadcasts but that has not been confirmed yet.
Or, 10.30pm on Classic FM perhaps? On 'New Music Up Late'? As it sez ere.
Yep, that one. Sorry, lack of sleep and organisational woes.
Updated performer's list:
Carolyn Connors, Breathing Shrine, DJ 2, Francis Plagne Band, Clare Cooper, Curse ov Dialect, Robin Fox, Tim O'Dwyer Trio, pig&machine, Candlesnuffer+Son, Fabio Umberto, Jon Rose, Shit to the Spirit, Mim Kyhr, Brad Smith, Dead Ants Rainbow, Poletopra, Maya Victoria, Erick Mitsak, Nomex, Sex On Toast, Robert Piotrowicz+Lloyd Honeybrook, DJ Arsecrack, Anna Zaradny, hercel, Rank Sinatra, Charles Ives Singers, Greg Kingston and Robbie Avenaim, Julian Culpan, Bum Creek, Wasted Truth, Occult Blood, Hotel Wrecking City Traders, The Bat Device, Ivens, Mark Lossier, Grytviken (Dav Byrne and Matt ''Skitz'' Sanders), Scratchplate vs. BSE, elise&jem, Steve Law+Scott Hamilton, Mechanical Performers, Adam Simmons, Vijay Thillaimuthu, Absoluten Calfeutrail, DJ3, Golden Fur Trio.
Broodle!
exactly!
can't fuckin' wait!
And here's the final final FINAL lineup:
Hope to see lots of you on wednesday and thursday as well though!
So Golden Fur got the Headline spot!
This performance is now available to stream from the ABC Classic FM website (Real Player or Windows Media).
Best transitions:
Grytviken > Scratchplate vs. BSE > elise&jem
and
Nomex > Sex On Toast
Fuck this thing ruled. It really was way better in practice than it seemed it might be on paper.
the collab you did grover was scary as fuck!
agreed. lots of great stuff on offer.
totally agree firewitch. i thought it would be at least interesting but it turns out it was one of the best things i've ever seen at whatismusic. or anywhere really.
looking fwd to the vid footage whenever it may surface...
Streamable here.
Duh, too late. This is what happens when you move house. Someone gets in first...
Are any of you guys Mac users? The stream isn't working for me (i.e. it plays, but I can't hear it), and I'm wondering if this is the reason. Strange, as all the other streams on that page work fine...
Yeah, me too. The stream plays, but without sound. The Windows Media one works OK but at a crappy bitrate. I've contacted them about it. Has anyone successfully streamed this thing or is it just a Mac glitch?
disgraceful that those are the only streaming options.
Must just be a Mac glitch - worked fine via my parents' PC. Interesting to hear it back - the ensembles in particular sound a lot different than they did to me at the time (unsurprising, I guess).
i was talking to someone about this this afternoon and just realised it was 12 months today. wish it was an annual event. hopefully WIM organise another one down the track.
So, any way to hear this yet?
Stay tuned smallchunksofmusic lovers.
that there is good news!
fuck yeah
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sweet!