CODA evokes Lindsay

Norman Lindsay, was an Australian artist who held court in the beauty of the Blue Mountains. He who tended upon the sirens so that they might inspire him in his southern idyll, was a devotee and connoisseur of the Australian showgirl and burlesque. He would have revelled in the many exultations of fun and beauty that are rising in his name around Sydney. Here is such a one. And Winter Magic brings more naughty cheek, costumery and frivolity to the mountains so that art, so closely aligned with love, may thrive.

Coda is a tremendous group of musicians who try new things, always innovative with a fantastic reflection on our rich culture right here in the Antipodes. The performance at the sydney Opera house recreated a soiree of the bohemian Sydney of old, and birthed something new into the world by making the tableaux come to life in the 21st century.







I have posted earlier about an innovative performer Lola, whom has included elements of Australian art traditions (namely Norman's Etchings) into her work as a burlesque vamp, seems quite a rich seam the Australian Boheme.

King Culy does the Warrimoo

Warrimoo SoundLounge [the Primary School hall] is the place to be. It must be the newest (and possibly cutest) venue to grace the cultural calendar in the mountains. The hall has already debuted with Kaya, and now has established a rep as the grooviest goods in the lower mountains with a concert by King Curly ! The band has just toured the south-east of Australia with gigs from Canberra to Melbourne to Sydney, and topped it off with a return home show for the Warrimoo. King Curly charmed the room with his many talents, none of which include pretension. The band prepared with a sound check and lasagne check earlier and now were up for anything. The scene was set. The Warrimoo Public School P&C must be a particularly sharp set. Lamington drives and raffles have their well warranted place but this school rocks. Literally. They're a canny lot up in the hills. Taking quality national musical performers and putting them to work for the discerning and ticket buying concert goers of the mountains is a beautiful thing.

King curly made the most of the intimacy of the venue. The fairy lights were noted and the hand crafted heart decorations a la' Primary School chic did the trick nicely. The music of King curly is hard to describe, other than beautifully written, humorous, anecdotal, rich and natural. The group captures nicely the mountains-quirk in it's jazz/folk sounds, or the quirk/jazz sound of folk. A zombie punching his way out of his coffin for a Revenge song is no easy thing to combine with love song. But the King does it. Stories drive songs as much as atmospheres describe the vibe. It's a sound you must hear. With instruments at hand made of old palings and offcuts, the band experiments. The result of these forays will be heard on their third albumn. The sweetness of their live gig is a necessity for anyone who is into good song writting, recognises something original and is prepared to go out and find it.

(the MCs impromptu act mixing a diverse salad of characters from Kath'nKim and Little Briton whilst channeling Effie simultaneously was further proof of mountains talent bursting at the seams around Warrimoo way...)

Warrimoo gets full marks for effort and goes to the top of the class for performance.