8/05/11 8:12 PMDecibel + Pollen Trio

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Time Saturday, May 14 ! 7:30am - 10:30am

Location Street Theatre, Canberra.

Created By Cat Hope, Shoeb Ahmad, Lindsay Vickery

More Info Decibel perform a program of Lucier, Lamb, Hope and Vickery.

http://decibel.waapamusic.com/

http://www.messandnoise.com/news/4233155

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17/05/11 8:21 AMPeking Spring Festival: Decibel, Pollen Trio @ The Street Theatre, Canberra (14/05/11) on FasterLouder.com.au

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Peking Spring Festival: Decibel, Pollen

Trio @ The Street Theatre, Canberra

(14/05/11)Local News by MarissaJade , 16th May, 2011

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MarissaJadeMarissaJade joined us onthe 28th Mar, 2010 and is acontributor.

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Peking Spring Festival: Decibel and Pollen Trio

May 14th, 2011

THE STREET THEATRE, CANBERRA

On a frosty, chilly Saturday night, the Peking Spring Festival was brought to a

close in the rather quaint Street 2 at The Street Theatre.

The festival, presented by HellosQuare Recordings has had somewhat of a

monopoly on live Canberra performances for the past three weeks, with shows

featuring HellosQuare artists, plus guests taking place at venues such as the

aforementioned Street Theatre, Smith’s Bookshop, ANU Bar, Bar 32 and The

Phoenix. The aim of the festival was to showcase the very best in creative and

experimental music, and if the final show on Saturday was anything to go by, the

mission has well and truly been accomplished.

After milling about in the cosy foyer and trying to warm up blue, freezing hands,

the crowd was ushered into the small theatre in order for the night to get under

way. Upon sitting down in the rather intimate setting, I marveled at how nice it

was, just this once, to get to see a gig without having to stand on tired feet while

jostling with intoxicated fans. After all, every now and then it’s nice to indulge

your inner grandma.

The night’s entertainment began with HellosQuare old hats Pollen Trio. One of

the label’s first bands, Pollen Trio, are locals who play experimental jazz that is

best heard to be appreciated. With an organ, a trumpet, drums, and other bits

and bobs, Pollen make music that on paper sounds like a cacophonic mess. But

on hearing, it becomes apparent that the seemingly random and dissonant

sounds are in fact, an intricate moray of melody and disconnection. What begins

as a mess becomes atmospheric; what sounds like randomness becomes

organic, and what is at first disconcerting ends as spellbinding. Their half an hour

set was enough to lull the crowd into a hypnotic, other-worldly state that was

difficult to shake when it came time for the interval.

After enough time for a drink and a chat, the theatre once again filled up for

Decibel. Hailing from Western Australia, Decibel is a five-piece experimental

orchestra whose complex creativity and vision make for one intriguing listening

experience. The band uses an array of instruments such as the cello, flute and

sax, plus a magnetic pitch creator called The Infinity Machine, and works side by

side with a computer program to create pieces in which the listener is challenged

to find beauty and sense between the conventional notes. The role of the

computer is to give each member of the quintet a particular part of a particular

song. Thus, no two shows by Decibel will be the same, with the computer giving

different instructions each time. From the opening bars of Improbable Games to

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17/05/11 8:21 AMPeking Spring Festival: Decibel, Pollen Trio @ The Street Theatre, Canberra (14/05/11) on FasterLouder.com.au

Page 2 of 3http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/events/28546/Pollen-Trio-Decibel-The-Street-Theatre-Canberra-140511

Matt Walters @ The Vanguard, Syndey (11/5/11)

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the haunting finish of Ever Present, Decibel captivated, mesmerized and

challenged, leaving behind some pretty skewed perceptions of how music can

be created.

In a testament to the fact that music doesn’t always need lyrics, Pollen Trio and

Decibel played sets that were impressive, haunting and not soon to be forgotten

by all who were in attendance.

Peking Spring Festival: Decibel and Pollen Trio

May 14th, 2011

THE STREET THEATRE, CANBERRA

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17/05/11 8:21 AMPeking Spring Festival: Decibel, Pollen Trio @ The Street Theatre, Canberra (14/05/11) on FasterLouder.com.au

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17/05/11 7:51 AMRealTime Arts - Magazine - issue 102 - in the loop – may 10

Page 1 of 3http://realtimearts.net/article/102/10303

realtime 102 contents Choose... search:

e-dition may 10

in the loop – may 10

realtime news and advance word

Sunwrae String Quartet

photo courtesy of the artists

new music to your ears

There’s a busy two months ahead for new music lovers. First, Mike Majkowski

(Earbash and RT97) and Decibel (RT94, RT97) join forces for concerts in Canberra

and Sydney. Decibel will also be performing at PICA in the second of three concerts

there with new works by ensemble members Lindsay Vickery and Cat Hope as well

as by Chris de Groot, Thomas Meadowcroft and John Cage as well as an

arrangement of Scott Walker's Benito's Dream (you can hear some of Decibel's work

in our Sound Capsule and keep an eye out for Chris Reid’s review of their CD in our

next e-dition). The Sunwrae String Quartet is also on tour (and will be reviewed in

RT103), with concerts in each capital city, a guest appearance at the Camden

Heaven Music Festival in Port Macquarie and a trip to Vietnam. Finally, Canberra is

again hosting its adventurous International Music Festival (see our 2010 review).

Decibel and Mike Majkowski, Canberra, May 14, www.thestreet.org.au and

Sydney, May 15, www.cityrecitalhall.com; Decibel, Concert 2, PICA, June 20,

www.decibel.waapamusic.com; Sunwrae String Quartet, Eavesdropping Tour,

May 5-June 9, www.sunwrae.com; Canberra International Music Festival, May

11-22, www.cimf.org.au

music theatre at home

Chambermade Opera continues its series of intensely intimate operas (The Itch,

Another Lament and Target, with Dwelling Structure, subtitled “An Opera in 8 Time

Use Episodes." Citing poet Emily Dickinson, CMO suggests “you will dwell in

possibility, a doorless house??," in what promises to be a highly unusual work

created by sound artists Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey with writer Cynthia

Troup and "visual assemblage by Neil Thomas, and neighbourly interruptions by The

Suitcase Royale." Chambermade Opera, Dwelling Structure, May 26-28,

www.chambermadeopera.com

back

17/05/11 7:51 AMRealTime Arts - Magazine - issue 102 - in the loop – may 10

Page 2 of 3http://realtimearts.net/article/102/10303

Kit Wise, Xanadu 2009, HD video installation, silent

6:00, mirrored glass, Digital production Darin Bendall,

an Experimenta Commission

image courtesy of the artist

old new media

From new music to new media…if you missed it in Melbourne last year, you can catch

Experimenta: Utopia Now on tour at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery. The

show features the work of Patrick Bernatchez (Canada), Michael Burton (UK), Cao

Fei (China), Christopher Fulham (Australia), Christian Jankowski (Germany), Laurent

Mignonneau & Christa Sommerer (France/Austria), Scenocosme (France), Kit Wise

(Australia) and dynamic Melbourne duo, Van Sowerwine & Isobel Knowles, all of

whom investigate the double meaning of utopia as the “good place” and/or “no place."

In her RealTime review last year, Saige Walton said the “selected works ranged from

joyous and humourous to desolate and unnerving” (RT96). There’s more media art to

be seen at the Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art. Drawing from its collection, the

gallery's latest exhibition, Physical Video, explores the use of the body in video art,

featuring work from the early 1970s through to the present day. Artists include Bruce

Nauman (US), Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba (Japan/US/Vietnam, RT46, RT50), Dennis

Oppenheim (US), James Oram (New Zealand) and Mike Parr (Australia, RT102)

among others. Experimenta: Utopia Now, Mornington Peninsula Regional

Gallery, May 12-June 19; www.experimenta.org; Physical Video, GoMA,

Brisbane, May 14-Sept 4 2011; www.qag.qld.gov.au

the winner: douglas sirk box set

Our thanks to all the entrants in our competition who informed us how the Madman

Douglas Sirk box set would improve their lives. The winner was Melbourne

choreographer Phillip Adams, who wrote:

"For those of you who know me, I am strictly a 50s man. From Featherston chairs to

Palm Springs chic and my car—a 1959 Merc. The delights and the details in the

designs of Sirk’s films in the box set would keep me enthralled hour after hour. The

inspiration from the set decorations alone would be like a home magazine filled with

retro gems: styles, suits, gloves, backdrops, kitsch all rolled into one. Well, I might

even go as far as having Written on Wind playing nonstop as my bedhead artwork.

Sirk is a man after my own heart."

The 9-DVD box set of the great films of the 1950s master of aesthetically and socially

incisive Hollywood melodramas, Douglas Sirk, was generously provided by Madman

Entertainment.

17/05/11 7:51 AMRealTime Arts - Magazine - issue 102 - in the loop – may 10

Page 3 of 3http://realtimearts.net/article/102/10303

Ash Keating, Label Land (2009), Human Rights Arts

and Film Festival

photo courtesy of the artist

the politics and poetics of human rights

It’s 50 years since the United Nations Refugee Convention was established, which

makes the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival particularly relevant this year. The

festival starts in Melbourne with a program that includes film, visual art, poetry, theatre

and public forums. The films will be shown at ACMI in a week-long program of

documentaries, animations and shorts. The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre is

presenting Not Only My Story, a play in which refugees collaborate with artists such

as Yumi Umiumare (RT39, RT71, RT94). There is also artwork by Ash Keating

(RT77, RT86, RT91). Smaller versions of the film program will tour Canberra, Alice

Springs, Brisbane, Sydney, Byron Bay, Adelaide and Perth. Human Rights Arts and

Film Festival, Melbourne May 12-22, national tour May 26-June 12,

www.hraff.org.au

Robyn Stacey, Tall Tales and True, Stills Gallery

photo courtesy of the artist

head out to head on

Head On Photography Festival is now in its second year. There are over 130 indoor

and outdoor exhibitions, events, seminars and workshops across Sydney over seven

days. Of particular interest is Robyn Stacey's show Tall Tails and True at Stills

Gallery, Paddington, as well as the group exhibition at Roslyn Oxley9 featuring

Destiny Deacon (RT66), Bill Henson, Tracey Moffatt (RT102), Julie Rrap, Patricia

Piccinini (RT43), TV Moore (RT57), Isaac Julien (RT42, RT97) and Anne Zahalka.

There are also two interesting tours on offer: one to a camera obscura in Centennial

Park and another of the Powerhouse Museum’s basement, which houses a

considerable collection of 19th century cameras and photographs. Head On Photo

Festival, May 5-June 11, www.headon.com.au

RealTime issue #102 April-May 2011 pg.

© RealTime ; for permission to link or reproduce apply to realtime@realtimearts.net

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17/05/11 7:57 AMBMA Magazine Canberra Streetpress Features Decibel

Page 1 of 2http://www.bmamag.com/articles/features/20110510-decibel/

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DECIBEL

Column: Features | Date Published: Tuesday, 10 May 11 | Author: Lauren Bicknell | | 6 days, 10 hours ago

COMMENT HERE: 0 Comments and 0 Reactions « New!! Check it out!

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The abstract beauty of darkness really interests me

A HIGHER DECIBEL

Dark images of someone rocking

back and forth while they eat

their own hair and mumble

quietly to themself can somehow

find a way of creeping into your

mind when listening to

experimental music but Cat

Hope from DECIBEL explained

there’s more to it than may first

meet an unprepared ear.

The mind behind the group from

WA said experimental music can

be defined as testing

boundaries. “For me,

experimental music is music

that’s adventurous, trying things

out… this idea about music that

it doesn’t feel like it has to behave in any certain way but comes out freely.”

Decibel’s boundary testing music uses dissonance, a lot of reverb and is often without the familiarity of tonal

structure, which is why people sometimes don’t know how to react to it.

“When you go to a concert, I think its really important the way it’s programmed so that… when something gets too

nasty or too hard or [people] don’t get it or don’t like it then it’s not too long before the next thing that might offer

something different.” She said Decibel tries to keep performance pieces under 15 minutes to keep things varied.

Their pieces can conjure up a myriad of feelings from darkness to sensuality to peace but Cat says with Decibel’s

music, emotional expression is often a coincidence. “Art is, for me, something quite abstract… the abstract beauty

of darkness really interests me or I find that those kind of sounds and atmospheres are really beautiful or

rewarding or appealing and that’s why I create them in my music.”

With plans in the near future to collaborate with artists from all over the world as well as record and perform

regularly, Cat says Decibel will keep on truckin’ despite little funding. “I guess I take the approach to just play

concerts, make recordings and take as many opportunities as you can to get your stuff out there.”

Decibel will be testing Canberra’s boundaries soon with four pieces that are sure to engage and entrance

audiences. A fascinating feature of the night will be their infinity machine. They had it built just last year by two

West Australian sound artists.

“It’s this quite odd machine made of wires that have currents running through them and as the current intensifies,

they get softer and little magnets are used to control the sound of these wires as they become increasingly

sensitive. A musician or two will play with the infinity machine and the changes in air pressure change the way

the machine reacts or the way it sounds.”

Another, more traditional, feature of the show will be guest musician, James Larson, a Canberra based Cellist.

You can catch Decibel with The Pollen Trio at The Street on Saturday May 14 as part of the Peking Spring

festival. Tickets are $12 concession, $18 adult, and are available through www.thestreet.org.au .

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17/05/11 7:58 AMBMA Magazine Canberra Streetpress Features Decibel

Page 2 of 2http://www.bmamag.com/articles/features/20110510-decibel/

HUNGRY KIDS OF HUNGARY HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE JAMES BLUNT

JEBEDIAH LOTEK PEGZ

PROPAGANDHI

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