TOP PICK \ Music
COASTAL GROOVES \ Blood Orange (Domino)
The debut from London act Blood Orange is packed with contradictions. For a start, it isn’t a debut at all. The man responsible, Dev Hynes, made a big splash last year as Lightspeed Champion, having already earned his dues in the tittersomely titled Test Icicles. Coastal Grooves leaves Lightspeed’s folkiness behind for something poppier, but it isn’t exactly a pop record. In fact, it isn’t easy to say precisely what sort of record it is.
First single Sutphin Boulevard is threaded with sinister bass and twitchy guitars, but the vibe is more akin to the atmospherics of Massive Attack than any rock group. Similarly, opening track Forget It has a punky urgency to the instrumentation, but the melody glides gracefully and glacially above it all. Then, just when you’re feeling comfortable, the song explodes into the sort of noodly, cock-rock guitar solo not heard since the late 1980s. Half an album later, another jaunty number suddenly descends into a synth-led freak out.
The tunes belong to pop songs, certainly, but the execution borrows wildly and freely from all corners of the musical map. The result is a record that sometimes feels strangely familiar and, at other times, wonderfully strange. Mostly, however, it’s simply wonderful.
Film
RED DOG \ Open August 4, Rated PG
A dusty Pilbara community comes together over a sick dog in this genuinely touching Aussie drama. The legendary Red Dog, a kelpie famed for his travels up and down the west coast, inspires a hard-bitten group of miners to share tales of his exploits over a few cold beers. Of course, they’re really telling their own stories, through which the dog passes like some benign supernatural force. A dog with no name and no owner seems the perfect mascot for a mining town in the middle of nowhere, populated by escapees from all corners of the globe.
Despite being broken into a collection of anecdotes, the film moves swiftly along a powerful narrative. It seems designed to snare the faltering attention of a young audience, who can fixate on the furry star, while adults will appreciate the frequently dark drama haunting the human cast. Certainly, it’s a beautiful, often tragic film, with director Kriv Stenders transforming an industrial shanty town into a stunning landscape of deep reds and clear blues. Brilliantly acted and wonderfully told, Red Dog is a rare thing indeed – an Australian family film that really is as good as the hype suggests.
Going out
SILENT DISCO \ The Arts Centre, August 4–13
The trials of youth are laid bare in this award-winning new Australian play. Abandoned by parents and buffeted by peculiarly modern pressures, teenagers Tamara (Sophie Hensser) and Jasyn (Meyne Wyatt) attempt to keep their heads above some very dark water. Tamara dreams of making something of herself, while Jasyn – from an Aboriginal background – hopes to avoid the traps that led to his brother being imprisoned for drug dealing. Into their lives comes teacher Mrs Petchall, a rare and powerful adult presence, who might just be able to save the pair from sinking.
Devised by playwright Lachlan Philpott and director Lee Lewis, Silent Disco debuts in Melbourne this week after an acclaimed Sydney season during which its script snatched up a Griffin Award. Giving a nod to definitive teen text The Outsiders, it promises to be a striking, thought-provoking production.
TV
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN \ SBS One, Wednesday August 4, 7.30pm
Now that we have whole channels devoted to armchair tourism, it can be hard for travel docos to plot a course that doesn’t already seem pedestrian. No wonder audiences find themselves lured to the shock-horror tactics of Bear Grylls, peering through splayed fingers at someone else’s travel nightmare. There’s not as much extreme drama (or grossness) in this four-part series from British journo Simon Reeve – although he does sample some Madagascan penis soup – but there’s a similar attempt to go off the beaten track.
The premise or, let’s be frank, “gimmick” is Reeve’s desire to trace the Tropic of Capricorn, which will lead him through dry, difficult and unpopular destinations, including northern Australia. There’s certainly a refreshing sense of novelty to his holiday plans, the first episode seeing our host scaring cows from highways and tobogganing down steep desert slopes.
To Reeve’s credit, he’s just as keen to explore the ugly side of his travels. As he traces a line across Africa, he examines the impact of HIV on local communities, talks to desperate refugees and meets prostitutes paid in chicken legs and hot dogs. We meet people who have lost everything and people whose way of life is rapidly becoming extinct.
Still, despite a desire to tread new ground, the series still feels a little too familiar and just a bit aimless. Reeve is pleasant, if not sparkling, company, but it’s hard to find a common thread to truly pull his destinations together, other than a quirk of latitude.
Winners are grinners
TWR is terribly proud of Myke Bartlett, who has won the 2011 Text Prize for Young Adult and Children’s Writing. In his novel, The Relic, mythological creatures invade Perth before going on to threaten the world. Instead of speculating on any lingering feelings Myke has for his home town, we will mention that he has won $10,000 and a publishing contract – look out for his novel in August next year.