She’s back.

The chanteuse on the loose, noir pop-cabaret songstress Amanda Palmer, one half of the Dresden Doll duopoly, once again graces our fair shores to promote her new album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

With songs full of wit and woe, you get be the forensics expert and pour over her exposed brutalised entrails of emotional…I believe the term she used on JJJ today was…’wangst’. Maybe it was only ‘angst’ she said, but hey, wangst implies some degree of self-loving through self-flagellation.

And who doesn’t enjoy a tad of slap, tickle and self torment?

Already winging her away around the country - if you want to her see her on stage exposing her soul and maybe several other parts, pay close attention to the following dates:

26 & 27th February - The Studio, Sydney Opera House, Sydney

1 March - The Tivoli, Brisvegas

3 March - The Corner, Melbourne

4 March - The Gov, Adelaide

6&7 March - Fly By Night Musicians Club, Perth

10 March - The Studio, Auckland (that’s across the ditch guys…)

12 March - The Bodega Bar, Wellington

14 March - The (geographically confusing) Brisbane Hotel, Hobart (back in Australia but still over a ditch)

Want tickets? Then go you should go here.

If one were quicker off the mark, one might have tried to find out more about the slumber party she hosted in Melbourne….flannelete PJs or satin I wonder? Sigh, time for some wangsting…..

It’s Fringe Festival time in Adelaide again, and we at absinthe.com.au will be on the ground at the Garden of Unearthly Delights and other venues, bringing you some of our reviews and experiences at this month long celebration of underground entertainment.

If you haven’t downloaded the program yet, grab one now and become befuddled by the choice before you.  Not in Adelaide?  Grab a discount fare, jump on a plane and come join the frivolities.

The Opening Night Party kicks off this Friday the 27th February with a free party, parade and concert, with TZU, Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!, The Levitators and Well Being all on the bill.

Some of the performances that have caught our eye that we will be attending include:

CW Stoneking : bluesman and raconteur, letting loose with his pot’o'jazzy jungle blues, straight outta a smokey boozy speakeasy (one with absinthe of course…)

Imogen Kelly - The Undressing Room : Not just a Queen of Burlesque, but an Artist, darling. Take a peek in her undressing room and give yourself something to confess the following Sunday….

The Kustom Kulture Weekend : Hot rods, quiffs, tatts and zombies. Everything goes better with zombies.

Die Roten Punkte : Ich bin ein Berliner! And you too can be a squishy jam donut just by attending the witty punk-pop performances of Astrid and Otto, everyones favourite eurotrash.

And that’s barely scratching the surface……

If you were that sort of soul, you could very well go out every night for the next 30 days.

If that is you, then we raise a glass of the finest jade in your honour….

Ben Cauchi, Dead Time, 2008, ambrotype

A new collection of works by emerging and established Australian and New Zealand artists puts a uniquely contemporary spin on the Victorian age.

New Victorians opened at Sydney’s University Art Gallery on Sunday and re-interprets the complexity, excitement and political intricacies of Queen Victoria ’s rule (1837-1901) - the longest reign in British history.

New Victorians showcases the work of seven artists who have been inspired by the Victorian era and who have been influenced by Victorian imagery, materials, themes and processes. Artists whose work is featured in the exhibition are New Zealand’s Ben Cauchi and Liyen Chong and Australia’s Sharon Goodwin, Emma van Leest, Julia deVille, Starlie Geikie and Pete Volich.

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With apologies to Noel Coward.

It must be the season for art-macabre with Robert’s recent note on the exhibition in Japan, and now this - Neo Goth: Back in Black, an exhibition at the University of Queensland’s St Lucia Art Gallery.

While many think of dear old Queensland as the state of sunburn, surf and politicians with ‘interesting’ political views, I have always felt assured in that sunshine state in years past, by the sight of the young & beautiful darklings who assemble late afternoons in Queen Street Mall in Brisvegas.  I suppose it’s all Emo now….why, when I was a monochromatic lad, frock coats were all the rage, Big Electric Cat were the local heroes and…yawn….young whipper snappers……zzzzzzz.

Kirra Jamison May all your wishes come true 2007

Anyhoo.

Curator Alison Kubler (as in the Absinthe!) has assembled 170 works from 60 artists over two levels of the museum, covering the mediums of music, fashion, film and literature.

From the exhibition flyer:

“From its subcultural origins in eighteenth century literature, through to the movement’s dedicated tribes of black-clad youths in the 1980s, Goth culture is no longer underground or fringe, but mainstream. Is this ‘new’ interpretation of the Gothic aesthetic just that – an aesthetic – or is the neo-Goth impulse a considered response to a darker, more pessimistic world? The major exhibition neo goth dips beneath the surface and takes a peek at the noir underbelly of Australian culture as it is manifested across art, fashion, film and literature.”

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Review of “New Music To Fall Asleep To…(Lullabies by Justin Ashworth)”

When new members join the merry band of Absinthe.com.au subscribers, occasionally one observes that the email with which they have subscribed deserves further investigation. It is with no small amount of pleasure that I have discovered that we have a broad church of libertarians under our humble canopy, from visual artists, poets, magicians, distillers, dancers, authors, actors, courtesans, journalists, the odd dominatrix or two, and importantly, musicians.

One such Australian musician, and dedicated absintheur, that I would like to bring to your attention is Melbourne based Justin Ashworth.  I have for many years been a devotee of the dark ambient and experimental soundscape genre, and certainly Australia has had no shortage of exponents of this particular craft over the decades.  The opportunity then to explore new work by a local artist over a glass of absinthe or two is a welcome one indeed.

Being armed with droning loops, acoustic neo-folk attitudes and unpredictable acts of psychadelia, he is actually a hard artist to buttonhole through comparison. A good thing I say. You can hear a track or two from the following reviewed album on Justin’s MySpace page - maybe pour yourself a glass before you click through.

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Absinthe by Michael “Pooch” Pucciarelli (acrylic on masonite, 2005).

See more of Pooch’s incredible Lowbrow-meets-20th-Century Surrealist gorgeousness at Pooch Island

Skull by Spencer Higgins, 2007

For those of our readers who find themselves in Yokohama in the near future… this may rock your coffin.

“The phenomenon described as goth / gothic exists in various cultural fields including music, fashion, movies and literatures. It originally referred to a style of art in Europe in the Middle Ages, however, today it functions as a term indicative of a certain lifestyle. Body modifications, such as tattooing or piercing, and a focus upon death and illness are not merely a matter of taste, but instead are an expression of the self trying to stand up against a conservative world…”

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Lost Metropolis Footage Recovered

(Story at News.com.au)

Film historians had doubted they would ever find the missing portions of Metropolis — until three reels of the science fiction film made in Germany a long time ago, were discovered in a country far, far away.
Two film fans in Argentina uncovered the fragile footage in a small museum earlier this year – over eight decades after Fritz Lang’s dystopian classic first began to shed scenes.

With its cold, monumental vision of mechanised society, Metropolis forged a template for generations of science fiction cinema, and its enduring influence has been cited on films from Blade Runner to Fahrenheit 451 and Star Wars.

“We were overjoyed when we heard about the find,” said Helmut Possmann, head of the foundation which owns the rights to the film, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung.

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 Daniel Hatadi - Still life with Pernod Fils 1910 and Sydney Morning Herald 2008 

After a time of quietude and reverential repose, we are back… and do we have news for you.

Reviews a-plenty are in the works, so make sure you check back for our thoughts on Duplais Verte and St George, amongst quite a few others. The St George review is well worth looking out for, as it is the first Australian tasting of this marque which caused a stir in its native US, as much for its significance (the first absinthe distilled in the US post-ban) as for its formulation (which includes Tarragon and Stinging Nettles, amongst other things). We will also be conducting  some reviews of Ordinaire brands like La Fee Parisienne, Doubs, and Pernod.

If either Carfax or I can stand it, we will also be forcing ourselves to do some tastings of some of the typical ‘absinth’ brands you’re likely to encounter, and what, if anything they are even remotely appropriate for (apart from getting a fire started when you’re wood is a bit damp. No shit, it actually works). So, in the name of scientific endeavour, connoisseurship and the edification of the great unwashed, we will voluntarily imbibe foul smelling liquids and comment upon them. With as little obscenity as possible.

Most importantly, we were recently lucky enough to sample a bottle of preban absinthe, Pernod Fils circa 1910, which was simply sublime. Expect an imminent review with many, many pictures, such as the one by the dedicated, debauched and most generous of Libertines Daniel Hatadi featured above.

On top of all this loveliness, we have interviews, history updates and a series of photographic works in the offing, so stay tuned.

The media have been reporting that composer of lavishly over-the-top musicals, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, intends to finance a series of significant charitable contributions to the theatrical establishment through an auction of Pablo Picasso’s ‘The Absinthe Drinker’ (also known as Portrait de Angel Fernandez de Soto).

The painting, from Picasso’s Blue Period, is expected to fetch somewhere in the order of 35 million Pounds Sterling at auction. The intended sale, however, may not be so straight forward.

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