THE
CANNANES NEWSLETTER NO.19 FEB 2001
CD
launch in Sydney The Cannanes "Communicating at an Unknown
Rate" launch at the Vic on the Park Hotel at the Cnr Addison
and Enmore Roads Marrickville Sydney on Friday 2nd March with
extra special guests Love Me and to kick off proceedings Steward
fresh from UK and USA tours
In
Melbourne 9th March now confirmed for The Empress of India Hotel
in Fitzroy with Minimum Chips and (naturallyl) Steward + special
guest Jen Turrell from the fabbo Philladelphia band Rabit in Red
10th March now confirmed for the Town Hall Hotel in North Melbourne
+ special guests Sleepy Township A touch of class this year as
we welcome Jim Woff to the fold; master of the bass guitar and
doyen of the Sydney scene Jim has also proven himself to be a
consumate entertainer even at rehearsals.
New
Website
-
www.cannanes.com More history than any other band in the Southern
hemisphere.
Buy
Cannanes stuff!
Admire glamorous photos (well...) Yes it's finally here cannanes.com
which brings together our old darnet site run by our dear friend
Jerome Gaynor of St Louis these last 5 or so years, and our homepage.com
site set up last year as a training ground which has now it born
fruit! Many thanks to Jerome for all his hard work + also to Neil
Johnson who set up and ran our original site on wood & wire many
years ago. The new site has been made possible (and banner add
free!) by David Major of Melbourne who runs a space age Ebook
site Radical skies check it out.
Webmasters
The Cannanes salute you!
Competition
corner:
Tshirts Competition No.1 - Tshirt comp - do you have a
great or not so great photo of yourself wearing your favourite
Cannanes T? if so mail or email it to us at cannanes@cannanes.com
and if chosen for inclusion on our site you will be rewarded with
a Cannanes album (or CD) of your choice.
Test your knowledge Competition No.2 - Lurking around the
internet are bits of paraphernalia relating to the Cannanes. Rewards
to anyone who finds extra reviews not printed here and bonus points
for identifying factual errors - 1 point for each error-person
with highest points wins a Cannanes cd /T shirt or a night out
with Stephen O'Neil.Please note some of these pieces are miracles
of factual accuracy. Of course we are absolute sticklers for facts
and spelling etc and always throw in a spelling error on new cds
just to test you all.
1. Originally formed at Sydney Uni in 1984(ish), these guys have
been described as "the world's most indie band". Still, they've
just announced Japan touring dates for this year, and are still
playing around the world. It just goes to show... Do yourself
a favour, check this site out http://www.ozchannel.com.au/village-cgi-bin/frameset.cgi?pgsrc=http:
//www.ozchannel.com.au/bandlist.shtml
2.The actual meat of the statement was that at 7:00 pm on Monday,
DOC Films would be doing a historically accurate screening of
the landmark silent film Man with a Movie Camera with accompaniment
by organist Dennis James and the Filmharmonia and that everyone
should go. Anticipate low turnout, in the light of previous secretary
entertaiment advices like "Everyone should go see the Cannanes"
and a bunch of other obscure crap none of us can remember.
http://bur-jud157033.rh.uchicago.edu/
housebusiness/olderminutes/minutes4.html
3. friday 10/20/2000 http://nervous.org/ i went to see the CANNANES
at the philadelphia ethical society tonight. although my friends
and i couldn't figure out what the ethical society actually DOES
("sit around and think ethical thoughts? an ironic front for mafia
business?"), they certainly have a nice building. and a nice address
-- 1905 rittenhouse. the show was in the basement of the building.
despite reeking of body odor, which may or may not have been emanating
from a band member or attendee, it was a very nice room. xmas
lights, padded chairs and benches, and a small stage with two
spotlights. i don't go to many pop shows, but i attended because
the singer from boyracer (a band i really like) was playing solo
stuff. his deft use of sputtering electronics and a pink hello
kitty guitar was fantastic. he also played drums for the cannanes.
they were, as i expected, excellent. although i was determined
not to buy any records, i was given an insound "tour support"
cd by the cannanes' singer when i asked her about a particular
song they played. "it's on this cd," she told me. "i think i'm
supposed to be selling these, but just take it." how nice.
4. The Cannanes and Steward Communicating at an Unknown Rate (Yoyo
Recordings) http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/2000-12-28/music.html
The CD Corral By Jeff Stratton 28/12/2000 Newtimes.com The Cannanes
and Steward The Cannanes are pop-savants from Australia with a
history of lo-fi, rudimentary songs. Stewart Anderson, singer
with British band Boyracer, found himself Down Under, discovered
the Cannanes in the process of recording an album, and joined
in. "No one expected this to happen," read the liner notes, "but
it did." All I can say is it's a damn good thing it happened,
because these gentle, homespun songs reek of amateurish ingenuity,
friendly winsome innocence, and easygoing vulnerability. It's
redolent of heavenly horns, soothing vocals, and adorably cheesy
drum machines rescued from the 1980s. Communicating at an Unknown
Rate is a simple, beautiful, memorable album.
5.What with this K-space-rock fusion and election hooha, it's
enough to make one wonder if the world's gone topsy turvy. Refreshingly,
when the Cannanes and Steward of Boyracer get together and put
something out on Yo-Yo Records, what results is charming, shuffly
pop. Though Boyracer was never, in my opinion, the toppermost
of the poppermost, the Cannanes in their steadfast dedication
-- through years, fads and losses of key band members -- to their
vision has struck me as uniquely heroic, and their song "Frightening
Thing" (especially in its cool, dubby incarnation on Arty Barbeque)
has always been a brave, sad evocation of waning youth, so pretty
much anything they do is jake with me. Communicating at an Unknown
Rate isn't going to blow the top off anyone's head, but it's sweet,
hummable affecting pop and in the waning moments of a tough and
tense national year, it's exactly the sort of thing that's going
to lull you into gentle slumber. And that's worth applauding.
Communicating at an Unknown Rate, in a bizarrely self-conscious
move, shows the band's members looking over the cover of one of
their other records at what looks like a restaurant, but it's
somewhat apt, as the long player could very easily be seen as
an attempt to revisit and soup up past triumphs. The record is
a fairly even mixture of late-period Cannanesism - melodic, doddering
basslines and steady, shuffling beats - and the tart guitar lines
that often distinguished the best of the Boyracer ouvre. In the
early going, a barely-there drum machine leads a half-hearted
charge into the future, but other than that, songs like "Clean
Forgot" just look at you hopefully, begging you to love them for
their simple, shambling charms. Late in the record, songs like
"Remember the Theramin" feature interesting shifts in pace and
the guitars are used to more textural effect than one usually
hears in the work of innocuous Australians. "Theramin," lyrically,
sounds like one of the Cannanes' occasional and typically ill-advised
stabs at political commentary ("It just seems like bloody- mindedness,"
is a representative sentiment, but their typical MVP - chanteuse
Francesca - pulls a rabbit out of her hat.). She who is responsible
for "Frightening Thing"'s greatness pulls a stunner here, endearing
her to anyone unimpressed by pop band philosophizing. Steward's
charming, mush-mouthed vocalizing meshes well with the combo,
making this another jewel in the group's unpretentious pop crown.
Moreover, the vaguely sad tone of the proceedings indicates a
certain emotional heft that your usual jangle-strum-jangle record
has any right to lay claim to. The Cannanes smile wryly and gaze
anxiously into a future where their kind of stuff might find itself
damn near obsolete - not because we don't need it but because
it just wasn't made for these times. Indie Pedant November 28,
2000 www.chicagomaroon.com and contents © 2001, The Chicago Maroon
University of Chicago student newspaper Sam Eccleston
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Other
news - Work has started on The Cannanes with Steward album
No.2 and in the meantime work is almost finished on our Cannanes
with Explosion Robinson album more on these projects next newsletter.
Refugees from the northern hemisphere are pouring down here this
summer and, are being put to work on the new album-Steward of
course, Rhea Flaten arriving next week from New York to play drums,
Jen Turrell in early March. Frances is on a promotional tour to
China and Stephen and Frances are off to New Zealand for a week
in early April to check out why it is the Cannanes are perpetually
being named as coming from there. Cannanes shows are also being
organised for San Francisco in the week 12 - 15th July and we
are playing at the fabulous Yo Yo festival in Olympia the week
17th - 22nd July. Contact the Cannanes cannanes[at]cannanes[dot]com
