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There's something wrong with human nature
Published on 16/10/06
by matt
I saw this aging boy band a couple of weeks ago in Melbourne. Instead of spectating on the Red Bull Music Academy I was at the Packaging Council of Australia’s annual awards at the Grand Hyatt taking in the spectacle of Human Nature live. The all-singing all-dancing quartet is trying to revive sales with a Motown thing at the moment, so the soundtrack (along with a violin trio called Stringed Angels, whose highlight was a medley of The Land Downunder and Waltzing Matilda) consisted of uber kitsch covers of the poppier end of the Motown back catalogue. They even presented the awards, with conviction – “You guys must have been voting for [insert product] when you should have been voting for me in Dancing With the Stars” and bad jokes about their ‘packaging’ – it all seemed pretty funny until they descended on poor defenceless Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. It was disgraceful, I wanted to cry.
Fortunately I had time to explore Melbourne. Slap Records is gone – shock! still there, just moved down the street (see comments). Sub:Strata made up for it though – not sure if it’s generally open for business, but I wandered down and hung out in the shop for several hours, listening to loads of beautiful records (I brought home records by Double U, Alex Cortex, Ammoncontact, Nathan Fake and a carry on luggage overloading bag of others) and chewing the ear off store owner Matt. Why no shops of this standard in Sydney? I also ran into an old friend, Mike from Fang (Canberra), working behind the counter at Dave’s Boutique – another few records into the bag, including tasty records from Chain Reaction and Ferox.
Later on I found myself at Chambers Arcade below Flinders St Station looking for the Sticky zine shop, which I found and seriously raided, but opposite is a new hip hop emporium called Wax Museum. I picked up an old Dangermouse bootleg record and a couple of killers from Digital Mystikz and Soundproof Productions. I’m feeling excited about DJing again after hearing all these brilliant records.
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Comments on There's something wrong with human nature
8 Responses
chris
16/10/06
Yo Slap has moved to
10/60 LANGRIDGE STREET COLLINGWOOD
Just up the road. Thank christ it is not closed.
gravy
16/10/06
Melbourne > Sydney.
S-Freek
17/10/06
I think it’s truer to say that Melbourne Sydney. Many inhabitants of Sydney tend to suffer some sort of cultural cringe when it comes to comparisons with its southern counterpart, and the underlying insecurity helps fuel the fire of the Melb/Syd division.
Melbourne does have some fabulous record stores though. I spent a few quid in Dave’s (also on Chain Reaction gear), but the majority of my wad was spunked away at Northside and Collector’s Corner. Killer stores – make sure you support them while you can, as Substrata is closing and there’s a big thread on ITM from the Slap management proclaiming their imminent closure.
S-Freek
17/10/06
oops, above there was supposed to be a not equals sign between Melbourne and Sydney. So Melbourne is not equal to Sydney.
calico
17/10/06
Gravy’s from Canberra, so he’s more anti-Sydney than anything else (that was a greater than sign), personally, I love both cities. I’d be keen to live in Melbs for a while, but so many of my friends and family are here so I imagine I’ll always come back. The balance is heavily tipped in Melb’s favour when it comes to record shops, clubs/bars, property, cafe culture and so on though.
gravy
20/10/06
Actually, I used to hate Melbourne for a long time. 8 hour trips in a Kingswood with the fam every bloody Xmas does that to you. Sydney was an exotic mistress I almost never went to, always tempting and beckoning. I always loved trips to Sydney – they were midwinter and Sydney was at least 5 degrees warmer.
Then one day I went to Melbourne on my lonesome. Changed everything.
Rozie
30/10/06
Human Nature are so wack, when they performed at the Aria’s I had to shout at the tv about how wrong they are for doing/cashing in on Motown!
calico
30/10/06
HN is so kitsch – especially the one that looks like a jockey. Wolfmother were more than equal to the challenge though, that half-hearted (and Rove-lauded) stage trashing took kitsch to a whole other level.
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