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Shortly after tones ring out over the heads of the crowd filling the Arts Centre foyer, announcing that Bill Callahan is about to take to the stage, the crowd inside the venue hushes. As latecomers hurry in, heads bowed, a four-piece assembles centrestage, and a spell is cast. The man once known as Smog, with the help of the deft jazz drumming of Adam Jones, Brian Beattie’s electric double bass and Matt Kinsey’s textural electric guitar, sets about bringing his most recent, and most acclaimed album, Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest, to life. Opening with the welcome of Writing, “It sure feels good to be singing again/From the mountain and the mountain within,” the mood is confessional, sincere and often blackly comic. Callahan cuts an elegant figure on stage, his silver hair thick like a television host from the 1960s, his top shirt button remains fastened, his trousers belted high and his parlour acoustic guitar covers his breast. Befitting the effortlessness of his music, Callahan...

"As always, we were left wanting more." > Mono Wednesday brought Perth fans down to the Rosemount Hotel for a midweek show from Japan's masters of post-rock, MONO. Early patrons got to witness Selfless Orchestra fresh from their Fringe World show Great Barrier. The band are a guitar-forward post-rock supergroup of Perth musos. They are definitely a talented bunch, but the music didn’t really grab us. We imagine that the show would have been more impressive when paired with their ocean-diving cinematic backdrop, which was sadly missing this evening. One of life’s small joys is discovering a new act who truly moves you. For us, Jo Quail was one such act. Having never heard any of her work, the night's short introduction was mind-blowing. The range and emotion she was able to get out of her electric cello, paired with a series of loop and effect pedals, was incredible. Hunched passionately over her instrument, Quail built a towering sound that lurched from...

Grey skies hang ominously in the air tonight for the penultimate Zoo Twilights gig. It seems everyone has an eye on the heavens, the crowd looking pensive and wondering if we are about to be washed away by a great flood. Luckily the weather gods hold off just long enough for tonight’s gig. Mildlife present a set of luscious slow-burn jams that move from light jazz vibes to psychedelic disco which then breaks down into a wilder kosmische style driven by insistent motorik beats. A group of accomplished players, Mildlife warm any chill hanging in the air and set the scene for Stereolab with their easy feelgood grooves. All summer long the animals in the Melbourne Zoo have occupied a prime position to take in some fine sounds from an eclectic array of artists playing the Zoo Twilights gigs. It's hard to know what they would make of all this noise. Nonetheless, the Melbourne Zoo is doing an amazing job of highlighting the plight of the critically endangered Mountain Pygmy Possum a...

"On top of their programmed, spartan beats and utilitarian basslines, the two are enthralling performers." > Sleaford Mods Cable Ties make excoriating punk rock about corporate greed and the selfishness of doomsday preppers. They have sharper chops than the average punk band and know when to stretch a song out, as on the slow build to the furious polemic Say What You Mean. Renditions of recent singles Sandcastles and Self-Made Man suggest we’re in for an upcoming album of breathless barn-burners. The craggy-faced members of Sleaford Mods both wear black T-shirts. Their songs are forceful and propulsive and end abruptly. Songs like Tarantula Deadly Cargo and Tied Up In Nottz are aggressive, but not in the toxic, misplaced way. It’s an earned aggression borne out of indignance at the state of the underclass. On top of their programmed, spartan beats and utilitarian basslines, the two are enthralling performers. Sleaford Mods @ The Croxton. Photo by Tim Doig. Th...