Posted by Danni Le Toullec on May 30, 2011
The smell of hot buttered popcorn filled the air of Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory for Sosueme’s 4th Birthday on Saturday eve. Party hats adorned most heads and the fairy floss lady spun her delicious orbs of sugar all night long.
Proudly 99% genre free, Sosueme is the cultural conglomerate that regularly provides Sydney with artistic and musical stimulation. The self-proclaimed “tear in the space/time fabric of PARTY” combines behind-the-scenes action - the producers, designers and promoters - with the spotlight queens, a.k.a the bands, DJ’s and fashion superstars.
In celebration of Sosueme’s day of conception, a bunch of up and coming bands dropped by to say Happy Birthday. Melbournites Stonefield and Redcoats joined Parades, Guineafowl, Pluto Jonze, Alison Wonderland, Joyride & the Accidents, Mrs Bishop, Bon Chat Bon Rat and Furnace & the Fundamentals in the Live Art Space and the Gallery Bar.
Recently snapped up by organisers of Glastonbury and The Great Escape Festival, Stonefield brought a bit of seventies psych-rock to the stage. Winners of Triple J's Unearthed High in 2010, the four Findlay girls started out playing in a shed on their cattle farm. The sisters came out blazing on the main stage with stomping drum beats on ‘Through The Clover’ and languid bass lines on 'Foreign Lover'. They also put a pretty sweet spin on Led Zeppelin’s 'Whole Lotta Love'.
With supporting gigs for Foster The People and The Grates on the horizon, Sydney darlings, Guineafowl cramped their 6-piece band onto the stage and had everyone dancing to their upbeat songs that they once referred to as 'Pindie' (indie-pop). One of my favourites, ‘Botantist’ was definitely the highlight. Guineafowl’s sound has evolved leaps and bounds from its beginnings when their founding member, of the same name, performed as a solo act that relied on drum machines and vocal layering. You can also catch them at the upcoming Splendour in the Grass festival.
Alison Wonderland manned the decks in between sets and had everyone bumpin’ and grindin’ to her mash ups whilst Pedestrian DJs rocked the Gallery Bar.
Parades layered vocals and experimental repetition have been getting a lot of buzz around town for the last year couple of years. Jonathan Boulet gained quite a following after writing, recording, producing and playing on his self-titled EP in 2009, which also got the nod from Mr. Kanye West himself. He has joined forces with Tim Jenkins, Michael Scarpin and Daniel Cunningham for this side project which evokes comparison to Sigur Ros. Parades stand out tracks were 'Loserspeak In New Tounge', 'Dead Nationale' and 'Springboarder'.
Pluto Jonze rocked out the Gallery Bar with 'Meet You Under Neon', the track mixes synthy fuzz with dreamy vocals and pounding drums. 'Stars To Your Feet' was another stand out track with Pluto’s faraway voice cushioning the sugar crash from all the fairy floss we binged on earlier in the night.
As I bumped into a couple of boozed animals at the bar, a gorilla and tiger informed me that they too were celebrating a birthday. Sure enough, a polar bear and a penguin came bounding up.
Sosueme certainly brought the circus to town for this one!
sosueme, oxford art factory, parades, pluto jonze, guineafowl, stonefield, splendour in the grass, alison wonderland, pedestrian DJs, falcona