shimweasel

Usually I post in the past tense. I feel it gives my words a gravity and heft that they might otherwise lack, caught as they are in the sticky amber of events past. Today, however, I feel like bucking a self-imposed rule and venturing out onto the unsteady tree-branch of the hypothetical: today, I wax lyrical about a gig before I go to it. Daring, no?

Enough florid verbiage, and on to my anticipated schedule. This week, there are no fewer than three concerts well worth your consideration: granted, two are by the same band, but I Love Them Just That Much. (ILTJTM? Ah, it’ll never catch on.) On the 25th, The Maladies are playing with Sub Audible Hum at the Excelsior in Surry Hills. On the 28th, The Thaw (bless their socially conscious little hearts) are guests at a benefit gig at 44 Little Oxford St for an organisation that feeds the homeless, and just to bring it all home, on the 31st The Maladies are playing with the Zion band at the Vanguard, within stumbling distance of my front door.

I believe I’ve already mentioned how terrific I think The Thaw are, and under the terms of the restraining order, I’m not allowed to propose marriage more than once a month here (btw, Steph, how about it? I’m a good cook, and I think you make pretty noises), so I’ll refrain. The Maladies, however, are equally lovely, and possibly even better dressed. Daniel the frontman rocks a velour lounge suit like nobody I know, makes Mother Teresa seem like a big-noting bitch, and sings like a very short angel. The music itself is hard to describe: there are country elements in there, but without that in-jokey irony you sometimes get with indie dabblers - instead of mesh trucker caps, flannel shirts and sly winks, they tap into something genuinely beautiful and unselfconscious. If you’re an obsessive cataloger who needs reference points (and I feel your pain, I am too), then the gentler Nick Cave might fit, as could Elvis Costello at his least manic.

I’d love to provide some teaser mp3s, but neither band has an album out yet. The Thaw has the Bruce Lee EP, which while undeniably gorgeous, does not make a good intro: it’s 15 minutes long, and I am yet to hear them play it live. Regardless, take a chance: both of these bands are orders of magnitude more creative than anything I’m hearing on the Sydney scene at the moment.

The Thaw

The Maladies