Emma Russack and Lachlan Denton- Noisy Ritual

Noisy Ritual in East Brunswick bills itself as an urban winery as they make their own premium wines with grapes sourced from vineyards all around Victoria. The space itself is a big hall with barrels lining the walls around the room, a bar, small stage at the front, and tables and benches to sit on to enjoy your glass of wine along with a light selection of bar food.

On Thursday evenings Noisy Ritual hosts the event School Night, which features live music. Sean and I headed over there tonight for a glass of wine and to catch Emma Russack and Lachlan Denton (formerly The Ocean Party) play some songs they have recorded together as a duo. Their new album Take The Reigns just came out last week, and they played some songs off of it including "Cake," "Love For Myself," and "When You Wake Up." They also played songs from their previous two releases, including a couple of my favorites from Lachlan with "I'm Right Here" and "I'll Be The Rock." The banter between the two of them in between songs was hilarious and also revealing about personal incidents (e.g. Lachlan's woodworking accident) as well as their friendship.

Here's a live video of them playing "The Heatwave (Eloise)" and "I'll Be The Rock"

Alex Gow and Dan Kelly- The Australian Dreamers Tour

Alex Gow (Oh Mercy) and Dan Kelly's Australian Dreamers Tour has been working its way around the country for the past four weeks. Luckily for me there was a second swing through Victoria so Belinda and I took a little road trip to Geelong for tonight's final show of the tour at The Workers Club.

It was a small and intimate crowd at the venue (possibly due to Geelong playing footy this evening). Emma Russack was the opening act and did a solo set on electric guitar. She sounded good and I really enjoyed her last song about wishing she knew her famous older ex-boyfriend in his prime.

The format for these shows was Alex and Dan playing both solo and together on each other's songs. Alex came out first and opened the evening with "Lady Eucalyptus" and "Iron Cross" before Dan joined him on stage for "Sandy." It was then Alex's turn to depart as Dan played "Baby Bonus" and "Ex Bandido" solo. The guys were quite funny with their introductions to songs and assorted requests to the soundman for different vocal effects on their mics (e.g. whale, Mary MacKillop). Dan got the audience involved in singing along to the chorus for "Everything's Amazing" and "Bindi Irwin Apocalypse Jam." The guys did a tropicalia version of Oh Mercy's "Drums" and a shortened "On The Run" off Dan's Leisure Panic! album.

Alex played "My Man" and "Deep Heat" solo, and was quite thrilled to no longer have to play the harmonica solo again for the later after tonight (I actually didn't mind the harmonica as it was a bit of a throw back to those early Oh Mercy shows). Dan and Alex rejoined forces for "Never Stop The Rot" and ended the evening with a very psychedelic version of "Dan Kelly's Dream" which had Alex on keys and samples and also included a bit of Canned Heat's "On The Road Again." It was a great show and I wish I had been in town to catch the earlier Melbourne date.

Here are a couple songs Alex and Dan did together in May as part of Tram Sessions: