Oh dear! What have they done? Which bright spark decided it would be a good idea to relocate the entrance? Freaking hell! If I weren't a stinking queue jumper, hell, I could have been stuck outside for ages! As it was I was still stranded on the wrong side of the fence as Koolism was playing inside. Dammit!
By the time i finally made it inside Koolism was practically done for the day, but it was too sunny for me to be anywhere else, so i stayed in the oh-so-familiar Big Top dance music tent to sample the trendy scenester's choice, Cut Copy. I hadn't been won over by their tunes on the radio at all. But live, the bass was heavier, the beat was harder, and hey! I think I understand! It's not about retro-kitch-cool 80's electro. By gosh! It's just really rocking fun dance music mix a la early Gerling! And that's still the best kind of Gerling. Some touches of Pnau in there as well. Stomping good fun, and a great way to start the day off.
Then, Katalyst. There has been past bad experiences with Katalyst at Homebake. But I keep coming back cos I liked what I heard from them on the radio. Really, should have just gone with gut instinct. I was not down with this. A whole new generation of kids has come up and are loving this brave new world of aussie hip-hop, in all it's variations. Something I have difficulty understanding. This set just wasn't doing much for me at all. I suppose i hanged around longer than I should have partly because I wanted to hear if Ashley Anderson and friends were gonna drop some fresh Katalyst business. But it was all middle of the road old school breaks/hip-hop. Not exciting. Not digging it. Damn kids these days.
The festival organisers made promises for a world food fair. Still, for the life of me, after doing laps around the venue I still can't find anything acceptable to eat for lunch. Maybe I shouldn't be so picky. With the relocated entrance/exit, eating outside meant I missed out on the start of the set from my new found local favourites, the Red Sun Band. Or theredsunband, as they like to advertise themselves. I don't dig the way they're messing around with lowercase and avoiding the spacebar, but I dig the way they're building these walls of noise and feedback into these noisy but at the same time dreamy pop songs. Slow drone rock with a distinct beauty and even elegance. Or maybe I just love that nonchalant way she plays that guitar. Nice to see they've got a few non-album tunes to fill the set out properly, shame these tunes never made it on to the rather short debut album. But the way lead girl Sarah was singing, there was no way I could tell if these were originals or covers they were playing. Still, they made it their own and for today, I couldn't ask for much more. I'm loving this band more and more each time I catch them.
Wicked Beat Sound System. Nice one. Personal favourites for a long time. Very pleased to see them open up the set with Sensi, an oldie but a very goodie, with MC Kye upfront rocking the mic, the band sounding nice and heavy with the live hip hop. Who said I don't like aussie hip-hop? I'll like it when it's done well. Linda J was here as well, the set swung around to let the funky lady strut her stuff and showcase those fantastic vocals. And there was a new guy, doing some straight forward hip hop thing. Hard to gauge the quality of the new tunes on offer, except for Dis Sound, which I had blasting out my headphones for weeks leading up to the day. And it was sounding impressive live too. The festival crowd isn't quite right for this, I remember getting disgruntled over some kids around me talking loudly through the set. Damn kids these days. Don't know good music when it's pumping out of speaker stacks metres away.
Then, I took it easy. Maybe I'm getting too old, but I couldn't really get heavily into the music after wriggling along to some Wicked Beat Sound System. Which in hindsight is a bit of a shame, considering the Spazzys are probably, as the names may suggest, the best band to go spastic to. Really thought they would be playing to a bigger stage and a larger crowd than this, but, hey, I hate people anyway, so a lower turn out allowed me to get up front a bit and actually see the girls in action, without getting caught up in a mosh I didn't want to be in. Good stupid fun.
More directionless wandering, and searching for something acceptable for personal consumption in this world food fair as Spiderbait played on the main stage. Quite a sight to see so many people getting into these massive rock jams from the return-to-rock Spiderbait. Shame that my favourite thing about the band was probably Whitt's kooky electronics, the bit the band had pushed back as part of their big live rock revival. Dammit. What ever happened to Whitt's solo album?
Yeah, really, by now, I'm just waiting for Sonic Animation and then I'll go home. I suppose watching Regurgitator must then be one of the most entertaining ways to wait for anything. I believe credit must go to any band who goes to the trouble of co-ordinating their wardrobe to turn up in uniform. Had Spazzys-level of stupid fun shouting along to some ridiculously obscene song lyrics. Never was a major fan of their work, but it was interesting to see they still play their harsh and abrupt hip-hop tunes. As long as they still do those I still respect them, for even if the songs aren't that good, by gosh, they actually dare to do something so unexpected. Good on them. And it was still good stupid fun.
Yes, I suppose Good Stupid Fun is a good way to describe this year's Homebake. Normally I'd avoid Bexta like... i don't want to say the plague cos that's too harsh. But Bexta has never been my cup of tea. Yet tonight I decided to stay put. Mainly so I'd have a good spot for Sonic Animation, but also because it was wonderful at my special vantage point looking down on the crowd and seeing them moving all as one like a scene out of some movie about rave music that was so all the rage in the mid 90's. Bexta doing some silly dance moves behind the turntables also kept me from having to focus on the music. I should concede, it's really not that bad. It's just not me.
I really have no right to be making fun of a band like Machine Gun Fellatio when one of my personal favourites, Sonic Animation, relies on just as silly on stage theatrics to keep the crowd entertained. Apparently their tenth birthday as Sonic Animation, at Homebake's tenth birthday, and their fluffy, rounded clowns Robbie and Theo are just getting really carried away tonight. Pogos, stilts, heads coming loose. And Sonic Animation now has a girl band member? As to be expected, it's nothing too intelligent, but they always put on a good show and if you would just shut up and stop thinking for a minute, you can't help but enjoy yourself with the silliness that is Sonic live. Always gets me smiling, always gets me dancing. In the end, does anything else really matter?