What Is Music? Here's TheAnswer!

Mon 17th Jan, 2005 in Local News

In 1994, Oren Ambarchi and Robbie Avenaim had an idea. They thought that Australian crowds would benefit from there being a platform which would expose unusual contemporary music. Stuff that’d make Mr Bungle look like a stroll in the park. Stuff that’d make you question exactly what constitutes music these days.

The result was the What Is Music? festival, and the response was amazing.. Artists including Fushitsusha, Merzbow, Whitehouse and The Boredoms have all played a part in festival shows through the years, which have ranged in scope from all-out noisefests to tranquil tape-loop evenings of ambience. Internationally renowned acts that’d never had the chance to tour Australia – or to see some of our outstanding improvisational/experimental talent – were presented to eager audionauts, who clamoured for more.

This year, that call’s been answered. The original What Is Music? team have hooked up with big guns from Consume, the Big Day Out and Red Eye/Black Eye Records to provide an amazing bonus to this year’s festival. As well as the typical intimate gigs that the touring program’s known for, 2005 sees the inaugural presentation of a two-night headline event called Onathon. And for this very important first year, the team has successfully snared legendary avant-rockers and eyeball-wearers The Residents, who will close the show.

The festival takes place in March, in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Tickets are available from January 21. Performers appearing include the bowel-churning Sunn 0))), the chaotic Black Dice, cut-and-paste wonders Chicks On Speed, the meditative Pan Sonic and many more, yet to be announced.

Dates for the Onathon are as follows:

March 4 and 5: The Forum, Melbourne
March 8: Metro Theatre, Sydney
March 12: Powerhouse, Brisbane

If you want to expand your ears, and check out artists who’d never get airtime in a guitar-bass-drums-only world, then What Is Music? is an essential series of shows. You can WIN doubles passes here.