Ballot Round Two Now Open
The Ballot is still Open To All Comers and can be freely and easily entered at www.mmf.com.au until 23:23 (11:23pm) Tuesday 20 August 2013. Round Two results will be out soon after that.

THE STORY SO FAR
Meredith23 is still proudly BYO, no commercial sponsors, the No D!ckhe@d Policy, One Stage Fits All, world’s-best-practice facilities and all the marvelocities of the lush, spacious Funpark that is the Supernatural Amphitheatre – with

ONE TWEAK
This year there will be 500 fewer folks there, to ensure that Meredith Time & Space is in abundance. There’s only one type of ticket: The Full Meredith Experience is $309 + $10 booking + $7 post; all camping & parking included.

WHO’S PLAYING?
What’s growing? A Garden of Good Times, an Orchard of Eargasmic Wonders, a Moveable Grooveable FEAST of Hi-Fidelic FUN, from heirloom seeds, rooted DEEEEEEP, with a trunk of funk, rolling rockeries, branches stacked and runners climbing to the light, stems and buds and blossoms shooting off in every imaginable dimension – Perennials, Annuals, Exotics, Natives, Wildflowers, Forget-me-nots, new blooms, hybrid breeds, no weeds. New shoots, Strange Fruits. A premium platter of prize produce prepared For You, Live and Direct in Phantasmagoric-4D, over 3 daze and two nites at the Superest-natural Amphitheatre on Earth. Mother Nature on the lights.

CHIC featuring NILE RODGERS

aaaAAAHHH FREAK OUT! One of the greatest shows in the world of popular funky music. An Epic Groove Marathon of bona fide solid gold hit-hit-hits. These. Are. The. GOOD TIMES! After Nile stepped off stage at Golden Plains Sixxx having left The Sup’ a joyous mesmerised mess, he asked if he could come back and do it again – “every show is special but that was ‘spiritual’”…. “Oh man, it felt magical. We’ve achieved this thing a few times before where the crowd, it feels like you could walk on top of their energy.” Well it turned out he had a bit on, so it took a little longer. If you didn’t see it (and even if you did), my lawd you’re in for a MASSIVE TREAT. Stacks of killer hits for you live in deep-and-wide 4D, from Chic’s ultimate disco bombshells through decades of bona fide blockbusters from the genius mind of Nile.

BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE

BJM baby. The Meredith Time Space Continuum is gonna wobble right open and spill its glorious guts: all the way from San Francisco, California, via a long and winding rock’n’rollercoaster, through fifty+ band members, forever exploring inner and outer space, the mythical psychedelic underground artistic outlaw rock n roll band led by Anton Newcombe will be IN THE FLESH, IN YOUR HEAD, IN THE AIR, IN THE SUP’ at Meredith23. BJM create moments of the blissest bliss around, their music takes in every colour of the psychedelic rainbow… freakbeat, shoegaze, strummy busker, joyous jams, uplifters, all the good stuff. Newcombe and co have been doing their thing since 1990, and let the insurrectionary verve of their music do the talking. This will be A Happening of the Highest Order. Get your brainwashed, Friday night.

DEERHUNTER

Dear Millions of Meredithians Who Have Regularly Requested This Over The Last Six or Seven Seasons or So,

Thankyou for your Passionate Persistence and Patience: This is the year.

Yours Sincerely,
Aunty

Yes, for the first time in The Sup’, all the way from Atlanta Georgia, Deerhunter appear in the headlights. Bradford Cox and Co have crafted a catalogue that music-heads just plain love; their nuanced guitar music has truly sunk in, a few levels up from next level. Always great live, often stretching out the songs. New album Monomania recalls their early scrappy punk aesthetic: Friday night comes alive. In your sights.

MELVINS

Prepare yourself for one of the most inventive and heavy musical experiences the Supernatch has ever seen. Creators of the most mythologised rock since the fall of the Berlin wall. Some know it as stoner-doom-grunge. Some call it sludge. For the first time in Postcode 3333…it’s…(THE)… MELVINS!

As the dust settles on the rock soundscape of the last few decades, the word MELVINS appears bigger and bigger.

Kurt Cobain co-produced their classic Houdini, and they blazed the trail for what underground rock could be in the 90s, yet they remain peerless and unsurpassed today, continuing to warp minds via albums like Freak Puke, Pigs Of The Roman Empire and most recently Everybody Loves Sausages. Collaborations with Jello Biafra, Mike Patton and Tool have also borne delicious strange fruit.

Get up the front and let King Buzzo and buddies take you through much of their ever-(mind)expanding catalogue of bizarro-hits.

DERRICK MAY

Few names mean as much to the history of electronic music as Derrick May. As a high school student he helped create a new form of music – Techno. That’s right – May and his two teenage friends the Belleville Three invented Techno. Detroit techno to be specific – sophisticated funk – like Kraftwerk and George Clinton jamming in an elevator. It took the world by storm.

His iconic track ‘Strings Of Life’ made the Detroit sound world famous. It was thee anthem of the Acid House era in the UK – the “second summer of love”. It sent the youth into hysterics.

“It just exploded. It was like something you can’t imagine, the kind of power and energy people got off that record when it was first heard” – Frankie Knuckles on ‘Strings Of Life’.

“This tune speaks without saying anything. We were running round the Hacienda being mental, going up to the speakers and saying “I want to get inside the music”! Whenever this would come on I would say “I’m going to have this track played at my funeral.” And with that in mind I’ll say “I’m going to have this played at my funeral.” – Noel Gallagher.

Production master, musical architect, renegade of funk, outlaw genius. And as a DJ? Elite.

SPIDERBAIT

There is nothing quite like Spiderbait.

They’re from Finley. A bunch of country kids who moved to the city and formed a band……and got big on their own terms from the ground up not the top down. Then when they got very hot they stayed very cool, and connected to a culture. They looked after their fans. They are unique, with a strong DIY ethic. Three band members, three songwriters.

And, frankly, Spiderbait were as influential as any other single factor in Meredith being what it is today. Their shows at Meredith every year or other during the 90s were vital, powerful drivers of the culture and underground popularity of the fledgling festival.
It’s been nine years since they last played Meredith. CANNOT WAIT to feel that Gigantic Customised Groove, that youthful energetic fun. ‘Old Man Sam’, ‘Black Betty’, ‘Buy Me A Pony’, ‘Sam Gribbles’, ‘Calypso’, plus a bunch of other faves and newbies from their forthcoming album.

The band has spent much of this year writing and recording their new album…splitting time between studios in Melbourne, Byron Bay and LA…

“We’re playing better than ever.” Saturday night.

CHARLIE BROWNE & THE BONGIN’ ROCKETS

The soulful, dynamic nine-piece R’n’B band that don’t fit neatly anyplace, except perhaps an after dark dinner club smoky speakeasy classy seedy bordello cabaret secret lounge nightclub. They use/ooze sexy sass and vintage va va voom, mid-century style and showwomanship, and flaunt femme fatale flair and choreographed girl group glamour.

Their single ‘Love Letter’ reached Number One on the US iTunes R&B Chart. Nobody accidentally calls them Charlie Browne & the Bongin’ Rockets anymore.

BEASTS OF BOURBON

It’s 10 years since the enigmatic, lawless gang of freaks that is the Beasts last played Meredith. A hot summer’s Saturday late afternoon in 2003 they were thumping out a wired, dangerous vibe; more than just the sky was on the edge of darkness. The big crowd swayed and nodded and vented to every incendiary note, they were ON, things were going OFF, like firecrackers! ‘Chase The Dragon’. ‘Black Milk’, ‘Dropout’, ‘Psycho’, ‘Let’s Get Funky’, ‘Can’t Say No’, ‘Just Right’…until finally that unregulated force just blew right out, and everything ended… abruptly. It was a rude crude finish, but nobody left disappointed, cos it was one of the best things you’d ever see. A live Beasts show is a rarity, a special occasion, worth waiting for, it feels like an all-star underworld Rock n Roll Bad-State-of-Mind-Origin… or something. When they’re going, it’s as though rock energy exists purely to feed their animal. The Beasts chew it up and spit it out, great gobfulls of punk and swamp and blues spraying out everywhere too. Henry Rollins has talked about watching the Beasts from side of stage with members of Nirvana, BDO 91, when Nirvana were the biggest thing in the world, and said they “handed Nirvana their heads.” Tex: “An hour set you have to pace yourself somewhere, but with a forty five you can just cane it.” 45 it is then. The same lineup as ten years ago will do it again, Saturday evening. Lightning strikes twice.

JOEY BADA$$

To many, this needs no explaining. “The kid is hotter than magma.” First time in Australia.

Joey is the pick of the bunch in a new golden age of hip hop. Hip hop royalty – DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Q-Tip and MF Doom are working with him. Not to mention his tracks with A$AP, Kendrick and Danny Brown.

He’s from the birthplace of hip hop and his sound is pure New York rap music. He represents what some fans wish their fav rappers still sounded like – no pop hooks, no crossover, no jumping on trends, no attempt to be in fashion. He’s 18 years old. His 2 mixtapes have been the most talked about hip hop releases in recent years and his debut album is shaping up to be a 5 mic classic. The initial hype within his circle of high school friends and in his neighbourhood spread throughout NYC, and beyond to the four corners of the planet, in a matter of weeks. The initial shock about his age and maturity was quickly replaced by a growing audience of fans eagerly subscribing to a more heartfelt, grounded style of hip hop. His natural shine recalls a different time. Half the world’s in awe, you might be too, Saturday mid-arvo.

VANCE JOY

So Vance is a Meredith-goer. He’s been four times; “it’s the festival I enjoy the most.” Any particularly fond memory? “Watching Nick Cave perform whilst on a ferris wheel was pretty cool.” In between enjoying himself in The Sup’ and studying for his law degree, he quietly wrote songs and honed his musical craft. He recorded some of them a while ago, they got heard, and now things have been getting rather crazy – and crazier by the week. Deservedly so too, it comes from a genuine, soulful place. We are honoured to have him back at Meredith – this time ON the stage – so The Sup’ can press him to her ample bosom and hear that sublime thing he does big and clear in amongst the ghost gums. Someone will be watching him from the ferris wheel. Modern Joy.

MAC DEMARCO

Mac’s a natural. Songwriter, singer, frontman, entertainer. He’s from Canada, and travels with a four-piece band of exquisite taste. It’s all musically relaxed but great fun. Summery pop. Feelgood. Nothing too arty. The world’s most well crafted modern pop with brilliant duelling guitar interplay as a sub-plot. Mac calls it “jizz jazz” in that wacked-Sinatra way of his. Top of the heap. A number 1. 7 albums since 2009. Well-conceived and constructed simple ideas, delivered with panache. Mac’s one suave slacker. New album shows a blindingly attractive maturity, as it should, after all he’s now 22. Sat arvo.

THE BAMBOOS

The Bamboos are a bona fide institution. They are one of the premier funk and soul acts on the planet now. Funk and soul has become a real, big Melbourne thing, and Lance and The Bamboos spearheaded that scene, and not just through happenstance, they understood the sound and executed it thrillingly – to wide acclaim here and abroad. Did you know their first ever gig with Kylie Auldist as singer was at Meredith? It’s been 8 years. Their live shows are a non-stop mix-tape-style throwdown that draws the links between hip hop, funk and old-school breaks. If you’ve seen ’em before, then you know the score!

They’re on after Joey.

HERMITUDE

13 years and counting for this Blue Mountains duo. Their tunes have continued to excite and surprise. Hip Hop, Dub, Dancehall all inform their future-focused beat-smithing, and Korg synths, turntable skills, keytars, MCing and singing all come together in the Hermitude live experience. A Hyperparadise of beats n bounce, Satdee night in The Sup’.

DICK DIVER

You walk into a friend’s house, you like the music they are playing. It sounds so clear and direct and honest. Humble ingredients, but delicious; (treeless) plain but poetic. You go to another friend’s house, it’s on there too. The household love it, like wine or beer. Someone on the radio plays a song and gives a rave, it sounds great as you drive around. Makes you happy, introspective, nostalgic. Present, but timeless.

Dick Diver’s album Calendar Days is an important, landmark Australian release. It came out a week after they played Golden Plains. Double dipping.

JON HOPKINS

Now THIS just might be amazing Out There. From Wimbledon, England. First became aware of electronic music hearing house on the radio at age 7 or 8. By 12, studying piano at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music in London. Loving Ravel and Stravinsky.

As a teenager got crazy for acid house, early hardcore, grunge and electronica. At 14 he got his first computer, an Amiga 500. By 15 he had saved up enough money from winning piano competitions to buy a low-level professional Roland synth, and began creating.

Became an expert producer, renowned composer of film scores, remixer and longterm collaborator of no less than Brian Eno. And Coldplay. But it’s this new album, Immunity, that has really taken the cake to a whole new bakery. It takes an ambient aesthetic and makes 4/4 dance tunes – from soundtrack to dancefloor. It’s everyone’s favourite latenight beautiful epic soaring emotional instrumental album. It was made using physical, real-world sounds: anything from tapping a piano, drumming on the desk, salt and pepper shakers, the reverse alarm of a truck outside his studio, fireworks emanating from a nearby stadium, the rattle of a window frame at every kick drum hit. The random patterns of nature. This not only makes the album deeply personal to Hopkins, but is key to one of his main inspirations in recording it – the desire to slow down or alter the brainwaves to help us reach different states of mind, not just via music, but hypnosis too.

With a stated aim to see if this music might have just that effect on those who encounter it – self-hypnosis – Hopkins’ music feels like a trip inside his mind. Catch the 2am Friday night First Class Sleeper to Everywhere.

HELMET

Think Helmet, think controlled heavy groove, commitment, intensity, integrity, uncompromising, brutal but intelligent. Meantime, Betty, those songs, that artwork tattooed on the brains of millions of…well…all sorts of fans – hardcore, punk, metal, hard rock – though Helmet didn’t really look like any of them.

Page Hamilton co-founded the band in New York 1989, fusing Zeppelinesque riffing with post-hardcore precision, dense chords and offbeat time signatures based in his formal jazz training. The combination achieved that rare feat – success in its own time.

Helmet took itself off in 1998, Hamilton did soundtracks for major Hollywood movies, and played lead guitar in David Bowie’s band. Then they began again in 2004, and here we are today, looking forward to them at Meredith. If you hadda taken a more youthful Aunty aside at one of the early 90’s Merediths and said that Helmet would play here in 20 years time…well… Saturday Rush Hour.

TIM SWEENEY

Third time to The Sup’.

Again, if you know him, this needs no explanation. If you don’t, well keep reading. His radio show Beats In Space is legendary in its own time, the barometer of forward thinking dance music, a one stop shop for the most progressive forms of dance music. COOL dance music, sure – but DANCE music. He’s like a Pope John Peel to his people, giving context to a whole new world of DJs and producers that are turning heads; a subscene of cosmic, nu-disco and beyond. He’s a connector, conductor and collator. Has a special Melbourne connection, being a conduit to the world for some of the city’s best sounds.

From Beat Magazine 2012: “As he lists his all-time favourite selectors, I note the peculiarity that both Optimo, Harvey and himself have all taken to the decks of the beloved Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre. “Yeah, that has been amazing. I love Meredith. I think that has to be my favourite festival I’ve ever done.””

By the way he also mentions Harvey’s equipment-smashing end to his set at Meredith 2010: “He’s (Harvey’s) a character. He’s a rock star,” he notes of Harvey’s infamous smashing of Andee Frost’s prized Bozak rotary mixer, an Alpha Recordings 5-band equalizer, two CDJs and two Technics 1200s at the 2010 Meredith. “Everyone is going to be talking about that forever. Unfortunately, for Andee, his equipment got messed up and I think he still doesn’t have the crossover fixed, but it’s definitely going to go down in history.”

He recently left his day job as soundtrack supervisor at Rockstar Games, where he helped to score popular games including Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Before that we believe he was Steinski’s record librarian (!) and a staffer at the iconic DFA label. Today. He’s a full-time DJ, and plays across Europe, North and South America and beyond. And though he’s on an international flight nearly every weekend, he hasn’t lost sight of his initial passion.

“Week in and week out, I’m still back in New York on Tuesday to record the show,” says Sweeney. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” How cool is that?

WORLD’S END PRESS

Another successful Melbourne band. Melbourne has been good to Meredith, hasn’t it? These fine young widescreen avant-popists last whizzed their exhilarating live show out at The Sup at Golden Plains 2010, just after Hawkwind, and kicked everything back up into top gear. It’s an unrelenting rhythm, a constant propulsive pulse, for the whole set; a dance set in band form. First album finally comin’ out in August. In recent months the band have been further honing the live show. Prepare for End days.

LE1F

The ruler of gayngster rap. Le1f – born Khalif Diouf – is a real deal original. An out and proud gay MC whose style is rooted in Tunnel bangers however this comes from a different perspective. He’s about partying as much as lyrics, a living evolution on what a rapper is, and not just musically. The cool thing about his story is that since we’ve never heard it before we don’t know how it’s going to end. Chapter 23 takes place in The Sup’ late Friday night. Gum Le1f.

BEACHES

Wall of sound shimmering rock power quintet in the hazy shade and sunbathed golden glow of The Sup’, primetime Sunday.

OLIVER TANK

Singer songwriter inspired by the dreamy electronica of Boards Of Canada as much as he is acoustic strummers. 23 years old from Sydney, with his own brand of incredibly textural glitch pop…combines real instruments with computers to create heartfelt soundscapes so vivid they could only be dreamed of. Got started on FBi. Big-time influencers give him reviews like “Perfect”, “Oliver Tank is the best” and “Absolutely beautiful.” Sunday morning.

ROLAND TINGS

Representing a fresh generation of Melbourne artists that make new original music to Move Your Body to.

Acidic, hard-jackin’ trax done proper. Feel it in your magic feet on Friday night.

STONEFIELD

Darraweit Guim, Victoria, population 672, is home to the Findlay sisters and their group STONEFIELD.

Not sure what’s in the town’s water supply, but headbanging, bluesy, swaggering 70’s style hard rock with nods to Led Zepp and Deep Purple is not commonly played by four teenage sisters in 2013.

They’ve already played stadiums, arenas and toured the world. They’re really good.

CITY OF BALLARAT MUNICIPAL BRASS BAND

Over 125 years old. Those magnificent men and women in their almost flying machine.

COURTNEY BARNETT

Reviews range from calling her “The next queen of Australian rock and roll” to just wanting to be mates with her: “I’ve only ever met her once but I can tell she’s a legend.” If you haven’t befriended Courtney yet, there’s still time before the big Do in December. Maybe start with ‘History Eraser’. Enjoy playful, amusing, interesting narratives in a bit of rock n roll, with some poppy, slacker elements. Luxuriate in the totally non-affected singing voice.

It was only a couple of years ago that Courtney gathered a bunch of like-minded friends, recorded an EP of rambling garage pop and began life as a front-woman. It’s been fun to watch her progress and evolution to be one of Melbourne’s Brightest. Saturday morning, with her band “The Courtney Barnetts”.

THE SMITH STREET BAND

Kings of local folk punk rock. Billy Bragg once said that in his head he thought he was Joe Strummer, only to realise later he was all Pete Seeger. The Smith Street Band pivots around the songs of Wil Wagner, who perhaps has Pete Seeger in mind, but probably comes out closer to Joe Strummer. The tunes are written on acoustic guitar, and the band either forget they are a folk band or forget they are a punk band – it’s that unifying aspect of both forms that the TSSB magic happens in. They formed above the Birmingham Hotel when they were living upstairs there. Take a right at Electric Avenue, heat of battle Saturday.

ANDEE FROST

Prince of Meredoof. Benevolent despot of the latenite Eucalypse.

Every great music city has a defining DJ. Andee is the #1 underground guy. A tireless DJ. A beacon of quality. Every weekend he is out there from midnight to dawn and beyond, doing it, living it, inciting it. Making things happen. Over the years his legendary residencies have had him school over a million ears to the fact that THERE IS MORE.

He really should be recognised in Aunty’s Birthday Honours. A lifer, who doesn’t get stuck in an era. The Knight is still young.

THE UV RACE

Punk rock pinheads. At least 10% weird.
Fronted by singer Big Poppa Rechsteiner.
Toured the world.
1,2,3,4 gabba gabba hey.
Live shows known for party atmosphere.
They like to say they play hardcore glam music.
They have been given the coveted closing role, late afternoon Sun(screen)day.

BAPTISM OF UZI

Motorik grooves. Wall of sound. Loose, pleasurable psychedelic pop. Melbourne four piece. Sunday morning soundscape. Lose your mind. Mind already gone. Where’s Lost Property. What’s property? Boom. (There’s a joke in here somewhere about Tank, Helmet and Uzi but I can’t find it).

TRANTER

Out of skyscraper sights for the first time in his illuminated career – we present TRANTER. With a well served apprenticeship under his belt this boy has become a man, and from rookie DJ he now deserves the tag of “local legend”. Always on the future tip – he’s the master of the microgenre and hyperbaric beats. Trapped in the club no more – Carlos T aka DJ Tranter in full effect.

DAVIDSON BROTHERS

Sunday in the sticks, this seems to fit, right? Three-time Golden Guitar winning act, winners of multiple Australian National Bluegrass Championship Titles on Fiddle, Banjo and Mandolin, described by Lee Kernaghan as “two of the greatest musicians in this country”, conquerors of Nashville, gun sidemen to some of country music’s biggest stars, over twenty years of performing together in their saddle bags, all the way from Yinnar, Victoria, Meredith welcomes Hamish and Lachlan: The Davidson Brothers. Sunday arvo coming up.

WARPED

Arrived to play Meredith in The Year 2001 by driving a Valiant RT Charger right into the Amphitheatre, parking in front of the stage, getting out with megaphone and guitars in hand, jumping up onto stage and ripping into it. That sense of fun and ROCK helps explain why Warped have a twenty year history yet seem eternally youthful. For regular Melbourne live music punters in the 90s and first half of the noughties, seeing Warped play was as essential as having vegemite in the house and a beer at the pub. Led by Benny and Cris, a cast of thousands have played their part in the incredible beast that has been Warped.

They are a great-fun electric cool killer all out riffy rock band, and speaking of entrances, they’ll be getting Meredith23 off to The Right Start by bending it out of shape first up Friday.

THE TOWN BIKES

It wouldn’t be Meredith, and certainly not The Meredith Gift, without The Town Bikes. They have managed to wrangle countless nude runners, a straight course, a circular course, Angus Sampson, Dennis Cometti, J.B. Smoove, several thousand onlookers, the Golden Jocks and Golden Gusset into some sort of superb disorder every year on the Sunday afternoon, all whilst in extraordinary garb.

SILENCE WEDGE

The undisputed new kings of ambient return to The Sup’ yet again. Nobody outdoes them, there’s nothing beyond their extreme art, and they’re the only act on the LineUp invited to perform twice over the weekend. Well… that is if they don’t get too awe-struck (drunk) backstage trying to ingratiate themselves to Jon Hopkins and pass him their latest USB opus blankus and fawning all over him “what’s Brian Eno like??” etc etc. But, the genius thing about these transparent-noise lifers is that even when they are passed out they still manage to pull off just as convincing a live show. If this will be your first Meredith, do not miss Silence Wedge.

Meredith Music Festival 23
December 13, 14 and 15, 2013
Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre, Meredith Victoria, Australia

www.mmf.com.au
www.twitter.com/auntymeredith