Sound Check’s top 5 Sydney venue guide

 

#5 Oxford Arts Factory

The main room at OAF

Starting the list is Oxford Arts Factory. The venue has two rooms that cater for live music – the main room and the gallery bar. The gallery bar is great for a midweek fix of live entertainment, equipped with a small stage and bar. Situated amongst the artistic hubb of Darlinghurst and Surry Hills, the gallery bar brings this artistic environment to Oxford Street. The main room features a mezzanine for those that like to keep out of the sweaty mosh pit, allowing for a birds eye view of live acts as well as the goings on in the crowd. The location of OAF is fundamental to its success as a much loved Sydney venue, situated right in the middle of the Oxford Street strip. Being advocates of young up and coming talent, OAF is a great venue to see something new and exciting.

#4 Brighton Up Bar

Brighton Up Bar

Located at 77 Oxford Street, right across the road from OAF, is Brighton Up Bar. The grungy drinking hole that lies below is in stark contrast with the new renovations of its venue upstairs. The gig space is small and intimate, decked out with some great rock n’ roll photography. Brighton Up Bar is another venue that supports local and interstate talent, having gigs on most nights of the week.

#3 The Standard

The Standard

If you’re stumbling about at Taylor Square on a Saturday night you’ll be glad to know that there’s a great venue right under your nose. Located up stairs from Lo-Fi and next door to Kinsela’s is The Standard. It’s large spacious gig room is arguably the best on Oxford Street. What’s best about this place is that it has been designed for live music. The stage is far away from the bar, minimising crowded queues. The Standard also has a mezzanine with bleacher seatings for comfortable view points of the live act. Oh and if you’re feeling a bit peckish mid-gig, pop downstairs to Johnny Wong’s Dumpling Bar for some Asian goodness ($1 dumplings on Wednesdays!)

#2 The Basement

The Basement

The Basement is a great intimate setting. It’s the perfect venue for a date with dinner and live music both upholding great standards. The music is more blues, funk and jazz oriented however they have been known to hold the odd hip hop show. Located just up the road from Circular Quay at 29 Reiby Place, The Basement is easy to get to from suburbs north of the bridge and the east, making it your most convenient dinner date gig destination.

#1 Venue 505

Venue 505

Sydney’s top jazz and funk venue is undoubtedly the 505. The venue can be found at 505 Cleveland Street in the heart of Surry Hills. A great spot to see live music with the comfortability of your own living room, thanks to the well designed couches that fill the gig space. There’s live music every night of the week with Sound Check’s favourite being Old School Tuesdays – live funk and soul bands and free entry. The convenience of Central Station down the road makes the 505 the most accessible trendy venue in town.

Sound Check reviews Hiatus Kaiyote @ The Standard

On Saturday 26th of October, Sound Check had the pleasure of witnessing one of the funkiest bands Australia has to offer. Yep, we’re talking about Hiatus Kaioyte, the Melbourne based funk, jazz and soul group. Supporting the Hiatus was Silent Jay, who kicked off the night with his future soul infused beats. His eclectic style really came through with loose snares and hi hats all over the place. Silent Jay’s set was suggestive of hip hop undertones, with boom bap kicks and snares to get the crowd nodding. On stage he was using an Akai MPK25 and an Ableton session on the laptop. It looked as though he was launching samples from the Ableton session, whilst twisting filter and effects parameters on the MPK25. Simple, but very effective. Just ask the hippie groupies up the front who were shakin’ it all night. Being one of the back up vocalists in Hiatus Kaiyote, Silent Jay knew what kind of vibe he needed to bring to ease into the headline set.

Silent Jay on back up vocals

Hiatus Kaiyote follwed, opening up with their single Malika off their debut album ‘Tawk Tomahawk’. The groove was contagious from then on. Paul Bender held it down with his thick and heavy bass lines, which were backed by the percussive layers of Perrin Moss on drums. Nai Palm smoothed it over with her soulful tone on vocals coupled with the soft jazzy chords of her bright orange Ibanez semi-acoustic. However probably the most interesting layer of their compositions were the keys and synth, played intuitively by Simon Mavin. His warm, rich tone filled the frequency spectrum and completed the sound, enveloping you into a compulsive groove. Mavin built the atmosphere of the compositions with his analogue Korg synthesiser, creating a frenzy of oscillating squeals and low frequency wobbles. The wonderful back up singers sang with grace and style, however it would have been nice to hear more of them.

Nai Palm belting it

Overall an amazing experience. If you also love Hiatus Kaiyote check out their website for more information on tour dates. Sound Check wishes Hiatus Kaiyote well on their American tour!