The
Oxford Art Factory can sure put on a hell of a party.

On the eve of
their third birthday, the venue was overflowing with more skinny jeans,
questionable hairstyles and obscure pop culture reference t-shirts than
you could poke an anorexic sticklike arm at. The staff dressed in
outrageous costumes and The Chaser’s “Every Single Candidate is Fucked”
song making a sneaky appearance amongst the background music all added
to the festive atmosphere. It certainly seems that the Oxford Art
Factory is the place to be for trendy hipsters as a few familiar faces
from my art college days reinforced, but the question most pressing in
my mind was whether the people were just here to be seen or to actually
see the live bands. Almost everyone I asked whether they knew what band
was currently playing responded with a resolute “I have no idea”. It’s
not unreasonable considering the number of bands playing on the night-
thirteen in total. However everyone knew which bands they came here to
see and were more than willing to check out something new.  The
same cannot be said for venues of comparable size like The Annandale or
The Gaelic where there seems to be an exodus of punters following the
end of a band’s set.

The thirteen bands playing on the night were very much in keeping
with the characteristic sound The Oxford Art has come to be known for.
That’s arty, trendy, occasionally electro tinged indie rock, in case you
didn’t know. That’s not to say that the bill tonight lacked variety.
The highlights included Dark Bells, who deserved a much
better timeslot. They pulled off their atmospheric amalgamation of Sonic
Youth, The Cure and The Velvet Underground with style. This is the
second time I have seen these guys live and they have demostrated huge
potential each time.

The guitarist/vocalist and drummer duo of Mother and Son
delivered raw stripped back garage rock not dissimilar to other bands
with this kind of line up- The White Stripes or The Black Keys. However
they mixed things up a bit with slabs of dark surf-rock ala The Cramps.
It’s obvious that frontman Bodie’s porno moustache was the secret behind
his power to pull off whiskey soaked, gravel encrusted blues vocals
that were the focal point immensely entertaining live act.

Even though Rapids and Joysticks were essentially sonically identical, both playing electro-rock in the vein of Foals or Kasabian, Joysticks
came out on top. The main reason for this being a more dynamic stage
presence and more adventurous songwriting that featured the occasional
tempo and time signature changes and noise breakdowns, but never
forgetting to deliver strong memorable hooks. They are a satisfying
example of their genre and I must admit I tend to be extremely
picky
when it comes to this type of sound.

When La Mancha Negra
took the stage I was ready to dismiss them as posers, mostly due to
their stereotypical neo-rockabilly attire, but as soon as they played
the first note all by preconceptions were blown away. Vocalist Akira
(who I don’t think is actually Japanese) channeled a young Nick Cave
with both his voice and stage presence as he banged his tambourine
violently against his microphone. The band sounded like a demented
surf-rock version of The Birthday Party. The poor acoustics in the
Gallery room just accentuated the rawness of their sound and got the
crowd swinging along to their twisted grooves.

While La Mancha Negra were a pleasant surprise and one of the best bands of the night, Circle Pit,
whose recordings I very much enjoy ended up being a disappointment
live. The band cannot be flawed on their playing or the overall
tightness “Another Trick” went down a treat , however their too cool for
school attitude and lack of stage movement were just a turn off. They
gave off an arrogant, trendier than thou vibe and in all honesty you
don’t really need three guitarist to pull of this sort of sound live.

Even
though the place was packed to the brim and the cops showing up halfway
through the night, there was nothing that could stop the celebrations
at The Oxford Art Factory. Clearly the fuzz could see no threat coming
from these emaciated hipsters. Despite being only the tender age of 3,
it attracts a much bigger crowd of regulars than most live music venues
ten times as old. One can only hope that it will remain the epicenter of
Sydney’s indie culture for a long time to come.