19 February 2010
Megan Washington
Ladyhawke
Friday 19 Feburary
Tickets are $21.50 and are available through qtix or phone 136 246 (includes booking fee).
Performances
Washington (solo performance) (7.30pm)
23-year-old Australian singer–songwriter Megan Washington graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane in 2006. She relocated to Melbourne and in 2008 formed her first band, Washington, featuring members of The Cat Empire and The Bamboos. The group won the national Triple J ‘Unearthed’ competition in 2008.
Washington has released two independent EPs — Clementine (2008) and the recent How to Tame Lions (2009). In December 2009, Megan Washington was awarded the inaugural Vanda and Young songwriting competition, named after the Easybeats songwriters Harry Vanda and George Young, for the title track of her How to Tame Lions EP.
Washington’s background in jazz composition has seen her perform as a keyboardist and vocalist in the bands of several well-known Australian musicians, including Ben Lee and Paul Grabowsky. Her work gained widespread attention following appearances on national television music quiz shows ‘Spicks and Specks’ and ‘RocKwiz’.
At APT Up Late, Megan Washington performs a solo set of her songs, accompanied by piano.
I could tell immediately that she had 'it', where she put the notes, her phrasing, her timing, what she could hear. We struck up a rapport and pretty soon she was sending me song lyrics and I was setting them to music. (Jazz musician Paul Grabowsky on Megan Washington)
Ladyhawke (DJ set) (8.30pm)
Born in Masterton in 1979, singer–songwriter Phillipa Brown — better known by her stage name ‘Ladyhawke’ — comes from a musical family and developed a love for music while growing up in New Zealand.
In high school Brown played in several grunge-rock bands before moving to Wellington to study design. She co-founded the band Two Lane Blacktop with friends and played lead guitar, and after the group disbanded, Brown moved to Melbourne, where she met Nick Littlemore (Pnau and Empire of the Sun) and joined his band Teenager. Brown later relocated to Sydney to be closer to the band. During this time, she was working on a project through which she could explore her personal music interests — a project and persona she had dubbed ‘Ladyhawke’.
Named after the 1985 film, Ladyhawke admits to wanting to make music that evokes memories of a certain time and make listeners smile. Driven by happy melodies and dance beats, handclaps and singalong choruses, Ladyhawke’s '80s pop sound imparts a sense of nostalgia but one that is free of irony or cynicism. Ladyhawke's music has been likened to that of Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar, Kim Wilde and Peaches, who remixed Ladyhawke's single 'Paris is burning'. In 2008, 'Paris is burning' appeared at number 26 on the Triple J Hottest 100 with 'My delirium' at number 11. Ladyhawke also featured on the Pnau song 'Embrace', which was voted in at number 12.
In 2009, Ladyhawke won Album of the Year, Best Dance/Electronica album, Single of the Year, International Achievement Award, Best Female Solo Artist and Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the New Zealand Music Awards. She was also nominated for People's Choice Award. Other awards have included Breakthrough Artist – Album and Breakthrough Artist – Single (ARIAs), Best Kiwi (MTV Australia) and was nominated for the Best Solo Artist at the NME Awards.
Ladyhawke will perform a DJ set of her music as part of APT Up Late.
Curator's Talk
Weekly curator’s floortalk explore artists, projects or places
included in APT for the first time.
6.30pm/Iran & Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaiain
Suhanya Raffel, Curatorial Manager Asian and Pacific Art
APT6 Cinema
Promised Lands
6.00pm | Ari Folman Waltz with Bashir 2008 (90mins) | Cinema A
APT6 Filmmaker: Takeshi Kitano
8.00pm | Takeshi Kitano Fireworks 1997 (103mins) | Cinema A
