FRIDAY DECEMBER 6
Doors 6pm
Event 6:30pm
$15 entry
6:30pm
Out Hear Collective.
(curated by Dale Gorfinkel)
7:15pm
Jim Denley / Jay Euesden / Nick Ashwood / Chloë Sobek
8:00pm
The Ponza Scheme
feat: Brenton Ponza (airsticks) / Steph O’Hara (violin) & Alon Ilsar (drums)
Led by Brenton Ponza—an emerging dancer, musician, and visual artist—this trio revolves around his connection with the AirSticks, a wearable instrument that lets him create expressive music through arm and leg movements, inspiring his fellow performers to explore new directions.
8:45pm
The Definitives (Perth) Rodney Stone, Keith Hayton, Mirijana Janscak. Eduardo Cossio
The Definitives are an experimental post-rock outfit from Boorloo/Perth. This motley crew of poets, musicians, and visual artists make music that is free-form and raucous, yet tender and personal. They use spoken-word, guitars, drum machines and synthesizers to create whimsical vignettes propelled by freewheeling rhythms. The group has performed at Outcome Unknown events and the Audible Edge of Festival of Exploratory Music.
The Definitives are Rodney Stone (vocals, lyrics), Mirijana Janscak (vocals, guitar, lyrics) Keith Hayton (bass, lyrics), and Eduardo Cossio (drums, production). The Definitives are supported by DADAA (Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts Australia) and The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC).
DJ Paul Wain (AKA DJ2)
MC Marlo Mitsak
MC Marlo Mitsak: The child of an enfant terrible is officially unleashed upon the sound art world! Marlo is a bright young man of 13 years obsessed with basketball, basketball culture, teasing his sister, & 2-minute noodles with spinach. His father, MC Erick Mitsak, is a name that strikes fear into the heart of any gig attendant with an aversion to aggressively interventionist forced crowd participation. Though we are not suggesting that the sins of the father shall befall the son, charisma definitely has a level of heredity so we were hard-pressed to think of a more appropriate host for Whatismusic’s smaller sibling festival than…SON OF ‘SAK.
FRIDAY December 6
Doors 6pm / Event 6:30pm / $15 entry
6:30pm
Out Hear Collective.
(curated by Dale Gorfinkel)
7:15pm
Jim Denley / Jay Euesden / Nick Ashwood / Chloë Sobek
8:00pm
The Ponza Scheme
Brenton Ponza (airsticks) / Steph O’Hara (violin) & Alon Ilsar (drums)
Led by Brenton Ponza—an emerging dancer, musician, and visual artist—this trio revolves around his connection with the AirSticks, a wearable instrument that lets him create expressive music through arm and leg movements, inspiring his fellow performers to explore new directions.
8:45pm
The Definitives (Perth) Rodney Stone, Keith Hayton, Mirijana Janscak. Eduardo Cossio
The Definitives are an experimental post-rock outfit from Boorloo/Perth. This motley crew of poets, musicians, and visual artists make music that is free-form and raucous, yet tender and personal. They use spoken-word, guitars, drum machines and synthesizers to create whimsical vignettes propelled by freewheeling rhythms. The group has performed at Outcome Unknown events and the Audible Edge of Festival of Exploratory Music.
The Definitives are Rodney Stone (vocals, lyrics), Mirijana Janscak (vocals, guitar, lyrics) Keith Hayton (bass, lyrics), and Eduardo Cossio (drums, production). The Definitives are supported by DADAA (Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts Australia) and The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC).
DJ Paul Wain (AKA DJ2)
Paul Wain, aka DJ2 of illustrious technically-chillout-but-mainly-just-anti- copyright collective Antediluvian Rocking Horse, so unexpect the expected and prepare to allegorically dance!
Master of Ceremonies Marlo Mitsak
MC Marlo Mitsak: The child of an enfant terrible is officially unleashed upon the sound art world! Marlo is a bright young man of 13 years obsessed with basketball, basketball culture, teasing his sister, & 2-minute noodles with spinach. His father, MC Erick Mitsak, is a name that strikes fear into the heart of any gig attendant with an aversion to aggressively interventionist forced crowd participation. Though we are not suggesting that the sins of the father shall befall the son, charisma definitely has a level of heredity so we were hard-pressed to think of a more appropriate host for Whatismusic’s smaller sibling festival than…SON OF ‘SAK.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 7
Doors 3:30pm
Event 4pm
$15 entry
4pm
Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (TWN) and Esme Brown (TWN)
Alice Hui-Sheng Chang’s piercingly provocative vocal stylings are probably well-known to long-standing Melbournian improv aficionados, and now she’s back in town from Taiwan with a very special little collaborator. Esme has been studying with Alice for at least five and a half years – her entire life thus far – and was no doubt absorbing textural complexities even before then, as she toured Japan, Korea and Singapore in utero. Their duo is the maternal bond made manifest – an audial amalgamation of carings, questionings, caperings, contradictions and cacophonies.
4:45pm
Marbles Vyvyan Hughes Stern (keyboard), Beatrix Hughes Stern (percussion and electronics),
Joel Stern (various instruments)
Debut concert for new power trio comprising 7 year old twins and parent performing improvisations for various instruments built around Vyv’s keyboard sketches. Named in honour of the recurring 2024 headlice outbreak at Brunswick North Primary School.
5:30pm
Antony Riddell with Jim Denley (NSW)
Two of Australia’s most priceless national treasures reconvene on a stage for the first time in far too long – and our excitement is palpable! Antony Riddell is synonymous with nonlinear genius, disordered delightfulness and larrikin surrealism – in a world filled with hollow contrived pseudo-weirdness, Riddell is the real deal. And to say that Jim Denley is a key progenitor of the modern face of this country’s audial experimentation would be selling him short – nobody has managed to directly foster so much grassroots musical culture as he, while remaining an ever-flowing source of genuinely innovative sonic techniques, texturalities and tastiness alike. Together? Well, suffice to say – you’re welcome.
6:15pm
Rodney Stone (THE Definitives), Rainer Linz, Erkki Veltheim
7pm
Andrew Crosling
8pm
Anthony Pateras / Mia Alexander / Levi Liauw
DJ Kristi Monfries.
Master of Ceremonies: Marlo Mitsak
SATURDAY DECEMBER 7
Doors 3:30pm / Event 4pm / $15 entry
4pm
Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (TWN) and Esme Brown (TWN)
Alice Hui-Sheng Chang’s piercingly provocative vocal stylings are probably well-known to long-standing Melbournian improv aficionados, and now she’s back in town from Taiwan with a very special little collaborator. Esme has been studying with Alice for at least five and a half years – her entire life thus far – and was no doubt absorbing textural complexities even before then, as she toured Japan, Korea and Singapore in utero. Their duo is the maternal bond made manifest – an audial amalgamation of carings, questionings, caperings, contradictions and cacophonies.
4:45pm
Marbles
Vyvyan Hughes Stern (keyboard), Beatrix Hughes Stern (percussion and electronics), Joel Stern (various instruments)
Debut concert for new power trio comprising 7 year old twins and parent performing improvisations for various instruments built around Vyv’s keyboard sketches. Named in honour of the recurring 2024 headlice outbreak at Brunswick North Primary School.
5:30pm
6:15pm
Rodney Stone (THE Definitives), Rainer Linz, Erkki Veltheim
7pm
Andrew Crosling
8pm
Anthony Pateras / Mia Alexander / Levi Liauw
DJ Kristi Monfries.
Master of Ceremonies: Marlo Mitsak
SUN DEC 8
Doors 3:30pm
Event 4pm
$15 entry
4:00pm
Matthew Ward
4:30pm
Lakshan Standke Jain
Supreme selecta for this afternoon will be the cryptic hero and contentious master of ceremonies himself – Lakshan Standke Jain, age 11 – invoking inevitably impetuous and crucially captivating media mélanges of audial anarchy. A well-seasoned Safe In Sound program participant, Lakshan has graciously agreed to share the stage with mythical master Paul Wain, aka DJ2 of illustrious technically-chillout-but-mainly-just-anti-copyright collective Antediluvian Rocking Horse, but Paul will mainly be there just to bask in the peachy pastichey collagecore glory.
5pm
Anthony Riddell & Erick Mitsak
5:45pm
Matt Larsen & Angus Leslie
Mathew Larsen is a relatively new Safe In Sound participant who occupies the same sonoverse as the most thrillingly titillating and wildly bewildering outsiders with whom What Is Music? forged its deservedly perilous reputational infamy, yet fashions his musical sphere of existence entirely anew. Freewheeling rapturous rhythmelodics collide with thick textural intensities, punctuated by intermittent auditory absurdities – wielding low-tech acoustic miscellany to invoke pieces just as unrelenting, uncompromising and invigorating as the most fervently zealous harsh electro-noise purveyors. Supported by not-for-profit disability service providers Scope Australia, this will be Mat’s first foray into public performance – one that promises nostalgic arduousness to the seasoned cognoscenti and a short-sharp-shock to both the neophyte and the contemporary avant-garde.
6:30pm
Keith Hayton (The Definitives) solo guitar
Keith is a photographer and bass gplayer. His playing explores repeated patterns using bowed, scrapped, and percussive gestures. Keith co-writes lyrics and has devised graphic scores based on his abstract photography. Keith is also a member of The Definatives from Perth
7:15pm
Alessio and Danilo Dilettoso (Technical supervisor Cieran Frame)
Alessio and Danilo Dilettoso are two long-time Safe In Sound alumni, embodying the true heart of the program. Well-known for revelling in the intuitively expressive wielding of the Airsticks, on this occasion Alessio will be invoking percussive pandemonium via the quadruple-bass-drum brutality of the SARPS (Semi Automated Robotic Percussion System), with the fraternal furtherance of Danilo’s vocal provocations evoking energetic feedback structures that induce both artists to ever more eminent emanations that inevitably spill over into shrieks of musical mirth.
8:00pm
James Rushford / Judith Hamann / Teagan Connor / Mirijana Janscak (The Definitives) and TBA
8:45pm
Steven Hagiliassis and Mat Watson
DJs Saskia Mitsak and Elke Jai
Consummate vibes in between other acts on the night will be provided by Saskia Mitsak and Elke Jai, both aged 11 – two mavens of modern popular culture and BFFs specialised in cuttin’ sick and gettin’ silly! They will be deciding on the fly whether to heed or discard the sagely advice of the mythical master of the 1s and 2s and 1/2s and 3/8ths and other fractured fractions Paul Wain, aka DJ2 of illustrious technically-chillout-but-mainly-just-anti- copyright collective Antediluvian Rocking Horse, so unexpect the expected and prepare to allegorically dance!
Master of Ceremonies Marlo Mitsak
SUNDAY DECEMBER 8
Doors 3:30pm / Event 4pm / $15 entry
4:00pm
Matthew Ward
4:30pm
Lakshan Standke Jain
Supreme selecta for this afternoon will be the cryptic hero and contentious master of ceremonies himself – Lakshan Standke Jain, age 11 – invoking inevitably impetuous and crucially captivating media mélanges of audial anarchy. A well-seasoned Safe In Sound program participant, Lakshan has graciously agreed to share the stage with mythical master Paul Wain, aka DJ2 of illustrious technically-chillout-but-mainly-just-anti-copyright collective Antediluvian Rocking Horse, but Paul will mainly be there just to bask in the peachy pastichey collagecore glory.
5pm
Anthony Riddell & Erick Mitsak
5:45pm
Matt Larsen & Angus Leslie
Mathew Larsen is a relatively new Safe In Sound participant who occupies the same sonoverse as the most thrillingly titillating and wildly bewildering outsiders with whom What Is Music? forged its deservedly perilous reputational infamy, yet fashions his musical sphere of existence entirely anew. Freewheeling rapturous rhythmelodics collide with thick textural intensities, punctuated by intermittent auditory absurdities – wielding low-tech acoustic miscellany to invoke pieces just as unrelenting, uncompromising and invigorating as the most fervently zealous harsh electro-noise purveyors. Supported by not-for-profit disability service providers Scope Australia, this will be Mat’s first foray into public performance – one that promises nostalgic arduousness to the seasoned cognoscenti and a short-sharp-shock to both the neophyte and the contemporary avant-garde.
6:30pm
Keith Hayton (The Definitives) solo guitar
Keith is a photographer and bass gplayer. His playing explores repeated patterns using bowed, scrapped, and percussive gestures. Keith co-writes lyrics and has devised graphic scores based on his abstract photography. Keith is also a member of The Definatives from Perth
7:15pm
Alessio and Danilo Dilettoso (Technical supervisor Cieran Frame)
Alessio and Danilo Dilettoso are two long-time Safe In Sound alumni, embodying the true heart of the program. Well-known for revelling in the intuitively expressive wielding of the Airsticks, on this occasion Alessio will be invoking percussive pandemonium via the quadruple-bass-drum brutality of the SARPS (Semi Automated Robotic Percussion System), with the fraternal furtherance of Danilo’s vocal provocations evoking energetic feedback structures that induce both artists to ever more eminent emanations that inevitably spill over into shrieks of musical mirth.
8:00pm
James Rushford / Judith Hamann / Teagan Connor / Mirijana Janscak (The Definitives) and TBA
8:45pm
Steven Hagiliassis and Mat Watson
DJs Saskia Mitsak and Elke Jai
Consummate vibes in between other acts on the night will be provided by Saskia Mitsak and Elke Jai, both aged 11 – two mavens of modern popular culture and BFFs specialised in cuttin’ sick and gettin’ silly! They will be deciding on the fly whether to heed or discard the sagely advice of the mythical master of the 1s and 2s and 1/2s and 3/8ths and other fractured fractions Paul Wain, aka DJ2 of illustrious technically-chillout-but-mainly-just-anti- copyright collective Antediluvian Rocking Horse, so unexpect the expected and prepare to allegorically dance!
Master of Ceremonies Marlo Mitsak
Festival Partners
Festival Partners