Mysterious Mix #5

Mysterious Mixes are a way for us to share music we love with the rest of the world (and yes, to whore TEETH out some more). If you picked this mix up at the Kinokuniya zine fair, let us know by emailing teethmag@gmail.com


1. Wiley – Wearing My Rolex
2. The Vignettes – The Rich
3. Operation Ivy – Freeze Up
4. Yves Klein Blue – Silence Is Distance
5. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – White Line
6. Black Lips – Bad Kids
7. Fait Accompli – Shut Up and Dance
8. The Dandy Warhols – I Love You
9. Tennis – These Kids
10. The Spirits – Lightbeam (demo)
11. Philadelphia Grand Jury – Wet Winter Holiday

Divide and Conquer

He understood that to be real he had to attach his existence to a country mapped by centuries of wars and oppression and a flag painted with the blood of so-called patriots (brainwashed, poverty-stricken and desperate, clinging to God and their swords in hopes of a meal for every limb they lose). He knew that memorising an anthem written by a politicised poet who sold his soul for a pay-check and a hero’s medal would give his existence meaning. He was well aware that he would understand life by decorating his chest with borders drawn and redrawn in red ink by old men in suits carefully ironed by underpaid women (men who never saw the bloodshot eyes of hunger and bloodied knuckles but claimed to make pacts and sign treaties for them) (pacts and treaties agreed upon in language those bloodshot eyes could never decipher having missed out on basic education to look for God and food in cheap rooms of sleazy hotels). He had come to these realisations whilst pushing someone’s face into a river for being of a different skin colour, holding the neck tight, knowing that to exist meant to conquer.

By Ivana Rnjak

3rd of June, 2008

I once knew a girl with polaroid eyes,
But good film was dear and hard to find;
So she kept them shut,
Her face closed up

But sometimes something caught those eyes,
And she'd capture it before we realised.

We'd all crowd round,
Crouch down

Watch the colours play and manifest;
The way she held it an inch from her chest,
Just like an exterior heart beat,
Unnoticed if you eyed her head to feet.

She always walked fast, in vintage's left over charm,
Her face surpassed by hair like a fire alarm.

She inhaled 60's pop as oxygen,
Her lips expelled a keepsake hallucinogen.

But her intoxicating presence, once we left,
Sidestepped, leaving us blue and bereft.

By Zoo

Mysterious Mix #4

Mysterious Mixes are a way for us to share music we love with the rest of the world (and yes, to whore TEETH out some more). If you picked this mix up at Britpop, Abercrombie Hotel on the 21st of June, let us know! Email teethmag@gmail.com

1. Chaingang – Get Off My Stage
2. Fugazi – Waiting Room
3. Cassette Kids – Forwards Backwards
4. Sonic Youth – Drunken Butterfly
5. Die! Die! Die! – Sideways Here We Come
6. IAMX – Nightlife
7. Bird Automatic – Keep Out the Sunlight
8. The Last Shadow Puppets – Separate and Ever Deadly
9. Ghostwood – Rest My Soul
10. Whiskey Go Gos – True Love
11. Rancid – Time Bomb

Love and Other Catastrophes

Emma-Kate Croghan’s feature debut Love and Other Catastrophes (1996) should be compulsory viewing for all university undergraduates. It is the story of a group of students navigating their way through sex, relationships, an education and everything in between. Alice (Alice Garner) is struggling to finish her drawn-out thesis. Her housemate Mia (France O’Connor) can’t commit to her cinema studies major or her girlfriend, Danni (Radha Mitchell). Meanwhile, whilst Ari (Matthew Dyktynski) philosophises between sexual conquests, Michael (Matt Day) just wants to keep things simple.

In my opinion, Matt Day is the standout performer in L&OC. He plays the ‘loveable dork’ well; gawky with just the right amount of earnest. Alice Garner’s portrayal seems very natural, but her whining can grate after a while (though her character’s criterion for choosing boyfriends matches my own, so I suppose I can’t critique her too much).

As a recent graduate herself at the time of production, Croghan succulently captures the niceties of being an Arts student. The influence of Hollywood’s screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s makes Love and Other Catastrophes enjoyably quirky (without the appearance of trying too hard).

The story of Love and Other Catastrophes as “an exercise in fast-paced, low-budget collective filmmaking” also makes it worthy of praise. Croghan and her producer self-funded the production of the film, raising the initial $25,000 to make L&OC through personal loans and credit cards. They got their friends (also recent film school graduates) to work for next to nothing and shot on a shoe-string budget. Pretty impressive seeing as the film went on to Cannes and international distribution rights were bought for around $800,000.

Who will like it? Prospective students, current students, ex students. Cinema studies majors in particular will appreciate Croghan’s spot-on faculty and course observations. L&OC should also please Melbournians, as they should recognise some familiar haunts.

What I think: As the first film I ever watched for my cinema studies course, Love and Other Catastrophes is something special (though the likeness between the film and my university life kinda scares me).

By Steph.

The Teenagers

Photo by ANNIE LY

The Teenagers existed in relative obscurity until very recently when their fusion of catchy pop songs, ridiculously cute French accents and deliciously ironic lyrics were noticed worldwide through the power of MySpace.

Saturday 14th June saw them perform the third show of their first Australian tour, this time at the Oxford Art Factory, home to Sydney’s tightest jeans and pointiest shoes. It was a sold-out show, leaving a line outside the venue and security guards warding off those without tickets trying to sweet-talk their way in.

Inside, after the support bands warmed up the crowd, The Teenagers hit the stage to a very enthusiastic audience. From the amount of people pushing their way closer to the stage and singing every word in sync with the band, one could assume The Teenagers had been around for decades. Such enthusiasm for a band is rare to witness nowadays at a gig that isn’t happening at Acer Arena. But any hope one had that the enthusiasm was there for the music withered when the band invited three girls on stage to be cheerleaders during the song Homecoming. The stage soon became packed with excited girls competing for the attention of their favourite band member and pushing one another to give kisses and pose for photos taken by their friends in the audience.

So all this enthusiasm, excitement and groupie-like hysteria for a band that has only just exposed their music to the world? The Teenagers have unfortunately been thrust into that dark world of Latest Hipster Fad. They’re one of those bands some people are afraid to admit liking because it’ll associate them with the screaming ‘fans’ who grind up against one another on stage next to someone ‘famous’ hoping that one day a photo of such antics will wind up on The Cobra Snake. Despite the fun songs they play, despite their stage charisma, despite their witty lyrics and lovable appearance, this is one aspect of their music career that will undoubtedly haunt them. It will sell records and t-shirts and tickets to places on the other side of the world from their hometown, but it will leave them branded as just another trend. The price of fame appears to be high in the new music environment.

IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT, WHY AREN'T I SLEEPING?!

We made a zine in fifteen minutes last night.

And you can find it all over Sydney. Or read it on our Flickr.

We love Kinko's on Oxford St. <3

One Pill Makes You Larger

Sebastian is convinced life is a hallucination. All life – from our humble presence on Planet Earth to the supposed existence of a Solar System to the incomprehensible idea of a universe so vast it cannot be thought of in its entirety as it requires a thinking capacity far beyond our capabilities.

“What else can it be, other than imagined?”

He says that all these things we consider a given are so magical, they must be the product of some sort of chemical imbalance on a large scale. All life is just someone’s bad trip.

By Ivana Rnjak

TEETH Poetry

This is my face,
from outer space -
the Town Whore will now present
her speech: "they're going like
hotcakes, they are,
squire"
The end.

SUPERSTAR

Amanda from Newtown

2nd of June, 2008

You've an antiquated novella clenched in your hands,
Its cracked spine refuses to reveal the title;
Perhaps it wearies of the judgement it receives.

I imagine maybe Homer or Kafka,
It has the proud look of a battered classic -
Well thumbed, well read, well loved.

Your patchwork coat acts the protective quilt:
Its silver zipper glares a warning to the passersby,
Who bypass you, with their binocular eyes.

I covertly watch your eyes and lips,
Synchronised in a movement with the verse,
And I fantasise about the captured work.

Back turned you exhale - a breath of smoke.
But when you turn, I'm caught by surprise:
I see between your fingers a cigarette burns;
They deliver it to your lips,

Which nondescriptly inhale the nicotine.

The cloud was not, as I thought,
A product of winter means,
Introduced to the warmth your dimpled cheeks release.

By Zoo

St Johns Road

the twelve-thirteen bus never arrives –
the dull grey stretch of
a million promised futures with
nowhere to go, is dusty
with sunlight and sweat;
I can’t walk down for fear of
being seen smoking

By Ivana Rnjak