Melbourne Music Week drops 2018 program: domination, discussion and distortion

The full program for Melbourne Music Week 2018 (MMW) that the City of Melbourne dropped today includes details on more local and international acts, multi-sensory and VR experiences, parties and a series of discussions. 

The latter include how music and sound help wellbeing, a summit on the Victorian nighttime economy, being inclusive at events, scoring movies and exporting into the Chinese market.

Human rights activist and barrister Julian Burnside will conduct two hypotheticals:

One sees selected artists, musicians, journalists, academics and music industry professionals on an exercise where they collectively work through a moral dilemma to help navigate future problems – including issues which saw certain acts being dropped from festival bills.

The second, with a background of veteran music writers having their columns cancelled and their books pulped this year, writers and artists come together to negotiate respectful language and the impact of perceived and real bigotry.

Civic Sounds is an all-day laneway party at Cherry Bar headlined by Regurgitator and Nai Palm in AC/DC Lane as well as the Push The Envelope showcase of new acts and Girls Rock! raising awareness on gender equality in Melbourne’s music industry.  

Want It To End is a 20-minute immersive, multi-sensory experience which only two people experience at a time.

As Fierce Mild plays live, the participant watches a VR film that explores a dystopian rural Australian landscape and engages all five senses including touch, taste and smell.

The Cinemix series includes Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring) providing a live score for Alena Lodkina’s debut feature film Strange Colours; and Jeff Mills performing a live score to Fritz Lang’s 1929 masterpiece Woman in the Moon.

You Am I’s epic Melbourne Town Hall show just got bigger, with Gareth Liddiard and Clowns joining the bill, as UMI play Melbourne Town Hall’s historic Grand Organ, a formidable instrument that uses ninety thousand cubic feet of air a minute, producing anything from a delicate whisper to deafening thunder.

Other highlights include The Age Music Victoria Awards, The Push celebrating its 30th with all-ages event Push Over, the Live Music Safari visiting 13 music venues, and the Melbourne Star Observation Wheel taking musicians and fans sky-high over Docklands.

The full program can be found HERE.