Tag Archives: album

VIOLENT SOHO album release + homecoming tour dates

Brisbane-reared, Brooklyn-based noise merchants Violent Soho have announced long awaited homecoming dates to celebrate the release of their self titled new album.

Violent Soho’s self titled album is being released worldwide in 2010 via Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label and is without doubt one of the most powerful rock albums you will hear this year. Lead single ‘Jesus Stole My Girlfriend’ is already causing major waves on radio stations across the globe, and currently sits in the Billboard Top 40 rock songs chart and the Canadian Top 20 airplay chart. Continue reading VIOLENT SOHO album release + homecoming tour dates →

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The Cat Empire Announce New Album ‘Cinema’ and Tour

If there’s one band in this country who has sold in excess of half a million albums, singles, DVDs collectively across their relatively short career, it’s the always get on ya feet and dance, The Cat Empire!

EMI Music Australia proudly announced that Melbourne’s own The Cat Empire have re-signed with the label and set to celebrate their successful 6 year relationship with the release of their fourth studio album ‘Cinema’ on Friday June 25. Continue reading The Cat Empire Announce New Album ‘Cinema’ and Tour →

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The Holidays – East Coast Headliner Tour May-June 2010

The Holidays   Sydney quartet The Holidays announce East Coast headline dates to coincide with the release of their imminent new single Golden Sky. Summer’s throes may have vanished but the band has emerged from their Sydney studio with another sun-drenched tune that channels warm nights and cloudless skies. Golden Sky, delivered to radio shortly, blends wild percussion, sing-a-long chant choruses, falsetto vocals and squawking guitars into an action packed, yet equally sublime journey.

It comes hot on the heels of the acclaimed single Moonlight Hours, which reached # 1 on Triple J’s playlist earlier this year and re-configured the band’s musical GPS. Continue reading The Holidays – East Coast Headliner Tour May-June 2010 →

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The Chemical Brothers – New Album ‘Further’ Released 4 June 2010

It starts with what sounds like an alien morse code transmission; Earth bound signals bouncing off the side of orbiting space debris. Snatches of voices found out in the ether cut through the machine fog, drifting across burbling analogue equipment lovingly kept working long after supposed sell-by date. By the time the click and thump of snare and bass drum arrive, the sounds are all-encompassing, swirling around you with dizzying, disorientating effect. Noises come untethered by constraints of volume, seemingly leaping from the speakers with a life of their own. For a band used to dealing in psychedelics, this time round The Chemical Brothers have really pushed the proverbial envelope. Continue reading The Chemical Brothers – New Album ‘Further’ Released 4 June 2010 →

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Music Review: Field Music – Measure

Review: Duncan McKimm

Field Music - Measure   Following the brilliance of Tones of Town, it appeared Field Music were entering a possibly terminal hiatus due to the Brewis brothers’ aversion to touring and their seemingly disparate musical desires. However, a couple of excellent solo projects in the form of School of Language (David’s baby) and The Week That Was (Peter’s) appear to have not only brought the focus back to Field Music, but also added some excitement to the flagship band. Maybe the critical success of the two side-projects and the removal of tour pressure during this time (which the brothers hate) reinvigorated the old girl – but whatever it was, she’s sounding fantastic.

Continue reading Music Review: Field Music – Measure →

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CD Review: John Butler Trio – April Uprising

Review: Lana Harris

John Butler Trio - photo credit Polly Armstrong
John Butler Trio – Click here for John Butler Trio at iTunes		   John Butler and his newly revised trio (bringing Nicky Bomba to drums/ percussion and Byron Luiters to bass) have made every effort to make April Uprising an accessible folk rock record. Single ‘One Way Road’ was available for free download from several media outlets last year, on top of being the summer promo track on a certain digital sports channel, which guaranteed the single reached new ears. The Trio have also value added the LP by including a poster, environmentally friendly sized lyrics booklet and free trucker’s hat to those who buy the physical CD rather than download.

Continue reading CD Review: John Butler Trio – April Uprising →

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Angus & Julia Stone – NEW ALBUM ‘DOWN THE WAY’ #1 ARIA CHART DEBUT

HIGHEST SELLING NEW ALBUM IN 2010 and RECORD BREAKING DIGITAL SALES!
Angus & Julia Stone – Angus & Julia Stone available at iTunes

As Sydney siblings Angus & Julia Stone make their way around the country on a sold out national tour, their sophomore album ‘Down The Way’ has debuted on the National ARIA album chart at #1, with more than double the sales of the number 2 album this week.

In fact, the First Week digital sales are so strong they have broken the record for 1st week digital sales by an Australian Artist, putting them in the league of Coldplay and Pink for opening week digital sales.
Continue reading Angus & Julia Stone – NEW ALBUM ‘DOWN THE WAY’ #1 ARIA CHART DEBUT →

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Fresh swell on the horizon set to BREAK!

Related: Our CD Review: The Break – ‘Cylinders’ Single

The_Break - Photo_by_tony_mott   Australia’s most exciting new surf rock outfit THE BREAK are primed to deliver a power packed set when the band perform tracks from their debut album ‘Church Of The Open Sky’ live at a venue near you during April and May. Audiences will be treated to a mind blowing experience as classic surf meets spy-fi psychedelia when the three core members of Midnight Oil; drummer Rob Hirst, guitarists Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey, join with bass player Brian Ritchie of Violent Femmes to present a whole new and contemporary approach to the surf music genre.

THE BREAK’S first official tour kicks off on the Easter weekend with festival appearances at Victoria’s hip and happenin’ Boogie Fest and the esteemed Blues Fest in Byron Bay. On Good Friday the band will take their unique surf sounds to The Westernport Hotel on Victoria’s Phillip Island – an area renowned for its pumping surf – which is particularly apt as many of the tracks from the album are named after hot surf breaks.

Following a stupendous introduction to Sydney fans in February, the band will return to The Annandale Hotel on April 11th to officially introduce their new album ‘Church Of The Open Sky’ released on April 16th on the independent Bombora label through MGM. On April 20th they’ll turn on the local Newcastle fans with a special show at Lizotte’s at Lambton. From there THE BREAK team up with their mighty mates The Hoodoo Gurus as special guests for select shows on The Gurus ‘Purity Of Essence’ tour. Being old mates expect the unexpected as the two bands hit the road for the first time ever!
Continue reading Fresh swell on the horizon set to BREAK! →

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CD Review: Buick Six – Common Arms EP

buick six   Review: Lana Harris

Despite the never-ending death and birth cycle of live venues, amid licensing restrictions and noise curfews, bedrooms and garages on both sides of the Brisbane river continue to deliver quality acts to the Australian music scene. Buick Six owe their beginnings to the soggy grounds of 2007’s Splendour in the Grass festival. By 2008, a debut EP had appeared which captured the force of Buick Six’s Brisbane based gigging through live recording.

Their new EP, Common Arms, is garage rock at its dirty, window shaking best. It is only their second release, but the songs on the record sound like the outpourings of a band well used to working and recording together. Guitar work throughout is excellent. The overall feel of the record is urgent, potent, bursting – an achievement to capture on a recording, and suggesting that when viewed live, Buick Six would be a sonic explosion of grinding, grungy rock. The simple bass-guitar-drums line up works in their favour, a pure outlet for their untamed energy left uncomplicated by extra musicians or fussy elements.
Continue reading CD Review: Buick Six – Common Arms EP →

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CD Review: Angus and Julia Stone – Down The Way

Review: Elena Gomez
Down The Way, second album from beloved folksy duo Angus & Julia Stone, sees the siblings put on their Producer hats and travel the globe, touring and recording with the likes of Martha Wainwright and Brad Albetta. They’ve sacrificed their memorable melodies and the arc that seemed to form their debut album, A Book Like This. But what they lose in melodious offerings, they make up in having a much more polished sound. Where A Book Like This was a home movie filmed in sepia, filled with character-forming crackles and perfect imperfections, Down The Way has been steered more professionally. Its homey elements are still present but they have been muted.
Angus & Julia Stone – Angus & Julia Stone available at iTunes

The album opens with “Hold On”, in Julia’s fragile voice, and it’s clear from this point that the energy has been amplified, possibly a result of having a three year gap to progress and grow in their sound. There are lulls and swells in Down The Way that make for less passive listening. A little less of ‘round the campfire with last pair of clean undies’ and a bit more of ‘coasty road trip in a car with air-con and an icy-pole’.
Continue reading CD Review: Angus and Julia Stone – Down The Way →

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CD Review: The Boat People – Soporific Single

Review: Lana harris

The_Boat_People_Soporific_Single   This second single release from The Boat People is just as surprising as the first single ‘Echo Stick Guitars’ was. ‘Echo Stick Guitars’ showed an electronic, hip-hop side of the Brisbane based quartet. Anticipation and assumptions regarding future singles led to thinking that more of the same would naturally follow. Thwarting expectations, ‘Soporific’ is nothing like its predecessor. ‘Soporific’ is an aptly named track, mellow, laid back indie pop

with words that had me reaching for the dictionary a couple of times. A break from the lyrics, where guitarist Charles Dugan is given the limelight and solos forth, allows his technical capabilities to shine and gives the track a more complex feel.

The single comes with two B-sides, ‘Flower Water’ and ‘Stereo Pair’. ‘Flower Water’ flows even gentler than ‘Soporific’. It’s a song about waiting for someone who has left, and the questioning and emptiness that comes with it. The music echoes the lyrical content. It is instrumentally sparse, delicate, imbibed with cascading electronic tinkling through the chorus.
Continue reading CD Review: The Boat People – Soporific Single →

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Operator Please Announce Details Of Their Sophomore Album ‘Gloves’!

Everyone’s favourite Gold Coast collective, Operator Please, return with their remarkably sophisticated sophomore album ‘Gloves’ on Friday April 23.

The band spent 12 months pouring their heart and soul into a record that was largely self produced at a Byron Bay farm and in Amandah Wilkinson’s Gold Coast lounge room.

Lead singer Amandah says, “The album is the perfect representation for where we are at right now. It has all the experiences and growth from touring, seeing places and discovering the new; encompassed into about 35 minutes of songs.”
The band chose to upload the debut single ‘Logic’ to Myspace two weeks ahead of service: the reaction was incredible, with national radio stations adding the track immediately. Proving to be an instant hit, ‘Logic’ is released digitally on February 16.
Continue reading Operator Please Announce Details Of Their Sophomore Album ‘Gloves’! →

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The Kill Devil Hills – ‘Another Joke, Another Ransom’ Tour

The Kill Devil Hills   The Kill Devil Hills kick off their ‘Another Joke, Another Ransom’ tour next Friday 5 February 2010 at The Zoo in Brisbane, supported by Mexico City and The Blackwater Fever.

Following the release of their critically acclaimed third album, Man, You Should Explode, the band will also play Saturday 6 February at Bon Amici in Toowoomba, and Sunday 7 February at the Great Northern in Byron Bay.

Having spent the past few months touring non-stop around the country, The Kill Devil Hills’ live show is at its electrifying best. They’ll also be unleashing their blood, sweat, and tears on venues in Coffs Harbour, Sydney, Wollongong, the Blue Mountains, Hobart, Launceston and Melbourne throughout February.
Continue reading The Kill Devil Hills – ‘Another Joke, Another Ransom’ Tour →

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Interview with The Black Ryder’s Scott Von Ryper

Interview: Bek Grealy
Black Ryder‘Buy the Ticket, take the Ride’ The Black Ryder‘s Scott Von Ryper (SVR) talks with Bek Grealy (BG)
The Black Ryder album ‘Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride’ out on ‘The Anti Machine Machine’ and EMI, November 2009

BG: How’s the live music scene working out for you at the moment? Had any recent gigs?

SVR: No we haven’t actually, we have a show coming up in Melbourne in mid November, and we had an exhibition in Sydney at the Monster Children Gallery, with a pre album listening party and the photos shown were taken from our video clip shoot. It gave the attendees a chance to listen to the sounds before the album is launched.

BG: Did any of the content, or ideas come from the previous band you both worked together in, “The Morning After Girls” to establish The Black Ryder?

SVR: No, I don’t think so, the bands are very different musically, and Aimee and I joined The Morning After Girls a little later on, so they already had a pretty clear direction. Whereas the Black Ryder, we are the creators, we write the music and we record it.
Continue reading Interview with The Black Ryder’s Scott Von Ryper →

Artist, Interview, Music

ARIA Chart News, w/c 14 September 2009

Australian artists continue their reign on the ARIA Singles & Album Charts

In another huge week for Australian artists, Guy Sebastian spends a further week on top of the ARIA Singles Chart with “Like It Like That”. It becomes his second-longest running No.1 single after his initial career hit “Angels Brought Me Here”, which spent three weeks straight at the top in December 2003. Jimmy Barnes continues his domination of the ARIA Album Chart, achieving a second week at No.1 with “The Rhythm And The Blues” and notching up a solo tally of thirty-one weeks at the top of the chart. This is equal to Delta Goodrem‘s total, with John Farnham the only Australian artist ahead, accumulating a massive forty-seven weeks on top of the chart over eight albums.
Continue reading ARIA Chart News, w/c 14 September 2009 →

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