Category Archives: Music

The Motown Event : Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne – February 2010

A concert celebrating 50 years of unbelievable Motown Hits

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of Motown – America’s greatest record label and global music icon. To mark this momentous occasion, Producers SEL have reunited the the legends of Motown music in a once off world premiere event – The Motown Event – Celebrating the Hits of Motown!
Continue reading The Motown Event : Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne – February 2010

Sunset Sounds 2010 First Line Up Announcement – Brisbane 6-7 January 2010

Yeah Yeah Yeahs   Australia’s newest, hottest, summer music festival SUNSET SOUNDS is back for its sophomore year after the inaugural SELL-OUT event in January; returning to the stunning Brisbane Botanical and City Gardens over January 6 and 7 to invoke a sumptuous summer soiree of delights.

With tickets to The Falls Festival selling out each year, fans need not despair as the most sumptuous of the handpicked spices from around the globe that are playing The Falls will frolic in the park at Sunset Sounds, such as;

The kaleidoscopic vocals of Karen O guiding the formidable YEAH YEAH YEAH’S (USA); iconic songwriter and producer, MOBY (USA); rewriting the hip hop rulebook comes HILLTOP HOODS; nerve-shatteringly beautiful and likely

contender for Album Of The Year, GRIZZLY BEAR (USA – First Ever Australian Shows); harmony-laden whole hearted dynamism of THE TEMPER TRAP; in his first Oz performance with new international band comes XAVIER RUDD; iconic modern rockers the EDITORS (UK); the ethereal, organic and immaculate performance of SARAH BLASKO; the unbridled dynamic energy of incendiary guitar virtuosos RODRIGO Y GABRIELA (Mexico); a hootenanny hoedown from bluesman SEASICK STEVE (USA); captivating soaring vocals and sonic alchemy of EMILIANA TORRINI (Iceland); the dazzling guitar work and shimmering tapestry of future folk from KAKI KING (USA); Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and lyricist, the eclectic ANDREW BIRD (USA); diversely mixed palate of classic gypsy-pop from YVES KLEIN BLUE; sweet pop-folk sensibilities of LISA MITCHELL; the 11-peice psychedelic-soul big band explosion from dynamite act KING KHAN AND THE SHRINES (Germany – First Ever Australian Shows); the rare multi-instrumentalism and indie-rock melting-pot of THE JOHN STEEL SINGERS; three sets of funky hands from the feel-good brand of obscure pulsating electro/pop from ART VS. SCIENCE and the lush, raw, emotive power from Townsville folk darling’s THE MIDDLE EAST. Plus, LOADS MORE LOCAL & INTERNTAIONAL ACTS to be announced
Continue reading Sunset Sounds 2010 First Line Up Announcement – Brisbane 6-7 January 2010

Live Review: Corn Liquor @ The Joynt, Brisbane 1 Aug 2009

by Lisa Lamb

Corn Liquor
[Photo: Shawn Riley]
  Corn Liquor are four hard drinking, hard playing, good ol’ boys. If only they had chicken wire up I’d think I was in the deep south with the good old blues brother boys.

This was the busiest I had ever seen the Joynt with wall to wall people, moving, grooving and shaking their ass off to some fine rock a billy style. The first half consisted of all original tracks, followed by a very cool version of AC/DC‘s Jailbreak

played with a double bass, not sure what Bon Scott would have thought of that, he would have probably had another drink and kept partying.
Continue reading Live Review: Corn Liquor @ The Joynt, Brisbane 1 Aug 2009

Live Review | The Herd @ The Zoo, Brisbane – 31 July 2009

By José Eduardo Cruz

The Herd
The Herd supported by Koolism.
July 31 @ The Zoo

This is to be The Herd’s final national tour for twelve months. Although they had decided not to tour for the remainder of 2009, they succumbed to popular demand for another tour. Since this is a fan’s tour, their fans came out in absolute support and made this night a Sold Out night several days in advance.

It is always good to see a support act receive acknowledgements from a crowd that is eagerly waiting for the headliner. Koolism do an excellent job at drawing several acknowledgements from tonight’s crowd. It is amazing what two guys, a laptop and some decs can do. It’s worth a mention that several punters, at the conclusion of their set, quickly moved to the side of the stage to personally greet and congratulate them.

Continue reading Live Review | The Herd @ The Zoo, Brisbane – 31 July 2009

Dukes Of Windsor, Trial Kennedy, Midnight Youth @ The Zoo, Brisbane 8 August 2009

dukes of windsor   Touring Australia in August under the banner of the Trilogy Tour is a value added bill made up of three equally brilliant parts: DUKES OF WINDSOR, TRIAL KENNEDY and New Zealand’s MIDNIGHT YOUTH.

Three emerging bands all aiming to impress with great songs, superb musicianship and getting silly on the one bill. Three hot young bands on a mission let loose on an unsuspecting public.

Continue reading Dukes Of Windsor, Trial Kennedy, Midnight Youth @ The Zoo, Brisbane 8 August 2009

Live Review | Kev Carmody “Cannot Buy My Soul” Landmark Australian Music Event @ Brisbane Riverstage 1 August 2009

Review By: Elize Strydom

Kev Carmody“You’re going to a Kev Carmody tribute, eh?” Silence. “So, who’s Kev Carmody?”

Sadly that was a common response when I mentioned tonight’s gig to friends. Sadly, it was my initial response, too. However, I’ve been told that that is what the show is all about: taking one of Australia’s finest songwriters and exposing his talents to a whole new audience. Kev Carmody has been singing about the realities of Aboriginal society for the past 24 years through blunt protest songs and poetic ballads; blending folk, country, rock and gospel. In 2007 Paul Kelly pulled together the who’s who of the Australian music scene and an album was released featuring those singer songwriters performing Kev’s songs. Tonight those artists – including Paul Kelly, Bernard Fanning, Missy Higgins, John Butler, Clare Bowditch, the Herd and the Drones – will take to the stage to honour a man who is very much alive and passionate about his people and his country.
Continue reading Live Review | Kev Carmody “Cannot Buy My Soul” Landmark Australian Music Event @ Brisbane Riverstage 1 August 2009

Sunday Selection: RogerThat : 2 August 2009

LifeMusicMedia Sunday Selection is your weekly view to Queensland Artists

Rogerthat
[Photo: Stuart Blythe]
   Rogerthat is a rock-reggae band that shakes every room they play in. A band that could have come from just about any era. Their contemporaries could be the Black Crowes or the Black Keys. Anything from the Woodstock era, Marley and Lee Scratch Perry or the steel blues of Muddy Waters (circa Electric Mud)… if you could mash the raw electric, psychedelic rock-reggae rep’s of those, you’d get close to the quartet

Rogerthat are back in Australia in August and Sept to mix their peyote and melt minds. On a national tour to prop the release of The Desert’s Call, their debut album (out thru MGM).

The band are currently in Europe for a month long run after smoking it in Canada – 9 gigs in 2 weeks thru West Canada to rooms full of RT converts.

Continue reading Sunday Selection: RogerThat : 2 August 2009

Pearl Jam Announces Australian and NZ Tour November 2009

Pearl Jam
[Photo credit: Danny Clinch]
  Pearl Jam announced today that they will play a series of outdoor shows in November in Australia and New Zealand, in support of their new album, Backspacer.

Pearl Jam will be returning to Australia for the first time in 3 years, bringing with them their old touring mates, Ben Harper and Relentless7 and Liam Finn, to play for one night only in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland and Christchurch. Tickets for all shows go on sale on Monday 17 August.

Continue reading Pearl Jam Announces Australian and NZ Tour November 2009

Live Review: Timothy Carroll w/ McKisko + Kate Jacobsen @ The Troubadour 19 July 2009

Artists: Timothy Carroll, McKisko, Kate Jacobsen @ The Troubadour, Brisbane
Author: Stephen Goodwin

[Click image to view photo gallery]
Timothy Carroll
[Photo: Stephen Goodwin]
  About three songs into a typically inveigling set of back-porch country tunes, a perfect cocktail of illness, alcohol and painkillers prompts Kate Jacobsen to artlessly observe that her strum patterns all seem to be the same.

There’s an underlying hint of truth, yet it matters not a whit as an appreciative audience laps up Cane Farmer’s Daughter, Kiss Me Gently, Don’t Believe In Jesus and couple of new tunes as well.

Some things are greater than the sum of their individual parts — and Jacobsen’s plain-speaking fretwork, achingly sweet voice and poignant lyrics illustrate that in spades.

Folk-minimalist McKisko (aka Helen Franzmann) performs only eight songs. But what breathtaking advertisements for her talent.
Continue reading Live Review: Timothy Carroll w/ McKisko + Kate Jacobsen @ The Troubadour 19 July 2009

Ian Moss ‘Shake It Up’ Australian Tour Oct-Nov-Dec 2009

ian_moss_1
[Photo: Stuart Blythe]
  The voice of Ian Moss has modestly purred beneath his searing guitar playing for more than 30 years – but no longer. For his sixth solo album, Soul on West 53rd, Ian’s sweet, soaring vocal is the pivot around which famed American producer Danny Kortchmar has built a rich, soulful sound, drawing on classic songs from the likes of Sam Cooke, Al Green, Otis Redding and Bill Withers. Unleashing this surge of soul power has unlocked a whole new chapter in Mossy’s performing career, which ironically was triggered by his appearances on the television series It Takes Two that highlighted vocal duets.

“When I put aside the guitar and sang a few soul ballads on that show, people were suddenly listening to me differently. They’d say ‘Yeah, we knew you sang, but we didn’t know you could really sing’. It was both flattering and frustrating. I kept wondering what they thought I’d been doing for past 30 years. It showed that there was a different side of my music that hadn’t really been heard by enough people before.”

Continue reading Ian Moss ‘Shake It Up’ Australian Tour Oct-Nov-Dec 2009

Lisa Mitchell Australian Wonder Tour, Aug-Sep 2009

Lisa Mitchell   Recently playing at Glastonbury music festival and with a new album “Wonder”, Lisa Mitchell is headlining her own Australian tour – August and September, 2009

Showcasing gorgeous tracks including her amazing new single “Coin Laundry.” She’ll be joined by supports acts Oh Mercy and Whitebirds & Lemons.

Lisa Helen Mitchell was born in England on March the 22nd of 1990, although migrated to Australia at the age of three. She is the eldest of two in a family which resides in the country town of Albury, New South Wales. Her musical journey began at age twelve when she started taking guitar lessons with a focus on rock and folk, but her real exposure came at the age of sixteen when she auditioned for Australian Idol. She quickly received high praise with one judge claiming that she was “the best thing musically that has ever came out of this country.”      Tour Dates and Tickets:
27 August 2009 – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast
Click here for Tickets
28 August 2009 – The Zoo, Brisbane
Click here for Tickets
29 August 2009 – Sands Tavern, Maroochydore
Click here for Tickets
2 September 2009 – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne
Click here for Tickets

Continue reading Lisa Mitchell Australian Wonder Tour, Aug-Sep 2009

Live Review: FourPlay @ The Tivoli, Brisbane 25 July 2009

By: Stephen Goodwin
FourPlay String Quartet @ The Tivoli, Brisbane

FourPlay String QuartetFew bands could be as innately suited to The Tivoli’s lush interiors as the sonically eclectic FourPlay String Quartet. Coaxed all the way to Brisbane to feature in the Deborah Conway-curated 2009 edition of the Queensland Music Festival, the fourtet of Sydneysiders grace the venue with an exquisite set worthy of a far-larger audience.

Over the course of a little more than an hour, the ensemble treats a small, enthusiastic crowd to new material that shows they still have the creativity and talent to match their genre-crossing ambitions.
Continue reading Live Review: FourPlay @ The Tivoli, Brisbane 25 July 2009

Review: Splendour In The Grass 2009 – Day 2

By: Elize Strydom

Day two! I arrive at the site to find it virtually deserted. I’m here early for good reason. I’ve been hanging out to catch Townsville collective The Middle East and they’re first up on the GW McLennan stage.

Their tunes The Darkest Side and Blood have been getting considerable airplay on triple j and a friend of the band handed me a copy of their record but I’ve been told they MUST be seen live. Five guys and one girl walk on stage and take their places behind various instruments but they won’t be there long. Throughout the set each member will put down his guitar and take up a trumpet, stop tinkling the ivories in favour of the flute, or accordion, or tambourine and on it goes. Rohin Jones takes the role as front man for much of the set. He’s smiley and gracious and thanks the audience for waking up. One minute the sound is gentle, spacious and delicate the next it’s raucous, crashing and emotive. Bree’s sweet vocals weave in and out of the softer tunes and I’m reminded of Bright Eyes during their more country rock moments. As I watch them I picture myself writing this review and just know I won’t do the Middle East justice. I haven’t. See them for yourself, post haste!
Continue reading Review: Splendour In The Grass 2009 – Day 2

Review: Splendour In The Grass 2009 – Day 1

By: Elize Strydom

The clouds have cleared and it’s a sunny 21 degree-er in Byron Bay. I’m at Splendour In The Grass but there ain’t a lot of green stuff on the ground at Belongil Feilds. No matter, no one really comes to this festival to hang out on the lawn, right?

I make my way through the gates sans sniffer dogs and my friend and I head over to the Supertop. “Let’s watch Manchester United!” I enthuse.

“Um, okay.” He says, “Not sure who they’re playing this weekend. But I know Manchester ORCHESTRA are about to play on this stage.”

Uh, yeah, that’s what I meant!

Manchester Orchestra look nothing like I expected – and no, I wasn’t expecting a real orchestra. Lead Singer Andy Hull reminds me of Joaquin Phoenix post identity crisis – a massive mop of hair, unkempt beard and wild eyes. He and his four band mates play long rock jams (with two drum kits!) with minimal lyrics and not a whole lot of interaction with the audience. I’m way up the back and people around me are into it, despite the fact that for most this is the first they’ve seen or heard from the Atlanta quintet. When they break out with triple j fave ‘I’ve Got Friends’ the crowd goes wild. It’s pretty different from the rest of their set. The song has the distinct structure of a ‘single’. When it’s over a bunch of people clear out but I stick around to the end and am not disappointed.
Continue reading Review: Splendour In The Grass 2009 – Day 1

Alice Cooper – THEATRE OF DEATH Tour – Brisbane 22nd August 2009

Related:
Photo Gallery: Alice Cooper “Theatre Of Death” @ Brisbane Convention Centre 22 August 2009

alice cooper    Alice Cooper has been described as a legend in one’s own time is certainly a blatantly abused cliché, but no one has taken a vivid imagination and unusual persona to the people with as much controversy and success. Call him Master of Shock Rock, Black Humorist Supreme, or simply one of the era’s great showmen, his mark has been undeniable. Lennard Promotions, in association with Music Max, proudly announces the forthcoming Alice Cooper’s Theatre Of Death Australian Tour in August 2009.

Continue reading Alice Cooper – THEATRE OF DEATH Tour – Brisbane 22nd August 2009