Review By Wanda Hill
Photos by Stuart Blythe
Shooglenifty were a great fresh way to start Bluesfest 2016 Day 4. Their celtic flavours are not often heard at Bluesfest. A great contrast and way to refresh the ears, kind of like sniffing a coffee bean in between wine tasting. With a fiddle, banjo, mandolin, drums, guitar and bass these guys from Scotland had the audience experimenting with their best River Dance impersonations and moving in energetic ways that are not your usual Bluesfest hip swinging standard. With beautiful tunes, jigs and reels that branched out to sound almost middle eastern and esoteric at times, this band can really get you dancing. Violinist Angus Grant kept the focus sharply on the music declaring ‘we only have an hour, so we are going to dispense with the hysterical banter that goes on between songs’. See Shooglenifty perform today at the Juke Joint 4:15pm.
Continue reading Live Review + Photo Gallery : Bluesfest Byron Bay 2016 – Day Four
Tag Archives: Cat Empire
Cat Empire @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – 25 August 2010 w/ Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes – Photo Gallery
REGGAETOWN 2010 – Now 2 Days – First Artist Announcement
With a new look, a new feel and new timing…Australia’s premier Island, World, Roots & Reggae Festival Reggaetown, set in lush tropical Far North Queensland a few kilometres north of Cairns, is back for 2010. And, for the first time, taking place over 2 days — Friday 10th & Saturday 11th of September 2010 — in our idyllic location at Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. Continue reading REGGAETOWN 2010 – Now 2 Days – First Artist Announcement |
JACKSON JACKSON – Residency @ The Evelyn, Fitzroy – April 2010
Every now and then a band arrives onto the music scene without fanfare and hype, just doing what they are born to, and what follows is large audiences and a fanatical following. And then at a certain point the industry wakes up and says “where did that come from?”
JACKSON JACKSON is one of those bands. They have become a solid live touring favourite throughout Australia since they launched a couple of years back. They are that band that supposedly no one knows about, who just happen to pack out every venue they play, many nights over. And the fans like it that way.
Continue reading JACKSON JACKSON – Residency @ The Evelyn, Fitzroy – April 2010
World Music Supergroup To Perform In Brisbane – 19 March 2010
Judith Wright Centre and Top Shelf Productions present DJAN DJAN
FEATURING MAMADOU DIABATE KORA, MALI) BOBBY SINGH (TABLA, INDIA) JEFF LANG (GUITAR, AUSTRALIA) Brisbane audiences will be treated to an “intoxicating” fusion of Indian, Australian and African world music when virtuosic trio Djan Djan launches its new self-titled album at Judith Wright Centre on Friday 19 March 2010. |
Embarking on a month-long tour of Australia and New Zealand (including performances at WOMAdelaide), Djan Djan comprises Mali’s Mamadou Diabata (kora), India’s Bobby Singh (tabla) and Australia’s Jeff Lang (guitar).
Continue reading World Music Supergroup To Perform In Brisbane – 19 March 2010
New Name, New Look – THE SEED 2010 – Applications Now Open
THE SEED 2010 – An Arts Grant Fund Applications Now Open In its sixth year running The JB Seed, will be re-branded The Seed. Encouraged by the amazing generosity and trust people have shown the project, this shift will make The Seed an initiative whose ownership is that of the entire community of contributors. |
The Seed has evolved over the years to become an integral part of the Australian Arts & Music industry, contributing over $533,000 worth of funding to over 200 Artists and Music Managers. The passion and support of all contributors has helped to make it what it is today and although John Butler and co-founder Danielle Caruana will remain a driving force behind the project, they believe it is time to make The Seed something that the arts community can call their own.
Continue reading New Name, New Look – THE SEED 2010 – Applications Now Open
Tinpan Orange New Album – The Bottom Of The Lake
Tinpan Orange New Album – The Bottom Of The Lake
Melbourne folk outfit Tinpan Orange are putting the finishing touches on their third LP, The Bottom Of The Lake, due in store August 17th 2009, through Vitamin Records, it is the follow up to their 2007 gem Death, Love and Buildings. |
Continue reading Tinpan Orange New Album – The Bottom Of The Lake
ARIA Chart News, w/c 2 March 2009
Natalie Bassingthwaighte’s debut solo album “1000 Stars” has bolted straight to number one on the ARIA Album Chart this week. In doing so, Natalie becomes the tenth Australian female solo artist to achieve a number one album. “1000 Stars” features two top ten singles, and surpasses the success Natalie achieved with Rogue Traders, where she enjoyed a number two album with “Here Come The Drums” and number four album with “Better In The Dark”.
In further ARIA Album Chart news this week, The Prodigy achieves a fourth ARIA top 10 album, with “Invaders Must Die” charting first week in at number three. Lamb Of God’s “Wrath” is the third album to debut in the top 10 this week – it’s their second chart entry with 2006’s “Sacrament” debuting and peaking at 25.
Following her whirlwind Australian promotional tour and Brit Awards haul, Duffy’s
Continue reading ARIA Chart News, w/c 2 March 2009
“The Car Song” Cat Empire, download your free 25 minute live version!
The Cat Empire’s “The Car Song” recorded live at the Sydney Metro 2007 is available as a free download from The Cat Empire website. Click here to get your copy… [while it lasts]
Related: |
Sunset Sounds 2009 Review
By Tara Kai Hammond
In an era when music festivals seem once again to be the current trend, there was definitely something very special and unique about The Sunset Sounds festival, put together by the same crew as the renowned Falls festival.
Originally the festival was proposed to take place in ‘beautiful’ Byron Bay, (under the name – The Byron Bay Arts festival). But the location had to change due to approval issues, and Brisbane’s Botanical Gardens was chosen to hold the event under the new banner – The Sunset Sounds Festival.
I was lucky enough to go along both days and soak up all the sun and sonic-goodness; and the following is an account of my first day at the festival.
*-:SUNSET SOUNDS DAY ONE:-*
After picking up my media pass and with a sense of excitement as I passed through the front gates, I headed straight for a big shady tree in front of the Hibiscus stage where I was entertained by the simple, laid-back, folk-rock, sounds of Australian band, TinPan Orange; which consisted of a Alex Burkoy on violin, and folk/soul driven female vocalist Emily Lubitz, – reminiscent of recent Australian artists such as Claire Bowditch – who strummed, plucked and tapped her ukulele, while singing from her heart and soul about love, life and loss.
Wandered over to the Garden stage for French based artist Soko; Soko‘s voice alternated enjoyablely between a husky-enunciation and a elevated-husky-shriek, but her songs of anguish and dejection, left me a little downhearted. The highlight of her set, for me, was the song I’ll Kill Her; Her live performance was a little strange with crying throughout her set, announcing her early retirement, and finishing her set rocking-out on the drums while singing about having a nervous-breakdown; I’m beginning to wonder if she will.
Recent graduate from Brisbane’s indie-dance-rock scene, Yves Klein Blue; were the first band on the River stage and seemed more than at home during their set. They played a high-energy show that left the crowd hyped-up and buzzing. The stand out song of the set for me and the rest of the audience was obviously the song Polka, but the set was so full-of-life and hot-to-go; that it was hard to tell whether the smoke that billowed of the stage during their set came from the band, smoke machines, or both.
Award winning English band Gomez, was next up on the Garden Stage; and I must admit to being a little bit disappointed due to their low-energy performance, which could have something to do with the fact that it was boiling hot when they played, or just couldn’t be bothered putting in much energy or effort. And also, because their set lacked a lot of the tracks they’re most famous for, like the tune Get Myself Arrested. However they did play some classics and crowd favourites such as Get Miles, Bring It On, GirlShapeLoveDrug, and We Haven’t Turned Around, amongst others. An excellent band in general, but I definitely had high hopes of them being even better live and couldn’t help feeling that they could have done better, (and would have at some point in the past).
I only got the chance to see The Rocketsmiths, (another quality Brisbane band), for a short while; but during that time I was quite impressed with the way they mix the funk-punk-rock-carnivalesque genres quite well. And they also reminded me of one of my favourite ‘old school’, Zappalesque, mixed genre bands, the one and only, Mr. Bungle.
If ego had a name, its name would be Howling Pelle Almqvist! The Hives certainly know how to entertain the crowd, and the power outage early in their set only fired up Pelle even more. The crowd wowed to their show but, for me, with Pelle declaring “You do not cut the power on The Hives!”, it was time to move along to the next act.
Making my way back to the Garden stage, The Cat Empire were a happy and vibrant breath of fresh-air, who put the crowd in a good mood, (with smiles and good vibes all around); got the crowd pumping, (arms and legs in the air and everywhere); and kept the happy-high-energy going the whole one hour set. Playing crowd favourites like Two Shoes, Someday, and So Many Nights, amongst others. And also a few covers as well – one of Paul Kelly’s songs Dumb Things, (which got the whole crowd singing along); and also a French version of The Eagles tune Hotel California, (which segued into their song Chariot). Throughout their six year career as a band they’ve received much recognition, (including their first album receiving seven ARIA nominations; their first two albums scoring double platinum sales; and the fact they’ve done around 600 sold-out shows between Melbourne and Montreal). The Cat Empire continue to be vibrant, warm, engaging, humble band; with attitudes of respect for creativity, the power of music, the environment, and other cultures and humanity in general.
The Cat Empires horn section eventually faded, sounding the end of the nights activities, and as the lights went down, the crowd cheered and began to quietly file out of the main gate like ants; tired, energized and eager all at the same time. And as I left the festival, (high on life and buzzing and beaming from ear to ear); I headed along the bamboo track that leads back into the concrete jungle, (a.k.a Brisbane City); and I let out a big “ahhhhhh” and thought – what a festival!!!… can’t wait for tomorrow!!!
By Tara Kai Hammond
The Cat Empire @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – March 12th and 13th 2009
The Cat Empire
Return to The Tivoli!
Guess who’s back? The Cat Empire. After a quieter year by Empire standards, the guys are pulling together their ever-entertaining troupe to hit the road in Australia, with the announcement of theatre shows, and more to follow for Feb/March 2009.
The National Tour will support the Feb ’09 release of a new album – Live on Earth – which incorporates recordings of shows all over the world, spanning the bands career to date. |
Continue reading The Cat Empire @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – March 12th and 13th 2009
Byron Bay Arts & Music Festival, Belongil Fields, 7-8 Jan 2009
Now “Sunset Sounds” in Brisbane on the 7th and 8th of January 2009… Click HERE for details.
***** The Byron Bay Arts and Music Festival Resurrection Delayed *****
It is with great disappointment that the Byron Bay Arts Crew announces The Byron Bay Arts and Music Festival will not happen this summer.
The festival, which originally ran from ’94 to ’96 and was organised by a collective of local arts & music enthusiasts, was due to be resurrected next January but hit regulatory hurdles. Despite securing a fantastic line-up; overwhelming support amongst the Byron Bay
community; and positive early indications from the local council, the organiser’s self-imposed deadline for obtaining final approvals for the venue expired last week. Whilst it is common for major events in Byron Bay to proceed without final approvals until only weeks before the event, organisers were uncomfortable with the level of risk given the significance of the line-up and organisation going in to the event.
With tickets due to go on sale later this month, organiser’s felt that cancelling the event was intensely regrettable yet the most responsible decision. The Byron Arts Crew are hopeful of resurrecting the festival in the future as it provides an important showcase opportunity for local music and arts as well as much needed entertainment to a vastly expanded Byron Bay population over summer. Organiser’s also wish to extend a sincere thank you and apology to the many people who have been part of the event as well as those who eagerly anticipated its return.
Music lovers need not despair as it has been confirmed that the majority of the bands will be coming together at a new Brisbane show presented by The Falls Festival – Sunset Sounds – More details announced shortly!
———- Original Announcement Below ————-
In sweet anticipation of longer days and soulfully warm nights comes a mid-Summer feast for the senses as we announce a bounty of wondrous acts from the local, domestic and international stages alike, to share in all the glory of the return of the great Byron Bay Arts & Music Festival, 2009.
The Byron Bay Arts & Music Festival will be served on the 7 & 8 of January 09, at Belongil Fields.
FRANZ FERDINAND (UK) / THE HIVES (Sweden) / THE CAT EMPIRE / THE KOOKS (UK) / THE GRATES / GOMEZ (UK)
FAKER / TEGAN AND SARA (Canada) / DONAVON FRANKENREITER (USA) / SOKO (France) / JIMMY WILLING AND THE REAL GONE HICK-UPS / DUBSHACK / GHOST MOUNTAIN / TIJUANA CARTEL / SARA TINDLEY