Posts Tagged ‘Australia’

The GOLDEN RAIL – ” Songs from Empty Streets “

Posted: September 8, 2022 in MUSIC
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‘Songs from Empty Streets’ is the third album by Melbourne based indie-pop band The Golden Rail. The band has deep roots in the Perth jangle pop tradition, and has garnered international acclaim for their previous albums.

The album is available as a limited edition, translucent orange vinyl, on black vinyl, and digitally. All vinyl comes with a digital download card.

Continuing an endless quest for the perfect chord, preparations for the third album were under way in early 2020 with a new batch of material rehearsed and sessions booked with producer Nick Batterham. A global pandemic saw sporadic sessions, often months apart, before a completed release was finally scheduled for the end of 2022. The band see this as their Winter album, following a seasonal progression from the first two, but the lyrical themes are more simply a quiet contemplation on friends, family and relationships past and sometimes lost. With the very able assistance of Batterham the band have been able to flesh out and realise their major song writing influences: from Carole King to Jimmy Webb; Burt Bacharach to Paddy McAloon with a touch of mid-70s West Coast cool thrown in for good measure.

“The perfect marriage of sophisticated melodies and soulful lyrics performed and sung by an equally soulful voice. The Golden Rail have risen to the top of the perfect pop charts with songs that Jimmy Webb would be proud of.” – Dom Mariani (The Stems, The Someloves, DM3, Datura4)

Old friend and fellow Melbourne-based Perth ex-pat Kim Salmon says, “The music of The Golden Rail evokes my teenage years like no other band. Deserted Perth suburbs in the summer. Boans Morley. The Purple Ear record store. The Golden Rail brings it all back. This is what Joni Mitchell was really talking about with “The Hissing of Summer Lawns”. The sense of lost love as Ian Freeman imagines a ship that might bring his love back looking out from Wireless Hill is palpable. Thing is, he’s strictly northern suburbs. Golden Rail’s music speaks of a kind of loneliness that a boy growing up in the northern suburbs of Perth could know. We had The Triffids to bring us South of the River, but The Golden Rail speaks to something else. Equally specific and paradoxically universal. Add to this all the gorgeous melodies and arrangements, and I never really had a chance!”

The partnership of Ian Freeman and Jeff Baker goes back to the 80s, and The Golden Rail is the culmination of a 30-year writing partnership between them. The pair met and started performing in Perth in the mid-80’s running through a string of bands either together or as side players in The Palisades, The Rainyard, Header, Summer Suns, DM3, The Lazybirds and more recently with The Jangle Band.

By 1995 the pair we’re touring separately with different acts around Australia and overseas and the song writing was put on hold until the early 2000s when both found themselves settled in Melbourne and looking to pick up where they left off 10 years earlier!

After playing and recording with several other West Australian ex-pats including Dave Johnstone (Ammonia) as The Lazybirds and in the cross-continental combo The Jangle Band with fellow Perth pop luminary Joe Algeri, Ian and Jeff formed a new band, taking its name from an infamous Perth CBD watering hole The Golden Rail. With a couple of line-up manoeuvres, the band settled as a 4-piece, with former Header guitarist Dave Chadwick on bass and Saki Garth on drums. The sound of the band today is a reflection of the longer musical and life experiences of its members, with the flash of those golden Australian indie pop years.
The band released its first album “Electric Trails from Nowhere” in 2017 and followed it up in 2018 with “Sometimes When”. On the back of those two albums, The Golden Rail garnered critical acclaim here and abroad and have built a cult following in underground guitar pop/jangle pop circles.

A classic rock/pop combination of guitars, bass and drums with some generous harmonies and occasional keyboard flourishes. It’s a reading of 60s and 70s pop sounds through an indie-rock prism with a subtle Australian bent. (Think The Triffids, Died Pretty, the Falling Joys or The Apartments).

The streets were empty and quiet, bar the occasional worker on their way to or from. It’s an internal life just like that – tragic, joyful, plain or otherwise – that The Golden Rail have documented on their third album ‘Songs from Empty Streets’.
“Another excellent album from this wonderful band!” – Crispian Winsor, 3PBS Radio City 

Players:
Saki Garth: drums, percussion
Dave Chadwick: bass
Jeff Baker: guitars, additional keys
Ian Freeman: guitars, voices, additional keys
With:
Nick Batterham: keyboards, backing vocals, harmonica, cello
Kelly Day: clarinet, saxophone, backing vocals
Andrew Batterham: trumpet, flügelhorn
Christopher Moore: viola
David Berlin: cello
Dave Johnstone: flamenco guitar, lead guitar on ‘Backyard Blues’ and ‘I Suppose’credits

releases October 7th, 2022

GRACE CUMMINGS – ” Refuge Cove “

Posted: January 27, 2022 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Grace Cummings’ guttural vocals captivate from the first line. Moving through the volatility and stillness of her lyrics on her self-produced sophomore album, “Storm Queen”, a follow up to her 2019 debut “Refuge Cover”, the Melbourne-born artist is a conduit for her most personal tales, and all the music playing in her head. Starting out as a drummer in rock bands in high schools, Cummings started writing her own songs, pulling inspiration from Dylan, Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly, and a more solemn Irish folk song played by her father. “Irish melodies are some of my favourites,” says Cummings. “They go to such dark and dramatic places.” 

Video for The second single from Grace Cummings debut album ‘Refuge Cove’ out November 1st, 2019.

The GANG OF YOUTHS – ” Angel In Realtime “

Posted: November 11, 2021 in MUSIC
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Gang Of Youths (pic by Ed Cooke)

Aussie indie legends Gang Of Youths have announced their long-awaited third album – along with a massive nationwide tour to celebrate. Inspired by the passing of singer David Le’aupepe‘s father and his love of horticulture, “Angel In Realtime” is a love letter to family and the sacrifices people make along the way for the ones they love.

“My dad was a gifted and passionate gardener. It’s where he funnelled a lot of his energy and sensitivity, and despite our humble economic status, we were always surrounded by beauty,” the singer explained.

“The journey he made from Samoa to NZ to Australia was a difficult and inspiring one, but also fraught with mistakes, regret and terrible choices. I like to think he was building something beautiful,  and pondering what life had given him in spite of his mistakes and concealment. We never knew his story until after he died, so this is the most poetic interpretation of his affinity for gardening that I could think of.”

Le’aupepe added, “I hope the record stands as a monument to the man my father was and remains long after I’m gone myself. He deserved it.”

“Angel In Realtime” is slated for release 25th February 2022, check out their new single Tend The Garden 

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GANG OF YOUTHS – ” The Man Himself “

Posted: October 19, 2021 in MUSIC
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At this point, there’s no telling the heights Gang of Youths are set to climb. But as they continue to rise, their music is firmly rooted in where they’ve been. The Australian-born, London-based rock band seem to be filling an interesting void between pop-rock and indie, and after dropping the total serene EP earlier this year, are back with another lower-case, bigger-sound single called “the man himself.”

The track finds Gang of Youths singer Dave Le’aupepe meditating on the loss of his father, using his memory as a foundation to power forward and heal. “the man himself” is about grieving and loss, but also provides a compass on how to reflect the past in our future. “If I ever have kids,” Le’aupepe says, “I’m not really sure how to raise them without my dad helping me out.”

This anthemic, almost-hymnal track is a pretty good start. here is ‘the man himself’, a tune from our upcoming record. we love this track. listen out for ‘Imenetuki Mangaia’ at the song’s core, recorded by the wonderful David Fanshawe on the island of Mangaia a lifetime ago. the magnificent indigenous performers are the stars of the song, we can’t thank them enough

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SPACEY JANE – ” Lunchtime “

Posted: October 7, 2021 in MUSIC
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Spacey Jane new single Lunchtime interview second album

Fremantle four-piece Spacey Jane have released their second single for the year, ‘Lunchtime’. Written at a time when frontman Caleb Harper was experiencing “severe hangover anxiety”, ‘Lunchtime’ is a quick-starting rock track that boasts in-your-face electric guitar riffs from Ashton Hardman-LeCornu. The single arrives with an accompanying music video from Matt Sav and Julia Jacklin collaborator Nick McKinlay. In the video, Harper leaves and returns to a formal lunch with his bandmates, getting battered and bruised in the process.

Following ‘Lots Of Nothing’, ‘Lunchtime’ is the band’s second new song since the June 2020 release of their debut album ‘Sunlight’. With four songs landing on triple j’s Hottest 100 last year – including ‘Booster Seat’ at Number Two – ‘Sunlight’ will be a hard act to follow. Spacey Jane haven’t let that put them off, though: their second album has already been recorded.

Speaking from his home in Fremantle, Harper explains the inspiration behind ‘Lunchtime’ and its music video, and how the track sits alongside Spacey Jane’s future musical plans.

 ‘Lunchtime’ is a very fun song for us. And it’s weird writing a really fast song. For me, I sort of do it intentionally, like: let’s do something fast and fun because it’s so good to play live. You really just get to rock around and the effect on the listener is quite immediate.

But the rest of the record is actually not really that fast, there’s a lot of slower stuff in there. This is definitely the most guitar-driven song on the album, I’d say. It feels like a more youthful, fun version of the kind of music that we make and we like it for that reason. We wanted to have it as a single just because we felt like it was like an outlier in some ways to what the rest of the record might end up being.

GOOD MORNING – ” Barnyard “

Posted: August 27, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Melbourne lo-fi rock duo Good Morning have built quite an impressive resume for themselves despite flying largely under the radar for much of their career. Melbourne’s slacker jangle pop outfit Good Morning join the Dinked series with their latest landing on exclusive wax with a poster insert.

The two high school friends have been making bright and breezy tunes together for almost a decade now, and ‘Barnyard’ hears them at their most melodic and attentive to the outside world. The pair recorded the album at Wilco’s Loft studio following a US tour, and is set for release in October.

They’ve had a consistent output of short albums, EPs and singles over the years, their song “Warned You” has become a veritable indie hit, and A$AP Rocky even sampled their song “Don’t Come Home Today” on his last album Testing. The duo’s new album “The Option” is largely devoid of the hazy psych trappings of their past, but it’s also their most sprawling and fully realized record to date.

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‘Barnyard’ sees Australian lo-fi slacker-indie duo Good Morning firmly settling into the laidback sound they brought us on 2019’s ‘Basketball Breakups’. This is an LP of off-kilter, gently strummed melodies and jangling lead guitar lines. Their influences come from the likes of Smog, Sebadoh, Pavement and the Flying Nun roster.
“The Option” includes 8 new rock songs by the band Good Morning.
Good Morning are played this time by Stefan Blair, John Considine, James Macleod & Liam Parsons.
released April 5th, 2019

based off the short film ‘cornerstone’ (2009) by Richard Ayoade taken from the album ‘The Option’ out now

GANG OF YOUTHS – ” The Angel Of 8th Ave.

Posted: June 16, 2021 in MUSIC
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After Re-emerging recently, Gang of Youths have officially released ‘The Angel of 8th Ave’.

Self-produced and recorded in their own studio in Hackney, the single arrives with a Joel Barney-directed music video filmed in the Aussie band’s adopted town of Angel, Islington North London and meets all your charismatic, dancing Dave Le’aupepe needs. 

Built on a surging tempo and gritty bassline ornamented with shiny acoustic strums, Le’aupepe says ‘The Angel of 8th Ave’ was inspired by “falling in love, and finding a new life in a new city together.”

It’s at once an ode to the frontman’s wife and to the band’ relocation to the U.K after 2017 album Go Farther In Lightness made them one of Australia’s most celebrated bands. The track has the same electric indie rock grandiosity of that record, right down to the familiar way Le’aupepe stakes his romance in big poetics:  

You called each of my sorrows by name, and a tide of tender mercies shook my body from the grave in the festival years of our makeshift parade, Through perpetual fall and immeasurable rain.

As far as comebacks go, ‘The Angel of 8th Ave’ plays it relatively safe. But don’t expect that to be entirely the case for Gang Of Youths’ next body of work.

“This is probably the only song that sounds anything like what we used to do, if I’m honest,” Dave Le’aupepe tells us

He confirms that a new project is coming “at some point in the next year or so” and that ‘The Angel of 8th Ave’ was written a few years ago and underwent “15 versions” before landing on what is “about as close to what people would have Gang of Youths as in 2017, when we did our last anything…”

“That’s probably by design. I think easing people who love what you’ve done into something that’s extremely different or could potentially polarise people is what we wanted to do with this track.”

The MURLOCS – ” Bittersweet Demons “

Posted: May 28, 2021 in MUSIC
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The Murlocs fifth studio album, Bittersweet Demons is dropping June 25th! On the band’s most personal and boldly confident work yet, The Murlocs share a collection of songs reflecting on the people who leave a profound imprint on our lives, the saviours and hell-raisers and assorted other mystifying characters. Pre-order the Blue-Eyed Runner vinyl now in the ATO shop, shipping June 18th.

‘Eating At You’ is OUT NOW!! John Angus Stewart.Here’s a couple words for you about the meaning behind it all. “ It’s an ode to all the loveable train wrecks out there that have gone off the rails and keep going back for more. The never-ending vortex cycle. Some seem to never learn their lesson even when it smacks them right in the face constantly. It’s important to address these issues before disaster strikes and it’s too late. Never give up on your loved ones when they’re in need of a helping hand.”

“On their fifth album “Bittersweet Demons“, The Murlocs share a collection of songs reflecting on the people who leave a profound imprint on our lives: The saviours and hellraisers and assorted other mystifying characters. From the 11 infectious tracks emerges a beautifully complex body of work, one that shines a light on the fragilities of human nature while inducing the glorious head rush that accompanies any Murlocs outing.”

From The Murlocs new album “Bittersweet Demons” out June 25, 2021

DOM & The WIZARDS – ” Cellophane Aeroplane “

Posted: April 20, 2021 in MUSIC
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Come on a journey of kaleidoscopic and sinister whimsy with the new album from Australia’s Dom & The Wizards. Catchily titled The Australian Cyclone Intensity Scale, we have album opener Cellophane Aeroplane for your listening pleasure. Following from the frantic slur of the Ana’s Little City 7″ and the paranoid mysticism of the vinyl-only release ‘The Ongoing Adventures’ LP, comes Dom & the Wizards’ latest inter dimensional translation – The Australian Cyclone Intensity Scale. Band leader Dom Trimboli, of renowned Adelaide / Kaurna Country based group Wireheads, takes the listener on a staggered journey through tales of sinister whimsy, as though playing to an audience of sedated accountants, standing hand in hand humming nonchalantly as the world burns around them. The Wizards retreat from the world of increased chaos and the mathematicians that attempt to bring it to order, to unearth the simple pleasures of colourful, irreverent narrative. Trimboli takes us back to a world of fanciful tales, mystical heroes and kaleidoscopic exaggerations.

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On The Australian Cyclone Intensity Scale, the Wizards’ playbook takes iconic form, becoming a clearer patchwork quilt of myth, literature, theology and anecdote, resembling a psychedelic late-night Wikipedia hole. Yearning for the times of the high renaissance, the molasses like glue of the album urges its listener to park their cars and write love letters to their neighbours they have never spoken to. Recorded in the grape vine dressed Adelaide Hills on Peramangk country at Milestone Studios by engineer Tom Spall.

“Cellophane Aeroplane” from Dom & The Wizards · Domenic Trimboli “The Australian Cyclone Intensity Scale”  Tenth Court Records

Released April 2nd, 2021

QUIVERS – ” Golden Doubt “

Posted: April 2, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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On May 28th, Melbourne-via-Tasmania jangle-pop quartet Quivers will release “Golden Doubt”, their second album (and first on Ba Da Bing Records), and the follow-up to their 2018 debut We’ll Go Riding on the Hearses and 2021 full-length cover of R.E.M.’s Out of Time. Lead single and Golden Doubt opener “Gutters of Love” begins simply with singer Sam Nicholson’s voice and a three-chord progression, building patiently to an achingly anthemic climax. Gleaming guitar work, vocal harmonies from Quivers members Holly Thomas and Bella Quinlan, and keen production courtesy of Matthew Redlich (Holy Holy, Husky, Ainslie Wills) all elevate the song into a bruised, yet beautiful rock anthem that makes its home in the fleeting space between joy and pain. “‘Gutters of Love’ is a song about serotonin levels but mostly about love.

We wanted a guitar song that was in love with love, but also knows a comedown is coming and you might need your friends to help you get through it,” Nicholson says in a statement. “That’s why the song is all Holly and Bella harmonies, big guitars, broken Farfisa organ, piano, and a shouty choir. It will be OK.”

Coming from Australia and the strong indie rock area of Melbourne music scene, Quivers have been releasing music for half-a-decade, since their initially self-released debut, “We’ll Go Riding On The Hearses”. After last year’s R.E.M covers of “Out Of Time”, the band are about to release their third record, “Golden Doubt”, due out in June as a co-release between an impressive collaboration between a trio of wonderful labels. Ahead of that release, this week the band have shared a brand-new track, “Gutters Of Love”.

Described by the band as, “a song about serotonin levels but mostly about love”, “Gutters Of Love” muses on the amount of time we all spend talking and thinking about love, whether we’re shouting across dance-floors or sitting on bedroom floors trying to make sense of it all. The track comes in on a muted chord-sequence, slowly morphing into something altogether more melodic, as an abundance of vocals and a wavering Farfisa organ lift it to a scream-along crescendo as a make-shift choir ask as one, “after the serotonin’s gone, could you ever fall in love?” 

Filmclip directed by the band from super 8 footage collected in late 2020 in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. Edited by Michael Panton. Thanks to our friends who appeared here & also Louie the dog and all the chickens.

Quivers have described Golden Doubt as a record about grief and what puts us back together; how with friends, music and a sense of humour, we somehow manage to find a way to keep-on-keeping-on.

Golden Doubt is out June 11th via Ba Da Bing Records (UK/North America), Bobo Integral (Europe).

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