Central Coast Band Thirty Three Degrees Release their Debut single – Place in the Sun

February 19, 2021 Leave a comment

Thirty Three Degrees are an original rock band with a strong groove and some rootsy vibes, from the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia.

After a brief hiatus from the music scene, Shane decided to re-enter the music world and search for like-minded musicians to write and perform with. At this same time, Chris was re-entering Australia from Los Angeles with the same goal. Thanks to musician classifieds on social media, the two met up and at the end of January 2020, Shane Romeyn and Chris Roberts formed the band.

The good vibes and good songs flowed out immediately. Due to COVID-19 gigs were off the table for the most part, so with the temporary assistance and amazing bass work of Chris’ brother Mike, the band decided to instead enter the studio and recorded their debut album.

Since then the band has brought on a full-time bass player, Andrew, to complete the trio and they are continuing to pump out song after song and rehearse for future gigs.

Place in the Sun
First single from the Thirty Three Degrees debut album. A story about keeping a dream alive and enjoying your place in the sun. This is the perfect summer rock tune, think Tom Petty, Neil Young and the rest. Plenty to spark interest in the vocals and full band backing and a rocking up-tempo backing track.

Single OUT NOW! Stream it here:

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Gareth Koch New Album The Guitar Player

October 6, 2020 Leave a comment

GARETH KOCH NEW ALBUM THE GUITAR PLAYER

Following the EP Code Blue earlier this year and taking time out from multiple Steve Kilbey projects Gareth has put together this superb selection of his classical guitar work recorded in two European locations, a remote Austrian village chapel & a baroque Viennese monastery, while living in Europe for over two decades.

A curious & ancient bond unites the selections on this recording. Performed entirely on the ‘Spanish’ guitar, these works have been moulded by the traditions of Spanish classical music & the passionate folk art of flamenco. The musicological connection between folk & classical music is well documented, a phenomenon in which composers incorporate the spirit of folk music into their work. Spanish music is often imbued with the fire of ‘Gypsy song’, whose powerful artistic reach extends well beyond Spain.

ARIA Award winner Gareth Koch is uniquely placed as an interpreter of Spanish music. Trained in Vienna & Madrid, he brings both classical & flamenco perspectives to his interpretation. He is joined on tracks 3, 9 & 12 by Viennese cellist Herwig Tachezi – former Principal Cellist of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

‘The Guitar Player’ is an entirely natural acoustic recording using direct source microphones and purely the ambient spaces of the chapel’s thereby avoiding any extra processing.

Gareth Koch is an ARIA Award winning recording artist, guitar soloist, composer & songwriter. He has recorded a diverse repertory across multiple albums spanning works for classical guitar, flamenco, original compositions, arrangements, medieval projects & songwriting. He has appeared at major festivals within Australia, Europe, Asia and North America.
Born in Milan, Koch began his musical studies on piano and clarinet, and at age 12 was accepted into the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He received his Bachelor of Music degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before winning a scholarship for advanced guitar study at the Vienna Academy of Music. He holds a PhD in Music.
In 2002 Koch formed what might be termed the first guitar supergroup. Saffire – The Australian Guitar Quartet soared to number 1 on the classical music charts and appeared on the pop charts. The quartet released a total of 3 best-selling albums.
Gareth is involved with many cross genre projects & in 2020 released two collaborative albums with ARIA Hall of Fame inductee Steve Kilbey (The Church).

The Guitar Player is OUT NOW – September 18 via MGM
All DSP’s and CD’s in store from October

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Cenzina – New Feature Single – I Want You

September 11, 2020 Leave a comment

Soundslikecafe is proud to feature this exciting new singer – Cenzina – self described as an 80’s dance-pop diva inspired by Madonna.

Treading her own path in the pop scene; Cenzina is blasting into the music industry with some older school roots. Inspired mainly by Madonna, she is an independent artist who has been studying voice and piano for many years and currently is coached by David Butler.

Cenzina has ambitions to grow her fanbase and become an overall successful artist; a statement bolstered by her involvement in Craigieburn Central’s Unity Festival in 2019, Reservoir Stomp in 2017 as part of Darebin Music Feast, Scorcher Fest in 2016 and her feature on a popular U.S. podcast “Woman Of Substance” .

Keeping up her busy schedule, Cenzina has been promoting her latest single , “I Want You” at open mics around hotels and pubs.

Check out the single here

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Margaret Anne and The Rock it Man – Don’t Look Back

August 28, 2020 Leave a comment

After releasing the inspiring and amazing Americana song and video clip ‘Soul Laid Bare’ at the end of last year, Margaret Anne and The Rock It Man have released two exciting new songs. ‘Don’t Look Back’ co-written with Shane Nicholson and ‘My Mumma’ written while watching the passing of her mother 2 years ago.

Just 2 months after leaving a 20-year marriage, ‘Don’t Look Back’ was written with country artist Shane Nicholson at The Dag Sheep Station in Nundle, near Tamworth. While sitting on the porch of a farmhouse, Shane helped Margaret Anne peel back the layers to look deep within. Doug Weaver (aka the Rock It Man) produced and played not one but all of instruments on the song.
The result is a song that examines the essence of her marriage, the struggle to get it right, the decision to move on from the wreckage and not look back.

‘My Mumma’ was written on the back of a bereavement envelope in about 10 minutes. When faced with the death of her mother, Margaret fell back into childhood, writing this emotional ballad of grief while waiting and watching her pass away. Played by her brother, the accompanying guitar forms the song into both a collection of vulnerable memories and a haunting goodbye.

Motivated by adventure and passion, MargaretAnne continually touches her fans and listeners with her inclusive, warm, heartfelt singing and dynamic stage presence. She grew up in a musical family, singing and playing classical piano from the age of 3,through her teen years, and then spent her 20’s travelling and singing through far reaches of the world and into the mountains of Bolivia, Alaska and Tibet.

Margaret Anne has also co-written original songs including the already released ‘Cassidy’s Blues’ with Kelly Brouhaha of Beccy Cole and the Lionesses, ‘The Tree’ with Greta Ziller and ‘The Ones you Love’ with Luke O’Shea. Doug Weaver has used his expertise to skilfully play, arrange, and mix these songs which will feature in their Albums.

The Don’t Look Back video captures the essence of escaping to the open road and is a mix of scenic, action and pensive footage thoughtfully cut with flash backs of old super 8 footage of Margaret Anne at the age of 3 through to the end of the marriage.

Video premiered by Scenestr

Download or stream the single Out NOW via MGM

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Steve Kilbey – New Solo Album – Eleven Women

August 28, 2020 Leave a comment

STEVE KILBEY PRESENTS HIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM FOR 2020 – ELEVEN WOMEN

Catch the new LIVE SHOW – click image for tix.

Checkout The Latest Review

We’ve become used to seeing many of our favourite artists and acts taking advantage of their enforced isolation to complete albums or other musical projects that might normally have been put aside to fulfil touring obligations, but Steve Kilbey was already well into perhaps his most prolific period to date beforeCOVID overwhelmed us. This year already there have two albums in collaboration with Gareth Koch, another with Kate Ceberano and now comes a solo album, Eleven Women. All the collaborations in which Kilbey has been involved over the past couple of decades have certainly helped him push his muse beyond the expected pop/rock references points, but at the end of the day he’s still the archetypal pop sponge; his love of ‘60s psychedelia and artists like The Beatles and Bowie with a dash of The Small Faces remains paramount, the more exotic elements absorbed providing quirky flourishes and whimsical embellishments – which makes for a very accessible and enjoyable classic record. The references, musical and literary, are replete and once in a while they quite cheeky – Birdeeneven sees Kilbey toss in a little reference to Abba’s ‘Money Money Money’. While the title suggests this collection presents Kilbey’s musings on a variety of women, historical, literary and some perhaps even actual, he’s happy to toss in something more oblique – ‘Lillian in Cerulean Blue’ for instance references a brand of metallic paint, while the aforementioned ‘Birdeen’ seems to be about particularly greedy lorikeet. So Mary Shelley is name-checked in ‘Poppy Byron’, though of course Kilbey’s Mary “was watchin’ the telly/on SBS it was in Mandarin”. Elsewhere he advises his listeners not to cross the “bewitching” ‘Doris McAllister’. Kilbey’s lyrics have never been straightforward of course. The fun has always been to test his listeners, to tease them with possible meanings – and so too with Eleven Women. Professionally enigmatic? Perhaps – and why not?

MICHAEL SMITH

NEW INTERVIEW ON THE EVE OF RELEASE WITH ARUN FROM BACKSEAT MAFIA

Meet: We chat with Steve Kilbey from The Church about celebrating 40 years, acting ‘European’, the fruits of isolation and we review his new solo album

Steve Kilbey has created a fine new album for 2020. His first solo release for an astoundingly creative year reveals a dazzling array of songs brimming with ideas, personality & effervescence. The collection is at once whimsical yet personal, and in a masterful sleight of hand Kilbey’s Eleven Women are not quite as one might expect.

The album leads us through a shimmering whirlwind of encounters. After the disarming love song Baby Poewe are plunged headlong into the dark world of Doris McAllister, an evil witch who takes us ‘by the bells’. We are regaled by the Celtic wistfulness of Josephineas she forbearingly awaits her ‘wine & roses’ while Birdeen, a greedy lorikeet with a sweet tooth, beguiles us with infectious bounce & colour.

Eleven Womenis full of melodic invention & lyrical surprises. Singling out tracks for special mention is frankly impossible since this album consists entirely of highlights. Amongst these bijous however the timelessly beautiful Think of Youshines brightly. This song has the unmistakeable stamp of eternity & evokes a sense of having existed since music began.

From the album’s opening salvo it is clear we are in the most capable of hands. Steve Kilbey is a veteran song writer at the very height of his creative powers.

“Steve Kllbey was born in England a long time ago and arrived in Australia as a ten pound pom with his parents in 1957. in 1980 he formed The Church who have gone on to have many hit singles including Unguarded Moment, Almost with You and international best seller Under The Milky Way. Their 1988 album Starfish sold over one million copies in America alone. Kilbey has released many solo albums and collaborations making him one of the most prolific songwriters in the world. He acts , paints , writes books and juggles dangerous objects . He lives in Coogee Beach NSW and is hoping to one day own a Daschund .”

ELEVEN WOMEN SEPTEMBER 4 via FOGHORN/MGM.

Streaming

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Andrew Barnum – Dear Ancestor(official video)

August 7, 2020 Leave a comment

Andrew Barnum New Single – Dear Ancestor

July 30, 2020 Leave a comment

Andrew Barnum’s Single Dear Ancestor

Andrew Barnum is a singer-songwriter, whose musical style is a combination of folk-based Aus alt-folk and home-pop-tronic-rock. Welcome to a visually transporting road-trip of the Australian experience today.

The song-writing-performance duo of Andrew & Lissa Barnum, aka Vitabeats, had a national hit with ‘Boom Box’ (Hot/EMI) in 1985. This was followed by singles ‘Audrey’ and ‘Build it Right’ from the album ‘Spot the Spanner.’ The band stopped recording and touring in 1988. Andrew never stopped writing, recording and performing his own songs.

Andrew’s current sound is a blend of the acoustic and electronic arcane – forgotten analogue technologies, merging with digital interfaces and an array of musicians, including vocals from Lissa and Cayenne Barnum, all coming together in accomplished composer-producer Boris Hunt’s Black Rabbit Studio in Hartley, NSW.

Dear Ancestor is a personal letter to our past about the future.
It’s a lament to someone trusted and wise, asking for a way to awaken with purpose.
Like the Zen master, it’s not with a gentle nudge, but with a crack from their stick.
The track was recorded live with Boris Hunt, Lucius Culliton, and Andy Gordon,
at Black Rabbit Big Room, Kanimbla NSW Australia. Mastered by Nat Love.

The overall sound has a a dark, smoky, haunting lyrical quality. Musically, it speaks volumes with a sense of longing, lingering, and meandering, that is full of romance.

Video (recently premiered on Scenstr Magazine) click image to view

The video clip was a collaboration with students from Billy Blue College (Andy Marsh, Christine Kemeny, Bailey Sii, and Tony Taulaga), where all the footage was shot in 2 isolated locations, Sydney and the South Coast, then edited. The creative direction was based on the silhouette style of Indonesian shadow puppetry. The team set out to create the smoky, burnt atmosphere of the recent bushfires, the spirit of the Ancestor is represented by Australian birds. Special thanks to Christine Kemeny for the final production.

Stream the new single here:

Social media links
www.facebook.com/andrewbarnumsongs
www.twitter.com/andrew_barnum

Official site
www.andrew-barnum-songs.squarespace.com

Throwing Shapes EP Tranquility Base review

July 30, 2020 Leave a comment

Tranquility Base

(reviewed by Adam Jones (July 2020))

At its base we find tranquil synths, but as a whole our ears are assaulted with the addition of some enchanting bass and drum electronic grooves. The fourth EP (since 2013) ‘Tranquility Base’ from Throwing Shapes, the innovative and progressive Perth dance music duo – Fox Shannon and Matt Huxtable – delivers some frenetic beats over melodic stylings using piano, bass and some powerful synthesised sounds.

This instrumental dance outfit are known for their energetic and captivating live shows as they garner more interest and entries in dance music compilation albums and Spotify Playlists. From the opening title track through to the moody closer, Throwing Shapes are ‘Defiant, Yet At Your Mercy’, with five solid tracks given some cool titles, such as ‘Wonders To Behold’, ‘Demons Run’ and ‘Marauder’!

These guys are to electronic dance music today what Pink Floyd was to progressive rock back in the late 60s and 70s, providing some creative, moving and beautiful melodic sounds over some of the best bass’n’drum electronic beats you will ever hope to find.

Whether you want to indulge your aural senses at home, in the car, or down the club, with some superior quality dance music, go no further than Throwing Shapes and their latest offering. It will be worth it!

Listen NOW!!

Fiona Joy Hawkins New Album Moving Through Worlds

July 15, 2020 Leave a comment

Fiona Joy Hawkin’s Presents New Album and Video
Moving Through Worlds

As the Australian Bushfires crept toward her rural home, Fiona Joy Hawkins turned to her Stuart & Sons piano to do what has always bought her solace: writing music. After crafting 4 songs that she later marketed as fundraisers for firefighters and wildlife rescue – and which are included on this album – she began final preparations on Moving Through Worlds.

Although she began recording and conceptualizing the album three years ago, one could say it is an album 44-years in the making. One of the more classical-crossover pieces is “For the Roses” which a 12-year-old Fiona wrote for her Grandmother’s funeral.

Fiona says, “I believe music is a gift from another world, from ancestors of the past communicating to inspire and give us hope. Music is a universal language that connects us without prejudice, it speaks to us all equally, yet is received with great variation. My wish is to open a few more hearts to the power of music. Now more than ever we need the connection to our past to find the pathway to our future.”

The 14-track album was beautifully produced by Will Ackerman (Founder Windham Hill Records) and Tom Eaton. As per her usual style, Fiona defies genre by bringing Classical, Contemporary Piano, and New Age instrumentals together to create something uniquely her own, and reflective of all the worlds that she has moved through so elegantly while this powerful music gathered in her soul.

Fiona Joy Hawkins is an Australian Pianist, Composer and Singer who enjoys and regularly tours China and the USA and is also a member of the Contemporary instrumental group FLOW (Fiona Joy, Lawrence Blatt, Jeff Oster, Will Ackerman). Fiona Joy Hawkins is best known for her romantic, melodic songs and lush arrangements. A prolific composer, she has always been interested in creating music that evokes images, emotions and tells stories.

Fiona Joy is known for ‘Grace’, her song on a Grammy Winning album in 2014 and for her extensive catalogue produced by Will Ackerman (Founder Windham Hill Records). In 2016 she won two categories of the Independent Music Awards at the Lincoln Centre in New York and has been awarded Best Piano Album by International Radio (ZMR Awards) for several of her albums. Nominated alongside Pete Seeger for Best LIVE Performance Album in the Independent Music Awards,Fiona was an ARIA Finalist in Australia in 2008. Fiona works with Australian piano maker Stuart and Sons, and has several albums with Blue Coast Records (content partners with Sony Music for hi-resolution releases).

Watch the Video (Premiered on Scenstr) for Calling County Clare here

In the case of Fiona Joy Hawkins’ latest collection Moving Through Worlds, there are glorious exceptions where it’s not hyperbole in any sense and fits today, tomorrow and for all…let’s just say I can’t imagine there ever being a time in the future when listening to this deeply personal, socially conscious, stylistically expansive 14-track musical narrative would grip me any less than it does today, in the midst of world gone mad 2020. – Jonathan Widran, JWVibe

“Moving Through Worlds” is OUT NOW (July 7) via Little Hartley Music.

Streaming

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Mark Cashin New Single “Just Like Me”

July 15, 2020 Leave a comment

Mark Cashin will release the 4th in the series of tribute songs following the tragic loss of his son Coen in a car accident 4 years ago.

Mark says

Quotes:
“Brings rock back to the fore” – Rock Candy Mag
“Incredible voice & truly epic sound” – Epic Radio
“Punchy guitar & poppy vocals” – Low Tone Media
“Sounds of a new world rock music scene” – V1 Music

Checkout the new video