The Plant Society-Headache

October 22, 2020 Leave a comment

Here’s a feature tune just added to our playlist to checkout-

The new single Headache from Melbourne’s ‘The Plant Society’

Dealing with Covid19 lockdown, they did what all good artists do when locked away- write and record.

Melbourne based band, The Plant Society makes Lo-fi supersonik elektronik synth unpop music and music videos clips. Consisting of 3 member, Hanson on guitar, Aravind on bass/vocals and Teo on keys/vocals, playing original songs and cover songs. This band has been created during the pandemic and the group connected via the music app Vampr. The group is creating a demo catalogue of tracks right now, to be able to perform live once restrictions are over, but in the mean time they will have a few virtual shows online.

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Jimmy C’s New Album The Entirely Unremarkable World of The Jimmy C

October 16, 2020 Leave a comment

FOG512 The Entirely Unremarkable World Of The Jimmy C front 3000px

Melbourne one-man-band Releases his New Album – The Entirely Unremarkable World of The Jimmy C

The Jimmy C returns with an album that surprised even himself. Despite featuring a few guest contributions from Jamie’s Lava Fangs bandmates: Wesley Fahey and Andrew Horne, and Stu Thomas (The Stu Thomas Paradox, Kim Salmon/Surrealists, Dave Graney), the vast majority of instruments on the record, as always, are performed by Jamie.

Step into “The Entirely Unremarkable World of The Jimmy C” – a fantasy land of catchy pop songs, self-deprecation, and the struggle for normalcy in a world gone completely bonkers.

Jamie Coghill is a musician and songwriter based in Melbourne, Australia, who has been recording solo under the moniker of ‘The Jimmy C’ since 2005. A multi-instrumentalist, The Jimmy C is Jamie’s primary creative outlet, in which he writes, records, engineers, produces, mixes and masters everything himself in his home studio, Casa de Kensington. Originally recording to four-track tape, and gradually moving to digital, Jamie’s ability to make his lo-fi gear produce hi-fi quality sound is part of The Jimmy C’s charm.

Playing primarily as a drummer in The Devilrock Four, Fez Perez and Luxedo prior to 2005, The Jimmy C was Jamie’s opportunity to showcase his unique style and abilities, and quickly became his main musical project. While still touring with Devilrock, including a tour of Europe in 2008, Jamie was working on what would end up being 2009’s Glamour and Fame. Recorded over two years “in lunch breaks and on weekends”, Glamour and Fame was a sprawling 20 track loose concept album, which established Jamie’s talent – as well as his penchant for genre hopping and very short songs.

The Jimmy C has since released three albums: 2014’s Orbital Debris, 2016’s Un Homme Orchestra (released as three EPs but spiritually one record) and 2018’s Songs For The Species; as well as recording original music for two American web series: The Adventures of Superseven and The Sandra West Diaries; and a feature film. He also released several EPs, a Christmas single, and produced a live album with The Jimmy C Group, out of which formed his latest side project: Lava Fangs.

2020 is shaping up to be a huge year for Jamie, with The Jimmy C releasing his latest album, The Entirely Unremarkable World of The Jimmy C, as well as Lava Fangs releasing their debut, self-titled long player.

As Melbourne headed into lockdown in early 2020, Jamie found himself stuck at home: which conveniently also houses his home studio. With the studio becoming a place of therapy, “The Entirely Unremarkable World of The Jimmy C” became an album borne out of boredom. Continuing the DIY journey started with “Project E.G.O.” in 2005, “The Entirely Unremarkable World of The Jimmy C” is The Jimmy C’s most accomplished and fastest finished album to date with Stage 3 Coronavirus restrictions unexpectedly giving Jamie much more time to spend working on new songs.

While The Jimmy C’s previous releases have all spanned genres, “The Entirely Unremarkable World of The Jimmy C” showcases Jamie’s creativity and musical diversity on another level. No stranger to straight up rock’n’roll, he delivers that on ‘Standing in Doorways’, a track written for and about the Coghill family’s cats and kittens, while ‘Where Was She’ is perhaps the most straightforward pop jangle on any The Jimmy C record to date and melancholy album closer ‘Kings of the Earth’ departs from Jamie’s usual wheelhouse and introduces strings and a trumpet to The Jimmy C’s ever-expanding sound palate.

The Entirely Unremarkable World of The Jimmy C is out now on Foghorn/MGM.

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Andrew Barnum’s New Album Dear Ancestor

October 16, 2020 Leave a comment

Andrew Barnum’s New Album Dear Ancestor

Andrew Barnum is a singer-songwriter, whose music is a modern take on folk-blues based alt-rock. He has been recording and releasing his own original songs as a solo artist in Australia since the 1990s. With long-time collaborator Boris Hunt, they’ve now produced 8 albums. Their sound is a blend of the acoustic and electronic arcane – forgotten analogue technologies, merging with digital interfaces and an array of musicians. Boris and Andrew call it ‘Homefolktronics.’

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.’ YouTube clips: https://bit.ly/2Ctb1qo. The band stopped recording and touring in 1988. Andrew has never stopped writing, recording and performing his own songs since then.

Dear Ancestor is a letter to our past, asking for directions for the future. The songs have a dark smoky quality to them, musically they speak volumes, and have a sense of longing, lingering and meandering that is full of romance. There is a continual dark, menacing feel to the tracks that really captures the zeitgeist of today’s isolation.

The tracks were recorded live at Black Rabbit Big Room in Kanimbla NSW, Australia with Boris, Lucius Culliton (drums), Andy Gordon (bass) and Andrew (vocals guitar). Boris added more bass, keyboards and pedal steel, Andrew recorded the final vocals at home on the South Coast of NSW. 27 tracks were recorded, 11 made the cut, 9 released.

This album is part of a continuum of albums that began between Andrew and Boris starting in 1993. Dear Ancestor is their 8th album. The unique process required recording the initial 27 songs over 2 days. The final version of the album was mixed by Boris and mastered by Nat Love. Recorded before the Australian bushfires and then finalized during the arrival of the Pandemic.

Radio/Media Downloads

Stream the new album here:

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

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

Jessie May Kitchen – Blue Skies(Official)

October 6, 2020 Leave a comment

Stuart Dwyer-Wait Another Day Single and Video

September 16, 2020 Leave a comment

Here’s the new single from Stuart Dwyer’s Debut EP ‘Before The Night’ featuring on soundslikecafe.

Stuart Dwyer is a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Sydney, Australia.

There are many ways to describe Stuart, unique, talented and charismatic just seem to scratch the surface. However, there is one word that ties them all together and is true to their character: Stuart’s music is Real. Few people sing so honestly from their heart and soul. Stuart’s music does so in just the right way, combining art, story, and song in perfect unison.

You can get a great sense from the video for the song shot in Tasmania

Stuart’s first EP “Before the night” was released in February 2020 with his next single “Nobody Else” due to be released in October 2020.

Listen here

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Official Site

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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Adam Blacksmith – I Hope i’m Wrong New Single

August 28, 2020 Leave a comment

A great new single from Adam his first from the forthcoming album on the soundslikecafe playlist

A casual loan of a classic Fender Jaguar Guitar inspires this heartfelt new single from Sydney Songman Adam Blacksmith

Adam Blacksmith is a thought provoking songwriter from Sydney, Australia. He is a talented wordsmith and a storyteller. He draws his influences from far and wide, from his contemporaries Augie March and the Drones to his workplace, Long Bay Gaol in Sydney where he works as a Special Education teacher. Blacksmith’s music doesn’t fall neatly into any conventional category although musically, he gives folk and blues an indie make-over resulting in a refreshing and unique sound.

Photo: Matt Weddis www.instagram.com/mattweddis

The story behind ‘I Hope I’m wrong’
“Just prior to leaving, a friend of mine asked me to help him sell some of his guitars while he was away and gave me a white Fender Jaguar as a show of thanks. I thought this was a little over the top so I accepted and vowed to store them for him for when he returned. I have not heard from him for a few years now and I am extremely worried. (I hope I’m wrong)
This song reflects my emotions oscillating between fear, anger, sorrow and hope in relation my friend.”

Stream the new single here:

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Julie-Anne Marshall-(feat Nikolai Egel) Presents New Single Rich Woman(Dollar)

August 7, 2020 Leave a comment

One of soundslikecafe’s most consistent, well loved and prolific song writers Julie-Anne Marshall has stepped right up with this new tune featuring some rapping from Nikolai Egel for your listening pleasure.

Currently sitting at Number 1 on our Spotify Playlist and not going anywhere soon, a great track.

As a solo artist Julie-Anne continues to surprise us with her genre crossovers, however, her songwriting still shines through with her lyric-driven, melodic and easy listening style. Rich Woman (Dollar) is Julie-Anne’s latest single release and it has an urban pop 40’s vibe and features Melbourne based rapper Nikolai Egel.

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