John Kennedy – Second Best (Greatest Bits Vol. 2)

October 15, 2018 Leave a comment

Soundslikecafe is proud to feature the album Second Best by Sydney musician John Kennedy.

A second “best of” compilation featuring key album tracks from 8 albums.

Released on Foghorn Records October 2018.

Distributed by MGM. Available on CD and digital.

Released in 2001, John Kennedy’s Inner West album brought together the early vinyl singles and album selections from his bands JFK and the Cuban Crisis, Love Gone Wrong and the Honeymooners. That was his first “best of” collection. So, that makes this Kennedy’s Second Best of.

Since the heady days in the 1980’s, topping the Australian independent music charts, Kennedy has released a number of albums on various labels in Europe and Australia. Whether it was lack of promotion or distribution, or his audience simply moving on that was the cause, those albums went largely unnoticed. Even those who have followed his music probably wouldn’t have known they existed.

Now, with this Second Best compilation release, the key tracks from those albums are collected to show that the beat did indeed go on. It serves the purpose of giving these songs a new lease of life and hopefully points people back to those lost albums.

An enthusiastic young music journalist once described John Kennedy as a humble genius. Kennedy is neither a genius nor particularly humble. The Sydney musician is the writer and performer of many fine songs, some of which have found a place in the hearts of music fans of the golden era of Australian independent music.

Kennedy started his music career in Brisbane in the early ‘80’s with his band JFK and the Cuban Crisis. He moved to Sydney and after establishing itself on the indie music scene the band broke up leaving Kennedy to follow a solo career with his band vehicle, John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong. Despite numerous indie hits, commercial crossover proved to be elusive leading to his decision to leave Australia. Kennedy spent the ‘90’s living and playing music in Berlin, Hong Kong and London before returning to Sydney’s Inner West in 2000. He formed a new band, John Kennedy’s 68 Comeback Special and continues to perform and produce independent releases.

Check out this great review of Second Best from respected music journalist Bernard Zuel here.

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Karissa Hambilton – Forbidden Desires

October 4, 2018 Leave a comment

After a few years break while getting married and starting a new family Karissa is back with a great new single Forbidden Desires, that she says is her favourite to date and all about Passion, Frustration and making a choice.

Soundslikecafe have been watching karissa’s career with interest since her first releases made it onto the early CD versions and now are proud to have her new single on the latest playlist.

Heres some words straight from the heart from the girl herself –
- What inspired the songs, any artists you were referencing at the time? 

"Those 2 songs I wrote on twilight series 1 was new moon and 1 was eclipse. 
The novels inspired me to write music for a possible chance on getting it into 
twilight soundtracks. ‘Paramore’ was my inspiration at the time."

-What are they each about?

Forever is about the novel ‘new moon’- it’s about Bellas love for Edward and her 
heart break of him leaving her, but then saving Edward before it was too late. 
‘Forbidden Desires’ is my favorite out of all my writing- very RAW material 
and I think I got my  message across. But it’s about the novel ‘eclipse’-
it’s about a Love Triangle! Of being in love 
with 2 people at once and being forced to choose. 
It’s about passion, frustration and making a choice!"

-Who are your current fave artists?

"Sia and Kings of Leon."

-What are your musicial plans for the future?

"To finally finish my album. I spent such a period off of recording because 
I was too busy doing gigs every where for years. Also. Getting married, 
running a business I opened 6 yrs ago and having a child who is now 19months."

Well thanks for the chat Karissa, we look forward to hearing more of the 
forthcoming album and following your music journey.

Check out Karissa's music here or listen for it in a cafe near you.....




Thanks for listening........

Diana Anaid – Leaving Town single and tour

October 3, 2018 Leave a comment

Diana Anaid – New Single – Leaving Town
Diana’s new single , number 3 from the My Queen album, is out now and an East Coast Tour will follow taking in a few festivals such as Airlie Beach along the way. From this time last year when Diana opened for Adam and The Ants across Australia and New Zealand on the release of My Queen – (her first album in 7 years) things have gone from strength to strength.

I am super proud to announce the release of my new single Leaving Town.The single features three live and acoustic tracks beautifully recorded by Paul McQueen(SWAA). The heartfelt music video (out in October) by Northern Rivers artist Kerry Negus further highlights the emotive and courageous lyrical content of the album, focusing this time on climate change, the drought, corporate greed and personal inner peace. I am so humbled by the amazing creatives who have thrown their weight behind the new My Queen release, helping to make it one of my defining albums, emboldening and bolstering my personal and creative growth and inner strength”

The Leaving Town Single features 3 intimate Acoustic Bonus Tracks“Better Girl”, “Into Your Heart”, “Leaving The Country” recorded earlier this year live in the studio for an Aussie Music WeeklyRadio Special.

The Single is also available on CD as part of the current My Queen Full Length CD LP available at all good music stores
Co-written with longtime guitarist Nathan Correy,produced and mixed by Aria Award Winning Steve James and mastered at Metropolis London, the album has earned high praise such as
“Anaid’s luscious and rich vocals are tones for the soul.. The excellent production and mastering makes this record stand out from the crowd.”
Reviewed by FVReviews August 2018
“A gorgeous mixture of pop, indie rock, blues and folk…A timeless classic. My Queen possesses an intense array of color to it, proving Diana to be a master storyteller”.My Queen review by Beach Sloth 2018

The single is on the current soundslikecafe digital playlist so you should catch it in a cafe.

If you just can’t wait the direct link is here

Gareth Koch and Peter Bonner – Don’t Tempt Me

October 2, 2018 Leave a comment

Don’t Tempt Me

GARETH KOCH + PETER BONNER

What happens when the musical worlds of an ARIA Award winning classical guitarist and a hard-hitting rock singer collide? The answer in this case lies in an unusually refined and confident EP titled Don’t Tempt Me, Out now on Planet/MGM.

It’s not easy to describe such an accomplished EP as this one. To begin with, the arrangements are all acoustic and highly sophisticated. Little wonder, since these songwriters have roughly 1000 years of music history bubbling away in their consciousness. But alongside this knowledge is a keen awareness of contemporary sensibilities. Sparkling effervescent textures, trumpets, percussion, dobros, classical and 12-string guitars and even a 1966 ‘Beatle Bass’ all combine to create a unique and original soundscape.

This Australian songwriting team of Gareth Koch and Peter Bonner draws inspiration from medieval music to post-modern psychedelia, with every imaginable influence in between. Bonner and Koch have a strong and immediately recognisable musical identity, a new sound and aesthetic that comes with a fluid movement across genres. The result is an array of catchy pop tunes, soulful ballads, blues grooves and rock songs

Connect with
GARETH KOCH + PETER BONNER
Website
https://www.garethkochmusic.com/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Gareth-Koch-Music-500437070367413/?ref=br_rs

Checkout the Record

Thanks for listening!!

Mark Lucas – Prisoners of The Heart

October 2, 2018 Leave a comment

To be released Friday October 5 Soundslikecafe is proud to feature this excellent new album from Mark Lucas

Prisoners of the Heart – A retrospective

“You never sang soap opera/ or wore your hair in curls/ you still want all the trappings of the post-consumer world/ come on now, admit it dear/ you’re a thoroughly modern girl” – The Ghost of Lost Creek Road

The trajectory of Mark Lucas’s career is akin to tracing a bird in flight. Perpetually restless, banking and diving and always observing – it is these characteristics, among others – that allow his unique lyrical view on the world.

In Sydney, Australia, his home since 1981, Lucas wears an awful lot of hats. Venue manager. Band booker. Activist. Adding yet another cap, he is a prolific singer-songwriter whose productive output is as inspiring as it is diverse.

Since the 1980s, Mark experimented with rock and pop, before returning to his country and folk roots in the 1990s. These are not just stories; they are as much observational as they are impressionistic. True to his English heritage as a songwriter to match Graham Parker or Elvis Costello, he also has cynicism to burn.

With the forthcoming release of Prisoners of the Heart, Mark draws deep from his 22-year career as a solo artist and bandleader, as songwriter and masterful lyricist. His songs, like those of his heroes, Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and Guy Clark, do not always tend to the personal over the abstract. In fact, sometimes the opposite is just as true.

The 20-track CD Prisoners of the Heartdraws from Lucas’s ten-album output, with the focus on his adroitly authored songs. His inspirations come from the worlds he inhabits, the people whose lives brush up against his.

This retrospective album tells many inspired stories of different lives, contrasting almost impressionistic lyrics with the more direct story song approach, like the cautionary tale of ‘Between The Ditches’ against ‘Shopping Town’, a meditation on commercial enterprise taking on real lives.

Whether working with his long-time backing group, the Dead Setters, or crafting his own guitar-and-voice meditations, he captures something special from the crumbs of the everyday. Like one of his inspirations, Guy Clark, he makes plain the idea that “some days you write the song/ some days the song writes you”.

Prisoners of the Heart is out 5^thOctober through MGM

Track listing

Another Town Along the Road

Rosie

The Ghost of Lost Creek Road

Walk in Beauty

Between the Ditches

Monsters Ball

Canal Road

Dryland Sea

Sisters of Mercy

Shopping Town

Until She’s Mine

Soldier’s Row

Federal Highway Blues

Small Town

Rider

All the Bonnie Birds

Prisoners of the Heart

The Onion Song

Hear the new album-

Check out more info and live dates

Finally Check out A Fine History of Releases below

Discography:
1996 ‘Bootheels of Desire’ (The Parwills) Larrikin TWNG 001

1999 ‘Jukebox Jury’ Laughing Outlaw Records LORCD 003

2001 ‘The Ghost of Lost Creek Road’ “ LORCD 028

2005 ‘White Man Soul’ TWNG 002

2007 ‘Sideshow Alley’ TWNG 003

2009 ‘Eat at Joe’s’ (Live at Joe Maguire’s Pub) TWNG 004

+ Live at the Cooks River Motor Boat Club dvd

2011 “Putting on the Dog Laughing Outlaw Records LORCD130

2014 “Sin City Blues” ep TWNG 005

2015 “Little Town Blues” Laughing Outlaw Records LORC174CD

2016 “The Continental Drift” TWNG 006

Fiona Joy (Hawkins) – New Single – Grace Chill Remix – Out Now

September 17, 2018 Leave a comment

Fiona Joy (Hawkins) – New Single – Grace Chill Remix – Out Now

Soundslikecafe is proud to feature this International Tune on the new September 2018 playlist

“I originally wrote Grace as a piano instrumental and it ended up on a Grammy winning album in 2014. I wanted to add words and record my own singer/songwriter version as I really connected with the message in the song “To be with Grace, To live with Grace, Always with Grace’. A slower acoustic recording was followed by a chill mix which featured on the first Say Yes To Love album in support of marriage equality. This current remix of Grace is punchier Dream-Pop.
The track features Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel) playing NS Bass, Marc Shulman (Jewel & Suzanne Vega) playing Electric guitar with a little Beat-Box by my son Nick Hawkins.
The song has genre hopped from World to New Age to Pop and it’s been covered by a number of other artists including Flutist Sherry Finzer and Grammy winners Ricky Kej and Wouter Kellerman.

Connect with Fiona:

Website

Facebook

Ivona Rose – New Album – So Modern

July 24, 2018 Leave a comment

Ivona Rose

Central Coast based Ivona Rose is a raw, evocative, dreamy, honest and uncompromisingly unique artist. Her music is where eccentric melody marries poetic song writing. Hand carved like insignia on pavement, her tales of suburban life are as being lead through an enchanted garden, by a haunting hymn.

Currently only available in cafes her debut album “So Modern” will be released worldwide July 27. Produced with Brian Campeau at “The Plex” recording studio, it is a collection of 10 carefully selected and crafted songs. Featuring Zoe Hauptmann on Bass (Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins, King Curly), Evan Mannell on Drums (Sarah Belkner, The Alcohotlicks, Self Titled Artist), Emily Palethorpe on Cello (Sarah Blasko, Accent Strings), Casey Nicholson on Trumpet (Ngarukuruwala, The NEO, The Boom Band Krewe) and Brian Campeau on Guitars and Synth.

The Album will be Launched in Sydney on the 13th September at Django Bar (see link below for tix)

LAUNCH

QnA

What is the first record you bought and why?
It was Joni Mitchell “Hits and Misses” and it was a tape. Purchased to learn every word by heart.

Favourite artists of all time?
I have to say Bjork. It’s a hard question to answer and it doesn’t necessarily mean that my music is in the same genre or that I am aiming for a pop sphere but the truth is own all her albums, admire her creativity and boldness and when I feel that I’m just a bit too weird for the word, I take solace in Bjork.

What are your future plans for 2018/2019?
I plan to release and promote my debut album “So Modern” and do lots of yoga.

Ivona talks about So Modern “So Modern” the title track of the Album.

“If we live our lives as an avatar of ourselves, what are we giving up of our true self to uphold that image and where do we go from there as a society?” (Ivona Rose) So Modern questions the impact of technology, how we are using it and what we are losing as a society in the process. A dance between Autoharp, Guitar and Zoe Hauptmann’s expert Double Bass licks, take us to a time reminiscent of 60’s Go Go.

Jess Dunbar and Matt Price new duet cover album – Songs From The Village

June 8, 2018 Leave a comment

Jess Dunbar and Matt Price

New album

“Songs From The Village”

Have a listen to the newest album by Jess Dunbar and Matt Price, a beautiful duet cover album. These fantastic Australian musicians, cover some of the greatest Folk and Traditional songs ranging from Bob Dylan to Paul Simon in a curated selection from the hay-day of 1960’s Greenwich Village NYC back where it all began.

With Jess and Matt’s New Australian Generation Sound you will fall in love with these songs all over again.

Album Track List:

The Times They Are A-Changin’; Bob Dylan (Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd)

The Boxer; Paul Simon (Universal/MCA Music Publishing Pty Ltd)

Blowin’ in the Wind; Bob Dylan (Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd)

Mrs. Robinson; Paul Simon (Universal/MCA Music Publishing Pty Ltd)

The Sound of Silence; Paul Simon (Essex Music Australia Pty Ltd)

Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright; Bob Dylan (Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd)

Scarborough Fair; Traditional (Public Domain)

Leaving On a Jet Plane; John Denver (Essex Music Australia Pty Ltd)

The House of the Rising Sun; Traditional (Public Domain)

Like a Rolling Stone; Bob Dylan (Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd)

Both Sides Now; Joni Mitchell (Essex Music Australia Pty Ltd)

If I Had a Hammer; Peter Seeger, Lee Hays (Essex Music Australia Pty Ltd)

The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Reprise); Bob Dylan (Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd)

Find where to easily buy/stream “Songs From The Village” here:

http://smarturl.it/JM.SFTV

Check out Jess and Matt’s Spotify, Facebook and Website

Courtesy Sony Music Australia.

Joel Leffler – Strip Me Bare

May 8, 2018 Leave a comment

Joel Leffler’s New EP Strip Me Bare follows on from his Run With The Wolves EP and tour.

Produced by long-time collaborator and ARIA-winning Producer Peter Holz (Peking Duk, Gang of Youths).

The first single is In My Sights(Feat Melissa Jane) . This poppy anthem tune hits home and you can’t help but sing and dance along. This song features a guest vocal from Melissa Jane which is the culmination of her and Joel Leffler working together on numerous recordings.

Track List:

1. Speed of Light

2. Strip Me Bare

3. In My Sights

4. Fuse

5. Aprils Fool

6. Auburn Hair

Links;

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/thejoelleffler/

Offical; https://www.joelleffler.com/home

Breakthrough Danish Artist – Copenhagen’s Vera

December 2, 2017 Leave a comment

Vera is the moniker of Copenhagens William Asingh, one of Scandinavias most in-demand

and relevant young producers. As an integral figure to a slew of breaking acts out of

Denmark, including Off Bloom and Liss, Vera also worked closely with Danish superstar

MØ on her recent EP, producing three of its six tracks.

The Good Job No Conversation EP focuses Vera solely on his own sultry output, and in

Nobody Else, he delivers another scintillatingly assured and blissed-out track for all hours.

Vera on Nobody Else:

“Lyrically, Nobody Else is a tribute to the Caribbean novel Wide Sargasso Sea by the Creole writer, Jean Rhys. The novel is a response to Brontës Jane Eyre, in which the landowner keeps his Jamaican wife locked up in the attic, allegedly because she is mad. Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of the mad woman of the attic and with this cool tone of tristesse, the book describes the wickedness, the Jamaican landscape and the eternal drinking of rum.’