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The Insufferable Paul Scott – Surrender To Robots

Surrender to Robots is a solo album by the insufferable Paul Scott (The Likes of You, Montana, John Kennedy’s 68 Comeback Special and The Bad Machines. The album was written, recorded, performed and produced by Scott. “So really, there’s no-one else to blame,” he says.

The first single is Sheila and it’s at radio now.

The Insufferable Paul Scott

Song subjects include existential angst, co-habitation as a means of financial easement, optimism, missing people, mobile phone culture. Influences include a splash of Suicides’ keyboard sound, a hint of James Murphy’s indie crashes into dance music, a lick of Wren sand a dollop of the Dukes of Stratosphear vocal stylings.

Paul Scott began his career in music, writing and playing bass in angular NZ group Pop Mechanix. Despite court cases, a revolving cast of singers and multiple record labels, their single ‘Jumping out a Window’ became a staple of New Zealand pop culture. Relocating to Australia Paul formed Montana with Ken Stewart (Mr Blonde), Michelle Margherita and Steve Melville. Their first  release featured ‘Koolest Band’ which received national airplay and high rotation on Triple J. A USA Tour and  performance at SXSW, led to ‘Koolest Band’ being included in the Hollywood movie ‘You Drive Me Crazy’. The subsequent album ‘Bubblegum Love’ was released in Australia, Spain, France and the USA. Scott has since plied bass for various Australian acts, playing everywhere from community halls and malls in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to the Sydney Opera House. More recently Scott has released an album on the Australian label ‘Half a Cow’ with his new power pop combo ‘The Likes of You’.

Download now:

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Lily Duval (AUS)

Lily Duval Offers New Single ‘The Last Goodbye’

Full bodied acoustic guitar is the hallmark of this terrific new original single from Lily Duval. The classic sound of this song has its own time and place and transports you somewhere else.

Her writing comes from her own experiences and also longtime influences such as Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Janis Joplin. Lyrically, The Last Goodbye explores the sense of an ending, the realisation that you may never again see the person you love. Lily describes this song as, “a love story.  I wrote this last winter. I deliberated over the key change at the end but then felt it worked.”

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With help from accomplished session men – Peter Holz on guitar and Andy Beck adding the medieval sounding Celesta, the track is woven together by the expert ears of producer Russell Pilling.

Previously Lily has digitally released a number of acoustic blues originals to a warm response on Community Radio and online.

Download or stream now:

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The Eden Project EP Gatefold Art Melissa Black 200918 MASTER

Melissa Black – The Eden Project EP

Melissa Black is a musician and songwriter with a strong connection to nature, as evident on her new release,
The Eden Project EP.

For the past decade Melissa has been a staple on the original music scene steadily gathering accolades and building a loyal fan base. A chance meeting with singer/songwriter Scott Bird led to a production meeting with Riversong Music and the team was assembled to work on ‘The Eden Project’. Pre-production began mid 2016 and tracking started soon after. As the project developed the musical landscape was revealed and the imagery surrounding the songs came into sharp focus. The production team then developed filming ideas around the stories that were emerging from the songs, after spending time as participating artists at Tarkine in Motion 2017. The quality of the recordings and visual concepts led to Melissa becoming a Riversong Music family artist and a valuable contributor to their environmental arts project.

Melissa says her passion for music began when she was very young. “I used my older brothers record collection for ages, where I discovered Jethro Tull, Cream, Deep Purple, Led Zep all the classics, then I discovered (I think much to my brothers disgust!) Queen and I was off on my own adventure.”

These early influences still inspire her sound today. “There was a lot of hammond organ in my brothers collection which I loved the sound of, then Queen with the piano sealed the deal.”

The title track, ‘Eden’ shines as a key single from the EP, with an enticing piano, strings and guitar intro leading into the full instrumentation evoking comparisons to Neko Case’s album Hell On and Tori Amos.
The hooky chorus of ‘Fallen Angel’ sets it up as a great radio track and the song has already found a warm response on the soundslikecafe network.

A music mentor teacher for children and teens, Melissa is inspired by a broad musical pool. She cites her favourite artists as “most definitely the story tellers”, listing Freddie Mercury, Jeff Lynn, Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins, Regina Spektor, Elton John for the melodies and Bernie Taupin for the stories, Kate Miller-Heidke, Aurora Jane and Diana Anaid.

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Melissa is also a part of an exciting new short film called ‘Merging with takayna’, launching in July, which is part of the Tarkine In Motion project  co-ordinated through the environmental action group of former Greens Senator and environmentalist Bob Brown. Takayna is the name of the Tasmanian wilderness also known as Tarkine – Australia’s largest temperate rainforest which is the habitat of many of Australia’s most iconic animals, some of which are endangered.

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Check out Melissa talking about the Tarkine and her release on 3CR Melbourne here.

Piano driven songs supported by solid groove, understated guitars and a conversational vocal delivery which evokes the rich Australian landscape and an empowering feminine essence ~ Heart Light Music

The Eden Project EP is out now through Riversong Music.
The video for Eden will be released on the 10th of May, with shows to follow in July surrounding the Tarkine in Motion exhibition in Hobart.
More tour dates below:

2nd May – Guest Host Australian Songwriters Association – Ground N Sound’, 6/23 Musgrave Avenue, Chirn Park Gold Coast 6.30 – 9.30pm.

17th May – Album Showcase – Boho & Co Prospero St, South Murwillumbah NSW

18th May – Launch of New Shop + Album Showcase – Boho & Co Prospero St, South Murwillumbah NSW

29th May – Murwillumbah Farmers Markets (Album Showcase)
Murwillumbah Showgrounds NSW 7am – 11am

6th June – Ground n Sound (Australian Songwriters Association)
Chirn Park, Gold Coast QLD 6.30pm

8th June – Valiant Music (Instore Album Showcase)
Brunswick Heads NSW 11am – 12pm

10th August – Album showcase for Fundraising Support for Cancer Function – House of Gabriel, Riverside Drive, Tumbulgum NSW

August 24th – Ground n Sound (Album Showcase)
Chirn Park, Gold Coast QLD

August 25th – Sphinx Rock Cafe (Album Showcase)
3220 Kyogle Road, Mount Burrell NSW 12pm 

Sunday 1st September – The Nook Cafe, 87-89 Tweed Coast Road, Hastings Point, 6.30pm – 8.30pm Bookings 02 6617 6779

Friday 6th September – Marty’s at Caba, 35 Tweed Coast Road, Bogangar (Cabarita), 6.30pm – 9.30pm Bookings 02 6676 3955

Sunday 15th September – Uki Buttery Markets, Uki Village, Kyogle Road from 9.30am to 1.30pm

Stream or Download Now:

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Steve Kilbey & Gareth koch (AUS)

Steve Kilbey and Gareth Koch Join Forces for ‘Broken Toys’

What happens when the musical worlds of Australian music icon Steve Kilbey & classically trained ARIA Award winner Gareth Koch collide?

The answer lies in their new single Broken Toys– a refined and confident title brimming with sensitivity, experience and fresh ideas.

UPDATE – NOW WITH OVER 12,000 STREAMS ON SPOTIFY!

It’s not easy to describe a fascinating and unexpected collaboration such as this one. Steve Kilbey is perhaps best known as frontman of veteran rock band The Church. Gareth Koch on the other hand is a Viennese-trained classical guitarist/composer.

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(photo credit: Tony Mott)

The Kilbey/Koch musical arrangements are acoustic and highly sophisticated. ‘Classical’ is one way of describing the sound. But it is much more than that. Kilbey is a self-confessed classicist, so the pairing is actually spot on. Kilbey & Koch have roughly 1000 years of music history bubbling away in their consciousness, and coupled with this knowledge is a keen awareness of contemporary sensibilities.

Sparkling effervescent textures, percussion by veteran stickman Barton Price (of Models fame), dobros, classical and 12-string guitars and even a 1966 ‘Beatle Bass’ all combine to create a unique and original soundscape.

Their eclectic partnership draws inspiration from medieval music to post-modern psychedelia, with every imaginable influence in between. These experienced musicians have created a strong and immediately recognisable musical identity, a new sound and aesthetic that comes with a fluid movement across genres. The result is a unique blend of classical & pop sensibilities with lyrics poised for repeated listening.

Expertly mixed by Russell Pilling at Damien Gerard Studios Sydney and superbly mastered by Grammy Award-winning King Willy Sound, Broken Toys is a feast for the ears.

Stay tuned for news of the second collaborative track from this stellar duo, coming soon!

Download or stream now:

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UPDATE: Mick Hart Adds New Tour Dates

UPDATE:  New Tour Dates!

On the heels of Mick Hart’s sold-out Sydney launch at Lazybones Lounge in Marrickville last weekend, some new dates have been added!

New shows:

Sun 4th August – Bondi Diggers Golf Club (Sydney)
Fri 9th August – The Entrance Leagues Club (Central Coast NSW)
Sun 25th August – Gasoline Pony, Marrickville (Sydney)
Sun 29th September – Towradgi Beach Hotel, Wollongong (Sydney)
Sat 12th October – Stag and Hunter, Mayfield (Newcastle)
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED UPCOMING DATES:
Fri 26 July – Winter Blues Festival, Echuca VIC
Sat 27 July – Winter Blues Festival, Echuca VIC
Sun 28 July- Merri Creek Tavern, Melbourne

Community radio is loving the album, with widespread support on the airwaves proving it carries so many brilliant tracks! The Way It Is, 3am Or Anytime, Light My Way, Keep Hold and Peaceful Nest are all being played around the country.

Some great reviews are also flowing in for the album.

Bruce Elder at the Sydney Morning Herald declared that Hart has produced, “a classy, memorable album from a gifted musician at the height of his powers.”

“A delicious collection of blues-folk “toons” inspired by sources as rich as the early Rod Stewart (3am Or Anytime); a nod towards Free and Family (The Way It Is); Muddy Waters’ great version of Got My Mojo Workin’ (Light My Way); the edges of folk blues (Real Thing); that glorious style which involves a slow burn and driving blues with lashings of lap-steel (Time for the New); and inevitably, lots of Dylan-influenced blues and country blues (Back To The Start, Star Bed andKeep Hold).”

Elder also notes Hart’s wide-ranging musical talents – “Playing bass, lap-steel, harmonica, percussion, Rhodes, Mellotron, piano, organ, ukulele and, oh yes, guitars….ranges widely across the rich plains of the blues and American folk music.”

Meanwhile Mark Fraser at Redbackmusic.comcalled the latest single, Keep Hold, “sad, beautiful, perfect”, with the entire album, “a beautiful collection of soundscapes that caress your very soul in their own unobtrusively enveloping way.”

Read the whole review here:

 

Mick Hart’s new album, ‘Awake’ has just been released. ‘Awake’ is the Sydney-based singer-songwriter’s first recording in five years and features 16 brand new songs – a brilliant and epic mix of soulful indie folk rock, beautiful and intimate acoustic songs to blistering blues.

It has already spawned the two popular singles ‘The Way It Is’ and ‘3am Or Anytime’.

To celebrate the release of ‘Awake’, Mick is playing these dates below, including the official album launch in Sydney on June 21.

Sat 15 June- Harrington Hotel NSW
Sun 16 June- Harrington Hotel NSW
Fri 21 June- Lazy Bones Lounge, Marrickville (SYDNEY ALBUM LAUNCH)
Sat 22 June- The Stag and Hunter, Mayfield Newcastle NSW
Fri 26 July- Winter Blues Festival Echuca VIC
Sat 27 July- Winter Blues Festival Echuca VIC
Sun 28 July- Merri Creek Tavern Melbourne VIC

Mick is currently on tour across Europe – check out the pics below!

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ARIA nominated for “Best Blues and Roots” in 2002 for his sophomore album Upside Down In The Full Face of Optimism, Mick Hart occupies a sonic space that’s influenced by Jeff Buckley and Ben Harper, from sparse acoustic songs to wild dirty blues rock and some brilliant lap-slide guitar.

  Hart has been touring the world for the past 20 years, playing festivals and concerts all over Australia, the UK and Europe, Japan and the USA. Praised all over the globe, Mick has played support to Bob Dylan, Coldplay, Sting, Van Morrison, Paul Weller, Gomez, The Pretenders, Paul Kelly, The John Butler Trio and many more.

Stream AWAKE here:

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The Sheyana Band (AUS)

The Sheyana Band Release New Single ‘Soul Sister’

Tasmanian blues act The Sheyana Band have a new single called Soul Sister that really striking a chord at #CommunityRadio

and as of April has made it to the NUMBER 1 spot of the Soundslikecafe service

The single has just hit number 2 on the Amrap Regional Charts.

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Soul Sister is a remix of a track from last year’s Big Love album, for which they  won the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society’s Victorian & Tasmanian Blues Music Award for Best Emerging Act/Artist of the Year.


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Led by captivating frontwoman Sheyana Wijesingha, the band has recently performed at major music events in Tasmania including  Party in the Paddock 2019 and they will also be appearing at the Fruit of the Roots Festival in Turners Beach, Tasmania this April.

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The Sheyana Band has also received national & international recognition and airplay, supporting some of Australia’s most respected musicians including Hoodoo Gurus, Neil Finn, Meg Mac, Renee Geyer, Diesel, The Angels, Ian Moss and Bill Chambers.

The band will tour Australia later in the year and will also  head to the UK, Europe & Sri Lanka for promo opportunities and some headlines shows.

Soul Sister streaming NOW. 

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FOG460 Superstar Housewife remix New

Paul Scott and The Likes Of You releases new remix of ‘Superstar Housewife’

Paul Scott and The Likes Of You – ‘Superstar Housewife – The Home Before Breakfast Remix’

Paul Scott, lead singer of Sydney based musical collective The Likes Of You, has teamed up with renowned electronica artist Meddling Kid to produce an energetic dancefloor remix of their single of last year, Superstar Housewife.

Meddling Kid (aka Steve Melville) has been mixing and remixing since his track Apple Song became a community radio favourite. His credits include The Tea Party, Paolo Nutini, Regurgitator, Blitzen Trapper, Stewart and Melville and Brock Hilton.

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The Likes of You are a Sydney based based around singer/songwriter Paul Scott, ex Montana, Mr Blonde, Pop Mechanix and John Kennedy’s 68 Comeback Special.

Paul Scott began his career in music, writing and playing bass in angular NZ group Pop Mechanix. Despite court cases, a revolving cast of singers and multiple record labels, their single ‘Jumping out a Window’ became a staple of New Zealand pop culture.

Relocating to Australia, Paul formed Montana with Ken Stewart (Mr Blonde), Michelle Margherita and Steve Melville. Their first release featured ‘Koolest Band’ which received national airplay and high rotation on JJJ. A brief tour of the USA and a performance at SXSW, led to ‘Koolest Band’ being included in the Hollywood movie You Drive Me Crazy. The subsequent album ‘Bubblegum Love’ was released in Australia, Spain, France and the USA.

Scott has since plied bass for various Australian acts, playing everywhere from community halls and malls in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to the Sydney Opera House.

Watch the new video for the Superstar Housewife Remix on YouTube here: 

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Stream or download here:

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Texas Strangers

Texas Strangers deliver new single: Always In The Rain

The second slice of Texas Strangers forthcoming Borderline album is called Always In The Rain and it’s streaming and at radio now.

Rich in harmonies and melody, this rollicking tune bounces from start to finish and is bound to be an instant smash with the band’s loyal live following as well as country radio stations all over the country.

Piano and electric guitar along with strings and slide over the top of a tight rhythm section cap off the classic Nashville style production.

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The band’s penchant for a catchy tune is already evident, since their debut EP spawned 3 Number One Singles on the Country Songwriters chart.
The previous single, River Of Tears gained great support across ABC Country and regional radio.

Texas Strangers are from the Central Coast of NSW and are fronted by singer songwriter Steve Killeen, who together with his bandmates create a sound rich in classic Country tradition.

Always In The Rain was recorded during the album sessions for Borderline at Damien Gerard Studios engineered by Russell Pilling. The song was mastered by Sage Audio Nashville Tennessee.

Stream now via your favourite service:

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Mick Hart

NEW RELEASE: Mick Hart releases new single ‘The Way It Is’

Australian singer/songwriter Mick Hart has a brand new album on the way and its first offering is called The Way It Is.

 A “you done me wrong” break-up song with a catchy blues groove, The Way It Is grabs the listener with its addictive chorus that features some blistering guitar and Hart’s determined lyrical growl, “I don’t owe you nothing, that’s the way it is.”

It’s the first taste of his upcoming album, Awake, which is due for release this April 26th on MGM.

Mick will tour in support of the Album starting in Europe in April and following through to Australian dates from May.

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 ARIA nominated for “Best Blues and Roots” in 2002 for his sophomore album Upside Down In The Full Face of Optimism, Mick Hart occupies a sonic space that’s influenced by Jeff Buckley and Ben Harper, from sparse acoustic songs to wild dirty blues rock and some brilliant lap-slide guitar.

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  Hart has been touring the world for the past 20 years, playing festivals and concerts all over Australia, the UK and Europe, Japan and the USA. Praised all over the globe, Mick has played support to Bob Dylan, Coldplay, Sting, Van Morrison, Paul Weller, Gomez, The Pretenders, Paul Kelly, The John Butler Trio and many more.

Listen to The Way It Is now:

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Connect with Mick Hart:

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BIG MERiNO (AUS)

NEW RELEASE: Big Merino – Brand New Single ‘Hummingbird’

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Big Merino – New Single – Hummingbird

Sydney’s Big Merino have recorded a brand new song called Hummingbird.
It’s the very first taste of a bunch of new songs that will be recorded over the coming months at Damien Gerard Studios in Sydney. The as-yet-untitled second album from the blues-country-rock-pop group is expected to be released this Winter.

Hummingbird is not an ode to wildlife, rather a lament on the tragic and powerful consequences of unmanned military aerial drone strikes.

A special black-and-white video for the song was recently shot by band member Alex, who just happens to be a professional photographer. He captured the band on the rocks over the ocean at Maroubra Beach, Sydney and it’s available to watch now on YouTube. 

Big Merino will launch Hummingbird on Saturday February 23 at Gasoline Pony in Marrickville, Sydney.  

Formed a little over two years ago, Big Merino play original songs that blur the lines between rock, country, blues, roots, soul, funk and grunge, while occasionally making forays into lesser known genres such as New Orleans 2ndLine.

Citing their major influences as Glen Hansard, The Frames, Jackson Browne and The Rolling Stones, songwriters Alex Craig and Stuart Davis write socially and politically-charged songs that are sometimes gentle and nostalgic and at other times nothing less than a fierce cry for revolution.

Lead singer/guitarist Stuart Davis cut his teeth singing Gospel with Tony Backhouse in Cafe at the Gates of Salvation, and brings that soulful Gospel feel to everything he does. He is joined by Alex Craigon guitar, Peter Richardsonon bass and Colin Sevitt on drums.


Listen to ‘Hummingbird’ at all your favourite digital music platforms from Friday, February 15, 2019:

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