Tag Archives: alt rock

Atomic Disc ECO VINYL 12 INCH INSERT

Cody and the Blackouts – New Album – Living Asleep

Cody and The Blackouts(USA)
Living Asleep (12 Track Album)

Release Date:  October 20 (Chance Music) All Digital Platforms

Extrapolation, n:An educated guess or hypothesis. To extrapolate isto use observations about a current situation to make a prediction.

‘Extrapolation’ is not a word you’d expect to find in a modern pop song, but there it is in the title track of the thoughtful and heartfelt debut album by Los Angeles band Cody And The Blackouts:

Present finally caught up to my past / Surprised my house of cards had been built to last / Extrapolation gift and a curse / It helps connect the dots but can make things worse” (Living Asleep).

 

He’s the lead singer and keys player in the band, but Cody Hudock’s most striking asset is his songwriting. Notable LA music blog, Buzzbands.la, held up Hudock’s work to “any number of rock-Americana greats and piano-wielding popsmiths who can seize the moment with a single couplet … owing to Hudock’s often-cutting, always-earnest lyrics, the Blackouts come off as the band most likely to have put down their history textbooks long enough raise hell at the local bar.”

A dab hand with a lyric, Hudock often takes a song title and runs with it, as in “I’m gonna crack the code / it’s just a matter of time” (Matter of Time), or “All I’m asking for’s the last word” (The Last Word). Even the album’s closing track, tender piano ballad Love Song To You, pre-empts its own chorus as Hudock vows to “learn the vocab to say what I felt”.

There he goes, extrapolating again.

Cody Hudock was born into a family of songwriters. He learned the trade from his father and older brother, Jordan, who also plays keys on Living Asleep. After acquiring early performance experience playing keys in Jordan’s bands, Cody wrote and released 3 EPs between 2011 and 2015 under the moniker Cody The Band, and the ambitiously titled The Great American Album LP under his own name in 2016. The LP garnered some delirious word of mouth, with LA blog The 704 gushing, “If there were an award for ‘greatest living songwriter you’ve never heard of’, then Cody Hudock’s sterling solo effort would place him firmly in the running.”

Rounding out the Blackouts are guitarist Jimmy Holman, drummer Brent Stranathan and bassist Will Weissman, with Joanna Hudock on backing vocals. Joanna shines on the country-tinged I Confess, a duet with husband Cody, And contributes celestial harmonies to the choruses of several other songs on the album.

Recorded at Hollywood studio Elephant In The Room, produced by Ethan Kaufmann (Avril Lavigne, Wild Party) and Brent Stranathan, and mixed by veteran Capitol Records engineer Chandler Harrod (John Mayer, Neil Young), Living Asleep captures the unique studio chemistry of Cody And The Blackoutslike lightning in a bottle.

From the pop-cultural history lessons of opening track Time Stood Still (the band’s head-turning 2020 debut single), through the pendulum swing of Matter of Time, to the hook-laden pop bauble Sister Sister, Living Asleep extrapolates an uncommon range and versatility. As for predictions, heed the title of the album’s penultimate song: Somehow I’ll Make Good. Believe it.

Checkout the Album

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Living Asleep is Released In Australia by Chance Music

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New Reviews and Interviews for Steve Kilbey

New album reviews highly lauding this release are still coming in thick and fast weeks after the release.

Theres also some great interview podcasts with Steve talking about the album and of course The Church.

Rhythms writer Ian McFarlane just gave it 4 stars in his album feature and says “Steve Kilbey and his band (The Winged Heels) make life affirming music “

Heres a summary including some great podcasts plus Michael Smith’s review in full below – 

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STEVE KILBEY& THE WINGED HEELS

THE HALL OF COUNTERFEITS

Foghorn/MGM

It was always obvious that Steve Kilbey is an extraordinarily complex chap, positively bursting with ideas, but over the past 18 months just how “bursting” he is has become manifest by his recording eight albums. Perhaps nine, since The Hall of Counterfeitsis a double-album’s worth, 22 songs, one CD – as diverse a collection as you can imagine. It could be his “White Album”, or would be if Kilbey hadn’t already recorded Remindlessnessback in 1990. He tells us that that double-album was his attempt to take in everything he’d ever been fascinated by, an attempt to “reconcile the whole damn lot with a weird and wild bunch of songs far, far from the mainstream.” Thirty years on, he reckons The Hall of Counterfeits is “my answer to myself” and that “time has enabled me to give voice to those same preoccupations” – from The Beatles to mysticism and beyond. Aiding and abetting him this time around are The Winged Heels – classical guitarist (and more) Gareth Koch, keyboards player Roger Mason and drummer Barton Price, the latter pair once an integral part of The Models, though there’s nothing of that particular “past life” evident in their contributions to this sonic exploration of the multifarious arcane corridors Kilbey’s fertile mind takes us. Just how in tune The Winged Heels are with that mind is evident not only in the whirl of sounds but also in their writing co-credits on ten of the 22 songs here. And it’s all there – Beatles, Floyd, Bowie, the Middle East, the Medieval, the whimsical, the cosmic, psychedelic, pop, classical, myth, magic, obscurantism, the lot! There’s even a sort of boogie in ‘Everything for Sale’!! He might assure us, in ‘Bound in Servitude’, that “emptiness never stops”, but it’s obvious neither does his most extraordinary mind, firing on more cylinders than anyone has a right to still be able to boast 50 years into a creative career. Unmistakeably Kilbey, quite simply, this is every kind of party mixtape you could ever wish – superb.

MICHAEL SMITH

Get The Album

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Settlement Mirage EP release

In 1992, after Sydney’s Happy Hate Me Nots split, Paul Berwick put together a trio called Settlement, with bassist, Jim Dickson (at the time ex New Christs) and drummer, Chris Welsh (at the time ex Died Pretty).

“I wanted to start something new” explained singer, guitarist and songwriter, Berwick.

“I advertised for a drummer and bass player. Jim Dickson answered, momentarily separated from the New Christs.  We were already friends but I couldn’t believe it!  We auditioned several drummers until Chris Welsh, momentarily separated from Died Pretty, called me.  Again, I had to pinch myself! I already had enormous respect for both Jim and Chris!”

Settlement recorded five glorious tracks at Damien Gerard Studios at its original location in the inner Sydney suburb of Ultimo.  The songs weren’t left over from Berwick’s days in the Happy Hate Me Nots.  “All the songs were new. It was a good songwriting period for me.”  A life long fan of great pop/rock songs, Berwick was inspired by some of the form’s masters.  “At that time it was The Pretenders, The Who, Big Star, Prince and of course the Beatles!”

Settlement are:
Paul Berwick – Happy Hate Me Nots
Jim Dickson – The Survivors, Passengers, Deniz Tek Group, Radio Birdman, New Christs
Chris Welsh – Died Pretty

As well as the recording session at Damien Gerard Studios, the band played some shows around Sydney in the second half of 1992.  While the band and the music showed promise, Settlement’s existence was brief.  “Chris got the call to return to Died Pretty. I couldn’t compete with that so it ended there”, said Berwick.

Or so it seemed.

In 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 lockdown, Jim Dickson found the DAT tape of their studio session, which he then had mastered – significantly – at the same studio where it was recorded!

This band was a unique creation that doesn’t feature at all in Sydney’s early 90s rock history.  It wasn’t a mirage though…they did exist. Here’s the proof!!

What’s Good For Me
Originally recorded in the 90’s these songs have that warm and analog tape sound that is hard to replicate successfully anymore.  The lead tune What’s Good For Me is up-tempo and moves along in a power pop, jangly guitar way, not unlike early REM.  The chorus is the standout and has a melodic and catchy chorus that stays in your head, tailed out by a strong instrumental section, this one is a winner.

Golden Handshake
Some shaker, guitar and huge drums start this up-tempo radio track.  Once the vocals and band come in you are curious and want to hear more. The song drives along at a quick pace and maintains the interest with plenty going on plus a great vocal from Paul Berwick.

Clink on the album below to Stream/Download from your preferred service:

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FOG545 Get Me Outta Here

Thirty Three Degrees new single and Sydney show

Central Coast Band Thirty Three Degrees Release their second single – the aptly named ‘Get Me Outta Here’ – all about 2020

The boys will be launching the new single at the Civic Underground in Sydney April 15 –

A song about the flooding of information to the masses in a fast digital/information highway creating so much “noise and fog in what’s real and what is not”. Just like last year. Is there exceptions to the rules?.

Get Me Outta Here
‘Some seriously rocking guitar riffs on this one, very Led Zeppelin, even some Bonham drums to match.  This is mid-tempo track sits in the groove and with Shane’s vocals striking the right note really does the business.”

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.

The first single from the forthcoming album ‘Place in the Sun’ released during Aussie Summer struck a chord with community radio and scored the guys interviews and airplay, as well as a management team.

Now the second single is about to drop and with covid hopefully behind us live shows are finally being booked
and late 2021 into 2022 festivals will be part of the plan.

The full length album will be out in June distributed by the good folks at MGM.

Single GET ME OUTTA HERE April 16-  (Foghorn/MGM) Stream it here:

Connect with Thirty Three Degrees