Tag Archives: Aussie Artists

Gareth Koch releases new single ‘Zambra Flamenca’

March 3, 2022 Marshall Cullen

Gareth’s second flamenco single for 2022 is the Zambra Flamenca – an upbeat, high adrenaline, skirt-swirling flamenco guitar solo. The track was recorded in a single take on a beautiful Ignacio Rozas flamenco guitar, hand-built in Madrid.

The Zambra is a style of flamenco dance, typical of the Gypsies of the provinces of Granada and Almería in Andalusia. It was often danced during wedding ceremonies, although nowadays it is frequently performed in the caves of Sacromonte in Granada and in the caves of Almería. It is danced barefoot with finger cymbals; the blouse is tied under the bust and the skirt is very tight around the hips, then flares out and has a ruffle at the end.

Song Description

Gareth’s Zambra Flamenca shows the mid-tempo side of Spanish flamenco nylon string guitar. This allows for more intricate finger picking and a deeper emotional message from the music. Gareth’s delivery is nothing short of astounding and the sounds capture you straight away. Highly recommended.

About Gareth Koch
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).

Zambra Flamenca is OUT NOW – via MGM
Stream / download here:

Connect with Gareth Koch:

News and Touring

Slide Milligan Releases Debut single – Feelin’ Fine

March 1, 2022 Marshall Cullen

For fans of Classic Australian Pub Rock, Pink Floyd & Waylon Jennings, ‘Feelin Fine’ is the first single from Slide Milligan. The track is an undeniable summer anthem in the vein of the Sunny Boys, Australian Crawl & The Church and features vocals by Slide’s daughter Lani.

Slide Milligan’s musical journey has been half a life in the making but sounds as exciting as the latest Australian Rock & Roll export being paraded around the world. After years and years of playing in bands through the late 80’s/90s, Dave “Slide” Milligan gave up his musical dreams to pursue a trade in rural fencing and woodworking. To unwind after working all day in the paddocks of rural Australia and his sawmill Dave built himself a lap steel guitar.

Over the years he started to write a collection of exceptional songs that weren’t your usual “roots” music fare, mixing his hard rock background and his ability to tap into that authentic Australian sound. Despair and dread mixed with sunshine and water he caught the ear of local producers and with some help with production from Indie impresario Andy Clockwise (He was working on a fence on Clockwise’ farm when he was back from LA and the two lit a bonfire in the paddock) “Slide” has produced a psychedelic slide guitar masterpiece called “Blood Red River”. A pastiche of outlaw country, psychedelic post-punk & a different approach to the slide guitar. This music sounds familiar yet fresh in the current musical landscape. At the ripe old age of 52, this new artist is sure to make a splash in the country-indie-rock crossover here and abroad. Blood Red River will be released later this year.

Feelin’ Fine is OUT NOW on Foghorn/MGM

Stream or Download below

Connect with Slide

News and Touring

Daxton Releases New Album ‘Electric Satellite’

February 18, 2022 Marshall Cullen

Long Awaited New Electric Blues album from slide and blues man Daxton out today February 18

Daxton releases his new album ‘Electric Satellite’, a twelve-track slide blues album with up-tempo spacious songs produced by Pat Dow and Marshall Cullen. Daxton has worked with Pat on many projects – someone who has a keen ear for Daxton’s rustic blues mixed with psychedelic pop/rock sounds.

The new album is Daxton’s seventh following the release in 2018 of ‘In Verses’ which features songs covering his favourite themes: life and death, the yin and yang of life, love and loss, while still keeping his always positive and up-tempo vibe.

Producing and playing music since his early teens, Daxton’s passion has kept him continually creating new material both for his band and solo career. On stage, Daxton comes across like he was born to play, his unique guitar style blending perfectly with heart-warming vocals.

Daxton has appeared at major festivals including the Sydney Blues & Roots and Tamworth Country Music Festival where he supported artists such as Kasey Chambers and Beccy Cole. He also has had one of his tracks ‘Moody Liz’ featured in the popular American TV series Doll House.

Based in Sydney, Daxton is best described as a blues/rock artist with a twist of pop and rock. He plays slide guitar rock/blues songs with a fresh and innovative sound. The new album ‘Electric Satellite is a heavy, rustic blues rock album with psychedelic pop/rock sounds.

Song Descriptions

Electric Satellite
The title track to the new album is a frenetic up-tempo post punk folk blues anthem. A full band and all the rocking bells and whistles to make it work.

High As A Kite
Bluesy slide guitar starts this classic Daxton tune. Catchy backing vocal ‘ooh ahs’ and full band including the classic Hammond organ, complete this mid-tempo tune.

Bad Tmes
Down and dirty blues from Daxton, featuring blues harp, slide guitar. Mid-tempo drums and bass, snappy guitar licks and riffs and the whole thing comes in at a rockin’ 2mins 47seconds.

Daxton – Electric Satellite is out NOW February 18th
Foghorn/MGM

Download or Stream:

Connect with Daxton:

News and Touring

Kaijin Solo Releases New Single ‘Pretty Cool Hat’

February 11, 2022 Marshall Cullen

Pretty Cool Hat started as a response to anonymous emails from internet dating services. From there Kaijin moved to the search for the mystery that makes human relationships. Rather than complaining about what is wrong with Sydney, Kaijin reminisces about ‘The Cross’ and ‘Darlo’ in the 80’s.

Kaijin Solo is a contemporary singer/songwriter based on the NSW Central Coast with a blues rock influence.

He has been working and honing his craft for many years with various band line-ups and the plentiful bread and butter busking jobs and pub/club gigs around the coast (most recently at Link and Pin in Woy Woy). With the advent of Covid, Kaijin spent the downtime working on new material which resulted in the recording and release of a number of tracks last year.

Song Description
Pretty Cool Hat
Strong drums, bass and guitar start this retro rock tune from Kaijin Solo. Mid-tempo with a driving chorus full of catchy hooks. Kaijin’s Dylanesque vocals and lyrics weave in and out to complete the picture.

A Night In Sydney
Mid-tempo classic rock from Kaijin Solo comes to life on this narrative song of Sydney back in the hey days of Kings Cross and Darlinghurst by night. The band are rocking and Kaijin’s Marshall stack powered guitars puts the cream on the cake.

Pretty Cool Hat is OUT TODAY February 11th – via MGM
All DSP’s

Stream/download:

Connect with Kaijin:

News and Touring

Driftwood Releases New Video & Single ‘Bremfields’ Feat. Still Greedy

February 11, 2022 Marshall Cullen

Endlessly prolific, multi-disciplinary artist Driftwood has a remarkable new single BREMFIELDS featuring British rapper Still Greedy. It’s a truly creative and thoughtful track, a glowing addition to this growing artist’s impressive discography. In addition to being an innate singer-songwriter, his videos are self-directed and self- published, all with his readily identifiable stamp of authenticity, perfection and professionalism. Fiercely independent and intriguingly enigmatic, Driftwood proves over and over again that he is someone to watch.

Screen Shot 2022-02-10 at 5.02.43 pm

BREMFIELDS evokes feelings of Kanye West at his most exciting and most innovative. Classic Ye albums My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus have both clearly influenced the electronic/RnB stylings of Driftwood during the creation of this song, yet BREMFIELDS still feels fresh, unique, and new. The song arcs creatively, synths spiking in unexpected moments, while Driftwood and Still Greedy’s vocals provide the smooth melodic, rhythmic anchor. Speaking on the otherworldly inspiration behind the song, Driftwood says, “This single is about breaking the fourth wall. It’s about the idea that there could be subterranean energies and other factors operating within other paradigms of consciousness. It’s about feeling like I’m trapped within this paradigm, and I don’t belong here…the one thing I love about art is I have a licence to explore ideas, no matter how crazy they may seem.”

The video for BREMFIELDS is the perfect visual representation of this exchange and exploration of energies. Slow, deliberate shots of bodies moving purposefully in the just-risen, just-set sunlight peppered throughout with closed shots of darkly lit bars and eerie cliff faces, one step away from oblivion. It’s a beautiful triumph, created by an artist completely in charge of his own vision, as Driftwood explains, “I direct and edit all my videos now. I came up with the idea and the aesthetic behind the visual as well. They represent the ebb and flow, the push and pull, the yin and yang of energies which are manifested within the material universe…my creative team is small, but we get it done. Too many bodies fuck up the flow and a lot of the time are unnecessary for what I am trying to accomplish.”

Click to play the Official Video:

These are wise words from an artist who’s been in the game long enough to know what works and what doesn’t. To be so immune to the chaos and noise of the modern music industry and so completely, totally immersed in one’s art is no mean feat, but Driftwood does it all with ease. He offers more wisdom on the subject as he reflects, “I’m just an artist creating pieces of work I want to create and doing it independently. I’m not signed to a major record deal, and up until late last year, I did everything on my own, with the help of a few friends, and without any backing. You don’t need to be signed, or in the cool crowd to create what you want to create. No one has a monopoly on art.”

Stream the single on Spotify:

Connect with Driftwood:

News and Touring

Jack Nolan releases single Faster Than The Speed Of Change

February 4, 2022 Marshall Cullen

Sometimes a title or line drifts around for years, waiting for a song. Faster than the Speed of Change was just that, slowly waiting in the wings.

Into the dark
I drifted
Left behind
was gifted
To me but I couldn’t see
I heard you calling to me

The slow speed of change, or recognition, which rumbles along to a pulse via Jimmy Paxson’s mallets. A slow mover with a sparseness that invites a searing harmony and a crunching guitar to take the track home. A tribute song to a rich relationship that, at first, someone was too lost, too distracted to recognise.

I turned to look
I heard your voice
Love came
Faster than the speed of change

Jack Nolan is a singer songwriter based in Sydney, Australia, who’s s been performing and releasing music and albums since the mid 90’s. Along with a five-album solo catalogue Jack also fronted The Kelly Gang, with Rick Grossman, bassist for The Divinyls and Hoodoo Gurus along with Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst and guitar player Martin Rotsey. Their 2004 album Looking for the Sun was critically adored along with their energetic live shows of the time.

Within Nolan’s music, mysterious and shimmering chords unite his sound with that of the Americana genre, once quaintly described as ‘Darlinghurst Country’ uniting elements of folk, country, rock ‘n’ roll and ambient atmospheres fusing Nolan’s passion for intensely charged electric guitar and finger-picked acoustic guitar.

Having caught the Tennessee bug while finishing his 2018 album ‘Our Waverley Star’, Jack returned to Nashville in February 2020 for two weeks of recording and mixing with his friend and multi-instrumentalist Justin Weaver, known best as the Dixie Chicks’ guitarist. After the most intense and enjoyable fortnight possible, Jack headed home in March 2020, a day before a hurricane wiped out Nashville, and less than a week before the world changed forever, if the word Wuhan rings a bell.

And so it is, Jacks latest album, Gabriel, released October 2021, keeps the wheels moving on the meaningful passion of this writer and performer.

Faster Than The Speed Of Change single Out Now February 4
Quay Records/MGM.

Stream or Download:

Connect with Jack Nolan:

News and Touring

Thirty Three Degrees Release New Single ‘Drinking On My Own’

February 4, 2022 Marshall Cullen

Something many of us can relate to coming out of lockdown – the brand new single from Thirty Three degrees – “Drinking On My Own”

Shane Romeyn lead singer and principal writer talks about the new single – : “This song came about in an instant when Chris started playing a Johnny Cash type rolling drum beat. From the outset it felt like a fun song which didn’t need over thinking in its structure or anything to take away its light heartedness. The cords just instantly came and before I knew it the theme was going to be a light hearted crack at falling out with your loved one and nothing you say or do gets you back in the good books. You end up drinking on your own! I’m sure many people have been there before.”

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.

Song Description

Drinking On My Own
Up-tempo snappy drums start this rocking new single from Thirty Three Degrees. The band kick in and with the song being all about ‘drinking’, the vocals, guitar licks and solo are appropriately gauged. You certainly get the vibe pretty quickly.

Out Now Feb 4 On Foghorn/MGM

Stream/ download:

Connect with Thirty Three Degrees:

News and Touring

Gareth Koch Releases New Single ‘Rumba Latina’

January 27, 2022 Marshall Cullen

Andalcia Spain, 1975. A young boy sits enthralled at the feet of a flamenco guitarist, feeling the addictive power of this music for the first time. The spirit of flamenco enters his soul forever. Since then Gareth Koch has woven a diverse life in music. In a career spanning over 20 albums he holds a PhD, has won an ARIA, is a multi-instrumentalist & writes across diverse genres.

In its purest form flamenco combines elements of song, dance, percussion & guitar playing. As early as the 4th century B.C, Roman chroniclers praised the dancers of Andalucia. From then on the history of the region saw a succession of invasions & immigrations by Romans, Jews, Vandals, Celts, Arabs, Berbers & Gypsies.

During Islamic rule (711) the exiled Gypsies created a unique music which retained strong Eastern & Moorish characteristics. The guitar put in a relatively late appearance in this musical epic. Its most direct ancestor arrived on the scene in the 17th century in the Christian courts of Spain, before it spread to folk music to such an extent that it has become a national symbol of Spain.

The ‘Rumba’ is now one of the most popular styles in the flamenco genre.

Stream / download here:

Connect with Gareth Koch:

News and Touring

Gareth Koch New Reviews

January 25, 2022 Marshall Cullen

GARETH KOCH

ELIZABETHAN JANGLE

A CHRISTMAS ALBUM

Foghorn Records

The past couple of years has seen the recorded output of classically trained guitarist Gareth Koch rise exponentially to match (almost) that of his most recent musical collaborator, Steve Kilbey, releasing two solo albums, an EP, Code Blue, and now a second EP, Elizabethan Jangle – really a mini-album, its seven pieces succinctly and elegantly arranged and performed – all instrumental, as well as two albums with Kilbey within the past 20 months. This time around, Koch has returned to familiar territory, the music for lute composed by John Dowland (1563-1626), some of whose catalogue he’s recorded for ABC Classical. This time around he’s “reimagined” some Dowland, as well as Henry VIII’s ‘Greensleeves’, and rearranged some pieces from the Elizabethan era for a contemporary audience, the solo lute replaced by flamenco, classical and steel-string guitars, occasionally accompanied by Hofner and Rickenbacker basses as well as the odd bit of bodhran (I think), the additional instrumentation, all played by Koch, never overwhelming the central melodies, which drift between feisty and celebratory and liltingly romantic. ‘Tis pity ‘tis so short a time one gets to share with this remarkable minstrel in this context. Another dozen pieces please! Ensuring some sort of continuity with his even more prolific collaborator, the pastel portrait of Koch gracing the CD’s cover is by Steve Kilbey. Just for good measure, Koch released a third solo album just before Christmas 2021, his take on a variety of Christmas music from medieval through traditional to ‘Little Drummer Boy’, again all beautifully arranged and performed, nothing saccharine, so keen readers might want to grab a copy of A Christmas Album to put away for Christmas 2022.

MICHAEL SMITH

Stream Elizabethan Jangle here:

Connect with Gareth:

Videos

CJ Shaw – Ain’t many like Lennie(Official Video)

Video December 3, 2021 Marshall Cullen