Tag Archives: alt rock
The Mezcaltones Mexican Hillbilly Surf Music
The Mezcaltones Mexican Hillbilly Surf Music
The band’s third album finds them at the top of their game with brilliantly written and played originals along with a tasteful selection of covers lifted from their live set. Recorded and mixed in just over a week at Damien Gerard’s new expanded studios on the Central Coast, the album stands as their most cohesively accessible and sonically pleasing to date.
Only released last Friday to coincide with the launch on Sydney’s Northern Beaches to their home crowd the Album is already garnering reviews such as
“The third album from the enigmatic Mezcaltones is cranking, feelgood drinking music that crawls into your boots and drags you to the dance floor of any number of dusty roadside Mexican Saloons.” Redback Rock
“The good, the bad, the groovy, playing all things cool with a Tarantino and strong Mexican flavour.Blog
The band have also been invited to co host Ross Fear’s influential Australian Spectrum show this Tuesday March 3 (tonight).
The band will be playing over the next few weeks to promote the record, see dates below.
And now to the band – Just what is it about the Mezcaltones-
Four guys dressed as cowboys and two women dressed like Spanish Mexican Senoritas that you might find in a Quentin Tarantino movie – two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer a Crazy front man and a beautiful dancer/percussionist. Whilst their original songs have an alt country flavour with rich Cowboy guitar sounds reminiscent of another century the guitar tones also reach into the realms of 60’s surf instrumentals.
See them live at
Album – Out Now – Foghorn/MGM
CD on sale at Shows
Click below for DSP’s
Connect with The Mezcaltones:
For further information please contact:
Marshall Cullen at Foghorn Media
0416 143 030
marshall@foghornrecords.net
Steve Kilbey and Gareth Koch New Album Chryse Planitia
New Reviews
What unites the musical spheres of an Australian rock icon
and a Viennese-trained classical musician?
The answer lies in a shared aesthetic and approach to their craft. There is a wistful and haunting lilt to the Kilbey/Koch songs, as they float seamlessly through a narrative of fallen crowns, fatal hours, and enchanted gardens. To compliment the poignant lyrics is a delicious instrumentation, weaving and wafting, ghostly and waif-like, alternately brimming with rhythmic drive, present yet somehow elusive.
Hot on the heels of two critically acclaimed singles, the debut album Chryse Planitiapulses with a strong and immediately recognisable musical identity. Kilbey and Koch have forged an entirely new sound characterised by a fluid and elegant movement across genres. Their partnership draws inspiration from medieval music to post-modern psychedelia, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, with every imaginable influence in between.
Steve Kilbey, also known as the frontman of veteran rock band The Church, has generated a lifetime of beautifully crafted songs. His subtly esoteric lyrics create an aura of mystery, posing questions and teasing the listener with riddle-like answers. Kilbey’s words evoke a succession of images, half-remembered whisperings at the edge of our consciousness. He is a poet-master of unsaid things whose writing arouses the dreamer within us.
Gareth Koch is a European-born classical guitarist and composer who has recorded most of the major repertoire. His compositional style reflects a lifelong engagement with classical, folk and flamenco music. Although not easy to define, Koch’s music is often characterised by medieval gestures, influenced by the unrequited longing style of the French Trouveres (singer-poets) of the 12thcentury.
Expertly tracked by Andrew Beck and mixed by Russell Pilling of Damien Gerard Studios and superbly mastered by Grammy Awardwinning King Willy Sound, Chryse Planitiais a feast for the ears.
Out Now
Connect with Steve Kilbey:
Connect with Gareth Koch:
For further information, and Interview requests please contact:
Marshall@foghornrecords.net
0416 143 030
10cc Star Graham Gouldman Released First Solo Album in Eight Years UPDATE
10cc Star Graham Gouldman Released First Solo Album in Eight Years plus Tour In Australia and New Zealand.
On February 21 2020, 10cc’s Graham Gouldman released ‘Modesty Forbids’ here in Australia to coincide with the 10cc Australia / New Zealand Tour.
UPDATE – with the release of the album now, a new review by Michael Smith:
http://soundslikecafe.com/graham-gouldman-album-modesty-forbids-new-review/
Released on British independent record label Lojinx, Modesty Forbids is the fifth solo album of Graham’s career, and his first since 2012’s ‘Love And Work’.
Listen now on your preferred service
Featuring eleven tracks, the album’s release will coincide with 10cc’s 14-date Australia and New Zealand tour, ahead of the rest-of-world release in March 2020.
With Graham’s 10cc tours enjoying ever-increasing success around the world in recent years, in 2018 he was invited by former Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr to join his All Starr Band for tours of Europe and the USA, during which the band played three 10cc songs, elevating Graham’s profile yet further.
That relationship continues, with Ringo making a very special guest appearance on Modesty Forbids, playing drums on a song called ‘Standing Next To Me’.
Graham said, “Playing with Ringo Starr and The All Starr Band was absolutely brilliant, and having Ringo play drums on one of my new album’s songs was the icing on the cake. In it, I write about how I came to be asked to join Ringo’s band and about my experience of being on the road with him, alongside Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Gregg Rolie, Warren Ham and Gregg Bissonette, who also plays drums on three of the album’s tracks.”
Ringo Starr added, “It was such a thrill for me to have Graham in my All Starr Band in 2018, with his great songs and great bass playing and his very British personality! And look what happens – he goes home and writes a great song and then asks me to play drums on it! It was my honour because the track is fab and I want to congratulate him on such a good album too.”
Co-produced by Graham Gouldman and Graeme Pleeth, all of the songs on Modesty Forbids were recorded at The Pleeth Station Studios, except for ‘Waited All My Life For You’, which was recorded at Astral Drive London. Additional recording also took place at London’s Hoxa HQ to complete the track ‘That’s Love Right There’. The album was then mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. The album’s cover artwork was design by StormStudios, with illustrations by Dan Abbott.
The album’s eclectic mix of song styles includes swing (something Graham’s never tried before), the blues and gospel is something he hopes everybody enjoys as much as he did making the album.
Graham said, “I can’t begin to tell you what a pleasure it was making Modesty Forbids and to be able to work with so many fine musicians. When listening back to the album I realise that there are two recurring themes. One is about climate change awareness and the other is a call for ‘peace and love’. These two subjects may be clichés, but I don’t care – as long as we take action on the first and practice the second we’ll all be ok.”
10CC Australia New Zealand Tour Dates 2020
Connect with Graham:
For further information, Guest-Listing and Interview requests please contact:
Marshall@foghornrecords.net
0416 143 030
Black Aces – Never Change(official)
Margaret Anne and The Rock It Man Lay Their Souls Bare
Margaret Anne and The Rock It Man’s debut album is called Soul Laid Bare. Lyrically it’s an intensely personal exploration of emotional turmoil after a marriage breakup, while musically it’s an exciting blend of Americana, country, roots, blues, funk and rock.
The title track is due for release on October 25. It was written while singer Margaret Anne was making the agonizing decision to leave a 20 year marriage, break up a family and family home. The song conveys a search for clarity and expresses the fear and recklessness in making such a massive and life changing decision for all involved.
Another album highlight is a song Margaret Anne wrote with renowned Australian singer-songwriter Shane Nicholson. Entitled Don’t Look Back, the track is an exploration of marriage in the aftermath of her breakdown. “Just 2 months after leaving my husband,” says Margaret Anne, “Don’t look Back was written on a sheep station in Nundle (outside Tamworth). It has undertones of loss, sadness and questioning and the decision to move on from the wreckage and not look back.”
Growing up in a seaside town on the south coast of NSW, she was blessed to belong to a musical family so classical piano, guitar and song became a big part of her life.
Margaret Anne says she was heavily influenced by her surfing brothers as she grew up. “We would pool our pennies to buy the latest records. My favourites, and certainly most early influences were Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, The Stones, Carol King, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, Hair! Anything Woodstock!”
Adventurous and a passionate singer songwriter, Margaret Anne continually touches her listeners with her inclusive heartfelt singing, dynamic stage presence and empowering songs. She currently manages and performs in the successful band Firefly.
Soul Laid Bare is a collaboration with Doug Weaver, a talented multi instrumentalist, producer and screenwrite. He has produced and written music for over 200 episodes of the American TV show The MythBusters and also many local programs including Border Security and Beach Cops.
Margaret Anne has always been an adventurer, having previously travelled the world for 11 years and visiting 56 countries. This time her attention is turned inwards and the result is an emotive album full of vulnerabilities and strength.
Soul Laid Bare (the single) is out on October 25.
The album of the same name is due in March 2020.
Download or stream from October 25:
Watch Soul Laid Bare here:
Connect with Margaret Anne:
