You might remember reading some time ago an article Timber & Steel published steering you all towards a fantastic folk-pop act from the Netherlands called The Black Atlantic. The underpinning fact of the article was that The Black Atlantic were offering their debut album Reverence For Fallen Trees for free download- an outrageous act of generosity in anyone’s language. I know I got my hands on it quick smart (and the WordPress stats suggested many of you did too) simply because I thought the offer was way too good to last. Well, turns out I was wrong. The Black Atlantic are still offering their debut album for free via this link.
Furthermore, today’s Darkling, I Listen EP announcement also stated their intent to eventually make the upcoming EP available for free as well, but for now, they need help financing it. How do we help? Well, The Black Atlantic have cleverly created a range of products for us to pre-order in order to fund the recording, producing, mixing and manufacturing costs. There’s digital downloads, CDs, Vinyl, T-shirts- the lot. I’d strongly urge everyone to follow this link and download The Black Atlantic‘s debut album for free, and if you like what you hear, give a little bit back and head to this website to pre-order the new EP Darkling, I Listen. There’s free shipping to Australia, or anywhere in the world (if you were wondering), so don’t let oceans get in your way! When my pay-cheque comes in I’m definitely ordering the 10-inch vinyl and a t-shirt. That’ll fix that conscience of mine.
UK indie-acoustic darlings Gomez have announced they will be releasing their new album Whatever’s On Your Mind on the 21st June (going up against the new Bon Iver album). To get us in the mood for the release the five-piece have released a “teaser” video for the new album with a sneak peek at the first single “Options”:
Whatever’s On Your Mind is available for preorder via the official Gomez site.
One of the things I love about my day job is that I get to seek out and book acts of all genres. In focussing on the local area and using all manner of online resources, like Triple J Unearthed, I have found a vast array of acts that I can not only book, but also feature here on Timber and Steel. One such singer/ songwriter I discovered late last year is the delightful Mardi Pannan. Now, I’ve been keeping her all to myself and listening to her self titled EP, but now is the time to share her with you all in readiness for the launch of her new single “Tattooed” this Thursday.
Writing since she was 18, Mardi achieves a certain delicacy in her music, that balance of innocence, experience, pain and joy all in delightful packages of rich sound. It’s no wonder she’s been a Music Oz finalist twice and has won the Lighthouse songwriting award at the Port Fairy Folk Festival. With other festivals including Woodford, Falls and Tamworth Country Music Festival under her belt, it’s testament to the calibre of her music and style. Having seen her live, she is an unassuming performer who plays for the audience, clearly wanting to please them with the best set possible. Her career has taken a slower pace than most musicians try to push for, however, she has collected fans across her home town of Sydney and is now set to expand her fan base throughout Australia.
With her latest single “Tattooed” set for launch at El Rocco Room in Sydney’s Kings Cross tomorrow night (Thursday 12 May), we can only assume that her air play will begin to rise and many of you will be in the ‘I knew about her first’ category. Her soft and folky voice is an absolute pleasure and her EP is one of those recordings you just want to wrap yourself up in and have a cup of tea. With diverse themes to each track on her EP, you’ll find something for every mood, including a couple of nice summery numbers to while away the cold winter days.
Tickets are still available for her single launch tomorrow night, doors open at 8pm with support by Hello Vera and Caitlin Harnett, all for the princly sum of $10. Who said Sydney’s music scene is dead?
Country of origin: Australia (Sydney) File Under: Alt-Folk, Pop-Folk, Acoustic Sounds like: Julia Stone and Lisa Mitchell Myspace:myspace.com/mardipannan
Official:mardipannan.com
When I looked up Myles Mayo a couple of weeks ago, what I found gave me a bit of a fright. How could such an accomplished folk-pop artist be operating and flourishing in Adelaide without me knowing?! Well, there’s a good reason. I did hear that he had supported Mama Kin at her last Adelaide show, but assumed he was an interstate act for the sole reason that I hadn’t heard of him. I later found out that this was one of his first solo gigs (with band) In Adelaide, so perhaps I could be forgiven for not knowing of him before this. Myles Mayo is the former front man of Special Patrol, who were certainly one of the best bands to come out of Adelaide in the last 5 years, and Mayo‘s solo work absolutely retains all of what I loved about the band’s music whilst bringing a whole new bag of tricks to the party.
My overall first impression of Mayo‘s debut album was; ‘this is bound for high Triple J rotation’. With a sound somewhere between Grizzly Bear and Jonathan Boulet, the album is literally track after track of catchy, playful pop melodies that are expertly produced.
The record begins very strongly with “My Little Tokyo”- a song which probably encompasses what Mayo‘s music is about pretty conclusively. Acoustic and slide guitars, fun hand-percussion, and cute, summery rhythmic/melodic sounds that could come from anything from steel-drums to keys to glockenspiel. In my opinion, it is this song and then next one, “How You Done Me Wrong”, that have the greatest potential for success. They’re just catchy pieces of good songwriting. I think what I enjoy most about these two tracks is the absurd coupling of cheerful composition and dark lyricism.
You’d probably think that, because I’ve said that the first 2 tracks probably have the greatest potential for success, that the album is going to go downhill from here- but no, it doesn’t. Track 3, “I Slept The Winter Underground”, is probably my favourite song on the album. Its chord progression, vocal melody and instrumentation reinforces that you’re listening to a writer of inspired music- not just catchy tunes. The next track, “Leave The Party” is probably a good opportunity to talk about Mayo‘s vocals. One of the biggest hurdles I’ve noticed for local artists is transferring great quality live performance into great quality recordings. The elements, it seems, that most artists have difficulty in capturing are percussion and vocals (for some reason)- and the acts that get this right in the studio are inevitably the ones that get noticed by radio. Myles Mayo‘s vocals are always spot on, and whilst there’s nothing particularly spectacular about them, the’re certainly special enough to become attached to. The vocal harmonies are relentless, but simple and only ever complimentary and there’s a distinct air of confidence in his voice- you can tell you’re listening to a seasoned performer.
Track 5, “Daddy’s Lamb To The Slaughter”, is a masterclass in quirk. From the frolicsome lyrics to the bouncy bass line to the cheeky inclusion of a very recognisable famous cello-line in the bridge; this song is perfectly odd- like something you’d expect from Akron/Family. It is followed by the more conventional “Crazy Like Me” which is a song that I think is really made by its production- particularly the distortion on the secondary vocal track and the resonating and continuous piano chords.
The album moves back into quirk as quickly as it departed from it with track 7, “Ice-Cream Truck”. Although being a lovely, original composition, the track draws influence from a range of unexpected places. In the mix is the traditional ice-cream truck tune, verses that follow a similar melody and timing to “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz, the lyrics “swing low sweet chariot”, and a high-pitched accompaniment that sounds as if it could be coming from a theremin. The next song “Young Love Aches” goes to a place that, having listened to the first 7 songs, I dearly hoped it would. I could hear a potential for big, layered, harmonious group vocals in the first half of the album, but it never really gets there until this track, and results in a very danceable Polyphonic Spree-like happy-place of a song.
When listening to the album from start to finish, Track 9, “What, Cat Got Your Tongue?”, is probably my favourite one after Track 3. The mix fingerpicking guitar, strings, punchy tambourine and the return of that mysterious high-pitched theremin-like sound (which I’m sure is just a keyboard function) makes for another really interesting song. Track 10, “Please RSVP”, is probably a little bit too similar to both “My Little Tokyo” & ”Leave The Party” for me, and the album could have probably done without it. .The last 2 tracks on the album are absolute treasures- I just hope people find them. I know I often only have 30 minutes at any one time to listen to an album and seem to never get around to the last one or two tracks. ”School Girl”- a slow little ditty about emotional immaturity, and the regretful confession “Like I loved You Then” perfectly wind the album down with absolute class.
I have a feeling that every blog is Australia will be posting their review of this album soon- it’s just a matter of time before the country cottons on to Myles Mayo. He’s launching this album on April 15 at Jive, so South Australians should take this opportunity to see Myles Mayo “before he was a star” and get your hands on this album, which I think is definitely up there with full length releases from Vorn Doolette, The Honey Pies and Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! as the best to come out of SA in recent years. You can purchase the album from Mayo‘s label Other Tongues or iTunes via this link. Trust me- it’s worth it.
The discovery of Priscilla Ahn marked somewhat of a pivotal moment in my life and in the lives of some of my closest friends, whether they realise it or not. It’s usually a good idea to try and separate yourself from the music you’re writing about so that it can be fully appreciated by others, but in this instance I think I could be forgiven for breaking convention. I’ll set the scene…
It was a snowy evening in Vernon, BC, Canada; a few days before Christmas in 2008. It was comfortably warm inside an old childhood friend’s family home where myself and an Australian school friend Sam (who is now my flat-mate) were holidaying. Said Canadian childhood friend, Josh, has the most fantastic and ahead-of-the-curve sense in music, and we were making the most of our time together by sitting inside with a laptop and Youtubing all the artists we wanted to share with eachother. Josh was looking for a particular video. A live session, whatever that was… It was of a beautiful Canadian songstress with a ukelele- the name of whom he could not remember for the life of him. Nor could he remember the name of the group that brought us this video, which he recalled introduced the performer with bold white letters on a black background. We scoured the internet, search engine after search engine with different combinations of the words “Canadian”, “singer”, “ukelele”, “rooftop”, “live”, etc until we finally found what he wanted to share.
This video was the first La BlogothequeTake Away Show my Australian friend Sam and I ever saw (embedded below). We loved it at first sight- probably more so (at least for me) because the woman singing on the roof with light-flairs from the setting sun haloing her was Priscilla Ahn- a woman you’d have no trouble falling in love with herself. A bit less than 2 years after this discovery, and still inspired by it, my flat-mate Sam decided to start making live music sessions with Adelaide artists with another friend of our’s from high school who had recently graduated with a diploma in screen. It didn’t take long before he enlisted my help, and the help of a dozen or so more like-minded friends.Thus marked the beginning of 6 on the St- which has recently evolved into a fully fledged session producing outfit under the umbrella of Your Take Sessions. Because of Priscilla Ahn’s Take Away Show we’ve come to work with some of South Australia’s and Australia’s most talented- including Old Man River, Cloud Control, Birds Of Tokyo, Katie Noonan, Tinpan Orange, Eagle & The Worm- and there’s plenty more in the pipeline. It was because of my work with 6 on the St that I came across Evan Hughes and his website Timber & Steel, which I now spend a lot of free time writing for- so I guess you can say that this article on Priscilla Ahn was actually, from a wide perspective, conceived by itself. I never intended to do this kind of thing, but it’s a hobby that I’m really glad I found.
I was very pleased to hear that Priscilla is finally releasing her sophomore album- the first since her 2008 debut A Good Day. The album will be called When You Grow Up, and will be released on the 3rd of May. You can pre-order the album here or listen to/download the title track below. Like much of Priscilla Ahn’s music, it boasts a beautiful, child-like innocence that is both nostalgic and refreshing.
English singer-songwriter Butcher The Bar (AKA Joel Nicholson) today announced the upcoming release of his sophomore album- For Each A Future Tethered. The album will be released on the 10th of June this year, breaking the 3 year drought between albums for Nicholson. We’ll be bringing you music from and information about the album as it comes to light, but in the meantime, head across to the myspace- there’s a few songs there that weren’t on the first album, Sleep At Your Own Speed. Nicholson’s sound is acoustic, lo-fi pop music- mostly concentrated on, but not limited to, acoustic guitar and wispy, quiet vocals. Like his first album, For Each A Future Tethered will be released via German label, Morr Music, who are responsible for the likes of Radical Face, Guther, Seabear, and The Wooden Birds. Stay tuned for more Butcher The Bar.
Stobie Sounds is a non-for-profit community record label based in Adelaide, South Australia, which releases music from up-and-coming “roots” artists. The label was set up by volunteers as a means of supporting roots musicians, and has been doing exactly that. Stobie Sounds release limited edition, hand-printed, DIY albums made from recycled materials, and whilst they’ve only been releasing small batches of albums from emerging musicians, their significance or quality of production is not to be underestimated. This label have put out superb albums from some of SA’s biggest talents including Bearded Gypsy Band, Cal Williams Jr and Kirk Special, as well as (amongst many other things) putting together a concept album last year comprised of reworked versions of songs by Big Joe Williams, by various contributing roots artists and groups.
The concept/compilation project is an annual event for Stobie Sounds, and this year they’ve really broadened the possibilities for contributions. Instead of asking for contributions of re-worked covers, they’ve decided to call for original compositions based around the poetry of Frank The Poet (AKA Francis McNamara). This is a fantastic opportunity for any artist to have their music released by one of the remaining “good guys” is the music industry. If you’re not familiar with Frank The Poet’s work; no matter- it doesn’t take long to learn about. The subject is interesting, engaging, and will provide inspiration by the bucket-load.
Stobie Sounds are seeking submission from anybody- local, interstate, or international. On the subject, the label said; “Apart from celebrating this important body of Australian folk literature, we want to link in local Adelaide artists with like minded scenes around the globe. We did this pretty successfully with the last compilation These Are My Blues: A Tribute To Big Joe Williams.”…”The only thing artists need to know is that we want the album to be dark and brooding. Dirgey. Epic. Intense. We’re not looking for naff garden variety bush balladry or rough imitations. This is an album recorded in 2011 and we want it to sound like that.”
So if you think you can explore the works of classical Australian literature in the language of today’s roots music, then head to this page to learn more about the specifics of the project, or get in touch with Stobie Sounds via this link. If they receive enough quality contributions, their minds are open to making the release a double-disc album with two different artists’ interpretations of each of the 12 poems, so get proactive and get writing.
Moments ago, British Folk-Punk superstar, Frank Turner, announced via his blog that he’ll be releasing a new album called England Keep My Bones on the 7th of June, 2011. The former Million Dead frontman also announced details for an extensive tour of Australia throughout April. Although these dates are prior to the album release, it’ll be a good chance to have a listen to Turner’s new stuff before he releases it. No other details in regards to track listings or album art have been released as yet, but the full dates for the Australian tour are below. Click here to view Turner’s full blog post.
Those who are unfamiliar with the whole acoustic post-punk movement would be absolutely astounded to discover the far-reachingness of the genre. It seems that all the kids that used to be listening to and playing in punk bands back in the ’90s and early 2000s have moved on to appropriating the folk genre with brutal injections of that classic punk intensity. For local examples check out Sydney’s Isaac Graham or Adelaide’s Ben David.
Those who read Timber & Steel religiously would know that we tend to follow the Canadian music scene pretty closely. It’s not just the quality of music permeating the great northern land that we’re interested in, it’s the fact that there’s an overwhelming proportion of musicians blending folk influences amongst others, and creating new, however less traditional, breeds of folk. Although the majority of the exciting movements in Canadian music aren’t so much recognised in the mainstream frontier (which is no doubt the same in every country), the Juno awards aren’t completely void of excitement, as we hope to show. Check out a full list of nominees here.
There’d be very few readers out there now that aren’t well versed in Arcade Fire. If you hadn’t heard of them before, you’d have probably heard their name connected with their recent Grammy success. There’s no doubt that these guys are indie-rockers first and foremost, but their weaving of traditional influences and instrumentation into their music has made them a T&S friendly act, right from the get-go. This year they’ve been nominated for Album of the Year, Group of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year.
This young lady might just be the most exciting artist on this list. As an old-time folk lover, you can easily hear a traditional Irish-like sound in there, which is only thinly veiled by a more contemporary and alternative exterior. She has a fantastic voice, and is one hell of an autoharpist. She’s been nominated for New Artist of the Year.
Broken Social Scene are in the same boat as Arcade Fire, being an outright indie-rock group with a folky twist. This collective is undoubtedly Canadian music royalty, including members of Stars, Apostle of Hustle, The Weakerthans, Metric, Jason Collett and Feist. They utilise strings, woodwind and brass instruments to achieve large, glorious and layered sounds. They’ve been nominated for Group of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year.
Del Barber is a roots artist with a strong American folk influence, and enough of an indie stripe to have been pedalled by younger audiences. He has a couple of albums, but to be honest, this is the first time I’ve checked him out. I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve heard so far, and intend to keep a close eye on him. He has been nominated for Solo Roots & Traditional Album of the Year.
This Vancouver-based acoustic singer-songwriter is making really interesting pop songs with lavish arrangements. Her fresh interpretation of Tori Amos-like alt-pop is really refreshing, and has earned her nominations for New Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. Definitely T&S friendly. Earlier in the week, editor Evan Hughes credited me with publishing the first female nipple on Timber & Steel, so by posting the video below, I’m really hoping to build somewhat of a rep. for “bringing the sex”, so to speak. It’s a great song, though…
We’ve been covering Rutledge’s goings on here at Timber & Steel ever since he won my heart with the live version of “Don’t Be So Mean, Jellybean” on his myspace (seriously, go check it out!). He’s signed to Six Shooter Records, who give us some great Canadian acts, and you won’t regret spending the time to get to know him, especially his latest album The Early Widows, for which he’s been nominated for Solo Roots & Traditional Album of the Year. He’s made a couple of short films/acoustic performance videos. An older one is embedded below, but follow this link for another really good one.
This is a really cool act, and I’m glad I came across them. They play traditional Quebecois folk music, and yes that’s exactly how it sounds- French, Celtic music. Confused? Canada loves them. They’re nominated for the Group Roots & Traditional Album of the Year.
Luke Doucet is a country styled singer-songwriter who has been a landmark on the Canadian roots-music landscape for some time. He’s released 8 records on Six Shooter Records (solo and with his band Veal), the latest of which has been nominated for Adult Alternative Album of the Year. Watch him perform a song about an ex-girlfriend with his wife, Melissa McClelland, below. So awkward.
Old Man Luedecke has recently finished a decent tour of Australia which saw him wowing crowds across the eastern states and Tasmania with his traditional, quick-picking banjo stylings. I’ve heard people say that he was one of the highlights at Woodford Folk Festival, and I’m not surprised. Old Man Luedecke‘s laid back country charm allows him to really engage with the listener. He’s no stranger to the Juno Awards either, taking out the Solo Roots & Traditional Album of the Year in 2009. And he’s been nominated for the same award again for his latest album, My Hands Are On Fire and Other Love Songs.
Owen Pallett is a very rare talent. His brand of indie-folk is often compared to Andrew Bird and Sufjan Stevens, and with good reason. Pallett is a fantastic instrumentalist and vocalist who masterfully uses loop-pedals to create swirling layers of full and textured compositions that have all the power of a small orchestra. He has recently toured Australia as well, and played alongside Sufjan Stevens as part of Sydney Festival at The Opera House. His first release under his name (he previously released material as Final Fantasy), Heartland, has been nominated for Alternative Album of the Year. I hope he wins.
Royal Wood is a creator of classic, organic, and usually acoustic pop music. From what I’ve heard of him, he favours the piano as his fundamental instrument. He’s a little bit Lior, in that his sound is obviously very derivative, but unique and personal enough to an extent that allows people to become very loyal to it. He’s been around for a while, and i look forward to checking out his past works. He’s been nominated for the Songwriter of the Year award.
I was surprised to see Said The Whale nominated for New Group of the Year, mainly because I thought they were already an established act. They’ve certainly been gracing my iTunes for some time. Regardless, they do deserve some accolades swung their way. They’re an indie-rock band, who utilise acoustic instruments a lot of the time. I’m a folk lover, and they do something for me. Embedding is disabled for my favourite folk track of their’s, but you can follow this link to view it, or take your chances on the video below.
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