Gaga Music: Latest News

Pre-order Aleks and the Ramps' Facts Now

Pete — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

We're very happy to announce that Facts, the wonderful third album from acclaimed Melbourne experimental pop outfit Aleks and the Ramps, is now available for pre-order on iTunes.

Incurable romantics, the band will be gifting the world with the new album on Valentine's Day, which makes perfect sense: Facts would be a perfect gift for a lover, cousin, grandparent or pet –– anyone, sentient or no, is likely to love this record.

We've been going on about our love for Facts for a while now. The band's third long player, Facts is the band's most rounded, immediate and satisfying lp to date, a shimmering pop gem full of sudden hooks and strange charms, all of it presided over by frontman Aleks' wonderfully dry, dark wit.

It's strange, wonderful, addictive stuff; a true album's album in an age of throwaway singles, full of deep cuts and hidden treasures.

Listen to the two singles released so far from the album, Bummer and Middle Aged Unicorn On Beach With Sunset, in our player below.

We recently had the Ramps stop by our rooftop to premiere the title track from the album, a winsome banjo-led thing that we like rather a lot. Check it out below:

In support the album, Aleks and the Ramps will be heading off on a national tour in March; they'll also be taking the stage at NZ's Camp a Low Hum festival.

Check out the Australian dates below:

01-03 Canberra – ANU Bar

02-03 Wollongong – The Patch

03-03 Sydney – GoodGod Small Club

04-03 Newcastle – Chinos

08-03 Byron Bay – The Rails

09-03 Toowoomba – The Spotted Cow

10-03 Brisbane – Tym Guitars (in store)

10-03 Brisbane – The Waiting Room

22-03 Geelong – The National Hotel

23-03 Melbourne – Northcote Social Club

24-03 Adelaide – The Hotel Metro

31-03 Hobart – The Brisbane Hotel

Premiere: Bree Tranter 'Winter' Video

Pete — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

One of our favourite songs from last year was Winter, the gorgeous debut single from Bree Tranter, formerly of The Middle East.

Winter is hushed, spectral folk-pop at its best. Folk Radio UK called it 'a beautifully crafted folk song reminiscent of Marissa Nadler's work'; blog And Pluck Your Strings, meanwhile, called it 'five minutes of beautiful, haunting, powerful music that equals just about anything we got from The Middle East, which is high praise.'

We're very happy to premiere the great new video for Winter. Check it out below, and pick up a copy of Winter over at our store.

Bree has begun work on her debut ep, which we'll have more news on shortly. Stay tuned.

On the Roof: Aleks and the Ramps

Pete — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Late last year, we started working with one of our favourite bands, Aleks and the Ramps. The Melbourne experimental pop quintet have been around since 2005, during which time they've put out two albums and an EP of thoroughly unpredictable, wonderfully skewed pop music.

On Valentine's Day this year, Aleks and the Ramps will release their third album, Facts, via Gaga Digi. Having listened to it roughly 100 times in the past couple of months, we can say this: Facts is a strikingly good pop record, a full-to-bursting combination of sharp left turns, sublime melodies, and Aleks' deadpan, gloriously strange and often hilarious lyrics.

Aleks and the Ramps recently popped by our offices to star in the first episode of our new On the Roof video series. In the friscalating dusklight, the band premiere the great title track from the new album and try to speak French. Check it out below:

You can listen to the two already released singles from Aleks and the Ramps' new album in our player above, and, while you're at it, watch the great video for the most recent single, Middle Aged Unicorn On Beach With Sunset.

We'll have more On the Roof sessions for you very soon, featuring the likes of Big Scary and Kate Martin. Stay tuned!

Breathe Owl Breathe Talk About Their Amazing New Single, Book

Pete — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

We've been very taken with Michigan folk-pop outfit Breathe Owl Breathe for some time now. The trio, it's safe to say, are not your typical band: they make their music in a secluded cabin in the wilds of Michigan; they favour old, strange instruments they're 'not quite comfortable with'; live, their wonderfully spontaneous and inclusive performances have won them fans the world over.

Having put out a steady stream of excellent releases since forming in 2004, the fiercely creative trio are now embarking on something new: a children's book, written and illustrated by one third of the band, Micah Maddaugh, which comes accompanied by two great songs: The Listeners and These Train Tracks.

The book and the songs are things of rare beauty, and we're very happy to be releasing, with RAD, the songs on December 6 on iTunes, Google Music, Amazon and eMusic. The book, which you can check out photos and video of below, will be available in Australia via Readings, and directly from the band.

We recently caught up with Breathe Owl Breathe and spoke to them about how they came together, their unique creative process, and, of course, their beautiful new songs and book.

Gaga: How did you guys come into playing music, and into playing together?

Trevor: Micah came into the world with stories, toys, and songs all around him. His mom and dad used to make wooden folk toys and sell them at festivals. When he was young, his dad once made a banjo from scratch –– using the skin of a dead house cat (found on the side of the road) for the drum head. Andrea was classically trained on cello since the 5^th grade. Actually, she started on flute, but after passing out while playing flute for the first time, she was guided toward the cello by her music teacher.

My dad was a drummer in an obscure mid 60s rock band from the Midwest called 'Earth Circus'. So I grew up with tapping, rhythms, and records all around. At an early age, my mom and dad would use pots and pans with wooden spoons on the kitchen floor (for a drum set) to keep me entertained.

Micah and I met in 2001, our freshman year of college. We were at separate schools (Micah in Grand Rapids, MI and I in Kalamazoo, MI). That first weekend away at school, I went to visit a high school friend of mine who happened to be paired up with Micah as a roommate. We started playing together before we even spoke. I remember coming into their room for the first time, and Micah was there smiling and bobbing his head up and down playing and singing a song he wrote on guitar. I picked up a drum and played along.

Soon after that we went to a party with a VHS camera and made a movie about zombies. I learned that Micah was a pretty unique character when he somehow convinced everyone at the party (which we were not even invited to) to act like zombies in our film. In the final scene, we ran through the living room, escaping from about 40 zombies out into the street. That's how we left the party.

So, we were friends before we started a band. At that time, Breathe Owl Breathe didn't exist yet. It wasn't until 2004 that Micah and Andrea met. In their first meeting, they recorded an album on cassette tape under a tree out at Micah's house in the sandy hills of East Jordan, MI. Then, in 2006, I slowly became a permanent fixture in the band.

I love the fact that, despite the fact it's often created in the wilds, BOB's music, especially on Magic Central, remains so generous and playful, in its own idiosyncratic way. It speaks to me of the fact that your making music out there is not a weary retreat from humanity, but rather a natural embrace of creative living-something many more people would do if the world wasn't so insane. Is it a conscious decision to create such gregarious, immediate music, or just a natural result of being in a place where you're able to do what you love?

Micah: It's a little bit of both. A lot of time will go by up here without songs, but the songs sneak up on you as well. The concepts of the songs might come when you're going for a run, or going for a hike, hearing coyotes late at night, or something else. We have a pull down screen and projector. Sometimes when you just watch a late night movie, you stay up afterword to settle into a song, or get up first thing in the morning, and go for a run... the mind is more receptive at that time... to sort through, think of things, and look forward to when friends visit.

Since it's hard to contact us, a lot of being up here means having time to work on projects. One project idea turns into another –– but having a studio space that can swallow you up, and at the same time escape from, is really nice. The song writing part –– it's like creating characters, then letting a conversation with a friend, or something that you hear, inspire you. You're just turning something on its side out of your own experiences- something that you heard, an actual experience, or a dream. Living out here...it's like being able to create your own mythology or folklore, or aspirations of fears.

A lot has to do with play. We'll get together just to play: setting up instruments or props or furniture in ways to not forget what you've been through, or capturing an inspired moment on VHS or the Miranz that you would otherwise forget a week from now. Lately, being on the road more than we've been used to, you digest everything. Back home, I'd be chopping wood, and the feeling will dawn on me that, "I'm in ONE place, chopping wood". And it's profound, it feels good. Then you're able to think of things that surprise you that you were playing around with in your mind while on the road. It's like reeling from feelings.

How much time do you get to make music? Living out at the cabin, do you guys still have to work day jobs? If you weren't making music, what would you all be doing?

Micah: Printmaking.

Trevor: Teaching. I study the Earth Sciences –– geomorphology, primarily. Lately, I've been teaching geography courses to fulfil the objective, rational side of my personality. I like taking what I've learned from my musical life –– the performance aspect, or composition, representation of concepts musically, even the travelling component –– and apply them to how I think about the geosciences. And vice-versa. One informs the other. One allows the other to rest and rejuvenate. I think that if I were restricted to doing just one of these things for a living, I wouldn't be fully satisfied, or fully inspired.

Andrea: I think I would go back to school, study cello and foreign languages, take an Indian cooking class, travel and work in gardens. I'd also like to help protect whales.

Trevor: It's really nice that we're such good friends. We'll hang out just doing things together. Go to the grocery store. Go play basketball. But, every time we get together, we try to make music –– or we end up making music in some way.

Micah: What we've been doing lately is filling up a side of a cassette tape without having and prior ideas for songs, just improvising, trying to get caught up in the play. And then listen back days later to things that may be interesting to explore further. Then I'll go for a run and write, trying to keep a notebook close at hand. Sketches can turn into writings and carvings, or prints can turn into songs. We're all doing that (welding and weaving our lives into songs) in some way or another.

The new book looks amazing. I've heard you talk before about how Breathe Owl Breathe is as much an art project as it is a band. Do you find your various projects, music and otherwise, naturally cross-pollinate with each other?

Micah: Yes. One gives a rest to the other while they inspire each other. Characters are born in the print making world that later emerge in songs. In the music world, a landscape can show up in a song and find its way into print. Both are about working with layers. I think a lot of it is just not thinking about it, but letting things live in their respective worlds. They are discovered when we get together, and then they'll be put away, and then rediscovered. Something (musically or visually) that we thought was random, we'll later discover as an actual direction in a song, or album, or project.

How did the book project come about?

Micah: I started stapling paper together and cutting a really small pocket version. Originally, I think it was something that came to me while mowing the lawn. Then I thought of one thing when I was just going down one row to the next. The tracks of the mower became these train tracks in my mind, and thoughts went forward from there. When that happens you try to write it down in the moment. I'm always keeping little books to write and draw in.

Knowing how special it was to have a turntable when I was young and seeing some stories on vinyl are also probably some original inspirations for the book. I really love old ways of making things. So, the book is an attempt to bring those feelings into motion, to life, in a way. Another dream we had was to create an art project that we felt could live on its own- differently from an album, where you tour and perform songs from the album. I have been fascinated by things that don't live forever. They have a short life but are an experience that really happened. It's similar to the idea with print making when there's an edition made. We thought, 'Let's make something that just exists, and then leave it.' Then think about whatever is next, but having learned and having been through a whole adventure.

All of the BOB releases I've seen, and this book project is another striking example, are beautifully presented and meticulously put together, from the recording of the actual songs to the album art and inserts. Do you feel that, with music becoming increasingly transient and even devalued in the digital age, it's becoming more important to create lasting, beautiful, tangible things?

Micah: Yes, like cassette tapes –– a great way of doing a short run of an album. Sometimes, I record radio interviews directly onto cassette tape. And they live on as we drive down the road. I could download a podcast, but then you can't touch it, or associate an object, or container, with its life. It's really convenient to have the digital product, but more and more an actual object (apart from CDs, Vinyl or cassettes) can be paired with an mp3. You can lose the music medium altogether and attach a download card to an art piece. I mean, with a CD, if you look at the bottom of it, you do get a video of yourself in real time. You can't do that with cassette tapes.

I've not been lucky enough to see you guys live, but from what I've read, you really go to great pains to make your live appearances inclusive, immersive and unique. How do you translate your unique way of living, writing and recording to the stage?

Micah: Sometimes we show up early and get inspired by the stage, and try to envision how we can make a portal back to where we've come from through our day of travelling. It's important for us to bring to the stage what we've been inspired by that day –– experiences or sounds captured from where we spent our time or from the van as we travelled through an area. Sometimes we'll have a cassette tape recorded before the show of interviews we did each other in different characters, and try to incorporate those characters into a show.

You recently embarked on your first European jaunt. How was that?

Trevor: One day we went to Caracas (Spain), where Salvador Dali is from, and swam in the Mediterranean. There were outcrops of sandstone weathered by the wind that looked like old growth trees tipped on their side and buried in coastal sands. It's refreshing to check in with other parts of the world in person. We were shown some really wonderful things by some wonderful friendly people, nearly everywhere we went. We found ourselves playing shows under an old archway, or in a circus tent from the 1800s, trying to bring who and what we are to people without giving too much into how we'd be received. We brought a dome that looked like an igloo.

I've read that you're fond of playing 'found instruments', and, for me, it's the unexpected, slightly cracked, organic textures that make the BOB sound so unique. Reminds me a bit of one of my favourite bands, Califone, whose records are always shot through with instruments that sound like they're falling apart in the most beautiful ways. Is it a conscious decision to try and use unconventional instruments in your songs? Any great recent discoveries?

Trevor: We are all fond of playing instruments that we're not quite comfortable with. It's one of the few ways to make a sound that is uniquely your own. So, being open to that idea inevitably leads to a never-ending collection of instruments –– old and new –– but with an affinity toward the old. Actually, it is quite difficult to pass by a garage sale without stopping. Micah will insist that we turn around. But we usually get the best found instruments from friends.

Once you know that an instrument exists, it's like a never-ending search to get a second one, because chances are it won't work perfectly (if it's old), so you have to get two in case the first one breaks. We're always talking about commissioning friends to build us replicas or repair our old gear. Can't really mention some of our new discoveries (they are best kept secret).

Like all the best music, the BOB sound defies easy categorisation. When you get asked by people who have never heard your music –– uncles, for example, or customs officers at airports –– how do you describe it?

Micah: It's tough... Andrea I usually start with, 'Well, I play cello... and Micah plays guitar and sings, and Trevor plays drums and keyboards'. We're not going to really get into details with customs officials...

[Customs Official] "What's that, a bird cage?" (referring to Micah's karaoke machine/amp).

'Well, actually it's a guitar amp. Yeah, it's antique, from the '90s.'

[Customs Official] 'What kind of music do you play?'

'Yeah, folk rock. Casios.'

What's the typical songwriting process like for the band? Do you tend to write separately, or together, or both? Is Breathe Owl Breathe a democracy?

Trevor: The majority of songs come out of Micah's head, at least lyrically. But when he presents a song we'll all work out the arrangements together over time. A song may come together in a day, whereas another we'll reapproach for years before it feels finished.

Micah: Sometimes... phew, mystery of life. Sometimes you get used to the song being around, but you keep carving away at it, but giving it a rest here and there. Or other times, it comes along and is able to be living.

Do you share similar taste in music?

Trevor: We're all pretty open to what each other listens to. But we each also have our individual affinity for music that we don't mutually desire. We each get such different things out of music, and constantly understand more about what each other likes about certain kinds of music. But, our tastes are also always changing, which makes song writing a really fun and surprising challenge.

The Listeners/These Train Tracks will be available December 6 from iTunes, eMusic, Google Music and Amazon. The book will be available from Readings stores.

Gaga Digi: Now Delivering to Pretty Much Everywhere

Pete — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

We're very happy to announce that we've started putting our releases up on a heap of overseas digital stores and services, including eMusic, Amazon, Spotify and the just-launched Google Music.

We're now working with pretty much every major online music store and service, and will be putting our catalogue onto the steadily growing number of streaming services that are launching around the globe.

We've been putting out a steady stream of great releases over the last few months, if we do say so ourselves, including the debut single from Adelaide-based indie-pop duo Manor, the new ep from surf-rock rabble rousers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and the new single from experimental pop legends Aleks and the Ramps.

We've got a heap more in the works, including a new single from Kate Martin and the Shallowsea Choir, the amazing third lp from Aleks and the Ramps and Parts 2 and 3 of Joseph Liddy and the Skeleton Horse's wonderfully raucous three-part lp.

Have a listen to a bunch of our recent highlights in our Spring/Summer playlist below.

Aleks and the Ramps Release New Single, Re-release Two Lps

Pete — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

We're super excited to announce that Melbourne experimental pop outfit par excellence, Aleks and the Ramps, have joined Gaga Digi. We've just released their awesome new single, Middle Aged Unicorn On Beach With Sunset, and re-released their first two lps: Pisces vs Aquarius and Midnight Believer. Buy them all here.

Aleks and the Ramps started out more or less by accident when, in 2005, Aleks Badham, taking a break from studying film, recorded an EP of meandering, blippy psych folk. Needing a band to play a launch show, Aleks gathered together a few friends to help out, under the name the Ramps; six years, two albums and a couple of line up changes later, Aleks and the Ramps are still together. Indeed, they're better than ever.

The Ramps' released their first album, Pisces and Aquarius, in 2007. Recorded in a temporary studio in a Scout Hall in the middle of nowhere, the Ramps' first lp instantly outed the Ramps as a new species of band/human, taking in stoner jams, indie spaz outs and morose country singalongs, all of it possessed of a wonderfully cracked wit and charm that would characterise everything to emerge from Ramps HQ.

After a DIY tour of Canada and a change of drummers, the band returned to the studio (a real one this time) in 2009 with Chicago ex-pat Casey Rice to record Midnight Believer, an album of strange and addictive delights that rightly won the band a heap of new fans and some well-deserved critical acclaim.

Check out the Aleks-directed clip for Antique Limb, from Midnight Believer, below:

Last year, after a quick tour of Japan, Aleks and the Ramps returned to recording, laying down the tracks that would become their third lp. This third album does not yet have a name, but we can tell you this about it: since we received it from Ramps HQ, we have not been able to stop listening to it. It's a remarkable album, full of hooks and sharp left turns and Aleks' typically drily hilarious observations on the absurdity of human life.

Ramps Album #3, as we're calling it for now, will be out on Gaga Digi on Valentine's Day, 2012. In the meantime, though, you can feast on the first two singles from the album: Bummer, a highly habit-forming track we were gifted a few months ago, and the new single, the thoroughly excellent Middle Aged Unicorn On Beach With Sunset.

Have a listen to Bummer on our player above, and check out the great new clip for Middle Aged Unicorn below, in which Aleks croons with a flower for a head in a dark room full of flashing skulls. Of course.

If you have not seen the Ramps live yet, your life has little to no chance of being complete. Catch one (or all) of their last shows for 2011:

10/11/11: Melbourne @ Buffalo Club w/ with Near Myth and Seagull
11/11/11: Sydney @ The Gate w/ Charge Group, Valar and N. Martin
12/11/11: Newcastle @ Emma Soup w/ Boatfriends and Polyfox
13/11/11: Sydney @ Newtown Festival (Free entry! 2:30pm)

The Middle East's Bree Tranter Releases Solo Single

Pete — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Earlier this year, acclaimed Townsville experimental folk-pop outfit The Middle East called it a day, just a few months after releasing their much anticipated debut long player, I Want That You Are Always Happy.

When The Middle East finished up, singer and multi-instrumentalist Bree Tranter headed down to Sydney, where she began writing and recording some solo material. Winter, her new single out on Gaga Digi, is one of her first solo recordings, and what a recording it is: five and a half minutes of haunting, beautifully fragile folk that outs Bree as a serious artist in her own right. We can't wait to hear more.

Have a listen to the single below, and pick up a copy on iTunes or Bandcamp.

&lt;a href="http://gagadigi.bandcamp.com/album/winter" mce_href="http://gagadigi.bandcamp.com/album/winter"&gt;Winter by Bree Tranter&lt;/a&gt;

Kate Martin and Band Release First Single From New Lp

Pete — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

In 2010, Townsville pop chanteuse Kate Martin released her gorgeous debut album, Synthetic Shoes, Leather Boots. Though only 19 when the album was released, Martin had already had a long history with music: she began playing music when she was three, and spent much of her early years teaching herself every instrument she could find.

Synthetic Shoes was an eclectic and wide ranging exploration of Martin's diverse musical influences and considerable instrumental talents, and won her much acclaim.

Since the release of her debut lp, Martin has kept herself busy writing and recording, swapping the acoustic guitar that featured so heavily on her first lp for an old Stratocaster she found in a junk shop. She's also formed and reformed a band, now known as The Shallowsea Choir, which whom she's recorded her much awaited sophomore lp.

Apples is the gorgeous first single from Martin's new album. A beautifully paced, intricately played song, shot through with subtle instrumental flourishes and coloured with rich harmonies, it's a thoroughly inviting window into Martin's new sound. Have a listen to the track below, and pick up a copy on iTunes.

Apples is out now on Outer Records/Gaga Digi. A second single will follow in 2011; the lp will be out in February 2012.

Sync: Tiger Choir's Young Loving In New Ford Territory TVC

Pete — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

It's been a big six months for Tasmanian experimental pop wunderkinds Tiger Choir. Beginning with slots on the Falls and Campus a Low Hum festivals, the trio went on to support the likes of Deerhunter and The Drums, drawing superlatives from all who saw them; in April, the band released their much anticipated debut lp, Unicycles.

Now the band's music is being beamed into living rooms around the country, with one of their tracks featuring in a new Ford Territory TV commercial. The ad, which you can watch below, features Tiger Choir's 'Young Loving', from their awesome self-titled debut ep. Tiger Choir is out now on iTunes via Gaga Digi.

The Tiger Choir story begins a couple of years ago, when three friends began experimenting with pop amid tangles of instrument cables, furniture and musical equipment in cramped sharehouses. Together, the three––Sam Nicholson, Hamish Cruickshank and Elliot Taylor––lit upon a precise, dynamic, inventive brand of pop that quickly brought the band to wider notice, first in their hometown, and then on the mainland and beyond.

Shows around Australia soon followed, with fellow free spirits Rat vs Possum and Richard In Your Mind, with the band finding time in between to write and record their debut ep. Tiger Choir's self-titled ep amply showcased the trio's unpredictable, combustible sound, which manages the feat of being at once experimental and otherworldly while remaining completely immediate––inspired dream pop played with math-rock precision. Listen to a few tracks below.

Next up was Unicycles. To record their debut lp, the band headed down to the wilds of Bruny Island, south east of Hobart, where, in between bouts of recording, the three holed up at an isolated shack and tried their hand, variously, at foraging for food, rowing back to the mainland on a boat with broken oars, and drinking.

'It was an invaluable experience in pop survivalism,' Nicholson told The Mercury. 'We forgot a bag of studio gear and had to make several compromises in the recording setup. We went foraging for food and got a bunch of mussels and made delicious shellfish pasta.'

Eventually the trio returned to Hobart, where they completed the album. Featuring the gloriously woozy dreamhop single 'Dancer', Unicycles is a remarkable slice of energetic, mercurial, intelligent pop––bright and nimble and alive, informed by the luminaries of experimental pop while remaining entirely its own beast.

'Layering lazily half yelled group vocals above rolling, satisfyingly punchy live drums and surrounding the lot with loose guitars and electronics, Tiger Choir's Unicycles is another consistently solid step into dreamy, cotton wool pop,' Who The Hell wrote of the lp.

What happens next with Tiger Choir is anyone's guess. 'For our next album we're definitely thinking of doing a similar thing,' Taylor says. 'Maybe we'll go somewhere in Tasmania; we're somewhat interested in going to the West Coast to see what sounds that brings out. Or maybe go overseas to Papua New Guinea or New Zealand or maybe even India. You need to be nomadic and adaptable to be a pop survivalist.'

Biddy Connor Releases Debut LP As Sailor Days

Pete — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

In a career now more than a decade long, Biddy Connor has worn a lot of hats: solo musician and performer, composer, string wizard for a host of bands (Tim Finn, Laura Jean, Kes Band, Magic Silver White).

A respected and multi-skilled composer, Connor's work combines classical, experimental and pop influences, and has been performed everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to regional playhouses to cosy Berlin bars. In 2005, she helped found Dead Horse Productions, which helped promote new Australian composition, and saw her, with a rotating cast of other Australian composers and artists, perform to packed houses around Melbourne.

Connor, who counts among her instruments violin, viola, guitar, keyboard and musical saw, has, up until now, worked primarily on her own solo projects, or with other bands. But her new project, Sailor Days, finds her working with a band to bring her own compositions to life.

Before Sailor Days, Connor put together two bands at different times to play her songs. Both bands recorded, but life got in the way and the projects never saw the light of day. Looking back, she says, 'I'm not sure I really knew how I wanted those songs to sound... I think I've learnt lots since then by working with different groups and in different areas of music.'

In 2007, Connor brought her songs to Jen Sholakis (Laura Jean, Jen Cloher and The Endless Sea) and Laura Jean Englert (Laura Jean, Kes Band), forming the trio that is now Sailor Days. Laura Jean and Sholakis, Connor says, helped expand her 'ideas into a fully formed shape.' Before this, she had been performing live solo, armed with just a viola, a loop pedal and some effects –– a set-up she says was helpful for composition, but not nearly as enjoyable as collaborating with friends.

'It was much more fun and inspiring,' she says of working with a band. 'I get easily distracted doing things on my own.'

The songs that make up Sailor Days' self-titled debut had been on the table for quite a while, but changed shape and form when Sailor Days came together -- some, like the album's beautiful first single, Species Counterpoint, being completely redone.

'Species Counterpoint changed quite drastically,' she says. 'I loved and hated the song and when I went to record the melody I couldn't do it; the words were awful and the tune sucked. So I went home and found some poems that my friend Maria Zajnowski had given me and rewrote the melody. Then it became my favourite song on the record.'

Sailor Days is a collection of the songs closest to Connor's heart, and it shows: each of the album's eight tracks is thoughtfully composed, deeply felt and beautifully played. Drawing on her experience in modern composition, Connor has created an album full of striking and unconventional songs, an album of experimental pop that remains wholly accessible and inviting.

Shot through with strings, organs, bassoons and vocal harmonies, Sailor Days is a rich and remarkable record by a writer and composer who we'll be hearing a lot more from.

The Sailor Days s/t lp and Species Counterpoint ep are out now via Gaga Digi.

Big Scary's Tom Iansek Releases Debut Solo LP

Pete — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

At the end of 2010's long winter, Tom Iansek, one half of rising eclectic indie pop duo Big Scary, began a particularly fertile period of writing and recording. Holed up in his house, the prolific Melbourne songwriter laid down a full album of solo recordings that have now been released via Gaga Digi under the Dads moniker.

Recorded variously in his garage, bedroom and living room, Man Of Leisure, Iansek's debut Dads lp, bears a similar wide-reaching, anything goes approach to that of his main gig: ranging from warm, hushed balladry to cathartic rock numbers to gorgeously spare instrumentals, the tracks are united only by an effortless pop sensibility and lightness of touch that are quickly becoming the hallmarks of Iansek's ever-growing body of songs.

Where Big Scary's tracks typically make use of just a couple of instruments, Dads finds Iansek experimenting with a fuller, more layered approach, adding flourishes of bass and piano and vocal harmonies and mandolins and glockenspiels to his intricate guitar work, making for a rich, diverse and rewarding listen.

Listen to a few tracks in our player above. Iansek, along with Big Scary co-conspirator Jo Syme, are currently hard at work on their much anticipated new lp, which is due in October via Gaga Digi. Stay tuned.

Watch: Bonjah's The White Line Video

Pete — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Hard at work on their new album, rising Melbourne blues and roots quintet Bonjah have been dropping a steady stream of great singles from the as-yet-untitled sophomore release, which is due out in May.

First up was the excellent Something We Should Know, followed, last month, by the 'smart, energetic and catchy as hell' (Triple J) The White Line, both out now via Gaga Digi. The White Line was recorded at Melbourne's Sing Sing Studios by producer Steven Schram, who has worked with Little Birdy, The Cat Empire and Little Red. And, as of today, it has a great new video, which you can check out below.

The tireless band are playing a bunch of east coast dates in the lead up to the album's release. Head over to their myspace for all the details.

Baptism Of Uzi Join Digi, Release New EP

Pete — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

In 2010, in an unrenovated shack beneath the Westgate Bridge in Melbourne's west, three friends began playing together –– their two guitars and drums belting out acid-garage, prog-punk riff jamboree that somehow combined Neu!, Devo and Black Sabbath.

Soon after, the trio added synth and bass, and the space-rock juggernaut Baptism Of Uzi was born, the new band's sound driven by a heady combination of motorik beats, twin lead guitarmonies and rich analog synth-scapes.

BoU's first recordings surfaced soon after, with Dictaphonium 1, the first EP in a series of lo-fi home experiments, launched to a packed Melbourne crowd. Word began to spread about the quintet's fearsome live show, glimpsed by many for the first time at the relaunch of Melbourne's iconic Tote Hotel.

In late 2010, BoU went into the studio to try capture some of the magic of their live show. The fruit of this labour is the remarkable seven-track Cassette EP, out now via Gaga Digi.

The new ep is BoU's most sonically rich recording yet, a dynamic snapshot of the band's ever-evolving psych rock landscape that captures the might of the band in performance. But don't just take our word for it: have a listen to the full ep below.

The Cassette EP is available now over at our Bandcamp, and will be out through iTunes later this week. The ep is also available in physical form on a very fetching orange cassette, via Full On Idle.

Speaking of, BoU will be launching the Cassette EP on Friday 25 March at The Tote, with support from Yis, High Tea and Buried Feather, in what promises to a pretty enormous evening of wholesome, mind-altering entertainment. Check out the poster below.

Dan Kelly Joins Gaga Digi

Pete — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Gaga Digi is stoked to welcome one of Australia's finest songwriters and showmen, Dan Kelly, to the fold. Over the course of three full lengths and a couple of eps, both solo and with his band The Alpha Males, Kelly has shown an uncanny ability to combine the sublime and the ridiculous into rich, catchy, wholly entertaining music.

Inspired variously by coal power, solar power, Spiritualised, the apocalypse, Ray Davies, Ian M Banks, dust storms, hot yoga, fishing trips, bushfires, mining companies, ice freaks, record freaks, Queensland, Africa, and Fleetwood Mac, Dan Kelly's inimitable 'adventure songs' mix clever but unpretentious wordplay with effortless hooks to create an utterly charming brand of indie rock.

In a testament to Kelly's place to the Oz Music Canon, this week Julia Gillard offered up one of his songs to Barack Obama as part of a collection of iconic Australian music. A planet in which world leaders listen to Dan's songs is a fine thing to imagine.

For a peek into Dan's delightfully fruity universe, there's no better place to start than with the SPOD-directed clip for the title track of his latest album, which somehow combines Schapelle Corby, coal trains, mercenaries, eskimo girls, melting polar ice caps and spiralling guitar solos into something entirely strange and good.

Gaga Digi is stoked to be digitally distributing Dan Kelly's Dream as well as Dan's two albums with The Alpha Males, Sing The Tabloid Blues and Drinking From The Fountain Of Youth.

Have a listen to some of Dan's songs below:

Dan is currently finishing up a fairly major tour with his uncle, a fellow called Paul Kelly, after which he'll head out again with Gareth Liddiard. Get all the dates and deets over at Dan's site.

Gaga Digi On Bandcamp!

Pete — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

We're very happy to announce that we've set up a new Gaga Digi store to sell our wares far and wide. Our store is powered by the good ship Bandcamp, who we think offer far and away the best digital music stores going around.

Bandcamp started up a couple of years back, when a couple of bright music fans who also happened to be high level coding boffins decided enough was enough: bands needed somewhere simple, functional and customisable to sell their music. Soon enough, bands from all over the world started using Bandcamp; in 2010, the site received a huge boost when Sujfan Stevens and Amanda Palmer came on board.

Bandcamp has loads of great features: all releases are offered in a bunch of different formats, including lossless, and the whole thing is super flexible: fans can name their price for some releases, and labels and bands can sell merch and physical releases as well as digital.

We're real happy to be working with Bandcamp. Head over to our new Gaga Digi store and check out releases by Charlie Parr, Jessica Says, Eagle and the Worm, Dragging Pianos, Laura Jean and Wilfred Jackal. Check back often: there's lots more to come.

Wilfred Jackal Release Rooms, Talk Rodney Dangerfield

Pete — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Young Melbournians Wilfred Jackal came into being in high school, when a few friends bonded over a shared love of Radiohead and New Order and decided to form a band. The young WJ honed their chops playing covers of everything from Queen to Alice Cooper to Babyshambles and the Beastie Boys; in 2008, after a line-up change, the band's sound began to cohere into the tight, infectious, hook-laden power pop the lads are now known for.

Since then, the band has released a stream of well received singles, and picked up shows alongside Yves Klein Blue, Howl, The Last Dinosaurs, Bertie Blackman, The Holidays, Miami Horror, Money for Rope and Grafton Primary. Now, with 2011 upon us, the band has just released their great new single, Rooms, via Gaga Digi. Have a listen to Rooms below (and watch the video below that):

We recently talked to Wifred Jackal drummer Will Evans about what he's listening to, his dream of combining the talents of Rodney Dangerfield and Jimmy Buffet, and David Bridie stealing the band's gear.

My favourite song right now:

Chinatown by Destroyer (mmmmm.. so smooth).

My current musical obsession:

The preset voice samples on our new sample pad.

A great, under recognized record:

Man Man: Rabbit Habbits (a wild album experience).

At the moment, I'm reading:

How To Make Gravy by Paul Kelly –– Great to just pick up and read a story or two from a great musician and the most natural writer of casual prose.

Fit to Print: Misrepresenting the Middle East by Joris Luyenjijk –– A good low down on what life is really like on the ground across the Middle East as a journalist.

Three movies everyone should see before they die:

Star Wars IV, V & IV. 'It's a Trap!'

My dream collaboration would be:

Rodney Dangerfield to take the microphone and Jimmy Buffet to mix the cocktails.

My alternative, non-musical vocation would be:

Second rate teacher / The welcome guy at Bunnings.

If cash/logistics were no object, I would do a tour of:

The Trans-Siberian Railroad.

The last thing I bought:

Some fresh bread, milk and the paper.

Most treasured bit of gear:

I don't think we've owned any of our gear long enough to really treasure it, but I suppose we were a bit confused when David Bridie accidentally took our keyboard stand. I guess it's true what they say, 'You don't really know what you've got until David Bridie takes it'.

Ideally, I will retire:

After holding a job for more than a year.

Introducing... The Peelies!

Pete — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

All-girl Montreal party starters The Peelies started out in 2009, inspired by 'a mean goddess who throws fire and dance parties'. Since then, the gals' Raincoats-like swagger and perfect mix of French yéyé, punk technique (or lack of) and garage sing-along melodies have inspired superlatives and ecstatic praise in critics and audiences alike, with almost every show the band plays ending up with the crowd chanting 'We are the world, we are The Peelies' in perfect harmony. It's really something.

Inspired equally by their mums and Snatch (Patty Paladin's band, that is, not the blaxploitation flick), The Peelies' sound was best described by Johnson Cummins from Montreal's Mirror: 'If you missed Teen Beat and K Records’ glory days, and have a hankering for some Grade A garage punk laced with ’60s fuzz, The Peelies will not disappoint.'

Amen. The Peelies' debut up, Together Forever, which you can listen to above, is six tracks of utterly infectious, loose, impossibly catchy pop, the kind that makes you sing and throw your limbs about involuntarily. It's the sound of a band clearly enjoying themselves, but who won't be happy until you are too.

Together Forever is out now on iTunes through Gaga Digi.

Check out a great video for one of the standouts of Together Forever, Does & Hoes, below.

Watch: Jessica Says World Without Men Video

Pete — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

After a decent layoff, Melbourne singer-songwriter Jessica Says, aka Jessica Venables, has returned with a bang, dropping her great new single World Without Men a couple of weeks ago, and now following up with a wonderfully strange, racy video for the track.

Directed by Daniela Velickovic, the World Without Men video features some Kate Bush-esque dance moves, scantily clad boys kissing, and Jessica, when not in a room-sized white dress, playing cello with a neon bow. In other words, it's something you have to see for yourself.

World Without Men is out now on Gaga Digi.

Introducing: The Big Scary Four Seasons

Pete — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

At the beginning of this year, prolific Melbourne duo Big Scary announced an ambitious plan: to record an ep for each season. Inspired by Melbourne's schizophrenic weather and the natural world, Big Scary –– the partnership of multi-instrumentalist and singer Tom Iansek and drummer Jo Syme –– set about translating all those feelings into sounds.

'We thought it would be more interesting than jumping straight into our first album,' Tom told Triple J, who have nominated Big Scary for their Unearthed Artist of the Year award, recently. 'There's been less creative pressure, and we've enjoyed the challenge of writing to each season. It's also helped us learn a lot about our writing and has widened our audience heading into album No. 1.'

The Big Scary Four Seasons is out now. Pick up a copy from iTunes by clicking the buy buttons in the player above, or by clicking here. You can also pick up a physical copy, including a limited edition 12" vinyl, from the Big Scary Shop.

With the Autumn, Winter and Spring eps, Big Scary showed themselves capable of translating the vagaries and glories of each season –– the flurry of rich colour in autumn, the quiet bleakness of winter, the renewal of spring –– into utterly compelling music, as full of heart as it is free of pretension, showcasing a depth and a range, not to mention a touch and humility, matched by few of their contemporaries.

Big Scary released each of the three eps as super limited editions that quickly sold out. Now, those three eps, together with the as-yet-unreleased summer tracks, are coming together on The Big Scary Four Seasons, a compendium of all four eps, and a terrific introduction to Big Scary's vital, dexterous sound. But don't just take our word for it: have a listen to The Big Scary Four Seasons in the player above.

From the fuzzed out rock'n'roll of Tuesday is Rent Day, to the sublime, resonant drones of Summer, to the gorgeous rainy day ballad Microwave Pizza, The Big Scary Four Seasons shows a fearless band completely unafraid to try their hand.

The album is filled with highlights: the stirring radio hit Autumn (watch the video below); the haunting, spare Winter; the spiralling, powerful Hamilton. It's a major statement from a remarkable new talent, and a fitting end to a huge year that has seen the band tour relentlessly, pick up heavy national air play, and play supports with the likes of Florence and the Machine, Editors, Little Red and Midlake, as well as headline their own sold-out shows.

The indefatigable twosome have a huge summer ahead of them, with spots at the Falls, Southbound and Peats Ridge Festivals. (For full dates, head over to the Big Scary Myspace.) If that's not enough, Tom and Jo are continuing to work on their next lp at Jo's parents' place, which has a nice piano. This as-yet-untitled lp is due for release in October of 2011. Stay tuned.

The Smiles Join Gaga, Release Hermosa EP

Pete — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

With the weather warming up, we here at Gaga are terribly excited to announce that Californian beach-rock quartet The Smiles have joined both the Gaga Digi and Pub ranks.

Four college friends from Southern California, The Smiles began last year, when songwriters Will Sturgeon and John McGrath met at the University of California and began writing songs in their dorm rooms –– sunny, hook-laden 'beach rock', sharply written, energetic paeans to surf and sand and California.

After picking up Brendan Kirlin and Mark Edwards on drums, the foursome started out playing house parties at USC, becoming one of the 'go-to' bands on campus and a fixture on local festivals. Soon enough, the band –– afte raising $2000 via internet fundraising in under 24 hours –– hunkered down in a friends' basement to record their debut EP, Hermosa.

The six-track Hermosa EP –– named after Hermosa Beach, where it was recorded –– came out in May 2010. Hermosa's six short tracks (the ep's longest track clocks in at a touch over 3 minutes) offer a perfect introduction to the quartet's instantly likeable, sun-drenched sound: the winding interplay of Sturgeon and McGrath's vocals, the bright jangle of the guitars, the buoyant rythms, the sharp lyrics.

Informed by the godfathers of Californian pop, The Beach Boys, The Smiles' prove that music can be unashamedly direct and sunny and fun, while also being smart and sharp and surprising, tinged with the neurosis and doubt that play at the edges of even the finest summer. This ain't one-dimensional surf music: this is summer music as it should be. Have a listen in the player above, then pick up a copy over at iTunes.