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Tiger Choir Tour, Appear On A Rooftop

Pete — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

As we announced a little while back, we're releasing Tasmanian experimental pop trio Tiger Choir's immensely wonderful debut lp, Unicycles, next month. It is something that makes us very excited.

The ten-track lp is full of warm, warped pop goodness, nimble and surprising and alive. In celebration of the record's imminent arrival, and the tour they'll be embarking on to support it (more on that below), the good gentlemen of Tiger Choir recently gifted us with a great live performance of Dancer, one of the many highlights from the new lp, for our On the Roof series. Only this one wasn't filmed on our roof, but on the light filled balcony of a stately house in the band's native Hobart.

Enjoy:

In support of Unicycles, TC will be heading off to wow heads all around the eastern side of our fair country, with shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart all booked for late May/early June. Check out the dates:

24/05/12 Sydney, FBi Social w/ Telafonica and The Paper Scissors + Megastick Fanfare DJs

02/06/12 Hobart, Grand Poobah Swamp w/ Manchester Mourning and Love Connection + Tyrannosaurus Decks DJs

07/06/12 Melbourne, The Workers Club w/ Cat Cat, Brothers Hand Mirror + Parking Lot Experiments DJs

08/06/12 Adelaide, Rocket Bar w/ Sparkspitter, Gold Bloom and Steering by Stars

09/06/12 Adelaide, Format w/ Swimming + Wild Oats

Jess Ribeiro Releases Debut LP My Little River, Clip

Pete — Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

This week, Darwin singer-songwriter Jess Ribeiro, with her band the Bone Collectors, released their debut lp, My Little River, an instantly likeable collection of timeless, beautifully played country-folk.

Jess and the Bone Collectors came together in 2008, after an acoustic duo Jess had formed with Rob Law soon grew to encompass more players. In 2009, the band released their debut ep, Pilgrimage, which we recently re-released on Gaga Digi –– five tracks of accomplished, dusty balladry and seasoned playing that drew the band a growing following around the country.

Since then, Jess and band have toured widely, drawing praise from many quarters for their raw, understated songwriting and spellbinding live performances. Richard Kingsmill has called Jess 'a great singer', comparing her to Cat Power. 'I really love the way she delivers a song, and she never overdoes it. There is a lot of personality there.'

My Little River follows on from where Pilgrimage left off, twelve tracks of unhurried, beautifully melancholy folk, delivered with effortless intimacy and a gentle weariness.

Jess and band have just released a beautifully shot clip for album highlight Sweet Refined Things, a haunting slow-burner that typifies the album's subtle charms. The clip was shot by Melbourne music video director Joel Harmsworth. Check it out below:

My Little River is out now on iTunes and all good digital stores and services.

Courtney Barnett: I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris

Pete — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Late in 2011, playing around with a loop pedal she'd bought, Melbourne-based songwriter Courtney Barnett came up with a simple plan: to try to write catchy and beautiful songs based around one progression (more or less).

Inspired, variously, by Kurt Vile's 2011 lp, Smoke Ring For My Halo, Adalita's recent solo shows and a healthy dose of Brian Jonestown Massacre, the resulting EP, I've Got A Friend Called Emily Ferris, is a warm, relaxed and accomplished set of slacker garage pop songs –– a set that sprawls and breathes, laden with hooks and thick with texture.

Lyrically, the EP is full of the wry humour and wit that characterised Courtney's earlier work, but the words are now also littered with sex, death, borderline obsession, booze, fun, mayhem and love. It's conversational, mildly poetic and impossible not to relate to. 'It’s Barnett’s lyrics that set her apart,' Mess & Noise's Doug Wallen wrote in his review of the EP.

The EP is Courtney's first proper release, though she has been plying her trade around Melbourne for a little while now, in a bunch of local outfits –– Immigrant Union, The Olivettes, The Merri Creek Pickers and Woolhouse among them –– and on a heap of collaborative cross-genre projects.

The EP was recorded with, Courtney says, 'three of the best musicians she knows' –– Pete Convery and Alex Hamilton (Merri Creek Pickers) and Brent DeBoer (The Dandy Warhols, Immigrant Union) –– in a friend's lounge room, and the recording resounds with loose, intimate warmth.

I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris is out now on Gaga Digi on iTunes and all good digital stores and services. Courtney and band will be launching the EP at The Tote on April 19, with support from The Lost Volvos and Ali E.

Gaga Digi To Release Tiger Choir's Debut LP, Unicycles

Pete — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

We've been enamoured with Unicycles, the debut lp from Tasmanian experimental pop trio Tiger Choir, since we first clapped our ears on it. Which makes us particularly happy to announce that we'll be releasing said lp far and wide on June 1.

Unicycles was recorded between the lads' sharehouses in Hobart and the wilds of Bruny Island some clicks south east, where the three holed up in an isolated shack, trying their hand at fishing, foraging for food, and rowing back to the mainland on a boat with broken oars. And recording, of course.

‘It was an invaluable experience in pop survivalism,’ drummer Sam 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.’

The album was eventually completed back in Hobart. 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.

Have a listen to Dancer and Ghosties in our player above, and check out the just-released clip for album opener and first single Ephemeral City, in which the lads wander through a post-apocalyptic landscape dressed as cockroaches, hunting and drinking and making merry:

We'll have more Tiger Choir goodness for you soon, including a super On the Roof session recorded on a balcony in their native Hobart. Stay tuned.

Aleks and the Ramps Facts Tour Rolls South For Final Dates

GAGA — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

For the past few weeks, the one and only Aleks and the Ramps have been traversing the country, winning hearts and blowing minds along the east coast of this fair nation.

Their latest (and quite possibly greatest) lp, meanwhile, Facts, has been getting praise from all over, with Rolling Stone's Doug Wallen calling it 'breezy eccentricity done just right' and Time Off writing that the 'album shines'; The Brag quite sensibly made it their album of the week.

If you haven't grabbed yourself a copy of Facts yet, we highly recommend you do so as soon as possible. It's going to take some beating for our favourite record of 2012.

The Ramps Facts tour spectacular has four more stops: Geelong, Melbourne and Adelaide next weekend, and then Hobart on the 31st. Get the full dates here.

If you need any further convincing that the Ramps must be experienced live and in the flesh, check out a typically excellent live rendition of Icy Facts below, and their awesome stripped down version of the same song played on our rooftop.

Facts is available on iTunes, RDIO, Spotify, Amazon, eMusic and pretty much every other place on the internet where music is sold.

Sean Bones Returns With Here Now Single, New LP

Pete — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Rings, the debut lp that followed, was a funky reggae party with feeling, a record perfectly tailored to summertime-in-the-city, full of grit and good times. Around this time, Bones scored the starring role –– without auditioning, mind you –– alongside Norah Jones in indie film Wah Do Dem.

In 2012, Sean Bones has returned with his exuberant new single Here Now, which is out now through Gaga Digi.

Here Now was the last song written for Bones' upcoming sophomore lp, Buzzards Boy. Backed by Fool's Gold's Garrett Ray and Lewis Pesacov, the song brims with energy as an ecstatic Bones proclaims, 'I'm here now, hold it down!' Whether he's here to remind himself or the rest of us doesn't matter –– the track is his most confident and inspiring to date. Have a listen to it and the b-side, Hit Me Up:

Buzzards Boy, which is scheduled for a May release, is the sound of an evolving artist setting out to test new waters, only to find himself weathering a stylistic and emotional sea change. As with most second records, there's much to prove, but in the case of Buzzards Boy, Sean Bones reveals himself as an intriguing songwriter capable of truth and sonic spells.

On Buzzards Boy, Sean and his bandmates hooked up with a producer for the first time. Shane Stoneback was sought out for his uncanny recording methods (oil cans, toys amps) and his enthusiasm for the demos he was absorbing between his other name-brand projects (Fucked Up, Sleigh Bells, Cults). The sessions were brief and at some point during the week Bones resolved to taking on the rest of the project alone. Traveling between rehearsal spaces, bedrooms and eventually to the West Coast, he built an awesome second record from the foundation laid through this partnership.

The island he's trawling this time is darker and more lush. Tracks are swathed in reverby surf guitars and loose percussion. It's easy to imagine hearing this album out doors, at night. A full listen reveals a wide range of influences digested into something wholly Bones' own. 'Tell Me Again' is a folky harmonium piece played over what sounds like the Miami Sound Machine. 'Four Dub' explores open space and urgency. The sublime 'Black Gold' starts with a scruffy hip hop beat until giving way to another one of those swoony boy-girl ballads that he's good at.

At the heart of Buzzards Boy is a romantic young man, worried about the world and checking himself for imagined damage. Somewhere in the storm came a renewed sense of purpose.

The Here Now single is out now via Gaga Digi. Buzzards Boy will be out in May.

What Not To Miss At SXSW

Emily/Pete — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Next week, tens of thousands of folk will descend on Austin, Texas, for the wonderfully chaotic annual shebang that is SXSW. The event, which is kind of like music industry extreme sports, takes place over six action packed days, and features around 2000 (that's right) performances by aspiring and established acts from all over God's green earth.

We'll be in attendance at this year's SXSW, and we're super excited about the many fine Gaga acts that will be showcasing their wares. Here's a quick rundown of who not to miss if you're making the pilgrimage next week.

We've only been working with L.A band PAPA for a little bit, but it's safe to say that the whole Gaga office is in love to the point of obsession with their debut EP, A Good Woman is Hard to Find. Ex-Girls drummer Darren Weiss started PAPA with one goal: to make 'American soul music with a punk-rock mentality', and their first release delivers on this in spades. Have a listen to the EP here, and download the remixes of 'I Am the Lion King' here.

Radically wonderful Melbourne duo Big Scary will be heading over for their SXSW debut to play a handful of shows, as part of a tour which will also see them hit CMW in Canada, and New York for a couple of dates. Check out their very lovely recent On the Roof performance of Gladiator.

Our most recent Digi recruit, Brooklynite Sean Bones, is one very talented dude, having already released an acclaimed album of dirt-encrusted reggae, featuring Grammy winner Norah Jones, and picking up the starring role in indie film Wah Do Dem without even auditioning! Bones recently released double A-side single 'Here Now/ Hit Me Up' via Gaga Digi, and is someone you shouldn't miss next week.

There'll be a heap of other Gaga artists on show at SXSW, including Canadian trio Plants and Animals, whose great new album The End of That has just dropped; fellow Canadian, musical mad scientist Patrick Watson; former Port O'Brien frontman Van Pierszalowski's latest project WATERS; and Chicago based multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird, who recently released his killer barn-recorded new LP Break It To Yourself.

Not to mention Massachusetts native Clare & the Reasons, The Barr Brothers and Gardens & Villa –– whose self-titled album was easily one of our most played albums last year –– ambient rock legends The War on Drugs, MNDR, YACHT, Neon Indian, Foreign Beggars, Javelin, Zeus and many more. Let's just say it's going to be a ridiculously huge six days.

Check out our bands' times below. And, if you're in town, come and say hello! We'll be somewhere near the fish taco stand.

PAPA

14-03 Seannow! Party @ Brew Exchange 2pm // Dear Austin: Love LA Buzzbands @ Opal Divine's 4.30pm

15-03 Filter & S.O Terik Party @ Clive Bar 2pm // The Tree House Diddly @ Cheers 4.15pm

16-03 Nylon Magazine Party @ W Hotel 3pm // Death + Taxes/Solid Gold Party @ Cheer Up Charlie 6.30pm

16/17-03 It's a School Night/IAMSOUND Official Showcase @ Club 606 1am

SEAN BONES

14-03 Ground Control Touring Party @ Tent 4pm // Official Showcase @ The HGTV Studio 11pm

15-03 Treehouse Diddly @ Cheers 2pm // Rachel Ray Party @ The Greenhouse 4.30pm

16-03 Solid Gold Party @ Cheer Up Charlie 5pm

BIG SCARY

13-03 Sideshow Alley/Block Party @ Sounds Australia Stand, Convention Centre #1221, 4.30pm

14-03 Echo/Origami Party @ Shangri La 12.20pm // Do12 Lounge Session 4pm

15-03 Burning Ear Showcase @ 6^th & Brrazos 5.45pm

16-03 Aussie Tastes & Tunes @ Whole Foods Markets, 525 N Lamar Blvd & 6^th st Midday // SXSW Official Showcase @ Beale St Tavern Midnight

17-03 Aussie BBQ – Maggie Maes, Gibson Room 4.55pm

PLANTS AND ANIMALS

15-03 St David's Historic Sanctuary 11.30–12.30

17-03 Radio Day Stage 1am-1.50am // Austin Convention Center 2–2.40pm

PATRICK WATSON

15-03 St David's Historic Sanctuary 12.30–1.20am

WATERS

14-03 Sony Club @ Red 7 9.20pm-9.55

16-03 The Studio by HGTV 9pm-9.40

ANDREW BIRD

14-03 Stubb's 12.30–2am

CLARE & THE REASONS

14-03 St David's Historic Sanctuary 9–9.40PM

BARR BROTHERS

15-03 St David's Historic Sanctuary 10.30–11.10pm

GARDENS & VILLA

15-03 Mohawk Patio 9.30–10.10pm

THE WAR ON DRUGS

15-03 Mohawk Patio 11.30pm–12.15am

16-03 ACL Live at the Moody Theatre 7.45–8.25pm

MNDR

14-03 Maggie Mae's Gibson Room 1–1.50am

16-03 Clive Bar 9.30–10.10pm

17-03 Club 606 1.15–1.55am

YACHT

15-03 Lustre Pearl 11.00–11.40pm

16-03 Clive Bar 12.30–1.30am

NEON INDIAN

15-03 Barbarella 1–1.50am

16-03 Hype Hotel 1–1.40am

PAPA: A Good Woman Is Hard To Find

Pete — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

L.A.-by-way-of-New York outfit PAPA started up a couple of years ago, while pretty much all its members were doing time in other bands. Principle songwriter Darren Weiss and brother Evan were touring with indie darlings Girls (Darren is no longer with the band; Evan recently Australia as the band's guitarist); on one tour, PAPA opened for Girls, the two brothers backing up each night in both acts.

In 2011, Weiss, with music partner Danny Presant, laid down the group's striking debut ep, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find, which is out this week in Oz and NZ on Gaga Digi. PAPA is Weiss' baby. He started it with a simple goal: to make 'American soul music with a punk-rock mentality'. Five songs full of devious truths and well told lies, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find rolls along with a natural, well-worn swagger, combining moments of aggression with stretches of easy bliss, the whole release handsomely endowed with harmony, melody and style.

In its best moments, Weiss' earnest vibrato takes on a Springsteen-like growl; his stories and the songs' effortless grooves coming across both sexy and somehow broken.

It’s a modern, rough-and-tumble take on classic soul; an ode to what's wrong with modern romance, but so full of spark it makes you want to get up the floor and give it all another go.

We like it very much. But don't just take our word for it: have a listen to the whole EP in our player above.

A Good Woman Is Hard To Find is out now on iTunes via Gaga Digi. Check out the video for 'I Am The Lion King', the first single from the EP, below.

On the Roof: Big Scary

Pete — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

If 2011 was a big year for Big Scary, this year promises to be even bigger, with the acclaimed Melbourne pop duo soon to head off on their first overseas tour, which will include showcase shows at the whirlwind that is SXSW.

When they return, the indefatigable twosome will then take off on a national tour, playing with the likes of Geoffrey O'Connor and Adelaide's Fire! Santa Rosa Fire! Ever prolific, Tom and Jo are currently in the process of writing more material to follow up their widely adored debut lp proper, Vacation, which came out in October last year.

Tom and Jo recently stopped by Gaga HQ to gift us with a great acoustic take on Gladiator, one of the many highlights from Vacation, for our On the Roof series (check out our earlier instalments with Aleks and the Ramps and Kate Martin). Enjoy:

On the Roof: Kate Martin

Pete — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Townsville pop chanteuse Kate Martin recently stopped by our office to perform a wonderful version of Apples, the gorgeous first single from her upcoming new album, Hand Me My Bow And Arrow, for our On the Roof series. (Check out our first instalment here.)

Hand Me My Bow And Arrow is the much awaited follow up to Kate's striking debut lp, Synthetic Shoes, Leather Boots. The new lp, Kate says, was a long time in the making, and her first album recorded with a band, The Shallowsea Choir. The genesis of the album came with a chance visit to a garage sale, where she found a beautiful old Stratocaster. The new/old guitar inspired a new way of writing and playing, and its rich, warm tones are all over the record.

Hand Me My Bow and Arrow is a rewarding, diverse listen, full of subtle flourishes and assured popcraft –– the sound of a songwriter we'll be hearing a lot more from.

Check out Kate's On The Roof performance below:

Apples is out now on iTunes via Gaga Digi. The second single from the album, Candle Burnin', Wax Drippin', is out next week.

Hand Me My Bow and Arrow is out on March 23 through Shock in Australia and NZ, and through Gaga Digi for the rest of the world.

Simone and Girlfunkle

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Simone & Girlfunkle's great new single, Blown Into The Wind, is out now.

Perth pop-folk six-piece Simone and Girlfunkle began as a duo, two friends, Bridget Turner and Gabrielle Lammers, writing intimate indie-folk songs together.

Steeped in folk but in love with pop, Simone & Girlfunkle's music soon won the duo a loyal local following. In 2010, S&G released their debut self-titled ep, a short collection of stripped back folk melodies and delicate harmonies that won them wide acclaim and host of high-profile supports with the likes of The Bedroom Philosopher, Holly Throsby and Gurrumul.

In 2011, S&G followed up with their first single, Heat Goes Pitter Patter, which received national airplay and featured on MTV's Awkward and popular Australian show Winners and Losers.

Since then, Simone & Girlfunkle have expanded their ranks (they're now a six-piece) and their sound, evolving from their folk beginnings into a broader, poppier direction, their new songs, as X-Press' David Craddock wrote, 'breezy, dreamy pop tunes with the kind of melodies that drill themselves into your head and set up camp for weeks'.

2012 promises to be a huge year for the band, with the release of gorgeous new single Blown Into The Wind, and a debut album, Hurry, Harry soon to follow. Blown into the Wind, which is out now on Gaga Digi, stays true to S&G’s folk roots with captivatingly beautiful harmonies, while building on the original duo’s sound with fuller instrumentation and inspired arrangements.

Hurry, Harry, which will be out later this year, promises to be a collection of intimate melodies, toe-tapping ditties and earnest folk tunes, showcasing S&G’s love of unusual instruments and increasingly assured popcraft.

Check out great, Natalie Lewis-directed clip for the new single below:

Courtney Barnett

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Courtney's debut EP, I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris, is out now.

Melbourne-based songwriter Courtney Barnett came up with the songs that make up her debut ep I've Got A Friend Called Emily Ferris more or less by accident, playing around a new loop pedal she'd bought.

Inspired, variously, by Kurt Vile's 2011 lp, Smoke Ring For My Halo, Adalita's recent solo shows and a healthy dose of Brian Jonestown Massacre, Courtney had recently been playing around with a new idea: the possibility of writing catchy and beautiful songs based around one progression (more or less).

The result is Courtney's first ep, a warm, relaxed and accomplished set of slacker garage pop songs - a set that sprawls and breathes, laden with hooks and thick with texture. The wry humour and wit of the lyrics that characterised Courtney's earlier work remains, but the words are now littered with sex, death, borderline obsession, booze, fun, mayhem and love. It's conversational, mildly poetic and impossible not to relate to.

To record the new EP, Courtney got three of the best musicians she knows –– Pete Convery and Alex Hamilton (Merri Creek Pickers) and Brent DeBoer (The Dandy Warhols, Immigrant Union) –– herded them into a friend's lounge room, and the rest is history.

Courtney's sound playfully defies easy genre classification, while bearing traces of her many musical loves. She has played in a bunch of local outfits –– Immigrant Union, The Olivettes, The Merri Creek Pickers and Woolhouse among them –– and has lent her hand to many collaborative cross-genre projects. She's also shared stages with the likes of Adalita, The Dandy Warhols, The Little Stevies and Davey Lane.

I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris is out now on Gaga Digi.

Jess Ribeiro and the Bone Collectors

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Jess Ribeiro and the Bone Collectors' great debut ep, Pilgrimage, is out now.

In 2008, Darwin singer-songwriter Jess Ribeiro formed an acoustic duo with Rob Law; before long, the two had picked up more more players, and had become Jess Ribeiro and the Bone Collectors.

Ribeiro and Law's sound has a distinct, raw energy, the duo's dark and dusty ballads drawing comparison to the likes of Karen Dalton, Cat Power, Neil Young and Johnny Cash.

Since forming, Jess and her band have traveled the country supporting esteemed country-folk artists including the Waifs, Mama Kin, Charlie Parr and Darren Hanlon. In early 2008, the pair released their debut EP, Pilgrimage, which is out now through Gaga Digi. The band were subsequently Unearthed by triple J as one of the new crop of artists to watch in Australian Music Month.

Jess Ribeiro and the Bone Collectors have been acclaimed by the Australian press, featuring in the Australian Rolling Stone magazine, and getting glowing reviews from triple J Music Director Richard Kingsmill, who wrote, 'Jess is a great singer. I really love the way she delivers a song, and she never overdoes it.' Radio National's Tim Ritchie, meanwhile, reviewing a live performance, wrote that Jess sings 'like someone who had been on the stage forever, but with a delicate and intimate tone. Her lyrics were simple and honest, but much more than that, she put words together in fantastic ways and then delivered them effortlessly.'

In May 2012, Jess and Rob will release their much awaited debut album, My Little River, via Gaga Digi. The duo and band continue to tour heavily around the country, where they've gathered a steady and loyal following.

Sean Bones

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Sean Bones' awesome new single, Here Now, is out now.

Sean Bones (ne Sullivan) started out a couple of summers back, when Sullivan, restless over the looming release of his main band's new album, set aside some no-frills studio time. The two-sided result, Easy Street and Act So Casual, became an easy, breezy mission statement for Sean Bones, a project Sullivan describes as 'music that might cause people to scratch their heads a bit, only to realize that scratching their heads would make a good dance move.' Indeed.

Sure enough, Sullivan spent many late nights crafting the dirt-encrusted reggae that drove Rings, Sean Bones' Frenchkiss debut. Named after the pervading influence of such speaker-imploding '60s/'70s standards as the Congos, Desmond Dekker and Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Rings was a funky reggae party with feeling, a record perfectly tailored to summertime-in-the-city.

Around this time, Bones scored the starring role –– without auditioning, mind you –– alongside Norah Jones in Wah Do Dem, an indie film with loose connections to The Harder They Come and Rockers.

In 2012, Sean Bones returns with Buzzards Boy, his much anticipated new album. Buzzards Boy is the sound of an evolving artist setting out to test new waters, only to find himself weathering a stylistic and emotional sea change. As with most second records, there's much to prove, but in the case of Buzzards Boy, Sean Bones reveals himself as an intriguing songwriter capable of truth and sonic spells.

At the heart of Buzzards Boy is a romantic young man, worried about the world and checking himself for imagined damage. Somewhere in the storm came a renewed sense of purpose. Fittingly, the exuberant lead single 'Here Now', which is out now through Gaga Digi, was written last. Backed by Fool's Gold's Garrett Ray and Lewis Pesacov, the song brims with energy as an ecstatic Bones proclaims, 'I'm here now, hold it down!.' Whether he's here to remind himself or the rest of us doesn't matter –– the track is his most confident and inspiring to date.

The Here Now single is out now via Gaga Digi. Buzzards Boy will be out in May.

Kikuyu

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Kikuyu is a micropop project by Melbourne artist Sez Wilks. Building on five years as a vocalist and synth player for The Surly Mermaids, Kikuyu sees Wilks establish her own small-scale, lo-fi style, looping warm vocals and wartime diva harmonies with the fuzzy built-in beats and bright tones of an Italian combo organ.

Kikuyu’s debut album, Hunter Gathered, which is out now on Gaga Digi, came about after Wilks rescued a Baleani audiosonic organ from a secondhand shop and decided to make it the focus of a set’s worth of songs. 'I found it in the corner all clunky and unloved,' Wilks explains. 'I felt sorry for it. It reminded me of a dog we had when I was little, last in the litter with its front feet pointing in. Later someone taught it to shake hands. Hopefully I’ve helped this old organ do a similar thing, musically!

Hunter Gathered takes listeners on a pleasantly beguiling journey where minimal arrangements embrace heartfelt harmonies and combo organ kitsch.

The album’s two singles, Infodome and The Rescuing, were released in late 2011, both receiving deserved attention online and on national and community radio. Check out the clip for Infodome below, and pick up a copy from iTunes.

Wilks is also a member of Aleks and the Ramps.

Bree Tranter

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Bree Tranter is originally from Townsville, where she grew up and started playing music. While studying music at university, Bree and a few friends decided to form a band; that group was The Middle East, a critically acclaimed experimental folk pop outfit who burned brightly until disbanding in 2011.

After the break up of The Middle East, Bree began writing solo material. Winter, out now through Gaga Digi, is one of her first solo singles. An immediately arresting, haunting track, Winter features Tranter's beautifully fragile vocals atop a simple guitar figure, and shows Tranter as a seriously talented artist in her own right.

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

Bree now lives in Sydney and works with other such artists such as Matt Corby, Passenger and Emma Louise.

PAPA

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

L.A. drummer, singer and songwriter Darren Weiss (ex-Girls) started PAPA with a simple goal: to make 'American soul music with a punk-rock mentality'.

On their debut ep, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find, Weiss, with musical partner Danny Presant, succeeds in this task admirably. Five songs full of devious truths and well told lies, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find rolls along with a natural swagger, combining moments of aggression with stretches of easy bliss, the whole release handsomely endowed with harmony, melody and style.

In its best moments, Weiss' earnest vibrato takes on a Springsteen-like growl; his stories and the songs' effortless grooves coming across both sexy and somehow broken. PAPA's songs recall the furious grip of the dance floor, the cold pavement outside, and the way you kiss when you’re not sure you’ll ever see the person again –– or whether you'd even want to.

It’s a modern, rough-and-tumble take on classic soul. An ode to what's wrong with modern romance, but one so filled with revelatory spark that you can't help but want to give it all another go.

A Good Woman Is Hard To Find is out now on Gaga Digi.

Boy Omega

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Boy Omega is the roof under which Swedish multi-instrumentalist Martin Henrik Hasselgren (formerly Gustafsson) collects his songs.

Boy Omega's unique brand of pop is at once fragile, vibrant and wholehearted, and has drawn comparison to the likes of Elliott Smith, Sparklehorse, The Cure, Bright Eyes, Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine and Xiu Xiu.

Since he began writing songs under the Boy Omega moniker in 2001, Hasselgren has put out an impressive, rich body of work, including five full length albums, two compilations, four eps, and numerous singles.

Over the last decade, Boy Omega has played close to 300 shows and shared stages with the likes of Isobel Campbell, Great Lake swimmers, Califone, Akron/Family, John Vanderslice and Herman Dune, to name a few. Hasselgren is also a member of the electronica-duo Kubot.

In 2011, Gaga Digi digitally released three of our favourite Boy Omega offerings: the 2006 full length lp The Black Tango, the 2008 ep Quiet Maneuvers, and the 2011 single Let the Dark Light In. Have a listen to the single in our player above, and pick up the releases from the iTunes Store via the button below.

Breathe Owl Breathe

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

Breathe Owl Breathe came together in 2004 when three people in different places doing different things -- printmaking, music teaching, cartography -- decided to head out to a cabin in the Michigan wilds to live and make music.

From the beginning, Breathe Owl Breathe was as much an art project as it was a band: the band's first recordings were 'short story songs'; soon after this, the band recruited their friends to make a zombie film that was also a romantic comedy.

Out at the old cabin, which the band dubbed 'magic central', the trio lit upon a unique and timeless sound -- 'a wild rumpus of harmony and rhythm,' as Paste Magazine wrote. 'While some peers have reveled in reinvigorating the old, weird side of Americana, the band's flare for pop-addled melodies flips the contemporary folk aesthetic, eschewing freakiness in favor of charm. It's a dynamic built on coupling clever arrangements with lyrical whimsy.'

Since then, Breathe Owl Breathe have gifted us with five albums and an ep, and have traveled far and wide, mesmerising crowds with performances that merge meticulous musicianship, storytelling, and an absolute love for what it means for this trio to be creating things -- every moment of the day.

Their newest release is a remarkable children's book, written and illustrated by the band's Micah Middaugh. The new book was three years in the making, and comes accompanied by two gorgeous new tracks, The Listeners and These Train Tracks, which are out now via RAD/Gaga Digi. Listen to the tracks in our player above, and find out more about the new book and single in our interview with the band.

Love Migrate

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Melbourne indie-pop sextet Love Migrate were originally known as Goodnight Owl, until they reasoned that there were enough animal named bands in the city already.

Although a number of Love Migrate's members come from local acts like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Sleep Decade, the band's sound is entirely their own, at once open sounding and controlled. Love Migrate have been demoing their debut album for the last few months with Damien Weatherly, and plan on releasing it in early 2012.

Taken from the forthcoming (and unnamed) long player is the great opening single Little Kid. An immediate, upbeat and light-hearted track on the surface, Little Kid is also possessed of an underlying intensity that makes it linger –– and that makes us very keen to hear what comes next.