Month: February 2021

London based, Australian singer/songwriter TIM WHEATLEY delivers his new 5 track EP

Featuring the singles ‘Sex With Strangers,’ ‘Lying Low’ and the new focus track ‘Little Rebels.’

Tim is currently in London, enduring a bitterly cold winter as well as the uncertainty (and despair) of Covid-19 across the UK.

Through it all, Tim has been able to remain creative and hopeful of better days ahead. And ‘A Night Without Shakespeare’ really does underline Tim’s knack for penning atmospheric, indie-folk songs.

Tim Wheatley has worked with some of the most exciting and acclaimed local producers and mixers including Michael Badger (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, You Am I, Amyl & The Sniffers) and the ARIA award winning Steven Schram (Paul Kelly, San Cisco). This EP brings together Tim’s ability to capture life’s candid moments, light n’ shade, indie and pop. Enjoy!

Self-producing artist and composer ivee is a London solo pop act, debuting her single ‘Paris In The Winter’ on February 25th 2021, as the first half of her double single ‘_substance_abuse’. Born Niki Poplonyk in Poland, ivee moved to London aged one. After having the opportunity to live in Brno, Czech Republic and Milan, Italy as a young girl, she decided to pursue music in secondary school. She later attended the BRIT school for college to further study her passion, where she was spotted by Little Cousin Records who signed her for her debut release.

ivee took an interest in music from an early age, learning to play the drums and taking piano lessons as a girl in Italy.

After returning to England, she auditioned and got a place at her secondary school with a drum kit scholarship, where she initially aspired to be a DJ, after watching Martin Garrix explain his ‘Animals’ production on YouTube and getting inspiration from the 2010’s EDM music scene.Soon, this passion turned into a desire to perform and produce her own songs, where she has total control over sound design, marrying her prodigious talent on the drums with perfect chord progressions and samples to create the ideal complement to her raw and personal lyrics.

Her music is the pop blend of future RnB and hybrid trap, influenced by musical role models like Post Malone, The Weeknd, Flume and LDN Noise. Carefully chosen chords, flaunt trap and hip hop drums, which are strung together with future bass transitions and sound design. Despite the uplifting seeming lyrics in the 90’s pop inspired single ‘Paris In The Winter’, the underlying meaning behind them explores a darker theme of how drug usage feels, where her second single ‘_substance_abuse’ (featuring K-hip hop artist Villain) acts as a sequel, exploring the inevitable tragedy of coping mechanisms. These two tracks announce ivee as a stunning new artist to watch in 2021.

You Am I release new single from forthcoming studio album

“Edinburgh, Galway, Nashville, Ulladulla / Breakin’ my heart / In four places.”

The lines are from The Waterboy, released today via Caroline Australia, the first taste of new music from You Am I’s forthcoming 11th studio album. You Am I fans know how many great songs Tim Rogers has written since the band released their debut album Sound As Ever in 1993. This one is right up there with them.

The Waterboy is a song about inspiration, being lifted up by a song, wondering if and how there was still a way to find a way forward in music. The conclusion is there for all to hear in the song – “Ventricle, aorta, muscle and blood / Building a heart in four places”.

Rogers says: “On the Waterboys album Modern Blues I found a Mike Scott song called I Can See Elvis. It just killed me, I couldn’t stop listening to it. Mike is a big-hearted person, he really puts it all out there and I like that. I was on the New South Wales south coast listening to a Scottish guy living in Ireland singing about Elvis and that led to the four places line.”

Rogers sent the song to You Am I guitarist Davey Lane, who says: “The first time I heard the song it hit me right in the guts. It packs such an emotional punch.”

The band was separated by the pandemic, with Lane and Rogers in Melbourne and bassist Andy Kent and drummer Russell Hopkinson in Sydney. They couldn’t meet so they moved things forward the only way they could. Rogers and Lane recorded a demo of The Waterboy in Melbourne to send to their bandmates.

Kent and Hopkinson recorded parts in a Sydney studio and what they sent back was like a shot of adrenaline. Rogers says: “What they did was very different to what I had imagined for the song and made it so much better.”

He continues, “The Waterboy began as a folk tune set to fingerpicking but when peak “pining” for our band hit I imagined being in a room together and changed the whole feel of the toon. Typically, what Russ, Davey and AK came back with eviscerated all my daydreamin’s and replaced them with jumpin round the room enthusiasms.”

With their Enmore Theatre, Sydney show confirmed for Thursday April 15, the band is understandably excited about playing live again, after a Covid induced layoff of some 18 months or more. As Rogers says, “Who wants solo fingerpickin when you have thunderous friends? Not this ol’ showgirl. I felt my heart being replaced. In all four places. 3000 plus shows and there’s a lotta memories but the reason you wake up is for the NEXT one. I’ve day dreamt and night tussled thinking about this show in ways that have ruined three sets of linen. We wanna be together. Come join the band.”

Andy Kent concurs: “The Enmore Theatre stage holds some very special memories for us as a band. So to be able to put 2020 well behind us all and step back out there to share a night of loud rock and roll with our strong, faithful and beautiful audience is something we are very much looking forward to. GBTFLoU!”

And with the prospect of their new album dropping later this year, Hopkinson says: “There is a reason why this band has been together for a long time and it’s not just because we are really good friends. We’re resilient to the things that go on outside the band, for better or worse.

“There was an idea that we would be able to be together at some point to finish the record. Fate had a way of making sure that didn’t happen. Yet we’ve made an album since the last time we were all together in a room, made the best of the situation to create this piece of art.

“It has been a cathartic experience which is what we all needed after a year when those have been few and far between if you are a touring musician.”

US country music artist Rusty Gear releases It’s Still You, the follow-up to his previous hit Check in Check Out Blues, which received a massive response at radio and across all streaming platforms. The new track mixes classic country flavours with a smattering of contemporary elements to create an alluring, seductive tale of along-lost love; anarrative whose universality chimes wonderfully with Rusty’s nuanced and expressive vocal.

It’s Still You is an identifiable ode to memory, yearning,and the kind of inextinguishable emotional fire we all carry inside us. It’s an open-hearted yet unsentimental song that’s sure to reach the same heights as Rusty’s previous releases which include:Wondering Why, Tequila Won’t Solve Your Problems, and Won’t Forget(Remix) reaching #1 on Europe’s Hot disc Top 40 country music chart and Wondering Why hitting # 51 on Billboard’s Country Breakout Chart in the US. It’s Still You harnesses many of the indelible hallmarks of memorable country music-the instrumentation, the good-time feel-and melds them to a rock-pop melodic sensibility, producing the kind of hybrid that will surelyattract across the board attention.

Dami Im releases her first new music for 2021, with the delightful pop overtones of ‘Lonely Cactus’ dropping today via ABC Music. It follows on from last year’s powerhouse single ‘Paper Dragon’, Dami’s first release after signing with her new label, and gives fans an exciting glimpse of what’s to come from her highly anticipated sixth studio album, confirmed for release later this year.

Written with Bri Clarke and Andrew Burford (aka One Above), ‘Lonely Cactus’ has been described as “a track with a hook that you hear once – and then spend the rest of the day with it running through your head!” Referencing her influences such as Emily Sandé, James Arthur, Benee and Julia Michaels , Dami explains “With ‘Lonely Cactus’ I wanted it to have enough production to keep it fun and interesting, but to be as minimalistic as possible and not overshadow the simplicity of the melody and the vocal textures”.

Reflecting on the inspiration behind the song, Dami says “While I was working on promoting my last single ‘Paper Dragon’, I became obsessed with cacti. I really wanted to write a song about a cactus and it started off as an idea about myself. On one hand I feel lonely and want to be around other people, and on the other hand I quickly get annoyed and prickly around people and just want to be left alone. I took the idea to our writing session and we tweaked it to mean it’s about a friend rather than myself because everyone knows someone who is that way.”

Both ‘Lonely Cactus’ and ‘Paper Dragon’ indicate the direction Dami is taking as she delves deeper and delivers sonic jewels that are somehow softer, gentler and more organic. They herald a new era for the X-Factor winner, as she draws on her pop past while demonstrating renewed creative growth.

Dami Im remains a trailblazer, a cultural icon, a shapeshifter and an artist that is completely in tune with her own pop self. She is considered ‘Eurovision Royalty’ (coming second in 2016) with her subsequent #1 global hit ‘Sound Of Silence’ charting in 38 countries. She has had four top ten albums on the ARIA chart and further hit singles with the likes of ‘Alive’, ‘Super Love’ and ‘Gladiator’. In 2019 Dami was the Women In Music Humanitarian Award winner.

Beloved Australian country star, Adam Harvey, has released his fifteenth studio album, SONGS FROM HIGHWAY ONE, today via Sony Music Entertainment Australia.
Included on the album is the fourth single ‘Red Dirt Town’
As Adam describes it, SONGS FROM HIGHWAY ONE is about adventure, freedom and looking forward while, with a writer’s taste for nostalgia, taking the time to look through the rear-view mirror of life as well.
SONGS FROM HIGHWAY ONE marks the first time that Harvey has self-produced his own album. Recorded at The Music Cellar on the NSW Central Coast with engineer Jeff McCormack, Adam relished the role of producer on the project. “I’ve had all sorts of different producers through the years,” he recalls, “and I just thought, ‘Why don’t I have a crack at it myself?’ It’s another challenge and a whole lot more work than I actually expected. I learnt a hell of a lot too.”
The irony of timing and writing a record about the freedom of travelling was not lost on Adam. “Funnily enough, timing’s everything. I recorded an album about travelling all over Australia, and then – for a time – that’s the one thing weren’t allowed to do!”
In 2021 Adam will return to his love for being on the road, embarking on the Highway One Tour. Beginning in February 2021, Adam has put together a schedule of tour dates that add up to become the largest solo tour he has ever undertaken. Adam will perform over 40 shows across NSW, ACT, VIC, QLD and SA from February to September 2021. For Dates and Details, see below or visit adamharvey.com.au

Tayo Sound is the 18-year-old rising star hailing from the UK. After a massive 2020, he is gearing up to release his debut EP Runaway.
Runaway is an incredibly substantial body of work, each track will have listeners wanting to hear the next.
Tayo takes us through this romantic narrative from his perspective. He presents his amazing and versatile alt-pop sound, alongside his vivid lyrics and his raw but mellow vocals.
The EP features all of Tayo’s 2020 singles and is track-titled; ‘Runaway’ being the third of five songs.
‘Runaway’ is an immediately boppy number with bold beats and vocals and a chorus that completely takes off.
Tayo Sound has been championed by pioneer alternative media outlets such as Pilerats, Vice UK, Dork, Clash and DIY.
To date, the previously released singles on this EP combine to 190K local streams and 4.8M global streams.
Tayo has worked fantastically at cementing himself as one to watch, and this EP is set to propel his growth even further.

‘Echoing’ is the third track taken from Kings Of Leon’s long awaited 8th studio album ‘When You See Yourself’, to be released March 5th.

The forthcoming 11 track album continues the band’s tradition of five syllable album titles and was Recorded at Nashville’s famed Blackbird Studios, produced by Grammy Award-winning Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Florence + the Machine)

Australian rock royalty and 1990’s Indie icons Eskimo Joe triumphantly return to the airwaves with new music today. Their new single, “99 Ways” sees them re-energized and more formidable than ever, showcasing why they continue to dominate after 20 years of playing together.

Speaking about the inspiration for “99 Ways”, Kav Temperley says today “99 Ways is an isolation love song. I started writing this song in the first week of isolation when I was stuck in my bedroom with a bad fever, we didn’t know what it was and as I’d just returned from the states, we thought it best to isolate me from the rest of the family – luckily i had a piano in my room! Isolation is something the whole world has had to go through, and it’s been tough but sometimes you can only understand what someone else is going through if you have been through it yourself.”

“99 Ways” is the follow up track to their highly anticipated call to arms single “Say Something” released in June 2020. “Say Something” released after a 7 year hiatus is, “A song about hope and what it means to be a humanitarian. Whether we are talking about domestic violence, racism or the environment, to stay silent is to be complicit. Unless we say something, how will we build a better future?” – Kav Temperley

Say Something” became the number 1 most played song across the Triple M Network, including a classic Garage Sessions performance in WA. The band featured across various publications (Rolling Stone, News Ltd, SMH, NME, The Music, Tone Deaf/The Brag, Music Feeds) as well as interviews on TV breakfast programs: Sunrise, Today, ABC TV News Breakfast, culminating in an unforgettable performance on ABC TV’s The Sound.

“We were so lucky to be able to have put out the song “Say Something” over the lockdown period, and everyone’s response was so encouraging that we aimed to get back in a room as soon as we could and write another song. So, in august of 2020 we started writing and recording “99 Ways” in our Fremantle studio. We recorded most of the track between Studio 42 in Fremantle and Rada Studios in Perth. 99 Ways is self produced, and once again mixed by the amazing Pete Holz. This is our isolation love song.” – Kav Temperley

During Covid lockdown, the band embraced new ways to connect with their fans. Their weekly ‘Say Something Sessions’ featured a roll call of Australian rock legends including: Chris Cheney (Living End), Sarah Mcleod (The Superjesus), Ella Hooper (Killing Heidi) and Kevin Mitchell (Bob Evans, Jebediah) to name a few.

About Eskimo Joe

Since forming in 1997, Eskimo Joe have racked up a long list of impressive accomplishments. With 6 studio albums under their belts and sales in excess of 750,000, in Australia alone, the band has seen 3 of those albums debut at number 1 on the ARIA charts, with juggernaut ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’ shining for a monster 62 weeks in the ARIA Chart Top 50 and “Foreign Land”, from their fourth album ‘Inshalla’, bringing home 2 APRA Awards, for Most Played Rock Song on Australian radio and Best Rock Song of 2010.

Eskimo Joe have enjoyed 35 ARIA nominations in their career thus far – a number only surpassed by Silverchair, Powderfinger, Kylie Minogue and John Farnham. They have brought home 3 International Song-writing Awards, 11 WAMi Awards and 8 ARIAs and 11 of their compositions have featured in Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown, with ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’ landing 2nd place. The stage however, is where Eskimo Joe shine and the band have performed at many significant events including: Sound Relief, Live Earth, Make Poverty History, the ARIA Awards, the APRA Awards, Big Day Out, Homebake, Laneway Festival, Falls Festival, Southbound, Splendour In The Grass, Triple J’s One Night Stand, The Australian Open, AFL and Sundance Film Festival in Utah, USA, on the same stage as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Along with a significant number of tours within Australia, the band have had their music released to great acclaim from fans and critics alike, in the United States, Canada, Europe and Korea.

The band began celebrations for their 21st birthday in 2018 by embarking on a national tour featuring The Sydney, Tasmanian, West Australian and Camerata – (Queensland’s Chamber) Orchestras and more recently provided a packed Optus Stadium in Perth with the pre-game entertainment before the NRL State Of Origin, plus a very special show at Freo.Social where they played Black Fingernails, Red Wine in its entirety.

With a national tour in support of the legendary Jimmy Barnes and a reunion show with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Kings Park at the end of 2019, along with the back catalogue vinyl re-releases (Girl, Ghosts Of The Past, Inshalla and Black Fingernails Red Wine, A Song Is A City) being released the anniversary was a great success.

Eskimo Joe released ‘Say Something’, their first new single since 2013, globally to critical acclaim on June 26th 2020. Say Something reached number 1 most played on Triple M and 11th most played song on Australian Airplay charts. Streaming now on all good platforms. “Their new single sees them refreshed and more powerful than ever, with frontman Kavyen Temperley describing the song as “a call to act with humanity, without prejudice or violence towards each other or the planet” – Rolling Stone

As their storied career continues to evolve, Eskimo Joe have certainly come a long way from their humble beginnings as much-loved indie rock kids in Fremantle, WA.

“99 Ways” is released on Friday, 12th February.

THE FOLLOW UP TO HIS TOP 5 AIRPLAY HIT, ‘NEVER MEANT TO BREAK YOUR HEART’ & TOP 10 AIRPLAY SINGLE, ‘RIGHT ON DOWN’

Andrew Swift has gone from strength to strength since making his dive into the Australian country music scene. In 2017, he was a Toyota Starmaker Grand-Finalist; going on to release his album, ‘Call Out for the Cavalry’, which hit the #1 spot on the ARIA Australian Country Album Chart and win at the 2019 Golden Guitar Awards for Qantas New Talent of the Year & for Alt Country Album of the Year. In 2021, Andrew would go on to co-host the Golden Guitar Awards.

In 2020, Andrew signed with ABC Music and released the first single from his forthcoming new album. Never Meant To Break Your Heart, the single, went onto secure Andrew’s highest National Country Airplay chart to date – peaking at #4.

His 2nd single release, Right On Down, also climbed the charts peaking at #9 on the National Country Airplay Charts.

After a 2020 spent in and out of lockdown in his home state of Victoria, Andrew Swift has dropped his third single, Head Full of Honey. . As Andrew describes the song, “I think I channelled my awkward teenage self when writing ‘Head Full Of Honey’ with Billie-Jo Porter. There was always a girl at school or someone I’d see at the local shops that I’d develop a crush on but would never have the nerve to actually start a conversation. I did plenty of day dreaming, imagining how things would play out if we hit it off though.”

‘But I got a head full of honey

A real bad case of love drunk’

Swift is in the process of fine tuning his third album with award winning producer, Matt Fell. Album PREORDER details to come shortly with an album release in 2021. Meanwhile, with borders open, Andrew hits the road with more tour dates being added around the country.