Marcus Holden
Marcus Holden’s The Brolga will be feature album on ArtSound FM this month.
Country Music Capital News’ Jodie Crosby suggests “Marcus Holden is a multi-instrumentalist with a love of many genres of music and over the years has been involved in folk, country, Celtic and classical recordings. The Brolga sees his take on some “folked up classics”. Holden re-interprets these works with an approachable, accessible and often mind-boggling intensity featuring some of Australia’s finest musicians and brings a whole new slant to some timeless works. There are some twists and turns that will surprise those familiar with the works, almost bordering on new compositions at times, but this does not distract from the musicality and may even bring new fans to the original music.”
Look & listen out for Marcus Holden on ArtSound FM (Album of the week), 5GTR (Feature Album), Highland FM 107.1, Radio Eastern 98.1 Croydon, 2MCE, Sweet FM, PBS FM, Radio Adelaide Folk Show, Radio Northern Beaches, 101.5 fm and the CRN National Community Radio Folk Show, Country Roads, 94.7 FM The Pulse Community Radio, 94.7 Coral Coast Community Radio, Huon FM, Acoustic Harvest Bay fm 100.3, Edge Radio 99.3 FM, Eastside Radio, Australian Country Radio, 5EBI, 3MDR, Today’s Country 94One, 2RRR, 2VOX, 3NRG, 2AIR, Amrap Community Radio Network & in the BUNDABERG GUARDIAN.
The Brolga is OUT NOW digitally through iTunes and on CD through MGM Distribution or directly from Undercover Music via mail order. The digital release contains an additional eighteen bonus tracks, twelve of which were composed by Marcus himself.
More Information: Artist Page
NGARUKURUWALA
Well respected music scribe John Shand has penned a glowing 9/10 review of Ngarukurwala’s Ngiya awungarra – I am here, now … “One of the wonders of art is its immediacy. One stares at a painting from 500 years ago or five years ago with the same eyes; one listens to Bach or Miles Davis with the same ears. This is why the current fad in our theatrical circles of feeling obliged to make classic plays “relevant” is so infuriating: they already are relevant. That is why they are classics. This wonderful project is a marrying of eras and cultures, of traditional material and non-traditional approaches, and it has been realised with such reverence and love that it is transformative even while it preserves the songs of the Tiwi people.
Many of the songs are archival recordings from between 1928 and 1975, to which instrumental textures have been added, much as one might add earrings to ears or a shine to shoes: they are still the same ears or shoes, they just glisten more. The songs tend to be gentle, with lilting melodies, and a booklet carries translations of the lyrics, some of which stop you dead in your tracks with the wonder of their observations, sentiments or philosophies. God is sitting in the bush, for instance, a 1972 recording featuring the voice of Tungwarinawayi Daniel Paujimi, has the lines “God is sitting there in the bush / is part of the bush.”
Besides the archival recordings the voices of the Tiwi Strong Women’s Group are heard, alongside a collection of high-calibre classical and jazz musicians under the direction of horn-player Genevieve Campbell. The upshot is a triumph however you look at it: conceptually, artistically, morally and in terms of enlightenment. A truly beautiful project.”
The album was also featured in the seminal world music magazine Songlines with Seth Jordan in a four star review suggesting “This intriguing Australian project initiated by French horn player-academic Genevieve Campbell, brings together the traditional Tiwi Strong Women’s Group with jazz-classical musicians from ‘down south’.
The results vary from being delicately beautiful to experimentally bizarre, unadorned indigenous vocals blending with minimalist strings, brass, woodwinds, double bass and drums, creating fascinating ethno-classical-jazz hybrids.”
Ngiya awungarra – I am here, now was featured as Fine Music FM’s ‘CD of the week’ during NAIDOC week.
For registered AirIt Radio Users two more songs from the album are available on Amrap's AirIt catalogue.
Yamparriparri | Healing Song for CM
It’s no surprise then that Ngarukuruwala are a Finalist in the 2017 Art Music Awards’ Award for Excellence in a Regional Area. The 2017 Art Music Awards will be held on Tuesday 22 August at the City Recital Hall in Sydney.
For fans of Gurrumul, Archie Roach & Mandawuy Yunupingu, Ngiya awungarra – I am here, now (RRR75) is OUT NOW digitally through iTunes and on CD through MGM Distribution or directly from Undercover Music via mail order.
For more information/interview requests:
Email | YouTube | Artists Page | Spotify| Facebook | iTunes | SoundCloud
DEAD MEN TALKING
Henry Lawson, the great poet and storyteller was born in 1867 and Max Cullen and Warren Fahey are back as Henry and Banjo in their musical play 'Dead Men Talking'. The play has been a wonderful success and this is their third Sydney season. (Source: Warren Fahey’s Bodgie Newsletter -27)
Click here for Booking Info
The Rouseabout Records releases of Dead Men Talking are available on CD (RRR67) & DVD (RRR70) through MGM Distribution or directly from Undercover Music via mail order. They’re heavenly!
More Information: Album Page
Eric Bogle
As Capital News’ Anna Rose suggests “Without doubt, Eric Bogle and John Munro are one of the most successful musical partnerships in recent history. Their latest CD Voices is a great salute to that classic combination.”
Eric Bogle performed with John Munro at the National Celtic Festival in June. Pete Titchener who recorded & produced Voices as well as contributing the song ‘Farewell Fitness’ joined them on bass.
Eric returns to the stage for the Maldon Folk Festival in November.
Voices is OUT NOW digitally through iTunes and on CD through MGM Distribution or directly from Undercover Music via mail order.
Eric Bogle’s Just the funny stuff first released on Laughing Stock Records in 1993 has been re-issued for the first time digitally on Rouseabout Records and is now available to download through iTunes and stream through Spotify & Apple Music. The album features ‘Santa Bloody Claus’ plus 15 other comedy classics including ‘I Hate Wogs’, ‘Aussie Bar B Q’ & ‘Nobody’s Moggy Now’.
More Information: Artist Page
MICHAEL FIX
At a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to make a living out of the music industry, three-times Golden Guitar-winning guitarist Michael Fix is bucking the trend.
I’ve never been busier. Ask me what my job is these days, and I’d probably answere’ juggler’ he said.
“Being an independent artist these days requires you to be a composer, performer, booking agent, tour manager, retailer, promoter, webmaster and even graphic artist.
And that’s just my own stuff – at any given time I could be working on two or three other projects, producing, engineering and editing.”
To view the entire Country Music Capital News feature by Susan Jarvis click here.
Michael Fix has contributed three tracks for the Rouseabout Records Down by the Billabong (Acoustic guitar arrangements of Australian folk songs and bush tunes) (RRR69) compilation which is available digitally through iTunes and on CD through MGM Distribution or directly from Undercover Music via mail order. You can also stream the album on Spotify or iTunes
Daniel Champagne
The 9th Perisher Peak Festival held from from 9 - 12 June 2017 was a HUGE success. Acts on the bill included Fred Smith, Jason Roweth (co-producer of Jim Low’s albums on Rouseabout Records), REMI, Sampa The Great and Daniel Champagne is featured on Down by the Billabong (Acoustic guitar arrangements of Australian folk songs and bush tunes) (RRR69) along with the crème de la crème of Australian guitar players including the aforementioned Michael Fix (Spotify and Itunes). Champagne who also recently graced the stage at Leadbelly in Newtown exudes a natural ease on stage as he sings poignant lyrics and beautifully crafted melodies…
Down by the Billabong (Acoustic guitar arrangements of Australian folk songs and bush tunes) (RRR69) is available digitally through iTunes and on CD through MGM Distribution or directly from Undercover Music via mail order
GARY SHEARSTON & CATHIE O’SULLIVAN
Gary Shearston’s ‘Witnessing’ from his Here & There, Now & Then (RRR41) anthology & Cathie O’Sullivan’s ‘The Orange Tree’ from Silly Winds (RRR66) feature on a new compilation Follow The Sun.
Follow The Sun compiles twenty cuts dug from dusty bins by Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring) and Keith Abrahamsson (Founder / Head of A&R at Anthology Recordings and Mexican Summer) surveying the sought after sound of Australia’s lesser — and greater — known moments of ‘70s rock, folk, and their in-between offspring. Follow The Sun filters the sublime and sometimes subversive psychedelic airwaves transmitted around the world from America’s terrestrial platforms during the golden age of gentle, exploratory FM through a distinctly Australian lens.
Independent labels and recording studios proliferated across Australia during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, while major labels simultaneously scoured the furthest reaching corners of the continent to foster new approaches in making music. With both indies and majors ultimately compelled to uncover the almighty single, the fringe was frequently explored for “crossover” sounds. This engendered a creative freedom amongst artists that mirrored the open-ended mood of the times. Anything was possible.
Follow The Sun does not represent those Australian acts who produced a number one single leading to international fame and fortune. Some of the artists on the compilation never even made the local hit parade. But the fact that many of these artists didn’t enjoy chart success is secondary; these artists represent the consciousness of their time. As radio perpetrated pop fodder trodding the middle ground to ensure maximum advertising, the artists on this album chronicled the times in their own unique ways.
Beyond sharing a penchant for pop and its many shades, creating common ideals or setting a narrative around the artists featured on Follow The Sun is a tall task and tale. After all, Australia is a huge country, nay continent. The scuffed shuffle of Mata Hari’s “Easy” drastically contrasts the loner vibes of Gary Shearston’s “Witnessing,” while Megan Sue Hicks “Hey, Can You Come Out And Play” hypnotizes a la Shocking Blue and Trevor McNamara’s “Country Corn” spins out like a rural Skip Spence tune. Hailing from distant, disparate cities across the wide Australian map, each of these artists represent distinct, different forms of pop music.
The expansive double LP set features an earnest essay from Young, unseen photos and ephemera of the time, and a gaggle of “badly drawn idiots” ideated from the wonderfully weird mind of James Vinciguerra. Follow The Sun is available May 5, 2017 from Anthology.
From Young’s essay: “Maybe I inject some vision of a simpler more self-contained, innocent Australia in the way I hear this music. A ‘pre-Crocodile Dundee, Koala Blue, Ken Done’ Australia where in my yet-to-be-born head it seems that the rest of the world was less concerned about us and we were less aware of it. Our culture could operate in its own little bubble a lot easier than it does now and will again. I don’t idealise these as the ‘good times.’ Those kind of bubbles also create closed minds and shitty attitudes, but some great music is made when it’s restricted to its own small universe.”
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