Sherlock’s Daughter – ‘Bang Hotels’ (mp3)

Tanya Horo is one interesting character.  Although she’s best known in Australia for her work in the quirky electronica act Soma For Kinder, she’s basically led a completely different life in another country.

Although she was born in Adelaide in 1978, she moved with her parents to Auckland in New Zealand when she was only a year old.  To say she has a creative upbringing is something for an understatement.  She appeared in a slew of NZ television commericals, was a host on a show called Destination Auckland, appeared in a number of short films, played the character Christine Hastings on a show called Shortland Street and also popped up on a couple of other TV shows such as Spin Doctors and Jackson’s Wharf.

Then there’s her music side, which seemed to kick off when she moved from Auckland to Christchurch.  She fronted an all-girl group called Growler before going solo under the moniker Kapala, before changing it again to Marvey King. 

She became friendly with Pnau when they toured New Zealand and she ended up singing on one of their tracks, and it may be through those guys that she met fellow Soma-rian, Jono Ma.  But now Tanya is residing here, and Sherlock’s Daughter is her electronic side-project that seems to have come together during Soma for Kinder’s downtime.  It’s more upbeat than Soma; more akin to acts like The Hate Game and those synth-infused ’80s revivalist acts. 

If you’re in Sydney, you can catch Sherlock’s Daughter at the Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills on Wednesday July 25.

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.hinge – ‘Just.As’

One of my most anticipated local releases has finally hit the shelves – Melbourne rockers .hinge have dropped their fantastic second LP, The Rise & Fall of Living Great, and it certainly lived up to my expectations.

They’ve always been a phenominal live act, and their first record, Something to Adore, while musically solid, lacked the impact that their live shows had. After hearing tracks like ‘This Time I Take The Wheel’, ‘Man In The Desert’ and ‘We Might Just Kill You’ live before they even hit the studio, I knew the material would be extremely strong, but would it translate to record?

Thankfully it does, very well. They’ve teamed up again with Peter “Reggie” Bowman, former guitarist for legendary Aussie pop/rock act Southern Sons, and made a record that’s sonically massive and musically diverse, combining a variety of different elements to create a really unique album.

The first cut off The Rise & Fall of Living Great is ‘Just.As’ and the band have hopped in the Tarago and are travelling up and down the East Coast over the next few weeks to launch the album and have a party. If they’re near your town, go see them! These are the dates:

Thursday July 19 – The ANU Bar, Canberra, ACT
Friday July 20 – Annandale Hotel, Sydney, NSW
Friday July 27 – The Globe, Brisband, QLD
Saturday July 28 – Sands Tavern, Sunshine Coast, QLD
Thursday August 2 – The Bull & Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills, NSW
Friday August 3 – Sodens Hotel, Albury, NSW
Thursday August 9 – Rydges CBD Sportbar, Wollongong, NSW
Friday August 10 – 5 Crown Lane (instore), Wollongong NSW
Friday August 10 – Bar Broadway, Sydney, NSW
Saturday August 11 – Utopia Records (instore), Sydney, NSW
Saturday August 11 – Caringbah Bizzos, Caringbah, NSW
Saturday August 18 – Peninsula Lounge, Moorodoc, VIC
Friday August 24 – The Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne, VIC

http://www.hinge.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/hingemusic

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bluejuice – ‘Vitriol’ (mp3)

I’m not sure why I’m really writing a blog on bluejuice because I really don’t know much about them at all.  But I do know this: they won a MusicOz Award in 2003, they’ve released two EPs – Zebraaazz and The Good Luck Pig – and they’re about to release their first full-length album, Problems, next month.

I also hear they’re funny as fuck and one of the greatest Sydney bands to see live.  I haven’t heard anyone say they didn’t enjoy a bluejuice gig.  Because these guys don’t really take themselves all that seriously.  You get that vibe from their funk/hip-hop hybrid songs. 

They’re getting lots of radio lovin’ from their new single ‘Vitriol’.  And you can hear it here!  It’s one of my favourite tunes at the moment – the organ is just awesome.

http://www.bluejuice.info
http://www.myspace.com/bluejuice

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Melanie Horsnell – ‘Kiss You Again’ (mp3)

I became aware of Melanie Horsnell purely for the fact that a few of my mates were members of her backing band The Inflatable Girlfriends.  But it wasn’t until she released ‘Kiss You Again’ from her record The Adventures of that I actually heard any Mel Hornsell material.

Invoking images of ’60s pop acts such as The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel, ‘Kiss You Again’ is a really sweet singer/songwriter tune, in the vein of more contemporary artists like Regina Spektor, Cat Power and KT Tunstall.  She’s currently on tour with Red Ghost and Laura Imbruglia on the Once, Twice, Three Times A Lady Tour.  The dates are:

Thursday July 12 – Sodens Bar, Albury, NSW
Friday July 13 – Yahoo Bar, Shepparton, VIC
Saturday July 14 – Wesley Anne Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
Sunday July 15 – The Grace Emily, Adelaide, SA
Thursday July 19 – Oxford Tavern, Wollongong, NSW

http://www.melaniehorsnell.com
http://www.myspace.com/melaniehorsnell

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Lost Valentinos – ’17 Deaths’

The begot Los begot Lost… so now we arrive at Lost Valentinos, a name change for the Sydney four piece to avoid a throng of lawyers syphoning money from them. It begs the question: what’s the big difference between “The Valentinos” and “Lost Valentinos”??

Along with the name change comes two things: a new drummer, replacing Dan Stricker (who’s now behind the kit for the Midnight Juggernauts), and a new single, ’17 Deaths’ produced by uber-rad UK-via-Berlin producer Ewan Pearson. He’s worked with bands like The Rapture and Goldfrapp, and that electro-dance element is noticable from the first few seconds when the rave synths kick in. It’s more of a progression for the band, whose popularity has plateaued somewhat since the release of their EP Damn and Damn Again.

You can only buy this one on iTunes and it’ll be on their album which will be out sometime – I don’t think the band even know!

http://www.myspace.com/lostvalentinos

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A moodier and, dare I say, darker Crowded House return with ‘Don’t Stop Now’, the first song lifted from their new album Time On Earth, their first album in nearly 15 years and their first since the suicide of their fantastic drummer Paul Hester. 

www.crowdedhouseofficial.com
www.myspace.com/crowdedhouse

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http://www.thebutterflyeffect.com.au/
http://www.myspace.com/thebutterflyeffectau

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