New Music

Kate Miller-Heidke

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Kate Miller-Heidke – ‘Words’

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Apparently the folks on Sunrise are big fans. They took some time out from their heavy programming schedule to run a little advertising feature on the ex-opera singer from Brisbane and her inevitable forthcoming success. I myself didn’t need to actually hear the manic, warbling Kate Bush-wannabe tremors of this determinedly wacky pop poppet. Koshy’s recommendation was enough for me.

www.myspace.com/katemillerheidke

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The Go-Betweens & Patience Hodgson: ‘Lee Remick’

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The Go-Betweens & Patience Hodgson – ‘Lee Remick’

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The history of The Go-Betweens is folklore amongst the Australian music industry.  They’re one of the most influential Australian acts of all time, coming to fame during the New Wave boom of the late 70s, and finding success during the 80s.

Though they were quiet during the 90s, the band reunited when the 21st Century came around, recording an album entitled The Friends of Rachel Worth with all three members of Sleater-Kinney.  However, the Go-Betweens came to a tragic end when frontman Grant McLennan passed away due to a heart attack in 2006 at the age of only 48.

So, what do you do when an iconic band dissipates?  You record a tribute album, that’s what!  It all came about from a tribute concert held at the Tivoli Theatre in Brisbane in 2006, spearheaded by Dave McCormack, best known for his work in Custard and his own band The Polaroids.  The original members of The Go-Betweens are all involved here, but Grant’s vocals are replaced by some of Australia’s best contemporary singers, including Sarah Blasko, Josh Pyke, Dan Kelly, Bob Evans and Dave himself.

Patience Hodgson from The Grates contributed vocals to ‘Lee Remick’, The Go-Between’s very first single, originally released in 1978.  I’m not sure if it’s about the actress or not, but I’d assume so.

http://www.myspace.com/writeyouradventuresdowntribute

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Cloud Control

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Cloud Control – ‘Buffalo Country’

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The first time I saw Cloud Control was in a small back room of a venue in Sydney called World Bar, in Kings Cross, with an average PA and about 400 of my closest friends.  And even though I couldn’t really see them apart from the drummer, and with the room being brick the sound was bouncing all over the place, the quality of their songs still shone through.

These Sydney folk shot to “fame” when they won a Sydney University band comp.  The night I saw them they were supporting Who the Hell faves The Basics, and since then have been a regular fixture at many a Sydney indie gig.  They’re currently preparing to record an EP and ‘Buffalo Country’ is a demo of one of the songs that will most likely appear on said EP.  Vocalist Al Wright has a warble not too dissimilar to that of Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons.  I don’t really have a nice summary sentence so suffice to say, check it out!

http://www.myspace.com/cloudcontrol

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Dead Letter Chorus

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Dead Letter Chorus – ‘Laces Bound’

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Blah, I hate colds.  They suck.  But this isn’t about what ailment I’m suffering at the moment, it’s about Sydney band Dead Letter Chorus (no, not Dead Letter Circus, or Dead Letter Opener).  Don’t ask me why everyone’s fascinated with undelivered mail…

To be honest I don’t know too much about these guys.  From their various bios and press releases, it doesn’t look like they’ve been around too long.  There’s six of them, and the vocals are swapped between Cameron Potts and Gabrielle Huber.  Judging by the title of their brand new EP Listen Carefully (We Shall Say This Only Once), they’re ‘Allo ‘Allo fans.  The EP is getting a national release on July 7 (yep, 07/07/07).

The band were gracious enough tho send through an MP3 of a song from their forthcoming EP.  The song, entitled ‘Laces Bound’, is just the sonic warmth I needed to get through this damn cold.  The vocals are courtesy of Gabrielle on this one, and her voice reminds me of someone, though I can’t remember for the life of me who.  Oh well, it ain’t important.  What’s important is that this is a really great indie/foilk tune, and hopefully it’ll be as comforting to you as it is to me.

http://www.myspace.com/deadletterchorus

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