Gaga Music: Latest News

Watch: Little Barrie 'Surf Hell'

Pete — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

English blues pop trio Little Barrie took their time creating their third album, King of the Waves –– five years in fact, during which time singer/guitarist Barrie Cadogan rendered his services to the likes of Paul Weller and Primal Scream.

King of the Waves finally arrived in the middle of 2011, and it was entirely worth the wait –– twelve tracks of tightly coiled, gritty pop that The Times, in a four star review, called 'a string of hard, fast and strikingly inventive songs, confirm[ing] that Little Barrie is a band with a much bigger future.'

NME wrote that the lp 'rekindles the band’s effervescent spirit but injects a fiery determination into Barrie’s blueprint.' It's well worth a listen. Wrap your ears around a couple of tracks in our player above, and check out the great new video for the album's first single, 'Surf Hell', below.

Little Barrie are on Gaga Pub via Touch Tones Music.

New Dulux 'The Coast' TVC. feat. Rohin Jones

Pete — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Last year, much loved Townsfolk indie folk outfit The Middle East called it quits, after two critically acclaimed albums, a couple of lps, and a heap of touring. Since then, the various members of the band have kept themselves more than busy: Bree Tranter has released her gorgeous debut single, and Jordan Ireland and Rohin Jones, the band's two primary songwriters, have pursued various recording projects, including Joseph Liddy and the Skeleton Horse, who are releasing a three-part album via Gaga Digi.

Rohin recently created a beautiful composition for a Dulux commercial about the Australian coast. The beautifully shot spot also featured none other than The Bis. Check out the spot below.

Knesset: Coming of Age

Pete — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

A late entry into our favourite records of 2011 comes from young Phoenix outfit Knesset, whose debut lp Coming of Age is getting some pretty heavy airplay in the office of late.

Coming of Age is a strikingly assured bit of lush indie rock, drawing upon various influences –– the shimmering pop of fellow Southerners The American Analog Set, the rousing anthems of Broken Social Scene, the huge, immersive textures of classic British shoegaze –– but remaining its own beast.

And what a pretty beast it is. Have a listen to standout cut Tell Me All Your Lies:

Coming of Age is largely the work of Evan Fox, who worked with Jeffrey Olsen and Michael Bell (Lymbyc System) to write and record the lp, making use of a private collection of vintage instruments, which give the album its wonderfully rich, warm tone. The album was mixed by John Congleton, who has worked with the likes of St. Vincent, The Walkmen, Black Mountain and Explosions in the Sky.

Check out the clip below for another great track from the album, Bitter Hearts, which sounds a bit like American Analog Set covering Slowdive. We like very much.

Knesset are on Gaga Pub via Rough Trade. Pick up Coming of Age from the band's Bandcamp.

Handsome Furs: Serve the People

Pete — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

One of our favourite records from 2011 was Sound Kapital, the latest lp from Canadian electro pop duo Handsome Furs.

Handsome Furs is the brainchild of husband and wife Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, Boeckner being best known for his work with indie rock outfit Wolf Parade.

At the end of 2010, Wolf Parade went on indefinite hiatus, which allowed Boeckner to focus fully on the Handsome Furs. Wanting to write a new record, their third, Boeckner and Perry decided do things differently, and make themselves work harder: they resolved to write the album entirely on keyboards.

It was a telling move. The resulting album, Sound Kapitol, sees a calculated shift away from the ragged guitarwork Boeckner had become known for, the duo instead creating a refined, emotionally resonant brand of synth-pop that has deservedly won them much critical acclaim.

'Handsome Furs no longer feel like a stripped-down antidote to Wolf Parade,' Pitchfork wrote of the lp, 'but more like a band that's able to execute progressively grander, emotionally resonant ideas while staying within their limited means.'

Sound Kapitol was partly inspired by Boeckner and Perry's recent travels, in which they visited several countries, including Burma, and performed alongside many bands who, by necessity, were truly underground. One of the songs inspired by these journeys is the rousing 'Serve the People', which has a wonderful, moving clip directed by young Chinese director Han Xia.

The clip, which you can watch below, is based on an old high school classmate of Xia's, a lonesome cleaner obsessed with indie music, and was filmed in the director's hometown of Beijing.

Handsome Furs are on Gaga Pub via Third Side Music. Sound Kapitol is out now through Sub Pop.

Merry Christmas // Gaga Summer Sounds

Pete — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

And so another year is done and dusted. We'd like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and new year, with lots of sun and surf (or snow), or whatever takes your fancy.

Before we head off to eat large amounts of slow moving birds, we've put together a collection of our favourite summer songs for your listening enjoyment over the coming days and weeks, featuring sunny, sublime cuts from The War on Drugs, Real Estate, Buckley Ward, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Breathe Owl Breathe and many more. Perfect for any and all summer moods and activities.

Merry Christmas!

The Black Keys' El Camino Goes Gold

Pete — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The juggernaut that is The Black Keys' new album, El Camino, keeps rolling, with the album going gold in Australia within a few weeks of being released.

In the US, the band's seventh lp is hitting some pretty rarefied hegiths, coming in at number two in its first week of release, second only to a Christmas album by Michael Buble, who, it seems, cannot be defeated by earthly forces.

Drummer Patrick Carney told MTV this week that he and bandmate, Patrick Auerbach, had a sense that their star was rising further than ever before in the lead up to the album, but thay they 'tried not to let it get into our heads. It definitely didn't affect the making of the album, but, you know, we were trying to take advantage of the situation, because we've been a band for a decade and the whole point, for us, was to play to as many people as possible without compromising. So we put a lot of time and effort into the new record. We've made records in 14 hours before; this one we spent 40 days on.'

Working again with producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse, the band took their time recording El Camino, focusing on the little things.

'When we started the songs, it was completely organic, but once we start going, and we get the foundation done, we really start to concentrate on the little details that sort of make it what it's going to be, because sometimes those little details can be really impactful,' Auerbach told MTV.

We can't stop listening to it. Have a listen for yourself in our player below.

The Black Keys' El Camino Is Here!

Pete — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

This week, the mighty Black Keys gave us an early Christmas present: their seventh lp, El Camino, the follow up to the rightly acclaimed Brothers.

And what a present it is. Already, critics are proclaiming El Camino as right up there with the finest records of the band's career. 'El Camino is the Keys' grandest pop gesture yet,' Rolling Stone wrote, 'augmenting dark-hearted fuzz blasts with sleekly sexy choruses and Seventies-glam flair.' The Guardian, meanwhile, wrote that 'they sound like a band who think they've made the year's best rock'n'roll album, probably because that's exactly what they've done.'

We wholeheartedly concur: El Camino is 38 minutes of pure, thrusting rock and roll, the sound of a band at the height of their powers. Have a listen to a few tracks in our player below.

Watch: Waters – Back To You

Pete — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Here in the Gaga office, it's not uncommon to find us reminiscing about about the abundance of great music that came out of that grand old time known as the 90s, in particular the great, fuzzy, lovably shambolic indie rock that defined the era (for us anyways).

It's a sound we hold very dear to our hearts, and it's one of the many reasons why we're loving WATERS, the new project from former Port O'Brien frontman Van Pierszalowski.

WATERS came together gradually, as Pierszalowski travelled in the wake of Port O'Brien's demise, first to Oslo, then to Alaska and Brooklyn, then back to Oslo again. For his new band, Pierszalowski wanted to create a bigger sound, and Out in the Light, WATERS' great debut lp, is big indeed, filled with catchy, raucous, immediately likeable songs, steeped in the woolly, classic indie rock of yore.

For the new clip for Back To You, the band ramped up the 90s homage a little more, the video heavy on denim jackets and fuzzy footage –– so much so that watching it, we got a little dizzy with nostalgia. Check out the video below, and listen to some more of Out in the Light in our player above.

Guest List: Boys Boys Boys!

Pete — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

We're very happy to announce that Perth synth-pop sextet Boys Boys Boys! have joined Gaga Pub and Gaga Digi.

Boys Boys Boys! started out in 2007 on a lazy afternoon in Perth, when a few friends suddenly decided they would be pop stars –– like Britney, but entirely on their own terms.

Soon enough, said friends moved into a run-down old share-house in north Perth, filling it with every casio keyboard, synth and flea-market student guitar they could find, while still making time for the essentials –– i.e. outfits with sequins.

The music of Boys, Boys, Boys! is a joyous synth-pop assault, steeped in 80s electronica, full of infectious pop hooks and sugary all-girl vocal harmonies.

Since forming four years ago, Boys Boys Boys! have taken their pop dreams to the next level, playing numerous festivals and supporting high-profile international acts around the country.

We're very happy to be putting out the band's two thoroughly excellent releases to date, debut lp Yes! and latest single Casio Joy, both of which are out now on Gaga Digi.

2011 has been a big year for Boys Boys Boys!: they took home a Western Australian Screen Award for Best Music Video for Ticky-Ticky Boom (watch the clip below), and followed up with a national tour in support of Regurgitator.

Boys Boys Boys! are currently back in the kitchen completing the writing of their second album, which is due for release in April 2012. We recently caught up with Koko, one of the band's singers/frontwomen, and asked her about what she's been listening to, her most treasured bit of musical equipment, and what movies everyone should see before they die.

My favourite song right now:

M83: Midnight City.

My current musical obsession:

Everything and anything Warpaint. And the Smiths always and forever <3

A great, under recognized record:

Aquarium by Aqua... haha, not really! Okay maybe... but lets also say The Mavis' Pink Pills, 90s electronic pop ahead of its time.

At the moment, I'm reading:

The comic American Splendor: Our Movie Year by Harvey Pekar, and the graphic novel The Death-Ray by Daniel Clowes.

Three movies everyone should see before they die:

The Breakfast Club
Labyrinth
All of Twin Peaks, the TV series plus the movie too. Best!

My dream collaboration would be:

Fun musical party with CSS, or Uffie girl rap battles. Or Tyler, the Creator for musical muck arounds.

My alternate, non-musical vocation would be:

I would love to be a comic book/zine writer living in Paris, eating macaroons all day, and making short films on the side with my pals David Lynch and Michel Gondry. Wishful thinking ;)

If cash/logistics were no object, I would do a tour of:

Japan! Would be so much fun! Then on to the USA.

The last thing I bought:

Oversized Eazy-E tshirt and silver glitter eyeshadow, for that extra sparkle ;)

Most treasured bit of gear:

My beloved Microkorg synth.

Ideally, I will retire:

When I'm a millionaire, sipping margheritas with my neighbour Kanye. I know. I'm a silly dreamer, haha.

Hey Rosetta Wow Oz, Release Great New Clip For Bandages

Pete — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

After wowing Australian audiences in April this year, Canadian indie-pop six-piece Hey Rosetta are back on Australian shores, supporting The Jezabels on a three week, fourteen-date tour that wraps up this week. Reviews of the shows have been overwhelmingly positive, with the band's renowned, high-energy live show earning them a legion of new fans.

By all accounts, the band are very much enjoying their return trip, overcoming bouts of sunburn, over-priced food and the Qantas strike to take in the country's many and varied delights, even finding time to pop into the studio and lay down some acoustic versions of their songs.

Just before jetting over to Oz, the band released a great, stirring clip for standout single Bandages, from Seeds, their third lp.

The clip, which you can watch below, was lovingly shot in the band's native Newfoundland, on cliff tops, in small apartments, in cafeterias, and alongside tanks full of seals. Kind of makes us want to move to Canada.

The Black Keys Return With New Track, LP

Pete — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The mighty Black Keys are back! It's only been a little more than a year since their last full-length offering, the rightly acclaimed Brothers, but the duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have just gifted us with the first taste of their new lp, El Camino, due out in December.

And what a taste it is: Lonely Boy, the new track, is a great, barnstorming thing, its video making an instant internet sensation of the 48-year-old actor/musician/part-time security guard Derrick T. Tuggle, who gamely and excellently dances solo on the clip. Check it out below:

Update: There's more! The band has just released an awesome trailer for the new record, featuring none other than Bob Odenkirk, one of America's finest comics, best known for his work on Mr Show and Breaking Bad. Check it out below.

The BBC's Zane Lowe also premiered another track from the new lp, Run Right Back, on his show this week. Listen to it here (it starts at 0.29).

Big Scary Release Debut LP, Synced to Grey's Anatomy

Pete — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Big Scary have taken their time bringing us their debut lp. Since forming in 2006, the tireless Melbourne duo have put out a slew of well-received eps and singles, developing a strong following in the process.

Last year, via Gaga Digi, they put out a full length compilation of their seasonal-themed eps; then, earlier this year, one half of the duo, singer/guitarist Tom Iansek, released his first solo lp under the Dads moniker.

Now, on October 7, Big Scary will be releasing Vacation, their hugely awaited debut long player. Recorded in Brisbane with good friend and producer Sean Cook (Yves Klein Blue) and mixed/engineered by Gareth Parton (The Go! Team, Foals, The Breeders), Vacation is a slightly moodier offering than the Four Seasons collection, a series of meditations about the twosome's transient lifestyles. It also represents a bit a departure from the style of recording Tom and Jo were used to, Jo says.

'This time we really considered the song and its composition and instrumentation beforehand,' she says. 'Also we spent a bit of time whilst in the studio mucking around with all the toys available to us –– a Rhodes, pedals, room sounds, a pianet, crazy microphones, different amps, different kits etc. Each sound was thought out a little bit more.'

The album leads off with the immediate, piano-led Mix Tape, which has been on high rotation on Triple J since its release. Check out the awesome clip –– directed by animation whiz Alice Dupre, who was also responsible for their Tuesday Is Rent Day video –– below.

Being a Big Scary release, the album covers a lot of territory, taking in fuzzed out rock, minimal pop, moody balladry and piano driven anthems, the duo moving between styles with their typical dexterity.

'We spent a long time deliberating over whether the album should just go in one direction or the other, but through this process we realised that this is not they way we write,' Tom says. 'We write songs with completely different feels and vibes, and thought that we should try not suppress this too much, and just roll with it.'

Rather enormous second single Gladiator is the sound of a band in complete control of their sound –– and, judging by the clip below, one in possession of a fine sense of humour.

Vacation is out through Big Scary's new label, Pieater. We thoroughly recommend you get your hands on a copy as soon as you can.

In other news, Big Scary landed a great US sync recently, with three of their tracks featured in hit TV show Grey's Anatomy. One of their tracks, Thinking of You, from the Four Seasons lp, was extensively featured in a pivotal scene in a recent episode. Check it out below:

Watch: Oliver Mann's 'Deepest Temple Part 2'

Pete — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Melbourne singer and songwriter Oliver Mann has been a busy man of late. He's just wrapped up a five date residency at the National Gallery of Victoria's After Dark Series, and recently performed one of the title roles in Victorian Opera's baroque production of Bach's The Fight Between Phoebus and Pan.

Now he's just released a new song, Deepest Temple Part 2, and a great, noirish video to match. The clip, which was directed by Alice Glenn, features Oliver as a detective, along with the mysterious E-Wah Lady, who sings from inside an old locket. It's really something. Check it out below:

If all that's not enough, Oliver's heading off on his maiden Japanese tour, a trip that will see him play a host of special shows Tokyo, Kyoto, Himeji, Kobe and Osaka. Check out the awesome poster below:

Laura Jean Gets Electric on New LP

Pete — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

A little while back, we checked in on singer-songwriter Laura Jean, who was busy putting together her much awaited new lp, A Fool Who'll. Now the album is finally here, and it's entirely worth the wait, the new lp finding Laura swapping the acoustic guitar that dominated her first two lps for a Gibson SG, attaining a bigger, more expansive sound while retaining the intimacy and depth that has endeared her to so many.

Inspired by English folk, classic Australian rock, eccentric British pop and American folk rock, Laura says the new album nonetheless sounds like her.

'No matter how hard I try to sound as great as my idols, I always end up sounding like myself, which is good and bad!' she says. 'I think people will be able to pick the English folk influence, as well as the Kate Bush and Elton John influences. The production is going to take philosophical cues from 80s oz rock -- big, sparse sounds and wide landscapes.'

Have a listen to a few tracks in our player below.

A Fool Who'll is out now.

Sync: Real Estate in Roxy Web Spot

Pete — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Rising New Jersey indie rockers and office favourites Real Estate recently had one of the many gems from their 2009 self-titled lp synced to a Roxy web spot.

Released by Woodsist, the Real Estate lp is a thoroughly awesome piece of music –– nimble and smart and surprising, at once familiar and new. Real Estate is an album that rewarded repeat listening, its harmonies and intricacies remaining beautifully evergreen.

It's also music perfect for the beach, as Atlantic City, synced to the Roxy spot below, amply proves.

Real Estate are on Gaga via Rough Trade. Have a listen to a couple of tracks from the album in the player above, and check out their recent cover of the Strokes.

Introducing... The Bandana Splits

Pete — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Over the course of ten years, three albums and an ep, singer-songwriter Dawn Landes has made her name with beautifully sung, country inspired pop. Two years after her latest –– and quite possibly greatest –– lp, 2009's excellent Sweet Heart Rodeo, Landes is lighting out for new territory with new trio The Bandana Splits.

Landes, who was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, but is now based in New York City, became inspired to pursue her love of doo-wop this year after hanging out with friends Lauren Balthrop and Annie Nero. The three quickly became The Bandana Splits, and set about recording an lp with Sam Cohen of Apollo Sunshine.

All songs on the trio's debut lp, Mr. Sam Presents The Bandana Splits, were recorded the old fashioned way: all three girls singing live into one mic, with Mr. Sam handling the instruments.

The album's twelve tracks feature mostly originals, along with a smattering of covers, including a gorgeous rendition of the classic You Don't Have to be a Baby to Cry and an a capella take on a song Lauren's mother learned on her honeymoon. It's an album steeped in the classic 50s and 60s pop of outfits like The Ronettes, The Caravelles and The Andrews Sisters, but one thoroughly possessed of its own spark and charm. Have a listen to couple of tracks in our player above.

The trio recently released the first video from the lp, for the infectious, swooning single Sometimes, in which the trio play Brooklyn soda jerks who transform their shop after hours into a buzzing concert hall. Filmed at Brooklyn's famed Farmacy, it's a pitch perfect recreation of the era to which the Splits pay homage. Check it out below.

The Bandana Splits are on Gaga via Touch Tones. Mr. Sam Presents The Bandana Splits is out August 16 on Boy Scout Recordings. Pick up a physical copy here, or a digital copy here.

Wye Oak Release Incredible Record, Join Gaga

Pete — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

We're very happy to welcome to the Gaga Pub fold Baltimore duo Wye Oak, via our good friends at Spunk. Wye Oak's most recent lp, Civilian, is very close to our favourite record of 2011 so far. As you can hear in our player below, it's a perfect winter record: noisy and cathartic, but thoroughly immediate and familiar. We can't stop listening to it.

Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack started making music together back in 2006, recording demos in a basement. It didn't stay in the basement for very long: after self-releasing their first lp, If Children, in 2007, the band was signed to legendary indie Merge records, who, like the rest of us, were totally taken with the duo's sound.

Then, as now, said sound coheres around the incredible interplay between Wasner and Stack: Wasner's strikingly unconventional songs and effortlessly evocative voice backed by Stack's heady, elegantly layered instrumentation. Wye Oak's wonderfully idiosyncratic songs often make exquisite use of loud, distorted textures, beneath which lie a wealth of sonic detail.

Wye Oak's music combines the of earthiness of folk, the textures of shoegaze and the dynamics of classic indie rock, while subverting the norms of each. A careful listen to Civilian reveals that only one of the songs has a chorus, the album's inimitable ebb and flow recalling something Mike Watt once said about the Minutemen’s music: 'We don’t write songs, we write rivers.'

It's a landscape few other bands have mapped, and one remarkable for the fact that only two people created it.

Wye Oak released their second lp, The Knot, in 2009. Like the records before and after it, The Knot hinted at the band's many inspirations –– the Cocteau Twins here, Sonic Youth there, moments of Crazy Horse and Fleetwood Mac –– managing, all the while, to sound close and familiar, while remaining impossible to pin down.

Civilian is perhaps the band's most accomplished album yet. Which isn't to say it was easy to make. 'This album was completely a lifeline for me,' Wasner said of writing and recording the duo's third lp. 'I don’t know how I would have made it through without it. It’s pretty much all I did that summer [of 2010] –– sit in my little room and write songs.'

The result is a thoroughly cathartic, confessional collection of songs about the uncertainty and freedom that comes with change. 'This is the most emotionally direct set of songs that I’ve heard Jenn write,' Stack says. 'I think she’s a little uncomfortable with that, but it sure is nice for anyone who listens to them.'

The record has earned unanimous critical acclaim: The Onion A.V. Club wrote that the album sees 'Wye Oak’s astral drone... blossom on a richer, fuller, and more extroverted bouquet of luminous melodies', while Dusted said the new lp shows the band 'can be serious without being overbearing, evocative without being histrionic, and accessible without being derivative.' We concur.

Check out the great video for Fish, from Civilian, above, and pick up a copy of the album over at iTunes.

Hammocks & Honey Join Gaga, Answer A Bunch Of Questions

Pete — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

We're very happy to welcome to the fold Melbourne electronic-pop duo Hammocks and Honey. Hammocks & Honey came together in 2009, the meeting of classically-trained-cellist-turned-synth obsessive Prudence Rees-Lee and multi-instrumentalist Alex Nosek, of experimental electronic outfit ii.

Hammocks & Honey's rich, enveloping sound combines baroque chord progressions with hypnotic, pulsating beats, tropical percussion and the purest of pop sensibilities –– all wrapped in a cloud of strawberry-scented smoke.

Hammocks & Honey's early demos caught the attention of blogs far and wide: they were the first Australian band to be featured on Altered Zones, who dubbed their sound 'extra beautiful and totally intriguing,' while Rose Quartz included them in their best of 2010 honour roll.

Hammocks & Honey's debut ep, the aptly named Spellbinder, was released in 2010 on gold vinyl through Special Award Records, and is now out on iTunes via Gaga Digi. A mesmerising and sure-footed 20 minutes of ethereal pop, Spellbinder takes in treated island sounds, Balearic pop touches and spacious atmospherics, all of it cohering around Rees-Lee's beautiful, breathy voice. Have a listen to a couple of tracks below.

We recently caught up with Prudence and asked her about what she's listening to, her dream collaborations, and what she'd be doing if she wasn't making music.

My favourite song right now:

Parallelograms by Linda Perhacs.

My current musical obsession:

Easy listening instrumental covers.

A great, under recognized record:

An Electric Storm by White Noise, the first album for a band that came out from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the 60s; the band included Delia Derbyshire, who arranged the original Dr. Who theme, and is just amazingly awesome!

At the moment, I'm reading:

The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White, but so far I'm not into it.

Three movies everyone should see before they die:

The Party, Close To You: Remembering the Carpenters, and Seventh Seal.

My dream collaboration would be:

I think we're lucky enough to work with some of our dream collaborators already. I really love Lucas Grogan's work and he did the artwork for our LP, and I'm excited to work with him again on a dance piece with my other dream collaborator, Michael Pegum, who is a very beautiful dancer and choreographer.

My alternate, non-musical vocation would be:

An aromatherapist.

If cash/logistics were no object, I would do a tour of:

Switzerland!

The last thing I bought:

A coffee.

Most treasured bit of gear:

Alex's Dad left him a Roland Jupitor 8 which we haven't used yet because it needs a bit of repair to make it more reliable, but it's the favourite! Also my cello, which is from Poland and I was lucky enough to be given in the last year of high school. I've been playing the same instrument for 10 years now; it has a beautiful, comforting woody/rosin smell, a wonderful warm tone and feels like home.

Ideally, I will retire:

When it's time.

Hammocks and Honey have just put out an ep of Spellbinder remixes, featuring reworkings by Fatti Frances, Collarbones, Hidden Suns and Faux Pas. Have a listen below.

Big Scary, Winterpark, Kate Martin on New Offspring Soundtrack

Pete — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The newly released soundtrack to the second series of Channel Ten's hit Melbourne series Offspring is flush with Gaga artists, with Big Scary, Winterpark, Kate Martin, The Black Keys and Magic Silver White all making appearances, along with John Lee (aka Mountains in the Sky) who composed the series soundtrack.

Big Scary, who are currently finishing up their much awaited new lp, had their early hit Falling Away remixed by Brooklyn-based DJ Jacques Renault, who delivers a great, nu-disco take on the barnstorming original.

Winterpark, meanwhile, had their beautiful track Never Alone, from their 2008 lp One Night Alone, featured heavily in the show, which led to it becoming the #1 track on iTunes' electronic chart. Winterpark's new album, Sunday Morning, is out July 19. (More on them below.)

The soundtrack, which was put together by our friends at Level Two Music and is currently selling like hotcakes over at iTunes, also features Kate Martin's wonderful Lua, The Black Keys' hit single Tighten Up, and Doowah, the sublime first single from bliss-pop maestros Magic Silver White. Have a listen in the player below.

Composer John Lee, who composed the soundtrack for season 1, also wrote the music for season 2, and one of his tracks, Nina's Bath Time, also appears on the soundtrack.

The Offspring soundtrack is out now on iTunes, and will be released on CD later this week.

Winterpark Launch New Album With Exhibition

It's been a big month for Winterpark's Matt Ridgway, what with rising to the top of the iTunes electronic charts and putting out his first album in three years. If that's not enough, he's also putting on an exhibition, in which 14 local and international artists offer creative responses to each of his new album's fourteen tracks.

The exhibition will include a range of disciplines, including photography, painting, new media and installation, and takes place over three days from July 21 to 23 at the Dear Patti Smith Gallery in Smith Street, Collingwood.

On the opening night, Winterpark will preview tracks from Sunday Morning live from 7.30pm. For all the details on the exhibition, including all the artists participating, head over to Winterpark's Facebook.

O'Death Join Gaga

Pete — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PUBLISHING: We're very happy to welcome New York quintet O'Death to the Gaga Pub fold O'Death, via the good folk at Bankrobber Music and House of Hassle. O'Death are a band that defy easy categorisation –– their unique brand of raw, raucous folk rock combines, as the New York Times wrote, 'the starkness and spiritual purity of Appalachian folk, the menace of punk and the rowdy theatricality of Tom Waits, jumbling sacred and profane.'

In 2010, O'Death released their third lp, the remarkable Outside, which came after a trying period in which the band's drummer, David Rogers-Berry, lost his fiance and was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, eventually undergoing ten months of chemotherapy and a shoulder reconstruction.

The band returned in mid 2010 with a show-stopping set at the Newport Folk Festival, before heading into the studio to record Outside. 'It changed the band somewhat,' singer/guitarist Greg Jamie said of the period recently. 'Maybe it made us switch gears at first, and I think it turned us inward somewhat, which ended up being a really healthy strong evolution for this project.'

Outside is a formidable record –– the sound of a band putting more focus on melody and song construction without sacrificing any of the wildness and energy that has endeared them to so many.

'It used to be when we'd write a song, we'd be thinking about how it would be perceived in the live setting, because that was our bread and butter,' Rogers-Berry says of the new record.

'This time, we were writing songs and thinking about how they would be perceived on home stereos. I think it's a much more pleasant listening experience. I'm proud of our older records, but this one isn't an attempt to capture our live thing.'

That live thing, as anyone who has seen them will attest, is a fearsome and remarkable phenomenon –– the band's barely contained wild energy spiraling off into places few bands alive can match. On Outside, though, O'Death have a record that showcases their formidable talents as players and songwriters.

Have a listen to a couple of tracks from Outside in our player above, and check out the video for standout track Bugs below.

We're very happy to have them on board.