Archive for the ‘Featured Artist’ Category

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Shake Your Booty With JJJ’’s Hercules In NY

Friday, June 27th, 2008

This week Musicadium has decided to copy JJJ and make their unearthed feature artist of the week ours too! But with damn good reason. These boys from Melbourne will have you dancing up a storm – you can take your pick from the ever popular 1980s ‘running man’ all the way through to an entire mind and body artistic interpretation. But no matter what you dancing style may be, it’s impossible not to bop along to their catchy yet credible electro-pop.

Sarah was lucky enough to catch up with the boys for a chat about 80s cartoons, funky mo-hawked punters and the process of shakin’ your booty.

Congrats on having your single ‘I Came Alive’ featured on JJJ unearthed.

Thankyou. We are absolutely stoked to hear it out there.

What are some Australian acts that you are excited about?

The Galvatrons give us a red-cordial rush whenever we see them. They make us feel like we’re five again and we’ve got up extra early Saturday morning, snuck a box of cocopops out of the cupboard and have settled in for a whole morning of cartoons like Transformers, Thundercats and Voltron.

If you could collaborate with any musician (living or dead) who would it be?

We’ve got some different opinions among us on this one!

Given the opportunity, Ant would love to collaborate with Kid Koala. He literally opened his mind to a new interpretation of music and song-writing. He’s not sure exactly how we would collaborate but he’d give it a try.

Marto would love for Hercules in NY to do collaboration with Kelis. Marto says she is one of the best female pop singers of his short life. “Caught out There”, that pop track with a furious Kelis railing at men “I hate you so much right now” not only introduced him to the Neptunes but also the incredibly subversive rawness of her female anger fascinates him in that song. However generally its more her laid back funky side that Marto is attracted to.

Where would you love to play a gig? Have you ever played at any unorthodox venues?

This one’s a little hard. Our ideal venue has a good live feel with a big sound, but also plenty of room for people to shake their behinds. Maybe The Palace in Melbourne (formerly Metro) because it encompasses both those ideals. Whenever we’ve played festivals in the past, they’ve proven ideal, as it’s an open and free area and everyone is supercharged from the atmosphere.

As per unorthodox venues, it depends on your definition of unorthodox. Probably playing “Bang”, a hardcore and punk night in Melbourne was the most idiosyncratic gig we played. We cleared the room, despite one funky punter with a mohawk and chain from his nose who seemed to really dig it.

We’d also love to hire out a truck and drive around Melbourne playing gigs out the back until the cops tell us to move on.

Are there any instruments or pieces of equipment that you’d love to master or experiment with?

Ant says: My personal desire is to have at least one solo per gig on a Keytar. Something powerful like the Roland Ax-1 or Ax-7. I’ve always wanted to fit in with the always popular guitarists and bass players.

Marto says: Serato, I’d love to sample people before a gig on an mp3 recorder and then scratch what they say live that night.

What has been the best live show that you have seen and why?

Ant says: Daft Punk. Last Year. Myer Music Bowl. For two blissful hours in my life, I felt 100% content. It was the perfect synthesis of audio and visual elements, I can’t endeavour to explain it any better than that!
Marto says: I saw Hexstatic do a massive VJ show, followed by Amon Tobin go absolutely crazy on the BPM’s mixing hard jazzy dnb with anything he could get his hands on.

What are your plans for the next few months? Any plans to come up to sunny QLD?

We are focusing on recording some new songs we have in the works, and look at having a product on the digital shelves before the end of the year.

We just went to sunny Darwin for the Bass in the Grass festival…we would love to come to sunny Q’ld too. We will be doing some shows later in the year to coincide with our release, so we hope to see you up there!

You are known for having a great time on stage and for dancing up a storm – how should one dance to Hercules in NY?

“Like No One is Watching!” especially considering none of us are terribly good dancers. Or…..like they did in the 1980’s – the ‘run on the spot’ dance. Or….maybe you could hang out for some type of cue from the music, allegorical or otherwise, and try and interpret it through body movements. We really don’t have it down to a science. Not yet!

Thanks so much for your time! Can’t wait to hear more great stuff from you guys!

Cheers and Thank YOU! – Hercules in NY

Check them out at JJJ

http://www.triplejunearthed.com/Artists/

Available on itunes
Hercules in NY - Nightlight - Single - Nightlight

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Sell Out Crowd For Brissie’s Own Kate Bradley

Friday, June 20th, 2008

It is with the utmost of pride that we feature Brisbane’s very own Kate Bradley as our Musicadium artist of the week. This year Kate was invited to showcase her unique brand of rock ‘n’ roll at the infamous South by South West festival in Austin, Texas and has just released her album, ‘The Deeper the Sand’, which is proudly distributed by Musicadium. Her name is synonymous with powerful and engaging rock music that is difficult to pigeon-hole, so we won’t attempt to as her music speaks (or rather sings) for itself. Keep you eyes and ears on Kate Bradley – because the world is taking notice of this local girl, and with extremely good reason.

Firstly, Congratulations on your album, ‘The Deeper the Sand’. You played a sold-out show at the Troubadour in Brisbane to celebrate, how did that go?

Thank you. The launch was sold out and I was most stoked about the turn-out and support.
It was a special night and everything just went smoothly. I have a great band supporting me now. They are all just incredibly talented musicians and we have so much fun together, and I think that allowed the show to just be that much more exciting and enjoyable.

You have been compared to PJ Harvey, Cat Power and other highly successful and influential artists, who were you listening to when you were a teenager?

Well I got into PJ Harvey when I was 13 and Cat Power in my twenties. I hadn’t really heard of Cat Power and then someone said I sounded like her. So, I gave her a listen and really liked her music.
I don’t really know if these artists are my most influential but people seem to say this all the time. Women are always compared to other female artist. I actually grew up listening to David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, The Ramones, Kate Bush, U2 and Fleetwood Mac. What really influences me in my writing is just my day-to-day experiences on the planet. But we can’t help but look for the familiar and draw comparisons with things.

Who do you feel are some exciting artists that are emerging as we speak?

• The Westministers (ed. Note - also distributed by Musicadium!)
• The Art of State

You were recently invited to perform at SXSW festival in Texas this year, how was that experience?

SXSW was one of the best experiences in my life. It was hard-work but really rewarding. I have more connections with US and UK music representatives then I do here. I found the US and UK industry people really approachable and interested in what I was doing. We had a ball playing the shows.
I love the USA so it just was such fun! I got to see my sister who lives there too. Anyone who gets selected for SXSW should go. I had great support from AUSTRADE too. All my shows were packed and well received.

Who were your favourite artists that you saw perform there?

• Martha Wainwright
• Paul Kelly
• Nada Surf

Where would your ideal venue be to play?

Love to play the Tivoli and at The Dandy Warhol’s pad in Portland.

What are your plans for the next few months in terms of touring?

We will be performing regionally in QLD and NSW and then down to Melbourne in August (22-24)
I guess I’m also looking at doing more things OS too if possible.

Thanks so much for your time, Kate.

Check out Kate’s album, ‘The Deeper the Sand’ and see for yourself why she has been named by local and international music industry professionals as an artist to watch.

Kate Bradley

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‘The Sea Shall Not Have Them’ But Musicadium Does…

Friday, June 13th, 2008

Instrumental music is sometimes met with resistance by music-loving punters, but local Brissie/Gold Coast act, ‘The Sea Shall Not Have Them’ are turning heads and swaying opinions with their lush, cinematic and yet at times totally rock-n-roll soundscapes. Toted by local street press as the ‘outfit to watch’, we are proud to feature the primarily instrumental act ‘The Sea Shall Not Have Them’ as our feature artists this week. The duo’s debut EP ‘Traces’ is distributed by Musicadium, and we are highly impressed with this journey into their beautiful, sound-driven world.

Curt Emerton who is responsible for the guitars, bass and all other sound effects took the time to answer some questions for us on Pink Flloyd, music as a therapeutic experience, and even the possibility of kazoos making an appearance on the next album.

There has been a lot of resistance to instrumental music in the popular arena, why do you think that is? Do you see this changing?

Curt Emerton (guitars / bass / noises) – Most people want a simple melody and and a lyric to hang their hearts on, and that’s cool. I love that too. But I think the acceptance for instrumental music is growing. Certainly seeing an instrumental act live, an obvious example being Mogwai, can change your perception about the need for lyrics. It was really heartening to see Explosions In The Sky sell out The Zoo earlier this year. I’m in no way comparing us to them, but you look around and think “wow, people are really into this”. Instrumental music is more of a visceral experience. It really feels that way to me anyway – playing it and listening to it.

What would be your favourite instrumental track of all time?

CE – That’s a really tough question. It would change every week. From the past, the version of “A Saucerful Of Secrets” from Pink Floyd’s “Live In Pompeii” is pretty hard to top. Technically, there IS singing, but David Gilmour is using his voice more as an instrument than trying to get his point across through words. More recently, I am loving a song called “Controle” (sic) by a New Zealand band called Jakob.

If you could collaborate with any vocalist (living or dead) who would you choose?

CE – Jeff Buckley was an amazing vocalist and could suit some of the stuff I am currently demoing. Robert Smith would be another one, although his voice is so instantly recognisable, people would immediately think it’s a new Cure song.

What drew you to creating instrumental music rather than vocal-based music?

CE –The material that is on “Traces” really lent itself to having no vocals. I initially had a hard time convincing even Mat (Wilton – drums/percussion) about the instrumental direction of “Traces”. But it wasn’t a conscious decision to head this way, it kind of just happened. But as we write and play new material, it now just feels comfortable doing it this way. People come and see you, and by the second song, they get where you are coming from. If anything, it allows them to focus on the music more too. But, and I’ve said this before, we’re not saying we’ll never use vocals. You never know…

You have mentioned that the EP ‘Traces’ has a lot of parallels to a life-changing experience that occurred in your personal life. Do you sometimes find music that you have written about an emotional time difficult to listen to or do you feel that the whole process is cathartic and therapeutic?

CE – The process is more cathartic and therapeutic I think. Weirdly enough, given some of the emotional ties to some of the “Traces” material, the songs are a lot of fun to play live. It’s weird balancing act. While you never forget the origins of the songs, you have to move on from those feelings too. Otherwise, you’ll go around in circles.

Where would your ideal venue and location be to play at?

CE – I’ve always loved the Tivoli. It’s a great room and the crowd capacity is just right. Doing something really left of centre would be cool, like playing in a cave! Anywhere where there is a good room and pa, I am more than happy.

And finally, are there any really strange or exotic instruments that you would love to experiment with? Can we expect to hear some kazoo’s on the next album?

CE – I haven’t thought of using a kazoo. That’d be very cool, filtering it through massive washes of delay. I guess a sitar would nice to fool around on too. Something about the sound of those things really gets to me. I’d love to use a toy piano on something. Any instrument in the right situation can work. Mat has some exotic drums at home, and I think he is quietly itching to break out some of those. But I just love playing guitar so much, even though I’m an average player. I’m still pretty keen to see what sounds I can wrestle out of that.


Check out The Sea Shall Not Have Them at www.myspace.com/theseashallnothavethem

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Australia’s Got Talent And His Name Is Glenn Amer

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

After being mesmerised by his performance on popular TV show, ‘Australia’s Got Talent’, we are excited to feature the classically trained virtuoso pianist and vocalist Glenn Amer – whose musical career has taken him to nearly every corner of the globe and has seen him perform live to crowds of over 20 000 people.

Musicadium is extremely proud to distribute two of Glenn’s albums – ‘Sincerely Yours’ and ‘A Personal Collection’ – both of which are as diverse as they are entertaining. Featuring tracks such as, ‘Clancy of the Overflow’, ‘Because Of You’, and even a tribute to the always-entertaining Liberace, Glenn has found himself with a dedicated International following and a number of fascinating stories to share. I was lucky enough to catch up with him and hear about stories of concerts in caves, glissando injuries and mistaken identities.

Your repertoire extends from playing J.S. Bach on an organ to playing Burt Bacharach love ballads, do you have a favourite song that you love to perform?

My problem is that I love too many different styles of music – if that can be described as a problem. But I’ll pin my favourite song as being “Laura” -written in 1944 as the theme for the film of the same name.

You have travelled and performed extensively, including visits to China, Japan, India, New Zealand, Fiji, American Samoa, Mexico, Hawaii, Canada, Alaska and all over Australia. Which audience have you found to be the most receptive to your work? Have you played in any unorthodox locations?

The most receptive audiences I have are generally Australians and Americans. They really love hearing music performed live and I am always grateful when people take the time to write to me and express how they have felt after one of my performances.

Perhaps one of the most unusual venues I’ve performed in would be the Jenolan Caves – a few hours drive over the Blue Mountains in Sydney. The caves are spectacular – an underground magical world. Of course it’s a little difficult to get a grand piano into the caves, so on those occasions I’ve used a keyboard.

You have collaborated with so many brilliant musicians throughout your career. If you could collaborate with any musician (alive or dead) who would it be?

Where do I begin? There are so many singers I would have loved to work with. The American Soprano, Helen Traubel (1899-1972) had a voice of such amazing warmth and power. The great tenor Jan Peerce (1904-1984) is another one of my favourites. I tried to write to Jan Peerce when I was a kid; unfortunately my letter was returned with the information that he had only just passed away. I’d have loved to have met the Australian composer/pianist Percy Grainger (1882-1961) – I’ve been fortunate to have played some of his pianos. A few more, Liberace and Robert Goulet…Robert Goulet was very kind to me and encouraging to me early in my solo career, but unfortunately I never met him in person.

Your piano-playing style is at times very technically demanding - have you ever sustained any injuries while playing? Have you ever played until your fingers have bled?

Not till my fingers have bled so much, but I do often lose a layer of skin on the top of my index finger because of my glissandi! And that’s painful!

I hear that you were once mistaken for celebrity Chef Iain Hewittson and you ended up signing his autograph for a fan!

That’s very true. It was at a winery so perhaps the vino added to the confusion!

Musicadium is extremely proud to feature the very talented and entertaining Glenn Amer as our feature artist this month. He performs in Brisbane at the City recital hall with Yvonne Kenny on June 29 and we look forward to catching some of those dangerous glissandos in action.

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Aussie Bush Legend Joins Musicadium

Monday, May 19th, 2008

This month, Musicadium’s feature artist is the self-described ‘Old Bushy from Alice Springs’ – Ted Egan. A prolific and experienced songwriter who has recently finished recording his 26th album, Ted sings songs of the Australian ethos and way of life.

Intrigued by Ted’s background, we did a little digging and found that the humble Ted has been awarded a number of accolades for his musical and public service contributions, including the Order of Australia (AM) in 1991 for services to the Aboriginal people and for ‘an ongoing contribution to the literary heritage of Australia through song and verse’. He was also a member of the first National Reconciliation Council and served as Administrator of the Northern Territory from 2003 to 2007.

Apart from his musical and public service achievements, Ted has also written nine books and was the presenter for the 13-part documentary series, ‘This Land Australia.’ He also appeared on ‘Enough Rope’ with Andrew Denton in August of 2004 where he wowed the audience with his distinctly Aussie balladeering.

Musicadium is proud to be distributing some of Ted’s best work including; ‘The Land Downunder’, ‘I.O.U.’, ‘The Drovers Boy’, ‘The Overlanders’, ‘The Shearers’, ‘The Aboriginals’, ‘The Convicts’, ‘The Urapanga Frog’, ‘The Anzacs’ and ‘The Very Best Of Ted Egan’.

We are extremely excited to have a national treasure as part of the Musicadium team and look forward to some true-blue sing-a-longs around the Musicadium office.

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Featured Artists: Ranger

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Being great fans of Ranger (they played at our launch party!) we are profiling Cam from Ranger this week.

Cover Art

 iTunes

Q. What styles and influences are on your latest album?

Styles and influences accumulate over time ..is very hard to pinpoint anyone
in particular.

Q. What inspires you? What makes you wake up and think “wow that really
matters?”, what makes you want to write songs that make people sit down and
think?

Random acts inspire.I try not to think about anything and sometimes and only
sometimes an idea will come.Try to hard and there usually crap.

Q. How did you come up with your band name?

Saw it on the side of a truck.

Q. What’s your favourite song to play?

Wise up.

Q. How long of you been playing your instruments/singing and did you
take lessons?

Been playing guitar since i was eight !Yes had an amazing guitar teacher for
5 years in high school .Taught me how to teach myself! Been singing for two
years.

Q. Any new influences that you will be drawing into your next release?

Whatever happens.

Q. What’s your favourite colour?

Blue

Q. What kind of instruments do you use?

I use guitars . I fucking love guitars!

Q. Why did you choose Musicadium to digitally distribute your music?

Cos Nick is a cool man with a plan. I like people who put it on the line. Musicadium
does that!

Q. Do you have a day/square job as well as music? If so what is it?

Composing music for film and TV.

Q. When did you first know that creating music was for you?

Still not sure.( or just really bad memory)

Q. The best thing about being an artist is?

sleeping

Q. What are you listening to right now?

arcade fire, band of horses, Lee Dorsey.

Q. When will be releasing your next album?

later in year maybe.

Q.
How did you get exposure?

Too long in the sun.

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Musicadium Artist Casey Barnes Goes To No. 1 In The UK’s Upfront Pop and Club Charts!

Friday, February 1st, 2008

Fantastic news through this morning! Musicadium artist Casey Barnes’ track ‘Tiny Dancer’ produced by Marco Demark has just hit No. 1 in the UK’s Upfront Pop and Club Charts.

This is an incredible achievement for the talented Casey and as one of Musicadium’s first signings we feel very proud to be associated with him.

Check out Casey’s Myspace here:

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Musicadium Artist Profile: Vahrzaw

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Musicadium interviews one of our first signed up artists, death metal Melbourne band, Vahrzaw.

Q. What styles and influences are on your latest album?
Scott[S]: Well, there’s the obvious black and death metal style with a few thrash riffs. As far as influences go, mine would be the early 90s death metal and 2nd wave of black metal, primarily the Norwegian scene. The newer metal is far too generic to influence me and is somewhat soulless.
George[G]: Styles – Black Metal, Death Metal, and Thrash. Influences – See our MySpace page.

Q. What did you think of the last Harry Potter book?
G: Harry Who? I don’t read kids books.

VAHRZAW

Vahrzaw

(more…)

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Musicadium Artist Profile: Casey Barnes

Friday, January 18th, 2008

Musicadium takes some time out to have a chat with Musicadium Gold Coast based singer-songwriter Casey Barnes.

Q. What styles and influences are on your latest album?
Its a real mix this album I guess… some more up tempo rock tracks, but also some laid back ballads as well… I’m pretty confident that this is the strongest album I’ve done to date.

Q. What inspires you? What makes you wake up and think “wow that really matters?” what makes you want to write songs that make people sit down and think?
I just think it’s such a great job to be able to wake up and share music with people on a day to day basis…whether is be 5 people in a lounge room or 8000 in a concert. I hope when they listen to my stuff it puts a smile on their face… I don’t know how to explain it but music just seems to connect on so many levels no matter what mood you’re in. That’s probably one of the main things I love about it! (more…)

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Musicadium Artist Profile: Pete Hawkes

Friday, January 4th, 2008

This month Musicadium profiles one of Musicadium’s first artists to sign up, Pete Hawkes.

Q. What styles and influences are on your latest album?
The Pete Hawkes/Phil Emmanuel album (lost souls entwined) is very different to anything I have done so far and is an errie/spooky kind of album, a dedication to the lost musical greats who were never known in their time, people such as Nick Drake, Eva Cassidy, Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton who were ‘famous’ only after death. The music has a bit of Nick in the acoustic guitars, Danny and Roy in the electric styles, played by Phil Emmanuel, especially the volume swells on the electric but its a completely new blend.

The Hawkes/Swarbrick album (which is a re- release of an old Festival records album with ou ttakes and some of Swarbricks arrangements that never saw the light of day) is the session we did at Ian Blakes Blue Bear Studio’s which is my folk stuff, written in my own style, using alternate tunings mainly and unusual hooks and melodies although on several tracks you get Swarbricks lilting, idiosyncratic fiddle style that really ended up being THE folk fiddle style that came out of the UK and was prominent on Fairport Convention & Martin Carthy’s albums and many more. He did a very good job on Jemimma’s lullaby and Reuben’s Fancy I thought. The later was his title; he fell in love with my border collie (Reuben) and gave him the tune. (more…)

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