Musicadium Blog

How would you describe Sietta’s sound to someone that hasn’t listened to you yet?
James Rolling basslines, synths, banging beats and soulful harmonies…that kinda sums it up. 

Your music is a combination of blues, funk and electronica, what musicians have influenced your style the most?
Caiti.b We’re both big fans of blues greats such as Big Mama Thorton, Etta James, Little Walter and Jimi Hendrix.   We’re also both huge 90s kids so we love TLC, Aaliyah, Busta Rhymes, Jay Z, Method Man (actually anything wu-tang)… The Spice Girls and most pop one-hit-wonders.
James My favourite producer is RZA, not particularly for his beats but more for his philosophies.  Everyone in Hip Hop should read the Wu-Manual, it’s classic!  I’m also big into synths (obviously) and dig that UK sound a lot, lately I’ve been learning Sam Cooke tracks on this wurly I borrowed.
Caiti.b Both of us dig our hip hop, soul, grunge and pop.

You have been compared to the likes of Portishead and Groove Armada, how does that feel?
Caiti.b Pretty good! They’re such awesome bands to be compared to and we’re really flattered. Our first ever song written together was straight up dark trip hop. And our EP has that trip hop vibe, especially in Silence and Come Back.
James On our full length record, we’ll definitely take it to those realms. Although our love of bangin hip hop may dominate…

You recently performed ‘Number One’ with TZU at The Opening of the Adelaide Fringe Festival as well as at a number of their own shows around the country. How did that come about and what was that like?
Caiti.b James has being playing bass for TZU for the past year and used to show the boys our tunes. I’ve been a fan of the guys for quite some time and was stoked when we were able to record our debut EP with Count Bounce. It was around that time the boys wanted to remix their whole computer love record and number one was my favourite track. So we did the remix and then we performed it live with them… In Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. That Fringe Festival was crazy! I’ve never been on stage in front of so many people!
James I think we’ve had opportunities to play around just by getting out and doing it.  We got the Urthboy supports when we scored a gig in Sydney at a local night and we contacted Urthboy letting him know we were in town around the same time as his single launch and he gave us the Sydney and Melbourne supports.  I think the best way to travel with music around Australia is to find out who you like and respect in the industry and hit them up….they can only say Yes or No.

You are playing the Digital Love Musicdium Showcase on the 3rd of October at Barsomas in Brisbane, what can the audience expect from your live show?
James The audience can expect to see (and hear) quite a party set. Most of our night is up beat and pretty slamming with a few moments where we break it down. We both love that club element of music that gets a crowd rockin.

What can fans expect next from Sietta?
James We’ve just finished a remix for Urthboy. We hope it’ll be available soon, it’s of the track “spitshine” so keep an ear to the streets.
Caiti We also have a new project in the pipeline called F.T.F.T which stands for From The Fish Tank. Hopefully you’ll all know about that soon enough.
James We’re in the process of finishing our full length album which will be written between Melbourne, Darwin, Brisbane and even Alice Springs.  We hope to finish it by March next year.

Check out their amazing music on or befriend them on MySpace.

Musicadium’s WITH DIGITAL LOVE (not to be confused with Yves Klein Blue’s new single) showcases at BarSoma have scored their first prime-time, Saturday night blowout.  Digital Music Aggregators Musicadium are curating the entertainment for the evening, from go to whoa, so wear some comfortable dancing shoes, it’s going to be a long one.

3 bands, including Melbourne’s trip-hop duo Sietta, Brisbane’s wonderfully theatrical Felinedown and hometown rapper Castel will begin the evening before 3 DJs close out the evening - keeping it in the Digital Distributor family, Musicadium intern DJ Jane Doe and Musicadium friends Will Timmins and DuaneMC will see the party out until the early hours of the morning - closing time, to be exact.

Formed in 2007, Sietta is a two piece consisting of the electronic production of James Mangohig (Yamez) and the singing of caiti.b.  The name ‘Sietta’ is derived from 7 in Spanish and Etta James.  Hailing from as far afield as Darwin and Brisbane but now settled in Melbourne, these two friends share a rich musical connection anchored in the belief that music should be powerful.  Their delightful trip-hop can be found at http://www.myspace.com/siettamusic.

Felinedown seem to be the Brisbane music reviewer’s delight to write about, with reviews such as this from 4ZzZ “On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say this show was somewhere between ‘OMG!’ and ‘F**k Yeah!’ with a dash of ‘keep your eye on this band’ thrown in for good measure.” Lead singer Brodie gets some love from Rave Magazine as well - “Sex-on-legs singer Brodie Wright draws everyone’s attention with her seductive presence and strong vocals, most prominently on the deliciously sleazy grind of Magazine Dream.” Their Garbage/Goldfrapp-inspired sound can be found at http://www.myspace.com/felinedown.

Part producer, part inventor, Castel is the antidote to hip-hop mediocrity.  In 2007, Castel’s unique blend of electronic sounds and hip-hop styles caught the attention of music industry experts, including Amber Zada (Manager of Sneaky Sound System), Scott Stewart (MCM Entertainment), Susanna Santos (Roadshow Music) and Mike Campbell (Universal Music) who selected him as the winner of the Coca-Cola Live ‘N Local Unsigned Queensland competition.   He can be found at http://www.myspace.com/castelonline.

Jane Doe is no newcomer to the Brisbane indie-electro scene.  She has spent the past few months injecting the Brisbane night life with her distinctive blend of indie remixes, electro trash, mash ups and crazy hip hop beats.  She is giving away her latest demo at http://www.myspace.com/janedoedj.   Will Timmins spins breaks and house tunes while DuaneMC will finish the night out.

The Showcase is $10 entry as it is every Saturday at BarSoma and starts at 9pm.  Doors close at 4am.  It is an 18+ event.  Tickets are available only at the door.  For more information, see the event invite at http://www.facebook.com/musicadium.

Last thursday night, in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, an electro storm brewed. The results: Bar Soma was rocked by Musicadium artists Foxx on Fire and The Cityscape riot and soon-to-be Musicadium artists Spider8!

Spider8 were first on the bill for the evening - an early technical glitch in the set was quickly overcome and Seal, Cam and Justyn went on to rock 6 of their bangin’ tunes, interspersed and beatmatched with fantastic tracks by the Presets, Daft Punk and Mr Oizo. Numerous fans in the crowd were spotted wearing shirts that said - “SUPREME LISTENING - SPIDER8 IS HERE TO AUDIO”.  Nice! Check them out on MySpace and Facebook.

Joseph from the CityScape Riot was going solo last night, his drummer unable to play - but he rocked out by himself, drawing comparisons to Cut Copy. It was amazing to see one person making so many different noises and sounds! Check out The Cityscape Riot on MySpace, Facebook and

Then, on came the headliner, the main attraction for the evening, Foxx on Fire.  The crowd moved on the stage and suddenly, the entire dancefloor was filled with moving bodies!  Foxx on Fire belted out tracks such as Polizia & No Love in the City and finished with our favourite, Mission Abort. Thank you Paul, Geno, James and Eddie for making the trip up from Melbourne.  We loved having you!!  Check out Foxx on Fire on MySpace, Facebook and on

It’s only one day away till our fantastic Musicadium Electro showcase at Brisbane’s BarSoma!

We have two more dates booked in at BarSoma for now, (with most definitely more to come after that!) so we are on the hunt for artists to play at our future showcases!

The next two showcases are on Thursday nights as well - May 21st and 23rd July 2009.

If you would like to be considered for these showcase nights in the future, (remembering that we try to theme our showcases, so it may be subject to appropriateness for the night!).  We will keep a database of artists who are interested in playing, so register your interest for the future!  We cannot promise a gig to you, but we will definitely put you in our ‘interested’ database, which puts you on deck for sure!

Send an email with the subject line “We want to play at a Musicadium showcase!” to info@musicadium.com along with a bio to be considered for future gigs.

Brisbane’s own Digital Music Distributor, Musicadium and Bar Soma are teaming up for another WITH DIGITAL LOVE industry showcase - on Thursday 19th March at 7:30PM 2009.

It’s all because Musicadium are turning one!  Musicadium has been operating for just over a year and they are want to celebrating their first year’s signups including Gotye, Kisschasy, Clare Bowditch, Ellington and more, as well as establishing a great market position as Australia’s leading digital distributor.

Headlining the night is Melbourne’s Foxx on Fire (http://www.myspace.com/foxxonfire), described by Inpress magazine as …the big label A&R’s wet dream.” They have supported acts such as John Foxx (UK), Midnight Juggernauts, Felix Cartal (France), Lost Valentinos, Mercy Arms, Grafton Primary, Damn Arms, Sweet Machine (Germany) and Dukes of Windsor. Their video clip for their new single, ‘Mission Abort’ was recently indie clip of the week on ABC TV’s Rage.

Supporting Foxx on Fire is brand-new Brisbane electro act Spider8 (http://www.spider8.com.au) and Gold Coast’s own dance duo The Cityscape Riot (http://www.myspace.com/thecityscaperiot).

The Cityscape Riot’s music has been described as being “Inside a computer game where you’re dressed in a fluoro suit, driving a fast car and fighting for your life”.  They were featured in the February 08 J-Mag as one of the most exciting up and coming electro bands in Australia. The Cityscape Riot released their debut E.P ‘Technodome Nights’ in July 2008.

Spider8 are a local Brisbane trio, Justyn O’Sullivan, Cam Mackay and Seal Chong Wa, along with their synthesisers and live drummer, Tim Price.  Spider8 are most easily described as a mix of The Presets and a ‘dirtier’ version of Sneaky Sound System.

Musicadium are a digital aggregator, the vital link between artists and digital outlets such as iTunes.
Musicadium sponsored the new/digital music category in the 2008 QMusic QSong awards, held at the iconic Tivoli Theatre.

The bands will kick off at BarSoma on Constance St, 8:00PM, with doors at 7:30PM. 19th March.  Entry is $8.00 and it is an 18+ Event.

Check out the FACEBOOK Event Invite and invite your mates!!

We are once again joining forces with Chiki Productions!  This time we are bringing you the first of Musicadium’s “With Digital Love” free-entry industry showcase nights on Tuesday November 25 at Bar Soma at 7PM.

The evening aims to showcase some of the amazing hip hop, funk and reggae artists being distributed globally through Musicadium to digital download outlets such as ITunes, eMusic and Amazon MP3.

Headlining the night will be Omni Anti, a Brisbane Hip Hop collective who emerged in 2007.  They have seen massive success nationally. Their infectious grooves are full of funky hip hop beats, edgy lyrics and soaring saxophone melodies.

Supporting Omni Anti is Benjamin Hooper, whose fusion jazz and funk influenced genre sees a concoction of theatrical sounds! He’s entertaining and cheeky, reads the audience well and delivers on his promise that his live shows are always unique.

As well as Ben, Omni Anti will be joined by The Lyrical Shamon; winner of The Valley Busking Awards.

More information about the artists and the showcase can be found on the Musicadium website at www.musicadium.com.  The event starts at 7PM and is 18+.

We are all looking forward to this party!

Go to the Facebook Event Invite.