Friday Variety: Cigars Of The Pharaoh - Bespin - Silent Feature Era

Cigars Of The Pharaoh - Mystery Highway.

Background - Sometimes a band just comes out of nowhere. You might hear it in the background at a bar, or it might hit you on the radio while you’re stuck in traffic. Chances are, if you’ve heard Sydney’s Cigars Of The Pharaoh, you’ll know about it. With a power-packed sound that tips its hat to the blues rock genre, Cigars Of The Pharaoh have risen up to bring the groove back to the Australian music scene with a punch that feels good.

The band formed in the early part of 2015 as a four-piece - a mixed bag of guys with a multitude of musical influences and pasts that gelled from the get-go. From indie pop to hard rock, soul to RnB, this special union of musical minds has created something that’s fresh, based on everything they’ve learned and heard from a combined experience of many decades inside the scene. Cigars completed the recording of their debut EP within months of forming, such was the pace at which their unique blend of talents moved.

Hooking up with producer Sean Carey (Thirsty Merc) at Church Street Studios in their hometown of Sydney, they laid down a four-track EP across a single weekend. Mystery Highway was the result, and it’s already made waves, with national airplay on Triple M and a line-up of gigs that is growing quickly. Cigars will launch title track “Mystery Highway” as their first single with The A&R Department at Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory on 6 November, and a second single release, along with the EP, will follow shortly thereafter. In between, their helping The Lazys set off on their Canadian Tour on 31 October as part of a Halloween line-up at The Lewisham Hotel that also includes Chase The Sun. Cigars have more shows lined up in Sydney and at The Carrington in Katoomba, and will make a trip down to Victoria in mid-November for two shows in Melbourne. 

Upcoming Shows 
Saturday, October 31 - Lewisham Hotel, Sydney Friday, November 6 - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney Thursday, November 26 - The Valve Bar, Sydney. “Mystery Highway” by Cigars Of The Pharaoh will be released 13th of November 2015.

Cranking up the power, 'Mystery Highway' is a belting blues rocker. It's a timeless piece and brings images of a sweat soaked venue, with the audience as one, lost in the moment.

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Bespin - Take Control.

Background - The track (Take Control) is the bands second single, it was recorded in a hidden Grey Lynn attic in the home of main guy Jonathan Lee (Cut Off Your Hands). The band also features members of DHDFD's (Joel Beeby) and Tiny Ruins (Alex Freer). 

Bespin are nominated for the Critics Choice Award in New Zealand, and have also played St Jerome's Laneway Festival, Camp A Low Hum and The Others Way Festival.

Bespin are also releasing their debut EP "Osiris" next Friday on 30th October, via Flying Out. Featuring five tracks, the EP is a woozy fuzz Gigantor, careering out of control down an 8-bit space age freeway.

To celebrate the release of the "Osiris" EP Bespin are also on tour through New Zealand in November/December

Thur - 12th November - Kings Arms - Auckland
Fri - 11th December - Meow - Wellington
Thu - 17th December - Darkroom - Christchurch
Fri - 18th December - Chicks Hotel - Dunedin.

'Take Control' switches on, warms up, and then launches into a massively atmospheric song. Vocals are just right in the overall mix, with the harmonies occasionally heaving themselves, above the powerful soundtrack.

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Silent Feature Era - House Of Thieves.

Background - Poetic words denote a sense of anti-establishment-ism that makes for a boisterous good time of sticking it to the man in Silent Feature Era's new single 'House of Thieves'.

Transporting the listener straight to the heart of this aesthetic, 'House of Thieves' features lyricism harking back to an almost Shakespearean/medieval era, allowing imagery to play out in the mind. Combining cinematic landscapes, crooked guitars, synths, organs & kooky electronica with a reckless, raucous attitude this group of Brisbane lads are returning from hiatus with gusto. 

Featuring members of Brisbane music scenesters Speedstar, The Honey Month and Machine Age, this band of brothers released their debut album This Old Leather Heart in 2012, receiving a warm reception, a handful of QMA nominations and national airplay. With ‘House of Thieves’  the first taste from a forthcoming second album, expect some wild and not so silent times ahead.

I just love the 'traditional' harmonies that open this song, setting us up for a real storming track, mixing folk, come punk, and no nonsense rock, (and perhaps reminiscent a little of The Pogues). I just want to hear more!

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Thursday Three: Jumpcuts - Matt Stillert - The Sticklers

Jumpcuts - Headlights.

Background - Baltimore electronic new wave rock band Jumpcuts will release a limited edition 7” vinyl single and embark on a tour of the East Coast this October and November in support of their sophomore album Fiber Optic Bondage, due for release this spring. Following several national and regional tours, singer and multi-instrumentalist Andy Shankman tracked the songs “Headlights” and “Curses and Verses” at Baltimore’s Mobtown Studios with producer Mat Leffler-Schulman (Future Islands, Dustin Wong). Fiber Optic Bondage blends atmospheric synths, danceable beats, and Shankman’s introspective lyrics.

Jumpcuts' resume includes tour dates spanning the eastern half of the U.S., opening slots for Phantogram and School of Seven Bells, collaborations with producers of Beach House and Celebration, and a featured performance slot on WFUM's Live From Cleveland. This fall’s string of shows will feature Steve Bryant, the NYC-based producer and drummer most recently known for his work as the drummer for the band Young & Sick. Shankman, known for his angular guitar work, will incorporate simultaneous singing and guitar looping for much of the new material. More information on Jumpcuts is available on the band’s official website.

Fall Tour Dates for Jumpcuts

Sat, Oct 24 @ Denton, TX, J & J's Pizza
Sun, Oct 25 @ Houston, TX, Super Happy Fun Land
Wed, Oct 28 @ Panama City, FL, A&M Theater
Wed, Nov 11 @ Carrboro, NC, The Station
Sun, Nov 15 @ Sanford, FL, Rabbitfoot Records
Wed, Nov 18 @ Charleston, SC, Tin Roof
Fri, Nov 20 @ Charlotte, NC, The Milestone Club
Sat, Nov 21 @ Baltimore, MD, Reverb.

This song has that addictive something. Music and vocals interweave, it's so well layered and atmospheric, that a second listen was almost compulsive.

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Matt Stillert - Shoe Boycotter.

Background - Based on the Sunshine Coast but always on the move, Matt Stillert is quickly becoming one of the hardest gigging blues n’ roots artists on the East Coast of Australia. With 2012’s debut EP ‘Don’t Fear The Beard’ turning several years of performance into product, all focus is now on upcoming full length ’Shoe Boycotter’ which lands November 21. Driven by the just released title track single, ‘Shoe Boycotter’ is self-produced with Matt playing nearly every instrument featured on the album, having painstakingly slaved over eleven tracks to achieve impassioned lyrical and musical fulfilment. While Matt’s sound and spirited live show has been described as "an alternative blues onslaught”, it must be noted that the rambling troubadour has a soft side with a penchant for sweeping poetic melodies, ultimately colouring his treasure chest of material.

Recent support slots for CW Stoneking, Hat Fitz & Cara and Marshall Okell compliment the ever growing list of festivals Matt has appeared at which now include Byron Bay Bluesfest, Woodford Folk Festival, Caloundra Music Festival, Gympie Music Muster, Mitchell Creek Rock N’ Blues Festival, Mary River Festival, Palm Creek Folk Festival, Perigean Originals and the Australian North Coast Rock N’ Blues Event. It’s safe to say you’ll see the word festival and Matt Stillert on a poster this summer! With a record collection that boasts early blues greats such as Son House and Skip James to the universally admired Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin, Matt Stillert has chosen an inevitable path where living and breathing music is a vital way of life.

Yes the comparisons are there, for me Seasick Steve sprang to mind, its inevitable when you pen a rootsy blues song, and deliver it with so much natural flair. Whatever names are mentioned, this track has its own legs and is just so cool.

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The Sticklers - Breakfast In Hell.

Background - About ‘Breakfast In Hell’ Part song, part romantic revery, ‘Breakfast In Hell’ is undoubtedly The Sticklers at their most fully realised. Channelling the bookish melancholia of The Smiths with the upbeat pop euphoria of Dexy’s Midnight Runners, The Sticklers’ nostalgic latest single is the stuff breakout tracks are made of. Lyricist Gabi Garbutt paints a vivid, breathing, and magical portrait of two lovers in a damned republic, while Lee Milward’s violin communicates the feelings that can’t be vocalised. A pop song in the classic sense: concise and hook-laden with a perfectly executed middle eight key change, it’s little wonder why they were selected to support The Libertines at the Manchester Ritz before the shows sudden cancellation. ’Breakfast In Hell’ is a compact gemstone of brilliance that’s sure to see them reaching a whole new sea of possibilities in their career. 

About The Sticklers “We create music that is passionate, honest and lyrical, fusing hard headed rock’n’roll, soaring soul and nimble-fingered folk fiddle.” At a time when poetic guitar pop is in short supply, waylaid by the increasingly tech-dependent and often soulless production values of new shoegaze and psychedelia, The Sticklers cut a defiantly beatific figure in their hometown of London. Forming in and around their local Camden pub The Wheelbarrow, they released their first EP ‘Hold It Up To The Light’ in 2013. After embarking on a series of live dates in London and beyond during the autumn, they eventually holed up in studio at the end of the year to record the pivotal single ‘Mr Needlove’. Its release was accompanied by a video that saw them playing on a moving barge, buoyed by impassioned melodies and poetic lyrics that eventually wormed their way into the ears of XFM’s John Kennedy, giving them vital radio play.

There is no one fulcrum on which The Sticklers’ sound rests. Vocalist Gabi Garbutt provides much of the romantic sentiment in her lyrics. Both a guitar player and a published poet, her lyrical approach stems from her interest in the pop poetry of literary musos like Patti Smith and Leonard Cohen. Violinist Lee Milward and lead guitarist Chris Brambley melodically reinforce her wistful commentary with their honeyed and nostalgic accompaniments, while Tom Newis and Lorenzo Levrini form the pivotal rhythmic backline. It’s a combination that produces instinctive chemistry.  There is little doubt that new single ‘Breakfast In Hell’ is only the start of a journey that promises to inject more colour, poetry, and imagination into the barren landscape of British indie music. The Sticklers may be colossal sentimentalists, but they’re finely-tuned pop writers too.

What a talented band The Sticklers are. Add to that a new single, where the B-side ('Down By The Waterside') is screaming for as much attention as the A-side and you know you have come across a band that promises superb music.


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Midweek Muse: Thrushes - Day One - Tiger Choir - East Of Here

Thrushes - Joan Of Arc.

Background (with bird facts) - Thrushes; part of the Passerine bird family. The songs of some species are considered to be among the most beautiful in the avian world. Baltimore's Thrushes bring a similar beauty to the human world with Exposing Seas, their first full length in 5 years. 

Formed in 2005, the band's previous efforts (2007's Sun Come Undone and 2010's Night Falls) garnered the kind of glowing praise most indie acts could only hope for. Now, with Seas and its swirling, reverb-drenched guitars and dreamy, yet plaintively delivered vocals, the album brings to mind a mix of the classic shoegaze era-gone-by, Hounds of Love 'Bush-isms' and a splash of 90's emo-progenitors Rainer Maria resulting in Thrushes most focused work to date. 

On the band's approach to this new album, singer Anna says "Exposing Seas is an album that shows our growth as a band. We worked so hard over the past few years to create songs that were larger and louder than before without losing the ethereal mood (of the band's previous work)."  Lyrically, she says "a lot of the songs have a dark feel, or a hint of longing.  I guess that's just where I end up when I write even if the words aren't autobiographical." 

Recorded and produced by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines, Office of Future Plans) at Magpie Cage Studios (Baltimore, MD), Exposing Seas was released around a month ago, on Florida's New Granada Records.

As the music gradually builds, the vocals add another layer, that blends beautifully within this shoegaze anthem. Whilst some seek to turn the genre into a harder 'wall of noise' sound, Thrushes demonstrate that there is plenty still to be explored on the melodic side.

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Day One - Eon (Ft. Isabel Higuero) [EP Version].

Background - Day One, who was one of the first artists to release with Monstercat back in their early days, has just released an EP as a comeback with SectionZ Records (his first new material since 2013). The EP is called 'Serenity,' and explores the softer, more beautiful side of electronic music.

Featuring gorgeous vocals from Isabel Higuero and Aloma Steele, respectively, the two vocal tracks "Eon" and "Serenity," find Day One using lush piano, bell backdrops, a driving backbeat, and some subtle basslines to create breathtaking backdrops for both of these talented vocalists. The instrumentals "Moonburn" and "Antarctica" take on more dancefloor-friendly sounds in the realms of house and drum and bass, respectively.

Day One has played shows with artists like Katy B, Krafty Kuts, and Fox Stevenson, and his last few releases in 2013 reached the Top 10 Overall on Bandcamp and the Top 25 on Beatport's Dubstep  chart, along with breaking into the Top 100 on Beatport DnB. This EP is meant to represent, in the artist's own words, "a one-man journey through space, with 'Eon' being the launch of the spaceship from Earth (depicted stunningly in the artwork), the two middle tracks 'Moonburn' and 'Serenity' being about travelling through space (Serenity is also about memories of Earth whilst in deep space) and the final track, 'Antarctica', about the homeward journey and arrival back on Earth."

'Eon' demonstrates just how 'natural' electronic music can be. On the featured track Isabel Higuero delivers stunning vocals, if you like this as much as I do, then this EP is a must. On 'Serenity' Aloma Steele is equally delightful, you can't really go wrong with this one.

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Tiger Choir - Interstate.

Promo Words - When life gets hectic, the stress of work shoots way past boiling point, and everything feels like a mammoth effort, we all turn to the same four words to comfort us: "I need a holiday". But if you don't have the time or funds to actually take off someplace different, Tiger Choir has the next best thing: their hazy, jubilant anthem to getting the hell outta dodge, 'Interstate'.

Enveloped by a comforting blanket of muffled reverb, the harmony-driven track sports a decidedly retro vibe that makes it essential summer play list fodder. Following the success of indie pop gems 'Shani' and 'All Time', it's the third single from Tiger Choir's second LP - to be released in the very near future.

Recently wooing crowds at Bigsound, Tiger Choir have also shared stages with the likes of Courtney Barnett, The Preatures, The Drums and Deerhunter. They've shown their worth on the festival circuit too, scoring spots on the lineups for Falls Festival, Camp A Low Hum (NZ), Dark Mofo and A Festival Called Panama. With a hat-trick of feel-good singles now under the belt, album number two is promising to be one well worth the wait - and Tiger Choir show no signs of slowing down.

As the song unfolds the vocals at first reminded me of Mark Burgess from UK band The Chameleons, well until the chorus, when they go places Mr Burgess can only dream of (or keeps to himself). Seriously this is unpretentious, upbeat indie pop, with enough natural, mood lifting energy, that professional miseries will struggle not to submit to.

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East Of Here - Don't Need You.

And we quote - "Youth is wasted on the young" - this is the sentiment portrayed by Sydney duo East of Here in their latest single 'Don't Need You'. The track lunges straight for the heartstrings, invoking aching regret and melancholy with erratic percussion and tortured vocals. It's a tale that hits all too close to home, inspired by what is popularly referred to as "hook-up culture". Raw, honest and stunning 'Don't Need You' is a song that you definitely need.

After a stint earlier in the year at Mountain Sounds Festival playing alongisde the likes of Safia, The Kite String Tangle and Northeast Party House, and later a support show for Gordi, the dynamic duo are ready to take matters into their own hands. East Of Here will launch 'Don't Need You' in a not-to-be-missed performance at The Oxford Art Factory on the 29th of October.

As 'youth is wasted on the young' if it can be passed on, I'm up for any going spare. Actually it's surprising how easy it is, to forget the angst of younger times. Leaving that aside this is a really good song, whatever the background.

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Dan Croll - One Of Us

Dan Croll - One Of Us.

What we are told - Liverpool's experimental, genre-defying Dan Croll is excited to announce the release of a new single - 'One Of Us' - the follow up to 2014's critically acclaimed debut LP 'Sweet Disarray' ("full of infectious harmonies", so said NPR). The track is available digitally now and is the first taster of what you can expect from Dan's second full-length, details of which will be announced soon. 

While 'One Of Us' lies at the heavier, more energetic end of Dan's spectrum it is still undeniably pop-infused. Much like the majority of his other material, 'One Of Us' was written and performed solely by Dan, with a pace and energy of this track showing his multi-instrumental prowess. Lyrically, the song touches on the various forms of peer pressure that he has witnessed around him - “Heard you can’t beat the rush, give in and be one of us. Told you 10,000 times that you'd rather be on of us".

Bold statements aside, Dan stays true to his genre hopping ways, delving deeper in to the likes of late 80's hip-hop outfits (De La Soul, The Pharcyde), layered electronics (Caribou, Tame Impala) and sci-fi films (Moon) as inspiration for this second album. With previously sold out headline tours on both sides of the Atlantic, including The El Rey in LA, New York's Bowery Ballroom and Koko in London, Dan Croll will be playing a handful of intimate headline shows this November across Manchester, London and Liverpool (dates below). 

Tour Dates:

09/11 - Manchester, Deaf Institute
11/11 - London, Hoxton Hall
12/11 - Liverpool, Buyers Club

In recent times Dan has picked up fans far and wide in the fashion, sport and entertainment worlds, ranging from British labels Burberry (who took Dan to Taipei in 2014 to launch of their new Trench collection) and Paul Smith (who personally hosted Dan’s album release party in his Soho store), to US TV stalwart Jimmy Kimmel (Dan recently made his US TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live), to the British Embassy inviting Dan to be a cultural ambassador during the World Cup, performing his first show in Brazil ahead of the opening England match.

It's one of those songs that kids me it's going to go one way, then takes a twist and chooses a better route. Add in the bubbling energy, top it with superb vocals and you arrive with 'One Of Us'. The soundtrack is equally engaging, so I guess what I am saying is, I like it!


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